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EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE

AND

MISSIONARY CHRONICLE.

FOR JANUARY, 1858.

WICLIFFE.

HAVING completed our sketches of the Fathers, we intend to present our readers with a series of the Reformers. In point of theological opinion, the latter appear in marked difference from many of the former. Errors which had slowly grown up came to be detected and exposed; but deep vital truths, which had been the spring of spiritual life in earlier times, now prized more than ever, and separated from corrupting influence, produced fruits more healthy and abundant than they had done before.

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We begin with Wicliffe. The incidents of his history and the tenor of his works illustrate his religious character. He was as a tree planted by the rivers of water, which bringeth forth its fruit in its season." From afar we see the golden clusters, from which we know well that the river of life must have nourished the roots from which they sprang.

First we shall look at Wicliffe the boy. Born in 1324, in a little Yorkshire village, six miles from Richmond, whence he derived his name; he comes before our imagination as a child in his mother's arms, or as playing by her side-she dressed in the quaint fashion of the fourteenth century, and he in childhood's simple garb-not, perhaps, judging from his after character and habits, frolicking about in childhood's brightest glee. We fancy John de Wicliffe a thoughtful, grave little fellow-liking to be alone-loving his

VOL. XXXVI.

mother-reverent at church—at night time devoutly folding his hands to pray. There were many schools in England when the Edwards were on the throne. Not only the large cities and towns, but the castles and abbeys of the rural districts had these appendages. Some ecclesiastic, priest, or monk taught the lads of those days Latin and grammar, and a little rhetoric and logic, and a little music and arithmetic, and a little something more-probably even lesscovered under the high-sounding names of geometry and astronomy. The pupils were carried round a circle of sevenfold study, for the sake of its mystic meaning, but grammar was by far the chief accomplishment acquired by the cleverest and most favoured of the then rising generation. The village of Wicliffe had, no doubt, in or near it, some school of this sort, where John was pupil, and as he surely never could have been a dull or idle lad, we may safely suppose that he learnt his lessons well, and that when he went to Oxford at seventeen, he knew as much as most youths of his age.

At Oxford we see Wycliffe the man. He entered at Queen's, then in its infancy; perhaps on that account he removed to Merton, singularly renowned among the university establishments. Bradwardine had been one of its ornaments, so had Ockham, so had Duns Scotus. There were some thousands then flocking the streets and Halls of

B

the judgment of God, and dwelt on certain speculations of his times about the downfall of Roman power, the establishment of a purer Church, and the speedy approach of the world's endall of which gave a character to this his first production. But he could rest in faith on the Redeemer's love. The book indicates his devout spirit, and the germinant formation of opinions which were destined to unfold in later life. He had evidently begun to see something of the ecclesiastical corruptions of his age, and had begun, too, to form that acquaintance with Scripture truth which ultimately made him so true a reformer.

the good city of Oxford-predecessors with the sins of mankind; saw in it of our modern gownsmen. There had been thirty thousand, but the number had fallen off. Wicliffe applied himself in earnest to his studies-canon law, civil law, municipal law engaged his time and thoughts. He became familiar with the schoolmen. With logical formularies he was at home. The real treasury of truth and wisdom, as well as the idle subtleties contained in the books of Aquinas and the rest, would be mastered by the young man from Yorkshire. In scholastic disputations he excelled. Indeed, Henry Knighton, who hated his opinions, and denounced the effects of his teaching, was forced to confess that he was most eminently learned in theology, was second to none in his philosophical knowledge, quite incomparable in all school learning, and in his power of vigorous and acute debate, almost superhuman. But in Wicliffe's cell at Merton was there not one book above all others he loved to search into and pray over? Had he a Bible of his own, or only one, or a part of one, borrowed from the shelves of the college library? Be that as it may, he made good use of such access as he had to Holy Scripture, pondering often and deeply the words of prophets, of apostles, and of Christ in the Latin Vulgate dress.

