Transcriber's Note:
Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Hyphenation has been rationalised. Inconsistent spelling (including accents and capitals) has been retained.
Running headers, at the top of each right-hand page, have been moved in front of the paragraphs to which they refer and surrounded by =equal signs=.
LONDON
PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.
NEW-STREET SQUARE
HISTORY
OF THE
REFORMATION IN EUROPE
IN THE TIME OF CALVIN.
BY J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNÉ, D.D.
AUTHOR OF THE
'HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY' ETC.
'Les choses de petite durée ont coutume de devenir fanées, quand elles out passé leur temps.
'Au règne de Christ, il n'y a que le nouvel homme qui soit florissant, qui ait de la vigueur, et dont il faille faire cas.'
Calvin.
VOL. V.
ENGLAND, GENEVA, FERRARA.
NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
No. 530 BROADWAY.
1876.
St. Johnland Stereotype Foundry,
Suffolk County, N. Y.
PREFACE.
This is the tenth volume of the History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, and the fifth of the Second Series. The first series described the history of that great epoch from its commencement down to the Confession of Augsburg (1530). The second will include the years intervening between that period and the triumph of the Reformation in various parts of Europe. It is not always easy to fix the latter limit, which varies according to locality.
Nevertheless, a rule laid down by the author in his first volume sensibly limits the work he has undertaken. 'The history of one of the greatest revolutions that has ever been accomplished in human affairs, and not the history of a mere party, is the object of the present undertaking. The history of the Reformation is distinct from that of Protestantism.' One or two volumes coming, God willing, after this one will bring it to a conclusion. The author divided the history into two series for the convenience of the public, but he does not separate them. Together they form a single work.
The course that he will probably pursue in future will better express the unity of the great event which has made the sixteenth century famous. Streams at first flow apart; they afterwards unite with each other in succession and form a single river. There comes a moment when the waters undergo the law of concentration: the same phenomenon is manifested in a history like ours. After following up successively the facts of the Reformation in Germany, German Switzerland, France, England, Western Switzerland and elsewhere, we shall concentrate our narrative a little, and present the progress of the great transformation in a single picture.
New countries and new men will come before us. In our next volume we shall travel through Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, and other parts of Europe, retracing the great features of their religious history. We shall even return to Luther and Melanchthon, whose society is at once so healthy and so pleasant; and also see Calvin at his work in Geneva.
One circumstance, besides that already indicated, warns the author to restrict his labor, and might suddenly interrupt it. Time is growing short for him, and he cannot complete his work without the aid of Him who is the master of our days.
This volume begins with England. A faithful history of the Reformation is now perhaps more necessary to that country than to any other. The general opinion on the Continent, excepting that of the blind partisans of popery, is that the cause of Reform is won, and that there is no need to defend it. Strange to say this is not entirely true with regard to England—a country so dear to the friends of truth and liberty. Nay, even among Anglican ministers, a party has been formed enthusiastic in behalf of rites, sacerdotal vestments, and superstitious Roman doctrines, and violent in their attacks upon the Reformation. The excesses in which some of its members have indulged are unprecedented. One of them has instituted a comparison between the Reformers and the leaders during the Reign of Terror—Danton, Marat, and Robespierre, for instance—and declares the superiority of the latter.[1] 'The Reformation,' says this Anglican priest in another place, 'was not a Pentecost; I regard it as a Deluge, an act of divine vengeance.' In the presence of such opinions and of others which, though less marked, are not less fatal, the history of the Reformation may furnish some wholesome lessons.
The history of England is succeeded in this volume by a narrative of the events which led to the triumph of the Reformation in Geneva. That history ought to interest the Protestants of every country, the little city having afterwards played so considerable a part in the propagation of evangelical truth and in the struggles of Protestantism with Popery.
For the purpose of his narrative, the author has continued to consult the most authentic sources: original documents, letters written by the persons of whom this history speaks or by their contemporaries, and the chronicles, annals, and books published at that epoch. He has made use of such collections of documents as have been printed; frequently he has had recourse to MSS. of the period which have not yet been published.
We live in a literary age when criticism sways the sceptre. Criticism is good and necessary: it purifies history and clears the paths to the palace of truth. But if dogmatic epochs have their excesses, critical epochs have theirs also. It was said a long while ago that 'those who run too hastily after truth shoot beyond it.' The men who desire to renovate history are like those who desire to renovate cities. The latter begin by pulling down a few ugly houses which disfigure the neighborhood and impede the traffic; but at last they lay their hands on solid and useful edifices, buildings whose destruction is regretted by every one. Wise men will, in critical ages, take moderation and equity for their rule. These have often been wanting in recent days. There is a criticism called by the Germans hypercriticism, which not only denies what is false, but even what is true. The Holy Scriptures have been the special object of its attack. It has denied the authenticity of the writings of St. John, St. Paul, Isaiah and other sacred writers, and the truth of many of the facts which they record. If the sacred books have not been spared by this criticism, writings purely human, the facts of history, have not escaped unassailed. There have been numerous instances of this in Germany and elsewhere.
Several facts which belong to the history of the Reformation of France and French Switzerland have been recently called in question both in reviews and pamphlets. The author has felt it his duty to prove the historical reality of his statements, not only in the Preface to the French edition of this volume, but in the February Number of the Revue Chrétienne (1869) published in Paris by M. Meyrueis. He has not thought it necessary to give these details in the English edition, because the statements which called them forth are unknown in England. It will be sufficient to indicate the principal points which have been denied with too much precipitancy, and the correctness of which the author has proved by the soundest demonstration.
The first fact relates to Le Fèvre of Etaples. The author stated in his History that that theologian, the writer of a remarkable translation of the Holy Scriptures into French, had taught the great doctrine of the Reformation—justification by faith through grace—as early as 1512, that is to say, four or five years before Luther. This having been disputed, the author proved it by the existence of Le Fèvre's Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul published in 1512, in which that doctrine is distinctly taught, and which is preserved in the Bibliothèque Impériale at Paris. He added other proofs derived from the writings of Farel and Beza, as also from the learned critic Richard Simon, Bayle, &c.
The second fact concerns William Farel. The author said in his History that this Reformer, the most zealous evangelist of that period, had imbibed the evangelical doctrines at Paris from the lessons of his master, Le Fèvre of Etaples, and that he was converted between 1512 and 1514—before the beginning of the Reformation properly so called. That point having been denied, the author proved it by the positive declarations of Le Fèvre and Farel. The latter says pointedly: 'This took place in the time of Louis the Twelfth.' Now Louis XII. died in 1515.
The third fact relates to Thomas ab Hofen, the friend of Zwingle, and deputy from Berne to Geneva in 1527. The author wrote in his History that this layman was, properly speaking, the first who labored to spread the Gospel in Geneva. As that statement had been impugned, the author proved it by the German and Latin letters of Zwingle and of Ab Hofen himself.
The fourth fact concerns Robert Olivetan, Calvin's cousin, and author of the first translation of the Bible into French. It has been doubted whether he was tutor in the family of a Genevese councillor in 1532, and whether he 'evangelized' at that time in Geneva. The author proved his statement by the positive testimony of the reformer Froment, in his Actes et Gestes de Genève, and by extracts from the official records of the Genevese Council. He has demonstrated that Olivetan preceded in Geneva as a preacher of the Gospel, not only Calvin but Farel and Froment.
Lastly, the fifth fact relates to Calvin. A Genevese writer denied a few years back that Calvin, when returning from Italy, passed through Aosta, where there exists, however, a monument erected to commemorate his flight. The author hopes he has proved that the universal opinion, which makes the Reformer pass through that city, is well founded, and that the contrary opinion has no weight.
This last point is discussed in the Preface to the French edition of this volume: the four others are examined at length in an article entitled Critique d'une Critique, published in the Revue Chrétienne of Paris.
There are individuals who, when they meet with facts in a history that have not been previously discussed in an archæological dissertation, or with circumstances that had hitherto been unknown, immediately imagine that such facts have no foundation. This is a curious aberration. If an historian writes—not according to second-hand authorities, but after original materials—it is quite natural that he should come upon things that have not been noticed before. This has happened to the author of the History of the Reformation. True history, no doubt, possesses coloring and life; but it describes such events only as are founded on the firm basis of truth.
There are writers at this day who carry their archæological predilections further still and would like to substitute chronicles for history, giving us a body without a soul. But authors of distinguished merit have protested against such an error.
A great critic, M. Sainte Beuve, says: 'There is one kind of history founded on documentary evidence, state papers, diplomatic transactions, and the correspondence of ambassadors; and there is another kind with quite a different aspect—moral history, written by the actors and the eye-witnesses.'
An eminent man (Le Comte d'Haussonville) who by his last work, L'Eglise Romaine et le premier Empire, has taken an honorable position among historians, indorses this judgment. 'M. Sainte Beuve is right,' he says; 'the latter kind of history is the best, by which I mean the most instructive, the most profitable, the only one which serves to unseal the eyes, open the understanding, combat deplorable credulity, and avoid disagreeable mystifications. What concerns us, is to know men, "by lifting the curtain which hides them," according to the happy expression of Saint-Simon.'
Another celebrated writer has said: 'Real history appears only when the historian begins to distinguish, across the gulf of time, the living and acting man—the man endued with passions, the creature of habit—with voice and physiognomy, with gestures and dress, distinct and complete, like the one from whom we have just parted in the street. Language, Legislation, Catechisms, are abstract things; the complete thing is the man acting, the visible corporeal man, who walks, fights, toils, hates, and loves.
'Why is not history studied more closely? In it men would find human life, domestic life with its varied and dramatic scenes; the human heart with its fiercest as well as its tenderest passions, and moreover a sovereign charm—the charm of reality.'
Lastly, we read in the studies of M. Daunou, one of the most accredited masters of historical composition, that 'history which is naturally picturesque and dramatic has become in modern times dull and cold, and no longer presents those living images of men and things which ancient genius loved to trace.'
