Ex Libris Gulielmi Kenneth
Macrorie; D.D. Episcopi Can-
•onici Eliensis qui migravit
ab LuceXV^Kal.Ochmcmv'
ar\r\o LXXV2 oefatis suoe

il Lihr

-

ECCLESIASTICAL BIOGRAPHY ;

OR,

LIVES OF EMINENT MEN,

CONNECTED WITH THE

HISTORY OF RELIGION IN ENGLAND;

FROM THE

COMMENCEMENT OF THE REFORMATION
TO THE REVOLUTION ;

SELECTED AND ILLUSTRATED WITH

NOTES,

BY

CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, D.D.

LATE MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
AND RECTOR OF CUXTED, WITH UCKFIELD, SUSSEX.

WITH MANY ADDITIONAL HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:
FKANCIS & JOHN BIVINGTON,

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE.

1853.

LONDON :

i.M.HKKT AMI KIVI.NUTON, PRINTERS,
•"Ml.v's SQUARE.

ADVERTISEMENT

TO THE

THIRD EDITION.

THIS Third Edition differs from the two preceding, in the way
both of addition, and of omission.

Of omissions of any considerable moment, there is only one.
The Life of Philip Henry, which constituted a large portion of
the sixth volume of the former editions, has been withdrawn.

The length of this Life had been occasionally complained of, as
hardly compensated by a proportionate degree of value and in-
terest ; and sometimes it was alleged, that some degree of incon-
gruity and unsuitableness to the leading, general design of the
Collection, was introduced by the circumstance of the longest
piece in the whole work being an encomiastic account of a non-
conformist minister. After all, however, the consideration which
weighed most on the Editor's own mind, was, that since his
former publication, a new edition of the Life in question has ap-
peared, revised, &c. from the original Diary, under the following
title, viz. The Life of the Rev. Philip Henry, A.M., <$cc. corrected
and enlarged, by J. B. Williams, F.8.A. London, 1825. 8vo.

After the appearance of the narrative in this revised and aug-
mented form, it seemed that it would be neither respectful to the
public, nor just to any of the other parties concerned, to re-
publish merely the old edition, which wanted the accessions and
improvements introduced by the new Editor : it was thought best,

A 2

iv ADVERTISEMENT TO

therefore, to abandon this portion of the series entirely ; it being
left to any of my readers, who may think the deficiency serious,
t<> make it good, by the separate purchase of Mr. Willianis's new
and extended edition.

The additions, introduced in this Third Edition, consist partly
of additions to the text, and partly to the notes.

The new Lives adopted are only two. The first a short account
of Dean Colet, founder of St. Paul's School, consisting of ex-
tracts, brought together from sundry Letters of Colet's friend,
Erasmus : and the other is an interesting narrative by himself,
of the troubles of Thomas Mountain, a London clergyman, pub-
lished by Strype from Fox's Papers. It is introduced as
forming a suitable connecting link between the persecutions of
the reign of Mary, and the re-establishment of the Reformed
Catholic Church of England under Elizabeth.

But much the most important addition to the body of the text,
is a two-fold Introduction of considerable extent, at the opening
of the first volume. It is divided into two main portions ; the
former of which may be characterized generally as an historical
narrative of the origin and progress of the Papal usurpations
and corruptions in England both in Church and State, and is
derived from Dr. John Inetfs Church History. The latter,
borrowed from I )r. Uichard Bentley's famous Fifth of Noveii
sermon, I have entitled " Doctrinal Corruptions of Popery."

The two foriin-r < <litions wanting any such Introduction as is
now n-lrrrcd to, and opening abruptly with the Life of Wickliffe ;
I have long felt that my Reader, without any fault of his own,
was thus placed in a somewhat fallacious and injurious position,
in finding hia s\n uli^-d in In-half of a party, strenuously

THE THIRD EDITION. v

opposed to the governors of the established Church of that age
(and oftentimes in opposition also to those of the State), without
being put in possession of any sufficient account how this con-
dition of things had arisen, and without receiving any adequate
exposition of the motives and principles by which either those
governors of the Church, or the mal-content party (Wickliffe and
his followers) themselves, were actuated. By leading my Eeader
back to the ancient and primitive condition of the Church of
England, and thence guiding him along in rapid progress down
to the age of Wickliffe, through a short, but sufficiently copious,
and at the same time a not uninteresting recital of the lamentable
degeneracy, gradually introduced by the usurpation and tyranny
of the Church of Rome, it seemed that my Eeader would be led
naturally and easily to comprehend the true nature of the prin-
ciples (in many important respects grossly delusive and erroneous)
upon which the rulers of the Church sought to maintain them-
selves against the arguments and efforts of the mal-contents :
and that he would be better qualified to discern and distinguish
between what was right and what was wrong in the principles
and conduct of the Reformers ; and so learn also occasionally to
look with a degree of pardonable indulgence upon the incidental
aberrations of those eminent persons, the early champions of
respiring freedom and truth, who though baffled and discomfited
for several successive generations, were in fact, in many main
respects, no other than the fore-runners and fore-fathers in
Christ, of Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and the rest, the great
successful champions, under Providence, of the English Reforma-
tion ; were, in fact, no other than that which the Reformed
Catholic Church of England herself, through much conflict, at
length gradually became under Henry VIII., Edward VI., and

vi ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION.

finally under Q. Elizabeth : then, I say, became, through God's
mercy, and still subsists by the same mercy ; and still, we trust,
will continue to subsist, the noblest branch of the true Catholic
( 'hurch of Christ; the guardian, keeper, and nurse of all genuine
inti •llectual, moral, civil, and spiritual truth and freedom, in equal
opposition to the modern corruptions, whether of the tyranny
a ixl despotism of the Church of Rome, or of the insubordination
and anarchy of Puritans, Rationalists, and Sectarians.

The additions to the notes, throughout the whole work, are
numerous; and the Editor hopes that the length of many of
those which are new, will be compensated by the value, which
they will be thought to give to his Collection. The Index, also,
has been largely augmented.

\Vith respect to the size and dimensions of the Work, it is not
necessary to say more, than that the six volumes of the preceding
» <lit ions are compressed into four in the present; and that the
\V<»rk, in ite external appearance and qualities, is conformed
closely to the Editor's Christian Institutes ; in the hope, also, that
in many higher respects they may be found suitable companions
and associates; and may mutually conspire and co-operate in
carrying into effect the Editor's main design in the compilation of
tin-in both, the advancement of the religious portion of a liberal
education of the middle and upper classes of society, according
to the principles of the Church of England .

For numerous and valuable suggestions, in the way both of
correction of and addition to the Notes, while the edition \va^
passing through the press, I am bound to acknowledge mys« It \ ery
greatly indebted to John Holmes, Esq., of the British Museum.

Trinity Colltgf, Cambridge,
Junt 1, 1839.

ADVERTISEMENT

TO THE

FOURTH EDITION.

THIS Fourth Edition is still further indebted to the kind
and valuable assistance of the same Gentleman who is named
at the conclusion of the foregoing Advertisement. The un-
abated interest which he has continued to take in the Work,
has been shewn by the contribution of many new Historical
and Biographical Notes, such as could only have proceeded from
one who is deeply versed in all kinds of literary and antiquarian
lore. For the accession of so much interesting and useful
matter which has thus been made to these Volumes, the Pro-
prietors, upon whom has devolved the duty of conducting them
through the press, desire to return their sincere and grateful
acknowledgments.

February, 1853.

TO THE MOST REVEREND

CHARLES,

BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE,

LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY,

PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND AND METROPOLITAN.

MY LORD,

IF I were disposed to consider the value of that portion of
these volumes, which is the result of my own labour, I could
not but feel that the laying them at your GRACE'S feet would
constitute a most inadequate acknowledgment of the gratitude
which I owe to your GRACE for many very great favours and
benefits conferred upon me. In this view, there could be only
one consolatory circumstance to sustain me ; the knowledge
that to you the homage of all my efforts is due, be they great
or little : and he therefore who is already engaged for all, may
seem to be released from the necessity of satisfying himself of
the worthiness of any particular offering.

But, my LORD, there are considerations of a different nature,
from which I may be permitted to tender these volumes to your
GRACE'S favourable regard, without the hazard of being thought

x DEDICATION.

so ill to understand the nature and extent of my own obligations,
and the dignity of your GRACE'S name.

Many of the Lives, of which this Collection is composed, have
already often obtained the praise of the wise and good, as calcu-
lated to promote, in a more than ordinary degree, the cause of
pure taste, good morals, and true religion; objects of infinite
importance, for the prosperity of which, they who well know
your GRACE'S unceasing cares and labours, may be excused if
they bear testimony, that every endeavour to extend those great
blessings, has a peculiar title to come forth under your GRACE'S
protection.

The tendency which has been thus attributed to many of these
Li\vs individually, it was my hope would not be impaired, but-
augmented, by combining them into one series, and by the addi-
tion of the few illustrations with which they are here accompa-
nied. If therefore I have not been deceived in this expectation,
I cannot deny to myself the pleasing assurance, that the present
Publication will be received by your GRACE as an effort not
uncongenial to your wishes, and, in however low a degree, sub-
ordinate to your own cares ; and, as having afforded therefore
a not unsuitable engagement of a portion of such intervals of
leisure, as I may have been able to obtain consistently with
the demands of your <u; \< B*i more immediate service, and of
l>:t-t..ral labours.

Again : This likewise is to be acknowledged, that it is ouinu

to your <ii; \. i not only that these Volumes exist at all. but

also th.it tin -y exist such as they are. All that is new in tlu-m

.'•« by your <ii<.\< i.\ liberality and public spirit. \\ hat. \. r

pleasure th« n m- ]>n.tit any ,,f mv iva«li-rs IUMV r. o i\. . (specially

DEDICATION. xi

from this part of my materials, it is fit that they should know
that from the Archbishop of Canterbury the benefit is derived.
And, at the same time, let it be further declared, that this is but
a very humble instance of that love of good letters, and that
public spirit, which have prompted your GRACE to the exertion
of many acts of munificence, for the increase of the literary
treasures of your country, which exalt your GRACED name to the
same level with those of the most illustrious of your predecessors,
Cranmer, and Parker, and Laud.

That your GRACE'S labours for the welfare of the Church of
God may long be blessed with abundant fruits of righteousness
and peace, is the earnest prayer of

My LORD,

your GRACE'S most devoted,

faithful and humble Servant,

CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH.

Lambeth,
Nov. 22, 1809.

PREFACE.

THE first wishes for the existence of a collection, similar in
_rn to that which now appears, were excited in my mind not
less than ten years ago, and often recurred to it, during a resi-
dence in the University of Cambridge ; though I do not remember
to have entertained, then, any very confident expectations, that
the work would ever be undertaken by myself.

But when, after the expiration of something more than half the
above-named period of years, I had been called to Lambeth, to
the service of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, and, in
process of time, the probable advantages of such a collection
;ired continually to my mind, rather to increase, than to bo
diminished ; and when some efforts which I had made to bring
about the execution of this design, from another quarter, on a
contracted scale, had yet produced no effect, I determined to
turn my own hands to the work : — and it now becomes my duty
to state the views and motives upon which it was begun, and the
way and manm T in which it has been performed. The mention,
in the outset, of the places where the wish for the existence of
this \\<»rk was first conceived, and where it has been prepared for
publication, I judge not to be impertinent, because these circum-
stances may probably have had a considerable influence on its
content- and character; and therefore the knowledge of them
may lead the reader, by a natural and easy progress, to a
further explanation of the principles on which it has been

ileil.

A protracted residence in either of our Universities, and

PREFACE. xiii

afterwards in that service which I have mentioned, it will easily
be understood, was likely to engage any man in ardent wishes
and desires for the general prosperity and welfare of sincere piety
and true religion : and to inspire him more particularly with an
honest concern that those most important interests should ever
advance and flourish among our theological students and the
clergy ; and through their means and labours, with the divine
blessing, in every rank of society.

It appeared then, to the present writer, that there were extant,
among the literary productions of our country, many scattered
narratives of the lives of men eminent for piety, sufferings,
learning, and such other virtues, or such vices, as render their
possessors interesting and profitable subjects for history, many of
which were very difficult to be procured, and some of them little
known ; and that, therefore, the benefit which might have been
expected to result from their influence, was in a great degree
lost. These I thought it might be a labour well-bestowed to
restore to a capacity of more extensive usefulness, and to repub-
lish them in one collection ; not merely with a view of affording
to many readers an opportunity of possessing what they could
not otherwise enjoy ; but also from the hopes, that the serviceable
effect of each might be increased by their union and juxta-posi-
tion ; and that, through the help of a chronological arrangement,
a species of ecclesiastical history might result, which though un-
doubtedly very imperfect, might yet answer, even in that view,
several valuable purposes ; while it would possess some peculiar
charms and recommendations.

A scheme of this nature, it is easy to conceive, could not well
be undertaken without many limitations. Besides those obvious
ones of restricting the history to that of our own country, and to
the lives of our fellow countrymen, there appeared to me many
reasons, why the work should begin with the preparations towards
a Reformation by the labours of Wickliffe and his followers, and
not a few why it might well stop at the Revolution. Within
those limits are comprehended, if we except the first establish-
ment of Christianity, and the growth of the papal power amongst

xiv PREFACE.

ti-. the rise, j.r and i»ut; of the principal agitations and re-

volutions of the public mind of this country in regard to matters
of R<lij;ion: — namely, the Reformation from Popery, and the
glories and horrors attending that hard-fought struggle; the
subsequent exorbitances and outrages of the Antipopish spirit,
as exemplified by the Puritans ; the victory of that spirit, in ill-
suited alliance with the principles of civil liberty, over loyalty and
the established church, in the times of Charles the first ; the
wretched systems and practices of the sectaries, during the Com-
monwealth, and the contests for establishment between the Pres-
byterians and Independents at the same period; the hasty
ivturn of the nation, weary and sick of the long reign of con-
fusion, to the antient constitution of things, at the Restoration ;
• Deration of those confusions, and of the ill-disciplined
triumph of a portion of the adverse party upon the state of
morals and religion, during the early part of the reign of the
second Charles ; the endeavours of Charles and his brother to
restore Popery, and introduce despotism ; the noble exertions of
the clergy of the church of England, at that interval, in behalf
of natural and revealed religion, and protestantism, and civil
liberty ; the Revolution of 1688, together with the ascertainment
of the distinct nature and rights of an established church, and a
/ious toleration ; and the principles of the Non-jurors.
A narrative of these grand particulars, together with many
others of inferior moment, obtained in connexion with a descrip-
tion of the virtues, private life, and character of the ag<
principally concerned in them would, I thought, be considerably
.'4 and useful, and especially in regard to those object >
which I have above referred to ; without descending to later
times, less productive in some respects than the preceding, and
more so indeed in others, but on both accounts the less fitted to

it of this design. At the Revolution, a d( ••_
was given both to our ecclesiastical and civil esta-
blishments, which the\ never In f.,re possessed; and hence a
great part of the age which followed was less fertile, at least in
historical interest: and from that sera, the -rowing alumd

PREFACE. xv

and extent of biographical memoirs, were felt, of themselves, as a
discouragement against attempting the admission of any portion
of them into a collection like the present.

It was no part of my original plan to go in quest of any thing
new, but merely to revive the old. Yet, when his grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury generously gave me permission to
avail myself of the stores contained in the manuscripts in the
Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, I could not forbear, in
justice to that liberality, to exert such a further portion of
industry, as might seem best calculated to increase the value
and usefulness of my publication. For this reason, and from
this source, the reader will find here a copious Life of Sir
Thomas More, never before published ; a new edition of Caven-
dish's Life of Cardinal Wolsey, so much surpassing in value those
which have preceded it, as almost to deserve the name of a new
work ; and some large and interesting additions to the Memoirs
of the Nicholas Ferrars ; besides many occasional extracts inserted
in the notes : for all which I desire in this place to return humble
thanks to my most honoured Patron.

That which occasioned me the greatest labour and difficulty,
with regard to the remainder of my materials, was the laying in
the first stores, and afterwards making a selection out of them.
The contents of these volumes are but a very small part of what
I have gathered together, not without a considerable expence of
time and pains. From the same heap, another man perhaps
would have made now and then a different choice. But the prin-
ciples upon which I proceeded will, I trust, be made sufficiently
apparent to my readers in the course of this preface : further I
have nothing to say, but that, proceeding upon those which
I judge the best principles, I made the selection the best
I could.

It will be found (for which I imagine no apology is necessary),
that I have preferred the ancient and original authorities, where
they could be procured, before modern compilations and abridg-
ments ; the narratives, for instance, of Fox and Carleton, before
the more artificial compositions of Gilpin.

xvi PREFACE.

Neither do I think that it will require any excuse with the
judicious reader, that in the early parts of the series, I have been
at some pains to retain the ancient orthography. It was one
advantage which I contemplated in projecting this compilation,
that it would afford, by the way, some view of the progress of the
English language, and of English composition. This benefit would
have been greatly impaired by taking away the old spelling. But
I have always thought that the far more solemn interests of historic
reality, and of truth, are also in a degree, violated by that practice.

The reader is desired further to observe, that in many cases
the Lives are republished from the originals, entire, and without
alteration ; but in others, the method pursued has been different.
Wherever the work before me seemed to possess a distinct
character as such, either for the beauty of its composition, the
conveniency of its size, its scarcity, or any other sufficient cause,
I was desirous that my reader should have the satisfaction of
possessing it complete : but where these reasons did not exist,
1 have not scrupled occasionally to proceed otherwise : only, in
regard to alterations, it is to be understood, that all which I
have taken the liberty of making are confined solely to omissions.
Thus, the Lives written by Isaac Walton, are given entire ; but
the accounts of Ferrar and Tillotson have been shortened.

Many of the Lives which are given from Fox's Acts and

Monuments1, and which the Editor looks upon as among the

most valuable parts of his volumes, are brought together and

compiled from distant and disjointed parts of that very extensive

work ; a circumstance of which it is necessary that any one

should be informed, who may wish to compare these narratives

with the originals. It will be found also, that in many places

much has been omitted ; and that a liberty has not unfreqnontly

been taken of leaving out clauses of particular sentences, and

!o coarse and gross terms and expressio; daily -uch as

occurred against Papists. But, here also, though he has not all

laid hriorc him. yet the readrr may be assured that all

ii hi- ha>

li .litiim followed is that of the year iClo.

PREFACE. xvii

In the Notes which I have added, my 'aim has been occa-
sionally to correct my Author; but much more frequently to
enforce his positions, and illustrate him, and that especially in
matters relating to doctrines, opinions, manners, language, and
characters. Their number might easily have been increased,
but I was unwilling to distract the reader's eye from the object
before him, except where I thought some salutary purpose might
be answered. Where the notes are designated by letters, a, b, c,
&c. or are inserted between brackets ( [] ), it is to be understood,
that they are not the Editor's, but are derived from the same
source as the text.

Upon the whole then, my desire has been to bring forward in the
way, and by the means which I have stated, a work which might
deserve some humble station in the same rank with those produc-
tions which have been found to benefit the high and holy cause
of pure taste, and virtue, and piety. It is presumed that this
object may in some degree have been obtained, by the examples
which will be found here recorded, and the manner in which the
several narratives are told, of patient enduring of affliction for
conscience"1 sake ; of suffering even to bonds and imprisonment,
and death itself, in the cause of the everlasting Gospel ; of stedfast
labour and perseverance in the various duties and good works of
many several callings and stations in society : of the successive
stages, and the vicissitudes of the progress of the Christian life,
from its first beginnings in the grace and mercy of God, to its
earthly consummation in a peaceful happy death : — and, on the
other hand, by the contrast, which will be found occasionally
manifested and displayed, in the goings on and the fate of error
and vice, and earthly-mindedness. From the multitude of secular
concerns which press upon us on every side, we have all continual
need to be called to the contemplation of the things of the future
world, and to be reminded that this life is chiefly important
because of its connexion with the other. My hope is, that the
histories of life and death, here delivered into the hand of my
reader, may bring some aid to the side of those salutary impres-
sions.

VOL. i. a

xviii PREFACE.

If it be likewise thought that the Editor has been influenced
by a further aim and desire to promote the interests of religion
and piety, especially as they are professed within the pale of the
church of England, the surmise, he confesses, is well-grounded ;
and it will greatly add to whatever satisfaction he looks for from
his labour, if IK- shall find that it has indeed operated to that
effect : for he is persuaded that whatever is gained in that cause,
is gained in the way which is most likely to secure and serve " the
• •difying of the body of Christ in love." And yet, if he could
any where have found Popery associated with greater piety and
heavenly-mindedness than in Sir Thomas More, or non-con-
formity united with more eminent gifts than in Richard Baxter,
those examples also should have obtained their station in this
work, for the honour of God, for doctrine, for reproof, for instruc-
tion in righteousness.

It has then been no part of my design to give occasion of
nee t<> any.

If indeed occasion be taken, where none was intended to be
:i ; if the errors and the evil practices of popery, the truths
of Protestantism, the sufferings of martyrs and confessors, and
the intolerance and cruelty of persecutors; if the madness of
fanatics, and the evils of civil and religious war, cannot be de-
scribed and deplored without blame ; if the wisdom to be derived
to present and future ages from the records of the past cannot
be obtained by ourselves, without exciting displeasure in other
bosoms ; there may be circumstances which shall call forth our
concern and sorrow for the pain of a suffering fellow-creature;
but the consequences must be endured, as no part of our design,
but only accidental to it ; and the complainant may bear to be
admonished, win -th< -r, instead of casting harsh imputations upon
us, he would not be better employed in re-examining the grounds
Jind i s of his own faith, and enquiring whether all which

has been dom- in what he blames is not that cause hath 1>< •< n
.di-rinir thank* and praise to the mercy of
1 1 im another call and summons to escape from
1 forsake his

PREFACE. xix

But the Editor can make no apology for the large space which
is occupied in his history by the popish controversy, either in
regard to the views of politicians, or of Romish controversialists.

I am well aware that by the extent to which 1 have availed
myself of Fox's Acts and Monuments, I fall within the range of
such censures as that of Dr. John Milner, in which he speaks of
44 the frequent publication of John Fox's lying book of Martyrs,
with prints of men, women, and children expiring in flames ; the
nonsense, inconsistency, and falsehoods of which (he says) he had
in part exposed in his Letters to a Prebendary." I am not igno-
rant of what has been said also by Dr. J. Milner's predecessors
in the same argument, by Harpsfield, Parsons, and others. But
neither his writings nor theirs, have proved, and it never will be
proved, that John Fox is not one of the most faithful and au-
thentic of all historians. We know too much of the strength
of Fox's book, and of the weakness of those of his Romish ad-
versaries, to be further moved by Dr. John Milner's censures,
than to reject them as grossly exaggerated, and almost entirely
unsubstantial and groundless. All the many researches and dis-
coveries of later times, in regard to historical documents, by
Burnet, Strype, and many others, have only contributed to place
the general fidelity and truth of Fox's melancholy narrative on a
rock which cannot be shaken.

After all, the object nearest to the Editor's heart in compiling
this collection, has been, as he has already intimated, to consult
the benefit of the theological students in the universities, and
the younger clergy.

Lambeth, Nov. 20, 1809.

a2

POSTSCRIPT.

I M \\i yet occasion to request the reader's attention, shortly,
to another very different subject.

In the year 1802, I published " Six Letters to Granville Sharp,
Esq. respecting his Remarks on the Uses of the Definitive Ar-
ticle, in the Greek Text of the New Testament.*" 8vo. Riving-
tons. Much has been said and written for and against that pub-
lication. It would be wrong, therefore, if I were to suffer the
present opportunity to pass by, without adverting to those no-
tices ; at least, without stating whether any alteration of judg-
ment has been produced in my mind, respecting the argument
attempted in the " Six Letters," by the many censures and ani-
madversions under which those " Letters " have fallen. I am by
no means certain, that a cause of very solemn importance may
not, in a degree, have suffered, by an aversion to controversy, and
an opinion of the little account due to my adversaries, which
have kept me so long silent.

But had it been true, that the " Six Letters " had obtained a
much smaller share of the public notice, either for praise or
blame, than indeed they have, it could not but be fit, that I
should state occasionally what may be the present bearings and
estimate of my own mind, respecting the value and truth of the
argument once seriously brought forward by me, in those Let-
ters ; whether my confidence in its stability may have been, by
any means, in the interval, materially increased or diminished ;
an argument, the more interesting, at least for its assumed rela-
tion to an article of our Christian faith, of primary and funda-
mental importance.

In th«- year 1803, the Six Letters were followed by " Six more

Letters to Granvill. Sharp, Esq. on his Remarks upon the uses

ie Article in the Greek Testament, by Gregory Blunt,

POSTSCRIPT xxi

8vo. Johnson. I thought it sufficient to notice that work by
the following Letter, addressed to its Author, which appeared in
the month of June of that year, in one or two of the periodical
publications. By recording the Letter in this place, I mean it to
be understood, that I still retain the same sentiments, respecting
the " Six more Letters," which I have therein expressed.

To the Author of Six more Letters to Granville Sharp, Esq.

SIR,

THE many observations which you have bestowed upon my
" Six Letters to Granville Sharp, Esq." in your " Six more
Letters "to that gentleman, may seem to give to my readers,
and I have no great objection to say that they give to you, some
claim to be informed what impressions have been made on my
mind by your animadversions.

Your Letters then, in the first place, have in no degree lessened
my opinion of the truth of Mr. Sharp's Rule, and of the value
and importance of that discovery. It is, however, a disappoint-
ment to me, that I cannot go further ; that I cannot proceed to
say, that your researches have contributed to give additional
evidence and stability to Mr. Sharp^s theory; an event which
might perhaps have followed, had that theory found a more
learned and more logical adversary.

But, with regard to my own more particular concerns, (I speak
it, not without due deliberation, and well knowing what I say,) in
my judgment, you have not shewn, that I have been guilty of any
error, of any misrepresentation, of any false reasoning, whether
great or small, one instance of inadvertency alone excepted. It
appears, that in an extract from St. Cyril of Alexandria, (Six
Letters, page 10,) I have inserted the article TOV before xpiarov,
which does not exist in the printed text from which I quoted. In
offering our acknowledgments for a favour conferred, it is justly
accounted impolite to extenuate that favour, and to shew how
small is its value. For this detection, therefore, I beg leave,
without interposing any reserve or demur, to return you my

xxii POSTSCRIPT.

thanks. But this is all. In every other respect I maintain what
I have written, (so far, I mean, as it has been assailed by you,)
without exception or relaxation; and in no other point am I
enabl •«! to profess my obligations to you for any new stores or
materials which may contribute in anyway to the decision of the
important subject of our respective lucubrations.

Again : with so little to retract, I feel also very little inclina-
tion to recriminate ; to shew what you have, or what you have
not done ; to point out your deficiencies, errors, misrepresenta-
tions, and inconsistencies. I think indeed, that they are, all of
them, both very great and very numerous. But you have hinted
to us, that you write not for incompetent readers. " I am not
writing," you say, " for school-boys." If bales and boys do not
read your book, I shall be well contented to leave you to the
judgment and censure of others. If men are to be your readers,
I can have little concern or solicitude about them.

After these observations, it can hardly be necessary, otherwise
than for the sake of method, that I should subjoin the conclusion
to which they were intended to lead; namely, that, unless I
should be called to reconsider, defend, or retract what I have
written in my " Six Letters " by some more respectable antago-
nist, it is not my purpose to take any further notice of your
pamphlet.

I am, Sir,
Your very obedient and humble servant,

The Author of Six Letters to
Granmlle Sharp, Esq.

In the year 1805, the subject was further prosecuted from the
press, by " A Vindication of certain passages in the common
English Version of the New Testament, addressed to Granville
Sharp, Esq. by the Rev. Calvin \Vinstanley, A.M." 12mo. I,
man. Among many important mistakes, and mismterpretatioiM
of \\ritrrs referred to, from which it might be easily shewn, (as
it ha* hi'i'ii very sufficiently in one of our Monthly Journals, the
i'i<-. »'.,!• May. I sos.) that the value attributed by Mr.

POSTSCRIPT. xxiii

Winstanley to his labours originated principally in his own mis-
takes and misinterpretations, it may yet be conceded, that Mr.
Winstanley has effected more than any other writer that has yet
appeared against Mr. Sharp's theory ; not that I apprehend he
has, in the slightest degree, affected its truth or stability ; but,
in one or two particulars, his observations may perhaps tend a
little to help his readers to a clearer understanding, and a more
distinct enunciation of that theory. With regard to the " Six
Letters " of the present writer, Mr. Winstanley condemns them
as of little value. But then, many will think that he supplies us
with a criterion whereby we must be led to reckon not very highly
of the value of this particular censure, not very favourably of his
general judgment, when he tells us, that the book which he con-
demns he had never seen. After all, Mr. Winstanley's tract will
not have been without its good effects. The publication has,
doubtless, extended the knowledge of the matter in dispute ; and
it will have tended, I trust, to fix his own mind more closely to
his object ; and to impress him with higher notions of its im-
portance and difficulty. Let him permit me then to invite him,
with sentiments of considerable respect, and as a sincere fellow-
labourer in the search of truth, which I doubt not but that he
really is, to renew his efforts, to persevere in his undertaking,
and to continue to communicate, either publicly or privately,
the result of his researches.

In regard to such things as have been said or written, and not
printed, against the " Six Letters," and the argument contained
in them, it may be not unfit to be mentioned, that where the
knowledge of their existence has reached me, T have not been
backward (as the persons concerned could, if they pleased, testify),
in seeking to obtain a communication of those sentiments and
reasonings. It is not less true, however, that I have found, in
more instances than one, a readiness to speak or write against the
" Six Letters " and their Author, where there existed none to
impart to himself a knowledge of the things objected against. As
a personal concern, I should have much preferred to have passed
this matter by in silence ; but the justice due to a serious argu-

xxiv POSTSCRIPT.

ment connected with a very solemn subject, demands that I should
not altogether hold my peace.

The testimonies which have been given both in public and
private, to the value and importance of the " Six Letters" have
been exceedingly numerous. But upon these I have no disposition
to enlarge. I have always been much more solicitous to seek for
arguments against my labours upon this subject, than for com-
mendations of them. But this consideration must not withhold
me from earnestly recommending to the notice of those who wish
to prosecute the present enquiry respecting the theory of the
Greek Article, the learned and elaborate work of Dr. Middleton
on that subject. 8vo. Cadell.

Upon the whole then I desire it to be understood, that the
general argument respecting the true interpretation of certain
important texts in the New Testament, as it is comprised in the
" Six Letters," has hitherto, in my judgment, been in no respect
impaired by any thing which I have seen alleged on the other
side.

Let it be further understood, that I hereby earnestly invite
either the public or private communication of any objections
against it ;

That I beg respectfully to suggest, that no man can well be
more laudably employed than in endeavouring to rescue any doc-
trine of our religion from the rash attempts of injudicious men to
support it by false and untenable arguments ;

And, finally, that I hereby pledge myself to retract publicly
what I have written in my " Six Letters," so soon as I
shall be convinced, either by my own researches, or those of
others, that what I have there written is justly liable to that
imputation.

Nov. 20, 18011.

P.S. June 1, 1839. Nothing has occurred to the Editor, since his
la>t communications on this subject, to impair, in the slight- -t
nfideaoe in the conclusions, assumed to have 1>< • n
obtained in prosecuting the investigation above referred to.

When the keepers of the field slept, and the enemy had sown tares, and
they had choked the wheat, and almost destroyed it : when the world com-
plained of the infinite errors in the church, and being oppressed by a violent
power, durst not complain so much as they had cause ; and when they who
had cause to complain, were yet themselves very much abased, and did not
complain in all they might ; when divers excellent persons, St. Bernard,
Clemangis, Grosthead, Marsilius, and pope Adrian himself, with many others,
not to reckon Wickliffe, Hus, Hierome of Prague, the Bohemians, and the
poor men of Lyons, whom they called heretics, and confuted with fire and
sword ; when almost all Christian princes did complain heavily of the corrupt
state of the church, and of religion, and no remedy could be had, but the
very intended remedy made things much worse: then it was that divers
Christian kingdoms, and particularly the church of England, being ashamed
of the errors, superstitions, heresies, and impieties which had deturpated the
face of the church, looked into the glass of Scripture and pure antiquity, and
washed away those stains, with which time, and inadvertency, and tyranny
had besmeared her ; and, being thus cleansed, and washed, is accused by the
Roman parties of novelty, and condemned because she refuses to run into the
same excess of riot and deordination. — But we cannot deserve blame who
return to our ancient and first health, by preferring a new cure before an old
sore.

BISHOP TAYLOR.

CONTENTS.

VOL. I.

PAGE

I. INTRODUCTION. The British Church and the Anglican . Inett. I

II. . King Henry II. ; and Archbishop Becket. Inett.- 29

III. . National Churches. — Papal Usurpations on the

Rights of the Civil Government Inett. 59

IV. . King John, the Barons, and Pope Innocent the

Third Inett. 77

V. . Papal Usurpations in Church and State : Origin

and Progress of. — General Recapitulation . . . . , Inett. 132

VI. . Doctrinal Corruptions of Popery . . Eentley. 147

VII. JOHN WICKLIFFE Fox. 165

VIII. WILLIAM THORPE Fox. 259

IX. LORD COBHAM Fox. 351

X. SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. — Invention of Printing. — Chaucer
and Gower. — Progress of Reformation and of Persecution. —

Martin Luther Fox. 403

XI. DEAN COLET (from the Phoenix) Erasmus. 433

XII. CARDINAL WOLSEY, by Cavendish, his Gentleman Usher : a
New and complete edition, from Manuscripts in the Lambeth
and other Libraries ... . 459

VOL. II.

I. THOMAS BILNEY Fox. 1

II. SIR THOMAS MORE ; now first published, from a Manuscript in

the Lambeth Library, the Author unknown 43

III. WILLIAM TIN DALL Fox. 187

IV. CROMWELL, EARL OF ESSEX Fox. 219

V. JOHN ROGERS . Fox. 303

VI. BISHOP HOOPER Fox. 355

VII. DOCTOR ROWLAND TAYLOR Fox. 405

VIII. BISHOP LATIMER . Fox. 445

xxviii CONTENTS.

VOL. III.

PAGE

I. BISHOP RIDLEY Fox. 1

II. ARCHBISHOP CRANMER Fox. 129

III. THOMAS MOUNTAIN Strype. 283

IV. BISHOP JEWEL Anonymous. 315

V. BERNARD GILPIN Bishop Carleton. 375

VI. RICHARD HOOKER Isaac Walton. 441

VII. ARCHBISHOP WHITGIFT Sir George Paul. 555

VIII. DOCTOR JOHN DONNE Isaac Walton. 631

VOL. IV.

I. GEORGE HERBERT Isaac Walton. 1

II. SIR HENRY WOTTON Isaac Walton. 65

III. NICHOLAS FERRAR Dr. Peckard. 117

IV. BISHOP HALL Himself. 265

V. DR. HENRY HAMMOND Bishop Fell. 327

VI. BISHOP SANDERSON Isaac Walton. 409

VII. RICHARD BAXTER Himself. 489

VIII. SIR MATTHEW HALE Bishop Burnet. 521

IX. EARL OF ROCHESTER Bishop Burnet. 599

X. ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON Anonymous. 677

INDEX

LIST OF PLATES.

VOL. I.— WICLIF Frontispiece.

VOL. II. — CARDINAL WOLSBY Frontispiece.

VOL. III. — BISHOP RIDLEY Frontispiece.

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER To face page 129.

VOL. IV.— BISHOP JEWEL Frontispiece.

INTRODUCTION

FROM

DR. JOHN INETT AND DR. RICHARD BENTLEY,

VOL.

" Equidem fontes unde hauriretis, atque etiam itinera ipsa putavi esse
demonstranda."

CICERO.

INTRODUCTION.

THE BRITISH CHURCH; AND THE ANGLICAN1.

THOUGH truth is a blessing which God has laid open and in
common to mankind, and they who consider the nature of man,
and the great purposes for which he is sent into the world cannot
but own, that every one has the same right, and is under the
same obligation, to embrace truth and reject error, as to make a
right use of his natural faculties, or to believe and obey God, and
to take care of his own salvation ; and though this is so evident
that if they who plead for an implicit faith, did not at the same
time offer us marks of the true church and the infallible guide,
and in so doing make every private Christian a judge in the
greatest and most perplexed controversy in religion, and appeal
to the reason which they call us to resign, and by contradicting
themselves become the jest, they would fall under a different cha-
racter, and be treated as the common enemies of mankind ; — yet
it must be owned, that it is a strange deference and veneration
which some men pay to the understanding and usages of their
ancestors. They will not see, if their fathers happened to live in
the dark ; refuse truth, if it had not been offered to them ; and
venture their salvation upon the credit of their wisdom, who
wanted opportunities to be sufficiently informed ; and even they
choose error if it has but the colour of antiquity to recommend it.
And which is stranger still, as if there was some particular charm

1 The Anglican.'] From " Origines Anglicana, or, a History of the English
Church, hy John Inett, D.D. Chanter and Canon Residentiary of the
Cathedral Church of Lincoln. Fol. 2 vols. 1710. Oxford." Being the
Preface to Vol. ii.

B2

4 THE BRITISH CHURCH;

in proximity of blood, error in the possession of their immediate
ancestors has the advantages of truth at a distance ; and the
dark, illiterate, and corrupted, are by some Christians preferred
to the more knowing and purer ages of the Church. And it is so
difficult to set men right who go wrong out of choice, that he who
attempts to undeceive them is more likely to fall under their dis-
pleasure, and be thought their enemy for telling them the truth,
than to convince and bring them to retract their errors.

But if some men add obstinacy to their mistakes nothing can
be more reasonable than that they who never received, or, upon
better information, have forsaken the mistakes, should be just to
truth, and guard the honour of their religion from the censures
and reproaches of those who unhappily mistake and pervert it.
Our enemies know too much to trust their cause to the decision
of that rule which ought to determine all the controversies of the
( 'hri.-tian Church ; take refuge in antiquity, and hope for the pro-
tection amongst men, which God and his word have denied them ;
and when we plead Scriptures, boldly reply, that the doctrines
which they now maintain are the same that our ancestors rece
with their Christianity; and the authority which they chall-
no other than what these submitted to. Although there is no
weight in arguments of this kind, but such as may with equal force
serve the interest of Judaism against our common Christianity.
and of paganism against them both; yet the better to imd<
men in their own way, by removing the popular objections from
antiquity which commonly mislead them, I have ever thought that
a fair ami impartial history of the corrupt doctrines of the church
of Rome would he the best answer to the antiquity pretended for
tin-in, and just views of the time when, and the unworthy an
which, they gained a power over the Western churches, would he
the best, and all the apology that was necessary to justify their
rejecting of it. This consideration seems to have directed the
labours of that un-cat prelate1 who wrote the history of the
British church, and the same views have hern tin- n'uide to the
continuati.r thereof.

Tlii- case of the lirif^h church is so fully accounted f.»r 1>\ the
aforesaid ^relate, that I shall say nothing of it; and what

1 That yreat prelate.'] Bishop Stillin^fleet ; in his " Oriyinfs Britmi,
or. the Antiquities of tiio British Churehes. 1685. Fol." By "the Conti-
nual. UTS to himself, and to the work of which the
extract before us is the Preface i 1 volume.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 5

already been observed1 in the history of the first ages of the
English church, will render it needless to say more to justify the
doctrine of our Holy Mother ; except only to remind the reader,
that the missionaries from Rome, who bore a part in the con-
versions of our ancestors, suffered them to bring some of their
pagan corruptions and superstitious practices along with them
into the church. Yet they maintained the doctrine of Gregory
the Great who forbade the worship of images ; and God was the
only object of their worship. They followed the ancients in their
prayers to him to consummate the happiness of departed souls,
but knew nothing of praying them out of purgatory. Their
Homilies2 are full and express against the doctrine of transubstan-
tiation. They translated the Holy Scriptures into the vulgar
tongue, and by their canons required the reading of them. They
forbade private masses, and required and practised the adminis-
tration of the sacrament in both kinds. And if Lanfrank and
the Norman clergy made any change in the doctrine of the blessed
sacrament, it went no further than private opinion, till the council
of Lateran, in the beginning of the thirteenth century. That of
Constance in the fifteenth shows us when, and by what authority
the practice of administering the sacrament in one kind was first
established. The original of chantries in England in the thirteenth
century shows when the doctrine of purgatory was received. That
of infallibility arose out of the claims of an universal pastorship,
first broached by Gregory the Seventh in the latter end of the
eleventh century, but sped in England as it did in France, and
was never received. In short, if the world had a just history of

1 Already been observed.'] That is, in the author's preceding volume.

3 Their Homilies.'] So Archbishop Parker, in his portion of " The Defence
of Priests' Marriages." "But, in God's name, why should they make this
their doctrine of transubstantiation, and the gross presence to be so new, that
Berengarius must be the first author declaring against it ? Whereas ancient
records prove the true doctrine was urged and appointed both for priests in
their synods, for the religious in their collations, for the common people in
their ordinary exhortations, and expressed in Homilies of a great number,
extant in Saxon speech for all the festival days in the year, which written were
so used many a year before Berengarius was born or heard of. So that the
bishops of old may as well be charged to be Calvinists, if the assertion be
so considered, as the bishop of Sarum" (Jewell), " or any bishops at these
days." p. 336. 4to. black letter. Some of these Homilies were published
under the encouragement of the archbishop, by Fox the martyrologist, A.D.
1571. 4to. See also 1 Inett, p. 348—55, and 366, 7.

6 THE BRITISH CHURCH ;

popery, they would have great reason to repent their rashness,
who plead antiquity for it, and put their cause upon that issue.
And the many new doctrines first established by the council of
Trent so fully confirm the truth of this assertion, that I shall
think it needless to say more upon this head ; nor had I said this
but by showing the reader that these doctrines fall not in the
compass of my present design, to account for the reason of my
silence respecting them in the following history.

In this volume I have endeavoured to perform what I promised
to the public in my last ; that is, to give a just view of the English
church for some time after the Norman revolution ; and, in par-
ticular, of the rise and steps of the papal power, and the changes,
as well in the government of the state as the church, which
attended it. And because the controversies about investitures,
the legantine power, the right of appeals, the exemption of the
religious from the authority of their bishops, and both of them
and the clergy from the civil power, and about the patronage of
the crown, give the best light to the government and discipline of
the ancient English church, and show us when and how a ch<
was gradually introduced ; and show that this of England was
much the same case as that of other churches abroad, which, by
the same men, and by the same arts, and about the same time1.
were broken and subdued to that of Rome; I have therefore
thought myself obliged to be more full and particular in observing
the steps and conduct of those long disputes. And indeed, how-
ever these controversies pass under other titles, the subject of
them was neither more nor less than whether the kings of England
should continue, or the bishops of Rome should be raised to the
head of the national church? whether the bishops of England
might act up to their character and the canons of the universal
church; or whether the bishops of Rome might supersede the
commission of Christ, and at pleasure control the authority of His
church? whether they should govern the church of Rome as
bishops; or, as monarchs and sovereign princes, should pr<

;he universal church \

Nor was England the only scene of controversy; but from the
pontificate of (JreM-ory the Seventh, in the latter end of the
el. -\.-nth century, when the pretence to an universal pastorship
was first broached, till the time of pope Innocent the Third in the
beginning of the thirteenth, when the authority of the bishops of
Home arrived at it> utmost h.-ight of grandeur and elevation, the

AND THE ANGLICAN. 7

history of the Western churches is little else but one continued
scene of strife and contention : one long struggle betwixt the
bishops of Rome endeavouring to raise themselves, and the princes
and bishops of the West to guard their kingdoms and churches
from their usurpation and encroachments. This was so much
the case of England, and the artifices and attempts of the bishops
of Rome, in pursuance of the aforesaid design, make so great a
part in our history, that it is impossible to give a just view of the
English church, without observing the measures and conduct of
those prelates, whose ambition and designs did about this time
occasion so much trouble, and in the event drew so many mischiefs
on the church and nation.

It is but too evident, that the bishops of Rome did in time
gain a jurisdiction over the English church ; and this has been
industriously misrepresented, and so artfully covered with the
pretence of antiquity, as to deceive some, and raise doubts and
scruples in the minds of others : and this pretence was first made
use of, to prevent and embarrass all the steps to the Reformation,
and ever since to reproach us with a charge of schism l. Besides,
not only the doctrines of infallibility and necessity of communion
with the church of Rome, but all those doctrines which properly
fall under the head of popery, arise out of the claims or depend
upon the authority of the see of Rome, and stand and fall with
them; and the honour and justice of the Reformation do in
some measure turn upon the same foot. I shall therefore, the
better to set these matters in a true light, ask the reader's leave
to make some historical remarks on the ground and progress of
the claims of the court of Rome, which for the reasons above, do
necessarily take up so much room in the following history.

The unparalleled assurance with which some men challenge a
power, which, like the rivers of paradise, encompasses the whole
earth, extends to the other world, and determines the future state
of mankind ; which in many instances pretends to control the
authority of God, to allow what He forbids, and forbid what He
allows ; to set up itself as a standard of truth and error, and the
last resort of justice ; — would tempt one to think, that a claim
which at once shocks the natural notions of God and religion, and

1 Charge of Schism.'] That the church of England was not guilty of schism
in her Reformation, see 4 Christian Institutes, p. 312 — 24. 334 — 9. 358, 9-
Jewell and n.

8 THE BRITISH CHURCH ;

the common sense of mankind, should have the most express
authority of God, or at least something to colour so extraordinary
a pretence. But how wretchedly is one disappointed, who finds
all this founded on nothing but upon some occasional discourses
of our Saviour with St. Peter, or some particular advices and
reproofs addressed to that apostle, but so far from giving the least
colour to the claims built upon them, that it is hard to say
whether they who found them here, or they who carry us to the
history of the creation, and undertake the proof from God's
making two great lights1, have the greater advantage in the
argument.

If one looks to the commission which our Saviour gave to His
apostles in His lifetime, to preach to the Jewish nation, exclusive
both of the Gentiles and Samaritans ; or to that after His resur-
rection when all power both in heaven and earth was given to
Him, to go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature, and finds not the least mark of any particular power
U'iven to St. Peter; if one considers, that although Christ as
God-man was the great lawgiver to His church, yet this power was
founded in His divine nature, and was essential to and inseparable
from the person of the Mediator ; that as a prophet He came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister ; that it was this ministerial
and prophetic power a which He committed to His church ; \\
so much to seek for the regalia of St. Peter, that if history did
not explain the secret, the Christian church had in probability
been as little acquainted with the pretended powers of the
bishops of Rome, as the patriarchs were who lived before the
flood.

Hut it is so natural to men who make their fortunes in the
world, to indulge a vanity, and the better to cover the meanness
of their original, to look backward to find or make a pedurn
add a lustre to the family which them>el\e> iir>t raised, that we
are not to wonder if the bishops of Rome took the same i
and endeavoured to persuade the world, that the authority which

1 Two great lights.'] " They have indeed found the Pope" (says Bar
"in the first chapter of Genesis, ver. 16; for, if we believe I*. Innocent III.,
he is one of the two great luminaries there; and he is as plainly there, as any
where else in the Bible." Harrow on the Pope's Supremacy; or Christian
'fs. vol. iv. p. I'll. sv<». 1837.

rr,j,hetic power in Christian Institutes, vol. i. }<

and Barrow, in the same collection, vol. ii. p. 398.

AND THE ANGLICAN.

was first gained by their own conduct, was founded in the com-
mission of Christ. And the sense and practice of the whole
Christian church, for a thousand years after Christ, do so fully
confirm this conjecture, that there is no one thing more evident,
than that the aforesaid claims, and the wrested interpretation of
Scriptures on which they are built, had the same beginning, and
were ushered into the world by that ambition which first broached
the pretence to an universal pastorship.

And the success and credit thereof has been answerable to the
weakness of the pretence ; for at least two-thirds of the Christian
world rejected as well the aforesaid interpretations, as the doc-
trines which were built upon them : and those Christians who
have been unhappily deceived by the assurance with which the
court of Rome has endeavoured to impose their pretensions, do
still differ so much about them, that if a visible interest did not
enable us to account for it, one would wonder how such great
bodies of Christians should centre in the communion of a church,
when the principles on which that unity is founded, so vastly
differ, or rather so directly destroy one another, that it may be
truly said of the claims of the court of Rome, that they have had
the fate which commonly attends impostures, which seldom need
any thing else to detect and expose them, but the inconsistent
tales which are usually made for their colour and support. For
a primacy of order, an universal pastorship by divine right, and
an authority over the Western church in right of the patriarchate
of Rome, are so many several things so widely distant in their
own original, their nature and extent, that if they do not flatter
themselves, who tell us that the Spanish and Italian churches
maintain the supremacy, and in consequence thereof the infallibility
of the bishops of Rome by divine right, the Gallican church is
certainly in the wrong, and guilty of heresy in denying both ; but
if the French are in the right, the charge of heresy will with
equal force turn back on the Spanish and Italian churches.

If a more favourable construction be put upon this controversy
betwixt those churches, it may be, it will appear much more to
the disadvantage of those claims which occasion it ; for if they
who boast so much of the zeal of the Spaniards for the grandeur of
the papacy, would follow them to their dominions in Italy, and
observe the jurisdiction which they challenge and exercise in the
right of the crown of Naples, and call to mind the vigorous efforts
of their bishops, as well as of the French and Germans, in the

10 THE BRITISH CHURCH;

council of Trent, for the divine right of episcopal residence and
the consequences of that doctrine ; or consider their friendship
and communion with the Gallican church, which so openly denies
and confutes the supremacy of the bishops of Rome, — they can-
not easily be persuaded that the Spaniards are such friends to
those claims as some men seem to believe. And one who reflects
on the conduct of the Portuguese, upon that revolution which
brought the present royal family to the crown of Portugal, with
what steadiness and resolution they opposed the attempts of the
court of Rome, to gain a part in the nomination of their bish
that notwithstanding the unsettled state of the new government,
the vigorous attempts of the Spaniards to reduce that kingdom
to their obedience, and the utmost inconveniences which their
church suffered by that dispute, — yet for above twenty years they
maintained their ground, and at last secured the rights of the.
crown, — will be apt to think, that the bigotry of that people is
not such a blind and governable thing as some men seem to
imagine. And indeed the conduct of all the Western princes in
communion with the church of Rome is so much alike, whei.
their interests call them to dispute the claims of the court of
Rome, as might convince the world that they mean no more by
the pompous titles they bestow upon the bishops of Rome,
than what the emperor Phocas intended, when he conferred
upon them the title of oecumenical bishops ; or the preceding
emperors, when in their edicts and rescripts they gave the same
titles to the bishops of the greater sees. And the unsuccessful
attempts of those prelates to put an end to the disputes betwixt
the Dominicans and Franciscans, the Jansenists and the Jesuits.
and even to quiet the trifling squabbles, where the sentim«
the honour, the offices, or the privileges of particular orders are
concerned, would incline one to think, that the universal pa-
ship has little credit amongst those who are under the ohli^a'
of vows and interest to support it.

Whatever the present sense of some Western churches may
l>e in this particular, nothing can be more evident, than that all
the apo>tles and all the first ( 'hristian bishops consulted and a-
in common '. and ever treated OTIC another as coll. -a trues (-md
lin-t lii-en ; that the government and discipline of the whole

1 In common.] See Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy ; or Christian Insti-
tutes, vol. iii. p. ~2('>7

AND THE ANGLICAN. 11

Christian church was founded on a belief of an equality of cha-
racter and power, common to the whole order of bishops ; that
several popes in their disputes with the African bishops founded
their claim on a pretended canon of the council of Nice ; that
when the title of universal bishop was first given to the patriarch
of Constantinople, Gregory the Great founded his arguments
against that title> not on any particular right of his own see, but
on the indignity thereby offered to the whole order of bishops : to
say no more, — the grounds upon which the councils of Nice,
Chalcedon and Constantinople, settle the patriarchal dignities
are so certain, so full and uncontrollable an evidence of the sense
of the whole Christian church, against the universal pastorship of
the bishops of Rome by divine right, that if some men's ambition
had not extinguished all sense of truth and modesty, and some
corruptions in doctrine and worship, which depend chiefly on the
authority of the see of Rome, had not disposed others to favour
the pretensions which at once shelter their errors and serve some
unworthy ends, I make no doubt but the claims of that court
had long since been exploded, as the worst grounded and the
most dangerous imposture that was ever offered to the Christian
world.

The Gallican church pretends to steer a middle course, be-
twixt a bare primacy of order by canon, and the supreme authority
over the church, or the universal pastorship by divine right ; and
yet in the decrees of their general assembly in the year 1682,
wherein that church has published her sentiments on that sub-
ject, they treat of it in such a manner, as if they designed to
mortify the power which they pretend to advance ; to justify the
churches which are already reformed ; and open the way to the
reformation of that of France. For whilst they assert the pri-
macy of St. Peter and his successors by the institution of Christ,
speak of the majesty of the apostolic see and the obedience due
to the bishops of Rome from all Christians, they renounce the
authority of the Church in temporal matters ; they confirm the
council of Constance, the 4th and 5th sessions especially, which
subject the bishops of Rome even to be deposed by a general
council ; deny their infallibility in matters of faith ; and bound
their authority in matters of discipline, not only by the canons of
the Christian church, but by the rules, customs, and institutions
of states and national churches ; and found these decrees on the

12 THE BRITISH CHURCH;

authority derived to them from the Holy Ghost. How consistent
these decrees are with themselves or with the usages of the Gal-
lican church, I shall leave others to determine ; but if there can
be such a visionary primacy as is consistent with the natural
rights of princes, the canons of the universal church, the just
liberties of national churches, and the authority of Christian
bishops, there seems no more reason to quarrel about it, than to
make war upon the king of Spain for his title of king of Jerusa-
lem ; or undertake to confute the claims of a certain prince who
calls himself the emperor of the Sun : in short, whatever occa-
sioned or whatever be the issue of these decrees, I cannot but
say of them as St. Paul does on a like occasion, whether of truth
and good-will, or out of contention, yet Christ is preached, and I
glory in it. For the sense of this council is so agreeable to the
sentiments of the greatest writers of that nation, who with in-
comparable learning and judgment have confuted the supremacy
of the bishops of Rome, and does so much overbalance what
can be pretended from the contrary sense of the Spanish and
Italian churches, and at the same time does so fully assert the
independence of the Gallican church, and thereby justify the con-
duct of the reformed churches, and open a way to the reforma-
tion of a church which has made so open and so vigorous a step
toward it, — that one cannot but hope that it may in time pro-
duce great effects for the good of Christendom.

They who give up the aforesaid claims as indefensible by
M-ripture and the best antiquity, and found their hopes in the
patriarchal institution !, and upon this foot challenge the obe-
dience of the Western churches, have some colour for their pre-
tensions. Hut unless this argument be carried beyond its due
length, the controversy on this head would be confined to the
bounds of Italy, and no way deserve the reflections of an Kn^lish
historian. Yet because this institution leads to the true original
of the authority of those prelates, who suffered their ingratitude
to keep equal paces with their ambition, and in time disowned
the trust which was the first step to their succeeding -jrrat
and to tlii> day continues to be the most colourable pretence for
it ; to set this matter in a just light, it may he fit to observe the

1 Thc.pr, ' See Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy ; or

Christian Institutes, vol. iii. p. 370 — 3.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 13

original, the nature, the extent and consequences of this institu-
tion, before I come to consider the sense of the English church
and nation in the matter under question.

The gospel having made a great progress in the empire, the
fathers of the church began very early to suit the policy and dis-
cipline thereof to the form of the civil government *, and by silent
consent yielded a superiority to the bishops of the greater sees ;
and the success of this change answering the expected ends, the
first council of Nice settled it by canon, and leaving the metro-
politans, or the bishops of the metropolis, in possession of the
power which had before been allowed by silent consent and con-
firmed by usage, they made a farther step, still acting upon the
same view, the plan of the civil government. During the in-
fancy of the Roman empire, the court of the prefect of Rome
was the last resort of justice, and appeals were brought thither
from the utmost parts of the empire ; but to render the methods
of justice more easy, the succeeding emperors changed this
course and divided their dominions into districts, which, from the
title of prefects given to the persons who presided in them, came
in time to be termed prefectures. And after several changes,
about the reign of Constantine the Great, Rome, Antioch, Alex-
andria, and Treves, were set out for the residence of their pre-
fects, and for the supreme courts of justice to all the adjacent
provinces. Rome to some parts of Italy and Africa ; Antioch
to the eastern provinces ; Alexandria to Egypt, Libya, and the
neighbouring provinces of the empire ; Treves to Britain, Spain,
and Gaul. From this platform the bounds of the church and
the empire being much the same, the bishops of Rome, Antioch,
and Alexandria, were by the consent of the church raised above
the rest by the council of Nice ; and upon the same grounds,
after the building of Constantinople and settling it as a new seat
of the empire, next in honour and precedence to Rome, and
styled New Rome, the bishops thereof were by the council of
Constantinople raised to the second place in the church. Jeru-
salem, before subject to Antioch, as the mother church of Chris-
tendom was upon that ground considered by the same council ;
and as the bishops thereof were the only prelates advanced above

1 The civil government. ~] See Hooker, b. vii. c. viii. § 7. Keble's edition;
and Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy ; or Christian Institutes, vol. iii.
p. 269—73.

14 THE BRITISH CHURCH;

their brethren on the foot of our common Christianity, they seem
to have much the fairest claim to the eminence of authority,
which they of Rome only pretend to.

Things being thus settled by the councils of Nice and Con-
stantinople, about the time of the council of Chalcedon in the
following century, the bishops of those churches acquired the
title of patriarchs, and their districts of patriarchates ; their
sees were styled apostolical, and so great a deference was paid to
their persons, that the emperors in their rescripts address to
them under the title of holiness, and style them oecumenical pa-
triarchs ; and in the seventh Novel of Justinian, tit. i. that
prince addresses Epiphanius, then bishop of Constantinople, not
only under the title of most holy and blessed archbishop and
patriarch of that city, (as the bishops of Rome were usually
called patriarchs of the city of Rome,) but adds as a distinct
title, that of oecumenical patriarch.

Treves, the chief seat of the Gallic prefecture, though equally
within the reason and grounds of this establishment when it was
first projected, had yet no part therein. But this seems owinu
not to any oversight or omission, much less to any design to open
a way to the pretensions of the bishops of Rome, (for the whole
course of this affair, and the part which those prelates acted
therein, oblige one to believe those pretences were not at this
time so much as thought of by any side,) but was occasioned by
the circumstances of that part of the Roman empire. For Gaul,
which was the name the Romans gave to that vast tract of land
lying betwixt the Alps and the Pyreneans, the Mediterranean, the
Ocean, and the Rhine, was exceedingly infested by the irruptions
of the French and Almans, the Vandals, Alans, "JJurgiindians.
the Sueves, and Visigoths ; and the French gained such footing
therein, that after a succession of some lesser princes, the Fri-m-h
monarchy was settled by Pharamond about the year 420.

Pretty near the same time the Vandals seated themselves in
Spain, as the Saxons did in Britain about the middle of that
century, and the whole empire received such a shock in the
taking of Koine l»y tin- (ioths in the bt'^inninn' of the same
that although the emperors continued their titles to these K
duin-;. \et the\ were never recovered to the empire, and w< n
torn of!' from it before the iinal settlement of the patriarchal
power in the council of Chalcedon. The kingdoms about the
Ualtic were never subdued l.y the Roman.-; and the impression-

AND THE ANGLICAN. 15

which they made upon Germany were so far short of a perfect
conquest, that it may more properly be said, that that country
added a bare title to the emperors, rather than enlarged the
bounds of their dominions. — These few reflections make it easy
to conceive how it came to pass, that the western and northern
kingdoms were so little considered, or rather not thought of at
all, by those councils which settled the patriarchal institution.
But if they had, those nations had certainly fallen within the
patriarchate designed to answer the Gallic prefecture ; and
Treves, not Rome, had been the seat of it ; and even if Britain,
France, arid Spain had been laid into the patriarchate of Rome,
I make no doubt but the same authority which first settled, would
have put an end to this institution, had those who formed it
lived to see the empire torn to pieces, and in that change the
reason entirely extinguished upon which it was founded. And
since God only, who sees things that are not as if they were, can
give such laws as shall be for ever binding ; since there is not a
nation or a church in the world, which has not great numbers of
laws and canons grown obsolete by change of circumstances ;
and this is the case of many canons of general councils, and
of that of the apostles " to abstain from blood," and even of the
whole ritual law, and must of necessity be the case of all human
constitutions, the obligation ever ceasing with the reason on which
they are grounded ; nothing can be more evident than this propo-
sition, that it is the interest of a party, not the weight of argu-
ment, which supports the pretended patriarchal power of the
bishops of Rome. In short, they have as good a title to be
kings as patriarchs of Great Britain, and might with a better
colour challenge the crown from the void resignation of King
John, than pretend to an authority over the English church, by
virtue of those canons which settled the patriarchal power.

But though the authority of that institution is long since de-
termined with the reason of it, yet it had such good effect in the
East, that if it had been carried to the intended lengths in the
West, and a patriarchate settled there to answer the Gallic pre-
fecture, in all probability it would have prevented the mischiefs
the Western churches have suffered by the claims of the bishops
of Rome. But so it was, that whilst the Eastern churches were
so well guarded thereby, that notwithstanding the shock they
received by the conquest of the Latins in the beginning of the
thirteenth century, and the pretended submission of the Greek to

16 THE BRITISH CHURCH;

the Latin church in the council of Florence, the Greek churches
preserve their rights and liberties to this day : — God, for rea
best known to himself, left the Western churches open and un-
guarded, and in time suffered them to become a prey to the am-
bition of the bishops of Rome.

For these prelates, being thus raised in that capacity to
first place in the Christian church, were exceedingly elated by
their new character ; and the way being thus prepared. a ureat
many things fell to favour their ambition. The zeal and resolution
of those prelates in opposing the Arian heresy brightened their
character. The countenance which pope Zachary and Stephen
gave to the deposition of Childeric king of the Franks, and
setting up the Carlo vingian line, so engaged the princes of that
house, that by their interest the Gallican church was united to
that of Borne the latter end of the eighth century. The transla-
tion of the empire to the Franks, wherein pope Stephen and Leo
acted a part, was returned by Charlemagne in conferring ^reat
wealth, and power, and privileges on the see of Rome ; and the
bishops thereof were thereby raised to the state of temporal
princes about the year 800.

The afflictions which fell upon Christendom by those inundations
which tore the empire in pieces, did indeed lessen their merit, but
raised their power and interest. For those invasions in a great
measure bore down the religion, and extinguished the learning
and for some time spread paganism through all the \V.
nations ; and the bishops of Rome having a hand in the conversion
of these invaders, suffered them to bring a great deal of their
pagan doctrine and superstitious worship along with them into
the church; treated them as the Jesuits have lately done their
converts in China ; and became popular by indulging and defending
their errors. The purity of the gospel being thus corrupted, and
the discipline and ancient government of the church in
men-lire forgotten, great numbers of forged epistles were publi-
to raise :i belief of the ancient power and privileges of those pre-
lates; and though now rejected by the most learned men1 of that
communion, yet they passed for true history in the au«'> \vher.-in
they were pnl.li>hed. and in ^reat measure answered the purposes
for uhirh they were designed.

"mo*/ learned men.] See Joannis Morini Vita, in his Antiquitates
Ecclfsia: Orientulis, . v. vi. 1703.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 17

But still, though they made a great figure in the West, it yet
went little farther than parade and show. Their power was pre-
carious and uncertain, ruffled and checked at pleasure ; and the
canons of the church turned against them by every private bishop.
In short, their authority was controlled and denied, and even
insulted, whenever it bore too hard on the rights of princes, synods,
and national churches. And thus things continued till Gregory
the Seventh, in the latter end of the eleventh century, published
his design to erect the ecclesiastical monarchy. And indeed,
whilst the church of Rome continued in a state of dependence on
the empire, and the bishops thereof were nominated, or at least
their elections confirmed by the emperors, and did not enter upon
the pontifical authority till they were qualified for it by an oath of
allegiance to them; — it was impossible they should ever raise
themselves to a sovereign power over other national churches ; for
nothing could be so wild and ridiculous as to challenge the title of
mistress and mother of other churches, when she was not mistress
of herself; or to pretend to separate other churches from a
dependence on the supreme authority of states and kingdoms,
whilst that of Rome itself remained in a state of dependence on
the empire. And the long disputes betwixt the emperors and the
bishops of Rome on that subject, begun by Gregory the Seventh,
put it beyond all doubt, that this was the case of that church
when that prelate * was raised to the papal chair.

Having said thus much, to give a short view of the claims and
pretensions of the bishops of Rome, and the first steps they made
towards the supreme jurisdiction and sovereign power which they
gained in time over the Western churches ; I come now to con-
sider the state and sense of the English church in particular.
And here it will be requisite to observe,

I. The nature and extent of the supremacy or sovereign juris-
diction those prelates pretend to. I shah1 not lead the reader to
the dictates or maxims of Pope Gregory the Seventh, or to the
boundary set out by the canon law, or by the council of Trent,
but observe the nature and extent thereof whilst received in
England, or as now exercised in some other churches of the West.
And this consisted in confirming the elections of archbishops and
bishops ; putting them in possession of their respective trusts ;
and, in return, receiving an oath of canonical obedience from

1 When that prelate.'] April 22, 1073.
VOL. i. e

18 THE BRITISH CHURCH;

them ; calling them to councils abroad, and to national synods at
home ; discharging places and persons from their jurisdiction, and
receiving appeals from their courts ; exempting the persons of
the clergy from the authority, and their revenues from the impo-
sitions of the state ; and subjecting both these to themselves,
exempting the lands of some of the religious from payment of
tithes ; and subjecting as well them as the secular clergy to first-
fruits, tenths, pensions, and subsidies imposed by themseh<>.
There are some other instances wherein those prelates exercised
a sovereign power over the English church, but they are brain- lies
from these greater articles, and must stand or fall with them. —
This being said of the nature and subjects of the supremacy of
the bishops of Borne, it will be fit to proceed and enquire,

II. How far the ancient English church was affected by it.
And here we are to observe, that although one part of the
English nation owed its conversion to the see of Rome, and all
the rest complied in some of the rites and usages thereof ; and
the archbishops did sometimes receive their palls from thence ;
and the whole English church paid a great deal of deference to
the bishops of that see ; — yet in all our histories and records,
from the first planting of the Gospel amongst the Britons1 to the

1 Amongst the EritonsJ] See Bishop Stillingfleet's Origines Britannica,
chap. iii. p. 99 — 144. (The Just Rights of the British Churches cleared.) — No
evidence that they were under the Roman patriarchate; and chap. v. p. 356 — 64.
(Independence of the British Churches, evinced by their conduct towards
Augustine the Monk.) So the learned Sir Roger Twisden, in his excellent
work, An Historical Vindication of the Church of England, in point of Schism.
1675, 4to, p. 7, says, "As the Britons are not read to have yielded any sub-
jection to the Papacy, so neither is Rome noted to have taken any notice of
them. For Gregory the Great, about 590, being told certain children were
de Britannia insula, did not know whether the country were Christian or
Pagan. And when Augustine came hither (598), and demanded their obe-
dience to the Church of Rome, the abbot of Bangor returned him answer,
' that they were obedient to the church of God, to the pope of Rome, and to
every godly Christian to love every one in his degree in charity, to help
thi-m in word and deed to be the children of God; and other obedience than
this tlu-y did not know to be due to him, whom he named to be pope, and to
be father of fathers.' . . . And it appears by Giraldus Cambrensis, this
i the two churches continued long, even till Henry II. (1185)
induced their submission by force; before which ' i-piscopi Walli;r a
Menevensi antistite sunt consecrati, et ipse similiter ab aliis tanquam suffra-
ganeis est consecratus, nulla penitus alii ecclesiae facta professione vel subjec-
tione ;' the generality of which words must be construed to have reference

AND THE ANGLICAN. 19

Norman revolution, there is not so much as a single instance of
any one bishop whose election was confirmed by those of Rome,
or put in possession of his trust, or tied to them by an oath of
canonical obedience ; of any council called in England by their
authority ; or bishop called to their councils abroad ; of any per-
son or society exempted from the authority of their proper
bishops; or of any appeal made from their courts, to that of
Rome ; of any tenth, first-fruits, or subsidies paid to or imposed
by them : in short, there is not any law of the state, nor any
canon of the church, that gives the least countenance to the pre-
tended authority of the bishops of Rome ; there is not the least
mark of any jurisdiction or authority exercised by them over the
ancient English church. And one who considers, that jurisdiction
is a plain and a sensible thing, and appears so evidently in canons
and matters of fact ; that church discipline and forms of eccle-
siastical business do as certainly discover the seat and boundaries
of ecclesiastical power, as the style of laws and forms of justice
set out the nature of civil government, and enable us to distinguish
a monarchy from a commonwealth ; — should, one would think,
need nothing more than the entire silence of our history to clear
the matter under question.

If this be not enough to give us a just view of the sense and
practice of the English church in this particular, it may be fit to
observe, that when the legate of the bishop of Rome, Boniface
archbishop of Mentz, by whose address the princes of the Car-
lo vingian line were wrought upon to subject, or at least to unite,
the Gallican church to that of Rome, in an epistle to Cuthbert
archbishop of Canterbury attempted to bring the English church
to the like condition ; the council of Cloveshoe in the year 747
not only rejected the offer with resentment, but by an express
canon l asserted the freedom and independency thereof. Besides,
as our history does not afford one single instance in favour of the

as well to Rome as Canterbury. For, a little after, he shows that though
Augustine called them to council as a legate of the apostolic see, yet returned
they did proclaim they would * not acknowledge him an archbishop, but did
contemn both himself and what he had established.' ' I confess,' says he
again, f that it has ever seemed to me (and he alleges his reasons) that they
received the first principles of their Christianity from Asia.' " — Ibid. p. 7.

1 An express canon. ~\ The Acts of the council (see 1 Wilkins's Concilia,
p. 90 — 100) do not seem to warrant this strong expression. I do not see
that much can be concluded from them either way.

c 2

20 THE BRITISH CHURCH;

papal claims, so, on the contrary, they are full and express on the
side of the royal supremacy. The kings of England acted as the
supreme ordinaries and heads of the national church ; and, as such,
set out and divided dioceses ; named their bishops and received
appeals from their courts ; convened national councils ; and by
their laws settled the revenues of the church ; directed the con-
duct, and -punished all offences of the clergy against the state ;
and, as occasion required, subjected their revenues to the support
of the government. And the long struggle and opposition which
they made to guard their rights from the usurpations of the court
of Rome, and the subsequent changes in the polity and order of
this church occasioned thereby, so fully confirm what has been
already suggested on this head, that if some men had not lost all
sense of shame and regard of truth, the supremacy of the bishops
of Rome over the ancient English church had never been the
subject of dispute. But,

III. It must be owned, that during the reign of William the
First, pope Gregory1 published the claims of the bishops of R< mu-
te a supreme authority over the whole Christian church ; and
what our Saviour said to St. Peter of the rock on which he would
build his church, the charge he gave him to feed his sheep, and
what he said of himself of his being the way and the door; and,
in short, all the fine things that could be thought on, were laid
together to give weight to, or at least to colour that pretence. —
But after all, if arguments of a very different nature from those
of the Gospel had not come in to their aid, the English church
after the Conquest had doubtless paid as little regard to this
pretence, as it had done before; and this sort of reasoning had
nitied as much in the Western, as it did in the Eastern churches,
which paid no more regard to it than to the claims of the Turks in
favour of Mahomet. How it came to pass will be fully accounted
for in the following history ; but it may be fit shortly to observe
here on this head, that king Henry the First, by yielding up his
riii'ht of investiture and giving way to the Icgniiiiiu' power.

iced tlie bishops of Rome to the head of the English cl>
In consequence of those concessions they became judges of the
tiona of bishops; put them in possession of their trusts;

1 Popf Gregory.'] Of the general history of Hildebraml, or Pope Gregory
VII., as runiHT-ted with liis vast ambitious designs on Kngland, &c..
Inett, vol. ii. ji. 32—69; Christian Institutes, vol. iv. p. 104—7- 120—2. and
Index, under Gregory VII.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 21

required an oath of obedience from them ; called national councils
at home ; obliged them to attend their councils abroad ; and in
time came to lay impositions on the revenues, and to dispose of
the preferments of the church. The right of appeals, and the
exemptions of the clergy from the authority of the state, con-
tended for and begun in king Stephen's, were yielded up in the
following reign of Henry the Second ; and the designs of that
court were consummated, and the civil as well as the ecclesiastical
supremacy, so far as was in the power of that prince, was put into
their hands by king John.

It is here we have the beginning, the steps, and the foundation
of the papal supremacy over the English Church, which the flat-
terers of that pretence look for in vain in the preceding ages. And
the whole course of our history so fully justifies this account, that
whereas before the Conquest we have neither marks nor footsteps
of the papal jurisdiction, — from the time of the aforesaid agree-
ments to the Reformation, our ecclesiastic history is little else
but different scenes of oppression, and of remonstrances against
the abuses it occasioned. — Whether this change in fact and
practice altered the sentiments, and changed the faith and sense of
the church and nation in this particular, is the next thing to be
enquired into.

IV. One would have expected, that men who are so very for-
ward to reproach us with a parliamentary church and a state
religion, would have produced some canon of an English national
council, grounded on the authority of Christ or the consent of the
universal church, to justify this change in the government thereof;
at least some public act of the state. But after all it is very
evident, that all through the long controversies which their claims
occasioned, the nobility, bishops, and clergy, some few excepted,
adhered steadily to the rights of the crown and the church ; and
that when king Henry did what in him lay to give them away in
the great council held in London in the year 1107, he acted
wholly upon political reasons ; and was over-influenced by his
great minister and favourite the Earl of Mellent, against the
sense of the wiser and greater part of that assembly. And this
was so much the case in all the other disputes on this subject,
that if any credit can be given to history, the supreme authority
of the bishops of Rome over the English church had no other
foundation, but some unhappy concessions or leagues betwixt the
kings of England and those prelates, occasioned by the bad titles,

22 THE BRITISH CHURCH;

the weakness, the ill circumstances, or the difficulties which the
arts of that court had drawn upon them.

If the same reasons, upon which our princes acted in the afore-
said changes, did not oblige the church and nation to submit to
them, then, since (unless the restoration of the papal power in
the reign of queen Mary may be so called) it does not appear
that a submission was ever settled by any law of the state, or any
canon of the English church. On the contrary, the entire and
full sovereignty of the imperial crown of England was so con-
stantly asserted by our several succeeding kings and their great
councils ; and the pretended supremacy of those prelates was so
frequently denied and controlled, and even insulted by the stat
of mortmain, prsemunire, and provisors, annates or first-fruits, and
that of Henry the Seventh rescinding the papal exemptions of the
religious from the payment of tithes ; and was so restrained in all
the parts and branches thereof, whenever it interfered with the
rights of the crown or the good of the nation ; and was at last
so generally renounced and abjured ', as well by the whole clergy
in convocation, as by the people in parliament ; and all this
brought about in fewer weeks than it had cost years to obtain ;
and whilst popery, in other respects, continued the established
religion, and did depend so far on the authority of the bishops of
Rome, that it was easy to foresee that this change would open the
way to the Reformation which the body of his clergy so much
dreaded. Hence if any judgment can be made of the faith of a
Christian church and nation by the canons, the laws and pra( •:
thereof, the supremacy of the bishops of Rome was never received
as a part of the religion of England, any more than it is at tin's
time in France ; but, on the contrary, was ever esteemed an
usurpation on the rights of the monarchy and the church. Besides
it is very evident, that the attempt of king John to render tli<>
kingdom a fief of the papacy, though attended with the forms and
appearances of law, was ever thought a void * and illegal art, and

1 Renounced and abjured.'] An Act (26 Hen. VIII. c. i. A.D. 1535-6)
concerning the King's Highness to be Supreme Head, &c. and An Act (28
Hen. VIII. c. x. A.D. 1537) extinguishing the authority of the Bishop of
Rome.

2 Ever thought a void.'] The king i Kdward III.) had lately received
notice, that the pope, in consideration of the homage which John, king of
England, had formerly paid to the see of Rome, and of the tribute by him
granted to the said s< e. intended by process to cite his majesty to appear at

AND THE ANGLICAN. 23

served only to reproach the memory of that prince and the
wickedness of that court which compelled him to it ; and to let

his court at Avignon, to answer for his defaults in not performing what the
said king his predecessor had so undertaken for him and his heirs, kings of
England. Whereupon the king required the advice of his parliament, what
course he had best take, if any such process should come out against him.
The bishops, lords and commons desired until the following day to give in
their answer; when being again assembled, after full deliberation, they
declared as follows: that "neither king John, nor any other king, could
bring himself, his realm,- and people, under such subjection without their
assent ; and if it was done, it was done without consent of parliament, and
contrary to his coronation oath ; that he was notoriously compelled to it by
the necessity of his affairs and the iniquity of the times. Wherefore the said
estates enacted, that in case the pope should attempt any thing by process,
or any other way, to constrain the king and his subjects to perform what he
says he lays claim to in this respect, they would resist and withstand him to
the utmost of their power." Parliamentary History of England, vol. i. p. 130.
Compare Cotton's Abridgment, p. 102. fol.

Of hardly inferior value, is a very explicit testimony even from Sir Thomas
More :

" Xowe if he saye, as in dede some wryters saye, that king John made
England and Ireland tributary to the pope and the see apostolike, by the
graunt of a thousand markes ; we dare surely saye agayne that it is untrue ;
and that all Rome neither can shewe such a graunt, nor never could : and if
they could, it were right nought worth. For never could any kinge of Eng-
land geve away the realm to the pope, or make the land tributary though he
would ; nor no such moneye is there payde, nor never was." The Suppli-
cation of Souls. Works of Sir Thomas More, p. 296. 1557. fol. The
testimony, I say, is valuable, as proceeding from a high constitutional
authority. At the same time, you cannot but remark, in reference to a
different point, that it is not pleasant to see with what confidence, in a con-
troversial spirit, and in extenuation of the offences of the see of Rome, such
a man should so confidently contradict, as he here does, the unquestionable
facts of this tribute having been imposed, and exacted, till it came to be
denied in a tone too firm for the pope to overcome. It is true that More
might not have so fully all the sources of information which we possess ;
but ignorance can hardly be thought a sufficient excuse for assertions so
positive and confident.

See also Sir Thomas Smith's Commonwealth of England, b. i. c. ix.

W^e may remark yet again, on this important point, that we have the
general argument well put and clearly expressed, in a short tract of bishop
Hooper, preserved by Strype, in his Ecclesiastical Memorials, (vol. iii. No.
xxvi. Records), and entitled De vera ratione inveniendee et fugiendce falsce
doctrines. It was written, as the reader will perceive, in the reign of queen
Mary.

" Et quod auctoritatem suam papa ratam esse voluerit, quasi a regibus et
prindpibus concessam, certo scimus reges et principes, et si vellent, non posse

24 THE BRITISH CHURCH ;

posterity see how impossible it is to guard the civil, whenever the
ecclesiastical supremacy shall be ravished from the crown : and
yet it is certain, the grants of the ecclesiastical supremacy were no
less mischievous and no better grounded, than that charter which
pretended to give away the crown. — And if this be a true state
of our case, the charge of schism against the reformed church of
England must of necessity vanish with the imposture which
supports it ; and there can be no more ground to question the
\\ isdom and justice of our reformation, than to doubt whether a
nation may resume the rights * which were illegally given away ; or

aliquam sues dignitatis partem cuiquam conferre, nee a suo officio et honore
deponere. Nam quod Deus necessario alicui statui conjungit, nemo in
alium statum transferee valet. Reges autem sub se ministros, qui ecclesice
et reipublicce munia ministrent, habere possunt, sed pares vel superiores in
ecclesiae vel reipub. ministerio habere, regibus non licet. Et si forte quispiam,
vel regis permissione, vel aliqua temporis prcescriptione, vel tyrannide, in eccle-
siis auctoritatem sibi vindicat; nemo tamen illius auctoritati obtemperare
debet, nee episcopo, nee papse, quatenus sunt episcopi; quandoquidem a
Deo talem potestatem non habent : nee quia a regibus missi, propterea
quod talem potestatem reges episcopo papali facere non possunt. Sed hanc
potestatem papae clare vindicat Joannes (Apoc. xvii.) originem suam ha-
buisse nee a Deo nee ab homine, sed ex abysso ; et in interitum procul dubio
brevi ibit.

" Sed hanc violentiam et Satanicam auctoritatem papae, non est praesentis
instituti ulterius prosequi. Tantum admonere volui, quamvis contra omnia
jura divina et humana, nunc iterum, propter nostra peccata, inter Anglos
caput ecclesits appellari obtinuerit ; non plus hie habere jurisdiction**, quam
infimus episcopus Anglia habet Romee. Et tandem denuo Dominus interficiet
ilium spiritu oris sui, ut antehac fecit." P. 75, 76.

In a later age, the like objection was urged to the royal concessions, to
another species of tyranny and usurpation, that of democracy and regicide.

" This parliament," says the noble-minded Marquis of Ormond to Lord
Inchiquin, (Nov. 17, 1648) "have voted the king's answers unsatisfactory;
though they were as large, or larger than he could give : for to my sense he
hath parted with more than his own." Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. iii.
p. 593. Again in the State Papers of Edward Earl of Clarendon, vol. ii.
p. 309. " The king hath not power to release one grain of the allegiance that is
due to him."

1 May resume the rights.] All the points connected with these matters were
deliberately considered by the Convocation of 1536, and accordingly, on this
in partirular, in their Institution of a Christian Man, 15H7 hop's

Ho., k), they thus express themselves, under the head " The Sacrament of
Orders." i\>]. p. :,n, 51.

" \VhiTi-:is the kynges most royall Majestic, consyderynge of his most
excellent wysedorn, not only the notable decaye of Christe's true and perfytte
religion amonges us, but also the intolerable thraldome, captivitie and

AND THE ANGLICAN. 25

a Christian church may act up to the commission of Christ, and
contend earnestly for the faith which he delivered to the saints.

These few reflections on the claims of the bishops of Rome, on
their true and pretended antiquity ; on the grounds and the con-
sequences thereof; and on the sense of the Christian church in
general on this subject, and of that of England in particular, will, I
hope, give the reader a just view of the nature and importance of
those disputes occasioned thereby : and by leaving it out of doubt
that it was guarding the supremacy of the crown, and preserving
the ancient freedom and independence of the English church on
the one side, and on the other usurping on the rights of both,
which were the great subject of the aforesaid controversies, will
sufficiently answer for the room which has been allowed them in
the following history.

bondage, with the infinite damages and prejudices, whiche we and other his
subjectes continually susteyned, by reason of that longe-usurped and abused
power, whiche the bishops of Rome were wonte to exercyse here in this
realme, hath nowe of his moste godly disposition, and by consent of his
nobles spiritual and temporal, and by the auctoritie of the hole parlyament,
determyned no longer to suffer the by shop of Rome to execute any parte of
his jurisdiction here within this realme, but clerely to delyver us from the
same, and restore us again to our olde lybertie : surely we have great cause
most joyfully and thankefully to embrace and accepte the same, considerynge
that therby no prejudice is done to Goddis worde or his ordynances. For,
as we have shewed and declared before, it was by princes and men's ordinance
and sufferance onely that the byshop of Rome exercysed any such jurisdiction
within this realme, and not by any auctoritie gyven unto hym by Christe.
And, as for the byshop of Rome, he can not pretende himselfe no more to
be greved or injured therewith, than the kynges chancellour, or any other
his oflycers might worthily thinke, that the kinges highnes shulde do hym
wronge, in case he shulde upon good causes remove hym from his sayde
roome and offyce, and committe it unto another. And as for us and other
the kynges faythfulle subjectes, we shall undoubtedly receyve and have
therby syngular welthe and commoditie, as well spiritually to the edi-
fienge of our soules, as corporally to the encrease of our substance and
ryches."

See also a passage to the same purport, under the same head, in the
Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man. (The King's Book,
1543. signat. I. 6, 7.) The reader is aware that two years before, viz., in
1534, the bishops, universities, collegiate churches, monasteries, and learned
men generally throughout the kingdom, on being formally consulted by the
king, had, with very few exceptions, determined :

" Romanum episcopum majorem aliquam jurisdictionem non habere sibi
a Deo collatam in sacra scriptura, in hoc regno Angliee, quam alium quemvis
externum episcopum." Twisden, 72 and 119.

26 THE BRITISH CHURCH;

If I have not carried this work so low as might be expected,
and this be not sufficiently accounted for by what has been
already said on the subject thereof, I hope I may be allowed to
say, that I have performed what I promised to the public in my
last, and given a just view of the state of the church from the
first rise of the papal power, till that usurpation was carried to
its utmost height of grandeur and elevation ; and of the changes
occasioned thereby both in church and state. — When the hard
fate of our Holy Mother, which stands charged by one party with
approaching too near to that of Rome, whilst that church, which
one would think was the best judge of compliances of this kind,
charges us with heresy and schism for standing at too great a
distance from her, first obliged me to lay out all the time I was
master of, the better to enable me to make a true judgment of
the controversies which so unhappily divide the state of Christ-
endom ; and the bright pattern of that most worthy and learned
prelate, who wrote the History of the British Church, had brought
me to a resolution to endeavour to do right to our Holy Mother
by setting her history in a true light ; I flattered myself with the
hopes of continuing our history, from the time where the learned
bishop of Worcester concludes his, till the resumption thereof by
another very learned and most worthy prelate *, in his History of
the Reformation ; and designed in three short and distinct
volumes to set out the three great periods and different states of
the English church: the first, that before the Conquest, whilst
its primitive freedom and independence on that of Rome were
duly preserved; the second, the state of the church from the
Norman revolution, whilst things were in a ferment, and the
usurpations of the bishops of Rome still making new steps, till
their sovereign power rose to its full growth in the reign of kimj;
John ; the third, to give a just view of our affairs during the
\;i— alage and subjection of the English church to that of Rome,
till the Reformation so happily rescued the church and kingdom
from the mischiefs of that usurpation.

Thu first part of this design has been published some \
since ; the second is what now I offer to the public : but the time
ami ni\ a^v li;i\<- in x.me measure cooled the sanguine thon-JiN
I once had of the third; and tin- \ie\vs I have taken, and the
steps I have made towards it. drive one backward, and rather

1 Another most worthy prelate.] Bishop Burnet.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 27

throw one into despair, than bring me to any resolution to pro-
ceed. For to say nothing of the expense of time, the charge
and difficulties which attend the very access to records and manu-
scripts, from whence the most considerable notices are to be
expected ; it is no little mortification to hunt from one record to
another, to find little else but new scenes of tyranny and oppres-
sion ; to dwell upon a story filled with remonstrances of our
kings and their great councils ; broken and eluded laws ; the un-
regarded complaints and petitions of the clergy; the unpitied
cries of a nation ; and, in every line one writes, to feel new pain
and bleed afresh in the wounds of our country. In short, a
history which one can hardly read with patience, or relate with
the calmness and temper that become a Christian, is at best a
very discouraging undertaking.

Yet one who considers the artifices and address with which
our enemies are every day attempting to bring these nations back
again to the yoke under which our ancestors so long groaned ;
how totally some men have forgot the miseries of those days, and
even the late prospect we had of falling under them again ; how
fondly some men talk of an union with that church, which can
allow no terms of communion but such as must let in a foreign
power, and bring servitude along with them; how unhappily
some mistake the decency and order of our Holy Mother, and
will not believe that she is far enough from popery, because she
does not sacrifice all regard to the best ages of the church, and
run into novelty to show her aversion to that of Rome ; — will
easily be persuaded, that the advantages would on many accounts
over-balance the difficulties which attend a work of this kind.
Had we as plain a view of the use which the court of Rome made
of their power *, as, I hope, the following history will give of the
unworthy arts by which they gained it ; could we see how the
wealth of the nation was exhausted to enrich her enemies ; all
the measures of law and justice, and even the religion of Christ,
forced to give way to avarice and ambition ; the sacred patrimony
of the English church made the reward of those who first enslaved
it; and at once behold the difference betwixt the purity, the
decency, the order, and the gentleness of our Holy Mother, and
the corruptions, the foppery, the superstition and tyranny of

1 Made of their powerJ] This service, I may remark, is designed to be
answered, in some degree, by the earlier portions of the present collection.

28 THE BRITISH CHURCH ; AND THE ANGLICAN.

Rome ; — a work of this nature would give us a lively view of the
blessings of the Reformation, and raise up so just a veneration
for that church, which has hitherto through the blessing of God
continued its greatest ornament and support, as might possibly
cure the mistakes which so unhappily divide us, or at least teach
us all such forbearance of one another in love, that our divisions
and animosities may never provoke God to take his blessings
from us.

INTRODUCTION.

KING HENRY IT. ; AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET '.

THE affairs of the king (Henry II.) being in a very good
posture, he was at leisure to make his progress in England, and
in the year 1159 to go over into France, and set up his preten-
sions to the earldom of Thoulouse. But whilst things went thus
quietly in England, pope Adrian died, which occasioned a new
schism 2 in the church of Rome.

The haughtiness and ambition of pope Adrian were so suitable
to the present views of the court of Rome, that it is not easy
to determine whether that prelate was inspired from his court, or
actuated by the ambition of his own nature. But from whatever
principle he moved, it is very evident that his whole conduct was
much of a piece. His rescript to king Henry and bold claim to
a sovereignty over all Christian islands 3 were dictated by the
same spirit, which every where appears in his transactions with

1 Archbishop Becket.'] From Inett's Origines Anglicance, vol. ii. p. 235 — 51.
272—83. 286, 7.

2 A new schism.'] Of these schisms in the church of Rome, their effects,
&c., see Inett, vol. ii. p. 77—81. 140. 138—70.

3 Christian islands.] "Thekyng" (Henry II.) "wrote to P. Adrian of
his purpose to reduce the Irishe nation to better religion. The pope in his
rescripte did well commende his good zeale, and councelled hym to go for-
warde ; but with this proviso, that because (saith he) all ilandes that be
turned to the fayth belong to the ryghts of S. Peter and the most holy
churche of Rome, the lande shoulde pay yerely to S. Peter for every house a

pennye So that whosoever take payne and coste to set any nation in

order, or to bryng them to better beliefe, the pope would lose nothyng
thereby : where yet tyll that tyme, his fatherhood dyd most strangely suffer

30 KING HENRY II.;

the empire. And it was easy to foresee that the designs of the
court of Rome would not die with pope Adrian ; therefore the
emperor Frederick, taking the advantage of the present vacancy,
employed all his interest in that court to secure such an election
as might be consistent with the peace of the empire. On the
other hand, the governing part of that court, which was hitherto
animated by the spirit of Gregory the Seventh, cast their thoughts
another way, and this created such difficulties in the election of
pope Adrian's successor, as ended in a schism ; for the court
party chose cardinal Rowland late chancellor of the church of
St. Peter in Rome, who took the name of Alexander the Third ;
whilst the imperial faction chose cardinal Octavian, who took
upon him the name of Victor the Fourth.

The warmth of the several parties was much alik . and with
equal assurance they mutually pretended to the right of election.
The kings of England and France acknowledged the title of
Alexander, whilst the emperor favoured Victor, and gave such
uneasiness to pope Alexander, as obliged him to run the hazard
of a voyage by sea to get into France, where we must leave him,
till we meet him at the council of Tours, about three years after
his advancement to the papacy, concerting measures with Becket
then archbishop of Canterbury, for which the king of England
had no reason to thank him.