In 1356, Wicliffe comes before us as author. We find him writing and publishing a book called "The Last Age of the Church." It is of a melancholy cast, as its title indicates. It was written at a melancholy time-pestilence was sweeping away multitudes-all Europe was ravaged. In England the plague began at Dorchester, travelled up to London, and in a few months greatly reduced the population of the city. In a few hours the infected perished. Fear magnified the calamity; and in a frenzy of horror, men said nine-tenths of the race had perished. Wicliffe probably believed that one-half of the population had been hurried into eternity. He connected the visitation

Four years afterwards Wicliffe appears under a new character. He is a controversialist. The Mendicant Orders-the friars black and grey-had acquired a wonderful ascendency in many parts of Christendom. Their popularity was felt at Oxford. Their existence and power had arisen out of the condition of the Church, which required reform. The founders of the Mendicant Orders had sought to meet the want, but they had proved in the long run poor reformers. Being ignorant of the root of the evil, never thinking to dig below the surface, their efforts to cure the priesthood of the pride of wealth, and to make the Church spiritually efficient, had totally failed. The priesthood had become prouder, the Church more secular than ever; and the Mendicants, after all their poverty and zeal, had themselves been made richer and more idle than others of the conventual brotherhoods. Wicliffe saw this-saw much of the mischief the friars had done, and charged them with their offence. He refuted their pretensions from Scripture. They had appealed to Christ's poverty, to the teaching of Scripture as a pattern and authority. To the Holy Gospels and Epistles, the clear-sighted controversialist followed his antagonists, and showed that no valid defence of their assumptions could be discovered there. "The Objections to Friars," the work of a later period of the

reformer's life, fully makes known to us the grounds of his opposition; and it is apparent, that "while other disputants sought to reform particulars, Wicliffe saw the institute itself as uncommanded, and of evil tendency; and instead of supposing, as some good men had done, that the introduction of such agents formed the most efficient means by which to elevate the character of the more authorized priesthood, he inculcated strongly, that nothing short of a removal of the intruders could restore the Church to its long-lost order and prosperity."

So a meeting was ap

The scene changes to Bruges. Wicliffe is commissioner, to treat with a papal embassy respecting the reservation of ecclesiastical benefices. Rome had been growing in rapacity. Statutes of "provisors" and "premunire" had been passed to curb its covetousness of wealth and power. Further interference was necessary. pointed between the ministers of the pope and the messengers of the king. Wicliffe was among the latter. The city was then in the height of its commercial splendour and civic freedom. The English commissioner would see much of quaint architecture, sumptuously furnished dwellings, gay and glittering attire, processions and pageants; and something too he would discover of a stern, indomitable, resistful will in merchant princes, who could beard even despotic monarchs. The former would only impress him with the world's vanity; the latter, in which he could sympathise, might strengthen his own strong individuality and force of independent purpose. Perhaps, too, the reformer might at Bruges hear something of men who along the Rhine, and in German and Flemish cities, were, under the name of "friends of God," promoting spiritual religion-undermining formalism and priestcraftand preparing for changes they little dreamt of. Moreover, at Bruges, we know, he learnt so much of the corruption of the Roman court as made him more its enemy than ever.

A year later, A.D. 1361, Wicliffe is in academic office. He was appointed warden of Baliol College, and afterwards of Canterbury Hall. A reversal of his appointment was sought, and the case was submitted to Urban V. While it was sub judice, the pontiff revived certain claims in the form of tribute on the English nation, which Edward III. was determined to resist. Wicliffe in the dispute took part against the pope, a proof of his disinterestedness, while his own official position was at the mercy of the court of Rome. Nor can his attacks on the papacy, when the cause had been decided against him, be ascribed to resentment, inasmuch as his battle with the papacy had begun before. In 1372 he took his degree as Doctor in Divinity, and was chosen a theological lecturer. A work which he wrote on the Decalogue, about this time, illustrates the growth of his religious views; with a few exceptions, there is nothing in the treatise which could offend any Protestant reader. "I say thee for certain," he boldly writes, "though thou have priests and friars to sing for thee, and though thou each day hear many masses, and found chauntries and colleges, and go on pil-graphically described by Foxe and grimages all thy life, and give all thy goods to pardoners; all this shall not bring thy soul to heaven. While, if the commandments of God are revered to the end, though neither penny nor halfpenny be possessed, there shall be everlasting pardon, and the bliss of heaven."

