orms were but two: to abolish the temporal
power of the church, and to purge her of immoral ministers. It was for
this reason that he set up the authority of Scripture against that of
tradition; it was for this that he doubted the efficacy of sacraments
administered by priests living in mortal sin; it was for this that he
denied the necessity of auricular confession; it was for this that he
would have placed the temporal power over the spiritual. The bulk of
his writings, in both Latin and English, is fierce, measureless abuse
of the clergy, particularly of prelates and of the pope. The head of
Christendom is called Antichrist over and over again; the bishops,
priests and friars are said to have their lips full of lies and their
hands of blood; to lead women astray; to live in idleness, luxury,
simony and deceit; and to devour the English church. Marriage of the
clergy is recommended. Indulgences are called a cursed robbery.

To combat the enemies of true piety Wyclif relied on two agencies. The
first was the Bible, which, with the assistance of friends, he
Englished from the {38} Vulgate. None of the later Reformers was more
bent upon giving the Scriptures to the laity, and none attributed to it
a higher degree of inspiration. As a second measure Wyclif trained
"poor priests" to be wandering evangelists spreading abroad the message
of salvation among the populace. For a time they attained considerable
success, notwithstanding the fact that the severe persecution to which
they were subjected caused all of Wyclif's personal followers to
recant. [Sidenote: 1401] The passage of the act _De Haeretico
Comburendo_ was not, however, in vain, for in the fifteenth century a
number of common men were found with sufficient resolution to die for
their faith. It is probable that, as Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of
London wrote in 1523, the Lollards, as they were called, were the first
to welcome Lutheranism into Britain.

But if the seed produced but a moderate harvest in England it brought
forth a hundred-fold in Bohemia. Wyclif's writings, carried by Czech
students from Oxford to Prague, were eagerly studied by some of the
attendants at that university, the greatest of whom was John Huss.
[Sidenote: Huss, 1369-1415] Having taken his bachelor's degree there
in 1393, he had given instruction since 1398 and became the head of the
university (Rector) for the year 1402. Almost the whole content of his
lectures, as of his w