History had freed herself from the restraint which the Middle Ages had imposed on her, to prevent her from speaking naturally and with life, as men speak; and perhaps the lessons of the illustrious academician and peer of France, whom we have just quoted, may have contributed to this change. But for some time observers have been asking whether there is not reason to fear a return of the Middle Ages; whether men are not again attempting to fasten a gag on history. One might at times be led to say that archæologists are of opinion that history might be suppressed as a matter of luxury, a useless ornament, and be replaced by documents, diplomas, and extracts from registers strung together.
Is it just that an historian should have the antiquaries crying out against him from every side, because, while keeping faithfully to documents, he draws something from them that has life or light? Is it just that when a character feels, moves, and speaks, rejoices or grieves, the Areopagus should declare him to be a fictitious being who could never have existed, and a pure product of the imagination? You believe that our ancestors were people like ourselves, with hearts that beat with passion and grief.—By no means; they were icy shades like those wandering on the banks of the Styx. Hitherto men had said: This being feels and moves, therefore he lives; but according to the new school, life is a fable. Nothing is authentic but what is wearisome. A man and a history are not looked upon as real living beings, unless they are colorless, stark, and cold.
Of this we have had many instances. One time we incurred this reproach: Your imagination, we were told, invents features which give animation to the subject, but about which you could know nothing. The following passage was quoted: 'When Fryth the reformer,' wrote the critic, 'was taken as a prisoner on foot to the episcopal court at Croydon, you say that "he had a calm and cheerful look, and the rest of the journey was accomplished in pious and agreeable conversation." How could you know that?' the objector went on. 'Were you of the party to see the appearance of his face?' We immediately took down the eighth volume of Foxe's Acts and Monuments, the appendix to which contains an account of Fryth's journey written by an eye-witness. We opened the book and found these words: 'And so with a cheerful and merry countenance, he went with them, spending the time in pleasant and godly communication.' What we were charged with having invented, was an almost literal transcript of a document more than three hundred years old.
If archæology were to be substituted for history, we do not think the public would be overpleased with the authors of the transformation. The investigations of palæographers are not the edifice, but the materials prepared for its construction. History is above archæology, as the house is above its foundations. The building raised by the architect is the end. In it men find a pleasant dwelling-place, sheltered from the inclemency of the seasons. But it is a good thing to excavate, to dig out fragments of rock from the bosom of the earth; it is advantageous, when you build, to have stones, and good stones too. The historian who sets little store by archæology betrays a superficial mind; the archæologist who sets little store by history betrays a mind whose cultivation is still incomplete. But we need not fear this movement; it has no chance of success. Real history will never perish.
We insert this protest in the present volume, not because of anything that may concern us personally; but as this history has been favorably received, we feel bound to prove that we have always followed the most respectable authorities, and although liable to error, we have conscientiously endeavored to give a truthful narrative—true in its facts and in the spirit by which it is animated.
When will debates and contests cease? Happily there is something in the world which the attacks of men can neither batter down nor even shake, and which is sufficient to give peace to the soul. The holy words which the prophets of God have written will exist for ever, because the Light of Life is in them, and because from age to age many hearts, longing for the highest blessings, have found, and still find, in them everlasting life. They delight us, not only on account of their divine origin, but because they fully satisfy all the wants of our existence. We say to this heavenly and living truth, which the divine words reveal to us: I was naked and thou didst clothe me. I was thirsty, and thou didst give me to drink. I was hungry, and thou gavest me meat. How is it that so many men, perishing with thirst, do not come to these waters? Writers of great power in pagan antiquity, such as Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian, attacked Christianity in the early ages, employing the same idle objections as are still used in our days. They knew not that it contained an imperishable strength. For eighteen hundred years it has withstood all attacks, and since our glorious Reformation it has received a new impulse. The nations who cover the most distant seas with their ships have scattered everywhere the seed of God. Their footsteps have reached to the ends of the world, and the crouching nations rise up at their approach. Perhaps unbelief was never more common in Europe among the lower strata of society; but at the same time believers were never so numerous throughout the world. It is a great multitude which no man can number.
And even were infidelity and atheism to increase more and more, that should not lead us to forsake Thee, thou Saviour of the world! If earthly wisdom gives its votaries a light which scorches and wastes the soul, Thou givest a light which uplifts, vivifies, and delights. In the midst of struggles Thou implantest peace in our hearts. In the depths of sorrows Thou givest a powerful and living consolation. At the approach of that death which is the terror of men, Thou fillest our souls with the firm and lively hope of reaching, by the path of Thy cross, life with Thee in the glorious and invisible world. To whom should we go, O Christ? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Geneva: March, 1869.
[1] The Guardian for 20th May, 1868.
CONTENTS
OF
THE FIFTH VOLUME.
BOOK VIII.
ENGLAND BREAKS WITH ROME.
CHAPTER I.
A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE REFORMATION.
(March and April 1534.)
A Critical Time—The King condemned at Rome—Two Days too late—The English Envoys and the Bishop of Paris—Miscalculations of the English Envoys—Henry's Book against the Pope—The People and the Clergy against the Pope—Reaction of Ultramontanism—An epileptic Girl—The Nun of Kent—Scene in a Chapel—Oracles and Miracles—Political Enterprise—The Nun before the King—Her Partisans increase in Number—Attempts to bring over Sir Thomas More—The Conspiracy—New Allies—The Nun and the Conspirators are arrested—Contrition of Sir Thomas More—Condemnation of the Criminals—Death of the Maid of Kent
Page [1]
CHAPTER II.
HENRY VIII. SEPARATES ENGLAND FROM THE PAPACY.
(Christmas 1533 to June 1534.)
The King's Proceedings against Catherine—The Monks and the Priests renounce the Pope—Preparation of Charles V. against Henry—Henry prepares to resist him—The Two Chiefs of the Anti-Roman Party—The Orator of the Reformation—The King abolishes the Authority of the Pope—The Sheriffs ordered to see the Proclamation carried out—The Church, a Department of the State—Authority in the Church—Form which the Church might have assumed—Various Systems
CHAPTER III.
BEGINNING OF DANGER FOR THE QUEEN AND FOR TYNDALE
(1534 to August 1535.)
Tyndale translates the Old Testament at Antwerp—His Charity and Zeal—Joye pretends to correct his Version—Tyndale's noble Protest—Anne protects the Friends of the Gospel—Her Message in Harman's Favor—Discontent of the King—Plot against Tyndale—Snares laid for him—Stratagem—Attempt at Bribery—Recourse to the Imperial Government—Tyndale's House surrounded—The Traitor—Tyndale's Arrest—His Imprisonment in the Castle of Vilvorde—The Life of the Reformers: Apologies for the Reformation
CHAPTER IV.
THE KING-PONTIFF AGAINST THE ROMAN-CATHOLICS AND THE PAPACY.
(1534 and 1535.)
Opposition of certain Priests—Mental Restrictions—Fanatical Monks and timid Monks—Agitation of Sir Thomas More—More and Fisher refuse to take the Oath—They are taken to the Tower—The Carthusians required to swear—Paul III. desires to bring back England—Henry rejects the Papacy—Severe Laws concerning his Primacy—The King, not the Head of the Church
CHAPTER V.
LIGHT FROM BOTH SIDES.
(1534 and 1535.)
Frankness and Misery of Sir Thomas More—Confusion in England—Character of Cranmer—Cranmer's Work—The Bible shall be translated into English—Cranmer's Joy—Failure of the Translation by the Bishops—Popish and seditious Preachers—The King orders the Carthusians to reject the Pope—The Carthusians resolve to die—Threats of Revolt—Incompatibility of Popery and Liberty—The Carthusians are condemned—Execution of the Three Priors—Henry strikes on all sides
CHAPTER VI.
DEATH OF BISHOP FISHER AND SIR THOMAS MORE.
(May to September 1535.)
Fisher raised to the Cardinalate at Rome; condemned to Death at London—Piety of his Last Moments—His Christian Death—More before the Court of King's Bench—He is sentenced to Death—Taken back to the Tower—Meeting with his Daughter—General Emotion—More's Mortifications—Morning of 6th July—His Last Words—His Death—Sensation produced by these two Executions—Effects on the Continent—Fanatical Bull against Henry VIII.—Henry justifies himself at Rome—His Excuses not valid
CHAPTER VII.
VISITATION OF THE MONASTERIES: THEIR SCANDALS AND SUPPRESSION.
(September 1535 to 1536.)
State of the Monasteries—Gluttonous Living—General Disgust—Cranmer's Advice to the King—Children of Darkness caught in a Net—General Visitation ordered—The Laity reappear—The Commissioners—The Universities—Cranmer on Rome—The Visitation begins—Corruption of Morals in the Monasteries—Immorality in the Abbey of Langdon—Robberies, Debaucheries, Frauds—The Holy Bottle at Hales—The Fraud at Boxley—Coining False Money—Cruelties—The Visitors besieged at Norton—The Nunneries—Apologists and Detractors—Many Monks and Nuns set free—Report of the Commissioners—Deliberations of the Council—Effect of the Report upon Parliament—Three hundred and seventy-six Monasteries abolished—Real Religious Houses—Latimer and Cranmer—Covetousness of the Nobility—Bad use of the Conventual Property—Testimony of the Monks—The Measure accomplished—Terror and Despair—New Institutions—National Prosperity—Social and Political Developments—Transformation of Society
CHAPTER VIII.
UNION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND WITH THE PROTESTANTS OF GERMANY.
(1534 to 1535.)
Henry VIII. makes advances to Melanchthon—The Reformer rejects them—Luther and the Elector incline to Henry—The Errors of Intolerance—A New English Embassy to Germany—The Alliance is signed—Cranmer saves Mary—Conference with Catherine—Catherine's Firmness, Asceticism, and Illness—Preparations of Charles V. against England—Catherine's Will, her Farewell, and Death—Anne Boleyn's Feelings on hearing of her Death—England and Germany seek to unite—Theological Discussion at Wittemberg—Will Luther concede anything?—A Master and Slaves at the Court of England
CHAPTER IX.
