History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 10

[Sidenote: THE BIBLE.]

Wickliffe's ministry had followed a progressive course. At first he had attacked the papacy; next he preached the gospel to the poor; he could take one more step and put the people in permanent possession of the word of G.o.d. This was the third phase of his activity.

Scholasticism had banished the Scriptures into a mysterious obscurity.

It is true that Bede had translated the Gospel of St. John; that the learned men at Alfred's court had translated the four evangelists; that Elfric in the reign of Ethelred had translated some books of the Old Testament; that an Anglo-Norman priest had paraphrased the Gospels and the acts; that Richard Rolle, "the hermit of Hampole," and some pious clerks in the fourteenth century, had produced a version of the Psalms, the Gospels, and Epistles:--but these rare volumes were hidden, like theological curiosities, in the libraries of a few convents. It was then a maxim that the reading of the Bible was injurious to the laity; and accordingly the priests forbade it, just as the Brahmins forbid the Shasters to the Hindoos. Oral tradition alone preserved among the people the histories of the Holy Scriptures, mingled with legends of the saints. The time appeared ripe for the publication of a Bible. The increase of population, the attention the English were beginning to devote to their own language, the development which the system of representative government had received, the awakening of the human mind:--all these circ.u.mstances favoured the reformer's design.

Wickliffe was ignorant indeed of Greek and Hebrew; but was it nothing to shake off the dust which for ages had covered the Latin Bible, and to translate it into English? He was a good Latin scholar, of sound understanding and great penetration; but above all he loved the Bible, he understood it, and desired to communicate this treasure to others.

Let us imagine him in his quiet study: on his table is the Vulgate text, corrected after the best ma.n.u.scripts; and lying open around him are the commentaries of the doctors of the church, especially those of St. Jerome and Nicholas Lyrensis. Between ten and fifteen years he steadily prosecuted his task; learned men aided him with their advice, and one of them, Nicholas Hereford, appears to have translated a few chapters for him. At last in 1380 it was completed. This was a great event in the religious history of England, who, outstripping the nations on the continent, took her station in the foremost rank in the great work of disseminating the Scriptures.

[Sidenote: OPPOSITION OF THE CLERGY.]

As soon as the translation was finished, the labour of the copyists began, and the Bible was erelong widely circulated either wholly or in portions. The reception of the work surpa.s.sed Wickliffe's expectations. The Holy Scriptures exercised a reviving influence over men's hearts; minds were enlightened; souls were converted; the voices of the "poor priests" had done little in comparison with this voice; something new had entered into the world. Citizens, soldiers, and the lower cla.s.ses welcomed this new era with acclamations; the high-born curiously examined the unknown book; and even Anne of Luxemburg, wife of Richard II, having learnt English, began to read the Gospels diligently. She did more than this: she made them known to Arundel, archbishop of York and chancellor, and afterwards a persecutor, but who now, struck at the sight of a foreign lady--of a queen, humbly devoting her leisure to the study of _such virtuous books_,[178]

commenced reading them himself, and rebuked the prelates who neglected this holy pursuit. "You could not meet two persons on the highway,"

says a contemporary writer, "but one of them was Wickliffe's disciple."

[178] Fox, Acts, i. p. 578.

Yet all in England did not equally rejoice: the lower clergy opposed this enthusiasm with complaints and maledictions. "Master John Wickliffe, by translating the Gospel into English," said the monks, "has rendered it more acceptable and more intelligible to laymen and even to women, than it had hitherto been to learned and intelligent clerks!... The Gospel pearl is every where cast out and trodden under foot of swine."[179] New contests arose for the reformer. Wherever he bent his steps, he was violently attacked. "It is heresy," cried the monks, "to speak of Holy Scripture in English."[180]--"Since the church has approved of the four Gospels, she would have been just as able to reject them and admit others! The church sanctions and condemns what she pleases.... Learn to believe in the church rather than in the Gospel." These clamours did not alarm Wickliffe. "Many nations have had the Bible in their own language. The Bible is the faith of the church. Though the pope and all his clerks should disappear from the face of the earth," said he, "our faith would not fail, for it is founded on Jesus alone, our Master and our G.o.d." But Wickliffe did not stand alone: in the palace as in the cottage, and even in parliament, the rights of Holy Scripture found defenders. A motion having been made in the Upper House (1390) to seize all the copies of the Bible, the Duke of Lancaster exclaimed: "Are we then the very dregs of humanity, that we cannot possess the laws of our religion in our own tongue?"[181]

[179] Evangelica margarita spargitur et a porcis conculcatur.

Knyghton, De eventibus Angliae, p. 264.

