The Rev. Gervase Smith, D.D. : a memorial volume

Dedication

TO THE GREATEST SUFFERER FROM OUR COMMON LOSS.

Cfjfs ffiemorial Uolumc

IS INSCRIBED WITH REVERENT FILIAL AFFECTION.

Preface

r j^HE Biographical Sketches at the commencement

-*- of this book supplement one another. There

is of necessity some repetition in them, but for the

most part they are perfectly distinct in their character

and aim.

A fair idea of the general teaching and public

utterances of Dr. Smith may be gathered from the

Lectures, Speeches, and Sermons which form the bulk

of the volume. The selection and revision have been

a labour of love and a source of blessing ; but the

need of the " vanished hand " has frequently been felt.

Had my Father undertaken the publication of his own

works, the result would have been much more worthy

of him. Yet the volume, as it is, will be welcomed

by his friends, many of whom have expressed a desire

for some permanent record of his utterances ; aud

perhaps also by those who have listened to him both

in this country and abroad. His most conspicuous

vii viii PREFACE.

m

earthly memorial, probably, will be seen in the Chapels erected by the aid of the Metropolitan Chapel Building Fund, with the success of which his name will long be identified. His " memorial before God " consists in the devoted lives of those who have received lasting benefit from his ministrations, counsel, and example.

May He who often used the lips which are now silent, in imparting instruction, comfort, and stimulus to the hearers, in like manner bless this memorial volume to the edification of the readers.

Contents

PAGE

Historical Sketch, by the Rev. Samuel Lees, xiii

Personal Recollections, by the Rev. Benjamin Gregory, 3 Address in connection with the Funeral Sermon, by the

I. Wycliffe: The Morning Star Of The Reformation"

IT may be prudent to state at the outset that while the subject before us is vastly important, both as to our national history and the progress of religious truth, it is difficult to make it popular. There are a few word artists, who, adorning whatever they touch, can make any topic attractive. But such a gift is of rare bestowment ; and the great bulk of talkers and writers, when they discuss an important but unattractive subject, must be content to ignore personal reputation, and stand upon their theme.

Whoever, among us ordinary men, would dream of painting the foundations of St. Paul's Cathedral so as to make them look brilliant to a public audience ? If we began above ground, we might tell in high-sounding language of the different orders of architecture, and compare the respective ages of the Gothic as to door, and dome, and windows ; and to an unprofessional ear, the jingle of scientific terms, culled from the encyclopedia, might sound grandly. But how any pencil can make the deep and uncouth foundations radiate with beauty is a mystery. And yet surely there was no part of that magnificent pile more important in the judgment of Sir Christopher Wren than the basement storey on which the mighty superstructure rests. Now, what the foundation is to St. Paul's Cathedral, "Wycliffe was, humanly speaking, to the glorious temple of the Eeformation.

It would be difficult to invest a tree root with any great attractiveness. Let us begin at the surface of the ground, and in gay colours, perhaps, we might put before you the gigantic trunk, and the wide-spreading branches, and the beautiful blossom, and the golden fruit, and we could certainly make it look something like a son of the forest, even though, doubtful of our success, and in imitation of the old painters, we did write underneath, " This is a tree." But we must despair of giving special interest to that which is underground. And yet what those unseen, wide-spreading roots are to the stately form and shade above, Wycliffe was, under God, to the tree of civil and religious liberty which now overspreads our land, the leaves and fruit of which are for the healing and sustenance of the nations.

That must be a skilful hand which could invest the gloom of night with grace and beauty. If the glories of the day-time were our theme, we might aspire to eloquence. The sun, the sky, the floods, the fields, the flowers, would bring us inspiration :

"There's music in the sighing of a reed ; There's music in the gushing of a rill ; There's music in all things, if men had ears ; Their earth is but an echo of the spheres."

But who of common poets would stake his little reputation on a song in praise of the

' ' Sable goddess, who from her ebon throne, In rayless majesty, now stretches forth Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world " ?

