conscience and the intellect, and set free the nations so long bound to
the triumphal car of Rome, had its spring in the Bible. Here was the
source of that stream of blessing, which, like the water of life, has
flowed down the ages since the fourteenth century. Wycliffe accepted the
Holy Scriptures with implicit faith as the inspired revelation of God’s
will, a sufficient rule of faith and practice. He had been educated to
regard the Church of Rome as the divine, infallible authority, and to
accept with unquestioning reverence the established teachings and customs
of a thousand years; but he turned away from all these to listen to God’s
holy word. This was the authority which he urged the people to
acknowledge. Instead of the church speaking through the pope, he declared
the only true authority to be the voice of God speaking through His word.
And he taught not only that the Bible is a perfect revelation of God’s
will, but that the Holy Spirit is its only interpreter, and that every man
is, by the study of its teachings, to learn his duty for himself. Thus he
turned the minds of men from the pope and the Church of Rome to the word
of God.
Wycliffe was one of the greatest of the Reformers. In breadth of
intellect, in clearness of thought, in firmness to maintain the truth, and
boldness to defend it, he was equaled by few who came after him. Purity of
life, unwearying diligence in study and in labor, incorruptible integrity,
and Christlike love and faithfulness in his ministry, characterized the
first of the Reformers. And this notwithstanding the intellectual darkness
and moral corruption of the age from which he emerged.
The character of Wycliffe is a testimony to the educating, transforming
power of the Holy Scriptures. It was the Bible that made him what he was.
The effort to grasp the great truths of revelation imparts freshness and
vigor to all the faculties. It expands the mind, sharpens the perceptions,
and ripens the judgment. The study of the Bible will ennoble every
thought, feeling, and aspiration as no other study can. It gives stability
of purpose, patience, courage, and fortitude; it refines the character,
and sanctifies the soul. An earnest, reverent study of the Scriptures,
bringing the mind of the student in direct contact with the infinite mind,
would give to the world men of stronger and more active intellect, as well
as of nobler principle, than has ever resulted from the ablest training
that human philosophy affords. “The entrance of Thy words,” says the
psalmist, “giveth light; it giveth understanding.”(123)
The doctrines which had been taught by Wycliffe continued for a time to
spread; his followers, known as Wycliffites and Lollards, not only
traversed England, but scattered to other lands, carrying the knowledge of
the gospel. Now that their leader was removed, the preachers labored with
even greater zeal than before, and multitudes flocked to listen to their
teachings. Some of the nobility, and even the wife of the king, were among
the converts. In many places there was a marked reform in the manners of
the people, and the idolatrous symbols of Romanism were removed from the
churches. But soon the pitiless storm of persecution burst upon those who
had dared to accept the Bible as their guide. The English monarchs, eager
to strengthen their power by securing the support of Rome, did not
hesitate to sacrifice the Reformers. For the first time in the history of
England, the stake was decreed against the disciples of the gospel.
Martyrdom succeeded martyrdom. The advocates of truth, proscribed and
tortured, could only pour their cries into the ear of the Lord of Sabaoth.
Hunted as foes of the church and traitors to the realm, they continued to
preach in secret places, finding shelter as best they could in the humble
homes of the poor, and often hiding away even in dens and caves.
Notwithstanding the rage of persecution, a calm, devout, earnest, patient
protest against the prevailing corruption of religious faith continued for
centuries to be uttered. The Christians of that early time had only a
partial knowledge of the truth, but they had learned to love and obey
God’s word, and they patiently suffered for its sake. Like the disciples
in apostolic days, many sacrificed their worldly possessions for the cause
of Christ. Those who were permitted to dwell in their homes, gladly
sheltered their banished brethren; and when they too were driven forth,
they cheerfully accepted the lot of the outcast. Thousands, it is true,
terrified by the fury of their persecutors, purchased their freedom at the
sacrifice of their faith, and went out of their prisons, clothed in
penitents’ robes, to publish their recantation. But the number was not
small—and among them were men of noble birth as well as the humble and
lowly—who bore fearless testimony to the truth in dungeon cells, in
“Lollard towers,” and in the midst of torture and flame, rejoicing that
they were counted worthy to know “the fellowship of His sufferings.”
