him far above contempt; but at the same time they embittered the malignity of his enemies. Yet, monstrous as many of his real tenets must have appeared in that age, recourse was had to the usual expedient of charging him with absurd inferences and notions* wholly at variance with any that he professed as if the churchmen of those days had some secret consciousness of the weakness of their cause, and despaired to make the enemies of their system generally detestable, unless they could also stigmatize them as foes to the acknowledged principles of religion, of morality, and of reason. We are not surprised by such calumnies; neither is it strange that the dissemination of his actual doctrines (for they were diligently disseminated by emissariest employed by him for that purpose) was followed by some tumults and disorders. The first open struggles of reason against prescription and prejudice-its first appeals to the sense and virtue of mankind against particular interests and established absurdities, are seldom unattended by popular heats and commotions; and the wonder in this case rather is, that the prematurity of the Reformation did not occasion the martyrdom of the reformer.

For many of Wiclif's opinions were too advanced and ripe for the bleak season in which he lived. They were calculated, indeed, for the consideration of all virtuous and disinterested men; and they were sure to create in succeeding generations a disposition towards better principles of belief and practice; but they could look for no general reception among those, to whom they were first addressed. Therefore was it wisely determined by that admirable Christian, when he sent them forth into a prejudiced and ignorant world, to promulgate along with them the sacred volume on which they professed to stand. His translation and circulation of the Bible was that among his labours, which secured the efficacy, as it was itself the crown, of all the others. This was the life of the system which he destined to be imperishable-this the treasure which he bequeathed to future and to better ages, for their immortal inheritance.

John of Huss.

II. The queen of Richard II. was a Bohemian princess; and on the death of her husband, she returned, with a train of attendants, to her native land. It is commonly believed, that these persons introduced a precious, but a dearly preserved, possession among their countrymen-the works of Wiclif. Others suppose this present to have been made by an Englishman who had travelled to Prague; others by a Bohemian who had studied at Oxford. All may possibly have contributed; but in respect to the more important fact, there seems to be no dispute, that the writings of Wiclif kindled the first sparks of the Bohemian heresies. During the latter days of that venerable teacher, a youth was growing up in an obscure village of Bohemia, who was destined to bear, in his turn, the torch of truth, and to transmit it with a martyr's hand to a long succession of disciples-and he was worthy of the heavenly office. John of Huss, or Hussinetz, was very early distinguished by the force and acuteness of his understanding, the modesty and gravity of his demeanour, the rude and irreproachable austerity of his life. A thoughtful and attenuated countenance, a tall and

*They are to be found in great numbers, chiefly among the articles of impeachment, levelled against his name and memory, and published by Popes and Councils. One error ascribed to him is, that he represented God as subject to the devil.'

+ Men whom he called his 'poor priests.' See chap. x. of Le Bas' Life of Wiclif.

The effect was felt even in the next generation, and the high churchmen began to tremble. By a decree published by the Convocation at St. Paul's in 1408, it was prohibited either to compose or consult any private trauslation of the Scriptures, on the penalties attached to heresy.

somewhat emaciated form, an uncommon mildness and affability of manner added to the authority of his virtues and the persuasiveness of his eloquence. The University of Prague, at that time extremely flourishing, presented a field for the expansion of his great qualities; in the year 1401 he was appointed president, or dean, of the philosophical faculty, and was elevated, eight years afterwards, to the rectorship of the University.

The Church divided with the academy his talents and his reputation. In the year 1400 he was made confessor to Sophia of Bavaria, the Queen of Bohemia; and in 1405 he had obtained general celebrity by many eloquent sermons delivered in the vulgar tongue in his chapel* at Prague. In those fervent addresses to the people, who composed his audience, he frequently inveighed against the corruption of the court of Rome, her indulgences, her crusades, her extortions, and all the multitude of her iniquities ; and his harangues were received with impassioned acclamation. Nevertheless, his name was not yet tainted by any charge of heresy; and as late as the July of 1408, Subinco, (or Suinco,) Archbishop of Prague, declared in a public synod, that the kingdom, over which his spiritual guardianship extended, was free from the stain of any religious error. But about this time the University of Prague was disturbed by a violent dissension. The German students, who formed the majority, and to whom a greater share in the government, the dignities, and emoluments of the institution had been allotted by the original statutest, were vigorously assailed by the native Bohemians; who claimed, as a national right, that, according to the example of Paris, those enviable prerogatives should be transferred to themselves. Huss engaged with zeal in the cause of his countrymen. The king decided in favour of his own subjects, and he was considered to have been chiefly influenced to that resolution by Huss. Many German doctors resigned their offices and retired from the kingdom; and they carried with them, whithersoever they went, deep rancour against the author of their defeat and secession.

