assembly: And thus far at least he prevailed; the council ordered, that he should first answer objections; and promised that he should then have liberty to speak. Accordingly, all the articles alledged against him were publicly read; and then proved; after which he was • asked, whether he had ought to object? It is incredible with what acuteness he answered; and with what ⚫ amazing dexterity he warded off every stroke of his ad⚫ versaries. Nothing escaped him: His whole behaviour was truly great and pious. If he were indeed the man his defence spoke him, he was so far from meriting death, that, in my judgment, he was not in any degree culpable. In a word, he endeavoured to prove, that 'the greater part of the charge was purely the invention of his adversaries.-Among other things, being accused ' of hating and defaming the holy see, the pope, the cardinals, the prelates, and the whole estate of the clergy, he stretched out his hands, and said, in a most moving C accent, "On which side, reverend fathers, shall I turn "me for redress? whom shall I implore? whose assistance can I expect? which of you hath not this malicious charge entirely alienated from me? which of you hath "it not changed from a judge into an inveterate enemy? -It was artfully alledged indeed! Though other parts "of their charge were of less moment, my accusers might "well imagine, that if this were fastened on me, it could "not fail of drawing upon me the united indignation of "my judges."

On the third day of this memorable trial, what had passed was recapitulated: When Jerom, having obtained. leave, though with some difficulty, to speak, began his oration with a prayer to God; whose divine assistance he pathetically implored. He then observed, that many excellent men, in the annals of history, had been oppressed by false witnesses, and condemned by unjust judges. Beginning with profane history, he instanced the death of Socrates, the captivity of Plato, the banish•ment of Anaxagoras, and the unjust sufferings of many others: He then instanced the many worthies of the Old Testament, in the same circumstances, Moses, Joseph, Daniel, and almost all the prophets; and lastly those of the New, John the Baptist, St Stephen, and others, who were condemned as seditious, profane, or • immoral men. An unjust judgment, he said, proceeding from a layic was bad; from a priest, worse; stilk • worse from a college of priests; and from a general ← council,

6

⚫ council, superlatively bad. These things he spoke • with such force and emphasis, as kept every one's atten⚫tion awake.

On one point he dwelt largely. As the merits of the • cause rested entirely upon the credit of witnesses, he took great pains to shew that very little was due to those produced against him. He had many objections to them, particularly their avowed hatred to him; the <sources of which he so palpably laid open, that he made

a strong impression upon the minds of his hearers; and ◄ not a little shook the credit of the witnesses. The ‹ whole council was moved, and greatly inclined to pity, • if not to favour him. He added, that he came uncompelled to the council; and that neither his life nor doc trine had been such as gave him the least reason to • dread an appearance before them. Difference of opinion, he said, in matters of faith had ever arisen among learned men; and was always esteemed productive of truth, rather than of error, where bigotry was laid aside. Such, he said, was the difference between Aus• tin and Jerom: and though their opinions were not only ⚫ different, but contradictory, yet the imputation of heresy was never fixed on either.

Every one expected, that he would now either retract his errors, or at least apologize for them: But nothing of the kind was heard from him: He declared plainly, that he had nothing to retract. He launched out into an high encomium of Huss; calling him a holy man; and lamenting his cruel, and unjust death. He had armed himself, he said, with a full resolution to follow < the steps of that blessed martyr; and to suffer with constancy whatever the malice of his enemies could inflict. "The perjured witnesses, (said he) who have appeared "against me, have won their cause: But let them re"member, they have their evidence once more to give "before a tribunal, where falsehood can be no disguise.'

"It was impossible to hear this pathetic speaker with<out emotion. Every ear was captivated; and every heart touched.-But wishes in his favour were vain. He threw himself beyond a possibility of mercy. Braving death, he even provoked the vengeance which was hanging over him. "If that holy martyr, (said he, "speaking of Huss) used the clergy with disrespect, his "censures were not levelled at them as priests, but as "wicked men. He saw with indignation those reve

66 nues,

"nues, which had been designed for charitable ends, expended upon pageantry, and riot."

man.

Through this whole oration he shewed a most amaz⚫ing strength of memory. He had been confined almost • a year in a dungeon: The severity of which usage he ⚫ complained of, but in the language of a great and good In this horrid place, he was deprived of books and paper. Yet notwithstanding this, and the constant anxiety, which must have hung over him, he was at no more loss for proper authorities, and quotations, than if he had spent the intermediate time at leisure in his ⚫ study.

His voice was sweet, distinct, and full: His action ' every way the most proper, either to express indignation, or to raise pity; though he made no affected application to the passions of his audience. Firm, and intrepid, he stood before the council; collected in himself; and not only contemning, but seeming even desirous of death. The greatest character in ancient story could not possibly go beyond him. If there is any jus'tice in history, this man will be admired by all poste'rity.I speak not of his errors: Let these rest with him. What I admired was his learning, his eloquence, and amazing acuteness. God knows whether these things were not the ground-work of his ruin.

