LATIMER enjoyed his new dignity barely four years; but these were among the most momentous years in the history of the English Church and nation. During his brief episcopate occurred, the trial and execution of Anne Boleyn, the suppression of the monasteries, the authorised circulation of the Scriptures in English, the issue of the First Articles of the Reformed Church of England, the Pilgrimage of Grace, the Romish re-action, and the enactment of the "Bloody Statutes." In most of these transactions, Latimer was deeply interested; in many of them he had an important share: and when to these public cares were added the daily administration of a large, populous, and long-neglected diocese, the arduous task of providing for the spiritual instruction of his charge when qualified instructors were very few, and the perilous duty of guiding his clergy aright in times of unusual difficulty and danger, it will be understood that these few years of his episcopate were among the busiest and most harassing of his life. Of the daily round of his episcopal cares we have only a few records remaining: the anxieties of a reforming bishop, in a Popish diocese, while the country was passing through the crisis of a Reformation and the throes of civil war, must be left to the reader's imagination, materially assisted, however, by Latimer's frequent letters to Cromwell. No one who has carefully marked Latimer's previous career can doubt that he would conduct himself like a "diligent and vigilant pastor, instructing his diocese with wholesome doctrine, and example of perfect conversation duly agreeing to the same," exhibiting such "study, readiness, and continual carefulness in teaching, preaching, exhorting, visiting, correcting and reforming, either as his ability could serve, or else the time would bear." (1) The times, indeed, were dangerous, and required wary walking; and Latimer's zeal for reformation was grievously impeded, not only by the ignorance and superstition of the people, but by the reluctance of the King to permit any wide departure from the doctrine and ritual to which he was so firmly attached. But the nature of the cares and opposition by which he was "tossed and turmoiled," and finally driven from his see, will appear more clearly as we proceed.
The diocese of Worcester was much more extensive in Latimer's time than at present. It included not only the present diocese, but also what is now the united diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; so that it was of sufficient dimensions to give full occupation to the time and energy of the most active prelate. Its revenues were princely, ample enough to satisfy any vulgar ambition that merely longed for money. After all deductions were made, Latimer had a net income of upwards of £1,000 a year, (2) equivalent to at least £15,000 of our money. Various manors in the county of Worcester belonged to the Bishop; he had a convenient London residence; (3) and he possessed in addition the stately castle of Hartlebury, which, for upwards of nine centuries, had been the palace of the Bishops of Worcester.
Latimer's election was conducted in exact conformity with the method prescribed by Parliament after the abolishing of the Papal Supremacy; and as several fierce though minute controversies have been waged in connection with this subject, it may not be amiss to notice in detail the whole process. Immediately on a see being declared vacant, a writ was issued to seize the temporalities into the King's hand: a congé d'élire was then granted, and the person nominated therein was in due course elected to the bishopric, and his election was certified to the King. A commission under the Great Seal was next addressed to the Archbishop to examine the election, and, if it were rightly made, to confirm it, and to consecrate the new Bishop. A certificate of the consecration was then forwarded to the King; the new Bishop took the Oath of Allegiance; and finally a writ was issued from the Exchequer to restore the temporalities. (4)
That this course was followed with due regularity in Latimer's case, is apparent from the following "Deed for restoring the temporalities of the see of Worcester. - (5)
"Rex Escaetori suo in comitatu Wigorniae, salutem:
"Cum reverendissimus in Christo pater Thomas, Cantuarensis Archi-episcopus, totius Angliae Primas et Metropolitanus, vacante nuper episcopatu Wygorniensi, per deprivationem Jeronimi de Ghinuccis ultimi episcopi ibidem, Prior Ecclesiae Cathedralis Wygorniensis, et ejusdem loci commonachi sive conventus, dilectum et fidelem capellanum nostrum Magistrum Hugonem Latymer sacrae Theologiae professorem, in eorum episcopum elegerint et nominaverint, cui quidem electioni et personae sic electae regium nostrum assensum adhibuimus et favorem, confirmaverit, ac ipsum Hugonem Latymer episoopum Wygorniensem consecraverit, ipsumque episcopalibus insignibus investiverit, sicuti per literas patentes ipsius reverendissimi in Christo patris nobis inde directas constat, Nos, confirmationem et consecrationem illas acceptantes, fidelitatem ipsius electi et confirmati nobis pro temporalibus episcopatus praedicti debitam cepimus, et temporalia pasedicti prout moris est restituimus eidem: et ideo tibi praecipimus quod eidem electo temporalia praedicta sine dilatione liberes:
" Teste rege apud Westmonasterium, quarto die Octobris. Anno 1535."
In English, somewhat as follows :-
" The King to his Officer of the Exchequer, in the county of Worcester, greeting:
"Whereas the most reverend father in Christ, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Metropolitan (the see of Worcester being lately vacant by the deprivation of Jerome de Ghinucci the last Bishop, and the Prior (6) and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Worcester having elected and nominated for their Bishop our trusty and well-beloved chaplain Hugh Latimer, Doctor of Divinity, to which election, and person thus elected, we have given our royal assent and favour), has confirmed and consecrated Hugh Latimer Bishop of Worcester, and invested him with the episcopal insignia" [ring, pastoral staff, etc.] "as appears from letters patent of the most reverend father in Christ addressed to us on this matter, We, accepting this confirmation and consecration, have received the oath of the Bishop-elect due to us for the temporalities of the said bishopric, and restore to him the temporalities as is usual; and therefore we order thee to deliver the temporalities to the said Bishop-elect without delay.
"Given by the King at Westminster, Oct. 4, 1535."
This authentic document, preserved in the public records of the country, ought long ago to have settled several controversies which are still occasionally agitated. It places beyond dispute, for example, the fact that Latimer received the degree of Doctor of Divinity; although, as has been already mentioned, there is no record in Cambridge of his thus graduating, and at his last examination at Oxford " the carpet or cloth which lay upon the table whereat Master Ridley stood, was removed, because (as men reported), Master Latimer had never the degree of a Doctor, as Master Ridley had." (7) It is the merest pedantry to call in question a fact, which rests on a record as authoritative as Magna Charta, merely because it happens to be omitted from University Registers, which are known to be defective. The "Deed" likewise places Latimer's consecration beyond doubt, for, curiously enough, no other record of his consecration is known to exist, and those critics who delight to detect any flaw in the conduct or policy of the Reformers, have consequently maintained that Latimer never was consecrated at all. The consecration ought to have been regularly entered in Cranmer's Register; this Register is, however, kept with such extreme carelessness, that no argument can be founded upon its numerous omissions. (8) The mandate for restoring the temporalities is, of course, incontestible evidence of his consecration, as good as if it had been entered in all the episcopal registers of England; and as similar mandates were signed on the same day for restoring the temporalities of Hereford to Fox, and of Rochester to Hilsey, the presumption arises that all three were consecrated at the same time and place. Fox and Hilsey were consecrated at Winchester on September 26, 1585: and it may be accepted as certain that Latimer was consecrated along with them. (9) To show how little can be founded upon the omissions in Cranmer's Register, it may be noted that not one of the three consecrations is inserted, although it happens that in the cases of Fox and Hilsey, the fact has been regularly chronicled in the Registers of their respective dioceses.
The matter is not one of any momentous consequence, still it is a satisfaction to know that the technical charges alleged against the Reformers of irregularity in matters of ecclesiastical detail, are as groundless as the graver accusations sometimes advanced against their characters. It need scarcely be added that Latimer was consecrated according to the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church, no reform having yet been introduced into the ordinal of the Church of England, beyond the omission from it of the old oath of allegiance to the Pope, which had been abolished by Parliament.
We have, however, been somewhat anticipating the order of events. The royal writ for the election of a new Bishop of Worcester in the room of Ghinucci was probably issued some time early in August. There was as yet no Dean and Chapter of Worcester, and William Moore, the Prior of the Cathedral Church, presided at the election. No delay would occur at this part of the proceedings; and on August 20, Latimer was installed by the Prior as Bishop. The next step, the confirmation of the election, could not proceed without a Royal Commission, and Henry was absent from London. A fortnight passed; Latimer was anxious to begin his episcopal labours; but the royal authority was still wanting. Naturally, in his difficulty, Latimer had recourse to the King's Vicar-General in ecclesiastical affairs, and on September 4, he wrote as follows to Cromwell:- (10)
"HONOURABLE SIR, - Sis salvus in Christo, and do certify your mastership how we" [Cranmer and I] " succeed in our matters. We have been here" [in London] "now all this fortnight in vain, obtaining as yet neither confirmation" [of the election], "nor yet of temporalities restitution. For lack of the royal assent with your signification, my lord of Canterbury cannot proceed; and we hear nothing of it, neither of Master Gostwyck'' [Royal Commissioner for valuing all benefices], "nor otherwhere. For expedition of these things it had been better for us to have given attendance of your mastership still in the court" [Henry was then at Thornbury]: "and so we would have been glad to have done, if it had been seen to your mastership so to have appointed us. I did speak this day with Mr. Polstead" [another Royal Commissioner], "which hath no further instructions from your mastership yet, as he saith, but to receive our sureties for the first-fruits: and he is uncertain as yet what they shall be. And as touching my part in that behalf, I trust your mastership hath not forgotten my last suit, for the which I was minded to have gone to the King's grace myself; but the Queen's grace" [Anne Boleyn], "calling to remembrance at what end my lord of Salisbury" [Shaxton, new Bishop of that see] "was at, said I should not need to move the King, but that it should be enough to inform your mastership thereof. It shall be your mastership's pleasure whether I shall tarry your return hither, or whether this bearer shall tarry your leisure to bring further instruction from you. Thus I am bold to interrupt you, and yet not without great lothness, forasmuch as I consider your hourly business in matters of more weightiness than this. God preserve you long in health to God's pleasure, which is my daily prayer. My brother of Rochester" [Hilsey, former antagonist at Bristol now Bishop-elect of Rochester], " commendeth him most heartily unto you.
" Yours,
"H. LATIMER, elect."This letter had the desired effect. Within a short time the necessary royal sanction was given to the election: Latimer was consecrated by Cranmer, at Winchester; took the Oath of Allegiance in accordance with the recent Act of Parliament, and on October 4, as we have seen, Henry signed the writ for the restoration of the temporalities of the see.