The public business detaining the king (11 60) in Normandy,
Theobald archbishop of Canterbury had the greatest hand in all
the affairs of the English church, and by his wisdom and good
conduct things went on so smoothly, that, except the common
changes which death is ever making, the three or four last years
of that prelate's government afford nothing but the building of
monasteries, the increase of the religious, and such other occur-
rences as the historian of the state is chiefly concerned to ac-
count for.

But after that prelate had filled that chair for two-and-twenty
\<-;irs, he died about tin.- middle of April in the iK-giiining of this
year (1161), and by his di-ath made- way for a successor of a \. i y
dihVivnt triiipiT. The king was in Normandy at the time of

that people so outrageously to live, tyll the kyng tooke to the reformation."
Arrlihishop Parker, in the (anonymous) Defence of Priests1 Marriages, p.
344. 4to.

For a further account of this pretended grant of Ireland hy pope Adrian,
see Inett, vol. ii. p. 227 — 31. and 279. given below.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 31

Theobald's death, and was attended by Thomas archdeacon of
Canterbury, whose services there were so necessary to him, that
whatever thoughts he might have of his succession, that chair
was not filled till the year following.

The king having determined to put that important trust into
the hands of his present chancellor, in order thereto he sent him
into England, where, by the appointment of Henry the father,
his son Henry, lately crowned king of England, summoned a
council to meet at London ; and the prior and some of the monks
of Canterbury being commanded to attend that assembly, the
said prior and monks, with the concurrence of the bishops of the
province, elected Thomas Becket1, provost of Beverly, arch-
deacon of Canterbury and lord chancellor of England, arch-
bishop. To fit him for that great station he was ordained priest
on Trinity Sunday this year (1162), and in the beginning of
June following was consecrated bishop, by Henry bishop of Win-
chester, assisted by several other bishops of the province. This
prelate was the son of a merchant, and born in London, and is
said to be the first Englishman advanced to the see of Canter-
bury since the Norman conquest. He was at this time the great
favourite and minister of Henry the Second, and at his desire
chosen archbishop ; and as chancellor he had acquitted himself
so much to the satisfaction of the king and the court, that from
his great complaisance and address in that post, the king had
formed a mighty expectance, and promised himself a freedom
from the disputes and broils, which the stiffness of Anselm and
some other of this prelatens predecessors had drawn upon the
kingdom.

But the king too soon saw himself deceived, and the ground
of his hopes turned back upon him. For no sooner did that
prelate change his character, but his air and address became new
too, and his conversation and conduct had a turn so different from
what they appeared before, as too plainly showed the king he had

1 Thomas Becket J] " Thomas a Becket. This is a small error ; but being
so often repeated, deserveth to be observed and corrected. The name of
that archbishop was Thomas Becket ; nor can it otherwise have been found
to be written in any authentic history, record, calendar, or other book. If
the vulgar did formerly, as it doth now, call him Thomas a Becket, their
mistake is not to be followed by learned men." Henry Wharton's Observa-
tions subjoined to Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer ; Appendix,
p. 256.

32 KING HENRY II.;

misplaced his hopes and favours, and that there wanted nothing
but opportunity and instructions from the court of Rome, to
render this prelate the fittest instrument to consummate that
usurpation which was already become insupportable to the church
and kingdom; and the trusts which he had passed through,
served only to increase and give still greater reason for the
suspicion and fears of the king. However, things passed quietly
the first year.

Pope Alexander the Third, as has been said before, finding
himself very uneasy at Rome, and by the power of the emperor
Frederick, who had espoused the interest of his rival pope Victor
the Fourth, so shut up in Italy, that he could not without great
difficulty keep up a correspondence with France, England, or
Spain ; and having for that reason ground to suspect, that the
emperor might bring those nations over to his adversary ; at least
make such impressions as might be to his disadvantage ; he left
Rome, and sailed to France ; and the better to concert measures
with the clergy of France and England, called a council, which
met at Tours in France about Whitsuntide this year (1163).

This put so colourable an opportunity into the hands of the
new archbishop of Canterbury, to concert measures for the car-
rying on what his after conduct gives one reason to think he had
before projected, that he could not overlook it. Therefore he
applied himself to the king, and having obtained his leave, he,
accompanied by Roger archbishop of York and the bishop of
Durham a, went over into France. Pope Alexander received the
archbishop of Canterbury with all the marks of honour and
esteem ; and in return, if we may rely on the authority of jNen-
lii-i^easis, he secretly resigned his archbishopric, because, as that
author saith. he had received his investiture from tin- hands of
the kingb; and then took it back again from the hands of the
pope c.

I >an mins agrees that he resigned his bishopric to pope Alex-
ander, but fixes the resignation after the council of Clarendon
when that prelate fled into France11, and says, the reason of this
nation was for that his conscience was troubled. l>eran>e he
chiefly owed his election to the archbishopric to tin- favour of

• Baron. Annal. ann. 1163. N. 2.

b Gul. Neuliritf. [William of Newburg] lib. ii. cap. 16. c Ibid.

4 Baron. Annal. ann. 1 1 <

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. S3

king a. And herein Baronius follows the writers of his life ; and
if he be not mistaken in the time he fixed for this affair, it is
very probable he is not mistaken in the reason and true ground
thereof. For beside the many papal canons which had been
made upon that subject, King Henry the First did in the year
1107 give up his right to the investiture of bishops1, and it does

a Annal. ann. 1164. N. 30.

1 Investiture ofBishops.~\ " The king's" (Henry I.) " contests with the church,
concerning the right of investiture, (A.D. 1108) were more obstinate and more
dangerous. As this is an affair that troubled all Europe as well as England,
and holds deservedly a principal place in the story of those times, it will not
be impertinent to trace it up to its original. In the early times of Christianity,
when religion was only drawn from its obscurity to be persecuted ; when a
bishop was only a candidate for martyrdom ; neither the preferment, nor the
right of bestowing it, were sought with great ambition. Bishops were
then elected, and often against their desire, by their clergy and people ; the
subordinate ecclesiastical districts were provided for in the same manner.
After the Roman empire became Christian, this usage, so generally established,
still maintained its ground. However, in the principal cities, the emperor
frequently exercised the privilege of giving a sanction to the choice and some-
times of appointing the bishop; though, for the most part, the popular
election still prevailed. But when the Barbarians, after destroying the
empire, had at length submitted their necks to the gospel, their kings and
great men, full of zeal and gratitude to their instructors, endowed the church
with large territories and great privileges. In this case it is but natural that
they should be the patrons of those dignities, and nominate to that power,
which arose from their own free bounty. Hence the bishoprics in the greatest
part of Europe became in effect, whatever some few might have been in
appearance, merely donative. And as the bishoprics formed so many seigniories,
when the feudal establishment was completed, they partook of the feudal
nature, so far as they were subjects capable of it ; homage and fealty were
required on the part of the spiritual vassal ; the king on his part gave the
bishop the investiture, or livery and seizin of his temporalities, by the de-
livery of a ring and staff. This was the original manner of granting feudal
property, and something like it is still practised in our base-courts. Pope
Adrian confirmed this privilege to Charlemagne by an express grant. The
clergy of that time, ignorant, but inquisitive, were ready at finding types and
mysteries in every ceremony : they construed the staff into an emblem of the
pastoral care, and the ring into a type of the bishop's allegorical marriage
with his church ; and therefore supposed them designed as emblems of a
jurisdiction merely spiritual. The papal pretensions increased with the
general ignorance and superstition ; and the better to support these preten-
sions, it was necessary at once to exalt the clergy extremely, and, by breaking
off all ties between them and their natural sovereigns, to attach them wholly
to the Roman see. In pursuance of this project, the pope first strictly for-
bade the clergy to receive investitures from laymen, or to do them homage.

VOL. I. J3

34 KING HENRY II.;

not appear that this usage was resumed either by king Stephen
or by the present king. But it is very evident that the court of
Rome began about this time to be very impatient of allowing
princes any share in the election of bishops ; and the archbishop^s

A council held at Rome entirely condemned this practice : and the condem-
nation was the less unpopular, because the investiture gave rise to frequent and
flagrant abuses, especially in England, where the sees were on this pretence
with much scandal (often) held long in the king's hands, and afterwards as
scandalously and publicly sold to the highest bidder. So it had been in the
last reign, and so it continued in this.

" Henry, though vigorously attacked, with great resolution maintained the
rights of his crown with regard to investitures, whilst he saw the emperor,
who claimed a right of investing the pope himself, subdued by the thunder of
the Vatican. His chief opposition was within his own kingdom. Anselm,
archbishop of Canterbury, a man of unblamable life, and of learning for his
time, but blindly attached to the rights of the church, real or supposed,
refused to consecrate those who received investitures from the king. The
parties appealed to Rome. Rome, unwilling either to recede from her pre-
tensions or to provoke a powerful monarch, gives a dubious answer. Mean-
while the contest grows hotter : Anselm is obliged to quit the kingdom, but
is still inflexible. At last the king, who, from the delicate situation of his
affairs in the beginning of his reign, had been obliged to temporize for a long
time, by his usual prudent mixture of management with force, obliged the
pope to a temperament, which seemed extremely judicious. The king re-
ceived homage and fealty from his vassal : the investiture, as it was generally
understood to relate to spiritual jurisdiction, was given up, and on this equal
bottom peace was established. The secret of the pope's moderation was
this : he was at that juncture close pressed by the emperor, and it might be
highly dangerous to contend with two such enemies at once ; and he was
much more ready to yield to Henry, who had no reciprocal demands on him,
than to the emperor, who had many and just ones, and to whom he could not
yield any one point, without giving up an infinite number of others very
material and interesting.

" As the king extricated himself happily from so great an affair, so all the
other difficulties of his reign only exercised without endangering him."
Burke's Essay towards an Abridgment of the English History. Works, vol.
x. p. 437. 8vo. 1812.

This is the best concise account I have seen of Henry's struggle in the
question of the investiture. But looking at the turn of some of the expres-
sions, it may not be improper to remind my reader, that Burke, at least at
the time when this work was written, was a Roman Catholic.

On the same dispute, see also Southey's Book of the Church, vol. i. p.
128—31. i:i4.f>. 1:57,8. edit. 1824; an exact and masterly compendium,
which, with Blunt's History of the Reformation, ought to be in the hands of
every young person of suitable condition in the kingdom.

Consult also, for the general history of this question, Inett, vol. ii. p. 24 — 7,
92—101, 104—9, and 238, &c., part of the extract now before us.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 35

pretence of being troubled in conscience1, for being advanced by
the interest and recommendation of the king, was at this time

1 Troubled in conscience^] It will be right here to turn to Inett's account
of the previous practice of the church of England in the appointment of
bishops, and of what took place in the cases of the four immediate prede-
cessors of Becket :

"The elections of bishops had hitherto ever had their beginning from the
crown. The method observed from the Conquest had been this : When-
soever the see of Canterbury became void, the time of filling it was governed by
the pleasure of the king ; and when he had first resolved upon disposing that
great trust, he sent his summons to the prior and convent of Canterbury, to
depute some of their body to attend him at some meeting of a great council,
to assist in the choice of an archbishop, where, with the advice of that
assembly and the suffrage of the bishops of the province, a person nominated
by the king was usually chosen. Thus Lanfranc, and Anselm, and William,
the three preceding archbishops, were advanced to that great station.

" But in the summons of the legate (Alberic, bishop of Ostia) to the afore-
said council of Westminster (December A.D. 1138), directed to Jeremy the
prior, and the convent of Canterbury, that prelate requires that the prior,
with a number of the convent, sufficiently empowered for the election of an
archbishop, should attend upon the council. Nor was he content thus to
break in upon the rights of the crown in making the first step in this affair ;
but in the same instrument he tells the prior that their election being thus
made, and consented to by the bishops of the province, the king cannot and
ought not in justice to deny his consent. Such an insult upon the rights of
the crown was too open to be overseen by the king (Stephen), but the ill
posture of his government made him wink at it; and his brother the bishop
of Winchester had set his heart upon Canterbury, and was not to proroke
the legate, who by the bold and insolent manner in which he had set the
business of the election into motion, without the knowledge of the king, had
given ground to believe that the conduct of that affair would fall into his
hands.

" But it happened here as it generally does when some present views lead
men out of the ways of law and justice. The compliment made to the
bishops of the province in asserting their rights to a vote in the choice of
their own metropolitan served only to render their rights an easier prey,
by separating them from the rights of the crown. — Such was the case of
the convent too. Neither did the king nor his brother find their accounts
in this matter. The king was afraid to trust a new accession of power in the
hands of his brother, whose authority in his capacity of legate had already
overshadowed the royal power ; and therefore, notwithstanding the passion
of his brother for the vacant chair, the king secretly favoured the interest of
Theobald, abbot of Bee in Normandy : and this so influenced the election,
that Theobald was chosen archbishop of Canterbury." Inett, vol. ii. p.
179, 80.

Compare Twisden's Vindication, p. 54, thus: "Our writers do wholly
look upon the placing of Lanfranc in Canterbury as the king's act, though it

D2

36 KING HENRY II.;

the highest and most acceptable strain of courtship that could
be made to the court of Rome, which began every where to pre-
tend to be supreme patrons as well as ordinaries of the church,
and, in order thereunto, pretended to a mighty zeal for asserting
the rights of capitular elections1.

Beside what was publicly owned and transacted at the council
of Tours, it seems very probable, that a design was there formed
to make the clergy of the Western churches, as far as it was
possible, a body separate and independent on the civil powers, and
that measures were concerted and agreed upon in order thereto :
at least thus much is evident, that he who preached the sermon
at the opening of that council, and which is inserted in the his-
tory of Baronius, saith, that the unity of the church, then en-
gaged in a schism, and the liberties of the clergy, were the busi-
ness of that assembly a ; and he pressed both with such equal
passion and warmth, that it is not easy to determine, which of
the two that orator was most concerned to recommend to that
assembly: for, as he tells them, that "the church had not a
being if it was not one ;" so he tells them, that " without liberty
the church must be miserable, and to be miserable and not to be
were much the same ; nay," saith he, " it is worse to be miserable
than not to be at all V Such stress was that council taught to
put upon the new ecclesiastic liberty.

Accordingly, when the dispute on that subject broke out in
England, the archbishop pretended to entitle God to the liberti. s
he contested for, and in the management of that controversy
so entirely governed by the court of Home, that in his letters to
the king and to the bishops of England, written during liis exil .
he says, that his letters were perused and allowed by tin- bi-
of Rome0, before he sent them. And the zeal, with which that
court defended that prelate when alive, and prosecuted hi>

were not without the advice of Alexander II. Neither did Anselm ever make
scruple of accepting the archbishopric, because he was not chosen by the
monks of Canterbury." For the earliest case of concession by a king of
Knglaml, in a dispute of this nature, which was by king Stephen (A.\>.
1141), in reference to the see of York, see Inett, vol. ii. p. 188 — 90; and
for the practice in the appointment of bishops in earlier times, see a long
note from Inett given below under king John, &c.

1 Capitular elections.] See index, under Capitular elections. See also
//IP//, vol. ii. p. iss— DO. 365—75. 403—10.

• Baron. Annal. ann. 1 1 b Ibid.

c Hoved. par. poster, fol. 289.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 87

mies, and did honour to his memory when he was dead, make it
still more evident that the affair, which about this time gave so
much trouble to England, was first formed by the councils and
then conducted by the interest of the court of Rome, and in all
probability concerted at this interview betwixt the pope and the
archbishop. And the commotions which immediately followed
the council of Tours, still add more weight to the conjecture ;
for from this time the histories of the Western nations are so full
of the wrangles and broils occasioned by the pretence to ecclesias-
tic liberty, that JEmilius saith, the controversy on that subject
spread itself over the world a. It appears by Baronius b, that the
empire, and the kingdoms of Sicily and Hungary, as well as
England, were about the same time embroiled by the same con-
troversy.

Some steps this way had been made in England about twenty
years before ; for Alberic bishop of Ostia and legate of pope
Innocent, taking the advantage of the weakness and troubles of
king Stephen's reign, by a canon of the council which he held in
Winchester in the year 1138, gave the first light into the designs
of the court which sent him ; and was followed therein by Henry
bishop of Winchester and legate of the bishop of Rome, at the
council held in London in the year 1143 according to Hovedenc,
the year preceding according to M. Paris; wherein it was de-
creed, that whosoever should lay violent hands upon any clergy-
man, should not be absolved but by the pope himself or in his
presence. This canon is somewhat different in M. Paris, but the
preamble, the reason, and the consequence of the canon are
agreed upon. The pretence which gave beginning to it, was the
mischiefs which the clergy then suffered by the civil war ; for the
several parties made no difference betwixt them and the laity,
but took them prisoners and made them pay for their ransom.
But had this matter stopped here, the world had received no
trouble by it ; for the favour allowed the clergy by this canon,
was little more than what another canon of the same council
allowed to those that till the ground, and what the imperial law
had generally allowed to merchants and husbandmen in the time
of war ; and that is, a security of their persons from outrage and
violence.

a Paulus ^Emilius de rebus gestis Francorum.

b Baron. Annal. ann. 1169. N. 49. c Concil. Brit. vol. ii. p. 47.

38 KING HENRY II.;

But this alone was not sufficient to answer the great design, to
make the clergy of the Western churches a body separate and
independent on the civil power ; which could not be done without
delivering them from the authority of their old masters. And
the sanctions annexed to the aforesaid canons leave it beyond a
doubt, that the security of the clergy was not the only thing
which the court of Rome had then in view ; for by carrying the
cognizance of such violences as should be offered to them, from
the courts of the king of England to the bishop of Rome, and
by changing the civil penalty into an ecclesiastic censure, those
canons did, in the consequence and effect thereof, declare the
clergy of England subjects to the bishop of Rome. And the
present conduct of that court was every way answerable; for
though king Henry took such care for the impartial administra-
tion of justice, that the least wrong to the clergy and religious
could not escape unpunished, and the settled state of his govern-
ment left no room for their fears, yet this was so far from putting
an end to the design to exempt the clergy from the secular power,
for which the confusions of the last reign had given some colour,
that this impartial administration of justice was the chief sup-
port of those pretences, which disturbed the government of king
Henry.

The better to engage the clergy and religious, they were flattered
into a belief of the honour and advantages which would accrue' to
themselves and to the church, by being discharged from the
secular power. And by this artifice the design of the court of
Rome was so well covered, that the clergy generally ran into it,
and those of them who meant well, out of a principle of zeal v
for the most part the forwardest therein. And the better to
raise their zeal and make them sensible of the encouragement
they might expect, the archbishop of Canterbury applied himself
to pope Alexander for the canonization of the late archbishop
Anselma, who had distinguished himself by attempts against the
rights of the kings of England, and who had given the first blow
to their authority. And as this would raise a glory to surround
the head of that prelate, so it would at the same time tell the
rli TLTV tin- example they were to follow, and give new vigour to
their /cal, 1>\ brightening the pattern which was set before them.

The forwardness of pope Alexander \va> an>\\ i-rable to the

• Angl. sac. par. ii. p. 177.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 39

importance of this design ; therefore a bull, which bears date at
Tours, for the canonization of Anselm, was directed to his suc-
cessor the new archbishop, with assurance that his proceedings
therein should be confirmed by the court of Borne a. And no
doubt but the address of that court, which ensnared the body
of the clergy, easily possessed the archbishop with an opinion
of the great honour which would redound to him, by appearing at
the head of those who were to assert the ecclesiastic liberty.
But whatever springs the zeal of that prelate had, he was no
sooner returned from the council of Tours, but he presently set
this pretence into motion ; the occasion and circumstances whereof,
Hoveden and Brompton, both favourers of the pretence and of
the conduct of the archbishop, thus relate.

Immediately after the return of the archbishop and his brethren
from the council of Tours, a great controversy began betwixt the
king and the clergy. "The king,"" saith Brompton b, "being
desirous that justice should be equally and impartially distributed,
and having notice given him by his judges, that several outrages,
thefts, and murders were committed by the clergy, ordered," saith
Hoveden, " that such of the clergy as should be taken in felony,
robbery, murder, or burning of houses, should be carried before
the judges, and punished as the laity were, when found guilty of
those offences c." On the contrary, the archbishop opposed this
proceeding, and asserted, that " whatever faults the clergy should
be found guilty of, they were only triable in the ecclesiastical
court, and before the judges thereof."

The bishops and clergy of the province of Canterbury, in a
synodical epistle written to pope Alexander d, give much the
same account of this affair. " The king," say they, "seeing the
peace of his kingdom much disturbed by the enormous excesses
of some of the clergy, and not thinking the degrading of them
for murder and other enormous crimes a punishment sufficient to
answer the guilt, or to preserve the public peace ; he caused the
laws observed by ecclesiastic persons in the days of his prede-
cessors to be drawn into a body, and appointed that such of the
clergy as offended might be punished according to those laws :"

a Angl. sac. par. ii. p. 177-

b Brompton (apud Twisden) Historic Anglicanse Scriptores decem, col.
1058. N. 50.

c Hoved. Annal. par. poster, fol. 282.
d Ejusd. Annal. ann. 1167. fol. 293.

40 KING HENRY II.;

whereas say they on the other side, the clergy insisted on their
being punishable by the ecclesiastic laws only. And as the king
had the advantage in point of right, having the law and usage of
England on his side, he had the advantage also in the manage-
ment of this controversy ; for whilst the address on the other side
was fierce and impetuous, and carried on with very indecent
reflections, the king, says the same provincial letter, on his side
managed this dispute with all possible respi-ct and veneration to
the clergy a.

" This," say they, " was the cruelty, which has made such ji
noise in the world ; this the persecution, this the wickedness, which
have been so much clamoured against." Whereas, says the same
synodical epistle, as the king had declared he had no thoughts of
lessening the honour of the clergy or the rights of the church, so
he has promised, that if it appear that the aforesaid laws are any
way prejudicial to the welfare or good of souls, or dishonourable
to the church, he was ready to make such alterations, as with the
advice of the clergy of his kingdom should be thought fit.

There were some other collateral branches of this dispute ; as
whether there lay any appeals1 from the king's courts, or whether
bishops might go out of the kingdom without his leave ; but the
stress of this controversy was, in short, whether the king had any
authority over ecclesiastic persons or in causes ecclesiastical.
But because this affair did not only at this time divide the Western
churches, but lias remained a subject of dispute to after-ages, and
the honour of the English church and nation, and the justice and
authority of the kings of England, have a great share therein ;
before I enter upon the relation of this controversy, it may not be
amiss to look backward, and to observe the laws and practice of
the preceding ages, in the particular under question.

Religion has so just and undoubted a right to the most profound
veneration and regard, that the ministers thereof never did and
never can want a due respect, but where religion itself wants a
due influence and authority on the minds of men. For tin-
honour of religion, and of those to whose conduct the int<
and ministry of holy things are committed, stand upon tin- sain.

• Hoved. Annal. ann. 11G7. fol. 293.

1 Any appeals.] See Twisden's Historical Vindication, p. 28 — 38 : also
Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy, p. 417 — 37. 4to. 1680; and Inett, vol. ii.
p. 195,6. 280,1 . 3/6,7. a part of the present extract; and see also Index, under
Appeals to Rome.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 41

foot, viz. the honour of God, and cannot fail but with the foun-
dation upon which they are built ; and as they flow from the
same common fountain, and stand or fall together, so they ever
bear proportion to one another. Therefore the same holy warmth,
which accompanied the first ages of the gospel, did also induce
Christian princes to grant great privileges and immunities to the
ministers thereof. They were excused from all those personal
services which might be burthensome to them, or which might
withdraw them from the offices of their holy function, or render
them little in the eyes of men a ; and their estates were exempted
from many charges and burthens, to which the estates of other
men were subject b.

Nor did the favours to the ministers of Christ stop here, but
Christian princes entrusted them with all the power that was
necessary to serve the ends of peace and charity and holiness c.
Yet religion was never thought to strip princes of any of those
rights, which nature and the ends of government have put into
their hands. On the contrary, from the time that the gospel
became the religion of the empire, all the concerns and interests
thereof were taken under the care of the civil power, and so many
laws relating to ecclesiastical persons and causes were made by
the imperial authority, that they take up a great deal of room in
the body of laws collected by the appointment of the emperor
Justinian.

In short, those laws take cognizance of sacred things, persons,
and causes. They determine when new churches shall be built,
and how supported ; how the rectors thereof should subsist ; and
appoint that their maintenance shall be sacred and inalienable d ;
to whom the patronage of churches shall belong, and by what
measures that right should be conducted e ; how the bishop shall
demean himself, if an unworthy man shall be presented f ; what
articles of faith should be esteemed catholic g ; who shall be
deemed heretics, and how punished h ; and who shall be esteemed
catholics *.

By the same authority too councils were convened, and the
canons thereof confirmed and published. Particularly the im-
perial law determines that the councils of Nice, Ephesus, Chalce-

a Codic. lib. i. tit. 2. sect. 6. b Ejusd. N. 5. 7. 11.

c Ejusd. tit. 4. sect. 7, 8. d Novel. 7. tit. 1. prafat.

e Novel. 123. cap. 18. f Codic. lib. i. tit. 1. sect. 1.

* Ejusd. sect. 5. h Codic. lib. i. tit. 1.6. » Novel. 7. tit. 1. prsefat.

42 KING HENRY II.;

don, and Constantinople should be received, and that the books
written by Porphyry against the Christian religion should be
burnt a; that Nestorius, Eutyches, Apollinaris, and their fol-
lowers, should be esteemed heretics b.

As the imperial authority thus acted in matters relating to
religion and holy things, so it judged of persons too. It deter-
mined that every city should have its own bishop, and how far
his diocese should extend c ; how persons should be qualified that
were admitted to holy orders d ; how the lower clergy, the monks,
the bishops, the metropolitans, the patriarchs, should behave
themselves: and by convening the bishops of the whole Christian
church to the eight first general councils by the emperors, the
world has one comprehensive and undeniable proof of the autho-
rity of princes over all ecclesiastical persons, received and owned
by the universal church.

Ecclesiastical causes were no less the subject of the imperial
authority. The laws of the empire direct that synods shall be
yearly called, to consider of the matters of faith and discipline e ;
that the judgment and sentences of those assemblies should be
conducted by the canons of the church and by the laws of the
empire f ; that the disputes amongst diocesan bishops should be
determined by their proper metropolitan and two as.-e>sorsS; if
they cannot determine them, then by the archbishop or patri-
arch11 ; that all causes of the clergy should be finally determined
in the provinces wherein they arise1, and that the clergy should
not be called out of the province where they live to any foreign
tribunal ; and in what manner causes ecclesiastical shall be con-
ducted, to whom the cognizance thereof does in the first instance
belong, by what steps appeals shall proceed, and whose sentence
shall be final and unappealable k.

The same laws direct how a suit betwixt a layman and a
clergyman shall be managed ; and in case a layman shall com-
mence a suit in the court of a bishop, and either party does not
acquiesce in the sentence thereof, that then the cause may l>
he.-ml by the civil judge1; how metropolitans and bishops should
In- ]>imi.-ln <1. if they neglect to convene their provincial or dioc-

• Codic. lib. i. tit. 1. sect. 3. b Ejusd. sect. 5.

usd. tit. 3. 36. '' Novel. C. tit. C. cap. 4, 5.

\ovel. 123. tit. G. cap. 10. 22. f Ibid. * Ibid.

'• Ibid. * ('..die. Ill), i. tit. -l. sect. 29. v Ibid.

1 Novel. 12:5. cap. .

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 43

synods a ; how a bishop should be punished, if absent a year from
his diocese without the leave of the emperor b, or, if he excom-
municate a person without showing cause ; how a deposed bishop
should be treated, if he attempt to disturb the public peace c.

And which is still more, the greatest part, and probably every
one, of the aforesaid laws were made by the emperors with the
advice of their bishops, and without any complaint were universally
obeyed by the clergy and religious ; yet, at the time of making
those laws, the bounds of Christendom and the empire were much
the same. So that one who looks backwards to the first Christian
emperors, and to the greatest and best bishops and clergy that
ever served in the Christian church, and finds so many laws on
the one side, and such dutifulness and obedience on the other,
cannot but stand amazed at an attempt to withdraw the clergy
and religious from the authority of the civil government, which
at this time gave so much trouble to the English church and
nation.

If one was to run over the laws and histories of Europe after
the fall of the empire, the case will appear still the same. — But
to judge truly of the present controversy, it will concern us to
look at home, and view the practice of our ancient English-
Saxon ancestors *. — Though the assertion of that learned gentle-
man d, who affirms that a third part of the land of England was
in possession of the clergy, at the time of the Norman conquest,
cannot be allowed, yet there is no reason to doubt what that
writer and M. Paris before him say of the great tenderness and
regard, with which they were ever treated under the Saxon go-
vernment ; wherein the aforesaid learned writer observes, they
held their lands by Frank Almonage, and subject to no duties and
impositions, but such as they laid upon themselves in ecclesiastical
assemblies e. Whether this be wholly true, I shall not inquire ;
but it is certain, that their lands were excused from many of
those burthens, to which other lands were subject ; that the
bishops had a great share both in the legislature and in the
administration of justice ; they were called to and had places in
the great council ; and, beside the proper authority allowed to

tt Novel. 6. tit. 6. cap. 2. b Novel. 123. cap. 10.

c Codic. lib. i. tit. 3. sect. 14.

1 An excellent edition of the Anglo-Saxon laws has now been published by
the Commissioners of Records, under the care of Mr. T. Thorpe.
d Sir Will. Temple, Introduct. Engl. Hist. p. 1/5. e Ibid.

44 KING HENRY II.;

them in right of their function, they were standing judges in the
county and hundred courts a, and a mighty deference was ever
paid to their judgment, as well in civil as in ecclesiastical affairs.

Yet, after all, the privileges they enjoyed are so far from
proving the English clergy and religious a body distinct and
independent upon the state, that they demonstrate they ever
were and ever esteemed themselves a part of the body politic, and
owed a subjection to their princes and obedience to their laws.
For it was by the authority of their princes that the bishops were
convened to all state councils, and it was in obedience to their
laws that they presided and judged in the courts of justice ; and
under these laws it was, that the clergy of England challenged
all the privileges they enjoyed ; and all sides acted up to these
notions of the rights of the civil power.

King Ina published a body of ecclesiastic laws b, and therein
directs the duty of the clergy and religious. The laws of king
Alfred are particular and express in directing the punishment of
a clergyman who should be found guilty of murder c. And the
dialogue of Egbert archbishop of York shows that this had been
the usage of England long before the reign of that prince, not
only in the case of murder, but also of adultery and theft d. He
adds too, that the violence of a layman to the person of a bishop,
a presbyter, a deacon, or a monk, was punishable by the secular
power6. Edgar followed the example of Ina and Alfred, and in his
laws directs the affairs of religion f, and was so far from thinking
that the character of his bishops discharged them from the obliga-
tion of his laws, that he commands them to assist in person in the
two annual county courts8. Nor did that prince only extend his
laws to the clergy, but he published a body of canons for the good
government of the church h, wherein he directs the conduct of th<-
ecclesiastic discipline, in almost all the parts and branches thereof.

King Canutus also has his body of ecclesiastic laws'. And
the gentle laws of Edward the Confessor, which the clergy, and
indeed the whole nation, so passionately desired under the Norman
government, are no less full and plain in directing the affairs of
the church k: and in a law of that prince, dinrting the innn of

• Concil. Brit. vol. i. p. 447. b Ibid. p. 182.

c Lambard. de leg. p. 27. d Egb. dialog, p. 273.

e Ejusd. p. 276. f Concil. Brit. vol. i. p. 44C.

* Lambard. de leg. p. 65. k Concil. Brit. vol. i. p. 447.
1 Kjusd. p. 538. k Lambard. de leg. p. 138.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 45

judicial proceedings, he requires that the advocates of the clergy
should be first heard in his courts of judicature a.

King William the First went on in the same steps, and by his
authority first established the ecclesiastical courts b ; and was so
exactly followed herein by his successors, that in a synodical
epistle of the bishops and clergy of the province of Canterbury
to pope Alexander the Third, they tell that prelate, that the laws
which occasioned the controversy betwixt the king and Thomas,
at this time archbishop of Canterbury, " were the ancient laws of
the kings of England c." So that, upon the whole matter, the
judgment and practice of the Western church in general, and of
the English church in particular, are so evident, that it is impos-
sible for one who knows any thing of antiquity to make a doubt
whether the clergy were anciently subject to the temporal laws
of princes, or whether things of ecclesiastical nature were within
the cognizance of their courts.

I have led the reader thus far, partly to give him some idea of
the nature and importance of those rights and powers which the
kings of England had anciently enjoyed, and of which king
Henry the Second was now in possession ; partly to do right to
the English church and nation, by showing how unjustly their
enemies place the resolutions and laws of our princes and their
great councils, relating to the affairs of the church and clergy,
amongst the faults of the Keformation ; (for if this be the fault
of our government, it is a fault which has the best antiquity for
example, and such as the best princes and the wisest nations
have gloried in ;) and partly to give the reader a just view of
that design which was set on foot about this time, to break in
upon the authority of the king of England, and to invade the
rights of the crown ; the manner and circumstances whereof, the
steps by which it was advanced, the actors therein and the pur-
poses which were served by it, the course of our story brings us
now to consider.

To set this matter in such a light as may appear free from
the bias and impressions which the concern for the honour of
one's country might possibly lead one into, I must again ask the
reader's leave to remind him of the occasion of this dispute, as it

a Lambard. de leg. p. 138. b Concil. Brit. vol. ii. p. 14.

c Hoved. Annal. aim. 1167. fol. 293. N. 20.

46 KING HENRY II.;

is related by the writers of archbishop Becket's life, and from
them by Baronius. Neubrigensis, honestly and bluntly giving an
account of this controversy* says, that archbishop Becket(1163)
would not permit a clergyman to suffer according to law, and that
this was the occasion of the misunderstanding betwixt him and
the king. Baronius undertakes to blame that writer for this
account, and from the writers of the archbishop's life gives us a
relation of that matter somewhat different b.

The archbishop, saith he, being returned from the council of
Tours, was received very kindly by the king, but afterward fell
under his displeasure, for applying himself to recover something
which his predecessors had lost from his see, and endeavouring
to prevail with the king to fill up some bishoprics then void ; for
laying down his chancellorship, " and denying the right of the
crown to raise money on the clergy ; for sending away a priest
to a monastery, who was convicted of murder and degraded, that
he might not be punished by the secular arm c;" and when Philip,
a canon, was convicted of the same crime, for sending him away,
though the king had commanded he should be punished accord-
ing to law, the archbishop " denying that these or any other
clergyman was punishable in any other manner than by the cen-
sures of the church. " This is the account which Baronius, from
the aforesaid writers, gives of the controversy which lies now
before us.

The king, adds the same learned writer, apprehending that such
proceedings might increase the wickedness of the clergy, did very
earnestly desire " that clergymen, who offended in any heinous
manner, might be degraded, and then delivered to the secular
power to be punished as the offence deserved." But, as he ob-
serves, " this was utterly denied by the archbishop and some
other bishops d; at which," saith he, uthe king was exceedingly
angry." And great reason he had to be so, and more CSJM -cially
if we add what Neubrigensis saith6, that "above one hundred
homicides were committed by the clergy under the reign of the
king, and that their bishops were much more vigilant to protect
them from the law. than to punish their disorders f."

IJut. after all, one has much ado to forl >ear saving, that all tl
accounts aiv still defective, and come very short of the true iva-

• Xeubrifr. lib. ii. cap. 15, 10. b Baron. Annal. ann. 1163. N. 29.

r Kjusd. N. 30. d Ejusd. N. 31. c Neubrig. lib. ii. cap. 10. ' Ibid.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 4,

son of this controversy ; for though there can be no doubt that
the persons mentioned by the aforesaid writers were singled out
by the king as fit subjects for his justice, yet it is very evident
these instances are the least part of the provocation which the
government had received ; for the outrages committed by the
clergy were very numerous, and the contempt and insults of the
civil authority were open and avowed, and both the mischief and
the impunity were of older date than the advancement of arch-
bishop Becket. So that it was not so much the faults of particular
men, as a general licentiousness of the clergy, together with their
contempt of the civil authority, founded on a pretence that they
were not accountable to the secular power, which gave beginning
to, and which was the true basis and foundation of, this unhappy
controversy.

Whilst the dispute about the ecclesiastic liberty was thus
going on in England, the court of Rome had so managed their
affairs in Italy and Germany, that the emperor Frederick, the
great opposer of the designs of that court, was reduced to such
circumstances, that pope Alexander called a council to meet in the
Lateran, 1168, where he took upon himself to excommunicate and
depose that prince, and absolve the subjects of Italy from their obe-
dience ; and the reasons given in that sentence were, because he had
espoused the interests of the anti-pope a. And John of Salisbury,
from whom this account of this council is taken, saith, that pope
Alexander herein followed the example of Gregory the Seventh,
and concludes the paragraph with words very dark ; but if they
have any meaning at all, it is this ; " that the safety of the
church being established in the head thereof, there was just
ground to believe the like success would attend that prelate in the
dispute relating to the church of England b ; " that is, in plain
English, there was reason to believe that the court, which had
humbled the emperor Frederick, would subdue the king of
England.

Though the court of Rome was exceedingly elated with their
success against Frederick, and the king of England had little
reason to hope for any good issue thereof, yet that he might not
be wanting to his cause, by a new embassy to Rome, he attempted
to prevail with pope Alexander, to translate the archbishop

a Concil. torn. x. ann. 1168. Ed. Lab. col. 1449. b Ibid.

48 KING HENRY II. ;

Becket to some other see, and to remove him from France to
Rome a. And knowing the debts the see of Rome had contracted
in opposing the designs of the emperor Frederick, the king
offered pope Alexander to pay his debts, and that he would give
him ten thousand marks b, in case he was gratified in his desire,
and the archbishop translated to some other see. Though the
desire of the king was not granted, yet by those great presents,
and greater offers which he made, the king prevailed so far, that
he chained up the fury of the archbishop for another year, and
obtained the sending of Gratian, nephew to pope Eugenius, and
Vivian, advocate of Rome, to mediate a peace c. These legates
made some progress in the accommodation, but were not able to
complete it ; but discovered a secret, which the king had before
but too much reason to suspect.

For when the king, tired with the ill-usage he had received,
said in anger, he would take other measures, the legates replied,
" Sir, threaten not ; we fear no threatenings, for we belong to
a court that is used to command emperors and kings d." This
insolent return of the legates, together with the denials and
delays he met with, were enough to let the king into the true
sentiments of that artful court with which he had to deal, and to
put him out of doubt, that they were resolved to carry their
point, and to force him and his laws to submit. Accordingly,
when after several conferences a form of agreement was drawn up,
wherein the king consented to restore the archbishop to his see,
and to all the rights thereof in such manner as he enjoyed them
before the controversy, "salva dignitate regni sui, — saving the
rights of the kingdom ;" this elause spoiled the whole and broke
up the conference e, and the legates returned as they came. Upon
the breaking up of this assembly, the king dispatched new en
sadors to Rome, and before the end of the year Simon prior do
monte Dei and Bernardus de Corilo were sent legates from
thence f ; but the king still insisting on the archbishop's pro:
to observe his laws, this effort also came to nothing*.

The king (1170) appearing thus steady and resolute in the
defence- of his riulit. the court of Rome came at last to a resolution

" l'.:in,n. Annul, ann. 1169. N. 1. b Ibid.

' Kju-sd. X. 5. •' Kjusd. X. 11.

e Baron. Annul, ann. 11 09. X. 17, 18. f Kju>d
v 31. 33.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 49

to try extremities. In the mean time they set themselves to
prepare the minds of men to bear so violent a shock to the
natural and undoubted rights of princes, by possessing the world
with such a character of the king, and such an opinion of his
laws, as might if possible bring men to think he had merited
the hardships that were or should be put upon him ; or at least
might so artfully cover their own designs, that the neighbouring
princes might stand still, and quietly see their authority humbled
in the example of the king of England. To bring this about,
the king was represented as " a tyrant, an oppressor, a violator
of the rights of the church," and, in the writings of the archbishop
and his party, frequently mentioned under the title of Pharaoh a :
and in the common language of that party, " the customs of
England were styled pravities, and its laws represented as tyran-
nical and wicked b, repugnant to the honour of God c, and destruc-
tive to the rights and liberties of his church d.r> On the other
hand, the cause of Becket was represented as the cause of God
and of his church e, and the mortification, humility and holiness
of the archbishop every where magnified, and he himself styled a
martyr and defender of the cause of God and of his church f, and
his name inserted into the offices of the great monasteries of
France s : and a decretal bull of pope Alexander was published,
against such prelates as adhered to the laws of their own country
under the title of court-bishops, wherein u that prelate excites all
bishops to defend the ecclesiastic liberty V' and for their encourage-
ment saith, there were two things for which every Christian ought

• Baron. Annal. ann. 1170. N. 21. b Ejusd. N. 1.

< Ibid. d Ibid. e Ejusd. N. 16.

f Ibid. * Ejusd. ann. 1164. N. 11.

1 The ecclesiastic liberty. ~] Isaac Casaubon began, and has left behind him
an interesting portion of a Treatise De Libertate Ecclesiastica, which promises
to have been one of great learning and value ; but he was stopped in his progress
by the interposition of the Pops with his patron and master, Henry IV.
(Henry, The Great] of France, and was prevented from proceeding. He has
defined the subject of his intended work in the following words : —

" Ex iis quae hactenus disputata sunt, hoc tandem elicimus, non longe ab
hodiernorum pontificii juris doctorum sententia aberraturum, qui Libertatis
Ecclesiastics hanc sive descriptionem, sive definitionem contexuerit : Libertas
Ecclesiaslica jus est quoddam, primarie quidem Pontifici Romano adhcerens,
quo universi orbis dominium illi paratur ; secundarie vero Eccltsiasticis, quo
viritin, ct in commune eximuntur ipsi, et bona ipsorum ab omni omnium Prin-
cipum subjectione, jurisdictione, potestute : Laid vero ipsis ad omne obsequium
redduntur obnoxii." P. 175. A.D. 1709; in Is. Casauboni Episiola, fyc. fol.

VOL. I. E

50 KING HENRY II. ;

to lay down his life, viz. justice and liberty a; that is, in short, for
the cause under debate.

The way being thus prepared, pope Alexander recalled the inhibi-
tion he had before granted, and set the archbishop at liberty to
use the censures of the church upon the person of the king.

But lest this should speed no better than the former attempts
of that angry prelate, pope Alexander did this year constitute Ro-
trode archbishop of Rouen, Bernard bishop of Nevers, and William
archbishop of Sens, his legates, with power to excommunicate and
put the kingdom of England under an interdict l : and because he
had advice, or at least suspected, that that prince had a secret
purpose to have his son Henry crowned king ; the better to break
his measures, and put him under a necessity of recalling the
archbishop of Canterbury, pope Alexander sent his bull, declaring
the crowning of the king the right of that prelate, and forbidding
the archbishop of York or any other bishop to intermeddle in
that affair without his consent b. This was a fair step towards
putting the disposal of the crown into the hands of the archbishop ;
at least it was putting the succession into the same methods, by
which the bishops of Rome were now arrived to a pretence of
disposing of the empire ; which pretence doubtless had no other
original, but the civil respect that was paid to the bishops of
Rome, in permitting them to crown the emperor. This inhibition
of pope Alexander had not its effect, but, on the contrary, not-
withstanding it the young king was crowned this year by Roger
archbishop of York : yet this disappointment of pope Alexander
gave beginning to a new scene of trouble ; for that prelate sus-
pended the archbishop of York for crowning the new king, and
excommunicated the bishops of London, Rochester, and Salisbury
as assistants in that solemnity c.

And lest the world should mistake the reasons upon which
that prelate acted, in the body of the aforesaid bull of suspension
he tells the archbishop of York, that the chief reason thereof
was " because the new king had sworn inviolably to observe the
ancient customs, whereby the dignity of the clnuvli was put into
danger d." And as lie thus used the bishops, so he sent the kinu;
word, that if he did not make his agreement with tin- archbishop

• Baron. Annal. ann. 1169. N. 49.

1 An interdict.] See Index, under Interdict.

I loved. Annul, ann. 1170. fol. 296. N. 40. and fol. 297.
c Ibid. d Ibid.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 51

of Canterbury by the time which he appointed in his letter, ie he
would pronounce the same sentence against him, which he had
pronounced against the emperor Frederic3 :" and by his appro-
bation the archbishop seconded this impudent and unchristian
resolution, with notifying to the king, " that he would put the
kingdom under an interdict, if he did not in fifteen days make
his peace V

The king had a mighty passion for his family, and in the
advancement of the late king Stephen to the crown in opposition
to the juster title of his mother Maud, and in the controversy
which had given him so much trouble and let so many dangers
and disquiets in upon him, he was made abundantly sensible, how
difficult it would be for a minor to bear up against the pre-
vailing power of the clergy, headed by the bishop of Rome. The
late ill treatment of the emperor Frederic could not but confirm
him in this apprehension : and it seems very probable, that con-
siderations of this kind, together with the vexatious and incurable
obstinacy of the archbishop, broke the resolution which the king
had hitherto shown in opposing the designs of the court of
Rome, and brought this controversy to an issue which was likely
to have frustrated all the ends the king hoped to have served by
it ; for this agreement, instead of securing the succession, did, by
helping to raise the usurpation of the bishops of Rome, enable
pope Innocent the Third to depose his son king John, and bade
fair for the disinheriting of his family.

Whatever were the reasons by which this prince moved in that
affair, the writers of Beckefs story generally say, he was frightened
into the agreement, as not daring to stand the shock of the
interdict and sentence of pope Alexander. Thus much is evident,
that an agreement was made the two-and-twentieth of July
(1170), being the feast of St Mary Magdalen: by which the
king yielded that the archbishop and all his followers should
return to England, and peaceably enjoy what they had held
before this controversy began ; and this without so much as a
promise on the side of the archbishop to observe the laws of
England, or so much as the king's presuming to open his mouth
for those usages *, " which with so much obstinacy he had before

a Baron. Annal. aim. 1170. N. 20. b Ibid.

1 Those usages.'] The ancient prerogatives, that is, of the crown of England
in ecclesiastical matters, the chief of which had been collected together, and
formally recognized in a council convened by the king in the month of

E 2

52 KING HENRY II.;

defended ;" as that prelate, according to his rude and unchristian
manner, relates this affair to pope Alexander3.

The king was pleased with this agreement, as princes commonly
are, when they are ill-used and insulted by their own subjects.
But the archbishop sped worse ; for his success made a wonderful
accession to his natural vanity and haughtiness, and at last
proved fatal to him. His zeal was now become all fire, and that
his opposers might not be kept in suspense what they were to
expect from him, before he left Normandy he sent letters of
excommunication against Roger archbishop of York for crowning
the young king, and together with him the bishops of London
and Durham, and all that assisted in that solemnity5; the doing
whereof, as he pretended, did of right belong to him.

The king was sensible of that prelate's design, and endeavoured
to prevent it, by appointing men to guard the ports, and seize
such persons as they found bringing letters of this kind c. How-
ever, they arrived safe, and in the beginning of Advent returned
the angry prelate himself who had sent them, and who defended
them with a fury agreeable to that which gave them a beginning.
And fire so naturally produceth fire, that it is no wonder if the
king was transported beyond the bounds of temper, to see himself
affronted in the ill usage of those who had distinguished themselves
by a steady zeal for his service ; — and the excommunicated and
suspended bishops leaving England, and coming to the king in
Normandy, and complaining to him, that the uivhbishop was
grown so imperious that they were not able to live under him,
and that when the archbishop came to wait on the young king
he came attended by soldiers, and so attended would hav en;
the king^s palace : this (saith the same author) so raised the

January 1164, and to which, after some demur, Becket promised obedience,
but afterwards revoked his promise, to the great indignation of the king, and
the almost universal disapproval of the bishops and great body of the c 1
as well as of the nobles. Hereupon the archbishop withdrew privately into
France, where he continued several years under the protection of that court
and of the pope, persisting all the while in treating the king in his letters
with great insolence. He declares the statutes of Clarendon void, excom-
municates their abettors, &c., and procures the pope's permission to excom-
municate the king, if he did not submit very shortly; engages the French
king in a war against Henry, and at length terrifies the king into concession,
these particulars related at large, Inett, vol. ii. p. '253 — 71.
I1, iron. Annul, ami. 1 17<>. -V
b Gervas. Chron. ann. 11/0. [X. Script.] col. 1413. N. 30. 40. < Ibid.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 53

indignation of the king, that he said " in passion, he maintained
a company of cowardly and slothful men, of which not one would
vindicate him from the many injuries which he sustained a :" or
as others report his words, that "among all those he maintained
or had obliged by his favours, he had none that would vindicate
him from one priest that troubled him and his kingdom, and
sought to depose and to disinherit him b." The king's domestics
thinking themselves reproached by this reflection, were officious
beyond their duty and beyond what the king intended ; and
presently laying hold of these hasty expressions, four of them,
viz. Reginald Fitz-Urse, William de Traci, Richard Brito, and
Hugh de Morevile, resolved upon the death of the archbishop,
and hasting away to England, with all the circumstances of
inhumanity, murdered that unhappy prelate in his own Cathedral
church, December 28, 1170.

The archbishop being thus murdered, the noise which attended
it was in some measure answerable to the guilt and horror of
the fact ; for as that was barbarous beyond excuse, there wanted
no industry to blacken the guilt and to fix it upon the king. On
the other hand, the king was sensible of the ill use which would
be made of it, and was just to his own honour and innocence ; and
to prevent the advantages which his enemies might reap from this
occasion, king Henry employed his embassadors every where to
assert his innocence. On the other hand, the French ministers
aggravated the inhumanity of the deed ; and the court of Rome
could not but have reason to fear the consequence of this affair,
as that which in the first view appeared very likely to intimi-
date their partisans, and make them cold in a design wherein
that prelate had so fatally miscarried: therefore that court
employed their emissaries to represent the horror of the fact, and
used their eloquence to give the world such an idea thereof, as
might beget impressions fitted to the purposes which they designed
to serve by it. Nor did their exclamations set bounds to the dis-
pleasure of that court ; but as they were very loud in their out-
cries against the king, so they threatened his kingdom with an
interdict, and had doubtless kept their word, if the affairs of that
court had not been too much perplexed to permit them to venture
upon an undertaking attended with so much danger.

On the other hand, the king foreseeing what representations
and what use the court of Rome would make of it, did not

a Gervas. Chron. ann. 1170. [X. Script.] col. 1414. N. 40.
b Baron. Anna!, ann. 1170. N. 45.

54 KING HENRY II. ;

without good grounds dread the issue of this affair, and took
all possible precaution to prevent the ill effects thereof, and to do
right to his own honour and innocence, and more especially in
the court of Rome : in order whereto he presently sent an em-
bassage thither. But that court, which never overlooked any ad-
vantage to serve itself, would not permit the embassadors to
assert the king's innocence, until they had first made their way
by good presents and round promises, that the king should abide
by the award of the legates who should be sent to enquire into
this affair ; a promise which in time entangled the king in diffi-
culties which he was never able to overcome.

However, to put the evil day as far off as he could, the kiiiu,
sailed over to Ireland, to receive the homage of that kingdom.
And as during his stay there that people generally submitted to
his authority, so in a council which he held at Cashel, the bishops
and clergy consented, and in the seventh canon ordained that
divine service should be celebrated in all the churches of Ireland,
according to the rites and customs of the church of England ".
The settlement of Ireland took up the greatest part of this year;
therefore the king fearing lest any ill use should be made of his
long stay in that kingdom, ordered his ports to be stopped, and
nobody to be suffered to come into England, that should pretend
to bring letters of interdict against his kingdom.

Thus things passed on till the year following (1172); but
before that time the legates of the court of Rome arrived in
Normandy, where the king permitted them to wait till his return
from Ireland; but being returned from thence, without making
any considerable stay in England, he went over to Normandy,
where he met the legates in the latter end of September. It wa
cause of the court of Rome and interest of the papacy, for which the
late archbishop had lost his life, and that court was resolved
paid for the blood of their martyr: and what was said of tin1
martyrs of the first ages, that their blood was the seed of the
church, was verified in this their martyr. And it was a nikrht y
harvest which they reaped from his blood ; for after all the noise
and clamour they had made upon tliis subject, it appears plainly
by the issue, that all their zeal and outcries upon this occasion
were nothing «•!>«• but arts to sell his blood the dearer.

Therefore after sonic time spent upon this occasion, the kiiuj
forced upon an agreement, which at once gave away all that

• ConciL lint., vul ii. p. 93.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 55

he had been so long contending for, and which in the consequence
thereof overwhelmed the rights of the church and the crown, and
let in an usurpation which bore down all before it. There were
seven articles upon which this accommodation was founded, of
which three or four so nearly concern the church that they are
not to be passed by.

First, that the king should never forsake pope Alexander or
his catholic successors, so long as they used him as became a
catholic king.

Secondly, in causes ecclesiastical appeals should be freely made
to the bishops of Eome, and the king should neither hinder them
himself nor permit others to hinder them ; provided, that if any
one should be suspected to have evil designs against the king or
kingdom, they should give security before they departed out of his
dominions.

Thirdly, that the king should after Christinas next ensuing go
to the Holy Land in person for three years, unless dispensed with
by the pope or his successors ; and in the mean time, that he
should maintain two hundred men for that service.

Fourthly, that he should abolish all such customs as in his
time had been introduced to the prejudice of the church.

These articles, together with some others, by which he declares
his innocence of the archbishop's death, and promises satisfaction,
and to restore the rights of the church of Canterbury, being
agreed upon, a council was called, where the king, the archbishop
of Rouen, together with other Norman bishops and abbots, did in
this assembly swear to observe the agreement; and so did his son
king Henry, so far as the articles were general ; and then the articles
were sealed with the seal of the king a. All that this mortified
prince had in exchange, was absolution from the legates for the
fault, of which he was first made to swear he was not guilty.

Thus this unhappy prelate's death, like that of Samson, drew
destruction after it, and the church and crown suffered more by
it, than by all the attempts and endeavours of his life. And
watered with his blood, the papal usurpation presently grew up to
its full complement and perfection ; for having before gained from
the crown the patronage of bishoprics by forcing the right of
investitures from the kings of England, and broken all the autho-
rity of provincial and diocesan bishops by settling the legantine
power, and by assuming an authority to exempt the religious from

* Gervas. Chron. [ap. Twisden, Decem Scriptores, col. 1422.]

56 KING HENRY II.;

their jurisdiction ; they now by the article of appeals gained a
power to call every thing to Home ; and by the grant of the king
to abolish the laws which they called prejudicial to the church,
removed every difficulty which stood in the way of their new
maxims and pretensions to the ecclesiastic liberty. There re-
mained little more, but to possess themselves of the crown ; and
this too we shall hear of time enough, in the reign of king John,
the son of the present king.

The changes which presently ensued were so visible, that
one of the writers of archbishop Becket's story, in the account
written about this time, thus describes the change. "In t In-
former reigns the authority of the see of Rome was little re-
garded3, and the kings of England ordered all affairs in the church
as they saw good ; and under them the archbishops ordered all
things according to the law of England ; and when the royal and
archiepiscopal power united, their authority was uncontrollable and
past resistance V And the court of Rome appears to have had tin-
same sentiments of the conquest which they gained over the crown
and the English church, within the compass of the present reiini.
and by the address of the late archbishop : therefore when king
John in the council of Northampton declared, that he challenged
no other right in disposing the bishoprics, but what his prede-
cessors had enjoyed ; Pandulphus the legate of pope Innocent
answered, "that the right the king pretended to, was abolished
by the surrender which archbishop Becket had made of his
bishopric into the hands of the pope, and from that time the
church of Rome was made the lady and mistress of all the churches
of England c."

But to return to the agreement of the king.

Whatever the flatterers of the court of Rome may pretend to
the contrary, we are to ground their first colourable protein
appeals from England on the aforesaid article of king Henry. For
though Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the preceding rciirn.
saith, the use of appeals was begun by Henry bishop of Win-
chester, and then legate to the bishop of Rome d (as he ad<l

e some unworthy ends of his own. ami (Jcrvasius follows him
in this opinion, (and they are in the right as to the fact ; for that
prelate, end^avonrinn- to lessen and modify Theobald then arch-
bishop of Canterbury, and bring every thing into his own hands,

• Wharton, Anglia Sacra, par. ii. p b Ibid. c Ibid.

d II. Iluntingd. lib. viii. p 2

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 57

led the way to that practice, and during the war between king
Stephen and the present king several things were carried to
Rome;) yet as the practice was new, and had no ground in canon
or antiquity or law, so that court, whose interest was served by it,
was so sensible that their title was but precarious, and had the
marks of novelty very fresh and visible, thought fit to give it the
colour and appearance of right by their late agreement with king,
Henry, and the article on this subject was at this time their best
title to appeals from England.

But what has been said before of the state of the English church
under William the First and Second, explained by the ecclesias-
tical law of England in the statutes of Clarendon, puts it beyond
a doubt, that no such right had ever been owned under the Nor-
man reigns. And the history of the ancient English church
makes it no less evident, that the case had been the same in
England from the foundations of the English church. And the
whole circumstances and manner of gaining on the one side, and
yielding on the other, make it plain, that religion was no way con-
sidered in that affair; for an article of this kind could never have
had a being, if either side had believed that the court of Rome
had a right to appeals from the authority of Christ or his church,
or if this had been the ancient usage of England.

So that if the circumstances and designs of king Henry had not
explained the reasons thereof, one would stand astonished at a
concession of this kind, and at this time of day, when the designs
of the court of Rome were visible to all the world, and their abuses of
that power to receive appeals, which they before this had gained in
some other places, were become so notorious, that St. Bernard,
who had done too much toward advancing the papal greatness,
did but a few years before this complain of the abuse of appeals
by the court of Rome, and in terms so passionate and full of re-
sentment as would make one very uneasy to read them.

In his hundred and seventy-eighth epistle to pope Innocent,
he tells that prelate, that it was the common complaint that justice
was perished in the church, that the authority of the keys of the
church was destroyed, and the power of bishops become vile and
contemptible ; " because," saith he, " it is out of their power to
punish offenders, or to correct the disorders of their own dioceses;"
of which he assigns this reason: "offenders," saith he, "appeal to
you and to the Roman court, and what the bishops determine
with justice, you cancel and repeal, and what they forbid, you

58 KING HENRY II., &c.

determine and appoint a ; and if there be men either of the laity,
clergy, or religious, who are more wicked and profligate than other
men, they run to the court of Rome, and they have sanctuary and
protection; and having such defenders, they return and insult
over those who pretend to correct them V

In the year 1174 a bull was received from pope Alexander
declaring Becket a martyr and a saint, and appointing that the
day of his passion should be received into the calendar c ; and all
on a sudden the miracles of the new martyr shone so bright, that
votaries to his shrine and devotions to his tomb became so
fashionable, that king Henry was forced to run in with the crowd,
and upon his return out of Normandy went and paid his devotions
to the tomb of the late archbishop. And if the monkish writers,
who began about this age to be fond of an invention of their own,
the disciplining whip, do not misinform us, this prince submitted
to it, and suffered his body to be scourged ; a sort of discipline,
which till the latter end of the eleventh century d had never been
heard of in the Christian church; and if men had not learned to
consecrate their own follies, and to set up their own inventions as
standards of holiness and devotion, might have continued unknown
to this day. But this has so little of the gospel method of reclaiming
sinners, that it is hard to say, whether this treatment was more
disagreeable to the spirit of Christ, or more reproachful to the
majesty of kings ; so that if we must not reject the authority and
disbelieve this part of the story, the honour which is due to the
character of God's vicegerents should at least oblige one to cover
and forget it. — Had he stopped here, the age, and the difficulty of
his present circumstances, might possibly have made some apology
for him; but so fatally did the aforesaid treaty break all the
measures of this prince, that he never stopped till his concessions
gave the finishing stroke to that interest, which broke liis own.
and plunged his posterity into mischiefs the past ages had never
heard of. As for the court of Rome, it was no wonder if tliev
made all possible haste to distinguish the martyr for the papacy,
and let tin- world see what a value they put upon that hiu'otrv,
which had turned to such account to them.

• Bernard. Kpist. 178. b Ibid. c M. Par. ann. 1173. p. 127.

d Du Pin, Eccles. Hist. Cent. ii. p. 12C.

INTRODUCTION.

NATIONAL CHURCHES— PAPAL USURPATIONS ON THE
RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT.1

IN the year 1175, the king (Henry II.) received intelligence of
the arrival of Hugo cardinal of St. Peter de Leon 2, legate of pope
Alexander the Third. During his stay in England, the old dispute
about the liberty of the clergy was brought under consideration ;
and as this appears to have been the great errand, so the chief
remains we have of this embassy is an agreement betwixt the
king and the legate, which consists of these four following
articles.

First, that no clergyman for the time to come should be carried
in person before any secular judge 3 for any crime or transgression,
unless for abuses of the forest, or for such services as by reason
of some fee they owed to the king or other secular lords.

Secondly, the king covenants that he would not keep any
archbishopric, bishopric, or abbey, in his hands above a year, unless
there was an apparent necessity thereof.

Thirdly, it was agreed that such persons as should confess or
be convicted of having killed a clergyman, should be punished in
the presence of the bishop.

Fourthly, that a clergyman should not be obliged to defend
himself by duel a.

1 Civil government .] From Inett's Origines Anglican^, &c. vol. ii. p. 295 —
313.

2 Hugo de Perleonibus, Cardinal Deacon of St. Angelo, and afterwards
Priest Cardinal of St. Clemente.

3 Any secular judge. .] See Index, under Clergy, exemption of from secular
jurisdiction, p. 296. See also Christian Institutes, vol. iv. p. 32. 180. 235.
Also Inett, vol. ii. p. 195. 319—22.

a M. Par. ann. 1176. p. 132.

60 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS.

If what has been already said has not enabled us to account
for the reason of this transaction, one who considers the provision
which the gospel has made for preserving the rights of the secular
power, and the obedience which the first Christians paid to the
worst of princes, or the grounds upon which Christianity was
admitted as the religion of states and kingdoms, and the advantages
which accrue to it from their favours and encouragement, would
stand amazed at an attempt to discharge the clergy from the
laws of the state ; and much more to find this claim founded on
a pretended grant of Christ, who declared his kingdom was not
of this world, and both lived and died a great example of the
doctrine which he had delivered ; and which is stranger still, that
devoting men to the service of religion should exempt them from
the duties of it, and an authority to publish the gospel discharge
them from the subjection which their holy function obliged them
to preach to all the world.

There is no doubt but our Saviour appointed an order of men
to make the will of God known to the world, and to publish the
terms on which He will pardon our sins, accept our services here,
and reward us when this life is done, and gave them commission
to convey this authority to others : and it is beyond all question,
that this is a power different from that which God has given to
princes, and such as they can neither give nor take away, nor
assume to themselves. And they who are thus commissioned
by Christ, are under the same obligation to preach the gospel as
they are to obey God ; and the people are upon the same grounds
bound to receive it. — And upon this foot Christianity was first
preached and obeyed, though the secular power withheld their
protection and persecuted those who embraced it : but God
blessed His people, and gave success to the ministry of His
servants, and will do so if ever this case should happen a^ain.
And if this is all that is meant by the independence of the church
and clergy on the secular power, there is no more reason to
doubt it, than to make a question whether the gospel ought to he
preached, or God obeyed, or His people take a care of their own
souls. But if the gospel gives no new powers to princes, it
certainly takes nothing from them1: they lose nothing b\
coming Christians : they are God's vicegerents as much as they

1 Nothing from them.'] See Hooker, b. viii. c. iii. Keble's edition, vol. iii.
p. 450—9. Again

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 61

were before, and in right of their character continue the common
guardians of religion. And that of the prince is thus far the
case of every subject too. His submission to Christ does not set
him free from any relative duty : he no more ceases to be a
subject than to be a father, a husband, or a master. Christianity
makes no change in the natural ties of allegiance : the Christian

Again c. vi. s. 13. thus : —

" Christ in His church hath not appointed any such law concerning
temporal power, as God did of old deliver unto the commonwealth of Israel;
but leaving that to be at the world's free choice, his chiefest care was that
the spiritual law of the gospel might be published far and wide.

" They that received the law of Christ were for a long time scattered in
sundry kingdoms, Christianity not exempting them from the laws that they
had been subject unto, saving only in such cases as those laws did enjoin
that which the religion of Christ forbade. Hereupon grew their manifold
persecutions throughout ah1 places where they lived : as oft as it thus came
to pass, there was no possibility that the emperors and kings under whom
they lived, should meddle any whit at all with making laws for the church.
From Christ therefore having received power, who doubteth, that as they
did, so they might bind themselves to such orders as seemed fittest for the
maintenance of their religion, without the leave of high or low in the com-
monwealth ; for as much as in religion it was divided utterly from them, and
they from it ?

" But when the mightiest began to like of the Christian faith, by their
means whole free states and kingdoms became obedient unto Christ. Now,
the question is, Whether kings by embracing Christianity do therein receive
any such law, as takethfrom the weightiest part of that sovereignty, which they
had even when they were heathens? Whether being infidels they might do more
in causes of religion, than now they can by the law of God, being true believers ?
For whereas in regal states the king or supreme head of the commonwealth
had before Christianity a supreme stroke in making of laws for religion ; he
must, by embracing Christian religion, utterly thereof deprive himself, and in
such causes become subject to his subjects, having even within his own domi-
nions them whose commandment he must obey ; unless this power be placed
in the hand of some foreign spiritual potentate ; so that either a foreign or
domestical commander upon earth, he must needs admit more now than
before he had ; and that in the chiefest things whereupon commonwealths do
stand; but apparent it is unto all men, which are not strangers in the doctrine
of Jesus Christ, that no state in the world, receiving Christianity, is by any
law therein contained bound to resign the power which they lawfully held
before ; but over what persons and in what causes soever the same hath been
in force, it may so remain and continue still: that which as kings they might
do in matter of religion, and did in matter of false religion, being idolatrous
or superstitious kings, the same they are now even in every respect as fully
authorized to do in all affairs pertinent unto the state of true Christian reli-
gion." Vol. iii. part i. p. 517 — 9.

62 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS

is as much bound to obey as the Pagan and the Jew. And the
case is still the same whatever post he fills : the pastor is as
much a subject to the higher power as the people committed to
his charge ; and in some cases in those instances wherein they
may pretend to act by the authority of Christ.

For our Saviour, who as the great prophet and instructor of
mankind laid the foundation of that society which He thought fit
to honour and distinguish by the name of His body the church,
and who appointed His ministers to go out into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature, and commanded the people
to hear His law from their mouths and with meekness to receive
the ingrafted word ; to submit to those who watch for their
souls ; and even to obey those who rule over them in the Lord ;
does yet compare His church to a field that should consist of
tares as well as good seed, and foretold that ravening wolves
should come in sheep^s clothing and deceive many. And His
apostles by the same spirit foresaw that the seat of God would
fall into the hands of antichrists, and deceivers arise who would
set themselves above all that was called God ; or in other words,
that the ministers of Christ would be subject to error, and mi<rht
endeavour to impose their mistakes upon the world. Therefore
at the same time they command us to believe and obey the
gospel, they caution us not to believe every spirit, and not to
receive any other doctrine but that of Christ, though it come
attested by an angel of light ; to consider whether the doctrine
be of God ; to try all things and hold fast that which is good.
Thus far every Christian is for himself1 made a judge of the faith
of Christ, and by the same authority too which commands him to
receive it; and he is under the same obligation to reject the
error, however it come recommended, as he is to provide for the
welfare of his own soul.

The case of the Christian magistrates is very different. They
are obliged to encourage the worship of God upon rules of tin.1
gospel; to see that subjects be duly taught; to keej> them from
tin- danger of false teachers, and provide them such pastors as
Christ has appointed. And if it happen through human frailty,
corruption, mistake, or worldly interest, that tin- pa>t«»r> of tin-
church preach themselves instead of Christ, teach the

1 For himself.'] See Hooker's Preface, chap. iii. § 1 — 3, and chaj
§ 5, 6; or Christian Institutes, vol. iv. p. 380—2, and 415—7.

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 63

idolatry or superstition, or any doctrine which may endanger
their salvation or the peace of his dominions ; the supreme power
in such cases is under the same obligation to remove the deceivers
and provide true pastors, as he is to protect the church, to secure
the truth and honour of religion, the institutions of Christ, the
welfare of his people, and the peace of his country.

If the error spread farther and become general, and involve
the governing part of a national church, this case may require
more caution and prudence ; but if the matter be notorious and
the offenders obstinate, the mischief cries so much louder for a
remedy. For by permitting the guides thereof to involve them-
selves in the common guilt, and thereby depriving his church of
the ordinary means of redress, God points out the duty of the
magistrate, and calls the supreme power, to whom He has com-
mitted a general care of His glory, to exert the authority which
He lodged in his hands. They are in this case under the same
obligation to control the error, and secure the truth and honour
of religion, as they are to obey God rather than men. And the
reason is plain ; the guides in this case go beyond their com-
mission, and, as the apostle well distinguishes, it is the man and
not the Lord that speaks by them. For it is certain that Christ
never gave men authority to preach the idolatry which His
gospel forbids ; and when this is the case, it is the wolf and not
the shepherd which the magistrate drives away from the flock.

Besides, this seems to be the only provision which God has
made to secure the purity and succession of national churches.
His promises to be with His church till the end of the world,
and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it, are
limited to the catholic church ; and though they afford us ground
enough to believe that the church of Christ shall never fail, but
continue visible till His second coming, yet these promises are
not applicable to particular national churches. The present state
of Africa makes it but too plain, that a national church may be
extinguished : and if one looks to the condition of some western
nations as they stand at this day, and to the general state
thereof as they stood some ages since, it will be out of doubt
that Christianity may be corrupted l ; that the guides and pastors

1 May be corrupted.'] "As the churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and
Antioch have erred ; so also the church of Rome hath erred, not only in their
living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith." Art. XIX.
of the Church of England.

G4 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS

of national churches may avow the corruption, and propagate the
idolatry which the gospel has forbidden ; may require the worship
of an image, a relic, or a piece of bread ; deny the use of the
sacraments which Christ instituted, or impose new ones of their
own ; deny their people the use of the Scriptures in a language
they understand, and command them to pray to God in one they
do not ; an impostor may call himself the vicar of Christ, and
under colour of His authority usurp the rights of princes and
oppress their people ; and the spiritual guides of national churches
may countenance and defend their claims and errors. Now
whenever this happens to be the case, if the natural right which God
has given to men to take care of their own souls, or the general
commission which He has entrusted to supreme powers to provide
for His honour, to minister wrath to evil doers and encourage
truth and holiness, be not authorities enough to remove the blind
guides and justify the redress, the mischief would be incurable ;
a church might degenerate into a den of thieves, and souls perish
and nations be ruined without the hopes of a remedy.

They who bar the exercise of this power by advancing a pre-
tence of a spiritual relation betwixt the pastor and his flock, and
raise up this relation above the reach of princes, and upon tins
ground pretend to tell us, that the secular power can neither
nominate nor deprive a bishop, seem wholly to mistake this affair.
and apply that to a particular local and legal, or at most a
canonical relation, which is only applicable to the relation of a
bishop or a priest to the whole Christian church. For the fh>-t
is only human and prudential; the latter flows from the Order,
and has its foundation in the commission of Christ. For according
to the way of speaking amongst the ancients there is but one
episcopate, and every bishop is a bishop of the whole Christian
church, and as such has a spiritual and pastoral relation to the
whole flock of Christ; and this is founded in the Order,
aloiu;- with the person, and without change or addition of cha-
r equally entitles him to discharge the offices of his holy
function throughout the whole Christian chnreh ; and this relation
continues as loiio- as the character upon which it is founded.
And all the forms of consecrating bishops, used by the Christian
church, come up to the grounds of this opinion: they confer the
Order, and tin- relation which Hows from it.

Hut the relation of a bishop or a pri«->t to a people of a ]
ticular diocese or parish springs from a different fountain, and

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 65

must for that reason be of a different nature, and subject to
different rules and measures. For it is certain, that a relation
peculiar and appropriated to a person cannot flow from his cha-
racter ; for then it must lie common, and extend itself to the
whole Order : and if it arise from a national establishment, it is
then no other than a legal and local relation, and must of neces-
sity be subject to the same authority which gave it a beginning.
And to one who considers how frequently this relation is dissolved
by the voluntary acts of bishops, priests, or their people, in re-
moving from one diocese or one parish to another, and new rela-
tions acquired without assuming a new character, and all this, not
only to serve the ends of edification, but sometimes for purposes
of a very different nature ; it will seem somewhat strange to have
it said, that a relation which so often gives way to covetousness
and ambition, vapour, resentment, ease, or the little conveniences
of human life, cannot be dissolved to serve the ends of peace or
justice, or the safety of a nation, or the greater ends of truth and
holiness. But if the distinct nature and grounds of the aforesaid
different relations of the same men to the Christian church and to
a particular people were duly weighed, all the difficulties which
arise from this head would presently vanish.

The reason and grounds of the present dispute about the
authority of princes, have been considered in another place *. But
it may not be amiss, before I end this digression occasioned
thereby, to observe, that that which generally misleads learned
men in their reasonings about the supremacy of princes and the
dependence of the church upon the state, is the want of a due
attention to the difference betwixt churches, considered in their
proper natures and as they are incorporated into states and king-
doms ; and challenging those powers and privileges as the inherent
rights of the church taken in the first sense, which are only
applicable to churches in the second sense, and are derived from
the concessions of the civil power.

Churches considered as pure spiritual societies are founded
upon the commission of Christ, and can have no head but Him on
whose authority and doctrine they are built, and by whose spirit
they are governed, and from whom they expect protection and
rewards: and though that as such they have proper inherent
rights, seems as evident as any part of our common Christianity,

1 In another place."] Preface to vol ii. p. v. &c., or above, p. 7.
VOL. I. F

66 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS

yet these rights are of the same kind with the institution itself, of
a pure spiritual nature, and such as no way affect the rights of
princes or the subjection of their people. And whilst churches
continued in this posture, there was nothing to awake the jealousy
of states and kingdoms. Princes who had not embraced the
gospel did not concern themselves in the choice of pastors, or the
voluntary rules which these societies prescribed to themselves, or
in the exercise of a power which did no way affect the liberties,
the estates, or the peace of their people.

But when whole nations submitted to the doctrine of Christ,
and princes and their people entered into Christian societies, and
the gospel became the religion of states and kingdoms, and these
societies were established by laws, and provision made by the state
to support the ministers of Christ, bishops called to a part in the
legislature and great councils, and qualified for those trusts by
titles of honour, their censures enforced by civil sanctions, their
authority enlarged by making them judges in many cases, wherein
the reputation, the liberty, and property of the subject were con-
cerned ; by this change, bodies of Christians, which were before
pure spiritual societies, were incorporated into bodies politic, and
by becoming a part of the legal establishment acquired the title of
National churches. And thus though their inherent rights remain,
and may be enjoyed separate if princes should resume their grants,
yet these societies acquired a new capacity, and became a part of
the national establishment, and as such can have no other head
but the head of the body politic ; for a national establishment not
subject to the head of the national body, seems a fit subject for a
jest, rather than a ground of controversy and dispute.

But however wild and extravagant it may appear to after-ages,
this was the present subject of dispute ; for the men who followed
Hildebrand in the doctrine which he had lately broached of the
independence of the church upon the state, took the doctrine in
the lump, and without distinguishing what was true from what
was false in that proposition, did, as he intended they should do,
run away with the whole together. They applied that to national
churches, which was only true of the whole Christian church ; and
that to the particular and acquired rights of a national church,
which was applicable- only to the original rights of the church in
tn-iu'ral. They confounded the legal powers and privileges of tin-
clergy with those that flow from their Order; and from the
account which they wen- to irive to Christ for their pastoral office,

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 67

argued against their allegiance as subjects ; and because they
were accountable to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls for
the holy offices of their function, concluded they were not answer-
able to the magistrate for felony or murder; and from their
authority to preach the gospel, argued themselves into a power to
preach sedition and rebellion uncontrolled. Had the laity fallen
into the same way of arguing, and, because they are answerable
to God for theft, and perjury, and murder, and breach of the
public peace, concluded they were not liable to the punishments
of the civil power, and, from their natural freedom as men, argued
against their legal obedience as subjects, there had been an end
of all government at once. And yet these claims are so equally
balanced, that it is not an easy matter to determine which has
the least reason on its side, or which of them is attended with the
greater mischief and absurdity.

But one who will carefully distinguish betwixt the relations of
churchmen to the whole Christian church and to a particular
people ; betwixt authoritative preaching of the gospel, adminis-
tering sacraments, conferring orders, — and choosing persons to
receive those holy trusts, giving of livings, and bestowing baronies
and palaces, and calling men to the great councils ; betwixt the
plain and express doctrines of Christ, and the inferences and
opinions supposed by some Christians to be grounded thereon,
but contradicted and denied by others ; betwixt the rites and
discipline of Chrises appointment and the prudential forms, rites,
and rules of churches, to serve the ends of decency and order ;
betwixt the proper power of bishops, flowing from their character,
and their external jurisdiction in cases of tithes, patronage, de-
famation, validity of wills and contracts, and legitimacy of children;
in short, betwixt the inherent and essential rights and powers of
a church, considered as a pure spiritual society ; and the acquired
powers, rights, and privileges of national churches, derived from
the concessions of the civil powers, and not from the authority of
Christ ; and will consider how reasonable it is, that the supreme
power of nations should be judges of their own grants ; will not
find it so difficult, as some men imagine, to reconcile the rights of
the church to the ecclesiastical supremacy of princes.

Upon the whole matter : one who sees all parties of Christians
addressing to Christian princes to decide the greatest controversies
in religion, by receiving one church and persuasion of Christians
into the national establishment, and shutting out all others ;

F 2

68 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS

soliciting for their favours, and calling for their laws to distinguish
their opinions and constitutions ; to punish offences against the
natural and moral and positive doctrines and duties of religion ;
imploring their aid to guard the inherent powers of the church,
and making use of civil sanctions to chastise every contempt
thereof; and whenever they prevail, all this bound upon princes
by the authority of their own laws and the religion of oaths ; and
yet at the same time hears great numbers of the same persons
telling the world, that princes have nothing to do in the affairs
of the church and religion ; is tempted to such melancholy re-
flections on human nature, as are very apt to make a man i'all
out with himself, and even to entertain a very mean opinion of
mankind.

But whilst we are thus called to pity the weakness, and dread
the mistakes and prejudices of men, one cannot overlook a subject
for our thanks to God, who has placed us under the instructions
of a church, whose wisdom and integrity teach us how to reconcile
our faith and our allegiance, our zeal for our holy religion to a
Christian pity for all that differ from us, and which at once calls
us to assert the original and inherent rights of Chrises church,
and at the same time to be just to the state which protects it, in
acknowledging the supremacy of the crown. — But I have led the
reader too far, and must return to the subject which occasioned
this digression ; the fatal agreement of king Henry and the legate
of the bishop of Rome, for discharging the clergy and religious
from the authority of the state.

The tyrannical usage and horrible oppressions which the clergy
afterwards met with under the papal usurpation, leave it out of
doubt, that the court of Rome never designed more by their pre-
tended zeal in asserting the liberty of the clergy, than to cover
their own designs the better, and to make use of the clergy, first,
to assist in humbling their princes, and then to put the yoke about
their own necks. However, for the present the secret was so
artfully covered, that the clergy seem to have been very fond of
the pretence : and this makes it easy to account for their conduct,
but at the same time it leaves us still farther to seek out how it
caim- t<> pass, that the kings of England, who could not Imt see
the dangerous consequence of this dengn. should he brought into
it. But it' thr news of the king hurried him on too fast t<»
th<- tendency of this a Hair, it is certain his council did not oversee
th." danger, and were ju>t to him ; I'm- in his letter to pope Alex-

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 69

ander upon the occasion of this grant, the king tells that prelate a,
that "the wisest and greatest men of his kingdom very much
opposed it :" and it was no wonder.

For the ground on which this whole scheme was set on foot,
was a new and very dangerous principle, viz., that the authority
of kings did not extend itself to ecclesiastical causes or persons :
so that by discharging the clergy from the obligation of the laws
of England, the king did in effect acknowledge the supremacy
over ecclesiastical persons and causes to be lodged in another
hand. And we are not to wonder, if we find the clergy hence-
forward acting accordingly ; for that prince who gives up a body
of his people to a foreign power, and by a formal releasing them
from the obligation to his laws, at least virtually consents to their
changing masters, does in a great measure remit the natural ties
of allegiance, and must take a great share of the blame to himself,
if such subjects forget the duties from which he first discharged
them.

The bigotry of Anselm, Becket, and some others, is past all
excuse ; yet it ought to be remembered to the honour of the
English bishops and clergy, that under the steady reign of William
the first, the whole body of the clergy did unanimously oppose
every attempt against the rights of the church and the crown ;
and, Anselm and some few others excepted, they stood by Wil-
liam the second and Henry the first in the long controversy
about investitures; and though king Henry the first had, by
yielding up that right of his crown, in some measure given up the
clergy to the mercy of the bishops of Rome, yet they were just
to his grandson Henry the second, and did their parts towards
the defence of the crown and the lawsT So that do all one can,
one, who considers well the series of our story, will find too much
reason to believe, that the usurpations on the rights of the church
and the crown were, if not entirely yet chiefly, owing to the il!7
conduct of the present and the two preceding princes, who, to
serve some present turns, or to stave off some impending dangers,
made such concessions as in time broke their authority, and put
it out of their power to preserve the rights of that church which
God had raised them up to defend.

Thus for instance ; William the first called in the authority of the
bishops of Rome to depose the Saxon bishops and abbots whom he

a Rad. de Diceto [ap. Twisden], Decem Scriptores, col. 591. N. 60.

70 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS

did not dare to trust, that he might make way for the Normans: and
his son Henry the first, to secure himself against the pretensions of
his brother Robert, recalled Anselm, and thereby virtually and after-
wards in form yielded up the royal right of investitures : and king
Stephen sent to Rome to have his title to the crown confirmed, and,
to secure his possession, asked the legatine power for his brother,
and unworthily bowed down before it, and acted the subject in his
own kingdom. And appeals to Rome, though not established till the
succeeding reign, had their beginning at the same time and upon the
same grounds. To give the better colour to his ambition, Henry the
second took a title to the kingdom of Ireland from pope Adrian ;
and a dispensation from a successor to violate his father's will,
which he had sworn to observe, and upon that ground dispossessed
his brother Geoffrey of the dukedom of Anjou ; and by his afore-
said agreement, after the death of archbishop Becket, gave up the
ancient right of the crown to the last resort in causes ecclesias-
tical, and discharged the clergy from the secular power.

By these false politics those princes did virtually own all that
the bishops of Rome contended for, and it was in vain to pretend
to deny the authority which they had allowed when it served their
own ends. But if the hasty growth of the papal power in England
be not thus to be accounted for, this part of our story must for
ever be left in the dark ; for they who put it upon the superstition
and ignorance of the age, or the bigotry of some particular men,
have difficulties in their way which are never to be overcome. —
But to return to the exemption of the clergy from the secular
power.

Wheresoever the blame ought to lie, it is but too evident this
was the unhappy state of England ; the interests of the church
and state were about this time divided, and set in opposition to
one another ; the one headed by the bishops of Rome, the other
by the kings of England : and we are in the ensuing story to
these two powers dashing one against another. And which is
sadder still, the clergy, who of all men ought to be most tender of
the peace and honour of their country, were by these unhappy
changes put under a necessity of becoming parties in a very un-
natural and dishonourable usurpation on the rights of their natural
princes and their kingdoms. — But whoever is to be blamed for
letting in that usurpation, the rleruy are never to be excused for
what th'-v a ft er wards did to rend, r it lasting and insufferable.

\Vhilst these things were doing (1177) in England, that \v<

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 71

might not be to seek where our miseries had their beginning, the
same spirit appeared every where throughout the Western nations ;
and though it advanced by slower paces than it had done in Eng-
land, yet a general assault was made upon the secular power,
and there is scarce a nation in Europe which does not afford some
trophies to adorn the triumphs of the Roman court. But those of
pope Alexander over the emperor Frederic are very extraordi-
nary, and such as ought never to be forgotten.

There had never been a good understanding betwixt the em-
perors and the bishops of Rome, from the time that pope Gregory
the seventh first broached the doctrine of judging, correcting, and
deposing secular princes. And as that doctrine and the new
maxims of the court of Rome had given perpetual jealousies to
those princes, the same reason had made them ever forward to
break the measures of that party, which ran into the Hildebrandine
principles. And this occasioned several schisms and wars ; and
there had been a long quarrel upon this subject betwixt the present
emperor and pope Alexander, which was compromised about this
time, but in a manner so equally unbecoming both parties, that
one cannot easily determine at whose door the greatest share of
the infamy ought to be laid.

After a war of sixteen or seventeen years, and a schism sup-
ported by a succession of four anti-popes a, and the blackest scenes
of confusion and misery that war and schism can produce, pope
Alexander, by the assistance and intrigues of the French king b,
and by the arms of the Lombards and of William king of Sicily,
had so entangled the affairs and so broken the measures of the
emperor Frederic, that that prince saw himself under a necessity
of making a peace with the pope : and meeting at Venice, an
agreement was made, wherein it was stipulated that the emperor
should beg the pope^s pardon. Accordingly, at the great door of
the church of St. Mark, in the presence of the senate and people
of Venice, the emperor, kneeling down, kissed the feet of pope
Alexander, and asked his pardon ; whilst that haughty prelate
treading on the neck of the emperor, that he might at once offer
an outrage to God and to his vicegerent, repeated these words,
" It is written, thou shalt walk upon the basilisk and the asp, and
tread the lion and dragon under thy feet c."

" Stella de vitis Pontificum, p. 180.

b Epist. Alex, apud Concil. torn. x. col. [1245] 1293. [1489. 1496,, 7.]

< Stella. Ibid.

72 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS

The emperor endeavouring to lessen the infamy of so mean and
tame a submission, cried out in return, that he submitted to St.
Peter and not to him ; but that prelate replied, " Mihi et Petroa,"
giving himself the preference to the apostle whom he pretended to
succeed. Baronius, who relates this story, and seems to have been
ashamed of one part of it, does yet confess, that it has the
authority of Blondus and ^Eneas Silvius, and that from them it is
translated into the chronicle of cardinal Bessarionb. And in
the account which he gives thereof, he makes the story rather
worse than better ; for he saith, that at that congress the emperor
put off his imperial robes and dignity, and prostrated his body to
the ground to kiss the feet of the pope c ; and that when he came
into the church, he took a stick, and, having first driven out the
people, did the office of a door-keeper, and in that manner waited
upon the pope to the altar d. But after all the pains he has taken
to soften this story, Stella, a writer of the lives of the popes, and
who was himself a Venetian, as he makes no doubt of the truth
of that particular of which Baronius seems to be ashamed, so he
speaks of it with a relish, and gives it a place amongst the
triumphs of pope Alexander e. And that prelate himself was not
only transported with the general success of this affair, but all
his epistles written upon that occasion have an air and turn which
plainly show he took pleasure in the pompous circumstances li-
must have blushed to have had a share in, had he not forgot tin-
modesty and humility which became a Christian prelate. For in
his epistles to the archbishop of Canterbury f, to the archbishop
of York g, to the bishops of England h, and to the archbishop of
Capua \ he takes care to tell them, that the emperor kissed his
feet, and when he took horse held his stirrup. And there is no
doubt but all the rest he wrote upon that subject ran in the sanx-
strain : and so hasty was he to publish his glory, that his 1> •
bear date at Venice, where this affair was transacted. So that
when we behold this scene, and at once see an emperor forgetting
all the honour and majesty of a prince, and a Christian bishop
insulting his rightful sovereign, and glorying in a pomp which
crowned heads had never assumed ; we have in one \iV\\ Midi
unhappy instances of the effects of prosperity and adver>ity, as

* Kpist. Alex. >' Baron. Annal. ann. 1177-

' Kjusd. N. 100. •' Ibid. • Su-11. de vit. Pont if. p. 180.

f Concil. torn. x. col. 1487. * Ibid. '• 11. Dicet. [X. Script, col. 598.]
1 Concil. torn. x. col. 1486.

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 73

afford us a very mortifying reflection on the infirmities of human
nature.

If the French kings escaped better than the emperor and the
king of England, yet it was not long before their great monarch
Lewis was brought as a pilgrim to Canterbury, to pay his devo-
tions at the tomb of that prelate a, who had been the great instru-
ment in humbling the king of England, and had done a great deal
in advancing the designs of the papacy. And that court was very
just in making their returns, and letting the world see how much
their heart was set upon humbling kings, by the veneration and
favours which they paid to those who were their instruments
therein.

As upon this foot the French king was brought to the tomb of
the late archbishop, and by rich presents and a grant of great
quantities of wines yearly for the monks of Canterbury, he has given
the world very unusual marks of a zeal for the rights of princes,
so this year Philip earl of Flanders and the archbishop of Rheims b
came to Canterbury on the same errand, to visit the tomb of the
late archbishop. And the merits and sufferings of that prelate,
or, to speak more properly, the cause he suffered in, not only shed
a lustre upon his memory, but descended to all his creatures and
followers : therefore about this time John of Salisbury, who had
been a dependent upon him, was upon that account advanced to
the bishopric of Chartres in France. And as the French king
grounds his consent to the election of John of Salisbury, chiefly
upon the friendship of that prelate with the late archbishop c, so
he thinks fit to tell the world, that that election was owing to the
influence of the archbishop of Sens, legate to pope Alexander d.
And to render the honours to the memory of the late archbishop
as public as was possible, the dean, precentor, and chancellor of
Chartres, came over to England and made their election, or rather
published the certificate thereof, in the cathedral church of Can-
terbury.

As if all this zeal to brighten the memory of the greatest
enemy the present king and crown of England ever had, and to
reward his party, had not been mortification enough to the king,
before this year was done a new legate from Rome, and at the

ft Baron. Annal. aim. 1179. N. 21.

b Gervas. Chron. aim. 1177. [X. Script, col. 1435.]

c Ludov. Epist. ap. R. Dicet. [X. Script, col. 593.] d Ibid.

74 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS

instance of Lewis king of France, who was then in open war with
England, was sent into France with power to put the dominions
of the king of England under an interdict, in case he did not
suffer his son Richard to marry Alice the daughter of the French
king a. And when by his menaces that legate had brought those
two princes to an agreement, he farther engaged them to agree
upon an expedition to the Holy Land ; an undertaking so fatal to
all the Western princes who engaged in it, that one can hardly
forbear applying to him who gave this advice, what our Saviour
saith of sowing tares, " it was an enemy that did it." This was
one article first put upon king Henry, when he made his peace
upon the death of Becket : and indeed this was the usual atone-
ment required to appease their wrath, whenever the court of Rome
was offended. And if weakening Christian princes and rendering
them an easier prey to the papal usurpations were not at the
bottom of this war, it is very certain this was the effect and con-
sequence thereof.

Whilst the court of Rome was thus carrying on its designs to
render the Western princes vassals to the papacy, and was every
day making some new advances, they did not forget to mortify and
humble their bishops ; and in order thereunto took all occasions
to encourage those who attempted to break through the ancient
discipline of the Church. And as the religious were ever the most
forward therein, their encouragement bore proportion to the import-
ance of that interest which the court of Rome hoped to serve by it.
It was this consideration which ever made them friends in that
court, which no interest was sufficient to resist. And Richard
archbishop of Canterbury about this time felt the effects1 of the bias
that court lay under, and not only saw his authority disobeyed, and

• Baron. Annal. ann. 1177. X. 126.