But, stop ! we must not forget that even in the darkest watch there is one point of light, beautiful in itself, but far more beautiful in its promise of the coming day :

' ' Xow the bright morning star, day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the east."

"What that star of the morning is to the coming sunshine and the after glory, John Wycliffe was to the day of light and liberty and blessing which now shines on us. If his life and times be not excitinc to the crowd, they will be full of interest to the thoughtful patriot and Christian. The living author, who beyond all others has given labour to this subject, says : — " In English history, Wycliffe is known as the first man who dared to advocate the free circulation of the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue, the unalienable right of private judgment, and our complete deliverance from the wiles and oppressions of a papal priesthood, uniting with these excellencies all the elements of that enlightened piety which adorned the Christian profession in its purer ages. . Compared with the most illustrious of the men who during the sixteenth century adopted so much of his creed, he will be found to be equal to the greatest, and the superior of most. Had his career been far less efficient, it will be remembered that the struggle at Thermopylas does not affect us less because it was a failure. And if many of the questions which occur in his writings are now in a great measure obsolete, the man who can be

52 . WYCL1FFE: THE

indifferent to the steps by which his liberties were acquired has scarcely learnt to value them as he ought."

As the historian looks at this celebrated name a threefold picture rises up before him. The first scene is at Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, nearly five centuries aero. It was on the 29th of December 1384 that a venerable-looking man descended from the roughhewn pulpit of St. Mary's Church, and took his stand by the communion table. The emblems of our Saviour's dying were spread before him. And while in the solemn act of consecration, a heavenly messenger whispered to him, " The Master calleth for thee ; " he gently fell into that old oaken chair, which is yet preserved; was carried out of the church by his sorrowing people ; in a few hours his spirit was "carried higher — "by the angels into Abraham's bosom." Some days after this, there was a sad funeral there, for nearly all the parishioners were mourners. The solemn procession passed from the rectory house to the church chancel, and in the vault beneath were deposited the remains of England's great reformer, "in sure and certain hope of the joyful resurrection to eternal life." This hope of the stricken villagers, as it respects the future glory, was well founded, and shall by and by be realized ; but if it had any reference to the undisturbed quiet of the good man's grave, it was soon cut off, as the second part of the picture will show.

In 1414 (some thirty years after Wycliffe's death) the Roman emperor Sigismund convened a general council in the quaint old German town of Constance. There were present "30 cardinals, 20 archbishops,

150 bishops, as many prelates, a great number of abbots and doctors, and 1800 priests." Nearly all the sovereigns of Europe were there, either in person or by their representatives; and the company of strangers brought to "somewhat long residence in the small town of Constance amounted to 100,000 persons." The object was twofold : to put an end to the strife occasioned by the simultaneous election of two popes, each of whom claimed to be the only infallible successor of St. Peter ; and also to suppress the heresy of Wycliffe and his followers. The celebrated John Huss was summoned to this council; and, trusting to the guarantee of safety which the emperor had given, went, and put himself into the mouth of the lion. A "safe-conduct," even signed by Sigismund himself, was not worth the paper on which it was written, if held by a heretic, and John Huss was soon committed to the flames. When required to concur in Wycliffe's condemnation, he promptly refused, and nobly said, "I am content that my soul should be where his soul is."

Jerome of Prague was another victim. He endured a longer torture, but the release came, and he passed through the fire to heaven.

Put before these two men were formally arraigned, the case of the English heresiarch was disposed of. Forty- five articles, said to be taken from Wycliffe's writings, and already condemned in England, at Rome, and Prague, were now condemned again. Subsequently two hundred and sixty more articles were declared to be heretical. The decree of heresy was pronounced ; all the works of the Reformer, wherever found, were to be burnt ; and the very bones of the poor persecuted man were ordered to be exhumed and reduced to ashes.