ACCUSATION OF ANNE BOLEYN.
(1535 to May 1536.)
Error concerning the Beginning of the Reformation—Anne Boleyn's Virtues and Good Works—Her Relations with Cranmer and Latimer—With Tyndale and Parker—Parker's Christian Character—Anne Boleyn's Character—The Truth about Queen Anne—Her Enemies—Henry attracted by Jane Seymour—Queen Anne's Manners—Her Anguish—Her stillborn Son—Her Sadness and Anxiety—Anne's Zeal for the Reformation—Discontent of the Ultramontanists—Anne's Dangers increase—Her Anxiety for her Daughter—The Four Articles of the Indictment—Character of Henry VIII.—Commission of Inquiry—Brereton and Smeaton arrested—The Tournament at Greenwich—The King makes a Scene—Anne before Norfolk and the Council—Anne Boleyn in the Tower—Her Piety and Innocence—Her Sorrow—Critical Position of Cranmer—His Letter to the King—False Policy of Cranmer—Harsh Surveillance of the Queen—Peace and Agitation in her Heart—Extraordinary Transport
CHAPTER X.
ANNE FORGIVES HER ENEMIES AND IS PUT TO DEATH.
May 1536.)
The Judge acknowledges Anne's Innocence—Her Enemies and her Renunciation of the World—Dignity of her Answer—Anne's Letter to the King—Its Effect upon Henry—Northumberland's Declaration—The Jury—Condemnation of Norris—The Queen and her Brother before the Peers—Anne's Dignity—Effect produced in the City—Sentence of Death—Anne's Farewell Address to the Peers—Lord Rocheford condemned—The four Gentlemen beheaded—Henry annuls his Marriage with Anne—Joy and Hope of the Pope—Anne's Self-reproach—Asks Pardon of Princess Mary—Anne's Communion—Miracles of the Priests—Anne's last Message to Henry—Preparations upon the Tower Green—A noble Pardon—Emotion caused by that Christian Act—Death of Anne—Her Memory—The Royal Hunting Party—Henry marries Jane Seymour—Effect of Anne's Death on the Continent—What Share had Rome in it?
CHAPTER XI.
REFORMING MOVEMENT AFTER ANNE'S DEATH; CATHOLIC
AND SCHOLASTIC REACTION.
(Summer 1536.)
Position of the two Parties—The Pope desires to unite with England—Two men in Henry VIII.—Pole determines to write to the King—Priests are Fathers, Kings are Sons—Henry rules like the Turk—Pole has orders to curse Henry—Sentiments of the King—Mary pays dear for her Reconciliation with the King—Ratification of Parliament—Order to renounce the Pope—Language of the Worldlings and the Christians—Convocation of the Clergy—Latimer's Reforming Sermon—Necessity of the Reformation—The Lay Element reappears—The Clergy denounce sixty-seven mala dogmata—The Prolocutor's Charge before the Bishops—The two Armies front to front—A Scotchman in the Convocation—What Cranmer thought essential—Fox extols the Reformation—The Word of God the Source of Life—Alesius is excluded—Necessity of a Convocation
CHAPTER XII.
A MOVEMENT OF SCHOLASTIC CATHOLICISM INAUGURATED BY
THE KING. EVANGELICAL REACTION.
(Autumn 1536.)
Henry plays the part of a Pope—Dogmas of the new Head of the Church—Articles about Religion—Baptism, Presence, Penance, Images, Prayers to Saints, Ceremonies, Purgatory—Different Opinions—The Articles accepted—Cranmer's Precautions to prevent Mischief—Cromwell Vicegerent—Coverdale's Bible—Evangelical Reaction—Various Testimonies—Persecutions—The foundations of Faith
CHAPTER XIII.
INSURRECTION OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND TO RESTORE THE
PAPACY AND DESTROY THE REFORMATION.
(October 1536.)
Agitation in the Northern Counties—Ferment throughout the Country—Revolt in Lincolnshire—Twenty thousand Insurgents—The King's Threats—The Pilgrimage of Grace—Sermon of Latimer—Aske's Address—The Nobility—The Earl of Northumberland—Henry's Alarm—Panic in London—Brutality of the Rebels—The Lancaster Herald before the Rebel Chiefs—The Insurgent Army marches on London—The Royal Proclamation—Propositions of the Rebels—They disperse—Subsequent Revolts and Repressions
CHAPTER XIV.
DEATH OF THE GREAT REFORMER OF ENGLAND.
(From 1535 to October 1536.)
Tyndale's Characteristic—Imprisonment at Vilvorde—His Labors—Rogers comes to his help—Tyndale's Legacy—The Bible about to appear—A Light that shines before Men— Intercession with the King on behalf of Tyndale—Activity of Poyntz to save him—Poyntz attacked by Philips—Tyndale's Firmness—All things combine against Tyndale—His great Offence—Tyndale's Words—Tyndale degraded—Led to Punishment—He dies praying for the King—Petition for the Circulation of the whole Bible—The King consents—Consequences of the Act—How the Bible was received—Inward Power of Scripture
BOOK IX.
REFORMATION OF GENEVA BY FAREL'S MINISTRY,
AND ARRIVAL OF CALVIN IN THAT CITY
AFTER HIS SOJOURN IN ITALY.
CHAPTER I.
PROGRESS, STRUGGLES, AND MARTYRS OF THE REFORMATION IN GENEVA.
(January to June 1535.)
Is Liberty a Blessing?—The Swiss abandon Geneva—New Election of Magistrates friendly to the Reformation—The Reformed party increases—A Monk offers to preach the Gospel—Opposition at St. Germain—The Council determines to let the Monk preach—Riot in the Church—Easter Communion—A Knight of Rhodes preaches the Gospel—The Brigands of Peney—Gaudet's cruel Punishment—The Martyr's Constancy—The Genevese attack the Castle—Retreat and Courage
CHAPTER II.
POISONING OF THE REFORMERS.
CONVERSION OF THE HEAD OF THE FRANCISCANS.
(Spring 1535.)
Plot to get rid of Farel, Viret, and Froment—Antonia gained by the Priests—Her Experience—Steals the Poison—Prepares the Poisoned Soup—Her Terror and Flight—She is caught and brought back—Sensation in Geneva—Condemnation of the Criminal—Her Visions—Consequence of the Crime—Two Enfranchisements necessary—Conversion of Jacques Bernard, Superior of the Franciscans—He preaches throughout Lent—What the Charters of the Church declare—Jacques Bernard asks for a Public Discussion
CHAPTER III.
PREPARATIONS FOR A PUBLIC DISPUTATION IN GENEVA.
(From April to Whitsuntide, 1535.)
Five Positive and Five Negative Propositions—The Council authorizes Jacques Bernard to support them—Publicity established by the Reformation—Catholicism answers by a Procession—The Nuns alone show Courage—Celebrated Theologians invited—Caroli comes unasked—His Character—His Motives for visiting Geneva—Conversation between Farel and Caroli—Farel censures him—The Magistrate's part in the Discussion—Commissioners belonging to the two Parties
CHAPTER IV.
THE GREAT PUBLIC DEBATE ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EVANGELICAL FAITH.
(June 1535.)
Struggle between the Head of the Franciscans and the Head of the Dominicans—The Ten Propositions sent to Furbity—Caroli acknowledges the Necessity of Grace—Caroli invites Furbity to the Disputation—Caroli stops short about the Mass—He recovers and speaks with Eloquence—Viret, Caroli, and Farel—The Victory remains with the Reformation
CHAPTER V.
TRIUMPH OF THE WORD OF GOD, BOTH WRITTEN AND SPOKEN.
(June to August 1535.)
First Bible of the Reformation—The Printer and the Impression—Olivetan's Appeal to the Church—Conversions after the Disputation—Delays of the Council—Great Misery in Geneva—The Reformed demand the free Preaching of the Gospel—Farel preaches at the Magdalen—Forbidden by the Council—Farel preaches in various Churches—The Cathedral of St. Pierre—The False Worship and the True—Farel's Sermon at St. Pierre's—Two Systems with regard to the State
CHAPTER VI.
IMAGES AND THE MASS ABOLISHED.
(8th to 11th August 1535.)
Chants of the Priests—The Children's Games in the Cathedral—Destruction of Images—What must be thought of it?—The Host—Discovery of the Huguenots—Indignation of the Genevese—Three Bands march against the Idols—The Frauds at St. Gervais—The Miracles of St. Dominic—Farel's Reprimand—The Reformation grows stronger—Grief of the Priests—Firmness of the Reformed—Farel before the Great Council—Suppression of the Mass—The Clergy are not the Church—Sadness and Murmurs—Jesus Christ substituted for Ceremonies—The Tenth of August 1535
CHAPTER VII.
PRIESTS, MONKS, NUNS, AND VICAR-GENERAL DEPART.
(August to December 1535.)
The Monks are dumb—The Priests haughtily refuse to speak—Flight of Papal Adherents—Who shall pay the Cost of the War?—The Abolition of Mass announced to the Pope—Farel preaches to the Nuns—How they receive his Sermon—Conversion of a Nun—Claudine and Blaisine desire to enlighten the Sisters—Departure of the Nuns—Their Journey and Arrival at Annecy—Disorders and Flight of the Vicar-general—Opprobrium of the Priests, Zeal of some of their body—Establishment of a general Hospital—Foundation of Schools—Priests summoned to defend their Faith—Roman-catholicism comes to an End—Doctrine of Christ preached
CHAPTER VIII.
AN ENERGETIC CITIZEN CALLS SWITZERLAND TO HELP
GENEVA AND THE REFORMATION.
(September and October 1535.)
