is no small honour to this excellent prelate, that he resisted, successfully, the papal power, at a period in which that power seemed to be irresistible, and when the mightiest sovereigns were compelled to crouch before the Roman pontiff. “The next individual who lifted up a standard against the corruptions of popery, during that period, was Richard Knapwell, a Dominican friar, who maintained, in the year 1286, several propositions which were deemed heretical by the prelates of that age, and most furiously controverted by archbishop Peckham. The greater part of these propositions were unintelligible jargon, relative to the sacrifice of the mass; but the last, which was probably the most obnoxious of the whole, contained a sound Protestant maxim: namely, ‘That, in articles of faith, a man is not bound to set on the authority of the pope, or of any priest or doctor; but that the holy Scriptures, and right reason, are the only foundations of our assent.’ These doctrines were denounced, but it is not known what became of the author of them. Of Thomas Bradwardine, archbishop of Canterbury, I have already told you. But the individual who aimed the most effectual blow at the mighty fabric of papal superstition, was the celebrated John Wickliffe. This primitive reformer delivered lectures on divinity, in Merton College, Oxford. His learning acquired him great reputation; but he soon became disgusted with the vices, ignorance, and rapacity of the clergy, and preached against them with great zeal. His boldness attracted the attention of king Edward the Third, from whom he received several benefices, and by whom he was sent on several embassies to the court of Rome. Here he saw so much to confirm his former opinions, that, on his return, he inveighed, with increased vehemence, against the errors of popery. He soon proceeded so far as to deny the pope’s supremacy, and even to denounce him as antichrist. This effrontery, in an humble ecclesiastic, soon armed against him all the dignitaries, of the church which he had presumed to assail; and subjected him to the thundering anathemas of the pontiff, who commanded him to be apprehended and condemned for his heretical discourses. “The rector of Lutterworth would soon have been the prey of his mighty adversaries, had not the duke of Lancaster, and lord Henry Percy, then marshal of England, espoused his cause, and afforded him protection. Whether their conduct proceeded from political or religious motives, is a matter of uncertainty; but, whatever might be the inducement, it had the happiest effect; for it not only enabled Wickliffe to pursue his Herculean task, but emboldened many, both of the clergy and laity, to embrace his tenets.