Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/226

 question was referred to Wyclif, as a similar question had been referred to him eleven years before; and the answer which he gave was perhaps more significant than some of his biographers have led us to suppose. As a matter of fact, the King's chaplain gave two answers in the same treatise—first, the answer of a logical and independent mind, and then the answer of prudence and expediency. He was asked "whether the realm of England may legitimately, under urgent necessity of self-defence, prevent the resources of the kingdom from being carried away to foreigners, even though the Pope demand it under pain of censure, and by a strict appeal to our obedience."

Wyclif begins by declaring that he must leave it to trained lawyers to say what should be done according to the canon law, the law of England, and the civil law, and undertakes to argue the matter out according to the law of Christ. The realm, he says, is quite entitled to keep its property, first as a mode of self-preservation, and next because the payments to Rome originated as alms and charity, and they are no longer required as such, whereas the Bible and the Fathers teach us that charity begins at home. Again we are bound by the law of conscience—and especially the rulers of the country are so bound—to think of our own country first, and not to impoverish it. In regard to Peter's pence especially, pious founders left their benefactions for the Church of England alone, that the clergy might live thereby, and give the rest in alms. Before allowing any of this wealth to leave the country, our rulers should take