Two days were allowed him for reflection; during which time many persons of consequence, and particularly my lord cardinal of Florence, endeavoured to bring him to a better mind. But persisting obstinately in his errors, he was condemned as a heretic.

With a chearful countenance, and more than stoical constancy, he met his fate; fearing neither death itself, nor the horrible form, in which it appeared. When he came to the place, he pulled off his upper garment, and made a short prayer at the stake; to which he was 6 soon after bound with wet cords, and an iron chain; • and inclosed as high as his breast with faggots.

Observing the executioner about to set fire to the wood behind his back, he cried out, " Bring thy torch "hither. Perform thy office before my face. Had I “feared death, I might have avoided it.”

As the wood began to blaze, he sang an hymn, which the violence of the flame scarce interrupted.

Thus died this prodigious man. The epithet is not extravagant. I was myself an eye-witness of his whole • behaviour.

E

behaviour. Whatever his life may have been, his death, without doubt, is a lesson of philosophy.

But it is time to finish this long epistle. You will say I have had some leisure upon my hands: And, to say the truth, I have not much to do here. This will, I hope, convince you, that greatness is not wholly con fined to antiquity. You will think me perhaps tedious; but I could have been more prolix on a subject so copi-Farewell, my dear Leonard?

ous.

Constance, May 20th.

Such was the testimony borne to an adversary by this ingenuous papist. His friend Aretin was less candid. You attribute more, says he, to this man, than I could wish. You ought at least to write more cautiously of these things. And indeed, it is probable, Poggius would have written more cautiously, had he written a few days afterwards. But his letter is dated on the very day on which Jerom suffered, and came warm from the writer's heart. It is sufficiently plain, what Poggius himself thought of the council, and its proceedings. His encomium on Jerom is certainly a tacit censure of them.

WE may add here, as there are not materials to compose a distinct life, that the persecution of JOHN de WESALIA, for adopting the opinions of Wickliffe, followed not many years after the martyrdom of Huss and Jerom. He was brought before the inquisition and treated with great harshness and severity, which appear to be the more inhuman, as the good man was advanced to decrepid old age. However, he boldly defended the truth, and even told his inquisitors, upon an instance of their ill treatment, that if Christ himself were upon the earth, they "must condemn him for an heretic, if they condemned "him for following his doctrines." He maintained, that the substance of bread continued in the sacrament, but did not deny that Christ's body was there, after a manner; That no profession of religion can save a man, but only the grace of GOD; That the merits of the saints could not be disposed of on earth at market by the pope and his priests, if even the works of the saints had any merit, because it is written that their works do follow them; That pardons and indulgences were nothing better than pia fraudes, holy cheats, to impose upon the ignorant;* That

holy

* See an entertaining exposure of these delusions in a late pamphlet, entitled, A New Defence of the holy Roman Church against Heretics: Where,

holy water had no more virtue than common water; That GÓD gives his grace without the motion of our freewill; and that St Paul in particular did nothing of his own free-will in his conversion; That nothing is to be believed, which cannot be proved by scripture; That GOD hath from everlasting written a book, where he hath inscribed all his elect, and that whosoever is not already written there, will never be written there at all; but that he who is written therein, will never be blotted out of it; That the elect are saved by the alone grace of GOD; and that what man soever GOD willeth to save, by enduing him with grace, if all the priests in the world were desirous to damn and excommunicate that man, he would still be saved; That he despised the pope, his church, and his councils; but that he loved Christ, and desired that his word might dwell in him abundantly.

Doctor Wesalia was bowed down with years and infirmities, when he underwent the above examination, which produced, in that dark age [viz. A. D. 1479.] this noble testimony for the truth. Thus broken by age, and insulted with menaces, he was prevailed upon to sign a retractation, into which he was trepanned. It is plain, that this retractation was not considered as sincere, from his being condemned to perpetual confinement and penance in a monastery of the Augustins, where he died soon after, about the time of the birth of LUTHER.

PATRICK HAMILTON, THE FIRST SCOTCH REFORMER.

PATRICK HAMILTON was a gentleman of Scotland, and, says Mr Hugh Spence, of royal descent, being by his father nephew to James Hamilton, earl of Arran; and by his mother nephew to John Stewart, duke of Albany; a circumstance in Providence, that was subservient to raise more attention to his excellent doctrine, holy life, and patient sufferings. He had an amiable disposition,

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Where, in a vein of irony, the author has fhewn the most palpable abfurdities and blafphemies of popery. Printed for Matthews, in the Strand: