VIII. dition went to Canterbury without visiting Becket's tomb, and HENRY making presents of value. Among others, there was one almost inestimable stone offered by Louis VII. of France. This our king had set in a ring, and wore it on his thumb. Bishop Godwin reports there were two large chests full of gold and jewels secured for the king, each of which were so heavy that they had eight men to carry them out of the church. seized. Annal. About this time the king seized the rich monastery of The monasSt. Austin's, Canterbury, frighted away the monks, kept some Austin's, tery of St. part of their estates, and gave away the rest among his courtiers. Canterbury, As to archbishop Becket, besides burning his bones, carrying off the treasure, and defacing his monument, he ordered his name to be razed out of the calendar, and forbad the keeping his holiday. Godwin, The king, though not giving satisfaction to the German Lord Herdivines, went on with the Reformation his own way : and bert, p. 437. having been often solicited for a translation of the Bible, referred the direction of that affair to Cromwell. When the version was finished, it was put into the hands of Richard Grafton; and, for want of good paper in England, the copy Ld. Herbert, was sent to Paris, and printed there in Latin and English. To make way for the use of this translation, and govern the tion of the Bible pubcuriosity of the people, the king published a proclamation, by lished for which he gave them to understand, that the permission of this general use. translation was more than his duty required; that the subjects were to look upon this liberty as an instance of favour and royal bounty; that therefore they were to manage themselves in reading with temper and discretion; to consult the holy text for the improvement of their morals and the increase of their faith, and not for disputes and wrangling. That no Ibid. person should read aloud to disturb the priest at divine service, nor presume to expound difficult places without assistance from the learned. p. 431. Cromwell's injunctions, in the king's name, were likewise Cromwell's published for the same purpose. By this order a Bible of the injunction. Regist. largest volume was to be provided for every parish church, at Cranmer. the joint charge of the parson and parishioners. No person was to be discouraged from reading or hearing the Scriptures; but, on the contrary, exhorted to improve themselves from thence. Every Sunday and holiday the parson was to repeat a sentence out of the Lord's Prayer or Creed, in English, till CRAN- the people had learned the whole by heart; and, at the conAbp. Cant. fession of penitence in Lent, they were to examine them upon MER, these heads, and not admit them to the holy communion till they came up to expectation. The clergy were likewise ordered to remove such images as had been superstitiously applied to pilgrimages and offerings, or treated with overproportioned regard. To this purpose they were not to suffer any candles or tapers to be set before any image, but only the light by the roodloft, the light before the sacrament of the altar, and the light about the sepulchre: these were allowed to stand for the ornamenting the church, and the solemnity of divine service. However, to guard the people from mistaking these matters, the curates were to instruct them that the use of images was only to inform the unlearned in the history of the saints, and to refresh their memory for imitation. That to go farther in their address and veneration, was to fall into idolatry to the hazard of their salvation. That A. D. 1538. they were to let no man have the use of their pulpits, unless he had the king's, the archbishop's, the vicegerent's, or the diocesan's license. That every parson, vicar, or curate, was to furnish a book to register weddings, burials, and christenings. That no parson should take upon him to change any fast-day as to the manner of keeping it, the vigils of such holydays, now abrogated, excepted. The knolling of the “Aves” after service, and certain other times, introduced by the pretence of the bishop of Rome's pardon, are from henceforth to be omitted, lest the people should depend upon their pardon for saying their "Aves" as they had formerly done. And whereas in times past it hath been customary at processions, in several places, to sing "Ora pro nobis" to so many saints, that they had no time to make immediate application to God Almighty in the suffrages "Parce nobis, Domine, et libera nos, Domine;" the people were, therefore, to be instructed it were better for them to omit the "Ora pro nobis" and repeat the other. The rest of Cromwell's injunctions having been touched upon other occasions, or not being so material, shall be omitted. These changes in religion, though commendable, excepting in Cromwell's office, were disrelished abroad: by saying this, I do not undertake a defence of every thing. The latter part especially of this reign was not without an exceptionable mixture. The dissolving the lesser monasteries, and some rigor VIII. 151. ous executions, had weakened the king's correspondence with HENRY the courts of France and Spain. His highness not being willing to break off with the French king, recalled Bonner, bishop of Hereford, from his embassy with the emperor, and employed him in France in Gardiner's room. This prelate, it seems, had a secret inclination for the emperor, and did his master little service with that prince. Bonner, though coldly received by the French king, procured a license for printing the English Bible at Paris. This favour being afterwards complained of by the French clergy, gave some interruption to the work. Bonner, as it happened, was unsuccessful in his com- Ld. Herbert, mission at the French court. He had instructions to demand p. 433. a pension due to the king, and which had been unpaid by the French for four years. This was unacceptable business, and Bonner disrequired nice management: but Bonner being of a warm the French obligeth temper, failed in the decency of behaviour, and made his king. demands with a surprising and haughty air. This unexpected management transported Francis to something of resentment, and made him treat the ambassador and the king with rough