1 Felt the effects.] Of the progress, effects, &c. of this exemption of the
religious orders from episcopal jurisdiction, we may take the following as a
melancholy specimen from Sir Roger Twisden :

" When the papacy first attempted the exempting some great monasteries
from the jurisdiction of their ordinary, it was * salva Primatis reverentia ;'
or, as Malmsbury explains it, ' Archiepiscopi tantum nutum in legitimis
• turns.' But, however this was thus carefully penned not to thwart
with the archbishop, yet, being brought hither, it was taken away by Lanfranc,
and not permitted to be made use of, the abbot finding no other way to regain
it but ' imiltorum preces.' Yet afterward the pope without scruple exempted
them not only from their diocesan, but even such as were under the arch-
bishop's nose, with all pertaining to them, were taken out of his jurisdiction ;

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 75

the offender supported in his rebellion, but put in a condition to
set him at defiance, and to insult him in his own province ; and
this was occasioned by the vanity and ambition of the monks of
Canterbury.

The convent of the monks of St. Austin having first driven out,
and then by their interest in the court of Rome got their former
prior deprived about two years before, they chose Roger in his
room, who having in a very haughty manner required the arch-
bishop to come to Canterbury, and to give him his benediction in
his own monastery, was told by the archbishop that it was his
duty to attend the place which he appointed. Nevertheless he at
last consented to come to Canterbury, and give him his benedic-
tion, provided the prior would make such profession of obedience
as had usually been made to his predecessors : but this was a con-
descension the monks had not humility enough to think of, much
less to bear ; and therefore their prior was sent away to Rome, and
in the beginning of this year returned to England with the ring
and the mitre, the usual ensigns of the episcopal authority a, and
with a mandatory letter from pope Alexander, requiring the arch-
bishop of Canterbury to go to the monastery of St. Austin in
Canterbury, and there to give his benediction to the prior elect,
and without requiring from him the usual profession of canonical
obedience b.

When the archbishop refused to obey, the prior returned to
Rome, and there received his benediction. Nor was this the only
mortification put upon that prelate ; for pope Alexander did at
least pretend to confirm the scheme and model projected by

and he who at first preserved others' rights, had now those houses at an easy
rate removed from his own : a fact of infinite advantage to the papacy, by
which it had persons of learning in all parts, who, depending wholly on it,
defended what was done as being so by one who had a power (right] of doing
it. And he (the archbishop), who alone did at first * agere vices apostolicas
in Anglia,' was under no legate, permitted no bull from Rome to be made
use of in England but by his approbation, was now so far from taking them
away from the bearers, that private clerks, by deputation from thence, did sit
as his superiors in determining differences between him and others, who by
strength were taken from his jurisdiction." Vindication of the Church of
England, fyc. p. 39, 40.

On the general question, see a learned and elaborate statement in Inett,
vol. ii. p. 204—23. See also 226,7. 318,9. 338—41. and 494.

See also Index, under Religious Orders, exemption of, fyc.

a Gervas. Chron. ann. 1178. [X. Script, col. 1444.] b Ibid.

7

76 NATIONAL CHURCHES, &c.

Gregory the Great, and to determine that the two archbishops of
Canterbury and York should have precedence according to priority
of consecration a, and that the archbishops of Canterbury should
not require a profession of canonical obedience from the arch-
bishops of York b ; and in case they refused to consecrate the
archbishops of York for want of such profession, the bishops of
the province were then to consecrate them by the papal authority c.
But though a constitution of this kind appears both in the history
of Diceto d and in the appendix to the third council of Lateran,
and this doubtless served to perpetuate the quarrel upon this sub-
ject, yet it doth not appear that it answered the ends for which
it was designed : however, it could not but give some uneasiness
to the archbishop of Canterbury.

But if pope Alexander gave too much to the province of York,
he endeavoured to make the archbishop of Canterbury a recom-
pense at the charge of his suffragan bishops. Those prelates, it
seems, had a wrong notion of the legatine authority, and per-
suaded themselves that the archbishops of Canterbury as legates
had no cognizance of such causes as were the proper subject of
their authority, but when carried to the legate by appeals e : but
by a constitution of pope Alexander the third, directed to the4
bishops of the province of Canterbury f, he thinks fit to tell them.
that though their archbishop as metropolitan had no cognizance
of things arising in their dioceses, but when brought to him by
appeals, yet as legate he had cognizance of every thing in the
first instance as well as in case of appeals g, and commanded them
quietly to submit, and to suffer causes from their several dioceses
to be brought to his legate ; or, in other words, quietly to part
with their rights and to yield up their authority, as a sacrifice to
the usurpation which was by this time grown masterly and in-
capable of resistance.

This was the return which the court of Rome made to those
bishops who were not so careful as they should have been in the
defence of their metropolitans ; they were made an easy prey, and
became a common sacrifice to the usurpation which they wanted
precaution or courage to prevent; and if they had any favour, it
Wtt only this, to seethe rights of the crown and the national
church perish first, and to be themselves last devoured,

• Concil. torn. x. col. 1690. '• Ibid. e Ibid.

11 11. Dicet. [X. Script, col. 589.] e Concil. torn. x. col. 1690.

' Ibid. . !nd.

INTRODUCTION.

KING JOHN, THE BARONS, AND POPE INNOCENT THE
THIRD1.

THE design of pope Gregory the seventh to change the primitive
and apostolic government of the Christian church from an aristo-
cracy to a monarchy, and such a monarchy too as pretended to a
supreme authority over princes, falling into the hands of a suc-
cession of men who for more than an age pursued it with indefati-
gable zeal, great applications, and steady counsels, the ecclesiastic
monarchy was raised to such a pitch, that pope Innocent, taking
the advantage of a dispute (1207) betwixt Otho and Philip, who
by different factions were both elected emperors, determined " that
the correction of princes belonged to the bishops of Rome a ;" that
" it was their right to judge of the elections of emperors, and
either to approve or reject as they saw cause b:" and this deter-
mination was inserted into the decretals, as a standing law and
maxim of the court of Rome. And in the council of Avignon in
the year one thousand two hundred and nine, it was decreed by
the legates of that court, that bishops might by the censures of
the church compel the lords, nobility, and people, and governors
of provinces, to promise upon oath to extirpate heresy out of
their country, and in case of neglect to interdict their dominions
and countries0.

1 The third.'] From Inett's Origines Anglicance, &c. vol. ii. p. 410 — 22,
430—52, 465—72, 473—87.

R Blondel. decad. ii. lib. vi. b Decretal. Greg. lib. i. tit. vi. cap. xxxiv.

c Concil. torn. xi. par. i. col. 43.

78 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

The conduct of that court was suitable to the maxims thereof;
for not contented to command the wealth, and usurp on the
authority of the Western churches by drawing the clergy and
religious to a dependence upon them, and thereby to secure to
themselves a considerable interest in the several dominions of the
Western princes, they carried their pretensions still higher, and
under the umbrage of the Holy War * found out ways to break
in upon the authority of states and kingdoms, to lay impositions
on their subjects, and without the leave of their princes to raise
men and head armies in their dominions, and in some measure to
make themselves masters of their wealth, their arms, and people.
And it was an easy step from hence to advance to the command
of their crowns ; for he who has the wealth and subjects in his
power, has the prince and the crown at his disposal. And so art-
fully did they manage that war, that those expeditions which were
at the first the scourge of infidels, became at last the terror of
Europe, and were upon all occasions held as rods over the heads
of Christian princes.

The emperors of Germany had very often felt the dire effects
of that holy fury, and the Eastern church and empire were at
this time bleeding under it. And yet, as if God had given up the
Western princes to blindness and infatuation, and intended to
redouble His judgments upon them by suffering them to be parties
to their own ruin, whilst these things were doing, they were so
fatally charmed by the artifices of the court of Rome, that their
arms were engaged one against another, and princes by turns
were tools to and suffered under the imposture, and were not
allowed to see their danger, till it was past a remedy. For whilst
they slept, the new ecclesiastic monarchy grew up to the most
formidable power in Europe ; and which is still more, it was in
the hands of pope Innocent the third, a young, bold, and active
prelate ; a man of great capacity, great application and address,
and greater ambition ; and as exactly fitted to put the last hand to
the vast designs of the court of Rome, as if God had raised him
up for an original of craft and ambition, and intended in him to
let the world see, what base and unworthy designs might be
covered and carried on under the colour of religion and the holy
name and authority of Christ.

1 The Holy War.'] See Index, under Crusade.

See also Ben. Arcolti De Bella a Christianis contra Barbaras. 1731. 8vo.
Buddaei Selecta Juris Naturalis, p. 97 — 148, &c.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 79

Whilst the court of Rome was thus in the height of its glory,
the monarchy of England was in a very feeble and languishing con-
dition. The king found his kingdom deprived of the civil duties
and assistance of the clergy and religious, their persons made sub-
jects to a foreign power, their wealth excused from the necessities
of the state, and the power of nominating and investing bishops
snatched out of his hands ; and by this means saw so great a body
of men excused from his laws and government, that the number,
wealth, and dependencies of the clergy and religious considered, it
may seem doubtful whether himself or the bishop of Rome had the
greater interest in his kingdom.

Besides, the king had ascended the throne over the head of his
nephew, Arthur earl of Bretagne, and if he had not the guilt of
his death to answer for, yet the world believed hardly of him, and he
had at least the reproach and the dishonour of it. The suspicion
he had of his title made him very liberal in his promises, and stoop
too low to meet the crown ; and that raised an expectance in his
people which he could not answer, and for that reason he was
scarce sooner on the throne, than on ill terms with his subjects :
and he was so far from recovering the affections of his people by
his succeeding conduct, that he gave them too much reason to
believe, that the care of their welfare had not its due weight upon
him ; so that time rather increased than put an end to the uneasi-
ness and disaffection of his people. And the issue was such as
might be expected ; for they remembered the promises which the
king had too soon forgot, and suffered themselves to be led by his
ill example to forget their own duty, when he stood most in need
of it, and when the honour of the monarchy and their country
required it at their hands.

In this posture stood the affairs of the monarchy and of king
John, when he was called to assert the rights of his crown, against
a bold and daring encroachment of pope Innocent the third, in
his attempt to force an archbishop l upon him. The king had the
law, and the ancient usage of England, and the rights of all the
princes of Christendom on his side ; but the time was now come
when the court of Rome was to let the world see, that the canons
were rules fitted only to the infant ages of the Church, and had
now no more force, but where the interest of the papacy made
them binding: and accordingly the power which Christ had trusted

1 Force an archbishop.'] See Southey's Book of the Church, vol. i. p. 256 — 62.

80 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

to His church, to serve the ends of peace and holiness, was pre-
sently called forth to serve the purposes of that ambition, which
our Lord detested and which His religion had forbid.

For pope Innocent seeing the king resolute to maintain the
poor remainders of his right, proceeded to interdict the kingdom,
and commanded that the sentence which he had before pronounced
in his own consistory at Rome, should be pronounced and pub-
lished in England by the bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester,
who for this purpose were made executors of the aforesaid sen-
tence : and the interdict was pronounced accordingly, the latter
end of March this year (1208), and too soon and too generally
obeyed.

The king, as he had great reason to be, was exceedingly provoked
with this wicked and unchristian usage, and suffered his resent-
ment to carry him to such extremities as turned to his disad-
vantage : for not content to treat William bishop of London,
Eustace bishop of Ely, and Malgar bishop of Worcester, as their
undutifulness deserved, and to force them to seek their safety out
of his dominions, that prince, though he did afterwards distinguish
and receive those to his favour and protection who refused to
observe the interdict, for the present let loose his rage upon the
whole body of the clergy and religious, and generally seized their
effects, especially those of the religious. And the event was such
as usually succeeds, when princes suffer themselves to consult with
their passions, and make their own displeasure the measure of
their justice ; for seeing innocence no longer their security, and
the innocent and guilty involved in the same fate, resentment
carried the clergy and religious beyond their duty, and united
them, at least in their wishes, to the papal interest.

It seems very probable, that this proceeding had a very different
effect from what the king expected, and, instead of giving a check
to it, made the interdict the more generally observed : so that
except the baptism of infants, confession, and the last offices to
dying persons, there was a stop put to all the public offices of reli-
gion. The dead had the burial1 of the ox and the ass; daily
prayers, the administration of tin- encharist. preaching of God's
word, were forced to give way; God's altars were forsaken, His
houses shut up and left destitute ; in short, the honour of (iod
and the interest and can1 of smil- were made sacrifice* t<> the

1 Had the burial.] See Index, under Interdict.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 81

tyranny and ambition and wickedness of the court of Rome ; and
(except in some convents, which had ever been the favourites of
that court, and were for that reason, rather than for the sake of
God, permitted to say their offices once a week a) this was for
some time the miserable state of the nation, at least wheresoever
the interdict was obeyed.

The king, who had by his own ill conduct provoked the clergy
and religious, saw himself under a necessity of endeavouring to
bind his lay subjects faster to his interest ; therefore he called
them to renew their oath of fealty, and took hostages from many
of his nobility. But though he was generally obeyed herein, yet
such precautions as give men reason to think they are suspected
without cause, do commonly operate the wrong way, and, if they
tie up their hands, do at the same time alienate and let loose their
affections, and carry their hearts another way ; and if this was
not the case of this prince, the too general coldness of the nobility
in the defence of the king gave ground for a suspicion of this kind.
And the heavy impositions which the present circumstances of
the king required, redoubled his misfortune ; for it is so natural
to subjects to judge by what they feel, that nothing but uncommon
measures of goodness and wisdom can secure their affections to
a government, that does not suffer them to be safe and easy
under it.

This still increased the difficulties which the king lay under ;
for though Geoffrey archbishop of York only openly opposed the
imposition of a thirteenth part of all their moveables, which was
upon this occasion laid upon the nation, and excommunicated the
king's officers that attempted to collect it in his province, and
chose rather to leave England than submit to it, yet it appears
that this imposition caused a general murmur and uneasiness.

Misfortunes of this kind seldom go alone ; for the enemies of
a prince can never want advantages, if he once deprive himself of
the affections of his people ; for as the hearts of subjects, next
under God, are the only certain supports of a crown, every enemy
becomes formidable to the prince that wants them. And the
court of Rome had but too many opportunities to be informed of
the terms on which the king stood with his people ; therefore
pope Innocent made another step, and excommunicated the king

a Anonymi Hist. Croyl. [W. Fulman, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptt. Vett.
vol. i. p. 473.]

VOL. I. Ci

82 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

by name, and required that this sentence should be pronounced
against him every Sunday and every holy-day in all the conventual
churches in England a.

This excommunication had not all the effect the court of
Romeb expected; for though some of the bishops and abbots
fled out of England, to avoid the difficulties which the personal
excommunication of the king might have drawn upon them, it
being impossible to reconcile their duty to their prince and to
their country, to the expectation of that court which required that
they should withdraw themselves entirely from the presence and
service of the king ; yet, for the most part, the duty or the fears
of the clergy and people kept them from paying any regard to a
sentence founded in injustice, and attended with danger : so that
if the ill-advised conduct of the king had not suffered him to
involve the innocent, amongst the clergy and religious, as well as
the guilty in his displeasure, the unchristian attempts of pope
Innocent against the king might possibly have come to nothing.

However, things being brought to this pass, the honour and
interest of the court of Rome were so far engaged, that pope
Innocent omitted nothing that might take off the affections of his
own people, or stir up the neighbouring princes against the king,
or give him such apprehensions of the power and address of the
court of Rome, as might probably work upon his fears. His first
attempt was upon the subjects ; and in his epistle to the bishops
of England and Wales, he blames their coldness and want of
zeal for the ecclesiastic liberty, and exhorts them to set them-
selves as a wall of defence to the house of God, and endeavours
to possess them with a belief, that this was the cause of Christ
and of His church c, and commands them, " that laying aside all
fears of the king, they should assert the ecclesiastic liberty d."

In his address to the nobility of England, he left nothing
unsaid that might engage them against their prince ; tells them
they cannot serve two masters, and that the king was fighting
against God ; and conjures them as they tender the good of their
souls, that they oppose the designs of the king, and not suffer
him to embroil them and his kingdom. And lest they should
think that this zeal was the effect of some sudden heat and might
cool again, that prelate tells them how much his heart was set

• Matth. Paris, ann. 1209. p. 228. b Ibid.

c Innoc. Epist. lib. x. epist. 159. d Ibid.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 83

upon this affair ; " that he was resolved never to give it up, and,
if occasion was, would lay down his life in the defence of it :"
and profanely alluding to what the prophet saith of God, that
prelate thinks fit to add, that his hand was not shortened, but by
the grace of God so strengthened, that he should be able to crush
and oppress him that justly incurred his displeasure a. And
the better to spread the ferment through the whole nation by
depriving the people of all public offices of religion, in another
epistle to the bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester, he com-
manded them to involve Wales as well as England in the sentence
of interdict, and not to suffer the hospitalers, or templars, or any
other of the religious, to pretend to an exemption from it b.

Whilst this wicked prelate was thus sowing the seeds of
sedition in England, and preparing the way to that dismal scene
which too soon ensued, the court of Rome made so many suc-
cessful efforts abroad, that if the king made his judgment of his
success and future treatment by the usage which about this time
the neighbouring princes received from the ecclesiastic monarchy,
he had at the best but a very melancholy prospect.

For whilst this dispute was carrying on in England, the court
of Home scattered its thunders all over Europe, and by turns
mortified almost all the princes and states of Christendom. It
was the intrigues of that court which first raised Otho to the
empire of Germany, in opposition to the pretensions of Philip ;
and because he could not be contented to be a tool, and would
not sacrifice the rights of the empire to the ambition of the
papacy, that prince was excommunicated and deposed by pope
Innocent. Vladislaus prince of Poland was deposed, and Otho
his son excluded from the succession by the same prelate c.
Raymond earl of Tholouse was not only excommunicated and
forced to a base and unworthy submission, but treated worse than
a schoolboy ; first scourged with rods d, and then dragged to the
tomb of the friar Peter de Chasteau-neuf, who had been killed by
his people for attempting to set up the inquisition in the country ;
and after this usage, to bind the yoke still faster upon him, he was
forced to surrender seven or eight of his strongest towns to the
legates of pope Innocent, as a security for his future servitude,
and to promise upon oath to obey all and every the commands of

Innoc. Epist. lib. x. epist. 160. b Ejusd. epist. 161.

Bzovii Annal. ann. 1207. d Mezeray's Life of Philip II. ann. 1208.

G 2

84 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

the church ; that is, in other words, to be a vassal to the court
of Rome. And Avignon, at that time a part of the dominions
of that prince a, being one of the cautionary towns, was yielded
up on this occasion to the legates of pope Innocent, and remains
to this day as a standing monument of the barbarous treatment,
which this oppressed and unfortunate prince owed to the ambition
and wickedness of the court of Rome.

Which is sadder still, the earl was compelled to take the cross,
and to join himself to those who took his towns and butchered
his people ; and all the fault of this prince was, he would not
destroy his subjects nor his neighbours, because pope Innocent
thought fit to pronounce them heretics, and had inhumanity
enough to decree their extirpation.

The subjects of that prince upon the same grounds had still
a greater share in the fury of that prelate ; for pope Innocent
finding St. Dominic and his followers make no great progress in
the conversion of the Albigenses, he taught his successors a
new and quicker way of converting heretics; for sending his
emissaries to preach up the crusade, an army computed at five
hundred thousand men b was raised, and under the command of
Simon earl of Montfort marched into Languedoc, then the
country of the earl of Tholouse, where they took Beziers, one of
the strongest cities of the Albigenses, by force, and put all to the
sword ; and above threescore thousand persons were sacrificed to
their furyc, according to the account which Mezeray gives of
this affair : indeed Bzovius lessens this slaughter to seventeen
thousand heretics d.

And that posterity might not be deceived and think all this
the effects of a warlike fury, pope Innocent took home tin- guilt
of all this innocent blood to himself and to the court in which In-
presided ; for this was done in pursuance of his instructions to
his legates, to whom he had given it in charge, uthat the
Albigenses should be pursued with fire and sword6, and treat* (1
with more severity than the Saracens themselves V And to
colour this horrible inhumanity under the pretence of religion,
pardon of sins and the hopes of heaven were promised as the
ds thereof: so much more dangerous was it no\\

* Bzovii Annal. ann. 1203. N. 4.

b Ejusd. ann. 1209. and Mezeray, ann. 1209. c Ihid.

•' Bzovii Annal. ann. 12o<). X. 10.

' Ejusd. ann. 1207. ^ ' Ibid.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 85

to oppose the designs of the court of Rome, than to blaspheme
Christ and His holy religion. And so far was this barbarous war
carried on, that Simon earl of Montfort, general of the army,
made himself master of the Albigenses, and of the country of
Beziers and Carcassone ; and the countries he had conquered
were given to him by pope Innocent a, as a reward for the blood
and inhumanity of which he had been guilty. But that the
world might not be at a loss to know from whence that detestable
design had its beginning, who formed it and whose ends it was to
serve, the earl was to hold the country he had thus over-run,
" as a fee of the papacy, under the acknowledgment of a yearly
tribute V

About the same time that this vast army, entirely at the
devotion of the court of Rome, was in the bowels of France, and
king Philip by this formidable power prepared to receive the
instructions of that court, pope Innocent excommunicated that
prince for repudiating his wife. He humbled the king of Portugal
for an affront offered to a bishop of his kingdom c ; and upon the
same foot he treated in like manner Frederic king of Sicily d, and
forced him to swear Realty to himself and his successors in the
see of Rome6. He forced a prince upon Poland, and with an
air that might become a monarch of the world, commanded Henry
emperor of Constantinople to revoke a law which he had made,
as was pretended, prejudicial to the rights of the church f: and
so much like a pupil did he treat that prince, that although he
was the creature of pope Innocent, and it was in his power to
unmake him again, yet he could not bear the insolence of that
prelate, but sent his remonstrance to Rome, and told pope
Innocent that St. Peter delivered it as a part of the religion of
Christ, that all Christians ought to be subject to the ordinance of
man for the Lord's sake ; that the authority which Christ deli-
vered to His church was only spiritual : and to bring this nearer
to pope Innocent, in that rescript he tells him, that " he was the
subject, and not the lord of the emperor ; therefore he wondered
at his presumption in treating him as he had done g." The king
of Arragon too had a great share in the displeasure of that prelate,
who let loose his holy warriors upon him ; and that prince was

• Mezeray, arm. 1209. N. 6. b Bzovii Annal. ann. 1210.

c Ejusd. ann. 1206. d Ibid.

e Ejusd. ann. 1211. N. 1. f Ejusd. ann. 1210. N. 4.

«f M. Goldast. Constit. Imp. torn. iii. p. 371.

86 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

forced to yield up a part of his dominions to reward the army of
the papacy, which had ravaged one part of his country, and put
himself and all the rest in danger.

That which is still more surprising, is, that whilst the court of
Rome thus treated the princes of Christendom like slaves, or at
the best like children and pupils, and dashed in pieces and broke
the secular powers one against another, and gave such proofs,
that that court thought of nothing less than to captivate and
enslave all the rest ; such was the infatuation, such the blindness,
to which God was pleased to give up the Western princes, that
their wealth and their people were turned against them, and they
were themselves made parties to their own dishonour, and helped
forward the designs against the secular power, which the tamest
and most bigoted princes in Christendom would resist with their
blood, if the court of Rome should ever attempt to act them over
again.

But having said this, partly to give the reader a view of the
unchristian and bloody spirit which at this time animated the
court of Rome, and to lay open the methods by which they
enlarged their dominions and increased their power, and partly to
cover the reproach and dishonour of the English nation and
monarchy, by showing that our princes were not singular and
alone in their fate, and only bore their part in the common vas-
salage of Europe, it will be time to return and pursue our story.

The aforesaid transactions abroad, and what they felt at home,
could not but give king John and the whole English nation a
formidable idea of the papal power ; and this served to forward
the arts which were every where set on foot, to raise an opinion,
that it was in vain to resist it. And lest the posture and turn
of affairs abroad should lose their effect upon the king, in several
epistles written upon that occasion, pope Innocent took care to
magnify the successes of the papacy, and to let the king know
what ill success those princes had met with, who attempted to
oppose it : and there was but too much ground for an insinuation
of this kind. The conduct of the king was such as would lead
one to think, he was willing to have it believed, that it' not his
honour, yet at lra-t his indignation and resentment had raised
him above impressions of this kind, and left no room for his
fears; yet do all he could, the course of his aetioi ueh

proof of the uneasiness and frightful apprehensions which he had
of this affair, as will not permit one to doubt thereof.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 87

But if the king took care of his own defence, pope Innocent did
every thing that was thought needful to ruin and to undo him : in
order whereto his emissaries used all endeavours to blacken the
king and lessen his forces, and to magnify the interest and strength
and conduct of the court of Rome. The king was represented as
an apostate from religion ; as one who had offered to renounce his
faith to preserve his sovereignty ; as an enemy to religion, to the
liberties of the church, and to the rights of his people : and a
wicked impostor, named Peter the Hermit, was set up to prophesy,
that before Ascension next coming he should cease to be king,
and none of his posterity ever come to the crown.

In short there was nothing of this kind wanting, which might
either encourage the enemies of the king, or discourage and with-
draw his friends : and the wicked reports raised upon this occasion
made such impressions and took such root, that our historians
who wrote his story, have generally spoken of him as the vilest
and most despicable miscreant in the world. But because it was
not easy to libel and rail a prince out of his kingdom, who had a
fleet and an army at his command, pope Innocent applied himself
to that known method, which had now for near an age served all
the purposes of the court of Rome, under the colour of destroying
infidels and promoting the interest of Christ and His religion ;
and this was the Holy War ; for with this art that court had
frighted Philip king of France, and forced the king of Arragon to
give up the rights of his crown ; they had massacred the subjects
of the earl of Tholouse, given away the possession of his country
to the general of the army, and taken the sovereignty thereof to
themselves, and subdued the Eastern empire to the Latins.

And now (1212) the time was come when the English nation
was to have its turn, and to feel the dire effects of that fury which
had before consumed its blood and treasure ; for, seeing no other
way to accomplish his wicked purposes, the pope sent his emis-
saries into France and Germany, to preach up the cross, and to
persuade Europe to believe that it was a service to God and to
religion, to enslave the king and kingdom of England. — But well
knowing that considerations of this kind began to lose their force
in France, by a bull directed to king Philip, pope Innocent en-
treated and conjured that prince, as he tendered the hopes of sal-
vation, to take up arms and to drive the king of England from his
throne ; and besides the promises of heaven, he did by the same

88 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

bull grant to him, and his heirs, the kingdom of England as a
reward for his services a.

The French king, who wanted no ill-will to the king of Eng-
land, and had lately dispossessed him of his dominions in France,
was very inclinable to secure his late conquests at home, by carry-
ing his arms into England. But the relation and strict alliance
betwixt the emperor Otho and the king of England, and the
league betwixt that prince and the king of Arragon, were a check
upon him, and gave him reason to dread leaving his own dominions,
whilst he had such neighbours to leave behind him. Nor were
these ill-grounded jealousies ; for the emperor Otho had a good
army, and, as .^Emilius saith, maintained at the charge of the king
of England b ; and which is more, that prince had declared that
so soon as he had quieted his affairs in Germany, he would assist
his uncle the king of England in the recovery of his dominions in
France c. To remove these difficulties, pope Innocent, who had
before forced Otho to promise obedience to him, did about this
time depose him d, and set up Frederic king of Sicily in his stead ;
and if the French historian be not mistaken, this was done at the
instance of the French king e ; and by thus finding the emperor
work enough at home, he delivered the French king from the fears
of that prince.

By giving new vigour to the holy warriors on the borders and
in part of that kingdom, pope Innocent frustrated the expectations
of the king of England from that of Arragon, and left France no-
thing to fear from thence : and if his designs upon England were
not the views upon which pope Innocent acted in those instances,
the perpetual jars there had been between that prelate and the
French king, and the unhappy event of that expedition, incline
one to think that these great favours to France owe their begin-
ning to a resolution the pope had taken to enslave the king of
England, and to render his dominions a fee of the papacy, not-
withstanding the fair promise which IK- had made to king Philip.
However that matter be, the French king, being thus deliv<
from the fears of an invasion in his absence, appointed the meeting

Mcitth. Paris, ann. 1212.

Paulus /Emil. de gestis Franc, vit. Philip. Aug. fol. 130. Lutet. ann. 1551.

Ibid. d Ibi.l. « Ibid>

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 89

of his great council, which assembled at Soissons a, and being en-
lightened by pope Innocent and the emissaries whom he had sent
to preach the cross, Ferdinand earl of Flanders only excepted,
that assembly concluded it was an act of piety to sail with their
forces into England, to restore the exiled bishops b.

Nor was the resentment of pope Innocent bounded here, but
he sent his letters and emissaries all over Europe c, and all the
great men were invited to attend the French king in the Holy
War against the king of England : and the same methods that
had given such success to their former undertakings of this kind
were again set on foot. " The pardon of sins, the indulgences
and protection of the holy see, and the privileges usually granted
to those who engaged in the expeditions to the Holy Land, were
the promised recompence d :" and this unchristian and wicked
undertaking was called revenging the wrong done to the universal
church e ; and that they might be distinguished who engaged in
this enterprise, they all wore the cross upon their breast, as they
had done in the inhuman undertaking against the Albigenses.
The French king having fallen in with the example of pope Inno-
cent, and covered his ambition and revenge under the umbrage of
religion, a numerous fleet and a powerful army were provided for
the execution of this great design f.

King John, who had for some years not only withstood but
despised the censures of the court of Rome, and who had reason
to expect the last efforts of its rage, was not a stranger to the pre-
parations made against him : and as he could not but see that all
this sprang from the designs of a court which never knew what
mercy meant but when they gained by it ; and that the execution
was put into the hands of one who had given him abundant proof
of the ill-will which he bore to him, he applied himself to the most
likely methods to provide for his own security ; and besides those
whom he had in his pay, and five hundred men brought him from
Ireland by John Gray bishop of Norwich, his lieutenant in that
kingdom, he summoned all that held of him in knight's service,
and drew together an army (as M. Paris saith) of threescore
thousand men ; and that he might not only stand the shock of the
enemy, but keep him at a distance, he caused all the ships that could

R Paulus ^Emil. de gestis Franc, vit. Philip. Aug. fol. 130. Lutet. ann. 1551.
b Ibid. c Matth. Paris, ann. 1212. d Ibid.

e Ibid. f Mezeray, Life of Philip, ann. 1212.

90 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

be met with to be drawn together, and manned out a fleet to dis-
pute the passage of the French at sea.

Preparations being thus made on all sides, and every thing ready
to decide this quarrel by the sword, Pandulphus the pope's legate,
who was charged with a dark and secret errand, much against the
will of the French, came over into England about the beginning
of May, where he found the king at the head of his army near
Dover waiting the coming of the French ; and having made known
his character, he delivered a letter to the king from pope Innocent,
in which that prelate tells him, that " blessing and cursing were
set before him," and that " it was yet in his power to choose,"
but that "if he did not submit to the terms he prescribed and had
sent inclosed, he would deliver the church of England, as God did
that of Israel out of Egypt, by a strong hand a :" and the better
to give the impressions intended, he further minded the king, how
he had humbled all the princes who had presumed to oppose him.
In short, the whole letter carries an air of haughtiness and arro-
gance that might have become a pagan emperor, but it has not
the least mark or taste of the Christian spirit.

The aforesaid letter and the message of the crafty nuncio hav-
ing somewhat shocked the steadiness and resolution of the king,
and awakened his fears, the legate applied himself to set such im-
pressions upon him, as might best serve the purposes of the court
which sent him : in order whereto he magnified the strength and
the appointment of king Philip's army, and so artfully represented
the assurances, which, as he pretended, that prince had received
from the nobility of England, that they would come in to his
assistance so soon as he landed, that he brought kiiiLT John to
believe, that his danger was no less from his own army than
from that of king Philip, and that he had no other way to be
safe than by throwing himself into the arms of the church.

As the insinuation of the dangers which mi^ht arise from the
defection of his own army was one of the chief artifices cm which
the court of Rome founded their hopes, all possible en re had been
taken t<> cultivate and improve the king's jealousy and di^tru-t of
his people: and, besides an intimation of this kind, which Pan-
dulph had let fall in his former conference with the kin<r at
Northampton, things were so ordered, that the kin^ received
letters from several hands to the same effect. And the trutli

• Innoc. Epist. lib. xv. epist. 233. p. 726.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 91

the king had suffered himself to be so far transported by the suc-
cesses of his arms against the Welsh and Irish, and by the natural
levity and haughtiness of his temper, as to forget that the affec-
tions of his people were his best security ; and some harsh and
arbitrary treatments of them had given too much ground for the
suspicions, which now proved fatal to him.

That unfortunate prince having brought himself into this strait,
sunk under it, and promised upon oath (1213) to submit to an
award of pope Innocent or his legate : and the award was such as
might be expected from a court which for more than an age had been
struggling to subdue princes, and to set up a monarchy that was
to raise and humble them at pleasure, and to govern the nations
upon earth, under the colour of His authority whose kingdom was
not of this world. — The issue was accordingly ; for the reason
which had given beginning to and supported the controversy,
which was the pretended vassalage of the English church, was the
last thing considered, and the interest of the new monarchy the
first. For in the agreement, the articles whereof were doubtless
brought from Rome, the first article does, in all the accounts we
have, run in this manner, viz. " That the king should surrender
and yield up the kingdoms of England and Ireland, and for the
time to come hold both as fees of the papacy ; the former under
the yearly tribute of seven hundred marks, the latter under the
tribute of three hundred." This one article leaves it beyond all
possibility of doubt that the court of Home intended nothing
less than to usurp the sovereign power of the kings of England,
and to swallow up that authority at once which they had been
struggling for a great while, under the specious name of eccle-
siastic liberty : for to show that this article was not inserted only
to add pomp and ceremony to the submission of the king, or that
the power was imaginary, at which the designs of that court were
levelled, the article was explained by the execution thereof ; for in
pursuance of this agreement the king surrendered his crown and
his sceptre and other ensigns of the royal dignity to Pandulphus,
and in the presence of his bishops and nobility did homage for his
own kingdoms to the legate, who received it in the name of pope
Innocent and of the church of Rome. And to make sure work,
he also yielded up the patronage of all the churches in England
which belonged to the crown, and by an oath, in such form as was
usual from vassals and feudatory princes to their supreme lord,
they bound his chains about his head : for in that oath the king

92 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

swore to be " faithful to God, to St. Peter, and the holy Roman
church, and to his lord pope Innocent, and his catholic successors ;"
that " he would neither in deed, word, consent, or counsel, do any
thing to the prejudice of his life or limbs, but do what in him lay
to discover and prevent all harms and wrongs;" that -he would
keep the secret which the popes by themselves or by their legates
or letters should entrust to him ;" that " he would defend the
patrimony of St. Peter, especially the kingdoms of England and
Ireland, against all opposers whatsoever/1

This is the substance of the oath imposed on this unfortunate
prince, as it is delivered down by M. Paris a, the Annals of
Waverleyb, and the Chronicle of Hemingfordc, and which differs
so very little from that imposed by pope Gregory on some of the
Western bishops d, and comes so near the form called the new oath
of fidelity1, prescribed by the feudal law6 to be imposed by abso-
lute lords on their vassals and feudatories, as plainly shows that
pope Gregory and his successors acted upon the same views, and
intended nothing less than the vassalage of the Western nations.
I shall add no more on this head, but the reflection which natu-
rally occurs, and which Hemingford immediately subjoins to the
aforesaid oath : " Thus," saith he, " of a freeman did the king
become a slave."

To consummate the misfortunes of this prince, as if they had
intended that neither his conscience nor his honour should survive
his calamity, they obliged him by two distinct charters, one directed
to pope Innocent, the other to all Christian people, to tell the
world, that " all this was done, not by constraint, or fear, but by
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and of his own free will, and
with the common consent of his barons f."

But though the ambition and designs of the court of Rome were
ever the first thing in the view of pope Innocent, and the compass
of a year or two made it appear how little regard was had to the
church, or to the clergy of England, or to their rights and privileges,

Matth. Paris, ann. 1213. p. 237.
iale, Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores quinque, vol. ii. p. 177.

Kjusd. j). 555. d Baron. Annal. ann. 1079- N. 8.

Oath of fidelity.] See Barrow On the Pope's Supremacy, or Christian
In. lilutes, vol. iv. p. 126 — 9, and notes there.

Feudor. lib. ii. tit. vii.

Chart. Job. Reg. Angl. Epist. Innoc. lib. xv. epp. Ixxvii. and Ixxviii.
p. 786, 787.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 93

which had served of late to make a noise and to cover the true
secret of that court ; yet for the present the clergy were compre-
hended in this agreement, by which the king further stipulated to
reverse the outlawry against the nobility, bishops, clergy and reli-
gious, to receive them into favour, and to make satisfaction for the
losses the clergy and religious had sustained during the interdict.
In particular the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London,
Ely, Hereford, Bath and Wells, and Lincoln, who seem least to
have deserved it, were distinguished by greater measures of favour
in this fatal agreement.

For, besides having their names inserted in the general agree-
ment, they had letters patent directed to each of them from the
king, in which he not only assures them, in his own name, that
he would receive them to his favour, and entreats them to return
to England, but in the body of their patents he tells them, that
H. archbishop of Dublin, Peter bishop of Winchester, John
bishop of Norwich, and twelve barons, had by oath engaged them-
selves to see this agreement performed. — But whilst pope Inno-
cent was thus careful of the interest of the court of Rome, and of
their immediate creatures and dependants, the French king was
to be rewarded with the merit of the undertaking ; and the holy
warriors whom this occasion had drawn together, instead of the
towns, honours and wealth which they expected, were to be paid
with indulgences and rewards from heaven. — Thus was this affair
concluded in England about the fifteenth of May in the year 1213,
and the fourteenth of the reign of king John.

Matters being thus concerted in England, Pandulphus returned
to carry the news to France, where he had a new and (it may be)
a much greater difficulty to manage. To quiet the exiled clergy,
he carried with him eight thousand pounds as a part of what they
were to receive for the damage they had sustained, which, with
the hopes of a far greater sum and an assurance of an honourable
reception in their own country, did for the present make them
easy under the late agreement. — But to manage the spirit of the
French king required greater address; for that prince, whose
views were of a different kind, and who could not bear the thoughts
of being paid with a future glory, was out of all patience to see
himself tricked in the face of the world, and his mighty hopes end
in nothing else but the reproach of being a stale and a tool to the
papacy. He could not but with great mortification reflect on his
own ill conduct, who, as he told the legate, had spent above three-

94 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

score thousand pounds in this affair, and all this to make an acces-
sion of two kingdoms * to the ecclesiastic monarchy, which under
the conduct of pope Innocent was at this time the most formidable
power in Europe.

Besides, the ill example which he had given might too soon
return upon him, and what he had done at the instance of pope
Innocent against the Albigenses, the king of England, and the
emperor Otho the fourth, might, when the time came, serve to
justify the like attempts against himself and his own crown. For
as the pretence of the court of Rome to depose kings and give
away crowns, was indefinite, and without any limitation but the
pleasure of that court whose creature that pretence was ; there is
no doubt but that court had an equal title to the deposing of a
French king, and might as well give away France as Germany
and England, or the country of the Albigenses.

Nor was the French king the only person that was mortified and
disappointed by this fatal league ; for if the clergy, who did not yet
penetrate the true secret of the court of Rome, or at least did not
sufficiently consider the effects thereof, were for the present easy
under it, their future conduct, and the ill treatment which the exiled
clergy and religious so soon received from that court, put it out of
doubt, so that they were very quickly and not without ground very
uneasy under it, and could not but with great mortification behold
the conjunction of those powers, which might in time render thorn
an easy prey to either. — The truth is, God^s time was now come to
punish the wild bigotry of the English nation, which under the
cover of zeal had been instrumental in letting in an enemy upon
their country : for though this unfortunate prince was singled out,
and in his fate the world was to see the imposture of the court of
Rome in its full and true dimensions, yet to do right to the kin_ij
it must be owned, that he fell a sacrifice to the imprudent and ill
conduct of his subjects and ancestors, and to the superstition and
ignorance of the past and present age, rather than to his own per-
sonal failings and miscarriages ; for though his conduct is scarce
capable of excuse, it is certain, he could not have been used as he
was. if his hands had not been tied up and his authority fettered
by the unwary concessions of his pred in n'i\in.ur away

so many of the ancient and essential rights of the crown of
England. — And the punishment \\as answerable-; not personal
only, but a national and a public misi-hief.

1 Two kingdoms.'] England and Ireland.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 95

But whilst all the other parties concerned in this affair were so
equally mortified in the event thereof, that it is hard to say which
of them was most uneasy under it, the joy and transports of pope
Innocent and the court of Rome bore proportion to the import-
ance of the interest which they served by it, and rose up to a
pitch incapable of concealment from the public view; for the sub-
jugating of two great and opulent kingdoms, and rendering them
fiefs of the papacy, was such a step towards the monarchy they
had been labouring for, that the whole air of pope Innocent and
the turn of his epistles and rescripts make it very plain, that he
now thought of nothing less than being another Melchisedech,
and at once the great high-priest and the monarch of the world.

The style of that prelate was answerable to the idea which he
had of his power ; for in the bull by which he granted the king-
doms of England and Ireland to king John, he thus describes the
present state of the papacy, and the duty and acknowledgment
which that court expected : " Jesus Christ (saith he) the king
of kings and lord of lords, and priest according to the order of
Melchisedech, hath so united the royal and sacerdotal power in
his church, that the kingdom is but a royal priesthood, and the
priesthood the royal power a:" and the consequence he makes was
fitted to the notion which gave beginning to it; for he infers from
hence, that " as every knee in heaven bowed down to Christ, so
every one should yield obedience to his vicar here upon earth b."
And indeed this was the doctrine which the court of Rome did
about this time scatter all over Europe ; and with such zeal and
sincerity did pope Innocent act up to this doctrine, that the
Annals of Waverley tell us, that in his time " God subdued the
three pestilent enemies of the church, the schismatics of the east,
the heretics of the west, and the Saracens of the south.'1 And
in the fore-mentioned epistle to king John, pope Innocent saith,
it has ''pleased God so to order the affairs of the world, that those
provinces which had been anciently subject to the Roman church
in spirituals, were now become subject to it in temporals0." And
that Germany as well as England might feel the effects of the new
grandeur of the papacy, about this time or not long after, Frederic

R Rex regum et Dominus dominantium Jesus Christus, Sacerdos in seter-
num secundum ordinem Melchisedec, ita regnum et sacerdotium in ecclesia
stabilivit, ut sacerdotale sit regnum et sacerdotium sit regale. Innoc. Epist.
lib. xvi. epist. cxxxi. p. 810.

b Innoc. Epist. lib. xvi. epist. cxxxi. p. 810. c Ibid.

96 KING JOHN, THE BARONS.

the second, advanced to the imperial crown by pope Innocent,
was prevailed upon by that court, by an imperial constitution, to
revoke all laws prejudicial to the liberties of the church, and to
exempt the clergy from the authority of the civil courts*. And
lest charity and the late more modest pretensions of the bishops
of Rome should lead posterity into a belief that the temporal
monarchy of the bishops of Rome was not at the bottom of the
aforesaid affair, but that the submission of king John was the
effect of an unhappy turn of things, or owing to the rashness or
despair of a sunk and dispirited prince ; pope Innocent has set
this matter in a true light, and in two epistles, the one to Stephen
archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops and clergy of England b,
the other to the archbishop alone c, has told the world that the
agreement, of which the resigning his kingdoms and receiving
them as a fee of the papacy and the oath of vassalage were a part,
" was projected and with great deliberation formed at Rome." —
But having said this to offer to the reader's view the spring by
which pope Innocent moved in the long controversy with king
John, it will be needful to return, and to observe the consequence
of this surprising story.

The French king having now no more use for his fleet or army,
the better to cover the disgrace which he had received, and take
his revenge on the earl of Flanders, who had opposed his intended
expedition to England, sent his fleet with some forces by sea,
whilst the rest marched by land to invade Flanders. And this
gave the king of England an opportunity to satiate his revenge on
that prince ; for the fleet of the king finding the French fleet in
the harbour of Dam, the forces being landed cut their cables, and
carried off all that were on float, and burnt those which lay upon the
strand; in all about three hundred. .IJy that one blow the kinjr
delivered himself from the fears of the invasion he had been
threatened with; and as his spirit was naturally li^ht. and exalted
with every success, this made him move so heavily in the execution
of his late agreement, that it was the middle of July (IiMo)
before the exiled bishops and clergy returned to KiiLcland. N«»t
lonur after, they attended the king at Winchester, where the arch-
bishop, somewhat more forward than pope Innocent intended d,
al»olv<-d the kinn- from the personal excommunication he lay under,
li-avin_LT the interdict in the state it was In -fore.

• Constit. Fred. [Corp. Jur. Civil, vol. ii. col. 561.]

ll Innoc. Epist. Ixxx. p 787. e Ibid. d Ibid. Epist. clxiv. p. 827.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 97

Whilst this assembly continued at Winchester, the king ap-
pointed his bailiffs and officers to make a general inquiry into the
losses sustained by the clergy and religious during the late con-
troversy, and appointed the bishops, the religious, and nobility to
consider that affair; in order whereto they met first at St. Alban's
in August, and afterwards at St. Paul's in London. And as the
accounts of the losses sustained were brought into these assem-
blies, so these meetings discovered the general dislike and uneasi-
ness which the late conduct of the king had given to the nation.
And the nobility and bishops here concerted measures for their
future conduct ; in order whereto, the great charter of Henry the
first was brought into debate, and resolutions taken to have that
charter and the laws of Edward the Confessor confirmed, and
made the great standard of right and law.

However privately these matters were concerted, it was not
long before the king was made sensible of the general discontent
and uneasiness of his people ; for that prince having obtained the
aforesaid advantage over the French, pleased himself with the
thoughts of recovering what they had gained from him in Nor-
mandy, and carrying home his revenge ; and in order thereto had
determined on an expedition to Poictiers in France ; but the
barons who had been summoned for that end, under the pretence
that the interdict was not released, generally refused to attend the
king ; and when he would have punished their disobedience accord-
ing to law, the archbishop of Canterbury, who knew the true
secret of this affair, interposed with so much vigour as deterred
the officers of the king.

This was so open a contempt of his authority as plainly showed
the king that he was still a great way from the settlement and
peace which he promised himself from his late agreement. And
though the king was thus ill-used by his barons, yet it is so
natural for men to be jealous of their liberties in the hands of a
prince, who had made himself a vassal, and so reasonable to fear
that he would not be just to their rights, who had betrayed and
given away his own, that as the conduct of the barons is blame-
able, the provocation is not capable of an excuse.

Revolutions arid great turns of states and kingdoms, as they
commonly proceed from fierce and impetuous passions, very often
partake of the nature of those passions from whence they proceed,
and move with a force and rapidity that sometimes carry them
farther than ever was designed by those who first projected

VOL. i. H

98 KING JOHN, THE BARONS.

them ; and sometimes by an unhappy crossness in the nature of
things or men, or by the overruling hand of Providence, take a
turn quite the wrong way, and bear down the interest which they
were intended to support and gratify. This was in some measure
the fate of the late revolution : it changed men, and shifted sides
and characters ; and as it brought the king and his adherents
into the interests of the court they had before opposed, so on the
other hand it took off the affections, and cooled the zeal, and
changed the measures of those whose bigotry had before carried
them too far to serve the papacy. And yet, after all, the king,
the barons, and the clergy were all uneasy, and as well they who
laboured to lessen the royal dignity, as they who strove to
maintain it, with an equal dread beheld the consequences of the
late agreement. — But as pope Innocent, who had yet no time to
be informed that the affairs of England had taken a turn too
much, continued under the transports his late success had given
him, so he thought of nothing less than putting the last hand to
the work which he had thus successfully begun.

He easily foresaw that the late resignation of king John would
be resolved into force or fear, and if a voluntary, yet at most
it would be esteemed but a personal act l ; and he understood
government too well to believe it any way in the power of a
prince to change the course of law to enslave his people ; for
this was to assume an authority which the very nature of the
royal trust and the great ends of government had precluded ;
and to pretend to create a right which the same law, by which
the claimant held, had put out of his power. Therefore that
prelate applied his thoughts to gain the consent of the nation,
and in order thereto, under the pretence of giving the king time
to satisfy those who had suffered under the interdict, and releasing
it with the greater solemnity, he continued the interdict for more
than a year after his agreement with king John. But to make a
show of his readiness to release it, and lay the delay somewhere
else, pope Innocent sent over Nicholas bishop of Tusculuin with
the character of legate, who arrived in England the latter end of
September (1213); and the great council being called, met at
St. Paul's in London in the beginning of October, and a new
cliartt r of i-f>i^nation beino- drawn, was scaled by the king in the
presence of the bishops and nobility; and to consecrate so
impudent an imposture, the charter thus executed was offered
1 A personal act.'] See above, p. 22.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 99

upon the altar ; and this execrable sacrifice to the ambition of
the church of Rome was called an offering to God, and ascribed
to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Stephen archbishop of
Canterbury, William bishop of London, Peter bishop of Win-
chester, Eustace bishop of Ely, and Hugh bishop of Lincoln,
together with several of the nobility, subscribed as witnesses to
this second charter.

The resignation being thus renewed, and the charter delivered
to the legate, the king received his kingdoms back again from
the hands of the legate ; and in order thereto did the second
time, and in the presence of this great assembly, do his homage,
and swear fealty to the church of Rome and to pope Innocent
and to his lawful successors : for thus the charter and thus the
oath of fealty ran, and not to the court of Rome as some men
endeavour to distinguish. Whilst all this care was taken of the
interest of the papacy, the interdict was still continued till June
the year following.

Though the bishops and nobility were present at this solemnity,
and some of them witnesses to the instruments which it produced,
yet they were so far from being pleased with or consenting to
them, that the archbishop of Canterbury, to do somewhat towards
expiating the wrongs which he had before done to the monarchy,
is said to have offered a protestation against the aforesaid charter
of resignation a : and the turn of affairs which not long after
ensued, would incline one to believe, that if any such protestation
was made, it was agreeable to the sense of the whole English
nation. However, the legate still flattered himself with the hopes
of bringing the nation to consent to their own servitude, and, as
has been said, continued the interdict on foot to the great
prejudice of the king's affairs.

But pope Innocent and his court found themselves extremely
mistaken in the whole conduct of this matter ; for the true spirit
and design of that court being laid open to the world by this
attempt on the crown of England, it could be no longer a doubt
but that it was the same spirit which animated pagan and Christian
Rome, and that subduing the world was the design of both.
This forced open the eyes of those who before would not see, and
gave such a shock to the designs of the papacy, as must neces-
sarily have dashed and broken them to pieces, if, for reasons best
known to Himself, God had not thought fit to prevent it. — But
n M. Par. aim. 1231. p. 371. n. 10.
H 2

100 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

the issue and consequence of this affair were such, as leave it
evident, that the proceedings of that court in this particular
shocked the whole English nation, and on a sudden gave a new
turn to the unhappy controversy which first occasioned it.

For the same men who for six or seven years before had
ventured their lives, at least their fortunes, to serve the interest
of that court, did immediately after the resignation of the king
shift sides, and fly in the face of the court which they had s»
before ; and a general discontent covered the face of the nation.
And the issue was answerable ; for the king having of a free and
independent prince thus made himself a vassal, his ill example'
taught his subjects to forget their duty, and a general defection
ensued. Indeed it is so natural for men to form their judgments
and govern their actions by what they see and feel, that it is
next to impossible for princes to preserve their honour or their
authority, when once they abandon the trust and duties which
should support them ; for duties which flow from the relations
of men to each other do ever subsist, as relatives do, by being
mutual.

The laws of England had provided for their kings as free and
sovereign princes, and set out and stated the obedience which
was due to them in that capacity ; but the term of a vassal or
feudatory prince was something with which the law and con>ti-
tution of England were not acquainted: and no provision could
be made for the honour and authority of such a prince, as our
constitution had no knowledge of: so that by giving away the
title of a free and sovereign prince, and by taking to himself that
of a vassal to the papacy, the king had done all that lay in him
towards removing the very foundations upon which the allegiance
of his subjects was built, and, by giving away his own rights, led
his people to believe he was unfit to be trusted \\itli theirs :
and the issue was, this untoward scene produced another no less
unhappy, the war betwixt the king and his barons.

But though the seeds of war were thus sown, yet before it
broke out there were several other causes which n
and which prepared the way for it, by uniting the discontents of
the nation, and bringing the clergy to side with the baron- a-j-ain<t
the king and the papacy. For the court of Rome having, as has
been said, d'-ti-rmim-d to make their title to the crown of j
land as linn as it was possible, to make it. and in order thereto
to have a second resignation in the ; and (if possible) \\ith

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 101

the consent of the great council, great care was taken to keep
the king steady. For that end pope Innocent gave directions to
his new legate to gratify the king, in filling up all the vacant
bishoprics and abbeys a ; and the interest of the court of Rome
lying now another way, after England and France had been set
into flames, and all Europe deafened with the outcries of that
court for tlie free elections of bishops and abbots, pope Innocent
gave it as an instruction to his legate, that he should " take parti-
cular care of the interest of the king, in filling up all the vacant
preferments b ; and that if chapters should make any opposition
to the persons the king desired, he should compel them to
obedience by the censures of the church c." Being thus backed
by the interest of that court, the king carried all before him,
and filled up all the vacant churches and monasteries with men
firm to his interest ; and the legate pursued his instructions, and
treated with haughtiness and insolence all the clergy that stood
in the way.

The clergy, too many whereof had for some time been tools
to the Roman court, and had helped to enslave their country to
serve the interest thereof, could not persuade themselves on a
sudden, that this usage was founded on the instructions of pope
Innocent, but rather owing to some sinister ends of the legate ;
and were very angry at this proceeding, and complained and ap-
pealed to the court of Rome. But, alas ! it was all in vain ; for
shifting sides had on a sudden made such a change of men, that
at Rome king John and archbishop Langton had shifted cha-
racters; and Pandulphus, who but a few months before had
treated king John with great insolence and contempt, and made
it his business to represent him as an enemy to God and to his
church, and upon that ground had laboured to engage his sub-
jects in a rebellion against him, being now sent to Rome to
oppose the appeals of the clergy against the proceedings of the
king and the new legate in the matter of the aforesaid elections,
he represented king John as a prince of extraordinary modesty
and humility, and blackened the archbishop, of whose great piety
and goodness and wisdom pope Innocent had for some years past
made so much boast and noise all over Europe : — accordingly,
these two great men shifted places in the esteem and favours of
pope Innocent and his court.

And though the men, their principles, and their rights, were

a M. Par. aim. 1213. p. 247. n. 30.

b Innoc. Epist. lib. xvi. epist. 138. p. 813. c Ibid.

102 KING JOHN. THE BARONS.

in the same state they had been in when the ecclesiastic liberty
was so dear to that court, yet the merits of the English clergy
vanished on a sudden ; and Pandulphus, who had so often ha-
rangued them with the glory of their sufferings, and fed them
with the hopes of a reward, did now represent them to the court
of Rome as covetous and greedy, and unreasonable in their de-
mands of satisfaction, and set them out as oppressors of the king
and the just rights and liberties of the crown. — Thus sped tin.'
archbishop and the bishops.

Lest his former favours should turn back upon him, and the
bulls and epistles which he had given out for the encouragement
of the clergy under the interdict, should reproach his present
conduct, pope Innocent took all possible care to extinguish the
memory thereof; and in order thereto commanded his legate the
bishop of Tusculum to require that all letters and decrees from
him, relating to the king, should be brought to him, and that he
should forthwith cause them to be torn to pieces or to be burnt a ;
by which means the clergy and religious were not only disappointed
of the reward which they promised to themselves from their late
sufferings, but in some measure they were deprived of the com-
forts, at least of the best proofs which they had of the merit of
that cause in which they suffered; and these were those letters
and rescripts which pope Innocent commanded to be burnt.

Thus did the all- wise providence of God return their bigotry
upon their own heads. They had been fond of a foreign power,
charmed with the sound of ecclesiastic liberty, compared their
late condition to the Egyptian bondage, and the change to their
deliverance from slavery; and the issue was, they who distin-
guished themselves by greater measures of zeal for the papal
usurpation, had the first and the greatest share in the tyranny
thereof. And instead of that liberty which they fondly pro-
mised to themselves, this unhappy affair, by putting it out of the
power of the crown to defend them, gave the finishing stroke
to the usurpation which the court of Rome had so IOIILC been
contending for; and the clergy of Kn^land. instead of liberty,
ratered upon a state of servitude which never ended till
finally threw off the yoke which they had fondly put about •
own necks, and were by the Reformation restored au'nin to tin ir
ancient state.

Whilst a ferment was thus raised, and a uvm-ral discon'
•-prcad the nation, the kin-.- (probably confiding in his new
• Innoc. Epist. lib. xvi. epist. 133.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 103

friendship with the court of Rome) instead of applying proper
remedies, by indulging his unwarrantable pleasures, by giving
countenance to some arbitrary ministers, and by laying heavy
impositions on his people to prosecute his war against the French,
rather increased and inflamed the discontents of the nation, than
did any thing towards a cure. And though his affairs at home
were in this ill posture, he this year with an army went over into
France, and attacked the country of Poictou, whilst his nephew
Otho the emperor and the earl of Flanders attacked Philip king
of France on the side of Flanders. In the mean time his ab-
sence gave opportunity to his discontented subjects to concert
measures for that unhappy war which too soon ensued in
England.

However, that he might not seem altogether careless, and un-
concerned for the affections of his people, the king obtained an
order from pope Innocent to his legate to release the interdict ;
and an assembly being convened to St Paul's in London for that
purpose, the interdict was with great pomp and solemnity released
the twenty-ninth of June this year (1214), after it had lasted six
years three months and fourteen days. This release gave great
satisfaction to the common people, who are usually charmed with
the pompous outside and appearances of religion : and some of
the clergy and religious had upon another account great reason
to be pleased with the issue of this assembly ; especially the
archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops of Ely, Hereford,
Bath, and Lincoln, and the monks of Canterbury ; for upon ad-
justing the account betwixt them and the king at this meeting, it
appeared that they had received seven-and-twenty thousand marks
from the king, and had security given them for thirteen thousand
more, for the losses which they had sustained under the interdict.

This example, together with the repeated assurances which
they had formerly received from the legates, had raised a general
expectation in the religious and lower ranks of secular clergy,
that their losses should be considered : therefore, as M. Paris
observes, an innumerable company of abbots, priors, templars,
hospitalers, abbesses, monks, secular clergy, and laity, did at the
time of releasing the interdict apply themselves to the legate,
and demanded satisfaction for the losses which they had sus-
tained during the continuance of it ; but they were dismissed by
the legate with this mortifying answer, that " he had no instruc-
tions concerning them," and that " it was not fit for him to act
beyond his commission." However, that he might not drive

104 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

them into despair, he advised them to apply themselves to the
pope : but it being now above a year since the agreement betwixt
king John and Pandulphus, this answer appeared to be nothing
else but artifice, and the art lay so open, that the clergy and reli-
gious easily saw what they were to expect, and returned home in
great discontent, and, for aught appears to the contrary, without
a thought of applying to pope Innocent for a remedy.

The nation continued in a mighty ferment, and the discontents
every day spread farther and grew bolder. The clergy and reli-
gious universally ran into the party which opposed the king and
the court of Rome. A general discontent having thus prepared
the way, the earls and barons of England, under the colour of a
pilgrimage, met together about the middle of October at St.
Edmundsbury in Suffolk, where they bound themselves by an
oath to demand of the king the grant of the laws and liberties
which king Edward had formerly granted to the church and king-
dom of England, and, in case of refusal, agreed to compel him to
it by force of arms. And preparations being made accordingly,
at Christmas following (1214), they appeared armed and verv
numerous at the court held at the New Temple in London, where
they made their demand in such a manner as gave the king
reason enough to be assured they were resolved not to be denied.

This demand was grounded upon a promise made by the king
at Winchester in the year 1213, when the archbishop gave him
absolution from the excommunication he had lain under for sonic
time: for, taking that opportunity, the archbishop required a
promise of the king, which was confirmed by his oath, that he
would love, defend, and maintain the church and the clergy
against all their adversaries; that he would restore the good
laws of his ancestors, especially those of king Edward ; and, in
general, that he would govern justly. But the king, having an-
swered that it was a matter of the first moment and m|iiin -d
time, did by the mediation and security given by the archbishop
of Canterbury, the bishop of Ely and William Maresrhall. gain
time till Easter following, to give his final answer to the demand
of the barons.

Hut as this delay seems to have heen designed l»y the king
only to gain time, so it served also, by this appearance of duty
and moderation, to give a eolonr and reputation to the pn-ti-nces
of the confederates* l>nt Master (l-l"») being come, the barons
met at Stamford in Lincolnshire, and from thence proceeded in a

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 105

warlike manner towards Oxford, where the king then was ; but
coming as far as Brackley, they were met by the archbishop and
some other commissioners from the king, appointed to receive
their demands ; which being carried to the king, he answered
with great indignation, " Why did not the barons demand his
kingdom ?" and the second time denied their petition.

Things being come to this pass, both sides prepared for war ;
and the better to amuse the world and cover their pretensions,
both parties took pattern from the court of Rome, and took
sanctuary in a pretence of zeal for religion and the church. The
king, who was much influenced by the counsels of the legates,
fell directly into the steps the court of Rome had frequently tried
with good success ; and whilst he saw himself in no condition to
defend his crown and country, as if he had been perfectly at
leisure, and had had nothing to do at home, did with great so-
lemnity take upon him the cross, and put himself under vows of
going to Palestine : and, in truth, though he was much more
likely to be driven out of his own country than to do any thing
towards the recovery of the Holy Land, and in all probability
had not so much as one thought of that kind, but, on the con-
trary, his hypocrisy and dissimulation lay open to every view ;
yet it is very likely that he was as sincere, and had as much
religion at the bottom of this pretence as that court ever had,
from whence he took the artifice. And as under this cover that
prince pretended that his person and crown were under the imme-
diate protection of the holy chair, so upon the same ground he
reproached the other side under the title of apostates to religion a,
and, according to the new doctrine of the court of Eome, pre-
tended " they had forfeited their lands," and invited " foreigners
to his service with the promises of the forfeited estates b."

That the address might be equal on both sides, the barons set
up the like pretensions to religion, and chose Robert Fitz- Walter
as their general, under the title of the mareschal of the army of
God, and of his holy church c. Thus did these unhappy nations
behold a war begun upon such grounds, and conducted with such
circumstances as the world had never seen before. The king
took part with his own vassalage, and drew his sword to continue
himself a slave ; and he who for some years before had with a
becoming bravery and courage maintained the rights of his crown,

a M. Par. ann. 1215. p. 255. n. 20. b Ibid.

c Ejusd. p, 254. n. 40.

106 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

now appeared no less resolute to give them away. On the other
hand, some of those men who had deserved eternal infamy by
the part which they had acted before to enslave their country,
now hazarded their lives (at least as they pretended) to redeem
the honour of the nation. Thus did the tyranny of the court of
Rome, begun in the most direful cruelties to the souls of men
about the year 1207, end in the most inhuman and unnatural
cruelties of a civil war in the year 1215.

However artfully both sides covered their pretensions, there
seems no reason to doubt, but the resignation of the king was the
true cause of this unhappy war. For though the Norman r
lution had made some changes to the disadvantage of the lil.
and gentleness of the ancient English government, and the present
king had made choice of such ministers and judges as had given
just occasion of offence and complaint, yet taking arms against
their prince was a thing hitherto so entirely unknown to the
English nation, that it is impossible to think that the nobility,
clergy, and people, could so universally have run into a defection,
if there had not been more at the bottom of this war, than some
arbitrary proceedings of an unsteady prince.

But a free people and a vassal prince is a solecism in the \« TV
essence and being of a government ; and a well-established liberty
under the reign of a prince who had given away his own freedom,
was so vain and so ill-grounded an expectance, that the slightest
reflection on this unhappy war presently leads one to think, that
the demands of the barons and clergy were a cover to something
else. Certain it is, that their undutifulness, or at least their cold-
ness in their services to the king, had done too much towards
plunging him into the unhappy despair, which led him to enslave
himself and his country; and without a manifest reproach to
themselves, they could not avow' that to be the cause of the \\ar.
which was in a <>Teat measure owing to thcinsi 1

Besides, the interest of the kin.u and the papacy \\viv too
powerful to be openly opposed, and there was nothing so likely to
divide them as that which seemed to preserve their def'rivii<
the court of Rome, and had the appearance of ri^ht. and law. ami
religion on its side. Hut the archbishop who formed tin- d<
of the barons, having publicly protested against the resignation of
the kin«r. and secretly favoured the proceedings of the baron-, the
kin-.; and the pope easily penetrated into the true reason of the
war, and were fully satisfied that whatever the barons pretended.
the king^s becominir a vassal to the church of KOI.. ' the

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 107

bottom of this affair. Accordingly, the king in his letter to pope
Innocent gives him this account of the conduct of his barons :
" Whereas (saith he) the earls and barons of England were loyal
to us before we resigned ourself and our kingdom to your domi-
nion, from that time and for that reason, as they publicly say, they
have taken up arms against us a."

The account of pope Innocent in his bull of excommunication
against the barons is to the same purpose. " They (saith he)
assisted the king whilst he perversely offended against God and
his church, but presume to take up arms against him after he was
converted, and hath given satisfaction to God and his church V
And in his letter to archbishop Langton c, and in his bull by which
he afterwards declared void the charter of the king, and the agree-
ment betwixt him and his barons which was founded thereon, he
gives the same account of the beginning of this unhappy war d.
And the original bull of that prelate, dated at Anagni the eighth
of the calends of September, the eighteenth year of his pontificate,
and yet remaining in the Cotton Library, is of the very same
import. " In a perverse manner they rose up against the king
after he had satisfied the church, who assisted him whilst he was
disobedient to the church e."

Having laid these particulars together, to give the reader a just
view of the true cause of this unhappy war, and of the arts made
use of by both sides to give a popular turn to it, it will be time to
return to observe the conduct thereof, and the effects which it
produced.

A war being thus begun, the barons seized the city of London,
and became so very powerful, that the king quickly saw himself
under a necessity of complying with their demands : therefore
consenting to a meeting with some of their party, to find out a
temper to accommodate this affair, Runnymede, betwixt Staines

R Cum Comites et Barones Angliae nobis devoti essent antequam nos et
nostram terram Dominio vestro subjicere curassemus, extunc in nos specialiter
ob hoc, sicut publice dicunt, violenter insurgunt. Prynn's Exact Hist. vol. iii.
p. 33 ; et Rimeri, torn. i. p. 207.

b Cum ipse Rex quasi perversus Deum et Ecclesiam offendebat, illi assiste-
bant eidem ; cum autem conversus Deo et Ecclesiae satisfecit, ipsum impug-
nare prsesumunt. Prynn's Exact Hist. vol. iii. p. 28.

c Prynn's Exact Hist. vol. iii. p. 26.

d Brady's Append. Hist. vol. i. p. 155.

e Ordine perverse in ilium insurgunt postquam conversus Ecclesise satis-
fecit, qui assistebant eidem quando Ecclesiam offendebat. Cotton. Cleo-
pat. E. i.

108 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

and Windsor, was the place agreed upon, and the fifteenth of
June (1215) the day appointed.

This great assembly being met, an agreement was made, and
contained in the two great charters known to this day by the name
of Magna Charta and the Charta de Foresta, which still remain as
the great standards of right and law, and continue the foundation
and barriers to that happy government, which is the distinguishing
blessing and glory of the English nation. — Thus did the wise pro-
vidence of God bring good out of evil, and raise a lasting monu-
ment to his own glory, from the miseries and confusion which
seem to have threatened the ruin of our country and our govern-
ment. For though a charter was granted by Henry the First,
and the first article of the great charter, which declares that the
church is free, appears some ages before in the charter of Wightred
king of Kent, and the articles of the great charter were not alto-
gether new concessions from the crown, but rather the ancient
maxims and rules of law drawn into a body ; yet there is reason
to think that it was the unhappy conduct of the king, which by
giving the nation grounds to fear that they might too soon follow
him into vassalage, and that their right could not long be sale when
those of the crown were given away, that first gave beginning to
that resolution which never ended, till it had settled the English
government upon the bottom on which it remains to this day.

But as reflections of this kind give a sensible pleasure to tl
who know how to put a just value upon the happiness of that form
of government which God has placed us under, so it is no little
mortification to give up so agreeable a thought, and turn t
every thing on a sudden hurried into a new confusion. Yet this
was the case : for whether it was that the fickle and unconstant
.spirit of the king could not bear the confinement of stated nil-*
of government ; or whether it was that the agreement l»et\\i\r
the king and his people broke all the measures of that court,
which had taken so much pains to enslave him, and could promise
themselves no great advantage from his resignation, whilst his
people continued safe and untouched under stated rules of law ; or
whatever occasioned it, so it was that the kin^. who seems to have
been influenced and governed by the ministers of pope Inno<
before the month was over, repented of the favours which he had
granted to his people, and revoked his charters ; and the unhappy
civil war broke out a^aiii, before the nation had time to reap any
advantage from the late agreement betwixt the king and his
barons.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 109

The king having thus changed his measures, sent away Pan-
dulphus, legate of pope Innocent, to Rome, to be absolved from the
oath with which he had confirmed the charters which he had
lately granted to the barons, and to have those charters declared
void ; and sent Walter Gray bishop of Worcester, his chancellor,
John bishop of Norwich, and some other ambassadors, abroad,
to give an account of this affair, and to procure forces to assist
him ; and sent his directions to his governors of castles and forts
in England, to provide for their defence ; and the better to secure
his person till he could bring a foreign force to his assistance, he
retired himself to the Isle of Wight. In the mean time the
barons who were in possession of London, entertained themselves
with tilts and tournaments, but were so far puffed up by their late
success, that they seemed to despise the preparations of the king,
rather than to provide against them.

Whilst things passed in this manner in England, the ambas-
sadors of the king arrived at Rome, where pope Innocent, who
was ever watchful over the interest of that court, and could not
but see the secret springs which set this affair into motion, upon
the first hearing of it, immediately answered in great anger,
" What \ do the barons of England endeavour to dethrone a king,
who has taken upon him the cross and is under the protection of
the apostolic see, and to transfer the dominion of the Roman
church to another?" and then swore by St. Peter, " This injury
should not pass unpunished a."

As he judged truly, that the interest of the court of Rome was
bound up in that of the king, so he met the desires of his ambas-
sadors with all the zeal and ardour the importance of the embassy
required, and by a bull declared the aforesaid charters void ; and
by another commanded the barons to lay down their arms and to
return to their duty, and pronounced them excommunicate in case
of refusal. And when this would not do, he issued a third bull
excommunicating the barons by name, and sent his command to
the archbishop of Canterbury to appoint the publication of that
sentence through his province every Sunday. And before the end
of the year, in the council held in the Lateran, he again confirmed
his sentence against the barons b : and in all the transactions upon
this subject, pope Innocent acted up to his new character of
lord of England and Ireland, with a pride and haughtiness
equalled only by the ambition and wickedness with which he had
aspired to it, and upon every occasion wrote and spake of king

a M. Par. ann. 1215. p, 266. b Concil. torn. ii. par. i. p. 237. ed. Lab.

1 10 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

John as his vassal, and the kingdoms of England and Ireland as
fees of the papacy l.

Things having passed thus at Rome (1215), the necessity of
the king's affairs made his ambassadors hasten away to England :
and Peter bishop of Winchester, being joined in the commission
with Pandulphus, they immediately applied themselves to execute
the aforesaid bulls ; and in order thereto addressed the archbishop
of Canterbury, to cause them to be published through his province.
But that prelate, under pretence that he was going to Rome,
desired to be excused, till by personal conference with pope Inno-
cent he might lay the matter rightly before him a. But the king,
who had by this time drawn a considerable force together, by the
terror of his arms easily obtained what the archbishop had denied,
and the sentence of excommunication against the barons, and
their abettors and adherents, was generally pronounced, and
except in London, where the barons chiefly resided, was as gene-
rally obeyed. Besides this, the king besieged and took the castle

1 Fees of the papacy.'] "When you tell me that we are indebted to the Roman
Catholic religion for Magna Charta, had you forgotten, Sir, that the pope, as
he whom God had appointed over nations and kingdoms, reprobated and
condemned that charter; pronounced it, in all its clauses, null and void ; for-
bade the king to observe it; inhibited the barons (who, being instigated by
the devil, he said, had extorted these concessions in degradation of the crown),
from requiring its execution, and suspended the primate Langton for refusing
to excommunicate them on this account ? To Langton, indeed, we are deeply
indebted for the noble part which he took in obtaining the charter from the
king, and in his yet nobler conduct in maintaining it against the pope. But to
the Roman Catholic religion, as acting under its acknowledged head, these are
our obligations on the score of Magna Charta !

" Where, Sir, was your memory, when you claimed our gratitude to the
papal church for this great charter of our liberties ; or where did you suppose
was mine ? Had you forgotten that another pope, in the plenitude of his
power, absolved another king of England from his solemn engagement to
observe that charter, pronouncing that, if the king had sworn to observe it,
he had sworn, previously, to maintain the rights of the crown; — to those
rights the charter was derogatory, and to that prior oath regard mustjSrv/ be
paid ; and therefore pope Clement V. released Edward I. from all promises pre-
judicial to his ancient prerogative ? I have usually to thank you, Sir, when
you send me to my books — These, I repeat it, are our obligations to the
Romish religion on the score of Magna Charta? — And it is worth noting by
the way, you have here the opinion of the pope ex cathedra, that the king's
coronation oath is paramount to all other engagements and considerations." —
Southey's Vindicice Ecclesia: Anglicana ; Letters to Charles Butler, Esq.
p. 369, 70.

M. Par. ann. 1215. p. 271. n. 50.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. Ill

of Dover, and the barons having no army sufficient to oppose
him, he every where laid their towns and villages waste, and
before the end of this year had a fair prospect of reducing them
to his obedience by force.

Meanwhile the court of Rome had an affair of the greatest
importance on their hands ; and this was to give the finishing
stroke to that ecclesiastic monarchy which they had been raising
by degrees. Pope Innocent had been extremely fortunate in
the steps which he had made, and had carried the grandeur of
that court to such a height, that one may be allowed to say, the
glories of the papacy did never shine so bright as under the pon-
tificate of that prelate. And as he judged truly of the present
state of the papacy, so he hastened to put the last hand to it, by
triumphing at once over the whole Christian church, which he
and his predecessors had despoiled and broken by degrees. In
order hereto he called a council, known by the name of the
fourth Lateran Council, which met this year (1215), and was
held in Home in November under pope Innocent. Concerting
measures for carrying on the war in Palestine, and the reformation
of the church, were the pretended reasons for calling this assembly
together. But when pope Innocent in his sermon at the opening
of the council thought fit to speak out, he tells them, that if
occasion was, " he was ready to die for the ecclesiastic liberty,"
and (according to his mysterious and allegorical way of speaking)
that "though to live was Christ and to die was gain, yet it was his
desire to continue in the flesh, till the work should be consum-
mated which was begun a." And if perfecting the ecclesiastic
monarchy was not this work, and the true secret which lay at the
bottom of this council, one who considers the history, the canons,
and the methods of proceeding therein, will find it very difficult
to be of another opinion.

For if we take the whole together, this council is one of the
most surprising scenes that the world ever produced ; and what-
ever was designed by it, this assembly has drawn the ecclesiastic
monarchy in its brightest glory and lustre, and gives us such a
view of the power and grandeur of the papacy as is no where else
to be found : and which I am more concerned to consider, it
gives so much light to the affairs of the English church, that one
cannot forbear to observe the occasion, the conduct, and the issue
of this council.

Besides the general uneasiness which the Holy War occasioned,
n M. Par. ann. 1215. col. 131.

112 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

there was scarce a nation in Europe that had not about this time
some particular embroil. That of England is too well known to
need repeating : France was engaged in a war with Flanders and
the emperor Otho; Spain torn to pieces by the Moors and
Saracens ; the parties of Otho and Frederic divided and em-
broiled the empire ; and the late violent revolution in the eastern
empire had occasioned such convulsions therein, as were never
cured till the empire itself became a prey to the Turks. Such
was the state of Europe when the council, which met this }
was summoned in the year 1213; and if a change was made !>•
the council met, or the present state of Europe was any ways
different from what it was two years since, the change was rather
for the worse, and the affairs thereof still more embroiled. And
as if these had not been calamities sufficient, the court of Rome
was every where employing their arts and authority to raise men
and money, for the succour of the east, as was pretended.

Whilst Europe then was in this posture, pope Innocent sum-
moned a general council by his own authority : for which end he
sent his monitions to the eastern and western emperors, to the
kings of England, France, Spain, Arragon, Hungary, and Sicily,
to oblige them to send ambassadors to that assembly. The like
summons was sent to the four eastern patriarchs, as well as to the
metropolitans of the western churches: and the conduct of this
council was answerable to the majesty with which it was convened.

That prelate thus assumed to himself this great branch of the
imperial and royal authority, by which all general and national
councils had been called for above a thousand years after Christ ;
and instead of receiving a summons from the emperor, as all his
predecessors had done to the eight first general councils, he sent
his monitions to all Christian princes. — And it could not l><
pected, that he should use their clergy better than he had u--d
their masters; and indeed the style, and canons, and form of
passing them, plainly show, that he esteemed the bishops and
clergy who came to this council, no otherwise than as his subjects
and his council, and not as the representatives of the Christian
church ; whereas the learned writer of the history of the councils
has well observed, that in all the ancient councils the method
first to consider and debate, and then each bishop h;mn«4 wi ;
!ii- Buf&age \\itli his own hand1'1, the matter under consideration
was determined by the majority of voices, and the decree ran in
the name of the council. And this, as that author saith, was a
• Richer. Hist. Concil. lib. i. p. 766.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 113

method well suited to that aristocracy which Christ had established
in His church, and the method which has been continued in such
assemblies, from the first council of the apostles till the time of
Gregory the seventh a.

But as that learned writer has abundantly proved that the
court of Rome broke down the primitive constitution of the
Christian church, and set up an ecclesiastic monarchy instead of
that form which Christ had erected, and by which the apostles
and first ages of the church had ever acted ; so he makes it
appear, that the proceedings of this council were answerable to
the change which the ambition and artifices of the court of Rome
had introduced. " For (saith he) pope Innocent neither suffered
the bishops to debate, or to give their votes, or the decrees to run
in the name, or to pass by the authority, of the council ; but he
by his own creatures first prepared the decrees, and then published
them, not as the acts of the council, but by his own proper
authority b." And a late learned and excellent writer of the same
communion follows him in that opinion, and saith, " It is certain,
that the aforesaid canons were not made by the council, but by
pope Innocent the third, who presented them to the council
ready drawn up, and ordered them to be read ; and that the pre-
lates did not enter into debate upon them c." And indeed the
aforesaid learned writer of the history of the councils has truly
observed, that this was the case of all the papal councils from the
pontificate of Gregory the seventh : they were so far from being
free, that they were entirely governed by the particular interests
of the court of Rome, and the canons thereof delivered as the
edicts of an absolute monarch d.

But whatever was the case of other councils, it is so evident
that this was the case of the aforesaid council under pope Innocent,
that if there had been no other proof, the turn and the style, and
the spirit that every where appear in the canons thereof, are
enough to lead one to the method and form in which they were
conceived and published. For whereas the constant style of the
ancient councils was, "decernimus et synodi autoritate robo-
ramus e," we decree and confirm by the authority of the synod ;
Gregory the seventh, who projected the change in the government
of the church, first began, and pope Innocent followed him in this

a Richer. Hist. Concil. lib. i. p. 769. b Ejusd. p. 766.
c Da Pin, Eccles. Hist. vol. xi. p. 95.

d Richer. Hist. Concil. lib. i. p. 766. e Ejusd. p. 769.
VOL. I. I

114 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

form, " nos sacro approbante concilio decernimus," we decree with
the approbation of the synod. But very often the canons run in
his own name, and ascribe the decreeing power to himself, without
mentioning the authority of the council : and in that decree, by
which he charged the whole clergy with the payment of a twen-
tieth part of their yearly revenues for the space of three years,
towards defraying the charges of the war in Palestine, he pretends
no further than that it was with the approbation of the council a. In
short, some things are ascribed to the advice, and others to the
persuasions, of the council b, whilst the haughty monarch arrogates
the decreeing power to himself.

As he thus treated this assembly, and under the cover thereof
imposed his own maxims on the world, the persons of the clergy
and religious were, if it was possible, used worse than their au-
thority. For having under the colour of this council drawn them
to Rome, he put his own price upon them, and before he would
suffer them to depart, he made them take up money from the
merchants of Rome, whom he had appointed to furnish them to
supply his wants c. Among the rest, William abbot of St. Alban's
had an hundred marks extorted from him d, and the new arch-
bishop of York was charged with ten thousand marks ; and if we
have not the particular charges on the other prelates, our historian
is positive that by this method pope Innocent raised infinite sums
of money e ; or, to speak more properly, by a treachery and vio-
lence beyond all example, he robbed those whom he had first de-
ceived into the snare under the pretence of religion. This horrible
practice will, it may be, give us the best account of that mighty
zeal with which this assembly was convened, and such numbers
drawn together at a time when all Christendom was in a ferment.
and the presence of the clergy and religious so necessary at home.
But if this circumstance, and the interest the court of Rome
served by it, be not enough to set the reason of this ns>embly in
a true light, it will be in vain to look to the canons themselvi
to the controversies or heresies of the age for our guide.

But whatever occasioned the convening of this council, one
who observes the air of majesty and authority which every win-re-
appears, in the monitions sent by pope Innocent to the emperors
and other Christian princes of Europe, and to the bishops as well

• Concil. torn. xi. par. i. col. 228. b Ibid.

M Par. ann. 1215. p. 274. n. 10.
< M. Par. vit. Abbat. S. Albun. p. 117. • Ibid.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 115

of the eastern as the western churches ; with what assurance that
prelate, without the consent of the princes and states of Europe,
forbade the raising of money for the time to come on the estates
of the clergy and religious by the secular power, without the con-
sent of the bishops of Rome, whilst at the same time he laid an
imposition of a twentieth part on the whole estate of the church ;
how magisterially he commanded every city to send or to pay a
number of men for the Holy War, and declared it the right of
the papacy to give away the dominions of princes ; with what
assurance that prelate put the doctrine of deposing princes upon
the world, under the pretended authority of an assembly, wherein
the ambassadors of most of the princes of Europe were present ;
how arbitrarily he extorted vast sums of money from the clergy
and religious who met in this council ; and, which is more still,
how tamely they suffered their persons to be ill-treated, and their
authority abused, to serve all the purposes of the ambitious court
which convened them ; has a view and an example of such blind-
ness and infatuation on the one side, and of such ambition and
exorbitant power on the other, as the world could have no idea of
before the reign of pope Innocent.

The archbishop of Canterbury was at Rome whilst this council
was held there, and if he did not make his peace with pope Inno-
cent, yet it seems very probable, he obtained the recalling of his
suspension, partly by giving security to abide by the judgment of
that court, and partly by the same methods by which that court
served their ends on the rest of the assembly. But the barons of
England fell irrevocably under his displeasure, and were in this
council excommunicated by pope Innocent with all their adherents
and abettors, and with all that should attempt to seize or invade
the kingdom of England : and th.9 reason that prelate gives, is,
" because (as he speaks) the illustrious king of England had taken
upon him the cross, and was the vassal of the Roman church a."

Having thus long insisted on the transactions of this council,

partly to show the reader what the court of Rome meant by the

ecclesiastic liberty ; and partly to show to what a height they had

by this time carried their usurpation, by offering to his view the

triumphs of that court over the Christian and secular authority in

this great assembly, which is said to consist of four hundred and

twelve bishops ; and partly to enable the reader, by this view of

the papacy, to conceive how it came to pass, that the weight of

" Concil. torn. xi. per. i. p. 237. ed. Lab.

i 2

116 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

that court first turned the scale against king John and then for
him, and to give him light enough to judge truly of the reason of
the ill success with which the succeeding kings of England made
so many laws to restrain and set bounds to the papal usurpation ;
it is but time to return, and to observe how the transactions of
this assembly operated in England.

King John, having drawn together a pretty good army, the latter
end of the last year (1215) made such use of it, that before the
year was done the barons were reduced to such circumstances,
that they who had carried all before them in the beginning of the
year, before it was ended saw themselves in no condition to resist
the forces of the king : and this threw them into despair, and
gave a new turn to this unhappy war, and brought the dishonour
and guilt upon the barons, which they had before charged upon
the king and the court of Rome. For having drawn the sword
against their prince, they took sanctuary in the maxim which
advises to throw away the scabbard ; and seeing their party likely
to be overwhelmed, they sent their agents to Philip king of France,
with the tender of the crown and kingdom of England to his son
prince Lewis : and to give all assurance of their sincerity and
endeavours to assist that prince, some of the sons of the greatest
of the barons were sent as hostages into France.

Having thus given security for the performance of what t
had promised to the French king, his son Lewis, whose heat and
ambition outstripped the precaution and slower methods of his
father, immediately engaged in this war, and had all the as>i>tawe
his father could give ; and a body of men was in the beginning of
this year sent to England to the aid of the banms.

This league was not transacted so privately, but the king of
Knu'land and the court of Rome easily saw into it. and omitted no
endeavours that appeared likely to frustrate and disappoint it. Tn
order whereto, the king not only set himself to secure the
coast, and to provide a fleet, but sent his ambassadors to IV
with such offers to the French kin<j as he thought most likely to
divert the storm. Pope Innocent, who well saw that the int.
of the court of Rome was hound up in that of the kinij. laid out
all his /eal and endeavours for his security: and as his commis-
sioners in Klin-land i»ued out his thunders a_Ljain>t the barons,
and in the cathedral and conventual churches did every Sunday
repeat their anathema and excommunication again-t them; so by

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 117

his legate in France he endeavoured to withdraw the French king
from this undertaking, and to engage him to keep his son at
home.

In order hereto Walo \ who was the legate sent to France,
remonstrated against the intended expedition to England, and
represented it as " no less injurious to the Romish church than to
the king of England ; for (saith he) the king of England has
sworn fidelity to the bishop and church of Rome, and holds his
kingdoms by an annual tribute of the church of Rome, they being
the patrimony of St. Peter."

But king Philip, who about four years before was so thoroughly
convinced of the right of the papacy to give away the crown of
England, that he himself took a title from the holy chair, and
was at the head of an army to make good his pretence by force,
by a new turn of interest now lost all his former quickness and
penetration of mind, and notwithstanding the change which the
resignation of king John had made to the great advantage of the
papacy, that prince could not bear the aforesaid pretence of the
legate with common patience, but replied in anger to what the
legate had said of England being a fief of the papacy, " that
England never was, nor is, nor ever shall be, the patrimony of St.
Peter a."

Therefore, though he pretended the most profound veneration
for the holy see, and sent his ambassador to Rome to set this
matter right, and to prevent the thunders which might come from
thence, and seemed not to allow the intended expedition of his
son ; yet at the same time he furnished him with a fleet and an
army, and gave him his blessing when he set out for England. —
Every thing being ready for that design, prince Lewis set forward
about the middle of May, (1216,) and arrived the one-and-
twentieth. King John thought fit to retire, and Lewis landed
without any opposition at Sandwich, and not long after came to
London, where he was received with great joy by the barons ; and
as king of England he received their homage, and swore to observe
the laws of England.

And that posterity might not be deceived in judging of the
party by which this interest was managed, before he left London,

1 In order hereto Walo."] Guala, of the noble family of the Bicchieri of
Vercelli, of which place he was bishop. He was legate in France and England
(he crowned Henry III.): he was a great patron of learning, and founded the
monastery at Vercelli, where his library (a rich one for the time) still exists.

a M. Par. ann. 1216. p. 280. n. 40.

118 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

king Lewis appointed Simon Langton, late archbishop elect of
York, and brother to the archbishop of Canterbury, for his chan-
cellor.

Not long after the arrival of prince Lewis. \Valo legate to
pope Innocent came into England, and went to king John, who
was retired to Gloucester with his army. His presence gave new
life to the affairs of the king ; for as he excommunicated prince
Lewis and the barons, with the solemnity of tolling the bells and
lighting of torches, and thereby made such impressions on the
Commons of England as were of some use to the king ; so by cry-
ing up the merit of assisting him and the holy Roman church,
and by the assurances which he gave of the blessing and assist-
ances of the holy chair, he prevented the general desertion that
prince had some reason to fear, and gave so much vigour to the
army of the king, that he soon saw himself in a capacity to
reduce a great part of the west of England to his obedience.

On the other hand, prince Lewis and the barons, having con-
certed measures, did with their forces leave London about the
middle of June, and, excepting the castles of Dover and Windsor.
did in a little time reduce all the south of England. And the
armies on both sides being so near equal, that neither party
thought fit to attempt to force the other to a decision by a battle,
the nation was the common subject of their fury ; for whilst each
party applied itself to reduce the cities and castles to their obe-
dience, their animosities and revenge were so much alike, that
desolation and blood attended them wheresoever they went, and
all the miseries of an intestine war overspread the nation.

But whilst one leaves this melancholy scene to the relation of
those to whom it more properly belongs, the design of this under-
taking will, I hope, permit me to carry the reader back to that
unhappy affair of the church, which gave beginning to it : and this
was the election of Stephen Langton. archbishop of Canterbury
to ^peakmore properly, the attempt of pope Innocent and the court
of Rome to force an archbishop ' upon the kingdom ( 1 iMM)) ; for it
was that pretence which gave beginning to the war. When it
first started, the nation seemed to have no apprehensions of the
consequences which in time ensued: but that usurpation which
at the first appearance of it was like the prophet's cloud, no big
than one's hand, like that too grew up into a darkne>s which
covered tlu face of the whole kingdom ; and in tin- dii

1 To force an archbishop.'] See above, p. 79, and below, p. 121. n.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 119

thereof has shown us, how dangerous it is to break in upon the
legal and ancient constitutions of a kingdom, and to make subjects
too great to obey, or princes too little to govern.

For if one may be allowed to judge and to speak freely, one
cannot forbear to say, this was too much our case. The clergy
fondly flattered themselves with a belief, that the power snatched
from the king would fall into their own hands, and that they
should gain all that the king lost, by taking the patronage of
bishoprics from the crown l . The nobility were jealous of the king,

1 From the crown."] I venture to introduce here a note of great length
from Inett ; but I hope the importance of the topics, and the ability with
which they are handled, will justify the insertion.

" The aforesaid disappointment of the clergy and religious made a great
addition to the prevailing discontents of the nation ; and it is not unlikely
but that it made some impressions on the king and the legate, and gave
the first thought to a charter made by him, and confirmed by pope Innocent,
the latter end of this or the beginning of the following year (1214) ; that is,
to that charter by which king John granted a general freedom of elections
to all cathedrals and convents. And if this and some other concessions of
this kind by the predecessors of this prince were not the best grounds upon
which the sole rights of capitular elections were founded, yet certainly the
claims founded upon antiquity and the usage of the primitive church, arid
much more those said to be built on the commission of Christ, and a pre-
tence that princes have nothing to do in the affairs of the church and religion,
are attended with so many difficulties, as would tempt one to think that they
are mistaken who embark in bottoms of this kind.

"The grant of the king makes no difference betwixt the claims of the secu-
lar canons and the monastics, and upon this foot this affair was finally settled
in the Western church by the council of Basil. But however reasonable it
might appear to allow the colleges of presbyters a great part in the choice of
bishops in the first ages, yet the very reason on which that usage was
founded, overturns the pretence of the cathedral monks ; for a right of a
body of laymen founded on the usage of the college of presbyters has so
little foundation in truth and reason, that there is much better ground to
affirm those institutions a reproach and contradiction to the sense and prac-
tice of the ancient church, rather than any way countenanced by them. And
if the primitive bishops had lived to see themselves deprived of the counsel
and assistance of their presbyters, and beheld their cathedrals exempted from
their jurisdiction, and those who possessed them withdrawn from their obe-
dience, their authority denied, their counsels frustrated, their very order les-
sened ; in short, had they but tasted of those troubles which those bodies
drew down upon their successors, it would have set fire to their zeal, shocked
all their patience, and their practice and their canons would have had so
different a turn, as would have left no colour for the claims which were in
time pretended to be supported by them.