Latimer was now all anxiety to repair to his diocese, and commence his episcopal labours; but there were still impediments in the way. His health was precarious; he was encumbered with invitations to preach; and there was important business to be transacted with Cromwell and Cranmer ere he could leave London. About the middle of October, therefore, he again writes to Cromwell. (11)
"HONOURABLE SIR, - Salutem in Salutis omnium Authore. I was in a near disposition to an axess (12) yesterday", which letted me to come to your mastership for the draft you wot of. And now this day my lord of Westminster " [Benson, last abbot and first dean of Westminster] "hath put unto me to preach there with him, else he should be like to be disappointed. If you would of your goodness send it to me by this bearer, I would apply my little wit to the imitation of the same. And I will write and certify my lord of Canterbury according to your advertisement in all haste.
"Oct. [1535.]
"Yours, HUG. WYGORN."The letter here referred to as written by Latimer to Cranmer has not been preserved; but a passage in one of Cranmer's letters to Cromwell explains satisfactorily the nature of the draft alluded to. Writing on November 2, Cranmer says, "The Bishop of Worcester lately wrote unto me in your name, that I looked upon the King's business through my fingers, doing nothing in that matter wherefore we were sent for unto Winchester; and I marvel not that you do so think, which knoweth not what I have done;" (13) and then he explains that he had already carefully drawn up articles upon the Pope's authority to furnish materials for preachers ill-acquainted with the subject. The draft, therefore, was some similar code of instructions for the use of the clergy, which Cromwell had been compiling; and we know that it was for the purpose of consulting on the best methods of teaching the people why the Papal Supremacy had been abolished, that Henry had summoned his Bishops to meet him at Winchester. Once more Latimer writes to Cromwell on the same subject, as he is just on the eve of departing for his diocese.
"HONOURABLE SIR, - Salutem. And I pray you forgive me for that I have not, according to my duty, delivered unto you this draft before this time; I have been so distract in preparing homewards, etc.: God preserve you long to his pleasure in health and well-doing.
"Yours, to his little power, H. WYGORN.
"Postrid: Sanctiss: Sutorum " (14) (day after St. Crispin's Day, Oct. 26).
"If your mastership have the old seal of my office, I would recompense you according to the weight." (14)
By the beginning of November we may suppose Latimer had completed his preparations, and had left London for his diocese. Of his proceedings for the next three months till his return to London when Parliament re-assembled, we have no detailed account; but it may be taken for granted that he was entirely absorbed in the endless duties of his see, which, after the virtual interregnum of half-a-century, must have been a very Augean stable of abuses. It was in the careful discharge of these humble duties, of merely local consequence, that Latimer's usefulness as a Reforming Bishop largely consisted; and he seems to have devoted his whole time and energy to them: but history seldom preserves the memory of that commonplace routine, which is after all the main staple and occupation even of the most important life. All Latimer's energy, and skill, and patience would be tasked to the uttermost in ruling and reforming a diocese so long accustomed to the licence of uncontrolled freedom, where the monks and the priests had hitherto reigned supreme, and ignorance and superstition had flourished for ages. In the midst of these tedious and vexatious labours, Christmas would come with an agreeable summons to rest and relaxation. The reader has not forgotten Latimer's pleasant anticipations of keeping a merry Christmas with his parishioners in West Kington, so woefully embittered by Stokesley's vindictive malice: and now that he had no enemy to fear, and had ample resources, we may be sure that the ancient halls of Hartlebury would echo the joyous greetings of a long-disused hospitality. During the whole of his brief episcopate, indeed, the proper observance of Christmas was always a matter of anxiety to Latimer; and no hospitable old English usage, no kindly benevolence to the poor, would be neglected by him: Christmas would not be shorn of any of its wonted cheer so long as he presided in Hartlebury.
It was also customary in those times for the people and the clergy to offer some presents to their Bishop on New Year's-day, in token of their esteem; and Latimer, in the subsequent years of his episcopate, received on these occasions many valuable proofs of the respect of those whom he ruled. The Bishops, on their part, were likewise expected by the custom of the times to present some New Year's-gift to Henry; and their gifts to a sovereign who was constantly suffering from impecuniosity, naturally consisted of liberal sums of money. The richer Bishops offered as much as £750 of our money; and the great Abbey of Westminster contributed £900 (15) as their New Year's-gift to propitiate Henry's favour. Latimer's gift in future years was £20, equal to £300 in our day: but on this, the first New Year's-day after his elevation to a bishopric, he transmitted to the King, according to Foxe, a very singular offering, such as seldom finds its way into royal coffers.
"There was then," says the martyrologist, "and remaineth still, an ancient custom received from the old Romans, that upon New Year's-day, being the first day of January, every bishop with some handsome New Years-gift should gratify the King; and so they did, some with gold, some with silver, some with a purse full of money, and some one thing, some another. But Master Latimer, being Bishop of Worcester then, among the rest, presented a New Testament for his New Year's-gift, with a napkin having this posy" [inscription] "about it, Fornicatores et adulteros judicabit Dominus" [fornicators and adulterers God will judge]. (16)
Foxe has not given any authority for this anecdote, which like some more of the good martyrologist's stories must be set down as unauthenticated gossip. The New Year of 1536 was, however, the only occasion during Latimer's episcopate on which he could have brought such a charge against Henry; for just at that time the King's neglect of Anne Boleyn and his open preference for Jane Seymour had become the topic of general remark and speculation at court. And in any case the anecdote may unquestionably be considered a tribute to Latimer's well-known intrepidity, a sort of public recognition that he alone possessed the courage, which, if necessary, would rebuke the vices of his sovereign as sternly as John the Baptist rebuked those of Herod.
Among the first matters to attract Latimer's attention in his diocese was the position of the Prior of the Abbey of Worcester, the same William Moore whom we have just seen presiding at Latimer's election. He was the most important personage in the diocese next to the Bishop, and could do much to promote or to retard Latimer's usefulness. Moore seems to have been devoted chiefly to his own enjoyment, and not only indifferent to the great religious movement of the time, but even careless of the interests of the great house over which he presided. Such a man was of course only an obstruction in Latimer's way. He had, however, been guilty of some offence which exposed him to deprivation, and even to death; he had been suspended from his office, and there was hope, therefore, of his place being filled by some one less likely to impede Latimer. Henry did not wish to be severe on the poor man, and was anxious that Latimer should be consulted about restoring him again to his office. As soon, therefore, as his Christmas festivities were ended, Latimer addressed to Cromwell the following shrewd and sensible letter on this somewhat delicate subject:-
"After my right hearty commendations to your mastership. Where" [whereas] "you write unto me that the King's grace, moved with pity, and having also divers other considerations stirring to the same, is inclined to restore the Prior of Worcester to his room and office again; desiring nevertheless to know my opinion therein in writing to you, or ever his Grace do resolve himself thoroughly upon the same: in consideration whereof, I do you to understand, by this letter written with my own hand, that I rejoice not a little to perceive that the King's grace is moved of his gracious goodness to have pity of that simple man. But there is divers degrees in pity, as I think; for if that great crime" [probably some denial of the Royal Supremacy] "was not alonely detected, but also proved against him, as you do say it was, then to pardon him of his life is to show a great pity. To add thereunto a competent living for himself and one to wait upon him, is to show a greater pity. (17) And so far forth, I wish, and have done always, that the King's highness would extend his pity unto him. And verily I marvel greatly if his heart be so strong, so flinty, that so great pity and compassion as it is cannot reconcile him to the King's highness sufficiently. Marry, to burden him with his busy office again, and to clog him again with his great cure, namely now, he being so debile, so weak, and of so great age as you write him to be, whether it be to pity him or to trouble him, I cannot say. But for mine opinion in this behalf (to say what I think without fiction to my prince) the King's grace had need after such a sort to be pitiful toward one man, that his Grace seem not for pitying of one to be pitiless toward many: I mean the whole house of'" [and?] " the country thereabout. For either he is able to discharge that great cure, and can serve God and the King sufficiently therein, or not: if he be able and can, it were well done that the King's grace would extend his pity thereunto; if not, it were great pity to trouble him, and to charge him with that thing now, in his extreme age, which thing (perchance) he was never able to discharge in midst of his youth.
"But now, what ability is required to discharging of such an office, no man can tell better than the King's grace himself. Again: what ability this man hath to discharge such an office, no man can tell better than my lord of Canterbury, or than Mr. Doctor Lee" [one of Cromwell's visitors], "which, both did visit there, and knoweth both what he can do, and what the house needeth to be done. And I think you yourself is not ignorant therein; for I have heard you speak your mind both of their house, and also of him. And this is all that I can say. If I have one there to help me, I shall do the more good: if not I shall boggle" [manage] "myself as well as I can. When I perceived that there was no hope to speak for this man, I named two other to the King, of the which two his Grace preferred Coton; (18) and I certified you his highness's pleasure thereof, and the Queen's grace hath remembered" [reminded] "you since. As God and the King will have it, so be it. Amen: for if they two be well served, I am right well pleased; and thus I commit you to God's preservation. This messenger maketh so great haste, that I have leisure to write no better" [the writing is no worse than usual, however].
"Yours to command, HUGH OF WORCESTER.
"Sabbato post Epiphaniam proximo" (January 8, 1536).
Latimer, one is glad to know, had a prior appointed who was well-disposed to assist him in his work of reforming and teaching the diocese. Cranmer had already suggested two "men of eminent learning and good conversation," as suitable successors of the deprived prior, Henry Holbech, of Croyland Abbey, and Richard Gorton, of the Abbey of Burton-on-Trent. Henry selected Holbech, who was probably the unnamed candidate referred to in Latimer's letter; and in March of this year of 1536 he was appointed Prior of Worcester Abbey, and performed his duties so admirably that on Latimer's recommendation he was in 1538 nominated suffragan Bishop of Bristol; retaining, however, his office as Prior till the suppression of religious houses, when he became the first Dean of Worcester.
