but the council of Constance in 1415, condemned his memory and opinions by a solemn decree; and about thirteen years after, his bones were dug up and publicly burnt.

As the Lollards increased, the clergy felt alarmed, for they saw plainly that the prostration of the monasteries and confiscation of church lands was endangered. Transubstantiation was denied by the new heretics, and their denial was made the test of heresy. Whoever was found guilty was condemned to the stake. One William Sautre, a parish priest, in London, and John Badby, a tailor, were tried, condemned and burnt alive. But a more distinguished victim was Lord Cobham, a man of high birth, in favour with Henry V. He had searched the scriptures and become satisfied that transubstantiation, penance, pilgrimages and image worship were wrong, and he had the boldness to declare his sentiments. The monks eyed him with malice, and accused him to the king, Henry V. The king dreaded the sacrifice of so noble a subject and endeavoured to reclaim him. But Sir John had the spirit of a martyr. He had long been impressed with the errors of Popery and the truth of the doctrines of Wickliff. He knew, from experience, their worth. "Before God and men," said he to his accusers and judges, "I solemnly here profess, that, till I knew Wickliff, whose judgment ye so highly disdain, I never abstained from sin; but after I became acquainted with that virtuous man and his despised doctrines, it hath been otherwise with me; so much grace could I never find in all your pompous instructions." The writings of the Reformer, he had carefully collected and scattered among the people, and he was now willing to die in their defence. When brought before the king, he said, "You, most worthy prince, I am always prompt and willing to obey; unto you (next, my eternal God,) owe I my whole obedience. But as touching the pope and his spirituality, I owe them neither suit nor service; for so much as I know him by the scriptures to be the great Antichrist, the son of perdition, the open adversary of God, and the abomination standing in the holy place." The king turned angrily from him and delivered him over to the executioner. But the noble victim escaped from prison, and, being accused by his enemies of high treason, was outlawed, taken, hanged as a traitor, and burnt, hanging, as an heretic. Thus died Lord Cobham-a noble witness to the truth as it is in Jesus.

The Lollards increased; more than 100,000 were found in England. The government stood in great fear of them. The prisons in and about London were all filled. Thirty-nine persons were at one time suspended by chains from a gallows and

burnt alive for heresy and treason. In Scotland, James Retby was burned alive in 1407. Whole families were obliged to quit their abodes for safety. Indeed, for more than a century these persecutions raged with violence both in England and Scotland. No mercy was to be expected by men who read the scriptures and spoke against the superstitions of popery. Such as escaped the fire were branded on the cheek and compelled to wear a faggot on their sleeve to shew that they were brands plucked out of the fire. But the burning of the witnesses was found to be no way to extinguish them.

On the continent, the writings of Wickliff produced similar effects as in England. They were carried by a student of Oxford into Bohemia and there read by John Huss. This eminent man was born in 1373. For his learning and talents, he was appointed rector of the university of Prague. He was also a preacher of great celebrity in the chapel of Bethlehem. He never obtained sufficient light to renounce all the superstitious notions of the age, not even the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation. His bitterest enemies therefore could never accuse him of heresy. But, from reading the scriptures and the writings of Wickliff, he acquired a spirit of holiness and an abhorrence of sin; and, having great decision and boldness of character, he declaimed vehemently against the monstrous vices and corruptions of all orders of clergy and monks and drew upon him their wrath and indignation. For his holy boldness, he was summoned to appear before the council of Constance-an immense body composed of all the dignitaries of church and state in Europe; convened to endeavour to satisfy the popular clamour which had already become loud, for a reformation in the Church. Huss appeared there, A. D. 1414, having obtained a passport from the emperor, assuring his safety in going and returning. He received only a mock trial. Many things were laid to his charge, but nothing criminal was proved against him. He persisted however in refusing to acknowledge himself in an error, unless previously convicted of it, from the Holy Scripture, even though he was declared to be so by the catholic church; and this was enough to ensure his condemnation. The emperor shamefully delivered him into the hands of his enemies and sentence of death was pronounced upon him. His books were condemned; he was degraded from his priestly office and burned alive. Flis blood-thirsty enemies had power to destroy his body, but could not subdue his noble spirit. At the place of execution, he cried aloud; "Lord Jesus, I humbly suffer this cruel death for thy sake, and I pray thee to forgive all my When his neck was fastened to the stake and the

enemies."

wood was ready to be kindled, the elector Palatine offered him his life if he would retract. But, said he, "What I have written and taught was in order to rescue souls from the power of the devil and to deliver them from the tyranny of sin, and I do gladly seal what I have written and taught with my blood." The flame was kindled and he soon expired, calling upon God.

Thus fell before the power of the beast, one of the best of men; one of the greatest ornaments of the Christian Church. The world hated him, for he was holy. The pope and his minions put him to death, not because he was in their view heretical in sentiment, for this he was not; he lived in a very dark age; the light of truth had not dawned upon his soul; but because, like John the Baptist, he openly condemned their licentiousness and hypocrisy.