Preparations for attacking Geneva—The coming Tempest—The Emperor's Plans—Terror and Refuge—Berne drawn opposite ways—Noble Answer of the Genevese to the Duke—Discord between Baudichon and Michael Sept—La Maisonneuve appointed Captain-general—The Danger increases—Claude Savoye turns towards the Jura—Wildermuth promises Help—Ehrard and the Heroine of Nidau—The Neuchâtelers answer to the Summons—Opposition of the Governor—An Auxiliary Force of Volunteers—Hesitation of the Neuchâtelers—Struggle and Prayer—The Force diminished by one-half
CHAPTER IX.
WAR AND THE BATTLE OF GINGINS.
(11th and 12th October 1535.)
Wildermuth's projected Route—Forced to change his Course—The Volunteers climb the Jura—Inclement and laborious March—Hunger—The Abbey—The Lake of Les Rousses—They reach St. Cerques—The three Guides—Message to Claude Savoye—Claude departs for Coppet—The Swiss descend the Jura—They approach Nyon—Led into a Snare—The Betrayal—Battle of Gingins—Two heroic Women—Slaughter of Priests—Second Battle and Second Victory—Thanksgivings on the Field—Song of the Bernese Soldiers—Preparations for resisting a Third Attack
CHAPTER X.
DIPLOMACY OR THE CASTLE OF COPPET.
(October 12th 1535.)
War and Diplomacy—Statesmen in the Castle of Coppet—De Lullin, the Bernese, and Savoye—The Conference—The Governor plays with the Ambassadors—De Lullin's Schemes—All start to stop the Advance of the Swiss—What the Governor saw on the Road—The Ambassadors stop the Swiss—The news of the Victory reaches Geneva—Baudichon departs with five hundred Men—Terror of the fugitive Savoyards—Treacherous Negotiations—The Bernese order the Swiss to retire—They hesitate but yield at last—The Bernese made Prisoners—Baudichon's Approach causes alarm at Coppet—Fraud of the Diplomatists—The Three Genevese Delegates arrested and sent to Chillon—Baudichon allows himself to be deceived—The Swiss are tricked—Indignation at Geneva—The Genevese seize three Hostages—Storming of St. Jean
CHAPTER XI.
MOVEMENTS FOR THE ATTACK AND DEFENCE OF GENEVA. FAITH AND HEROISM.
(From the beginning of November 1535 to the end of January 1536.)
Geneva blockaded—Combat and Prayer—Succor comes from France—Scheme of Francis I.—Geneva coins Money—Berne pleads for Geneva at Aosta—Conference in the City of Aosta—The Genevese refuse a Truce—Baudichon's Success at Berne—Defeat of French Auxiliaries in the Jura—Farel's Exhortation to the Council—Francis I. desires to become the Protector of Geneva—Attack of the third of January—Jesse's heroic defence of Notre Dame—What is the true Remedy?—The War of Cologny
CHAPTER XII.
EXTREME PERIL.
(January to February 1536.)
The Duke's new Plans—Giangiacomo de Medici—Has the Command of the Genevese Campaign—Ordered to destroy the City—Berne decides to help Geneva—The Proclamation—Nägueli made Commander-in-Chief—His Orders—Haller blesses the Army—The Troops march out with Songs—Song of the Bernese—Misery in Geneva—Capture of Versoix by the Genevese—Changes in the Policy of Europe—Combinations of Princes—Francis I. determines to attack Savoy—The Bishop of Lausanne opposes the Swiss—The two Armies meet at Morges—Medici's heart fails him—Embarks his Army and escapes—General break-up—Power of Moral Force—The Lords of the Country too frightened to take up Arms—Spare the People, destroy the Castles—Francis and Margaret of Gingins—The Vicar-General De Gingins hidden at Divonne—Nägueli divides his Army into three Corps—Entrance of the Swiss into Geneva—The Bernese War-song—The Genevese give God the glory
CHAPTER XIII.
DESTRUCTION OF THE CASTLES—JOY IN GENEVA—LIBERATION OF BONIVARD.
(From February to the end of March 1536.)
Interview between Berne and Geneva—Burning of the Castles—A Circle of Fire—Destruction of Peney—Spirit of Peace in Geneva—Election of Syndics—Advance of the Army—The Soldiers deliberate—The French in Savoy—Seize the Duke's States—Last Years of his Life—Geneva rises as the Duke declines—Pretensions of the Bernese: Firmness of the Genevans—Conquest of Vaud—Bonivard at Chillon—Geneva and Berne resolve to liberate him—Attack upon the Castle—The Garrison runs away—Liberation of Bonivard—An Altar of the Gospel and of Liberty
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PEOPLE OF GENEVA DESIRE TO LIVE ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL.
(March to June 1536.)
The City and the Country evangelized—The Council in an Episcopal Capacity—The State and the Church—Difficulties—Religion of Neighborhood—A Month granted to the Priests—Furbity set at Liberty—Morals in Geneva—Reason of Opposition to the Ministers—Farel calls for a Public Confession of Faith—Source of Genevese Liberty—Dangers of an Appeal to the Whole Body of Citizens—The Meeting of the Twenty-first of May—The Question put to the People—A Bulwark against the Pope—Memorial Inscription—Return of Genevan Refugees—Toleration—Transformation—Easter—Want of good Preachers—Where is the Chosen Man of God?
CHAPTER XV.
CALVIN AT FERRARA.
(Winter and Spring.)
The Court of Ferrara—Arrival of two Frenchmen—Their joyful Reception by Princess Renée—Men of Letters at Ferrara—Long Conversations between Renée and Calvin—A new Director of Princes—Calvin's last Letters—The Countess of Marennes—Meetings in the Chapel of the Court—Calvin's Hearers—Anne de Beauregard—Her early Death—Marot's Epitaph—Soubise—His Zeal—Bevilacqua and Titian—The Word stifled by the World—François the Chaplain—Conversations with Calvin—Calvin lends him a Copy of the Institutes—Mass—The 'Helen' of the Church—The Chaplain's Agitation—Calvin's Letter to the Duchess about the Chaplain—Calvin justifies Germany—Calvin writes to Duchemin—How to escape the Pollutions of Babylon—Roussel made a Bishop—Calvin's Letter to him—His energetic Appeal—Lesson to be drawn from these Letters—Calvin's Influence in Italy—His Danger
CHAPTER XVI.
FLIGHT OF CALVIN.
(Spring, 1536.)
The Inquisition alarmed—The French ordered to leave Ferrara—Marot's Lines to the Queen of Navarre—Calvin arrested—Hurried away to Bologna—Stopped and rescued on the Road—His Flight—Castelvetro—Traditions of Carigliano and Saluzzo—The City of Aosta—Beginning of the Gospel—Violent Opposition—Zeal of Bishop Gazzini and the Guardian of the Franciscans—Assembly of the States—Was Calvin at Aosta at that time?—Passes through Aosta twice—Calvin's Farm—Calvin's Bridge and Window—The Monument in Aosta—Calvin returns to France—Visit to Noyon—Prepares to return to Basle—His Object and Desire
CHAPTER XVII.
CALVIN'S ARRIVAL AT GENEVA.
(Summer, 1536.)
A Traveller arrives at Geneva—Meeting with Du Tillet—Interview with Farel—Farel invites him to settle at Geneva—Calvin's Objections—His Timidity—Farel's Ardor—The Imprecation—The Thunderbolt—Calvin yields to the Call of God—His Journey to Basle—His Sermons at St. Pierre's—His Place in the Church—A wrong Step—The Spot on the Robe—How it may be excused—The Rule of Conscience—God's Honor more precious than Life—Religious and Political Liberty united—Hidden Errors—Formation of a living and united Church—Order of the Council—The Centre and the Head
HISTORY
OF
THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE
IN THE TIME OF CALVIN.
BOOK VIII.
ENGLAND BREAKS WITH ROME.
CHAPTER I.
A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE REFORMATION.
(March and April, 1534.)
The parliament of 1534 had greatly advanced the cause of the Reformation. The voices of the most enlightened men of England had been heard in it with still greater power than in 1529; and accordingly an historian,[2] Sreferring to the meeting of 1534, speaks of it as 'that great session.' Those enlightened men, however, formed but a small minority, and among them were many who, from a want of independence, never voted on the side of liberty but when the king authorized them. The epoch was a critical one for the nation. It might as easily fall back to the pope, as advance towards the Gospel. Hesitating between the Middle Ages and modern times, it had to choose either life or death. Would it make a vigorous effort and reach those bracing heights, like travellers scaling the rugged sides of the Alps? England appeared too weak for so daring a flight. The mass of the people seemed chained by time-worn prejudices to the errors and practices of Rome. The king no doubt had political views which raised him above his age; but a slave to his passions, and the docile disciple of scholasticism, he detested a real Reformation and real liberty. The clergy were superstitious, selfish, and excitable; and the advisers of the crown knew no other rule than the will of their master. By none of these powers, therefore, could a transformation be accomplished. The safety of England came from that sovereign hand, that mysterious power, which was already stirring the western world. The nation began to feel its energetic impulse. A strange breeze seemed to be filling the sails and driving the bark of the state towards the harbor, notwithstanding the numerous shoals that lay around it.
The thought which at that time mainly engrossed the minds of the most intelligent men of England—men like Cranmer, Cromwell, and their friends—was the necessity of throwing off the papal authority. They believed that it was necessary to root out the foreign and unwholesome weed, which had spread over the soil of Britain, and tear it up so thoroughly that it could never grow again. Parliament had declared that all the powers exercised by the bishop of Rome in England must cease and be transferred to the crown; and that no one, not even the king, should apply to Rome for any dispensation whatsoever. A prelate had preached every Sunday at St. Paul's Cross that the pope was not the head of the Church. On the other hand, the pontiff, who was reckoning on Henry's promised explanations and satisfactory propositions, seeing that the messenger whom he expected from London did not arrive, had solemnly condemned that prince on the 23rd March, 1534.[3] But immediately startled at his own boldness, Clement asked himself with agony how he could repair this wrong and appease the king. He saw it was impossible, and in the bitterness of his heart exclaimed: 'Alas! England is lost to us!'