On the same day that Latimer thus wrote to Cromwell, Catherine of Arragon died peacefully at Kimbolton Castle, protesting to the last that she, and no other, was Henry's true and lawful wife. However widely opinions differ as to the merits of the great question connected with her marriage, all agree in recognising the many virtues of the sorely-tried and much-injured queen. Her death was an occurrence of national importance; and politicians were once again filled with eager excitement, and anticipations of change. It was well-known that Henry felt keenly the seeming danger of his position: he had, by his open rejection of the Papal Supremacy, isolated himself from the other sovereigns of Europe. It was also notorious that Anne Boleyn was no longer supreme mistress of Henry's heart; and to the adherents of the Papal see it appeared possible to remove the hated Anne out of the way, and thus bring about a reconciliation between Henry and the Pope. The emperor was willing and even anxious to be reconciled to Henry. Hints of a possible re-union with Rome were ingeniously suggested by the diplomatists; and if the Romish party did not actually conspire to plot against Anne's life, as has been sometimes asserted, there is no doubt whatever that they rejoiced most sincerely in the prospect of her downfall. Even the infallible see itself condescended to court Henry, and to apologise in the blandest terms for the unpleasantly rigorous measures which had been employed in the long controversy about the royal marriage. Henry, however, was not to be so easily gained over: "he had not acted," he declared, "on such slight grounds that he could in any sort depart from what he had done; having founded himself on the laws of God, of nature, and honesty, with the concurrence of his Parliament." (19) The overtures of reconciliation therefore were rejected; and Henry, from policy, as well as from growing conviction, was compelled to draw closer to the position taken up by the Reformers.
On February 4, 1536, Parliament and Convocation reassembled after a prorogation of upwards of a year; and Latimer would of course be summoned to London, to take his seat for the first time as a Peer of the Realm. The affairs of religion still occupied the chief attention of the legislature. One of the last acts of their previous session had transferred to the Crown that authority for visiting and reforming religious houses, which had formerly been the exclusive prerogative of the Pope; and, during the close of the year 1535, ecclesiastical visitors, nominated by Cromwell, had been busy inspecting all the smaller religious houses, and prying with somewhat rough and irrepressible curiosity into the morals and pursuits of their inmates. The instructions on which the visitors acted have been printed by Burnet; and while they abundantly prove that Cromwell was well aware of the vices likely to be found in the security of the cloister, they do not confirm the assertion occasionally made, that the suppression of the monasteries, and not their reformation, was designed from the first. When Parliament re-assembled, the reports of Cromwell's Commissioners were read, disclosing a state of ignorance and vice such as had long been suspected, but which it now seemed impossible further to tolerate. "Down with them, down with them," (20) resounded on all sides: no one ventured to defend them; and Parliament proceeded to deal with them in a very summary manner. "Forasmuch," said the famous Act (27 Henry VIII. c. 28), "as manifest sin, vicious, carnal, and abominable living is daily used and committed amongst the little and small abbeys, whereby the governors of such religious houses, spoil, destroy, consume, and utterly waste their churches, farms, cattle, etc., to the high displeasure of Almighty God, slander of good religion, and to the great infamy of the King's highness and the realm : ... and forasmuch as continual visitations, for two hundred years and more, for reformation of such carnal and abominable living have been all in vain, and it only increased and augmented, so that without suppressing them there could be no reformation of them." ... In short, the smaller monasteries were handed over to the King and his heirs to be treated at his pleasure.
It is unnecessary here to enter into any minute examination and defence of the visitors' reports. It may be admitted that the visitation was in some cases conducted in a summary fashion, the visitors evidently enjoying the excitement and sport of their occupation; (21) and it is unquestionable that the monks, as the great upholders of the Papal Supremacy, were peculiarly obnoxious to Henry, and that their revenues were by no means unacceptable to his exhausted treasury. Some allowance may, therefore, be made for haste and exaggeration on the part of the visitors; but whatever deduction may be claimed from the sweeping declarations of the statute, no reasonable doubt can be entertained of their substantial truth. The gross ignorance and licentiousness that had grown up in the idle seclusion of the religious houses, can be established by the concurrent testimony of an overwhelming body of witnesses. The letters of the visitors have been questioned by men who admire the old monastic system for virtues which it had long ceased to possess; but the same charges had been adduced against the smaller houses for ages; many of them had been already suppressed on the same grounds: Convocation and provincial councils had attempted in vain to reform their superabundant corruptions; and they fell at last undefended, because the spirit of piety, that had led to their establishment, had departed from them, and its place had been usurped by ignorance and depravity.
None had been louder than Latimer in denouncing the vice and ignorance of the religious orders; but he by no means approved of the summary manner in which funds consecrated to religious purposes were diverted to feed the extravagance of the Court and the rapacity of the courtiers. He was anxious to see at least a few of these houses in every county cleansed from all their abuses, and liberally endowed for the sacred uses of piety and hospitality, and the religious education of the young. It is even said that at this critical period, instigated by Queen Anne (who, under his influence, had begun to imitate the devotional tendencies of her predecessor), he ventured to preach against the proposed appropriation of the revenues of the religious houses to mere secular purposes. (22) It is at all events certain, that with characteristic boldness and honesty, he remonstrated publicly against the base purposes to which some of the religious houses had been desecrated by the King. Some of the abbeys, it seemed, were appropriated for the use of the royal stud, and Latimer indignantly protested that "abbeys were ordained for the comfort of the poor; and it was not decent that the King's horses should be kept in them, and the living of poor men be thereby minished and taken away." The courtiers reproved him for his presumption in venturing to censure the acts of the sovereign, but the preacher was not to be silenced. " I spake my conscience," he replied, "as God's word directed me;" and he continued to maintain that it "could not be for the honour of the King to take away the right of the poor." (23) A few years later he again, as we shall see, urgently entreated Cromwell to spare the Abbey of Great Malvern, "not for monkery; God forbid! but to maintain teaching, preaching, study with praying, and good housekeeping. Alas, my good lord," he continues, "shall we not see two or three houses in every shire changed to such remedy?" (24) Opinions may differ as to the wisdom of Latimer's suggestions: many may believe that the bolder policy of "pulling down the nests," of utterly abolishing what had been proved incapable of reformation, was the wiser one; but his attitude on this important question is strikingly in keeping with the whole tenor of his character as we have hitherto seen it exhibited in his life.
In the absence of any official record of Latimer's occupation during this spring, we are much indebted for some curious notices of him to the letter of a gossiping London curate that has been fortunately preserved among the Cotton MSS. (25) Thomas Dorset, curate of St. Margaret's in the Lothbury, having, as he ingenuously admits, "nothing to do," resolved to go to Lambeth to the Archbishop's Palace, and see what was passing there.
"So," he proceeds, "I took a wherry at Paul's Wharf, wherein also was already a doctor named Doctor Crookhome which was sent for to come to the Bishop of Canterbury: and he, before the three bishops of Canterbury, of Worcester (Latimer) and Salisbury, confessed that he was rapt into heaven where he saw the Trinity sitting in a pall or mantle or cope of blue colour etc."
The reader need not be troubled further with the visions of this crazy fanatic.
"Then was there one Lambert" [who will come before us again] "within a seven days and later after that, which was detect of heresy to the three bishops. His articles was this that it was sin to pray to saints. Then came he to his answer. And the three bishops could not say that it was necessary or needful" [to pray to saints]; "but yet he might not make sin of it; and if he would agree to that he might have been gone by and by, but he would not.
"Then was he commanded to ward in the porter lodge, to remain there from that Monday till Friday night. Then he was set at large to go whither he would. He came thither back again the morrow to know the Bishops' pleasure, whether he was all free or not; and then they opposed him again, and he abode by it" [by his article, that it was sin to pray to saints]; "yet could they find" [prove] "it by no Scripture that we ought to do it. The Bishop of Worcester (Latimer) was most extreme against him" [surely not: more probably it was Shaxton, who had a very hot temper, as his letters show], "so he was put to ward again; and on the next morning which was Sunday, they sent both him and his articles to my Lord Chancellor, and there he remaineth in prison yet. My Lord of Norfolk, the Earl of Essex and the Count of Oxford wrote to those Bishops against him, and for that cause men suppose they handled him as to please them to get favour, which thing hath within this little while done great hurt to the truth, but what shall come of him God knoweth only."
The reader must bear in mind that much of this is mere gossip, without any authority. It is obvious, for example, that the writer could not possibly know the contents of private letters from the Duke of Norfolk to Cranmer; and it is in the last degree incredible that Latimer and the other Bishops would act as they did merely to secure the favour of a few courtiers. It must also be remembered that Lambert and the curate belonged to the party of advanced Protestants, who were anxious to move much more rapidly in the Reformation of religion than Cranmer or Latimer, and who were unhappily inclined to look upon all who did not agree with them in everything as enemies to the truth. After some other matter of no interest to us, the writer proceeds:-
"On Sunday last" [probably March 12, 1536], "the Bishop of Worcester (Latimer) preached at Paul's Cross; and he said that bishops, abbots, priors, parsons, canons resident, priests and all, were strong thieves, yea dukes, lords and all. The King, quod ho, made a marvellous good Act of Parliament that certain men should sow every of them two acres of hemp; but it were all too little were it so much more to hang the thieves in England. Bishops, abbots, with such other, should not have so many servants, nor so many dishes; but to go to their first foundation, to keep hospitality, to feed the needy people; not jolly fellows with golden chains and velvet gowns."
A sufficiently bold sermon, such as we have already heard Latimer deliver at West Kington, but not the utterance, assuredly, of any time-serving sycophant eager to ingratiate himself with the courtiers of Henry. (26)
On April 14, Parliament was dissolved. It had been summoned in November, 1529, and had thus sat for nearly seven years, an unusually long life for an English Parliament at any period, and unprecedentedly long in the age of the Tudors. The unanimous verdict of modern Europe has placed the Long Parliament at the head of all Parliaments, as the pride and model of all representative institutions. But, in truth, England owes far more to the Parliament of the sixteenth century, which achieved for her religious freedom, than to the much-vaunted Parliament of the seventeenth, which with infinite bloodshed, and in a bungling and imperfect fashion laid the foundations of our civil liberties. The early Parliament achieved the true liberty of England : "they found England in dependency on a foreign power; they left it a free nation." (27) They abolished that spiritual bondage which had so long kept the souls of the people in slavery and darkness. They defied the Pope; they suppressed the monasteries; they had not hesitated to send to the block the most distinguished defenders of the Papal system; they had curtailed the wealth and prerogatives of the clergy. They had not, indeed, proceeded far in the reformation of religion; but in establishing the great principle of the supremacy of the Crown in the room of the old assumption of the infallibility and supremacy of the Pope, they had laid a deep and firm foundation, on which by slow degrees and under happier auspices, the great fabric of toleration and religious purity was to rise.
The new Parliament was summoned for June 8; but before it assembled, the reign of Henry had been stained, with its first dark, indelible blot, the execution of Anne Boleyn. Into the long and fiercely-debated question of her guilt or innocence, it is unnecessary for us here to enter at length. Anne may have had her faults; she may have been giddy and thoughtless, so as to provoke others to address her in language of familiar freedom unbecoming their station and her position as the wife of a jealous husband. But allowing full force to all that Mr. Froude has alleged in justification of Henry's procedure, who has ever really doubted that Anne's execution was very like a murder under form of law? "Her chief fault," Fuller has said, with equal truth and quaintness, "was Henry's too great fondness for another." Henry himself, indeed, has furnished the most unanswerable refutation of the pleas of his apologists. By marrying Jane Seymour (who had been for months the chief object of his affection) the day after Anne's execution, he has rendered it for ever impossible for any evidence to demonstrate his innocence. The secret preparations for the bloody deed have never been all unravelled: it is certain that her arrest and execution were no hasty measures, dictated by sudden discovery of her guilt, but were carefully planned weeks before; and it seems highly probable that equal care has been taken to destroy most of the documents that might have cast any light upon the perplexing subject. The attitude of Latimer and Cranmer and Cromwell in reference to Anne's execution is not the least embarrassing side of this intricate question. Without claiming Anne as a decided and intelligent adherent of the Reformed opinions, she had unquestionably on more than one occasion befriended the Reformers; she had shown a marked pleasure in listening to Latimer; her disgrace and death were sure to be hailed with triumphant glee by the Romanist party; and one might have expected, therefore, from Latimer or Cranmer, some interference in her behalf, or at least some attempt to defend her character. Latimer, however, makes no allusion to her in any of his subsequent sermons or letters that have been preserved: he may not have believed her guilty; he certainly has not intimated his conviction that she was innocent. How Cranmer acted, all the world knows. Every one has read the famous letter in which the gentle primate has left so faithful a picture of his own state of mind, hopelessly embarrassed between esteem for Anne, horror of the crime alleged against her, and suspicion that the charge was true: a letter which evidently perplexed Cranmer to pen as much as it has perplexed historians to interpret it. The truth seems to be that neither of these friendly prelates was ever fully informed of the circumstances alleged against Anne: they had no knowledge of her guilt beyond what was communicated to them by Cromwell; and his authority, to men who had so long known and so implicitly trusted him, would be sufficient, if not to produce conviction, at least to secure silence. Cranmer, indeed, from his position as primate, was required to lend his assistance, and to give the sanction of his name and character to the divorce of Anne. But the charge of adultery and incest was not brought against the unhappy Queen in Cranmer's court. Anne simply appeared before him, and declared that there were lawful impediments to her marriage with Henry. What these were, the Archbishop does not appear to have inquired; and subsequent historians have in vain exhausted their ingenuity in uncertain conjectures. On the strength of the Queen's confession, and without further inquiry, Cranmer pronounced his sentence, that "the marriage between the King's grace and the most excellent lady Anne was never good, but utterly void and of none effect;" a sentence curiously at variance with the other accusation against the unhappy Queen, for if she had never really been Henry's wife, then it was plain that she could never have committed that crime of adultery for which she was executed.
The death of Anne gave fresh vigour to the hopes of the Papal party. The great obstacle to any reconciliation with the Papal See was now removed; and it seemed possible that by judicious measures Henry might be regained to his former allegiance. Overtures were made from Rome, to which Henry listened, not altogether unwillingly, in spite of the resolute declaration which we recently read. Campeggio, the deprived Bishop of Salisbury, was cheered with visions of recovering his see; (28) and ambitious Churchmen, believing that the tide of affairs in England had turned, began to dream of honours and wealth. An occurrence wholly unexpected dashed all these hopes to the ground. Just at this very crisis, there reached Henry, Cardinal Pole's famous book on the Unity of the Church, Written years before, when the attitude of affairs had been entirely different, it only came to England in June, 1536, and its words of fierce denunciation rendered all hope of reconciliation with Rome for the time impossible. It urged the people to rebel against a tyrant more wicked than Saul who killed the priests, more sacrilegious than Dathan and Abiram who withstood the ordinance of God. It stigmatised him as "the vilest of plunderers, a thief and a robber," surrounded by bishops who were robbers and murderers, one for whose crimes no penalty would be adequate. Pole had written in defence of Henry's marriage with Catherine; but the accident which had so long delayed the delivery of his book, singularly enough, must have made him seem to be the advocate of Anne; and the King must have winced under the stern appeals of the Cardinal's impetuous eloquence. It was a masterpiece of sarcastic and indignant invective; but for the time it ruined all the fond hopes of the Romish party in England.
The new Parliament assembled June 8; and was mainly occupied with those legislative enactments which were rendered necessary by the divorce and execution of Queen Anne.
On June 9, there was also assembled the first Convocation since the overthrow of the Papal Supremacy. It was a great occasion, and Cranmer, determining to make the most of it, had wisely selected Latimer to preach the opening sermon. No better choice could have been made in England; no preacher saw more clearly the many gross abuses that still remained to be reformed; no one could denounce them with happier irony or more unsparing severity. The complexion of the time called for boldness, and Latimer was not likely to err through excess of timidity. All the associations of the place would add strength to his invective. Four years before, he had stood at the bar, accused of heretical teaching; and in front of him, as he spoke, there sat conspicuous the men who had sought his life, and who were the determined defenders of those abuses that had so long tainted and depraved the religion of the country. Urged by so many impulses, the preacher rose to the greatness of the occasion; and his eloquence, bold as that of the old Jewish prophets, stirred the heart of the English nation to its very depths.
He selected as his text the parable of the unjust steward, a sufficient intimation of the character of the coming sermon. The parable naturally led him to speak of the duties of the clergy, and to inquire whether they had been faithful in discharging them or not. The time had been when Latimer ran an imminent risk of being burned for venturing to insinuate the charge of unfaithfulness against the clergy; but now the rulers of the Church, who had been chiefly in fault, must listen in silence to words such as have been but seldom uttered in the ears of Convocation.
"Who is a true and faithful steward?" asked the preacher. " He is one that coineth no new money, but taketh it ready coined of the good man of the house, and neither changeth it nor clippeth it, but spendeth even the self-same that he had of his Lord, and spendeth it as his Lord's commandment is; neither to his own vantage uttering it, nor as the lewd servant did, hiding it in the ground. Brethren," he proceeded, "I pray you ponder and examine well, whether our bishops and abbots, prelates and curates, have been hitherto faithful stewards or no; whether yet many of them be as they should be or no. Tell me now (as your conscience leadeth you), were there not some that despising the money of the Lord, either coined new themselves, or else uttered abroad newly coined of other? Sometime either adulterating the Word of God, or else mingling it? Sometime in the stead of God's Word blowing out the dreams of men? While they preached thus to the people, that the redemption that cometh by Christ's death serveth only them that died before His coming, that were in the time of the Old Testament; and that now, redemption and forgiveness of sins, purchased by money, and devised by men, is of efficacy, and not redemption purchased by Christ? While they preached, that dead images not only ought to be covered with gold, but also ought of all faithful and Christian people, (yea in this scarceness and penury of all things) to be clad with silk garments, and these laden with precious jewels; and besides this ought to be lighted with wax candles, both within the church and without the church, yea, and at noondays? Whereas in the meantime we see Christ's faithful and lively images, bought with no less price than with His most precious blood, to be an hungered, a-thirst, a-cold, and to lie in darkness, wrapped in all wretchedness, yea. to lie there till death take away their miseries: while they preached these will-works, that come but of our own devotion, although they be not so necessary as the works of mercy, and the precepts of God, yet they said, and in the pulpit, that will-works were more principal, more excellent (and plainly to utter what they mean), more acceptable to God than works of mercy; as though now man's inventions and fancies could please God better than God s precepts, or strange things better than His own: while they thus preached that more fruit, more devotion cometh of the beholding of an image, though it be but a Paternoster while, than is gotten by reading and contemplation in Scripture, though ye read and contemplate therein seven years' space: finally, while they thus preached, souls tormented in purgatory to have most need of our help, and that they can have no aid, but of us in this world; I let pass to speak of much other such like counterfeit doctrine, which hath been blasted and blown out by some for the space of three hours together. Be these the Christian and Divine mysteries, and not rather the dreams of men? Be these the faithful dispensers of God's mysteries, and not rather false dissipators of them? whom God never put in office, but rather the devil set them over a miserable family, over a house miserably ordered and entreated. Happy were the people if such preached seldom.
"The end of your convocation shall shew what ye have done; the fruit that shall come of your consultation shall shew what generation ye be of. For what have ye done hitherto, I pray you, these seven years and more? What have ye brought forth? What fruit is come of your long and great assembly? What one thing that the people of England hath been the better of a hair; or you yourselves, either more accepted before God, or better discharged toward the people committed unto your care? For that the people is better learned and taught now, than they were in time past, to whether of these ought we to attribute it, to your industry, or to the providence of God, and the foreseeing of the King's grace? Ought we to thank you, or the King's highness? Whether stirred other first, you the King, that he might preach, or he you by his letters that ye should preach oftener? Is it unknown, think ye, how both ye and your curates were, in manner, by violence enforced to let books, to be made, not by you, but by profane and lay persons; to let them I say, be sold abroad, and read for the instruction of the people?
"Now, I pray you in God's name, what did you, so great fathers, so many, so long a season, so oft assembled together? What went you about? What would ye have brought to pass? Two things taken away - the one, that ye (which I heard) burned a dead man" [Tracy]; ''the other that ye (which I felt) went about to burn one being alive" [Latimer]: "him, because he did, I cannot tell how, in his testament withstand your profit; in other points, as I have heard, a very good man; reported to be of an honest life while he lived, full of good works, good both to the clergy, and also to the laity: this other, which truly never hurt any of you, ye would have raked in the coals, because he would not subscribe to certain articles that took away the supremacy of the King: - take away these two noble acts, and there is nothing else left that ye went about, that I know, saving that I now remember that somewhat ye attempted against Erasmus, albeit as yet nothing is come to light. Ye have oft sat in consultation, but what have ye done? Ye have had many things in deliberation, but what one is put forth, whereby Christ is more glorified, or else Christ's people made more holy? I appeal to your own conscience."