[180] It is heresy to speak of the Holy Scripture in English.

Wickliffe's Wicket, p. 4. Oxford, 1612, quarto.

[181] Weber, Akatholische Kirchen, i, p. 81.

[Sidenote: TRANSUBSTANTIATION.]

Having given his fellow-countrymen the Bible, Wickliffe began to reflect on its contents. This was a new step in his onward path. There comes a moment when the Christian, saved by a lively faith, feels the need of giving an account to himself of this faith, and this originates the science of theology. This is a natural movement: if the child, who at first possesses sensations and affections only, feels the want, as he grows up, of reflection and knowledge, why should it not be the same with the Christian? Politics--home missions--Holy Scripture--had engaged Wickliffe in succession; theology had its turn, and this was the fourth phase of his life. Yet he did not penetrate to the same degree as the men of the sixteenth century into the depths of the Christian doctrine; and he attached himself in a more especial manner to those ecclesiastical dogmas which were more closely connected with the presumptuous hierarchy and the simoniacal gains of Rome,--such as transubstantiation. The Anglo-Saxon church had not professed this doctrine. "The host is the body of Christ, not bodily but spiritually," said Elfric in the tenth century in a letter addressed to the archbishop of York; but Lanfranc, the opponent of Berengarius, had taught England that at the word of a priest G.o.d quitted heaven and descended on the altar. Wickliffe undertook to overthrow the pedestal on which the pride of the priesthood was founded. "The eucharist is naturally bread and wine," he taught at Oxford in 1381; "but by virtue of the sacramental words it contains in every part the real body and blood of Christ." He did not stop here.

"The consecrated wafer which we see on the altar," said he, "is not Christ, nor any part of him, but his efficient sign."[182] He oscillated between these two shades of doctrine; but to the first he more habitually attached himself. He denied the sacrifice of the ma.s.s offered by the priest, because it was subst.i.tuted for the sacrifice of the cross offered up by Jesus Christ; and rejected transubstantiation, because it nullified the spiritual and living presence of the Lord.

[182] Efficax ejus signum. Conclusio 1^{ma.} Vaughan, ii, p. 436, App.

[Sidenote: WICKLIFFE'S FIRMNESS.]

When Wickliffe's enemies heard these propositions, they appeared horror-stricken, and yet in secret they were delighted at the prospect of destroying him. They met together, examined twelve theses he had published, and p.r.o.nounced against him suspension from all teaching, imprisonment, and the greater excommunication. At the same time his friends became alarmed, their zeal cooled, and many of them forsook him. The Duke of Lancaster, in particular, could not follow him into this new sphere. That prince had no objection to an ecclesiastical opposition which might aid the political power, and for that purpose he had tried to enlist the reformer's talents and courage; but he feared a dogmatic opposition that might compromise him. The sky was heavy with clouds; Wickliffe was alone.

The storm soon burst upon him. One day, while seated in his doctoral chair in the Augustine school, and calmly explaining the nature of the eucharist, an officer entered the hall, and read the sentence of condemnation. It was the design of his enemies to humble the professor in the eyes of his disciples. Lancaster immediately became alarmed, and hastening to his old friend begged him--ordered him even--to trouble himself no more about this matter. Attacked on every side, Wickliffe for a time remained silent. Shall he sacrifice the truth to save his reputation--his repose--perhaps his life? Shall expediency get the better of faith,--Lancaster prevail over Wickliffe? No: his courage was invincible. "Since the year of our Lord 1000," said he, "all the doctors have been in error about the sacrament of the altar--except, perhaps, it may be Berengarius. How canst thou, O priest, who art but a man, make thy Maker? What! the thing that groweth in the fields--that ear which thou pluckest to-day, shall be G.o.d to-morrow!... As you cannot make the works which he made, how shall ye make Him who made the works?[183] Woe to the adulterous generation that believeth the testimony of Innocent rather than of the Gospel."[184] Wickliffe called upon his adversaries to refute the opinions they had condemned, and finding that they threatened him with a civil penalty (imprisonment), he appealed to the king.

[183] Wycleff's Wyckett, Tracts, pp. 276, 279.

[184] Vae generationi adulterae quae plus credit testimonio Innocentii quam sensui Evangelii. Confessio, Vaughan, ii, 453, App.

The time was not favourable for such an appeal. A fatal circ.u.mstance increased Wickliffe's danger. Wat Tyler and a dissolute priest named Ball, taking advantage of the ill-will excited by the rapacity and brutality of the royal tax-gatherers, had occupied London with 100,000 men. John Ball kept up the spirits of the insurgents, not by expositions of the gospel, like Wickliffe's _poor priests_, but by fiery comments on the distich they had chosen for their device:--

When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?

