, and usurers. [Sidenote: Dissatisfaction in
England.] In England, for ages a mine of wealth to Rome, the tendency of
things was shown by such facts as the remonstrance of the Commons with
the crown on the appointment of ecclesiastics to all the great offices;
the allegations made by the "Good Parliament" as to the amount of money
drawn by Rome from the kingdom. They asserted that it was five times as
much as the taxes levied by the king, and that the pope's revenue from
England was greater than the revenue of any prince in Christendom. It
was shown again by such facts as the passage of the statutes of
Mortmain, Provisors, and Praemunire, and by the universal clamour against
the mendicant orders. This dissatisfaction with the clergy was
accompanied by a desire for knowledge. [Sidenote: Wiclif, the English
reformer.] Thousands of persons crowded to the universities both on the
Continent and in England. In a community thus well prepared, Wiclif
found no difficulty in disseminating his views. He had adopted in many
particulars the doctrines of Berengar. He taught that the bread in the
Eucharist is not the real body of Christ, but only its image; that the
Roman Church has no true claim to headship over other churches; that its
bishop has no more authority than any other bishop; that it is right to
deprive a delinquent Church of temporal possessions; that no bishop
ought to have prisons for the punishment of those obnoxious to him; and
that the Bible alone is a sufficient guide for a Christian man.
[Sidenote: He translates the Bible.] His translation of the Bible into
English was the practical carrying out of that assertion for the benefit
of his own countrymen. All classes of society were becoming infected.
The government for a season vacillated. It was said that every other man
in England was a Lollard. The Lollards were Wiclifites. But the Church
at last persuaded the government to let her try her hand, and the
statute "de heretico comburendo" was passed A.D. 1400. [Sidenote:
Burning of English heretics.] William Sautree, a priest who had turned
Wiclifite, was the first English martyr. John Badbee, a tailor, who
denied transubstantiation--accused of having said that, if it were true,
there were 20,000 gods in every corn-field in England--next suffered in
like manner at the stake, in presence of the Prince of Wales. Lord
Cobham, the head of the Lollards, who had denounced the pope as
Anti-Christ, the Son of Perdition, was im