"The children of this world," the parable declared, "were wiser in their generation than the children of light:" and the history of the Church, Latimer proceeded to show, contained abundant illustrations of the maxim. The Church was full of the abuses which the children of the world had introduced for their own profit. They had invented "canonisations and expectations, pardons, stationaries, and jubilaries." Wisest of all, however, were those that "begot and brought forth our old purgatory pick-purse, that was swaged" [assuaged] "and cooled with a Franciscan's cowl, put upon a dead man's back, to the fourth part of his sins. It was a pleasant fiction, and, from the beginning, so profitable to the feigners of it, that almost, I dare boldly say, there hath been no emperor that hath gotten more by taxes and tollages of them that were alive, than these, the very and right-begotten sons of the world, got by dead men's tributes and gifts."
Then, rising into more earnest exhortation, he urged his hearers to diligence in reforming what had been too long suffered to injure the purity of the Church.
"Go ye to, good brethren and fathers: for the love of God, go ye to; and seeing we are here assembled, let us do something whereby we may be known to be the children of light . . . Lift up your heads, brethren, and look about with your eyes, spy what things are to be reformed in the Church of England. Is it so hard, is it so great a matter for you to see many abuses in the clergy, many in the laity? Abuses in the Court of Arches, and in. the Consistorial Courts of the Bishops; in the ceremonies so often defiled by superstition; in the holidays so generally abused by drunkenness and gambling; in the images, and pictures, and relics, and pilgrimages, extolled and encouraged by the clergy to the deception of the ignorant, in the religious rites of baptism and matrimony celebrated in an unknown tongue and not in the native language of the people; in the most solemn services of religion, masses, openly sold in violation of the most express ecclesiastical laws."
Such abuses as these were patent in every part of England, and to allow them to continue any longer, ruining the souls of the laity while replenishing the coffers of the clergy, was to act the part not of faithful stewards but of the dishonest steward who beat his fellow-servants because his Lord delayed his return. "But," said the preacher in conclusion, "be not deceived, God will come, God will come, He will not tarry long away. . . . Therefore, my brethren, leave the love of your profit; study for the glory and profit of Christ; seek in your consultations such things as pertain to Christ, and bring forth at the last somewhat that may please Christ. Feed ye tenderly, with all diligence, the flock of Christ. Preach truly the Word of God. Love the light, walk in the light, and so be ye the children of light while ye are in this world, that ye may shine, in the world to come, bright as the sun."
The great German Reformer himself never spoke with more energy or greater plainness; and one may well suppose that the members of Convocation were startled with an oration so widely different from the ordinary decorous and commonplace addresses customary before such an audience. The sermon was of course in Latin; but it was speedily translated into English; and the preacher's words were read with avidity throughout the land. For the cause was eminently one that concerned the whole nation: and no preacher was a better representative of the national mind on the subject than Latimer. He had refrained altogether from any subtle discussions of what might be called profound theological questions; to him, as to the people at large, it was a question not of belief but of life; he complained not so much of what the Church taught, as of what the clergy practised; not so much of false doctrine corrupting the orthodoxy of the Church's creed, as of wretched falsehoods and impostures poisoning the religious life of the people. His eminently practical turn of mind happily led him to take exactly that view of the reformation of religion which was likely to attract the attention of his countrymen. Theological discussions on doctrines even of the utmost importance, have never excited so profound an interest in England as in some other countries; the national mind seems to have little aptitude for them, and in Latimer's time Englishmen were not sufficiently versed in Holy Scripture to be competent judges; but plain practical matters, such as those which the preacher pressed on the notice of Convocation, were within every one's capacity, and appealed to every one's experience; and it is not surprising that the eloquence of the preacher evoked a loud response from the common people.
What were the thoughts that passed through the minds of the members of Convocation as they listened to Latimer? Did their hearts glow with the generous desire to repair the errors and faults of past generations? Were they ashamed of their career as false and unprofitable stewards? Or were they determined, at all hazards, to maintain those corruptions which furnished them with their princely revenues? Their deeds speedily showed whether they were to be considered ''children of the world," or "children of the light." The Lower House of Convocation proceeded to business; and, as if actuated by the energy of Latimer's sermon, they compiled a lengthy list of evils in doctrine and in practice that urgently called for a reform. But the gravamina of Convocation were very different from the abuses which Latimer had condemned. It was not the monstrous doctrine of purgatory, the delusion that a man who had spent his life in sin could be saved after death by money and masses; it was not such teaching as this that they desired to see reformed. The fatal and dangerous heresies which they hoped the Bishops would summarily suppress were such as these, "that priests should be allowed to marry," " that the laity should receive the communion in both kinds," " that images ought not to be reverenced," "that it was not a sin to eat meat in Lent," "that auricular confession, absolution, and penance were neither necessary nor beneficial," "that prayer to the saints was as vain as throwing a stone against the wind," "that holy water, holy bread, hallowed candles and such like things, were mere ignorant delusions," etc. These and other opinions, tinged a little in some matters, with the violence of the Continental Anabaptists, yet not inaptly styled by Fuller, "the Protestant religion in the ore," were the dark blots which Convocation wished to expunge from the fair face of the Church; and, that there might be no doubt of their intentions, they complained of the circulation of what they styled heretical books (of which the Bible in English was of course the chief), and of the patronage extended to men who "were suspected both for belief and manners." It was plain, therefore, that Convocation having consented with the worst possible grace to acknowledge the Royal Supremacy, was determined to resist to the uttermost all attempts at any further reformation of religion.
And yet there were not wanting signs of the times which might have convinced them of the hopeless nature of the cause to which they were thus committing themselves. On all sides the adherents of the Reformation were increasing in numbers and influence; and with such a sovereign as Henry on the throne, it was sheer folly to hope that the old supremacy of the Church could ever be restored. One trivial incident that occurred when they assembled to deliberate might have sufficed to show them that they were living in changed times. Cromwell, the King's Vicar-Greneral in ecclesiastical matters, was unable to be present at their first meeting, but sent Petre, one of the visitors of the monasteries as his representative; and this man, the deputy of a deputy, claimed and obtained as his right, the chief seat in the assembly next to the Archbishop, to the great indignation of many of the members. Next day, Cromwell appeared in person, and, in virtue of his office, seated himself above them all: a plain indication that the Royal Supremacy was not a mere empty phrase, and that Henry did not intend to sleep over his new prerogative.
Convocation had been summoned for a purpose of prime importance, to compile a creed and a canon of religious ceremonies suitable to the altered state of the times. When Parliament abolished the Papal Supremacy in England, they had expressly protested their unshaken attachment to the old creed and worship of the Church. But Parliament was unable to restrain the course of public opinion; and even Henry himself could not avoid being influenced by the loud demand for reformation that now began to rise from almost every part of the country. The voice of Latimer exposing the endless practical abuses of the clergy, had produced an impression all the more powerful because the facts were undeniable; and the laity impatiently called for relief from a burden that was become intolerable. And, in London especially, there were other reformers, bolder than Latimer; men well versed in the theology of the Reformation on the Continent, who saw that no reformation would be of avail which stopped short with abolishing external abuses, and who demanded, therefore, the removal from the creed of the Church of those doctrinal errors from which the practical corruptions had sprung. The whole country was ringing with the din of theological strife; doctrines and ceremonies were fiercely debated; division and discord prevailed, and seemed almost to threaten a civil war. Modern rulers would probably regard this as the normal and proper religious condition of a country; but Henry's theory of his duty as King of England compelled him to devise some means for restoring unity and peace, and this was the great problem submitted to the Convocation of 1536.
It was a subject evidently of the greatest importance both in its immediate and its ultimate bearings on the Church of England; and as Latimer was present as a member of Convocation, it is natural that their proceedings should engage much of our attention. By a piece of rare good fortune, moreover, a report of the debates on this momentous question has been preserved to us by one who was present and shared in them. Alexander Alane, or Alesius, a Scotch theologian, and a friend of Luther and Melancthon, (29) was taken down to the Convocation by Cromwell, and to him are we indebted for a graphic and interesting picture of the first debate in the first Protestant Convocation of the Church of England. On Cromwell's entrance, all the bishops and prelates rose up and did obeisance to him as vicar-general; and when he had returned their salutation, he sat down in the highest place, and the proceedings began. "Right against Cromwell," to use the words of Alesius, "sate the Archbishop of Canterbury, after him the Archbishop of York [Lee], and then London [Stokesley], Lincoln [Longland], Salisbury [Shaxton], Bath [Clerk], Ely [Goodrich], Hereford [Pox], Chichester [Sampson], Rochester [Hilsey], and Worcester [Latimer], and certain other whose names I have forgotten; all these did sit at a table covered with a carpet, with certain priests standing about them."
Cromwell, in an admirable address, reminded them of the purpose for which they were assembled, viz.: "to determine certain controversies which at this time be moved concerning the Christian religion and faith, not only in this realm, but also in all nations through the world." The King, he assured them, studied day and night to set a quietness in the Church, and he could not rest until all such controversies were fully debated and ended through the determination of Convocation and Parliament.
"And," he proceeded, "he desireth you, for Christ's sake, that all malice, obstinacy, and carnal respect set apart, ye will friendly and lovingly dispute among yourselves of the controversies moved in the Church, and that ye will conclude all things by the Word of God, without all bawling or scolding. Neither will His Majesty suffer the Scripture to be wrested and defaced by any glosses, any papistical laws, or by any authority of doctors or councils; and much less will he admit any articles or doctrines not contained in the Scriptures, but, approved only by continuance of time and old custom and by unwritten verities as ye were wont to do. His Majesty will give you high thanks if ye will set and conclude a godly and a perfect unity, whereunto this is the only way and mean, if ye will determine all things by the Scripture, as God commandeth you; which thing His Majesty exhorteth and desireth you."
If these were indeed the sentiments which Henry had commissioned Cromwell to utter before Convocation, they were admirably noble and wise, and indicated to the rival theologians what is in truth the only way whereby a godly and a perfect unity can ever be established in the Christian Church.
