III. CHAP. nearly certain that it had been often broached from the pulpit, prior to its admission into his lectures at Oxford. In these, however, a studious prominence was assigned to it in the spring of 1381. Twelve conclusions were then published, in which he challenged the attention of the members of the university to his exposition of this sacrament.8 In these, while admitting that the words of consecration conferred a peculiar, and even a mysterious dignity on the bread and wine, it was most distinctly stated that they were not to be considered, "as Christ, or as any part of him," but "as an effectual sign of him." To the easy faith of the majority in that age, few things in religion could occur as difficult if sanctioned by the church. With others, it was a matter of strange perplexity, that the sensible qualities which had distinguished the bread of the eucharist previous to its consecration, should continue to all human perception precisely unaltered after that mystic ceremony had been performed. To counteract this inconvenient verdict of the senses the genius of the mendicants struck out a new path in logical science, affirming that an accident, or the property of an object, as its whiteness, or its roundness, may be supposed to exist, even when the object itself had ceased to be. The discernment of Wycliffe was so deeply offended by this shameless subterfuge, that his writings from this period abound with allusions to it; nor does he hesitate to denounce it as an absurdity betraying a III. fraudulence of temper, demonstrating the new CHAP. orders to be wholly unworthy of the public confidence. In the conclusions now published, this favorite dogma of his old antagonists was especially condemned. It will not be supposed, that a tenet which artifice had rendered so subservient to the interests of the priesthood, was thus assailed without exciting the most serious opposition. It appears also that a larger portion of the honors of the university at this period were possessed by the religious orders, notwithstanding the various attempts to reduce their influence. The chancellor, William de Berton, whether awed by their power or truly alarmed by the intrepidity of Wycliffe, became a party to measures which were speedily adopted with a view to prevent the diffusion of the new doctrine. In a convention of twelve doctors, eight of whom were either monks or mendicants, the reformer was represented as teaching that, in the sacrament of the altar, the substance of material bread and wine, remained without change after the words of consecration were pronounced; and that in the same venerable sacrament, there is the body and blood of Christ, not esssentially, nor substantially, nor even bodily, but figuratively or tropically; so that Christ is not there truly, or verily in his own bodily presence. To pass a sen- Condemtence of reprobation, on opinions which so com- the docpletely destroyed the mystery of transubstantia- Wycliffe. tion, would be the ready determination of such an assembly. It was accordingly agreed to describe these novelties as erroneous, as opposed to the decisions of the church, and to state it as the true nation of trine of III. 66 CHAP. doctrine of the eucharist, "that by the sacramental "words duly pronounced by the priest, the bread " and wine upon the altar are transubstantiated, or substantially converted into the true body and "blood of Christ-so that after consecration there "is not in that venerable sacrament the material "bread and wine which before existed, considered "in their own substances or natures, but only the species of the same, under which are contained "the true body of Christ, and his blood, not figu"ratively, nor tropically, but essentially, substan 66 tially, and corporally; so that Christ is verily there "in his own proper bodily presence." To protect these dogmas from the process of investigation with which they were now threatened, it was resolved that the sentence of the greater excommunication, suspension from all scholastic exercises, and the forfeiture of personal liberty, should be incurred by any member of the University, who either in the schools or out of them, should inculcate the opinions published by the rector of Lutterworth. The same penalties were also adjudged, to such as should be convicted of listening to any defence of "the two aforesaid erroneous assertions."9 The meeting in which these resolutions were adopted appears to have been privately convened. Wycliffe was in the school of the Augustinians, seated in his chair as professor, and lecturing amidst his pupils on the matter of the eucharist, 9 See Appendix, No. 3. Leland. de Script. Brit. 379. Sir R. Twisden refers to the above censures, in support of this doctrine, as "the first ple26 nary determination of the church of England" respecting it; and accordingly concludes that "the opinion of transubstantiation, that brought "so many to the stake, had not more than a hundred and forty years' "prescription before Martin Luther." Historical Vindication, 193, 194. III. when a messenger entered the apartment, and in CHAP. the name of the chancellor and of the divines his coadjutors, pronounced the above sentence relating to the sacrament of the altar, and such as should favour the recent heresies on that subject. The reformer paused, as if taken by surprise, and in doubt as to the best mode of resisting the hostility which had so suddenly assumed this formidable shape. But a moment was sufficient to restore his confidence;-he then arose, and by challenging the collected strength of his opponents to a fair refutation of his published opinions, exposed the brute force from which they now sought the protection of their doctrine as worthy of the cause in which it was employed. He had often declared it to be the duty of the magistrate to protect the life, the property, and in all such cases as the present, the personal freedom of the subject. On this maxim he was now resolved to act with a firmness not inferior to that of his adversaries. The His appeal to alternative placed before him, was silence or imprisonment; and the chancellor was therefore informed that if the question must be one of force, and not of reason, he should appeal from the decision of his ordinary to the equity of the civil power.10 A considerable interval, however, was to elapse before the meeting of the next parliament, and we may suppose that during that period the lectures of the reformer, as divinity professor, were devoted to topics less dangerous to his personal liberty. The prohibition of the chancellor, however, would be limited to the sphere of his particular jurisdic 10 Sudbury's Register in Wilkins. iii. 170, 171. the civil power. III. of his 66 66 CHAP. tion, and it is to be observed that even within the University, it referred but to oral communication. Wycliffe's province, as rector of Lutterworth, was still open, and the partial silence imposed on his lips, would naturally impart an additional industry Analysis to his pen. His piece intitled, The Wicket, was Wicket. composed during this crisis, and before proceeding to the discussion which it was intended to embrace, the writer feelingly adverts to the treatment which he had recently experienced from " clerks "of the law." "" These," he observes, "have "ever been against God the Lord, both in the old "law, and in the new; slaying the prophets which spake to them the words of God. Yea, they "spared not the Son of God, when the temporal judge would have delivered him. And so forth "of the apostles and martyrs who have spoken truly of the word of God." Thus, as the chief foes of truth, instead of occupying the foreground in its defence, they are said to have denounced it as "heresy to speak of the holy scriptures in english;" and the same cause is said to have produced “ the "law which they have made on the sacred host." In the latter, "the falsest belief" is declared to be inculcated, and of those who bow to its authority, worshipping the consecrated bread, it is enquired, Where find you that ever Christ, or any "of his apostles worshipped it?" Appealing to the ancient creeds which assert the eternity and immutability of the Saviour's existence, he demands with solemnity," may the thing made, "turn again, and make him who made it? Thou then, that art an earthly man, by what reason mayest thou say that thou makest thy Maker?" 66 66 |