382

Henry the Eighth.

Cent. 16.

the court, as maid of honour to the queen. This beautiful maid so gained upon the heart of the monarch, that he determined at all events to raise her to a participation of his regal dignity. In order to gratify his wishes, application was made to the pope, in which the scruples of the king respecting the marriage with Catharine were stated, and also his intention of espousing Anna Boleyn. On such a subject it was difficult for the pope to decide: Catharine being so nearly related to the emperor, it was dangerous to fall in with Henry's request; and not to gratify such a man as the English monarch, was also a matter of serious risk. In this strait, Clement thought it most prudent, by various measures, to delay his definitive answer. Cardinal Cam

pegio was appointed by the pope as legate, together with Cardinal Wolsey, to confer with the king on this most momentous affair. The former of these ecclesiastics was a man exactly suited to the work assigned him by his pontifical master, and the matter was kept in hand so long, that Henry, vexed and impatient, demanded of his holiness a prompt and decisive judgment, or he threatened to withdraw his kingdom from the papal pale. That the king might act with the greatest appearance of justice in setting aside his queen, he, at the instigation of Cranmer, consulted all the universities in Europe, the result of which was, that in the judgment of the greater part, Henry's marriage with Catharine was unlawful, and that he was at liberty to espouse another. The pope, foreseeing what was likely to be the consequence of his refusal, demanded certain concessions of Henry, and promised upon these conditions to sanction the measure; but these concessions not arriving so soon as was expected, and the pontiff being hard pushed by Charles, pronounced the marriage with

Chap. 6.

Henry and the Pope.

883

Catharine lawful, and thereby forbad the intended contract with Anna, the object of the king's affections. Henry, exasperated at this step of the pope, immediately availed himself of the decision of the universities, and of the influence he maintained in his own dominions, and cast off at once the papal yoke. This step was highly approved by the greater part of the nation, and especially by the numerous friends of the reformation. To render these strong and heroic measures legal and effective, a parliament and convocation were assembled, A. D. 1531, in each of which it was voted that the king was supreme head of the church of England. Thus was effected a breach in the catholic pale, which neither time nor means have been able to heal, and which has proved as great a blessing to the world in a political, as in a moral and religious point of view. But we are not to conclude that the system established by the protestant Henry was, at once, a system of liberty and toleration-far from it. Henry the Eighth was a despot and a bigot, and those who dared to depart but a hair from his judgment, found him as capable of persecuting as the pope himself. Yet the revolution was of great advantage, and became the ground-work of all that liberty and toleration so well understood and so generally dispensed in this day, and which we hope will descend to posterity with fresh accessions of glory and renown.

The church of England being now an establishment entire, and detached from the church of Rome, Henry, its supreme head, assisted by those ecclesiastics whom he thought fit to consult, proceeded to give shape and rule to the new system. The character of the English monarch, and the motives by which he was induced to throw off the papal yoke, afford but a sorry specimen of

384

Henry's Bigotry.

Cent. 16.

the projected reformation. The principal alteration at first consisted in the removal of the supremacy from the pope to the king, while the far greater part of the Roman superstition still remained untouched; and what rendered the case yet more to be lamented, was the fu rious and persecuting spirit of the king and his ministers against all who dared to advance one step in reformation beyond what the supreme lord had prescribed. Hence the affairs of protestantism stood on the most precarious ground; the grand and important principles contended for by the great men on the other side of the water were not to be suffered by the proud auď unprincipled Henry. The far greater part of the clergy were catholic in heart, but as the chief object of their ministry was this world's good, they would rather keep in with the ruling power, though at war with the court of Rome, than part with their livings. An exception from the general character of the priesthood appears in Cranmer, who had been raised by the favour of Henry to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury. How far this great and good man preserved his conscience inviolate, in the matter of Catharine's divorce, remains undetermined; but certain it is that he was sincere in the cause of reformation. The spirit of this man, when compared with that of Bonner and Gardiner, places him in a most favourable point of light, while the violence and eruelty of those two vile creatures of the papal abomination, afford a striking proof to which party they belonged.

Under this new-modelled hierarchy, it was difficult to say whether it were more dangerous to be catholic or protestant. Those that discovered an attachment to the former were considered as inimical to the king's supremacy, and those who fell in with the latter were liable to the sume imputation, though upon different grounds.

Chap. 6.

English Bible.

385

Though it were difficult to say whether the king in his ecclesiastical system discovered a greater regard to the superstitions of Rome, or to some of the leading doetrines of the reformation, yet it is clear that by the innovations he made upon the papal faith, and by the authority he claimed for himself, he brought forward and established some of the most important fundamental principles, upon which, in after ages, appeared the grand system of the protestant religion. By the order of Henry, the Bible was translated into English, and a copy of this invaluable instructor chained to a desk, in the aisle of many parish churches through the land. He suppressed the monasteries, and thereby cashiered at one grand stroke a great part of the idle, and dissolute clergy. He revised the mass book, and struck out the name of the pope, together with many of the Romish saints. He even weakened the doctrine of purgatory, by declaring it “left uncertain in scripture ;" and as for relics and shrines, the more precious of them he turned to a better use, by converting them to the service of the state, and the more contemptible of them were burned, with an abundance of similar rubbish found in the poor devoted monasteries. But along with these attacks upon holy mother church, we find the conduct of Henry directed against the opponents of popery, who dared to do or say any thing without his order or permission. Hence he could persecute those who were most zealous in propagating the scriptures; to teach children the Lord's prayer in English was a crime; to embrace and to preach the doctrines of Luther was a capital offence; and under the direction of Bonner and Gardiner many for these and like heresies were brought to the stake. The king of England considered himself a profound theologian, and quite capable of choosing a relig

386

Paul the Third.

Cent. 16.

ion for the whole nation, and therefore to dispute his breed was heresy. Cranmer, though high in the king's favour, found it exceedingly difficult to keep clear of awakening the royal suspicions, especially as he was so narrowly watched by such men as Bonner and his bloodthirsty tribe.

Thus continued church affairs in England till the year 1547, when Henry was called to stand before the tribunal of him who is King of kings and Lord of lords. He was succeeded in his throne by his son Edward, the circumstances of whose reign must be considered in a subsequent chapter.

CHAPTER VII.

Conference at Worms, and Diet at Ratisbon-Council of Trent-Death of Luther-Maurice Duke of Saxony -The interim-Pacification of Passau-Religious peace-Death of Charles V.-Institution of the Order of Jesuits-Spanish Armada.

THE death of Clement Seventh, and the accession of Paul Third, inspired the emperor with fresh hopes of seeing a general council assembled, to decide those dreadful disputes by which the empire was grievously divided, and all the affairs of the church in great confusion. Paul, in the first year of his pontificate, proceeded to measures for calling the long-expected council. Mantua, in Italy, was the place appointed, and circular letters from his holiness were accordingly addressed to the clergy and princes; but the protestants of Germany refused to appear in a council assembled in Italy: the situation appeared to them by far too much under