The Bishops rose up "to give thanks to the King's majesty for his fervent desire and study towards an unity, and for his virtuous exhortation; "and immediately proceeded to discuss the project thus submitted to them. It speedily became apparent that this venerable assembly, which was expected to devise some scheme for composing the fierce religious strife that embroiled England, was itself violently divided in opinion. Almost at the outset of the debate, the subject of the sacraments, their nature, their efficacy and their number, was as a matter of course introduced; and immediately all hope of unity was dissipated. Stokesley, the great champion of the old party in the absence of Gardiner, who was on the Continent, maintained the orthodoxy of the current teaching on the nature and number of the sacraments; and, forgetting the King's injunction to appeal only to Scripture, he fortified his position by what he called "unwritten verities," and by copious citations from what Alesius, in his rough unceremonious way, styles "stinking glosses, and old lousy writers." Lee, Longland, and others supported Stokesley; Cranmer, Pox, and Latimer opposed him. The debate waxed fierce, and the disputants diverged widely from their point. Alesius himself, at the request of Cromwell, joined in the discussion, with the eager alacrity of one who was not only an ardent Reformer, but was also perfectly familiar with every feature of the controversy, and enjoyed a theological debate as only a Scotch Divine can do. It is unnecessary to add that no decision was arrived at, for Convocation were not agreed as to the ultimate standard by which the truth of their opinions was to be determined: and the debate on "a godly unity" ended, so far as Convocation was concerned, in fierce and angry warfare. To the general reader the report of the discussion would be dry and uninteresting: one noble speech, however, uttered by Fox, Bishop of Hereford, deserves to be placed on record for the admiration of all Englishmen.
"Think ye not," he said, addressing the prelates who sat around him, "that we can by any sophistical subtleties steal out of the world again the light which every man doth see. Christ hath so lightened the world at this time that the light of the Gospel hath put to flight all misty darkness, and it will shortly have the higher hand of all clouds, though we resist in vain never so much. The lay people do now know the Holy Scriptures better than many of us. And the Germans have made the text of the Bible so plain and easy by the Hebrew and the Greek tongue, that now many things may be better understood without any glosses at all than by all the commentaries of the Doctors. And moreover they have so opened these controversies by their writings that women and children may wonder at the blindness and falsehood that hath been hitherto. . . . There is nothing so feeble and weak, so that it be true, but it shall find place and be able to stand against all falsehood. Truth is the daughter of time, and time is the mother of truth; and whatsoever is besieged of truth cannot long continue; and upon whose side truth doth stand that ought not to be thought transitory, or that it will ever fall. All things consist not in painted eloquence and strength or authority: for the truth is of so great power that it could neither be defended" [i.e. resisted] "with words, nor be overcome with any strength, but after she hath hidden herself long, at last she putteth up her head and appeareth, as it is written in Esdras, 'A King is strong, wine is stronger, yet women be more strong, but truth excelleth all.'"
Stokesley, however, was not to be driven from his position; "it was all a delusion," he said, "to believe that there was no other Word of God but that which every sowter and cobler read in their mother tongue"; there were many unwritten verities, mentioned by the old doctors of the Church, received from the Apostles, which, he maintained, were of equal authority with Scripture, and might be called "the Word of God unwritten."
The debate was adjourned, but was never concluded; for it was now all too manifest that the King's design had proved abortive, and that Convocation were not likely to produce any resolutions that might promote religious unity in England. Still Henry did not relinquish the work which he had undertaken. Modern statesmanship would have left the rival theologians to settle their differences by argument and debate, or would have taken refuge in universal toleration, and perfect freedom of creed and worship. But Henry conceived himself to be distinctly responsible as the religious guide of the people whom he ruled; and Convocation having failed to discover any means of restoring "peace and unity," he himself undertook the task, and, to use his own words, felt himself "constrained to put his own pen to the book, and to conceive certain articles necessary to be set forth, read and taught for avoiding of all contention." (30)
The "Articles" thus referred to constituted the first authoritative exposition of the doctrines of the Church of England after it had thrown off the supremacy of the Papal See: and historians have not sufficiently observed that though they bore to have been "agreed upon by the bishops and the most discreet and best-learned men of the realm, after long and mature deliberation and disputation," they were yet in reality the production of Henry's own pen. The King had from his early years displayed a wonderful fondness for theological discussion; and Cromwell was scarcely using the language of courtly flattery when he declared in Convocation that Henry "by his excellent learning knew these controversies well enough." There is, therefore, nothing incredible in the assertion that Henry himself was really the author of the "Ten Articles," as his proclamation declares him to have been; and this fact materially assists us in understanding their peculiar theological teaching. They embody neither the opinions of Stokesley and his adherents, nor those of Cranmer and his party; still less, of course, do they reflect the views of bolder Reformers such as Alesius; they are not even to be regarded as a compromise in which the opposing parties agreed to meet as on neutral ground; they simply represent the theological beliefs of Henry at this precise moment of his reign, the beliefs, that is, of one, who found himself compelled to depart in some respects from the old orthodoxy of his youth, but was reluctant to adopt any new opinions or practices. Such being the origin of the Articles, the reader will not expect to find in them any startling changes, or any very great progress in sound theology and purified worship. Stokesley and the theologians of the old school would indeed see in them many causes of offence. Alesius and the more ardent Reformers would regret many omissions. Even Latimer and Cranmer would be dissatisfied with them; yet, on the whole, the Articles may be viewed as approaching somewhat more nearly to their creed than to that of any other great religious party in the country; for they, like Henry, diverged slowly and reluctantly from the old formulae and the old ritual to which they had been so long accustomed.
The Articles were ten in number, and were, briefly, as follows. 31.
I. The Articles of our Faith: all men should hold as true those things which are comprehended in the whole Canon of the Bible, and in the three Creeds.
II. The Sacrament, of Baptism: this was instituted by Christ as a thing necessary for the attaining of everlasting life; infants, as well as adults, receive in it remission of sins and the favour of God; it is never to be repeated; the opinions of the Anabaptists are detestable heresies.
III. The Sacrament of Penance: this was also instituted by Christ, and is so necessary to salvation, that no man who sins after baptism, can be saved without it; auricular confession is to be considered expedient and necessary.
IV. The Sacrament of the Altar: transubstantiation was, of course, affirmed in the strongest terms.
V. Justification: here, it was acknowledged, that the mercy of God and the merits of Christ's passion were the only sufficient and worthy causes of our justification; yet, contrition, faith, and charity, on man's part must concur, and good works must follow.
VI. Images: these, it was said, had been used in Old Testament times, and tolerated in New, and might, therefore, still be retained in the Church to kindle arid stir men's minds; but the rude people must be taught not to kneel or offer to them, but only to God.
VII. Honouring of Saints: saints, it was declared, ought to be honoured, but not with that honour due only to God, nor with the hope of obtaining from them that which God alone could bestow.
VIII. Praying to Saints: this was praised as a laudable custom; but, it was added, grace, remission of sin and salvation can only be obtained of God through the mediation of Christ.
IX. Rites and Ceremonies: all laudable customs, rites and ceremonies were to be retained, such as vestments, sprinkling of holy water, bearing candles on Candlemas Day, giving ashes on Ash Wednesday, carrying palms on Palm Sunday, creeping to the cross on Good Friday, etc. But withal, the people were to be taught, that none of these had any power to remit sin, but only to lift up the mind to God.
X. Purgatory: the practice of praying for souls departed was countenanced, it was asserted, by the Book of Maccabees and ancient Doctors; and might, therefore, it was maintained, be continued. All other questions, however, about the dead, where they were, or what they suffered, should be remitted to Almighty God: and all the abuses that had so long existed and had so mightily swelled the revenues of the Church, the belief that the Pope's pardons, and masses at scala caeli could deliver souls from purgatory, were to be utterly abolished."
Such was the first "Confession of Faith" of the Reformed Church of England: drawn up by the King, subscribed and sanctioned by Convocation, taught to the people by royal proclamation. One cannot but regret its meagreness, its sanction of several theological errors, its countenance of practices which had invariably been corrupted into superstitious abuses; still it was a considerable step in the right direction; and when we remember that it represented the opinions not of the most advanced Reformers, but of the most cautious and conservative, we may admit that no contemptible progress had been already made in England in the reformation of religion. The creed was designed by Henry as an instrument to promote peace and religious unity among his subjects: probably the great majority of intelligent Englishmen welcomed it as not unfairly representing their own beliefs; certainly, only a small minority were as yet prepared to advance any farther. With all its defects, Latimer, we may be sure, welcomed it with the warmest gratitude; he affixed his signature to the Articles with unusual care, and his handwriting almost for the only time is plain and legible. 32.
It is not improbable that Cranmer and Latimer were consulted by Henry in the compilation of the Articles. Latimer's opinion seems to have been asked, for example, on the subject of purgatory, and though Henry did not choose to adopt his views on this important point, he condescended to discuss the question with him. Among the Cotton MSS. is preserved a curious letter containing Latimer's arguments against purgatory, with Henry's marginal animadversions in defence of the customary doctrine of the Church. Both are in the handwriting of the respective disputants. Latimer rests his belief on inevitable inferences from Holy Scripture, and on the teaching of the greatest of the Fathers - Jerome, Augustine, Cyprian and Chrysostom. He admits, indeed, that many of the Fathers had so expressed themselves as to lend a sanction to the belief in purgatory; but he claims for himself the right to differ from the Fathers, and protests against ascribing to them that authority which belonged only to Canonical Scripture. Whatever was uncertain as to the teaching of the Fathers, one thing, he maintained, was indisputably certain, that no such purgatory as had been preached for the last three hundred years could be established from their writings. Henry's replies are feeble and trifling, more like a scholastic quibbler than a King. 33. Latimer concludes with a characteristic argument of a practical kind : " The founding of monasteries argued purgatory to be " [for they were usually founded to provide for perpetual prayer for the departed in purgatory]; "so the putting of them down argueth it not to be. What uncharitableness and cruelness seemeth it to be to destroy monasteries, if purgatory be! Now it seemeth not convenient the Act of Parliament to preach one thing, and the pulpit another clean contrary." In other words, Latimer reminded Henry that to retain purgatory was to stultify the past legislation of his reign; hut Henry was not convinced; he continued for years to believe, and to enforce upon others the belief, in purgatory; and his last will, written some years, however, before his death, provided that prayers should be said for the repose of his soul.
Latimer was exemplary in his attendance on his duties as a member of the House of Lords: what share he may have taken in the conduct of the business of the House cannot, of course, now he ascertained, the parliamentary eloquence of that day having perished and left no record: he was, however, regularly in his place, and was, indeed, only three times absent during the whole session. 34.