=THE KING CONDEMNED AT ROME.=
Two days after the famous consistory in which Henry's condemnation had been pronounced, an English courier entered Rome, still in a state of agitation and trouble, and went straight to the papal palace. 'What is his business?' people said; 'and what can give him such boldness? The Englishman was bringing to the ministers of the Vatican the long-expected act by which the King of England declared himself prepared to enter into an arrangement with the pope, provided the cardinals of the imperial faction were excluded.[4] The messenger at the same time announced that Sir Edward Carne and Revett, two envoys from Henry VIII., would soon arrive to conclude the business.[5] Cardinal Farnese, who erelong succeeded Clement under the title of Paul III., and the more moderate prelates of the sacred college, waited upon the pope at once, and begged him to summon the consistory without delay. It was just what Clement desired; but the imperialists, more furious than ever, insisted on the confirmation of the sentence condemning Henry, and spared no means to ensure success. Monks went about repeating certain stories which their English brethren sent them, and which they furthermore exaggerated. They asserted that the English people were about to rise in a body against the king and throw themselves at the feet of the holy father. The pope ratified the sentence, and the consistory, taking one more step, ordered the emperor to carry it out.
It has been said that a delay of two days was the cause of the Reformation of England. That is a mistake. The Reformation came from the Holy Scriptures, from God, from His mighty grace, and not from princes, their passions, or delays. Even had the pontifical court at last conceded to Henry the divorce he asked for, that prince would probably not have renounced the rights he had acquired, and which made him sole and true monarch of England. Had he done so, it is doubtful whether he was strong enough to check the Reformation. The people were in motion. Christian truth had reappeared among them: neither pontifical agitations nor concessions could stop the rapid current that was carrying them to the pure and living waters of the Gospel.
=DISMAY OF THE ENGLISH ENVOYS.=
However, Sir Edward Carne and William Revett, Henry's envoys, arrived in Italy full of hope, and pledged themselves (as they wrote to the king) to reconcile England and the papacy 'in conformity to his Highness's purpose.'[6] Having learnt on reaching Bologna, that the bishop of Paris, who was instructed to support them, was in that city, they hurried to him to learn the exact state of affairs. The bishop was one of those enlightened catholics who believed that the extreme ultramontane party was exposing the papacy to great danger, and who would have prevented schism in the Church, by giving some satisfaction to Germany and England. Hence the envoys from Henry VIII. found the prelate dejected and embarrassed. 'All is over,' he told them. 'The pope has pronounced sentence against his Majesty.' Carne and Revett were thunderstruck; the burden was too heavy for them.[7] 'All our hopes have vanished in a moment,' they said. Du Bellay assured them that he had spared no pains likely to prevent so precipitate and imprudent an act on the part of a pope.[8] 'But the imperialists,' he said, 'moved heaven and earth, and constrained Clement VII. to deliver a sentence in opposition to his own convictions.' The ambassador of Francis I. added that there was still one gleam of hope. 'Raincé, secretary to the French embassy at Rome, with an oath, wished himself at perdition,'[9] said Du Bellay rather coarsely, 'if our holy father does not patch up all that has been damaged.' The Englishmen desired to go to the pope forthwith, in order to prevent the execution of the sentence. 'Do nothing of the kind,' said the French bishop. 'Do not go to Rome on any pretext whatsoever.'[10]
Perhaps Du Bellay wanted first to know what his master thought of the matter. Carne, undecided what to do, despatched a messenger to Henry VIII. to ask for orders; and then, ten days later, wishing to do something, he appealed from the bishop of Rome ill-informed to the bishop of Rome better informed.[11]
=PEOPLE AND CLERGY AGAINST ROME.=
When the King of England received his ambassador's message, he could hardly restrain his anger. At the very moment when he had made a concession, which appeared to him the height of condescension, Rome treated him with contempt and sacrificed him to Charles V. Even the nation was aroused. The pope, it was said, commissions a foreign prince to execute his decrees; soldiers newly raised in Germany, and brimful of insults and threats, are preparing to land in Great Britain![12] National pride arrayed the people on the King's side. Henry no longer hesitated; his offended honor demanded reparation: a complete rupture alone could satisfy it. He wrote a treatise entitled: 'On the power of Christian kings over their Churches, against the tyranny and horrible impiety of the pope.'[13] This book against the pope, and the very different one that he had formerly written against Luther, are the two claims of this prince to theological renown. Consulting merely his own interests, he threw himself now on one side, now on the other. Many writers supported him. 'The pope,' said Dr. Samsons, dean of the Chapel Royal, 'has no more power in England than the Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome. It was only by tacit consent that the pope crept into the kingdom, but we intend to drive him out now by express consent.'[14] The two houses of parliament were almost unanimously of that opinion. The privy council proposed to call upon the lord mayor to see that anti-Romish doctrines were taught in every house in London. Lastly, the people showed their opposition after their fashion, indulging in games and masquerades, in which a cardinal at one time, the pope at another, were represented. To call a man a 'papist' or 'a priest of the pope' was one of the greatest insults.[15] Even the clergy declared against Rome. On the 31st March the lower house of convocation discussed whether the Roman pontiff had in England, according to Scripture, a higher jurisdiction than any other foreign bishop.[16] Thirty-three voted in the negative, only four in the affirmative. The king immediately forwarded the same question to all the ecclesiastical corporations of the kingdom. The friends of the Gospel were filled with joy. The pope had made a great mistake when, imitating the style of ancient Rome, he had hurled the bolts of the Vatican, as Jupiter had in days of old launched the thunders of the Capitol. A great revolution seemed to be working itself out unopposed in this island, so long the slave of the Roman pontiffs. There was just at this time nothing to be feared from without: Charles V. was overwhelmed with business; the King of Scotland was on better terms with his uncle of England, and Francis I. was preparing for a friendly interview with Henry VIII.[17] And yet the danger had never been greater; but the mine was discovered in March 1534, before the match could be applied to it.
A dangerous political and clerical conspiracy had been for some time silently organizing in the convents. It was possible, no doubt, to find here and there in the cloisters monks who were learned, pious, and loyal; but the greater number were ignorant and fanatic, and terribly alarmed at the dangers which threatened their order. Their arrogance, grossness, and loose manners irritated the most enlightened part of the nation; their wealth, endowments, and luxury aroused the envy of the nobility. A religious and social transformation was taking place at this memorable epoch, and the monks foresaw that they would be the first victims of the revolution. Accordingly they were resolved to fight to the uttermost, pro aris et focis, for their altars and homes. But who was to take the first step in the perilous enterprise—who to give the signal?
As in the days of the Maid of Orleans, it was a young woman who grasped the trumpet and sounded the charge. But if the first was a heroine, the other was an ecstatic—nay, a fanatic.
=ELIZABETH BARTON'S MIRACLES.=
There lived in the village of Aldington in Kent a young woman of singular appearance. Although of an age which is usually distinguished by a fresh and clear complexion, her face was sallow and her eyes haggard. All of a sudden she would be seized with a trembling of the whole body; she lost the use of her limbs and of her understanding, uttered strange and incoherent phrases, and fell at last stiff and lifeless to the ground. She was, moreover, exemplary in her conduct. The people declared her state to be miraculous, and Master, the rector of the parish, a cunning and grasping priest, noticing these epileptic attacks, resolved to take advantage of them to acquire money and reputation. He suggested to the poor sufferer that the extraordinary words she uttered proceeded from the inspiration of Heaven, and declared that she would be guilty if she kept secret this wonderful work of God. A monk of Canterbury, named Bocking, joined the priest with the intention of turning the girl's disease to the profit of the Romish party. They represented to Elizabeth Barton—such was the name of the Kentish maiden—that the cause of religion was exposed to great danger in England; that it was intended to turnout the monks and priests; but that God, whose hand defends His Church by the humblest instruments, had raised her up in these inauspicious days to uphold that holy ark, which king, ministers, and parliament desired to throw down. Such language pleased the girl: on the faith of the priests, she regarded her attacks as divine transports; a feeling of pride came over her; she accepted the part assigned her. On a sudden her imagination kindled, she announced that she had held communications with saints and angels, even with Satan himself. Was this sheer imposture or enthusiasm? There was, perhaps, a little of both; but in her eyes, the end justified the means. When speaking, she affected strange turns, unintelligible figures, poetical language, and clothed her visions in rude rhymes, which made the educated smile, but helped to circulate her oracles among the people. Erelong she set herself unscrupulously above the truth, and inspired by a feverish energy, did not fear to excite the people to bloodshed.
There was somewhere out in the fields in one part of the parish, a wretched old chapel that had been long deserted, and where a coarse image of the Virgin still remained. Master determined to make it the scene of a lucrative pilgrimage. He suggested the notion to Elizabeth Barton, and erelong she gave out that the Virgin would cure her of her disorder in that holy consecrated edifice. She was carried thither with a certain pomp, and placed devoutly before the image. Then a crisis came upon her. Her tongue hung out of her mouth, her eyes seemed starting from their sockets, and a hoarse sepulchral voice was heard speaking of the terrors of hell; and then, by a singular transformation, a sweet and insinuating voice described the joys of paradise.[18] At last the ecstasy ended, Elizabeth came to herself, declared that she was perfectly cured, and announced that God had ordered her to become a nun and to take Bocking as her confessor. The prophecy of the Kentish maiden touching her own disease being thus verified, her reputation increased.
Elizabeth Barton's accomplices imagined that the new prophetess required a wider stage than the fields of Aldington, and hoped that, once established in the ecclesiastical metropolis of England, she would see her followers increase throughout the kingdom. Immediately after her cure, the ventriloquist entered the convent of the Holy Sepulchre at Canterbury, to which Bocking belonged. Once in this primatial city, her oracles and her miracles were multiplied. Sometimes in the middle of the night, the door of her cell opened miraculously: it was a call from God, inviting her to the chapel to converse with Him. Sometimes a letter in golden characters was brought to her by an angel from heaven.[19] The monks kept a record of these wonders, these oracles; and selecting some of them, Master laid the miraculous collection, this bible of the fanatics, before Archbishop Warham. The prelate, who appeared to believe in the nun's inspiration, presented the document to the king, who handed it to Sir Thomas More, and ordered the words of the Kentish maiden to be carefully taken down and communicated to him. In this Henry VIII. showed probably more curiosity and distrust than credulity.
