CHAPTER V.
THE WYCLIFFITES AND HUSSITES.
Wycliffe’s ministry—The Lollards—Sawtree—Other Martyrs—Wycliffe’s bones burnt—His writings—Martyrdom of Huss and Jerome—Persecution of the Hussites—The Waldenses.
Divine prophecy dooms a perpetual overthrow to popery; and it declares also that this is to be accomplished by the light of the Gospel of Christ. Instruments and agents, therefore, are needed for this important work; and these began to increase in the fourteenth century. But the Inquisition was fearfully employed in various forms to destroy them.
Among the most distinguished opponents of the papacy, we must number John Wycliffe, justly called “The Morning Star of the Reformation!” He was born A.D. 1324; and being enlightened by the Holy Scriptures, his ministry, under the Spirit of God, and his numerous writings, especially his translation of the Bible, contributed very much to prepare the way for the Protestant Reformation. This great man was impelled, not only by love to the truth of Christ, but by an extensive knowledge of the enormous evils manifestly arising from the Romish priestcraft. The papal exactions in England were grievous, estimated at five times the amount of the royal revenue; and the parliament determined, therefore, A.D. 1374, to seek redress by a remonstrance, sent by delegates, who should present it to the Pope. Wycliffe was one of them; and during two years, near the seat of “his holiness,” he had an opportunity of observing the intrigues and iniquities of the court of Rome.
Wycliffe became the more determined in his opposition to the friars, who, as agents of the Pope and the Inquisition, were enemies to the welfare of the country. Their false doctrines, avarice, and wickedness were exposed by the reformer, with the light of Divine truth; and he possessed the best opportunities of doing good service to the cause of Christ, as professor of divinity in the university of Oxford. But his boldness in the Gospel provoked the papal court; and the Pope addressed letters to the heads of the colleges, requiring them, by inquisitors and punishment, to suppress his doctrine, and to deliver him in custody to the archbishop of Canterbury or the bishop of London. He then appealed to those prelates, requiring them to apprehend the daring reformer, and to keep him in irons till they should receive his further orders from Rome. The king also was required by the Pope to aid those prelates in proceeding against Wycliffe. He was cited before the prelates, at the palace of the archbishop of Canterbury; but he was secure under the protection of John of Gaunt, the great duke of Lancaster.
Divine Providence favoured this zealous servant of Christ, so that he escaped the prison, and died in peace, A.D. 1384. Multitudes were enlightened by his controversial and evangelical writings, and by his translation of the Scriptures. Many from the Continent sought his instruction and copies of his works; by which he contributed to produce a revolution in religion, not only in England, but in several other kingdoms in Europe.
Wycliffe’s enemies were indefatigable during his life; and after his death they persecuted his disciples. Oxford was regarded as infected with his heresies; and those who followed his scriptural doctrines were distinguished as “Lollards.” The heads of the university were, therefore, required, on pain of excommunication, to inquire, every month, whether any scholar held doctrines contrary to the decisions of the church. “Twelve inquisitors of heresy—for this dreadful name,” as Dr. Southey remarks, “had been introduced among us—were appointed at Oxford, to search out heresy and heretical books.”
King Richard II. being deposed, was succeeded, A.D. 1392, by Henry II., a dupe of the prelates; and under him they procured the sanguinary statute, ex officio, which authorised the bishops, as inquisitors, to proceed against all persons suspected of heresy. This was the first law in England for the burning of men on account of religion.
William Sawtree, parish priest of St. Osith’s, London, was the first that was condemned to the stake in England, A.D. 1400; and the forms of degradation and execution were carefully observed, that it might be an exact precedent for future occasions. These forms, Dr. Southey states, “were probably derived from the practice of the accursed Inquisition in Languedoc; and they were well devised for prolonging the impression on the spectators.” After the ceremonies of degradation, “the cap of a layman was placed upon his head, and Archbishop Arundel then delivered him, as a lay person, to the secular court of the high constable and marshal of England there present; beseeching the court to receive favourably the said William Sawtree, unto them thus recommitted. For with this hypocritical recommendation to mercy the Romish church always delivered over its victims to be burnt alive! Sawtree accordingly suffered martyrdom at the stake in Smithfield, leaving a name slandered by the Romanists, but held in deserved respect for the sake of the Gospel by British Christians.”
Wycliffe’s disciples continued to be sought after by the inquisitors, and many suffered at the stake for Christ. But volumes are required to detail their sufferings and triumphs.