and the persecutions of a hundred and fifty years could not extinguish. They set Europe on fire with Protestantism, and it is burning yet; nowhere more purely and brightly than in the land where Wiclif taught and lived it.

In 1873, the English Parliament adopted measures to confirm the statute of Provisers which the Pope had succeeded in evading, and sent Commissioners to Bruges on the matter, but to no purpose. The next year they sent again, and nothing could have shown their resolution to have their own way more plainly than the choice of Wiclif, the now well-known Reformer, as one of the Commissioners. This is the only time he crossed the Channel; he was never incensed as Luther was, by the corruption he might have seen at Avignon or Rome. They met the Papal emissaries at Bruges, then the emporium of the eastern trade, the resting-place of the Lombards, and the mart for English wool; in fact, the Venice of the North. English and French embassies were meeting there at the same time; and here John Wiclif and John of Gaunt may have been brought into close intimacy, if they were not previously acquainted. The English Reformer would take little interest in the Hook and Kappel jaw parties which then divided the burghers; and still less in the "pageants splendid that adorned those days of old." the minister from twenty nations," and the stately dames, like queens attended" in "more than royal pomp and ease." His business was with the Pope's messengers, and his honest heart must have trembled with indignation to find that the Bishop, his coadjutor, had been entrapped by the wiles of the Romans, so that once more they retired from Bruges without accomplishing anything. Wiclif could not have been in close intercourse with the Papal legates for six weeks, without learning much of Roman worldliness and duplicity, and so far much was accomplished.

V.

WICLIF'S FI
FIRST SUMMONS.

The nex year (1375), the king presented Wiclif to the rectory of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire. Just after this John of Gaunt lost nearly all his influence, so that, when Convocation assembled on Feb. 3, 1377, they met with no check in summoning Wiclif before them, to answer certain charges of heresy, on the 19th of the same month. Wielif's lectures were beginning to show signs of fruit.

News of the summons soon spread through the city; gay young men lay bets on the issue; smart apprentices took the side of the Reformer or not, simply because their masters took the other side; monks turned off an extra glass of their best vintage, and friars were seen to pass a widow's house without begging, and to drop a coin into a widow's hand, in prospect of Wielif's certain condemnation. Early on the morning of the 19th, the dark narrow streets leading to St. Paul's were thronged. Bishops, abbots, and other high dignitaries ambled along “on fat horses with jolly and gay saddles and bridles, ringing by the way, and themselves in costly clothes and furs;" fat monks came puffing up Ludgate Hill; priests and friars walked barefoot through the dirt: nimble apprentices dodged their masters who had left them to mind the shop; mercers of all goods, merchants from all parts, foreigners in town, nobles at ease, knights at home, yeomen from their farms. gaping country clowns, and all that iniscellaneous rabble that will be, when a "row" may be, pressed towards the large old Norman church that winter's morning. Courtney. the Bishop of London, and son of the Duke of Devonshire, presided: and had scarcely taken his seat, when a small group reached the limits of the outside crowd. It was John Wielif with a plain black robe flowing from shoulder to waist. where it was tied round with a band, and thence to his heels, a velvet cap upon his grey head, and a long white staff in his hand, bearing such

a lighted countenance as great men always do when called to try their utmost strength. Though supported on either hand by the Duke of Lancaster and Lord Percy, it was with difficulty he made way into the church; as they passed through the porch, the Duke whispered, "Shrink not a hair-breadth;" but Wielif was not the man to shrink. When they had forced their way in, Lord Percy tried to obtain a seat for Wiclif, but the Bishop rose angrily to protest.

"Lord Percy, if I had known what masteries you would have kept in the church, I would have stopped you out from coming hither!"

"He shall keep such masteries," said the Duke, though you say nay.”

Sit down, Wiclif," said Percy, without heeding, for you have many things to answer to, and you need to repose yourself on a soft seat."

46

It is unreasonable," exclaimed the Bishop, that one cited before his ordinary should sit during his answer; he must, and he shall stand."

