plied that prophecy of St Paul, 2. Tim. iii. 1. This know also that in the last days perilous times fhall come, to the mendicant orders and preachers of his time; and it was fo fevere a fatire upon the Dominicans, that pope Alexander IV. condemned it, as containing perverse sentiments, contrary to the power and authority of the Roman pontiff and of the other bishops, and in fine as a book capable of caufing great fcandals and troubles in the church. Robert Grofthead or Greathead, bishop of Lincoln, in his fpeeches and writings inveighed bitterly a gainst the corruption and fuperftition, the lewdnefs and wickedness of the clergy in general, and the rapacity and avarice, the tyranny and antichriftianifm of pope Innocent IV. in particular. He was alio no lefs a friend to * civil than to religious liberty, and ordered all the violators of magna Charta, wholoever and wherefoever they were within his diocefe, to be excommunicated- Matthew Paris, a contemporary historian, hath " related the fubftance of his dying difcourfes, wherein he proves the pope to be an heretic, and defervedly to be called Antichrift; and concludes with giving him the character of "refuter of the pope, reprover of prelates, corrector of monks, director of priests, inftructor of the clergy, and in fhort the hammer to beat down the Romans and to bring them into contempt." It is no marvel that fuch a man was excommunicated; but he little regarded the cenfure, and he appealed from the court of Innocent to the tribunal of Chrift. Not to mention others, Matthew Paris himself hath painted in the most lively colours the corruptions and abominations of the fee of Rome, the tyranny, fuperftition, fimony, and wickednefs of the popes and clergy. A proteftant hiftorian could not more freely lafh and expofe the vices of the times, than he did who was a monk of St Albans. As they are not all Ifrael which are of Ifrael ;' so neither have all the members of the Romish church believed all Vide Cent. Magdeburg. Balaeum. Dupin. Cave. Tanner, &c. Matt. Paris. ad Ann. 123. p. 874. Edit. Watts. 1646. Matt. Paris. ibid. Papae redargutor, prælatorum correptor, monachorum corrector, prefbyterorum director, clericorum inftructor-Romanorum malleus et contemptor. p. 876. * Excommunicatus appellavit a curia Innocentii ad tribunal Chrifti. Henr. de Knyghton. Lib. 2. inter Scriptores X. p. 2436. b all her doctrines. Dante and Petrarch, the former of whom died, and the latter was born as well as died, in the fourteenth century, were fevere fatyriits upon the times, and wrote freely against the temporal dominion of the pope, and the corruptions of the clergy, treating Rome as Babylon, and the pope as Antichrift: and they probably did more hurt to the court and church of Rome by their wit and raillery, than others by invective and declamation. Peter Fitz Caffiodor, whether a ficti ous or a real perfon, addreffed a remonitrance to the church of England against the tyrrany, avarice and exactions of the court of Rome, advifing and exhorting the English to shake off the Roman yoke from their necks. Michael Cæfenas and William Occam expofed the various errors and herefies of John XXII to the number of 77; and fecure in the protection of the emperor, they fet at nought the thunder of the pope's excommunications. Marfilius, a famous lawyer of Padua, wrote a treatife intitled the defender of peace, wherein he advanced the power of the emperor above that of the pope in things spiritual as well as temporal; painted in the strongest colours the pride, ambition, and luxury of the court of Rome; and abundantly proved that the pope had not by divine right the leaft authority or pre-eminence over o ther bishops. It is no wonder that the author and his book were condemned together. But th.re were other and better witneffes than thefe in this age. It was fhown before from Thuanus, that the Waldenfes and Albigenfes being perfecuted in their own country, fled for refuge into foreign nations, fome into Germany, and fome into Britain. In Germany they grew and multiplied so fast, notwithstanding the rage and violence of croifaders and inquifitors, that at the beginning of this century it is computed, that there were eighty thoufand of them in Bohemia, y Spanhemii Hift. Christian. Saec. XIV. Cap. 5. Sect. 8. et 9. Robertus Gerius et Henricus Wharton in Appendice ad Cave Hist. Litt. p. 9. et 50. 2 Appendix ad Cave. p. 10. Collier's Ecclefiaft. Hift. Book 5. p. 501, &c. a H. Wharton in Siecle. Chap. 5. Append. ad Cave. p. 20 et 28. Dupin. XIV. b Wharton ibid. p. 26, 27. Dupin. Chap. ibid. 5. et 8. CBzovius ad Ann. 1315. Spanhem. ibid. Cap. 6. Sect. 1. Dupin. ¡bid. Chap. 8. Bohemia, Auftria, and the neighbouring territories; and they pertinaciously defended their doctrines even unto death. Among a variety of other names they were calJed Lobards from one Walter Lollard, who preached in Germany about the year 1315 against the authority of the pope, the interceffion of faints, the mais, extreme unction, and other ceremonies and fuperftitions of the church of Rome; and was burned alive at Cologn in the year 1322. In England alfo they were denominated Lollards, though there was a man more worthy to have "given name to the feet, the defervedly famous John Wickdiff, the honour of his own, and the admiration of all fucceeding times. Rector only of Lutterworth, he fil led all England, and almoft all Europe with his doctrine, He began to grow famous about the year 1360 by preaching and writing against the fuperftitions of the age, the tyranny of the pope, the erroneous doctrines and vicious lives of the monks and the clergy; and efpecially by defending the royal and ecclefiaftical jurisdiction against the ufurpations of the popes and mendicant friars. The -more he oppofed, the more