Too boastful Britain, please thyfelf no more. That beafts of prey are banish'd from thy shore: The Bear, the Boar, and every favage name, 156 Wild in effect, though in appearance tame, Lay wafte thy woods, destroy thy blissful bower, And, muzzled though they feem, the mutes de vour, 159 More haughty than the reft, the wolfish race he rears, 165 And pricks up his predeftinating ears, Ver. 172. The laft of all the litter] Calvin, the perfon here pointed at, was, it must be allowed, a man of very extenfive genius, much learning, induftry, penetration, and piety, and the moft perfuafive eloquence, He was born at Noyon, in Picardy, in July, 1509. To efcape the threats of Francis the First, he retired to Bafil, where he published his Chriftian Inftitutions, and prefixed to them his famous dedication to Francis I. Caivin was afthmatical, and delivered his fermons flowly: a man at Geneva got his livelihood by writing them down as he pro 175 Some authors thus his pedigree will trace, nounced them. "Sapit Calvinus (fays Scaliger) quod in apo Among all the enemies of the Mendicant orders, none has been tranfmitted to pofterity with more exalted encomiums on the one hand, or blacker calumnies on the other, than John Wickliff, profeffor of divinity at Oxford, and afterwards rector of Lutterworth; who, according to the teftimony of the writers of thefe times, was a man of an enterprifing genius, and extraor dinary learning. In the year 1360, animated by the example of Richard, archbishop of Armagh, he firft of all defended the ftatutes and privileges of the univerfity of Oxford against all the orders of the mendicants, and had the courage to throw out fome flight reproofs against the popes, their principal patrons, which no true Briton ever imputed to him as a crime. After this, in the year 1367, he was deprived of the wardenship of Canterbury-hall, in the university of Oxford, by Simon Langham, archbishop of Canterbury, who fubftituted a monk in his place upon which he appealed to pope Urban V. who confirmed the fentence of the archbishop against him, on account of the freedom with which he had inveighed against the monaftic. orders. Highly exasperated at this treatment, he threw off all restraint, and not only attacked all the monks, and their scandalous irregularities, but even the pontifical power itfelf, and other ecclefiaftical abufes, both in his fermons and writings. From Thefe laft deduce him from the Helvetian kind, Who near the Leman lake his confort lin’d: hence he proceeded to yet greater lengths, and, detefting the wretched fuperftition of the times, refuted, with great acuteness and spirit, the abfurd notions that were generally received in religious matters, and not only exhorted the laity to fludy the fcriptures, but also tranflated into English these divine books, in order to render the perufal of them more univerfal. Though neither the doctrine of Wickliff was void of error, nor his life without reproach, yet it must be confeffed, that the changes he attempted to introduce, both in the faith and difcipline of the church, were, in many refpećts, wife, useful, and falutary, The monks, whom Wickliff had principally exafperated, commenced a violent profecution against him at the court of Gre gory XI. who, in the year 1377, ordered Simon Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury, to take cognizance of the affair, in a council held at London. Imminent as this danger evidently was, Wickliff efcaped it by the intereft of the Duke of Lancaster, and fome other peers, who had a high regard for him. And foon after the death of Gregory XI. the fatal fchifm of the Romish church commenced, during which there was one pope at Rome, and another at Avignon; fo that, of courfe, this controverfy lay dormant a long time. But no fooner was this embroiled ftate of affairs tolerably fettled, than the process against him was revived by William de Courtenay, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1385, and was carried on with great vehe mence in two councils held at London and Oxford. The event was, that of the twenty-three opinions, for which Wickliff had been profecuted by the Monks, ten were condemned as herefics, and thirteen as errors. He himself, however, returned in fafety to Lutterworth, where he died peaceably in the year 1387. This latter attack was much more dangerous than the former; but by what means he got fafely through it, whether by intereft of the court, or by denying or abjuring his opinions, is to this day a fecret. He left many followers in England, and other countries, who were ftyled Wickliffites and Lollards, which latt was a term of popular reproach, tranflated from the Flemish tongue into English. Wherever they could be found, they were terribly perfecuted by the inquifitors, and other inftruments of papal vengeance; and, in the council of Conftance, in the year 1415, the memory and opinions of Wickliff were condemned by a folemn decree; and about thirteen years after, his bones were dug up, and publicly burnt. That fiery Zuinglius firft the affection bred, 180 And meagre Calvin bleft the nuptial bed. Of all the reformers, Melanchon appears to have been the most elegant scholar, and to have had the beft tafte. His Latin tranflation of Euripides was excellent. Father Paul valued Occam above all the schoolmen. Luther objected to preaching on the Apocalypfe. Dr. J. WARTON. Ver. 180. That fiery Zuinglius] His conduct and share in the Reformation is thus impartially stated by Mosheim :— "While the credit and authority of the Roman pontiff was thus upon the decline in Germany, they received a mortal wound in Switzerland from Ulric Zuingle, a canon of Zurich, whofe extenfive learning and uncommon fagacity were accompanied with the moft heroic intrepidity and refolution. It must even be acknowledged, that this eminent man had perceived fome rays of the truth before Luther came to an open rupture with the church of Rome. He was however afterwards full farther animated by the example, and inftructed by the writings of the Saxon reformer; and thus his zeal for the good caufe acquired new ftrength and vigour. For he not only explained the facred writings in his public difcourfes to the people, but also gave, in the year 1519, a fignal proof of his courage, by oppofing, with the greateft refolution and fuccefs, the miniftry of a certain. Italian monk, whofe name was Samfon, and who was carrying on, in Switzerland, the impious traffic of indulgences, with the fame impudence that Tetzel had done in Germany. This was the first remarkable event that prepared the way for the reformation among the Helvetic cantons. In procefs of time, Zuingle purfued, with fteadinefs and refolution, the defign that he had begun with fuch courage and fuccefs. His noble efforts were feconded by fome other learned men, educated in Germany, who became his colleagues, and the companions of his labours, and who, jointly with him, fucceeded fo far in removing the credulity of a deluded people, that the pope's fupremacy was rejected and denied in the greatest part of Switzerland. It is indeed to be obferved, that Zuingle did not always use the fame methods of converfion that were employed by Luther; nor, upon particular occafions, did he difcountenance the ufe of violent measures against fuch as adhered with obftinacy to the fuperftitions of their ancestors. He is alfo faid to have attributed to the civil magiftrate fuch an extenfive power in ecclefiaftical affairs, as is quite inconfiftent with the effence and genius of religion. But, upon the whole, even envy muft acknowledge, that his intentions were upright, and his defigns worthy of the highest approbation." Dr. J. WARTON, In Ifrael fome believe him whelp'd long fince, "Till opening earth made way for all to pafs, ran, Abhorring the fupremacy of man, 195 In woods and caves the rebel-race began. With teeth untry'd, and rudiments of claws, Your fangs you faften'd on the mitred crown, And freed from God and monarchy your town. Ver. 183. When the proud Sanhedrim &c.] On this line, in the original edition, the following marginal note occurs:"Vid. Pref. to Heyl. Hist. of Prefb." Ver. 187. edit. and rightly. TODD. of his ephod to deveft:] Thus the orig. TODD. |