" The claim of the secular canons has in the first view a much better colour ;

120 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

and had the vanity to hope, that their liberties would be safer, if
the interest of the crown was made less. And the nomination of

for as they were colleges of presbyters, and so came much nearer the primi-
tive institutions of those bodies, their claim was in proportion so much better
grounded. But when it is considered, that the primitive church allowed the
bishops of the province, and the people as well as the clergy, a share in the
choice of bishops ; it will seem unreasonable to found a right upon a prac-
tice which opposes and contradicts the claims that are built upon it, or to
conclude solely in favour of capitular elections, from an usage which equally
proves the right of the bishops and the people and the clergy of the diocese.

" Besides, whatever veneration is due to the example of the best ages, usages
which are not founded upon a divine right, must ever stand or fall with the
reasons that support them. Thus the feasts of charity, the holy kiss, the
orders of deaconnesses, and many other usages of the first ages, did by de-
grees run into desuetude, and were finally banished with the reasons that
gave them a beginning. So that however reasonable it might appear to allow
the clergy and people a share in the choice, whilst the districts of the bishops
were chiefly confined to cities, and the presbyters residing with them at the
Mother Church were in a manner the whole clergy of the diocese ; yet the
case at this time was so very different, when dioceses were extended to bounds
much wider than some kingdoms under the Saxon heptarchy, and the clergy
spread as far as the diocese, that if the usage of the ancient church prove
any thing at all, it proves too much to serve the interest of the present claims,
and entitles the whole clergy and people of the diocese to the choice of
bishops.

" But because the right which the kings of England had long enjoyed,
and which was about this time (1214) given away by king John, has been
resumed by the crown, and the honour of the church and nation seems very
much concerned in the disputes upon this subject ; it may not be amiss to
observe, that the question at this time was not whether Christ had founded a
church, or vested a power in the apostles and their successors to set apart
men to minister in holy things ; whether this designation was necessary, or
whether they who were entrusted with the conveyance of a power to prrarh
the gospel, might not judge finally of the abilities and sufficiency of the
persons to whom this trust was committed. These were disputes reserved as
a judgment on the later ages, wherein Erastianism, profaneness, and enthu-
si;iMn have attempted the foundations of the church of Christ, but were not
so much as thought of at this time. And it is very evident, that when the
claim of the kings of England was carried to the greatest lengths, they never
pretended to convey a spiritual power; but on the contrary, the law which
establishes the patronage of the crown, does in the very letter as well
the reason of it allow the original right of the church of Christ; and by
limiting the right of the crown to a legal and preparatory designation of

MS, arxl coiif'i rrin«r a ri^ht to the wealth, the powers, and pr:\
rived from the State, whilst, it requires bishop- .-. the

law itself amounts to a recognition of the inherent right and power of the
church.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 121

persons to vacant bishoprics, which till within a few years had
been enjoyed unquestioned by the kings of England, was one of

" This was all that was contended for at the election of the present arch-
bishop (Langton) : it was the choice of the person who was to receive the
character of a bishop, not the right to convey it, which was the subject of
dispute. And the several claims turned upon the same foot : the pretence
of the monks was founded on their relation to the Mother Church of the
diocese of Canterbury; that of the bishops on their relation to the province,
and not on their order as bishops ; and that of the king on the patronage of
the crown, whilst the sole right of bishops to confer the order was allowed
on all sides ; and since it is the order which makes the bishop, and not the
previous choice, these different claims seem equally reconcileable to the inhe-
rent power of the church to confer the character. They who do not or will
not see the difference, but confound these two things, or throw them together
in the divine commission, and tell us that the choice as well as the consecra-
tion of bishops is one of the inherent rights of the church, do at once over-
turn all the claims of the secular power : but at the same time they shock
the pretence to capitular elections, for which themselves so earnestly contend ;
they give up the canons and usages, and, which is more, they reproach the
practice, of the whole Christian church ; and more especially of the cathedral
monks, who, generally speaking, were nothing else but bodies of laymen
through the whole western kingdoms : for if a claim of this extent lie within
the bounds of the divine commission, it ought certainly to be placed amongst
the rights of that order of men, to whom Christ has principally committed
the care of His church. — Besides, this will put an end to all the rights of
patronage allowed by the whole Christian world ; for the extent or narrow
limits of a cure of souls cannot alter the nature of the trust, and make that a
sin in one case, which is a matter of common right in another : and the dis-
tinction of order can in reason make no difference in the case ; for he who
presents a priest to take care of a parish, and he who nominates a bishop to
govern a diocese, do equally choose a minister of Christ, and equally invade
the right of the holy order of bishops, if they only have a right to choose the
person whose only right it is to confer the character. And therefore the
second council of Nice (can. 3), which applies that to the choice which the first
council of Nice had said of the consecration of bishops, and upon this ground
appoints that bishops should only have the choice of bishops, does also in
the same canon determine, that they only should have the choice of priests.
But, after all, this council is so far from fixing this upon the divine commis-
sion, that the council of Constantinople in the year 869 (which is, if I mistake
not, the only council which pursues the steps of the second council of Nice,
and limits the elections of patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops, to the
college of the church, can. 28) grounds the canon relating to this subject
on preventing confusion and strife, and the indecency of seculars intermed-
dling in affairs of this kind : and the council of Laodicea, probably on the
saine ground, had some ages before determined, that the election of bishops
should not be wholly left to the people (can. 12) : but neither of these

122 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

the most considerable rights of the crown : therefore when this
right was invaded, and pope Innocent had imposed an archbishop

councils give us the least intimation of the divine right, for which some later
writers contend.

" The council of Aries is the reverse of the aforesaid councils of Nice and
Constantinople, and at once fixes the choice in the bishops and the people,
but forbids their nomination by bishops (can. 35). The council of Orleans,
in the year 533, kept up to the ancient practice, and required that metropo-
litans should be chosen by the bishops, the clergy, and people of the province
(can. 7) : and that of Clermont, about two years after, allows the right
of the bishops, the clergy, and people (can. 2). But a later council of
Orleans, about the year 549, requires the consent of the king (can. 10).
That of Paris, in the year 557, establishes the right of the people, and deter-
mines that no bishop should be put upon a city without the consent of the
people (can. 8) : and that of Cabilon directs the choice of bishops by the
bishops of the province, the clergy, and people (can. 10). — But all this,
while there is not a syllable to be found of capitular elections, unless what is
said of the college of the church by the council of Constantinople can be
interpreted in favour of that pretence.

" We may add to this, that the apostles put the choice of deacons into the
hands of the people, and upon the death of Judas empowered the disciples
to choose two men out of their number, to fill up the vacancy in the
apostolic college; and that these examples were the guides to the future
ages of the church. If all this was encroachment on the divine com-
mission, the blame will lie upon those who best understood the rights of
the Christian church, and who were never blamed for betraying it : and yet
so we must call this practice of the apostles and of the whole Christian world,
if the choice of the person as well as conveying the character of a bishop be
equally limited to the divine commission. For they who can discharge
the apostles and primitive bishops, must acquit their successors too, and
whilst they justify the favours which the former allowed to the people,
can never reasonably condemn the latter for submitting to the claim of
princes ; unless they turn their reasoning another way, and, instead of an
encroachment on the rights of the church, think fit to call it an usurpation
on the rights of the people.

" Hut if the canons and practice of the whole Christian church, founded on
that of the apostles, can no otherwise be justified but upon a supposition of
a prudential power in the church, to adjust and settle rules for the choice of
bi>lmps ; whatever can be said on the side of the people, will equally jo
the rights of princes. And in a national church, where the extent of dioceses
has rendered the choiec by the clergy and people utterly impracticable, and
tin- people have by their representatives yielded up their claim-, and civil rights
and a political capacity are to accompany the character of a bishop ; it -
as reasonable that princes should name the persons, as it i^ to allow them to
•«• their own favours, and provide for the L'ood ^ovenunent of their people.

• I'iiey who givi- too much liberty to an intemjn rate and nil-winded /.eal. and
think fit to call this disfranchising the church, and speak of churches under

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 123

on the kingdom, and the king, with the resolution that became
him, set himself to defend the rights of his crown, some of his

these circumstances as in a worse condition than under persecution, might
upon as good ground and with equal hopes of success persuade Christians
to believe, that it is the interest of the gospel to dissolve national churches,
renounce the protection of princes, and return to the primitive state of
persecution. — But if those holy bishops who, by sad experience, knew what
that meant, had lived to see their persons guarded by the civil power, their
churches endowed from the bounty, their censures enforced by the sanctions
of the state, the religion of Christ shining in the lives of princes and attended
by all encouragements of law, they would have blessed God for the change,
and thought churches safe and happy under the patronage of princes ; and
whilst they sacredly preserved to themselves the right to convey the character,
would have prevented their wishes in allowing them that interest in the choice
of bishops, which they had voluntarily and unasked for put into the hands
of the lower clergy and the people. — And this was all that was contended for
by the king of England, and no more than his ancestors* had long enjoyed.

" If it be said, that a power of this kind may be abused; one must be a
stranger to human nature who doubts the truth, and to the world who does
not allow the weight of this objection. But he who argues against a right
from the possibility of abusing it, may upon the same ground overturn all
the natural and legal rights of mankind : and even the spiritual power which
Christ has committed to His church, must sink under the weight of this
argument, if this be a just way of reasoning ; for it is evident, past all con-
tradiction, that this is capable of being abused, to serve purposes for which
the holy Jesus never designed it.

" But to go no further for an instance than the subject now before us : one
who looks backward and finds above twenty schisms in the Western church,
occasioned chiefly by the elections of the bishops of Rome ; that the con-
troversies on this head cost a great deal of blood, brought great scandal and
reproach upon religion, and very much served the interest of paganism ; will
see cause enough to believe, that princes are not the only persons who may
abuse a trust of this kind. Or if we look at home and go no further than
the election just now before us, and observe that the sub-prior was chosen in
the night, the bishop of Norwich at the instance of king John, Stephen
Langton by the menaces of pope Innocent; there will need no other proof
that capitular bodies are subject to practice. And one who observes the
whole course of that affair whilst the power of elections continued in such
bodies, and the consequences thereof, will find little reason to complain of the
change.

" If it be thought that things of this nature would be better managed were
that usage restored again, he that will observe what a scene of intrigue
and politics attends the election of every new bishop of Rome, may possibly
see ground enough to change his mind. And one who will think fit to
consider, that disengaging the bishops of Rome from their dependence on the
emperors, by taking out of their hands the power to nominate or confirm the
bishops of that see, was the first step and indeed the foundation upon which

124 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

nobility left him to himself, at least they were very cold and indif-
ferent ; others did secretly favour his enemies, and by their cold-
Gregory the seventh raised the usurpation, so fatal to the doctrine and
government of the whole Christian church; that the same method let the
clergy loose from their dependence on the western princes, and made the
bishops of Rome masters of all capitular elections, and in consequence thereof
of synods and councils ; and what ill use those prelates made of that power in
the west ; may possibly find matter enough to balance all that learned men
have said of the abuses of the regale in the east. And which is more, they who
will reflect on the fatal consequences of the expeditions of the Latins against
the eastern empire, and consider by whom they were set on foot, by whom
they were managed and whose interest they served, will find a plainer way of
accounting for the destruction of the Greek church than some learned writers
have lately done, and may upon better grounds charge it on that usurpation
which raised itself upon the ruins of the regalia, rather than on the abuses of
that important trust.

** But whatever was the ground, and whatever was the effect of that claim
abroad, it is certain, the nomination to bishoprics had long been esteemed a
branch of the royal patronage of the kings of England ; that the church had
flourished whilst the just power of the crown was preserved, and was divided,
distracted and oppressed, when that languished and decayed. — But I am
sensible that I have wronged the patience of the reader and must ask his
pardon, and lead him to observe, when and by whom it was given away.
And we shall be called too soon to behold the ill effects of this concession :
however, for the reason before mentioned, king John gave up his right to the
patronage of bishoprics and abbeys about this time, and pope Innocent
thought fit to confirm the grant." Inett, p. 457 — 62. — Compare Inett, vol.
ii. p. 94—100, and 365, 6.

Long as this note is, we must still add further to it, by extracts of con-
siderable length from Hooker, and from Twisden.

First, from Hooker. — " Touching the advancement of prelates unto their
rooms by the king ; whereas it seemeth in the eyes of many a thing very
strange, that prelates, the officers of God's own sanctuary, than which nothing
is more sacred, should be made by persons secular, there are that will not
have kings to be altogether of the laity, but to participate that saix
power which (iod hath endowed his clergy with ; and that in such r<
they are anointed with oil,— a shift vain and needless. Forasmuch as, if we
speak properly, we cannot say kings do make, but they only do place, bi-
For in a bi.-hop there are these three things to be considered; — they
whereby he is distinguished from other pastors ; the special portion of the
clergy and people over whom he is to exercise that bishoply power ; and the
place of his seat or tlin.ne, together with the profits, pre-eminences, honours,
thereunto belonging. The first every bishop hath by consecration ; the
second his election investeth him with; the third he rccciveth of the king
alone.

" With consecration the king intermeddleth not further than only by his
rf-sfiit such an elect bishop as shall be consecrated. Si-ring there-
fore that none but bishops do consecrate, it fulloweth that none but they only

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 125

ness and backwardness and intrigues did so much towards the
king^s resignation of the crown, that their agents at Rome thought
fit to tell pope Innocent, it was they who forced him to it a.

do give unto every bishop his being. The manner of uniting bishops as heads
under the flock and clergy under them, hath often altered. For, if some be
not deceived, this thing was sometime done even without any election at all.
* At the first ' (saith he to whom the name of Ambrose is given) ' the first
created in the college of presbyters was still the bishop. He dying, the next
senior did succeed him.' ....

" In elections, at the beginning, the clergy and the people both had to do,
although not both after one sort. The people gave their testimony, and
showed their affection, either of desire or dislike, concerning the party
which was to be chosen : but the choice was wholly in the sacred college of
presbyters

"That difference, which is between the form of electing bishops at this day
with us, and that which was usual in former ages, riseth from the ground of
that right which the kings of this land do claim in furnishing the place where
bishops, elected and consecrated, are to reside as bishops. For considering
the huge charges which the ancient famous princes of this land have been at,
as well in erecting episcopal sees, as also in endowing them with ample pos-
sessions, sure, out of their religious magnificence and bounty, we cannot but
think them to have been most deservedly honoured with those royal preroga-
tives, of taking the benefit which groweth out of them in their vacancy, and
of advancing alone unto such dignities what persons they judge most fit for
the same. A thing over and besides even therefore the more reasonable,
for that as the king most justly hath pre-eminence to make lords temporal
which are not such by right of birth, so the like pre-eminence of bestowing
where pleaseth him the honour of spiritual nobility also, cannot seem hard,
bishops being peers of the realm, and by law itself so reckoned.

" Now, whether we grant so much unto kings in this respect, or in the
former consideration whereupon the laws have annexed it unto the crown, it
must of necessity, being granted, both make void whatsoever interests the
people aforetime hath had towards the choice of their own bishop, and also
restrain the very act of canonical election usually made by the dean and
chapter : as with us, in such sort it doth that they neither can proceed in any
election till leave be granted, nor elect any person but that who is named unto
them. If they might do the one, it would be in them to defeat the king of
his profits ; if the other, then were the king's pre-eminences of granting those
dignities nothing. And therefore, were it not for certain canons requiring
canonical election to be before consecration, I see no cause but that the king's
letters patents alone might suffice well enough to that purpose ; as by law
they do, in case those electors should happen not to satisfy the king's pleasure.
Their election is now but a matter of form : it is the king's mere grant which
placeth, and the bishop's consecration which maketh, bishops.

" Neither do the kings of this land use herein any other than such pre-

a Prynn's Exact Hist. vol. iii. p. 29.

126 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

Though this was said to serve a turn, yet it is very probable
that if the barons and clergy had been just to the rights of the

rogatives as foreign nations have been accustomed unto . . . ' Hooker,
B. viii. c. vii. § 1—4. Vol. iii. p. 524—9. Keble's edit.

We now come to Twisden.

" Before I enter into the dispute of the rights the kings of England did
exercise in the regimen of the church, I hold it not unnecessary to see in what
divines hold that ecclesiastic authority doth consist.

" Bellarmine, Turrecremata, and others, divide spiritual power into ( I )
Ordinis, which they refer to the administration of the sacraments ; and (2)
Jurisdictions : which latter they hold to be double ; (1) internal, where the
divine by persuasions, wholesome instructions, ghostly counsel, and the like,
so convinces the inward conscience, that it is wholly obedient to his dictates
(such as those of St. Peter were in Acts ii. 37) : and (2) external; where the
church, inforo exteriori, compels the Christian's obedience.

" Now for the first and second of these our king did not take upon him at
all to meddle For he neither assumed to himself a power of preaching,
teaching, binding or loosing inforo anirnee, administering the holy sacraments,
conferring orders, nor any particular that is properly annexed to them. Only
he took upon himself such things as are of the outward policy of the church :
such as, that God may be truly served ; they that transgress the received lawful
constitutions, even of the church, may be fitly punished, &c. : these, and the
like by the rights of his crown, and the continued practice of his ancestors,
he could not doubt but he might deal in ; causing all, be they clerks or others
that offend, to suffer condign punishment." Vindication, p 93. 4to. 1C75.

When he comes to enumerate at large the particulars in which our kings
exercised this species of jurisdiction, he mentions as the 12th; "Best
bishoprics on such as they liked, and translated bishops from one see to
another." p. 109-

We close the whole finally with Hooker's observations on parochial pa-
tronage and presentations.

" Now when the power (of orders) so received (from the bishop) is on
have any cerlain subject whereon it may work, and whereunto it is to be-
here cometh in the people's consent, and not before. The power of order I
lawfully receive without any asking leave of any multitude ; but that power I
cannot exercise upon any one certain people utterly against their wills; neither
is there in the church of England any man by order of law possessed with
pastoral charge over any parish, but the people in effect do choose him thirc-
unto. For albeit they choose not by giving every man personally his particular
voice, yet can they not say that they have their pastors violently obtruded
upon them, inasmuch as their ancient and original interest therein hath been
by orderly means derived into the patron, who chooseth for them. And if
any man be desirous to know how patrons came to have such interest, we are
to consider, that at the first erection of churches, it seemed but rea
the eyes of the whole Christian world to pass that right to them and their
successors, on whose soil and at whose charge the same were founded.
This all men gladly and willingly did, both in honour of so great piety, and

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 127

crown, and had given the king such assistances against the court
of Rome as they ought to have done, they had prevented those
things which the greatest partiality to one's country and ancestors
will not suffer one to speak of in softer terms than as the blemish
of the English name and nation, as well as of this unhappy prince's
reign.

For if the king gave away the rights of his crown, pope Inno-
cent led him to it by giving away his kingdom to Philip king of
France ; and the barons followed the example in their turn, and
gave away the kingdom to prince Lewis his son.

Thus, in the compass of about four years, the kingdom of Eng-
land was three times given away ; a misfortune, if I mistake not,
peculiar to this nation ; and which is worse, our ancestors helped
to undo themselves, and had too great a share in the guilt that
occasioned both the dishonour and the misery which fell upon their
country. For though this wild doctrine of deposing kings and
giving away countries had been broached by pope Gregory some
time before, yet these nations had probably never felt the effects
thereof, if the resentment and some sinister ends of the barons
had not led them to give too much countenance to the imposture,
when pope Innocent pretended to give away the kingdom to
Philip king of France.

But that wrong step being once made, it is no wonder if the
rights of the subject fell and perished with those of the crown; for
the texture and frame of every well-ordered government is so nice
and delicate, and the rights of the prince and people are so riveted
into one another, that, like wheels to the same machine, they
never move right but in conjunction and under a well-proportioned
balance. ' But whatever the cause was, it is certain, the effects
were deplorable ; for they who agreed in nothing else, united in
desolation and blood, and each side had its turn to lay waste the
kingdom.

Whilst the nation was thus groaning under the miseries of a
bloody and unnatural war, God opened the way to a deliverance
by the death of pope Innocent and king John, who died both within
the compass of this year (1216) ; the first in July, the latter in
October following : men so very different in their characters and

for encouragement of many others unto the like, who peradventure else
would have been as slow to erect churches or to endow them, as we are for-
ward both to spoil them, and to pull them down." B. vii. c. xiv. § 12.
Vol. iii. p. 287. Keble's edit.

128 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

conduct, that it is not easy to determine whether pope Innocent
did more towards raising the ecclesiastic monarchy, or king John
towards lessening the monarchy of England.

As for the former, such was his conduct and success, that he
who will take the height of the papal grandeur, must make his
view in the reign of pope Innocent : for as the learned and judi-
cious M. Du Pin well observes, the popes have ever since tak« >n
their measures from the polity of his reign*; so he observes ton.
that the publishing the decretals, containing a body of laws suited
to the present state of the papal monarchy, gave "the last blow
towards the entire ruin of the ancient law, and the establishing
the absolute and unlimited power of the pope V And though the
collection and publication of those decretals be owing to pope
Gregory the ninth, and not to Innocent ; yet it is evident that
Gregory was immediate successor to Honorius the third, and came
to the papacy within eleven or twelve years after the death of pope
Innocent, and that the papacy made no considerable advance in
that interval of time. Besides, he who looks to the decretals of
pope Innocent, as they are for the most part published by Haln/.ius
in the first volume of his Epistles, or as they are scattered in the
decretals of Gregory ; and considers how much of that work is
taken from thence and from his Epistles ; will see reason to affirm,
not only that pope Innocent carried the papacy to its gre.i
height, but also that it was he who laid the foundation of that
law, which (as M. Du Pin saith) gave the last hand ' to the
papal usurpation.

* Eccles. Hist. vol. xi. p. 11. b Eccles. Hist. Cent. xi. chap. x. p. 55.

1 The last hand.'] Further on the introduction of the canon law into England,
see Inett, vol. ii. p 194 — 7.

Of its character, history, &c. in general, of the extent to which it is binding
in England, &c. the reader may consult bishop Stillingfleet's Ecclesiastical
Cases, vol. i. 227 — 74, and vol. ii. 1 — 60; Gibson's Codex, vol. i. Preface,
xxvii. — ix. ; Ridley's View of the Civil Law.

The following account of the publication of the decretals, and of the other
portions of which the huge volume of the Corpus Juris Canonici, &c. is
composed, may perhaps be not unsatisfactory.

"Justinian the emperor, about the year 533, did so contract the civil law,
as he brought it from almost 2000 books into f»o ; besides some ot
which he added of his own. Ilowbeit shortly after it grew out of use in
Italy, by reason of the incursions of sundry barbarous nations, who, nc^lcdin^
the imperial laws, did practise their own: till after almost <»<><) year-.
Lotharius Saxo the emperor, about the year 1136, did revive again in that
country, and in other places also, the ancient use and authority of it.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 129

But so dark and unsearchable are the methods of the divine
providence, that notwithstanding the great share which pope Inno-

Which course of the emperour did not much content (as it seemeth) the
bishops of Rome ; because it revived the memory of the ancient honour and
dignity of the empire. Whereupon, very shortly after, Eugenius the third
set Gratian in hand to compile a body of canon law, by contracting, into one
book, the ancient constitutions ecclesiastical, and canons of councils ; that the
state of the papacy might not, in that behalf, be inferiour to the empire.
Which work the said Gratian performed, and published in the days of
Stephen king of England, about the year 1151, terming the same 'concordia
discordantium canonum,' a concord of disagreeing canons. Of whose
great pains therein, so by him taken, a learned man saith thus : ' Gratianus
ille jus pontificale dilaniavit, atque confudit :' that fellow Gratian did tear in
pieces the pontifical law, and confound it ; the same being, in our libraries,
sincere and perfect. But (this testimony, or any thing else to the contrary,
that might truly be objected against that book notwithstanding) the author's
chief purpose being to magnifie and extol the court of Rome, his said book
got (we know not how) this glorious title, ' Decretum Aureum Divi Gratiani,'
the Golden Decree of St. Gratian ; and he himself (as it appeareth) became,
for the time, a saint for his pains.

" Indeed he brake the ice to those that came after him, by devising the
method, which since hath been pursued, for the enlarging and growth of the
said body, by some of the popes themselves. Gregory the ninth, about the
year 1236, and in the time of king Henry the third, after sundry draughts
made by Innocentius the third, and others, of a second volume of the canon
law, caused the same to be perused, enlarged, and by his authority to be
published; and being divided into five books, it is intituled 'The Dtcretals
of Gregory the Ninth.' Boniface the eighth, the great Augustus (as before
we have shewed), commanded likewise another collection to be made of such
constitutions and decrees, as had either been omitted by Gregory, or were
made afterward by other succeeding bishops and councils ; and this collection
is called ' Sextus Liber Deeretalium,' the Sixth Book of the Decretals ; and
was set out to the world in the year 1298, in the reign of king Edward the
first. Clement the fifth, in like manner, having bestowed great travel upon
a fourth work, comprehending five books, died before he could finish it : but
his successour, John the twenty-second, did, in the year 1317, and in the time
of king Edward the second, make perfect, and publish the same work of
Clement, and gave it the name of ' The Clementines.' Afterward, also, came
out another volume, termed ' The Extravagants ;' because it did not only com-
prehend certain decrees of the said John the twenty-second, but likewise sundry
other constitutions, made by other popes, both before and after him ; which
flew abroad uncertainly in many men's hands, and were therefore swept up,
and put together about the year 1478 into one bundle, called ' Extravagant
Decretals,' which came to light ' post sextum,' after the sixth. By which
title the compiler of this work would gladly (as it seemeth) have had it
accounted the seventh book of the Decretals: but it never attaining that
credit, the same, by Sixtus Quintus's assent, is attributed to a collection of

VOL. I. K

130 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,

cent had in that usurpation, with which God was pleased to punish
the Christian church ; notwithstanding the unspeakable miseries
which his ambition had drawn upon the world, and the scenes of
cruelty and the seeds of mischief which he had prepared for after-
ages ; God thought fit to let him go down to the grave by the
common course of nature.

On the other hand, the death of king John, like the paths of
the dead, is still in the dark, and will in all probability remain a
subject of doubt till the revolution of the great day. Some of
our writers say, that he was poisoned by a monk of Swinshead
abbey in Lincolnshire ; whereas those of the Romish church
pretend that this is all malice, and designed as a reproach on that
order of men on whom it is laid, and have the confidence to tell
the world, it is a fiction owing to the Reformation. Hut if it be
a fiction, it is certainly older than the Reformation ; and if this be
a made tale, it is not owing to the reformers, but ought to be
laid at the door of those who ought to be ashamed of it. For if
the monks of Swinshead had not the guilt of that prince's death,
they suffered a wild bigotry so far to have prevailed over truth
and religion, as to take the guilt thereof to themselves, by
appointing and continuing priests to say mass for the monk, who
was supposed to be the doer thereof: and thus they propagated
their own infamy to succeeding ages. But whatever gave bc-.u in-
ning to this report, if it be omitted by M. Paris, the chronicles
of Wikes a and Hemingfordb, written before the Reformation,
relate at large all the circumstances of that story.

Thus did this unfortunate prince end his life and his reign, and
reproach and dishonour dwell for ever upon his memory. JJut
though no eloquence is sufficient to brighten his character, or to
excuse his conduct, especially that unworthy submission to the

certain other constitutions made by Peter Matthew, of divers popes, from the
time of Sixtus the fourth, who died in the year 1484. To all these 1>
mentioned, there have been lately added three great volumes of' Deeretal
Kpistles,' from St. Clement to Gregory the seventh's days; also a hiiLfc
li<a]> of the 'Pope's Bulls,' from the said Gregory's time t<> Pill-, liui
and lastly, no short summ of « Papal Constitutions,' set forth a little before
the said seventh book of the Decretals. — So as all these volumes being put
together, they exceed as far the body of the civil law, as the usurped <1
(,f the pnpncy exceedeth the mean estate of the empire." Bishop Overall's
^cation Book, of A.I), ifiort. p. 320— 2. A.D. IGQO. 4to.

11 Chron. Wikes, C,,l. (ial. v<»l ii. p. 38.

b Chron. Ilemingf. Col. Gal. vol. ii. p. 559.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 131

papal tyranny, which will remain the eternal and indelible blemish
of his reign ; yet it must be owned, that the stand which he
made against the court of Rome in the defence of the monarchy,
was bold and generous, and such as deserved a better issue : and
one may be allowed to say, that even his fatal miscarriage was
chiefly owing to the bigotry of the English nation, and to the
unhappy circumstances wherein he received the crown. And it
is very hard to blame a prince for not maintaining the dignity of a
crown, which descends to him in chains and fetters ; or that he
only should bear the dishonour which falls upon his country, when
his people will not suffer him to defend it ; and much more when
they take part with the enemy, and choose to be instruments in
their own undoing ; — and this was but too much the case at this
time.

Besides, it should not be forgotten, that the last part of this
prince's life was spent in the defence of the royal line of England ;
and all circumstances considered, it seems probable, that he
owed his death to the same cause. And if the conduct of this
prince in these instances be not enough to atone for his past
miscarriages, they will at least deserve to be remembered by all
that love their country and the monarchy, that have the least
taste of liberty, or that have any sense of those miseries which
the papal tyranny let in upon the church and kingdom.

However, the revolutions under this prince are very dishonour-
able to the English nation, and such as naturally lead one to a
frightful idea of the reign under which they happened : and they
who do not carefully attend to the springs by which these great
turns were set into motion, are very apt to resolve them into the
ill conduct of king John, rather than into those mischievous prin-
ciples and the wicked artifices of that court which attempted to
enslave all Christendom under pretences of religion, and into the
great steps which they had made towards it in England before
this prince came to the crown.

I shall now ask the reader's leave to repeat some things which
I have observed before, and shall put an end to this work, with
giving him a short view of the ancient and the present state of the
English church and monarchy, and of the springs and causes, as
well as of the effects and consequences of those changes, which
make up the subject of the present history.

K 2

INTRODUCTION.

PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE; ORIGIN
AND PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION1.

THE Britons had been converted in all probability before Christ-
ianity was settled in Rome, and the British church continued on
the same foot on which it was originally founded, till the conquest
by the English. And though that revolution forced the Brit is] i
people into a narrower compass, and put the English-Saxons in
possession of the greatest and best parts of their country, yet a
Christian church was still preserved together with the remains of
the British nation. And this church was as free and independent *
as the people ; who were so far from being influenced with the
after-conversions of some of the English by the missionaries from
Rome, that the rites which they received from thence set them
at a greater distance from the English, added a new article of
controversy, and made the breach wider. Their metropolitans
never received a pall from Rome; their bishops wore chosen and
consecrated, and all ecclesiastical affairs determined finally within
themselves, and their clergy generally married. In short, tin TC
is no mark of any dependence of the British church on that of Ron ie,
nor any proof of a settled intercourse or communion betwixt
them to be found, till the conquest of Wales by king Henry tin-
first united the British to the English church, and did thereby
expose it to the hard fate of that church, to which it was united.
The case, of the English was different from that of the Hritons.
Some of them had received their conversion from Koine, and

1 General recapitulation.'] From Inett's Origines Anglicance, vol. ii. p. 488 —
503.

2 Free and independent.'] See above, p. 4 — G; 18, 19, and note.

PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE. 133

they who had been originally converted by the Scots from
Ireland, had for some ages before the Norman revolution held
communion with the church of Borne. And the better to pre-
serve a friendship and give proof of the communion betwixt the
English and the Roman church, the English archbishops did
frequently go to Rome and receive palls l from thence, and a
great deference was ever paid to the bishops thereof.

But whilst the English church thus maintained a communion
with that of Rome, the authority and government thereof were
continued on the same foot, on which the canons of the universal
church had originally placed national churches.

The English metropolitans convened and presided in their
provincial councils, and their authority therein was final, unless
in such cases wherein appeals to the king were allowed : but as
no canon of the English church before the conquest ever allowed
any appeal to the bishops of Rome, the histories thereof afford
no instance of a practice of that kind.

The English bishops had their proper diocesan synods, and all
the clergy and religious as well as the laity within their several
dioceses were the subjects of their care. If there were any
exemptions from their authority, they were owing to the secular
power ; and these, if I mistake not, never extended further than
exempting some of the religious from the charges of receiving
and providing for them in their visitations, rather than dis-
charging their persons from the authority of their diocesans.

The bishops of England were nominated to those trusts by
our kings, confirmed and consecrated by their proper metro-
politans, subjected to no canons but such as were either received
or formed with their own suffrage and consent. They convened
and presided in their proper diocesan synods, and their authority
therein was final, except in such cases wherein appeals lay to the
courts of the archbishop of the province, or of the king.

The case of the lower clergy was much the same with that of
the bishops. They were subject to no ecclesiastic authority but
that of their proper ordinaries : the canons were the measures of
their duty, and the laws of their country the standard of their
secular rights and of their subjection to the civil power.

1 Receive palls.'] See Inett, vol. ii. p. 17 — 20 ; Twisden's Vindication, p. 41 — 7
(a very elaborate discussion) ; and Salmasius's learned edition of Tertullian's
Treatise De Pallio, Lug. Bat. 1656.

134 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;

The revenues of the church were subject only to the same laws
and to the same authority by which the clergy and religious
were governed : but as they were originally derived from the
bounty of the kings of England, or the charity and munificence
of the English nation, they were also subject to the laws of their
country, and in cases of necessity contributed to the support
thereof. In short, there is not any canon, any law, or any
standing allowed practice to be found, which carries the least
mark of any vassalage or subjection to a foreign power; but by
all that appears, the English church had preserved and was in
full possession of a free, entire, and independent authority, at the
time of the Norman revolution: in other words, the English
church was as absolute, free, and independent on any foreign
ecclesiastic power, as the monarchy and nation were on any
secular authority.

But if we look a little forward, the English church has another
face, and appears so unlike itself, that one can hardly say whether
the change was more surprising, or the effects thereof more
pitiable and to be lamented.

William the first, to serve the Norman interest, called in tin'
papal power, and made use of the legates of pope Alexander to
cover his violence to the English bishops : but when he had
served his purpose, he laid by his tools, and left the church and
the monarchy in the same state wherein he found tin in. the
change which the Norman revolution produced only except «•<!.

Such too was the state of the church during the reign of
William the second: but the struck- for the patronage of the
church, or the dispute about the right of investitures l which be^an
in his reign, was, by the address of the court of Koine, gained
from his successor king Henry the first, and unhappily surrend
by that prince in the year one thousand one hundred and >< \

This was the first shock to the authority of the Knglish church,
and which opened the way to all the ensuing usurpations. For
by yielding up to the bishops of Rome a power to put the arch-
bishops and bishops of Filmland into the possession of their
bishoprics, they were made judges of their sufficiency and
sonal abilities : and thus the bishops of Filmland, who had never
hem Mihjrrted to any authority but that of their im-tmpoli

1 Of inrest if tires.'] See above, p. 33, and n. or Index, under Bishops, their
investiture.

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 135

and the government under which they lived, and our metropolitans
who had had no superiors but the kings of England, were involved
in the same common fate, and by that one unhappy concession
were made subjects to a foreign power. And the bishops of Rome
having thus thrust out the kings of England, easily advanced
themselves to the reputation of being the supreme ordinaries, and
having first prepared their way by desiring assistance from the
clergy, in the reigns of king Stephen, Henry the second, and king
Richard, under the colour of the Holy War ; in the succeeding
reign of king John, pope Innocent did by his own authority lay
several impositions on the clergy and religious, and in time the
bishops of Rome pretended to the sole right to lay taxes1 upon the
clergy and religious, and actually laid the heaviest impositions
upon them ; and this, too, not to serve the purposes of religion,
but to carry on their wars against the emperors and other Chris-
tian princes, to oblige them to become their tributaries and vassals,
to enlarge their own dominions and secular power, to reduce the
Greek church to their obedience by force of arms, to extirpate
and give away the countries of all those who opposed their usurpa-
tion, and who were for that reason called heretics. In short, they
made use of the power which they gained over the revenues of the
English church, to serve all the purposes of ambition, wantonness,
and folly.

But to set this particular in a just light, I must ask the reader's
leave to look a little forward to the next reign, that of Henry the
third, where the aforesaid concession was carried so far before
the death of that prince, that the court of Rome at one time
demanded, that benefices should be provided for three hundred
Italians a ; at another time, that two prebends in each cathedral
church, and the provision for two monks in every monastery,
should be annexed to the papacy b. They disposed and made void
at pleasure the bishoprics and ecclesiastical promotions of England,
overturned all the rights of patronage and elections, and gave so
many preferments to Italians 2, that in the letter of the nobility

1 To lay taxesJ] For an elaborate enquiry into the origin and progress of
the papal pecuniary exactions from the clergy of England, see Twisden's
Historical Vindication of the Church of England, p. 74 — 92. See also Inett,
vol. ii. p. 383 — 7.

a Matth. Paris, ann. 1240. p. 532. n. 40. b Ejusd. ann. 1226. p. 328. n. 10.

2 Preferments to Italians^} See index, under Benefices in the hands of
Foreigners. See also Twisden's Historical Vindication, p. 60— 2.

136 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;

and commons of England to pope Innocent the fourth, about the
year 1245, they tell that prelate, that "the number of Italians
preferred in England was infinite," and that " the money carried
to them amounted to threescore thousand marks a ; a sum," as
they further add, " greater than the revenues of the crown ; " and all
this, besides the vast sums which by Peter-pence * and tenths, and
many other ways, were extorted from the English nation.

The success of the court of Rome in the controversy about the
right of investitures, by which they gained this mighty influence
over the persons of the English bishops and the revenues of tin;
church, gave fire to their ambition to break the power, and
to possess themselves of the authority by which it had been
governed ; and this was done by advancing the power of their own
legates.

The English church was at first settled on the institution of
Christ and the canons of the catholic church, and thus continued
to be governed from the foundation thereof till the beginning of
the eleventh century ; and this with so little interruption, that
there is not so much as one English canon which allows the lea>t
authority to the bishops of Rome or then* legates, nor so much as
any instance of any authority exercised by them, or of any le^
called into England in the space of above four hundred years, but
when king Offa called over legates to give a colour to the viol
which he had first offered to the province of Canterbury, and
William the first invited in the legates of pope Alexander to -
the ends of the Norman revolution. On the contrary, whilst the
canons and history of the English church are thus silent, the 1
of England considered the legates or ambassadors of the bishop>
of Rome, no otherwise than the law of nations considers those of
all other foreign princes; and did not allow them so much fti
<-iiter England but when called for and invited, or at least had th«-
permission and leave of the kings thereof.

In this posture this affair was continued till the latter end of
the eleventh century, when pope Gregory the seventh formed the
design to erect the papal monarchy on the spoils of the civil
power, and the ruins of that government which Clm>t and his
apostles had first erected, and which for a thousand years had
prevailed through the whole Christian church.

" Matth. Paris, ami. 1245. p. 667.

1 By Peter-pence.'] See Index, under Peter-pence. See also Twisdun's
Historical Vindication, p. 74 — 8.

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 137

In pursuance of this design, the court of Rome applied itself to
break the authority of national churches, by usurping a power to
themselves to convene and preside in synods and councils by their
legates : but as this was a direct violence to the authority of
Christ, and to the canons and usages of the whole Christian church,
it was a great while before the western churches were brought to
submit to it. From the pontificate of Gregory the seventh, many
attempts were made upon the English church. King William
the first, who was contemporary with that prelate, saw his designs
and kept him at a distance. And thus things continued during
the succeeding reign of William the second.

The court of Rome renewed their efforts with greater vigour
under Henry the first ; but though they gained their point as to
the dispute about investitures, yet king Henry suffered not their
legates to come into England ; and if they did, it was no other-
wise than as the envoys of a foreign prince, till about the twenty-
fifth year of his reign, when that prince permitted a papal legate
to preside in the council of London. But as this usurpation was
very evident, it was so resented by the whole nation, that this
matter proceeded no further till the year following, when William
de Corboil, then archbishop of Canterbury, by the address of that
court, was prevailed upon to accept the character of legate to the
bishop of Rome. And by this fatal oversight the regular autho-
rity of that prelate made way for the usurpation, which the court
of Rome had been labouring to introduce ; for the legatine
power being thus let in, was so strengthened by the confusions of
the succeeding reign of king Stephen, and by the advantages
which the court of Rome gained under Henry the second, that
the right of the English church and nation was yielded up *, and

1 Was yielded up."] The history and progress of this usurpation is learnedly
illustrated by Sir Roger Twisden in his Vindication; see p. 14 — 16. 18 — 28.
38—41.

The following shorter extracts are given from that work, because they
comprise the principal points. They supply also an apt illustration of the
progressive expedients to which the popes were in the habit of resorting,
according to the exigencies of a case, and of the appropriate mischiefs which
regularly ensued.

" Of these and the like cases, exercised without scruple in the church of
England, and no control from Rome, it would not be easy to dispossess the
archbishop of Canterbury by strong hand ; the way, therefore, of making him
the pope's legate was invented, by which those particulars he did before with-
out interruption of his own right, he, whom it was not easy to bar of doing

138 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;

that usurpation allowed and settled by the agreement betwixt that
prince and the court of Rome in the year 1 1 72, in that general
article * by which the king surrendered all customs prejudicial to
the liberties of the church ; that is, in other words, every thing
that stood in the way of the papal usurpation.

The authority and government of the national church being thus
overwhelmed and torn to pieces, and the rights of our metro-
politans made a sacrifice to the ambition and designs of the court
of Rome, the way lay open to the third step 2 made by that court ;
and this was to render useless the authority of our dio<
bishops, at least to put it out of their power to give a stop to the
designs formed at Rome. This work was done already in e
measure, by subjecting them to the legatine power ; for thus they
were bound to attend synods which were not convened by their
proper metropolitans, and forced to yield obedience to canons which
had never passed with their own consent and suffrage, and
called out of their provinces to be judged : in short, the most
ancient and distinguishing rights of our diocesan bishops sank
with and were buried under the ruins of the metropolitical power.
But to prostrate them still lower, and render them as little ami
contemptible in the face of their people and their clergy, and in

them, might be said to act as the pope's agent" — Twisden, p. 26. This was
about the year 1126.

" In the year 1 144, the bishop of Winchester was dismissed from his
tine commission ; and the pope, finding with how great difficulty the eccle-
siastic affairs of this kingdom could be managed by any legate without the
archbishop of Canterbury, thought of a very subtle invention to conserve his
own authority, and not have any crossing with that prelate ; which \\
create him and his successors legati nati ; by which, such things as he did
before, and had a face of interfering with the papal plenitude, and were i
easy to divest the archbishop of exercising, he might be said to do by a
tine power Certain it is, hereby the papal authority was not a little in-
creased; there being none of the clergy now to question any thing that
from Rome, the archbishop, on whom the rest depended, himself opei
but as a delegate from thence." Ibid. p. 38, 9.

Lastly, " The popes having gained an entrance, found means to reduce the
grant of legatus natus to no more than stood with their own liking .- by iir
ing a new sort of legate, styled legatus a lalerr, by reason of his near depend-
ence on the pope's person, who being employed in matters of coi
at /i is being here the power of the former slept/' lhi<{. p. 40.

On the -.rewr.-il history of this question, compare also hietf, vol. ii. 1
190-

1 That general articled] See above, p. ."•.">.

2 The third stepJ] See above, p. 36—45. 54—8.

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 139

their own consistories, as they were in the councils and synods,
great numbers of the religious were exempted from their jurisdic-
tions ; and by gaining to themselves a power to receive causes by
appeals from the concession of Henry the second, the court of
Rome put it into every one^s power who had a will to contend, to
affront and insult their bishops, and to render useless the little
remains of the episcopal authority, which had escaped the common
deluge that swept away all the rest.

The change in the state and circumstances of the lower clergy
betwixt the Norman conquest and the death of king John, was
answerable to that of their superiors. Their persons were taken
from the protection of the civil power, discharged from the laws
of their country, and subjected to a foreign power, and to canons
that denied the liberty which God and his gospel, which nature and
the ancient English church had ever allowed them. A great part
of the provision which the charity of the English nation had made
for them was by appropriations of benefices, and the exemptions of
some new orders of the religious from payment of tithes, snatched
out of their hands ; and that which was left to them, was laid
open to the rapine and oppressions of men whose greediness had
no bounds. Their titles were made litigious, and the remedy
which their predecessors had ever found at their own doors,
became, by being carried to Rome by appeals, a grievous and in-
supportable burthen : and which is sadder still, the same causes
which brought all these mischiefs upon the clergy, put it out of
the power of their rightful governors to protect or to support, and
much more to deliver them from the oppression.

The religious of England were the only persons who seemed to
reap any advantage from that usurpation, which was attended
with so many mischiefs to the church and nation ; for in the com-
pass of about one hundred and fifty years, they saw more new
orders erected, and made greater accessions l to their wealth and
to their numbers, and to what they for a time called privileges,
than all the preceding ages had ever produced ; and yet, to look
no further, the same period of time in which they were thus
increased and enriched, and even whilst they valued themselves as
the darlings and peculiar favourites of the court of Rome, they
had the mortification to see themselves the subjects of that
tyranny which they had helped to advance, and had more impo-

1 Greater accessions. ~] Of the origin, progress, rapid increase of the numbers
of the monasteries and regular clergy, the nature of their rule, &c. &c.
see Inett, vol ii. 207—12. 218 — 22.

140 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;

sitions and heavier burdens laid upon their estates, and greater
violences offered to their just rights, than all their predece-
had ever felt under their lawful superiors. And in the examples
of the two brothers, Stephen and Simon Langton, and in the
treatment which they received from pope Innocent the third, under
the reign of king John, cathedral and conventual churches were
made sensible, that the freedom of elections, and the exemptions
from the authority of their kings and bishops, for which they had
been taught to contend, were nothing else but artifices of the
court of Rome, designed to separate them from the interests of
the crown and the national church, and at once to bind oppression
and sorrow about their heads, and to put it out of the power of
their rightful superiors to relieve or help them.

Such was the state of the English church at the death of kinir
John in the year 1216, and the changes in the church which a
little time produced. In short, the English church, which had
continued free and independent from the foundations thereof till
after the Norman revolution, was in the compass of one hundred
and fifty years last past, captivated, enslaved, and subjugated to a
foreign power. And in this miserable state I must leave it, to
stop the reader with that which will render the fate of the church
still more melancholy and surprising ; and that is, some reflections
on the ancient and present state of the English monarchy l.

The dark steps by which our constitution grew up to that state
in which it now appears, the ancient forms of the legislature, or
of the administration of civil justice, come not into the compa-
my present enquiry ; but the interest which the civil government
had in the affairs of the church and religion, the ancient and un-
doubted rights of the kings of England, and the outrages ofl:
to their authority by the papal usurpations, what the power
which they once possessed and what they lost ; or. in other \\ •
the ancient and present state of the English monarchy with
respect to ecclesiastical affairs, are the subject now befor

Our histories and our laws put it beyond all doubt, that
church, the clergy, and the religious of England, had a gtt
in the cares of the ancient English L;<>\ eminent. The kin.
Kiiijlaud convened national councils and synods, presided in them,
and. with the advice of their r-Mmps and nobility, made laws for
the -mod inivernment of all orders and ranks of their people, and
punished every disobedience. And as they \ r reputed the

fountain of power and law. so their co;irt^ were th" last
1 The English monarchy.'] Compare above, p. 59 — 76.

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 141

justice, and causes as well ecclesiastical as civil were, as occasion
required, carried thither by appeals, and finally determined there.
The kings of England had founded and endowed the bishoprics,
and for the most part the cathedrals and greater monasteries, and
from the foundation of the English church had not only nominated
their bishops, but as supreme ordinaries they had ever put them
in possession of their bishoprics, by the ceremony well known by
the name of investiture, the delivery of a staff and a ring, and in
return had ever received their fealty and homage.

And as they endowed the church, they did also with the advice
of their great council lay impositions on the revenues thereof,
when the necessities of the state called for help. In short, the
kings of England were free, independent, sovereign princes, and
next under God supreme governors in all their dominions, and in
all causes, and over all persons, as well ecclesiastical as civil.
Such was the state of the monarchy at the time of the Norman
conquest.

From this prospect of the English monarchy, I must turn and
lead the reader to a more melancholy reflection, and offer to his
view the mighty changes which a little time produced.

William the first being seated on the throne of England, pope
Gregory the seventh, about the twelfth year of that prince's reign,
advanced a pretence that England was a fee of the papacy : but
as this pretence was all vapour and imagination, groundless and
impudent beyond example, so it signified nothing but to lay open
the designs which that haughty prelate had lately formed, and to
give the king a just occasion to treat him with contempt, and not
to suffer the court of Rome to intermeddle either in the affairs of
church or state. — And thus things continued during the reign of
his successor, king William the second.

But the attempt which miscarried in these two reigns proved
more successful in that of Henry the first; for the surrender
which he made of his right to investitures did at once take away
the patronage of the kings of England, together with one of the
greatest branches of the supremacy, and by subjecting the bishops
and the revenues of the church to a foreign power, gave such a
shock to the monarchy of England, that it is very hard to deter-
mine whether the church or the nation suffered most by it.

The legatine power was no less fatal to the kings of England
than to the authority of our metropolitans and to the national
church : and this too was one of the blemishes of the same prince's

142 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;

reign : for this prince, who despised and rejected, and for more
than twenty years kept this usurpation at a distance, did at last
give way to it ; and the confusions of the succeeding reign, that
of king Stephen, so strengthened and improved it, that it was
challenged as a right of the papacy, and finally owned as such by
king Henry the second in the unhappy agreement betwixt that
prince and the court of Rome, which ensued upon the death of
archbishop Becket. Thus a power of convening national syi
which had ever been esteemed the sole right of the kings of
England, was divided betwixt them and the bishops of Rome ;
and a way was thereby opened to a sort of legislature, or a p
of making canons, which in time put a restraint upon our kin^s
and their great councils, and in many instances rendered ns<
and even insulted and affronted their legislative power.

The gaining a power to receive ecclesiastical causes by appeals
was still more fatal to the authority of the crown; for by earn- ing
to Rome the last resort in causes ecclesiastical, a great branch of
the supremacy, which all the by-past ages had thought sacred and
inalienable, was torn from the kings of Kngland; and yet t
errors in politics, which threatened the very being of the monarchy,
grew up together, and were the blemishes of the same reigns.
H. Huntingdon, who lived at that time, as well as Gervasius. says.
the use of appeals was begun by Henry bishop of Winch*
and brother to king Stephen : and the instances of that kind are
too many under the government of that prince. But as 1 1
were then esteemed no otherwise than as encroachments on the
rights of the crown, so in the recognition of the ecclesiastical laws
in the council of Clarendon, the last resort in causes ecclesiastical
was declared the sole right of the crown: and thus it continued
till the year 1172, when the same prince who had declared and
asserted the rights of the crown in the council of Clarendon, did
very unworthily give them away, and in his agreement with ]
Alexander consented that Appeals should freely be made to the
bishops of Rome.

Nor was this the only blemish of that prince's reign, but he
stands accountable to posterity for a breach of trust of much
greater importance to the monarchy; and this was. tin- exemption
of the clergy and religious from the secular power. This pretence
iirst set on foot in the preceding reign, that of king Stephen,
and .wards it. Jlou. \, r. liU succ<

Henry th«- second put a stop to it, and rcsnin'-d the ri

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 143

of the crown, and by his judges punished a great many of the
clergy, who but too well deserved it. And when that court, which
was restless and impatient to advance themselves to the head of
the English clergy, had flattered and deceived some of them into
their interest, and this pretence was revived again; the king, with
the nobility and the whole body of the bishops, Becket only
excepted, opposed it with such a resolution and unanimity and
weight of reason, as were every way answerable to the consequence
of that affair. Yet, after all, the same thing which was thought
of the last importance, and asserted accordingly in the beginning
of king Henry the second's reign, was yielded up and given away
by that prince before his reign was done ; for in the agreement
between the king and the legate of the bishop of Rome in the
year 1176, it was agreed1, that the clergy and religious should not
be carried before any secular judge for any crime whatsoever,
unless for abuses of the king's forests, or for such services as
they were obliged to by their particular tenure.

The kings of England were thus stripped of their supremacy
over ecclesiastical persons, as they were about the same time of
the last resort in causes ecclesiastical ; and the sovereignty of the
English monarchs, which before extended to all persons and to
all causes, was by these concessions limited and restrained to
secular persons and affairs. Thus the bishops of Rome were placed
at the head of the church and the clergy of England, and the
numbers and the wealth of the clergy and religious, together with
the influence which they had upon the nation, being considered,
it will not be easy to determine, whether the kings of England or
the bishops of Rome had the greater share in the government,
when king John came to the crown.

To render these mischiefs incurable, the same men and the very
same methods which raised the bishops of Rome to a power over
ecclesiastical persons and causes, raised them also to a sort of
sovereignty over the wealth and revenues of the English church,
and put them in a condition to support the authority which they
had first usurped, and to perpetuate their tyranny over the church
at the charge of the nation. For the revenues of the church,
instead of contributing to the necessities of the government, were
made a fund, which in time served ah1 the purposes of those who
had first ravished and despoiled the monarchy ; and the charity
and munificence of the preceding kings of England were made use

1 It was agreedJ] See above, p. 59.

PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;

of to break the measures and to control the power of their suc-
cessors ; to weaken their hands ; to intimidate their people ; to
put it out of their power to protect their good subjects from
rapine and oppression ; or to force the disobedient to their duty :
in short, to insult their authority, to render them little and con-
temptible, and to frustrate all the ends of government. And the
mischievous effects of these changes, owing to the two preceding
reigns, appeared so soon, that king Richard, the immediate suc-
cessor to Henry the second, exceedingly lamented the state of the
monarchy, and with the utmost mortification pronounced himself
the shadow of a king3. And he had but too much ground for that-
melancholy reflection ; for the patronage of the crown was l<»t
with the right of investitures; the power to convene national
synods swallowed up by that of the papal legates; the supremacy
in causes ecclesiastical was carried to Rome, by the concession
which yielded up the right to appeals; the authority over the
persons and the estates of the clergy and religious was given awav,
by that grant which discharged the clergy from the secular power;
and the clergy was thereby rendered a body separate and inde-
pendent upon the state, their interests distinguished and set at
such a distance from one another, that the privileges and liberties
of the church were numbered from the spoils of the civil gov
ment, and then only thought bright and shining, when they
a shade upon the monarchy.

The crown of England was thus robbed of a great part of its
wealth, its subjects, and its power, when it fell into the han-
king John; so that in truth there remained nothing more to con-
summate the dishonour of the kings of England, but to shift
names, and give up their title in exchange for that of vas
And there could be nothing more to engage the wishes, or to de-
serve the ambition of those prelates who had already posst
themselves of the wealth and power of the clergy and religious.
and of the supremacy in causes ecclesiastical, but to assume the
title and the name of kings of England, and to take to tin-in.-
the remains of the royal power, which they had fettered and
chained, and in many cases rendered incapable of serving the •_
ends of government. And the issue was such as mi^ht 1"
pj-cti'd: tin- court of Rome finished tin- usurpation which tiny
had been labouring for in the preceding rei^us. by forcing kiiiLr
John to iv.-i.^n his kingdoms, and ' them a^ain a^ ,

• Gcrvas. Clii-.m. ami. 1196. [Decem Script, col. 15Q5.J

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 145

of the papacy, and of a free sovereign prince to take upon himself
the title of a feudatory or a vassal to the bishop of Rome : and he
did his homage accordingly, and consented to pay a yearly tribute
for his own kingdoms. And lest the world should ever be induced
to believe, that all this was owing to the personal failings of king
John, his innocent son king Henry the third was forced to tread
in the steps of his father, and to take his kingdoms, as he had done
before him, as a fee of the papacy ; and he swore fealty and did
homage accordingly to the bishop of Rome.

Such mighty changes did the compass of about one hundred
and fifty years produce in these nations ; and although some brave
efforts were made by our succeeding kings to regain the rights and
liberties of the church and of the crown ; and the statutes of
Mortmain ', Pro visors, and Prsemunire, the remonstrances of our
parliaments and synods, the struggles of some of our bishops and
clergy, and the outcries of the whole nation against the tyranny
and oppressions of the court of Rome, show us what sense our
ancestors had of the papal usurpation, and put it beyond a doubt,
that the use which was made thereof was every way answerable
to the wicked practices by which it at first had been gained, and
that our forefathers groaned under the yoke, and passionately
desired to be delivered from it. Yet all was in vain, and without
the prospect of a remedy ; for God, who in His just displeasure
had given up these nations to that infatuation and blindness which
had brought all those mischiefs upon them, suffered our ancestors
to languish under the miseries which they had drawn down upon
themselves, and never entirely delivered them from the yoke of
bondage, till in His great mercy he had opened their eyes, and by

1 The statutes of Mortmain, &c.] See Kennett on Impropriations, p. 25
(Mortmain, Remonstrances, &c.); Twisden's Vindication, 62 — 4 (Provisors,
&c.); 1 Fox's Acts, 548. edit. 1641 (Praemunire). See also Blackstone's Com-
mentaries, bk. i. c. 18 (Mortmain), and bk. ii. c. 18. § 2 (ditto); also bk. iv.
c. 8 (Prsemunire).

In the statutes of Provisors (25 Edw. III. c. vi., 27 Edw. III. c. i. § 1.
and 38 Edw. III. c. i. § 4, and c. ii. § 1 — 4) it is enacted that the bishop of
Rome shall not present or collate to any bishopric or ecclesiastical benefice in
England ; and that whoever disturbs any patron in the presentation to a
living, by virtue of a papal provision, such provisor shall pay fine and ransom
to the king at his will; and be imprisoned till he renounces such provision.
And the same punishment is enacted against such as cite the king, or any of
his subjects, to answer in the court of Rome. — Blackstone's Commentaries^
book iv. c. 8.

VOL. I. L

146 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE.

the reformation of religion had first made them sensible of the
imposture which had thus fatally ensnared and betrayed them.

Thus did the all-wise providence of God unite the monarchy, the
nation, the church and the religion of England, in the same suffer-
ings and deliverance. They went hand in hand into vassalage.
The same men and the very same arts which despoiled the
monarchy, enslaved our country, corrupted our religion, and
usurped the rights of the English church ; and the same Reforma-
tion which restored our religion to its ancient purity, restored the
rights of the church and of the monarchy, and resettled the
liberties of the English nation. These methods of the Divine
providence seemed designed on purpose to endear our church and
our country and the monarchy to each other, and to show us
plainly that their interests are inseparable, and can never be safe
but in conjunction ; whilst at the same time they teach us by sad
experience, that Popery is the common enemy to every thing that
is, or that ought to be, dear to the Princes and to the People of
England.

I have suffered myself to be led into this long and melancholy
digression, that I might at once offer to the reader's view, the
ancient and present state of the church and monarchy, together
with the steps by which the changes were advanced, and the
intolerable mischiefs which from thence ensued : — and having done
this, I shall leave the reader to adore the goodness which so
happily delivered the Church and the Nation, and which has hitherto
preserved us from the snare ; and conclude with beseeching (lod.
that we may be all duly sensible of the mercies which we now
enjoy under the best of churches and the best of governm*
and know no more of those miseries which attended the PA PAT,
USURPATION, but from our by-past story.

INTRODUCTION.

DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS OF POPERY1.

We are now arrived at a full and adequate interpretation of our
text 2. For we are not, as oi TroXXot the many, the major part
of the world ; KUTT^VOVT^ which adulterate and negotiate
the word of God for our own lucre and advantage ; but as of
sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
And hereby we have made the nearer advances to a clear view
and just character of popery : we will allow them to be the ot
TroXXoi, the most of Christians ; nor at present will contend
with them about their boasted titles of catholic and universal :
for it was never yet so well with mankind, that the major part
was the better. And then for the other mark /caTrrjXEuovrfe,
I shall now trace and expose their corruptions and cauponations
of the gospel : that they are true Xpto-r^Tropot, real Xp*aroica-
7TYi\oi ; have perverted and abused the divine institution to the
base ends of worldly profit and power ; have consociated Jesus
with Belial, Christianity with Atheism : every part of their
system, which our pious reformers renounced and exploded, being
founded upon mere politic ; built up and supported by the known
methods of subtlety and force.

And yet I would not be thought to charge every single member
of that communion with this heavy imputation. I question not,
but great numbers think and act in godly sincerity : every age

1 Of popery. ~] From " A Sermon upon Popery, preached before the Uni-
versity of Cambridge, Nov. 5, 1715, by Richard Bentley, D.D., Master of
Trinity College, and Chaplain to His Majesty. 1715." Svo. p. 9—28.

2 Our text.'] 2 Cor. ii. 1 7.

L 2

14-8 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS

has produced among them some shining examples of piety and
sanctity. We do not now consider individuals, but the collective
body of popery ; not private lives and secret opinions, but the
public avowed doctrines, and the general practice of the managers.
There was one pious family even in Sodom, and without doubt
many wicked ones even in Jerusalem. Not every single person
within the limits of the reformation is as good, as his profession
requires ; nor every papist as bad, as the popish system permits.

And now, ri Trpwrov, ri S' ttrtiTa ; What can I better begin
with, than what our text suggests ; their enhancing the authority
of the vulgar Latin above the Greek original ? so that we must
search for St. Paul's meaning here, not in the notion of Katrri-
Acuovree, but of adulterantes ; not of oe TroXAoi, but of multi with-
out its article ; an original defect in the Latin tongue. Now can
any thing be more absurd, more shocking to common sense, than
that the stream should rise above the fountain ? That a verbal
translation, which, were the author of it inspired, must yet from
the very nature of language have several defects and ambiguities ;
that such a translation, I say, by a private unknown person not
pretending to inspiration, should be raised and advanced above
the inspired Greek ? Is it possible, those that enacted this, could
believe it themselves? Nor could they suggest, that the tir>t
Greek exemplar had been more injured by the transcribers and
notaries, than that of their version. More ancient manuscripts \\ < -n •
preserved of this, than they could show for the Latin. There
were more, and more learned commentators to guard it : no
of the eastern empire without eminent scholars ; while the
lay sunk many centuries under ignorance and barbarity. And
yet in defiance of all this, the Latin is to be the umpire and
standard; and the apostles to speak more authentically in that
conveyance, than in their own words. Nay, a particular edition
shall be legitimated and consecrated, with condemnation of all
various readings ; and two popes, with equal pretence to infal-
libility, shall each sanctify a different copy with ten thousand
variations. These things are unaccountable, in the way of 'sincerity:
but if you view them on the foot of politic, as an acquist of pm\< T.
authority, and pre-eminence; — the council of Trent knew then
what they did.

Hut though this itsrlf is lmt a translation. ye< n<> secondary
translation must In- niadr from it for the instruction of the pcopl'.
They must hear the public liturgies in a language unknown to

OF POPERY. 149

them ; and jabber their credos and pater-nosters at home with-
out understanding l. But was not this Latin version at first

1 Without understanding.'] " It is a thing plainly repugnant to the word of
God, and the custom of the primitive church, to have public prayer in the
church, or to minister the sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the
people." Art. xxiv. of the Church of England.

"Amalarius, in the begynnge of his seconde booke De Ordine Romance
Ecclesice, doth shewe the cause why of olde tyme emonges the Romanes the
lessons were reade in Greke and also in Latine, as it is at this day used,"
saith he, " at Constantinople : for two causes. One, for that there were
present Grecians, to whom was unknowen the Latine tongue, and also for that
the Romanes were present, to whom was unknowen the Greke tongue. Another
cause was to expresse the unitie of both nations. So that the sayde Amalarius
may be witnesse, that in the olde tyme the lessons of the Scriptures were so
reade in the churche, as by the readyng the people myght understande to
their edification." Archbishop Parker, in the anonymous Defence of Priests'
Marriages, p. 337.

But let us hear what could be said in defence of the service in an unknown
tongue ; and how it is argued, that it comes to be better not to understand the
divine service.

" Manye," says Christopherson, one of the most learned and most respect-
able of the Romish party, in his Exhortation against Rebellion, in the reign of
queen Mary, A.D. 1554, " grudge and are offended, that the masse, and
all other divine service, is in Latyn, so that when they be in the church, they
do not understande what the priest sayeth. I woulde gladly aske one
question of such, why they come to the church ; whether to heare or to pray ?
They will answer, I doubte not, to do bothe. For there they both learne
theyr duetye by hearyng of sermons, and also practise it by diligente and
fervente praying. Nowe then seeinge that to do our duetie is much better
then to learne our duetie, because that every manne learneth to this end that
he may practise, although both twayne be good and necessarye, yet the one
farre passeth the other. And the one maye be gotten in shorte space with
small travayle, but the other asketh longe tyme, and much payne to get it.
As concerninge which purpose we reade a notable storye of one Pambo."
The notable story into which the good bishop diverges, we will leave, as less
likely to bring conviction to our readers, even than his reasons, to which he
thus returns : " Wherefore I have oftentymes much marvayled at us Englishe-
men of late, that we came to the church, at the tyme of our Englishe service,
to heare only, and not to pray ourselfes. By meanes whereof many folkes are
so inured, that they can hardlye frame them selfes as yet to praye in the
churche, which, as our Saviour sayth, is the house of prayer. And moste
mete were it for folkes coming to the churche, to pray earnestly them selfes,
and both to thinke upon theyr synnes, wherewith they have offended their
Lorde God, and to be sory for them ; yea, and beside to gyve hym harty
thankes for all his benefites bestowed upon them, and to beseche hym to
assiste them with hys grace agaynst the assaultes of their adversary the devil.
For thus ought men to spende the holy daye, and thus ought they to bestow

150 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS

the common language of the country ? Was it not first made,
and received into public use, because the Greek was unknown
there 2 If a Christian congregation may be duly edified, may
pay acceptable devotions in a language unknown; the (<i
original might have reigned alone and universal, and its Latin
rival had never existed, — Why then is popery so cruel and
importune, to withhold this common blessing \ to continue the
public worship in Latin, after it has ceased to be a living langu
against the very reason that first introduced Latin? — Seek not a
good account for this in Scripture, not even in the Latin Bible :
but seek it in the vile arts of politic, and the principles of
atheism. Their authority was secured by it over an ignorant
populace ; it gave a prerogative to the clergy ; like the hpa
the sacred and secret writings to the Egyptian pri-

their tyme in the churche of God, when they come thyther The Evangelist

telleth not that Anna in the temple was occupied in hearynge, but that she
was occupied in praying. Many heare, and eyther they shortly forget what
they have hearde, or elles, if they remember it, yet they do not practise it;
and one houre spente in practisynge is more worthe to us than twentye spent
in hearynge : therefore when they come to church, and heare the priestes,
who sayeth common prayer for all the whole multitude, albeit they under-
stand them not, yet yf they be occupied in godlye prayer them selfes, it is
sufficient for them. And lette theym not so greatly passe for understandynge
what the priestes say, but travayle them selfes in fervent praying, and s< >
they hyghly please God. Yea, and experience hath playnlye taught us, that
it is much better for them not to understande the common service of the Church,
than to understande it, because that, when they heare other prayinge with a
lowde voice, in the language that they understande, they are letted from j
themselfe, and so come they to such a slacknes and negligence in prayinge, that
they at lengthe (as wee have well sene of late dayes), in maner pray not at al.
And then let them first thynke thys, (for it is undoubtedly true,) that the
divine service here in Englande hath ever bene in Latyn synce the first tyme
that the fayth was among us receaved, save only this six or seven yeare>
passed : and then how godly the people all that while were disposed, how
many vertuous and holy men and women have beene within this realme, and

howe God dyd in all thinges prosper us And eyther muste we graunte

thys, that there never was any godly men in thys realme, never any sowle
saved, never any grace of God among us, never the assistance of the Ilolye
Gooste wyth us, (whych no good nor reasonable manne either can, or wyll
graunte,) yf thys be not the true fayth and belefe (whereby men's soulcs
shall be saved) that nowe is amonges us." Signat. x. Compare also Mirror
of our Lady, fol. 22. — Commendation of those who attend the divine ser-
vices without understanding them.

See Index, under Service Divine in an unknown tongue.

OF POPERY. 151

or the Sibylline oracles to the Roman pontifices, which nobody
else was to know.

No sooner had Christianity spread itself over the world, but
superstition mixed and grew up along with it ; a weed natural
to human soil, complexionally inherent in the weaker sex, and
adventitious to most of our own. Vast multitudes of all nations
withdrew from the world ; renounced human society and all com-
merce with their own species ; abandoned the cities and villages
for the solitude of woods, deserts and caves ; under a false notion
of pleasing God better, by such devotion and mortification. But
all this was at first pure and simple superstition ; no mixture of
avarice and craft in it, no tincture of politic and worldly advantage :
their known poverty and perpetual austerities wholly quit them
of that suspicion. — But how did popery manage this foible of
mankind to its lucre and interest ? Under a pretence of a like
retirement from the world in a life of -prayer and contemplation,
they began their monasteries, abbeys, nunneries, &c. which by
degrees so vastly multiplied, that, instead of their first pretence
of retreating from the world, the very world was filled with them ;
instead of the old heremitical poverty, they had drained the riches
of kingdoms, had engrossed the fattest of the lands ; nay, had
appropriated and devoured the very ministerial wages, the bread
and sustenance of the parochial clergy ; who were impoverished,
made vile and contemptible, to feed these vassals of the popes in
their laziness and luxury.

In the early ages of the gospel, there was a high and just
veneration for the sepulchres and remains of holy men, for the
memorials of them in statue or picture, for the places of their
abode ; and especially for the land of Palestine, which the patri-
archs, the prophets, the Son of God and His apostles, had made
sacred by their birth and habitation. This at first was within
due bounds ; but superstition was soon engrafted on it and grew
to excess : the remains and relics were supposed to work miracles ;
the images had not value only, but worship and adoration ; long
journeys were taken, to the great detriment of families, to visit
holy places, and kiss the footsteps of saints and martyrs. — These
bigotries, though even then reprehended by the best fathers of
those ages, were yet without any mixture of craft and knavery.
But popery soon saw, that here was a proper fund, to be improved
and managed to great advantage. Instead of coercion and
restraint, they advised, encouraged, commanded those supersti-

152 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS

tions, with such scandalous icaTnjXtta, such abominable traffic, as
even paganism would blush at. All the graves and catacombs
were exhausted to furnish relics : not a bone, not the least scrap
of raiment of any saint, that was not removed into the holy ward-
robe to raise money to the showers. Where the monuments were
dubious and blended, the names and bodies of pagan slaves were
taken into the church calendar and treasury : disputes and
quarrels arose among the numerous pretenders to one and the
same relic, which could never be decided; but the victory \\as
various and alternate, according to the fruitful inventions and
ingenious lies of the contending impostors. Even statues and
pictures of the same saint were made to rival each other : and
the Blessed Virgin, like Juno Lucina and Juno Sospita, had as
many numina l and specific powers, as she had pictures and
statues ; one celebrated for one virtue, another for another. No
piety was thought acceptable, no life religiously spent, without a
pilgrimage to some foreign saint ; where vows and rich offerings
must be paid at the shrine. But, above all, the endeavour to
gain the Holy Land * by driving out the Saracens was the most
promising project, the very masterpiece of popery. What arts
were used, or what not used, to inveigle the princes and nobility
of Europe into that romantic expedition ! Every hour of grief or
sickness, every hour of mirth and wine, were a snare and trepan
to them. If in any of those softer moments they once rashly took
the cross on their garments, the vow was irrevocable: to bn-ak
it was thought attended with all misfortunes in this world,
and damnation in the other. In the mean time salvation, like
soldier's pay, was promised and insured to all that embarked : the
heavenly Jerusalem to be their certain acquisition, though tln-y
failed and perished in fighting for the earthly. — Now while the
world by these artifices was made mad and infatuate ; while princes
abandoned their own realms, and left the regency in weak or
treacherous hands ; while for several generations all Europ<
exhausted of its strength and its wealth, and the remainder <
run with superstition and leprosy ; the contrivers of all this
not wanting to their own interest. It was then in the absence of
so many kin^s, and the distracted condition at home. that popery
made its most plentiful harvest : then cities with their lar^-
tories were extorted out of the owners' hands, and made the patri-

1 As many numina.'] See Index, under Wakingham. our Lady of.
9 Holy Land.] See Index, under Crusade.

OF POPERY. 153

mony of the church : then investitures, faculties, dispensations,
bulls, the whole shop and warehouse of profit and power, were
extended and exerted over all persons and employments : then, in
a word, was mankind enslaved, and popery trod upon the necks
of princes. — And well was it for Palestine that the Saracens kept
possession of it. If popery had succeeded in its attempt on that
country, what a new revenue from pilgrimages ! what an inex-
haustible store of religious merchandise ! Every stone there
would have been a sacred relique. If we may guess from some
histories, the very soil l would have been dug up and exported by
this time ; and customers invited to the purchase by a new legend
of miracles. Not a church in Europe would have been counted
holy ; not a palace or seat lucky or prosperous ; not an estate, not
a field or close, fertile to the owner ; that had not some of the
holy earth to bless and to sanctify it.

When the empire was first Christian, though the bishops of
Rome had no more under their inspection than the suburbicarian
regions; yet the great city imperial, the metropolis of the
Western world, gave them a just pre-eminence above those of
inferior and municipal towns. And so, those of Constantinople

1 The very soil.'] At times there seems to have been a wild spirit extensively
prevalent, which hardly admits even of a representation like this being
regarded as mere rant and rodomontade.

" I am bold to say," affirms Richard Bristow, in his famous book Motives
to the Catholic Faith, written in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in the year
1574, "and prove it well I can, that whereas Christian people of those first
ages are counted, as they were indeed, far more godly and more holy, and
more devout than we, for no other cause it waft, but only because they prac-
tised the things afore-named and such like, much more often, more religi-
ouslie, and, as the heretics would have it falsely called and counted, much
more superstitiously, than we do : more going a pilgrimage, more kissing of
reliques and kneeling unto them, more crying out to saints, and all other things
much more in those days than in these : and therefore, I say, people then
were more devout and religious than now. Such going then a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, that S. Hierome sayeth of the holie places of our Saviour's nati-
vitie, crosse, resurrection and ascension, ' ad quee de toto orbe concurritur,'
(in Isai. xix.) ; unto which holy places there is concourse of people out of all
the world. Even the verie holie earth of our Saviour's sepulcher brought
home by pilgrims, and given to their friends, and used to hang in their
chamber, to save them from evil ; yea, so reverenced that they would not
keepe it in their chambers, but build churches to lay it in, for people at it to
serve God, to come to it a pilgrimage, and that with following of great miracles;
all which S. Augustine writeth of his owne time, being himselfe a partie
therein. (De Civit. Dei, lib. xxii. cap. 8.)" fol. 53, 4. edit. 1599.

154 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS

had a due deference paid them by the other bishops of the east,
as jSadtXEurEpot aXXwv, as presiding over a diocese the most
numerous and the most potent. A fit regard always was and
ought to be had to their advice, concurrence, and assistance ;
since their example must needs have the greatest influence on the
peace of the whole church. — Now how did popery make use of this
advantage of situation, to make spiritual Rome as much the
empress of the church as ever civil Rome had been of the state I
In long tract of time they reduced all under their power ; not by
our Saviour's declaration, ITTI raury rij TrlYp^, " upon this rock
I will build my church ;" as if that was the Tarpeian rock, and the
cliff of the Roman capital : but by the subtlest arts of politic
continued from age to age with indefatigable address ; by sowing
factions among all other bishops, and then promoting appeals to
the arbitration of popes, who always decided for those that owm-d
their authority ; by creating new bishops against those in posses-
sion, the event whereof was both ways the certain increase of
papal power : for either the pope's new title prevailed ; or the
former bishop, after long charge and vexation, was content for
quietness' sake to keep his own, as the gift of the pope * by an

1 As the gift of the pope."] " The wisdom of the court of Rome," says
Twisden shrewdly, " is to give, what it can neither sell, nor keep." Vindica-
tion, &c. p. 176.

Again, " Things done by princes of their own right, popes finding no
means to stop, would, in former ages, as in later, by privilege continue
unto them. * Nicholaus Papa hoc domino meo privilegium, quod ex paterno
jure susceperat, praebuit,' said the emperor's advocate. (Baronii Annul, aim.
1059. n. 22.) And the same pope, finding our kings to express one part of
their office to be * regere populum Domini et ecclesiam ejus,' wrote to
Edward the Confessor, * Vobis et posteris vestris regibus Angliic commit tin,us
advocationem ejusdem loci et omnium totius Angliae ecclesiarum, et, ut, vice
nostra, cum consilio episcoporum et abbatum constituatis ubique qua; justa
sunt.' .... Besides, kings did many times ask as grants those things of
the pope, which they well understood themselves to have the power of doing
without him. Henry V. demanded of Martin V. five particulars ; to which
the king's ambassadors, finding him not so ready to assent, told him ' so in
mandatis habere, ut coram eo profiteantur, regem in iis singulisyure suo usu-
rum, utpote qua? non necessitatis, sed honoris causa pet at ; et ut publican) de
ca re coram universo cardinalium coetu protestationem interponant.' And
to the same purpose there are sundry examples yet remaining on i
(Rot. Parl. 17 Ed. iii. &c.), where the king, on petition of the Commons for
redress in some things amiss of ecclesiastical cognisance, first chooses to
write to the pope; but on his delay or failing to give satisfaction, doth either

OF POPERY. 155

after-act of confirmation. And as they then managed with the
bishops, so in time they dealt with princes : fomented rebellions
of their subjects ; set brother up against brother in pretence to
the crown ; who was to own it when obtained as a donation from
Kome : and the contract for it, that all the ecclesiastical dignities
should be in the pope's collation. By these methods, continued
through many successions, the result at last was, that he was the
spiritual monarch of the universe, the acknowledged patron of all
church preferments ; that all bishops held their jurisdiction not
from Christ but from him : that kings themselves were no kings,
till accepted and confirmed by him : that they might be resisted,
deposed, or murdered ; if they did not govern by his dictates and
directions : that he, as visible head of the church, was superior to
general councils : that he, perhaps at first some ignorant monk,
after he was once chosen pope, though without the suffrage either
of clergy or people, by a mercenary conclave and nocturnal cabal
of cardinals — a new order contrived by popery to depress and sub-
due the bishops — was immediately gifted with infallibility. — O hor-
rible profanation of a Divine attribute ! O audacious and ridicu-
lous claim ; which though no pope can ever believe of himself ;
and the cardinals his electors, like the haruspices of old, may
laugh at when they see each other ; yet it is a useful pretence in
the way of politic, and of great moment among the adoring crowds
to support and establish his usurped spiritual empire.

As the Christians in the first ages were all educated in the
midst of paganism, and the most of them made converts out of it ;
so it could not be avoided, but that many must assume or transfer
some pagan notions into the system of Christianity. Besides the
One supreme God the pagans had vast numbers of inferior deities,

himself by statute redress the inconvenience, or commands the archbishop to
see it done." Ibid. 17, 18. Twisden's Vindication, &c.

This valuable book, Twisden's Vindication, &c. written twenty years before
the author's death, was not published till three years after it, and then came
forth without a word of explanation or narrative from the editor. It is
greatly to be regretted, that it is printed so incorrectly as to be not unfre-
quently quite unintelligible. It is much to be wished, therefore, if the family
are in possession of any better manuscript and additional materials, that this
should be known, and that the book should appear in a new edition, as well
to the benefit of the public, as in justice to the memory of a very eminent
and excellent person. — [This has been done under the editorial care of the
learned Master of Jesus College, Cambridge.] Some particulars respecting
Twisclen may be found in Hasted's Hist, of Kent, vol. ii. 275, 6.

156 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS

who had every one shares of the common devotion. This begot
in many Christians a like worship of angels and saints, as mediators
and intercessors between them and the heavenly Father. The
Dii Manes of the pagans, and the parent-aliens to their dead
ancestors, produced a near resemblance to them among some
Christians, that offered solemn prayers and expiations for the
souls of their deceased relations. The Platonic notion, that the
lamfna a/ia/anj/Liara, the curable sins, the delible stains, of departed
souls were scourged and purged off by proportionate punishments;

aliae panduntur inanes

Suspense ad ventos ; aliis sub gurgite vasto
Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni ;

must naturally raise among some Christians a like persuasion
about a future purgatory. These notions and practices, though
quite repugnant to the Holy Scriptures, were not discouraged nor
forbid by popery; but propagated, enjoined, and enacted: being a
most sure and ample fund to increase the church's treasure. In
course of time the whole calendar was crowded with saints; not a
day in the year without its red letter: every trade and profession
had its saint tutelar and peculiar; who must be retained and
engaged with presents and oblations. Horses, cows, and sheep.
every animal domestic, the fields and the vineyards, the very fur-
niture of houses, must be annually blessed and sanctified, at a
price for the blessing. And if the old set of saints should by
long time grow cheap and vulgar; there still was a res« -rve in
popery to enhance and quicken the low market by making new
and fresh ones in acts of canonization. And then by their
prayers and the masses for the dead, to ease and shorten the
pains of purgatory ; what a spacious door was opened for a per-
petual flow of money ! what family was not daily pillaged of -
part of its substance! What heart could hear, that his dead
father should fry in the flames of purgatory when a mod.
sum might buy him out of them ; or who would not secure him-
self by a timely legacy for masses for his soul, without leaving it
to the conscience and courtesy of his heir ?

I Jut \\hat do we speak of this popish traffic for the sins of the

dead; when the very sins of the living, the wai^ «>f damnation.

\vt -re negotiated and trucked, indulged or pardoned, by the wicked

politic of popery ! — As in common life we daily see. that an olti-

liall permit and license tho>e very frauds fur money, which

OF POPERY. 157

his office itself constitutes him and commands him to prevent ;
so has popery done in that great affair of a Christian life and the
duties of the Gospel. To engross which profitable trade, it was
first necessary, that Rome should challenge the sole custody of
the keys of heaven and hell, should claim the sole power of loosing
and binding, should possess the sole mint of all spiritual licences
and pardons. When this was once arrogated and obtained, what
an impious /caTrrjAaa, what an extensive traffic was opened ! As
the other schemes drew in the superstitious and the bigots, so
this was to wheedle and pillage the profane, the impure, the vil-
lains of the world. The common sale was soon proclaimed for
indulgences and pardons for all crimes past or to come, already
committed or hereafter designed ; the price raised and enhanced
according to the deeper dye and blackness of the guilt. The
stated market at Rome was not sufficient for the commerce ; the
princes only and the nobles could afford to send thither for them :
so that, for the ease and benefit of trade, blank instruments were
issued out for all the countries of Europe, and retailed by the
spiritual pedlars at the public markets and at the private doors ;
such a cheap pardon cried aloud for the more common sins of
lying, swearing, drunkenness, or fornication ; a higher price in
private for robbery or murder ; a higher still for sodomy or incest.
Thus were the grace of God, the remission of sins, all the privi-
leges of the Gospel, trucked and cauponated by popery, for sordid
and detestable lucre, upon the open scheme and the bare foot of
atheism.

It is true, indeed, that when the light of the reformation broke
out, and good letters revived and spread around ; even the popish
provinces grew too wise and sagacious for this gross imposture :
such wretched wares were thenceforth chiefly vended among the
poor ignorants of America. — But there soon arose a new set of
loose and profligate casuists l ; who, to engage on their side the
libertine part of mankind, since impunity in sins would no longer
be bought with money, should distribute it gratis, and instruct
them to be wicked without remorse and with assurance. These
are they, who (contrary to St. Paul, Rom. iii. 8,) " are not slan-
derously reported to say, Let us do evil, that good may come :"
who excuse and patronize the vilest corruptions, the foulest cheats,
forgeries, and extortions in common dealing : who teach that no
faith promised or sworn to heretics or enemies is of any obliga-
tion : who defend common perjury and perfidiousness by the
1 Profligate casuists.] See Index, under Jesuits.

158 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS

scandalous shifts of equivocate and mental restrictions : who have
glossed and warped all the severe rules of the gospel about chas-
tity, charity, and forgiveness, to the worldly and wicked notions
of gallantry and point of honour : who sanctify the horridest
villanies ; murders, plots, assassinations, massacres, (like the in-
tended one of this day *,) if designed for the service of the church :
who, in a word, have given such vicious systems of morals, such a
licence to corrupt nature, as a heathen Stoic, Platonic, or Aca-
demic, nay an Epicurean, though in himself never so wicked, durst
not have polluted his pages with, out of reverence to his sect.

I might proceed, would the time permit me, to discover all the
rest of their politic arts, the mysteries of their spiritual trade :
for such are all their peculiar tenets, that were discarded at the
Reformation. What availed it to the clergy, that the Scriptures
expressly said, " Marriage is honourable in all: let a bishop, let a
presbyter be the husband of one wife ; one that ruleth well in his
own house ; having faithful children, kept in subjection with all
gravity ? " This did not suit with popish politic : this tied and
attached the clergy to the common interest of mankind : their
affection to their own children made their country also dear to
them ; made them love and pity the abused laity : they were not
vassals devoted enough to the service of a foreign master : the
riches of the church did not flow in one channel, nor all revert at
last to that one fountain and receptacle. And for these pious
reasons, in spite of plain Scripture, of the authority of ages be-
fore, of all the lusts and impurities that must necessarily follow,
a chaste legitimate marriage shall be forbidden to the clergy; and
an adulterous celibacy shall be enjoined universal.

But what can plain Scripture avail against the avarice and
pride of popery ; when both common sense internal, and the joint
testimony of all our outward senses, must submit to its deci
when it is to advance its profit or power ? That due respect
paid to TO. aym, the consecrated bread and wine at tin- holy
communion, was easily raised by superstition and ignoram
the highest excess, to notions improbable and impossible. This
fair handle was not neglected by popery: by slow degrees tran-
substantiation was enacted into an article of faith, and a
beneficial one to the priests ; since it made them the makers of
( iod. and a sort of gods among the people. — But we must think
and juster of the contrivers of it, than that they thein-

1 Of this day. ~] \ovember5.

OF POPERY. 159

selves believed it : they did or could believe it no more, than a
proposition made up of the most disparate ideas, that " sound
may be turned into colour, a syllogism into a stone." It was not
ignorance or stupidity ; but the most subtle and crafty politic
that produced transubstantiation. Thence the awful pomp, the
august cavalcades in the processions of the host : as if they would
outdo the pagan ones of Cybele,

Ingratos animos atque impia pectora vulgi
Conterrere metu quee possint numine Divse :

thence the presence of God continually resident, corporeal at the
high altar : thence to exhibit it perpetually there, the wafer, panis
«£v/uoe, unleavened, unfermented bread, was taken into the so-
lemnity ; both against ancient practice, and the perpetual custom
of the Greek church : because common bread would soon have
grown mouldy, and not pass with the palate of the multitude for
the body of God. Thence at last in the thirteenth century was
the cup denied to the laity ; not for not seeing the plain words of
the Scripture, " Drink ye all of this ;" not for the dearness or
scarcity of wine, which is cheap and common in those climates ;
not for the then pretended reason, that the mustaches or whis-
kers in the mode of that age used to dip into the holy cup ; but
because it was inconsistent with the rest of the show. So small
a quantity of wine even after consecration would soon grow dead
and vapid ; would discover its true nature, if tasted after long
standing. The wine therefore, because it interferes with the
standing ceremony and continued pageantry of transubstantia-
tion, has not the honour to be reposited with the wafer on the
altar, nor to accompany it in the solemn processions.

I might now go on to show you a more dismal scene of impos-
tures, their judicia Dei, the judgments of God, as they blas-
phemously called them, when no human evidence could be found :
their trials by ordeal ; by taking a red-hot iron in the hand ; by
putting the naked arm into hot boiling water ; by sinking or
swimming in pools and rivers, when bound fast hand and foot :
all of them borrowed or copied from pagan knavery and supersti-
tion ; and so manageable by arts and slights, that the party could
be found guilty or innocent, just as the priests pleased, who were
always the triers. — What bribes were hereby procured ! what
false legacies extorted ! what malice and revenge executed !— on
all which if we should fully dilate and expatiate, the intended

160 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS

tragedy of this day, which now calls for our consideration, would
scarce appear extraordinary. — Dreadful indeed it was ; astonishing
to the imagination : all the ideas assembled in it of terror and
horror. Yet when I look on it with a philosophical eye, T am
apt to felicitate those appointed for that sudden blast of rapid
destruction ; and to pity those miserablcs that were out of it, the
designed victims to slow cruelty, the intended objects of lingori no-
persecution. For since the whole plot (which will ever be the
plot of popery) was to subdue and enslave the nation ; who would
not choose and prefer a short and despatching death, quick as
that by thunder and lightning, which prevents pain and percep-
tion, before the anguish of mock trials, before the legal accom-
modations of jails and dungeons, before the peaceful executions
by fire and fagot ? who would not rather be placed, direct above
the infernal mine, than pass through the pitiless mercies, the
salutary torments of a popish inquisition ; that last accursed con-
trivance of atheistical and devilish politic ? If the other schemes
have appeared to be the shop, the war^u^se of popery, this may
be justly called its slaughter-house and its shambles. Hither are
haled poor creatures (I should have said rich; for that gives the
frequentest suspicion of heresy) without any accuser, without
allegation of any fault. They must inform against thems< '
and make confession of something heretical ; or else undergo the
discipline of the various tortures ; a regular system of ingenious
cruelty, composed by the united skill and long successive «
rience of the best engineers and artificers of torment. That
savage saying of Caligula^s, horrible to speak or hear, and fit only
to be writ in blood, Ita feri, ut se mori sentiat, is here height
and improved : Ita se mori sentiat, ut ne moriatur, say these mer-
ciful inquisitors. The force, the effect of every rack, every a-
are exactly understood : this stretch, that strangulation i
utmost nature can bear ; the least addition will overpower it ; this
posture keeps the weary soul hanging upon the lip; r< -ady to
leave the carcase, and yet not suffered to take its wing : tlii
tends and prolongs the very moment of expiration; continue
Jiangs of dying without the ease and Item-fit of death. — () p

and proper methods for the propagation of faith! <) true .-md

genuine vicar of ( 'hrist, tile <«od of mercy, ,-md the Lord of

peac

And DOW, after this short but true sketch and faithful land.-'
nf popery. I presume there is but little want of advice or ap}

OF POPERY. J61

tion. If this first character in the text belongs to popery ; let us
secure the other to ourselves, " that we handle the word in sin-
cerity, as of God, as in the sight of God in Christ."" The Refor-
mation without this must forfeit its name ; and the church of
England must lose its nature. " Let every one therefore that
thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." Our very text informs
us, that in the apostle's own days, when the church was in its
greatest purity and simplicity ; there were even then many
KaTrrjXot, fraudulent dealers, among its members : though the
traffic must needs run low, when the whole community was
so poor. But when the emperors became Christian, and the
immense revenues of the pagan priesthood were (as indeed they
ought to be) all confiscated and distributed ; without doubt
the spoil and the plunder attracted crowds of new converts ; and
the courtiers found it useful to declare themselves good Christians.
Even the Reformation itself did not make the slower progress for
the vast riches of the monasteries that were to be dissolved ; nor
had it been less honour to it, if as the lands and manors of the
abbeys were justly restored to the laity ; so their impropriations
had reverted to the parochial clergy, from whom they had been
robbed. To say the truth, the spirit of popery is near as old as
the human race ; it is in all ages and places ; and even then exerts
itself when it demolishes popery. The generality of men, ol TroXXoi,
were always KaTrrjXot, traders in a profession. The Epicureans
of old, though they denied and derided the heathen gods, would
yet gladly accept of a fat benefice, " opimum sacerdotium ;" and
to gain an ample revenue, would officiate at those altars which
they silently laughed at. — Think not, therefore, that all the priests
were the vilest of men ; but that some of the vilest of men got in
to be priests. They saw the opportunity of enslaving and pillag-
ing mankind, if they could but manage the priesthood upon
atheistical principles. This was the temptation, this gave the
original to popery ; and nothing to be accused for it but human
nature in common. — What profession, what conjunction of lay-
men, if not continually watched, if not curbed and regulated by
authority, have not abused the like advantage and ascendant in
their several ways, to their private emolument and the oppression
of the public ? Let us watch therefore against this fatal degene-
ration incident to all things. He that aims malis artibm to arrive
at church preferment, by sinful or servile compliance, by turbu-
lency and faction ; what is he but jcaTrrjXoe, a trafficker for sordid
VOL. i. M

162 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS

lucre 2 He that zealously vends his novelties, or revives dead
and buried heresies to the disturbance of the community ; what
is he but a trader for the fame of singularity ? He that labours
to dig up all the fences of the church ; to throw down her articles
and canons, her liturgy and ceremonies ; to extinguish her nur-
series of learning ; and when he has made her a mere waste and
a common, shall call that a comprehension ; what is he but a vile
factor to libertinism and sacrilege ? He that propagates suspected
doctrines, such as praying for the dead, auricular confession, and
the like, whose sole tendency is the gain and power of the priest ;
what is he but a negotiator for his partisans abroad ? what does
he but sow the seeds of popery in the very soil of the reformation ?
But if we are to watch against the silent tide of popery in the small
rivulets at home ; much more against its inundation and deluge from
abroad : which always meditates, and now threatens ! to overwhelm
us. If foreign popery once return and regain all the provinces that
it lost at the Keformation, — 0 the terrible storm of persecution at
its first regress ! O the dark prospect of slavery and ignorance for
the ages behind ! In tract of time it will rise again to as full a
measure of usurped hierarchy, as when the hero Luther first pro-
claimed war against it. For then was popery in its meridian
height : it was not raised up all at once, but by the slow work of
many centuries. In all the steps and advances of its progress,
the good men of the several ages opposed it, but in vain : they
were overborne by a majority ; were silenced by the strong argu-
ments of processes and prisons. For it first subdued its own
priests, before it brought the laity under its yoke. Good letters
became a crime even in the clergy. Or heresy or magic, accord-
ing to the different turn of men^s studies, was a certain imputation
upon all that dared to excel. And though popery, since the
Reformation, has even in its own quarters permitted learning and
humanity ; and prudently withdrawn some of its most scandalous
trumpery : yet if once again it sees itself universal, the whole ware-
house, now kept under key, will again be set wide open : the old
tyranny will ride triumphant upon the necks of enslaved mankind.
with certain provision against a future revolt. The two instruni'
the two parents of the Reformation, ancient learning, and tin- art
of printing, both coming providentially at one juncture of time.
will be made the first martyrs, the earliest sacrifice to popish

1 Now threatens.'] A.D. 1715.

OF POPERY. 163

politic. The dead languages, as they are now called, will then die
in good earnest. All the old authors of Greece and Italy, as the
conveyers of hurtful knowledge, as inspirers of dangerous liberty,
will be condemned to the flames ; an enterprise of no difficulty,
when the pope shall once again be the general dictator. All these
writings must then perish together : no old records shall survive,
to bear witness against popery ; nor any new be permitted to give
it disturbance. The press will then be kept under custody in a
citadel, like the mint and the coinage : nothing but mass books
and rosaries, nothing but dry postills and fabulous legends, shall
then be the staple commodities, even in an university.

