3. Whatever can be proved to be condemned in the Word of God can have no binding force. Neither the Pope nor any other human authority, whether individual or collective, can make new articles of faith. We may examine the evidence given in support of their statements, or admit the soundness of their arguments, but they are not to be recognised as of divine validity."

After a brief review of the "Witnessing" of the Waldenses against the corruptions of Rome, Dr. Waddington takes us to Bohemia, and introduces us to the earlier of those men of God, who have made that land famous in the history of truth. Of Millicz, Archdeacon of Prague, and secretary to the Emperor Charles IV., the King of Bohemia, he says, "His conviction of the truth was intense. He hailed it with wonder and delight. In the ardour of the first discovery he exclaimed, The light is come.' "Of necessity he became an earnest witness. It was impossible for him to conceal the treasure he had found, or to remain silent with a burden upon his spirit of such momentous importance. He relinquished his official emoluments in 1364, and devoted himself to the work of an evangelist. His preaching, though despised at first, excited, eventually, general attention. Stimulated by the interest awakened, he preached sometimes three, four, and even five times daily, in different churches. În his return home at the close of the day, weary and exhausted with his labours, he was surrounded and followed by multitudes, seeking spiritual consolation and advice,' which he imparted to all with kindness and affection. At an advanced period of his life he learned German, for the purpose of extending his labours also to the German population, and he now preached in this language as well as his own. To the students of the preached in the Latin

University of Prague, and to the learned, he language, and was listened to by eager crowds. He had to lend his sermons for the students to copy, and thus they became multiplied. Matthias of Janow says of him, 'Having been a simple priest and secretary at the prince's court, before his experience of this visitation by the Spirit of Christ, he grew so rich in wisdom and all utterance of doctrine, that it was a light matter to him to preach five times in a day-namely, once in Latin, once in German, and then again in the Bohemian tongue, and this publicly, with mighty fervour and a powerful voice, and he constantly brought forth from his treasures things new and old.'

"With true Christian heroism he selected the worst quarter of Prague, called 'Little Venice,' as the sphere of evangelising effort, with a view to reclaim its depraved population. He commenced with simple and very limited operations, gradually extending them until the entire waste was recovered. He succeeded at first in converting twenty licentious women, and induced them to dwell in one house. He found devout women in good circumstances, who were willing to look after them, and he took unwearied pains himself in promoting their improvement. The success of this preliminary effort led him to found a Magdalen hospital on a large scale, and to enlist the

sympathy and active co-operation of others. In the midst of this abounding usefulness he felt a sense of insufficiency for the work of the ministry, that led him to retire for a season in order to gain time for deeper reflection, and to acquire further knowledge. I was in the spirit,' he says, ' and meditated on what is written in the Revelation: To him that overcometh will I give of the tree of life;' and I knew that if I overcame the sin that is in me, I should taste of the tree of life, or of the understanding of the Holy Spirit, and I prayed often, that Almighty God would give me the Holy Spirit, and anoint me with His unction, that I might not fall into any error, and might enjoy the taste and perfume of true wisdom, so that I might deceive none, and be deceived by none, and wish no longer to know anything but what is necessary for me and the holy Church.'

"During the time of his voluntary seclusion his thoughts were directed to the corruptions existing in the Church of Rome. Oppressed by a sense of the abuses he witnessed continually, he was convinced that the reign of antiChrist, predicted by the last survivor of the apostles, had commenced, and in the year 1367 he took a journey to Rome, that he might bring the subject before the attention of the Pope. His Holiness was absent from the city, and whilst waiting for his return the spirit of Millicz was stirred within him, and he began his mission by an address to the people. He was arrested in consequence, and cast into prison, but found an opportunity to write a treatise, entitled, "Libellus de Antichristo.' He was liberated on the return of Pope Urban to Rome, and on his arrival at Prague he resumed his labours, and not satisfied with the little good that could be effected by his own personal efforts, he founded an association, composed of two or three hundred young men, all of whom resided under the same roof with himself, were trained under his influence, and by his society. He copied the books which they were to study, and gave them devotional books to copy for themselves, for the sake of multiplying them. Everything was to be free; to flow spontaneously from the one animating principle by which all were to be governed. An internal tie was all that held them together: no outward discipline or rule, no uniformity of dress. The disciples of Millicz soon distinguished themselves by their serious, spiritual lives, and by their style of teaching.' In the support of this free institution for ministerial training, Millicz exhausted all his personal pecuniary means, and then solicited the contributions of his friends. Such efforts could not be continued without exciting opposition. The proceedings of Millicz were reported to the Pope Gregory XI. He was cited to Avignon in 1374, but died there while his cause was still pending."

