Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/434

 must be remembered that the authority of Rome was still impaired by the Papal Schism. The Conference was candid enough to say that there were "many true, good, and useful things" in Wyclif, of which the students in the schools ought not to be deprived. The universities were not heroic—enough or were perhaps too heroic—for the popes and archbishops; and in fact it is to them, and especially to the University of Prague, that we owe the preservation of many of Wyclif's works.

The statute of 1401, reviving the punishment of the stake for obstinate heretics, was one of the first acts of the reign of Henry IV., and Arundel had at once availed himself of it by passing censure on the Lollard priest, Sawtre, and handing him over to be dealt with by the secular arm. The enactment of this statute did not lead to many burnings in England; but it is a mistake to conclude that it had effected the purpose of those who obtained it. No doubt to some extent it would drive heresy beneath the surface, and close the mouths of the wilder sort of heretics, whose noise had been in excess of their courage. But Lollardy remained an open profession, and if the spirit of the age had allowed many scandals, such as those exhibited by the deaths of Sawtre, Badby, and Lord Cobham, the bishops and judges would certainly not have lacked victims amongst the followers of Wyclif, who courted the utmost terrors