During the whole of the fourteenth century, there had been a visible progress in public opinion. This alteration was more particularly conspicuous in the proceedings of parliament, where many salutary laws were enacted for abridging the papal power, and excluding foreigners from ecclesiastical preferments. So imperative were the reasons that called for this interference, that it is no wonder the people embraced with eagerness the opinions of Wickliff; nor is it surprising that they were induced to break off wholly from a church that possessed so many distinguishing features of Antichrist. The Lollards first began to withdraw from the church of England in 1389, and may be considered as the first body of Nonconformists in this kingdom. Henceforward, they appointed ministers from amongst themselves, and celebrated divine worship after their own method. But, the undisturbed reign of priestcraft for so many centuries, was not to be overthrown without a violent struggle. As the bulk of the people began to be of opinion that the church wanted reforming, the prelates thought it high time to adopt vigorous measures. Besides being armed with the thunders of the church, they now engrossed the most considerable offices in the state; and taking advantage of the vices and weakness of some of our kings, they procured the enactment of some of the most barbarous laws that could disgrace human nature.

The fifteenth century opens upon us with blood. HENRY IV. a superstitious and cruel prince, in order to seat himself more firmly on a throne which he had usurped by means of perfidy and treason, threw himself into the arms of the clergy. In return for the assistance they had afforded to him in the accomplishment of his purposes, he sacrificed to them every principle of justice and humanity. Accordingly, in the second year of his reign, A. D. 1401, he passed a law, making the profession of Wickliffism a capital offence. The bishops were authorized to apprehend and imprison the suspected heretics, who, if they remained obstinate, were to be delivered over to the secular magistrate, to be burnt

to death!!! It is to the honour of the Commons that they took a reluctant part in this bloody transaction; the infamy of which rests principally upon the king and his peers, the latter composed chiefly of bishops and mitred abbots, the ready instruments of tyranny and oppression. The great patron of this burning system was Archbishop ARUNDEL, who determined to make the unhappy Lollards feel the full weight of his antichristian power. WILLIAM SAWTRE, minister of St. Oswyth, Loudon, was the first person who fell a sacrifice to this murderous law; and the first who lighted up the fires of Smithfield for a profession of the truth. Other sacrifices were made to the cruelty of Arundel, whose bigotry was only equalled by his impiety. one of his canons, published about this time, he speaks of the pope as one "who carried the keys of eternal life and eternal death; as that vicegerant not of a mere man, but of the true God on earth; and to whom God had committed the government of the kingdom of heaven." The ignorance that could suggest these sentiments at a time when Europe was convulsed by three contending popes, who consigned each other to perdition, was prepared to perpetrate the foulest crimes under the mask of religion. Consistently enough with this, the primate swore in his barbarous zeal, that he would not leave a slip of Lollardy in the land.

In

HENRY V. a valiant and successful prince, commenced his reign in 1413, by some acts of singular severity. Bent upon the conquest of France, he judged it necessary to secure the clergy during his absence, by patronizing the most wanton cruelties against such as were deemed heretics. The brave and religious Lord Co BHAM, reputed to be at the head of the Lollards, was marked out for the first sacrifice, and suffered the most cruel death; being hung in chains over a slow fire till he was literally roasted.* This barbarous execution, though it excited great terror, did not put a stop to the progress of Lollardism. CHICHELY, the new pri

• Gilpin's Life of Lord Cobham,

mate, who inherited the sanguinary disposition of his prede cessor, procured a new act of parliament in 1415, by which every public officer was made a persecutor by trade; for, at his entratice upon office, he was sworn to exert every means for the extirpation of heresy out of the kingdom. The same archbishop set up a kind of inquisition in every parish, ́authorizing three of the most respectable inhabitants to make diligent inquiry after any persons suspected of Lollardy, or who had English books in their possession. By these means, prodigious numbers were thrown into prison, and hot a few committed to the dames. There was a strange mixture in the character of Chichely. Historians have celebrated him as a promoter of learning, which seems very inconsistent with the zeal he displayed in arresting the progress of knowledge, He was a bloody persécutor of those who had more learning and religion than himself; and though he is said to have been a strenuous opposer of the papal encroachments, It was no further than they trenched upon his own authority, The money he lavished upon churches and colleges was a poor counterbalance to his numerous crimes. At length, this "munificent prelate," after enjoying the primacy twentynine years, went to answer for the many murders he had 'committed, in the year 1443.