Again, about the same time, probably in the beginning of 1409, Huss was extremely zealous in bringing over his country from the cause of Gregory XII., in whose obedience it persisted, to that of the cardinals assembled at Pisa; and this laudable forwardness appears to have been the first offence, which awakened the displeasure of the archbishop. At least it is manifest, that this was the period at which the indignation of that prelate first broke out; and in the December of the same year, the Pope himself (Alexander V.) issued some prohibitory decree against Huss and his followers.

The existence and circumstances of the great schism, and the obvious evils produced by it, had long been a popular theme of censure for the Bohemian reformer. And after its extinction, John XXIII. furnished him, in 1411, with fresh matter for reprehension. That pontiff sent forth

Called the Chapel of Bethlehem. An opulent citizen of Prague had built and endowed it for the maintenance of two preachers, qui festis profestisque diebus verbum Dei Bohemico sermone plebibus insinuarent.' En. Sylv., Hist. Bohem., cap. xxxv.

The University, founded in 1347, by the Emperor Charles IV., was composed of four nations, Bohemia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Poland; and as the three last (even the last) were chiefly Germans, and had three votes, in four, three-fourths of the professors, doctors, &c., were Germans. On the other hand, in the economy of the University of Paris (where the division was also quadripartite) the natives had three voices. The declaration of King Wenceslas in favour of his subjects was made on Oct. 13, 1409.

Subinco, Archbishop of Prague, is characterised by Maimbourg as a man who feared nothing when the service of God and the interests of the church were at stake,' Such a compliment, from the peu of Maimbourg, is at least suspicious.

his emissaries to preach a crusade against Ladislaus, King of Naples, and to accord the usual indulgences. The minds of many had been previously inflamed against this mockery of the cross of Christ by the preaching of Huss; and so it proved, that, on three several occasions, the pontifical missionaries were interrupted by violent exclamations in the midst of their harangues. Three offenders were accordingly seized by the order of the senate, and privately executed; but the blood which flowed from the prison into the street betrayed their fate. The people rose; and having gained possession of their bodies, carried them in procession to the various churches, chanting holy anthems. They then buried them in the chapel of Bethlehem, with the aromatic offerings usually deposited on the tombs of martyrs. Other commotions followed; the clergy of Bohemia conspired very generally against the principles of the reformer; and John XXIII. cited him, but without effect, before the tribunal of the Vatican. In fact, so great was the agitation which these disputes had now excited, that when the Council of Constance assembled presently afterwards, it issued an immediate summons for the appearance of Huss. With whatsoever disregard that ecclesiastic may have treated the mandate of the Pope, he proved, without hesitation, his allegiance to the council. He knew the hostility and the faithlessness of the court of Rome; but in the august representation of the Church, in the full congregation of holy prelates assembled for the reformation of abuses, and the redressing of wrongs, he might find some foundation for confidence, and some hope of justice.

It is proper now to examine, what was the nature of those spiritual offences which excited such attention throughout

Christendom, and such terror among the directors Opinions imputed to Huss. of the Church. In the first place, the Bohe

mian innovator was accused of disseminating the mortal venom which he had imbibed from England. His devotion to the faith and memory of Wiclif, for it was for some years concealed, became at length too deep and ardent for dissimulation; and it is even related, that in his discourses from the pulpit of Bethlehem, he was wont to address his earnest vow to Heaven, that, whenever he should be removed from this life, he might be admitted to the same regions where the soul of Wiclif resided; since he doubted not, that he was a good and holy man, and worthy of a habitation in heavent. It is certain, that on the first movement against Huss, the archbishop collected all the books of Wiclif, to the number of two hundred volumes, embossed and decorated with precious ornaments, and caused

If we are to believe Æneas Sylvius (Historia Bohemica, cap. xxxv), the clergy, in 'the first instance, were favourable to Huss; and the reason, which he malignantly gives for that fact, seems to prove at least his own conviction of its truth. 'Sequebantur Johannem clerici ferè omnes, ære alieno gravati, sceleribus et seditionibus insignes, qui rerum novitate evadere pœnas arbitrabantur. His et nonnulli doctrina celebres juncti erant; qui cum in ecclesia consequi dignitatem non potuissent, iniquo animo ferebant sacerdotia majorum censuum his committi, qui, quamvis nobilitate præirent, scientia tamen videbantur inferiores.' The probability seems to be, that Huss may have won, in the beginning of his preaching, the partial support of the secular clergy by the bitterness with which he inveighed against monastic abuses; but that they deserted him, as soon as they saw his views more perfectly developed.