For the double festivity therefore of this candid and joyful day ;
for the double deliverance obtained in it, the one from the con-
spiracy of popery, the other from its tyranny ; for the happy
preservation of our religion, laws, and liberties under the protec-
tion of pious and gracious princes ; for the flourishing estate of
learning and the prosperity of our nursing mother, be all thanks,
praise and glory to God for ever and ever. AMEN.

M 2

JOHN WICKLIFFE.

The Popish emissaries boast that Popery is as ancient as Christianity. So
far is this from being true, that during the first six hundred years after Christ
there was no such thing as Popery in the world. Nay, Doctor Wickliffe
maintained, that it had no being until after the loosing of Satan in the second
millenary. JOHN LEWIS.

As for JOHN WICKLIFFE, JOHN Huss, VALDO, and the rest, for aught I
know, and I believe, setting malice aside, for aught you know, they were
godly men. Their greatest heresie was this, that they complained of the
dissolute and vicious lives of the clergy, of worshipping images, of fained
miracles, of the tyrannical pride of the pope, of monks, friers, pardons, pil-
grimages, and purgatory, and other like deceiving and mocking of the people ;
and that they wished a reformation of the church. BISHOP JEWEL.

JOHN WICKLIFFE1.

AFTER al these heretofore recited 2, by whom (as ye have heard)
it pleased the Lord something to worke against the bishop of
Rome, and to weaken the pernicious superstition of the friers ;
it now remaineth consequently, following the course of yeares,
orderly to enter into the storie and tractation of John Wickliffe
our countriman, and other more of his time, and same countrie,
whom the Lord (with the like zeale and power of spirit) raised
up here in England, to detect more fully and amplie the poison of
the pope's doctrine, and false religion set up by the friers. In
whose opinions and assertions, albeit some blemishes perhaps may
be noted ; yet such blemishes they be which rather declare him
to be a man that might erre, than which directly did fight against
Christ our saviour, as the pope's proceedings and the friers did.
— And what doctor or learned man hath been from the prime
age of the church, so perfect, so absolutely sure, in whom no
opinion hath sometime swerved awrie? And yet be the said
articles of his, neither in number so many, nor yet so grosse in
themselves and so cardinall, as those cardinall enemies of Christ
perchance do give them out to be; if his books, which they

1 John Wickliffe.'] On the history of Wickliffe, and his opinions, the reader
may consult Harpsfield's Historia Hceresis Wicleviance, fol. 1622. James's
Apologie for John Wickliffe, shewing his conformitie with the now Church of
England, 4to. 1608 ; Tanner's Eibliotheca, p. 767—772 ; Wharton's Appendix
to Cave's Historia Literaria, vol. ii. p. 60 — 65 ; Lewis's History of the Life
and Sufferings of John Wickliffe, 8vo. 1723, and 1820 : and the Life of Rey-
nold Pecock, Bishop of St. Asaph, 8vo. 1744, and 1820, by the same author.

2 Heretofore recited.~] Robert Grosthed, bishop of Lincoln ; Richard Fitz-
ralph, archbishop of Armagh ; Nicolas Orem ; the author of the Prayer and
Complaint of the Plowman and others.

168 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

abolished 3, were remaining to be conferred with those blemishes,

which they have wrested to the worst, as evil will never said the best.

This is certaine, that he being the publike reader of divinitie 4

in the universitie of Oxford, was for the rude time wherein he

3 His books, which they abolished.'] These endeavours to abolish were by a
constitution of archbishop Arundel (A.D. 1408), and by other expedients of a
like nature, of which we shall hear more in the course of this life. Bishop
Burnet having, in his History of the Reformation, made a reflection similar to
this of Fox, is animadverted upon by the severe pen of Henry Wharton, in
the following terms :

" It seems the historian knew not any certain means of gaining information
of Wickliffe's true opinions ; but when he would include all others in the
same ignorance of them, we must desire to be excused. We have as many
of the works of Wickliffe yet extant, as, if printed together, would make four
or five volumes in folio. And whether so many books be not sufficient to
teach us his opinions, let the reader judge." — Specimen of Errors and Defects
in the History of the Reformation, by Anth. Harmer. P. 16.

Nor is there indeed now much occasion that we should have recourse even
to manuscripts, to enable us to distinguish the real from the imputed doctrines
of Wickliffe. The following works have been printed : Dialogorum, lib. 4.
1525 and 1753; Wickliffe's Wicket, 1546, &c.; Prologue to the Bible, under
the title, Pathway to perfect Knowledge (if this be indeed Wickliffe's), 1550;
Aphorismi Wicleviani, 1554; Complaint to the King and Parliament, with a
Treatise against the Friars, 1608; Translation of the New Testament, 1731, fol.
These, with the addition of the books mentioned in note (*), p. 167, and the
third volume of IVilkins's Concilia, leave no longer much room to complain of
deficiency of materials for information respecting the sentiments which he
entertained in the principal heads of religion. Still, it is greatly to be wished,
that much more of works, at once both so extraordinarily valuable and so
curious, might be given to the world, carefully printed, from manuscripts still
extant : and that, from among his Latin works, particularly the extensive
treatise, " De Veritale Scriptures," so often referred to by Dr. Thomas James
in his Apology for Wickliffe, might be one of the first. Of this work, a copy,
perhaps the only perfect one, exists in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.
A full account of the famous MS. of Wicliffe in Trinity College, which once
belonged to Sir Robert Cotton, has been given by Dr. J. H. Todd, Senior
Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, in the preface to Wicliffe's " Apology for
Lollard Doctrines," printed for the Camden Society, in 1842. Dr. Todd
had previously printed, in 1840, "The Last Age of the Church," and has
recently printed, in 1851, "Three Treatises: I. Of the Church and her
Members: II. Of the Apostacy of the Church: III. Of Antichrist and his
Meynee." Dublin, sm. 4to. All of these are taken from the same MS. A
complete edition of the Wicliffite version of the Old and New Testament
was published by the University of Oxford in 1850, 4 vols. 4to.

4 Reader of divinitie. ] Wickliffe was born, prolmhly. about the year 1
and he began to deliver Theological Lectures in 1372, in the reign ot
ward III. Lewis's History, p. 1 and 18.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 169

lived, famously reputed for a great clerke, a deepe schooleman,
and no lesse expert in all kind of philosophic. The which doth
not only appeare by his owne most famous and learned writings
and monuments, but also by the confession of Walden, his most
cruell and bitter enemie ; who, in a certaine epistle written unto
pope Martin the fift 5, saith that " he was wonderfully astonished
at his most strong arguments, with the places of authoritie which
he had gathered, and with the vehemencie and force of his reasons6.
It appeareth by such as have observed the order and course of
times, that this Wickliffe flourished about the yeare of our Lord
1371, Edward the third raigning in England : for thus we do find
in the chronicles of Caxton: "In the yeare of our Lord 1371,
Edward the third, king of England, in his parliament, was against
the pope's clergie. He willingly harkened and gave eare to the
voices and tales of heretikes, with certaine of his counsell, con-
ceiving and following sinister opinions against the clergie. Where-
fore, afterward, he tasted and suffered much adversity and trouble.

5 Martin thefift.~\ Thomas Netter, called Waldenus from his native place
in Essex, who dedicated to Martin V. his work, called Doctrinale Antiquitatum
Fidei Ecclesia Catholics. It has been printed at Paris, in 1521 — 3, and
1532; at Salamanca, in 1556; and at Venice, in 1571.

6 Of his reasons.^ The following extract I borrow from a short Life of
Wickliffe, subjoined to James's Apology for John Wickliffe, shewing his con-
formity with the now Church of England. 1608. 4to.

" He was beloved of all good men for his good life, and greatly admired of
his greatest adversaries, for his learning and knowledge, both in divinity and
humanity. He writ so many large volumes in both, as it is almost incredible.
He seemed to follow, in the whole course of his studies, the method of the
schoolmen : and amongst them he was a professed follower of Ocham ; by
reading of whose learned books, and sundry others which lived about the
same time, or not long before ; such as were Bradwardine, Marsilius, Guido
de Sancto Amore, Abelardus, Armachanus, and that true great clerk Robert
Grosthead, God gave him grace to see the truth of his gospel, and by seeing
of it to loathe all superstition and popery. Of Ocham and Marsilius (see
p. 199, post} he was informed of the pope's intrusions and usurpations upon
kings, their crowns and dignities : of G. de S. Amore and Armachanus he
learned the sundry abuses of monks and friers in upholding this usurped
power : by Abelard and others he was grounded in the right faith of the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper : by Bradwardine, in the nature of a true
soul-justifying faith against merit-mongers and pardoners : finally, by reading
Grosthead's works, in whom he seemed to be most conversant, he descried
the pope to be open antichrist, by letting the gospel to be preached, and by
placing unable and unfit men in the church of God. He passed through all
degrees in this famous university very commendably."

170 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

And not long after, in the yeare of our Lord 1372, he wrote unto
the bishop of Rome, that he should not by any meanes inter-
meddle any more within his kingdome, as touching the reserva-
tion, or distribution of benefices 7 : and that all such bishops as
were under his dominion, should injoy their former and ancient
libertie, and be confirmed of their metropolitans, as hath
accustomed in times past." Thus much writeth Caxton in chap.
ccxxxvi. of the Cronicles of England, printed in 1480. But as
touching the just number of the yeare and time, we will not be
very curious or carefull about it at this present. This is out of
all doubt, that at what time all the world was in most desperate
and vile estate, and that the lamentable ignorance and darki
of God\s truth had overshadowed the whole earth ; this man.
Wickliffc, stepped forth like a valiant champion, unto whom it may
justly be applied that is spoken in the booke called Ecck
ticus 8, of one Simon the sonne of Onias : " Even as the morning
star being in the middcst of a cloud, and as the moone being full

7 The reservation . . . of benefices. ~] This refers to a power gradually usurped by
the popes to a very great extent ; whereby, before any ecclesiastical promotion
became vacant the see of Rome reserved the future nomination to itself, pro-
vided a successor to the bishopric or benefice, and declared that if any pre-
sentation was made, it should be null and void.

In one of these letters of the king and his parliament to Pope Clement VI.
they thus solemnly expostulate against this grievous evil.

" We have thought meet to signifie unto your holiness, that divers reser-
vations, provisions, and collations, by your predecessours apostolike of Rome,
and by you, most holy father, in your time have been granted (and that more
largely than they have beene accustomed to be) unto divers persons, as wel
strangers and of sundry nations, as unto some such as are our enemies ;
having no understanding at all of the tongue and conditions of them, of whom
they have the government and cure : whereby a great number of soules are in
perill, a great many of their parishioners in danger, the service of(Jod de-
stroyed, the almes and devotion of all men diminished, the hospitals per;
the churches with their appurtenances decayed, charitie withdrawne, the
and honest persons of our realme unadvanced, the charge and government of
soules not regarded, the devotion of the people restrained, many poore scholars
unpreferred, and the treasure of the realme carried out, against the n.
and intents of the founders. All which errors, defaults, and slanders, most
holy father, wee neither can nor ought to suffer or endure." Fox'a Acts,
p. 353. Edit. ICU). This was in the year 1343. An act was passed in par-
liament the year following to annul these reservations; but tin- eflivt pro-
duced was slight. Tin- dispute \v:is several times revived. About th«
13/6, they were, on agreement, relinquished formally by the pope: but
this seems not to have been effectual. Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 1)7.

8 Called Eccl(sir/sticiis.~] Chap. 1. ver. 6.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 1 71

in her course, and as the bright beames of the sunne ; so doth
he shine and glister in the temple and church of God."

Thus doth almighty God continually succor and help, when all
things are in despaire : being alwaies (according to the pro-
phecie of the psalme 9) " a helper in time of need V— The which
thing never more plainly appeared, than in these latter daies and
extreame age of the church ; when the whole state and condition,
not only of worldly things, but also of religion, was so depraved
and cornipted, that like as the disease named lethargus among
the physitions, even so the state of religion amongst the divines,
was past all man's remedie. The onely name of Christ remained
amongst Christians, but his true and lively doctrine was as farre
unknowne unto the most part, as his name was common unto
all men. As touching faith, consolation, the end and use of the
law, the office of Christ, of our impotencie and weakenesse, of the
Holy Ghost, of the greatnesse and strength of sinne, of true
works, of grace and free justification by faith, of libertie of a
Christian man, things wherein consisteth and resteth the summe
and matter of our profession ; there was no mention, nor any
word almost spoken. Scripture-learning and divinitie was knowne
but unto a few, and that in the scholes onely, and there also
turned and converted almost all into sophistry. In stead of Peter
and Paul, men occupied their time in studying Aquinas and
Scotus, and the Master of the Sentences 2. The world forsaking
the lively power of God^s spirituall word and doctrine, was alto-
gether led and blinded with outward ceremonies and human
traditions, wherein the whole scope, in a manner, of all Christian
perfection did consist and depend. In these was all the hope of
obtaining salvation fullie fixed ; hereunto all things were attri-
buted. Insomuch, that scarcely any other thing was seene in
the temples or churches, taught or spoken of in sermons, or
finallie intended or gone about in their whole life, but only
heaping up of certaine shadowed ceremonies upon ceremonies ;
neither was there any end of their heaping.

9 The psalme^] Psalme ix. v. 9, &c.

1 In time of need. ,] On the Causes and Necessity of the Reformation, see
Hermann! von der Hardt Historia Literaria Reformat ionis, Parts i. — iv. A.D.
1717; Hottingeri Historia Ecclesiastica, vol. v. — vii. ; Gibson's Preservative
against Popery, tit. i. p. 1 — 132 ; Casaubon's Dedication to King James I. of
his Exercitations against Earonius.

2 Of the Sentences. ] Peter Lombard.

172 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

The people were taught to worship no other thing but that
which they did see, and did see almost nothing which they did
not worship.

The church being degenerated from the true apostolicke insti-
tution above all measure, (reserving only the name of the apos-
tolicke church, but far from the truth thereof in very deed) did
fall into all kinds of extreame tyrannic; whereas the povertie
and simplicitie of Christ was changed into crueltie and abomina-
tion of life. In stead of the apostolicke gifts, and their continuall
labors and travels, slothfulness and ambition was crept in amongst
the priests. Besides all this, there arose and sprung up a thousand
sorts and fashions of strange religions3, being the onely roote and

3 Sorts and fashions of strange religions.] That is, the various sects and
orders of monks and friars.

Amid so many corruptions, it is not to be wondered that the contagion
spread from the heart and from manners, and invaded the popular language.
Of this very baneful species of degeneracy, the instances are by no means
infrequent. We have an example before us in the use of this term religion ;
a word, to the participation of which, with its corresponding epithet religious,
the laity seem to have been allowed to make hardly any pretension. They
were almost exclusively appropriated to the clergy, and especially to one
division of them, the several orders of monks and friars. Thus we read, in
the Complaint and Prayer of the Ploughman, the work of a professed reformer :
"The pope clepith (calleth) himselfe father of fathers, and maketh many
religions. But whether is love and charity encreased by these fathers and by
their religions, or else ymade lesse ? For a frier ne loveth not a monke, ne a
secular man neither; nor yet one frier another that is not of the order. Ah
Lord ! me thinketh that there is little perfection in these religions ! The
service that Thou desirest is keeping of thine hests (commandments); and then
a lewd man (lay-man) may serve God, as well as a man of religion ; though
that the ploughman he may not have so much silver for his prayer, as men of
religion."— Vox, p. 368. Whytford's Pype of Perfection, printed A.D. 1532,
is an elaborate apology for monachism. This curious book furnishes us with
many examples of the same abuse of the term religion. " Religyon is made
and standeth principally in the three essencial vowes, obedience, wilfull po-
vertie, and chastitie. For these thre ben the substanciall partes of religyon.'*
Fol. 2. — " The great heretyke Luther, with all his discyples, done deprave and
utterly condempne all maner of religyons, except onely (as they call hit) the
religyon of Christe. Wherefore I thought necessarye (unto the comforte of
all suche persones as have or done purpose or intende to entre religyon) some-
what, after my poore understanding, to speke thereof." Fol. :*.— "A state
appertaynynge unto monkes and solitarie persones, whiche state is now c
onely religyon. And suche persones as ben bounden unto that state, and
done lyve in religion bene alone called religious persones, and none other per-
sones ben so named communly, but onely they." Fol. 232. The first quotation

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 173

well-head of all superstition. How great abuses and depravations
were crept into the sacraments, at what time men were compelled
to worship similitudes and signes of things, for the very things
themselves; and to adore such things as were instituted and
ordained only for memorials ! Finally, what thing was there,
in the whole state of Christian religion so sincere, so sound and
pure, which was not defiled and spotted with some kind of super-
stition ? Besides this, with how many bonds and snares of dailie
new fangled ceremonies were the sillie consciences of men, redeemed
by Christ to liberty, snared and snarled ! Insomuch, that there
could be no great difference almost perceived betweene Chris-
tianitie and Jewishnesse, save only the name of Christ : so that
the state and condition of the Jewes, might seeme somewhat
more tolerable than ours. The Christian people were wholly
carried away as it were by the noses, with meere decrees and
constitutions of men, even whither it pleased the bishops to lead
them, and not as Christ's will did direct them. All the whole
world was filled and overwhelmed with errors and darkenesse.
And no great marvell ; for why, the simple and unlearned people
being farre from all knowledge of the holy scripture, thought it
sufficient for them, to know onlie these things which were
delivered them by their pastors and shepheards 4 ; and they on
the other part taught in a manner nothing else, but such things
as came forth of the court of Rome : whereof the most part

in this note supplies another apt instance of the corruption which we are re-
marking upon, in the use of the word lewd (see p. 368, post) ; which, as it
should appear, denoting in its primitive signification, in the Anglo-Saxon, igno-
rant, was about the age of Wickliffe, perpetually used simply for layman,
without being designed to convey any particular reproach; and at other times,
in a worse sense, to which it is now exclusively appropriated. Under this ex-
ample, the presumptuous revilings of the Pharisee can hardly fail of recurring
to the mind of my readers. " This people who knoweth not the law, are cursed.1'
John vii. 49. The only remaining instance of a corruption in language, which
I shall adduce, is one nearly allied to those above referred to — the use of the
term Holy Church. " When men speken of holy churche (says Wickliffe), they
understonden anoon prelates and priests, monks, cannons and freres, and all
men that have crowns (the tonsure}, tho they liven never so cursedly agenst
God's law; and clepen not ne holden secular men of holy church, tho they
liven never so duly after God's law, and enden in perfect charity." — Lewis's
History, p. 126. Compare TindalPs Works, p. 249, A.D. 1571.

4 Pastors and shepheards.'] Of whom, according to Wickliffe, were "maney
that kunnen not the ten commandements, ne read their Sauter, ne understond
a verse of it." — Great sentence of Curse expounded; Lewis's Life, &c. p. 40.

174 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

tended to the profit of their order, more than to the glorie of
Christ.

The Christian faith was esteemed or counted none other tiling
then, but that everie man should know that Christ once suffered.
that is to say, that all men should know and understand that
thing which the divels themselves also knew. Hypocrisie was
counted for wonderfull holinesse. All men were so addict unto
outward shewes, that even they themselves which professed the
most absolute and singular knowledge of the Scriptures, scarsly
did understand or know any other thing. And this evidently
did appeare, not onely in the common sort of doctors and teacl
but also in the very heads and captaines of the church ; v
whole religion and holinesse consisted in a manner in the ob>
ing of daies, meats and garments, and such like rhetoricall
circumstances, as of place, time, person, &c. Hereof sprang so
many sorts and fashions of vestures and garments 5 : so many

5 Vestures and garments.] As Black Friars, White Friars, Grey, &c. &c. —
" What be these Benedictines, Cistertians, Carmelites, Carthusians, Domi-
nicans, Franciscans, with others like, an huge numbre, but names of popishe
schismes and sectes ? who, all forsakyng the religion and name of Christe,
common to all true Christians, have chosen to be called religious, as by a special
name of aseverall religion; and to be named after men, their fathers on earth,
forsakyng the heavenly father, and continuing and accomplishinge the
schisme first begunne in S. Paules time, after the example of those who sayd,
* I am of Paule, I of Cephas, I of Apollos ;" saying, ' 1 am of Dominike, I of
Benedicte, I of Francisce,' who also may directly answer S. Paule as!
' Was Paule or any other, savyng only Christe crucified for you ? ' ' Yea,'
may the Franciscans say, * S. Francisce was crucified for us of his familie,
and beholde the woundes in his side, handes, and feete.'

"And leste all these sectes should not be knowen sufficiently by onely
diversitie of names, thei have by other infinite wayes and meanes travelled to
sever their sectes asundre, studyinge for division as for the best, and fl
all shewe of unitie as the worste of all thinges. Wherefore to their divt
of names, they have joyned diversitie of fashions, and diversitie of colours in
their apparell; diversitie of girdels, hose, and shooes; diversitie of shuv
diversitie of goyng, beckyng and bowyng, diversitie of diete and m-
diversitie of readyng, singinge, and tunynge, diversitie of churche service,
and diversitie of rules of life. All times would fayle me, if I should, or
coulde rehearse all their diversities, which is the very propertie of schismes and
sectes. These be those schismatikes, and sectaries, with an infinite multitude
whereof, of late Englande was repleanished ; of the whiche now, thankes
God, the realme is well ridde : so that if you meete a thousande men and
women one after an other severally, and aske of them, 'of what religion be
they shall all and every one answere you, ' I am a Christian ; we be all

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 175

differences of colours and meates : with so many pilgrimages to
severall places, as though S. James at Compostella6 could doe
that, which Christ could not doe at Canturburie ; or else that
God were not of like power and strength in every place, or could
not be found but being sought for by running and gadding
hither and thither. Thus the holinesse of the whole yeare was
transported and put off unto the Lent season 7. No countrie or

Christians :' there shal not one answere to you (as was wonte), * I am of the
religion of S. Francisce, a Franciscane : an other, I am a Dominicaine : the
thirde, I am a Carmelite. Et sic de singulis.' One woman shall not answere
you : ' I am a Brigittyne : an other, I am a Clarane : the thirde, I am an
Eugubine, whiche are all names of abominable sectes and schismes, not
onely dividyng, but deniyng, but forgettyng, but rejectinge the religion and
name of Jesus Christe." — A Reproof, ivritten by Alexander Nowell, of a book
entitled, A Proof of certain Articles in Religion denied by Master Jewell, set
forth by Thomas Dorman, B.D. 1565. 4to. fol. p. 55.

See also the ninth section of TVarton's History of English Poetry, 8vo.
Lond. 1840, vol. ii. p. 87, where is an analysis of Robert Longlande's "Vision
of Pierce Ploughman."

6 S.James at Compostella.~] The pilgrimage to Compostella in Spain, famous
throughout Europe, was accounted one of the most meritorious, and amongst
the most highly favoured by supposed miraculous interpositions. A part of
its celebrity, we are told, was owing to the length of the way, and the dangers
of the journey. " A short pilgrimage (says Weever), is not worth a pin :
neither is an image in so much honour and respect in that country where it
is, as in far countries. For example, the Italians, yea those who dwell near
Rome, will mock and scoff at our English and other pilgrims, who go to
see the pope's holiness, and St. Peter's chair ; and yet they themselves will
run to see the relics of St. James of Compostella, in the kingdom of Gallicia
in Spain, which is above twelve hundred English miles." Weever's Funeral
Monuments. Disc. P. clxiii. Edit. 1767. The whole legend upon which the
fame and the wealth of this celebrated spot was founded, which " has cost
millions of Christians many a weary step over rocks and mountains ; who
otherwise would have staid at home, and performed their devotions, and not
have, by long sauntering pilgrimages, reduced themselves and their families
to beggary ; having nothing, by that means, left them but a few scollop shells
upon a threadbare weed, and a feather or two of the cast of the cock which
crowed when St. Peter denied his Lord," has been accurately examined, and
its numerous falsehoods and absurdities satisfactorily exposed by Dr. Michael
Geddes, in the second volume of his Miscellaneous Tracts, p. 208 — 234.

7 Put off unto the Lent seasonJ] Thus in the Festival, which consists of
short sermons or homilies upon many of the Sundays, and the other principal
feasts throughout the year, and was the book most commonly read in churches,
even till the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. the discourse for the
second Sunday in Lent thus begins :

" Good men and women, this is the seconde Sonday in clene Lente ; where-

176 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

land was counted holy, but onelie Palestina, where Christ himselfe
had walked with his corporall feet. Such was the blindnesse of that

fore lyke as ye have all this yere before made you honest and well besene in
good araye to youre body, now shoulde ye be as soone besye to make you a
dene soule. Wherefore this tyme of Lente is ordeyned to dense youre con-
science from all maner rust and fylth of sinne." Festival, fol. 17 b. Again,
" And for bycause that every man synnes more or lesse, for to make satysfac-
cyon for trespas, all crysten people ben bounden by the lawe of God and
Hooly Chyrche to fast these forty dayes." Festival, fol. 15. From such
extracts as these, the reader will see the necessity of a reformation in doctrine,
and will recognize one cause of the frequent insertion of those expressions in
the liturgy, and other books of the Reformers, where Christ is spoken of as
a " full and perfect satisfaction" " the only mediator and advocate," &c. —
Yet once more. The Golden Legend, so denominated, because " as golde
passeth all other metailes, so this boke excedeth all other bokes," upon the
first Sunday in Lent, makes the following calculation : " We put to penaunce
and afflyccyon fro this present day unto Eester six wekes comynge, that ben
forty-two days. Yf the Sondayes be taken awaye, there abyde in the absty-
nence but thirty-six dayes : and the yere is demeaned by three hondred and
sixty-five dayes : (so) we gyve the tythe of them to God whan we faste" —
Golden Legend, fol. 14. Edit. 1527. By Wynkyn de Worde. In the same
spirit the clergy of the Lower House of Convocation formally complained to
the prelates, in the year 1536, that among many other erroneous opinions,
" it was preached, thought and spoken to the slander of this noble realm,
disquietness of the people, and damage of Christian souls, that the sinner
offending in the Lent or other high feasts of the year, is worthy no more
punishment, than he that transgresseth in any other time." — Wilkins's Con-
cilia, vol. iii. p. 805. But, as knowledge and reformation advanced, a better
temper began to prevail. Hence in the year 1545, we find Cuthbert Scot, no
very zealous friend to the reformation, in a sermon at St. Paul's cross, thus
expressing himself: "Now if the tyme wold suffre me, I wolde speake here
of the fashyons of men nowe in these dayes. For many there be, as I thynke,
whiche do not walke in this way, but do runne as it were in a circuit, and
maye be lykened to a dogge that runneth in a whele, whiche sty 11 goeth and
laboreth, and when he maketh an ende, he is even where he begonne. And
so I do feare that men do in these dayes. Theyr tyme goeth, and they gro\ve
in age, and yet, looke, how they lyved the last yeare, and even so they lyve
this yeare, and so wyll do the nexte : nothyng at all increasynge in vertue
nor godlynes, but do as vittelars used to do, whiche take bread and drincke
of bakers and brewers, to a daye, not payenge money in hande, but tale with
them : and when the day of payment cometh, they paye theyr money, and
strike off the old tales, and begynne agayne to tayle of newe. And even so do
we. We be very bold with God all the yeare longe, and tale with liyin tyll
Lente comme : and then we be confessed, kepynge abstinence for a t ym
receyve the holy sacrament, and so sone as Easter is past, we be^yii <
tale of newe, and fall agayne to our olde kynde of lyvyng. But such be not
these that David called in this place, happy ; for they do not walke urnl.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 177

time, men did strive and fight for the crosse at Hierusalem, as it
had been for the chiefe and onelie force and strength of our faith.

in this way." Signat. k. 7- Imprynted by Johannes Herford, at the costes
of Robert Toye. 1545.

Again : after citing so much in conformity with Fox's representation, I
cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of producing additional evidence of
further reformation, along with the wise and admirable remarks of the author,
another protestant writer, Sir Edwin Sandys. He speaks, indeed, of a later
day; his work having been written near the close of the reign of queen
Elizabeth, A.D. 1599.

" Notwithstanding this testimony, I yield not only willingly but gladly to
them (for what joy could it be, what grief ought it not to be, to the heart of
any man, to see men fall irrecoverably from the love and laws of the Crea-
tor ?) — that, at one time of the year, namely, at Lent, they are much reformed.
No such blasphemy, nor dirty speaking as before ; their vanities of all sorts
laid reasonably aside; their pleasures abandoned; their apparel, their diet,
and all things else composed to austerity and state of penitence. They have
daily, then, their preaching with collections of almes, whereto all men resort :
and to judge of them by the outward shew, they seem generally to have very
great remorse for their wickedness. In so much, that I must confess I
seemed unto myself in Italy to have best learned the right use of Lent ; there
first to have discerned the great fruit of it, and the reason for which those
sages at first did institute it. Neither can I easily accord to the fancies of
such, as because we ought at all times to lead a life worthy of our profession,
think it, therefore, superstitious to have one time wherein to exact or expect it
more than other ; but rather do thus conceive, that seeing the corruption of
times and wickedness of men's nature is now so exorbitant, that an hard
matter it is to hold the ordinary sort of men at all times within the lists of
piety, justice, and sobriety; it is fit, therefore, there should be one time at
least in the year, and that of reasonable continuance, wherein the season itself,
the use of the world and practice of all men (for even the Jews and the Turks
have their Lents, although different), the commandment of superiors, the
provision of fit means to assist therein; and in sum, the very outward face
and expectation as it were of all things, should constrain men, how wicked
and wretchless soever, for that time, at least, to recal themselves to some
more severe cogitations and courses; lest sin, having no such bridle to
check it at any time, should at length wax headstrong and unconquer-
able in them ; and that, on the other side, being thus necessarily inured
for a while, though but to make a bare shew of walking in the paths
of virtue, they might afterwards, perhaps, more sincerely and willingly
persist (as custom makes hard things pleasant), or at least wise return more
readily again unto them some other time. — And verily I have had sundry
times this cogitation in Italy, that in so great looseness of life and decay of
discipline in those parts, it was the especial great mercy and grace of God,
that the severity of Lent should yet still be preserved, lest otherwise the
floods of sin growing so strong and outragious, and having no where either
bound or bank to restrain them, might plunge that whole nation in such a

VOL. I. N

178 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

It is a wonder to reacle the monuments of the former times, to
see and understand what great troubles and calamities this crosse
hath caused almost in every Christian commonwealth. For the
Romish champions never ceased, by writing, admonishing, and
counselling, yea and by quarrelling, to move and stir up princes'
minds to warre and battell, even as though the faith and beleefe of
the gospell, were of small force, or little effect without that woodden
crosse. This was the cause of the expedition of the most noble
prince, king Richard, unto Hierusalem, who being taken in the
same journie, and delivered unto the emperour, could scarslie be
ransomed home againe for thirty thousand markes8. In the
same enterprise or journie, Fredericus the emperour of Rome, a
man of most excellent vertue, was much endamaged, an. 1179.
And also Philip the king of France, scarslie returned home
againe in safetie, not without great losses : — so much did they
esteeme the recovery of the holy citie and crosse 9.

Upon this alone, all men's eies, mindes and devotions, were so
set and bent, as though either there were no other crosse but
that, or that the crosse of Christ were in no other place but only
at Hierusalem. Such was the blindnesse and superstition of
those daies, which understood or knew nothing but such things
as were outwardlie seene : whereas the profession of our religion
standeth in much other higher matters and greater mysteries,—
What is the cause why Urbanus did so vexe and torment him-
selfe ? Because that Antioch with the holy crosse, was lost out
of the hands of the Christians. For so wee doe find it in the
chronicles, "at what time Jerusalem \\ith king Guido, and the

gulf of wickedness, and bring them to that last extremity, which should
leave them neither hope of better, nor place but for worse. Yea, and I was
so farr from thinking the institution of Lent superfluous, or the retaining of
it unprofitable, that I rather inclined to like the custom of the (In-ek Church,
who, besides the great Lent, have three other Lents also, at solemn tin;
the year; though those other neither so long, neither yet of so strir
general observations." Sandys's Europa Speculum, p. 21 — 23. edit. 1< J

8 Thirty thousand markes.'] In p. 225, vol. i. edit. 1010, Fox tells us that the
ransom was sixty thousand marks. From Inett it appears, that the king agreed
with the emperor to pay for his ransom a hundred thousand marks, and to find
fifty galleys and two hundred knights, at his own charge, for the cm]
service for one year. But as all this could not be raised at once, part of the
money was paid, and hostages given for the discharge of the remainder. —
Inett's Origines AnylicantB, vol. ii. p. 354.

9 And crossed] See Index, under Crusade.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 179

crosse of our Lord was taken, and under the power of the sultan,
Urbanus took the matter so grievouslie, that for very sorrow he
died. In whose place succeeded Lambertus which was called
Gregorie the VIII. , by whose motion it was decreed by the
cardinals, that (setting apart all riches and voluptuousnesse)
they should preach the crosse of Christ, and by their povertie
and humilitie first of all should take the crosse upon them, and
goe before others into the land of Jerusalem." These are the

o

words of the historic ; whereby it is evident unto what grosse-
nesse the true knowledge of the spirituall doctrine of the gospell
was degenerate and growne in those daies.

How great blindnesse and darknesse again, was in those daies,
in the primacie, and supremacie of the bishop of Rome; as
though the outward succession of Peter and the apostles, had
been of great force and effect to that matter ! What doth it
force in what place Peter did rule or not rule ? It is much more
to be regarded that every man should labour and studie with all
their indeavour to follow the life and confession of Peter : and
that man seemeth unto me to be the true successor of Peter,
against whom the gates of hell shall not prevaile. For if that
Peter in the gospel do beare the type and figure of the Christian
church (as all men in a maner doe affirme) what more foolish or
vaine thing can there bee, than through privat usurpation, to
restraine and to bind that unto one man, which by the appoint-
ment of the Lord, is of it selfe free and open to so many * 2"

In these so greatly troublous times, and this horrible dark-

1 To so many.'] The original Latin edition, which is of good authority, and
will occasionally well repay the trouble of being consulted, by those who
have access to so scarce a volume, contains some sentences here, omitted in
the English translation (which it is of some importance to know, was not
executed by Fox himself, but, both for translation and publication, was, at
least as respects the first edition, confided to other hands ; he being, at the
time of the coming out of that edition in 1563, engaged elsewhere, in collect-
ing materials for other portions of his vast and arduous undertaking) :

" Caeterarum ecclesiarum " (says he) "nihil valebant pastores, nisi quantum
ab ipso permittebatur. Solus hie non ecclesiis, sed et regnis praesidebat
omnibus. Solus terrori erat cunctis : caeteris Christi ministris parum aut
nihil tribuebatur. Ab uno pendebant ac petebantur omnia. Nusquam erat
excommunicandi jus, nusquam relaxandi autoritas, nusquam interpretandi
potestas, nisi in Romana basilica. In hac igitur tanta rerum perturbatione,"
&c., as in the English copy. " Commentarii Rerum, &c. Basileze, 1559."
Fol. p. 4.

N 2

180 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

nesse of ignorance, what time there seemed in a manner to be no
sparke of pure doctrine left or remaining, this aforesaid Wick-
liffe by God^s providence sprang and rose up : through whom the
Lord would first waken and raise againe the world, which was
overmuch drowned and whelmed in the deepe streames of human
traditions. — Thus you have here the time of Wickliffe^s originall.

Which Wickliffe, after he had now by a long time professed
divinitie 2 in the universitie of Oxford, and perceiving the true
doctrine of Chrises gospell to be adulterate and defiled, with so
many inventions of popes, sects of monks, and darke errours, he
after long debating and deliberating with himselfe (with many
secret sighes, and bewailing in his mind the generall ignorance of
the whole world) could no longer suffer or abide the same, but
that he at last determined with himselfe to helpe and to remedie
such things as hee saw to bee wide and out of the way. Hut
forsomuch as he saw that this dangerous medling, could not he-
attempted or stirred without great trouble, neither that t
things which had been so long time with use and custome rooted
and grafted in men's minds, could bee suddenlie plucked up
or taken away, hee thought with himselfe that this in,
should be done by little and little. Wherefore he taking his
originall at small occasions, thereby opened himselfe a way or
meane to greater matters.

And first he assailed his adversaries in logicall and in
physicall questions, disputing with them of the first forme and
fashion of things, of the increase of time, and of the intelliu.il ile
substance of a creature, with other such like sophemes3 of no
great effect: but yet notwithstanding they did not a little helj»e
and furnish him, which minded to dispute of greater mat;
So in these matters first began Kegningham (a Cannelit'
dispute and argue against John Wickliffe.

By these originals, the way was made unto greater point-
that at the length he came to touch the matters of the sacram

3 Professed divinitie.'] He took the degree of D.D. in 1372. — Lewis, cl
ii. p. 21.

3 Such like sophemes.'] "Hit is not inoughe for a prieste (after my judg-
ment) to construe a collette, to put forth a question, or to answere to a*o/>;
but moche more a good, a pure, and a holy life, approved manors, n;
1< rnynge of holye scripture, some knowlege of the sacramentes ; chief!;.
above all thynm- the feareof God, and love of the heavenly 1\ ie "- I )ean Colet's
Convocation Sermon, p. 301. Knight's edition; subjoined to his Life.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 181

and other abuses of the church. Touching which things this
holy man tooke great paines, protesting (as they said) openlie in
the schooles, that it was his chiefe and principall purpose and
intent to revoke and call backe the church from her idolatrie to
some better amendment, especially in the matter of the sacrament
of the bodie and blood of Christ. — But this boil or sore could not
bee touched without the great griefe and paine of the whole
world. For first of all, the whole glut of monks, and begging-
friers 4 were set on a rage or madnesse, which (even as hornets
with their sharpe stings) did assaile this good man on every side.
After them the priests, and then after them the archbishop took
the matter in hand, being then Simon Sudburie, who for the
same cause deprived him of his benefice, which then he had in

4 Begging /Hers.] The ecclesiastical history of these ages is full of the
ambitious encroachments, the hypocrisy, and the immoralities of the men-
dicant orders. Their vices, which they endeavoured to hide under the cloke
of extraordinary zeal and sanctity, gave many deep and lasting wounds to the
interests of truth and of religion. The reader may not be displeased to see
their general character well drawn by one who had studied them nearly — the
learned Henry Wharton ; a man by whose premature death the ecclesiastical
history of this country, and other departments of literature, sustained incal-
culable losses.

"These mendicant orders arose and chiefly infested the church in the
thirteenth age. They pretended an extraordinary call from God to reform
the world, and correct the faults of the secular clergy. To this end they put
on a mighty shew of zeal for the good of men's souls, and of contempt of the
world : accused the secular clergy of famishing the souls of men, called them
dumb dogs, and cursed hirelings : maintained that evangelical poverty became
the ministers of the gospel : that it was unlawful for them to possess any
thing, or to retain propriety in any worldly goods. As for the publick orders
of the church, they would not be tied to them, alleging, that themselves being
wholly spiritual, could not be obliged to any carnal ordinances. They broke
in every where upon the parochial clergy ; usurped their office ; in all popu-
lous and rich places, set up altars of their own ; withdrew the people from
the communion of their parish priest ; would scarce allow the hopes of sal-
vation to any but their own disciples, whom they bewitched with great pre-
tences of sanctity, and assiduity in preaching. These artifices had raised
their reputation and interest so high in a few years, that they wanted very
little to ruin the secular clergy, and therewith the church. But in less than
an age the cheat of these impostors became manifest to all men. They pro-
cured to their societies incredible riches, built to themselves stately palaces ;
infinitely surpassed that viciousness of which themselves had (perhaps un-
justly) accused the secular clergy ; and long before the Reformation, became
the most infamous and contemptible part of the church of Rome." — Defence
of Pluralities. P. 9, 10. A.D. 1692, and 1/03. Edit. 2.

182 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

Oxford. — Notwithstanding, he being somewhat friended and sup-
ported by the king5, as appeareth, continued, and bare out the
malice of the friers, and of the archbishop all this while of his
first beginning, till about the yeere of our Lord, 1377. — After
which time now to prosecute likewise of his troubles and conflict,
first I must fetch about a little compasse, as requisite is. to
inferre some mention of John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster the
king's sonne, and lord Henrie Percie 6, which were his special!
maintainers.

As yeeres and time grew on, king Edward the third, which
had raigned now about fifty-one yeeres, after the decease of
prince Edward his sonne, who departed the yeere before, was
stricken in great age, and in such feeblenesse withall. that he
was unweldie through lacke of strength to governe the affair <
the realme. Wherefore a parliament being called the }
before his death, it was there put up by the knights and other
the burgesses of the parliament (because of the misgovernment
of the realme by certaine greedie persons about the king, raking
all to themselves, without seeing any justice done) that twelve
sage and discreet lords, and peeres, such as were free from i
of all avarice, should be placed as tutours about the king, to 1
the doing and disposing under him (sixe at one time, and in
their absence sixe at another) of matters pertinent to the publike
regiment.

These twelve governors by the parliament afore-said !»'
appointed to have the tuition of the king, and to attend to the
publike affaires of the realme, remained for a certaine spa«-«-
about him, till afterward it so fell out, that they In- ing a_
removed, all the regiment of the realme next under the K
was committed to the duke of Lancaster the king's son. !•'«

5 Supported by the king.'] In the forty-eighth year of Edward HI.(A.D. 1
\\iokliffe, then reader in divinity in Oxford, was the second named in :t
mission from that prince to treat with ambassadors from the pope, of matters
in dispute between the realm of England and the see of Rome, respecting re-
stitutions of benefices and elections and confirmations of bishops.

Again, in the year 1375, Nov. 6, the prebend of Aust, in the colle
church of Westbury, Worcester diocese, was given to him by the king : and
about the same time, adds Lewis (chap, iii.), "he seems to have been
sented (by the king) to the rectory of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire."—

}). .'}()<>; Lewis, rlisip. !5.

Lnrd Henrie Percie.'] i. e. Henry Percy, third Lord Percy of Almvick,
and first Earl of Northumberland, lie was father of Hotspur.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 183

yet Richard the sonne of prince Edward lately departed, was
very young and under age.

This duke of Lancaster had in his heart of long time conceived
a certaine displeasure against the clergie ; whether for corrupt
and impure doctrine, joyned with like abominable excesse of
life, or for what other cause, it is not precisely expressed. Onely
by storie the cause thereof may be gessed, to rise by William
Wickam bishop of Winchester. The matter is this.

The bishop of Winchester was reported to affirme, that the
aforesaid John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster, was not the sonne
of king Edward, nor of the queene. Who being in travell at
Gaunt, had no sonne (as he said) but a daughter ; which the
same time by lying upon of the mother in the bed, was there
smothered. Whereupon, the queene fearing the kings displeasure,
caused a certaine manchild of a woman of Flanders (borne the
very same time) to be conveied and brought unto her in stead of
her daughter aforesaid, and so brought up the child whom shee
bare not, who now is called duke of Lancaster. And this (said
the bishop) did the queene tell him, lying in extreemes on
her deathbed, under seale of confession ; charging him if the
said duke should ever aspire to get the crowne, or if the king-
dome by any meanes should fall unto him, he then should manifest
the same, and declare it to the world, that the said duke of
Lancaster was no part of the kings bloud, but a false heire of the
king. — This slanderous report of the wicked bishop 7, seemeth to
proceed of a subtill zeale toward the popes religion : for that the
foresaid duke by favouring of Wickliffe, declared himselfe to be
a professed enemie against the popes profession. Which thing

7 The wicked bishop. .] Bishop Lowth, in his Life of William of Wykeham
(p. 143—146, edit. 2d) discards the whole of this story as altogether absurd
and incredible. The D. of Lancaster, he remarks, was the seventh child of the
king, and the fourth son, of whom only the second son and the fourth
daughter died in their infancy. Can we suppose then, he asks, that the king
would be very desirous of another son, or the queen under any temptation to
impose one upon him ? — Without taking any part in the dispute, we may be
permitted to remark, that the bishop's argument proceeds in the neglect of a
part of the alleged circumstances of the case. It does not appear in the story
that it was a son that the queen wished to impose, so much as a child, in lieu
of that which she is said to have smothered, and in dread of the king's dis-
pleasure. "If a woman by negligence" (says Chaucer) "overlyeth her
child in her sleeping, it is homicide and deadly sin."— Parson's Tale. P. 182.
Edit. 1687.

184 JOHN WICKL1FFE.

was then not unknowne, neither unmarked of the prelats and
bishops then in England. — But the sequell of the storie thus
followed :

This slanderous report being blazed abroad, and comming to
the dukes eare, he therewith being not a little discontented (as
no marvell was) sought again by what meanes he could, to bee
revenged of this forenamed bishop. In conclusion, the duke
having now all the government of the realme under the king his
father, in his owne hand, so pursued the bishop of Winche
that by act of parliament, he was condemned and deprived of all
his temporall goods, which goods were assigned to prince Richard
of Burdeux, the next inheritour of the crowne after the king ;
and furthermore the act inhibited the said bishop not to approach
neere to the court by twenty miles.

Not long after in the yeere of our Lord, 1377, a parliament
was called by the meanes of the duke of Lancaster, upon certaine
causes and respects ; in which parliament great request and suite
was made by the clergie for the deliverance of the bishop of
Winchester. At length when a subsidie was asked in the kin,^
name of the clergie, and request also made in the kings behalt'e
for speedie expedition to bee made for the dissolving of the parlia-
ment, the archbishop therefore accordingly convented the bishops
for the tractation thereof. To whom the bishops with great lamen-
tation complained for lacke of their fellow and brother bishop of
Winton. Whose injurie, said they, did derogate to the liberties
of the whole church: and therefore denied to joyne themselves
in tractation of any such matters, before all the members together
were united with the head : and (seeing the matter touched them
all together in common, as well him as them) they would not
otherwise doe : and seemed moreover to be mooved against the
archbishop for that hee was not more stout in the cause, but
suffered him to be cited of the duke.

The archbishop although having sufficient cause to ex<
himselfe, wherefore not to send for him because of the perils
which miti'ht ensue thereof; yet being inforced and perswaded
thereunto, by the importunitie of the bishops, directed dmvne his
letter-; to the foresaid bishop of Wiutnn. willing him to r<
unto tin- convocation of the clergie ; who bein^ ^lad to ohav the
same, was receive.! with great joy of the other bishops. And at
length the said Winchester was restored to his owne tempo-
ralities againe.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 185

As the bishops had thus sent for Winchester, the duke in the
mean time had sent for John Wickliffe : who, as is said, was
then the divinitie reader in Oxford, and had commenced in
sundrie acts and disputations, contrary to the forme and teaching
of the popes church in many things : who also for the same had
been deprived of his benefice, as hath been afore touched.

The opinions which he began in Oxford, first in his lectures
and sermons to intreat of, and wherefore hee was deprived, were
these : That the pope had no more power to excommunicate
any man, than hath another. That if it bee given by any person
to the pope to excommunicate, yet to absolve the same is as
much in the power of another priest, as in his. He affirmed
moreover, that neither the king nor any temporal! lord could
give any perpetuitie to the church, or to any ecclesiasticall per-
son : for that when such ecclesiasticall persons doe sinne, Tiabi-
tualiter, continuing in the same still, the temporall powers ought
and may meritoriouslie, take away from them, that before hath
been bestowed upon them. And that hee proved, to have been
practised before here in England by William Rufus. Which
thing (said he) if he did lawfully, why may not the same also be
practised now ? if he did it unlawfully, then doth the church erre
(saith hee) and doth unlawfully in praying for him. — But of his
assertions more shall follow (Christ willing) hereafter. The storie
which ascribeth to him these assertions being taken out of the
monasterie of S. Albans, addeth withall, that in his teaching and
preaching hee was very eloquent, but a dissembler (saith he)
and an hypocrite. Why he surmiseth him to bee an hypocrite, the
cause was this : because he and his fellowes usually accustomed
in their preaching to goe barefoot, and in simple russet gownes 8.

By this I suppose, may sufficiently appeare to the indifferent,
the nature and condition of Wickliffe, how farre it was from am-
bition and pride ; the slanderous perine of Polydore Virgil, re-
porting of him (in his nineteenth book), that because he was not
preferred to higher honors and dignities of the church (con-

8 Simple russet gownes.~] In the parliament of 1382, it was, with other ar-
ticles, objected against Wickliffe and his followers, that they taught, that
" ecclesiastical men ought not to ride on such great horses, nor use so large
jewels, precious garments, or delicate entertainments ; but to renounce them
all, and give them to the poor, walking on foot, and taking staves in their
hands, to take on them the appearance of poor men, giving others example by
their conversation."— Lewis's Life, &c. p. 105.

186 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

ceiving therefore indignation against the clergy) he became their
mortall enemie. How true this was, He only knoweth best, that
rightly shall judge both the one and the other. In the mean-
time, by other circumstances and parts of his life, we may con-
jecture what is to be thought of the man.

But to return from whence we digressed. Beside these his
opinions and assertions above recited, with other moe, which are
hereafter to bee brought in order, hee began also then something
neerelie to touch the matter of the sacrament, prooving that in
the said sacrament, the accidences of bread 9 remained not without
the subject, or substance, both by the holie scriptures, and also
by the authoritie of the doctors, but especially by such as '
most ancient. As for the latter writers, that is to say such as
have written upon that argument under the thousand v<
since Christ's time, hee utterly refused them ; saying, that after
these yeeres Satan was loosed 10 and set at libertie : and that

9 Accidences of bread.] " They seyen that this sacrament is neither bread,
ne Christ's body, but accidents withouten suject (subject), and there under is
Christ's body. This is not taught in holy writ, but is fully agenst St. Austin,
and holy saints, and reason, and wit." — "Wickliffe, in Lewis's History, p. 80.
In Jewel's famous challenge at Paul's Cross, this was one of the articles which
he called upon the Romanists to prove to be a doctrine of the church within
the six first centuries ; " that in the sacrament, after the words of consecration
there remain only the accidents and shews, without the substance of bread
and wine." In his answer to this challenge Master Harding openly declares,
that " in this sacrament, after consecration, nothing in substance remaineth
that was before, neither bread, nor wine, but only the accidents of bread and
wine, as their form and shape, savor, smell, colour, weight, and such like,
which here have their being miraculously, without their subject : forasmuch
as after consecration there is none other substance, than the substance of the
body and blood of our Lord, which is not affected with such accidents ; which
doctrine, though not with these precise terms, hath always been taught and
believed from the beginning." — Jewel's Reply, p. 312, 313. Edit. 1COQ.

10 Satan was loosed.] " Wickliffe maintained, that the loosing of Satan
(Rev. xx. 1, &c.) commenced in the second millenary after Christ's ascension,
and that after this loosing of him, the church notably swerved from following
after Christ. Of this he gave some instances : as, the opinion that grace
may be bought and sold, aa an ox or an ass ; and as a consequence
making merchandize with the buying of pardons, and blotting out of sin ;
the error concerning the eucharist, that it is an accident without a substance ;
the giving the preference to the pope's bulls, and neglecting the Holy S
tures. From hence he dates the rise of the several sects of friers, whom he-
calls the tail of the dragon; and compares them to the locusts which <

out of the bottomless pit." — Lewis's LiJ\', &c. p. 101.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 187

since that time the life of man hath bin most subject to and in
danger of errors : that the simple and plaine truthe appeares and
consists in the scriptures, whereunto all human traditions what-
soever they be, must be referred ; and speciallie such as are set
forth and published now of late yeeres. This was the cause why
he refused the latter writers of decretals, leaning onelie to the
scriptures and ancient doctors; most stoutly affirming out of
them, — in the sacrament of the bodie which is celebrate with
bread, the accidents not to bee present without the substance :
that is to say, that the bodie of Christ is not present without the
bread, as the common sort of priests in those daies did dreame.
As for his arguments what they were, wee will shortly at more
opportunitie by God's grace, declare them in another place. — But
herein the truth (as the poet speaketh very truely) had gotten
John Wickliffe great displeasure and hatred at many men's
hands ; and specially of the monks and richest sort of priests.
Albeit, through the favour and supportation of the duke of Lan-
caster, and Lord Henry Percie, hee persisted hitherto in some
meane quiet against their violence and crueltie : till at last, about
the yeere of our Lord 1376, the bishops^ still urging and inciting
their archbishop Simon Sudburie, (who before had deprived him,
and afterward prohibited him also to stir any more in those sorts
of matters,) had obtained by processe an order of citation to have
him brought before them. — Whereunto both place and time for
him to appeare after their usuall forme was to him assigned.

The duke having intelligence that Wickliffe his client should
come before the bishops, fearing that he being but one, was too
weake against such a multitude, called to him out of the orders
of friers 1, foure bachelers of divinitie, out of every order one, to

1 The orders of friers.'] It seems strange that Wickliffe should have among
his supporters, four individuals drawn from the four Mendicant Orders ; and
Lewis questions the fact, accounting the thing " very improbable, as Dr. W.,
by detecting their frauds, superstitions and wickednesses, had made of them
all his enemies." (Life, &c. p. 56.) I am not able to solve the difficulty. Still,
two distinct considerations present themselves, which may perhaps in some
degree extenuate it. (I.) There was much of political contention, and of
struggle for professional and sectarian aggrandisement, intermixing itself in
all these disputes ; and we must not forget, that in consenting to assist W.
these friers were recommending themselves to the most powerful individuals
in the kingdom, the D. of Lancaster, and E. Percy, the lord marshal. (2.)
There existed a " bellum plusquam civile" between the religious orders and
the secular clergy ; and the friers might be willing to be friends of Wickliffe
because they were bitter enemies of Sudbury, Courtney and the bishops, by

188 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

joyne them with Wickliffe also for more suretie. When the day
was come assigned to the said Wickliffe to appeare, which day
was Thursday, the nineteenth of Februarie; John Wickliffe
went, accompanied with the foure friers aforesaid, and with them
also the duke of Lancaster, and lord Henrie Percie, lord marshall
of England, the said lord Percie also going before them to make
roome and way wherewith Wickliffe should come.

Thus Wickliffe (through the providence of God) being suffi-
ciently garded, was comming to the place where the bishops sate :
whom by the way his friends animated and exhorted not to feare
nor shrinke a whit at the companie of the bishops there present,
who were all unlearned (said they) in respect of him ; (for so
proceed the words of my foresaid author, whom I follow in this
narration) neither that he should dread the concourse of the
people, for they would themselves assist and defend him, in such
sort as he should take no harme. With these words, and with
the assistance of the nobles, Wickliffe in heart incouraged. aji-
procheth to the church of S. Paul in London, where a niaine
prease * of people was gathered together to heare what should bo
said and done. Such was there the frequencie and throng of the
multitude, that the lords (for all the puissance of the high mar-
shall) unneth3 with great difficultie could get way through. In-

whom he was now persecuted. The "bare feet" also, and "the russet gowns,"
of which we have read, seem to indicate something of a tendency to alliance
and conformity in external circumstances at least, between the Lollards and
the begging friers. Again : we shall see below, that Repington, a partizan of
Wickliffe, and a canon of Leicester, preaching at Oxford, did not scruple in
his sermon to press upon his academic hearers, that "the D. of Lancaster
was very earnestly affected and minded in this matter, and would that all
such should be received under his protection ;" besides many things more
which touched the praise and defence of Wickliffe. . . But, what if, after
all, these friers were brought thither only as so many hostages for the per-
sonal safety and inviolability of Wickliffe ?

2 A maine prease.'] A great press of people.

3 Unneth.] Hardly, with difficulty. Thus the Festival in the legend of St.
Thomas Becket : " And in especyall the kinges palayes at London and at
\V(>t minster that was all lete fallen downe, betwene Easter and Wytsontide
Thomas made to repayre it ayen ; for he hadde there so many workmen of
dyverse craftes, that a man sholde unnethc here his felowe speke for donnynges
of strokes." Fol. 78. b. Again, of the begging friars, who travelled about
the country under the pretence of raising money for building churches, &c.

These bilderes wiln beggen a bag ful of whete

Of a pure- poor man that may onethe paye
Half his rent in a yere, and half ben behynde.

Pierce the Ploughman's Creed. A.D. 1C53.— 4 to.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 189

somuch, that the bishop of London, (whose name was William
Courtney) seeing the stir that the lord marshall kept in the
church among the people, speaking to the lord Percie, said ; that
if hee had knowne before what maistries hee would have kept in
the church, he would have stopped him out from comming there.
At which words of the bishop, the duke disdaining not a little,
answered to the bishop againe, and said, that hee would keep such
mastrie there, though he said nay.

At last, after much wrastling, they pierced through and came
to our Ladies chapell, where the dukes and barons were sitting,
together with the archbishops and other bishops, before whom
the forsaid John Wickliffe according to the manner, stood, to
know what should be laid unto him. To whom first spake the
lord Percie, bidding him to sit downe, saying, that he had many
things to answer to, and therefore had neede of some softer seat.
But the bishop of London cast eftsoones into a furnish chafe with
those words ; said, he should not sit there. Neither was it, said
he, according to law or reason, that he which was cited there to
appeare to answere before his ordinarie, should sit downe during
the time of his answer, but should stand. Upon these words a
fire began to heat and kindle betweene them, insomuch that they
began to rate and to revile one the other, and the whole multi-
tude therewith disquieted, began to be set in a hurrey.

Then the duke taking the lord Percies part, with hastie words
began also to take up the bishop. To whom the bishop againe,
nothing inferior in reprochful checkes and rebukes, did render
and requite not only to him as good as hee brought ; but also did
so farre excell him, in this railing art of scolding, that to use the
words of mine author, Erubuit dux quod non potuit prcevalere
litigio : " the duke blushed and was ashamed, because he could
not overpasse the bishop in brawling and railing ; " and therefore
fell to plaine threatning, menacing the bishop, that he would
bring downe the pride not onely of him, but also of all the pre-
lacie of England. And speaking moreover unto him : " Thou,"
(said hee) " bearest thyselfe so brag upon thy parents 4, which
shall not be able to helpe thee : they shall have enough to doe to
help themselves." For his parents were the earle and coun-
tesse of Devonshire. To whom the bishop againe answered, that

4 Thy parents^] See Gibbon's " Digression on the Family of Courtenay,"
at the end of the sixty-first chapter of his Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire.

190 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

to bee bold to tell truth, his confidence was not in his parents,
nor in any man else, but only in God in whom he trusted. Then
the duke softly whispering in the ear of him next by him, said
that he would rather plucke out the bishop by the haire of his
head out of the church, then he would take this at his hand.
This was not spoken so secretlie, but that the Londoners over-
heard him. Whereupon being set in a rage, they cried out, say-
ing ; that they would not suffer their bishop so contemptuous^ • to
be abused ; but rather they would lose their lives, then that he
should so be drawne out by the haire. — Thus that councell bc-i no-
broken with scolding and brawling for that day, was dissolved
before nine of the clocke 5.

Upon the 12th day of the month of June, in the year 1377,
died the worthie and victorious prince king Edward the third,
after hee had raigned fifty-one yeeres. A prince no more aged
in yeeres then renowned for many singular and heroicall virtues.
but principally noted and lauded for his singular meeknesse and
clemencie towards his subjects and inferiors, ruling them by g< •"-
tlenesse and mercie, without all rigour or austere severitie.
Among other noble and royall ornaments of his nature, worthilie
and copiouslie set forth of many, thus hee is described of sonic.
which may brieflie suffice for the comprehension of all the rest :
" To the orphans hee was as a father, compatient to the afflicted.
mourning with the miserable, relieving the oppressed, and to all
them that wanted, an helper in time of neede :" but chiefly
above all other things, in this prince to bee commemorate in my
mind, is this ; that hee above all other kings of this roalmc. unto
the time of king Henrie the eight, was the greatest bridelcr of
the popes usurped power and outragious oppressions : during all
the time of which king, neither the pope could greatly prevaile
in this realme, and also John AVickliffe was maintained with
favour and aid sufficient.

But before we close up the storie of this king, there commcth to
hand that which I thought not good to omit, a noble purpose- of
the king in requiring a, view to be taken in all his dominions of
all benefices and dignities ecclesiasticall remaining in the hands
of Italians and aliens, with the true valuation of the same din
downe by commission; the fceDOUT of which Commission 1 thought
liereunder to set downe lor worthic memorie.

5 Of the clocke] Compare Lewis's Life, chap. iv.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 191

The king directed writs unto all the bishops of England in this

forme.

" Edward by the grace of God king, &c. To the reverend
father in Christ N. by the same grace bishop of L. greeting.
Being willing upon certaine causes, to bee certified what and how
many benefices as well archdeaconries and other dignities, as
vicarages, parsonages, prebends and chapels, within your dio-
cesse, be at this present in the hands of Italians and other
strangers, what they be, of what value, and how every of the said
benefices be called by name : and how much every of the same is
worth by the yeere, not as by way of taxe or extent, but ac-
cording to the true value of the same : likewise of the names of
all and singuler such strangers being now incumbents or occupy-
ing the same and every of them : moreover the names of al them,
whether Englishmen or strangers, of what state or condition
soever they be, which have the occupation or disposition of any
such benefices with the fruits and profits of the same, in the be-
halfe or by the authority of any of the aforesaid strangers, by
way of farme, or title of procuration, or by any other waies or
meanes whatsoever, and how long they have occupied or disposed
the same ; and withall if any the said strangers be now residents
upon any benefices, wee command you, as we heretofore com-
manded you, that you send us a true certificat of al and singuler
the premisses, into our high court of Chancerie, under your seale
distinctlie and openlie, on this side the feast of the ascension of
our Lord next comming, without further delay ; returning unto
us this our writ withall. Witnesse our selfe, at Westminster
16. day of Aprill in the 48. yeere of our raigne of England, and
over France the 35. yeere." (A.D. 1374.)

By vertue hereof certificat was sent up to the king into his
chancery, out of every diocesse of England, of all such spirituall
livings as were then in the occupation either of priors aliens, or
of other strangers, whereof the number was so great 6, as being

6 The number was so great.'] Even so early as the reign of Henry III.,
according to Matthew Paris, the annual amount of the benefices in the hands
of Italians in this kingdom was seventy thousand marks, more than three
times the value of the whole revenue of the crown. M. Paris in vit. Hen-
rid III., ad. ann. 1252. — Fox. p. 262. Grosthed bishop of Lincoln having
protested loudly against these enormities, and baffled pope Innocent IV.

192 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

all set downe, would fill almost halfe a quier of paper. Wherby
may appeare that it was high time for the king to seeke remedie 7
herein, either by treatie with the pope or otherwise ; considering
so great a portion of the revenues of his realme was by this
meanes conveied away and employed either to the releefe of his
enemies, or maintenance of the forrainers ; amongst which num-
ber, the cardinals of the court of Kome lacked not their share8.

in his design of making a like provision for one of his nephews ; the Chro-
niclers tell us that the pope had determined, after Grosthed's death, that his
bones should be disinterred, and he condemned as a heretic. Grosthed,
however, the same Chroniclers tell us, put a stop to this design, by appearing
unexpectedly to the pope, reprehending him very severely, and inforcing the
lecture by smiting him on the side with a vehement stroke from the butt-end
of his crosier. — Matt. Par. ann. 1254. See Index, under Benefices in the
hands of foreigners. — Compare also Lewis's Life, &c., chap. iii.

7 To seeke remedie.'] It was with this view that the commission was appointed
in this year, in which the name of Wickliffe stands second, and of which
mention was made in the note above, p. 182.

8 Their share.'] " But all treaties with that corrupt court signified very
little : for, though it was now (A.D. 1376) agreed, that the pope should make
no more use of reservation of benefices : yet we find it complained of in par-
liament, the very next year after the conclusion of this treaty, that the pope
did make reservation of dignities elective contrary to this treaty of his, con-
cluded with K. Edward III.

" This very same year, in which this treaty with the pope was made, a lon<_r
bill was brought into the House of Parliament against the papal usurp:r
as the cause of all the plagues, injuries, famine, and poverty of the realm. It
was remonstrated by them (Cotton's Abridgment of Records, p. 128) that 'the
tax paid to the pope of Rome for ecclesiastical dignities doth amount to five
fold as much as the tax of all the profits which appertain to the king, by the
year, of this whole realm; and for some one bishopric, or other dignity, the
pope, by way of translation and death, hath three, four, or five several taxes j
that the brokers of that sinful city, for money, promote many caitiffs, being
altogether unlearned and unworthy, to a thousand marks living yearly ;
whereas the learned and worthy can hardly obtain twenty marks; wh
learning decayeth. That aliens, enemies to this land, who never saw, nor
care to see their parishioners, have those livings ; whereby they despise <
service, and convey away the treasure of the realm ; and are worse than Jews
or Saracens. It is therefore, say they, to be considered, that the law of the
church would have such livings bestowed for charity only, without praying or
paying : that reason would that livings given of devotion should be bestowed
in hospitality : that Cod hath given his sheep to the pope to IK- pultun
lorn or shaven: that lay-patrons, perceiving this simony and <
ousness of tin- pope, do therein- learn M sell their own benefices to
(itln-rwi.se than Christ was sold to the Jews : that there is none so rich a |
in Christendom, who hath the fourth part of 80 much treasure as the p<>pe

JOHN WICKL1FFE. 193

After king Edward the third, succeeded his sonnes sonne,
Richard the second, being yet but young, of the age of eleven

hath out of this realm, for churches, most sinfully. They further remon-
strated that the pope's collector and other strangers, the king's enemies,
being only leiger spies for English dignities, and disclosing the secrets of the
realm, ought to be discharged : that the same collector being also receiver of
the pope's pence, keepeth an house in London, with clerks and officers there-
unto belonging, as if it were one of the king's solemn courts, transporting
yearly to the pope twenty thousand marcs, and most commonly more : that
cardinals and other aliens remaining at the court of Rome (whereof one
cardinal is a dean of York, another of Salisbury, another of Lincoln, another
archdeacon of Canterbury, another archdeacon of Durham, another arch-
deacon of Suffolk, and another archdeacon of York; another prebendary of
Thane and Nassington ; another prebendary of York, in the diocese of York),
have divers other the best dignities in England, and have sent over yearly
unto them twenty thousand marcs, over and above that which English
brokers buying here have : that the pope, to ransom Frenchmen, the king's
enemies, who defend Lombardy for him, doth always, at his pleasure, levy a
subsidy of the whole clergy of England : that the pope, for more gain, maketh
sundry translations of all the bishopricks, and other dignities, within the
realm : that the pope's collector hath this year taken to his use the first-fruits
of all benefices : that therefore it would be good to renew all the statutes
against provisions from Rome, since the pope reserveth all the benefices of
the world for his own proper gift, and hath, within this year, created twelve
new cardinals ; so that now there are thirty, whereas there were wont to be
but twelve in all ; and all the said thirty cardinals, except two or three, are
the king's enemies : that the pope, in time, will give the temporal manors or
dignities to the king's enemies, since he daily usurpeth upon the realm, and
the king's regality : that all houses and corporations of religion, which, from
the king, ought to have free elections of their heads, the pope hath now ac-
croached the same unto himself : that in all legatines from the pope what-
soever, the English beareth the charge of the legates ; and all for the good-
ness of our money. It also appeareth, they say, that if the money of the
realm were as plentiful as ever, the collector aforesaid, with the cardinal's
proctors, would soon convey away the same. For remedy whereof, they ad-
vise it may be provided, that no such collector or proctor do remain in
England, upon pain of life and limb ; and that, on the like pain, no English-
man become any such collector or proctor, or remain at the court of Rome.
For better information hereof, and namely, touching the pope's collector;
for that the whole clergy, being obedient to him, dare not displease him, they
say, it were good that Dr. John Strensall, parson of St. Botolph's in Hoi-
borne, be sent for to come before the lords and commons of this parliament,
who, being straitly charged, can declare much more, for that he served the
same collector in house five years." It was further complained, that " by
this unbridled multitude of apostolical provisions, as the pope's disposals of
church-benefices by his bulls were called, the lawful patrons of the several
benefices were deprived of their right of collation or presentation ; the noble

VOL. I. O

194 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

yeeres ; who in the same yeer of his fathers decease with great
pompe and solemnitie was crowned at Westminster, an. L'i77.
who, following his fathers steppes, was no great disfavourer 9 of

and learned natives of England would be wholly excluded from all church-
preferment, however, of such as was valuable or honourable, so that, as was
observed before, there would in time be a defect of council as to those matters
that concern the spiritualitie, and none would be found fit to be promoted to
ecclesiastical prelacies : that divine worship would be impaired, hospitalitie
and alms would be neglected, contrary to the primary intention and designs
of the founders of the churches : that the legal rights of the respective
churches would be lost, the church buildings would all go to ruine, and the
devotion of the people be lessened and withdrawn." — Lewis's Life of Wick-
liffe, p. 34—7.

9 No great disfavourer. ,] Many years before, viz. so long ago as the year
1366, and several years previously to his being raised to his doctor's degree
at Oxford, Wickliffe had taken a leading part in a public concern of
moment, and such as was likely to recommend him to the favourable opinion
of the crown, and to the friends of the monarchy, and of the liberties and in-
dependence of England. This affair it will be proper briefly to notice here,
both on account of its intrinsic importance, and of the influence which it
probably had on the whole of Wickliffe's future history ; and also because no
mention of it whatever is made in Fox's history. The general circumstances
of the case may be sufficiently understood by an extract from the Parliamen-
tary History of England (vol. i. p. 130), already produced in a note on the
Preface to his History, given above from Dr. Inett, p. 23. There it will be
seen, that king Edward III. had recently received a threatening summons from
the pope, to pay up the arrears of tribute claimed from Rome as due by the
crown of England, in pursuance of the submission and treaty of Edward's
ancestor, king John. On this, the king consults the two houses of parliament,
and their counsel and advice we have in the extract above mentioned. It
further appears (Lewis's Life of W., p. 19 — 21) that a monk had ventured
into the field to advocate the demands of the pope; and in so doing hud
maintained three distinct theses or positions. 1. The pope's right to the
homage, as from the concession and grant of king John (which was the point
immediately in dispute). 2. That temporal lords may in no case lawfully
take away the goods of churchmen. (Quod sit falsum et pseudo-evang< 7
quod domini temporales possunt in aliquo casu legitime avferre ab ecclesiasticis
bona sua.) 3. That the clergy may in no case be brought before a secular
tribunal. (Quod in nullo casu licet viros ecclesiasticos coram seculari judice
conveniri.) Against these positions Wickliffe takes upon himself the cha-
racter of respondent, alleging as a reason, or excuse, that he was in a sj
relation of service and duty to the crown: (ego cum sim peculiar is rtyiscle-
ricus.) 'ITie part therefore which he assumes, it is material to observe, is a
defensive one, not an offensive ; one imposed by circumstances, and not un-
dertaken in a speculative and innovating, much less a revolutionary temper
of mind. No: the church, if we speak of it in contradistinction to the
state, was the innovator, the traitor, and rebel ; and his arguments and reasons

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 195

the way and doctrine of Wicldiffe, albeit at the first beginning,
partly through the iniquitie of the time, partly through the

we possess in a document under his own hand ; a copy of which is given by
Lewis (Records, No. 30, p. 349 — 56), under the title, Determinatio qacedamMa-
gistri Joannis Wyclyffde dominio contra unum monackum. The document in its
construction is remarkable ; and its contents are highly curious and valuable.
The thesis discussed, at much the greatest length, is the first above-men-
tioned ; and the argument upon this he has conducted under the garb or
disguise of a debate, which he represents to have been reported to him from
the house of peers. It is as if it might have been a debate furnished by Dr.
Johnson to Cave for the Gentleman's Magazine; only the speeches here
given, seven in number, and short, are all on one side, that which Wickliffe
himself espoused. Whether this determination was published antecedently
to the actual debate mentioned in the Parliamentary History, we are not in-
formed. I presume it to be probable however that it was ; and in such case,
it may easily be believed to have had considerable influence on the decision
of parliament. The seven speeches are so many several distinct and separate
arguments why the pope's claim was to be withstood : and their united force,
it cannot be doubted, is such as must have galled the pope exceedingly ;
and (to say nothing of the poor monk) is more a great deal than he and his
whole conclave of cardinals could have found it easy to reply to by any
arguments but those of persecution. To the seventh and concluding peer
that particular topic is reserved which appears of itself to have been deemed
sufficient and satisfactory by the parliament; viz. that "neither king John, nor
any other king, could bring himself, his realm and people, under such sub-
jection, without their consent, which had not been given ; that the act was
contrary to his coronation oath ; and that he was notoriously compelled to
it, solely by the necessity of his affairs, and the iniquity of the times."

The discussion on the other two questions is, as we have intimated, much
more concise. It may be sufficient for our present purpose to say, that
mainly, and in general, he rests them both on the laws, the adjudged cases, and
the customs of the realm : — that " cum jura et consuetudines Angliee affirmant
licere judicibus secularibus in causa proditionis, furti, homicidii, et similibus
convenire religiosos in curia regis," he who denies that this may be done>
" videtur impugnare jura et consuetudines regni ;" that all the monk's alle-
gations and arguments to the contrary are only to be understood, " quod non
licet tradere clericum ad tale examen, nisi juris casu et ordine reservatis et ob-
servatis :" which he, W., not only does not deny, but affirms ; and that his
own position is " quod bullse, leges et consuetudines prohibentes ablationes
temporalium " from ecclesiastics, can and ought to be understood only " de
ablationibus INJUSTIS." It was the same kind of argument that he maintained
not unfrequently in his English writings. " If they say that secular men
schulde not judge clerks, however they have done, since thei have proper juges
as popes and bischopes, and other juges under them; wel I woot" (con-
tinues W.) "that men were wont by jugement of Yngland to dampne prestis
and clerkis for robberie and thefte, and also for traiterie, and for other smale
trespas ; — and gif thei now denye this, thei denye the regalia" (Lewis, p. 153.)

o 2

196 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

popes letters, hee could not doe that hee would. Notwith-
standing something he did in that behalfe, more perhaps then in

" Men wondren why they cursen the king and his true officers, that for felony,
or debt, or eschet taken his (the priest's) goods against the will of a false
priest and traitour, and taken no heed whether they dun this by processe of
law or else by extortion or tirantrie. Thei saiden at London, that it is errour
to seie that secular lords may, at their doom, take temporal goods fro the church
that trespasseth by long custom. If this be errour, then the king and secular
lords may take no farthing ne farthing worth fro a worldly clerk, though he
owe him and his liege men never so much goods, and maye well paye it, and
woll not. And thus the kinge shall be cursed, if he do righteousness, and
bring a Sathanas out of his old sin and theft, which the king is bounded for
to do by God's own word." (Lewis, p. 122.)

This whole proceeding, it cannot be doubted, if it did not first occasion,
did at least further greatly inflame the hostility of the dignified ecclesiastics,
and of the regular orders, against Wickliffe. They would not fail to cry out
against him as a traitor to the rights of holy church. And it is very material
to observe, that we possess in this discussion the germ and even the substance
of several of those articles (and some which are among those that to modern
ears sound the most harshly), which many years after were gathered together,
and objected by them against Wickliffe : circumstances, therefore, these are
which ought injustice to be borne in mind, when we shall come hereafter to
consider any of those articles, under the naked and abstract forms in which
they were subsequently propounded against him by his adversaries. The
true meaning can only be obtained by adverting to the controversies of the
times, and the real aim and objects of the two contending parties. Mian-
while I must content myself with asking, Is there any thing to be found fault
with in W. undertaking to answer the monk on all or any of those three
questions above enumerated ; or in the light in which he appears to have
viewed them ; and in the arguments by which he seems to have sustained his
cause ? On the contrary, does not the part taken by him justify us in re-
garding him as a true friend of his country, a sound politician, a wise philo-
sopher, and a sober and enlightened Christian ?

But the condition into which the kingdom, or rather the whole of Christen-
dom was thrown, by the monstrous ambition of the popes, produced things
much more serious than such a controversy as the preceding. 1'ope Boniface
the eighth, for example, about the year 1300, and in the reign of king
Edward I., issued a bull, in which, under pain of excommunication.
facto, he forbade the clergy to give, lend, or promise to the king any
tribute, subsidy, tallage, or other payment whatsoever ; and the laity of all
ranks under like penalties, the universities also under interdict, he prohibited
from enforcing, assisting, or in any way abetting and aiding in the colK
of the same; and then he proceeds to exempt and discharge all ecclesiastics
from all .subjection in regard to such payments and tallages, "for the 1>
of the prince and his affairs." lor ever.— (Fox's Acts, p. 320.) And 111
now to wonder, that such an edict was replied to by the king by ri-pri-;
confiscation on the goods of Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, being found

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 197

the end he had thanke for of the papists, as more (by the grace
of Christ) shall appeare.

But as times do change, so changeth commonly the case
and state of man. The bishops now seeing the aged king to be
taken away, during the time of whose old age all the government
of the realme depended upon the duke of Lancaster ; and seeing
the said duke, with the lord Percie, the lord marshall, to give
over their offices, and to remaine in their privat houses without
intermedling, thought now the time to serve them, to have some
vantage against John Wickliffe, who hitherto, under the pro-
tection of the foresaid duke and lord marshall, had some rest and
quiet.

Accordingly, the next yeere following, which was the yeere
of our Lord 1378, being the first yeere of king Richard the
second 10 ; the said pope Gregorie, taking his time after the

more stubborn than the rest, and an inciter of others of the clergy against
the king, and for the pope ? — But, when things of this kind are taking place,
what can we say, but that the country is in a state of actual civil war, with
two rival princes contending for the crown ; one, a proud priest at Rome,
bearing in his hands chains for the whole high-minded people of England (as
they ought to have been), and on his lips nothing but threats, tremendous
threats of perdition, temporal and eternal, unless they will tamely bow their
necks, and yield themselves hand and foot to receive the chains which he
wields over them ; while, on the other side, we have the native and rightful
sovereign, an Edward (it may be) or an Henry, the conqueror of kingdoms,
the pride of chivalry, the victor at Crecy or Azincour, and the champion in a
hundred battles ? What wonder, then, that in such a condition of affairs, all
shall feel that parts must be taken, and that they cannot but declare for one
side or the other, in a crisis, when every thing that can be valuable to man-
kind is at stake ? And shall it be believed, that all the clergy of England
will arrange themselves under the banner of usurpation, and tyranny, and
despotism ? The thing is impossible. No. The clergy, as became them,
with Wickliffe and others in the front, were among the first to wage the war
of genuine freedom, intellectual, moral, civil, and religious, in behalf of
themselves and their lay fellow-countrymen. But, without dwelling on that
most important part of the subject, at any rate am I not entitled to allege,
that in looking back to consider and estimate the literary remains and contro-
versies of those days, those awful circumstances are not to be overlooked out
of which they sprang, and with which they are intimately involved ; and to
intercede for some little allowance and indulgence, if we happen to meet with
an occasional exorbitancy in some of the topics of argument, or in the heat
and vehemence in which, at times, they may appear to be enforced ?

10 Richard the second.'] Fox mistakes both the year in which these bulls
were dispatched, and the reigning prince. The date ought to be 1377 ; and
the king was Edward III., as appears beyond dispute, from Wilkins's Concil.

198 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

death of king Edward, sends his bull by the hands and
of one master Edmund Stafford, directed unto the universitie of
Oxford, rebuking them sharplie, imperiouslie, and like a pope, for
suffering so long the doctrine of John Wickliffe to take root,
and not plucking it up with the crooked sickle of their catholic
doctrine. Which bull when it came to be exhibited unto their
hands, by the popes messenger aforesaid, the proctors and ma
of the universitie joyning together in consultation, stood long in
doubt, deliberating with themselves, whether to receive the popes
bull with honour, or to refuse and reject it with shame.

I cannot here but laugh in my mind to behold the authors l of
this storie whom I follow : what exclamations, what wondrings
and marvels, they make at these Oxford men, for so doubting at
a matter so plaine, so manifest of it selfe, (as they say) whether
the popes bull sent to them from Rome was to be received, or
contrarie. Which thing to our monkish writers seemed then
such a prodigious wonder, that they with blushing cheekes are
faine to cut off the matter in the middest with silence.

The copie of this wild bull", sent to them from the pope, was
this.

" Gregorie the bishop, the servant of Gods servants, to his wel-
beloved sonnes, the chancellour and universitie of Oxford, in the
diocesse of Lincolne, greeting, and apostolicall benediction.

" We are compelled not only to marvel, but also to lament
that you, considering the apostolicall seate hatli given unto your
university at Oxford so great favour and privilcdge, and also for
that you flow as in a large sea in the knowledge of tin- holy
Scriptures, and ought to be champions and defenders of
ancient and catholike faith (without the which there is no salva-
tion,) by your great negligence and sloth, will suffer wild cockle.
not only to grow up among the pure wheateof the florishinir Held
of your university, but also to waxe more strong and choke t In-
come. Neither have ye any care (as wee are informed) to

vol. iii. p. 118. The same mistake is repeated again, and defended, below.
Kdward died June 21, 1377; but this could not be known at Rome at the
date of the bull.

1 The authors.] IValsingham Hist. Ang. p. 200. edit. lf>7l.

2 This wiUl bull.] See Lewis's Life of \Vickliffe, c. iv., and Records,
xii. ; which exhibits the bull in the original Latin.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 199

extirpe and plucke the same up by the rootes, to the great
blemishing of your renoumed name, the perill of your soules, the
contempt of the church of Rome, and to the great decay of the
ancient faith. And further (which grieveth us) the encrease of
that filthie weed was more sharpely rebuked and judged of in
Eome then in England, where it sprang. Wherefore let there
be meanes sought by the helpe of the faithfull, to roote out the
same.

" Grievously it is come to our ears, that one John Wickliffe,
parson of Lutterworth in Lincolne dioces, a professour of divinitie
(would God he were not rather a master of errours) is runne
into a kind of detestible wickednesse, not onely and openly pub-
lishing, but also vomiting out of the filthy dungeon of his breast,
divers professions, false and erroneous conclusions, and most
wicked and damnable heresies, whereby he might defile the faithfull
sort, and bring them from the right path headlong into the way
of perdition, overthrow the state of the church, and utterly
subvert the secular policie. Of which his mischievous heresies,
some seeme to agree (onely certaine names and tearmes changed)
with the perverse opinions, and unlearned doctrine of Marsilius
of Padua, and John of Gandune 3, of unworthie memorie, whose
bookes were utterly abolished in the realme of England, by our

3 Marsilius . . . and John.'] Marsilius Mainardirms of Padua, and Johannes
de Gandavo [Ghent], or, as some call him, de Janduno (see Wharton's App.
to Cave's Hist. Liter aria], were two of the most noted writers on the Guelph
and Ghibelline controversy. They were of the latter party, and strenuously
supported the cause of the emperor Louis of Bavaria against the pope. Their
various works have been printed several times in a separate form, and by Gol-
dastus in his Monarchia Imperil, to which work and to the treatise of Marc
Antonio de Dominis De Potestate Ecclesiastica, the reader, who wishes for
more information on this subject, is referred. For Fox's account of Marsilius
and John, see his Acts, p. 350.

In the year 1535, the obnoxious work of Marsilius, intitled Defensor Pads,
was translated and published in English, in justification of the proceedings of
Henry VIII. against the pope, by William Marshall, under the title of The
Defence of Peace, &c. fol. It was published by the authority of Henry, and
it has on the title-page a large wood-cut of his arms, joined or impaled with
those of Anne Boleyn.

A work of William Ockam, intitled Defensorium contra Errores Johan-
nis Papce XXII. has been sometimes mistaken for that of Marsilius. Ock-
am's work is printed in Orthuinus Gratius' Fasciculus Rerum Expetendarum,
&c., ed. Edw. Brown, vol. ii. p. 439, &c.

200 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

predecessor of happie memorie John twenty-two *. Which king-
dome doth not only flourish in power, and abundance of faculties,
but is much more glorious and shining in purenesse of faitli ;
accustomed alwaies to bring forth men excellently learned in the
true knowledge of the holy Scriptures, ripe in gravitie of maners,
men notable in devotion, and defenders of the catholike faith.
Wherefore wee will and command you by our writing apostolicall,
in the name of your obedience, and upon paine of privation of
our favour, indulgences and priviledges, granted unto you and
your universitie, from the said see apostolicall ; that hereaft-
suffer not those pestilent heresies, those subtill and false con-
clusions and propositions, misconstruing the right sense of faitli
and good workes (howsoever they tearme it, or what curious
implication of words soever they use) any longer to be disputed
of, or brought in question : lest if it be not withstood at the first,
and plucked up by the roots, it might perhaps be too late
hereafter to prepare medicines, when a greater number is infected
with the contagion. And further, that yee apprehend imme-
diately or cause to be apprehended the said John Wickliffe, and
deliver him to be detained in the safe custodie of our welbeloved
brethren, the archbishop of Canterburie, and the bishop of London,
or either of them. And if you shall find any gaine-sayers, cor-
rupted with the said doctrine (which God forbid) in your said
universitie within your jurisdiction, that shall obstinately stand
in the said errours : that then in like maner yee apprehend
them, and commit them to safe custodie ; and otherwise to doe
in this case as it shall appertaine unto you: so as by your earei'ull
proceedings herein, your negligence past concerning tin- pre-
<-s, may now fully be supplied and recompensed with present
diligence: — whereby you shall not onely purchase unto you the
favour and benevolence of the seat apostolicall, but also great
reward and merit of almightie (•'»<!.

"Given at Home at S. Maries the greater, xj. Kalends «.}'
June, and in the seventh yeare of our consecration."

Beside this bull sent to the universitie of Oxford, tin- said
pope ( ireM-nne directed moreover his letters the same time to the

4 John twenty-two.'] In the Extravagant which begins Licet intra doctrinam
aposloli, issued in lit -7.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 201

archbishop of Canturbury Simon Stidburie, and to the bishop of
London named William Courtney, with the conclusions of John
Wickliffe therein inclosed, commanding them, by vertue of those
his letters5 apostolicall, and straitly injoyning them to cause the
said John Wickliffe to be apprehended, and cast into prison:
and that the king and the nobles of England should be admon-
ished by them, not to give any credit to the said John Wickliffe,
or to his doctrine in any wise.

Beside this bill or bull of the pope, sent unto the archbishop
of Canturbury and to the bishop of London, bearing the date,
11 Calend Jun. and the 7. yeare of the reigne of the pope, I
find moreover in the said storie, two other letters 6 of the pope
concerning the same matter, but differing in forme, sent unto
the same bishops, and all bearing the same date both of the day,
yeare, and moneth of the reigne of the said pope Gregory.
Whereby it is to be supposed, that the pope either was very
exquisite and solicitous about the matter, to have Wickliffe to
be apprehended, which wrote three different divers letters to one
person, and all in one day, about one businesse ; or else that hee
did suspect the bearers thereof; — the scruple whereof I leave to
the judgement of the reader.

Furthermore, beside these letters written to the university,
and to the bishops, he directeth also another epistle bearing the
same date unto king Edward ; as one of my stories saith, but as
an other saith, to K. Richard, which soundeth more neere to the
truth, forasmuch as in the seventh yeare of pope Gregorie the xi.
which was the yeare of our Lord, 1378. king Edward was not
alive. The copie of his letters to the king here followeth 7.

" Unto his well beloved son in Christ, Richard the most noble
king of England, health, &c.

" The kingdome of England which the Most Highest hath put

6 Those his letters.'] This letter is printed in Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii.
p. 116, 117, from Sudbury's Register; and in Lewis's Life of Wickliffe.
Records, No. 13.

6 Two other letters.'] These also are printed by Wilkins, p. 117, 118; and in
Lewis, see chap, iv., and Records, Nos. 14 and 15. In consequence of the
former of these letters, a dispatch was directed from the archbishop and the
bishop of London, bearing date 5 Calend. Januar. to the chancellor of the
university of Oxford, commanding him to cite Wickliffe to appear at St. Paul's,
London, before the archbishop and bishop, or their delegates. — Wilkins,
vol. viii. p. 123, 124.

