pilation of a second Formulary of Faith, entitled the 'Institution of a Christian Man;' upon which, however, the Articles of 1536 were to a great extent engrafted and as the new work had not received the formal sanction1 either of the Convocation or the Crown, their intrinsic authority remained until they were supplanted by the future determinations of the Church2. 1 Jenkyns' Cranmer, I. XVIII. and the 'Letter' there referred to. The Institution' was drawn up by a number of Commissioners (Collier most erroneously affirms three years before its circulation, II. 139); but never regularly submitted to Convocation and although published by the king's printer, it was not, like the former book of Articles, provided with a preface by his Majesty, commanding it to be received by his subjects. Being thus destitute of the royal authority, it was called the Bishops' Book. It consists of an Exposition of the Creed, the Seven Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, the Paternoster, AveMaria, Justification, and Purgatory. The introduction to it is no more than a letter from the Commissioners to the king announcing its completion. This drew from him a very guarded answer (Jenkyns' Cranmer, I. 188) which, while assenting to the publication of the Bishops' Book, does not commit him to a full sanction of the contents. 2 e. g. "The Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man,' or the King's Book, set forth in 1543. It is on the whole a revised edition of the Bishops' Book, although (as Collier observes) 'it seems mostly to lose ground, and reform backwards' (II. 191: cf. Prof. Blunt's Reform. 190 seqq.) Unlike its predecessor, however, it was not only drawn up by a committee of Divines, but actually approved in Convocation, and enjoined by a royal mandate: Wilkins, III. 868; Jenkyns' Cranmer, I. xxxvii.; cf. I. 188, 189 (note). This account of the authority of the two 'Books' is the reverse of what has been commonly received; but it is well supported by Dr Jenkyns, and seems to him the only hypothesis which is capable of explaining all the evidence on the subject. For Burnet's mistake, see Abp Laurence, Bamp. Lect. I. note (4). CHAPTER IV. THE XIII. ARTICLES:-CONFERENCES WITH THE LUTHERAN REFORMERS. General sympathy between the English and Lutheran reformers. NOTH OTHING could be more natural in the earlier stages of reformation, than the anxiety manifested by the English divines, to establish a good understanding with their fellow-workers in Germany. They had been equally burdened by the papal yoke: they had mourned over the same festering abuses in the Church of which they were members: they had embarked with like earnestness of purpose in the same remedial project; and despairing at last of a 'true general council,' had simultaneously come to the conclusion, that it was the bounden duty of every prince to redress his own realm'.' The greatest obstacle in the way of this friendly communication was the quarrel between Henry VIII. and Luther: but as they were neither of them unwilling to forget their early fulminations, the obstacle could no longer be considered insuperable. It was in fact ultimately removed by the moderation and good offices of Melancthon, for whom Henry appears to have manifested a peculiar partiality. As early as March, 1534, he was pressed to come over and help in the reformation of the English Church; and the same wish was repeated by the king himself on many subsequent occasions. 1 Cf. the 'Causes' why the Germans did not recognise the Council of Mantua (quoted above p. 20), with the contemporary 'Protestation' of the English, in Fox, 1085. 2 Archbp Laurence, Bampton Lectures, Serm. I. note(3); Serm. II. note (3). In 1538, Henry wrote as follows to the Elector of Saxony: 'Pro his, quæ feli While cherishing the citer agi cœpta sunt, felicius absolvendis concludendisque expectamus, ut Dominum Philippum Melancthonem, in cujus excellenti eruditione et sano judicio a bonis omnibus multa spes reposita est, doctosque alios et probos viros, primo quoque tempore, ad nos mittat. Seckendorf, Histor. Luther. lib. III. § 66. add. 1: Francof. 1692. spirit of national independence, Melancthon and his associates could feel no sympathy with the lawlessness, impiety, and misbelief, which had followed in the track of the great religious movement. They had shewn the firmness of their principles by standing aloof from Carlstadt and his rationalistic speculations: they had opposed the growth of the political tumult which ended in the Peasants' War,' and had subsequently repelled the followers of Zwingli, and denounced the swarm of sectarian fanatics who went under the name of 'Anabaptists.' Their system was thus fully vindicated in the eyes of all thinking men: it was proved to be conservative of the truth no less than destructive of the modern perversions by which the truth had been wofully corrupted; and on this account the tone of the Wittenberg divines was far more nearly in harmony with the English Reformation than with the bolder and revolutionary measures adopted on the continent of Europe. ciations in An increasing affinity in matters