with the public faith, Henry seemed to prepare the road for the still
more radical changes of the reformers. These, a numerous and
increasing sect, exulted by turns in the innovations he promulgated,
lamented their dilatoriness and imperfection, or trembled at the
reaction of his bigotry against themselves. Trained in the school of
theological controversy, and drawing from those bitter waters fresh
aliment for his sanguinary and imperious temper, he displayed the
impartiality of his intolerance by alternately persecuting the two
conflicting parties. We all have read how three persons convicted of
disputing his supremacy, and three deniers of transubstantiation,
were drawn on the same hurdle to execution. But the doctrinal
system adopted by Henry in the latter years of his reign, varying
indeed in some measure from time to time, was about equally
removed from popish and protestant orthodoxy. The corporal
presence of Christ in the consecrated elements was a tenet which no
one might dispute without incurring the penalty of death by fire; and
the king had a capricious partiality to the Romish practice in those
very points where a great many real catholics on the Continent were
earnest for its alteration, the communion of the laity by bread alone,
and the celibacy of the clergy. But in several other respects he was
wrought upon by Cranmer to draw pretty near to the Lutheran creed,
and to permit such explications to be given in the books set forth by
his authority, the Institution, and the Erudition of a Christian Man, as,
if they did not absolutely proscribe most of the ancient opinions, threw
at best much doubt upon them, and gave intimations which the
people, now become attentive to these questions, were acute enough
to interpret.[114]
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Progress of the reformed doctrine in England. —It was natural to
suspect, from the previous temper of the nation, that the revolutionary
spirit which blazed out in Germany should spread rapidly over
England. The enemies of ancient superstition at home, by frequent
communication with the Lutheran and Swiss reformers, acquired not
only more enlivening confidence, but a surer and more definite
system of belief. Books printed in Germany or in the Flemish
provinces, where at first the administration connived at the new
religion, were imported and read with that eagerness and delight
which always compensate the risk of forbidden studies.[115] Wolsey, who had no turn towards persecution, contented himself with ordering
heretical writings to be burned, and strictly prohibiting their
importation. But to withstand the course of popular opinion is always
like a combat against the elements in commotion; nor is it likely that a
government far more steady and unanimous than that of Henry VIII.
could have effectually prevented the diffusion of protestantism. And
the severe punishment of many zealous reformers, in the subsequent
part of his reign, tended, beyond a doubt, to excite a favourable
prejudice for men whose manifest sincerity, piety, and constancy in
suffering, were as good pledges for the truth of their doctrine, as the
people had been always taught to esteem the same qualities in the
legends of the early martyrs. Nor were Henry's persecutions
conducted upon the only rational principle, that of the inquisition,
which judges from the analogy of medicine, that a deadly poison
cannot be extirpated but by the speedy and radical excision of the
diseased part; but falling only upon a few of a more eager and
officious zeal, left a well-grounded opinion among the rest, that by
some degree of temporising prudence they might escape molestation
till a season of liberty should arrive.
One of the books originally included in the list of proscription among
the writings of Luther and the foreign Protestants, was a translation of
the New Testament into English by Tindal, printed at Antwerp in
1526. A complete version of the Bible, partly by Tindal, and partly by
Coverdale, appeared, perhaps
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at Hamburgh, in 1535; a second edition, under the name of
Matthews, following in 1537; and as Cranmer's influence over the
king became greater, and his aversion to the Roman church more
inveterate, so material a change was made in the ecclesiastical policy
of this reign, as to direct the Scriptures in this translation (but with
corrections in many places) to be set up in parish churches, and
permit them to be publicly sold.[116] This measure had a strong tendency to promote the Reformation, especially among those who
were capable of reading; not surely that the controverted doctrines of
the Romish church are so indisputably erroneous as to bear no sort
of examination, but because such a promulgation of the Scriptures at
that particular time seemed both tacitly to admit the chief point of
contest, that they were the exclusive standard of Christian faith, and
to lead the people to interpret them with that sort of prejudice which a
jury would feel in considering evidence that one party in a cause had
attempted to suppress; a danger which those who wish to restrain the
course of free discussion without very sure means of success will in
all ages do well to reflect upon.
