VIII. CHAP. of the Redeemer's sacrifice, was not more distinctly apprehended by the professor of Wittemburgh, than by the rector of Lutterworth; nor was this truth the source of a more permanent confidence with the one than with the other. The Spirit of God is at the same time contemplated as the source of all those influences which lead the mind to a knowledge of the truth, which nourish it in all the graces of piety, and by which men are prepared to bear the cross of the confessor and the martyr. Frequently, indeed, the word salvation is employed as comprehending the articles of justification and sanctification. But this is also the manner of the sacred writers, and if to distinguish between these essential parts of the christian redemption, is to regard the first as proceeding exclusively from the atonement of Christ, and the second as flowing entirely from the grace of the Spirit; if it be also to view the one as consisting in a change of relation to God, and the other as including an assimilation of the spirit of man to that of the Redeemer; then these doctrines, and the difference between them, was evidently familiar to the mind of Wycliffe. It is in the following language, that he describes the self-denial and devotedness, which the gospel requires of its sincere disciples. "Christ not compelling, but freely counselling every man to "seek a perfect life saith, Let him deny himself, "and take up his cross and follow me.' Let us then deny ourselves in whatever we have made "ourselves by sin, and such as we are made by 66 grace, let us continue. If a proud man be con"verted to Christ and is made humble, he hath "denied himself. If a covetous man ceaseth to CHAP. 66 66 66 covet, and giveth of his own to relieve the needy, he hath denied himself. If an impure man changeth his life and becometh chaste, he "hath denied himself, as St. Gregory saith. He "who withstandeth and forsaketh the unreason"able will of the flesh denieth himself. The cross of Christ is taken when we shrink not from contempt, for the love of the truth; when man is crucified unto the world, and the world is "crucified unto him, and he setteth its joy at "nought. It is not enough to bear the cross "of a painful life, except we follow Christ in his virtues, in meekness, love, and heavenly desire. "He taketh the cross who is ready to meet all peril for God; if need be to die rather than "to forsake Christ. And whoso taketh not thus "the cross, and followeth not Christ thus, is not worthy to be his disciple.-Lord Jesus, turn us “to thee, and we shall be turned! Heal thou us, "and then we shall be verily holy; for without 66 66 66 grace and help from thee, may no man be truly "turned or healed. For they are but scorners, "who to-day turn to God, and to-morrow turn away; who to-day do their penance, and to 66 morrow turn again to their former evils. What "is turning to God? Nothing but turning from "the world, from sin, and from the fiend. What "is turning from God, but turning to the changing "things of this world, to delight in the creatures, "the lusts of the flesh, and the works of the fiend. "To be turned from the world, is to set at nought "its joys, and to suffer meekly, all bitterness, slanders, and deceits, for the love of Christ. To VIII. CHAP. leave all occupations unlawful and unprofitable to the soul, so that man's will and thought become dead to the things which the world loveth and worshippeth." The devices of Satan with which all have to contend, are said in the conclusion, to be particularly directed against such as seek this peculiar sanctity. "He stu"dieth to bring against us all manner of temp"tations and tribulations according as he seeth that by the mercy of God, we are escaped out of his power. For he seeketh nothing so much as to separate men from the pure and the everlasting "love of Jesus Christ, and to make them love perishing things and the uncleanness of this "world."109 66 66 66 66 I have ventured to remark, that had Wycliffe been a less devout man, than he appears in such passages as that now cited, he would not, perhaps, have been deserted by certain of his political adherents. It is at the same time no less obvious, that had his zeal been directed to devotional topics alone, as was the case with Bradwardine, St. Edmund, and others; his days might have passed in comparative tranquillity. He extended the range of his theological inquiries somewhat farther than such persons had done, and applied his doctrine so as to annihilate the papal scheme of merit. It was thus that he sought the religious improvement of mankind; and it was in doing this, that he wittingly braved the worst evils which mortal resentment could bring upon him. 119 MS. Of perfect life. CHAPTER IX. Observations on the character of Wycliffe, and on the connection of his doctrine with the reformation of the sixteenth century. WYCLIFFE'S CLAIM TO ORIGINALTY-HIS LEARNING, AND INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER HIS PATRIOTISM AND LOVE OF MANKIND--HIS PIETY IX. claim to THE later descendants of the Waldenses have CHAP. frequently cheered the gloom of their poverty and seclusion, by reflecting that "the mother Wycliffe's "church, of all reformed and protestant churches,"1 originalty. found her asylum for ages in their native fastnesses. But if we look attentively to the page of history, it will be obvious that the Great Protector of the faithful, depends as little on localities, as on persons, in preserving his truth amid the convulsions of the world. Thus it is in a very different country, and among a far different people, that Wycliffe becomes a reformer; and that long before any favorable impression could 1 Bresse. Hist. Vaudois, c. ii. IX. CHAP. well have been made upon his mind, as to the claims of the men, who had made so noble a stand against the errors of the papacy in the vallies of Piedmont. Nor does it appear even to the close of our reformer's history, that his researches were materially aided by the writings of those early advocates of primitive christianity. A few imperfect notices do indeed occur respecting them, in some of his latest compositions, and such as indicate that he had learned to regard them as a people who had suffered much, and unjustly from the tyranny of Rome. But though constantly referring to the sources of his information, and evidently concerned to shield his opinions from the charge of novelty, by giving to them as wide a previous existence as possible, no acknowledgment of obligation to the descendants of the Paulicians, or to the disciples of Peter Waldo, can be found in his works. We have seen also, that in that kind of resistance which he so vigorously sustained, he was left without the aid of precedent from the history of his own country. Even the errors of the established system which he held to the last, imply the independence of his mind, no less than those particulars in which he dissented from it. It is true the doctrine of an intermediate state as acknowledged by him, was comparatively harmless. It was, nevertheless, one which no modification could so have guarded, as to have rendered it acceptable to a genuine disciple of Waldo, or of Claude of Turin. His concessions also relating to the customs of patronage, and to the authority of the magistrate with respect to the |