[Sidenote: THE CONDEMNED PROPOSITIONS.]

There were many who felt no scruple in ascribing these disorders to the reformer, who was quite innocent of them; and Courtenay, bishop of London, having been translated to the see of Canterbury, lost no time in convoking a synod to p.r.o.nounce on this matter of Wickliffe's. They met in the middle of May, about two o'clock in the afternoon, and were proceeding to p.r.o.nounce sentence when an earthquake, which shook the city of London and all Britain, so alarmed the members of the council that they unanimously demanded the adjournment of a decision which appeared so manifestly rebuked by G.o.d. But the archbishop skilfully turned this strange phenomenon to his own purposes: "Know you not,"

said he, "that the noxious vapours which catch fire in the bosom of the earth, and give rise to these phenomena which alarm you, loose all their force when they burst forth? Well, in like manner, by rejecting the wicked from our community, we shall put an end to the convulsions of the church." The bishops regained their courage; and one of the primate's officers read ten propositions, said to be Wickliffe's, but ascribing to him certain errors of which he was quite innocent. The following most excited the anger of the priests: "G.o.d must obey the devil.[185] After Urban VI we must receive no one as pope, but live according to the manner of the _Greeks_." The ten propositions were condemned as heretical, and the archbishop enjoined all persons to shun, as they would a venomous serpent, all who should preach the aforesaid errors. "If we permit this heretic to appeal continually to the pa.s.sions of the people," said the primate to the king, "our destruction is inevitable. We must silence these _lollards_--these psalm-singers."[186] The king gave authority "to confine in the prisons of the state any who should maintain the condemned propositions."

[185] Quod Deus debet obedire diabolo. Mansi, xxvi. p. 695. Wickliffe denied having written or spoken the sentiment here ascribed to him.

[186] From _lollen_, to sing; as _beggards_ (beggars) from _beggen_.

Day by day the circle contracted around Wickliffe. The prudent Repingdon, the learned Hereford, and even the eloquent Ashton, the firmest of the three, departed from him. The veteran champion of the truth which had once gathered a whole nation round it, had reached the days when "strong men shall bow themselves," and now, when hara.s.sed by persecution, he found himself alone. But boldly he uplifted his h.o.a.ry head and exclaimed: "The doctrine of the gospel shall never perish; and if the earth once quaked, it was because they condemned Jesus Christ."

[Sidenote: WICKLIFFE BEFORE THE PRIMATE.]

He did not stop here. In proportion as his physical strength decreased, his moral strength increased. Instead of parrying the blows aimed at him, he resolved on dealing more terrible ones still.

He knew that if the king and the n.o.bility were for the priests, the lower house and the citizens were for liberty and truth. He therefore presented a bold pet.i.tion to the Commons in the month of November 1382. "Since Jesus Christ shed his blood to free his church, I demand its freedom. I demand that every one may leave those gloomy walls [the convents], within which a tyrannical law prevails, and embrace a simple and peaceful life under the open vault of heaven. I demand that the poor inhabitants of our towns and villages be not constrained to furnish a worldly priest, often a vicious man and a heretic, with the means of satisfying his ostentation, his gluttony, and his licentiousness--of buying a showy horse, costly saddles, bridles with tinkling bells, rich garments, and soft furs, while they see their wives, children, and neighbours, dying of hunger."[187] The House of Commons, recollecting that they had not given their consent to the persecuting statute drawn up by the clergy and approved by the king and the lords, demanded its repeal. Was the Reformation about to begin by the will of the people?

[187] A Complaint of John Wycleff. Tracts and Treaties edited by the Wickliffe Society, p. 268.

Courtenay, indignant at this intervention of the Commons, and ever stimulated by a zeal for his church, which would have been better directed towards the word of G.o.d, visited Oxford in November 1382, and having gathered round him a number of bishops, doctors, priests, students, and laymen, summoned Wickliffe before him. Forty years ago the reformer had come up to the university: Oxford had become his home ... and now it was turning against him! Weakened by labours, by trials, by that ardent soul which preyed upon his feeble body, he might have refused to appear. But Wickliffe, who never feared the face of man, came before them with a good conscience. We may conjecture that there were among the crowd some disciples who felt their hearts burn at the sight of their master; but no outward sign indicated their emotion. The solemn silence of a court of justice had succeeded the shouts of enthusiastic youths. Yet Wickliffe did not despair: he raised his venerable head, and turned to Courtenay with that confident look which had made the regents of Oxford shrink away. Growing wroth against the _priests of Baal_, he reproached them with disseminating error in order to sell their ma.s.ses. Then he stopped, and uttered these simple and energetic words: "The truth shall prevail!"[188]

Having thus spoken he prepared to leave the court: his enemies dared not say a word; and, like his divine master at Nazareth, he pa.s.sed through the midst of them, and no man ventured to stop him. He then withdrew to his cure at Lutterworth.

