CHAPTER III. THE ENGLISH ARTICLES OF 1536. THE HE first triumph of the English Reformation was the synodical rejection of the papal supremacy, in 1534. In the execution of this important measure the intelligent members of the Church had very generally acquiesced. But notwithstanding so much harmony of action at the outset of the reforming movement, there existed little or no ground for hope that its progress would continue to conciliate the same uniform approbation. great parties Church; The Church of England, like the rest of Christen- The two dom, was distracted by a number of hostile parties, in the widely differing in the details of their systems, but reducible under two popular designations, as favourers of the 'old' or of the new learning. The first may be said to have symbolized more or less with Gardiner, bishop of Winchester; the second, if we exclude the more violent of them, with Cranmer, 1 See Archbishop Laurence, wrote sauoureth of the syncere'Bampton Lectures,' 198. In nesse and purenesse of the sprete strictness of language, however, of the apostles. Certayn thynges this distinction was untrue, and whyche were deuised wythin these as such was combated by the foure hundreth yeares, yee rareforming party: 'Surely they ther euen of late haue bene that set asyde the blynde iudge- receaued by and by of them, as mente of the affeccion, and loke soone as they were made, namely earnestly vppon the matter, thys is theyr learnynge and so iudge otherwyse of vs: For the olde, that they desyre for thys, olde auncient fathers dyd neuer that the Gospell almoost shoulde knowe or heare tell of the moost be cast awaye, and counted as a parte of those thynges whyche oure new teachyng and learnynge.' condempners do teache: than ye A comparison betwene the Olde maye be sure that theyr learn- learnynge and the Newe, transynge oughte not to be rekened lated out of Latyn unto Englysh for olde learnynge and aposto- by Wyliam Turner, 1538, A. III: licall. Farthermore not euery cf. Archbp. Cranmer's Works: thynge that the olde fathers 1. 375, ed. Jenkyns. by Gardiner; one headed, archbishop of Canterbury. Gardiner was a prelate of no ordinary powers, but, like many of his gifted contemporaries, he deemed the work of reformation complete, when the encroachments of the foreign pontiff had been successfully resisted. He had himself acted a conspicuous part in this emancipation of the English Church; but when the established religion of the country became an object of vigorous assault, and not unfrequently of furious vituperation, he placed himself at the head of the reactionary or anti-reformation school, and contested every inch of the ground, which he was finally forced to abandon. the other, by Cranmer. Revolution ary, or Ana Cranmer, on the contrary, while ranking far higher than his rival, both in the extent of his theological learning and in his deep religious earnestness, was the champion of the doctrinal reformers: he was gradually perceiving the errors and abuses in his own province of the Christian Church, and, as became the primate of all England,' was zealously promoting the work of restoration. It would, however, be most undiscriminating and baptist party. unfair to identify the opinions of Cranmer and his party, with those of the many turbulent spirits, both at home and on the continent, who were assailing the first principles of religion, and erecting upon the ruins of the papal supremacy their own eccentric institutions. We have seen that the views adopted by Luther and the rest of the Wittenberg divines, were incapable of all sympathetic union with the revolutionary tenets of Zwingli; and the same kind of discrimination will be necessary still, if we would ascertain the actual position of the early English reformers. Their conflict with the numerous adherents of Gardiner was only one aspect of a diversified struggle, which the truth in that stirring crisis had been destined to encounter. Very soon after the rejection of the papal supremacy, a host of mis 1 See his Treatise 'de Vera Obedientia,' with Bonner's Pre face, in Brown's Fasciculus, II. 800-820. disquiet of believers, known by the general name of 'Anabaptists,' but differing from the Church at large on almost every fundamental doctrine1, began to propagate their creed in this country. A royal commission 'contra Anabaptistas 2,' bearing date Oct. 1, 1538, describes their system as pestiferous and heretical, and urges the archbishop and his comprovincials to enter upon instant measures for their conviction or extermination. The introduction of these foreign elements The general gave fresh warmth and acrimony to the disputes the Church. already raging in the bosom of the Church of England. 