the rest took up arms to set them at liberty; but they were pacified by the magistrates, who gave them solemn assurances that no injury should be done to the prisoners: however, they were privately beheaded in the judgment hall. The blood which ran out from the place of execution discovered the massacre of these men to the common people, who took arms again, forcibly carried off the bodies of those that were executed, honourably interred them in the church of Bethlehem, and reverenced them as martyrs. Huss (says Mr Gilpin) discovered, on this occasion, a true Christian spirit. The late riot had given him great concern; and he had now so much weight with the people, as to restrain them from attempting any • farther violence-whereas, at the sound of a bell, he could have been surrounded with thousands, who might have laughed at the police of the city.'

The magistrates of Prague found it necessary to publish their reasons for these rigorous proceedings against the Hussites. They assembled many doctors of divinity in their city, who drew up a censure of forty-five of Wickliffe's propositions; and in their preface to it, they asserted the authority of the pope, the cardinals, and the church of Rome; after which, they accused the Hussites of sedition. Doctor Huss wrote many books, and other discourses, against the censure of these doctors, whom he called Prætorians. He maintained some of the articles which they condemned; particularly those concerning the liberty of preaching, the power of secular princes over the revenues of ecclesiastics, the voluntary payment of tythes, and the forfeiture that spiritual and temporal lords make of their power, when they live in mortal sin.

Doctor Huss wrote a long treatise about the church, to confute the preface of that censure, in which he maintains, that the church consists of those only who are predestinate; that the head and foundation of it is Jesus Christ; that the pope and cardinals are only members of it, and the other bishops are successors to the apostles as well as they; that no one is obliged to obey them, if their commands are not agreeable to the law of God; and that an excommunication, which is groundless, hath no effect. He particularly answered the writings of Stephen Paletz, Stanislaus Zuoima, and eight other doctors. He also caused a writing to be fixed upon the church of Bethlehem, charging the clergy with these six errors :

First, Of believing that the priest, by saying mass, becomes the creator of his Creator. Second, Of saying that

we

we ought to believe in the virgin, in a pope, and in the saints. Third, That the priests can remit the pain and guilt of sin. Fourth, That every one must obey his superiors, whether their commands be just or unjust. Fifth, That every excommunication, just or unjust, binds the excommunicate. The sixth relates to simony.

He also wrote three large volumes against the clergy; the first entitled, "The Anatomy of the Members of An"tichrist." The second, "Of the Kingdom of the "People, and the Life and Manners of Antichrist.” The third, "Of the Abomination of Priests, and carnal "Monks, in the Church of Jesus Christ." Besides these, he wrote several other tracts on Traditions, the Unity of the Church, Evangelical Perfection, the Mystery of Iniquity, and the Discovery of Antichrist. With what surprising spirit, strength of argument, and powerful judgment, he wrote on these subjects, may be well conceived by the amazing influence that his doctrines obtained.

Wickliffe had advanced, That if a bishop or priest should give holy orders, or consecrate the sacrament of the altar, or minister baptism, whiles he is in mortal syn; it were nothing avaylable." This was vindicated by Doctor Huss, who observes, that the article consists of three parts: First, That a civil or temporal lord is no lord, while he is in mortal sin: Secondly, That a prelate is no prelate, while he is in mortal sin: Thirdly, That a bishop is no bishop, while he is in mortal sin. Both these divines taught subjection and obedience to princes: But Wickliffe asserted, that If temporal lords do wrongs and extor tions to the people, they ben traytors to God and his < people, and tyrants of antichrist And Huss corroborated this opinion, by shewing that it was held by St Austin.

Though John Huss, and Jerom of Prague, so far agreed with Wickliffe, that they opposed the tyranny and corruptions of the pope and his clergy: Yet they were not of the same opinion with relation to the eucharist, for neither of them ever opposed the real presence, and transubstantiation, as Wickliffe had done.

The great and noble Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, had spoken boldly in several parliaments against the corruptions of the Christian faith and worship, and had frequently represented to the kings Richard II. Henry IV. and Henry V. the insufferable abuses committed by the clergy. This nobleman, at the desire of doctor Huss, caused all the works of Wickliffe to be wrote out, and dis

persed

persed in Bohemia, France, Spain, Portugal, and other parts of Europe. But that good man, who had wrote several discourses concerning a reformation of discipline and manners in the church, was abandoned by Henry V. and fell a sacrifice to the fury of the priests. He was condemned, in 1413, by the archbishop of Canterbury as a heretic, and sent to the tower by the king, who had an affection for him. He escaped from his confinement, and avoided the execution of his sentence till 1418, when he was taken, and burnt hanging. His behaviour, at the time of his death, was great and intrepid. He exhorted the people to follow the instructions, which God had given them in the Scriptures; and admonished them to disclaim those false teachers, whose lives and conversations were so contrary to Christ, and repugnant to his religion. England was filled with scenes of persecution, which extended to Germany and Bohemia, where doctor Huss, and Jerom of Prague, were marked out to share the fate of Sir John Oldcastle.