Matthias of Janow, one of the disciples of this good man, was the son of a Bohemian knight, and became a profound and diligent student of the Holy Scriptures. He speaks of the Bible as his dearest treasure, to which his heart was bound in perpetual affection, and from which he would never be separated from youth to age, his companion in travel, and his counsellor at home, solving difficulty, imparting solace in trial and persecution, and

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giving rest to the spirit in weariness, relief under the heaviest pressure, calmness in the midst of tumult, and courage in the severest conflict. With regard to the government of the Church, Janow proposed that all should revert to the simple rules of Christ. "I have myself," he tells us, come to the settled conclusion, that it would be a salutary thing, and calculated to restore peace and union to Christendom, to root up the whole plantation, and once more sum up the whole in that simple precept, to bring back the Christian Church to the sound and simple beginnings, where it should be needful to retain but a few, and those only the apostolical laws."

From Bohemia we are taken to Holland, and introduced to the "Brethren of the Common Lot," some of whom gave themselves to tranquil contemplation, and were lost in the reveries of mysticism, while others were actively employed as copyists of the Scriptures, and became energetic in the defence of the truth received from their daily perusal.

The fifth chapter of Dr. Waddington's volume is devoted to John de Wycliffe, and the sixth to John Huss and Jerome of Prague. Wycliffe saw clearly that Diocesan Episcopacy was not the primitive type of Church government. "One thing," he writes, "I confidently assert, that in the primitive Church, or the time of Paul, two orders were held sufficient—those of priests (presbyters) and deacons. No less certain am I that, in the time of Paul, presbyter and bishop were the same, as is shown in 1 Tim. iii. and Titus i. That profound theologian, Jerome, attests the same fact, see lxxxvii. Dis ca olim. For there were not then the distinctions of Pope and cardinals, patriarchs and archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, officials, and deacons, with other officers and religious bodies without number or rule. As to all the disputes which have arisen about these functionaries, I shall say nothing. It is enough for me that, according to Scripture, the presbyters and the deacons retain that office and standing which Christ appointed them, because I am convinced that Cæsarian pride has introduced these orders and gradations."

"The followers of Wycliffe adopted his views on Church polity. The direction of their leader (we quote from Dr. Waddington) not to neglect the uplandish towns and villages,' was one of great practical wisdom. The means of reaching remote parts of the country at that period were rare, and travelling in consequence, difficult, and attended with considerable danger. The agents of the Government, though extremely vigilant, were not ubiquitous; and on the borders of Wales in particular, it was comparatively easy to elude their search. In many a sylvan retreat or secluded glen the Gospellers' met to conduct their simple, worship. The order of their service is unknown to us, and we have no register of their names. We meet only with incidental notices like the following: 'A congregation met in 1390, in a cottage in a desert wood, called 'Derwall's Wood,' in the diocese of Hereford.' Another conventicle' was held in a chapel of Newton near the town of Leutwarden.' Of their principles we have more distinct information. At a time of tumult and insurrection,

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they were eminently pacific, though remarkable for moral courage. The Lollard preachers did not conceal their opinions. William Swinderby, when forbidden to preach in any church or churchyard, made a pulpit of two millstones in the High Street, Leicester, in 1891, where a large concourse of people from the town and neighbourhood flocked to hear him. Walter Brute, one of his friends, who expressed approval of his opinions, was brought up before the prelates and abbots of the Royal Commission, on the 3rd of October, 1393, and was examined on three successive days. In common with his brethren, he strongly protested against any appeal to the sword. It is manifest,' he says, 'that the New Testament is of greater perfection than the former. We must fight more perfectly than in the time of the Old Testament-now spiritually, then corporally; now for an everlasting inheritance, then for an earthly and temporal; now by patience, then by resistance.' In the course of a lengthened examination, Walter Brute raised a powerful argument against the Papacy, founded on the character and offices of the Redeemer. He contended that infallibility was to be found in Christ alone. "His doctrine," he said, "must be observed above all other doctrines, whether they be of angels or of men, because that He could not and would not err in His teaching."