The papists had failed to work their will with Wycliffe during his life,
and their hatred could not be satisfied while his body rested quietly in
the grave. By the decree of the Council of Constance, more than forty
years after his death his bones were exhumed and publicly burned, and the
ashes were thrown into a neighboring brook. “This brook,” says an old
writer, “hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into
the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe
are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world
over.”(124) Little did his enemies realize the significance of their
malicious act.
It was through the writings of Wycliffe that John Huss, of Bohemia, was
led to renounce many of the errors of Romanism, and to enter upon the work
of reform. Thus in these two countries, so widely separated, the seed of
truth was sown. From Bohemia the work extended to other lands. The minds
of men were directed to the long-forgotten word of God. A divine hand was
preparing the way for the Great Reformation.
6. HUSS AND JEROME.
[Illustration: Chapter header.]
The gospel had been planted in Bohemia as early as the ninth century. The
Bible was translated, and public worship was conducted, in the language of
the people. But as the power of the pope increased, so the word of God was
obscured. Gregory VII., who had taken it upon him to humble the pride of
kings, was no less intent upon enslaving the people, and accordingly a
bull was issued forbidding public worship to be conducted in the Bohemian
tongue. The pope declared that “it was pleasing to the Omnipotent that His
worship should be celebrated in an unknown language, and that many evils
and heresies had arisen from not observing this rule.”(125) Thus Rome
decreed that the light of God’s word should be extinguished, and the
people should be shut up in darkness. But Heaven had provided other
agencies for the preservation of the church. Many of the Waldenses and
Albigenses, driven by persecution from their homes in France and Italy,
came to Bohemia. Though they dared not teach openly, they labored
zealously in secret. Thus the true faith was preserved from century to
century.
Before the days of Huss, there were men in Bohemia who rose up to condemn
openly the corruption in the church and the profligacy of the people.
Their labors excited widespread interest. The fears of the hierarchy were
roused, and persecution was opened against the disciples of the gospel.
Driven to worship in the forests and the mountains, they were hunted by
soldiers, and many were put to death. After a time it was decreed that all
who departed from the Romish worship should be burned. But while the
Christians yielded up their lives, they looked forward to the triumph of
their cause. One of those who “taught that salvation was only to be found
by faith in the crucified Saviour,” declared when dying, “The rage of the
enemies of the truth now prevails against us, but it will not be forever;
there shall arise one from among the common people, without sword or
authority, and against him they shall not be able to prevail.”(126)
Luther’s time was yet far distant; but already one was rising, whose
testimony against Rome would stir the nations.
John Huss was of humble birth, and was early left an orphan by the death
of his father. His pious mother, regarding education and the fear of God
as the most valuable of possessions, sought to secure this heritage for
her son. Huss studied at the provincial school, and then repaired to the
university at Prague, receiving admission as a charity scholar. He was
accompanied on the journey to Prague by his mother; widowed and poor, she
had no gift of worldly wealth to bestow upon her son, but as they drew
near to the great city, she kneeled down beside the fatherless youth, and
invoked for him the blessing of their Father in heaven. Little did that
mother realize how her prayer was to be answered.
At the university, Huss soon distinguished himself by his untiring
application and rapid progress, while his blameless life and gentle,
winning deportment gained him universal esteem. He was a sincere adherent
of the Roman Church, and an earnest seeker for the spiritual blessings
which it professes to bestow. On the occasion of a jubilee, he went to
confession, paid the last few coins in his scanty store, and joined in the
processions, that he might share in the absolution promised. After
completing his college course, he entered the priesthood, and rapidly
attaining to eminence, he soon became attached to the court of the king.