language. However, to prevent a war, he sent an express to England to mollify the king, and explain himself, desiring at the same time that Bonner might be recalled. Our king believing that prelate would make nothing of his deputation in He is reFrance, ordered his return. However, that he was not dis- called from his embassy. satisfied with Bonner's conduct, appears by his preferring him afterwards to the see of London, and employing him at the emperor's court. for heresy, before the In November this year, one John Lambert, alias Nicolson, Lambert a person of learning, was prosecuted for heresy. He had been prosecuted questioned for unsound opinions by archbishop Warham; and tried but upon the death of that prelate, and the changing of coun- king. sels at court, he procured a discharge. He kept school at London, and hearing Dr. Taylor, afterwards bishop of Lincoln, preach for the corporal presence of Christ in the ṣacrament, he came to him, declared his dissent from that doctrine, and drew up his exceptions in ten arguments. This paper was showed by Taylor to Dr. Barnes; Barnes, who was bred among the Lutherans, was, it seems, made a proselyte to their warmth as well as their opinions. He thought their falling lower than consubstantiation would check the progress of the Reformation in England; these doctors, therefore, Barnes and MER, CRAN- Taylor, carried Lambert's papers to Cranmer and Latimer. Abp. Cant. When Lambert was brought before them, they endeavoured to work him to a recantation, but all to no purpose; he resolved Bp. Burnet, to stand by his paper, and appealed to the king. pt. 1. p. 252. It is said Cranmer, at that time, was of Luther's opinion, which he had drunk in from his friend Osiander; our historian affirms that Latimer was of the same belief. First, as to Latimer, he misreports his opinion; for at the disputation at Oxford in queen Mary's reign, when Dr. Weston reproached him that he agreed with the Lutherans in the doctrine of the eucharist, Latimer answered "No-I was a papist, for I could never perceive how Luther could defend his opinion without Fox, p.1877. transubstantiation." Then, as to Cranmer, he cannot be supposed to be of Luther's opinion at this time, with respect to the sacrament of the altar, without a mark of insincerity. For, as this historian observes, in the book called the "Necessary Erudition," &c., published by the king in the year 1543, tranBp. Burnet, substantiation was fully asserted and yet this book was subpt. 1. p. 290. Id. p. 299. scribed by Cranmer. If, therefore, Cranmer believed consubstantiation when he subscribed transubstantiation, he must have been a person of a scandalous conscience, which is too hard a reflection upon him. The trial opened by Day, bishop of Chi chester. The king received the appeal, and, it may be, was not unpleased with the opportunity for showing his zeal and learning. The bishops and temporal nobility had notice given them of the solemnity of this trial, and that the king intended to appear and manage some part of the argument. At the day prefixed, besides the quality just mentioned, the judges, the king's counsel, with great numbers of spectators, came to Westminster-hall, where scaffolds were erected for the convenience of hearing; the bishops were seated on the king's right hand, and behind them the judges, and the most eminent of the profession of the law: the temporal nobility sat on his highness's left hand, and after them the gentlemen of the court. When the prisoner was brought to the bar, Day, bishop of Chichester, being commanded by the king to open the trial, set forth, "That Lambert, being charged with heretical pravity, had appealed from his bishop to the king, as if he expected more favour from this application, and that the king would protect an heretic: from whence it appeared, that the report VIII, of the prisoner's being infected with the Lutheran novelties HENRY had too much truth in it; then speaking directly, as in the king's person, he dilates upon the progress already made in the Reformation. That he had thrown off the usurpations of the see of Rome, discharged and disincorporated some idle monks, who lived only like drones in a beehive; that he had removed the idolatrous regard for images, published the Bible in English for the instruction of all his subjects, and made some lesser alterations in the Church, which nobody could deny were for the public interest. But as for other things, he was resolved to keep constant to the Catholic faith and customs; that he was very desirous the prisoner would retract his errors and return to the Catholic communion. That for this purpose, and to prevent the extremities which would otherwise follow, he had ordered the appearance of those grave and learned men (meaning the bishops), hoping that, by the advantage of their character and force of their reasoning, they would recover him to the Church, and wrest his unfortunate opinion from him. But in case he was not to be removed from his obstinacy, but continued proof against conviction, he was resolved to make him an example; and by a precedent of his own setting, acquaint his judges and the magistracy how they ought to manage heresy and behave themselves upon such occasions." When bishop Day had delivered his majesty's sense to this effect, the king himself asked Lambert what his opinion was concerning Christ's presence in the sacrament of the altar? Lambert not returning an acceptable answer, they began to argue the point, and oppose the prisoner in the forms of logic. To be somewhat more particular, Lambert entered upon his defence with some introductive respect, acknowledged the king's goodness for condescending to appear personally at the trial; and here he threw in some commending expressions of his highness's learning and judgment. The king interrupted him; told him, in Latin, that he did not come thither to hear any panegyric upon himself, and therefore ordered him to come close to the matter. This being pronounced with no friendly countenance, disconcerted Lambert, and overset him in some measure. The king asked him again whether Christ's body was in the sacrament or not? He replied in St. Austin's words, "That it was his body in a certain manner." The king VOL. IV. Ff Godwyn, 1538. 152. |