asylum was offered to him in England', where his name was already widely known and respected. He had written against Gardiner on the question of clerical celibacy, and in learning had shone confessedly the superior'; while still more recently his services as joint compiler with Melanchthon of the Consultation of archbishop Hermann,-the model on which the first English Prayer Book was to a great extent framed-had Come prominently before the chief divines of Cambridge. The university and its leaders were also well known to Bucer by report. He was intimate with Alane, now professor at Leipzig, and on one occasion the two had fallen in with Gardiner, when the latter was travelling in Germany. To Bucer that was an ever memorable interview. They had discussed together the chief theological questions of that day, and as Gardiner waxed warm in defence of the doctrine of transubstantiation, the veins in his hands started up, in such fashion, the placid German was wont to aver, as he had Dever seen in man before. It must have been with something of relief that he now learned that his former antagonist was little likely again to confront him, for Gardiner's unyielding dogmatism on the same question at home had just led to his recommittal to prison, this time to the Tower,where he remained until the accession of queen Mary. From Gardiner therefore there was nothing now to fear. Madew at Cambridge retired from the professorial chair in favour of the illustrious foreigner; a stipend which, when compared with those of ordinary German professorships appeared magnificent, was attached to the office'; and on the 15th of November, 1 Peter Alexander writing to Bucer by Cranmer's request, says: '-que. ram a senatu Argentoratensi te A esse, nullumque amplius Argentinae tibi manendi locum dari, quiam illis significarant.' He encourages him to ace pt the invitation to England, ingrata deserta Germa ma' and 'excusso pede pulvere.' I pp. 191-2. * Eqensio ad duas Epistolas Stephan. E pue Wintoniensis de Corlibatu Send tum et Coenobitarum. Strassburg, 1:47. A translation of this into English had appeared shortly before Bucer's arrival in Cambridge. See A simple and religious Consultation by what means a Christian Reformation, and founded on God's Word, may be begun among men. 1smo. London, 1548. Ut venae in manibus, quod in nullo unquam homine vidi, subsilirent, et tremerent, quoties audiret a nobis quod offendebat.' Quoted by Strype, Memorials, Vol. 11, pt. i, c. 8, p. 107. It was £100 per annum. The ordinary salary tripled,' observes Fuller, as well it might, considering 1549, Bucer, accompanied by his friend Paulus Fagius, who CHAP. had been appointed professor of Hebrew, arrived in Cambridge. He was shortly after formally recommended by royal letter to the university as 'a man of profounde lernyng and of godly life and conversation';' was forthwith admitted to the degree of D.D., and on this occasion delivered his inaugural oration. A touching simplicity and unfeigned humility pervaded its many the new professor's address. Advanced in years and in infirm health-to quote his own self-depreciatory expressions, senis, morbidus, inutilis, peregrinus,—he stood before the assembly as one who preferred no other claim to their attention than that derived from past services to the cause of evangelical truth. So diffident, indeed, did he express himself of his personal merits, that nothing but very cogent arguments would have induced him to accept the degree with which he had been honoured. Certain leaders of the university (academiae gubernatores), however, had urged upon him overwhelming considerations:-it would aid him in the maintenance of order and discipline in the divinity school,—it would lend support to the academic recognition and ap proval of the talents and industry of the studious,-his own opportunities for rendering assistance to the school would be augmented, and finally, many pious men throughout the kingdom would be influenced by the verdict thus passed by so illustrious a university on the value of his ministry. Although containing much judicious counsel and elevated Heninima sentiment, the discourse offers to our notice but one passage ance of a of much significance, namely, that in which he emphatically insists on the necessity of students being required to proceed his worth, being of so much merit; his need, having wife and children; and his condition, coming hither a foreigner, fetched from a far country.' Fuller (ed. Prickett and Wright), P. 214. 1 Cooper, Annals, 11 45–46. ... id non nihil ad conservandum scholae hujus ordinem et disciplinain. Tum etiam ad confirmandam publi carum illarum de stiliosorum in geniis et diligentia, attestationum et the mainte proper star and in ear natame fa degrees to their degrees and to pass a satisfactory examination. There were universities where degrees were to be bought for money; if Cambridge, he observes, should follow this example, all confidence in her discipline and the chief resource in the maintenance of authority would alike be lost. Then the ruin of the whole community would not be far off,—ruin such as, he attests, had already befallen not a few of the universities of Germany'. A passage in the de Regno Christi, a treatise which he dedicated to the young king, as a new year's gift for 1550, is also of some importance. He there expresses his opinion that the colleges are amply endowed for the work of educating the clergy, but he cannot refrain from expressing his surprise at the number of fellows who are permitted to remain on the different foundations, and who are, he says, nothing better than so many monks or friars, growing old in indolence and excluding needy and deserving students. He sternly exhorts those who have finished their course of study, and are not willing to enter upon the active service of the Church, to relieve the colleges of their presence,-collegia quam primum liberentur. It is accordingly evident from this