For thirteen years this decree was an idle letter ; and then the third part of our picture is seen. In 1428, the Eoman pontiff, whose soul had long been vexed at the unexecuted decree of Constance, sent an order to Archbishop Chicheley, requiring its immediate fulfilment. He, committed it to Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln and Diocesan of Lutterworth, a man who in earlier life was an adherent of Wycliffe, but had sunk again into the mire of Eomanism, and had thus been promoted for his apostasy. These, with their subordinates, make their way to Lutterworth to rifle the dead man's tomb. They give their orders, and the paving-stones behind the old oak screen are taken up. ^ A coffin, with more than forty years of decay upon it, is raised to the chancel floor. They pronounce it to be that of the heretic. They carry it through that old doorway which looks upon the river, and then down the narrow road which winds towards the bridge. Some of the older inhabitants, who were looking on, could remember the funeral, and the younger ones had been told of it as a great thing of the past. The mercenaries of the priesthood kindled a fire upon the bridge, and the bones of the immortal "Wycliffe were consumed to ashes. Then, to complete their deed of impotent rage and sacrilege, they threw the smouldering dust over the parapet, which fell into and mingled with the Swift's flowing stream. On this topic the words of Fuller have become immortal : " Thus this brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And so the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over." Well might Martin Luther, in memory of the first Continental martyr, sing these lines of confidence and hope :

' ' Flung to the heedless winds, Or on the waters cast, Their ashes shall be watched And gathered at the last ; And from their scattered dust, Around us and abroad, Shall spring a plenteous seed Of witnesses for God.

" Jesus hath now received Their latest, living breath ; Yet vain is Satan's boast Of victory in their death.

Still, still, though dead they speak, And, trumpet-tongued, proclaim To many a wakening land The One Availing Name. "

I must venture on another introductory paragraph. It is important that we obtain some clear notion of the country's condition when the star of Wycliffe rose. Without this we can form no right idea of the herculean task he undertook, or of his own motives and successes.

There is difference of opinion as to what part of the dark ages may be deemed the darkest ; but if the dreariest watch of the night be that which precedes the dawn, we are justified in saying that the thirteenth century was the nadir of the human mind and therefore the zniith of the papal power.

The subjection of England to that power was early and complete. There was no country in Christendom on which the pall of the papacy rested with a deadlier chill. From the monarch to the peasant the tyranny was perfect. All the legislation and government of the land, its feeble commerce, its conscience, its domestic and private life, were under the one fell influence. England was bowed down and trodden prostrate by Rome's iron heel. The long and unworthy reign of King John brought the country to its lowest depth. In addition to the old tribute which the Pope mercilessly exacted, this wretched sovereign actually put the kingdom in pawn, and promised an additional thousand marks, a sum equal to £20,000. It is true the scene at Eunnymede was soon enacted, and the noble barons wrung from him the Magna Charta; but so lowly stooped he to the Hierarch, that he requested the Pontiff to annul its proceedings. "Well might the successor of St. Peter shout with joy : " ' Surely England is our garden of delight ! It is an unexhausted well ; and where so much abounds, much may be acquired.' No wonder that he thus exulted, when his income from England was three times as much as that of the king on the throne."

You will expect that at such a time the morals of the country were fearfully corrupt. The luxury and excesses of the court are described by Hollinshead. Extravagance in dress, for instance, was carried to such a pitch, that positively the Government took alarm. The historians of that time assert that the excess in apparel could be endured no longer. A proposition was made in Parliament that there should be a State tailor, who should design a particular cut and colour for each rank of the population ; so that every man's station in life should be known by his coat or pantaloons. This proposal was eventually withdrawn ; but in 1361 a decree was made, that clerks in holy orders should dress according to their position and income.

I would fain believe that the ladies of those days were not the sinners, but that the gentlemen were in the pillory ; and yet truth compels me to state that they were equally guilty. For while the men dressed themselves in gaudy colours, like fools in a pantomime, it was no uncommon thing for one of the fair sex to sail into the church on a Sabbath morning with a head-gear above her shoulders, from 4 to 5 feet hi^h and some 6 or 7 pounds in weight.