Qui, cum se libenter audiri animadverteret, multa de libris Viclefi in medium attulit, asserens in iis omnem veritatem contineri; adjiciensque crebro inter prædicandum, se, postquam ex luce migraret, ea loca proficisci cupere, ad quae Viclefi anima pervenisset ; quem virum fuisse bonum, sanctum, coloque dignum non dubitaret.' Æn. Sylv., Hist. Boh., 1. xxxv.

Quorum major pars argenteis atque inauratis fibulis et pretiosis integumentis ornabatur.' Harpsfield. ap. Contin. Fleury. Æneas Sylvius mentions the same fact nearly in the same words,

them to be publicly burnt. The same element, which consumed the writings of Wiclif, was destined to prey upon the body of his disciple; and it came like a signal, that his vow had been registered above, and that his master awaited his coming at the gates of Paradise.

It was another general charge against Huss, that he was infected with the leprosy' of the Vaudois: and that it may be seen how many gross offences were thought to be contained in this single accusation, we shall here follow the enumeration of Eneas Sylvius; only premising that many opinions are there ascribed to Huss, which, in his examinations before the council, he expressly disavowed. The most important among them were these— that the Pope is on a level with other bishops; that all priests are equal except in regard to personal merit; that souls, on quitting their bodies, are immediately condemned to eternal punishment, or exalted to everlasting happiness; that the fire of purgatory has no existence; that prayers for the dead are a vain device, the invention of sacerdotal avarice; that the images of God and the saints should be destroyed; that the orders of the mendicants were invented by evil spirits; that the clergy ought to be poor, subsisting on eleemosynary contributions; that it is free to all men to preach the word of God; that any one guilty of mortal sin is thereby disqualified for any dignity secular or ecclesiastical; that confirmation and extreme unction are not among the holy rites of the Church; that auricular confession is unprofitable, since confession to God is sufficient for pardon; that the use of cemeteries is without reasonable foundation, and inculcated for the sake of profit; that the world itself is the temple of the omnipotent God; and that those only derogate from his Majesty, who build churches, monasteries, or oratories; that the sacerdotal vestments, the ornaments of the altars, the cups and other sacred utensils, are of no more than vulgar estimation; that the suffrages of the saints who reign with Christ in Heaven are unprofitable, and vainly invoked; that there is no holiday excepting Sunday; that the festivals of the saints should by no means be observed; and that the fasts established by the Church are equally destitute of divine authority.

To these opinions, which he is accused of having habitually propounded in his chapel of Bethlehem, and of which he disclaimed many of the most important, he appears in truth to have subsequently added another, by no means calculated to conciliate the clergy. During a period of suspension from his preachings at Prague, he retired to his native village, and addressed to large rustic congregations the popular doctrine, that tithes are strictly eleemosynary, and that it is free for the owner of the land to withhold or to pay them, according to the measure of his charity. But the subject, on which the greatest heats were afterwards excited, and in which, indeed, the other points of difference were for the most part forgotten, was the distribution of the sacramental cup to the laity. And this innovation upon the modern practice of the Church is not, as it singularly happens, ascribed to Huss; though it originated in the same country, and at the same time. A celebrated preacher of the day, named Jacobellus, whose learning and piety are alike unquestioned*, first promulgated the tenet, that the communion in both kinds was necessary for salvation; and as the opinion was shown to rest not only on the authority of Scripture, but also on the practice of the ancient Church, the heretics embraced it with immoderate exultation, as evincing either the ignorance, or the wick

*Per id tempus populum prædicando instruebat Jacobellus Misnensis, literarum doctrina et morum præstantia juxta clarus.' Æn. Sylv., loc. cit.