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The great change of religious opinions was not so much effected by
reasoning on points of theological controversy, upon which some are
apt to fancy it turned, as on a persuasion that fraud and corruption
pervaded the established church. The pretended miracles, which had
so long held the understanding in captivity, were wisely exposed to
ridicule and indignation by the government. Plays and interludes were
represented in churches, of which the usual subject was the vices
and corruptions of the monks and clergy. These were disapproved of
by the graver sort, but no doubt served a useful purpose.[117] The press sent forth its light hosts of libels; and though the catholic party
did not fail to try the same means of influence, they had both less
liberty to write as they pleased, and fewer readers than their
antagonists.
Its establishment under Edward. —In this feverish state of the public
mind on the most interesting subject, ensued the death of Henry VIII.,
who had excited and kept it up. More than once, during the latter part
of his capricious reign, the popish party, headed by Norfolk and
Gardiner, had gained an ascendant and several persons had been
burned for denying transubstantiation. But at the moment of his
decease, Norfolk was a prisoner attainted of treason, Gardiner in
disgrace, and the favour of Cranmer at its height. It is said that Henry
had meditated some further changes in religion. Of his executors, the
greater part, as their subsequent conduct evinces, were nearly
indifferent to the two systems, except so far as more might be gained
by innovation. But Somerset, the new protector, appears to have
inclined sincerely towards the Reformation, though not wholly
uninfluenced by similar motives. His authority readily overcame all
opposition in the council: and it was soon perceived that Edward,
whose singular precocity gave his opinions in childhood an
importance not wholly ridiculous, had imbibed a steady and ardent
attachment to the new religion, which probably, had he lived longer,
would have led him both to diverge farther from what he thought an
idolatrous superstition, and to have treated its adherents with
severity.[118] Under
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his reign accordingly a series of alterations in the tenets and homilies
of the English church were made, the principal of which I shall point
out, without following a chronological order, or adverting to such
matters of controversy as did not produce a sensible effect on the
people.
Sketch of the chief points of difference between the two religions. —1.
It was obviously among the first steps required in order to introduce a
mode of religion at once more reasonable and more earnest than the
former, that the public services of the church should be expressed in
the mother tongue of the congregation. The Latin ritual had been
unchanged ever since the age when it was familiar; partly through a
sluggish dislike of innovation, but partly also because the
mysteriousness of an unknown dialect served to impose on the
vulgar, and to throw an air of wisdom around the priesthood. Yet what
was thus concealed would have borne the light. Our own liturgy, so
justly celebrated for its piety, elevation, and simplicity, is in great
measure a translation from the catholic services; those portions of
course being omitted which had relation to different principles of
worship. In the second year of Edward's reign, the reformation of the
public service was accomplished, and an English liturgy compiled not
essentially different from that in present use.[119]
2. No part of exterior religion was more prominent, or more offensive
to those who had imbibed a protestant spirit, than the worship, or at
least veneration, of images, which in remote and barbarous ages had
given excessive scandal both in the Greek and Latin churches,
though long fully established in the practice of each. The populace, in
towns where the reformed tenets prevailed, began to pull them down
in the very first days of Edward's reign; and after a little pretence at
distinguishing
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those which had not been abused, orders were given that all images
should be taken away from churches. It was perhaps necessary thus
to hinder the zealous Protestants from abating them as nuisances,
which had already caused several disturbances.[120] But this order was executed with a rigour which lovers of art and antiquity have long
deplored. Our churches bear witness to the devastation committed in
the wantonness of triumphant reform, by defacing statues and
crosses on the exterior of buildings intended for worship, or windows
and monuments within. Missals and other books dedicated to
superstition perished in the same manner. Altars were taken down,
and a great variety of ceremonies abrogated; such as the use of
incense, tapers, and holy water; and though more of these were
retained than eager innovators could approve, the whole surface of
religious ordinances, all that is palpable to common minds, underwent
a surprising transformation.
3. But this change in ceremonial observances and outward show was
trifling, when compared to that in the objects of worship, and in the
purposes for which they were addressed. Those who have visited
some catholic temples, and attended to the current language of
devotion, must have perceived, what the writings of apologists or
decrees of councils will never enable them to discover, that the
saints, but more especially the Virgin, are almost exclusively the
popular deities of that religion. All this polytheism was swept away by
the reformers; and in this may be deemed to consist the most specific
difference of the two systems. Nor did they spare the belief in
purgatory, that unknown land which the hierarchy swayed with so
absolute a rule, and to which the earth had been rendered a tributary
province. Yet in the first liturgy put forth under Edward, the prayers for
departed souls were retained; whether out of respect to the
prejudices of the people, or to the immemorial antiquity of the
practice. But such prayers, if not necessarily implying the doctrine of
purgatory (which yet in the main they appear to do), are at least so
closely connected with it, that the belief could never be eradicated
while they remained. Hence, in the revision of the liturgy, four years
afterwards, they were laid aside;[121] and several other changes made, to eradicate the vestiges of the ancient superstition.