But while these playful references may excite a smile, the moral condition of our forefathers wrings the heart with anguish. The historian just referred to denounces both the Eoyal and Episcopal palaces of England as the homes of sensuality and lust. Petrarch gives an awful account of the papal court in 1350. Chaucer, in his Canterbury Talcs, portrays the morals of the land in appalling colours ; and from many other sources you gather the fact that papal Britain had well-nigh filled up the measure of its iniquity.

Such was the condition of things at the opening of the fourteenth century. Several circumstances occurred, however, to mark the coming storm, and the after sunshine. The study of the fine arts upon the Continent, and especially in Italy, began to exercise an influence upon England. Commerce took a powerful stride ; and following the example of the Venetian Republic, our

5 8 m WYCLIFFE: THE ports were astir with enterprise and wealth. Literature received a mighty impulse not only in the universities, but through the towns and villages of the land ; and thus an overruling Providence prepared the way for the greatest revival of all. The intellect, the taste, the chivalry, the material prosperity of England were touched ; and then the pulses of a nation's heart were stirred, and longings for a spiritual life were cherished. The claims of the papacy were first doubted and then challenged. Two honoured names must be mentioned, as employed by Heaven to prepare the way for Wycliffe's coming and work.

One is that of Grostete, the memorable Bishop of Lincoln. He was regarded as the first man of his age for learning, — so much so, that the surrounding world called him a magician, — and eventually his erudition placed him in the prelate's chair. For more than a hundred years before the establishment of the Greek professorship in Florence of Boccaccio, he had translated Dionysius and Damascenus, and had acquired a considerable knowledge of the Hebrew language. It was this which led to a study of the Scriptures, and put into his hand the weapon with which he levelled many a fortress of the papacy. He had lent some favour to the Mendicant preachers because of the gross ignorance and immorality of his own priests. But he soon found that his confidence was misplaced. Two Franciscans were sent to England to extort money for the Pope. They came to Lincoln and laid a tax upon the diocese of £50,000. The impudence of the men, and the enormity of their demand, filled Grostete with indignation. He ordered them to be gone ; and having resolved to manage the finances of his own see, he was summoned before the Pope, who condemned his conduct. But he dared openly to remonstrate with his Holiness, who however rebuked him with profane effrontery. Then cried the worthy bishop, " 0, money, money, how vast is thy power everywhere — how irresistible at Eome ! " and with this utterance he returned home a more determined reformer than ever. Pope Innocent hurled at him the thunderbolt of excommunication, " and swore by St. Peter and by Paul that he was well-nigh resolved to make this ' delirious old man,' as he called him, an example and an astonishment to the world. Is not the King of England," he exclaimed, " my vassal, or rather my bond-slave ? and could I not, by a single word to him, consign this doting priest in a moment to imprisonment and infamy ? " But the sentence fell harmless, and Grostete spent his remaining days in sorrowing over the Church's sins and preparing for his own change.

The other name is that of Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland. He was born atDundalk, and was there buried ; but he died at Avignon, whither he had gone to reason with the Pope on the abuses which were ruining the Church. His whole public life was a protest against Eome, and having finished, it is said, a translation of the New Testament into the Irish language, he died resting on the one sacrifice of Christ.

The very year in which Fitzralph died saw John Wycliffe enter upon his work.

The history of our hero has three divisions — early life, college life, pakochial life. Under one or other of these heads the principal facts will come before us.

6o WYCLIFFE THE

We shall soon dispose of the first part, because we know, and can therefore say, very little.

John Wycliffe, whose name, by the way, is spelt in sixteen different forms, was born in the year 1324. On the banks of the Tees, about 11 miles from Eichmond, and 5 from Barnard Castle, a little hamlet dots the sloping greensward, guarded by a castle-looking edifice, which stands on an elevated and projecting rock. This is the parish of Wycliffe, or Wye-Cliffe, or the cliffe near the xoatcr, a name most appropriate to the scenery around. The old mansion, as it stood five centuries ago, " on the brow of that meadow slope overlooking the Tees," was Wycliffe's birth-place, and even from the time of the Conquest, down to many generations after John was born, was it the residence of the Wycliffe family.

