1st, that of Lollardism-the name given in the fifteenth century to the principles of Wycliffe (4) -extending from the reign of Edward III. to that of Henry VIII.; 2ndly, that of proper Puritanism, from the Reformation to the extinction of the Commonwealth on the restoration of Charles II.; 3rdly, that of Protestant Dissent, from the Restoration to the present day.

If we compare these periods with each other, we shall find in them only different manifestations of a common principle, tempered by the condition of society and the vigour of opposing tendencies. In the first-we witness resistance to an authority which no government had yet ventured to disown, and which seemed fast cemented in the general fabric of European civilisation-a struggle, which had nothing but individual conviction and some popular sympathy to uphold it, which the Crown, the Church, and for the most part the Parliament, combined to crush. In the secondresistance found a sanction and a precedent in the conduct of the Crown and the Parliament. The question no longer respected the principle of resistance, but only the mode and extent of it. Encouraged by such high authority, and instinct with all the energy of a new freedom, Puritanism, in the issue of the struggle, obtained a temporary ascendancy over the hierarchy. In the third-we see Protestant Dissent advancing by painful steps

and through many persecutions towards a legal toleration-with efforts from time to time renewed to gain more freedom, and rise to a complete religious equality.-In the ensuing pages an attempt has been made to discover the distinctive principles, and contrast the effects on our national mind and character, of the Anglican hierarchy and of Puritanism-to exhibit their mutual relation-and to trace out of their joint influence the evolution of a third principle, distinct from each-that of free religious inquiry. For the sake of the general reader, and to render future statements more intelligible—I shall occupy the next section of this chapter with a brief survey of the most important events in the external history of our religious progress during the three periods just enumerated.

SECT. II.

SKETCH OF THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS PARTIES IN ENGLAND.

1. Wycliffe was a native of the north of England, where the old Saxon character still endured in its greatest strength and purity, and whence most of those men came who were distinguished at this period by the boldness of their attacks on ecclesiastical abuses and by their zeal for reforma

tion.a (5) He would have been a remarkable man in any age; but two circumstances appear early to have imbued his mind with a severe and earnest spirit a close study of the doctrinal system of Augustine (two centuries after his time, developed with vast influence by the powerful intellect of Calvin), and the desolation of the great European pestilence, which visited England when he was entering life, and produced a most disastrous and demoralising effect on society. Drinking deeply into the spirit of his master, who also wrote under the wide-spread shadow of impending calamity,b b he saw in the ravages of disease and the moral disorders accompanying them, clear indications of approaching judgment and the end of the world. His first publication was entitled, "The last Age of the Church." In these gloomy forebodings, and the earnest purposes of reformation which grew out of them, he was confirmed by strong sympathy with the mystics and prophets of the continent. For the work of a controversialist he was admirably prepared by the severe discipline to which he had subjected his understanding, and by his skill in the scholastic exercises of the period. The Court of Rome, with characteristic policy-to counteract the popular movements of the time, and allay the rising storm against the monks and clergy-had • Huber's English Universities, edited by Newman, Ch. IV. Just before the overthrow of the Western Roman Empire.

sanctioned the sending out among the lower classes of vast swarms of itinerant preachers, who were called mendicant friars. They consisted of the two orders of Franciscans and Dominicans, who were rival candidates for the popular favour. It was against the ignorance and baseness of these preaching friars, that the earliest zeal of Wycliffe was directed.

a

So long as he confined his attacks to foreign ecclesiastics who monopolized the best English benefices, to the grosser corruptions of the clergy, and to the exactions of the Papal ministershe carried along with him the sympathy of the Court and of not a few among the aristocracy. He found a zealous patron in John of Gaunt, and was sent by Edward III., who subsequently beneficed him, on a deputation to confer with the Papal commissioners at Bruges. He also acquired great celebrity as a teacher at Oxford. His doctrines spread into Bohemia;b and the Queen of Richard II., who came from that country, brought with her a disposition to respect his character and principles. Such influences threw a protection round the person of Wycliffe; and a man more selfish and ambitious might have turned them to his advantage, without wholly forfeiting

a

They arose at the beginning of the 13th century.— Southey's Book of the Church, Vol. I.

b Collier, I. 586.

his reputation for consistency as a reformer. But his searching mind penetrated deeper into the evils of society, and was bent on their eradication. Much of the prevalent wickedness and irreligion he traced to the hierarchy itself, the very principle of which his reasonings led him to condemn. He preached strongly against the riches and corruption of the clergy, and affirmed the complete right of the state to resume and re-appropriate their property. He contended, that the influence of the clergy should be derived, not from their sacerdotal functions, but from their personal qualities; and that only those priests whose lives were holy and laborious, were entitled to pecuniary support. some respects, he anticipated the principles of the Quakers. Like them, he asserted the unlawfulness of all war; and denied the divine institution of tythes, which he would have left to be paid as a voluntary contribution; and for the splendour and ceremony of the Catholic service, would have gladly subtituted the greatest simplicity of worship.

In

His chief distinction among his contemporaries arose from his zeal to spread the knowledge of the Scriptures, which he translated into English, and widely circulated among the people. (6) In the pulpit his favourite mode of instruction was Scriptural exposition, or, as it was then called, postillating. He acquired at Oxford on this account the title of the Gospel Doctor. His influence as a preacher