Elizabeth and her advisers were deceived, and thought they might enter into a new phase, in which they hoped to reap the reward of their imposture. The Aldington girl passed from a purely religious to a political mission. 'Unhappily,' says an ultramontane writer, 'she quitted heaven for earth, and busied herself with worldly things.'[20] This is what her advisers were aiming at. All, and especially Friar Bocking, who contemplated restoring the authority of the papacy—even were it necessary to their end to take the king's life—began to denounce in her presence Henry's tolerance of heresy and the new marriage he desired to contract. Elizabeth eagerly joined this factious opposition. 'If Henry marries Anne Boleyn,' she told Bishop Fisher, 'in seven months' time there will be no king in England.' The circle of her influence at once grew wider. The Romish party united with her. Abel, Queen Catherine's agent, entered into the conspiracy; twice Elizabeth Barton appeared before the pope's legates; Fisher supported her, and Sir Thomas More, one of the most cultivated men of his day, though at first little impressed in her favor, admitted afterwards the truth of her foolish and guilty revelations.
=THE NUN BEFORE HENRY.=
One thing was yet wanting, and that was very essential in the eyes of the supporters of the movement: Elizabeth must appear before Henry VIII. as Elijah appeared before Ahab: they expected great results from such an interview. At length they obtained permission, and the Kentish maiden prepared herself for it by exercises which over excited her. When brought into the presence of the prince, she was at first silent and motionless, but in a moment her eyes brightened and seemed to flash fire; her mouth was drawn aside and stretched,[21] while from her trembling lips there fell a string of incoherent phrases. 'Satan is tormenting me for the sins of my people,' she exclaimed, 'but our blessed Lady shall deliver me by her mighty hand.... O times! O manners!... Abominable heresies, impious innovations!... King of England, beware that you touch not the power of the holy Father.... Root out the new doctrines.... Burn all over your kingdom the New Testament in the vulgar tongue. Henry, forsake Anne Boleyn and take back your wife Catherine.... If you neglect these things, you shall not be king longer than a month, and in God's eyes you will not be so even for an hour. You shall die the death of a villain, and Mary, the daughter of Catherine, shall wear your crown.'[22]
This noisy scene produced no effect on the king. Henry, though prompt to punish, would not reply to Elizabeth's nonsense, and was content to shrug his shoulders. But the fanatical young woman was not discouraged: if the king could not be converted, the people must be roused. She repeated her threats in the convents, castles, and villages of Kent, the theatre of her frequent excursions. She varied them according to circumstances. The king must fall: but at one time she announced it would be by the hands of his subjects; at another, of the priests; and at a third, by the judgment of God. One point alone was unchanged in her utterances: Henry Tudor must perish. Erelong, like a prophetess lifted above the ordinary ministers of God, she reprimanded even the sovereign pontiff himself. She thought him too timid, and taking him to task,[23] declared that if he did not bring Henry's plans to naught, 'the great stroke of God which then hung over his head' would inevitably fall upon him.[24]
This boldness added to the number of her partisans. Monks, nuns, and priests, knights, gentlemen, and scholars, were carried away by her. Young folks especially and men of no culture eagerly embraced this mad cause. There were also men of distinction who did not fear to become her defenders. Bishop Fisher was gained over: he believed himself certain of the young woman's piety. Being a man of melancholy temperament and mystic tendency, a lover of the marvellous, he thought that the soul of Elizabeth might well have a supernatural intercourse with the Infinite Being. He said in the House of Lords: 'How could I anticipate deceit in a nun, to whose holiness so many priests bore witness?' The Roman catholics triumphed. A prophetess had risen up in England, like Deborah in Israel.
One eminent and large-hearted catholic, Sir Thomas More, had however some doubts; and the monks who were Elizabeth's advisers set every engine at work to win him over. During the Christmas of 1532, Father Risby, a Franciscan of Canterbury, arrived at Chelsea to pass the night there. After supper, he said: 'What a holy woman this nun of Kent is! It is wonderful to see all that God is doing through her.'—'I thank God for it,' coldly answered More.—'By her mediation she saved the cardinal's soul,' added the monk. The conversation went no farther. Some time later a fresh attempt was made: Father Rich, a Franciscan of Richmond, came and told More the story of the letter written in letters of gold and brought by an angel. 'Well, father,' said the chancellor, 'I believe the nun of Kent to be a virtuous woman, and that God is working great things by her;[25] but stories like that you have told me are not part of our Credo, and before repeating them, one should be very sure about them.' However, as the clergy generally countenanced Elizabeth, More could not bear the idea of forming a sect apart, and went to see the prophetess at Sion monastery. She told him a silly story of the devil turned into a bird.[26] More was satisfied to give her a double ducat and commend himself to her prayers. The chancellor, like other noble intellects among the catholics, was prepared to admit certain superstitions; but he would have had the nun keep in her religious sphere; he feared to see her touch upon politics. 'Do not speak of the affairs of princes,' he said to her. 'The relations which the late Duke of Buckingham had with a holy monk were in great part the cause of his death.' More had been Chancellor of England, and perhaps feared the duke's fate.
=A CONSPIRACY FORMED.=
Elizabeth Barton did not profit by this lesson. She again declared that, according to the revelations from God, no one should deprive the Princess Mary of the rights she derived through her birth, and predicted her early accession. Father Goold immediately carried the news to Catherine. The nun and her advisers, who chided the pope only through their zeal for the papacy, had communications with the nuncio; they thought it necessary for him to join the conspiracy. They agreed upon the course to be adopted: at a given time, monks were to mingle with the people and excite a seditious movement.[27] Elizabeth and her accomplices called together such as were to be the instruments of their criminal design. 'God has chosen you,' said the nun to these friars, 'to restore the power of the Roman pontiff in England.' The monks prepared for this meritorious work by devout practices: they wore sackcloth next their skin, they fastened iron chains round their bodies, fasted, watched, and made long prayers. They were seriously intent on disturbing the social order and banishing the Word of God.
The violent Henry VIII.—easy-tempered for once in his life—persisted in his indifference. The seven months named by the prophetess had gone by, and the dagger with which she had threatened him had not touched him. He was in good health, had the approbation of parliament, saw the nation prosper under his government, and possessed the wife he had so passionately desired. Everything appeared to succeed with him, which disconcerted the fanatics. To encourage them Elizabeth said: 'Do not be deceived. Henry is no longer really king, and his subjects are already released from every obligation towards him. But he is like King John, who, though rejected by God, seemed still to be a king in the eyes of the world.'[28]
The conspirators intrigued more than ever: not content with Catherine's alliance, they opened a communication with Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury, niece of Edward IV., and with her children the representatives of the party of the White Rose. Hitherto this lady had refrained from politics; but her son Reginald Pole, having united with the pope and quarrelled with Henry VIII., they prevailed upon her to carry over to the Princess Mary, whose household she directed, the forces of the party of which she was the head.
=THE CONSPIRATORS ARRESTED.=
The conspirators believed themselves sure of victory; but at the very moment when they imagined themselves on the point of restoring the papacy in England, their whole scheme suddenly fell to the ground. The country was in danger: the state must interfere. Cranmer and Cromwell were the first to discover the approaching storm. Canterbury, the primate's archiepiscopal city, was the centre of the criminal practices of the Kentish girl. One day the prioress of the Holy Sepulchre received the following note from Cranmer: 'Come to my palace next Friday; bring your nun with you. Do not fail.'[29] The two women duly came; Elizabeth's head was so turned that she saw in everything that happened the opportunity of a new triumph. This time she was deceived. The prelate questioned her; she obstinately maintained the truth of her revelations, but did not convince the archbishop, who had her taken to Cromwell, by whom she was sent to the Tower with five other nuns of her party. At first Elizabeth proudly stuck to her character of prophetess; but imprisonment, the searching questions of the judges, and the grief she felt on seeing her falsehoods discovered, made her give way at last. The unhappy creature, a blind tool of the priests, was not entirely wanting in proper feeling. She began to understand her offence and to repent of it: she confessed everything. 'I never had a vision in all my life,' she declared;[30] 'whatever I said was of my own imagination; I invented it to please the people about me and to attract the homage of the world.' The disorder, which had weakened her head, had much to do with her aberrations. Master, Bocking, Goold, Deering, and others guiltier than her, appeared before the Star Chamber. Elizabeth's confession rendered their denials impossible, and they acknowledged having attempted to get up an insurrection with a view of re-establishing the papacy. They were condemned to make a public disavowal of their impostures, and the following Sunday at St. Paul's was appointed for that purpose. The bishop of Bangor preached; the nun and her accomplices, who were exposed on a platform in front of him, confessed their crimes before the people, and were then led back to the Tower.[31]
Personages far more illustrious than these were involved. Besides an epileptic girl and a few monks, the names of Fisher and of More were in the indictment. Cromwell urged both the bishop and the statesman to petition the king for pardon, assuring them they would obtain it. 'Good Master Cromwell,' exclaimed Sir Thomas More, who was much excited and ashamed of his credulity, 'my poor heart is pierced at the idea that his Majesty should think me guilty. I confess that I did believe the nun to be inspired; but I put away far from me every thought of treason. For the future, neither monk nor nun shall have power to make me faithless to my God and my king.' Cranmer, Cromwell, and the chancellor prevailed on Henry VIII. to strike More's name out of the bill. The illustrious scholar escaped the capital punishment with which he was threatened. His daughter, Margaret Roper, came in a transport of joy to tell him the news: 'In faith, Meg,' said More with a smile, 'quod differtur non aufertur, what is put off is not put away.'[32]
The case of the bishop of Rochester was more serious: he had been in close communication with all those knaves, and the honest but proud and superstitious churchman would not acknowledge any fault. Cromwell, who desired to save the old man, conjured him to give up all idea of defending himself; but Fisher obstinately wrote to the House of Lords that he had seen no deception in the nun. The name of the king's old tutor was left, therefore, in the bill of attainder.[33]
=THE CRIMINALS CONVICTED.=
The bill was introduced into the House of Lords on the 21st February, and received the royal assent on the 21st March. The prisoners were brought together in the Star Chamber to hear their sentence. Their friends had still some hope; but the Bull which the pope had issued against Henry VIII. on the 23rd of March, endangering the order of succession, made indulgence difficult. The king and his ministers felt it their duty to anticipate, by a severe example, the rebellion which the partisans of the pontiff were fomenting in the kingdom. Sentence of death was pronounced upon all the criminals.