7 Here followeth. ] Lewis, &c. Records, No. 16.

202 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

under your power and governance, being so famous and renoumed
in valiancie and strength, so abundant and flowing in all kind of
wealth and riches; but much more glorious, resplendent and
shining through the brightnesse and cleerenesse of all godlinesse
and faith, hath accustomed alwaies to bring forth men endued
with the true knowledge and understanding of the holy Scrip-
tures, grave in yeares, fervent in devotion, and defenders of the
catholike faith: the which have not onely directed and instructed
their owne people, but strangers also, through their wholesome
doctrine and precepts into the true path of God's commandments;
— but we have heard by the report and information of ma in-
credible persons (to our great greefe and heart sorrow) that
John Wickliffe, parson of Lutterworth, in the diocesee of Lincolne.
professor of divinitie (I would to God hee were no author of
heresie) is fallen into such a detestable and abominable madn-
that he hath propounded and set forth divers and sundrie con-
clusions full of errors, and containing most manifest heresie, the
which doe tend utterly to subvert and overthrow the state of the
whole church. Of the which, some of them (albeit under coloured
phrase and speech) seem to smel and savor of perverse opinions,
and the foolish doctrine of condemned memorie of Marsilius of
Padua, and John of Ganduno, whose bookes were by pope John
the 22, our predecessor, a man of most happie memorie, reproved
and condemned, &c."

Hitherto gentle reader, thou hast heard how Wickliffe was
accused by the bishop. Now you shall also heare the popes
mightie reasons and arguments, by the which hee did confute
him, to the king. It followeth.

" Therefore, forsomuch as our reverend brethren, the arch-
bishop of Canturburie, and the bishop of London, have received a
>]>eciall commandeinent from us by our authorise, to apprehend
and commit the forenamed John Wickliffe unto prison, and to
transport his confession unto us: if they shall set -me in the
prosecution of this their businesse to lacke your favor or helpe.
we require and most earnestly desire your majestic, even as your
most noble predecessors have alwaies beene most earnest 1«
of the Catholike faith (whose case or fjuarrel in this i

chietlie handled), that you would vouchsafe e\en fur the reven
of God, and the faith aforesaid, and also of the ;ipo>tnlike »
and of our person, that you will with your helpe and favour, a
tli'- >aid archbishop and all other that shall goe about to

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 203

the said businesse : — whereby besides the praise of men, you
shall obtaine a heavenly reward and great favour and good will at
our hand, and of the see aforesaid. Dated at Rome at S. Mary
the greater, the 11. Kalend. of June, in the seventh yeare of our
bishoprike."

The articles 8 included in the popes letters which hee sent to
the bishops, and to the king against Wickliffe, were these as in
order they do follow.

" The conclusions9 of lohn Wicldiffe, exhibited in the convocation
of certaine bishops at Lambeth.

" All the whole race of mankind here on earth, besides Christ,
hath no power simplie, to ordaine that Peter and all his offspring
should politickelie rule over the world for ever.

"2. God cannot give to any man for him and his heirs any
civil dominion for ever.

"3. All writings invented by men, as touching perpetual
heritage, are impossible1.

8 The articles^] " By the copies of them yet remaining, it appears that
these articles, though they were generally the same as to the matter, were yet
reported to the pope in different forms." — Lewis's Life, &c. p. 46.

9 The conclusions. ,] See Lewis's Records, Nos. 18 and 40. Also, Life,
&c. p. 59 — 67, and 67 — 78. Several of these articles (and of the twenty-three
more, given a few pages below), probably, will startle the reader ; and it will
not be thought, that the apology made for Wickliffe by Fox at the beginning
(" In whose opinions, albeit, some blemishes perhaps may be noted,") is at all
too much for the occasion, even if it be sufficient. Partly, however, it is to
be borne in mind, that the articles come to us from the hands of Wickliffe's
adversaries ; but much more, that we have them here in the text, in their
naked and abstract form, without the limitations and explanations which con-
clusions, so concisely expressed, plainly demand; and through aid of which
we have evidence enough to show, that Wickliffe himself maintained and
vindicated them. And, while it is to be regretted, that, unluckily, nothing of
these explanations is to be found, where, from the peculiar nature and the
extensive influence of the work, they were most wanted, in Fox's English
editions, I may mention, that we have them pretty much at large in the Latin
copy (p. 8 — 12), and still at greater extent in the valuable Life by Lewis
(p. 58—78), and in his Collection of Records, No. 40. (p. 382— 9-)— Some
small portion of these, with few additional particulars derived from other
sources, will here be subjoined, on some of the articles, in justice to the
reader, and to the memory of this great man.

1 Are impossible.] Art. 1 — 3. and Art. 4. With respect to the three first arti-
cles, Wickliffe asserts (Lewis, p. 60), that, as we are bound by our creed to

204 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

" 4. Every man being in grace justifying2, hath not onely right
unto, but also for his time hath indeed all the good things of
God.

" 5. A man can but only ministratoriouslie give any temporall
or continuall gift, either to his naturall son, or to his son by
imitation 3.

believe, that Jesus Christ shall " come again from heaven, to judge the quick
and the dead," and that no human right can hinder the coming of Christ to
the last judgment ; hence it follows, that no power of Peter and his succes-
sors, or of any other earthly potentate, can be maintained in any sense which
shall be inconsistent with that grand event and doctrine : and when further,
according to the Scriptures, all human polity shall be at an end. — Hence he
affirms, that his drift was, by these " three first conclusions, to impress on
worldly men the faith of Christ, that they be not drowned in the sea of a
world which passes away with the lust thereof," p. 69. " Tres ergo primae
conclusiones imprimunt mundialibus fidem Christi, ne submergantur in
pelago seculi transeuntis cum concupiscentia ejus," p. 383. The fourth, he
adds, was " to draw men to love the Lord, who has loved us to the gift and
grant of so many and so great true riches." " Et quartet allicit hominem ad
amorem Domini, qui dilexit nos ad tot veras divitias," p. 383. And the
enjoyments of these he limits (with St. Augustine) to the next world. " The
truth promises this to those Christians who enter into his joy. The right of the
communion of saints, in their own country, is founded on the universality of
the good things of God." — Lewis, p. 61, 62.

2 In grace justifying.] This conclusion, which the pope wished to fix upon
AVickliffe, is designed to express the doctrine which, in subsequent times,
made a much greater figure in the church ; namely, that dominion is founded
in grace. But Lewis assures us, that this was no tenet of Wickliffe's. His-
tory, p. 115 — 117. p- 342. See also Lewis's Brief History of Anabaptism,
p. 20. A. D. 1738 ; and Fox's A cts, p. 398. " The papists do impute this opinion
to Wickliffe and Hus, and their followers; and condemn the opinion, und
them for it as heretics, as saying that dominium fundatur in gratia : which is
a manifest calumny, and no just or proved accusation ; as might be proved
out of Hus's printed works, and from several manuscript works of IVickliffe in
Bodley's Library, But they bring these lying accusations against them, that
they may have some pretence to destroy and murder them." The above is
from the text of " Several miscellaneous and weighty Cases of Conscience, 1 692,"
8vo., by the very learned Dr. Thomas Barlow, bishop of Lincoln, who had
himself been many years librarian of the Bodleian. The remainder of the Case
is a very interesting and learned argument, to show that the obnoxious tenet
was, in truth, maintained and acted upon, to a fearful degree, by the
Roman Catholics themselves.

8 By imitation.'] That no human being can give except only ministerially, " is
plain," says W., " from hence, that every man ought to acknowledge himself
in all his works an humble minister of God, as is evident from Scriptur
a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ. Nay, Christ himself so

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 205

"6. If God be, the temporall lords may lawfully and mere-
toriouslie take away the riches from the church when they doe
offend habitualiter 4.

" 7. We know that 5 Christs vicar cannot, neither is able by
his buls, neither by his owne will and consent, neither by the
consent of his college, neither to make able or disable any
man6.

" 8. A man cannot be excommunicated to his hurt or undoing,
except he be first and principally excommunicate by himselfe.

" 9. No man ought, but in Gods cause alone, to excom-
municat, suspend, or forbid, or otherwise to proceed to revenge
by any ecclesiasticall censure.

ministered, and taught his apostles so to minister." — Lewis, p. 62. "Let not
his vicar therefore be ashamed to execute the ministry of the church ; since
he is, or ought to be, the servant of the servants of God." — Ibid. p. 69. " Non
ergo erubescat ejus vicarius fungi ministerio ecclesiae, cum sit, vel esse debet,
servus servorum Domini," p. 383.

4 Offend habitualiter.'] " Yet I said that it is not lawful to do this but by the
authority of the church, in case of the defection of the spiritual president ;
and when an ecclesiastic shall need to be corrected, by those who are worthy
of such a trust." — Lewis, p. 70. "Dixi tamen quod hoc non licet facere
nisi auctoritate ecclesice in defectu spiritualis praepositi ; et in casu quo eccle-
siasticus corripiendus fuerit a fide dignis," p. 384. " But God forbid that it
should be believed it was my meaning that secular lords may lawfully take
away the goods of fortune from a delinquent church, when and howsoever they
please ; but that they may only do it by the authority of the church, in cases
and/orm limited by law/' p. 62.

" But after the death of the delinquent, let it return to the successor."
" Post mortem vero clerici ad successorem revertatur," p. 387.

5 We know that.'] Between this and the preceding conclusion, there stands
in Sudbury's Register (Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 123) another article, which perhaps
was by mistake left out in Fox's transcript. It is as follows, according to
Lewis's translation :

" VII. Whether the church be in such a state or not is not my business to
examine, but the business of temporal lords : who, if they find it in such a
state, are to act boldly, and on the penalty of damnation to take away its tem-
poralities."— Lewis's History, p. 43.

6 Disable any wan.] " This article," says W., " is plain from the principles
of the Catholic faith. For it behoves our Lord in every operation to maintain
the primacy : therefore, as in every qualifying of a subject, it is first required
that the subject to be qualified be meet and worthy • so in every disqualification
there is first required a deserving from some demerit of the person to be dis-
qualified : and, by consequence, such a qualifying or disqualifying is not made
purely by the ministry of the vicar of Christ, but from above ; from elsewhere,
or from some other." — Lewis, p. 63. Compare also p. 70 and p. 384.

206 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

" 10. A curse or excommunication do not simply bind, but in
case it be pronounced and given out against the adversary of
Gods law.

"11. There is no power given by any example, either by
Christ or by his apostle, to excommunicate any subject, especially
for denying of any temporalities, but rather contrariwise 7.

" 12. The disciples of Christ, have no power to exact by any
civil authoritie, temporalties by censures 8.

" 13. It is not possible by the absolute power of God, that if
the pope, or any other Christian doe pretend by any meanes to
bind or to loose, that thereby he doth so bind and loose 9.

" 14. We ought to beleeve that the vicar of Christ, doth at
such times onely bind and loose, when as he worketh con-
formablie by the law and ordinance of Christ.

" 15. This ought universally to bee beleeved, that every priest l
rightly and duly ordered, according unto the law of grace, hath

7 But rather contrariwise.'] "This article is proved hence; from what
Christ teacheth, that the honour of God, and the profit of the Church, is to
be preferred before any personal interest, or the denial of temporal things. —
And the second part (contrariwise) is proved by that of Luke ix., where he
forbade his disciples, who desired fire to come down from heaven, to excom-
municate unbelievers who unjustly detained from Christ and his disciples
their goods. Ye know not, says he, what spirit ye are of. From whence the
Catholic conclusion is that it is not lawful for the vicar of Christ to excommu-
nicate his neighbour, unless on account of love, with which he is to be more
affected than with all the temporalities of this world." — Lewis, p, 72. Com-
pare p. 386 and p. 64.

8 By censures.] "This is plain from Scripture, Luke xxii. where Christ
forbade his disciples to reign civilly, or to exercise any temporal dominion ;
the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, but ye shall not be so. . . .
We add to this twelfth conclusion, notwithstanding, that temporalities may
be exacted by ecclesiastical censures, accessione ; in vindication of God." —
Lewis, p. 64. Compare p. 386, and p. 72, 3.

9 So bind and loose.] " The opposite of this would destroy the whole
catholic faith ; since it imports no less than blaspheim \ to suppose any one to
usurp such an absolute power of the Lord's. / add to this 1 3th conclusion,
that I do not intend by it to derogate from the power of the pope, or of any
other prelate of the church ; but do allow that they may, in virtue of the llea<l.
bind and loose : only, that it cannot be that the pope or any other prelate
shall pretend that he binds or looses at any rate (or just as he lists)." — Lewis,
p. 64, 5. Compare also p. 7'*, und p. 3S6, 7.

1 That every priest .] " This is proved from hence, that the powers of orders
are equal in all Christian priests, as is declared by Hugo, chap. 2. De Sacra-
mentis." — Lrwis. p. 7:i and p. 387.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 207

power according to his vocation, whereby he may minister the
sacraments, and consequently absolve any man confessing his
fault, being contrite and penitent for the same.

" 16. It is lawful for kings (in causes licensed by the law) to
take away the temporaries from the spirit ualtie, sinning liabitu-
aliter2, that is, which continue in the custome of sin, and will
not amend.

"17. Whether they be temporall lords, or any other men
whatsoever they be, which have endowed any church with tempo-
ralties ; it is lawful for them to take away the same temporalties,
as it were by way of medicine, for to avoide sin3, notwithstanding

2 Sinning haUtualiterJ] What shall we think of a case such as the follow-
ing ? Henry III. passing into Wales in the year 1264, and visiting Hereford,
finds there, as we learn from his own letter of remonstrance addressed to the
bishop, "to his great grief, a church destitute of a pastor's comfort; as
having neither bishop nor official, vicar nor dean, to exercise any spiritual
function and dutie in the same." — Was not this a " delinquent church " in-
deed ? And are we to wonder that the monarch should go on to injoin the
bishop, and the other members of that body, all other pleas and engagments
set aside, to return thither with all speed, personally to execute the pastoral
charge committed to them ? So, in default thereof, are we to wonder, that
he should proceed to threaten, " if you have not a care to doe this, we will
whollie take into our owne hands all the temporal goods, and whatsoever else
doth belong unto the baronie of the same church ; which goods, for spiritual
exercise therein, it is certain our progenitors, of a godlie devotion, did be-
stowe thereupon. And such goods we will seize upon ; and will suffer no
longer, that he shall reape temporal things, which feareth not unreverentlie to
withdraw and keep back the spiritual things, whereunto by office and dutie he
is bound." Fox's Acts, p. 305.

3 For to avoide sin.~\ " This is proved from hence ; that the condition, by
itself consequent to the donation of the goods of the church is, that God may
be honoured, and the church edified. Which condition, if it be wanting, and
the opposite be found in its room, it is plain (patet] that the title of the dona-
tion is lost, and by consequence, that the Lord, who is the giver of the alms,
ought to rectify the error. — And excommunication ought not to hinder the
doing of justice ; because, if so, the clerk, by excommunication, in way of
reparation might get the whole world." — Lewis, p. 75. Compare p. 388.

" We add to this 17th article. God forbid that by these words, occasion
should be given to the temporal lords, to take away the goods of fortune to
the detriment of the church." — Lewis, p. 66.

Of the whole body of these articles he declares, at the opening of one of
his two papers of explanation, " I understand the conclusions according to
the sense of scripture and the holy doctors, and the manner of speaking used
by them ; which verse I am ready to explain, and if it be proved that the
conclusions are contrary to the faith, I am willing very readily to retract

208 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

any excommunication or other ecclesiastical censure, forsomuch
as they are not given but under a condition 4.

" 18. An ecclesiasticall minister, and also the bishop of
Rome may lawfully be rebuked of his subjects, and, for the
profit of the church, be accused either of the clergie or of the
laity."

These letters, with the articles inclosed, being thus received
from the pope, the bishops tooke no little heart, thinking and
fully determining with themselves, and that in open profession
before their provincial! councill, that all respects of feare or favour
set apart, no person neither high nor low, should let them, neither
would they be seduced by the intreatie of any man, nor by any
threatnings or rewards, but that in this cause they would execute
most strict and rigid justice 5 ; yea albeit present danger of life
should follow thereupon. — But these so fierce brags, and stout
promises, with the subtill practices of these bishops, which
thought them so sure before, the Lord (against whom no deter-
mination of mans counsell can prevaile) by a small occasion, did
lightly ° confound and overthrow. For the day of the examina-
tion being come, a certaine personage of the princes court, and
yet of no great noble birth, named Lewes Clifford, entring in
among the bishops, commanded them that they should not pro-
ceed with any diffinitive sentence against John AVickliffe. With
which words all they were so amazed and their combes so cut,

them." — Lewis, p. 60. And at the close of the other copy, it is added,
sunt conclusiones quas vult etiam usque ad mortem defendere, ut per hoc
valcat mores ecclesia reformare," p. 389.

4 Under a condition^] "And as anentis" (concerning] " taking away of tem-
poralities : I say thus, that it is lawful to kings, to princes, to dukes, and to
lords of the world, to take away from popes, from cardinals, from hi-
prelates, and possessioners in the church, their temporalities, and their almes,
that they have given them upon condition that they shoulden serve God the
better, when they verily scene that their giving and taking beene contrarie to
the law of God, contrarie to Christ's living, and his apostles." Process
against W. Swinderby. Fox, p. 434. See also Rennet's Case of Impregna-
tions, p. 114-15.

6 Riyid just ire.'] Strictam rigidamque jnstitiam. Latin edit.

8 Did lir/litly.'] Did cnslhj confound. Thus, \\~\\\\ ford's Pype of I
fol. 76. "In suche thyngs as the subjects done kno\ve well ben directely
iest the rule of theyr profession, shulde they nat lyghtly and gladly obey:
lytitcly, \ mean, without deliberation : and gladly, for self-pleasure or com-
moditie."

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 209

that (as in the storie is mentioned) they became so mute and
speechlesse, as men having not one word in their mouthes to an-
swere. — And thus by the wondrous worke of God's providence,
escaped John Wickliffe the second time out of the bishops
hands.

Moreover, here is not to be passed over, how at the same time,
and in the said chapell of the archbishop at Lambeth, where the
bishops were sitting upon John Wickliffe, the storie writing 7 of
the doing thereof, addeth these words : " Not onely the citizens
of London, but also the vile abjects of the citie, presumed to be
so bold in the same chapell at Lambeth, where the bishops were
sitting upon J. Wickliffe, both to entreate for him, and also to
let and stop the same matter, trusting, as I suppose, upon the
negligence which they saw before in the bishops."

Thus John Wickliffe, through the favour and diligence of the
Londoners, either shifted off the bishops, or else satisfied them
so, that for that time he was dismissed and scaped clearly away ;
onely being charged and commanded by the said bishops, that hee
should not teach or preach any such doctrine any more, for the
offence of the laie people.

Thus this good man being escaped from the bishops with this
charge aforesaid, yet notwithstanding ceased not to proceed in
his godly purpose, labouring and profiting still in the church as
he had begun.

Unto whom (as it happeneth by the providence of God) this
was also a great helpe and stay, that in the same yeere, or in the
beginning of the next yeare following, the foresaid pope Gregorie
xi. which was the stirrer up of al this trouble against him, turned
up his heels and died 8. After whom ensued such a schisme in
Home, betweene two popes, and other succeeding them, one stir-
ring against another, that the schisme thereof endured the space
of xxxix yeares, untill the time of the councell of Constance.

The occasioner of which schisme first was pope Urban the 6,
who in the first beginning of his popedome was so proud and inso-
lent to his cardinals, and other, as to dukes, princes, and queenes,
and so set to advance his nephew and kindred, with injuries
to other princes, that the greatest number of his cardinals and

7 The storie writing.'] Thorn. Walsingham, p. 206.

8 And died.] Some authorities fix his death to the 27th, others to the 28th
day of March, A.D. 1378.

VOL. I. P

210 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

courtiers by little and little shrunke from him, and set up an other
French pope against him, named Clement, who reigned xi yeares.
And after him Benedictus the xiii, who reigned yeares 26. Againe
of the contrarie side after Urbanus vi, succeeded Boniface ix,
Innocentius viii, Gregorius the xii, Alexander v, John xxiii.

As touching this pestilent and most miserable schisme, it
would require heere another Iliade to comprehend in order all the
circumstances and tragicall parts thereof, what trouble in the
whole church, what parts taken in every countrey, what appre-
hending and imprisoning of priests and prelates, taken by land
and sea, what shedding of blood did follow thereof : how Ottho 9,
duke of Brunswicke and prince of Tarentum, was taken and
murthered *: how Joan, queene of Jerusalem and Sicilia, his wife,
who before had sent to pope Urban, beside other gifts at his co-
ronation, forty thousand duckets in pure gold, after by tin- said
Urban a was committed to prison, and in the same prison stran-
gled : what cardinals were racked, and miserablie without all
mercy tormented on gibbets to death, what slaughter of men.
what battles were fought betweene the two popes, whereof 5000.
on the one side were slaine, beside the number of them which
were taken prisoners : of the beheading of five cardinals together
after long torments ; and how the bishop Aquilonensis *, being
suspected of pope Urban for not riding faster with the pope, his
horse being not good, was there slaine by the popes commande-
ment, sending his souldiers unto him, to slay him, and cut him in
pieces. — All which things, with other divers moe acts of horrible
cruelty, happening in the time of this abominable schisme, be-
cause they are abundantly discoursed at full by Theodorirke
Niem4, who was neere to the said pope Urban, and present at all
his doings; therefore as a thing needless, I here pretermit

9 How Ottho.'] Otho of Brunswick, son of Henry the Grecian, duke of
Bmnswick-Grubenhagen, was the fourth husband of Joanna, queen of Naples.

1 And murthered.] That he was murdered is, however, doubtful.

3 The said Urban.'] Rather by Joanna's rival, Charles of Durazzo, whose
father Louis had been slain in prison by her order.

3 Bishop Aquilonensis.] Stephen, bishop of Aquilu, in Apulia.

4 Theodoricke Aiem.] De schismate inter Urbanum vi. et Clementem Anti-
papam. Norimbergae, 1592. fol.

5 I here pretermit.'] 'lliat incidentally, through God's mercy, certain bene-
fits arose from this schism to the progress of the reformation, we have Wick-
liffe's own testimony. See Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 341, note.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 211

ferring them, who covet to be certified more amply herein, unto
the three bookes of the said Theodoricke above mentioned.

About the same time also, namely about three yeares after,
there fell a cruell dissension in England, betweene the common
people and the nobilitie, the which did not a little disturbe and
trouble the common wealth. In this tumult, Simon of Sudburie,
archbishop of Canterburie, was taken by the rusticall and rude
people, and was beheaded6. In whose place after, succeeded
William Courtney, which was no lesse diligent than his prede-
cessor had been before him, in doing his diligence to roote out
hereticks. — Notwithstanding, in the mean season Wickliffes sect
increased privilie, and daily grew to greater force, until the time
that William Barton, vicechancellor of Oxford, about the yeare
of our Lord 1380, had the rule of that universitie ; who calling
together eight monasticall doctors, and four other, with the con-
sent of the rest of his affinitie, putting the common seale of the
universitie unto certaine writings, set forth an edict 7, declaring

6 Was beheaded.'] He was beheaded by the rebellious populace under Wat
Tyler and Jack Straw, June 14, 1381 ; and the temporalities were delivered
to William Courtney, Oct. 23, in the same year. Le Neve's Fasti, p. 7.

7 Set forth an edictj] The value of Wickliffe's labours in the cause of true
religion, cannot be better understood than by inspecting this censure which
was directed against him. It is confined solely to the controversy on the
Eucharist ; and declares, in opposition to the assertions of Wickliffe, " that
the true faith is, that by the sacramental words duely pronounced by the
priest, the bread and wine upon the altar are transubstantiated, or substan-
tially converted into the very body and blood of Christ; so that after conse-
cration, there do not remain in that venerable sacrament the material bread
and wine, which were there before, according to their own substances or na-
tures, but only the species of the same, under which species the very body
of Christ and his blood are really contained, not only figuratively or tropically,
but essentially, substantially, and corporally; so that Christ is there verily in
his own proper bodily presence." — Lewis's History, p. 82 ; Wilkins's Con-
cilia, vol. iii. p. 170, 71. The Register tells us, that upon public promulgation
of this edict in the schools of the Augustin Friars, Wickliffe, who was pre-
sent, and in the theological chair, was thrown into confusion ; but soon re-
covering himself, he declared, that neither the chancellor, nor any of his
friends, could refute by argument the doctrines against which they had pro-
nounced their edict ; thus showing himself an obstinate heretic. His appeal,
not to his ordinary or the pope, but to the king's majesty, thereby acknow-
ledging the royal supremacy in causes ecclesiastical, as well as civil, gave
still further very great offence. And the Register does not scruple to brand
this deference to the secular power, with the name of heresy. In the same
place the duke of Lancaster is commended highly for his desertion of Wick-

p 2

212 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

unto every man, and threatning them under a grievous penaltie,
that no man should be so hardie, hereafter to associat themselves
with any of Wickliffes fautors or favourers : and unto Wickliffe
himselfe hee threatned the greater excommunication, and further
imprisonment, and to all his fautors, unlesse that they, after three
daies canonicall admonition or warning, as they call it, peremp-
tory, did repent and amend. — The which thing when Wickliffe

liffe in this extremity; and his attachment to the true faith is extolled, he-
cause he commanded him to abstain from intermeddling any more with the
doctrine of this sacrament. Wickliffe however did not obey the duke's in-
junction, but in somewhat more covert terms maintained his former opinions.
He refused the authority of all the fathers after the first thousand years from
Christ, affirming that they had all erred in treating of the Eucharist except
Berengarius ; and set at nought the authority of the Master of the Sentences'
Sudbury's Register, in Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 171.

Upon this slight foundation some writers have been pleased to say, that
Wickliffe gave way, and made a full retractation. (Anth. a Wood, Antiq. Oxon.
p. 189.) And even Fox, just below, speaks of his " qualifying his assertions."
We see that it was not so understood at Lambeth. The council of Constance
also, as we shall find afterwards, passed a very different judgment respecting
the final conversion of Wickliffe. Nor does the other opinion accord with
what Wood tells us in the same page, that this confession was encoun-
tered by no less than six several antagonists, immediately after its publication.
The Confession, which is a large and very interesting document, is given at
full length in the original Latin by Lewis, Records, No. 21. p. 323 — 32.
Romish writers, when it suits their purpose, continually elevate the merest
trifles into a formal recantation. The popish author of The Life and Death
of Bishop Fisher, under the assumed name of Thomas Bailey, D.D., does not
scruple to speak in the following harsh and vulgar metaphors. " The first un-
clean beast that ever passed through the oxens-ford (I mean Wickliffe by name)
afterwards chewed the cud, and was sufficiently reconciled to the Roman
faith, as appears by his recantation ; living and dying conformable to the holy
catholic church, at his parsonage of Lutterworth in Leicestershire ; constantly
saying mass unto his dying day. So that reformation, as it seems, was left
unto the time of which it is said, Va regno cui puer dominatur ! Woe be to
the kingdom over which a child reigns ! " p. 35. ed. 3d. As to the recantation
spoken of, it has never yet been exhibited. (Lewis, p. «s.) Nor does the
saying mass in the latter part of his life prove any change of sentiment, unless
it can be shown, that he had entertained at some earlier period any scruples
on that head ; which does not appear. Compare what Fox says of Bilney,
Acts and Monuments, p. 921 : given below in this collection.

In reference to the above-mentioned censures upon Wickliffe. Sir K.
Twisden observes, "this I take to have been the first plenary determination
of the Church of England in the case, so that" (says he) " the opinion of tran-
sulotantiatiun that brought so many to the stake, had not with us Mo years
prescription IM fore Martin Luther." -Historical Vindication, p. I'M, 94.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 213

understood, forsaking the pope and all the clergie, hee thought
to appeale unto the kings majestie : but the duke of Lancaster,
comming betweene, forbad him that hee should not hereafter
attempt or begin any such matters, but rather submit himselfe
unto the censure and judgement of his ordinarie. Whereby Wick-
liffe being beset with troubles and vexations, as it were in the
midst of the waves, was forced once againe to make confession of
his doctrine : in the which his confession, to avoid the rigor of
things, he answered, making his declaration, and qualifying his
assertions after such a sort, that he did mitigate and asswage the
rigor of his enemies.

The next yeare after, which was 1 382. by the commandement
of William archbishop of Canturbury, there was a convocation
holden at London, where John Wickliffe was also commanded to
be present. — But whether he there appeared personally, or not, I
find it not in story certainely affirmed. — The memorandum of the
archbishop William Courtney here folio weth under written, truely
copied out of his owne registers 8.

" Memorandum, that where as well amongst the nobles as
commons of this realme of England, there hath a certaine brute
bin spread of divers conclusions both erroneous, and also repug-
nant to the determination of the church, which tend to the sub-
version of the whole church, and to our province of Canturburie,
and also to the subversion of the whole realme, being preached in
divers and sundrie places of our said province, generally, com-
monly, and publikely : We William by Gods permission arch-
bishop of Canturburie, primate of all England, and legat of the
see apostolicall, being minded to execute our office and dutie
herein; have convocated or called together certain our fellow
brethren and others a great many, as well doctors and bachelers
of divinitie, as doctors of the canon and civil law, and those whom
we thought to bee the most famous men, skilfullest men, and men
of soundest judgment in religion, that were in all the realme.
And, the 17. day of the moneth of May in the yeare of our Lord
1382. in a certaine chamber within the territories of the priorie
of the friers preachers of London before us and our aforesaid fel-
low brethren assembled, then and there personally present ; after
that the said conclusions (the tenor whereof here under ensueth)
were openlie proposed, and distinctly and plainely read ; Wee

8 Owne registers.] Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 1 57.

214 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

burthened our foresaid fellow brethren, doctors, and bachelers, in
the faith wherein they stood bound to our Lord Jesus Christ, and
as they would answere before the high Judge in the day of judge-
ment, that they should speake their opinions touching the said
conclusions, and what every of them thinketh therein.

"And at length, after good deliberation had upon the pre-
misses, the foresaid our brethren the bishops, doctors, and bache-
lers, reassembled before us the 21. day of the same moneth in the
foresaid chamber, the foresaid conclusions being againe and againo
repeated and plainely read: by us and by the common con
of us all it remaineth published and declared, that some of the
said conclusions are hereticall, and othersome erroneous and con-
trarie to the determination of the church, as hereafter most mani-
festly shall appeare. And for as much as by sufficient informa-
tion wee find and perceive, that the said conclusions in many
places of our said province, have beene, as is said, both taught
and preached; and that divers other persons doe hold and inain-
taine the same, and be of heresie vehemently and notoriouslie sus-
pected : we have thought good, as well generally as specially. t»>
send out this processe under written.

" The Articles9 of John Wickliffe, condemned as hereticall.

"1. The substance of materiall bread and wine doth re-maim-
in the sacrament of the altar after the consecration.

44 2. The accidents do not remaine without the subject in t In-
flame sacrament, after the consecration.

" 3. That Christ is not in the sacrament of the altar truly and
really, in his proper and corporall person.

" 4. That if a bishop1 or a priest be in deadly sin, hee doth not
order, consecrate, nor baptise.

9 The articles.'] These articles are given somewhat more fully and cor-
rectly from the original register, in Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 157-8. See also
Lewis's Records, No. 31.

1 If a bishop.'] "This article either is slanderouslie reported, or else
hardly be defended." Fox in the margin, p. 400. In truth, the article, as
might perhaps truly he said of some of the others, was none, of Wiekl.
" Sophisters shulden know well," (says he) "that a cursed man doth fully
the sacraments, thou-rh it he to his damning; for they ben not aiithours of
these sacraments, but Cod kepeth that divinity to himself."— Lewis's History.
p. 96 (or 118). See also p. 117—111). When a similar article was objected
against William Swinberby, a follower of Wickliffe, in the year 130<>, lit

JOHN W1CKLIFFE. 215

"5. That if a man be duely and truely contrite and penitent, all
exteriour and outer confession is but superfluous and unprofitable
unto him.

" 6. That it is not found or established by the gospell, that
Christ did make or ordaine masse.

fi 7. If the pope be a reprobate and evill man, and consequently
a member of the divell, he hath no power by any maner of
meanes given unto him over faithful Christians, except peradven-
ture it be given him from the emperor.

" 8. That since the time of Urban the sixth, there is none to be
received for pope, but to live after the maner of the Greekes,
every man under his owne law.

"9. To be against the scripture, that ecclesiasticall ministers
should have any temporall possessions.

" The other Articles of John Wickliffe, condemned as erroneous.

" 10. That no prelate ought to excommunicate any man except
he knew him first to be excommunicate of God.

"11. That he which doth so excommunicate any man, is thereby
himselfe either an heretike or excommunicated.

"12. That a prelate or bishop excommunicating any of the
clergie, which hath appealed to the king or to the counsell, is
thereby himselfe a traitor to the king and realme.

" 13. That all such which doe leave off preaching or hearing the
word of G od, or preaching of the gospell, for feare of excommu-
nication, they are already excommunicated, and in the day of
judgement shall be counted as traitors unto God.

" 14. That it is lawfull for any man, either deacon or priest, to
preach the word of God, without the authoritie or licence of the
apostolike see or any other of his catholicks.

" 15. That so long as a man is in deadly sin, hee is neither
bishop nor prelate in the church of God.

" 16. Also that the temporall lords may, according to their owne

affirmed very explicitly, " Thus I never said, thought it, preached it, ne
taught it. For I well wot the wickednesse of a priest may appaire" (impair}
" no verie sacrament. But the wickednesse of the priests appaires him-
selfen ; and all that boldnesse and example of his sinne causen the people to
liven the worse against God's laws." — Fox's Acts, p. 432. Compare Article
twenty-sixth of the Church of England; Of the unworthiness of the Minis-
ters, which hinders not the effect of the Sacraments.

216 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

will and discretion, take away the temporall goods from the
churchmen, whensoever they do offend.

" 1 7. That tenths are pure alines, and that parishioners may
for the offence of their curats, detaine and keepe them backe,
and bestow them upon others, at their owne will and pleasures.

" 18. Also, that all speciall praiers 2 applied to any private or
particular person, by any prelate, or religious man, doe no more
profit the same person, than generall or universall praiers doe
profit others, which be in like case or state unto him.

" 19. Moreover, in that any man doth enter into any private
religion, whatsoever it be, hee is thereby made the more unapt
and unable to observe and keepe the commandements of God.

" 20. That holy men which have instituted private religions,
whatsoever they be (as well such as are indued and possessed, as
also the order of begging friers, having no possessions) in so
doing, have grievouslie offended.

" 21. That religious men, being in their privat religions, are not
of the Christian religion.

"22. That friers are bounden to get their living by the labour
of their hands, and not by begging.

" 23. That whatsoever doth give any almes unto friers, or to
any begging observant, is accursed or in danger thereof."

8 Speciall praiers. .] "The popes had now for some time driven a very gain-
ful trade of granting indulgences or pardons, which they pretended was by
virtue of the holy merits of saints, which they did more than was needful
for their own happiness. These the popes claimed a power of communicating
to others, whose merit was not so great, and accordingly pretended to grant

to men thousands of years of pardon In an humble imitation of this

divine power claimed by the popes, the religious orders pretended to a com-
munication of their own merits ; and by granting to men and women letters
of fraternity, confirmed by their general seal, to bear them in hand, that they
should have part of all their masses, mattins, preachings, fastings, wakings,
and all other good deeds done by those of their order, both whilst they lived,
and after they were dead. They likewise made men believe, that their singing
of special prayers for people by name, as famulory and benefactor}', should
turn to men after their granting and limiting. On which account, scarce any
one who had any thing to give, but left a legacy to some of the religious
orders, for them to sing a trental for their souls. — These superstitions Dr.
Wickliffc and his followers opposed."— Lewis's Life of Pecock, p. 149.
edit. 1744, or p. 103. edit. 1820.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 217

The Letter 3 of the Archbishop directed to the Bishop of London,
against Wicldiffe, and his adherents.

" William by Gods permission archbishop of Canterburie, Me-
tropolitane of all England, and of the apostolicall see legate : To
our reverend brother by the grace of God bishop of London, salu-
tation. The prelats of the church ought to bee so much the more
vigilant and attentive about the charge of the Lords flocke com-
mitted unto them, how much the more they shall understand the
wolves being clothed in sheeps apparell, fraudulently to go about
to worry and scatter the sheepe.

" Truely by the continuall crie and bruted fame (which it grieve th
me to report) it is come to our knowledge, that although by the
canonical! sanctions no man being forbidden or not admitted,
should either publikely or privilie, without the authority of the
apostolical see or bishop of that place, usurpe or take upon him
the office of a preacher ; some notwithstanding, such as are the
children of damnation, being under the vaile of blind ignorance,
are brought into such a doting mind, that they take upon them
to preach, and are not affraid to affirme and teach divers and
sundrie propositions and conclusions here under recited, both
heretical!, erroneous and false, condemned by the church of God,
and repugnant to the decree of holy church, which tend to the
subverting of the whole state of the same, of our province of
Canturburie, and destruction and weakening of the tranquillity of
the same : and as well in the churches, as in the streets, as also
in many other prophane places of our said province, generally,
commonly, and publikely, do preach the same, infecting very
many good Christians, causing them lamentablie to wander out of
the way, and from the catholike church, without which there is
no salvation : — Wee therefore considering, that so pernicious a
mischiefe which may creepe amongst many, we ought not to
suffer, and by dissimulation to pass over, which may with deadly
contagion slay the soules of men, lest their blood be required at
our hands ; are willing so much as God will permit us to doe, to
extirpate the same. Wherefore, by the counsell and consent of
many of our brethren and suffragans, wee have convented divers
and sundrie doctors of divinitie, as also professors and other

3 The letter.'} See Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 159.

218 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

clerks of the canon and civill lawes, the best learned within the
realme, and of the most soundest opinion and judgement in the
catholike faith, to give their opinions and judgements concerning
the aforesaid conclusions. But forasmuch as the said conclusions
and assertions being in the presence of us, and our fellow bre-
thren and other convocates, openly expounded, and diligently « \-
amined, and in the end found by common counsell and consent,
as well of them as of us, and so declared, that some of those
conclusions were hereticall, and some of them erroneous, and
repugnant to the determination of the church, as here under are
described : Wee will and command your brotherhood, and by
vertue of holy obedience straitly enjoyne all and singuler our
brethren, and suffraganes of our church of Canturburie, that
with all speedie diligence you possiblie can, you likewise enjoyne
them (as we have enjoy ned you) and everie of them. And that
every one of them in their churches and other places of their
citie and diocesse, doe admonish and warne, and that you in your
church and other churches of your citie and dioces, do admonish
and warne, as we by the tenour of these presents do admonish
and warne the first time, the second time and the third time ;
and yet more straitely doe warne, assigning for the first admoni-
tion one day, for the second admonition another day, and for the
third admonition canonical and peremptory, another day : That
no man from henceforth, of what estate or condition soevi -r. dot-
hold, preach, or defend the foresaid heresies and errours, or any
of them ; nor that he admit to preach any one that is prohibited
or not sent to preach, nor that he heare or hearken to the 1
sies or errors of him or any of them, or that he favour or 1<
unto him either publikely or privily; but that immediately In-
shun him as he would avoid a serpent putting forth most p»
ferous poison, under paine of the greater curse4; the which

4 The greater curse.'] It was in allusion to these proceedings of the arch-
bishop, that Wickliffe, in his Treatise against the order of Friars, p. 53,
A.D. 1608, says, "They techen al this people to recke lesse of the most
rightfull curse of God, then by the wrong curse of sinful man. For they
callen the curse of God the lesse curse, and the curse of sinful man the more
curse. For though a man be never so cursed of God for pride, <
covetise, or avowtrie, or any other, this is not charged ne pursued, nether of
prelate, ne lord, ne commons. But if a man withstand om-.s the cihit'mn of
a sinful prelate, yea after the commamlement of (iod, then he shall be ci,
and prisoned after fortic daies, and al men shullen goe upon him, though the

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 219

command to be thundered against all and every one which shall
be disobedient in this behalfe, and not regarding these our moni-

rnan be pursued for truth of the gospel, and be blessed of God." In what
follows, we have a description of the greater and lesser curse, taken from a
Treatise of the Articles of the General greater Curse or Sentence, found in a
church at Canterbury, A.D. 1562. "Ye shullen understand that this word
curse is thus much to say, as departing" (cutting off) " fro God, and al good
workes. Of two manner of cursing holy church telleth ; the one is cleped
the lesse curs ; the other is cleped the more curs. That we clepen the lesse
curs, is of this strength ; that every man and woman that falleth therein, it
departeth him froe al the sacramentes, that bene in holy church, that they
may none of hem receive, till they be assoylled. For right as a sword de-
parteth the head, or the life from the body ; right so as to say, ghostly curse
departeth mans soul fro God, and fro al good workes. The more curs is
muche worse, and is of this strength, for to depart a man froe God, and froe
al holy church, and also froe the company of al christen folke, never to be
saved by the passion of Christ, ne to be holpen by the sacramentes that ben
done in holy church, ne to have part with any christen man." Becon's
Eeliques of Rome. Works, vol. iii. fol. 378.

Reference is made to these same mandates and anathemas of the church
in the Ploughman's Tale in Chaucer's Works, p. 167, edit. 1687,

" Who giveth you leave for to preach ? —
Thou shalt be curst with booke and bell,
And discevered from holy church."

We shall hear so much of these curses and excommunications, that it may
not be amiss, once for all, to produce an exemplification of their ordinary
process.

" At last, the priests found out a toy, to curse him whatsoever he were,
with booke, bell, and candle; which curse at that day seemed most feareful
and terrible. The manner of the curse was after this sort :

" One of the priests, apparalled all in white, ascended up into the pulpit.
The other rabblement with certaine of the two orders of friers, and certaine
superstitious monkes of Saint Nicholas house, standing round about, and
the crosse (as the custom was) being holden up with holy candles of waxe
fixed to the same, he began his sermon with this theme of Joshua : Est bias-
phemia in castris : There is blasphemie in the army ; and so made a long pro-
testation, but not so long as tedious and superstitious, and so concludes that
that foule and abominable hereticke which had put up suche blasphemous
bils, was for that his blasphemie damnablie accursed ; and besought God,
our Lady, Sainte Peter, patron of that church, with all the holy companie of
martyrs, confessours, and virgins, that it might be known what hereticke
had put up such blasphemous bils, that Gods people might avoide the
vengeance.

" The maner of the cursing of the said Benet was marvellous to behold ;
forasmuch as at that time there were few or none, unless a shireman or two
(whose houses I well remember were searched for bils at that time, and for

220 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

tions, after that those three daies be past which are assigned for
the canonicall monition, and that their delay, fault or offence

bookes) that knew any thing of Gods matters, or how God doth blesse their
curses in such cases. Then said the prelate, ' By the authority of God the
Father Almighty, and of the blessed Virgin Mary, of Saint Peter and Paul,
and of the holy saints, wee excommunicate, we utterly curse and banne,
commit and deliver to the devil of hell, him or her, whatsoever he or shee
bee, that have in spite of God and of Saint Peter, whose church this is, in
spite of all holy saintes, and in spite of our most holy father the pope, Gods
vicar here in earth, and in spite of the reverende father in God John our
diocesane, and the worshipful canons, masters, and priests and clerkes which
serve God daily in this cathedral church, fixed up with waxe, such cursed
and heretical bils full of blasphemie, upon the doors of this and other holy
churches within this city. Excommunicate plainly be hee or shee, or they,
and delivered over to the devil as perpetual malefactors, and schismatickes.
Accursed might they be and given body and soul to the devil. Cursed be
they, he or shee, in cities and townes, in fields, in waies, in pathes, in
houses, out of houses, and in all other places, standing, lying, or rising,
walking, running, waking, sleeping, eating, drinking, and whatsoever thing
they doe besides. We separate them, him, or her, from the threshold, and
from all the good prayers of the church, from the participation of the holy
masse, from all sacramentes, chapels, and altars, from holy bread, and holy
water, from all the merits of Gods priests and religious men, and from all
their cloisters, from all their pardons, privileges, grants, and immunities,
which all the holy fathers, popes of Rome, have granted to them : and wee
give them over utterly to the power of the fiend, and let us quench their
soules (if they bee dead) this night in the paines of hell fire, as this candle
is now quenched, and put out ' (and with that hee put out one of the can-
dles) ; * and let us praie to God (if they be alive) that their eyes may be put
out, as this candle light is,' (so he put out the other candle,) ' and let us
praie to God, and to our Lady, and to Saint Peter and Paul, and all holy
saintes, that all the senses of their bodies may faile them, and that they may
have no feeling, as now the light of this candle is gone,' (and so hee put out
the third candle,) ' except they, hee, or shee, come openly nowe and con-
fesse their blasphemie, and by repentance (as in them shall lie) make satis-
faction unto God, our Lady, Saint Peter, and the worshipful! company of this
cathedral church ; and as this holy crosse staffe now falleth downe, so mighte
they except they repent, and shew themselves ;' and one first taking awaye
the crosse, the staffe fell downe. But, Lord ! what a shout and noise was
there, what terrible feare, what holding up of handes to heaven ; that curse
was so terrible ! " Fox's Acts, p. 947. This account speaks only of quenching
the candles, and does not tell what was done with the Mis and the book.
The deficiency may be supplied by the following extract : " After the impre-
cations were over, the priest (according to some forms) subjoined these words :
Fiat: Fiat: Doe to the boke : Quench the Candles: Ring the Bell. Amen.
Amen. — And then the book is clapped together ; the candles blown out ; and
the bells rung, with a most dreadful noise made by the congregation present,

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 221

committed : That then, according to the tenour of these writings,
we command both by every one of our fellow brethren and our
suffragans in their cities and dioces, and by you in your city and
diocesse (so much as belongeth both to you and them), that to
the uttermost, both yee and they cause the same excommunica-
tions to be pronounced. And furthermore, wee will and com-
mand our foresaid fellow brethren, and all and singuler of you
apart by your selves, to bee admonished, and by the aspersion of
the blood of Jesus Christ we likewise admonish you, that accord-
ing to the institution of the sacred canons, every one of them in
their cities and dioces, be a diligent inquisitor of this hereticall
pravitie ; and that every one of you also in your cities and dioces,
bee the like inquisitor of the foresaid hereticall pravitie : And
that of such like presumptions they and you carefully and dili-
gently enquire, and that both they and you (according to your
duties and office in this behalfe) with effect do proceed against the
same, to the honour and praise of his name that was crucified,
and for the preservation of the Christian faith and religion." May
30, 1382.

Here is not to be passed over, the greate miracle of Gods
divine admonition or warning ; for when as the archbishop and
suffragans, with the other doctors of divinitie, and lawyers with a
great companie of babling friers, and religious persons were
gathered together to consult, as touching John Wickliffes books,
and that whole sect, at the Grey Friers in London, upon saint
Dunstans day 5 after dinner, about two of the clocke, the very
houre and instant that they should go forward with their
businesse, a wonderfull and terrible earthquake fell throughout
all England ; whereupon divers of the suffragans being feared by
the strange and wonderful demonstration, doubting what it
should meane, thought it good to leave off from their determinate
purpose. But the archbishop (as chiefe captaine of that armie,
more rash and bold then wise) interpreting the chance which had
happened, cleane contrarie, to another meaning or purpose, did
confirme and strengthen their hearts and minds, which were
almost daunted with feare, stoutly to proceede and goe forward

bewailing the accursed persons concerned in that black doom denounced
against them." Staveley's History of Churches in England, p. 237-88.

" They pray " (says Tindal) " in Latin, they christen in Latin, they blesse
in Latin, they give absolution in Latin : onely curse they in the English
toung." Obedience of a Christian Man. Works, 151. fol.

5 St. Dunstan's Day.'] May 19 (1382).

222 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

in their attempted enterprise. Who then discoursing Wickliffes
articles, not according unto the sacred canons of the holy scrip-
ture, but unto their owne private affections and traditions, pro-
nounced and gave sentence, that some of them were simplie and
plainely hereticall, othersome halfe erroneous, other irreligious,
some seditious, and not consonant to the church of Rome.

The archbishop yet not contented with this, doth moreover In
all meanes possible, sollicite the king to joine withall the power of
his temporall sword, for that he well perceived, that hitherto as
yet the popish clergie had not authoritie sufficient by anio law or
statute6 of this land to proceed unto death against any person
whatsoever, in case of religion, but onely by the usurped tyranny
and example of the court of Rome. Where note (gentle reader)
for thy better understanding, the practice of the Romish pre-
lats in seeking the kings helpe to further their bloudie pur-
pose against the good saints of God. Which king being but
young, and under yeers of ripe judgement, partly induced, or
rather seduced by importune sute of the foresaid archbishop,
partly also either for feare of the bishops (for kings cannot al\\

6 Law or statute.^ There was hitherto no statute, unquestionably. But, it
seems, that heresy was, from an earlier period, held to be punishable with
death by burning, by the common law of the realm.

"Christianity" (says Blackstone) "being thus deformed by the daemon of
persecution upon the continent, we cannot expect that our own island should
be entirely free from the same scourge. And therefore we find amon# our
ancient precedents a writ de hceretico comburendo, which is thought by some to
be as ancient as the common law itself. However, it appears from thence,
that the conviction of heresy by the common law was not in any petty eccle-
siastical court, but before the archbishop himself in a provincial synod ; and
that the delinquent was delivered over to the king, to do as he should please
with him : so that the crown had a control over the spiritual power, and might
pardon the convict by issuing no process against him ; the writ de herretico
comburendo being not a writ of course, but issuing only by the special direc-
tion of the king in council " Book iv. chap. 4. Public Wrongs.

" For the punishment of heretics, it cannot be doubted, by the common
law (that is, the custom of the realm) of England, to have been here, as in
other parts of the world, by consuming them by fire. Bakrus, from the tes-
timony of a chronicle of London, reports one of the Albigenses to have
so made away with there, A.D. 1210. Of the truth of the thing there is no
question; for Bracton writes of an apostate deacon, that, in a counril h-
Oxford, A.D. 1222, by Stephen Langton, he was first degraded, and tit
the lay power committed to the fire : with whom agrees Fleta." — Twi-drn's
Historical Vindication, p.

See also the note at p. 389 of the life of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham,
in this work.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 223

doe in their realmes what they will) or else perhaps inticed by
some hope of subsidie to be gathered by the clergy, was content
to adjoine his private assent (such as it was) to the setting downe
of an ordinance, which was indeed the very first law 7 that is to
be found made against religion and the professours thereof, bear-
ing the name of an act made in the parliament holden at West-
minster, anno 5. Rich. 2. Where among sundry other statutes
then published, and yet remaining in the printed books of statutes,
this supposed statute is to be found, cap. 5, & ultimo, as
followeth.

" Item, forsomuch as it is openly knowne that there be divers
evill persons within the realme, going from countie to countie,
and from towne to towne, in certaine habits under dissimulation
of great holinesse, and without the licence of the ordinaries of
the places, or other sufficient authoritie, preaching daily not
only in churches and churchyards, but also in markets, faires,
and other open places where a great congregation of people is,
divers sermons containing heresies and notorious errors, to the
great emblemishing of Christian faith, and destruction of the
lawes, and of the estate of holy church, to the great perill of the
soules of the people, and of all the realme of England, as more
plainly is found and sufficiently proved before the reverend father
in God the archbishop of Canturbury, and the bishops and other
prelats, masters of divinitie, and doctors of canon and of civill
law, and a great part of the clergy of the said realme, specially
assembled for this great cause ; which persons doe also preach
divers matters of slander, to ingender discord and dissention
betwixt divers estates of the said realme, as well spirituall as tem-
porall, in exciting of the people, to the great perill of all the
realme : which preachers cited or summoned before the ordinaries
of the places there to answer to that whereof they be impeached,
they will not obey to their summons and commandements, nor
care not for their monitions nor censures of the holy church, but
expressly despise them. And moreover, by their subtile and
ingenious words, doe draw the people to heare their sermons, and
doe maintaine them in their errors by strong hand, and by great
routs : It is ordained and assented in this present parliament,
that the king's commissions be made and directed to the shiriffes
and other ministers of our soveraigne lord the king, or other

7 Very first law.] See also Parl Hist. vol. i. col. 177. ed. 1806.

224 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

sufficient persons learned, and, according to the certifications of
the prelats thereof, to be made in the chancery from time to time,
to arrest all such preachers, and also their fautors, maintainers,
and abetters, and to hold them in arrest and strong prison, till
they will justify them according to the law and reason of holy
church. And the king willeth and commandeth, that the chan-
cellor make such commissions at all times, that he by the prelats
or any of them shall bee certified and thereof required, as is
aforesaid."

What manner of law this was, by whom devised, and by what
authority the same was first made and established, judge by that
that followeth : viz.

In the Utas 8 of St Michael next following, at a parliament
summoned and holden at Westminster, the sixth yeere of the
said king, among sundry petitions made to the king by his
commons, whereunto he assented, there is one in this forme,
article 52.

" Item, pray en the commons, that whereas an estatute was
made the last parliament in these words : ' It is ordained in this
present parliament, that commissions from the king be directed
to the shiriffes and other ministers of the king, or to other suffi-
cient persons skilfull, and according to the certificats of the
prelats thereof to be made unto the chancery from time to time
to arrest all such preachers, and their fauters, maintainers and
abetters ; and them to detaine in strong prison, untill they will
justifie themselves according to reason, and law of holy church ;
and the king willeth and commandeth, that the chancellor make
such commissions at all times, as shall be by the prelats or any
of them certified, and thereof required, as is aforesaid f the which
was never agreed nor granted by the commons ; but whatsoever
was moved therein, was without their assent : that the
statute be therefore disannulled. For it is not in any wise their
meaning, that either themselves, or such as shall succeed them.
shall be further justified or bound by the prelats, then were their
ancestors in former times ;" whereunto is answered, " II plaist a
Hoy, the king is pleased."

Hereby notwithstanding the former unjust law of ann. 5.

8 In the Utas.'] The utas or octaves is the eighth day following any Imn
<>r feast. Any day in the interval between the feast and the eighth day is said
to be within the utas.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 225

repealed, and the fraud of the framers thereof sufficiently disco-
vered : yet such meanes was there made by the prelats, that this
act of repeal was never published, nor ever sithence imprinted
with the rest of the statutes of that parliament. Insomuch as the
said repeale being concealed, like commissions and other pro-
cesses were made from time to time, by virtue of the bastard
statute 9, as well during all the raigne of this king as ever sithence,

9 The bastard statute^ But it was not very long before this was not the
only statutable authority.

"In the reign of Henry IV." says Blackstone, "when the eyes of the
Christian world began to open, and the seeds of the protestant religion, though
under the opprobrious name of lollardy, took root in this kingdom ; the clergy,
taking advantage from the king's dubious title to demand an increase of their
own power, obtained an act of parliament (2 Hen. iv. c. 15. A.D. 1401), which
sharpened the edge of persecution to its utmost keenness. For, by that sta-
tute, the diocesan alone, without the intervention of a synod, might convict of
heretical tenets ; and unless the convict abjured his opinions, or if after ab-
juration he relapsed, the sheriff was bound ex vfficio, if required by the bishop,
to commit the unhappy victim to the flames, without waiting for the consent
of the crown." Book iv. chap. 4.

Compare also Lewis's Life of WicUiffe, chap. 7. p. 133, &c. edit. 1820.
Twisden's Hist. Vindication, 158; Ayliffe's Parergon Juris Canonici, 293.

Into what a miserable condition the whole nation, both of clergy and laity,
was brought, under these laws, we shall sufficiently understand, when we
have first possessed ourselves of certain other very material circumstances, a
concise and clear statement of which we may borrow from judge Blackstone.
" What doctrines should be adjudged heresy, was left by our old constitution
to the determination of the ecclesiastical judge ; who had herein a most ar-
bitrary latitude allowed him. For the general definition of an heretic given
by Lyndewode, extends to the smallest deviations from the doctrines of holy
church : ' heereticus est qui dubitat de fide catholica, et qui negligit servare
ea, quse Romana ecclesia statuit, seu servare decreverit.' Or, as the statute
2 Hen. iv. c. 15, expresses it in English, 'teachers of erroneous opinions,
contrary to the faith and blessed determinations of the holy church/ Very
contrary this to the usage of the first general councils, which defined all
heretical doctrines with the utmost precision and exactness. And what ought
to have alleviated the punishment, the uncertainty of the crime, seems to have
enhanced it in those days of blind zeal and pious cruelty. It is true that the
sanctimonious hypocrisy of the canonists went at first no further than en-
joining penance, excommunication, and ecclesiastical deprivation, for heresy.
But in the mean time they had prevailed upon the weakness of bigoted
princes to make the civil power subservient to their purposes, by making
heresy not only a temporal, but even a capital offence ; the Romish eccle-
siastics determining, without appeal, whatever they pleased to be heresy, and
shifting off to the secular arm the odium and drudgery of executions." Com-

VOL. I. Q,

226 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

against the professors of religion. — And now the king writeth his
letters patents, to the vicechancellor of Oxford in forme as
followeth '.

" The king : To the chancellor and the procurators of the
universitie of Oxford which now be, or for the time being shall
bee, greeting. Moved by the zeale of Christian faith, whereof
wee be, and alwaies will be defenders, and for our soules health
induced thereunto, having a great desire to represse, and by

mentaries on the Laws of England, book iv. chap. 4. Compare Twisden's
Historical Vindication, p. 135 — 42, and 153 — 61.

Now, in such a state of things, can we wonder that the high court of par-
liament itself should declare " that the most learned man of the realm, dili-
gently lying in wait upon himself, could not eschew and avoid the same acts
and canonical sanctions, if he should be examined upon such captious inter-
rogatories as is and hath been accustomed to be ministered by the ordinaries
of this realm, in cases where they will suspect of heresy ?" (25 Hen. viii. cap.
14, A.D. 1534.) Or, is it surprising, that, on the revival of these acts under
queen Mary, bishop Ridley should write, that " it would be impossible now
to continue in England, without conforming to the Roman religion ; so that
they must either suffer, or deny their Master by a compliance with many
things which he has expressly forbidden ?" (Ridley's Life of Bishop Ridley,
p. 651.) Or, finally, why should we wonder at reading, that in one diocese
alone in one year (1521), above five hundred persons were accused and
detected ?" (Ibid. p. 9.)

But, is it possible that such means should gain their end, in such a cause ?
" He that dwelleth in heaven will laugh them to scorn ; the Lord shall have them
in derision.''' — No. As it was remonstrated nobly by one of the Reformers,
under king Henry VIII., addressing the prelates in convocation, " Think ye
not, that ye can by any sophistical subtleties steale out of the world again,
the light which every man doth see. . . And that which you doe hope
upon, that there was never heresie in the church so great, but that processe
of time, with the power and authorise of the pope hath quenched it, it is
nothing to the purpose. But yee must truce your opinion, and thinke this
surely, that there is nothing so feeble and weake, so that it be true, but it shall
find place, and be able to stand against all falshood."

" Truth is the daughter of time, and time is the mother of truth."
Life of Cromwell, given below in this collection.

And hence it was that the martyrs and confessors were cheered with the
consolatory hope, even in their darkest hour, that "God would arise, and
have mercy upon Sion :" and they looked forward, in cheerful anticipation, in
the language, for example, of one of them under queen Mary, that " the dis-
persed flocke of Christ would be brought againe into their former estate, or
to a better than it was in innocent king Edward's days." Life of Rogers, given
below in this collection.

1 Asfolloweth.] See 3 Wilkins, 166, 7.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 227

condigne punishment to restraine the impugners of the foresaid
faith, which newly and wickedly goe about and presume to sow
their naughty and perverse doctrine, within our kingdonie of
England, and to preach and hold damnable conclusions, so noto-
riously repugnant and contrary to the same faith, to the per-
verting of our subjects and people, as we understand: — Before
they any further proceed in their malicious errors, or else infect
others, We have by these presents appointed you to bee inquisitor
generall (all the chiefe divines of the said universitie being your
assistants), and the same likewise to be done of al and singuler
the graduats, divines and lawyers of the same universitie. And if
they shall know any which be of the jurisdiction of the said
universitie of Oxford, which be probably of them suspected to be
in the favour, beleefe, or defence of any heresie or error, and
specially of any of the conclusions publikely condemned by the
reverend father, William, archbishop of Canturbury, by the
councel of his clergie, or els of any other conclusion like unto
any of them in meaning, or in words : and if henceforth you
shall find any that shall beleve, favour, or defend any of the fore-
said heresies or errors, or any other such like, or else which shall
be so bold to receive into their houses and innes, master John
Wickliffe, M. Nicolas Herford, M. Philip Reppindon, or M.
John Ashton, or any other noted by probable suspition of any
the foresaid heresies or errors, or any other like unto them in
meaning, or in word : or that shall presume to communicate with
any of them, or else to defend or favour any of such favourers,
receivers, communicants and defenders, within seven daies after
the same shall appeare and be manifest unto you, to banish and
expell them from the universitie and towne of Oxford, till such
time as they shall declare their innocence before the archbishop
of Canturburie for the time being, by manifest purgation ; so
notwithstanding, that such as be compelled to purge themselves,
you certify us and the said archbishop under your scales, from
time to time, within one month, that they be such maner of
men. Commanding furthermore, that through all the halles of
the said universitie, ye cause diligentlie to be searched and
inquired out of hand ; if anie man have anie book 2 or tractation
of the edition or compiling of the foresaid master John Wickliffe,

2 Anie book.~\ See also 3 Wilkins, 204. Proclamation against Wickliffe's
Books, A.D. 1387.

Q2

228 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

or Nicolas Herford ; and that when and wheresoever ye shall
chance to find any such booke or tractation, yee cause the same
to be arrested and taken, and unto the foresaid archbishop within
one moneth (without correction, corruption, or mutation what-
soever) word for word, and sentence for sentence, to be brought
and presented. And therefore wee straitly enjoyne and com-
mand you, upon your fidelitie and allegeance wherein ye stand
bound unto us, and upon paine of forfeiture of al and singular
your liberties and priviledges of your said universitie, and of all
that ever you have besides ; that you give your diligent attendance
upon the premisses, and that well and faithfully you execute the
same in manner and forme aforesaid. And that you obey the
foresaid archbishop, and his lawfull and honest mandates, tliat he
shall thinke good to direct unto you in this behalfe, as it is ineete
ye should. And we give in charge unto the vicechancellor and
maior of Oxford for the time being, and to all and singuler our
sheriffes, under-sheriffes, bailiffes, and subjects, by these presents ;
that they aid, obey, and bee attendant upon you in the execution
of the premisses. In witnesse whereof, &c. Witnesse the king
at Westminster, the 13th day of July, the sixth yeere of his
raigne." (A.D. 1382.)

The vicechancellor the same time in Oxford was master Robert
Rigges. The two proctors were John Huntman and \\ alti-r
Dish, who then, as far as they durst, favored the cause s of John
Wicldiffe and that side. Insomuch, that the same time and
yeere which was an. 1382. when certaine publike sermons should
be appointed customablie at the feast of the Ascension, and of
Corpus Christi to be preached in the cloyster of S. Frides
(now called Christs church) before the people, by the vice-
chancellor aforesaid and the proctors, the doing thereof the
vicechancellor aforesaid and proctors had committed to Philip
Repington and Nicholas Herford, so that Nicolas Herford should
preach on the Ascension day, and Repington upon Corpus Christ!
day.

First Herford beginning was noted to defend John WirklinV.
openly to be a faithftill, good and innocent man : for the which
no small ado with outcries was among the friers.

3 Favored the cause-"] See Lewis's Life, &c. p. 114, 15. and Records.
34. See also No. 35. "

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 229

After this the feast of Corpus Christ! drew neere, upon which
day it was looked for that Eepington should preach.

When the friers understood this, fearing lest hee would rub
the galles of their religion, they convented with the archbishop of
Canturbury, that the same day a little before that Philip should
preach, Wickliffe's conclusions which were privately condemned,
should be openly defamed in the presence of the whole universitie.
The doing of which matter was committed to Peter Stokes frier,
standerd-bearer and chiefe champion of that side against Wick-
liffe. There were also letters 4 sent unto the commissarie, that
he should helpe and aide him in publishing of the same con-
clusions.

These things thus done and finished, Eepington at the houre
appointed proceeded to his sermon. In the which sermon among
many other things, he was reported to have uttered these sayings,
or to this effect.

" That the popes or bishops ought not to be recommended 5
above temporal! lords."

Also that " in morall matters he would defend master Wick-
liffe as a true catholike doctor.1"1

Moreover, that " the duke of Lancaster was very earnestly
affected and minded in this matter, and would that all such
should be received under his protection :" besides many things
mo which touched the praise and defence of Wickliffe.

And finallie, in concluding his sermon, he dismissed the people
with this sentence : " I will (said hee) in the speculative doctrine,
as appertaining to the matter of the sacrament of the altar, keepe
silence and hold my peace, untill such time as God otherwise shall
instruct and illuminate the hearts of the clergy.1'

When the sermon was done, Eepington entred into S. Fride-
swides church, accompanied with many of his friends ; who, as the

4 There were also letters^] These two documents, the letter to Stokes, and
that to the commissary or vice-chancellor, are given by Lewis in his Records.,
Nos. 31 and 33.

5 Ought not to be recommended.~] Ought not to be commended, that is,
in prayer: according to what follows, p. 230; "minding there to prove,
that the pope and the bishops ought to be prayed for before the lords tem-
porall." — With Repington's Reserve on the Doctrine of the Eucharist, com-
pare the process against Swinderby. Fox, p. 432 ; also the accounts of
Bilney and Tindall, given below in this collection, and a note in Thorpe's
Examination, on the words " material bread."

230 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

enemies surmised, were privilie weaponed under their garments,
if need had been. Frier Stokes the Carmelite aforesaid, sus-
pecting all this to be against him, and being afraid of hurt, kept
himself within the sanctuarie of the church, not daring as then
to put out his head. The vicechancellor and Repington, friendly
saluting one another in the church porch, sent away the people,
and so departed every man home to his owne house. There was
not a little joy through the whole universitie for that sermon ;
but in the meane time, the unquiet and busie Carmelite slipt not
his matter. For first by his letters hee declared the whole order
of the matter unto the archbishoppe, exaggerating the perils and
dangers that he was in, requiring and desiring his helpe and aid,
pretermitting nothing, whereby to move and stirre up the arch-
bishops minde, which of his owne nature was as hot as a toste,
(as they say,) and ready enough to prosecute the matter of his
owne accord, though no man had prickt him forward thereunto.
Besides all this (three daies after) with a fierce and bold courage,
the said frier breathing out threatnings and heresies against
them, took the way unto the schooles, minding there to prove,
that the pope and the bishops ought to be praied for before the
lords temporall. Whiles this frier was thus occupied in the
schooles, he was mocked and derided of all men, and shortly after
hee was sent for by the archbishop to London : whom imme-
diately after, the vicechancellor and Brightwell c followed up, to
purge and cleere themselves and their adherents from the accusa-
tions of this frier Peter. At the length they bein-j; cxamin. -d
upon Wickliffes conclusions that were condemned, did all con-
that they were worthily condemned.

Then began the hatred on their part somewhat to appeare and
shew, and specially all men were offended, and in the to]
these friers and religious men, upon whom whatsoever trouble or
mischief was raised up they did impute it as to the authors
and causers of the same. Amongst whom there was one Henry
Crompe, a monke Cistertian, a well learned divine, which a
ward was accused by the bishops of heresie. Hee at that time
was openly suspended by the commissary, (because in his !••<•!
he called the horetikes Lollards7,) from his acts (as they t-

0 And Bright well.] Fox, p. 401, 402.

7 Called the heretikes IjollardsJ] Our canonist Lynwood tells us, that this
name was derived from the Latin lolium, which signifies cockle ; because as

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 231

them) in the schoole. — Then he comming by and by up to
London, made his complaint unto the archbishop and to the kings
counsell.

Whereupon he obtaining the letters of the king, and of his
counsell, by the vertue thereof (returning againe to the univer-
sitie) was restored to his former state ; the words of which letter
here followeth under written 8.

The Copy of the Kings Letter.

" The king to the vicechancelour and proctors of the univer-
sitie of Oxford, greeting. Whereas we of late understanding by
the grievous complaint of Henry Crompe, monke, and regent in
divinitie within the said university, how that he, being assisted
by the reverend father in God the archbishop of Canterbury, and
by other clerks and divines in the citie of London, to proceed in
the condemnation of certaine conclusions erroneous and hereti-
call, hath been therefore molested by you : and that you through
sinister suggestions of some adversaries (pretending the peace of
the said university, to have been broken by the said Henry in his
last lecture,) did therefore call him before you to appeare and
answere ; and for his not appearing, did therefore pronounce him
as obstinat, and convict of peace-breaking ; and also have sus-
pended the said Henrie from his lectures, and all scholasticall
acts : And whereas we by our writ, did call you up for the same,
to appeare and answere before our counsell unto the premisses ;
so that all things being well tried and examined by the said coun-
sell, it was found and determined, that all your processe against
the said Henry, was void and of none effect, and commandement

that weed is a great damage to the wheat (infelix lolium, Georgia.) among
which it grows ; so the Lollards, their enemies said, corrupted and spoiled
the well-meaning faithful among whom they were conversant. To this de-
rivation of the word or name, our poet Chaucer alludes in the following
words :

" This Loller here woll preche us somewhat,
He wolde so win some difficulte,
Or spring (sprinkle] in some cokkle in our clene corne."

Squire's Prologue.

Others derive the name from one Walter Lollard, a German (Beausobre,
Dissertat. sur les Adamites, &c.) Others again from Lullard or Lollards, the
praises of God, a sect so named, which was dispersed through Brabant.
Picteti Oratio, p. 29." Lewis's Life of Bishop Pecock, p. 10.
8 Under written.'] See Lewis's WicMiffe, p. 115, 16. and Records, No. 30.

232 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

given, that the said Henry should be restored and admitted
againe to his former lectures and scholasticall acts, and to his
pristine state, as you know : To the intent therefore that this
decree aforesaid should be more duly executed of your part, we
here by these presents straitly charge and command you, that
you speedily revoke againe all your processe against the said
Henry in the universitie aforesaid, with all other that followed
thereof, and doe admit and cause to be restored againe the said
Henry to his scholasticall acts, his accustomed lectures and pris-
tine estate, without all delay, according to the forme of the de-
cree and determination aforesaid. Enjoining you moreover, and
your commissaries or deputies, and your successors, and all other
masters, regent and not regent, and other presidents, officers,
ministers, and schollers of the universitie aforesaid, upon your
faith and allegiance you owe to us, that you doe not impeach,
molest or grieve, or cause to be grieved any manner of way, privie
or apert, the said frier Henry for the causes premised, or frier
Peter Stokes Carmelite, for the occasion of his absence from the
university, or frier Stephan Packington Carmelite, or any other
religious or secular person favouring them, upon the occasion of
any either word or deed whatsoever, concerning the doctrine of
master John Wickliffe, Nicholas Herford, and Phillip llepping-
ton, or the reproofe and condemnation of their heresies and
errors, or the correction of their favourers, but that you doe pro-
cure the peace, unity, and quiet, within the said university, and
chiefly betweene the religious and secular persons: and that you
with all diligence nourish, increase, and preserve the same to tin?
uttermost of your strength, And that you in no case omit to
doe it accordingly, upon the forfaitures of all and sin^uler tin.1
liberties and priviledges of the university aforesaid. Witnesse
my selfe at Westminster the 14th of July."' (A.D. 1382.)

Mention was made, as you heard a little before, how nin
Rigges vicechancellor of Oxford comming up with master Bri
wel to the archbishop of Canturhury. was there straitly
mined of the conclusions of Wickliffe ; where hee notwithstand-
ing, through the help of the bishop of Win-- obtained
pardon, and \va> >«-nt away againe with comniandeinents and
char. fk out all tin1 favourers of John \Vickliile. This
commandement heinir received, Nicolas I fert'ord. and Philip !
pington (lieinir privily warned by the said vicechanc llor) in the

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 233

meane season conveied themselves out of sight, and fled to the
duke of Lancaster for succor and helpe : but the duke, whether
for fear, or what cause else I cannot say, in the end forsooke his
poore and miserable clients.

In the meane time, while they were fled thus to the duke, great
search and inquisition was made for them, to cite and to appre-
hend them wheresoever they might be found. Whereupon the
archbishop of Canturbury William Courtney, directed out his
letters first to the vicechancellor of Oxford, then to the bishop
of London named Robert Braybroke, charging them not onely
to excommunicate the said Nicolas and Philip within their juris-
diction, and the said excommunication to be denounced likewise
throughout all the diocesse of his suffragans : but also moreover,
that diligent search and watch should be laid for them, both in
Oxford and in London, that they might bee apprehended : re-
quiring moreover, by them to be certified againe, what they had
done in the premisses. And this was written the fourteenth day
of July, anno 1382.

Unto these letters received from the archbishop, diligent certi-
ficat was given accordingly, as well of the bishop of London on
his part, as also of the vicechancellor, the tenor whereof was
this.

The Letter certificatorie of the Vicechancellor to the Arclibishop.

" To the reverend father in Christ, Lord William, archbishop
of Canturbury, primat of all England, and legat of the aposto-
like see : Robert Rigges, professor of divinity, and vicechancel-
lor of the university of Oxford, greeting with due honour. Your
letters bearing the date of the 14th of July I have received : by
the authority whereof I have denounced, and caused to be de-
nounced effectually, the foresaid Nicolas and Philip, to have bin,
and to be excommunicat publikely and solemnly in the church of
S. Mary, and in the schooles, and to be cited also personally, if
by any meanes they might be apprehended, according as you
commanded. But after diligent search laid for them of my part,
to have them personally cited and apprehended, I could not finde
either the said master Nicolas, or master Philip ; who have hid or
conveied themselves, unknowne to me. Whereof I thought here
to give signification to your fatherhood. Sealed and testified
with the seale of mine office." From Oxford the 25th of July.

234 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

In the mean time Nicolas Herford and Reppington being re-
pulsed of the duke, and destitute (as was said) of his supporta-
tion, whether they were sent, or of their own accord went to
the archbishop, it is uncertaine. This I finde in a letter of the
foresaid archbishop, contained in his register, that Reppington
the 23rd day of October the same yeere 1382, was reconciled
againe to the archbishop, and also by his generall letter was re-
leased, and admitted to his scholasticall acts in the universiti .
And so was also John Ashton ; of whom (Christ willing) more
shall follow hereafter. Of Nicolas Herford all this while I finde
no speciall relation.

In the mean time, about the twenty-third of the month of
September the said yeere, the king sent his mandate to the arch-
bishop for collecting of a subsidie, and to have a convocation of
the clergy summoned, against the next parliament, which should
begin the eighteenth day of November. The archbishop lik«
on the fifteenth day of October, directed his letters monitory (as
the maner is) to Eobert Braybroke bishop of London, to give the
same admonition to all his suffragans, and other of the clergy
within his province for the assembling of the convocation afoiv-
said. All which done and executed, the parliament bc^anne,
being holden at Oxford the eighteenth day of November, where
the* convocation was kept in the monastery of Frideswide in
Oxford. In the which convocation9, the archbishop, with other
bishops there sitting in their pontificalibus, declared two causes
of that their present assembly, thereby (saitli he) to repi
heresies, which beganne newly in the realme to spring, and for
correcting other excesses in the church. The other cause (said
he) was to aid and support the king with some necessary subsidio
of money to be gathered ; which thus declared, the convocation
was continued till the day following, which was the 19th of No-
vember.

At the said day and place, the archbishop, with the other
prelats, assembling themselves as before, the archbishop after
nx-d solemnitie, willed the procurators of the clergie. appointed
for every dincrsse, to consult within themselves, in some conve-
nient several place, what they thought for their parts touching
tli«- rodrane of things, to bee notified and declared to him and to
his brethren, &c.

rj Which convocation.] bee 3 Wilkins, 17-, •'*.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 235

Furthermore, " forasmuch," (saith he) "as it is so noysed
through all the realme, that there were certaine in the universitie
of Oxford, which did hold and maintaine conclusions" (as he
calleth them) " heriticall and erroneous, condemned by him, and
by other lawyers and doctors of divinitie : he therefore assigned
the bishops of Sarum, Hereford and Rochester, with William
Rugge then vicechancellor of the universitie of Oxford" (for be-
like Robert Rigge was then displaced) " as also William Berton,
and John Middleton doctors; giving them his full authoritie
with cursing and banning x, to search and to enquire with all dili-
gence and waies possible, over all and singuler whatsoever, either
doctors, batchelors, or scholars of the said universitie, which did
hold, teach, maintaine, and defend, in schooles or out of schooles,
the said conclusions hereticall (as he called them) or erroneous,
and afterwards to give certificate truely and plainely touching the
premisses. And thus for that day the assemblie brake up to the
next, and so to the next, and the third, being Monday, the 24th
day of November." (Ex Regist. W. Courtney.)

On the which day, in the presence of the prelats and the
clergie in the chapter house of S. Frideswide, came in Philip
Repington, who there abjured the conclusions and assertions
aforesaid, in this forme of words as followeth.

" In Dei nomine, Amen, I Philip Repington, canon of the
house of Leicester, acknowledging one catholike and apostolike
faith, do curse and also abjure all heresie, namely these heresies
and errors under written, condemned and reproved by the decrees
canonicall, aud by you most reverend father, touching which
hitherto I have beene diffamed ; condemning moreover and
reproving both them and the authors of them, and do confesse the
same to bee catholically condemned : and I sweare also by these
holy Evangelists, which here I hold in my hand, and doe promise,'
never by any perswasions of men, nor by any way hereafter, to
defend or hold as true, any of the said conclusions under written :
but doe and will stand and adhere in all things, to the determina-
tion of the holy catholike church, and to yours, in this behalfe.
Over and besides, all such as stand contrarie to this faith, I do

1 With cursing and banning.'] A bann (so banns of marriage) denotes any
public proclamation or edict. To bann, in like manner, is to proclaim gene-
rally ; more particularly in a bad sense, to proscribe, to excommunicate, to
banish.

236 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

pronounce them with their doctrine and followers worthie of
everlasting curse. And if I my selfe shall presume at any time
to hold or preach any thing contrarie to the premisses, I shall be
content to abide the severitie of the canons. Subscribed with
mine owne hand, and with mine own accord, Philip Repington ."
And thus the said Repington was discharged, who afterward was
made bishop of Lincolne, and became at length the most bitter
and extreme persecutor of this side, of all the other bishops
within the realme, as in processe hereafter may appeare.

After the abjuration of this Repington, immediately w;is
brought in John Ashton, student of divinitie; who being
examined of those conclusions, and willed to say his mind,
answered ; that he was too simple and ignorant ; and therefore
would not, and could not answer any thing cleerely or distinctly
to those conclusions. — Whereupon the archbishop assigned to
him doctor W. Rugge the vicechancellor, and other divines, such
as he required himselfe, to be instructed in the mysterie of those
conclusions against the after noone : who then appearing againe
after dinner before the archbishop and the prelats, did in like sort
and forme of words abjure as did Repington before.

Of this John Ashton we read, that afterward by Thomas
Arundell archbishop of Canturburie, hee was cited and con-
demned ; but whether he died in prison, or was burned, we have
yet no certainetie to shew. This is certaine by the plaine words
of the chronicle of saint Albans, that when the archbishop, with
his doctors and friers, sat in examination upon this John Ashton.
in London, the Londoners brake open the doore of the com-;
and did let the archbishop himselfe sitting in the citie of London,
when he would have made processe against J. Ashton, an. 1382.
— And thus much of J. Ashton.

As touching Nicolas Herford, during the time of this convoca-
tion, he did not appeare ; and therefore had the sentence of
<•. \communication. Against which lie put his appeal*- from the arch-
bishop to the king and his counsell. The archbishop would not
admit it, but finding staies and stops caused him to bee appre-
hended and inclosed in prison. Notwithstanding through the will
of (iod and good meanes he escaped out of the prison, returning
airline to his former . and pivaehing a- IH-C- did bi-f'oiv.

alheit in as covert and secret mailer as lire miild. Whereupon
the archbishop thundring out his holts of excommunication against
him, sendeth to all pastors and ministers, willing them in ail

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 237

churches, and all festivall dales, to divulge the said his excommu-
nication against him, to all men. He writeth moreover and
sendeth speciall charge to all and singuler of the laitie, to beware
that their simplicitie be not deceived by his doctrine, but that
they like catholike children will avoide him, and cause him of all
other to be avoided.

Furthermore, not contented with this, he addresseth also his
letter unto the king, requiring also the aide of his temporall
sword to chop off his necke, whom he had alreadie cast downe. —
See and note, reader, the seraphicall charitie of these priestly
prelats towards the poore redeemed flocke of Christ ! And yet
these be they which washing their hands with Pilate, say and
pretend : Nobis non licet interficere quenquam : it is not our parts
to kill any man. — The copie of the letter written to the king
is this.

The Letter of the Archbishop to the King.

" To the most excellent prince in Christ, &c. William, &c.
greeting in him by whom kings doe reigne, and princes beare rule.
Unto your kingly celsitude by the tenour of these presents we inti-
mate, that one master Nicolas Herford doctor of divinitie, for his
manifest contumacie and offence in not appearing before us being
called at the day and place assigned, therefore is inwrapped in the
sentence of the greater curse, publikelie by our ordinarie autho-
rity. And in the same sentence hath continued now fortie daies,
and yet still continueth with indurate heart, wickedly contemning
the keyes of the church, to the great perill both of his soule, and
to the pernicious example of other. Forsomuch therefore, as the
holy mother the church hath not to doe or to precede any further
in this matter ; we humblie desire your kingly majestie, to direct
out your letters for the apprehending of the said excommunicate
according to the custome of this realme of England, wholesomelie
observed and kept hitherto ; to the intent that such whom the
feare of God doth not restrain from evill, the discipline of the
secular arme may bridle and plucke backe from offending. Your
princely celsitude the Lord long continue ! From Lambeth the
15. of Januarie."

To this letter of the archbishop, might not the king (gentle
reader) thus answere againe, and answere well :

l4 Your letters with your complaint and requests in the same

238 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

contained we have received and well considered. For the accom-
plishing whereof, ye shall understand, that as we are readilie bent
to gratifie and satisfie your mind in this behalfe on the one side :
so we must beware againe on the other, that our authoritie be not
abused either to oppresse before wee know, or to judge before
wee have tried. Wherefore forsomuch as you in your letters doe
excite and sharpen the severe discipline of our secular sword,
against one Nicolas Herford, for his not appearing before you ;
and yet shewing in the said your letters no certaine cause to us
what you have to charge him withall : we therefore following the
example of Alexander Magnus, or rather the rule of equitie in
opening both our eares indifferently, to heare as well the one part
as the other, doe assigne both to him, whenas he may be found,
and to you when ye shall be called, a terme to appeare before us.
To the intent that the controversie betweene you and him. stand-
ing upon points of religion, being tried by the true touchstone of
God's holy word, due correction indifferentlie may be ministered,
according as the offence shal be found. In the meane time, this
we cannot but something marvell at in your said letters; Fiist.
to see you men of the church and angels of peace, to be so desi-
rous of blood. Secondlie, to consider you againe so fierce in
prosecuting the breach of your law, and yet so cold in pursuing
the breach of the expresse law of God and his commandemefitB.
Thirdly, to behold the unstable doublenesse in your pro«
\\lio pretending in your publike sentence, to become as intreaters
for them to us in the bowels of Jesus Christ, that we will with-
draw from them the rigor of our severitie, and yet in your letters
you be they which most set us on. If not appearing before you,
be such a matter of contumacie in case of your law. that it is in
no case to bee spared ; what should then our princelie discipline
have done to men of your calling? Henrie Spencer bishop of
Norwich, being at Canturburie, was sent for by our speciall cmn-
mandement to come to our speech, denied to come, and yet we
spared him. John Stratford archbishop your predecessor. 1
required of our progenitor king Kdward the third to come to him
at Yorke, would not appeare: by the occasion whereof, Scotland
-nine time was lost, and yet was he snflred. The like might
be >aid nf Robert \Vinchelscy in the daics of king Edward the
fir-t. and (if Kdnnind archbishop of Cantiirbnrie, in the dai
king Henrie tin- third. Stephen Langton : for by king

John to come, he came not. The like contumacie was in JJecket

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 239

toward king Henrie the second. Also in Anselme toward king
Henrie the first. All these for their not appearing before their
princes, ye doe excuse, who notwithstanding might have appeared
without danger of life ; this one man for not appearing before
you, you thinke worthie of death ; whose life you would have
condemned notwithstanding, if he had appeared. It is no reason,
if the squirill climing to the tree from the lion's clawes would not
appeare, being sent for to be devoured, that the eagle therefore
should seise upon him without any just cause declared against the
partie. Wherefore according to this, and to that aforesaid, when
he shall appeare, and you be called, and the cause justly weighed,
due execution shall be ministered. "

And thus far concerning Nicolas Herford, and the other afore-
said.— But all this meane while what became of J. Wickliffe it is
not certainely knowne. Albeit so farre as may be gathered out of
Walden, it appeareth that he was banished and driven to exile. —
In the meane time it is not to be doubted, but he was alive during
all this while, wheresover he was, as by his letter may appeare,
which he about this time wrote to pope Urbane the sixth. In
the which letter he doth purge himselfe, that being commanded
to appeare before the pope at Rome, hee came not ; declaring
also in the same a briefe confession of his faith. The copy of
which epistle here followeth.

The Epistle of John WicJcliffe sent unto Pope Urbane the Sixth.

An. 1382.

" Verilie, I doe rejoyce to open and declare the faith which I
doe hold unto every man, and especially unto the bishop of Rome :
the which forsomuch as I doe suppose to be sound and true, he
will most willingly confirme my said faith, or if it bee erroneous
amend the same.

" First, I suppose, that the gospell of Christ, is the whole body
of God's law ; and Christ which did give that same law, I beleive
him to be a very man 2, and in that point, to exceede the law of

2 To be a very man.1 In Lewis's History, p. 283, (Records, No. 23,) we
have an ancient copy of this letter, which differs considerably from this of
Fox. By help of this copy, it appears that the reading in the passage before
us should be, " I believe him to be very God and very Man." It there
stands as follows : " I beleve that Jesu Christ, that gaf in his own persoun
this gospel, is very God and very Man, and be (by) this it passes all other

240 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

the gospell, and all other parts of the scripture. Againe, I doe
give and hold the bishop of Jlome, forsomuch as he is the vicar of
Christ here in earth, to be bound most of all other men unto that
law of the gospell. For the greatnesse amongst Christ's disciples,
did not consist in worldly dignity or honours, but in the neere and
exact following of Christ, in his life and maners. Again ; I do
gather out of the heart of the law of the Lord, that Christ for tlio
time of his pilgrimage here, was a most poore man, abjecting and
casting off all worldly rule and honour, as appeareth by the gospell
of Mat. the 8. and the 2 Cor. 8. chap.

" Hereby I doe fully gather, that no faitlifull man ought to
follow, neither the pope himselfe, neither any of the holy men, but
in such points, as he hath followed the Lord Jesus Christ. For
Peter, and the sonnes of Zebede by desiring worldly honour,
contrarie to the following of Christ's steps, did offend, and there-
fore in those errours they are not to be followed.

" Hereof I doe gather, as a counsell, that the pope ought to
leave unto the secular power, all temporal! dominion and rule, and
thereunto effectually to move and exhort his whole clergie, for so
did Christ, and specially by his apostles.

" Wherefore if I have erred in any of these points, I will n
humblie submit my selfe unto correction, even by death if neces-
sitie so require. — And if I could labour3 according to my will in
mine owne person, I would surely present my selfe before the
bishop of Rome; but the Lord hath otherwise visited me to the
contrarie, and hath taught me rather to obey God then men.
Forsomuch then, as God hath given unto our pope, just and tru •
evangelicall instinctions, we ought to pray, that those motion
not extinguished by any subtle or craftie device. And that the
pope and cardinals be not moved to doe any thing, contrarie unto
the law of the Lord. Wherefore let us pray unto our (Jod, that
he will so stir up our pope Urbane the sixth as he br";an. th.-i
with his clergie may follow the Lord Jesus Christ, in lite and

lawes." And this is the purport of Fox's Latin original, p. 16. The sen-
tence in the text ought therefore to have been rendered thus : " and that
Christ, which did give this same gospel, I believe to be very God, and
Mnn; and in this I believe the gospel law to surpass all other par
scripture."

3 If I could labour.'] This seems to intimate that Dr. AVickliffe was <
by the pope to appear before him after his retiring to Luttenvorth, and that he
pleaded his belli:,' u paralytic as his excuse. Lewis, p. 284.

JOHN WICKLIFFE, 241

maners : and that they may teach the people effectually, and
that they likewise may faithfully follow them in the same. And
let us specially pray, that our pope may be preserved from all
maligne and evill counsell, which we doe know that evill and
envious men of his houshould would give him. And seeing the
Lord will not suffer us to bee tempted above our power, much
lesse then will he require of any creature to doe that thing which
they are not able, forsomuch, as that is the plaine condition and
maner of antichrist."

Thus much wrote John Wickliffe unto pope Urban. But this
pope Urbane, otherwise tearmed Turbanus 4, was so hot in his
warres against Clement the French pope his adversarie, that he
had no leisure, and lesse list 5, to attend unto Wicklifie's matters.
By the occasion of which schisme, God so provided for poore
Wickliffe, that he was in some more rest and quietnesse ; and
returning againe within short space, either from his banishment,
or from some other place where he was secretly kept, he repaired
to his parish of Lutterworth, where he was parson, and there
quietly departing 6 this mortall life, slept in peace in the Lord, in
the beginning of the yiere 1384, upon Silvester's day.

4 Otherwise tearmed Turbanus."] " Urban, in the eleven years that he held
the pontificate, debased the dignities of the Church by promoting the mean-
est persons to the purple ; and fomented wars between the Christian princes ;
for which cause, instead of Urbanus, he was generally called Turbanus. He ex-
ceeded all the popes that ever possessed the see of Rome in cruelty." Duck's
Life of Archbishop Chichele, p. 10.

5 And lesse list.~\ See above, p. 210, note.

6 Quietly departing.'] His death was occasioned by the palsy.

" On this occasion" (says Mr. Lewis, History, p. 101) " is Dr. Wickliffe's
memory unmercifully insulted by his adversaries. Thus one of them (Wal-
singham, Hist. Aug. p. 312) tells us : It was reported that he had pre-
pared accusations and blasphemies, which he intended, on the day he was
taken ill, to have uttered in his pulpit against the saint and martyr of the
day (Thomas Becket), but that by the judgment of God he was suddenly
struck, and the palsy seized all his limbs ; and that mouth which was to have
spoken huge things against God and his saints, or holy church, was miserably
drawn aside, and afforded a frightful spectacle to the beholders. His tongue
was speechless and his head shook, showing plainly that the curse which God
had thundered forth against Cain, was also inflicted on him ! Though it
seems a report was all the ground of this censure, which is quite spoiled if
what Home attests be true, that Dr. W. was seized on Holy Innocents, the
day before the feast of Thomas Becket." And still more is it spoiled, we
may add, if that which Home further attests be true, that W. had been a
paralytic during two whole years before his death. [Lewis

VOL. i. R

242 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

This Wickliffe 7 had written divers and sundrie workes, the
which in the yeare of our Lord 1410, were burnt at Oxford, the

Lewis introduces, from Bale, an anecdote of a former sickness of Wick-
liffe, which may perhaps afford a little amusement to my readers.

" It seems that the fatigue which Dr. Wickliffe met with this year (A.D.
1378) by attending the pope's delegates, occasioned his having a dangerous
fit of sickness, that brought him almost to the point of death. The friers
mendicant hearing of it, they immediately instructed spokesmen to be sent
to him in their behalf, namely, four solemn doctors, whom they called
regents, every order his doctor. And that the message might be the more
solemn, they joined with them four senators of the city (Oxford), whom they
call Aldermen of the Wards. They, when they came to him, found him
lying in his bed ; and first of all wished him health, and a recovery from his
distemper. After some time they took notice to him of the many and great
injuries which he had done to them (the begging friars) by his sermons and
writings, and exhorted him, that, now he was at the point of death, he would,
as a true penitent, bewail and revoke in their presence, whatever things lie
had said to their disparagement. But Dr. Wickliffe immediately recovering
strength, called his servants to him, and ordered them to raise him a little on
his pillows, which, when they had done, he said with a loud voice, I shall not
die but live, and declare the evil deeds of the friars. On which the doctors,
&c. departed from him in confusion, and Dr. Wickliffe afterwards recovered."
Lewis's History, p. 64.