"This inflexible Lollard was conducted, on Monday, October 6th, 1393, into the churchyard, and made to ascend the cross and do homage to his diocesan. Several barons and knights in armour, clergymen in the robes of different orders, with a great multitude of people, gathered round to witness the expected act of humiliation. Walter Brute mounted the rustic steps, and read a form of submission from a scroll, with the reservation that he should render allegiance 'principally to the Evangel of Jesus Christ.””

Into the history of the noble army of Lollard-martyrs we cannot enter. But in illustration of the chief point of Dr. Waddington's volume we quote the following: Thomas Mann, their faithful evangelist, spent many years in missionary toils, and visited in turn the counties of Norfolk, Essex, Suffolk, Middlesex, and Buckingham. Thomas Risby, of Stratford, in his confession says, 'As he went westward, he found a great com. pany of well-disposed persons, being of the same judgment touching the sacra ment of the Lord's Supper that he was of, and especially at Newbury, where was a glorious and sweet society of faithful labourers, who had continued the space of fifteen years together, till at last, by a certain lewd person, whom they trusted and made of their counsel, they were betrayed: and then many of them, to the number of six or seven score, were abjured, and three or four of them were burnt. From thence he came to the Forest of Windsor, where he, hearing of the brethren who were at Amersham. removed thither, where he found a godly and a great company, which had continued in that doctrine and teaching twenty-three years.' This congregation of Buckinghamshire men remained till the time of John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln. These Christian societies meeting permanently, if not in name, were in fact Congregational Churches.

"Thomas Mann confessed that he had turned seven hundred people to his religion and doctrine, for which he thanked God. He removed ten persons from Amersham, Uxbridge, Burham, and Henley-upon-Thames (where they lived), into Suffolk and Norfolk, that they might be brought (as he termed it)' out of the devil's mouth.' The 'good seed of the kingdom' grew secretly; the leaven' spread silently, and with a hidden force that no power of man could arrest."

Throughout the history of the Reformation we find but few glimpses of anything distinctively Congregational. But they occur occasionally, as in the following narrative :-" Aymond de la Voye, when brought up before the magistrates of Bordeaux in 1543, after nine months' imprisonment, was examined on various points of Christian doctrine. In the course of the inquiry, the following colloquy took place :

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'Judge. Dost thou believe in the Church?'

"The Martyr.-'I believe, as the Church, regenerated by the blood of Christ, and founded in His Word, hath appointed.'

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Judge.—'
-'What Church is that?'

"The Martyr.-' The Church is a Greek word, signifying as much as a congregation or assembly; and so I say, that whensoever the faithful do congregate together to the honour of God, and the amplifying of Christian religion, the Holy Ghost is verily with them.'

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Judge. By this it should follow that there be many Churches, and where any rustical clowns do assemble together there must be a Church ?' "The Martyr.-' It is no absurd thing to say there be many Churches or Congregations amongst the Christians; and so speaketh St. Paul: To all the Churches which are in Galatia,' etc. And yet all these Congregations make but one Church.'

Judge. The Church wherein thou believest, is it not the same which our creed doth call the Holy Church'?'

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"The Martyr.-' I believe the same.'

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Judge. And who should be the Head of the Church ?'

"The Martyr.-'Jesus Christ.'

"Judge. And not the Pope ?'

“The Martyr.—'No.'

Speaking of the days of Edward I., Strype says: "Sectaries appeared now in Essex and Kent, sheltering themselves under the profession of the Gospel, of whom complaint was made to the Council. These were the first that made separation from the Reformed Church of England, having gathered congregations of their own. The congregation in Essex was mentioned to be at Bocking: that in Kent was at Faversham. Contributions were made for the maintaining of their congregations (1550), and the members of the congregation in Kent went over unto the congregation in Essex to instruct and to join with them, and they had meetings in Kent in divers places beside Faversham.' Some were accused before the Council of holding dangerous heresies. Amongst these it is said they held that

VOL. V.-NEW SERIES.

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