Page:Illustrations of the history of medieval thought and learning.djvu/283

Rh It was therefore when the powers of the spiritual and the temporal lord crossed one another that Wycliffe's strict principle came into play, When the church exercised functions which justly belonged to the state, when it became involved in transactions about money and territorial possession, then, he held, it was time for the state to interfere and vindicate its right over its own affairs. The mis-used revenues of the church were to be won back and the spiritualty was to be limited to its proper spiritual office. Such at the date in Wycliffe's history to which alone our attention is directed, was the main result to which his theorising had led him. But it is evident that the principle on which he built could not fail to bring with it other no less practical conclusions. By means of his doctrine of dominion he not only undermined the fabric of the hierarchy, since each individual is answerable to God alone; but also he was already moved to question, with Ockham, whether the pope be an indispensable element in the fabric; he even speculates whether it be not possible that one day the ship of Peter, the church, may not consist exclusively of laymen. Another step, such a step as was suggested by the schism of 1378, would lead Wycliffe into fixed opposition to the papacy. At present he is still animated by a loyal reverence towards the head of the church: he only disputes the pope's pretensions when they exceed the sphere of his true functions as such; he only discusses in a theoretical