? This Wickliffe.'] Here I subjoin Wickliffe's character from the pen of
Henry Wharton (Appendix to Cave's Hist. Literaria, ii. p. 51, 52) as trans-
lated from the Latin, by Lewis in his Life of W. c. vii. p. 125.

" He was a man, than whom the Christian world in these last ages has not
produced a greater; and who seems to have been placed as much above
praise as he is above envy. He had well studied all the parts of theological
learning, and was well skilled in the canon, civil, and our own municipal
laws, and was endowed with an uncommon gravity of manners, and above
all things had a flaming zeal for God, and love for his neighbour. Hence
arose that earnest and vehement desire of restoring the primitive purity in
the church in that ignorant and degenerate age in which he lived ; which
desire he was notwithstanding so far from suffering to go beyond its bounds,
that he made it a matter of conscience to preserve all the rights of ecclesias-
tical discipline untouched, and often blames the religious, as they were
called, for breaking in upon them (by getting themselves exempted from the
episcopal jurisdiction). His excellent piety, and unblemished life, even the
worst and most spiteful of all his adversaries, never dared to call in question:
and his very excellent learning and uncommon abilities very many of them
have sufficiently owned. And indeed in those writings of his which u
remaining, Dr. \Yidif shows an extraordinary knowledge of the
for the time he lived in, discovers a very good judgment, argues el
and smartly, and breathes a spirit of excellent piety. Nothing is to he found
in him that is either childish or trifling, a fault very common to the v.
of that age ; but every thing he says is grave, judicious, and exact. \\

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 243

abbat of Shrewsburie being then commissarie, and sent to oversee
that matter. And not onely in England, but in Boheme likewise,
the bookes of the said Wickliffe were set on fire, by one
Subincus 8 archbishop of Prage, who made diligent inquisition
for the same, and burned them. The number of the volumes,
which he is said to have burned, most excellently written, and
richly adorned with bosses of gold, and rich coverings (as Eneas
Silvius 9 writeth) were above two hundred.

Johannes Cocleus in his booke De Mstoria Hussitarum, speaking
of the bookes of Wickliffe, testifieth that hee wrote verie many
bookes, sermons, and tractations. Moreover, the said Cocleus
speaking of himselfe, recordeth also, that there was a certaine
bishop in England which wrote unto him, declaring that he had
yet remaining in his custodie two huge and mightie volumes of
John WicklifiVs works, which for the quantities thereof might
seeme to be equall with the workes of saint Augustine.

Amongst other of his treatises I my selfe also have found out
certaine, as De sensu et veritate Scriptures. Item, De Ecclesia.
Item, De EucJiaristia confessio Wicklevi ; which I intend here-
after, the Lord so granting, to publish abrode.

As concerning certaine answeres of John Wickliffe which he
wrote to king Richard the second, touching the right and title of
the king, and of the pope ; because they are but short, I thought
here to annex them. The effect whereof here followeth.

It was demanded, "whether the kingdome of England may
lawfully in case of necessitie, for its owne defence, detaine and
keepe backe the treasure of the kingdome, that it be not carried
away to forren and strange nations, the pope himselfe demanding
and requiring the same under paine of censure, and by vertue of
obedience."

Wickliffe " setting apart the minds of learned men, what
might be said in the matter, either by the canon law, or by
the law of England, or the civil law, it resteth (saith he) now
onely to perswade and prove the affirmative part of this doubt by
the principles of Christs law.

" And first I prove it thus : Every naturall bodie hath power

he was a man who wanted nothing to render his learning consummate, but
his living in an happier age." p. 125, 6.

8 By one Subincus.'] Zbynko of Hasenburg, who is said to have been poi-
soned by the Hussites in 1411.

9 Eneas Sylvius.'] Eneo Sylvio Piccolomini, afterwards pope Pius II.

R 2

244 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

given of God to resist against his contrarie, and to preserve it
selfe in due estate, as philosophers know very well. Insomuch.
that bodies without life are indued with such kind of power (as
it is evident) unto whom hardnesse is given to resist those things
that would breake them, and coldnesse to withstand the heate
that dissolveth them. Forsomuch then, as the kingdome of
England (after the maner and phrase of the Scriptures) ought to
bee one body, and the clergie with the communaltie, the members
thereof, it seemeth that the same kingdome hath such p-
given it of God ; and so much the more apparant, by how much
the same body is more precious unto God, adorned with vertuc
and knowledge. Forsomuch then as there is no power given
of God unto any creature, for any end or purpose, but that lire
may lawfully use the same to that end and purpose ; it folio wet h
that our kingdome may lawfully keep backe and detain e their
treasure for the defence of it selfe, in what case soever nece.-
do require the same.

" Secondarilie, the same is proved by the law of the gospell.
For the pope cannot challenge the treasure of this kingdome, but
under the title of almes, and consequently under the pretence of
the workes of mercy, according to the rules of charity.

"But in case aforesaid, the title of almes ought utterly to
cease : ergo, the right and title of challenging the treasure of our
realme shall cease also in the presupposed necessitie. Forso-
much as all charitie hath his beginning of himselfe \ it were no
worke of charitie, but of mere madnesse, to send away tin-
treasures of the realme unto forren nations, whereby the realme
it selfe may fall into mine, under the pretence of such charitie V

This Wickliffe albeit in his life time lie had many g
enemies, yet notwithstanding hee had many good friends, men not
only of the base and meanest sort, but also nobility, am<>

1 Of himself eJ] Charity begins at home.

- Of such charitie.'] " Richard II. at his beginning, caused John "SVickliffe,
esteemed the most knowing man of those times, to consider the right of
stopping the payment of Peter-pence: whose determination in that particu-
lar yet remains .... He therein shows, that those payments, being no other
than alms, the kingdom was not obliged to continue them longer, than stood
with its own convenience, and not to its detriment or ruin ; ;t
with that of the divines, " extra casus necessitatis et supcriluitatis eleernosyna
non est in pnrccpto." Twisden's Historical Vindication, p. 7G. Compare
Lewis's Life, &c. p. 54, 55.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 245

whom these are to be numbered ; John Clenbon, Lewes Clifford,
llichard Sturius, Thomas Latimer, William Nevill, John Moun-
tegevv who plucked downe all the images in his church. Besides
all these, there was the earle of Salisburie 3, who for contempt in
him noted towards the sacrament, in carrying it home to his
house, was enjoyned by Radulf Ergom, bishop of Salisburie, to
make in Salisburie a crosse of stone, in which all the storie of the
matter should bee written, and he every Friday during his life
to come to the crosse bare-foot, and bare-headed in his shirt, and
there kneeling upon his knees, to do penance for his fact.

The Londoners at this time somewhat boldly trusting to the
maiors authoritie, who for that yeare (1381-2) was John of
Northampton, tooke upon them the office of the bishops, in
punishing the vices (belonging to civill law) of such persons as
they had found and apprehended in committing both fornication
and adulterie. For first they put the women in the prison which
amongst them then was named Dolium 4. And lastly bringing
them into the market-place, where every man might behold them,
and cutting off their golden lockes from their heads, they caused
them to be caried about the streetes, with bagpipes and trumpets
blowne before them, to the intent they should bee the better
knowne and their companies avoided : according to the maner
then of certain theeves that were named Appellatores, (accusers
or peachers of others that were guiltlesse) which were so
served. And with such other like opprobious and reprochfull
contumelies, did they serve the men also that were taken with
them in committing the forenamed wickednesse and vices. — Here
the storie recordeth how the said Londoners were incouraged
hereunto by John Wickliffe and others that followed his doctrine to
perpetrate this act, in the reproch of the prelats being of the clergie
For they said, that they did not so much abhor to see the great
negligence of those to whom that charge belonged, but also their
filthie avarice they did as much detest : which for greedinesse of
money were choked with bribes, and winking at the penalties due
by the lawes appointed, suffered such persons favourably to con-
tinue in their wickedness. They said furthermore, that they
greatly feared, lest for such wickednesse perpetrated within the

3 William de Montacute, who died in 1397.

4 Named Dolium^ " In the year 1403, the prison in Cornhill, called the
Tun, was turned into the conduit, there now standing." Fox, p. 477.

246 JOHN W1CKLIFFE.

citie and so apparently dissimuled, that God would take venge-
ance upon them and destroy their citie. Wherefore they said,
that they could do no lesse than to purge the same ; lest by
the sufferance thereof, God would bring a plague upon them, or
destroy them with the sword, or cause the earth to swallow up
both them and their citie.

This storie (gentle reader) albeit the author thereof whom 1
follow, doth give it out in reprochfull wise, to the great discommen-
dation of the Londoners for so doing; yet I thought not to omit.
but to commit the same to memorie ; which seemeth to me rather
to tend unto the worthie commendation both of the Londoners
that so did, and to the necessarie example of all other cities to
follow the same.

After these things thus declared, let us now adjoine the
testimoniall 5 of the universitie of Oxford, of John Wickliffe.

" The publike testimonie given out ly the university of Oxf«i-<t,
touching the commendation of the great learning and good life of
John Wickli/e.

" Unto all and singuler the children of our holy mother the
church, to whom this present letter shall come ; the vicechancellor
of the universitie of Oxford, with the whole congregation of the
masters, wish perpetual health in the Lord. Forsomuch as it is
not commonly scene, that the acts and monuments of valiant
men, nor the praise and merits of good men should be passed
over and hidden with perpetuall silence, but that true report and
fame should continually spread abrode the same in strange and
farre distant places, both for the witnesse of the same, and
example of others : Forasmuch also as the provident di><nti<»n
of mans nature being recompensed with cruelty, hath <le\i-'<l
and ordained this buckler and defence, against such as doe
blaspheme and slander other mens doings, that when-<
witnesse by word of mouth cannot be present, the pen by
writing may supply the same :

" Hereupon it follmveth. that the special good will and can-
whicli we bear unto John \\ ickliffe, sometime child of this our
nniversitie. and professour of divinitie. moving ;md Mirniii: our
minds (as his manners and conditions required no lesse) \\ith

• The testimoniall.'] See Lewis's Records, No. 28.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 247

one mind, voice, and testimonie, wee doe witnesse, all his con-
ditions and doings throughout his whole life, to have been most
sincere and commendable : whose honest maners and conditions,
profoundnesse of learning, and most redolent renoune and fame,
wee desire the more earnestly to bee notified and knowne unto all
faithfull, for that we understand the maturitie and ripenesse of
his conversation, his diligent labours and travels to tend to the
praise of God, the helpe and safegard of others, and the profit
of the church.

" Wherefore we signifie unto you by these presents, that his
conversation (even from his youth upwards, unto the time of his
death) was so praiseworthie and honest, that never at any time
was there any note or spot of suspicion noysed of him. But in
his answering, reading, preaching and determining, he behaved
himselfe laudably, and as a stout and valiant champion of the
faith ; vanquishing by the force of the Scriptures, all such who by
their wilful beggery blasphemed and slandered Christs religion.
Neither was this said doctor convict of any heresie, either burned
of our prelats after his burial!. God forbid that our prelats should
have condemned a man of such honest ie, for an here tike : who
amongst all the rest of the universitie, had written in logicke,
philosophic, divinitie, moralitie, and the speculative art without
peere. The knowledge of which all and singuler things, wee doe
desire to testifie and deliver forth ; to the intent, that the fame
and renoune of this said doctor, may be the more evident and
had in reputation, amongst them, unto whose hands these present
letters testimoniall shall come 6.

" In witnes whereof, we have caused these our letters
testimoniall to bee sealed with our common seale.
Dated at Oxford in our congregation house, the
5 day of October, in the yeare of our Lord, 1406."

6 Shall come.] It must not be concealed, that the authenticity of this im-
portant document is disputed, upon the authority of Dr. Thomas Gascoigne ;
who affirms, that "Peter Paine, an heretic, stole the common seal of the
university, under which he wrote to the hereticks at Prague in Bohemia, that
Oxford and all England were of the same belief with those of Prague, except
the false friers mendicants." — This Paine was a zealous reformer : he died
A. D. 1433. With regard to Gascoigne's authority, it is plain that he mis-
represents the testimonial to such a degree, as to make it probable that he
had never seen it. Jeremy Collier, who is very unfavourably disposed
towards the memory of Wickliffe, does not hesitate to affirm positively, "that
the testimonial was counterfeited;" and " has apparent marks of a counter-

248 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

Now as we have declared the testimony of the universitie of
Oxford concerning the praise of John WiclifFe, it followeth
likewise, that wee set forth and expresse the contrary censure
and judgements of his enemies, blinded with malicious hatred and
corrupt affections against him, especially of the popes councell
gathered at Constance, proceeding first in condemning his bookes,
then of his articles, and afterward burning of his bones.

The Decree of the Synode of Constance, touching the taking up of
the bodie and bones of John WicTdiffe to be burned, 41 yeeres
after he was buried in his owne parish at Lutter worth.

"Forasmuch as by the authoritie of the sentence and de<
of the councell of Rome, and by the commandment of the church
and the apostolicall see, after due delayes being given, they pro-
ceeded unto the condemnation of the said John \VickliHe. and
his memorie; having first made proclamation, and giv.-n com-
mandment to call forth whosoever would defend the said Wick-
liffe, or his memorie (if there were any such), but there did none
appeare, which would either defend him or his memorie. And
moreover, witnesses being examined by commissioners appointed
by pope John and his councell, upon the impenitencie and tinall
obstinacie and stubbornnesse of the said John Wickliile (reserving
that which is to be reserved, as in such busines the order of tin-
law requireth) and his impenitencie and obstinacy even unto his
end, being sufficiently proved by evident signs and tokens, and
also by lawful witnesses, and credit lawfullio given thereunto :
Wherefore at the instance of the steward of the treasuric, pro-
clamation being made to heare and understand the

feit recommendation." Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 624. The question is exa-
mined at full length by Lewis in his History, p. 183. 192. He is by no means
disposed to give up the authenticity; but maintains it, as it shouU
upon very good grounds. The utmost concession, he thinks, which ran he
made to the adversary, is to admit as a conjecture, that it is possible \Virk-
1 iffr'a party might take advantage of the vacation, and the absence of his
enemies from the university, and get this testimonial passed by the in
of those who came thither for that purpose.

As to the practical value and importance of this testimonial, we
without it ample direct evidence of the popularity at Oxford of NVj, '
person and his cause, besides the indirect testimony of the complaints of his
adversaries. See Wilkins's Concilia, iii. p. 3 is. 336*. Lewis's History, p.
191. also above, p. 230, 1.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 249

against this day; the sacred synod declareth, determineth, and
giveth sentence, that the said John Wickliffe was a notorious
obstinate heretike, and that he died in his heresie, cursing and
condemning both him and his memorie.

" This synod also decreeth and ordaineth, that the body and
bones of the said John Wickliffe, if it might be discerned and
knowne from the bodies of other faithfull people, bee taken out
of the ground, and throwne away farre from the buriall of any
church, according unto the canon lawes 7 and decrees. Which
determination and sentence definitive being read and pronounced,
the lord president, and the foresaid presidents of the 4 nations,
being demanded and asked whether it did please them or no ?
They all answered (and first Hostiensis 8 the president, and after
him the other presidents of the nations) that it pleased them
very well, and so they allowed and confirmed all the pre-
misses/'1

What Heraclitus would not laugh, or what Democritus would
not weepe, to see these so sage and reverend Catoes, to occupie
their heades to take up a poore mans bodie, so long dead and
buried before^ by the space of 41 yeeres ? and yet peradventure
they were not able to find his right bones, but tooke up some
other bodie, and so of a catholicke made an hereticke. Albeit,
herein Wickliffe had some cause to give them thanks that they
would at least spare him so long till hee was dead, and also to

7 According unto the canon lawes.'} If after death any one shall be found
to have been an heretic, his body must be digged up, and his bones burnt.
ConciL Albiense, canon 52.

"Seldom shall ye see a knowen heretyke buried, but most commonly
burned. Example of this hath bene lately sene here in England, by Thomas
Hytton, Thomas Bylney, &c. The body of Formosus was first taken up by
Steven vi. bishop of Rome, and disgraded. The bones of master John Wick-
liffe were taken up and burned forty years after his death. So of late years,
in Worcester diocese, the body of master William Tracy, Esq., and in Lon-
don, the body of Richard Hunn, merchant-taylor. Moreover, John Colet,
dean of Paul's in London, also was not far from the same, for reading Paul's
Epistles." Bale's Image of both churches. Revelation, chap. xi.

Several other accounts of similar proceedings against the bones of declared
heretics may be found during the progress of the English Reformation. See
Fox, p. 1438. (John Tooly) p. 1556. (John and William Glover) p. 1777.
(Martin Bucer and Paulus Fagius at Cambridge) p. 1785. (Peter Martyr's
wife at Oxford), &c.

8 Hostiensis. ~\ John of Brognier or Broniar (near Annecy in Savoy) Cardi-
nal Archbishop of Ostia, afterwards of Aries. He was Dean of the College
of Cardinals, and attended as such at the Council. He died in 1426.

250 JOHN WICKL1FFE.

give him so long respite after his death, 41 yeeres to rest in his
sepulchre before they ungraved him, and turned him from earth
to ashes : which ashes also, they tooke and threw into the
river 9. And so was he resolved into three elements, earth, fire,
and water, they thinking thereby utterly to extinct and abolish
both the name and doctrine of Wickliffe for ever. Not much
unlike to the example of the old Pharisies and sqmlchcr-kniglits,
which when they had brought the Lord unto the grave, thought
to make him sure never to rise againe. But these and all other
must know, that as there is no councell against the Lord ; BO tl
is no keeping down of veritie, but it will spring and come out of
dust and ashes, as appeared right well in this man. For though
they digged up his bodie, burnt his bones, and drowned his a>!
yet the word of God and truth of his doctrine with the fruite and
successe thereof they could not burne, which yet to this day. for
the most part of his articles, doe remaine, notwithstanding the
transitorie bodie and bones of the man was thus consumed and
dispersed.

These things thus finished and accomplished, which pertain to
the storie and time of Wickliffe : let us now (by the supportation
of the Lord) proceed to intreate and write of the rest, which
either in his time10 or after his time, springing out of tli>- -

9 Into the river."] "This river/'' (the Soar) says Fuller beautifully, "con-
veyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas,
they into the main ocean ; and thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the emhlem of
his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over."

10 Which either in his time.] The progress of Wickliffe's opinions, both
among the clergy and laity, was exceedingly rapid and extensive. "The num-
ber of those who believed in his doctrine " (says Knyghton, a contemporary
historian) " very much increased, and, like suckers growing out of the root of
a tree, were multiplied; and everywhere filled the circuit of the kingdom.
You could not meet two people in the way, but one of them was a disciple of
Wickliffe." De Eventib. Anglite, p. 2663. Walsingham is full of similar
complainings. Hist. Anglice,pp. 304. 256. 281. Wickliffe himself declares,
that a third part of the clergy entertained the same opinions as he did
respecting the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. " I am certaine of the thirdde
parte of the clergie that defendes thise doutes that is here said, that they will
defende it on paine of her lyfe." Knyghton, p. 2650. Lewis's Hist. p. 88.
And in another place he thus speaks of the nobility: " Hut OIK- coumfort is
of knyghtes, that they savercn muehe the gospell, and have wylle to r<

••. sche the gospel of ' f'e." Lewis on the Translations of the

p, JJ. Tin- persecution of his followers helped, if we may believe !
only to increase their number. " Such be the workes of the Lord, passing
all nuns admiration: all this notwithstanding, so far was it off, that the
number and courage of these good men was vanquished, that rather they

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 251

universitie, and raised up (as ye would say) out of his ashes were
partakers of the same persecution. Of whom speaketh Thomas
Walden u in his booke, De Sacramentis et Sacramentalibus, cap.
53; where he saith, that after Wickliffe many suffered most
cruel death, and many mo did forsake the realme.

In the number of whom was William Swinderby, Walter Brute,
John Purvey, Richard White, William Thorpe, Raynold Pecocke,
bishop of S. Assaph, and afterward of Chichester.

To this catalogue also pertaineth (mentioned in ancient writers)
Lawrence Redman master of arts, David Sautre divine, John
Aschwarby vicar of S. Marie church at Oxford, William James
an excellent young man and well learned, Thomas Brightwell, and
William Haulam a civillian, Rafe Grenhurst, John Scut, and
Philip Norice ! which being excommunicated by pope Eugenius
the fourth, in the yeere of our Lord 1446, appealed unto a
generall or oecumenicall councell.

Peter Paine flying from Oxford unto Boheme, did stoutlie con-
tend against the sophisters, as touching both kinds in the sacra-
ment of the last supper. Who afterward among the rest of the
orators was one of the 14 that was sent unto the councell at
Basill ; whereas by the space of three daies, he disputed upon
the 4 article, which was as touching the civill dominion of the
clergy, anno 1438. Also the lord Cobham, &c. with divers others
besides.

To these above rehearsed and other favourers of Wickliffe,
within this countrie of England, wee may adde also the Bohe-
mians ; forsomuch as the propagation of the said doctrine of
Wickliffe, in that countrie also tooke roote a, comming from Eng-
land to Boheme, by this occasion as in storie here followeth.

multiplied daily and increased. For so I find in registers recorded, that
these foresaid persons, whom the king and the catholicke fathers did so
greatly detest for heretickes, were in divers countries of this realme dispersed,
and increased, especially in London, in Lincolnshire, in Norfolke, in Here-
fordshire, in Shrewsburie, in Calice, and divers others quarters mo." p. 485.

11 Thomas Walden.'] See note at p. 169.

1 Also tooke roote. ,] Fox has adverted to this interesting topic, on another
occasion, in an affecting appeal and expostulation to his own university, writ-
ten from Strasburgh, about the month of August 1554, soon after the intel-
ligence had reached that place, of recantations going on at Oxford, before
commissioners sent down by queen Mary, not long after her accession;
and considering that the document is extremely scarce, I shall give an extract
from it here. The address is entitled " OpistograpUa ad Oxonienses," and

252 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

There chanced at that time a certaine student of the countrie
of Bohemia to be at Oxford, one of a wealthie house and also of a

is subjoined to his " Commcntarii Rerum in Ecclesia gestarum, &c. Liber
lmn% Argent. 1554." 8vo; a volume now very rarely to be met with. On
the subject of the early editions of Fox, the reader should consult Dr. Mait-
land's " Letters " and his replies to Mr. Townsend.

" Id si nunc quaerimus ubi primum, obductus tarn diu Evangelicae doctrinae
vigor, reviviscere, seseque proferre coepit, earn profecto esse Oxoniam vestram
fateri necesse est. Nam utcunque nunc, ubique apud omnes ecclesias recepta
efflorescat Evangelii professio, certe prima hujus initia haud aliunde quam a
vobis profluxerunt. Hie enim justa sementis est, unde, velut ex traduce, tot
ista divinae cognitionis plantaria, per universes fere mortales, nunc propagata
cernimus. Hie enim salutiferum illud fermentum a Deo acceptum, quo
primum Boemia, mox Germania, ac vicince nationes fermentari coeperunt ; donee
tandem, occulta divinae virtutis efficacia, universa insuper massa Christiani
populi correpta est. Agnoscitis itaque, Oxonienses, fortunae ac muneris vestri
felicitatem ; superest ut pari constantia laudibus nunc vestris respondeatis.
Divinae profecto felicitatis fuit, quod olim religionis dedistis initia, iterumque
mundo Christum veluti parturiret Oxonia vestra : vobis nunc acceptam ma-
jorum virtute gloriam hanc exuperare dignum est : certe non aequare, aut non
conservare vos, quam citra labores accepistis, non tarn illis gloriosum, quam
vobis probrosum fuerit. . . . Audio enim nuper a vobis nonnullis subscrip-
tum esse obsolete illi ac jam dudum exploso articulo, de Transubstantiatione.

Age, et quos tandem causae hujus afflictae veritas sibi patronos, aut

quod suffugium inveniet, si vos, qui primi in hoc certamine irpofjtaxoi stetistis,
primi nunc in fugam versi, ripsaspides videamini? .... Quodsi igitur
Jo. Wiclevus, electissimum Evangelii instaurandi organum, simulque cum eo
Oxoniensium complures ea tempestate, quum omnia adhuc tenebris obnubi-
lata, nee usquam per totam Europam auxiliaris hypersaspistes ullus apparuit,
soli tamen ipsi tarn fortiter causam hanc adversus hydram illam Romanam
sustinere sint ausi ; quid vos nunc, Oxonienses, post tot domestica exempla,
in tanta Evangelii claritudine, denique eo tempore, quum multo major, certe
potior, omnium Ecclesiarum pars, velut junctis fcederibus eodem coe'ant,
facere conveniet? — At fingite nunc \Viclevum, caeterosque quos Schola ha-c
aliquando peperit, fortissimos Christianae militias satellites, nunc reviviscentes,
post tot labores et aerumnas suas, vestram hanc, sive ignaviam, sive inscitium
contemplari: annon stupore quodam correpti graviter meritoque vos coar-
guant ? lino an eandem hanc esse Academiam agnoscerent ; qua? adeo a
pristina forma nescio quam metamorphosin, incuria vestra pati videatur
Quamobrem agite tandem Oxonienses, fratres, patres, prudcntiam appc-llo
vestram, ut cum Cicerone vos moneam, * Haec non numero, sed p<-:.
metiamini.' . . . Quanquam dubium non est, quin plerique vestrum vi
magis ac impulsu alieno, quam vestro judicio ducti, tantae stultiti
bitis. Kt fieri possit, ut non pul>lico Acadeinia* consensu res sic acta si'
pauci qui prsesunt collegiis, adjunctis sibi aliquot ex sententia conf<ril<
privata conspiratione rem inter se tractarint, ubi aliis forsan cordatioribus
interesse non licuit; alii invidias metu, alii turbarum odio conquiescere

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 253

noble stocke. Who returning home from the universitie of
Oxford, to the universitie of Prage, carried with him certain
bookes of Wickliffe, De realilus Universalibus, De civili jure et
divino, De ecclesia, De qucestionibus variis contra clerum, fyd It
chanced the same time, a certain noble man in the citie of Prage,
had founded and builded a great church of Matthias and Mat-
theus, which church was called Bethleem, giving to it great lands,
and finding in it two preachers every day, to preach both holie
day, and working day to the people. Of the which two preachers,
John Hus was one, a man of great knowledge, of a pregnant wit,
and excellentlie favoured for his worthie life amongst them. This
John Hus having familiarittie with this young man, in reading
and perusing these books of Wickliffe, took such pleasure and
fruit in reading thereof, that not only he began to defend this
author openlie in the schooles, but also in his sermons ; commend-
ing him for a good, an holie, and heavenlie man, wishing himselfo
when he should die, to be there placed whereas the soule of
Wickliffe should be. — And thus for the spreading of Wickliffes
doctrine enough 2.

maluerunt ; nonnulli blanditiis etiam allecti, pedibus magis quam animo in
sententiam concesserunt ; atque ita private syncretismo publica fortassis
autoritas praetexitur, quo magis fucus fiat populo. Postremo, ubi doctissima
pars jam in exilium pulsa mittitur, quid mirum, si domi relicta pars deterior
vincat meliorem ? " P. 207, &c.

2 Wickliffes doctrine enough.~] Still, I hope I may be indulged in the
liberty of adding one paragraph, as a further close to this department of our
subject. I borrow it from Lewis.

" But though these barbarities, so reproachful to the Christian name and
religion, terrified men's minds, and forced them to a quiet submission; yet
they no way contributed to alter their judgments, and settle their belief. Nay,
it was very plain, that, though by authority, or the secular arm, whereby they
were devoted to destruction, the Wiclifites were oppressed ; they were not
extinguished. For although it was made more than capital to have even a
line of Wiclif s writings, there were those who had courage enough to pre-
serve them, and to take copies of them j although for the crime of having
them, some of them were burnt alive, with their little books. And indeed
how little these cruelties served to convince men, very plainly appeared ;
when, at the Reformation, about one hundred years after, these restraints
were either moderated or quite taken off, the whole nation, we see, whatever
their outward profession was before, unanimously, as it were, embraced these
principles, and showed themselves very earnest in their defence. — Although
we are now unhappily fallen into an age that has lost its first love, and is so
generally corrupted both in principle and practice, as to suffer the opposition
then made to popish tyranny and superstition to be condemned, and the
cruelties used to force men to approve of them, to be palliated and discre-
dited." P. 135, 6. Edit. 1820.

254 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

Thus it may appeare how the gospel of Christ preached by
John WicklifFe and others, beganne to spread and fructifie abroad
in London, and other places of the realme : and more would have
done no doubt, had not William Courtney, the archbishop, and
other prelats with the king, set them so forcibly with might and
maine, to gainstand the course thereof. Albeit, I finde n<m<j
which yet were put to death3 therefore, during the raigne of this
king Richard the second. Whereby it is to bee thought of this
king, that although he cannot be utterly excused for molesting
the godly and innocent preachers of that time, (as by his bi i
and letters afore mentioned may appeare) yet neither was 1
cruel against them, as other that came after him : and that which
hee did, seemed to proceed by the instigation of the pope and

3 None which yet were put to death."] " King Henrie the fourth, who was
the deposer of king Richard, was the first of all English kings that began the
unmercifull burning of Christs saints for standing against the pope ; and
AVilliam Sautre, the true and faithfull martyr of Christ, was the first of all
them in Wickliffe's time, which I find to be burned in the raigne of the fore-
said king ; which was in the yeere of our Lord 1400." Fox, p. 477. It was
enacted by the parliament, A.D. 1400, that any one who preached or wrote
contrary to the catholic faith, and determinations of holy church, should be
arrested, and proceeded against according to the canons; and being con-
victed should be imprisoned, and tried at the diocesan's discretion ; and if he
refused to abjure, or relapsed after abjuration, he should be delivered over to
the secular power, to be burned in some conspicuous place, that the punish-
ment might strike fear into the minds of others. See Lewis's Life ofPecock,
p. 298, 299. Compare Twisden's Historical Vindication, p. 155, &c.

For proceedings against Sautre, see 1 State Trials, p. 163 — 176, 8vo. 1816.
Part of the decree or writ of the king (2 Hen. IV. 1400), for Sautre's execu-
tion, was as follows : " We therefore, being zealous in religion, and reverent
lovers of the catholic faith, willing and minding to maintain and defend the
holy church, and the laws and liberties of the same, to root all such errors
and heresies out of our kingdom of England, and with condign punishment
to correct and punish all heretics or such as be convicts ; (provided always,
that both according to the law of God and man, and the canonical institutions
in this behalf accustomed, such heretics convict and condemned in forme
aforesaid, ought to be burned with fire ;) AVe command you as straitly as we
may or can, firmly enjoining you that you do cause the said William, being
in your custody, in some public or open place of your city aforesai<i,
cause aforesaid being published unto the people,) to be put into the fir
then- in the same fire really to be burned, to the great horror of his oil
and the manifest example of other Christians." Ibid. p. 1 7 J.

Twisden, however, has shown (p. 156) that Sautre was not burnt under
the new statute, A.D. 1400, 2 Hen. IV. cap. l.">, but by virtue of the ancient
common law of the land. See also the note at p. 389, post.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 255

other bishoppes, rather than either by the consent of his parlia-
ment, or advice of his counsell about him, or else by his owne
nature. For as the decrees of the parliament in all his time,
were constant in stopping out the pope's provisions, and in bri-
dling his authority ; so the nature of the king was not altogether
so fiercely set, if that he following the guiding thereof, had not
stood so much in feare of the bishoppe of Rome and his prelats,
by whose importune letters and calling on, he was continually
urged to doe contrary to that, which both right required, and will
perhaps in him desired. But howsoever the doings of this king
are to be excused,, or not, undoubted it is, that queene Anne his
wife, most rightly deserveth singular commendation ; who at the
same time living with the king, had the gospels of Christ in
English, with the foure doctors 4 upon the same. This Anne was
a Bohemian borne, and sister to Wincelaus, king of Boheme ;
who was married to king Richard about the fifth (some say, the
sixth) yeere of his raigne, and continued with him the space of
eleven yeeres. By the occasion whereof it may seeme not unpro-
bable, that the Bohemians comming in with her, or resorting into
this realme after her, perused and received here the bookes of
John Wickliffe, which afterward they conveied into Bohemia,
whereof partly mention is made before.

The said vertuous queene Anne, after she had lived with king
Richard about eleven yeeres, in the seventeenth yeere of his
raigne, changed this mortal life, and was buried at Westminster.
At whose funeral Thomas Arundel, then archbishop of Yorke,
and lord chancellor, made the sermon. In which sermon (as
remaineth in the library of Worcester recorded), he intreating of
the commendation of her, said these words : That it was more
joy of her then of any woman that he ever knew. For notwith-
standing that she was an alien borne, she had in English all the
foure gospels, with the doctors upon them : affirming moreover
and testifying, that she had sent the same unto him to examin.
And he said they were good and true. And further with many
words of praise, he did greatly commend her, in that she being so
great a lady, and also an alien, would study so lowly so vertuous
bookes. And hee blamed in that sermon sharply the negligence

4 The foure doctors.~\ i.e. the four great fathers of the Western church., viz.,
Austin, Jerome, Ambrose, and Gregory. — Fox's Acts, p. 461. Edit. 16 10.
Examination, &c., of Walter Brute.

256 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

of the prelats and other men. Insomuch that some said he would
on the morrow leave up the office of chancellor, and forsake tlu-
world, and give him to fulfill his pastorall office, for that liee had
seene and read in those bookes. And then it had beene tin
sermon that ever they heard. — In the which sermon of Tin MUMS
Arundel, three points are to be considered. First, the laudable
use of those old times received to have the scripture and doctours
in our vulgar English tongue. Secondly, the vcrtuoiis exercise
and also example of this godly lady, who had these bookes not for
a shew hanging at her girdle ; but also seemeth by this sermon
to be a studious occupier of the same. The third tiling to be
noted, is, what fruit the said Thomas archbishop declared aU<>
himself to receive at the hearing and reading of the same bo
of hers in the English tongue. — Notwithstanding, the
Thomas Arundel, after this sermon and promise made, be<
the most cruell enemy that might be against English books5, and
the authors thereof.

6 Against English books."] Thus in his famous constitutions against Lol-
lardy, A.D. 1408, when he was archbishop of Canterbury, he declares against
the translation of the Scriptures. Constit. 7. " The translation of the text
of holy Scriptures out of one tongue into another, is a dangerous thing, as
St. Jerome testifies, because it is not easy to make the sense in all respects
the same. Therefore we enact and ordain, that no one henceforth do by his
own authority translate any text of holy Scripture into the English tongue,
or any other, by way of book or treatise ; nor let any such book or treatise
now lately composed in the time of John Wickliffe aforesaid, or since, or
hereafter to be composed, be read in whole or in part, in publick or in pri-
vate, under pain of the greater excommunication." Wilkins's Concilia, vol.
iii. p. 317. Fox, p. 484.

It is remarkable that Fox, in this life of Wickliffe, has given no account of
the labours of that great man in translating the Scriptures, which, no doubt,
tended more to the introduction of the Reformation, than all his other efforts.
To supply, in some degree, a remedy for this deficiency, I shall insert in this
place an extract from his Life, written by the late Rev. William (iilpin. Hut
the most ample and correct information on this subject must be sought for in
Lewis's History of the English Translations of the Bible, which in its original
state was prefixed to an edition of Wickliffe's New Testament, in the
1 7-'- 1 . See also his Life of Wickli/e, chap. 5.

• mo have rontfnded. that Dr. NYidiffr was not the first translator of
the Bible into English. The truth seems to be that he was the first who
translated the whole together, of which it is probable others might have
detached parts. It docs not however appear that Dr. Widiffe understood the
Hebrew language. His method was, to collect what Latin biblt-
find: from these he made one correct copy; and from this translated. He

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 257

afterwards examined the best commentators then extant, particularly Nicholas
Lyra ; and from them inserted in his margin those passages, in which the
Latin differed from the Hebrew.

" In his translation of the Bible, he seems to have been literally exact. In
his other works his language was wonderfully elegant for the times in which
he lived : but here he was studious only of the plain sense ; which led him
often through the confusion of idioms within the limits of nonsense. Quid
nobis et tibi, Jesu, fill del, we find translated thus, What to us, and to thee,
Jesus the son of God.

" This work, it may readily be imagined, had no tendency to reinstate him
in the good opinion of the clergy. An universal clamour was immediately
raised. Knyghton, a canon of Leicester, and a contemporary with Wicliffe,
hath left us upon record, the language of the times. ' Christ entrusted his
gospel,' says that ecclesiastic, ' to the clergy and doctors of the church, to
minister it to the laity, and weaker sort, according to their exigencies and
several occasions. But this master John Wicliffe, by translating it, has
made it vulgar ; and has laid it more open to the laity, and even to women
who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy, and those
of the best understanding : and thus the gospel jewel, the evangelical pearl,
is thrown about, and trodden under foot by swine.' Such language was
looked upon as good reasoning by the clergy of that day, who saw not with
what satyr it was edged against themselves.

"The bishops in the mean time, and mitred abbots, not content with
railing, took more effectual means to stop this growing evil. After much
consultation they brought a bill into parliament to suppress Wicliffe's bible.
The advocates for it set forth in their usual manner, the alarming prospect of
heresy, which this version of the Scriptures opened, and the ruin of all reli-
gion which must inevitably ensue.

" The zealots were answered by the principal reformers, who judiciously
encountered them with their own weapons. It appears, says the Wicliffites,
from the decretals, that more than sixty species of heresy sprang up in the
church after the translation of the Bible into Latin. But the utility of that
translation, notwithstanding its bad consequences, all parties acknowledge.
With what face therefore, they asked, could the bishops pretend to discoun-
tenance an English translation, when they could not produce one argument
against it which did not equally conclude against the Latin one ? This
reasoning silenced all opposition : and the bill was thrown out by a great
majority.

" The zeal of the bishops to suppress Wicliff 's bible, only made it, as is
generally the case, the more sought after. They who were able among the
reformers purchased copies ; and they who were not able, procured at least
transcripts of particular gospels, or epistles, as their inclinations led. In
aftertimes, when Lollardy increased, and the flames were kindled, it was a
common practice to fasten about the neck of the condemned heretic such of
the scraps of Scripture as were found in his possession, which generally
shared his fate."— Gilpin's Life of John Wickliffe, p. 37—40. edit. 1765.

The late Dr. Adam Clarke possessed a MS. copy of Wickliffe's Bible,
which, from having in its illuminations the arms of England within a bordure
VOL. i. s

258 JOHN WICKLIFFE.

argent, he supposed to have belonged to Thomas of Woodstock, duke of
Gloucester, and that it was either " presented by Wickliffe to the duke, or
written and illuminated by the duke's command for himself*." A contem-
porary copy would be, there is no doubt, of much value. The writing and
illuminations of Dr. Clarke's MS. are of a much later date, however, than that
which he assigns to them; and the arms upon which his supposition is
founded were also borne by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, who died in 1446,
and for whose use we may, almost with certainty, say that it was written.
This MS. is now in the British Museum. — Bibl. Egerton. 618, 619.

* Catalogue of the MSS. of the late Dr. Adam Clarke ; by J. B. B. Clarke.
London : Murray, 1835. 8vo. p. 18. Since the above was written, a complete
edition of the Wicliffite version has been printed at the expense of the Uni-
versity of Oxford, 4 vols. 4to. 1850.

WILLIAM THORPE.

s 2

Quo maxime tempore artes coelesti Veritati contrariae regnum in Europa
obtinebant, coepit ilia vim suam exerere: post longam siquidem malorum
inerrabilium tolerantiam, post diuturnos gemitus, quos doloris justi magnitudo
piis exprimebat, post expectatam per tot saecula reformationem in capite et
membris toties promissam, nunquam praestitam ; reperti sunt ad ultiraum,
qui })atientiam rumperent, et veritatem ex intimo pectore anhelantibus duces
se praeberent. Nihil jam dico, quales illi viri ftierint, quid spectarint, quid
egerint : hoc dicam, quod negari omnino non potest, ex ipso rerum eventii,
luce meridiana clarius constare, divinitus fuisse illos excitatos, si nihil aliud,
certe ad hoc unum efficiendum ; ut qui supremum in Ecclesia dominium, et
plenitudinem potestatis sibi vindicabant, tandem si pote, evigilarent, in sese
descenderent, seque Religionis Christian* variis corruptelis, quas longa dies
invexerat, et de queremoniis omnium tota Europa principum ac populorum
serio inciperent cogitare.

Is. CASAUBON.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE language in the following Examination of William Thorpe,
being in several places, from its high antiquity, to a considerable
degree obsolete, an apprehension of the distaste which this might
occasion to some of his readers, made the Editor hesitate respect-
ing the fitness of its constituting a part of the present collection.
But he was prevailed upon to decide for its admission, by consi-
derations which he accgunts much more worthy of regard : Such
are the extraordinary piety, and zeal, and resignation, displayed
by this confessor in his hour of trial ; the learning and weight of
argument; the purity and elegance of the style; the interest
which the narrative inspires from the lively and dramatic air in
which it is composed; and its value as a document connected and
interwoven with the History and Progress of the Reformation in
general ; arid more particularly, with the opinions, partly true and
partly false, of Wickliffe and his followers. It is also a circum-
stance not to be slighted, that we here possess an authentic
picture of ancient English manners, and a specimen of ancient
English prose composition, removed from our own times by the
interval of more than four hundred years.

The popularity of this Tract, and its influence upon the further
progress of the Reformation, may be collected from its possessing
a place among the works condemned by an assembly of the Clergy
and others, in the year 1530 ; and from the frequency with which
those who were called into question for heretical opinions, were
taxed with possessing and reading it. (See Wilkins's Concilia,
vol. iii. p. 739. Declaration of Seton and Tolwine, A.D. 1541.
Signat. B. 3. Bale's Yet a Course at the Romyshe Foxe, fol. 47.
Fox's Acts, p. 759. 932. and 954.)

However different it may be from his own judgment, the Editor

262 ADVERTISEMENT.

is unwilling to conceal the censure passed upon this performance
by Sir Thomas More, in his Confutation of TyndaVs Answer,
A.D. 1532.

" Then have we the Examinacion of Thorpe, put furth, as it is
sayd by George Constantine, by whom there hath been I wot well
of that sort great plentie sent into thys realme. In that booke
the heretyke that made it as a communicacion betwene the
bishop and his chapleynes, and himselfe, maketh all the parties
speake as himselfe liketh, and layeth nothing spoken against his
heresies, but such as himselfe would seme solemnely to soyle.
Whose boke, when any good Chrysten man readeth, that hath
eyther learning or any natural witte, he shal not onely be well
hable to perceive hym for a foolish heretike, and his argumentes
easy to answer, but shal also see that he sheweth himself a false
Iyer in hys rehearsal of the matter, wherin he maketh the totlitT
part sometime speke for his commoditie, such maner things as no
man woulde have done that were not a verye wild goose." Works,
p. 342. In justice to Thorpe it is but fair to add, that he assures
us, in the Preface, which for brevity^ ,sake is omitted in the
present edition, that he went uas neare the sentence and the
words as he could, both that were spoken to him, and that he
spake, upaventure his writing might come another time before
the archbishop and his counsaile."

WILLIAM THORPE.

NEXT commeth to our hands the worthy historic of master
William Thorpe, a warrior valiant, under the triumphant banner
of Christ, with the processe of his examinations, before Thomas
Arundel archbishop of Canterburie, written by the said Thorpe,
and storied by his owne* pen, at the request of his friends, as by
his owne words in the proces heereof may appeare. In whose
examination (which seemeth first to beginne, anno 1407.) thou
shalt have, good reader, both to learne and to marvell. To learne,
in that thou shalt heare truth discoursed and discussed, with the
contrary reasons of the adversary dissolved. To marvell, for that
thou shalt behold heere in this man, the marvellous force and
strength of the Lords might, spirit and grace, working and fight-
ing in his souldiers, and also speaking in their mouthes, according
to the word of his promise. (Luke xxi.) To the text of the
story we have neither added nor diminished: but as we have
received it, copied out, and corrected by master William Tindall
(who had his owne handwriting) so wee have heere sent it, and set
it out abroad. Although for the more credite of the matter, I
rather wished it in his owne naturall speech, wherein it was first
written. Notwithstanding, to put away all doubt and scruple
heerein, this I thought before to premonise and testifie to the
reader, touching the certainty heereof, that they be yet alive
which have seene the selfe same copie in his owne old English,
resembling the true antiquity both of the speech, and of the time :
the name of whom, as for record of the same to avouch, is Master
Whithead ; who as he hath seene the true ancient copie in the

264 AVILLIAM THORPE.

hands of George Constantine ', so hath hee given credible relation
of the same, both to the printer, and to me. Furthermore, the
said master Tindall, albeit hee did somewhat alter and amend
the English thereof, and frame it after our maner, yet not fully
in all words ; but that something doth remaine, savouring of the
old speech of that time.

The Examination of William Thorpe, penned with his ownc 1«

Knowne be it to all men, that reade or heare this writing, that
on the Sunday next after the feast of S. Peter, that we full
Lammasse, in the yeere of our Lord 1407, I William Thorpe
being in prison in the castle of Saltwood2, was brought betun-
Thomas Arundel archbishop of Canterburie, and chancellor then
of England. And when that I came to him, he stood in a givat
chamber and much people about him : and when that hee s.iwr
me, hee went fast into a closet, bidding all secular men that
followed him to goe forth from him soone, so that no man \\as
left then in that closet but the archbishop himselfe and a physitian
that was called Malveren, parson of S. Dunstanes in London, and
other two persons unknowne to me, which were ministers of the
law* And I standing before them, by and by the archbishop said
to me; William, I know well that thou hast this twcntie winters
and more, travelled about busilie in the North countrey and in other
divers countries of England, sowing about false doctrine, having
great businesse, if thou might, with thine untrue teaching and
shrewde will, for to infect and poison all this land. But through
the grace of God thou art now withstands! and brought into my
ward, so that I shall now sequester thee from thine evill \\\\\\
and let thee to envenime the sheepe of my province. Nevertln
S. Paul saith, If it may be, as much as in ^ls is ice "»///// 1«
peace with all men. Therefore William, if thou wilt now in

1 George Constantine.'} This is the person who by Sir Thomas More was
supposed to have been the first editor of Thorpe's Examination. M
Wbitehead is appealed to as one well known to he worthy of credit. In the
year 1552 he was recommended hy Cranmer for " his good knowledge, s;
honestie, fervent zeal, and politicke wisdom" as most meet to be plan-d in
the archhishopric of Armagh. And upon the accession of queen Elizabeth, it
is said, that he was solicited to accept of the see of Canterbury, but he
refused.

2 In Kent, between Hythe and Folkstone.

WILLIAM THORPE. 265

and of good heart, without any feining, kneele down and lay thy
hand upon a booke and kisse it, promising faithfully as I shall
here charge thee, that thou wilt submit thee to my correction,
and stand to mine ordinance, and fulfill it duely by all thy cunning
and power, thou shalt yet find me gratious unto thee. Then said
I to the archbishop : Sir, since ye deem me an heretike, and out
of beleeve, will ye give me here audience to tell my beleeve ? And
he said, Yea, tell on.

And I said, I beleeve that there is not but one God almightie,
and in this godhead, and of this godhead, are three persons, that
is, the father, the sonne, and the soothfast holy ghost3. And I
beleeve, that all these three persons are even in power and in
cunning, and in might, full of grace and of all goodnesse. For
whatsoever that the father doth, or can, or will, that thing also
the sonne doth and can and will : and in all their power cunning
and will, the holy ghost is equall to the father, and to the sonne.

Over this, I beleeve, that through counsell of this most blessed
Trinitie, in most convenient time before ordained for the salvation
of mankind, the second person of this Trinitie was ordained to
take the forme of man, that is, the kind of man. And I beleeve,
that this second person our Lord Jesu Christ, was conceived
through the holy ghost, in the wombe of the most blessed virgin
Marie, without mans seed. And I beleeve that after nine moneths
Christ was borne of this most blessed virgine.

And I beleeve, that Chrkst our saviour was circumcised in the
eight day after his birth, in fulfilling of the law ; and his name
was called Jesus, which was so called of the angell, before that
hee was conceived in the wombe of Marie his mother.

And I beleeve that Christ, as he was about thirty yeere old,
was baptised in the floud of Jordane of John Baptist : and in the
likenesse of a dove the holy ghost descended there upon him, and
a voice was heard from heaven, saying, Thou art my wel-leloved
sonne, in thee I am full pleased.

And I beleeve, that Christ was mooved then by the holy ghost,

3 Soothfast holy ghost. ~\ Soothfast, soothfastness • true, truth : as we have
in sooth still in use. In Pierce Ploughman's Vision, fol. 89, edit. 1550, we
find the son termed soothfastness.

The first hath might and majestic, maker of all things ;

Paler is hys propre name, a person by him selfe ;

The second of that sire is soothfastenes Filius ;

The thirde hight the Holy Goste.

266 WILLIAM THORPE.

for to go into the desert, and there he fasted forty daies and forty
nights without bodily meat and drinke. And I beleeve that by
and by after his fasting, when the manhood of Christ hungred,
the fiend came to him, and tempted him in gluttonie, in vaine-
glorie, and in covetise : but in all those temptations, Christ con-
cluded the fiend *, and withstood him. And then without tarrying,
Jesu began to preach, and to say unto the people, Do ye penance,
for the realme of heaven is now at hand.

I beleeve that Christ in all his time here lived most holilie, and
taught the will of his father most truely : and I beleeve that he
suffered therefore most wrongfully, greatest repreefes and de-
spisings.

And after this, when Christ would make an end here of this
temporall life, I beleeve, that in the day next before that lice
would suffer passion in the morne, in forme of bread and of wine,
hee ordained the sacrament of his flesh and of his bloud, that is,

4 Concluded the fiend,] Thus Robert Longlande, in his " Vision of Pierce
Ploughman," versifies a part of our Saviour's promises to the Apostles :

Though ye come before kinges, and clarkes of the lawe

Be not abashed, for I shall be in your mouthes,

And gyve you wytte and wyll, and conning to conclud

Them all that agaynst you of Christendome disputen. Fol. 52.

We have two good instances of a like use of the same word in a very im-
portant passage in a letter of Sir Thomas More to his daughter Margaret
Roper, respecting his refusing to swear to the king's supremacy and the
succession.

" My Lord of Canterbury" (Cranmer) "taking hold upon that that I saide,
that I condempned not the consciences of them that sware, said unto me, that
it appeared well, that I did not take it for a very sure thing and a certainc,
that I might not lawfullye swere it, but rather as a thing uncertain and doubt-
full. But then (said my lord) you know for a certanty and a thyn-re without
dout, that you be bounden to obey your soverain lorde your king. And
therefore are ye bounden to leave off the dout of your unsure consciens in
refusing the othe, and take the sure waye in obeying of your prince, and
swere it. Now al was it so, that in mine own mind me thought my self not
concluded, yet this argument semed me sodenly so suttle, and namely with
such authorite comming out of so noble a prelates mouth, that I could .1
aunswere nothing thereto, but only that I thought my self I might not well
do so, because that in my consciens thys was one of the cases, in which I was
bounden that I shoulde not obey my prince, syth that wi .rln-r folke

thought in the matter (whose consciens or learning I wold not condi-inpne
nor tuki: uppon me to judge), yet in my consciens the truth semed on the
totlu -r side. . . And of trouth if that reason may conclude, then hu\
a readye way to avoide al purplexities." — Works, p. 1429.

WILLIAM THORPE. 267

his owne pretious bodie, and gave it to his apostles for to eate ;
commanding them, and by them all their after commers, that
they should in this forme that hee shewed to them, use themselves,
and teach and common forth 5 to other men and women this most
worshipful and holiest sacrament, in mindfulnesse of his holiest
living, and of his most true preaching, and of his wilfull and
patient suffering of the most painfull passion.

And I beleeve that this Christ our saviour, after that hee had
ordained this most worthie sacrament of his owne pretious bodie,
hee went forth wilfullie against his enemies, and hee suffered them
most patiently to lay their hands most violently upon him, and to
bind him, and to lead him forth as a theefe, and to scorne and
buffet him, and all to blow or file him6 with their spittings.
Over this, I beleeve, that Christ suffered most meekly and
patiently his enemies for to ding out 7 with sharpe scourges the
bloud that was betweene his skinne and his flesh : yea without

6 Teach and common forth. ,] Communicate. And the word, besides being
used of any kind of intercourse in general, either in the sense of giving or
receiving, was more particularly applied to the communication and to the
participation of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. " In Actibus Apostolo-
rum " (as Wickliffe tells us) " is seid thus, And Christen men weren dwelling
in teching of apostles, and in communing of breking of bread ; sith St. Paul
seith the bread that we break is communing of Christ's body." — Lewis's His-
tory, p. 78. And Thorpe himself thus censures the temporizing Lollards.
" But yet some mad fooles say (for to eschew slander), they will be shriven
once in the yeere, and communed of their proper priests, though they knowe
them defouled with slanderous vices." — Thorpe's Testament, printed in Fox's
Acts, p. 500.

6 All to blow or file him.~\ There is some difficulty about the word blow in
this passage. But I apprehend that it means to discolour (with an affinity
to the word blue), to disfigure, &c. In the Vision of Pierce Ploughman, fol.
13, the noun adjective is used in the sense of black, or sordid, &c.

fyre shal fal and brenne al to bio ashes

The houses and homes of hem that desireth

Gyftes.

The other word file is the same with defile, to make vile. As in the Golden
Legend, fol. 16. b. "The visage whiche was moost fayre of all other mem-
bres isfyled, bespytte, and hurte with the thornes of the Jewes." And in the
same page, " The vysage which aungels desyre to se, the Jewes wyth theyr
spyttyng have defyled; wyth theyr handes have smytten."

7 To ding out.] To ding is to beat or knock. Thus in the Vision of Pierce
Ploughman, fol. 50. b.

"And Do-Wei shal ding him down, and distroi his might."
See also fol. 77.

268 WILLIAM THORPE.

grudging Christ suffered the cruel Jewes to crowne him with
most sharpe thornes, and to strike him with a reed. And after,
Christ suffered wicked Jewes to draw him out upon the crosse,
and for to naile him thereupon hand and foot. And so through
his pitifull nailing, Christ shed out wilfullie for mans life, the
bloud that was in his vaines. And then Christ gave wilfully his
spirit into the hands or power of his father, and so, as he would,
and when hee would, Christ died wilfullie for mans sake upon the
crosse. And notwithstanding that Christ was wilfully, painefully,
and most shamefully put to death, as to the world ; there was left
bloud and water in his heart, as before ordained, that hee would
shed out this bloud and this water for mans salvation. And
therefore he suffered the Jewes to make a blind knight 8 to thrust
him into the heart with a speare, and this the bloud and water
that was in his heart, Christ would shed out for mans love : and
after this, I beleeve that Christ was taken down from the CM
and buried. And I beleeve that on the third day by the power «if
his godhead, Christ rose againe from death to life. And the fortio
day thereafter, I beleeve that Christ ascended up into heaven, and
that he there sitteth on the right hand of the father almi^hti*'.
And the fiftie day after his upgoing, he sent to his apostles the
holy ghost, that he had promised them before: and 1 be!
that Christ shall come and judge all mankind, some to everlasting
peace, and some to everlasting paines.

And as I beleeve in the father, and in the son, that they are
one God almightie, so I beleeve in the holy ghost that hee is al><>
with them the same God almightie.

And 1 beleeve an holy church, that is, all they that ha\. l,.-n.
and that now are, and alwaies to the end of the world shall be. a
people the which shall endevour them to know and to kecju- the

8 To make a blind knight.~\ The soldier who pierced the side of Christ with
his spear upon Mount Calvary, some of the old writers tell us, was phy-
sically blind, when he did the deed. The story is thus related in the (Jolden
Legend, fol. 98. b. "Some saye that whan he smote our Lonle with the
spere in the syde, the precyous blode avaled " (ran down) " by the sl>;
the spere upon his handes ; and of aventure with his handes he touched his
eyen. And anone he that had be tofore blynde sawe anone clerely ; \
fore he refused all chevaulry, and abode with the Apostles, of whom he was
it and chrystened," and so in process of time, he was canonist <1. and
honoured with his place in the Calendar, under the name of St. Ixmgius
(Aoyxfl)' The story is told with circumstances even much more marvellous,
in the Vision of Pierce Ploughman, fol. 98.

WILLIAM THORPE. 269

commandements of God, dreading over all thing to offend God,
and loving and seeking most to please him : and I beleeve, that
all they that have had, and yet have, and al they that yet shall
have the foresaid vertues, surely standing in the beleefe of God,
hoping stedfastly in his mercifull doings, continuing to their end
in perfect charitie, wilfully, patientlie and gladly suffering perse-
cutions, by the example of Christ chiefly and his apostles, all
these have their names written in the booke of life.

Therefore I beleeve, that the gathering together of this people,
living now here in this life, is the holy church of God, fighting
here on earth against the fiend, the prosperitie of the world, and
their fleshly lusts. Wherefore, seeing that all the gathering
together of this church before said, and every part thereof, neither
coveteth, nor willeth, nor loveth, nor seeketh any thing but to
eschew the offence of God, and to doe his pleasing will : meekly,
gladly, and wilfully, with all mine heart, I submit my selfe unto
this holy church of Christ, to bee ever buxome and obedient 9
to the ordinance of it, and of every member thereof, after my
knowledge and power, by the helpe of God. Therefore I know-
ledge now, and evermore shall, if God will, that with all my
heart, and with all my might, I wil submit me only to the rule
and governance of them, whom after my knowledge, I may
perceive by the having and using of the beforesaid vertues, to be
members of the holy church10. Wherefore these articles of

9 Buxome and obedient.'] "His epithet * buxom health' (says Dr. Johnson,
speaking of Mr. Gray's Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College, in his
Life of that Poet) is not elegant; he seems riot to understand the word." —
It is certain, whatever may be the signification of this epithet in modern
usage, it was anciently applied in the sense of pliancy, meekness, and sub-
mission ; as we see here, and shall find in other instances in the course of
this work. Few of my readers will need to be reminded of that use of the
word in the bride's engagements to her husband in the marriage service in
the Salisbury and York Liturgies, before the reformation. Thus likewise the
Ploughman of old makes his melancholy complaining of the infelicities of
the marriage state in his times : " A man shall not find two wedded in a
land, where the husband loves the wife, and the wife is buxum to the man, as
they shoulden, after the law of marriage. But other the man loves not his
wife, or the wife is not buxum to her man . . . And Lord, all this mischiefe is
common among this people, for that they know not thy word." Complaint
and Prayer of the Ploughman, in Fox's Acts, p. 374.

10 Holy church.'} But surely this view of the subject is erroneous. The
principle of allegiance he transfers from the system, the constitution, and the
law, to the executive authority, the persons of those who are ministerially

270 WILLIAM THORPE.

beleefe and all other (both of the old law, and of the new, which
after the commandment of God any man ought to beleeve) I be-
leeve verilie in my soule, as a sinfull deadly wretch of my cunning
and power ought to beleeve ; praying the Lord God for his holy
name, for to increase my beleefe, and to helpe my unbeleefe.

And for because to the praising of Gods name, I desire above
all things to bee a faithfull member of holy church, I make this
protestation before you all foure that are now here present,
coveting that all men and women that now be absent knew the
same ; that is, what thing soever before this time I have said or
done, or what thing here I shall do or say, or at any time
hereafter ; I beleeve that all the old law and new law given and
ordeined by counsell of the three persons of the Trinitie, \
given and written to the salvation of mankind. And I beleeve,
that these lawes are sufficient for mans salvation. And I beleeve
every article of these lawes, to the intent that these articles
ordained and commanded of these three persons of the most
blessed Trinitie are to be beleeved.

And therefore to the rule and the ordinance of these, Gods
lawes, meekely, gladly and wilfullie, I submit me with all mine
heart ; that whosoever can or will by authoritie of Gods law. <>r
by open reason1, tell me that I have erred or now erre, or any
time hereafter shall erre in any article of beleefe (from which

engaged in the conduct of it. Thorpe, as was not unfrequent with the Wick-
liffites, confounds the departments and offices of the visible and invisible
churches.

1 God's law, or open reason.] This is agreeable to the doctrine of his master.
" Men ought to desire to accept man's lawe and ordinances, only inasmuch
as they ben grounded in holy Scripture, either good reason, and common profit
of Christen people." Wickliffe in Lewis's Life, &c. p. 89. (1820.) Yet neither
of them discarded in a proper sense (the same with that which is adopted in
the Church of England), the authority of the church, and the weight and
value of antiquity, and the ancient fathers. With respect to Thorpe, this is
abundantly clear from the passage now immediately before us, and from
several others, very precise and explicit, which will occur in the course of
this examination. And Wickliffe says, "In multis extraneo " (I disagree
with ; am estranged from) " a raodernis ; sed cum multis sanctis antiquis, et
specialiter Augustino, convenio." Trialogus, p. 1C4. And still further;
" This is not taught in holy writ, but is put against St. Austin and holy saints,
and reason and wit." Lewis's IVickliffe, p. 80. 1723.— Also, " Intelligo
autem dicta mea in ista materia, secundum logicam Scripturae, necnon s
dum logicam sanctorum doctorum, et decreti Romanes ecclesite: quos suppono
prudenter fuisse locutos." Ibid. p. 325.

WILLIAM THORPE. 271

inconvenience God keep me for his goodnesse) I submit me to
be reconciled, and to be buxum and obedient unto those lawes of
God, and to every article of them. For by authoritie specially
of these lawes, I will through the grace of God, bee united
charitablie unto these lawes. Yea sir, and over this, I beleeve
and admit all the sentences, authorities and reasons of the saints
and doctors, according unto holy Scripture, and declaring it
truely. I submit me wilfullie and meekely to bee ever obedient
after my cunning and power, to all these saints and doctors, as
they are obedient in work and in word to God and to his law,
and further not (to my knowledge), not for any earthly power,
dignitie or state, through the helpe of God.

But Sir, I pray you tell me, if after your bidding, I shall lay
my hand upon the booke, to what entent ? to sweare thereby ?
And the archbishop said to me, Yea, wherefore else ? And I
said to him : Sir, a booke is nothing else but a thing coupled
together of divers creatures, and to sweare by any creature both
Gods law and mans law is against it.

But Sir, this thing I say here to you before these your clerks,
with my foresaid protestation, that how, where, when, and to
whom, men are bound to sweare or to obey in any wise after
Gods law, and saints, and true doctors, according with Gods law,
I will through Gods grace bee ever readie thereto, with all my
cunning and power. But I pray you Sir, for the charitie of God,
that yee will before that I sweare (as I have here rehearsed to
you) tell me how or whereto, that I shall submit me ; and shew me
whereof that yee will correct mee, and what is the ordinance that
yee will thus oblige me to fulfill ?

And the archbishop said unto me, I will shortly that now thou
sweare here to me, that thou shalt forsake al the opinions which
the sect of Lollards hold, and is slandered with ; so that after
this time, neither privilie nor apertly, thou hold any opinion
which I shall (after thou hast sworne) rehearse to thee here.
Nor thou shalt favour no man nor woman, young nor old, that
holdeth any these foresaid opinions : but after thy knowledge
and power, thou shalt force thee to withstand all such distrou-
blers of holy church in every diocesse, that thou commest in : and
them that will not leave their false and damnable opinions, thou
shalt put them up, publishing them and their names, and make
them knowne to the bishop of the dioces that they are in, or to
the bishops ministers. And over this I will that thou preach no

272 WILLIAM THORPE.

more unto the time that I know by good witnesse and true, that
thy conversation be such, that thy heart and thy mouth accord
truely in one, contrarying all the leaud learning that thou hast
taught herebefore.

And I hearing these words, thought in my heart, that this was
an unlefull asking ; and deemed my selfe cursed of God, if I
consented hereto, and I thought how Susan said2, AngvJ^i
mee on every side. And in that I stood still and spake not, the
archbishop said to mee, Answere one wise or other. And I said,
Sir, if I consented to you thus as yee have here before rehear>< d
to mee, I should become an appealer3, or every bishops espic,
somoner of all England. For and I should thus put up, and
publish the names of men and women, I should herein de<
full many persons : yea sir, as it is likely by the dome of my
conscience, I should herein bee cause of the death both of men
and women, yea both bodilie and ghostly. For many men and
women that stand now in the way of salvation, if I should, for the
learning and reading of their beleeve, publish them therefore1 up
to the bishops or to their unpiteous ministers, I know some <I
by experience that they should be so distroubled and disc
with persecution or otherwise, that many of them (I thinke)
would rather chuse to forsake the way of truth than t<
travelled, scorned, slandered, or punished, as bishops and their
ministers now use for to constraine men and women to COD
to them.

But I find in no place in holy Scripture, that this office that
ye would now infeaffe me with4, accordeth to any priest of

2 How Susan said."] " Then Susanna sighed, and said, I am straitened on
every side : for if I do this thing, it is death unto me : and if I do it i
cannot escape your hands." Hist, of Susanna, v. 22.

3 / should become an appealer.] An appealer is " one \vho hath committed
some felony, or other crime, which he confesses, and now appeals, that is,
accuses others who were accomplices with him." Blount'a Law Dictionary,
v. Appellor. It is explained somewhat differently in the pm-i-dini: Life of
\Yiekliffe, p. 245, " according to the manner then of certaine theeves that
nanii-d Appflhitores, accusers or peachers of others which were guiltless."

A Summoner " is a small officer that calls or cites men to any c<>'
Blount, in V.

1 Would now infeaffe me with.'] It was very nearly coincident with the
of this examination, that the work of persecution received furtlu-r tremendous
powers, by the enactment in convocation of the constitutions which go gene-

WILLIAM THORPE. 273

Christs sect, nor to any other Christian man : and therfore to
doe this, were to me a full noious bond to be bounden with, and

rally by the name of archbishop Arundel, and of which Lewis gives the fol-
lowing account, abstracted from bishop Gibson's Codex.

" In the year 1408, archbishop Thomas Arundel made a constitution at
Oxford, that henceforth none should preach any doctrine contrary to the
determination of the church, nor call in question what the church hath deter-
mined, upon pain of excommunication ipso facto, and submitting to penance ;
and of being for the second offence declared a heretic. The penance before
mentioned, to be the retractation of his errors publicly in the place where they
were preached, and preaching and teaching without fraud the determinations
of the church.

" It was likewise ordained that none should read the books of John
Wickliffe, or of his contemporaries, unless they be first examined and ap-
proved by one of the universities, upon pain to suffer as a promoter of schism
and heresy; and that none should advance propositions or conclusions,
(though in the schools,) that tend to subvert the catholic faith, upon pain of
the greater excommunication, till he confess his fault and retract.

" It was further ordained, that none should presume to dispute publicly or
privately about articles determined by the church, or to call in question their
authority, or to teach contrary to their determination. And because the
university of Oxford was greatly infected with Lollardy, therefore every Head
should enquire monthly whether any scholar hath maintained doctrines
against the determinations of the church : and if he should find reason to
suspect any one, or that any scholar was defamed of maintaining any such
doctrines, he should effectually admonish him to desist : and if, after such
admonition he continued obstinate, he should, besides suffering the other
punishments decreed, be ipso facto excommunicate and expelled his college :
that the Heads being found negligent herein, shall be excommunicated and
deprived ; as also if they were detected of holding any the said unsound
doctrines. And that persons suspected of heresy, being cited in due form
and not appearing, shall be summarily proceeded against, and sentence shall
be given according to the crime.

"Lastly, it was ordained, that nobody hereafter, should, by his own
authority, translate any texts of holy Scripture into English, or any other
language by way of a book, little book or tract ; and no book, little book or
tract, of this nature, now newly composed in the time of John Wickliffe, or
since, should be read, either in part or all, publicly or privately, under pain
of the greater excommunication, until, by the diocesan of the place, or if the
case should require, by a provincial council, the translation should be
approved." P. 130 — 2.

"After this, in the 2 Henry V. (A.D. 1414), a parliament at Leicester
enacted that the chancellor, treasurer, justices of the peace, sheriffs, &c.,
should take an oath for destroying all manner of heresies, commonly called
lollardies, to be assistant to the ordinary therein ; that persons convict of
heresy should lose their fee-simple land ; that justices of the King's Bench,
of the peace, and of assize, should enquire of all holding any errors or
VOL. r. T

274 WILLIAM THORPE.

over grievous charge. For I suppose, that if I thus did, many
men and women would, yea sir, might justly to my confusion say
to me, that I were a tray tor to God and to them : since (as I
thinkc in mine heart) many men and women trust so mikle in
this case, that I would not for saving of my life, doe thus to them.
For if I thus should doe, full many men and women would (as
they might full truly) say that I had falsly and cowardly forsaken
the truth, and slandered shamefullie the word of God. For if I
consented to you to doe heere, after your will, for bonchefe or
mischiefe that may befall unto me in this life, I deeme in my
conscience, that I were worthie herefore to bee cursed of (
and also of all his saints : fro which inconvenience, keep me and all
Christian people, almightie God now and ever for his holy name !

And then the archbishop said unto mee, Oh, thine IK -art is
full hard indurate, as was the heart of Pharao, and the divcll
hath overcomen thee, and perverted thee, and heehath so blinded
thee in all thy wit, that thou hast no grace to know the truth,
nor the measure of mercie that I have profered to thee. Tl
fore, as I perceive now by thy foolish answere, thou hast no will
to leave thine old errors.

But I say to thee leaud losell, other quicklie consent thou to
mine ordinance and submit thee to stand to my decrees ; or by
Saint Thomas thou shalt be degraded, and follow thy fellow5
into Smithfield. And at this saying, I stood still and spake not.
but I thought in mine hart that God did to me great grace, it' he
would of his great mercie bring me to such an end. And in
mine heart I was nothing afraid with this manasing of the arch-
bishop. And I considered there two things in him. One, that
he was not yet sorrowftill for that hee had made William Sa
wrongfully to bee burnt; and as I considered6, that the arch-
bishop thirsted yet after more shedding out of innocent blond.
And fast therefore I was mooved in all my wits, for to hold
archbishop neither for prelate nor for priest of (Jod. And for
that mine inward man was thus altogether departed from

heresies, as lollards ; of their mainta'mers, receivers, fautors, &c. ; and to that
end, that a clause be put into the commissions of justices of the p<
Tui mien's Historical Vindication, p. 159, 60. Compare also Lewis's Life of
l\'ick ////>-, p. 133.

• Follow thy fellow.'] " He meaneth God's martyr, William
Fox. See above, p. 253.

6 And as / considered.'] Perhaps we should read " and als (also) I
considered."

WILLIAM THORPE. 275

archbishop, me thought I should not have any dread of him.
But I was right heavie and sorrowfull, for that there was no
audience of secular men by 7 : but in my heart I prayed the Lord
God, for to comfort me and strength me against them that there
were against the soothfastnesse. And I purposed to speake no
more to the archbishop and his clerks than me need behooved :
and all thus I praide God for his goodnesse to give mee then and
alway grace to speake, with a meeke and an easie spirit : and
whatsoever thing that I should speake, that I might thereto have
true authorities of Scriptures, or open reason. And for that I
stood thus still and nothing spake, one of the archbishops clerkes
said unto me ; What thing musest thou ? Do thou as my lord
hath now commanded to thee here.

And yet I stood still and answered him not : and then soone
after, the archbishop said to me, Art thou not yet bethought,
whether thou wilt do as I have said to thee ? And I said then
to him, Sir, my father and my mother, (on whose soules God
have mercie, if it be his will), spent mikle monie in divers places
about my learning, for the intent to have made mee a priest to
God. But when I came to yeeres of discretion, I had no will to
be priest, and therefore my friends were right heavie to mee ;
and then mee thought their grudging against me was so painefull
to me, that I purposed therefore to have left their companie.
And when they perceived this in me, they spake sometime full
faire and pleasant words to mee : but for that they might not
make me to consent of good heart to bee a priest, they spake to
me full oftentimes very grievous words, and manased mee in

7 No audience of secular men byJ] The company, besides the Archbishop,
consisted of only three persons, one beneficed Clerk (a physician), and two
others, Civilians. Thorpe's disappointment on this account is fully illus-
trated by a passage in Barlowe's Dialogue concerning the Lutheran Factions,
written about the year 1530, against the principles and practices of the
Reformers, and reprinted in the beginning of the reign of queen Mary by the
Popish party, when Barlowe had again returned to the side of the reforma-
tion. " William. Thoughe they do fall in harme, yet have they hope to
wynne theyr favour, or els why are they so desyrous to have so many ley
men present at their examinations ? Nicholas. They make of it a reasonable
cause for two considerations. One is to the intent they might not be
wrongefully oppressed in corners ; another is, because they would that
people shulde bear witnes of their constancy in confessynge the trouthe for
Christes sake. William. These consyderations in theym, yf they were true
as thei be false; were yet of small efficacite, and against the evangelike
perfection. As touchynge the fyrste, &c." Signat. H. 8 edit. 1553.

T 2

276 WILLIAM THORPE.

divers manners, shewing to mee full heavie cheere. And thus
one while in faire manner, another while in grievous, they were
long time (as me thought) full busie about me, or I consented 8
to them to be a priest.

But at the last, when in this matter they would no longer
suffer mine excusations, but either I should consent to them, or
T should ever beare their indignation, yea, their curse (as they
said) then I seeing this, prayed them that they would give me
licence for to goe to them that were named wise priests, and of
vertuous conversation, to have their counsell, and to know of
them the office and the charge of priesthood. And hereto, my
father and my mother consented full gladly, and gave me their
blessing and good leave to goe, and also money to spend in this
journie. And so I went to those priests whom I heard to be of
best name, and of most holy living, and best learned, and most
wise of heavenly wisdome : and so I communed with them, unto
the time that I perceived by their vertuous and continuall occu-
pations, that their honest and charitable works passed their fame
which I had heard before of them.

Wherefore sir, by the example of the doctrine of them, and
speciallie for the godly and innocent workes which I perceived
then of them, and in them, after my cunning and power, I have
exercised me then and in this time, to know perfectlie Gods law,
having a will and desire to live thereafter, which willeth that all
men and women should exercise themselves faithfully thereabout.
If then sir, either for pleasure of them that are neither so wi-<>.
nor of so vertuous conversation to my knowledge, nor by common
fame to any other mens knowledge in this land, as these men v
of whom I tooke my counsell and information, I should now
forsake thus suddenlie and shortlie, and unwarned, all the learning
that I have exercised myselfe in these thirtie winters and more,
my conscience should ever be herewith out of measure unqui*
and as sir I know wel, many men and women should In- tlu-r-
through greatly troubled and slandered. And as I said sir
you before, for mine untruth and false cowardnesse. many a one
should bee put into full great reproofe : yea sir, I dn-ad that many
one (as they might then ju>tly) would curse me full bitterhV : ami
MI- I feare not, but the curse of God, whieh I should <1<

8 Or I consented.] In Old English, (says Lye in Junius's Etymologicum,
v. ere), the words ere and or are used indiscriminately.

WILLIAM THORPE. 277

herein, would bring me to a full evill end, if I continued thus.
And if through remorse of conscience I repented me any time,
returning into the way, which you do your diligence to constraine
mee now to forsake ; yea sir, all the bishops of this land, with full
many other priests, would defame me, and pursue me as a relapse ;
and they that now have (though I be unworthy) some confidence
in me, hereafter would never trust to me, though I could teach
and live never so vertuouslie, more than I can or may. For if
after your counsell I left utterly all my learning, I should heereby
first wound and defile mine owne soule, and also I should here-
through give occasion to many men and women of full sore hurt-
ing : yea sir as it is likely to mee, if I consented to your will, I
should herein by mine evill example in it, as farre as in mee were,
slea many folke ghostly, so that I should never deserve for to
have grace of God, to the edifying of his church, neither of
my selfe, nor of none other mans life, and should be undone both
before God and man.

But sir, by example chiefly of some, whose names I will not
now rehearse, of H. of I. P. and B. 9 and also by the present
doing of Philip Rampington l, that now is become bishop of
Lincolne ; I am now learned (as many moe hereafter through
Gods grace shall be learned) to hate and to flee all such slander
that these foresaid men chiefle have defiled, principallie themselves
with ; and in it that in them is, they have envenomed al the
church of God. For the slanderous revoking at the crosse of
Pauls, of H. P. and of B. and how now Philip Rampington
pursueth Christs people ; and the faining that these men dis-
semble by worldly prudence, keeping them cowardlie in their
preaching and communion within the bonds and tearmes (which
without blame may be spoken and shewed out to the most worldly
livers) will not bee unpunished of God. For to the point of truth
that these men shewed out sometime, they will not now stretch
forth their lines. But by example, each one of them as their words
and their works shew, busie them through their faining, for to

9 Of H. of I. P. and B.] These initials probably denote Nicolas Herford
(Fox, p. 461); John Purvey (Fox, p. 498); and John Becket. (Fox,
p. 4S5. Wilkins's Condi, vol. iii. p. 247.) Compare above, p. 235, &c.

1 Philip Rampington.'] Repington, Bishop of Lincoln, received the nick-
name of Rampington from the Lollards, on account, probably, of the vehe-
mence of his persecution against them. See Fox, p. 409. " Philip Repington,
otherwise called of the brethren afterward Rampington."

278 WILLIAM THORPE.

slander, and to pursue Christ in his members, rather than they
will be pursued.

And the archbishop said to me, These men the which thou
speakest of now, were fooles and heretikes, when they were
counted wise men of thee and other such losels. But now they
are wise men, though thou and such other deeme them um\i>e.
Neverthelesse I wist never none that right said, that any while
were envenomed with your contagiousnesse, that is, contaminated
and spotted doctrine.

And I said to the archbishop, Sir, I thinke well that these men
and such other are now wise as to this world : but as their words
sounded sometime, and their works shewed outwardly, it was like
to move mee that they had earnest of the wisedome of God, and
that they should have deserved mikle grace of God, to have x
their owne soules and many other mens, if they had continued
faithfully in wilfull povertie, and in other simple vertuwis living :
and speciallie if they had with these foresaid vertues continued in
their busie fruitful! sowing of Gods word: as to many mens
knowledge they occupied them a season in all their wits, full
Imsily to know the pleasant wil of God, travelling all their mem-
bers ful busilie for to do thereafter, purely and chiefly to the
praising of the most holy name of God, and for grace of edifica-
tion and salvation of Christian people. But wo worth false
covetise, and evill counsell and tyrannic, by which they and many
men and women are led blindly into an evill end.

Then the archbishop said unto mee, Thou, and such other
losels of thy sect, would shave your beards full neere for to have
a benefice. For by Jesu, I know none more covetous shr
then ye are, when that ye have a benefice. For loe, I gave to
John Purvie ' a benefice but a mile out of this castle, and I 1
more complaints about his covetousness, for tithes, and other
misdoings, then I did of all men that were advanced within my
diocesse.

And I said to the archbishop, Sir, Purvie is neither with you

8 John Purvey. ~\ A collection of thirty-seven articles purporting to be drawn
from the writings of "NYickliffe, with corollaries by the collector, has rn
been printed for the first time, from a MS. in the British Museum, and -
by the Rev. .F. Forshall, under the title of " Remonstrance against Komish
Curniptions in tin- Church, addressed to the People and Parliament e;
gland in 1395, 18 Ric. ii." .Wording to the editor, "its author, tlitr
be little or no doubt, waa John Purvey."

WILLIAM THORPE. 279

now for the benefice that you gave him, nor he holdeth faithfully
with the learning that hee taught and writ before time ; and thus
hee sheweth himselfe neither to be hot nor cold : and therefore he
and his fellowes, may sore dread, that if they turne not hastily to
the way that they have forsaken, perad venture they be put out of
the number of Christs chosen people.

And the archbishop said, Though Purvie bee now a false
harlot 3, I quit mee now to him : but come hee more for such
cause before me, or we part, I shall know with whom hee holdeth.
But I say to thee, which are these holy men and wise, of whom
thou hast taken thine information 2

And I said, Sir, master John Wickliffe was holden of full many
men, the greatest clerke that they knew then living, and there-
with hee was named a passing rulie man and an innocent in his
living : and herefore, great men communed oft with him, and they
loved so his learning, that they writ it, and busilie inforced them
to rule themselves thereafter. Therefore sir, this foresaid learn-
ing of M. John Wickliffe, is yet holden of full many men and

3 A false harlot. ~\ A similar use of this term is by no means infrequent in
the old writers. We shall meet with it again in the progress of this exami-
nation. And in a Dialogue between Eusebius and Theophilus, signat. b. 6. b.
(12mo. 1556.) Eusebius, the advocate of the old religion, says, "Well, sir,
then harken ; first we are come to this poynt that betweene us is stryfe,
whether we catholikes be the true church of Christ, and you protestaunts
false prophetes, or els we the false harlottes and you the trewe men." So also
in Fox's Acts, p. 497, p. 1109, and p. 1855. Lewis's Hist, of Wickliffe,
p. 128, &c. Respecting the origin, or at least the history of the name, Fox
gives us some particulars, which I am inclined to believe, are much better
founded, than the common derivation suggested by Lambard in his Peram-
bulation of Kent, p. 178. Junius in his Etymologicum, and by other writers.

"About this time," that is, in the concluding years of the reign of
Henry III., " a redresse of certaine sects was intended; among which, one
by name speciallie occurreth, and called the assemblie of harlots j a kind of
people of a leaud disposition and uncivill. Of whose manners and life the
king having beene informed, addressed his letters to the shiriffe of Oxford-
shire, a place which they haunted, and wherein they practised their evill
conversation : whose letter here followeth.

"Because we understand that there be certaine vagrant persons which
call themselves harlots, maintaining idlenesse in divers parts of our realme,
most shamelesselie making their meetings, assemblies, and unlawfull matches
against the honestie of the church and good maners, which abuse we will
not, neither ought we to suffer. We charge, &c. &c.

"What maner of persons these were, or what their conversation was, it
doth not further appeare ; nevertheless by the premisses it may seeme to be
some pretenced order of religion. And it is most probable that the reproch-
ful name of harlot had his beginning from hence." Fox's Acts, p. 305.

280 WILLIAM THORPE.

women, the most agreeable learning unto the living and teaching
of Christ and of his apostles, and most openly shewing and declar-
ing how the church of Christ hath been and yet should bee ruled
and governed. Therefore, so many men and women covet this
learning, and purpose, through Gods grace, to conforme their
living like to this learning of Wickliffe. M. John Ashton taught
and writ accordingly, and full busily, where and when, and to
whom that he might, and he used it himselfe right perfectly unto
his lives end. And also Philip of Rampington, while he was a
canon of Leicester, Nicolas Herford, Davie Gotraie of Pakring,
monke of Byland, and a master of divinitie, and John Purvay.
and many other which were holden right wise men and prudent,
taught and writ busilie this foresaid learning, and conformed them
thereto. And with all these men I was right homely, and com-
muned with them long time and oft : and so before all other men
I chose willinglie to be informed of them and by them, and spe-
cially of Wickliffe himselfe, as of the most vertuous and godly
wise man that I heard of or knew. And therefore of him
speciallie, and of these men I tooke the learning that I have
taught : and purpose to live thereafter (if God will) to my lives
end. For though some of those men be contrarie to the learning
that they taught before, I wot well that their learning wa>
which they taught ; and therefore with the helpe of God I
purpose to hold and to use the learning which I heard of them,
while they sate on Moses chaire, and specially while that the}
on the chaire of Christ. But after the works that they now do,
I wil not do with Gods helpe. For they faine, and hide, and
contrarie the truth, which before they tauuht out plainely and
truely. For as I know well, when some of those men have been
blamed for their slanderous doing, they grant not that they have
taught amisse or erred before time, but that they were
strained by paine to leave to tell out the sooth ; and thus they
chuse now rather to blaspheme God, than to suffer a while 1
persecution bodily, for soothfastnesse that Christ shed out
heart bloud for.

And the archbishop said, That learning that thou callest truth
and soothfastnesse, is open slander to holy church, as it is pi
of holy church. For albeit, that Wickliffe your author M
iri-'-at elerke, and though that many men held him a perfect li
yet his doctrine is not approved of holy church4, but many

4 Not approved of holy church.'] So it was. In their synods and councils
(as the Council of Trent did afterwards), they enacted canons and decrees,

WILLIAM THORPE. 281

tences of his learning are damned as they well worthie are. But
as touching Philip of Rampington, that was first canon, and after
abbat of Leicester, which is now bishop of Lincolne ; I tell thee,
that the day is commen, for which he fasted the eeven. For
neither hee holdeth now, nor will hold, the learning that hee
taught, when hee was a canon of Leicester. For no bishop of
this land pursueth now more sharpely them that hold thy way,
then he doth.

And I said, Sir, full many men and women wondereth upon
him, and speaketh him mikle shame, and holdeth him for a cursed
enemie of the truth.

And the archbishop said to me, Wherfore tariest thou me thus
here with such fables, wilt thou shortly (as I have said to thee)
submit thee to me or no ?

And I said, Sir, I tell you at one word ; I dare not for the
dread of God submit me to you, after the tenor and sentence that
yee have above rehearsed to me.

And thus as if hee had been wroth, hee said to one of his
clerks, Fetch hither quickly, the certification that came to me
from Shrewesburie under the bailiffes seale, witnessing the errors
and heresies, which this losell hath venumously sowne there.

Then hastilie the clerke tooke out and laid forth on a cupbord,
divers roles and writings, among which there was a little one,
which the clerke delivered to the archbishop. And by and by the
archbishop read this roll containing this sentence.

" The third Sunday after Easter, the yeere of our Lord 1407,
William Thorpe came unto the towne of Shrewesburie, and
through leave granted unto him to preach, he said openly in S.
Chad's church in his sermon.

That the sacrament of the altar, after the consecration, was
materiall bread ;

And that images should in no wise be worshipped.

And that men should not go on pilgrimages.

And that priests have no title to tithes.

And that it is not lawfull for to sweare in any wise."

And when the archbishop had read thus this roll, he rolled it
up againe, and said to me, Is this wholesome learning to be
among the people ?

and on them they proceeded to censure and punish, even unto death, in
virtue of the mere principle of the authority of the church, and that church
the pope or the church of Rome, without any sufficient regard whether their
articles were grounded in Scripture, or in only undeniable reason.

282 WILLIAM THORPE.

And I said to him, Sir, I am both ashamed on their behalfe,
and right sorrowfull for them that have certified you these things
thus untruely ; for I 'preached never, nor taught thus, privily nor
apertly.

And the archbishop said to me, I will give credence to tl
worshipfull men which have written to me, and witnessed under
their seales there among them. Though now thou deniest tin's,
weenest thou that I shall give credence to thee? Thou losell.
hast troubled the worshipfull communaltie of Shrewesburie, so
that the bailiffes and communaltie of that towne have written to
me, praying me that am archbishop of Canturbury priinat and
chancellor of England, that I will vouchsafe to grant them, that
if thou shalt be made (as thou art worthie) to suffer open jouresse 5
for thine heresies, that thou may have thy jouresse openly there
among them : so that all they whom thou and such other losels
have there perverted, may through feare of thy deed be recon-
ciled againe to the unitie of holie church. And also they that
stand in true faith of holie church, may through thy deed be i
established therein. And as if this asking well pleased the arch-
bishop, he said, By my thrift, this heartie prayer, and fervent
request, shall be thought on.

But certainlie, nother the prayer of the men of Shrewr>lmri«'.
nor the manasing of the archbishop made mee any thin.u: afraid.
But in rehearsing of this malice, and in the hearing of it, my
heart greatly rejoiced, and yet doth. I thanke God for the <•;
that I then thought, and yet thinke shall come to all the church
of God here thorow, by the speciall mercifull doing of the Lord.
And as having no dread of the malice of tyrants, by trusting
steadfastlie in the helpe of the Lord, with full purpose f<
knowledge the soothfastnesse, and to stand thereby after my
cunning and power, I said to the archbishop, Sir, if the truth of
Gods word might now be accepted as it should be, 1 doubt n
prove by likelie evidence, that they that are famed to be out of
the faith of holie church in Shrewsbury, and in other pla
are in the true faith of holy church. For as tlieir words sound.
and their works shew to mans judgment (dreading and l>
faithfully God) their will, their desire, their love and their l>u
a iv most set to dread to offend (tod. and to love for to please him

5 Open jouresse.'] There seems some difficulty about this word "joun

I it means " abjuration :"— that Thorpe should be rarr:

Shrewhbury, there oprnty to abjure. The Latin edition (p. 84) uses the

WILLIAM THORPE. 283

in true and faithfull keeping of his commandements. And again,
they that are said to be in the faith of holie church in Shrewes-
burie and in other places, by open evidence of their proud, envious,
malicious, covetous, and other foule words and workes, neither
know, nor have will to know, nor to occupie their wits truelie and
effectuouslie in the right faith of holie church. Wherefore all
these, nor none that follow their manners, shall any time come
verily in the faith of holy church, except they inforce them more
truely to come in the way which now they despise. For these
men and women that are now called faithfull and holden just,
nother know, nor will exercise themselfe to knowe (of faithful-
nesse) one commandement of God.

And thus full many men and women now, and speciallie men
that are named to be principal lims of holy church, stir God to
great wrath, and deserve his curse for that they call or hold them
just men, which are ful unjust, as their vitious words, their great
customable swearing, and their slanderous and shamefull works
shew openly and witnesse. And therefore such vitious men and
unjust in their owne confusion, call them unjust men and women,
which after their power and cunning busie themselves to live
justly after the commandement of God. And where sir, ye say,
that I have distroubled the communaltie of Shrewesburie, and
many other men and women with my teaching, if it thus bee, it is
not to bee wondered of wise men, since all the communaltie of the
citie of Jerusalem was distroubled of Christ's owne person, that
was very God and man, and the most prudent preacher that ever
was or shall be. And also all the synagogue of Nazareth was
mooved against Christ, and so full filled with ire towards him for
his preaching, that the men of the synagogue rose up and cast
Christ out of their citie, and led him up to the top of a moun-
taine for to cast him downe there headlong. Also accordingly
hereto, the Lord witnesseth by Moses, that he shall put dissension
betwixt his people^ and the people that contrarieth and pursueth his
people. Who sir is he, that shall preach the truth of Gods word
to the unfaithful people, and shall let the soothfastnesse of the
gospell, and the prophecie of God Almightie to be fulfilled I

And the archbishop said to me, It followeth of these thy words,
that thou and such other thinkest, that yee doe right wel for to
preach and teach as yee doe, without authoritie of any bishop 6.

6 Without authoritie of any bishop^] Among the celebrated constitutions
of archbishop Arundel, agreed upon in a convocation holden at Oxford in

284 WILLIAM THORPE.

For you presume, that the Lord hath chosen you only for to
preach, as faithfull disciples and speciall followers of Christ.

