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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),* 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of the sacrifice that was about to be required of them; for the Bible in the vulgar tongue was now to be once more withdrawn.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 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 stumblingblock 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 Book, 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 exemplary; whilst the one declares the con

* Strype's Cranmer, p. 100.

+ See Preface to the "Doctrine and Erudition," &c. p. 218,219. + Formularies, &c, comp. p. 34 and 230.

§ Comp. p. 40. 42, with 234, 235.

demnation 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;* 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 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: 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." 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 Pilate being the

*Comp. p. 172, and 333.

t Id. p. 82, et seq. and p. 293.

+ Id. p. 60, and 252.

§ Id. p. 134, and 299.

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chief judge in Jerusalem;"* whereas in the King's Book the same individual is called "Pontius Pilate," &c.,† 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 passion;t 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.||

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 chief;** 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;tt and to permit, moreover, the use of occasional prayers, for the supply of temporary wants, or the removal of temporary calamitiesfor rain or for fair weather--that thus the hearts of the congregation might be enlisted in their devotions, and the lukewarmness be counteracted, which was fast alienating them from public worship, conducted, as it was, in a language of

*Formularies, p. 38.

+ Id. p. 39.

Comp. pp. 162. 325.

Strype's Cranmer, pp. 136. 128.

** See Cranmer's Catechism, p. 23.

+ Id. p. 233.

§ Id. p. 233.

++ See Mr. Todd's Life of Cranmer, i. 354.

which they were ignorant, though with errors of which they

were aware.

Meanwhile, the same vigilant prelate supplied, as far as he had the opportunity, the livings in his gift with men devoted to the cause which he had at heart, and encouraged the more frequent delivery of sermons; whereby, though much violent collision of doctrine was produced amongst the preachers, still sparks of truth were elicited, and light, though not without heat, was dispersed.*

Thus stood the Reformation, when Henry, who had now done all the work which such an instrument was fit for, died, pressing in his last moments the hand of Cranmer, to whom, and to whom only, through evil report and through good report, he had ever been faithful and true. To him he bequeathed a church which was little but a ruinous heap; its revenues dissipated, its ministers divided, its doctrines unsettled, its laws obsolete, impracticable, and unadapted to the great change it had sustained.

It remains for us to trace the re-construction of these shattered materials-to watch the wise master-builders as they pursued their difficult task to its accomplishment; and beholding the pains, the perseverance, the study, the time which it cost them, to distrust the wild suggestions of an age of crude experiment and superficial knowledge-an age which would rush in without knowing why, upon forms and institutions which the sagest heads have grown gray in devising and perfecting; and rather listen, as far as regards our church, to the advice of the ancient, unpretending though it be "Spartam nactus es, hanc exorna."

* Strype, p. 137.

CHAPTER X.

EDWARD VI.-ADVANCE OF THE REFORMATION.-ERASMUS'S

PARAPHRASE.—HOMILIES.-CRANMER'S CATECHISM.-OFFICE OF COMMUNION.-BOOK OF COMMON-PRAYER.-TIME OF SERVICE, AND LENGTH.-PRIMER.-ARTICLES OF 1553 -MODERATION OF THE ENGLISH REFORMERS.

THE accession of Edward, the Josiah of his country, as he was commonly called in his own day, reanimated the Reformation; and during his short reign it was that the church of England was constructed, in the main, such as we now see it. The young prince, who was brought up a protestant, was himself eminently calculated to recommend the cause. His own character, both mental and moral, was a most persuasive advocate of the system which had nurtured it. Cardan, who was called into England to prescribe for the Archbishop of St. Andrews, then sick of a dropsy, and was introduced to the king, now in his fifteenth year, relates the particulars of a short conversation which he had with him on the subject of comets, which won the heart of the philosopher, and, like a journal which has come down to us written in his own hand,* certainly argues in him a wit beyond his age. Latin he spoke, says Cardan, who seems to have conversed with him in it, as readily as himself; and in many other languages he is said to have been a proficient, stimulated, perhaps, by an apophthegm of Roger Ascham, his sister's schoolmaster, though not his own, "that as a bird cannot soar unto heaven with one wing, so cannot a man attain unto excellence with one

* Burnet, Reform. ii. Append. 3.

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