312

St. Giles's Fields.

Cent. 15,

poor Lollards were quite unprepared for such an attack, having only a few arms, which they brought with them for the purpose of defending themselves against the malicious papists, whom they had reason to fear might attempt to apprehend them. This rencounter, for battle it cannot be called, was soon ended, about twenty were killed, and sixty taken prisoners. Henry was surprised to find that the whole army was in his possession; he thought he had only met the advanced guard, and that Lord Cobham, with his grand phalanx, was yet to be attacked,

This affair, however, was magnified by the papists into rebellion and treason. Cobham was condemned as the contriver of the scheme, and nothing was too odious to cast upon the character of that unfortunate gentleman. Mr. Hume, the ingenious and elegant historian, sets him down at once as a traitor, and falls into all the absurd conclusions fabricated by the enemies of protestanism. It must be observed that Mr. Hume was an avowed infidel, and it is evident, through the whole of his writings, that he is friendly to any system, whether pagan, mahometan, or popish, in preference to simple Christianity. Amid all his incredulity, he is credulous enough at all times to believe any thing against the followers of Christ. Rapin takes a more enlarged and impartial view of the subjeet; he acquits Lord Cobham as a man of sense, from being the contriver of any such plot, especially as the twenty thousand men at once shrunk down into the paltry number of fourscore, or a hundred at most; no accomplices could be found all the kingdom through; Cobham himself neither at their head nor in their party; and as to this formidable regiment itself, it consisted of a body of ill-armed men, without a leader, except hav

Chap. 2.

Martyrdom of Cobham.

318

ing a preacher, and the whole had the appearance of what it really was, a company of men met together at midnight in a thicket to hear God's word.

But notwithstanding, the mind of Henry was SO wrought upon by the representations of the papists; that he considered the affair as an attempt at something unfriendly to his person and government. A bill of attainder, against Cobham, immediately issued from the legislature, a price of a thousand marks was set upon his head, and a promise of perpetual exemption from taxes to any town that should secure him.

Such measures could hardly fail to apprehend this persecuted man; but what is remarkable, he contrived to elude all research till the end of the year 1417, when by the vigilance of Lord Powis and his men, he was taken and carried to London. The fate of Lord Cobham slumbered not, he was brought before the House of Lords to answer for the affair of St. Giles's Fields; but as no witnesses could be brought to substantiate the charge, he was dismissed from that tribunal and led to execution. The scene of the pretended battle was the spot where, as a traitor and a heretic, he was suspended alive in chains on a gallows, and then burnt to death. Many persons of rank and distinction attended the execution, and the ecclesiastics found it exceedingly diffieult to keep the populace from expressing loudly their high regard to such a man as Lord Cobham, who, in their estimation, deserved both from his king and his country, much better treatment.

During Lord Cobham's retreat, Arundel was called to give an account of his stewardship at the divine bar. Henry Chicbely succeeded in the archbishopric, 1414.

This man deserves to be called the firebrand of the age in which he lived." The persecution of the Lol

314

Taylor and White.

Gent. 15.

lards ended not with the martyrdom of Cobham; some few of the persons taken at the battle of St. Giles's Fields were put to death, and multitudes in different parts of the land were grievously harassed; whole families were routed by the vigilance of papal emissaries. William Taylor, a priest, was burnt because be dared to assert that prayer should be directed to God only. William White also suffered the same fate for his diligence in endeavouring to instruct the people in the great truths of Christ's religion.

CHAPTER III.

Distracted State of the Popedom-the Council of Constance-John Huss charged with heresy, and martyred -Jerome of Prague suffers the same fate-Miscellaneous Acts of the Council.

THE schism in the popedom fell under notice in the history of the former century, and for several years during the present the same distraction continues. Attempts were made to heal a breach so shocking, and so detrimental to the peace and union of holy church. At one time the contending and rival pontiffs were prevailed upon to enter into an agreement by oath to resign their several claims, and renounce the papal chair, provided it were thought necessary for the welfare of the catholic cause; but they both violated the solemn obligation, and obstinately persisted in their right to hold their possessions. To settle this sad affair, a council was called, in which both popes were declared unworthy the office they held, and excommunicated from the church.

Chap. 3.

Council of Constance.

315

This decided step was followed by the election of one pontiff in their stead, who entered the papal list under the name of Alexander the Fifth. But the two deposed popes set the decree of the council at defiance, and continued in their respective chairs. Thus the schism was increased, and the hierarchy turned into a hydra.

Such confusion and faction in a government so sacred demanded the most serious attention of all concerned. A general council was resolved upon, and SIGISMUND, the emperor of Germany, prevailed upon Pope John the Twenty-third, (successor to Alexander the Fifth,) to assemble the ecclesiastics at CONSTANCE, for the important purposes of settling all differences, reforming abuses, and of fixing the principles of papal supre

macy.

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE stands upon the historie page in characters famous for the personages of which it was composed, but infamous for the acts it performed. The members of this assembly consisted of the several European prinees, or their deputies, with Sigismund at their head; twenty archbishops, one hundred and fifty bishops, one hundred and fifty other dig nitaries, and above two hundred doctors, with the pope at their head. This council was opened by John, the twenty-third of that name, in the year 1414. The emperor, the grand leader of the scheme, was a man of mixed ebaracter, politie, crafty, deceitful; and from the sequel it is very evident he had formed the design of overturning the pontificate of John, although he had made him the instrument of calling this vast assembly together. John was not aware of the emperor's design, or he had never been thus brought to adopt a measure which proved his destruction. The council had not

316

Council of Constance.

Cent. 15.

sat long, before the authority of such a synod was declared to be superior to that of the pope, and that it might depose a legal pontiff, and proceed to the election of another. This deeree first operated against John, who was charged with the most flagitious conduct, and deposed from the sacred office. There remained yet two pontiffs to be dispensed with, one of which, seeing how matters were going, voluntarily resigned; the other was afterwards declared to be a spurious and unauthorized character, though he continued to bear the sign of his office till death, and a successor placed himself in the vacant chair: who at length declined his seat in favour of MARTIN, whom the council had ordained as the only legal and true head of the church. Thus the evil spirit of schism was laid, and one great end of the council answered. Let us now turn to some circumstances which give this council a place in the history of the true church; but the place it occupies is that formerly occupied by the tribunals of Nero, Tra jan, Dioclesian, and of other monsters of iniquity.

One great object professed by this council, was the reformation of the catholic church; and, indeed, some attempts were made to correct abuses, and some notorious offenders were chastised: but alas! this assembly was composed of men too ignorant or too interested to effect any thing deserving to be called a reformation. Instead of proceeding to attack error and vice in their several springs, they directed their force against those very men who, of all others, were the most fit to accomplish a radical change, a change without which, the church could but exhibit a complete sink of iniquity, and render reformation impossible. Before this asso ciation of ecelesiastics, John Huss was commanded to appear, and there to answer to the charge of heresy