CHAP. Religious principles of the people of the King -Trial A Parliament A convocation of the bible- Difgrace of queen Anne on Pole. TH and execution A Parliament Difcontents among the people Tranflation Her trial A convocati Infurrection Birth of prince Edward and death of queen Jane Cardinal HE antient and almost uninterrupted oppofition of interests between the laity and clergy in England, and between the English clergy and the court of Rome, 1534 had fufficiently prepared the nation for a breach with the Religious fovereign pontiff, ard men had penetration enough to principles difcover abufes, which were plainly calculated for the of the people. temporal advantages of the hierarchy, and which they found deftructive of their own. Thefe fubjects feemed proportioned to human understanding; and even the people, who felt the power of interest in their own breasts, could perceive the purpose of those numerous inventions, which the interested spirit of the Roman pontiff had introduced into religion. But when the reformers proceeded thence to difpute concerning the nature of the facraments, the operations of grace, the terms of acceptance with the Deity, men were thrown into amazement, and were, during fome time, at a loss how to chufe their party. The profound ignorance in which both the clergy and laity formerly lived, and their freedom from theological altercations, had produced a fincere, but indolent acquiefcence in received opinions; and the multitude were neither attached to them by topics of reasoning, nor by those prejudices and antipathies against opponents, which have ever a more natural and powerful interat over them. As foon as a new opinion therefore was advanced, fupported by fuch an authority as to call up their attention, attention, they felt their capacity totally unfitted for fuch CHA P. difquifitions; and they perpetually fluctuated between the XXXI. contending parties. Hence the quick and violent movements by which the people were agitated, even in the 1534. moft oppofite directions: Hence their feeming prostitution, in facrificing to prefent power the most facred principles: And hence the rapid progrefs during fome time, and the fudden as well as entire check foon after, of the new doctrines. When men were once fettled in their particular fects, and had fortified themselves in an habitual deteftation against thofe denominated heretics, they adhered with more obftinacy to the principles of their education; and the limits of the two religions remained thenceforth fixed and unchangeable. NOTHING forwarded more the first progress of the reformers, than the offer, which they made, of submiting all religious doctrines to private judgment, and the fummons given to every one to examine the principles formerly impofed upon him. Though the multitude were totally unqualified for this undertaking, they yet were highly pleafed with it. They fancied, that they were exercifing their judgment, while they oppofed, to the prejudices of antient authority, more powerful prejudices of another kind. The novelty itself of the docrines; the pleasure of an imaginary triumph in difpute; the fervent zeal of the reformed preachers; their patience, and even alacrity, in fuffering perfecution, death, and torments; a difguft against the restraints of the old religion; an indignation against the tyranny and interested fpirit of the ecclefiaftics; these motives were prevalent with the people, and by fuch confiderations were men so generally induced, during that age, to throw off the religion of their ancestors. BUT in proportion as the practice of fubmitting religion to private judgment was acceptable to the people, it appeared, in fome refpects, dangerous to the rights of fovereigns, and feemed to destroy that implicit obedience, on which the authority of the civil magiftrate is chiefly founded. The very precedent, of fhaking fuch an antient and deep founded establishment as that of the Roman hierarchy, might, it was apprehended, prepare the way for other innovations. The republican fpirit, which naturally took place among the reformers, increased this jealoufy. The furious infurrections of the populace, excited CHA P. excited by Muncer and other anabaptists in Germany A, XXXI. furnished a new pretence for decrying the reformation. Nor ought we to conclude, because proteftants in our 1534 time prove as dutiful subjects as thofe of any other communion, that therefore fuch apprehenfions were altogether without any appearance or plaufibility. Though the liberty of private judgment be tendered to the difciples of the reformation, it is not in reality accepted; and men are generally contented to acquiefe implicitly in those eftablishments, however new, into which their early education has thrown them. Of the king. No prince in Europe was poffeffed of such abfolute authority, as Henry, not even the pope himself, in his own capital, where he united both the civil and ecclefi aftical powers; and there was fmall likelihood, that any doctrine, which lay under the imputation of encouraging fedition, could ever pretend to his favour and Countenance. But befides this political jealousy, there was another reafon, which infpired this imperious monarch with an averfion to the reformers. He had early. declared his fentiments against Luther; and having entered the lifts in thofe fcholaftic quarrels, he had received, from his courtiers and theologians, infinite applause for his performance. Elated by this imaginary fuccefs, and blinded by a natural arrogance and obftinacy of temper, he had entertained the most lofty opinion of his own erudition; and he received with impatience, mixed with contempt, any contradiction to his