A much brighter character about this period was REGINALD PECOCK, Bishop of Chichester, a man famous for learning and strictness of life. In common with Wickliff, he inveighed against the pride and luxury of the 'prelates, and reproached the clergy with the neglect of parochial duties. The heresies charged upon him were, That the fathers had no greater authority than they acquired by the strength of their reasoning, and the merit of their doctrine-That thatters of faith must be brought to the test of the scriptures, of which reason was the interpreter-That the practice of pur chasing preferments from the pope was unwarrantable→→

That the belief of Christ's presence in the Eucharist was not necessary to salvation-That the church may err in points of faith-And, consequently, that no person was bound to obey implicitly the injunctions of the church of Rome. These were crimes of sufficient magnitude to draw down the vengeance of those in power; and Pecock would have been committed to the flames, had he not prevented it by a timely recantation. His sentiments, however, remained unchanged; for what is extorted by fear, can never be the result of a sober determination. Relapsing into his former errors, he was deprived of his bishopric, and ended his life soon afterwards in a monastery at Maidstone. *

But little variation took place in ecclesiastical affairs during some of the succeeding reigns. The long contests between the houses of York and Lancaster, being terminated by the battle of Bosworth-field, at length placed the Duke of Richmond upon the throne, by the name of HENRY VII. This sordid prince, whose governing principle was avarice, resolved to live upon good terms with the clergy. For this purpose, he bestowed upon them the principal offices in the state, and gave them full liberty to murder such of his subjects as had more religion than themselves. Accordingly, we find many executions in this reign. A new punishment was invented for the professors of Wickliffism: Those who did not expiate their supposed heresies at the stake, were branded on the cheek with a hot iron. Innumerable barbarities were committed under a pretence of religion, and the period was arrived for the fulfilment of our Saviour's prediction, "They shall put you out of the synagogue; yea, the time cometh when whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service."+ Here was the triumph of the church militant-here the patience and the faith of the saints. Such was the state of things till the time of the Reformation.

Lewis's Life of Pecock.

+ John xvi. 2.

CHAP. V.

From the Reformation to the present Time.

By a reference to the foregoing pages, the reader will perceive that for the space of nine hundred years, reckoning from the time of Austin's mission, England was led captive by ignorance and superstition in their most dreadful forms. Princes and people alike bent their necks to the yoke, and lent their assistance in rivetting the chains. Christianity, debased from its original simplicity, and charged with numberless errors and ridiculous observances, the offspring of delusion or priestcraft, passed into the custody of a few priests, who expounded it solely for their own advantage. To support their pretensions, a variety of orders was introduced, armed with power and privileges unknown to the gospel of Christ. The ministers of religion, taking advantage of the credulity of the people, amassed together vast riches, till they vied with temporal princes, of whom they rendered themselves independent, and at last taught them to consider that they held their kingdoms as fiefs of the church. Many of our kings, during this period, felt the weight of their enormous power, which sometimes went the length of deposing them from their thrones, and interdicting all public worship in their dominions. Dreadful indeed must have been the delusion that bound the people fast in their chains; for they submitted to be priest-ridden with the most exemplary patience. It was, indeed, the office of their ghostly confessors to render this slavery as palatable as possible, by representing the advantages that would accrue to them in another world, over which they professed a sovereign controul. This might be sufficient reason for persons who were not allowed the use of their understandings; but it was far from satisfying others, who were to purchase the accommo