The council of Constance was assembled on the sixteenth of November 1414, to determine the dispute between three persons who contended for the papacy. There were, as attendants and members of this council (says Mr Fox,) • archbishops and bishops, 346; abbots and doctors, 564,

princes, dukes, earls, knights, and squires, 16,000; • common women, 450; barbers, 600; musicians, cooks, • and jesters, 320. Bartholomew Cossa took the name of John XXIII: Angeli de Coraro called himself Gregory XII. And Pedro de Luna was stiled Benedict XIII. But it was John, who summoned doctor Huss to appear at Constance. The emperor Sigismund, brother and successor to Wenceslaus, encouraged Huss to obey the summons, that he might clear the Bohemian nation from the imputation of heresy: And, as an inducement to his compliance, he sent him a passport, with assurance of safe conduct, whereby he gave him permission to come freely to the council, and return from it again.

Doctor Huss caused some placards to be fixed upon the gates of the churches in Prague, wherein he declared, that he went to the council to answer all the accusations that were made against him; and that he was ready to appear before the archbishop, to hear his adversaries, and justify his innocence. He demanded of the bishop of Nazareth, the inquisitor, whether he had any thing to propose against him; from whom he received a favourable testimony: But when he presented himself at the court of

the

the archbishop, who had called an assembly against him, he was denied admission. When he departed from Prague to repair to Constance, he was accompanied by Wences, lord of Dunbar, and John, lord of Chlum. Huss made public declarations, in all the cities through which he passed, that he was going to vindicate himself at Constance, and invited all his adversaries to be present. He arrived at Constance on the third of November; and soon after Stephen Paletz came there as his adversary, who was joined by Michael of Causis. They declared themselves his accusers, and drew up a memorial against him, which they presented to the pope, and prelates of the council.

Doctor Huss, twenty-six days after his arrival, was ordered to appear before the pope and cardinals. It has been observed, that his appearing there was by the emperor's own request: But, notwithstanding the safe conduct, he was no sooner come within the pope's jurisdiction, than he was arrested, and committed prisoner to a chamber in the palace. This violation of common law and justice was taken notice of by a gentleman, who urged the imperial safe conduct: But the pope observed, that he never granted any safe conduct, nor was he bound by that of the emperor. This infamous synod acted up to the spirit of their own favourite maxim, THAT NO The emperor

FAITH IS TO BE KEPT WITH HERETICS.

arrived at Constance on the twenty-third of December, and pope John fled from thence; as the council had resolved, that he and his two rivals, Gregory and Benedict, should divest themselves of all authority, that their competition might be fairly decided, schism extirpated, and an universal Reformation of faith and manners enacted, with respect both to the head and members of the church. The fourth session was held on the twenty-sixth of March 1415, in which the powers of the council, independent of the pope, were re-acknowledged and ratified. The eighth session was held May the fifth, when the doctrines of Wickliffe were condemned as heretical in forty-five articles And in the twelfth session, held the twenty-ninth of May, pope John XXIII. was deposed.

The fathers of the council were ranged under five nations; Italy, France, Germany, England, and Spain. All matters, proposed in the council, were to be determined by the plurality of voices in each nation: But the cardinals, and their college, had their votes: And it was agreed, that after the business had passed through the different committees, the full state of the whole should be made to

the

the council, and that their decree should be formed uport the plurality of the votes of the nations. Robert Halam, bishop of Salisbury, the bishop of Litchfield, and the abbot. of St Mary's, in York, were members of this council for the English nation..

The spirit with which the council of Constante acted against the popes; their declaring themselves as a council, and all councils to be above popes; the rigour with which they executed their decrees, and the awful form of their proceedings, are commendable. But to what did it all. tend? To no generous principle of love to God, or benevolence to man. It only translated the seat of wickedpower. The people were as much slaves to ignorance; they were as much tied down to superstition; and they had as little the exercise of any one rational sentiment, as ever. This council acted the part of inquisitors: They ordered the remains of doctor Wickliffe to be dug up and burnt, with this charitable caution, if they might be discerned from the bodies of other faithful people. His ashes (says Fuller) were cast into the Swift, that brook conveyed them into the Avon; Avon into, the Severn; • Severn into the narrow seas; they into the main ocean.. . Thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the emblems of his doc < trine, which is now dispersed all over the world.'

4

Doctor, Huss was allowed to be a man of consequence, and reputation, in Bohemia: He was a great and good man, and a noble martyr to Christianity. His accusers presented a petition to the pope, containing the heads of the accusation which they had to propose. against him, and requested that commissioners might be named to draw up his process. The patriarch of Constantinople, and two bishops, were the persons coinmissioned, who heard many witnesses against doctor Huss,, and ordered his books to be examined. While this process was. drawing up, pope John escaped from the emperor Sigismund, who delivered Huss into the hands of the bishop of Constance, by whose order he was confined in a castle beyond the Rhine, near to Constance.

The council appointed the cardinals of Cambray, and St Mark; the bishop of Dol, and the abbot of the Cistercians, to finish the process against doctor Huss, and renew the condemnations against the doctrine of Wickliffe. Soon after, they joined to these commissioners a bishop for each nation, and granted a commission to cite Jerom of Prague, the companion and friend of doctor Huss, who was one of the principal preachers of this new doctrine. The nobi