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4. Auricular confession, as commonly called, or the private and
special confession of sins to a priest for the purpose of obtaining his
absolution, an imperative duty in the church of Rome, and preserved
as such in the statute of the six articles, and in the religious codes
published by Henry VIII., was left to each man's discretion in the new
order; a judicious temperament, which the reformers would have
done well to adopt in some other points. And thus, while it has never
been condemned in our church, it went without dispute into complete
neglect. Those who desire to augment the influence of the clergy
regret, of course, its discontinuance; and some may conceive that it
would serve either for wholesome restraint, or useful admonition. It is
very difficult, or perhaps beyond the reach of any human being, to
determine absolutely how far these benefits, which cannot be
reasonably denied to result in some instances from the rite of
confession, outweigh the mischiefs connected with it. There seems to
be something in the Roman catholic discipline (and I know nothing
else so likely) which keeps the balance, as it were, of moral influence
pretty even between the two religions, and compensates for the
ignorance and superstition which the elder preserves: for I am not
sure that the protestant system in the present age has any very
sensible advantage in this respect; or that in countries where the
comparison can fairly be made, as in Germany or Switzerland, there
is more honesty in one sex, or more chastity in the other, when they
belong to the reformed churches. Yet, on the other hand, the practice
of confession is at the best of very doubtful utility, when considered in
its full extent and general bearings. The ordinary confessor, listening
mechanically to hundreds of penitents, can hardly preserve much
authority over most of them. But in proportion as his attention is
directed to the secrets of conscience, his influence may become
dangerous; men grow accustomed to the control of one perhaps
more feeble and guilty than themselves, but over whose frailties they
exercise no reciprocal command! and, if the confessors of kings have
been sometimes terrible to nations, their ascendency is probably not
less mischievous, in proportion to its extent, within the sphere of
domestic life. In a political light, and with the object of lessening the
weight of the ecclesiastical order
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in temporal affairs, there cannot be the least hesitation as to the
expediency of discontinuing the usage.[122]
5. It has very rarely been the custom of theologians to measure the
importance of orthodox opinions by their effect on the lives and hearts
of those who adopt them; nor was this predilection for speculative
above practical doctrines ever more evident than in the leading
controversy of the sixteenth century, that respecting the Lord's
supper. No errors on this point could have had any influence on
men's moral conduct, nor indeed much on the general nature of their
faith; yet it was selected as the test of heresy; and most, if not all, of
those who suffered death upon that charge, whether in England or on
the Continent, were convicted of denying the corporal presence in the
sense of the Roman church. It had been well if the reformers had
learned, by abhorring her persecution, not to practise it in a
somewhat less degree upon each other, or by exposing the
absurdities of transubstantiation, not to contend for equal nonsense
of their own. Four principal theories, to say nothing of subordinate
varieties, divided Europe at the accession of Edward VI. about the
sacrament of the eucharist. The church of Rome would not depart a
single letter from transubstantiation, or the change, at the moment of
consecration, of the substances of bread and wine into those of
Christ's body and blood; the accidents, in school language, or
sensible qualities of the former remaining, or becoming inherent in
the new substance. This doctrine does not, as vulgarly supposed,
contradict the evidence of our senses; since our senses can report
nothing as to the unknown being, which the schoolmen denominated
substance, and which alone was the subject of this conversion. But
metaphysicians of later ages might enquire whether material
substances, abstractedly considered, exist at all, or, if they exist,
whether they can have any specific distinction except their sensible
qualities. This, perhaps, did not suggest itself in the sixteenth century;
but it was strongly objected that the simultaneous existence of a body
in many places, which the Romish doctrine implied, was
inconceivable, and even contradictory. Luther, partly, as it seems, out
of his determination to multiply differences with the church, invented a
theory somewhat different, usually called consubstantiation, which
was adopted in the confession of Augsburgh, and to which, at least
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down to the end of the seventeenth century, the divines of that
communion were much attached. They imagined the two substances
to be united in the sacramental elements, so that they might be
termed bread and wine, or the body and blood, with equal
propriety.[123] But it must be obvious that there is merely a scholastic distinction between this doctrine and that of Rome; though, when it
suited the Lutherans to magnify, rather than dissemble, their