To the month of June of this year, shortly before the preaching of his famous sermon, may probably be referred a brief and obscure letter to Parker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, the only letter to this Cambridge friend that has been preserved.
"Mine own good Master Parker: Salutem: and as yet I have devised nothing, nor yet will, till I have spoken with the King's grace and have passed through the next Parliament, and then what I shall alter and change, found and confound, you shall not be ignorant thereof; vale " [farewell], "And do as Master Latimer shall move you to do, Ostende te-ipsum mundo. Delitescere diutius nolito; operare bomum dum tempus habes. Veniet nox quum nemo poterit operari. Notum est quid potes: fac non minus relis quam poles: Vale, Tuus of Worcester, H. Latymer." (Show yourself to the world: do not remain longer hid: work while you have a suitable season. The night will come in which no man shall he able to work. What you can do is well known: do not he content to do less than you can do). 35.
The labours of Parliament and Convocation were finished by July 20; and we may take for granted that Latimer would immediately return to his diocese where his presence was urgently needed. For all England was swarming with idle ecclesiastics, thrown loose upon society by the suppression of the smaller monasteries, and wandering from place to place fanning into a flame such latent sparks of discontent as existed. It became, therefore, an important part of his work to protect his diocese from any mischief that might be excited by the teaching of such turbulent spirits. And as soon as he reached home he was required to watch the proceeding of some troublesome preacher who had apparently been attacking the Reformers with violence. The ever-watchful Cromwell had summoned that preacher to London to answer for himself; and Latimer sent up the sermon, with the following letter:-
"Right honourable Sir: Salutem plurimam; and because I hear your mastership hath sent for Master Coots, which preached at Hales, to come to you, therefore I do now send unto you his sermon, not as he spake it, if he spake it as his hearers do report it, but rather as he hath modified and tempered it, since he perceived that he should be examined of it. And yet, peradventure, you will not judge it everywhere very well pondered. He seemeth to be very well studied in Master Moore's books" [i.e., Sir Thomas More], " and to have framed him a conscience and a judgment somewhat according to the same. And to avoid all falsities, he appeareth to stick stiffly to unwritten verities. I would fain hear him tell who be those new fellows that would approve no sciences but grammar. Qui vos audit, etc.; obedite praepositis, etc.; qui ecclesiam nan audivit, etc." [i.e., such verses as ' He who heareth you heareth me,' ' Obey them that are set over you,' ' He who does not hear the Church, let him be to you a heathen man']; " serve him gaily for traditions and laws to be made of" [by] "the clergy authoritatively; and to be then observed of the laity necessarily, as equal with God's word, as some say that he both thinketh and sayeth, etc." (as, indeed, Stokesley had said lately in Convocation).
"As far as I can learn of such as have communed with him he is wilily witted. Dunsly learned " [learned in Duns Scotus, scholastic theology]. "Moody affected, bold not a little, zealous more than enough: If you could monish him, charm him, and so reform him, etc., or else I pray you, inhibit him my diocese. You may send another, and appoint him his stipend, which God grant you do." 36.
With such spirits abroad in his diocese, Latimer's life during the summer of 1536 would be sufficiently anxious and uneasy. He would, moreover, be diligently occupied in seeing that the "Injunctions," issued by Cromwell as the "King's vicegerent in all jurisdiction ecclesiastical," were duly observed by his clergy. These injunctions, while they in the main enforced the "Articles" recently "devised and put forth by the King," contained also several admonitions to the clergy, which would be peculiarly acceptable to Latimer. The people were not to be encouraged to undertake pilgrimages; they were to be told that they would please God better by the true exercise of their bodily labour, providing for their families, than if they went on pilgrimage, and that it would be more profitable to their soul's health to bestow that on the poor which they were wont to bestow upon images. The clergy were to reside on their livings, to spend their time in reading Scriptures, and to show a good example. Fathers and masters were to teach their children and servants the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments in the mother-tongue; and the curates were to repeat them, clause by clause, in their sermons, till all were familiar with them. Moreover, all were to be brought up to work; no idleness was to be tolerated, lest there should afterwards be begging to the scandal of the nation. 37. In short, an admirably wholesome and practical reformation was everywhere to be introduced; and on the bishops and others in authority devolved the responsibility of seeing that the injunctions were honestly put into execution. There would be no lack, therefore, of interesting and important work to occupy Latimer's energy during the rest of this busy year.
But the year was not to pass away in these peaceful pastoral cares. The thunder-clouds that had so long been accumulating in the sky at length burst into open storm. On October 2, an insurrection, excited chiefly by resentment for the suppression of the religious houses, broke out at Louth, in Lincolnshire. Headed by one Melton, a shoemaker, better known by his soubriquet of Captain Cobbler, the insurgents addressed the sovereign in language of respectful complaint, protesting against the dissolution of the monasteries, the innovations in religion, and the elevation of men of low birth to the privy council. Henry replied to them in terms of the most contemptuous defiance. He was amazed, he said, at the presumption " of the rude commons of one shire, and that one the most brute and beastly of the whole realm," 38. in daring to find fault with the prince whom they were bound "to obey and serve with lives, lands, and goods." An army was, at the same time, sent under the Duke of Suffolk, who by employing temperate language, and making liberal promises, speedily quenched the rising flame: and, in a fortnight, most of the rebels quietly dispersed. 39. This, however, was but the prelude of the storm.
Tho same messenger that brought the tidings of the quelling of the Lincolnshire revolt, brought intelligence of a far more formidable rising in Yorkshire. The same causes had produced this second insurrection; but the leaders were men of higher social position, and of greater ability: and the rising at once assumed the dimensions of a great rebellion. The insurgents professed themselves the champions of the Church; several of the dispossessed priests marched at their head with crosses, and a sacred banner was borne before them emblazoned with the five wounds, the crucifix, and the chalice. The leader, Robert Aske, was equal to the greatness of the occasion; and from all quarters the disaffected flocked in crowds to join what was styled "The Pilgrimage of Grace." York and Hull were seized; and, with an army daily increasing in numbers, Aske directed his march towards London. At Court all was consternation and alarm, as great as when two hundred years later, the Young Chevalier marched to Derby. Cromwell was unwearied in raising funds: Henry was anxiously collecting troops. Thirty thousand rebels were in the field; and the royal armies did not muster one-third of this number. The house of Tudor was tottering on the throne; and the hopes of the old Churchmen waxed strong and bright. The elements, however, or rather the God of the elements, favoured Henry's cause. The onward march of the insurgents was delayed by a sudden flood which rendered the Don impassable; the Duke of Norfolk availed himself with admirable sagacity of every opportunity for interposing obstacles by suggesting negotiations and compromises: gradually the rebels dispersed; the army of Aske melted away; and in January, 1537, tranquillity was again restored.
Latimer was at Hartlebury when these disturbances broke out; busied no doubt with his usual episcopal labours, yet keeping an eye on all suspicious persons, and watching every sign of the times in those perilous days. On October 19, ignorant apparently of the serious disturbances in the North, he sent to Cromwell a suspicious prophecy that was circulating in his diocese, in the hope that his lordship (Cromwell was now Lord Privy Seal), who "loved antiquities," would be able to "try the truth," and divine whether it threatened any danger to the State. 40. Cromwell was, of course, too busy to read the prophecy, an insane production of about one hundred and forty Latin Leonines, which OEdipus himself could not have construed; but he believed, that in the crisis which had now occurred, and which threatened to annihilate all traces of the Reformation in England, some use might be made of Latimer's eloquence and popularity.
Latimer was accordingly summoned to London, that his voice might encourage and stimulate all loyal subjects in their devotion to the royal cause. On November 5 (a day which, however, had not yet become notable in English annals), Latimer preached at Paul's Cross against the Northern rebels. The Epistle for the day (the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity), "Put on the whole armour of God," seemed admirably suited for the occasion, and was naturally selected by Latimer as the theme of his discourse. The sermon, however, was by no means one of his most striking performances. He was somewhat out of his natural element; and he felt himself impeded by Cromwell's advice to be very discreet and cautious of giving offence to any that might be useful to Henry in the emergency. The customary energy and force of the preacher were therefore wanting; and though once or twice during the sermon it seemed as if the wonted fire would again break out as he drifted towards those great abuses which he had so often denounced, caution prevailed and repressed the impetuous current of that eloquence which used to rouse the enthusiasm of his hearers. 41. His sermon, as we learn from one of his letters, gave general satisfaction to all who heard it; a sure indication that it was of a different type from his ordinary sermons, which were wont to be received with fiercely opposite emotions rather than with a general consent of approbation.
Possibly on this occasion Latimer also paid a visit to Henry at Windsor: we may assume, however, that he was anxious to be at home again, and that as soon as his uncongenial task was over, he would return to his diocese, where so much still remained to be accomplished. He proposed to hold a general visitation; but this could not be put into execution till he had received the necessary "instructions" and sanction of Cromwell. As soon therefore as his Christmas festivity was ended, he again wrote to Cromwell for "further knowledge of his pleasure."
"According to your commandment, I was occupied at Paul's Cross upon Sunday next after your departure from London " [to consult with Henry at Windsor], "not otherwise, I trust, than according to your discreet monition and charitable advertisement, so moving to unity without any special note of any man's folly, that all my lords there present seemed to be content with me, as it appeared by the loving thanks that they gave. And now, Sir, I look for your letters of instructions and further knowledge of your pleasure as touching our visitations. Moreover I have bestowed the two benefices that Silvester Darius " [an Italian non-resident pluralist] "had, the one to Doctor Bagard, my chancellor, the other to Doctor Bradford, my chaplain; 42. for the King's grace charged me to bestow them well. But now, after that we have begun, we have a scruple how to proceed and end: if according to form hitherto used, it will not be done without great tract of time. The King's grace said no more to me but' Give 'em, give 'em.' You know my chancellor's scrupulosity " [stickling for proceeding according to precedent]; "and I myself, though I am not altogether so scrupulous, yet I would it were done inculpably and duly. If we might know your advice herein, we should be very well ridded and eased. Finally, this bringer, my chaplain, would be a poor suitor to your lordship, in a poor man's cause. I know not well the matter; but if you would give him the hearing, etc. I am the bolder, because I think you are set up of God to hear and to help the little ones of God in their distress. 43.
"Postriclie Stephani Sancti": (Dec. 27, 1536).
