WICLIFF. 



ai fuch, they tranfmitted to Gregory XI. In 1377 this 

 pontiff returned three bulls addrefled to the archbiftiop of 

 Canterbury and the bifliop of London, ordering the feizure 

 and imprifonment of Wickliffe ; or, if this meafure failed, his 

 citation to the court of Rome ; and alfo a requifition to 

 the king and government to affill in extirpating the errors 

 which he had propagated. Edward died before the bulls 

 arrived ; and the duke of Lancafter, uncle to the young 

 king, had great influence m the adminiftration. When 

 Wickliffe, therefore, was cited to appear at St. Paul's 

 church bffore the two prelates, poirefling plenitude of power, 

 he thought it necclTary to fecure himielf by the proleftion 

 of tliat powerful patron. On the appointed day he ap- 

 peared at St. Paul's, in the midll of a vaft concourfe of 

 people, and accompanied by the duke of Lancafter, and 

 lord Henry Percy, earl-marfhal. The b'fhop of London 

 was very in lignant, and angry words pafFcd between him 

 and the two lords ; fo that the whole affeinbly was tumul- 

 tuous, and nothing was done. Wickliffe afterwards ap- 

 peared before the two prelates in Lambeth palace, and de- 

 livered an explanation of the articles objefted agauift him. 

 The Londoners, who were appreh' nfive that he might be 

 Severely treated, flocked in crowds to the palace ; and a 

 imeflTenger from the queen forbade the delegates to proceed 

 to a definitive fentence. Gregory foon after died, and his 

 icommiflion expiring with him, Wickhff"e efcaped, but not 

 [without a fevere illnefs, which was the coniequence of his 

 janxiety and fatigue. His fpirits, however, were unbroken, 

 !and he was firm in maintaining opinions which the friars, 

 [by all the efforts of intimidation, urged him to renounce. 

 ; Upon his recovery, he prefented to the parliament, in 1379, 

 !a paper againfl; the tyranny and ufurpations of Rome ; and 

 !he alfo drew up fome free remarks on the papal fupremacy 

 'and infallibility. But his moft; effeftual attack on the cor- 

 ruption of rehgion was his tranflation of the Bible into 

 Enghlh. This occupied many of the laft years of his hfe, 

 and remains a valuable relic of the age in which it was per- 

 formed, and a permanent memorial of the talents and in- 

 duftry of the perfon by whom it was accomplifhed. (See 

 Englijh Bibles.) By way of preparation for his Bible, he 

 publiihed a treatife " Of the Truth of the Scripture," in 

 which, as well as in a prologue or preface to his tranflation, 

 he held, long before any of onr other reformers or advo- 

 cates for the fufficiency of Scripture, that this is the law of 

 Chrift, and the faith of the church ; that all truth is con- 

 tained in it ; and that every difputation which has not its 

 origin thence is profane. " The truth of the faith," fays 

 he, " Ihiiies the more by how much the more it is known — 

 nor are thofe heretics to be heard who fancy that feculars 

 ought not to know the law of God, but that it is fufficient 

 , for them to know what priefls and prelates tell them by 

 I word of moutli ; for the Scripture is the faith of the church, 

 i and the more it is known in an orthodox fenfe the better ; 

 1 therefore, as frcular men ought to know the faith, fo it is to 

 ' be taught men in whatfoever language is bell known to 

 I them. Befides, fince the tru'h of the faitli is clearer and 

 ' more exaft in tiie Scripture than the priefls know how to 

 i exprefs it — it feems ufeful that the faithful Ihould tliem- 

 1 felves fearch out and difcover the feiife of the faith, by 

 ' having the Scriptures in a language which they uiidtrfliand. 