'Too many there be,' says the Homilist3, 'which upon the ale-benches or other places, delight to set forth certain questions, not so much pertaining to edification, as to vain-glory, and shewing forth of their cunning; and so unsoberly to reason and dispute, that when neither part will give place to other, they fall to chiding and contention, and sometime from hot words. to further inconvenience.' A specimen of the taunts, which appear to have been at that time in every man's mouth is then added by the same writer: He is a pharisee, he is a gospeller, he is of the new sort, he is of the old faith, he is a new-broached brother, he is a good catholic father, he is a papist, he is an heretic.' 1 Ranke (III. 588 seqq.) has an excellent chapter on the ' Unitarian' and other Anabaptists. More evidence will be adduced respecting their extreme heresies, when we come to consider the misbelievers against whom the XLII. Articles were directed. 2 Wilkins, Concil. I. 836. 3 Sermon against Contention and Brawling, 135. Camb. ed. The same kind of language is employed in a more nearly contemporary document, entitled "The king's proclamation for uniformity in religion,' cir. A.D. 1536; Wilkins, III. 810. 4 Ibid. We have a curious illustration of these disputes in the last speech of Henry VIII., whose great object had been to bring about uniformity: 'I hear daily that you of the clergy preach one against another without charity or discretion: some be too stiff in their old mumpsimus, others be too busy and curious in their new sumpsimus. Thus all men, almost, be in variety and discord, and few or none preach truly and sincerely the Word of God as they ought to do.' Herbert's Life of Henry VIII. 600. Origin of the ten Articles. Remonstrance of the lower house of Convocation. In the midst of this strife of tongues, daily waxing louder and more virulent, was put forth the first code of doctrine produced by the English Reformation. It is aptly entitled 'Articles to stablyshe christen quietnes and unitie amonge us, and to avoyde contentious opinions1.' The proximate cause of their compilation will be found in the history of the Church in the year 1536, and more particularly in certain acts of the convocation which assembled on the 9th of June. The lower house seem to have proceeded at once to draw up a representation of the errors 'then publicly preached, printed and professed;' and on the 23rd of June Richard Gwent, archdeacon of London and prolocutor, brought their complaint before the notice of the upper house, requesting that order might be taken to stop the further propagation of all such dangerous positions. They are divided into sixty-seven heads; and though Fuller, who transcribed them from the records of convocation, is disposed to regard them as 'the protestant religion in ore,' there is justice in the critique, which Collier has passed upon his language, that unless we had found a richer vein, it may very well be questioned, whether the mine had been worth the working3.' Fuller admits, indeed, that many vile and distempered expressions are found therein;' and it is impossible to read through the list without feeling how much both of profaneness and of dogmatic misbelief was calling for special reformation' in this quarter, as well as on the Romish side. The majority of them are most truly described by Carte, as' erroneous opinions, which had been held by the Lollards formerly, or started now by the Anabaptists and others. At the same 1 These Articles will be found 2 Wilkins, II. 804. 4 III. 137; ed. 1752. The following are a few of the objectionable tenets: 'Divers light and lewd persons be not ashamed or afraid to say, Why should I see the sacring of the high mass? Is it anything else but a time, it cannot be denied, that in more than one of the propositions thus censured by the convocation, we may discern the rudiments of a purer faith1; and in these Cranmer and the more moderate of the reforming party, must have felt a secret satisfaction. It is indeed probable that one of the concluding articles of the remonstrance was directed against the archbishop and his colleagues; for the lower house complain, that when heretofore divers books have been examined by persons appointed in the convocation, and the said books found full of heresies and erroneous opinions, and so declared; the said books are not yet by the bishops expressly condemned, but suffered to remain in the hands of unlearned people, which mi piece of bread, or a little pretty forgiven.'' The singing or saying of mass, mattens, or evensong, is but a roring, howling, whistling, murmuring, tomring, and juggling; and the playing at the organs a foolish vanity.'—'It is sufficient and enough tobelieve, though a man do no good work at all.' 'No human constitutions or laws do bind any Christian man but such as be in the Gospels, Paul's epistles, or the New Testament; and that a man may break them without any offence at all.' 1 e. g. They deny extreme unction to be a sacrament.''All those are antichrists that do deny the laymen the sacrament of the altar sub utraque specie.'— 'Priests should have wives.''There is no mean place between heaven and hell wherein souls departed may be afflicted' (referring to the prevalent doctrine of purgatory, and not to that of the intermediate state, as now taught by the English Church). |