Of his boyhood we know absolutely nothing. This may not, however, excite surprise. The biographer of John Knox tells us that we are in similar plight with regard to that great man, though Ms times are two centuries nearer to our own.

As to Wycliffe's education we may reasonably offer a conjecture. There can be no doubt that he would receive the best training which the age and neighbourhood could supply. In the early part of the fourteenth century, schools were established largely throughout the country. Tanner tells us, in his researches, that "500 religious houses had risen in England during the interval from the Conquest to the reign of John. To these houses schools were generally annexed." We may fairly conclude, therefore, that the Yorkshire youth was well schooled in the Latin language, which was then, in fact, " the only key to knowledge," as well as in the usual elements of science.

Of his college life we have more accurate information. He was sixteen or seventeen years of age when he left home for Oxford, or Oxenforde, as the Queenly City was then generally called. A journey from the north of York to this place was in those days no trifle. We who can easily breakfast in London, and dine in Paris, and after doing a large stroke of business there, get home for business the next morning, cannot realize the dangers and difficulties of travel in the former times. We are reminded that " the author of Waverley" when writing of only " sixty years since," describes the " fly-coach " as aiming at something wonderful when promising to convey its passengers from Edinburgh to London, " God willing, in three weeks."

Wycliffe has left no record of his journey, so that we can only imagine him upon his pack-horse, traversing the padded roads of several counties for weary days, till at length he reached the banks of the Isis, and breathed the academic atmosphere of Oxford.

He entered as a student at Queen's College, but soon removed to the more celebrated Merton, where he was first Probationer, and afterwards Fellow. This college, we are told, " had produced some of the most scientific scholars of the age ; had supplied the English Church with three Metropolitans ; its Divinity chair had been recently filled by the celebrated Bradvvardine ; and within its walls Ockham and Duns Scotus had disclosed that genius, the fame of which was at this time commensurate with Christendom, and was believed to be immortal."

Our student gave himself up to learning with a zeal and success almost without a parallel ; and so great was his proficiency that even the most relentless of his adversaries declared his powers to have been almost more than human, and that he was deemed little less than a god. It was this wonderful erudition, especially in the Bible, which gained for him the title of the Gospel Doctor.

About this time his mind became deeply impressed by one of the most fearful events which can befall a nation. " It was in the year 1349," says the historian, " that a pestilence, the most destructive in the annals of the world, appeared in Tartary. Having ravaged various kingdoms of Asia, it hovered about the delta and shores of the Nile ; was wafted thence to the islands of Greece ; passing along the shores of the Mediterranean, it filled the several states of Italy with impartial ruin ; and crossing the Alps, penetrated into nearly every recess of the European population. Two years had been occupied in its desolating progress, when the Continent was shaken from its centre to its borders by a succession of earthquakes. From June to December in the same year, England was deluged with incessant rains. In the following August the plague appeared at Dorchester; it soon reached the metropolis, and there, in the space of a few months, added many thousands to its victims." This alarming visitation produced a vast impression upon Wycliffe for the whole of his after life. He regarded it as the punishment of Heaven because of the Church's and the nation's sin. It led to his writing the first of his published works, a tract entitled The Last Age of the Church.

In all probability it was the preparation of this tract, concerning the scandalous lives of the clergy, which prepared the way for his sharp and long-continued struggle with the Mendicant Friars.

These were chiefly divided into four Orders : the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Carmelites, and the Hermits of St. Augustine. The two former, however, became the most notorious. Their rise dates from the beginning of the thirteenth century, and it must be confessed that their early history gave promise of great good to the Church.