 j — The laws which the prelates make are not to be received as 

 I matters of faith ; ijor are we to believe their words or dif- 

 ; courfes any farther or otherwife than they arr founded on 

 I the Scripture ;" — with much more to the fame purpofe, and 

 I in the fame admirable rtrain. In thiv preface, and fcveral 

 I other publications and treatifes llill in manufcript, he re- 

 fleded feverely on the corruptions of the clergy, condcraned 



the worfhip of faints and images, the doarine of indulgencee, 

 pilgrimages to particular (brines, and confefTion ; and alfo 

 denied the corporal prefence of Chrift in the facrament, 

 inveighed againft the wanton exercife of the papal power, 

 and oppofed the making of the belief of tlie pope's being 

 head of the church an article of faith and falvatii>n, cenfured 

 the celibacy of the clergy, forced vows of chaftity, expofed 

 various errors and irregularities in the hierarchy and difci- 

 pliiie of the church, and earneftly exhorted all people to the 

 ftudy of the Scriptures. 



In his leftures of 1381, he attacked the Popifh doftrine 

 of tranfubftantiation, concerning which he laid down this 

 fundamental propofition ; -viz. that the fubftance of bread 

 and wine ftill remained in the facramental elements after 

 their confecration, and that the hoft is only typically to be 

 regarded as the body of Chrift ; and he deduced from it 

 fixteen conclufions. This attack alarmed the church, 

 which regarded tranfubftantiation as the moft facred tenet 

 of the Romifh religion, and the chancellor of Oxford pro- 

 nounced a condemnation of thefe conclufions. WickUffe 

 appealed from this fentence to the king ; but he found 

 himfelf deferred by his protestor, the duke of Lancafter, 

 who had no further occafion for his fervices, or who could 

 not avail himfelf for any political purpofe of his theological 

 difcuffions. Thus circumft meed, he found himfelf in 

 danger ; his refolution failed him, and he humbled himfelf 

 by making a confeffion at Oxford, before the archbifhop and 

 fix bifhops, with other clergy, who had already condemned 

 fome of his tenets as erroneous and heretical. In this con- 

 fefTion, he admitted the real prefence of Chrifl's body in the 

 facrament, with fome explanations and reafons which were 

 not fatibfaftory to his perfecutors. It has been faid that he 

 made a public recantation of the opinions with which he was 

 charged ; but of this no fufficient evidence appears. The 

 next ftep in their proceedings againft him was a royal letter, 

 procured by the archbifhop, addrefled to the chancellor and 

 proftors, and diredfing them to expel from the univerfity and 

 town of Oxford all who fhould harbour Wickliffe or his fol- 

 lowers, or hold any communication with them. Thefe pro- 

 ceedings obliged him to withdraw, and to retire to his rec- 

 tory at Lutterworth, where he continued to preach re- 

 formation in religion, and finifhed his tranflation of the Scrip- 

 tures. Some have faid that king Richard banifhed him out 

 of England ; but if that were the cafe, it was only a tem- 

 porary exile, and he returned in fafety to Lutterworth. 

 In 13^3 he had a paralytic ftroke, which furnifhed him with 

 an apology for not appearing to a citation of pope 

 Urban VL ; and this was fucceeded by a fecoiid attack, 

 which terminated his life on the laft day of December 1384. 

 His remains, however, did not efcape the vengeance of his 

 enemies many years after his death ; for the council of Con- 

 ftance in 1415, not content with condemning many propofi- 

 tions in his works, and declaring that he died an obflinate 

 heretic, with impotent malignity ordered his bones to be 

 dug up and thrown upon a dunghill. This fentence was 

 executed in 1428, in confequence of a mandate from the 

 pope, by Elemming, biihop of Lincoln, who caufed his re- 

 mains to be difinterred and burnt, and the afhes to be thrown 

 into a brook. " Thus," fays Fuller, the church hiftorian, 

 in a figurative ftrain juftified by faft, " this brook hath con- 

 veyed his afhes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into 

 the narrow feas, they into the main ocean : and thus the 

 afhes of Wickliffe arc the emblem of hi^ (ioftrine, which now 

 is difperfed all the world over." Hi»<^oCtrinc not only fur- 

 vived thefe impotent attempts to extinguiflt it, but was 

 perpetuated and difl"ufed by his followers, who were called 

 Lollards ; and " this germ of reformation," as one of his 

 1 1 biographers 



