d in the mass;[467] the contagion of the
growing anarchy seems to have touched even Wycliffe himself, and touched
him in a point most deeply dangerous.

His theory of property, and his study of the character of Christ, had led
him to the near confines of Anabaptism. Expanding his views upon the
estates of the church into an axiom, he taught that "charters of perpetual
inheritance were impossible;" "that God could not give men civil
possessions for ever;"[468] "that property was founded in grace, and
derived from God;" and "seeing that forfeiture was the punishment of
treason, and all sin was treason against God, the sinner must consequently
forfeit his right to what he held of God." These propositions were nakedly
true, as we shall most of us allow; but God has his own methods of
enforcing extreme principles; and human legislation may only meddle with
them at its peril. The theory as an abstraction could be represented as
applying equally to the laity as to the clergy, and the new teaching
received a practical comment in 1381, in the invasion of London by Wat, the
tyler of Dartford, and 100,000 men, who were to level all ranks, put down
the church, and establish universal liberty.[469] Two priests accompanied
the insurgents, not Wycliffe's followers, but the licentious counterfeits
of them, who trod inevitably in their footsteps, and were as inevitably
countenanced by their doctrines. The insurrection was attended with the
bloodshed, destruction, and ferocity natural to such outbreaks. The
Archbishop of Canterbury and many gentlemen were murdered; and a great part
of London sacked and burnt. It would be absurd to attribute this disaster
to Wycliffe, nor was there any desire to hold him responsible for it; but
it is equally certain that the doctrines which he had taught were
incompatible, at that particular time, with an effective repression of the
spirit which had caused the explosion. It is equally certain that he had
brought discredit on his nobler efforts by ambiguous language on a subject
of the utmost difficulty, and had taught the wiser and better portion of
the people to confound heterodoxy of opinion with sedition, anarchy, and
disorder.

So long as Wycliffe lived, his own lofty character was a guarantee for the
conduct of his immediate disciples; and although his favour had far
declined, a party in the state remained attached to him, with sufficient
influence to prevent the adoption of extreme measures against