of religion, com- Actual negobined with diplomatic considerations, had already sug- 1535. gested the opening of a negociation with the princes of the Augsburg Confession,' in the year 1535. The first accredited envoy was Robert Barnes, afterwards a victim of the reactionary school and the caprice of his royal master. He was followed in the winter of the same year by bishop Fox and Dr Hethe1, who found the Lutheran states in consultation at Smalcald, respecting the political and religious alliance, which was called after the place of meeting. The admonitions of Henry, as delivered by his delegates (Dec. 24), were gratefully acknowledged by the Smalcaldic League,' who added their willingness to admit him also as a member of the confederacy upon his acceding to the usual conditions. Among the rest it was stipulated that he should adopt, or at least approve in general language2, 1 Strype, Eccl. Mem. 1. 225228. They had an interview with Pontanus and Burckhardt, Dec. 15: Melancthon. Opp. II. 108, ed. Bretschneider. 2 The English were required to conform to the Confession and Apology, 'nisi forte quædam ex verbo Dei merito corrigenda aut mutanda videbuntur.' ... How frustrated or deferred. the true doctrine of Christ, as laid down in the Confession of Augsburg, and unite in defending it, under the title of Patron and Protector of the League.' This design, so full of momentous bearings, is said to have been in a great measure frustrated through the instrumentality of bishop Gardiner1, at that time the English ambassador in France. He represented, that the king would be so entangled by this treaty in the affairs of the German nation, as to be unable without their consent to do what the Word of God shall permit;' that as Henry was 'head of the Church of England,' by the authority of Scripture, so was the emperor 'head' of the Germanic Churches, and that consequently the princes subject to his authority would not be justified in acting without his consent. By these and other similar arguments, applied with his peculiar skill, the bishop of Winchester was enabled to restrain the alacrity of his master, and eventually to thwart the projected alliance. At present, however, the reply of Henry, though less warm than his previous communication, continued to hold out a prospect of success. He does not absolutely decline the honour intended for him by the German princes, in placing him at the head of their league, but postpones the acceptance of it, until agreement shall be had betwixt him and their orators,' respecting the terms of religious union. For it should not be sure nor honourable for his Majesty, before they shall be with his Grace agreed upon a certain concord of doctrine, to take such a province upon his highnes. And forasmuch as his majesty desireth much that his bishops and learned men might agree with theirs; but seeing that it cannot be, unles certain things in their Confession and Apology should, by their familiar conferences, be mitigate; his Grace therefore would their orators, and some excellent learned men with them, should be sent hither, to confer, talk, and common upon the same." 6 Ranke, m. 661: cf. Strype, ubi pend. No. LXV. 2 Strype, ibid. Append. No. 1 Strype, ibid. 226, and Ap- LXVI. 163. ferences at But while Henry was thus hesitating on the sub- Private Conject of the religious confederation, a conference was Wittenberg. actually proceeding in Germany between the members of the English legation and the foreign theologians1. The place of meeting seems to have been at Wittenberg, in the house of Pontanus, the chancellor of Saxony, where Fox strenuously insisted on the Lutheran tendencies of the English, and more especially of his royal master. drawn up. An account is preserved in Seckendorf of certain Articles Articles of Religion, which were drawn up by those mediating parties, in the winter of 1535. One article relates to the Lord's Supper, and is an expanded form of the Augsburg definition: a second denies in the name of the League,' that any primacy or monarchy of the Roman bishop doth now obtain, or ever hath obtained by divine right.' The Germans moreover insisted upon the abolition of private masses, and the relaxation of clerical celibacy; but on these, as on other points appertaining to the discipline of the Church, the English were unable to yield them an equal satisfaction. In the following year (1536) the negociation, at least in its religious bearing, proceeded still more slowly; for the Wittenberg divines had now lost all confidence in Fox, and were suspecting the motives of Henry, who appeared to them far more anxious to 1 Luther and Melancthon were of the number. The latter joined the conference Jan. 15, 1536. See his communication to Burckhardt; Оpp. II. 26. 2 Comment. de Lutheran. Lib. III. XXXIX: 'Extat elaborata a Wittenbergensibus, acceptata etiam et domum reportata a legatis Anglicis, repetitio et exegesis quædam Augustana Confessionis.' 111, Francof. 1692. They are said to exist both in Latin and German: Melancthon. Opp. ш. 104, note (2). An expression in a letter dated Nov. 28, 1536, 3 On the 9th of March, the |