In the year 1221 these reformers first made their appearance in England. For a while they seemed to do good service ; but by and by they abandoned their simplicity, and the worst vices of human nature vegetated in them to luxuriance. Under pretence of following the example of the Great Master, who had not where to lay his head, " these Friars affected to be poor, and with a wallet on their back, begged with a piteous air from both high and low. But at the same time, they had large houses of their own, in which there was much waste, wore at home costly clothes, gave great feasts, and had many jewels and treasures." These Friars at length became the very pests of society, worming their way into the secrets of the domestic circle, and laying a deathly hand on social life. They wandered through the country selling pardons for money, tempting to the fulfilment of foulest atrocities, and then absolving the culprits on the payment of heavy fines.

The reeking moral filth of these Orders could be endured no longer, and a loud demand was made for

64 . WYCL1FFE: THE

their extirpation. The University of Paris led the way. Then Oxford raised an indignant cry. In 1360 Wycliffe took up this controversy. One thunderbolt after another he forged in his study, and hurled with tremendous power against the Mendicants, who sometimes reeled under their force, and sometimes thundered in return.

Let me state a fact in a parenthesis. Some half century before this publication, the Franciscans attempted to bribe the Pontiff ; offering to his Holiness no less a sum than 40,000 ducats in gold to sanction the violation of their rule with respect to property. The Pope sent for the money from the banker to whom it had been entrusted ; and seizing it as the fruit of transgression, respectfully informed the astonished applicants that the rule of St. Francis was not to be infringed.

Wycliffe further charges them with pillaging and deceiving the people ; with contempt of the country's government, and even secret treason against the state ; with blasphemy, in the act of pardon which they ascribed to the Pope ; and in robing themselves with a power which belongs to none but God. These were the accusations which he fearlessly made, and as fearlessly sustained.

The Mendicants roared with rage, and Oxford became little better than a bear-garden. They appealed to the Pope ; and indeed the controversy waxed so hot that Parliament was requested to interfere. A very milk-and-water reply came from Westminster. But the University acted with more decision, and openly espoused the cause of the Keformer. The Society of

Balliol College at once testified their regard by presenting him with the church of Fillingham, a living of considerable value in the diocese of Lincoln, which he afterwards exchanged in 1368 for Lutgershall, in the archdeaconry of Bucks, a living of less value, but of more convenient situation, as being nearer to Oxford. In the same year (1361) he was promoted to the wardenship of Balliol ; which dignity he resigned some four years afterwards for the headship of Canterbury Hall, a society founded about that time by Simon Islip, then Archbishop of Canterbury.

This last preferment led to endless difficulty. His appointment was contested. He invoked the Pope's protection, who decided against him. A final appeal was made to the Crown ; and by a substantial bribe of from £2000 to £3000, which the Prior and Convent of Christ's Church, Canterbury, actually paid the king, the papal sentence was confirmed, and poor Wycliffe was deprived of his well-earned preferment.

He was now summoned to a larger sphere of controversy. Pope Urban v., in 1365, revived his claim to an annual tribute of a thousand marks from England. He sent to the king his arrogant letter of demand, and threatened, on refusal, to cite him before the papal court. The foundation of this claim was the alleged surrender of the English crown by John to Innocent in. The king died two years after this miserable transaction; but the oath of fealty to the Pope was renewed by his son. Several successive princes, however, had treated the demand as a dead letter ; and for thirty-three years no tribute had been paid. This tilt of Ins Holiness was most inopportune and disastrous. The reign of Edward had been both long and brilliant. The victories of Crecy and Poictiers were just secured. The peace of Bretigny had made the king more popular than ever ; and now, that a foreign potentate should not only enforce an unjust, if not an obsolete, claim, but threaten the monarch with personal humiliation, was what the country would not endure. Edward laid all the facts at once before Parliament, and asked for advice-. With little delay the advice was tendered in these terms : " Forasmuch as neither King John, nor any other king, could bring this realm and kingdom in such thraldom and subjection, but by common consent of Parliament, the which was not done ; that which he did was against his oath at his coronation. If the Pope should attempt anything against the King by process or other matters of deed, the King, with all his subjects, should, with all their force and power, resist the same."