lation of God. Nay, I think it will be the feeling of many readers, that, while they are thus superior in correctness and in adaptation to more cultivated periods; yet, in graphic, nervous force, in a certain untamed vigor, and a raciness of flavor which belongs to the youth of language, the patriarchal version has never been quite equalled. It was, to use Lord Bacon's beautiful illustration of a kindred point, "the first crush of the grape." When, moreover, we remark how intelligible it remains to the present day, how much more near is its phraseology to our own language of common life than that even of Chaucer, we can hardly avoid the conclusion that it was this book, pre-eminently, which gave shape and fashion to our mother tongue, and by its continually increasing spread, gradually moulded into permanent uniformity the language of the people.

Thus, in a threefold sense, did England's first Bible become the central point of English history. The tree which Wickliffe planted, has clasped with its ever-lengthening roots the life of five centuries.

5*

CHAPTER XI.

WICKLIFFE'S INFLUENCE ABROAD.

BUT it was not in England alone that Wickliffe's influence was felt, on the errors of the age. The religious interests of Bohemia, lay near the heart of the enlightened and pious Queen Anne; and under her auspices, the Reformer's writings had early been carried, in great numbers, into her native country. His opinions were received with favor by the reigning king and queen, became the subject of free discussion in the University of Prague, and spread widely among the common people. In the year 1400, in accordance with his great principle, the Scriptures were translated into Bohemian, making the second vernacular translation of modern Europe. In 1404, the celebrated John Huss became a convert to these views; and from his ardent spirit the movement received an impulse, which, within twenty-five years after the death of Wickliffe, had moved all Bohemia with his sentiments, and threatened.

*This, though not noticed by Vaughan in his Life of Wickliffe, is one of the most interesting events connected with his labors and influence.

an entire subversion of the Romish power. The importance of these events can only be rightly estimated, by taking into the account the mental activity, and force of character, which distinguished the Bohemians as a people, and the high intelligence and liberality of the nobles. Prague was not only the most populous, wealthy, and splendid city in Germany, but the acknowledged centre of the arts and sciences. Defection from the Papacy, at this point, involved far more than the loss of Bohemia. A light kindled on this eminence, must shine far and wide over the surrounding nations.

In 1408, the Archbishop of Prague seized, and committed to the flames, some two hundred volumes of the English Reformer's writings. These belonged mostly to members of the University, and were, of course, but a small part of the number in the country. In 1409, Pope Alexander V. issued a bull to the government of Bohemia, requiring the suppression, by the most stringent methods, of all teaching of Wickliffe's doctrines. His successor, John XXIII., cited Huss to appear before him at Rome; and this being declined, excommunicated him, and laid the city of Prague under an interdict.

At this crisis, Jerome of Prague, came forward to defend the persecuted reformer, and to sustain the cause for which he suffered. Jerome had studied at Oxford, where, probably, he first imbibed Wickliffe's sentiments; and in Paris, he became known as their advocate, in a public controversy with the celebrated Romish theologian, Gerson. On his return to Bohemia, he was imprisoned in Vienna, as a favorer of Wickliffe's doctrines; but was released at the intercession of the University of Prague, where he was * Vaughan.

held in the highest esteem for his genius and learning.He now stood forth boldly, as the leader in the conflict, and took even higher ground against the doctrines and government of the Papal church than Huss himself. Opposition only fanned the rising flame; and the continual conflict of opinion led all classes, more and more, to a study of the Holy Scriptures, as the only reliable standard

of truth.

Things were in this condition, when the famous Council of Constance was assembled, in the city from which it takes its name. Its object was, in part, the termination of the scandalous quarrel of the three rival Popes, which was fast undermining the credit of St. Peter's chair; in part, the suppression, by some adequate measures, of the alarming growth of Wickliffe's sentiments in Christendom. This Council was one of the most imposing ever convoked by the Romish church. It numbered among its members and attendants, a German Emperor, twenty princes, one hundred and forty counts, a pope, more than twenty cardinals, seven patriarchs, twenty archbishops, ninety-one bishops, six hundred other prelates, and about four thou sand priests. Its deliberations extended from the year 1414 to 1418.

The acts by which this great assembly are chiefly known to posterity, are the deposition of three infallible popes, followed by the election of a fourth; the burning of John Huss and Jerome at the stake, and the decrees against the writings of Wickliffe. Huss had been decoyed to Constance, by the promise of being allowed to defend his opinions before the assembled clergy of Christendom; but, in violation of a safe-conduct from the hand of the Emperor Sigismund, he was put to death, in July, 1415

Jerome having ventured into the vicinity, in hope of aiding his beloved and revered brother, was likewise seized, and after a long imprisonment, followed him to the stake. But the truth had taken too deep root in Bohemia, to perish by such means. The assembled dignitaries of the Romish church had beheld, with amazement, Bohemian nobles and citizens reasoning before them, with no less learning than boldness, from the word of God. A cause thus advocated, has ceased to depend on leaders.

John Wickliffe had the honor of being recognized, by this august assembly, as the source of all the influences which had thus turned the world upside down. Among its earliest acts, fifty-five articles from his writings, which had already been condemned in England, Rome, and Prague, now received the solemn ban of the Council; and subsequently, it is said, two hundred and sixty more were condemned in like manner. His works of every kind, and wherever found, were adjudged to the flames.

Not satisfied with these measures, the Council, before closing, passed a sentence on his dead body, directing that it should be disinterred, and burnt to ashes, as an expression of the abhorrence in which his doctrines and his memory were held by Holy Church. The decree was executed in 1428, when Archbishop Chichely, Primate of England, himself went down to Lutterworth, attended by a large train of the English clergy, to superintend the ceremony. From beneath the humble chancel, where they had slept in peace more than forty years, the bones of the Reformer were dragged rudely forth to the light of day; and being carried down the hill on which the church stood, to a little