During this time the unfortunate Elizabeth saw all the evils she had caused rise up before her eyes: she was grieved and agitated, she was angry with herself and trembled at the idea of the temporal and eternal penalties she had deserved. Death was about to end this drama of fanaticism. On the 20th April the false prophetess was carried to Tyburn with her accomplices, in the midst of a great crowd of people. On reaching the scaffold, she said: 'I am the cause not only of my own death, which I have richly deserved, but of the death of all those who are going to suffer with me. Alas! I was a poor wretch without learning,[34] but the praises of the priests about me turned my brain, and I thought I might say anything that came into my head. Now I cry to God and implore the king's pardon.' These were her last words. She fell—she and her accomplices—under the stroke of the law.
These were the means to which fervent disciples of Rome had recourse to combat the Reformation in England. Such weapons recoil against those who employ them. The blindest partisans of the Church of the popes continued to look upon this woman as a prophetess, and her name was in great favor during the reign of Mary. But the most enlightened Roman catholics are now careful not to defend the imposture.[35] The fanatical episode was not without its use: it made the people understand what these pretended visions and false miracles were, through which the religious orders had acquired so much influence; and so far contributed to the suppression of the monasteries within whose walls such a miserable deception had been concocted.
[2] Burnet.
[3] Supra, vol. iv, bk. vi. ch. xxi.
[4] Pallavicini, Concil. Trid. lib. i. Herbert, p. 397. Burnet, i. p. 131. Collyer, ii. p. 80.
[5] Carne and Revett to Henry.—State Papers, vii. p. 553.
[6] Carne and Revett to Henry.—State Papers, vii. p. 553.
[7] 'It was to our heaviness.' Carne and Revett to Henry.—State Papers, vii. p. 553.
[8] Du Bellay to the King. Le Grand, Preuves du divorce, p. 634.
[9] 'Se donne au diable.'—Ibid.
[10] State Papers, vii. p. 553.
[11] Carne and Revett to Henry VIII.—State Papers, p. 555.
[12] Vaughan to Cromwell.—Ibid. vii. p. 511.
[13] 'De potestate christianorum regum in suis Ecclesiis, contra pontificis tyrannidem et horribilem impietatem.'—Strype, Records, i. p. 230.
[14] Strype, Records, i. p. 178.
[15] Raumer, Briefe, ii. p. 63.
[16] 'An Romanus pontifex habeat aliquam majorem jurisdictionem.'—Wilkins, Concilia, iii. p. 769.
[17] Henry VIII. to Francis I.—State Papers, vii. p. 562.
[18] 'A voice speaking within her belly.'—Cranmer, Letters and Remains, p. 273.
[19] Cranmer, Letters and Remains, pp. 65, 274.
[20] Audin, in his History of Henry VIII.
[21] 'Draw her mouth away toward the one ear.'—Cranmer, Letters and Remains, p. 65.
[22] Fisher's Letter to the House of Lords.—Collyers, vi. p. 87. Strype, Sanders, Hall, &c.
[23] Bishop Bale, Works, p. 640.
[24] Cranmer, Letters and Remains, p. 273.
[25] More to Cromwell.—Burnet, Records, ii. p. 262.
[26] 'Suddenly changed into such a strange ugly-fashioned bird.'—More to Cromwell. Burnet, Records, ii. p. 260.
[27] 'Much perilous sedition and also treason.'—Cranmer to Archdeacon Hawkins, Letters and Remains, p. 274. A manuscript in the Record Office contains various details.
[28] 'Henricum non amplius esse regem.'—Sanders, p. 74.
[29] Cranmer, Letters and Remains, p. 252.
[30] Ibid. p. 274.
[31] Cranmer, Letters and Remains, p. 274.
[32] More's Life, p. 230.
[33] Letter from Cromwell to Fisher.
[34] Hall, p. 814. Burnet, p. 280 (edit. 1816.)
[35] The Roman catholic historian Lingard acknowledges the deception.
CHAPTER II.
HENRY VIII. SEPARATES ENGLAND FROM THE PAPACY.
(Christmas 1533 to June 1534.)
The maid of Kent having been executed, her partisans rallied round another woman, who represented the Romish system in its highest features, as Elizabeth Barton had represented it in its more vulgar phase. After the nun came the queen.
=QUEEN CATHERINE'S FIRMNESS.=
Catherine had always claimed the honors due to the Queen of England, and her attendants yielded them to her. 'We made oath to her as queen,' they said, 'and the king cannot discharge our consciences.' Whenever Lord Mountjoy, royal commissioner to the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, called her 'princess,' she raised her head haughtily and said to him: 'You shall answer for this before God.'[36] 'Ah!' exclaimed Mountjoy, fretted by the vexations of his office, 'I would a thousand times rather serve the king in the most dangerous cause!' Mary having also received an injunction to drop her title of princess, made answer: 'I shall believe no such order, unless I see his Majesty's signature.' The most notable partisans of Roman catholicism, and even the ambassador of Charles V., paid the queen frequent visits. Henry became uneasy, and shortly before Christmas 1533 he took measures to remove her from her friends. Catherine opposed everything. Suffolk wrote to the king: 'I have never seen such an obstinate woman.' But there was a man quite as obstinate, and that was Henry.
His most cherished desires had not been satisfied: he had no son. Should he chance to die, he would leave two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth; the former supported by the partisans of the old times, the latter by those of the new. Civil war would probably decide to whom the crown should belong. It was necessary to prevent such a misfortune. The Lords and Commons, therefore, petitioned the king, no doubt at his instigation, that his marriage with Lady Catherine should be declared null, and her child illegitimate; that his marriage with Queen Anne should be recognized as valid, and the children issuing from it alone entitled to succeed. All classes of people immediately took the statutory oath; even the monks bowed their heads. They said: 'Bound to render to our king Henry VIII. and to him alone after Jesus Christ,[37] fidelity and worship, we promise inviolable obedience to our said lord as well as to our most serene Queen Anne, his wife, and to their children; and we profess perpetual respect for the holy and chaste marriage which they have legitimately contracted.'[38] This forced testimony, borne to Anne by the monastic orders, is one of the numerous monuments of the despotism of Henry VIII. and of the moral weakness of the monks.
But in this oath of allegiance the king had meditated a more important object—to banish the papacy from England. The monks bound themselves not only to recognize the prescribed order of succession, but further to substitute the primacy of the king for that of the pope. 'We affirm,' they said, 'that King Henry is the head of the Anglican Church, that the Roman bishop, falsely styled pope and sovereign pontiff, has no more authority than any other bishop; and we promise to preach Christ simply and openly according to the rule of Scripture and of the orthodox and catholic doctors.' A sign, a word from the State was sufficient to make the papal army pass from the camp of Rome to the camp of the king.
The 'famous question,'[39] that of the Romish jurisdiction, was also put before the two universities. On the 2nd May Cambridge declared, that 'all its doctors having carefully examined the Holy Scriptures, had not discovered the primacy of the pope in them.' The clergy of the province of York, led by the archbishop Edward Lee, a churchman full of talent, activity, and vanity, stoutly resisted at first; but eventually the prelate wrote to the king on the 2nd June that 'according to the unanimous opinion of his clergy, the pope in conformity with the Holy Scriptures had no more authority in England than any other foreign ecclesiastic.'[40] Henry, not content with the proclamations of his council and the declarations of parliament, required for his separation from Rome the suffrage of the Church; and the Church, probably more from weakness than conviction, gave it. However, without reckoning the members of the clergy who, like the primate, wanted no pope, there were many bishops who, at heart, were not sorry to be liberated from the perpetual encroachments of the Roman court.
=RESISTANCE AGAINST INVASION.=
A rumor from the continent suddenly disquieted the king among all his easy triumphs; a more formidable enemy than those monks and bishops was rising against him. It was reported that the emperor was not only recruiting soldiers in Flanders, but was forwarding considerable numbers from Bohemia, Germany, Italy, and Spain for the invasion of England.[41] Francis I. could not permit this kingdom, so close to his own, to be occupied by the armies of Charles V. his constant enemy; he determined therefore to have an interview with Henry, and to that intent sent over the Seigneur De la Guiche, his chamberlain and counsellor.[42] Henry replied that it would be difficult to leave England just at a time when pope and emperor spoke of invading him; the more so as he must leave his 'most dearly beloved queen' (Anne Boleyn) and his young daughter, the Princess Elizabeth; as well as another daughter and her mother, the aunt of Charles V., whose partisans were conspiring against him. 'Ask my good brother the king,' said Henry to De la Guiche, 'to collect a fleet of ships, galleys, and barks to prevent the emperor's landing. And in case that prince should invade either France or England, let us agree that the one who is not called upon to defend his own kingdom shall march into Charles's territories.' However, Henry consented to go as far as Calais.[43]
There was another invasion which, in Henry's eyes, was much more to be dreaded. That king—a greater king perhaps than is ordinarily supposed—maintained that no prince, whether his name was Charles or Clement, had any business to meddle with his kingdom. The act of the 23rd March, by which the pope had condemned him, had terminated his long endurance: Clement VII. had declared war against him and Henry VIII. accepted it. A man, though he be ordinarily the slave of his passions, has sometimes impulses which belong to great characters. Henry determined to finish with the pope as the pope had finished with him. He will declare himself master in his own island; dauntlessly he will brave Rome and the imperial power ready to assail him. Erelong the fire which consumed him appeared to kindle his subjects. The political party, at the head of which were Suffolk and Gardiner, was ready to give up the papacy, even while maintaining the dogmas of catholicism. The evangelical party desired to go farther, and drive the catholic doctrines out of England. These two hostile sections united their forces against the common enemy.