And I said, Sir, by authoritie of God's law, and also of saints
and doctors I am learned to deeme, that it is every priests office
and dutie7 for to preach busily, freely and truely the word

the year 1407, and promulgated a second time by a convocation at St. Paul's,
London, in the year following ; it was enacted, in further prosecution of a
law passed in parliament, A.D. 1400, "That no clerk, secular or regular,
unless authorised by law, or special privilege, should preach to the people or
clergy in Latin, or in the vulgar tongue, within a church, or without, unless
he be first examined by the diocesan, and being found qualified both in
manners and learning, be sent by him to preach to some certain parish
or parishes, as to the same ordinary shall seem expedient." "Wilkins's
Condi, iii. p. 306 and 315. The words "law or special privilege " were
designed to protect the powers granted by the see of Rome to the respective
orders of friars ; but these, not being always treated with due honour by the
secular clergy, were more amply confirmed to them by a declaration published
by the archbishop in the year 1409 (Wilkins, iii. p. 324); and thus, while
the parochial clergy were subject to very severe but reasonable restrictions,
the mendicant orders had liberty to preach where, and when, and how, they
pleased. And as Thorpe said in another work, " Heremites and pardoners,
ankerers, and strange beggars, are licensed and admitted of prelats and
priests, for to beguile the people with flatterings and leasings slanderously,
against all good reason and true beliefe, and so to increase divers vices in
themselves, and also among all them that accept them, or consent to them."
Thorpe's Testament in Fox's Acts, p. 499, 500.

7 Office and dutie.'] Yes : No doubt. But it is also equally true, that the
church or the state has a right to limit and controul the exercise of this
office in any particular case. Therefore the law, this constitution of Arundel,
was a just and necessary one. The unhappiness was (as will often fall out
in human affairs), that the application and exercise of it fell into bad hands,
and for bad purposes, against good. And undoubtedly it was grievously
hard, that they who by Scripture and reason, and all other legitimate argu-
ments, saw clearly where the truth and where the error lay ; that themselves
were right, and the other party wrong, would not propound their knowledge,
nor speak at all, except on conditions which stipulated for its previous aban-
donment and extinction. They would gladly enough have had the bi>
license, but, as Thorpe says just below, " we know well, that this cannot be,
unless we oblige ourselves, not to pass the bounds and terms, which \>
or other bishops, will limit to us." And here again, the condition dou1
was just and necessary. No government can be sustained on any
principles. And, I may observe, that Wickliffe himself appears to have held
the doctrine which we are maintaining. For highly as he insisted on the
obligation of the ordination vows, to preach and minister in the sanct
he taught, according to a passage in Lewis (p. 65. 1820), that " though the
priestly power is not more or less sufficient in its essence : still the powers of

WILLIAM THORPE. 285

For no doubt every priest should propose first in his soule, and
covet to take the order of priesthood chiefly for to make knowne
to the people the word of God, after his cunning and power;
approving his words ever to be true by his vertuous workes : and
for this intent we suppose that bishops and other prelats of holy
church, should chieflie take and use their prelacie, and for the
same cause bishops should give to priests their orders. For
bishops should accept no man to priesthood, except that he had
good wil and full purpose, and were wel disposed and wel learned
to preach. Wherefore sir, by bidding of Christ, and by the
example of his most holy living, and also by the witnessing of his
holie apostles and prophets, wee are bound under full great paine,
to exercise us after our cunning and power (as every priest is
likewise charged of God) to fulfill duly the office of priesthood.
We presume not here of our selves for to bee esteemed, (neither in
our owne reputation nor in none other mans) faithfull disciples,
and speciall followers of Christ. But sir, as I said to you before,
wee deeme this, by authoritie chiefly of Gods word, that it is the
chiefe dutie of every priest, to busie him faithfullie to make the
law of God knowne to his people ; and so to commune the com-
mandements of God charitablie, how that we may best, where,
when, and to whom that ever we may : and for the wil and busi-
nesse that we owe of due debt, to do justlie our office, through
the stirring and speciall helpe (as we trust) of God, hoping sted-
fastlie in his mercie, wee desire to be the faithfull disciples of
Christ, and we pray this gratious Lord for his holie name, that
he make us able to please him with devout prayers, and charit-
able priestly works, that we may obtaine of him to follow him
thankefully.

And the archbishop said to me, Leaud lozel, whereto makest

inferior priests are, at times, reasonably restrained, and at other times are
relaxed."

Meanwhile, so far as concerns the church of England herself, whether in
her legislative or executive capacity, our consolation must be, that she has
long relinquished all claim to be an infallible church: and as in her 19th
Article, she maintains that the churches of Rome, Jerusalem, and Antioch,
had erred, so she may, or rather must, now looking back, confess of herself,
that under Arundel's primacy, she abused her lawful authority, and erred
grievously in many matters of controversy, " not only in ceremonies, but also
in matters of faith."

Upon the whole, then, much of Thorpe's reasoning here, and in what
follows for some pages, is a mistake of the question,

286 WILLIAM THORPE.

thou such vaine reasons to me ? Asketh not saint Paul, how
should priests preach, except they be sent? But I sent thee
never to preach. For thy venomous doctrin is so known through-
out England, that no bishop will admit thee to preach, by witness-
ing of their letters. Why then leaud idiot, wilt thou presume to
preach, since thou art not sent nor licensed of thy soveraigne to
preach I Saith not saint Paul, that subjects* ought to obey tl«ir
soveraignes, and not onely good and vertuous, but also tyrants tli«t
are mtious ?

And I said to the archbishop, Sir, as touching your letter of
licence or that of other bishops, which, yee say, wee should have
to witnesse that we were able to be sent for to preach ; we know
well that neither you sir, nor any other bishop of this land, will
grant to us any such letters of licence, but if we should oblige us
to you, and to other bishops by unlefull othes, for to passe not
the bounds and termes which ye sir, or other bishops, will limit
to us. And since in this matter your termes bee some too large,
and some too strait, wee dare not oblige us thus to be boumlen to
you for to keepe the termes, which you will limit to us, as you
doe to friers and such other preachers : and therefore, thou LI! i we
have not your letter sir, nor letters of any other bishops written
with inke upon parchment ; wee dare not therefore leave the
office of preaching, to which preaching, all priests after their
cunning and power are bound, by divers testimonies of (Jods
law, and great doctors, without any mention making of bishops
letters. For as mikle as wee have taken upon us the office of
priesthood (though we are unworthy thereto) we claim and pur-
pose to fulfill it with the help of God, by authoritie of his o\\ne
law, and by witnesse of great doctors and saints, according h.
trusting stedfastly in the mercie of God. For, in that lie com-
mandeth us to doe the office of priesthood, he will be our suffi-
cient letters and witnesse, if we by example of his holy li\m<j;
and teaching, speciallie occupie us faitht'ullie to doe our <
justlie : yea the people to whom we preach (be they faithfull or
unfaithfull) shall be our letters, that is, our witnes-bearers ; for
the truth where it is sowne, may not bu unwitn. •>>«•<!. For all
that are converted and saved by learning of Gods word, and l.y

8 That subjects.'] The relative terms subject and sovereign were in these
times very frequently used in the sense of inferior minister and prelate ; or of
layman and clerk ; and it is in this ecclesiastical meaning that the archbishop
understands and applies the text of St. Paul.

WILLIAM THORPE. 287

working thereafter, are witnesse-bearers, that the truth and sooth-
fastnes which they heard and did after, is cause of their salvation.
And again, all unfaithful! men and women which heard the truth
told out to them, and would not doe thereafter ; also all they that
might have heard the truth, and would not heare it because that
they would not doe thereafter: all these shall beare witnes against
themselves ; and the truth which they would not heare, or else
heard it, and despised to doe thereafter, through their unfaith-
fulnesse, is and shall be cause of their damnation. Therefore
sir, since this aforesaid witnessing of God, and of divers saints
and doctors, and of all the people good and evill, sufficeth to all
true preachers, we think that we do not the office of priesthood,
if that we leave our preaching, because that we have not, or
may not have duly bishops letters, to witnesse that wee are sent
of them to preach. This sentence approveth saint Paul, where
he speaketh of himselfe and of faithfull apostles and disciples,
saying thus, We need no letters of commendations as some preachers
doe, which preach for covetousnesse of temporall goods, and for
mens praysing. — And where ye say sir, that Paul biddeth sub-
jects obey their soveraignes, that is sooth, and may not be denied.
But there is two manner of soveraignes, vertuous soveraignes and
vitious tyrants. Therefore, to these last soveraignes, neither
men nor women that be subject, owe to obey in two maners. To
vertuous soveraignes and charitable, subjects owe to obey wil-
fully and gladlie, in hearing of their good counsell, in consenting
to their charitable biddings, and in working after their fruitfull
works. This sentence Paul approveth, where he saith to sub-
jects, Be yee mindful of your soveraignes, that speaJce to you the
word of God, and follow you the faith of them, whose conversation
you know to be vertuous. For as Paul saith after, these sove-
raignes, to whom subjects owe to obey in following of their
maners, worke busilie in holy studying, how they may withstand
and destroy vices, first in themselves, and after in all their sub-
jects, and how they may best plant in them vertues. Also these
soveraignes make devout and fervent prayers, for to purchase
grace of God, that they and their subjects may over all things
dread to offend him, and love for to please him. Also those
souveraignes to whom Paul biddeth us obey, as it is said before,
live so vertuouslie, that all they that will live well, may take of
them good example, to know and to keepe the commandements
of God. But in this foresaid wise, subjects ought not to obey

288 WILLIAM THORPE.

nor to be obedient to tyrants, while they are vitious tyrants, since
their will, their counsell, their biddings, and their workes are so
vitious, that they ought to be hated and left. And though such
tyrants be masterfull and cruell in boasting and menacing, in op-
pressions and divers punishings, saint Peter biddeth the servants
of such tyrants, to obey meekely such tyrants, (in) suffering pa-
tiently their malicious cruelnesse. But Peter counselleth not any
servant or subject, to obey to any lord or prince, or soveraigne in
any thing that is not pleasing to God.

And the archbishop said unto me, if a soveraigne bid his sub-
ject doe that thing that is vitious, this soveraigne herein is to
blame ; but the subject for his obedience, deserve th meed 9 of
God. For obedience pleaseth more to God, then any sacrifice.

9 Deserveth meed.'] The archbishop here speaks precisely according to the
doctrine afterward inforced by bishop Pecock, who though himself a severe
sufferer in the cause of reformation, was a very zealous, and a most able and
learned adversary of many tenets of the followers of Wickliffe.

" If a parish priest should teach his parishioner some grosse heresy instead
of an article of faith, it were his duty to receive it, and would not only be
excusable before God, but would be as meritorious, and equally rewarded,
with the belief of any true article. Nay, if that man should lay down his life
for defence of this heresy, imagining all this while that it is the doctrine of
the church, he would be a true and undoubted martyr." Rule of Faith,
p. 4, written A.D. 1450, and published by Henry Wharton, A.D. 1688, from
a MS. in the library of Trinity college, Cambridge. Compare below,
p. 333.

This doctrine of implicit submission to the authority of the church leads,
by a species of inevitable necessity, to conclusions and consequences in the
highest degree appalling and awful.

For example, an advocate for popery ventures to express himself thus, on
its restoration by queen Mary, in a popular address in behalf of the queen's
proceedings : —

" Therefore yf thys be a false fayth and belefe that we now have, then
both is, and hath bene most unkynde, not onlye to us, but to all Chi
dome besyde, whiche is in the same belefe, that we be : seeing that he hath
not before these seven yeares laste passed, revealed and opened his trueth
unto us, but hath suffered bothe us, and all our progenitours and elder
yea and all Christendome, ever synce Christes incarnation even to these latter
dayes, to lyve in blyndncs, and to let us continue styll in daungcr of da:
tion. But (iod forbydde, that any man myght justly eythcr thynke or
thus. For thru myght we, oommynge before our Saviour Christ at th<

of'ju 'IgiiK : -hould for our belefe be there condemned, aui.

we were nor to blame, not wort hie of damnation then-fore : because th:.

'lie Catholike ehureh hadde from tyme to tyme taught 11
belefe, and that he hadde promised to be with his churche to the worldes

WILLIAM THORPE. 289

And I said, Samuel the prophet said to Saul the wicked king,
that God was more pleased with the obedience of his commande-
ment, than with any sacrifice of beasts. But David saith, and S.
Paul, and S. Gregorie accordinglie together, that not only they
that doe evill, are worthy of death and damnation ; but also they
that consent to evill doers. And sir, the law of holy church
teachethin the decrees10, that no servant to his lord, nor child
to the father or mother, nor wife to her husband, nor monke to
his abbat, ought to obey, except in lefull things, and lawfull *.

ende; whyche promyse caused us alwaye to give credence to hys holye
churche, whiche we thought could not erre, nor be deceaved in anye matter
concerning our fayth." Christopherson's Exhortation against Rebellion, A.D.
1554. Signat. X 7, 8.

But even in our own days, the same daring representation is still
habitually propounded to the Roman Catholic students in the sister kingdom.
"One can scarcely imagine," says the protestant annotator on the Digest
of Evidence taken before Parliament, on the State of Ireland, 1824, 1825.
Part II. p. 248. " One can scarcely imagine a condition of greater horror to
a sensitive mind than that of a young priest, who, for the first time, became
privy (in confession) to a design of murder; it would be an incident for
Shakespeare or the author of Waverley. Nothing could quiet the mind in
such dreadful circumstances, but the principle, which is so deeply impressed
upon the youth destined for the ministry, that obedience to the church, though
it should lead to error, is the first of all duties. The Maynooth Class Book,
in a passage given in evidence by the archbishop of Dublin, contrasts the
state of a Protestant, and that of a Roman Catholic, at the last day : ' The
Protestant/ it says, ' can plead no other principle of faith and action than his
private judgment, with which he has searched the Scriptures for himself.
How different the lot of the Catholic, although (which, yet God forbid that
we should believe) he should have fallen into error through his obedience to the
decrees of the church ; can he not, when interrogated on this head, confidently
say to the Supreme Judge, Lord, if that which we have followed be an
error, THOU, EVEN THOU HAST DECEIVED us, by thy clear and reiterated
precept that, unless we wished to have our part with the heathen, we should
hear the church as we hear THEE. Thou thyself hast deceived us, by the
Apostles, by the Pastors and Doctors, whom thou hast ordained in the church
for the perfecting of the saints, and the building up of thy body. Thou thy-
self hast deceived us, by thy church, which is called by the apostle the pillar and
ground of truth. For she has always exacted from her children a firm assent,
in heart and mind, to her decrees; in thy name denouncing an eternal

anathema against the rebellious Confidently then we say, O Lord, if it

be an error which we have followed, THOU THYSELF HAST DECEIVED us,

AND WE ARE EXCUSED/ ''

10 In the decrees^] Corp. Juris Canonici, vol. i. 2306.

1 In lefull things and lawfull.'] We have the same two words again made
use of together in this examination ; " to compell him to sweare, in lefull
VOL. i. u

290 WILLIAM THORPE.

And the archbishop said to mee. All these alleagings that
thou bringest forth, are not else but proud presumptuously
For hereby thou inforcest thee to proove, that thou and such
other are so just, that ye ought not to obey to prelats. And
thus against the learning of St. Paul that teacheth you not to
preach, but if yee were sent of your own authoritie, ye will go
forth and preach, and doe what yee list.

And I said, Sir, presenteth not every priest the office of the
apostles, or the office of the disciples of Christ? And the arch-
bishop said, Yea. And I said, Sir, as the x. chapter of Matthew,
and the last chapter of Marke witnesseth, Christ sent his ap"
for to preach. And the x. chapter of Luke witnesseth, that Christ
sent his two and seventy disciples for to preach, in every j
that Christ was to come to ; and S. Gregorie in the Common Lav.
saith, that every man that goeth to priesthood, taketli upon him
the office of preaching. For as hee saith, that priest stinvth
God to great wrath, of whose mouth is not heard the voice of
preaching. And as other more glosses upon Ezekiel witii-
the priest that preacheth not busilie to the people, shall !>•'
partaker of their damnation that perish through his di-fault.
And though the people be saved by other speciall grace of (Jod,
than by the priests preaching, yet the priests, in that thc\
ordained to preach, and preach not, as before God, they are
manslayers. For as farre as in them is, such priests as pr
not busilie and truely, slay all the people ghostly, in that they
withhold from them the word of God, that is, the life and
substance of mens soules. And S. Isidore said, priests shall he
damned, for wickednesse of the people, if they teach not i
that are ignorant, or blame not them that are sinners. For all
the worke or businesse of priests standeth in preaching :md
teaching: that they edifie all men, as well by cunning of fait 1
by discipline of works, that is, vertuons teaching. And a
gospel witnesseth, Christ said in his teaching. /" a
comen into this icorld, to l»ar intn>w to tin- truth ; and he tJ
ofth<' fru//t, li-m\11i nit/ I'oice.

things and lawfull" Fox, p. 495. The former occurs not unfrequently by
itself, and seemingly in the sense of lawful. " Rich men sayen, tbn?
both Iff nil and ncedfull to them to gather riches together.*' l'<>\. p.
Also, p. 431, and p. 434. Perhaps it is no other than the word " I
allowable, pcrmissable. " Then-fun', it ii man or

this singular religion and profession to leave it (to) cleave fast to the n.
Jesu Christ, as more perfect." Wickliffe's Complaint, p. 2, A.D. 1608.

WILLIAM THORPE. 291

Then sir, since by the word of Christ specially, that is, his
voice, priests are commanded to preach, whatsoever priest that it
be, that hath not good will and full purpose to doe thus, and
ableth not liimselfe after his cunning and power to doe his office
by the example of Christ and of his apostles : whatsoever other
thing that he doth, displeaseth God. For lo, Saint Gregorie
saith, that thing left, that a man is bound chiefly to doe, what-
soever other thing that man doth, it is unthankfull to the holy
ghost : And therefore saith Lincolne 2, the priest that preacheth
not the word of God, though he be seene to have none other
default, he is antichrist and Sathanas, a night theef, and a day
theefe, a sleyer of soules, and an angell of light turned into
darknesse. Wherefore sir, these authorities and other well con-
sidered, I deeme my selfe damnable, if I either for pleasure or
displeasure of any creature, apply mee not diligently to preach
the word of God. And in the same damnation I deeme all
those priests which of good purpose and will, enforce them not
busily to doe thus, and also all them that have purpose or will to
let any priest of this businesse 3.

2 Saith Lincolne.'] Robert Grosthed, bishop of Lincoln.

3 Of this businesse.~\ All this imperfect reasoning of this very extraordinary
and interesting person, the student will learn satisfactorily to meet by the
principles laid down in the inestimable first and second books of Hooker's
Ecclesiastical Polity. We must be contented to cite a single passage from
the former.

" There are in men operations, some natural, some rational, some super-
natural, some politic, some finally ecclesiastical: which if we measure not each
by his own proper law, whereas the things themselves are so different, there
will be in our understanding and judgment of them, confusion ; as that first
error sheweth whereon our opposites in this cause have grounded themselves :
for as they rightly maintain, that God must be glorified in all things, and that
the actions of men cannot tend unto his glory, unless they be framed after his
law ; so it is their error to think that the only law which God hath appointed
unto men in that behalf is the sacred Scripture. . . . Proceed we further :
Let us place man in some politic society with others, whether civil or spi-
ritual; and in this case there is no remedy but we must add yet & further law.
For although even here likewise, the laws of nature and reason be of necessary
use, yet somewhat over and besides them is necessary, namely, human and
positive law, together with that law which is of commerce between grand
societies, the law of nations, and of nations Christian. For which cause the
law of God hath likewise said, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers
(Rom. xiii. 1). The public power of all societies is above every soul con-
tained in the same societies. And the principal use of that power is to give
laws unto all that are under it : which laws, in such case, we must obey,

u 2

292 WILLIAM THORPE.

And the archbishop said to those three clerks that stood
before him : Loe sirs, this is the maner and businesse of this
losell and such other, to picke out such sharpe sentences of holy
Scripture and doctors to maintaine their sect and lore against
the ordinance of holy church. And therefore losell, it is that thou
covetest to have againe the psalter that I made to bee taken
from thee at Canterbury, to record sharpe verses against us.
But thou shalt never have that psalter, nor none other book«-,
till that I know that thy heart and thy mouth accord fully, to be
governed by holy church.

And I said : Sir, all my will and power is, and ever shall be
(I trust to God) to be governed by holy church.

And the archbishop asked me, what was holy church ?

And I said : Sir, I told you before, what was holy church.

unless there be reason shewed which may necessarily inforce, that the law of
reason or of God doth enjoin the contrary : because, except our own private
and but probable resolutions be by the law of public determinations over-
ruled, we take away all possibility of sociable life in the world ! A plainer
example whereof than ourselves we cannot have. How cometh it to pass,
that we are at this present day so rent with mutual contentions, and that the
church is so much troubled about the polity of the church ? No doubt, if
men had been willing to learn how many laws their actions in this life had
been subject unto, and what the true force of each law is, all these contro-
versies might have died the very day that they were first brought forth.

" It is both commonly said, and truly, that the best men otherwise are not
always the best in regard of society. The reason whereof is, that the law of
men's actions is one, if they be respected only as men ; and another, when
they are considered zsparts of a politic body. Many men there are, than whom
nothing is more commendable when they are singled ; and yet in society with
others none less fit to answer the duties which are looked for at their hands.
Yea, I am persuaded, that of them with whom in this cause we strive, there
are whose betters amongst men would hardly be found, if they did not live
amongst men, but in some wilderness, by themselves. The cause of which
their disposition so unframable to societies wherein they live, is, that they
discern not aright what place and force these several kinds of laws ought to
have in all their actions. Is their question either concerning the regimen of
the church in general, or about conformity between one church and another,
or of ceremonies, offices, powers, jurisdictions, in our own church ; — of all
these things they judge by that rule which they frame to themselves with
some shew of probability, and what seemeth in that .sort convenient, the
they think themselves bound to practise; the same by all means they 1 >
mightily to uphold ; whatsoever any law of man to the contrary hath di
mined, they weigh it not. Thus by following the law of private reason, where
the law of public should take place, they breed disturbance." Book i. chap,
xviii. § 5, C. Keble's edit, j or, Christian Institutes, vol. i. p. 183.

WILLIAM THORPE. 293

But since ye aske me this demand ; I call Christ and his saints
holy church.

And the archbishop said unto me : I wot well that Christ and
his saints are holy church in heaven, but what is holy church in
earth ?

And I said : Sir, though holy church be every one in charitie,
yet it hath two parts. The first and principal! part, hath over-
comen perfectly all the wretchednesse of this life, and raigneth
joyfully in heaven with Christ. And the other part is here yet
in earth, busily and continually fighting day and night against
temptations of the fiend ; forsaking and hating the prosperity of
this world ; despising and withstanding their fleshly lusts ; which
onely are the pilgrims of Christ, wandring toward heaven by
stedfast faith and grounded hope, and by perfect charitie. For
these heavenly pilgrimes may not, nor will not, be letted of their
good purpose, by the reason of any doctors discording from holy
Scripture ; nor by the flouds of any tribulation temporall, nor by
the wind of any pride, or boast, or of manassing of any creature.
For they are all fast grounded upon the sure stone Christ,
hearing his word and loving it, exercising them faithfully and
continually in all their wits to doe thereafter.

And the archbishop said to his clerks : See yee not how his
heart is indurate, and how he is travelled with the divell occupying
him thus busily to alleage such sentences to maintaine his errors
and heresies ? Certaine, thus he would occupie us here all day,
if we would suffer him.

One of the clerks answered : Sir, he said right now, that this
certification that came to you from Shrewesbury, is untruly forged
against him. Therefore sir, appose you him now here in all the
points which are certified against him, and so we shall heare of
his owne mouth his answers, and witnes them.

And the archbishop tooke the certification in his hand, and
looked thereon a while, and then he said to me.

Loe here it is certified against thee by worthy men and
faithfull of Shrewesburie, that thou preachedst there openly in
S. Chad's church : that the sacrament of the altar was material!
bread after the consecration ; what saist thou ? Was this truly
preached 2

And I said : Sir, I tell you truely, that I touched nothing
there of the sacrament of the altar, but in this wise, as I will
with God's grace tell you here. As I stood there in the pulpit,

294 WILLIAM THORPE.

busying me to teach the commanderaent of God ; there knilled a
sacring bell, and therefore niickle people turned away hastily.
and with noise ran fro towards me. And I seeing this, said to
them thus : Good men yee were better to stand here still and to
heare God's word. For certes the vertue and the meede of the
most holy sacrament of the altar standeth mikle more in the
beleefe thereof that ye ought to have in your soule, then it doth
in the outward sight thereof. And therefore, yee were better to
stand still quietly to heare Gods word, because that through the
hearing thereof, men come to very true beleefe. And other
sir, I am certaine I spake not there of the worthy sacrament of
the altar.

And the archbishop said to me, I beleeve thee not whatso
thou saist, since so worshipfull men have witnessed thus against
thee. But since thou deniest that thou saidest thus tlu -r< :-, what
saist thou now ? Eesteth there after the consecration in the host,
materiall bread or no 4 ?

4 Materiall bread or no.] This question was the grand test of heresy, so
called, on the doctrine of the Eucharist, at this period. In the examinations
of Lord Cobham (below) we shall find that he was required " to answere,
specially unto this point : whether there remained material bread in the sacra-
ment of the altar, after the words of consecration, or not ?" — Fox, p. 51G. In
the Life of Wickliffe, p. 211, note ('), we saw the gross determination which
the question received by his adversaries in the university of Oxford. The
conduct of Thorpe here was regulated according to the same maxims which
had been previously recommended by John Purvey.

"Therefore, when anti-Christ or any of his shavelings doth aske of thee
that art a simple Christian, whether that this sacrament be the very body of
Christ or not, affirme thou it manifestly so to bee. And if he aske of thee
whether it be materiall bread, or what other bread else, say thou, th;f
such bread as Christ understood and meant by his proper word, and
bread as the holy ghost meant in St. Paul, when he called that to be very
bread which he brake ; and wade thou no further herein. But yet, men of
more knowledge and reason may more plainly convince the falsity of anti-
christ, both in this matter, and in others, by the gift of the holy ghost working
in them. Notwithstanding, if those that be simple men will humbly hold
and keepe the manifest and apparent words of the holie Scripture, and the
plaine sense and meaning of the holy ghost, and proceed no further, but
humbly commit that unto the spirit of God which passeth their understan
then may they safely offer themselves to death, as true martyrs of .
Christ." — Fox, p. 501. This modest and prudent reserve in giving an-
on this and other abstruse and hazardous points of controversy, is ridi
at some length, in a very uncharitable spirit, in Hurlowc's Dialogue conc<
Lutheran Factions. Signat. I 1, I 2 ; edit. 1553. Compare also above.
on p. 186, and p. 229.

WILLIAM THORPE. 295

And I said ; Sir, I know in no place in holy Scripture where
this terme materiall bread is written : and therefore sir, when
I speake of this matter, I use not to speake of materiall bread.

Then the archbishop said to me ; How teachest thou men to
beleeve in this sacrament ?

And I said ; Sir, as I beleeve my self, so I teach other men.

He said ; Tell out plainely thy beleefe thereof.

And I said, with my protestation ; Sir, I beleeve that the
night before that Christ Jesu would suffer (wilfully) passion for
mankind on the morne after, hee tooke bread in his holy and most
worshipfull hands, and lifting up his eies, and giving thanks to
God his father, blessed this bread and brake it, and gave it to
his disciples, saying to them ; Take and eate of this all you, this is
my bodie. And that this is and ought to bee all mens beleefe,
Matthew, Marke, Luke, and Paul witnesseth. Other beleefe
sir I have none, nor will have, nor teach : for I beleeve, that this
sufficeth 5 in this matter. For in this beleefe with Grods grace I

5 That this sufficeth.~\ The judgment of this ancient confessor cannot be
better sustained and substantiated than by the following sage, solemn, and
profound sentiments of the inestimable Hooker : —

" These things considered, how should that mind, which loving truth and
seeking comfort out of holy mysteries, hath not perhaps the leisure, perhaps
not the will nor capacity to tread out so endless mazes, as the intricate dis-
putes of this cause have led men into, how should a virtuously disposed
mind better resolve with itself than thus ? Variety of judgments and
opinions argueth obscurity in those things whereabout they differ. But that
which all parts receive for truth, that which every one having sifted is by no
one denied or doubted of, must needs be matter of infallible certainty.
AVhereas, therefore, there are but three expositions made of 'this is my body,'
t\\Q first 'this is in itself before participation, really and truly the natural
substance of my body, by reason of the co-existence which my omnipotent
body hath with the sanctified element of bread/ which is the Lutheran's
interpretation ; the second, ' this is itself, and before participation, the very
true and natural substance of my body, by force of that Deity, which, with
the words of consecration abolisheth the substance of bread, and substituteth
in the place thereof my body,' which is the popish construction ; the last,
' this hallowed food, through concurrence of divine power, is in verity and
truth, unto faithful receivers, instrumentally a cause of that mystical partici-
pation, whereby as I make myself wholly theirs, so I give them in hand an
actual possession of all such saving grace, as my sacrificed body can yield,
and as their souls do presently need, this is to them and in them my body.'
Of these three rehearsed interpretations, the last hath in it nothing but what
the rest do all approve and acknowledge to be most true ; nothing but that
which the words of Christ are on all sides confessed to enforce ; nothing but
that which the church of God hath always thought necessary ; nothing but

296 WILLIAM THORPE.

purpose to live and die, acknowledging as I beleeve and teach
other men to beleeve, that the worshipfull sacrament of the altar,

that which alone is sufficient for every Christian man to believe concerning
the use and force of this sacrament ; finally, nothing but that wherewith the
writings of all antiquity are consonant and all Christian confessions agreeable.
And as truth in what kind soever is by no kind of truth gainsayed, so the
mind which resteth itself on this is never troubled with those perplexities
which the other do both find, by means of so great contradiction between
their opinions and true principles of reason grounded upon experience,
nature, and sense. Which albeit with boisterous courage and breath they
seem often times to blow away, yet whoso observeth how again they labour
and sweat by subtilty of wit to make some shew of agreement between their
peculiar conceits and the general edicts of nature, must needs perceive they
struggle with that which they cannot fully master. Besides sith of that
which is proper to themselves their discourses are hungry and unpleasant,
full of tedious and irksome labour, heartless and hitherto without fruit : on
the other side, read we them or hear we others, be they of our own or of
ancienter times, to what part soever they be thought to incline touching that
whereof there is controversy, yet in this where they all speak hut one thing
their discourses are heavenly, their words sweet as the honeycomb, their
tongues melodiously tuned instruments, their sentences mere consolation and
joy, are we not hereby almost even with voice from heaven admonished which
we may safeliest cleave unto ?

" He which hath said of the one sacrament, ' Wash and be clean,' hath said
concerning the other likewise, ' Eat and live/ If therefore without any such
particular and solemn warrant as this is, that poor distressed woman coming
unto Christ for health could so constantly resolve herself, ' May I but touch the
skirt of his garment I shall be whole ;' — what moveth us to argue of the
manner how life should come by our bread, our duty being here but to take
what is offered, and most assuredly to rest persuaded of this, that can we but
eat we are safe ? When I behold with mine eyes some small, and scarce discern-
ible grain or seed, whereof nature maketh promise that a tree shall come,
and when afterwards of that tree any skilful artificer undertaketh to frame
some exquisite and curious work, I look for the event; I move no qu
about performance either of the one or of the other. Shall I simply credit
nature in things natural ; shall I in things artificial rely myself on art, never
offering to make doubt, and in that which is above both art and nature refuse
to believe the Author of both, except he acquaint me with his ways, and lay
the secret of his skill before me ? Where God himself doth speak those tilings
which, either for height and sublimity of matter, or else for secrecy of
formance, we are not able to reach unto, as we may be ignorant without
danger, go it can be no disgrace to confess we are ignorant. Such as love
piety will aa much as in them lieth know all things that God commands h,
but especially the duties of service which they owe to God. As for his dark
and hidden works, they prefer, as becometh them in such cases, simplkr
faith before that knowledge, which, curiously sifting what it should adore,
and disputing too boldly of that which the wit of man cannot search, chillcth

WILLIAM THORPE. 297

is the sacrament of Christs flesh and his blood, in forme of bread
and wine.

And the archbishop said to mee ; It is sooth, that this sacra-
ment is very Christs bodie in forme of bread. But thon and thy
sect teachest it to be substance of bread. Thinke you this true
teaching ?

And I said; Neither I, nor any other of the sect that yee
damne, teach any otherwise then I have told you, nor beleeve
otherwise, to my knowing. Neverthelesse sir, I aske of you for
charitie, that ye will tell me here plainely, how ye shall under-
stand the text of Saint Paul, where he saith thus ; This thing
feele you in your selfe that is in Christ Jesu, while lie was in the
forme of God. Sir, calleth not Paul here the forme of God, the
substance or kind of God ? Also sir, saith not the church in the
Hours of the most blessed virgine 6 accordinglie hereto, where it

for the most part all warmth of zeal, and bringeth soundness of belief many
times into great hazard. Let it therefore be sufficient for me presenting
myself at the Lord's table to know what there I receive from him, without
searching or inquiring of the manner how Christ performeth his promise ;
let disputes and questions, enemies to piety, abatements of true devotion, and
hitherto in this cause but over patiently heard, let them take their rest : let
curious and sharp-witted men beat their heads about what questions them-
selves will, the very letter of the word of Christ giveth plain security that
these mysteries do as nails fasten us to his very cross ; that by them we draw
out, as touching efficacy, force, and virtue, even the blood of his gored side,
in the wounds of our Redeemer. We there dip our tongues : we are dyed
red both within and without ; our hunger is satisfied, and our thirst for ever
quenched ; they are things wonderful which he feeleth, great which he seeth,
and unheard of which he uttereth ; whose soul is possessed of this Paschal
Lamb and made joyful in the strength of this new wine, this bread hath in it
more than the substance which our eyes behold ; this cup hallowed with
solemn benediction availeth to the endless life and welfare both of soul and
body, in that it serveth as well for a medicine to heal our infirmities and
purge our sins, as for a sacrifice of thanksgiving; with touching it sanc-
tifieth ; it enlighteneth with belief ; it truly conformeth us unto the image of
Jesus Christ; what these elements are in themselves it skilleth not; it is
enough that to me which take them they are the body and blood of Christ ;
his promise in witness hereof sufficeth ; his word he knoweth which way to
accomplish ; why should any cogitation possess the mind of a faithful com-
municant but this, O my God, thou art true ! ' O my soul, thou art happy ! ' ):
— Book v. chap. Ixvii. § 12.

6 Of the most blessed Virgine.] The words here referred to are these,
" Memento, salutis auctor,

Quod nostri quondam corporis,

Ex illibata virgine,

Nascendo/ormam sumpseris."

298 WILLIAM THORPE.

is written thus 2 Thou author of health remember ', that som>
thou tooke of the undefiled virgin, the forme of our bodie. Tell me
for charitie therefore, whether the forme of our bodie, be called
here the kind of our bodie or no I

And the archbishop said to me ; Wouldest thou make mee to
declare this text after thy purpose, since the church now hath
determined 7, that there abideth no substance of bread after the
consecration, in the sacrament of the altar 2 Beleevest thou not
this ordinance of the church \

And I said ; Sir, whatsoever prelates have ordained in the
church, our beleefe standeth ever whole. I have not heard, that
the ordinance of men under beleefe 8, should be put into l>rl

And the archbishop said to me ; If thou hast not learned this
before, learne now to know that thou art out of beleefe, if in this
matter and other, thou beleevest not as the holy church beleeveth.
• — \Vhat say doctors treating of this sacrament?

7 The church now hath determined.] The archbishop felt that his strength,
such as it was, lay here. He was armed with the authority of the church ;
and against one so fortified, scripture or reason equally was of very little
avail. There he had a short method for deciding all controversies : and he
found it so easy and convenient in the application, that we shall see he
resorted to it very frequently. The words before us are one ins»
Immediately after, he says, "Thou art out of beleefe, if in this matter and
other, thou beleevest not, as the holy church beleeveth." Again, shortly after,
" I purpose to make thee obey to the determination of holy church." Aijam.
" As holy church hath suffered the images of the Trinitie, and all other
images to be painted and shewed, it sufficeth to them that are members of
holy church." " If Chrysostome meant accordingly to the ordinance of holy
church, we will accept him." Nay, even of St. Paul, Arundel, or one of his
brother bishops, said to Lord Cobham : " Paul must be otherwise understood.
For it is sure an heresie to say that it is bread after the consecration : for it is
against the determination of holy church" And, to go no further, what con-
fidence he had in his weapons, and how he was determined not to be sparing
in the use of them, appears sufficiently from his words to Thorpe 1>
" God has brought me again into this land to destroy thee and the false sect
that thou art of : and I shall pursue you so narrowly, that I shall not 1(
slip of you in this land."

'-/en under beleefe.'] That is, I have never been taught, that the determi-
nations of men under beleefe, posterior in time, or ruthcr liriny under tht
galion of obedience to the articles of Christian faith, should be el<
equal authority with those articles. The passage is suflirieiitly illi
a similar declaration of Lord ( 'obhaiu : "And as of linages, I under- •
that they be not of bfln-cf. but that they were ordained, fi
was given of Christ, by sufference of the church." Fox, p. 515, given '
in this Collection.

WILLIAM THORPE. 291)

And I said ; Sir, Saint Paul, that was a great doctor of holie
church, speaking to the people, and teaching them in the right
beleefe of this most holy sacrament, calleth it bread that we
breake. And also in the Canon of the masse 9 after the con-
secration, this most worthy sacrament is called holie bread.
And every priest in this land, after that he hath received this
sacrament, saith in this wise ; That thing that wee have taken
with our mouth, we pray God that we may take it with a pure
and cleane mind : That is, as I understand, wee pray God that
we may receive through very beleefe, this holy sacrament wor-
thily. And sir, Saint Augustine saith ; That thing that is seene,
is bread ; but that mens faith asketh to be informed of, is very
Christ s bodie. And also, Fulgence an ententife doctor l saith ;
As it were an error to say that Christ was but a substance, that
is, very man, and not very God ; or to say that Christ was very
God, and not very man ; so is it (this doctor saith) an errour to
say, that the sacrament of the altar is but a substance ; and also
sir, accordingly hereto, in the secret of the mid masse 2 on Christ-
masse day, it is written thus ; Idem refulsit Deus, sic terrena
substantia nobis conferat quod dimnum est ; which sentence sir,
with the secret of the fourth ferie, quatuor temporum Septembris s ;
I pray you sir declare here openly in English.

And the archbishop said to me, I perceive well enough where-
about thou art, and how the divell blindeth thee, that thou may
not understand the ordinance of holy church, nor consent thereto.
But I command thee now, answere me shortlie ; beleevest thou
that after the consecration of this foresaid sacrament, there
abideth substance of bread or not ?

And I said ; Sir, as I understand, it is all one to grant or

9 Canon of the masse.~\ In the whole of this paragraph, Thorpe closely
follows the arguments of his master Wickliffe. See Lewis's History of
Wickliffe, p. 79.

1 An ententife doctor.~] " Ententif (Fr.) ; busie, earnest, intentive, &c."
Cotgrave.

2 Secret of the mid masse.~\ " Then after followeth a prayer secretly said,
which is called the secret of the Mass • and that signifieth Christ's secret and
privy conversation, which he kept with his disciples a little before his
passion." Book of Ceremonies in Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. i.
p. 287, Records.

3 Quatuor temporum Septembris.~] The fourth ferie (feria quarto] quatuor
temporum Septembris may be easily found in any Breviary. The Quatuor
tempora denote the fasting-days in the four Ember weeks ; which in Sep-
tember are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday next after the 14th.

300 WILLIAM THORPE.

beleeve, that there dwelleth no substance of bread, and to grant
and to beleeve, that this most worthie sacrament of Christs owne
body is accident without subject 4. But sir, for as mikle as your
asking passeth my understanding, I dare neither denie it nor
grant it, for it is schoole matter, about which I busied mee never
for to know : and therefore I commit this terme accident
subjecto, to those clerkes which delight them so in curious and
subtle sophistry, because they determine oft so difficult and
strange matters, and wade and wander so in them from argument
to argument, with pro et contra, till that they wot not where they
are, and understand not themselves. But the shame that these
proud sophisters have to yeeld them to men, and before men,
maketh them oft fooles, and to be concluded shamefully before
God.

And the archbishop said to me ; I purpose not to oblige thee
to the subtle arguments of clerks, since thou art unable ther
but I purpose to make thee obey to the determination of holy
church.

And 1 said ; Sir, by open evidence and great witnesse. a thou-
sand yeere after the incarnation of Christ, the determination
which I have here before you rehearsed, was accept of holy
church5 as sufficient to the salvation of all them that would he-
leeve it faithfully, and worke thereafter charitablie. But sir. the
determination of this matter was brought in, since the fe< nd
loosed6 by frier Thomas Aquine, specially calling the most w»»r-

4 Without subject.'] Compare above, Life of Wickliffe, note on p. 186.

6 Was accept of holy church.] This was expressly conceded, in after times,
in the reign of queen Mary, by the learned and candid Tonstall, bishop of
Durham, in his book De Eucharistia. P. 45. A.D. 1554. See also Life of
Bernard Gilpin, in this collection.

8 Since the feend was loosed^] " And I saw an angel come down from
heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan,
and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit.
shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no
more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he rtv
loosed a little season." Revelation, chap. xx. ver. 1 — 3. To this pass;.,
the Apocalypse, reference is here made by Thorpe, as it was by Wieklifi.
his followers, on many other occasions, as prophetical, first, of the ;
ages of Christianity, and also of the corruptions which overspread the church
iu the second millenary after Christ's ascension. See Lewis's History of
Wickliffe, p. 87 and U I ; I c.v. p. M

The words which follow, viz. " Frier Thomas Aquine," are printed thus in

WILLIAM THORPE. 301

shipfull sacrament of Christs owne bodie an accident without
subject ; which terme, since I know not that Gods law approveth
it in this matter, I dare not grant, but utterlie I denie to make
this friers sentence, or any such other, my beleefe ; doe with me
God what thou wilt.

And the archbishop said to me ; Well, well, thou shalt say
otherwise or that I leave thee.

But what saiest thou to this second point that is recorded
against thee by worthie men of Shrewsburie, saying, that thou
preachedst there, that images ought not to be worshipped in any
wise?

And I said ; Sir, I preached never thus, nor through Gods
grace I will not at any time consent to think nor to say thus,
neither privilie nor apertly. For loe, the Lord witnesseth by
Moses, that the things which hee made were right good, and so
then they were, and yet they are and shall be good and worship -
full in their kind. And therefore, to the end that God made
them to, they are all praisable and worshipfull ; and speciallie
man that was made after the image and likenesse of God, is full
worshipfull in his kind ; yea, this holy image that is man, God
worshippeth 7. And herefore every man should worship other, in

all the editions of Fox, which I have had an opportunity of consulting;
" Frier Thomas againe." The person intended is undoubtedly St. Thomas
Aquinas ; and the place cited may be found, Summa Theolog. : part 3, quest.
75, art. 5. I apprehend, therefore, that the alteration of "againe" into
" Aquine " will be easily allowed of.

7 God worshippeth.'] Thus in bishop Pecock's Treatise on the Rule of Faith,
p. 35. "This holi lyver after his death is accepted into salvacioun, and to be
reverencid and worschipid and folowid as for a savyd soule, and moche lovyd
and worschipid of God."

The disputation between the archbishop and Thorpe upon this celebrated
point, cannot be understood, without bearing in mind the ancient meaning of
the word worship, of which we have traces still remaining in the marriage
service, and in the word worshipful. It did by no means imply of itself so
high a degree of reverence as we now usually apply to it. But, as Tyndal
says, "worshipping and honouring, these two termes are both one." — Works,
p. 269. The reader, who is desirous of further information upon the con-
troversy respecting image worship at the commencement, and in the earlier
years of the reformation, will find much to his purpose by consulting Lewis's
Life ofPecock, p. 79—114; Lewis's History of Wickliffe, p. 345 — 350; Fox,
p. 369. 433. 518. 605, 606; Tyndal's Works, p. 269. 275; Barnes's Works,
p. 335. 355; Sir Thomas More's Works, p. 113. 124. 187. 203. See also
the index of this work, and that of the Christian Institutes under Images,
worship of.

302 WILLIAM THORPE.

kind, and also for heavenly vertues that men use charitably. And
also I say, wood, tin, gold, silver, or any other matter that ima<j;< -s
are made of, all these creatures are worshipful] in their kind, and
to the end that God made them for. But the carving, casting,
and painting of an imagery, made within mans hand, albeit that
this doing be accept of men of highest state and dignitie. and
ordained of them to bee a calendar to leaud men, that neither
can, nor will be learned to know God in his word, neither by his
creatures, nor by his wonderfull and divers workings ; yet this
imagerie ought not to be worshipped in forme, nor in the like-
nesse of mans craft. Neverthelesse, that very matter the painters
paint with, since it is Gods creature, ought to be worshipped in
the kind, and to the end that God made and ordained it to a
man.

Then the archbishop said to me, I grant well that nobody,
ought to doe worship to any such images for themselves8. Hut
a crucifix ought to be worshipped for the passion of Christ that

8 Images for themselves.~\ This was well enough said by the archbishop ;
and if he and his party would have stopped here, there needed to have been
no more controversy on this point, or it would have been merely some verbal
disputation about the force and import of the word " worship," or the like.
The Lollards, Reformers, Protestants, all were willing enough to accede to
the usage of images, as "calendars of lewd men," or " lay-men's books."
But what availed this, when all the time, it is unquestionable, that the practice
in the church differed very widely from the teaching in the schools : and that,
by the connivance or encouragement, and for the direct gain of the clergy
themselves ? What else could be the meaning of the " engines that were in
the images, whereby they could beckon, either with their heades or ha
or move their eyes, or manage some parte of their bodies, to the purpov
the freers and priests would use them ?" (Works of William Thomas, p. 61.)
Why do we hear so much of the miracles wrought at this shrine and at that ?
and of the blood of Hayles, or the blood of St. Januarius? The "rood <>f
grace, at Boxley, in Kent, was able to bow down and lift up itself, to shake
and stir the hands and feet, to nod the head, roll the eyes, bend the 1>
and finally to represent a lively, significant show of a well-contented or dis-
pleased mind." (lewis's Life of Pecock, p. 82.) Can we wonder then at the
scandal occasioned by these things to reflecting minds, and at the z<
Tindal, Bilnev. and the like ? Bernard (Jilpin, we shall read below, in this
collection, "was much troubled, hearing the papists condemn i
their discourses, and yet permitting to the people every where the adoi
of images." Again, he says : " I beheld for the space of three years at I
Antwerp, and Loraine, and in some other places, very gross idol.
thing did more and more estrange one from the popish religion : :

DSC the learnedei papists did in their disputations in the schools de:
adoration of images, yet allowed the intolerable use thereof in their churches."

WILLIAM THORPE. 303

is painted therein, and so brought therethrough to mans mind :
and thus the images of the blessed Trinitie, and of the Virgin
Marie Christs mother, and other images of saints, ought to be
worshipped. For loe, earthly kings and lords which used to send
their letters ensealed with their armes, or with their privie signet
to them that are with them, are worshipped of these men. For
when these men receive their lords letters, in which they see and
know the wils and biddings of the lords, in worship of their lords
they doe off their caps to these letters 9. Why not then, since in

9 Doe off their caps to these letters^] This old custom must not be passed
by without one or two notices, which will also afford further illustration to
the archbishop's argument, " Saynt Austyn sayth, the mynde of Crystys pas-
sion puttethe awaye all temptacyons, and the power of all wycked spyrytes.
And for this cause roodes and ymages ben set on hye in the chirche ; for as
soone as a man cometh into the chirche, he sholde see it, and have it in his
mynde, and thynke on Crystys passion. Wherefore crosses and other ymages
be full necessary and needefull, whatsomever these Lollers say : for and it
had not be full profitable, holye faders wolde have destroyed them many yeres
agone. For ryght as the people done worshyp to the kynges scale, not for love
of the scale, but for reverence of the kyng that it cometh fro, so roodes and
ymages be set for the kynges scale in heven, and other sayntes in the same
wyse. For ymages ben lewde peples bokes ; and as Johan Belet sayth, ther
ben many thousandes of peple that can not ymagyn in ther hertes how Cryst
was done on the crosse, but as they se by ymagis in the chirches, and in other
places." — Festival, fol. 51. b. In so much favour was this argument, that
even Sir Thomas More and bishop Gardiner condescended to make use of it.
" When a man at the receite of his princes letter putteth off his cappe and
kisseth it, doth he this reverence to the paper, or to his prince ? In good faith
to saie the trouth these heretiques rather trifle than reason in this matter.
For where thei saie that ymages be but lay mennes bokes, thei cannot yet saie
nay but that thei be necessary, if thei were but so." Works, p. 117- See
Fox's Acts, p. 1219, 20. Letter of bishop Gardiner. By the time of the
reign of Henry VIII. it should appear, that this courtesy was already con-
tracted within narrower limits. In Coverdale's dedication of his translation
of the Bible to that monarch, in which he inforces the king's supremacy with
much zeal, he observes in the course of that argument, " as ther is nothing
above God, so is ther no man above the king in his realme ; but that he only
under God is the chief head of all the congregation and church of the same.
And in token that this is true, ther hath been of old antiquitie, and is yet unto
this day, a loving ceremonie used in your realme of England, that when your
grace's subjects read your letter, or begin to talk or commune of your hiyhnesse,
they move their bonnets for a sign and token of reverence unto your grace, as
to their most sovereign lord and head under God, which thing no man useth to
do to ony bishop : whereby if our understandyng were not blynded, we might
evidently perceave, that even very nature teacheth us the same that scrypture
commaundeth us." If this custom still any where remains, perhaps it may

304 WILLIAM THORPE.

images made with mans hand, wee may read and know many
divers things of God, and of his saints, shall we not worship their
images ?

And I said ; within my foresaid protestation I say, that these
worldly usages of temporal lawes that yee speake now of, may
be done in case without sinne. But this is no similitude to wor-
ship images, made by mans hand, since that Moses, David, Solo-
mon, Baruch, and other saints in the bible forbid so plainely the
worshipping of such images.

Then the archbishop said to mee ; Leaud losell, in the old law
before that Christ tooke mankind, was no likenesse of any person
of the Trinitie, neither shewed to man, nor knowne of man :
but now since Christe became man, it is lefull to have imai:
shew his manhood. Yea, though many men which aiv ri^ht
great clerkes and other also, held it an error to paint the Trinitie,
I say it is wel done to make and to paint the Trinity in ini.
For it is great mooving of devotion to men, to have and t <
hold the Trinitie and other images of saints, carved, cast, and
painted. For beyond the sea, are the best painters that e\
saw. And sirs I tell you, this is their manner, and it is a good
manner : when that an image maker shall carve, cast in mold, or
paint any images, he shall goe to a priest, and shrive him as
cleane, as if he should then die ; and take penance, and make
some certaine vow of fasting or of praying or pilgrimages doing,
praying the priest speciallie to pray for him. that he may
grace to make a faire and a devout inmiiv.

And I said; Sir, I doubt not if these painters that y
of, or any other painters understood truly the text of Moses, of
David, of the Wise Man, of Baruch, and of other saints and doc-
tors; these painters should be mooved to shrive them to
with full inward sorrow of heart, taking upon them to doe right
sharpe penance for the sinfull and vaine craft of painting, car
or casting they had used ; promising God faithfully. IK \< r to doe
so after; knowledging openly before all men their reprooveable
MILT. And also sir, tli

•mil among the formal and ceremonious Spaniards. " If I slum1.."

• nidoinar's action," says Lord Bacon toil

ingham, " I should first 1;. :ny mouth, in token of th

and then to my heart in token of contentment, and then to my forehead in

. of a perpetual remembrance." — Bacon's Works, vol. ii. Kdit.

WILLIAM THORPE. 305

painters, and enjoy ne them to doe penance, and pray for their
speed, promising to them helpe of their prayers for to be curious
in their sinfull crafts, sinne herein more grievouslie, than the
painters. For these priests doe comfort and give them counsell
to doe that thing, which of great paine, yea under the paine of
Gods curse, they should utterly forbid them. For certes sir, if
the wonderfull working of God, and the holy living and teaching
of Christ, and of his apostles and prophets, were made knowne to
the people by holy living and true, and busie teaching of priests ;
these things (sir) were sufficient bookes and kalenders 10 to know
God by, and his saints, without any images made with mans hand.
But certes, the vitious living of priests and their covetousnesse,
are chiefe cause of this error, and all other vitiousnesse that
raigneth among the people.

Then the archbishop said unto me, I hold thee a vitious priest
and accurst, and all them that are of thy sect ; for all priests of
holy church, and all images that move men to devotion, thou and
such other goe about to destroy. Losell, were it a faire thing to
come into the church and see therein none image 2

And I said ; Sir, they that come to the church for to pray
devoutly to the Lord God, may in their inward wits bee the more
fervent, that all their outward wits bee close from all outward
seeing and hearing, and from all disturbance and lettings. And
since Christ blessed them that saw him not bodily, and have
beleeved faithfully in him, it sufficeth then to all men (through
hearing and knowing of Gods word, and to doe thereafter) for
to beleeve in God, though they never see images made with mans
hand after any person of the Trinitie, or of any other saint.

And the archbishop said to mee, with a fervent spirit ; I say to
thee losell, that it is right well done to make and to have an
image of the Trinitie. Yea, what saist thou ? is it not a stirring
thing to behold such an image 2

And I said ; Sir, yee said right now that in the old law or
Christ tooke mankind, no likenesse of any person of the Trinitie
was shewed to men : wherefore sir, yee said it was not then lefull
to have images, but now ye say, since Christ is becomen man, it
is lefull to make and to have an image of the Trinitie, and also of
other saints. But sir, this thing would I learne of you : since
the father of heaven, yea and every person of the Trinitie was

10 Bookes and kalendersJ] See below, under Lord Cobliam, n. (5) p. 367. or
Index, art. Images, laymen's books.

VOL. I. X

SOG WILLIAM THORPE.

without beginning God almighty, and many holy prophets that
were deadly men, were martyred violently in the old law. and also
many men and women then died confessors: why was it not
then as lefull and necessarie as now to have made an image of the
father of heaven, and to have made and had other images of mar-
tyrs, prophets, and holy confessors, to have bin kalendcr
advise men and move them to devotion, as ye say that images
now doe ?

And the archbishop said : The synagogue of the Jewcs had
not authoritie to approve those things as the church of Christ
hath now.

And I said ; Sir, saint Gregorie was a great man in the new
law, and of great dignitie, and as the common law witnesseth, he
commended greatly a bishop, in that he forbad utterly the images
made with mans hand should bee worshipped.

And the archbishop said : Ungratious losell, thou savourest no
more truth than an hound. Since at the rood at the- north-dun •
at London \ at our ladie at Walsingham a, and many other divrix

1 North-dore at London^ " Towards the great north door was a crucifix,
whereimto pilgrimages and offerings were frequently made, whereof the 1 >ean
and Canons had the benefit." Dugdale's History of St. Paul's Cathedral,
p. 22. edit. 1716.

2 Our ladie at WahinghamJ] " The people in speaking of our lady ; Of
al our ladies, saith one, I love best our lady of Walsingham. And J, saith
the other, our lady of Ippiswitch. In which woordes what meneth she but
her love and her affeccion to the stocke that standeth in the chapel of \Vul-
singham or Ippiswiche ? What say you, when the people speke of this
fashion in theyr paines and perils, Helpe holy crosse of Bradmen, helpe our
dere lady of Walsingham ? Doth it not plainly appere that thei trust in the
images, in Christes stede ?" Sir Thomas More's Dialogue concerning Heresies.
Works, p. 140. "This village," says Camden, speaking of Walsingham,
(Camden in Norfolk) " was much renowned throughout all England for a
pilgrimage to our lady, the Virgin Mary ; whom he who had not, in the
former age, visited, and presented with offerings, was reputed im-liir
Erasmus in his Colloquy, intitled Peregrinatio religionis ergo, has described
this place, and a pilgrimage made thither, in a very entertaining in

small part of the description here follows, as it is translated by Camden.
" In that church, which I said was unfinished, there is a small chapel, but
all of wood, whereunto on either side at a narrow and little door, are such
admitted as come with their devotions and offerings. Small lijjht there is in
it, and none other in a manner but by tapers or wax candles, yielding a
dainty and pleasant smell. Nay, if you look into it, you would say it
the habitation of heavenly saints indeed ; so bright shining it is all over with
precious stones, with gold and silver." Queen Katharine of Arragon, in a
letter to Henry VIII. during his absence in France, announces her intention
of paying a visit to Our Lady of Walsingham, on his behalf.

WILLIAM THORPE. 307

places in England, are many great and praisable miracles done ;
should not the images of such holy saints and places, at the reve-
rence of God and our ladie and other saints, be more worshipped
than other places and images, where no miracles are done ?

And I said ; Sir, there is no such vertue in any imagerie, that
any images should herefore bee worshipped ; wherefore I am
certaine that there is no miracle done of God in any place in
earth, because that any images made with mans hand should be
worshipped. And herefore sir, as I preached openly at Shrewes-
burie and other places, I say now here before you ; That no bodie
should trust that there were any vertue in imagery made with
mans hand, and therefore no bodie should vow to them nor seeke
them, nor kneele to them, nor bow to them, nor pray to them,
nor offer any thing to them, nor kisse them, nor encense them.
For loe the most worthie of such images, the brasen serpent (by
Moises made, at Gods bidding) the good king Hezechias destroyed
worthily and thankfully, and all because it was encensed. There-
fore sir, if men take good heed to the writing and to the learning
of S. Augustine, of S. Gregorie, and of saint John Chrysostome,
and of other saints and doctors, how they spake and wrote of
miracles, that shall bee done now in the last end of the world ; it
is to dread, that for the unfaithfulnes of men and women, the
feend hath great power for to worke many of the miracles that now
are done in such places 3. For both men and women delight
now more to heare and know miracles, than they doe to know
Gods word, or to heare it effectuouslie. Wherefore, to the great
confusion of all them that thus do, Christ saith ; The generation of
adulterers requireth tokens, miracles, and wonders. Neverthelesse
as divers saints say, now when the faith of God is published in

3 Done in such places.~] So in a dialogue between Bilney and friar Bru-
sierd, Bilney says, " These wonders, which they call miracles, be wrought
daily in the church, not by the power of God, as many thinke, but by the
illusion of Satan rather; who, as the Scripture witnesseth, hath bin loose
now abroad five hundred yeeres, according as it is written in the booke of the
Apocalypse : After a thousand yeeres, Satan shall be let loose ,•" to which
Brusierd, in his reply, says, " God saith, I will not the death of a sinner, but
rather that he convert and lice. And thou blasphemest him, as though hee
should lay privie snares of death for us secretly, that we should not espie them.
Which if it were true, we might well say with Hugh de Sancto Victore in this
maner ; If it be an error, it is of thee, O God, that we be deceived ; for
these be confirmed with such signes and wonders, which cannot be done but
by thee." Fox, p. 914. Compare Lewis's Life of PecocJc, p. 112, 113.

x 2

308 WILLIAM THORPE.

Christendome, the word of God sufficeth to mans salvation, with-
out such miracles ; and thus also the word of God sufficeth to
all faithfull men and women, without any such images. But
good sir, since the father of heaven, that is God in his godhead.
is the most unknowne thing that may bee, and the most wonderfull
spirit, having in it no shape nor likenesse, and members of any
deadly creature ; in what likenesse * or what image may God the
father be shewed or painted ?

And the archbishop said ; As holy church hath Buffered the
images of the Trinitie, and all other images to be painted and
shewed, it sufficeth to them that are members of holy church.
But since thou art a rotten member, cut away from holy church,
thou favourest not the ordinance thereof. But since the day
passeth, leave we this matter.

And then he said to me ; What saiest thou to the third
point that is certified against thee, preaching openly in Sin
burie, that pilgrimage is not lefull? and over this thou >aid<->t
that those men and women that go on pilgrimages to Canturburie,
to Beverley, to Karlington, to Walsingham, and to any such
other places, are accursed and made foolish, spending their goods
in wast.

And I said; Sir, by this certification I am accused to you
that I should teach, that no pilgrimage is lefull. But I said
never thus. For I know that there be true pilgrimages and
lefull, and full pleasant to God; and therefore sir, hows<>
mine enemies have certified you of me, I told at Smvwsburi
two maner of pilgrimages.

And the archbishop said to me; Whom callest thou true
pilgrimes ?

And I said ; Sir, with my protestation, I call them tnn- pil^rimcs
travelling toward the blisse of heaven, which in the state, dei.

4 In what likenesseJ] Lewis, in his Life of Bishop Pecock, p. 85, has pub-
lished an engraving, of two of the usual representations of the Tri;
from the Salisbury primer, and has communicated, in the same place, m
curious particulars, taken from documents of their own, respecting the
and idolatrous practices of the church of Rome in reference to the sami
ject. On the customary representations more immediately referred to iu this
passage, the reader may also consult, bishop T .fsuasivefram I'

in his Polemical Discourses, p. 307, 308, and p. 550 — 553. Hut it is a
which can impart no pleasure in further enlarging upon it.

WILLIAM THORPE. 309

or order that God calleth them to, doe busie them faithfully for
to occupie all their wits bodilie and ghostly, to know truely, and
to keepe faithfully the biddings of God, hating and fleeing all the
seven deadly sins 5, and every branch of them ; ruling them
vertuouslie (as it is said before) with all their wits ; doing dis-
creetly, wilfully, and gladly, all the works of mercy, bodilie and
ghostly, after their cunning and power ; abling them to the gifts
of the holy ghost, disposing them to receive them in their soules ;
and to hold therin, the right blessings of Christ ; busying them to
know and to keepe the seven principall vertues, and so then they
shall obtaine here through grace, for to use thankfully to God, all
the conditions of charitie. And then they shall be moved with
the good spirit of God, for to examine oft and diligently their con-
science, that neither wilfully nor wittingly they erre in any article
of beleefe, having continually (as frailtie will suffer) all their
businesse, to dread and to flie the offence of God, and to love
over all, and to seeke ever to doe his pleasant will. Of these
pilgrimes I said, whatsoever good thought that they any time
thinke, what vertuous word that they speake, and what fruitfull
worke that they worke ; every such thought, word, and worke is
a step numbred of God, toward him into heaven. These fore-
said pilgrimes of God, delight sore when they heare of saints or
of vertuous men and women, how they forsooke wilfully the pros-
peritie of this life, how they withstood the suggestion of the
feend, how they restrained their fleshlie lusts, how discreete they
were in the penance doing, how patient they were in all their
adversities, how prudent they were in counselling of men and
women, moving them to hate all sinnes, and to flie them, and to
shame ever greatly thereof, and to love all vertues, and to draw to
them, imagining how Christ, and his followers, by example of him,
suffered scornes and slanders, and how patiently they abode and

5 The seven deadly sins.'] " Ye shall knowe that there are seven capitale,
or pryncypall deadely sinnes, it is to witte, pride, envy, wrath or anger,
slouth, covetousness, glottony, and lechery. And also there are seven pryn-
cipall, or cheyfe vertues, it is to \vytte, fayth, hope, charytie, prudence, tem-
perance, justice, and fortitude or strength." Bonner's profitable and neces-
sarye Doctryne, signat. B b b 2. The expressions which follow, viz. " all
their wits," "works of mercy, bodily and ghostly," "gifts of the Holy
Ghost," and "right blessings of Christ," are also all of them of the nature
of technical divisions in the religion of those times. See also archbishop
Peckham's Constitutions, the form of Confession in the primer of Cardinal
Pole, signat. D d 3. A.D. 1555. Lewis's Life of Wickliffe, p. 136, n. edit.
1820, &c.

310 WILLIAM THORPE.

tooke the wrongful! menacing of tyrants ; how homely they were
and serviceable to poore men to releeve and comfort them bodily
and ghostly, after their power and cunning ; and how devout they
were in prayers, how fervent they were in heavenly desires, and
how they absented them from spectacles of vaine sayings and
hearings ; and how stable they were to let and destroy all \
and how laborious and joyfull they were, to sow and to plant ver-
tues. — These heavenly conditions and such other, have pilgri:
or endevor them for to have, whose pilgrimage God accepteth.

And againe, I said, as their workes shew, the most part of
men and women that goe now on pilgrimages, have not these fore-
said conditions, nor loveth to busie them faithfullie for to have.
For as I well know, since I have full oft assaid, examine \\ 1
ever will twenty of these pilgrimes, and hee shall not find three
men or women that know surely a commandement of God", nor
can say their Paternoster, and Ave Maria, nor their Creed
readilie in any maner of language. And as I have learned, and

6 A commandement of God.'] For some ages before the Reformation, the
ignorance of the people in regard to religion was almost universal, and piti-
able in the extreme. In a supplication of certain inhabitants of Norfolk and
Suffolk tendered to the commissioners of queen Mary, about the year .
they complain, in their expostulations, against the revival of the Latin service ;
" Afore the blessed reformation, begun by the most noble prince of godly
memorie the queenes good father, and by our late holie and innocent king,
her good brother, finished ; it is not unknowne what blindnesse and error we
were all in, when not one man in all this realme, unlearned in the Latine,
could say in English the Lord's prair, or knew any one article of his b«-i
or rehearse anie one of the ten commandements. And that ignorance, mother
of mischief, was the very root and wel-spring of all idolatry." Fox, p. 1 7-7.
Again, in a Dialogue or familiar talk, by Michael Wood, A.D. 1554. signat.
C 2 b. " Who coulde twenty yeares agone saye the Lordes prayer in English ?
Who could tell anye one article of his faith ? Who had once heard of anye
of the ten commaundements ? Who wist what Cathechisme ment ? Who
understoode anye point of the holye baptisme ? If we were sycke of the
pestylence, we run to sainte Rooke, if of the ague to saint Pernel, or u
John Shorne. If men were in prison, thei praied to saint Leonarde. If the
Welch-man wold have a pursse, he praied to Darvel (iathornc. If a wife
wer weary of her husband, she offred otes at Poulea at London, t
Uncumber." In another part, the dialogue is thus carried on. " U
Cannest thou saye the Lordes praier? Nicholas. Nay, nor our I
neither. I can say my Pater Noster. Oliver. What is
Nich. Mary, I1 :•: what can ye make of it ? Oliver. But why have

y<»u not learned the Lord«-s prairr in En^Mi al this while ? A'irA. Sir .lnhn
bad me kepe me to mi old puter nostcr, for he said the newe wold not abide
alway. And nowe I see he is a true man." Signat. C 8.

WILLIAM THORPE.

also know somewhat by experience of these same pilgrimes,
telling the cause, why that many men and women goe hither
and thither now on pilgrimage ; it is more for the health of
their bodies, than of their soules ; more for to have riches and
prosperitie of this world, than for to bee enriched with vertues in
their soules ; more to have here worldly and fleshly friendship,
than for to have friendship of God, and of his saints in heaven ;
for whatsoever thing man or woman doth, the friendship of God,
nor of any other saint cannot bee had, without keeping of Gods
coimnandements. Further with my protestation, I say now as I
said in Shrewsburie, though they that have fleshly wils, travell
farre their bodies and spend mikle money, to seeke and to visit
the bones or images (as they say they do) of this saint or of
that, such pilgrimage going is neither praiseable nor thankfull to
God, nor to any saint of God, since in effect, all such pilgrimes
despise God and all his commandements and saints. For the
commandements of God they will nother know nor keepe, nor
conforme them to live vertuouslie by example of Christ and of
his saints. Wherfore sir, I have preached and taught openly,
and so I purpose all my life time to do with Gods helpe, saying
that such fond people wast blamefully Gods goods in their vaine
pilgrimages, spending their goods upon vitious hostelars which
are oft uncleane women of their bodies : and at the least, those
goods with the which they should doe workes of mercie after
Gods bidding, to poore needie men and women.

These poore mens goods and their livelode, these runners
about offer to rich priests which have mikle more livelode than
they neede. And thus those goods they wast wilfully, and
spend them unjustly against Gods bidding upon strangers, with
which they should help and relieve, after Gods will, their poore
needie neighbours at home : yea and over this follie, oftentimes
divers men and women, of these runners thus madly hither and
thither into pilgrimage, borrow hereto other mens goods, yea and
sometime they steale mens goods hereto, and they pay them never
againe. Also sir, I know well that when divers men and women
will goe, thus after their owne wils and finding out, on pilgrimage,
they will ordaine with them before, to have with them both men
and women, that can well sing 7 wanton songs ; and some other

7 Can well sing.~\ Mine host of the Taberde, in Southwarke, well understood
this temper of his guests, the pilgrims, and so suggested the scheme of the
Canterbury Tales. Cantantes licet usque, minus via Icedet, eamus. [Fain

312 WILLIAM THORPE.

pilgrimes will have with them bagpipes ; so that in everie towne
that they come through, what with the noise of their singing, and
with the sound of their piping, and with the jangling of their
Oanturburie bels, and with the barking out of dogs after them.
they make more noise, than if the king came there awav. with all
his clarions, and many other minstrels. And if these men and
women be a moneth out in their pilgrimage, many of them shall
be an halfe yeare after, great j anglers, taletellers, and liars.

And the archbishop said to me ; Leaud losell, thou seest not
far enough in this matter, for thou considerest not the great
travell of pilgrims, therefore thou blamest that thing that is
praiseable. I say to thee, that it is right well done, that pilgrims
have with them both singers and also pipers, that when one of
them that goeth barefoote, striketh his toe upon a stone, and
hurteth him sore, and maketh him to bleed, it is well done that
he or his fellow begin then a song, or else take out of his !><>
a bagpipe, for to drive away with such mirth, the hurt of his
fellow. For with such solace, the travell and wearinesse of
pilgrimes, is lightly and merrily borne out.

Fain wold I don you mirth and I wist how.
Ye gon to Canterbury, God mote you spede,
The blissful martyr quite you your mede :
And well I wot, as ye gone by the way,
Ye shapen you to talken and to play :
For truly comfort ne mirth is there none,
To riden by the way as dumb as a stone :
And therefore wold I maken you disport,
As I said erst, and done you some comfort.

P. 7. Edit. 1687.
An elder satirist gives us a still less favourable picture,

Pilgrimes and palmers plyght hem togyther
For to seke S. James, and sayntes at Rome :
They went forth theyr way wyth many wyse tales,
And had leve to lye all hyr lyfe after.
Ilermets on a heape wyth hoked staves
Wentc-n to Walsingham, and her wenches after,
Great loubeis and longe that loth were to swynke.

Visions qf Pierce Plouyhman, fol. 1. It.

Of the controversy respecting pilgrimages, as it was debated about this
period, many further particulars may be learned, on both .sides of ti.
by consul1 >'s Life of Pecock, p. 92 — 114. See also Sir Thomas

's Dinhyuf concf-rninr/ Heresies, book i. Works, p. 10. "i — jo. and the
Index of this work, and that of the Christian Institutes, under Pilgrimages.

WILLIAM THORPE. 313

And I said; Sir, S. Paul teacheth men to weepe with them
that weepe.

And the archbishop said, What janglest thou against mens
devotion ? Whatsoever thou or such other say, I say that the
pilgrimage that now is used, is, to them that doe it, a praiseable
and a good meane 8 to come the rather to grace. But I hold thee
unable to know this grace, for thou enforcest thee to let the devo-
tion of the people : since by authority of holy scripture, men may
lefully have and use such solace as thou reprovest. For David
in his last psalme, teacheth men to have divers instruments of
musicke for to praise therewith God.

And I said ; Sir, by the sentence of divers doctors expounding
the psalmes of David, that musicke and minstrelsie that David
and other saints of the old law spake of, ought now nother to be
taken nor used by the letter, but these instruments with their
musicke ought to bee interpreted ghostly : for all those figures
are called verities and graces, with which vertues men should
please God, and praise his name. For saint Paul saith all such
things befell to them in figure. Therefore, sir, I understand,
that the letter of this psalme of David and of such other psalmes
and sentences doth slay them that take them now litterally. This

8 A good rneane."] The religious ceremonies with which the pilgrims set out
upon their journey, if the prayers had been in their mother tongue, were of
an imposing and impressive character-

The following is an account of the office prepared for the occasion, and still
extant in the Salisbury manual.

" First of all the pilgrims were to be confessed of all their sins. Then they
were to prostrate themselves before the altar, and to have said over them the
psalms and prayers there appointed. The pilgrims were then to stand up,
and the priest was to bless their scrips and staves, praying to God that he
would vouchsafe to sanctify and bless them ; that whosoever, for the love of
his name, should put that scrip to his side, or hang it about his neck, or carry
that staff in his hands, and thus going on pilgrimage, should desire, with an
humble devotion, to obtain the suffrages of the saints, might be protected by
the defence of God's right hand, and deserve to come to the joys of the
eternal mansion. And then, after sprinkling holy water on the scrips and
staves, the priest put his scrip about each of the pilgrims' neck, and delivered
his staff into his hand, with a set form of words. If any of the pilgrims were
going to Jerusalem, they were to have their garments marked with a cross ;
and the crosses were to be blessed and sprinkled with holy water ; and his
garment so marked was to be delivered to every one of the pilgrims with a
set form of words. All which being ended, a mass was said for their good
journey." — Lewis's Life of Bishop Pecock, p. 94. edit. 1/44.

314 WILLIAM THORPE.

sentence as I understand sir, Christ approveth himselfe, putting
out the minstrels, or that he would quicken the dead damsell.

And the archbishop said to me ; Leud losel, is it not lefull to
us to have organs9 in the church for to worship therewithal! (iod?

9 To have organs.'] When in the next century the ohjections against instru-
mental church music were revived by the puritans, Hooker noticed an argu-
ment similar to that alleged by Thorpe in the preceding paragraph, that the
ceremonial law was abrogated, and that the texts referred to in the book of
Psalms were to be understood, under the gospel dispensation, spiritually, in
the following terms.

" They which, under pretence of the law ceremonial abrogated, require the
abrogation of instrumental musick, approving nevertheless the use of vocal
melody to remain, must show some reason wherefore the one should be
thought a legal ceremony and not the other. In church musick curiosity and
ostentation of art, wanton, or light, or unsuitable harmony, such as only
pleaseth the ear, and doth not naturally serve to the very kind and degree of
those impressions which the matter that goeth with it leaveth, or is apt to
leave in men's minds, doth rather blemish and disgrace that we do, than add
either beauty or furtherance unto it. On the other side the faults prevented,
the force and efficacy of the thing itself, when it drowneth not utterly, but
fitly suiteth with matter altogether sounding to the praise of God, is in truth
most admirable, and doth much edify, if not the understanding, because it
teacheth not, yet surely the affection, because therein it worketh much. They
must have hearts very dry and tough, from whom the melody of the Psalms
doth not sometime draw that wherein a mind religiously affected delighteth."
Ecclesiastical Polity, book v. sect. 38 : where may be found much more very
beautifully composed, in vindication of the use of musick in churches ; and
from which I apprehend a sufficient answer may be derived, built on the sure
foundations of sound wisdom, and true religion, to the principles and practices
of all those who have renounced the use of it.

It must be confessed indeed, that before the Reformation, this part of reli-
gious worship was much corrupted. Xor was it to be wondered at, where
the service was in an unknown tongue, that efforts to please or to astonish the
ear by the tricks of art, and by passages of a laborious and rapid execution,
should take the place of simple, grave, and solemn melodies. Wickliffe
expresses himself with great severity on this subject. See Lewis's History,
p. 132 — 135. And in the same place, says very beautifully, in reply to an
argument that might be urged on the other side, " And if they seyn that
angels hearen (praise) God by song in heaven ; seye that we kunnen (know)

iat song; but they ben in full victory of their enemies, and u-e b<
perilous battle, and in the valley of weeping and mourning; and our song

i us fro better occupation, and stirreth us to many great sins, ui
forget ourselves." I ifl one of his epistles, attributes the ignoi

so pn-viili-iit in his times partly to the want of sober and sound pnacln

word, and partly to the incroaehments made upon divine sen
unbounded usage in churches of elaborate and artiticial musick. (Lib.
" i. And in his annotations on the New Testament, written abui.

WILLIAM THORPE. 315

And I said, Yea sir, by mans ordinance ; but by the ordinance of
God, a good sermon to the peoples understanding were mikle
more pleasant to Grod.

year 1512, he gives a description which displays the same evil in very striking
terms. "We have introduced into the churches a certain elaborate and
theatrical species of music, accompanied with a tumultuous diversity of voices.
All is full of trumpets, cornets, pipes, fiddles, and singing. We come to
church as to a play-house. And for this purpose, ample salaries are expended
on organists and societies of boys, whose whole time is wasted in learning to
sing. These fooleries are become so agreeable, that the monks, especially in
England, think of nothing else. To this end, even in the Benedictine monas-
teries of England, many youths, boys, and other vocal performers, are sus-
tained, who, early every morning, sing to the organ the mass of the Virgin
Mary with the most harmonious modulations of voice. And the bishops are
obliged to keep choirs of this sort in their families." Annot. in Epistle i. ad
Corinth, (chap. xiv. ver. 19.)

"At the time of the Reformation (says Sir John Hawkins), such abuses
had crept into the choral service, which had departed from its primitive sim-
plicity and dignity, that not only the council of Trent passed a decree against
curious and artificial singing, but the thirty-two commissioners in the Refor-
matio Legum Ecclesiasticarum, expressed their disapprobation of it in very
strong terms. Queen Mary, who loved music, and played on several instru-
ments, laboured to support it, and in her reign the formulary In Usum Sarum
was republished. At the accession of her sister Elizabeth to the crown, the
clergy were divided in their opinions about the use of church music. The
first statutes of uniformity seemed to consider it as a thing indifferent ; but
the queen by her injunctions made it a part of cathedral worship. In this
she is supposed to have had the concurrence of Parker, archbishop of Can-
terbury, who had been taught to sing in his youth, and was a great lover of
music, as was also the queen." See notes to the Northumberland Houshold
Book, p. 444, 445.

In his Complaint to the King and Parliament, Wickliffe has taken upon him
to say, in very strong language, " as Christ saved the world by the writing
and teaching of the four evangelists, so now the fiend casteth to damne the
world in letting" (hindering) "to preach the gospel, by these foure • by
fayned contemplation; — by songs; — by Salisburie use; — and by worldly
buysines of priests."— Wickliffe's Two Short Treatises, 1608. 4to. p. 17.

Of two of these— the "new song" — or church-music, and the "Salisbury
Use," he elsewhere expresses himself with much seriousness, and cogency
of observation, as follows :

First, of the church-music. " Wonder it is why rnen praise so much this
new praying by great crying and high song, and leave the still manner of
praying as Christ and his apostles used. It seems that we seek our own
liking and pride in this song, more than the devotion and understanding of
that which we sing. This is great sin : for Augustine saith in his Confessions,
'As oft as the song delights me more than that which is sung, so oft I
acknowledge that I trespass grievously.' Therefore, saith Paul, 'I had rather

316 WILLIAM THORPE.

And the archbishop said, that organs and good delectable
songs, quickned and sharpened more mens wits then should any
sermon.

But I said ; Sir, lustie men and worldly lovers, delight and
covet and travell to have all their wits quickened and shaq)ened
with divers sensible solace : but all the faithfull lovers and fol-
lowers of Christ have all their delight to heare Gods word, and to
understand it trucly, and to worke thereafter faithfully and con-
tinually. For no doubt, to dread to offend God, and to love to
please him in all things quickneth and sharpeneth all the wits of
Christs chosen people ; and ableth them so to grace, that they
joy greatly to withdraw their eares and all their wits and mem-
bers, from all worldly delight, and from all fleshly solace. For
saint Hierome (as I thinke) saith, No body may joy with this
world and reigne with Christ.

And the archbishop (as if he had beene displeased witli mine
answere) said to his clerks ; What gesse ye that this idiot will
speake there, where he hath no dred; since he speaketh thus
now here in my presence ? Well, well, by God thou shalt
ordained for. And then he spake to me all angerly :

What saiest thou to this fourth point, that is certified against

five words in understanding, than ten thousand in tongue.' Paul's will is
for devotion and true understanding. In tongue, is what a man understands
not, and has no devotion. The Lord's Prayer, once said with devotion and
good understanding, is better than many thousands without devotion and
understanding. And this new praying occupies men so much that they have
no space to study holy writ, and teach it. Where shall this new song excuse
us from learning and preaching the gospel that Christ taught and commanded ?
Therefore ye that are priests, live well, pray devoutly, and teach the gospel
truly and freely, as Christ and his apostles did."

And then, in a tract, On the Song of the Ordinal of Salisbury, he pleads,
" If all the study and labour that men have now, about Salisbury Use, with
multitudes of new costly portesses, and all other such books, were turned
into making of bibles, and in studying and teaching thereof, how much
should God's law be furthered, and known, and kept ! And now it is so
much hindered, unstudied, and unkcpt. How should rich men 1
that spend so much in costly books of men's ordinance, for fame of the
world, and will not spend so much about books of (iod's law, and to
them, and teaeh them, since this were without comparison better, easii :
safer?" — Writings of l\rickliffe, p. 1 17. B. A.D. 1831. The port'
portuass, portuis, or portal; i.e. portiforium: see Gutch's Collectanea, vol. ii.
p. 174. Oxford, 17

WILLIAM THORPE. 317

thee, preaching openly and boldly in Shrewsbury, that priests
have no title to tithes 1 ?

And I said ; Sir, I named there no word of tithes in my
preaching. But more then a moneth after that I was arested
there in prison, a man came to me into the prison, asking me
what I said of tithes. And I said to him ; Sir, in this towne are
many clerks and priests, of whom some are called religious men,
though many of them be seculars : therefore aske ye of them
this question. And this man said to me ; Sir, our prelats say,
that we are obliged to pay our tithes of all things that renue to

1 No title to tithes.'] " It ought to be observed, that in this and the preced-
ing reign (Henry IV. and V.), it was grievously objected to Wicliffe and his
followers, that they denied the right of tithes, and would have divested the
church of all the patrimony and endowments settled upon it. But this was
no more than an artful slander; for Wicliffe only inveighed against the
avarice of the monks, and justly enough denied their rights to tithes and
offerings as divided from the proper cure of souls." Rennet on Impropriations,
p. 111. This is true in part; and is, no doubt, in part a solution of Wick-
liffe's opinions and language on this subject. But, if the reader be desirous
of a more detailed and accurate view of the judgment of the Lollards on this
topic, he may consult James's Apology for John Wickliffe, p. 52 — 58. Lewis's
History of Wickliffe, p. 119 — 124. Brief History of Anabaptism in England,
by the same author, p. 13 — 15. A.D. 1738 ; and Fox's Acts, p. 368, 9. 425, 6.
446. It would carry us into too great a length, and can hardly be thought
very necessary, to give an enarration of the several particulars comprised
under these references : but we may take out one or two sentences from
them, which will point at some of the sources of argument into which a more
copious exposition would require us to enter.

" I will in a word or two inform you of the ground of this accusation.
Wickliffe, in all his books and treatises, doth every where commend a kind of
evangelical poverty, persuading clergymen to renounce the vain pomp and
glory of the world ; and to lead, if it were possible, an apostolical or evan-
gelical life, to be content with food and raiment. This estate to priests, in
those days unmarried, he commendeth as the better ; yet he approved well
enough of using the things of this world, and he himself enjoyed tithes, went
well apparelled, and kept a good table, of that which was his own." James's
Apology, p. 56. " As to Dr. Wicliff's calling the tithes, offerings, and glebes*
pure and/ree alms, this signifies no more than a tenure or title in our com-
mon law ; by which is intimated, that they are bestowed upon God, that is,
given to such people as bestow themselves, or are employed, in the service of
God, for pure and perpetual alms." Lewis's Brief History, p. 14. " Curates
ben more cursed of God for withdrawing of teching in word and deed in good
ensample, than the sujets or people in withdrawing tithes, when they don not
well their gostly office." Wickliffe in Lewis's Hist. p. 121. Compare above,
p. 208.

318 WILLIAM THORPE.

us ; and that they are accursed 3 that withdraw any part wittingly
fro them of their tithes. And I said (sir) to that man, as with
my protestation I say now before you, that I wonder that any
priest dare say men to bee accursed, without the ground of Gods
word. And the man said, Sir, our priests say, that they curse
men thus by the authoritie of Gods law. And I said, Sir, I
know not where this sentence of cursing is authorised now in the
bible. And therefore sir, I pray you that yee will aske the most
cunning clerke of this towne, that yee may know where this
tence of cursing them that tithe not, is now written in Gods law :
for if it were written there, I would right gladly be learned where.
But shortly, this man would not goe from mee to aske this <
tion, of an other body ; but required mee there, as I would an-
swere before God, if in this case, that cursing of priests \
lawfull and approved of God. And shortly, herewith came to my
mind the learning of saint Peter, teaching priests specially • 1<>
hallow the Lord Christ in their hearts, being evermore readie (as
far as in them is) to answere through faith and hope to them that
aske of them a reason. And this lesson Peter teacheth men to
use with a meeke spirit and with dread of the Lord. Where-
fore sir, I said to this man in this wise ; In the old law. which
ended not fully, till the time that Christ rose up againe from
death to life, God commanded tithes to be given to the Levites,
for the great busines and dailie travell that pertained to their
office. But priests, because their travell was mikle more easie
and light, than was the office of the Levits, God ordained the
priests should take for their livelode to doe their office, the tenth

2 They are accursed.'] This alludes to the general sentence which was
denounced in all churches four times every year. The imprecations, which
are numerous, commence with those which are designed for the protection of
the state ecclesiastical. " I denounce and shewe for accursed all tho that
fraunchyse of holy chirche breke or dystrouble, or are agen (against) the state
of holy chirche, or therto assent with dede or counseyle. And also all tho
that pryve holy chyrche of ony ryght, or make of holy chyrche <>ny la
that is halowed or santyfyed. And all tho that witholde the ryghts of holy
chirche, the is for to saye, offrynges, tythes, rentes, or fredome of holy cli
lette or dystmuhle or Im-ke." Festival, fol. 200. Or, as it stands in an older
copy: " And alsoe all thoc that for iniilyr • or wrathe of p- «re or

priest, or of any other, or for wrongful covi-tyse of himsclfe, witholdt n right-
ful tytlis, and offerings, rents or mortuaries, from her own pari-h ch

I'-Uques of Rome. See Staveley on Churches, p. 236. See also
Becon's \Vorks, vol. iii. fol. 379.

WILLIAM THORPE. 319

part of those tithes that were given to the Levites. But now (I
said) in the new law, neither Christ nor any of his apostles tooke
tithes of the people nor commanded the people to pay tithes,
neither to priests nor to deacons. But Christ taught the people
to doe almes, that is, workes of mercie, to poore needie men of
surplus 3, that is, superfluous of their temporall goods which they
had, more then them needed reasonablie to their necessarie live-
lode. And thus (I said) not of tithes, but of pure almes of the
people, Christ lived and his apostles, when they were so busie in
preaching of the word of God to the people, that they might not
travell otherwise for to get their livelode. — But after Christs
ascension, and when the apostles had received the holy ghost,
they travelled with their hands, for to get their livelode, when
that they might thus doe for busie preaching. Therefore by
example of himselfe, S. Paul teaching al the priests of Christ for
to travell with their hand, when for busie teaching of the people,
they might thus doe. And thus, all these priests whose priest-
hood God accepteth now, or will accept, did in the apostles time,
and after their decease, and will doe to the worlds end. But (as
Cisterciencis telleth) in the yeare of our Lord Jesus Christ 1271,
one pope Gregorie the tenth ordained 4 new tithes first to bee
given to priests now in the new law. But saint Paul in his time,
whose traces or example all priests of God enforce them to follow,
seeing the covetousnesse that was among the people, desiring to
destroy the foule sinne, through the grace of God and true
vertuous living and example of himselfe, wrought and taught all
priests for to follow Mm as lie followed Christ, patiently, willingly,
and gladlie in high povertie. Wherefore Paul saith thus ; The
Lord hath ordained that they that preach the gospell, shall live of
the gospell : but we (saith Paul) that covet and busie us to be faith-
full followers of Christ, use not this power. For lo (as Paul wit-
nesseth afterward) when he was full poore and needie, preaching

3 Of surplus. ,] Compare above, Life of Wickliffe, p. 244.

4 Ordained.'] See Selden's Works, vi. 1155. But this is an important histo-
rical error ; for this canon respected only tithes that had not been previously
conveyed. "In truth," as Henry Wharton has remarked, "before the time
of Edward the confessor, that very division of parishes was generally fixed
which now obtains in England, as appears from Domesday Book, in which
the towns and parishes do very nearly agree to the present division."
Defence of Pluralities,^. 100. And "the payment of tithes to the parish
priest was/wZ/y settled in the Saxon times." Ibid. p. 104.

320 WILLIAM THORPE.

among the people ; he was not chargeous unto them, but with his
hands he travelled not onely to get his owne living, but also the
living of other poor and needie creatures. And since the people
was never so covetous, nor so avarous (I gesse) as they are now ;
it were good counsell that all priests tooke good heed to this
heavenlie learning of Paul, following him here in wilfull povertie,
nothing charging the people for their bodilie livelode. But be-
cause that many priests do contrarie to Paul in this foresaid
doctrine, Paul biddeth the people take heed to those priests that
follow him as he had given them example. As if Paul would say
thus to the people; Accept yee none other priests than tiny,
that live after the forme that I have taught you. For certaine,
in whatsoever dignitie or order that any priest is in, if he con-
forme him not to follow Christ and his apostles in wilfull pov
and in other heavenly vertues, and specially in true preaching of
Gods word ; though such a one be named a priest, yet he is no
more but a priest in name, for the worke of a vcrie priest, in
such a one wanteth. This sentence approveth August ',
gorie, Chrysostome, and Lincolne plaincly.

And the archbishop said to me ; Thinkest thou this wholesome
learning for to sow openly, or yet privilie among the JM
Certaine, this doctrine contrarieth plainely the ordinance of holie
fathers, which have ordained, granted, and licensed priests to be
in divers degrees, and to live by tithes and offerings of th • people,
and by other duties.

And I said; Sir, if priests were now in measurable measure
and number, and lived vertuouslie, and taught busilie and true-lie
the word of God, by example of Christ and of his apostle>,
without tithes, offerings, and other duties that priest-- now chal-
lenge and take, the people would give them freely sufficient
livelode.

And a clerke said to me ; How wilt thou make this good, that
the people will give freelie to priests their livelode ; since that
now by the law everie priest can scarcelie constraine the p-
to give them their livelode ?

And I suid; Sir, it is now no wonder though th'
irnidire to o-ivr priests the livelode that they aske. Mekil p
kno\\ now. how that priests should live, and how that they live
contrarie to Clm>t and to his apostles. And therefore the people
i- full heavie to pay (as the\ do) their temporal!
and to other . which should be faithfull di.~,

WILLIAM THORPE. 321

sators of the parishes goods ; taking to themselves no more, but
a scarce living of tithes, nor of offerings, by the ordinance of the
common law. For whatsoever priests take of the people (be it
tithe or offering, or any other dutie or service) the priests ought
not to have thereof no more, but a bare living 5 ; and to depart

5 A bare living.~] Wickliffe also has said a great deal in commendation of
evangelical poverty, and of the duty of the clergy to conform themselves to
the simplicity and humility of Christ and his apostles. Still Wickliffe
acknowledged principles, which, (their due rights still reserved to hos-
pitality and charity), it should seem would easily have admitted, in other
ages of the church, of both a very different theory and practice, and such
as most people would consider to be sufficiently flexible and comprehensive.
Thus, in his Trialogus, one of the works of his maturest years, he says
expressly, "Non tamen video quin licet habere provisionem moderatam
ultra necessitatem alimenti et tegumenti." P. 138. And, in another place,
" Concedo tibi, quod tarn ratio, quam lex Dei exigit, quod praecipuo Dei
servo debite de teinporalibus ministretur ;" and the rule and measure by
which he would allow these temporalities to the clergy is " de quanto habi-
litant eorum officium quoad Deum," P. 232. Again, " Et sicut avaritia est
inordinatus amor temporalia possidendi. sic victus, sibi opp