He was also made professor and afterward rector of the university where he
had received his education. In a few years the humble charity scholar had
become the pride of his country, and his name was renowned throughout
Europe.
But it was in another field that Huss began the work of reform. Several
years after taking priest’s orders he was appointed preacher of the chapel
of Bethlehem. The founder of this chapel had advocated, as a matter of
great importance, the preaching of the Scriptures in the language of the
people. Notwithstanding Rome’s opposition to this practice, it had not
been wholly discontinued in Bohemia. But there was great ignorance of the
Bible, and the worst vices prevailed among the people of all ranks. These
evils Huss unsparingly denounced, appealing to the word of God to enforce
the principles of truth and purity which he inculcated.
A citizen of Prague, Jerome, who afterward became so closely associated
with Huss, had, on returning from England, brought with him the writings
of Wycliffe. The queen of England, who had been a convert to Wycliffe’s
teachings, was a Bohemian princess, and through her influence also the
Reformer’s works were widely circulated in her native country. These works
Huss read with interest; he believed their author to be a sincere
Christian, and was inclined to regard with favor the reforms which he
advocated. Already, though he knew it not, Huss had entered upon a path
which was to lead him far away from Rome.
About this time there arrived in Prague two strangers from England, men of
learning, who had received the light, and had come to spread it in this
distant land. Beginning with an open attack on the pope’s supremacy, they
were soon silenced by the authorities; but being unwilling to relinquish
their purpose, they had recourse to other measures. Being artists as well
as preachers, they proceeded to exercise their skill. In a place open to
the public they drew two pictures. One represented the entrance of Christ
into Jerusalem, “meek, and sitting upon an ass,”(127) and followed by His
disciples in travel-worn garments and with naked feet. The other picture
portrayed a pontifical procession,—the pope arrayed in his rich robes and
triple crown, mounted upon a horse magnificently adorned, preceded by
trumpeters, and followed by cardinals and prelates in dazzling array.
Here was a sermon which arrested the attention of all classes. Crowds came
to gaze upon the drawings. None could fail to read the moral, and many
were deeply impressed by the contrast between the meekness and humility of
Christ the Master, and the pride and arrogance of the pope, His professed
servant. There was great commotion in Prague, and the strangers after a
time found it necessary, for their own safety, to depart. But the lesson
they had taught was not forgotten. The pictures made a deep impression on
the mind of Huss, and led him to a closer study of the Bible and of
Wycliffe’s writings. Though he was not prepared, even yet, to accept all
the reforms advocated by Wycliffe, he saw more clearly the true character
of the papacy, and with greater zeal denounced the pride, the ambition,
and the corruption of the hierarchy.
From Bohemia the light extended to Germany; for disturbances in the
University of Prague caused the withdrawal of hundreds of German students.
Many of them had received from Huss their first knowledge of the Bible,
and on their return they spread the gospel in their fatherland.
Tidings of the work at Prague were carried to Rome, and Huss was soon
summoned to appear before the pope. To obey would be to expose himself to
certain death. The king and queen of Bohemia, the university, members of
the nobility, and officers of the government, united in an appeal to the
pontiff that Huss be permitted to remain at Prague, and to answer at Rome
by deputy. Instead of granting this request, the pope proceeded to the
trial and condemnation of Huss, and then declared the city of Prague to be
under interdict.
In that age this sentence, whenever pronounced, created wide-spread alarm.
The ceremonies by which it was accompanied were well adapted to strike
terror to a people who looked upon the pope as the representative of God
Himself, holding the keys of heaven and hell, and possessing power to
invoke temporal as well as spiritual judgments. It was believed that the
gates of heaven were closed against the region smitten with interdict;
that until it should please the pope to remove the ban, the dead were shut
out from the abodes of bliss. In token of this terrible calamity, all the
services of religion were suspended. The churches were closed. Marriages
were solemnized in the churchyard. The dead, denied burial in consecrated
ground, were interred, without the rites of sepulture, in the ditches or
the fields. Thus by measures which appealed to the imagination, Rome
essayed to control the consciences of men.