His companion in life soon followed him to the stake. This was Jerome of Prague. He had travelled into England for the enlargement of his mind, and had brought from thence the writings of Wickliff. These he faithfully studied, imbibing their spirit, and feeling it his duty to preach their doctrines. When Huss was imprisoned, he went to Constance to exhort him to stedfastness; but when seized himself and threatened with the most dreadful of all deaths, his heart failed him and he had the weakness to deny all he had maintained as truth. But his denial of the truth filled his soul with the deepest anguish, and he summoned fortitude to avow again the real sentiments of his heart and meet his fate. I came," said he, "to Constance to defend John Huss, because I had advised him to go thither and had promised to come to his assistance in case he should be oppressed. Nor am I ashamed here to make public confession of my own cowardice. I confess and tremble while I think of it, that, through fear of punishment by fire, I basely consented, against my conscience, to the condemnation of the doctrine of Wickliff and Huss." Even Jerome, however, did not open his mind to all the light shed forth by the English reformer. He could not with him, condemn the doctrine of transubstantiation. But he was a witness against many of the abominations of popery, and went to the stake on the 30th of May, 1416. When bound for the slaughter, he raised his voice and sang,

"Hail happy day and ever be adored

When hell was conquered by great heaven's Lord."

When the flames had nearly done their awful work, he was heard to cry out "O Lord, have mercy on me, Have mercy on me... Thou knowest how I have loved thy truth."

The ashes of these early witnesses to the truth were scatter

ed by the winds of heaven; but their memory was previous. The inhabitants of Bohemia were shocked at the dreadful sacrifice which had been made of the best blood to the wickedness of priests. The next year, about sixty of the principal persons of the country addressed a letter to the council, saying, "We can find no blame attached to the doctrine or life of John Huss, but, on the contrary, every thing pious, laudable and worthy of a true pastor. Ye have not only disgraced us by his condemnation, but have also unmercifully imprisoned, and perhaps already put to death Jerome of Prague, a man of most profound learning and copious eloquence. Him, also, ye have condemned, unconvicted. Notwithstanding all that hath passed, we are resolved to sacrifice our lives for the defence of the gospel of Christ and of his faithful preachers."

were not seen.

These were men, ready to be led through all the perilous con-flicts of a reformation, had they had enlightened guides. But, alas! it was an age of awful darkness; and, though many saw the vices and abominations of Antichrist, yet none, as yet, saw the true way of reform. The best men had a poor understanding of the faith. The idea that the kingdom of Christ was a spiritual kingdom, was embraced by but few, if any. Errors of practice were distinctly visible, but errors of doctrine The Romish church, in the council of Constance, passed a decree forbidding the use of the cup by the laity in the communion. This, added to the other enormities and corruptions of the age, roused the Bohemians to arms. About 40,000 assembled together on a mountain near Prague, which they called Mount Tabor, where they raised a strong fortification, and put themselves under the direction of two chiefs, Nicolas and John Ziska, with the determination to revenge the deaths of John Huss and Jerome, and obtain the liberty or worshiping God according to the dictates of their own consciences. Their numbers increased soon to an amazing extent; war was declared against Sigismund, the German emperor, and a deluge of blood was shed. Each party appeared to the other as enemies of true religion, hated of God and justly exposed to extirpation by fire and the sword. The most shocking and terrible acts of barbarity, therefore, were continually exhibited. At length, the papal party yielded; and, in 1433, a treaty of peace was concluded in which the Bohemians were allowed the use of the cup in the sacrament and the administration of the ordinance in their own language.

With these terms, the major part only were satisfied. These were called Calixtines. The remainder, who seem to have been the true Waldenses, wished for a more thorough reforma

tion from popery and a restoration of Christianity to its primitive simplicity. They were called Taborites, and, through ignorance and fanaticism, went to many unwarranted excesses, and were the objects of fiery persecution, especially from their brethren the Calixtines. In 1467, they formed a separate church and chose their own pastors. In 1480, their number was increased by an accession of some Waldenses, who escaped out of Austria, where they had been severely persecuted, and some of their pastors had been burned alive. But their enemies gave them no rest. The next year, the Hussites were all banished from Moravia and were compelled to seek refuge in other countries for six years. Their number, however, did not much diminish. In the beginning of the sixteenth century they had in Bohemia and Moravia two hundred congregations.

These poor oppressed and despised people appear to have formed a true church of Christ in that age. They greatly needed the clear light of a future age, a clear view of the pure doctrines of the gospel ;* they were guilty of many acts of violence and rapine in defence of their religion, considered justifiable in that age; but among them, as among the early Waldenses, was a spirit of prayer, a spirit of holiness, an abhorrence of the errors and corruptions of the man of sin, a strict discipline, a desire for the pure and simple worship of Jehovah, and a disposition to make the scriptures the only rule of faith and practice. Their covenant God, no doubt, beheld them in the thickets and clefts of the rocks, and heard their midnight songs of praise, and

*That the Hussites had many correct views, is evident from the following articles of their creed given by Eneas Sylvius, who was afterwards pope Pious II.

The pope of Rome is equal with other bishops.

Among priests there is no difference.

There is no purgatory fire.

It is vain to pray for the dead and an invention of priestly covetous

ness.

The images of God and the saints ought to be destroyed.

The blessing of water and palm branches is ridiculous.

The religion of the mendicants was invented by evil demons.

No capital sin ought to be tolerated, although for the sake of avoiding a greater evil.

Auricular confession is trifling; it is sufficient for every one in his chamber to confess his sins unto God.

The temple of the great God is the whole world.

The suffrages of saints, reigning with Christ in heaven, are implored in vain, forasmuch as they cannot help us.

The festivals of saints, are altogether to be rejected.

We should cease from work on no day, except that which is now called the Lord's day.