edness, of the Roman See."... Wenceslas, the King of Bohemia, regarded the rise of these principles with a careless and, as some assert, a stupid indifference; his queen protected the person, if she did not profess the principles, of her confessor; and thus the secular sword slept peacefully throughout these disputes, though it was loudly evoked by the zeal of the archbishop, and though Gerson* himself raised his voice to awaken it. It has been matter of surprise to many writers, that Huss, with the consciousness that he had taught many of the

above tenets, and with the knowledge how de- The safe-conduct of Huss. testable they were held by the churchmen, should

have advanced so readily from a position of comparative security, and placed himself at once in the power of his enemies. It was not that he was ignorant of his danger. A letter, which he addressed to a friend immediately before his departure for Constance, contains passages almost prophetic of his imminent fate. He had the precaution, however, to obtain an act of safe-conduct from the Emperor, which was understood to be a pledge for his personal safety during the whole period of his absence from Bohemia.

*Sufficient extracts from Gerson's Letter to the archbishop are given by Cochlæus, Historia Hussitarum, lib. i., p. 21, (ed. Mogunt. 1549,) and as it is curious to observe in what language the great Church Reformer of his day justified the principle of persecution, we shall cite some passages from it, only premising that, very nearly at the same moment, the Pope, John XXIII., was inditing an epistle to Wenceslas to the same purport. Inveniuntur adhuc hæreses extirpatæ ab agro ecclesiastico diversis viis, veluti falce multiplici. Inveniuntur quidem primitus extirpatæ falce vel acuto sarculo miraculorum, attestantium divinitùs Catholicæ veritati, et hoc tempore apostolorum. Inveniuntur extirpatæ postmodum per falcem disputationis argumentativæ per doctores. Sunt extirpatæ deinde per falcem sacrorum Conciliorum, faventibus imperatoribus, quum disputatio doctrinalis particularium doctorum inefficax videbatur. Tandem accessit, velut in despe rata peste, securis brachii secularis, excidens hæreses cum auctoribus suis et in ignem mittens. Providens hac tanta severitate et misericordi, ut sic dicatur, crudelitate ne sermo talium, veluti cancer, serpat in perniciem tam propriam quam alienam. Et ante multo tempore non sinere peccatoribus ex sententia agere, sed statim ultiones adhibere magni beneficii est indicium. After showing that none of the ancient methods of extirpation were applicable to the existing heresy, he thus proceeds: Superest igitur, si de præmissorum nihil prosit, quod ad radicem infructuosæ,immo MALEDICTE, arboris ponatur securis brachii secularis. Quale vos brachium invocare viis omnibus convenit, et expedit ad salutem omnium vobis creditorum.' . . . The doctrines attributed to Huss were condemned by the University of Paris, and the act was published with the signature of Gerson, as chancellor: it contains the following passage: For though there appears among the opinions of these heretics some zeal against the vices of the prelates, which in truth are very great and manifest, yet it is a zeal not sufficiently enlightened. A discreet zeal tolerates and deplores the sins which it finds in the house of God, when it cannot wholly remove them. It would be impossible to correct vice by vice, and error by error; as the devil is not expelled by Beelzebub, but by the spirit of God, whose will it is that the correction of abuses be undertaken with great prudence and regard to circumstances of time and place.' This, too, is language which might very well have proceeded from the court of John XXIII.

+ The following are given as the words of this frequently controverted safe-conduct: Honorabilem magistrum Johannem Huss, S. T. Baccalaureum, etc., de regno Boemiæ, in Concilium Generale . . . transeuntem. vobis omnibus et vestrum cuilibet pleno recommandamus affectu, desiderantes, quatenus ipsum, cum ad vos pervenerit, grate suscipere... omnique prorsus impedimento remoto transire, stare, morari et redire liberè permittatis, sibique et suis.'-(Act. Public. apud Bzovium, ann. 1414., sect. 17.) It is not at all obvious that the Council was bound by this safe conduct-the less so, as the professed object of Huss's journey was to clear himself of heresy in the presence and judgment of the Council: but the Emperor was certainly so bound; and that which he committed, and which the Council persuaded him to commit, was direct, unqualified treachery. It was manifestly the duty of Sigismond to receive Huss from the hands of the Council, and restore him to his native country; then the affair might have been taken up de novo, without any reflexion on the faith of any party. The best illustrations of the rights of this question are such facts, as prove the light in which it was viewed by succeeding generations, Thus we observe, that before the assembling of the first Diet of Worms