Bristol was the most important town in Latimer's diocese, and, as in other large towns, a considerable number of the inhabitants were zealous Reformers. We have already seen the fierce disturbances excited in that town by Latimer's preaching there in 1533; and at the close of 1536 the discord broke out afresh. During the progress of the rebellions in the North, some of the Bristol clergy who were opposed to the Reformation, had permitted their sympathies with the rebels to appear somewhat too plainly. They had neglected to speak against the Pope's usurped authority, as the law directed; and some of them, while the issue of the conflict was still doubtful, had even omitted to pray for the King. They had also embraced the opportunity of abusing their congregations for the readiness with which they had adopted "new-fangled heretic opinions;" and, with equal want of caution and of loyalty, had intimated their anticipation of a coming day of retribution, when the recent legislation of Parliament against the old ceremonies of the Church would be repealed. Such proceedings of course provoked a spirit of violent debate and retaliation; and, to allay the strife, Latimer went to Bristol in the beginning of 1537, and preached in several of the churches; but the disturbances still continued. Blasphemous parodies of the Lord's Prayer were posted on the doors of St. Mary Redcliffe. The priests from their pulpits violently denounced the people; and some of the parishioners responded with the rough logic of the fist, for "black-eyes" were complained of. Latimer came in for the chief share of the maledictions of the enemies of the Reformation. They considered him the great patron and fountain of all the heresy of the diocese. "The Bishop of Worcester," said one, "is a heretic, and it is a pity he has not been burned:" "I trust to bring a fagot," said an insubordinate priest, "and to see the Bishop of Worcester burned, and it is a pity that ever he was born." 44. It was again found necessary to issue a Royal Commission (May 7), to inquire into the cause of the disturbances, and peace was not restored till some of the most refractory were imprisoned. Possibly none of the other towns in Latimer's diocese were so much addicted to violent controversy as Bristol: yet this may be taken as a sample of the fierce agitation that marked the times; and with such a tide of religious strife raging around him, it will readily be imagined that Latimer's life was anything but a scene of placid enjoyment.
Neither Parliament nor Convocation assembled in1537, but Latimer was not allowed to devote the summer to his long-contemplated visitation of his diocese. The Articles of Religion which had been issued some nine months before, had already been found unsatisfactory. They were hurriedly drawn up, as we saw, by Henry himself; and the experience of a few months' use brought many deficiencies to light. They were ambiguous, and an ingenious priest could easily interpret them in a sense widely different from that contemplated by Henry; and thus, instead of promoting union, they tended to increase and perpetuate division. They were much too meagre, moreover, to serve as a manual for the uninstructed: they needed commentary and elucidation, which the parish clergy were in many cases too ignorant to supply. Henry, therefore, summoned a Commission of the leading Divines to meet in London, and prepare a more copious work for the guidance of the nation. Latimer was of course one of these Commissioners ; and the leaders of both parties were fairly represented: there was, however, no one to represent, as Alesius had done in the Convocation, the opinions of the more learned, and more advanced Reformers of the Continent. It was about the end of April when the Commission met in London, and their deliberations were not concluded till August. No record of the progress of their debates has been preserved, 45. nor would it have been of much value if it had come down to us: the subjects discussed have been better treated by other disputants. On the Romish side, Stokesley was again the chief advocate; the Reformers trusting mainly to Hilsey, Fox, and Cranmer. Latimer, in truth, may rather be said to have been present at the deliberations than to have taken any active share in them. With his usual undue disregard of everything that was not plainly and immediately practical (as if erroneous beliefs could be long entertained without in a greater or less extent producing their effect on the lives of those who maintained them), he had never yet sufficiently studied the great doctrinal differences between the Church of Rome and the Reformed theologians; and the discussions seemed to him unnecessarily subtle and perplexing. He did not very well understand the debates: and he was so thoroughly sick of the interminable deliberations that he wished himself " poor parson of poor Kington again," The discussions were certainly long-winded enough: for three months the Divines met and deliberated and debated, sometimes so fiercely that Fox regretted the absence of Cromwell, whose authority might have brought matters to a speedy termination. It was, moreover, a sultry, unhealthy season; the plague was raging with extraordinary violence in London, striking down the servants of the bishops in their residences; and Latimer, longing to commence the visitation of his diocese, fretted at the immoderate delay.
In the very middle of the deliberations, probably in the commencement of June, Latimer was instructed by the King and Council to go to the Tower and converse with some of the leaders in the "Pilgrimage of Grace," then lying under sentence of death. He had preached, it will be remembered, in the preceding November, against the Northern rebels; and this was possibly the reason why he was sent to confer with the leaders, to induce them to acknowledge their guilt and to reveal the secret sources of the conspiracy; at all events, we may be sure, the change of labour was agreeable to him, and he would feel more at home discussing the practical duty of obedience with the rebels, than attempting to follow the subtilties of patristic logic. He has himself left a brief summary of his "travail in the Tower." "There was," says he, "Sir Robert Constable, the Lord Hussey, the Lord Darcy; and the Lord Darcy was telling me of the faithful service that he had done the King's majesty. 'And' [if] 'I had seen my sovereign lord in the field,' said he, 'and I had seen His Grace come against us, I would have lighted from my horse, and taken my sword by the point, and yielded it into His Grace's hands.' 'Marry,' quoth I; ' but in the mean season ye played not the part of a faithful subject, in holding with the people in a commotion and disturbance."' 46.
It is not known how he succeeded with these rebel lords: but in the end of June, Lord Darcy was executed on Tower Hill as a traitor; and the other two suffered at Hull and Lincoln.
The summer passed on and still the debates had not reached their termination. The plague had driven both Henry and Cromwell from London, a circumstance not favourable to any speedy conclusion of the discussions: and in the absence of these higher authorities, the bishops were surrounded by crowds of supplicants anxious for favours. Among others, some members of the University of Cambridge had naturally enough applied to Latimer for advice and assistance; and he, as naturally, had recourse to Cromwell, the Chancellor of the University. To this we owe a renewal of the correspondence with Cromwell, which, after so long a silence, is particularly acceptable to the biographer.
"SIR, - These two Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge" [Nevell and another, who carried the letter], " do come to your lordship in the name of the whole College to the intent to show to your lordship the tenor of their statute as touching the election of a new Master: and I doubt not but with a word or two you may make Master, Day, 47. or any else eligible by their statute, as Mr. Nevell, yet Fellow of the same College, can commune with your lordship further, as shall please you; for they have great need of your lordship's charitable favour in many suits and traverses appertaining unto them not yet perfectly established. I trust also your lordship doth remember poor Clare Hall " [Latimer's old college, now, alas! suffering under a Master opposed to the Reformation], " that the Master " [John Crayford] "neither transgress the statute himself, nor yet bring into his room Mr, Swynbourne, of the same house " [who did come in, however], "a man, as they say, 'of perverse judgment, and too factious for such a cure. Mr. Nevell shall deliver to you a bill of the gravaments " [complaints] " of two or three of the Fellows, most given to good letters.
"I pray God preserve you, and send you hither shortly again, that we might end" [these tiresome debates", "and go home into our diocese, and do some good there. My lord of York hath done right well at Paul's Cross as touching the supremacy, and as touching condemnation of the rebels " [whom he was suspected of favouring]; "as well as he did before, if not better. Dr. Barnes " [our old Cambridge friend], "I hear say, preached in London this day a very good sermon, with great moderation and temperance of himself. I pray God continue with him, for then I know no one man shall do more good.
"I send you here a bullock " [diminutive Papal missive,playfully so nick-named], " which I did find amongst my bulls; that you may see how closely in time past the foreign prelates did practise about their prey. If a man had leisure to try out who was king in those days, and what matters were in hand, perchance a man might guess what manner a thing illud secretum quod nosti " [that private matter you know of] " was; such cloked conveyance they had.
"H. L. W.
"Sub diem Swythineum." 48. (July 15, 1537).
At length, towards the end of July, the deliberations approached completion: the Divines, after sufficient discussion, had "subscribed the declarations;" the book was almost ready for publication; it only remained that it should be submitted to Cromwell and Henry, to receive their approbation and (if necessary) their corrections, that so it might be issued with the sanction of royal authority as the Articles had been. Unexpected difficulties, however, supervened; and, indeed, a mortification was in store for the Divines, which they little anticipated. Without the active assistance of Cromwell no further steps could be taken for the accomplishment of their work; and both Cranmer and Latimer wrote to solicit his aid. Latimer's letter is as follows:-
"This day, Sir, which is Saturday" [July 21, as appears from Cranmer's letter written the same day 49. ], "we had finished, I trow, the rest of our book, if my lord of Hereford" [Fox] "had not been diseased, to whom surely we owe great thanks for his great diligence in all our proceedings. Upon Monday I think it will be done altogether, and then my lord of Canterbury will send it unto your lordship with all speed; to whom also" [i.e., to Cranmer] "if anything be praiseworthy, bona pars laudis optima jure debetur " [a large share of the praise is justly due]. "As for myself I can nothing else but pray God that when it is done it be well and sufficiently done, so that we shall not need to have any more such doings. For verily, for my part. I had lever " [rather] "be poor parson of poor Kington again, than to continue thus Bishop of Worcester; not for anything that I have had to do therein, or can do, but yet forsooth it is a troublous thing to agree upon a doctrine in things of such controversy, with judgments of such diversity, every man, I trust, meaning well, and yet not all meaning one way. But I doubt not but now in the end we shall agree both one with another, and all with the truth, though some will then marvel" [as they well might]. "And yet if there be anything either uncertain or unpure, I have good hope that the King's highness will expurgare quicquid eat veteris fermenti" [purge out the old leaven]; "at least, may give it some
note, that it may appear he perceiveth it, though he do tolerate it for a time, so giving place for a season to the frailty and gross capacity of his subjects."Sir, we be here not without all peril; for beside that two hath died of my keeper s folks out of my gate-house, 50. three be yet there with raw sores: and even now Master Nevell cometh and telleth me that my under-cook is fallen sick, and like to be of the plague. Sed duodecim sunt horae diei et termini vitae sunt ub Eo constituti, qui non potest falli; neque verius est tamen, quod nascimur, quam quod sumus morituri" [there are twelve hours of the day, and the limits of our life have been fixed by Him who cannot be mistaken; and it is not more true that we are born than that we shall die].
"As for D