The city of Prague was filled with tumult. A large class denounced Huss as
the cause of all their calamities, and demanded that he be given up to the
vengeance of Rome. To quiet the storm, the Reformer withdrew for a time to
his native village. Writing to the friends whom he had left at Prague, he
said: “If I have withdrawn from the midst of you, it is to follow the
precept and example of Jesus Christ, in order not to give room to the
ill-minded to draw on themselves eternal condemnation, and in order not to
be to the pious a cause of affliction and persecution, I have retired also
through an apprehension that impious priests might continue for a longer
time to prohibit the preaching of the word of God amongst you; but I have
not quitted you to deny the divine truth, for which, with God’s
assistance, I am willing to die.”(128) Huss did not cease his labors, but
traveled through the surrounding country, preaching to eager crowds. Thus
the measures to which the pope resorted to suppress the gospel, were
causing it to be the more widely extended. “We can do nothing against the
truth, but for the truth.”(129)
“The mind of Huss, at this stage of his career, would seem to have been
the scene of a painful conflict. Although the church was seeking to
overwhelm him by her thunderbolts, he had not renounced her authority. The
Roman Church was still to him the spouse of Christ, and the pope was the
representative and vicar of God. What Huss was warring against was the
abuse of authority, not the principle itself. This brought on a terrible
conflict between the convictions of his understanding and the claims of
his conscience. If the authority was just and infallible, as he believed
it to be, how came it that he felt compelled to disobey it? To obey, he
saw, was to sin; but why should obedience to an infallible church lead to
such an issue? This was the problem he could not solve; this was the doubt
that tortured him hour by hour. The nearest approximation to a solution
which he was able to make, was that it had happened again, as once before
in the days of the Saviour, that the priests of the church had become
wicked persons, and were using their lawful authority for unlawful ends.
This led him to adopt for his own guidance, and to preach to others for
theirs, the maxim that the precepts of Scripture, conveyed through the
understanding, are to rule the conscience; in other words, that God
speaking in the Bible, and not the church speaking through the priesthood,
is the one infallible guide.”(130)
When after a time the excitement in Prague subsided, Huss returned to his
chapel of Bethlehem, to continue with greater zeal and courage the
preaching of the word of God. His enemies were active and powerful, but
the queen and many of the nobles were his friends, and the people in great
numbers sided with him. Comparing his pure and elevating teachings and
holy life with the degrading dogmas which the Romanists preached, and the
avarice and debauchery which they practised, many regarded it an honor to
be on his side.
Hitherto Huss had stood alone in his labors; but now Jerome, who while in
England had accepted the teachings of Wycliffe, joined in the work of
reform. The two were hereafter united in their lives, and in death they
were not to be divided. Brilliancy of genius, eloquence and learning—gifts
that win popular favor—were possessed in a preeminent degree by Jerome;
but in those qualities which constitute real strength of character, Huss
was the greater. His calm judgment served as a restraint upon the
impulsive spirit of Jerome, who, with true humility, perceived his worth,
and yielded to his counsels. Under their united labors the reform was more
rapidly extended.
God permitted great light to shine upon the minds of these chosen men,
revealing to them many of the errors of Rome; but they did not receive all
the light that was to be given to the world. Through these, His servants,
God was leading the people out of the darkness of Romanism; but there were
many and great obstacles for them to meet, and He led them on, step by
step, as they could bear it. They were not prepared to receive all the
light at once. Like the full glory of the noontide sun to those who have
long dwelt in darkness, it would, if presented, have caused them to turn
away. Therefore He revealed it to the leaders little by little, as it
could be received by the people. From century to century, other faithful
workers were to follow, to lead the people on still farther in the path of
reform.
