glory in that splendour which they derive wholly from the solar rays. He observes, that the temptations to self-complacency are the effect of satanic injections-and that it behoves him who would not be deceiving himself, to see whether he has the genuine marks of humility in his practice-whether, for instance, he can bear to be rebuked by an inferior-whether he is not rendered insolent by honours-whether he is not inflated by praise-whether among equals he is the first to labour, and the last to exalt himself whether he can recompense blessings for curses and good for evil. By such methods of self-examination he is to check the ebullitions of vain glory, with which the tempter is apt to inspire those who seem to have made some proficiency in the divine life. If that proficiency be real, let them take care never to conceive of it as something separate from Christ. He alone, dwelling in them by his Spirit, produces all that is good, and to Him alone the praise belongs.

SECTION VIII.

A glance at the state of Religion in England and Bohemia, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with sketches of the history of Wickliff, the Lollards, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague; including a concise account of the "Unitas Fratrum," or United Bohemian Brethren, till the times of Luther.

AN attentive reader of the preceding pages will have observed, that when the governments of France and Spain lent their aid to second the views of the court of Rome, in expelling the Waldenses and Albigenses from their re

spective countries; the persecuted followers of Jesus Christ found an asylum in Bohemia, where their principles took deep root, and their numbers multiplied exceedingly.* As it is intended in this section to notice a little more particularly the progress of these principles, both in that kingdom and in our own country, at this interesting period, I must trespass upon the reader's patience by laying before him a short extract from the impartial Thuanus, which, while it serves to refresh his memory by a recapitulation of what has already been related, will also furnish an introduction to what is to follow.

"PETER WALDO, a rich citizen of Lyons, about the year of Christ 1170, gave name to the Vaudois or Waldenses. This man (as has been recorded by Guy de Perpignan, bishop of Elna, who exercised the office of inquisitor against the Waldenses) leaving his house and estate, had entirely devoted himself to the profession of the Gospel, and had procured the writings of the Prophets and Apostles to be translated into the language of the country, together with several testimonies from the primi tive fathers; all which having well fixed in his mind, and trusting to his natural parts, he took up the office of preaching, and interpreted the Gospel to the common people in the streets. And when, in a short time, he had got about him a good number of followers, he sent them out into all parts, as disciples, to propagate the Gospel. They, as being generally unlearned, having easily fallen into various errors, were cited by the Archbishop of Lyons; and though they were, as he reports, convicted, yet they fortified themselves with mere obstinacy, saying, that in religious affairs, God, and not man, was to be obeyed. Being for this cut off from the church, and appealing to the Pope, they were, in the council immediately preceding

See page 12. 29 and 30 of this Vol. and the Note from Thuanus, page 151.

that of Lateran, condemned as altogether pertinacious and schismatical: from whence, becoming hated and execrated by all men, they wandered about without a home, and spread themselves up and down in Languedoc, Lombardy, and especially amongst the Alps, where they lay concealed and secure for many years. They were charged with these tenets-that the church of Rome, because it renounced the true faith of Christ, was the whore of Babylon, and that barren tree which Christ himself cursed, and commanded to be plucked up-that, consequently, no obedience was to be paid to the Pope, or to the bishops, who maintain her errors-that a monastic life was the sink and dungeon of the church; the vows of which were vain, and served only to promote the vile love of boys-that the orders of the priesthood were marks of the great beast mentioned in the Revelation-that the fire of purgatory, the solemn mass, the consecration-days of churches, the worship of saints, and propitiations for the dead, were the devices of Satan. Besides these principal and authentic heads of their doctrine, others were pretended, relating to marriage, the resurrection, the state of the soul after death, and to meats. Peter Waldo, therefore, their leader, quitting his country, came into the Netherlands, and having gained many followers in that province, which is now called Picardy, he removed from thence into Germany; and after a long abode amongst the Vandal cities, settled. at last in Bohemia, where, even at this day, the professors of that doctrine are from thence called Picards. Waldo had a companion named Arnold, who by a different rout fell into Languedoc, and fixed himself at Alby, formerly called Alba of the Helvians, from whence came the Albigenses, who in a little time spread themselves amongst the people of Toulouse, Rouergue, Le Quercy, and Agen, Arnold was succeeded by Esperon and Joseph, and from these Gregory IX. denominated them Arnoldists, Espe

ronites, and Josephists, and also Gazars, as all heretics at this day are called throughout Germany and the northern countries; which name is supposed to be taken from the emperor Leo III. named Gazar, whom the Roman pontiffs accused beyond all other men of sacrilege and erroneous principles; though in other books they are styled the Pure, (Puritans) which name is also given to such as pretend to a purer doctrine in England. The same people are also called Leonines, from that Leo, who is nevertheless represented as a just and prudent prince, by Zonaras himself, who yet charges him with heretical pravity. He, at the persuasion of Theodotus a monk, had removed out of the churches all pictures and statues, which he considered as the fuel of impiety, and as traps to catch the ignorant multitude, by which God was offended; for which reason he was called the enemy of images. Though others imagine them to be rather called Leonines from one Leo, a Frenchman, of that sect, because Leo the emperor was too far distant from those times and places. Thus, however, they were nick-named, either from their authors or favourers. From the place they were also styled Poor Men of Lyons, Albigenses, and in different quarters, for different causes, Tramontanes, Paterines, Lollards, Turlupins, and lastly Chaignards. As they carried divers faces, though their tails were tied together, (as Pope Gregory IX. expresses it, because they inveighed too vehemently against the wealth, pride, and vices of the Popes, and alienated the people by degrees from their obedience to them) Innocent III. used at first the spiritual sword against them, sending to the Albigenses twelve abbots of the Cistercian order, and after them Diego, bishop of Oxford, who carried with him that Dominic who afterwards founded the Dominican order. But when he found little success that way, laying aside the spiritual sword he drew the iron one, and made Leopold the Sixth,

Duke of Austria, for Germany, and Simon of Montfort, for France, commanders in the holy war, to whom many others joined themselves. Though from that time they were persecuted from place to place, yet at intervals there appeared some who frequently revived their doctrine; as John Wickliff in England, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, in Bohemia. And in our age, since the general reception of Luther's doctrine, their scattered remains began to re-unite, and with the increase of Luther's name to gather strength and authority, especially in the regions of the Alps and the adjacent provinces.”*

The usurpations of the court of Rome had reached their highest pitch about the thirteenth or fourteenth century. That astonishing system of spiritual tyranny had drawn within its vortex almost the whole government of England. The pope's haughty legate, spurning at all law and equity, made even the ministers of justice to tremble at his tribunal; parliaments were overawed and sovereigns obliged to temporise, while the lawless ecclesiastic, entrenched behind the authority of councils and decrees, set at nought the civil power, and opened an asylum to any, even the most profligate, disturbers of society. In the mean time the taxes collected, under various pretexts, by the agents of the See of Rome, amounted to five times as much as the taxes paid to the king!

The insatiable avarice, and insupportable tyranny, of the court of Rome, had given such universal disgust, that a bold attack made about this time on the authority of that court, and doctrines of that church, was, at first, more successful than could have been expected, in that dark superstitious age. This attack was made by the famous John Wickliff, who was one of the best and most learned men of the age in which he flourished. His reputation for

Thuanus's History of his own Times, b. vi.