deviations from the mother church, it was raised into an important
difference. A simpler and more rational explication occurred to
Zuingle and Œcolampadius, from whom the Helvetian Protestants
imbibed their faith. Rejecting every notion of a real presence, and
divesting the institution of all its mystery, they saw only figurative
symbols in the elements which Christ had appointed as a
commemoration of his death. But this novel opinion excited as much
indignation in Luther as in the Romanists. It was indeed a rock on
which the Reformation was nearly shipwrecked; since the violent
contests which it occasioned, and the narrow intolerance which one
side at least displayed throughout the controversy, not only
weakened on several occasions the temporal power of the protestant
churches, but disgusted many of those who might have inclined
towards espousing their sentiments. Besides these three hypotheses,
a fourth was promulgated by Martin Bucer of Strasburgh, a man of
much acuteness, but prone to metaphysical subtlety, and not, it is
said, of a very ingenuous character. His theory upon the sacrament of
the Lord's supper, after having been adopted with little variation by
Calvin, was finally received into some of the offices of the English
church. If the Roman and Lutheran doctrines teemed with unmasked
absurdity, this middle system (if indeed it is to be considered as a
genuine opinion, and not rather a politic device),[124] had no advantage but in the disguise of unmeaning terms; while it had the peculiar
infelicity of departing as much from the literal sense of the words of
institution, wherein the
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former triumphed, as the Zuinglian interpretation itself. It is not easy
to state in language tolerably perspicuous this obsolete metaphysical
theology. But Bucer, as I apprehend, though his expressions are
unusually confused, did not acknowledge a local presence of Christ's
body and blood in the elements after consecration—so far concurring
with the Helvetians; while he contended that they were really, and
without figure, received by the worthy communicant through faith, so
as to preserve the belief of a mysterious union, and of what was
sometimes called a real presence. It can hardly fail to strike every
unprejudiced reader that a material substance can only in a very
figurative sense be said to be received through faith; that there can
be no real presence of such a body, consistently with the proper use
of language, but by its local occupation of space; and that, as the
Romish tenet of transubstantiation is rather the best, so this of the
Calvinists is the worst imagined of the three that have been opposed
to the simplicity of the Helvetic explanation. Bucer himself came to
England early in the reign of Edward, and had a considerable share
in advising the measures of reformation. But Peter Martyr, a disciple
of the Swiss school, had also no small influence. In the forty-two
articles set forth by authority, the real or corporeal presence, using
these words as synonymous, is explicitly denied. This clause was
omitted on the revision of the articles under Elizabeth.[125]
6. These various innovations were exceedingly inimical to the
influence and interests of the priesthood. But that order obtained a
sort of compensation in being released from its obligation to celibacy.
This obligation, though unwarranted by Scripture, rested on a most
ancient and universal rule of discipline;
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for though the Greek and Eastern churches have always permitted
the ordination of married persons, yet they do not allow those already
ordained to take wives. No very good reason, however, could be
given for this distinction; and the constrained celibacy of the Latin
clergy had given rise to mischiefs, of which their general practice of
retaining concubines might be reckoned among the smallest.[126] The German Protestants soon rejected this burden, and encouraged
regular as well as secular priests to marry. Cranmer had himself
taken a wife in Germany, whom Henry's law of the six articles, one of
which made the marriage of priests felony, compelled him to send
away. In the reign of Edward this was justly reckoned an
indispensable part of the new Reformation. But the bill for that
purpose passed the Lords with some little difficulty, nine bishops and
four peers dissenting; and its preamble cast such an imputation on
the practice it allowed, treating the marriage of priests as ignominious
and a tolerated evil, that another act was thought necessary a few
years afterwards, when the Reformation was better established, to
vindicate this right of the protestant church.[127] A great number of the clergy availed themselves of their liberty; which may probably have
had as extensive an effect in conciliating the ecclesiastical
profession, as the suppression of monasteries had in rendering the
gentry favourable to the new order of religion.
Opposition made by part of the nation. —But great as was the number
of those whom conviction or self-interest enlisted under the protestant
banner, it appears plain that the Reformation moved on with too
precipitate a step for the majority. The new doctrines prevailed in
London, in many large towns, and in the eastern counties. But in the
north and west of England, the body of the people were strictly
Catholics. The clergy, though not very scrupulous about conforming
to the innovations, were generally averse to most of them.[128] And, in sp