II. CHAP. viewed them as being especially provoked by the burdens which a prodigal court had demanded in the preceding session. In their address to the king, they do not hesitate, after mature deliberation, to affirm, that unless the administration of "the kingdom be speedily reformed, it must become wholly lost. For true it is," they proceed, "that there are such defects in the said adminis"tration, as well about the king's person, and his 66 66 66 household, as in his courts of justice, and by grievous oppressions in the country, through "maintainers of suits, who are as it were kings in "the country; that right and law are come to "nothing, and the poor commons are from time to time so pillaged and ruined, partly by the king's purveyors of the household, and others "who pay nothing for what they take, partly by "the subsidies and tallages raised upon them, "and besides by the oppressive behaviour of the 66 66 king's servants, and other lords, and especially "of the foresaid maintainers of suits, they are "reduced to greater poverty and discomfort than ever they were before. And moreover, though great sums have been continually granted by, "and levied upon them for the defence of the kingdom, yet they are not the better defended 66 66 66 66 against their enemies, but every year are plun"dered and wasted by sea and land without any relief. Which calamities the said poor commons, who lately used to live in honor and prosperity, can no longer endure." From this statement of grievances it appears, that in proportion to the largeness of the grants which had been made to the government, had been the diminution 66 enemy of the protection promised; and that while the 66 power. 50 Hallam, iii. 93. 71 СНАР. II. CHAPTER III. CHAP. TRANSUBSTANTIATION OPPOSED BY BERENGARIUS-AND BY THE VAUDOIS NEY, AND THE SYNOD AT THE GREY FRIARS-WYCLIFFE FAVORED BY THE IT has appeared, that until the middle of the III. ninth century, the manner in which the body and Transub- the blood of Christ are present in the eucharist, stantia tion. was the subject of debate, or rather of a peaceful difference of sentiment among persons holding the chief dignities of the hierarchy. The same may be said of a considerable interval afterwards. But from that period, and from causes which have also been explained,' the advocates of the mysterious dogma, which in the twelfth century, began to be designated transubstantiation, rapidly Opposed increased. Its progress, however, was far from being uninterrupted; and among its opponents, the most distinguished place must be allotted to Berengarus, a gallic prelate, who about the middle of the eleventh century brought his genius by Berengarus. 1 Prelim. View, c. i. sect. 3. III. and learning, which were both greatly above the CHAP. character of the age, to an investigation of its claims. His doctrine was strictly that of the primitive church, and of the existing protestant communities. The zeal and ability with which it was supported, diffused his name through Europe, and attracted the enmity or admiration of the whole western clergy. In the cause of his opinions, the disputant patiently submitted to the spiritual censures of the pontiff, and of a council assembled at Paris; and the displeasure of his sovereign, which the same peculiarities had provoked, was followed by the forfeiture of his episcopal revenues. The burden of such evils, indeed, would be considerably lightened by remembering that his disciples in France and Italy, in England, and particularly in the states of Germany, were numerous and increasing. But such it appears was the extent of the suffering, which this advocate of truth and reason was prepared to endure in defence of his tenets. Thrice was he compelled to appear at Rome, and as often was his doctrine formally renounced but to be again avowed, as the prospect of impunity returned. Toward the close of life, he retired from the agitated scenes which for more than thirty years had been familiar to him and the remembrance of the indecision, which had been allowed to sully his character, is said to have embittered his seclusion. But he died with the reputation of sanctity, and his followers never became extinct.o 2 Mosheim, ii. 558-569, where this subject is fully and luminously treated. CHAP. And by the Vau Albigen ses. The Vaudois and Albigenses, who had never embraced the marvellous theory adverted to, were invigorated in their opposition to it by the dois and labours of Berengarus and of his partisans. That they had adopted the heresy of that prelate, was often urged as their reproach; and it is evident from certain fragments of their reasoning on this subject which their enemies have preserved, that, had the assertion been correct, the disciple must have been frequently acknowledged as by no means unworthy of his master. From the pages of an adversary, we learn that they were accustomed to appeal to the Apostle's Creed, and to that of Nice, and Athanasius, as including every important article of christian doctrine; expressing their surprise that in these summaries of truth, no reference should be made to the matter of transubstantiation, though a doctrine so greatly needing the aid of external evidence to counteract in some degree its intrinsic and surpassing difficulties. These perplexities also, the same fraternities are described as exposing with a severity of criticism, which must often have bewildered their antagonists; urging with fluency almost every question tending to involve the subject in mystery, contradiction, or absurdity.3 3 See Prelim. View. c. i. sec. 2. The celebrated schoolman Alanus Magnus, thus describes the manner in which these contemporary heretics opposed this dogma of the church. "If the bread every day should be 66 changed into the body of Christ, it would be infinitely increased. They "enquire also whether the bread ceaseth to be; and if it ceaseth to be "then it is annihilated, and so it is spoiled: Also they ask, how a body "of so great a bulk can enter into the mouth of a man? Whether the body of Christ be eaten, chewed with the teeth, and consequently |