[188] Finaliter veritas vincet eos. Vaughan, Appendix, ii. p. 453.

[Sidenote: WICKLIFFE SUMMONED TO ROME.]

He had not yet reached the harbour. He was living peacefully among his books and his parishioners, and the priests seemed inclined to leave him alone, when another blow was aimed at him. A papal brief summoned him to Rome, to appear before that tribunal which had so often shed the blood of its adversaries. His bodily infirmities convinced him that he could not obey this summons. But if Wickliffe refused to hear Urban, Urban could not choose but hear Wickliffe. The church was at that time divided between two chiefs: France, Scotland, Savoy, Lorraine, Castile, and Aragon acknowledged Clement VII; while Italy, England, Germany, Sweden, Poland, and Hungary acknowledged Urban VI.

Wickliffe shall tell us who is the true head of the church universal.

And while the two popes were excommunicating and abusing each other, and selling heaven and earth for their own gain, the reformer was confessing that incorruptible Word, which establishes real unity in the church. "I believe," said he, "that the Gospel of Christ is the whole body of G.o.d's law. I believe that Christ, who gave it to us, is very G.o.d and very man, and that this Gospel revelation is, accordingly, superior to all other parts of Holy Scripture.[189] I believe that the bishop of Rome is bound more than all other men to submit to it, for the greatness among Christ's disciples did not consist in worldly dignity or honours, but in the exact following of Christ in his life and manners. No faithful man ought to follow the pope, but in such points as he hath followed Jesus Christ. The pope ought to leave unto the secular power all temporal dominion and rule; and thereunto effectually more and more exhort his whole clergy.... If I could labour according to my desire in mine own person, I would surely present myself before the bishop of Rome, but the Lord hath otherwise visited me to the contrary, and hath taught me rather to obey G.o.d than men."[190]

[189] This is the reading of the Bodleian ma.n.u.script--"and be [by]

this it pa.s.ses all other laws." In Fox, Wickliffe appears to ascribe to Christ himself this superiority over all Scripture,--a distinction hardly in the mind of the reformer or of his age.

[190] An Epistle of J. Wickliffe to Pope Urban VI. Fox, Acts, i. p.

507, fol. Lond. 1684; also Lewis, Wickliffe, p. 333, Append.

Urban, who at that moment chanced to be very busied in his contest with Clement, did not think it prudent to begin another with Wickliffe, and so let the matter rest there. From this time the doctor pa.s.sed the remainder of his days in peace in the company of three personages, two of whom were his particular friends, and the third his constant adversary: these were _Aletheia_, _Phronesis_, and _Pseudes_. _Aletheia_ (truth) proposed questions; _Pseudes_ (falsehood) urged objections; and _Phronesis_ (understanding) laid down the sound doctrine. These three characters carried on a conversation (_trialogue_) in which great truths were boldly professed. The opposition between the pope and Christ--between the canons of Romanism and the Bible--was painted in striking colours.

This is one of the primary truths which the church must never forget.

"The church has fallen," said one of the interlocutors in the work in question, "because she has abandoned the Gospel, and preferred the laws of the pope. Although there should be a hundred popes in the world at once, and all the friars living should be transformed into cardinals, we must withhold our confidence unless so far as they are founded in Holy Scripture."[191]

[191] Ideo si essent centum papae, et omnes fratres essent versi in cardinales, non deberet concedi sententiae suae in materia fidei, nisi de quanto se fundaverint in Scriptura. Trialogus, lib. iv. cap. vii.

[Sidenote: DEATH OF WICKLIFFE.]

These words were the last flicker of the torch. Wickliffe looked upon his end as near, and entertained no idea that it would come in peace.

A dungeon on one of the seven hills, or a burning pile in London, was all he expected. "Why do you talk of seeking the crown of martyrdom afar?" asked he. "Preach the Gospel of Christ to haughty prelates, and martyrdom will not fail you. What! I should live and be silent? ...

never! Let the blow fall, I await its coming."[192]

[192] Vaughan's Life of Wickliffe, ii, p. 215, 257.

The stroke was spared him. The war between two wicked priests, Urban and Clement, left the disciples of our Lord in peace. And besides, was it worth while cutting short a life that was drawing to a close?