The schism in the church still continued. Three popes were now contending
for the supremacy, and their strife filled Christendom with crime and
tumult. Not content with hurling anathemas, they resorted to temporal
weapons. Each cast about him to purchase arms and to obtain soldiers. Of
course money must be had; and to procure this, the gifts, offices, and
blessings of the church were offered for sale.(131) The priests also,
imitating their superiors, resorted to simony and war to humble their
rivals and strengthen their own power. With daily increasing boldness,
Huss thundered against the abominations which were tolerated in the name
of religion; and the people openly accused the Romish leaders as the cause
of the miseries that overwhelmed Christendom.
Again the city of Prague seemed on the verge of a bloody conflict. As in
former ages, God’s servant was accused as “he that troubleth Israel.”(132)
The city was again placed under interdict, and Huss withdrew to his native
village. The testimony so faithfully borne from his loved chapel of
Bethlehem was ended. He was to speak from a wider stage, to all
Christendom, before laying down his life as a witness for the truth.
To cure the evils that were distracting Europe, a general council was
summoned to meet at Constance. The council was called at the desire of the
emperor Sigismund, by one of the three rival popes, John XXIII. The demand
for a council had been far from welcome to Pope John, whose character and
policy could ill bear investigation, even by prelates as lax in morals as
were the churchmen of those times. He dared not, however, oppose the will
of Sigismund.(133)
The chief objects to be accomplished by the council were to heal the
schism in the church, and to root out heresy. Hence the two anti-popes
were summoned to appear before it, as well as the leading propagator of
the new opinions, John Huss. The former, having regard to their own
safety, did not attend in person, but were represented by their delegates.
Pope John, while ostensibly the convoker of the council, came to it with
many misgivings, suspecting the emperor’s secret purpose to depose him,
and fearing to be brought to account for the vices which had disgraced the
tiara, as well as for the crimes which had secured it. Yet he made his
entry into the city of Constance with great pomp, attended by
ecclesiastics of the highest rank, and followed by a train of courtiers.
All the clergy and dignitaries of the city, with an immense crowd of
citizens, went out to welcome him. Above his head was a golden canopy,
borne by four of the chief magistrates. The host was carried before him,
and the rich dresses of the cardinals and nobles made an imposing display.
Meanwhile another traveler was approaching Constance. Huss was conscious
of the dangers which threatened him. He parted from his friends as if he
were never to meet them again, and went on his journey feeling that it was
leading him to the stake. Notwithstanding he had obtained a safe-conduct
from the king of Bohemia, and received one also from the emperor Sigismund
while on his journey, he made all his arrangements in view of the
probability of his death.
In a letter addressed to his friends at Prague he said: “My brethren, ...
I am departing with a safe-conduct from the king, to meet my numerous and
mortal enemies.... I confide altogether in the all-powerful God, in my
Saviour; I trust that He will listen to your ardent prayers, that He will
infuse His prudence and His wisdom into my mouth, in order that I may
resist them; and that He will accord me His Holy Spirit to fortify me in
His truth, so that I may face with courage, temptations, prison, and if
necessary, a cruel death. Jesus Christ suffered for His well-beloved; and
therefore ought we to be astonished that He has left us His example, in
order that we may ourselves endure with patience all things for our own
salvation? He is God, and we are His creatures; He is the Lord, and we are
His servants; He is Master of the world, and we are contemptible
mortals:—yet He suffered! Why, then, should we not suffer also,
particularly when suffering is for us a purification? Therefore, beloved,
if my death ought to contribute to His glory, pray that it may come
quickly, and that He may enable me to support all my calamities with
constancy. But if it be better that I return amongst you, let us pray to
God that I may return without stain,—that is, that I may not suppress one
tittle of the truth of the gospel, in order to leave my brethren an
excellent example to follow. Probably, therefore, you will never more
behold my face at Prague: but should the will of the all-powerful God
deign to restore me to you, let us then advance with a firmer heart in the
knowledge and the love of His law.”(134)