obtained a bull, whereby the pope gave him commission to prevent the publishing of those errors in his province.

This archbishop, we are told, was a most illiterate man. He was so illiterate, that he was called, in ridicule, Alphabetarius, the A B C doctor. Indeed, the clergy of those times were remarkably ignorant, insomuch that many of the prelates could not write, but directed their chaplains to subscribe their very names for them to ecclesiastical deeds and papers.

The archbishop, by virtue of this bull, definitely condemned the writings of Wickliffe, proceeded against four doctors, who had not delivered up the copies of that divine; and prohibited them, notwithstanding their privileges, to preach in any congregation. Doctor Huss, with some other members of the university, and the patron of the chapel of Bethlehem, made their protestations against these proceedings; and, on the twenty-fifth of June, A. D. 1410, entered a new appeal from the sentences of the archbishop. This affair was carried before pope John XXIII. who granted a commission to cardinal Colonna to cite John Huss to appear personally at the court of Rome, to answer the accusations laid against him of preaching both errors and heresies. Doctor Huss desired to be excused a personal appearance, and was so greatly favoured in Bohemia, that king Wenceslaus, the queen, the nobility, and the university, desired the pope to dispense with such an appearance; as also, that he would not suffer the kingdom of Bohemia to lie under the defamation of being accused of heresy, but permit them to preach the gospel with freedom in their places of worship; and that he would send legates to Prague to correct any pretended abuses, the expence of which should be defrayed by the Bohemians.

Three proctors appeared for doctor Huss, before cardinal Colonna, who was elected pope, in 1417, and assumed the name of Martin V. The proctors alledged excuses for the absence of Huss, and declared they were ready to answer in his behalf: But the cardinal declared Huss contumacious, and excommunicated him accordingly.

The proctors appealed to the pope, who appointed the cardinals of Aquileia, Brancas, Venice, and Zabarella, to draw up the process of this whole affair. These commissioners not only confirmed the judgment given by cardinal Colonna, but carried the matter much farther; for they extended the excommunication, which had passed against Huss, to all his disciples, and also to his friends. He was declared a promoter of heresy, and an interdict

was

was pronounced against him. From these proceedings he appealed to a future council; and, notwithstanding the decision of the four commissioners, and his being expelled from the church of Bethlehem, he retired to Hussenitz, the place of his nativity, where he boldly continued to promulgate his doctrine, both from the pulpit, and with the

pen.

The letters which he wrote about this time, are very numerous; and he compiled a treatise wherein he maintained that the reading of the books of heretics cannot be absolutely forbidden. He justified Wickliffe's book on the Trinity, and defended the character of that Reformer against a charge brought by one Stokes, an Englishman, and others, who accused him of disobedience.

It is truth, and not opinion, which can travel through the world without a passport. The glorious cause of truth had been freely espoused by Huss, who undauntedly declaimed against the clergy, the cardinals, and even against the pope himself. He wrote a discourse to prove, that the faults and vices of churchmen ought to be reproved from the pulpit. Regarding the blood of Jesus Christ, which many pretended to have as a relic, he observed, that Christ, being glorified, took up with him all his own blood, and that there is no remain of it on carth; as also that the greatest part of the miracles, which are reported about the apparition of his blood, are the frauds and impostures of avaricious and designing men. He maintained, that Jesus Christ might be called bread : But he departed not from the doctrine of the church about the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. But it is of small importance with the church of Rome, in what particular points the judgments of men coincide with its doctrines, if the whole of the corrupt leaven be not implicitly swallowed. And perhaps no points are held more sacred by that heretical communion, than those which yield the most abundant profit to the holy see, falsely so called. To attack the virtue of papal indulgences, is striking at the most fundamental pillar of the popedom; and to deny the stock of merit, laid up in the church for public sale, is a damnable denial of the privileges of the clergy, to whom both heaven and earth belong, under the disposal of their pontiff, Christ's pretended vicar here below. These monstrous abuses, some very few of that church have attempted, as far as they dared, to censure. And with respect to Rome itself, a journey thither would probably

effect

effect more to prevent a perversion from protestantism to popery, than a thousand wordy arguments. The wickedness and vices of the clergy, in that city, speak aloud for their principles. The review of these caused Hildebert, archbishop of Tours, so long ago as the twelfth century, to characterize that famous mart of souls in the following words:

Urbs felix, si vel dominis urbs illa careret,
Vel dominis esset turpe carere fide.

That is,

Happy city, if it had no masters; or if it were scandalous for those masters to be unfaithful.' Luther used to say, that for 1000 florins he would not but have been at Rome,' where he saw so thoroughly into that sink of sin and spiritual abomination, that he abhorred the place and its profession all his life afterwards. He had been sent thither, in the early part of his life, in behalf of his convent. But to proceed:

About the time when Huss wrote the above discourses, Peter of Dresden was obliged to fly from Saxony, and seek a refuge at Prague, where he encouraged Jacobelle of Misnia, a priest of the chapel of St Michael, to preach up the establishment of the communion under the species of wine. This opinion was embraced by doctor Huss and his followers, who began to preach, that the use of the cup was necessary to the laity, and that the sacrament should be administered under both kinds. Archbishop Sbynko was incensed at these proceedings, and applied to king Wenceslaus for assistance, which that monarch refused. The prelate then had recourse to Sigismund, king of Hungary, who promised to come into Bohemia, and settle the affairs of the church in that kingdom: But Sbynko died in Hungary, before Sigismund began his journey into Bohemia. Albicus succeeded to the archiepiscopal see of Prague, who permitted the Hussites to continue their sermons; and their doctrine became almost general.

Doctor Huss left this retirement, and returned to Prague, in 1412, at the time that pope John XXIII. published the bulls against Laodislaus, king of Naples, whereby he ordered a croisade against him, and granted indulgencies to all those who undertook this war. These bulls were confuted by doctor Huss, who declaimed against croisades and indulgences. The populace became animated by his orations, and declared that pope John was antichrist. The magistrates caused some of them to be apprehended, and

the

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 oc'casion, 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 extortions 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 dispersed