"Lord Percy's motion is but reasonable," replied the Duke; "and as for you, my Lord Bishop, who are grown so proud and arrogant, I will bring down the pride, not of you alone, but of all the prelacy in England."

"Do your worst, Sir."

"Thou bearest thyself so long upon thy parents, which shall not be able to keep thee, they shall have enough to do to help themselves."

"My confidence is not in my parents, nor in any man else, but only in God, in whom I trust, by whose assistance I will be bold to speak the truth." The Bishop spoke proudly but firmly.-he was not an ignoble man. The Duke whispered to Lord Percy,"Rather than I'll take these words at his hands, I will pluck the Bishop by the hair out of the church." Others heard the threat, and raised such a tumult that the two nobles were glad to retreat as best they could. The Bishop at once closed the meeting; and Wiclif, who had remained a silent spectator, escaped

In June, of the same year, Edward the Third died. In July, Richard

the Second was crowned. In October, the new Parliament met, and at once turned their attention to the encroachments of Rome. The question was discussed whether England might lawfully detain for its own defence, the treasure which the Pope demanded; and it shows how little Wielif had suffered from his trial, that it was submitted to his opinion. The substance of his reply was:-

"God has given stones hardness, beasts claws, and men limbs, for self-preservation; and the body of the state, whose members are laity and clergy, has received the same power of self-defence, and may therefore detain and retain the aforesaid treasure in case of need. Further, whatever the Pope asks he must ask as alms, and only as alms, for so the apostles asked. He cannot be both lord and apostle; but if, as he professes, he be an apostle, then this is the true form of the apostles' trade, lordship and rule are forbidden, ministration and service are commanded.' Wielif was nothing cowed, he did not "shrink a hair'sbreadth."

VI.

WICLIE'S SECOND SUMMONS. Ten days before Edward's death. the Pope issued several "bulls" against Wiclif, by which the Bishops were directed to keep him in safe custody till he should answer certain charges of heresy, or else to cite him to appear before the Pope within three months; and the Chancellor of the University to hand him over to the Bishops, and suppress the teaching of such heresies at Oxford. The king's death caused some delay, and the University was disposed to question the Pope's authority, and demanded time, so that it was April, 1878, before the Synod was convened at Lambeth, and Wiclif appeared before it.

The monk Walsingham says that "nearly all the Londoners were Lollards;" and, when not irritated

by the obnoxious presence of the Duke, they would openly favour the Reformer. Many of the citizens, therefore, came across the water, to see how the good Doctor fared; and some of the wealthier even pushed their way into the chapel, and intimated in very plain terms that the Commissioners had better be careful what they did with Wielif.

Let us stand by Lambeth stairs, under the budding trees, and see what notabilities may be coming over in the barges and ferry-boats. That barge, full of monks in white vestments and black cloaks, with palid cheeks that munch beef or mutton, is from the Charter House. This other one creeping up by the South side of the river is crowded with Dominicans or Black Friars. Every convent and monastery has sent some spectators. The ferry that comes across from Westminster carries a mixed party; among them a knight,-a Wiclifite, and a good friend to "poor priests,"—who—

"loved chivalry, Truth and honour, freedom and courtesy; Was ever honoured for his worthinessAnd though that he was worthy, he was wise,

And of his post, as meek as is a maid:
He was a very perfect, gentle knight."

By his side is a monk, whose head is bald and shines as any glass; he is not "pale as is a wasted ghost," but is a lord full fat, and in good point:" be sure he is not on Wiclif's side; but we are, and so may join the laugh of those two fops that follow him up-stairs, before we turn it upon themselves. Their hair is elaborately curled; their short gowns with long white sleeves are of costliest stuffs, (the one embroidered with flowers red and white, the other divided down the breast and spine into different colours,) their shoes are soft, worked in the pattern of a church window, with long tips drawn towards the knee by a chain; their caps are of velvet with ostrich feathers. Such extravagance may well prompt the rhyme

Longbeards, heartiless;
Painted hoods, witless;
Gay coats, graceless.

Maketh England thriftless.

These dandies are in the height of fashion, and so the lisp in their talk -"I thay, dotht thee remember our going to hear thith Wiclif lecter at Octhford? What a wood thing it wath about Entitith and Quidditeth, and that thort of thing; thome thaid it wath vewy new, thome thaid it wath common, what they call hewethy; otherth thaid it mutht be vewy old, it wath tho vewy dwy." They have come for sport. They knew Wielif as a popular lecturer; his trial will be a pastime, a morning's diversion from bull and bear-baiting. But there is sturdier stuff in that firmbuilt, elderly man, with a forked beard, a particoloured coat and a beaver cap. He speaks with a slightly foreign accent, for forty years ago he was a poor Flemish weaver, starving on long hours and short pay, but was attracted to England by the promise of shorter hours and larger wage, and some sly hints about the fine Norfolk lasses; he has proved them truemarried his master's daughter, is doing an extensive business with his sons, and is now on his way to the wool mart at Bruges. The dark complexioned man by his side is a Genoese merchant, explaining his favourite scheme of making Southampton the emporium of the eastern trade; next year he will have the king's permission to stow his goods in Southampton Castle, and afterwards be murdered by some jealous English merchants. The enterprizing fellow deserves a better fate. In the next ferry are Dr. Heppingden and Dr. Hereford, both of whom teach Wiclif's doctrines at Oxford, and shall suffer for it presently; Master Ashton is with them, who shall one day declare that his faith is that of the Church apostolic, and refuse to defend himself in Latin, but will plead in English, which the common people can understand. In the same boat are other "poor priests," Wielif's antidote to friars; the forerunners of Wesley and Whitfield, in preaching the gospel outside the church walls, when priests would not have it preached inside them; you may meet them all over England, at the cross

roads and street-corners, or in the market-places, distributing Wiclif's tracts to such few as can read, and calling upon all with heartfelt eloquence to quit sin, to follow holiness, and love the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a private barge coming down the river, belonging to the elder of the two standing near the prow, who is a wealthy lawyer that has made his money by his work, but is better known to us as "the moral Gower." His corpulent companion, with slender limbs lining his red hose, his fair Saxon hair just turning grey, and his head bent downwards, as if "expecting to find a hare," has just set them all in roars of laughter by a humorous description of how he was fined one shilling thirty years ago for thrashing a grey friar, and leaving him to roll in the dirt of a city street. He has travelled much, both on his own concerns and the king's, and is now comptroller of the wool customs. His wife was sister to the present Duchess of Lancaster, but he buried her twelve months since; his hair was not so grey then. He, too, like his friend Gower, has written verses, as yet only a few. Next to Wiclif, he is the noblest man by Lambeth stairs this April day. He is not so learned, but he is a greater genius. Wiclif is the first of Reformers. He is the first of English satirists. Wiclif is the saint. Chaucer is the poet of this age. The "Canterbury Tales" are a locked-up treasure in that overhanging brow of his, and to-day's scenes will add something to his "breezy verses."

But the duke's barge with shield of lions and fleur-de-lis is half across the river, and we must hasten to the chapel if we would hear Wiclif's reply. The Latin preliminaries are soon over, and Wiclif, who has been standing, turns to his attendant for the reply which he has written, Unfolding it calmly with some prefatory remarks, he reads from the MS. in clear, decisive tones-no recantation, but a firm defence and distinct reiteration of his opinions. We will only record two points. "Peter," he says, committed venial sin; so too may the Pope,

who may even be guilty of the sin of final impenitence. Therefore if he be remiss, the cardinals should reprove him; and if they will not, then the whole church, laity as well as clergy, should seek to reduce him to obedience."