reafon he found for oppofition. He tranflated the canonical fcriptures into the Eng. lifh language, and wrote comments upon them. He demonftrated the antichriftianity of Popery, and the abo mination of defolation in the temple of God. He afferted the one true facrifice of Chrift, and oppofed the facrifice of the mats, tranfubftantiation, the adoration of the hoft, the feven facraments, purgatory, prayers for the dead, the worship of faints and images, and in short all the principal corruptions and fuperftitions of the church of Rome. His fuccefs too was greater than he could have expected. The princes, the people, the univerfity of Oxford, many even of the clergy, favoured and fupported him, and embraced his opinions. His enemies have charged him with feveral heterodox notions; but many years ago was published An apology for John Wickliff bowing his conformity with the now church of England, c. collected out of his written works in the Bodleian library by Thomas James keeper of the fame, at Oxford 1608. This truly d Dupin. ibid. Hoffmanni Lex. Spelman. Skinner, &c. e H. Wharton in Append. ad Cave. p. 60, &c. Spanhem. ibid. Cap. 6. Leland, Bale, Tammer, &c. &c. truly great and good man died of a palfy the laft day of the year 1387, but his doctrines did not die with him. His books were read in the public schools and colleges at Oxford, and were recommended to the diligent perufal of each ftudent in the univerfity, till they were condemned and prohibited by the council of Conftance in the next century. His followers the Lollards in the year 1395 prefented a remonstrance to the parliament, which contained thefe with other articles'; that when the church of England began to mismanage her temporalities in conformity to the precedents of Rome, faith, hope, and charity began to take their leave of her communion; that the English priesthood derived from Rome, and pretending to a power fuperior to angels, is not that priefthood which Chrift fettled upon his apofties, that enjoying celibacy to the clergy was the occation of fcandalous irregularities in the church; that the pretended miracle of transubstantiation runs the greateft part of christendom upon idolatry; that exorcifms and benedictions pronounced over wine, bread, water, the mitre, the crofs, &c. have more of necromancy than religion in them; that prayer made for the dead is a wrong ground for charity and religious endowments; that pilgrimages, prayers, and offerings made to images and croffes, are near of kin to idolatry; that auricular confeflion makes the priests proud, lets them into the fecrets of the penitent, gives opportunities for intrigues, and is attended with fcandalous confequences, as well as the doctrine of indulgences; that the vow of fingle life undertaken by women in the church of England is the occafion of horrible diforders, &c. Some falfe tenets might be contained in the fame remonftrance; for alas, who is there that holdeth the truth without any mixture or alloy of error? They denied the infallibility of the pope, and they could not well pretend to be infallible themselves. Two things contributed much to the revival of learning in the fifteenth century, the Greeks flying with their books from Conftantinople which the Turks had taken, and the invention of printing. As learning more revived, fo the truth prevailed more; and the more the truth prevailed, the fury of perfecution increased in proportion. Wickliff Y VOL. II. Wickliff himself had been permitted to die in peace; but after his death his doctrines were condemned, his books were burnt, his very body was dug up and burnt too, by a decree of the council of Conftance, and the command of pope Martin V, executed by Richard Fleming bishop of Lincoln. His followers however were not difcouraged, and many of them witneffed a good confeffion even unto death. William Sawtre, parifh priest of St Ofith in London, 1 hath the honour of being the first who was burnt for herefy in England; which was done in the reign of Henry IV, at the beginning of this century. A few years afterwards Thomas Badby i was convicted of herefy, and ordered also to be burnt in Smithfield. Henry prince of Wales was prefent at his execution: and the poor man fhowing very fenfible figns of the torment he endured, the prince out of compaffion commanded the fire to be removed, and promifed him pardon and a penfion for life, provided he would retract his errors. But Badby being come to himself, refolutely rejected this offer; he chofe rather to die with a good, than to live with an evil confcience; and fo the fire was kindled again, and he was confumed to afhes. In the next reign Sir John Oldcastle, baron of Cobham, k was profecuted for being the principal patron and abettor of the Lollards. Being examined before the archbishop of Canterbury, he declared against tranfubftantiation, penances, the worshipping of the crofs, the power of the keys; and afferted that the pope was Antichrift and the head of that body, the bifhops were the members, and the friars the hinder parts of the antichriftian fociety. He was therefore pronounced a heretic convict, and delivered over to the fecular power. But before the day fixed for his execution he efcaped out of prifon; and being charged by his enemies with endeavouring to make an infurrection, he was outlawed for high treafon; and being taken afterwards, he was hanged as a traitor, and burnt hanging as an heretic, being the first nobleman in England who fuffered death Balai fcript. Brit. Cent. 6. No r. H. Wharton in Append. ad Cave p. 63 Dupin, Collier, Tanner, &c. h Fox, Burnet's History of the Reformation. Book. 1. Collier's Ecclef. Hift. Book. 7. p. 617, &c. Rapin, &c. i Walfingham, Rapin, Collier ibid. p. 620, &c. * Walfingham, Rapin, Collier ibid. p. 632, &c. |