We must now visit old St. Paul's. There Wicliffe stands forth in his proper character as Reformer. He was cited to meet charges of heresy. John of Gaunt-whom he had known on the Continent-accompanied him to the tribunal, where the scene took place so

Fuller. "The Lord Percy, Lord Marshal of England, had much ado to break through the crowd in the church; so that the bustle he kept with the people highly offended the Bishop of London, as profaning the place, and disturbing the assembly. Whereon

the good city of Oxford-predecessors with the sins of mankind; saw in it

of our modern gownsmen. There had been thirty thousand, but the number had fallen off. Wicliffe applied himself in earnest to his studies-canon law, civil law, municipal law engaged his time and thoughts. He became familiar with the schoolmen. With logical formularies he was at home. The real treasury of truth and wisdom, as well as the idle subtleties contained in the books of Aquinas and the rest, would be mastered by the young man from Yorkshire. In scholastic disputations he excelled. Indeed, Henry Knighton, who hated his opinions, and denounced the effects of his teaching, was forced to confess that he was most eminently learned in theology, was second to none in his philosophical knowledge, quite incomparable in all school learning, and in his power of vigorous and acute debate, almost superhuman. But in Wicliffe's cell at Merton was there not one book above all others he loved to search into and pray over? Had he a Bible of his own, or only one, or a part of one, borrowed from the shelves of the college library? Be that as it may, he made good use of such access as he had to Holy Scripture, pondering often and deeply the words of prophets, of apostles, and of Christ in the Latin Vulgate dress.

In 1356, Wicliffe comes before us as author. We find him writing and publishing a book called "The Last Age of the Church." It is of a melancholy cast, as its title indicates. It was written at a melancholy time-pestilence was sweeping away multitudes-all Europe was ravaged. In England the plague began at Dorchester, travelled up to London, and in a few months greatly reduced the population of the city. In a few hours the infected perished. Fear magnified the calamity; and in a frenzy of horror, men said nine-tenths of the race had perished. Wicliffe probably believed that one-half of the population had been hurried into eternity. He connected the visitation

the judgment of God, and dwelt on certain speculations of his times about the downfall of Roman power, the establishment of a purer Church, and the speedy approach of the world's endall of which gave a character to this his first production. But he could rest in faith on the Redeemer's love. The book indicates his devout spirit, and the germinant formation of opinions which were destined to unfold in later life. He had evidently begun to see something of the ecclesiastical corruptions of his age, and had begun, too, to form that acquaintance with Scripture truth which ultimately made him so true a reformer.

Their

Four years afterwards Wicliffe appears under a new character. He is a controversialist. The Mendicant Orders-the friars black and grey-had acquired a wonderful ascendency in many parts of Christendom. popularity was felt at Oxford. Their existence and power had arisen out of the condition of the Church, which required reform. The founders of the Mendicant Orders had sought to meet the want, but they had proved in the long run poor reformers. Being ignorant of the root of the evil, never thinking to dig below the surface, their efforts to cure the priesthood of the pride of wealth, and to make the Church spiritually efficient, had totally failed. The priesthood had become prouder, the Church more secular than ever; and the Mendicants, after all their poverty and zeal, had themselves been made richer and more idle than others of the con

ventual brotherhoods. Wicliffe saw this-saw much of the mischief the friars had done, and charged them with their offence. He refuted their pretensions from Scripture. They had appealed to Christ's poverty, to the teaching of Scripture as a pattern and authority. To the Holy Gospels and Epistles, the clear-sighted controversialist followed his antagonists, and showed that no valid defence of their assumptions could be discovered there. "The Objections to Friars," the work of a later period of the

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