monks and mendicants." Though neither Trevisa nor Lord Berkeley are usually ranked among the Lollards, they partook of the same spirit of piety, derived from their study of the Holy Scriptures *.

William of Wickham was a great man in his day, being bishop of Winchester and lord chancellor. He founded New College at Oxford, A. D. 1379, besides that at Winchester. He was a decided enemy to the Romish locusts, and died, A. D. 1404, professing, that notwithstanding all his good works to benefit his country, he trusted in Christ alone for salvation and eternal life.

CHAPTER III.

ENGLISH MARTYRS.

Archbishop Courtney- Richard II deposed - Bloody Statute-William Sawtre, the first burnt at the stake-Order of his execution John Badby-Sir Roger Acton and other martyrs - Archbishop Arundel's murderous policy-Lord CobhamHis condemnation - His martyrdom.

COURTNEY was succeeded in the primacy, A. D. 1396, by Thomas Arundel, archbishop of York. But this prelate, who had so commended the scriptural piety of Queen Anne, “is branded in history as a persecutor and a traitor : " as Dr. Southey remarks, "becoming a traitor, and taking an active part in deposing Richard, that he might no longer be withheld from persecuting a sect, whose numbers were now formidable. It was by the aid of the clergy that Henry IV succeeded in usurping the throne, this being the only instance in English history, wherein their conduct as a body was disloyal. To prove himself as sincere in their cause, as they had been in his, and as little restrained by humanity or justice in supporting it, he passed a statute, whereby all persons, who propagated a new doctrine by preaching, writing, teaching, or discourse, were required to renounce their heresies, and deliver in all their heretical books, and submit themselves to the Church, on pain of being delivered over to the secular arm, and burnt alivet."

*Fuller, cent. xv, p. 156.

t Book of the Church, vol. i, p.348, 349.

Milner remarks, "Richard II being deposed, Henry of Lancaster, the son of that same John of Gaunt, who had patronized Wycliffe, usurped the throne in the year 1399; and shortly after, was crowned by Arundel, then archbishop of Canterbury. Both the king and the archbishop had demonstrated by their conduct that they were ready to sacrifice every thing to their ambition. It is not therefore matter of surprise, either that the murderer of King Richard should proceed to persecute, with extreme barbarity, the Lollards, whom his father had so zealously protected; or that the archbishop, who had supported the usurper in his iniquitous pretensions to the crown, should also concur with him in his plan to crush those reformers *."

Conscience cannot be convinced by fines and imprisonment, by fires and faggots: yet nothing would satisfy the unprincipled archbishop and his colleagues, less than the adoption of the bloody decree of the papal court. It had been decreed in the fourth council of Lateran, A. D. 1215, "that all heretics should be delivered over to the civil power to be burned." This bloody statute was obtained by Arundel, A. D. 1400; and by this law it was required, that heretics should be burnt "in an high place before the people, to the end that such punishment might strike fear to the minds of others." To give further efficiency to this dreadful statute, Arundel published several provincial constitutions, by which, any person preaching doctrines contrary to the determinations of the church, or calling them in question, were for the first offence excommunicated, and for the second, declared heretics. Whosoever read the books of Wycliffe or his disciples, without a special license from one of the universities, was condemned as a promoter of heresy. Oxford being infected with "Lollardy," the heads of every college were enjoined, on pain of excommunication and deprivation themselves, to inquire every month whether any scholar held doctrines against the determination of the church: in which case they were to be expelled and condemned as guilty of treason. "Twelve inquisitors of heresy, for this dreadful name had

* Church History, vol. iv, p. 107.

been introduced among us, were appointed at Oxford, to search out heresy and heretical books *."

William Sawtre, parish priest of St. Osithes, London, was the first victim under the new statute, and the first martyr for the Reformation in England. While minister of St. Margaret's at Lynn, in Norfolk, he had been examined for his opinions by the bishop of Norwich; and, under the fear of death, had formally abjured them. On his removal to London he petitioned parliament that he might be heard before them for the benefit of the whole realm, induced less probably by the hope of any public good, than by the desire of recovering his own peace of mind. He was therefore brought before archbishop Arundel in convocation, and charged with affirming that he would not worship the cross on which Christ was crucified. Sawtre was examined on this single question, whether the sacrament of the altar, after the pronouncing of the words of consecration, remained material bread or not. His final answer was, that it remained bread as before; on which, he was declared convicted of heresy, and sentenced as an heretic to be punished, after having been degraded and deposed from the priesthood.

