THE BISHOPS' BOOK. 189 appetites, his reason no less than his will1, contrary to the doctrine of the schools, which had limited its effects to the latter and lower half of our nature 2; the virtues of a redemption were consequently vindicated, and were placed in a position from which the dogma of merit had depressed them. The superstitious attention to trifles of ceremonial, whilst the great moral duties were disregarded, was rebuked-the dread, for instance, of eating an egg on Friday, as contrasted with the indifference felt for a breach of the most fundamental laws of charity.3 The dishonest substitution, in sermons, of fables and inventions of men, for the Scriptures, was reproved, together with all wilful misrepresentation of the doctrines contained in the same. 4 On the whole, this was the culminating point of the Reformation, during the reign of Henry: henceforward, that is, from the year 1538, with few intermissions, it ostensibly, though perhaps not in reality, declined. 5 In 1543 another work appeared, under the sanction of the king and the convocation: it had 1 Formularies of Faith in the Reign of Henry VIII. Published at the Clarendon Press, 1825. P. 25. 34. 186. 2 Archbishop Laurence's Bampton Lectures, p. 61–64. 3 Formularies, &c. p. 116. 4 Id. p. 168. > Cranmer's correspondence with Cromwell, on the subject of the Lutheran envoys, who were preparing to depart, evidently from a feeling that the purposes for which they were invited into England were all thwarted by the party which had now the ascendancy at court, shows the struggle which was going on at this crisis, and how it was likely to end. See Burnet, iii. Rec. 48., and Todd's Cranmer, i. 250. 6 Archbishop Laurence, p. 200. Burnet (Hist. Reform. i. 286. and Supplement, 159.) asserts that it was for its title, "A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man," and was vulgarly called "the King's Book." It was, in fact, the Bishops' Book revised, with some additional matter touching free will, good works, justification, predestination, purgatory, subjects which now began to be discussed with great warmth and difference of opinion. On comparing it with its prototype, it will be seen how far from progression the Reformation had been during the interval. It came out, indeed, whilst the act of the Six Articles was in force, and Gardiner in power. The wonder, therefore, is, rather that it says so much, than that it does not say more. The truth, however, seems to be, that it was an act of compromise; a boon granted to the reformers (rendered equivocal, indeed, by an infusion into it of the spirit of the Bishop of Winchester)2, in consideration of the sacrifice that was about to be required of them; for the Bible in the vulgar tongue was now to be once more withdrawn. To those "whose office it was to teach other, the having, reading, and studying of Holy Scripture (it seems) was not only convenient, but also necessary; but for the other part of the church ordained to be taught, it ought to be deemed, certainly, that the reading of the Old and New Testament was not so never introduced into convocation; but here, as in so many other places, he is mistaken. 1 The name was indeed given it by Gardiner; who thus, under the mask of a compliment, pledged the king to a work much less favourable to the Reformation than the Bishops' Book. See Strype's Cranmer, Appendix, No. xxxv. • Strype's Cranmer, p. 100. THE KING'S BOOK. 191 necessary for all those folks." For them it was enough to hear; and that nothing might be wanting to convince, Scripture itself was quoted in support of this sentiment ;-"Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it ;" where it is insinuated, for it would have been too bad to affirm it, that the blessing attaches to those who hear, not to those who read. But if we meet with a stumbling-block on the threshold of this new publication,-for the passages alluded to are in the preface, on further acquaintance with it we shall find our suspicions, that Gardiner's hand had been busy in it, strengthened. The depravity of our nature, so stoutly insisted upon in the Bishops' Book, is nearly overlooked in the parallel passage of the King's Book2, and the good offices of our Lord for the recovery of man are set forth in a much less lively manner in the latter than in the former place; where the one has enlarged upon the sufferings of Christ chiefly as propitiatory, the other, though not disclaiming this consideration, rather descants upon them as exemplary3; whilst the one declares the condemnation of every man to be sufficiently established, even though he were to be tried by the tenth commandment alone, the other evades the humiliating confession 4; when the one denies even martyrdom to be a meritorious cause of salvation, and ascribes it altogether to the grace of God through Christ, the 1 See Preface to the "Doctrine and Erudition," &c. p. 218, 219. 2 Formularies, &c. comp. p. 34. and 230. 3 Comp. p. 40. 42. with 234, 235. 4 Id. p. 172. and 333. other gives a different turn to the commentary, and escapes the avowal in the one, the sacrament of matrimony is explained as that which God commands to some, leaves free to all; in the other, a clause is inserted, excepting from its provisions priests and others under vows of celibacy 2: in the one, the exposition of the second commandment begins thus;-"By these words we are utterly forbidden to make or to have any similitude or image, to the intent to bow down to it, or to worship it;" in the other, -"By these words we be not forbidden to make or to have similitudes or images, but only we be forbidden to make or to have them to the intent to do godly honour unto them, as it appeareth in the xxvith chapter of Leviticus."3 It is true that the ulterior interpretation of the commandment in the two cases does not differ so materially as might be expected from the respective introductions; still the introductions are sufficient to show that the spirit in which the commentaries were made was not, in both instances, quite the same. Other examples of a similar declension in the principles of the Reformation might be gathered from a close comparison of these documents; at the same time, it would afford some minute indications that a better knowledge of the Scriptures had been meanwhile diffusing itself over the country, and that the six years' privilege of consulting them had not been altogether lost. Thus, it may be remarked, that in the Bishops' Book we read of "one Pontius 1 Comp. p. 60. and 252. 2 Id. p. 82. et seq. and p. 293. THE KING'S BOOK. 193 Pilate being the chief judge in Jerusalem1;" whereas in the King's Book the same individual is called "Pontius Pilate," &c.2, as though he were a character with which the people were more familiar: again, in the former, the legend of binding "Christ fast to a pillar," and so crowning and scourging him, is inserted in the details of his passion3; in the latter, this incident is omitted, and the scriptural account is strictly followed. It is singular, too, that, in the one, the escape of "Lot and his three daughters" is spoken of; a mistake which the other corrects, his "two daughters" being here the reading.5 In addition to the scanty means of instruction in a better faith which were thus extorted from the king in his last years like drops of blood, he was prevailed upon by Cranmer to issue orders for the destruction of some favourite images, of which the superstitious abuse was the most notorious—those of our Lady of Walsingham, our Lady of Ipswich, St. Thomas of Canterbury, and St. Ann of Buxton, being the chief7; to sanction the introduction into the churches of certain prayers or suffrages, the litany which we still use, except that some objectionable clauses have been since omitted, being of the number 8; and to permit, moreover, the use of occasional prayers, for the supply of temporary wants, or the removal of temporary calamities,- for rain or for fair wea 1 Formularies, p. 38. ⚫ Id. p. 39. Comp. pp. 162. 325. 6 Strype's Cranmer, pp. 136. 128. 7 See Cranmer's Catechism, p. 23. 2 Id. p. 233. 4 Id. p. 233. See Mr. Todd's Life of Cranmer, i. 354. |