These were brave words in the face of a Pope's commission five hundred years ago. "The laity may chide priests, even the Pope himself." Again, about excommunication, he says,

"No man's curse is anything but as it is ratified in Heaven. But priests and friars profess that their curse really damns a man. Now if they do believe that, they curse so often, and for such trifles, that they must be very fiends for cruelty; and if they don't believe it, then are they hypocrites and liars, deceiving the people."

And this accused man can add, though threatened with the curses and anathemas of his clerical judges,

Such I will defend even to the death, if by such means I may reform the manners of the church." Such surely is "declaring Christ's truth with constancy before Cæsarian prelates, and straightway the flower of martyrdom will be at hand,' but precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints."

There was scarcely time for the delegates to advise Wiclif to refrain from teaching such doctrine in the pulpits and schools, when a message came from the Queen Mother that they should desist from further procedure. "The delegates," says Walsingham, who was greatly vexed at Wielif's escape, shaken as a reed in the wind, became soft as oil in their speech to the open forfeiture of their own dignity, and the injury of the whole Church."

VII.

TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

Wielif did not cease to lecture at Oxford, but after the severe illness, in which the friars visited him, applied himself more closely to declaring their evil deeds and laying bare the corruptions of the Romish

Church. Not content with the discovery of single corruptions and the effort to lop them off one by one, the Reformer sought for the root corruption, the principle which fed the rest. His visit to Bruges, his

summons to St. Paul's, his appearance at Lambeth, and his recent illness, teaching him that he was feared and hated by the enemies of truth, quickened his desire to lay his "axe to the root of the tree."

L'ART DE PARVENIR.

NARRAGHMORE was a very dull place. The sluggish canal which crept to it from the interior-a line on which towns were wont to be strung, ere the iron rail linked them with a living nerve-might be a type of its progressiveness. The shallow lake which the same canal helped to drain close by, was not more stagnant than the little population. Yet like most puny populations, they took "the rustic cackle of their bourg" for the great sound of the surge of life that circles the world. They had a newspaper which chronicled the small beer of the place, and so helped out this delusion. Harmless delusion enough, perhaps, if it had not resembled the self-gratulation of the Chinese in impeding necessary improvement. It used to chafe upon Hugh Lake, who had peeped over the edge of the nest, and seen something beside the mossy walls and twigs that shut in his birth-place. He had ambition not only for himself, but also for his town; and previsions of what he would do when he became a great manufacturer.

For already the first step had been achieved, or what he fondly hoped would prove the first step; he possessed the earnestly desired imachine which was to him as the basket of porcelain to day-dreaming Alnaschar; and it came to him in the following manner:

His cousin Lancelot had shared his good-fortune with him; he lent Hugh fifty pounds of the money which Miss Latymer had given him as a propitiation in the time when she needed health. "I heard the

FROM DARK TO DAWN IN ITALY," ETC. Yankee say your machine would cost thirty guineas," were the words of his letter. And you can repay me when you have made your fortune, old fellow, if I don't make mine at the diggings." A very short letter, and very sweet to Hugh, who went away without a word concerning his errand to anybody, and came back in a week with his prize. There it was in a wooden packing. case, exulted over by Hugh in a manner inexplicable altogether to the gentle Mrs. Lake, and gazed at by Bessie with dilating eyes. understood him better than their mother, for she also had that elixir of youth in her heart which is called Hope. Believing Hugh to be "awfully talented," she detracted nothing from his previsions because of their rainbow hues. While the mother had viewed life so long through the cloudy weather of poverty and privation, that she might be excused for not readily comprehending the vivid colours of Hugh's aerial landscape.

She

"It is a very clever-looking machine, my dear," she said, having put on her spectacles the better to appreciate its intricacies." And it makes a fine noise, just as a machine ought. I am sure, if people could be got to work with it, their clothes would be made very fast indeed; but, oh, Hugh, my dear, what is to become of the poor dressmakers and tailors if these things become general?"

"What is that to me, mother?" replied the young man, testily. "I only want to make my own fortune, and all your fortunes. Everybody must look out for himself in this world." And he worked the little machine with greater clatter than