Sawtre being the first that was condemned to the stake in England, Arundel was very particular in all the forms of his degradation and execution, that they might serve as an exact precedent for all future occasions. "They were probably derived," says Southey, "from the practice of the accursed Inquisition in Languedoc; and they were well devised for prolonging the impression of horror upon the expectant and awed spectators. Sawtre was brought before the primate and six other bishops in the cathedral of St. Paul's; they were in their pontifical attire, and he appeared in priestly vestments, with the paten and chalice in his hands. Arundel stood up, and in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (thus profaned in this inhuman process), degraded him, first from his priestly order, and in sign of that degradation took from him the paten and chalice, and

* Southey.

plucked the priestly casule from his back. The New Testament was then put into his hands, and taken from him; the stole being at the same time pulled off, to degrade him from the office of deacon. By depriving him of the alb and maniple, his deprivation from the order of sub-deacon was effected; the candlestick taper, and urceole were taken from him as an acolyte; the book of exorcisms as an exorcist; the lectionary as a reader: he then remained in a surplice as a sexton, and with the key of the church door; these also were taken from him; the priest's cap was then to be laid aside; the tonsure to be rased away, so that no outward mark whatever of his orders might remain; the cap of a layman was placed upon his head, and Arundel then delivered him, as a secular person, to the secular court of the high constable and marshal of England there present; beseeching the court to receive favourably the said William Sawtre, unto them thus recommitted! For with this hypocritical recommendation to mercy the Romish church always delivered over its victims to be burnt alive! Sawtre accordingly suffered martyrdom at the stake, in Smithfield; leaving a name slandered by the Romanists, but held in deserved respect for the sake of the gospel by British Christians

How far the simple purity of evangelical order in the ministry had been corrupted, may be imagined by the process of degrading Sawtre. "How many steps," Fuller remarks, in relating this farce, "are required to climb up to the top of popish priesthood! It is almost incredible, how many trinkets must be had to complete a priest !"

Sawtre having died at the stake, the Lollards were admonished, and observed greater privacy in their profession of the Gospel. But several suffered grievous troubles for the sake of Christ. Among these was William Thorpe, a priest of great firmness and ability. After a series of bitter persecutions from archbishop Arundel, he was imprisoned, where it is believed he died through ill usage, about A. D. 1407. His

*Book of the Church, vol. i, p. 354; Fox, vol. i, p. 671-675; Fuller, cent. xv, p. 156-158.

"Examinations," written by himself, exhibit him, as Fox says, "a valiant warrior under the triumphant banner of Christ *."

John Badby, a tailor, of the diocese of Gloucester, was the second victim. He was convicted of heresy by the bishop of Worcester, as he declared that it was "impossible that any priest could make the body of Christ sacramentally." "I believe," said he, "the omnipotent God in Trinity; but if every consecrated host at the altar be Christ's body, there must be in England no less than twenty thousand gods." He was brought to London and examined before the archbishop of Canterbury, at St. Paul's, in the presence of many prelates, the duke of York, and the nobility; but, declaring that no power should make him deny his opinions, he was condemned to be burnt. Prince Henry, afterwards king Henry V, was present at his execution, and urged him to save his life by submitting to the judgment of the church. The box of the sacrament was then brought forth by the prior of St. Bartholomew's, twelve torches being carried before it but when it was presented to Badby as he stood in an empty cask, chained to the stake, with faggots piled around him, he still called it "hallowed bread, and not God's body," and the fatal fire was kindled. His cry for mercy touched the heart of the prince, who ordered the fire to be quenched, hoping to prevail on the sufferer to recant, offering him at the same time a pension for life: but he continued firm in the rejection of the popish dogma; when being rereplaced in the cask, and, calling upon Christ to receive his spirit, he expired a martyr for the Saviour's truth, A. D. 1409.

Milner remarks, "It was a marvellous instance of the strength of Christ made perfect in weakness, and a striking proof that God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, that a single artificer should sustain the most cruel torments with patience and serenity, not only in defence of divine truth, but also of common sense; while the most dignified characters in the kingdom, and among these the prince of Wales, afterwards the renowned Henry V, * Acts and Monuments, vol. i, p. 689-708; Wickliff to Bilney, by the Tract Society.

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