noteworthy criticism, that to the evils above described, of scholarships and fellowships filled up through favour with a class for whom they were not designed, and the death of efficient leaders, we must add the existence of an abuse which has generally perLaps been held to be a feature of a later period. The presence of the slothful and incapable was an evil no less to be deplored than the absence of men of eminent worth and merit. Ability, energy, and high purpose, it is evident, 1 Si enim, remissa eraminationis strae judica justa severitate, parum ames in magistrorum et doctorum ordinem et locum evehebantur per esmodi prava atque irreligiosa judicia et sijecta test monia, primum salemis ipsis fides abrogatur et sm.nuitur authoritas, omnisque atzi gubernatio in manus sensim tur eorum qui nec honestarum arm studia nec morum sustinere vert aut volunt disciplinam. Itaque academiac brevi omnino de o lantur et evertuntur: id quod permultis in Germania academiis accidisse cernitur.' Script. Anglie. p. 186. This passage certainly implies that examinations for degrees were in force when bucer came to Cambridge and therefore at a period earlier than that which Huber conjectures, viz. between the periods of the Edwardian and Elizabethan statutes.' English Univ. 1 314. *Script. Anglie, p. 61. plaint sup by th could then as now command a market in the world at CHAP. IT large; while the corresponding defects could nowhere more effectually be screened from observation than in the retirement of a college. On this point the testimony of Harrison is again of considerable value as bringing before us more definitely a state of things which Bucer could indicate only in general terms. After informing his readers that the complete course of theological study necessary for the degree of D.D. occupied some eighteen or twenty years, Harrison goes on to complain that after this time and forty years of age, the most part of students doo commonlie giue ouer their woonted diligence', and liue like drone bees on the fat of colleges, withholding better wits from the possession of their places, and yet dooing litle good in their own vocation and calling.' 'I could rehearse,' he says, 'a number (if I listed) of this sort, as well in the one universitie as the other. But this shall suffice insted of a larger report, that long continuance in those places is either a signe of lacke of friends, or of learning, or of good and upright life, as bishop Fox some time noted, who thought it sacrilege for a man to tarrie anie longer at Oxford than he had a desire to profit”. versy with Perne, and But in Bucer's path, as in Peter Martyr's, there waited H contrethe demon of disputation. The secret adherents of the young. Catholic party in the university were numerous and vigilant, S They had given, it is true, a formal assent to the new doctrines, and so far as solemn oaths could be looked upon as evidence, were loyal subjects of the crown in matters both civil and ecclesiastical'. But beneath this external com 1 By the Statutes of 1549 doctors of divinity, after so much labour undergone, and so many dangers and examinations' were permitted to decide for themselves whether they would continue their studies or not. Lamb, Documents, p. 126. Descript. of England (ed. Furni. vall), pp. 80-81. 3 James Pilkington, afterwards bishop of Durham, who on a subsequent occasion styles Young 'one of the pertest lustye yonge princockes' of this party, severely animadverts on this dishonesty of the Catholic members of the university at this Apliance they but half concealed their dislike of the Reformed faith and enmity to its teachers. Foremost among this class were John Young, whose name has already come before us as that of one of the original fellows of Trinity,-Andrew Perne, a fellow of Queens' College, whose unblushing readiness. to change his professed belief according to the doctrines most in favour with the civil power, afterwards became a byeword in the university,-and Thomas Sedgwick, who in the following reign was appointed Margaret professor. By these three, Bucer was challenged to a public disputation,-the subjects proposed for argument being (1) the complete sufficiency of the canonical Scriptures as a guide to saving faith,-in other words, the whole theory involved in the doctrine of a disciplina arcani; (2) the immunity of the one true Church from error; (3) the Lutheran doctrine of justification. A disputation was held, and as at Oxford, though in less scandalous fashion, the university was thrown into confusion by the heat and bitterness of the contending parties. Bucer was accused of teaching what was heterodox; while he, in turn, accused his antagonists of malice and misrepresentation'. It was during a short lull in the strife, that longing probably for a little sympathy and counsel, he repaired for a few days to Oxford to see his old friend Peter Martyr. On his return, he found that Young had commenced a series of lectures. in avowed antagonism to his teaching, in which, in defiance of all decorum, he was himself openly disparaged and ridiculed. The controversy was renewed, although Bucer vainly endea voured to prevail upon his opponents to have recourse to the more deliberate process of writing. His proposal was evaded, and as a last resource he found himself compelled to apply to the vice-chancellor and heads in order that the contest might, if possible, be brought to a close by another public disputation; but in the default of evidence we are unable to ascertain whether this proposition was ever carried into effect'. 1 Cellier has very clearly pointed ent the disadvantage under which Incer lay in the discussion, owing to ha extreme Lutheran tenets. He 14, he says, 'very much embarrassed in the dispute, les unguarded, and miscarries not seldom in his defence.' Collier-Lathbury, v 385-7. * Strype, Mem. of Cranmer, 1 ii cc. 14 and 24; Life of Grindal, 1 i, A, p. no. 1; Bucer, Script. Anglie. pp. 711-862. |