fentiments. Luther also had been so imprudent, as to treat in a very indecent manner his royal antagonist; and though he afterwards made A Sleidan, lib. 4, & 5. Here are the terms in which the king's minifter expreffed himself to the pope. An non, inquam, fanctitas veftra plerofque habet quibufcum arcanum aliquid crediderit, putet id non minus celatum effe quam-fi uno tantum pectore contineretur; quod multo magis fereniffimo Angliæ Regi evenire debet, cuí finguli in fuo regno funt fubjecti, neque etiam velint, poffunt Regi non effe fideliffimi. Væ namque illis, fi vel parvo momento ab illius voluntate recederent. Le Grand, tom. III. p. 113. The king once faid publicly before the council, that if any one spoke of him or his actions, in terms which became them not, he would let them know that he was mafter. Et qu'l n'iy auroit fi belle tete qu'il ne fit voler. Id. P. 218. made the humblest fubmiffions to Henry, and apologized CHA P. for the vehemence of his former expreffions, he never XXXI. could efface the hatred, which the king had conceived Against him and his doctrines. The idea of herefy ftill 1534. appeared deteftable as well as formidable to that prince; and whilst his refentment against the fee of Rome had corrected one confiderable part of his early prejudices, he had made it a point of honour never to relinquish the reft. Separate as he flood from the catholic church and from the Roman pontiff, the head of it, he still valued himself on maintaining the catholic doctrine, and on guarding, by fire and fword, the imagined purity of his fpeculative principles. HENRY's minifters and courtiers were of as motley a Of the character as his conduct; and feemed to waver, during minifters. this whole reign, between the antient and the new religion. The queen, engaged by intereft as well as inclination, favoured the caufe of the reformers: Cromwel, who was created fecretary of ftate, and who was every day advancing in the king's confidence, had embraced the fame views; and as he was a man of prudence and ability, he was able, very effectually, though in a covert manner, to promote the late innovations: Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, had fecretly adopted the proteftant tenets; and he had gained Henry's friendship by his candour and fincerity; virtues which he poffeffed in as eminent a degree as thofe times, equally distracted with faction and opreffed with tyranny, could easily permit. On the other hand, the duke of Norfolk adhered to the antient faith; and by the greatnefs of his rank, as well as by his talents, both for peace and war, he had much authority in the king's council: Gardiner, lately created bishop of Winchefter, had inlifted himself in the fame party; and the fupplenefs of his character, and dexterity of his conduct, had rendered him extremely useful to it. ALL these minifters, while they stood in the most irreconcileable oppofition of principles, were obliged to difguife their particular opinions, and to pretend an entire agreement with the fentimeuts of their master. Cromwel and Cranmer still carried the appearance of a conformity to the antient fpeculative tenets; but they artfully made ufe of Henry's refentment to widen the breach with the fee of Rome. Norfolk and Gardiner feigned an affent to the king's fupremacy, and to his renunciation of VOL. IV. I the CHA P. the fovereign pontiff; but they encouraged his paffion for XXXI. the catholic faith, and inftigated him to punish thofe daring heretics, who had prefumed to reject his theolo1534 gical principles. Both fides hoped by their unlimited compliance to bring him over to their party: The king meanwhile, who held the balance between the factions, was enabled, by the courtship paid him both by proteftants and catholics, to affume an immeafurable authority: And though in all these measures he was really driven by his ungoverned humour, he cafually maintained a course, which led more certainly to arbitrary power, than any which the most profound politics could have traced out to him. Artifice, refinement, and hypocrify, in his fituation, would have put both parties on their guard against him, and would have taught them referve in complying with a monarch, whom they could never hope thoroughly to have gained: But while the frankness, fincerity, and openness of Henry's temper were generally known, as well as the dominion of his furious paffions; each fide dreaded to lose him by the smallest oppofition, and flattered themselves that a blind compliance with his will, would throw him, cordially and fully, into their interests. THE ambiguity of the king's conduct, though it kept the courtiers in awe, ferved, in the main, to encourage the proteftant doctrine among his fubjects, and promoted that spirit of innovation, with which the age was generally feized, and which nothing but an entire uniformity, as well as a steady severity in the administration, could be able to repress. There were some Englishmen, Tindal, Joye, Conftantine, and others, who, dreading the exertion of the king's authority, had fled to Antwerp A; where the great privileges, poffeffed by the Low Country provinces, ferved, during fome time, to give them proFarther tection. Thefe men employed themselves in writing progress of English books, against the corruptions of the church of the refor- Rome; against images, reliques, pilgrimages; and they mation. excited the curiofity of men with regard to that question, the most important in theology, the terms of acceptance with the Supreme Being. In conformity to the Lutherans and other proteftants, they afferted, that salvation was obtained by faith alone; and that the most infallible A Burnet, vol. i. p. 159. road |