At the head of the evangelicals, who were eventually to prevail under the son of Henry VIII., were two men of great intelligence, destined to be powerful instruments in the enfranchisement of England. Cranmer, the ecclesiastical leader of the party, gave way too easily to the royal pressure; but being a moderate theologian, a conscientious Christian, a skilful administrator, and indefatigable worker, he carefully studied the Scriptures, the Fathers, and even the Schoolmen; he took note of their sayings, and strengthened by their opinions, continued the work of the Reformation with calmness and perseverance. Beside him stood Cromwell, the lay leader of protestant feeling. Gifted in certain respects with a generous character, he loved to benefit those who had helped him in adversity; but too attentive to his own interests, he profited by the Reformation to increase his riches and honors. Inferior to Cranmer in moral qualities, he had a surer and a wider glance than the primate; he saw clearly the end for which he must strive and the means necessary to be employed, and combined much activity with his talents. These leaders were strongly supported. A certain number of ministers and lay members of the Church desired an evangelical reform in England. Latimer, a popular orator, was the tribune commissioned to scatter through the nation the principles whose triumph Cranmer and Cromwell sought. He preached throughout the whole extent of the province of Canterbury; but if his bold language enlightened the well-disposed, it irritated the priests and monks. His great reputation led to his being invited to preach before the king and queen. Cranmer, fearing his incisive language and sarcastic tone, begged him to say nothing in the pulpit that would indicate any soreness about his late disgrace. 'In your sermon let not any sparkle or suspicion of grudge appear to remain in you.[44] If you attack with the Word of God any sin or superstition, do it without passion.' Latimer preached, and Anne Boleyn was so charmed by his evangelical simplicity, Christian eloquence, and apostolic zeal, that she made him her chaplain. Latimer takes his place by the side of Cranmer among the reformers of the English Church.
=THE PAPAL AUTHORITY ABOLISHED.=
The evangelical and the political parties being thus agreed to support the prince, Henry determined to strike the decisive blow. On the 9th June, 1534, about three months after he had been condemned at Rome, he signed at Westminster the proclamation 'for the abolishing of the usurped power of the pope.'[45] The king declared: 'That having been acknowledged next after God, supreme head of the Church of England, he abolished the authority of the bishop of Rome throughout his realm, and commanded all bishops to preach and have preached, every Sunday and holy day, the sweet and sincere Word of the Lord; to teach that the jurisdiction of the Church belongs to him alone, and to blot out of all canons, liturgies, and other works the name of the bishop of Rome and his pompous titles, so that his name and memory be never more remembered in the kingdom of England, except to his contumely and reproach.[46] By so doing you will advance the honor of God Almighty, manifest the imperial majesty of your sovereign lord, and procure for the people unity, tranquillity, and prosperity.'
=THE CHURCH, A STATE-DEPARTMENT.=
Would these orders be executed? If there remained in any university, convent, parish, or even in any wretched presbytery, a breviary in which the name of the pope was written; if on the altar of any poor country church a missal was found with these four letters unerased—it was a crime. If every weed be not plucked up, thought the king's counsellors, the garden will soon be entirely overrun. The obstinacy of the clergy, their stratagems, their pious frauds were a mystery to nobody. Henry was persuaded, and his counsellors still more so, that the bishops would make no opposition; they resolved therefore to direct the sheriffs to see that the king's orders were strictly carried out. 'We command you,' said that prince, 'under pain of our high indignation, to put aside all human respect, to place God's glory solely before you, and, at the risk of exposing yourselves to the greatest perils, to make and order diligent search to be made.[47] Inform yourselves whether in every part of your county the bishop executes our commands without veil or dissimulation. And in case you should observe that he neglects some portion, or carries out our orders coldly, or presents this measure in a bad light, we command you strictly to inform us and our council with all haste.
'If you hesitate or falter in the commission we give you, rest assured that being a prince who loves justice, we will punish you with such severity that all our subjects will take care for the future not to disobey our commands.'
Everybody could see that Henry was in earnest, and immediately after this energetic proclamation, those who were backward hastened to make their submission. The dean and chapter of St. Paul's made their protest against the pope on the 20th June. On the 27th the University of Oxford, in an act where they described the king as 'that most wise Solomon,' declared unanimously that it was contrary to the Word of God to acknowledge any superiority whatsoever in the bishop of Rome. A great number of churches and monasteries set their seals to similar declarations.[48]
Such was the first pastoral of the prince who claimed now to govern the Church. He seemed desirous of making it a mere department of the State. Henry allowed the bishops to remain, but he employed the functionaries of police and justice to overlook their episcopate; and that office was imposed upon them in such terms that they must necessarily look sharp after the transgressors. First and foremost the king wanted his own way in his family, in the State, and in the Church. The latter was to him as a ship which he had just captured: the captain was driven out, but for fear lest he should return, he threw overboard all who he thought might betray him. With haughty head and naked sword Henry VIII. entered the new realm which he had conquered. He was far from resembling Him whom the prophets had announced: Behold thy king cometh unto thee, meek and lowly.
=FORM THE CHURCH SHOULD TAKE.=
The power in the Church having been taken from the pope, to whom should it have been committed?
Scripture calls the Christian people a holy nation, a royal priesthood;[49] words which show that, after God, the authority belongs to them. And, in fact, the first act of the Church, the election of an apostle in the place of Judas, was performed by the brethren assembled in one place.[50] When it became necessary to appoint deacons, the twelve apostles once more summoned 'the multitude of the disciples.'[51] And later still, the evangelists, the delegates of the flocks, were selected by the voice of the churches.[52]
It is a principle of reason, that authority, where a corporate body is concerned, resides in the totality of its members. This principle of reason is also that of the Word of God.
When the Church became more numerous it was called upon to delegate (at least partially) a power that it could no longer exercise wholly of itself. In the apostolic age the Christians, called to form this delegation, adopted the forms with which they were familiar. After the pattern of the council of elders, which existed in the Jewish synagogues, and of the assembly of decurions, which exercised municipal functions in the cities of the pagans,[53] the Christian Church had in every town a council, composed of men of irreproachable life, vigilant, prudent, apt to teach,[54] but distinct from those who were called doctors, evangelists, or ministers of the Word.[55] Still the Christians never entertained the idea of giving themselves a universal chief, after the image of the emperor. Jesus Christ and his Word were amply sufficient. It was not until many centuries later that this anti-Christian institution appeared in history.
The authority, which in England had been taken away from the pope, should return in accordance with scriptural principles to the members of the Church; and if, following the example of the primitive Christians, they had adopted the forms existing in their own country in the sixteenth century, they would have placed as directors of the Church—Christ remaining their sole king—one or two houses or assemblies, authorized to provide for the ecclesiastical administration, the maintenance of a pure faith, and the spiritual prosperity of that vast body. These assemblies would have been composed, as in the primitive times, of a majority of Christian laymen, with the addition of ministers; and both would have been elected by believers whose faith was in conformity with that of the Church.[56]
But was there at that time in England a sufficient number of enlightened Christians to become members of these assemblies, and even to hold the elections which were to appoint them? It is doubtful. They were not to be found even in Germany. 'I have nobody to put in them,' said Luther; 'but if the thing becomes feasible, I shall not be wanting in my duty.'[57] This form of government not being possible in England then, according to the Reformer's expression, two other forms offered themselves. If the first were adopted, the authority would be remitted to the clergy; but that would have been to perpetuate the doctrines and rites of popery and to lead back infallibly to the domination of Rome. The most dangerous government for the Church is the government of priests: they commonly rob it of liberty, spontaneousness, evangelical faith, and life.
There remained no alternative then but to confide the supreme authority in the Church to the State; and this is what was generally done in the sixteenth century. But men of the greatest experience in these matters have agreed that the government of the religious society by the civil power can only be a temporary expedient, and have universally proclaimed the great principle, 'that the essence of all society is to be governed by itself.'[58] To deny this axiom would be utterly contrary not only to liberty, but, further still, contrary to justice.
We must not forget when we speak of the relations between Church and State, that there are three different systems:—the government of the Church by the State; the union of the Church, governing itself, with the State; and their complete separation. There is no reason for pronouncing here upon the relative value of the two last systems.
[36] 'Which we should answer to afore God.'—State Papers, i. p. 403.
[37] 'Cui uni et soli, post Jesum Christum.'—Rymer, Acta, p. 192.
[38] 'Erga castum sanctumque matrimonium.'—Ibid.
[39] 'In quæstione illa famosa de Romani pontificis potestate.'—Wilkins, Concilia, iii. p. 771.
[40] 'Nemine eorum discrepante.'—Wilkins, Concilia, p. 782.
[41] 'But of Boheme, Italy, and Almayn, as also out of Spain, to invade his realm.'—Certain Articles. State Papers, vii. p. 560.
[42] It has been supposed that this was the Duke of Guise (Froude, History of England); but a devoted papist, such as Guise, would not have been concerned in a negotiation opposed to the orders of the pope. The State Papers (vii. p. 562) and the index affixed to the seventh volume both say Guiche or Guysche.
[43] State Papers, vii. pp. 559-564.
[44] Latimer: Remains, p. 366.
[45] Wilkins, Concilia, iii. p. 772.
[46] 'And his name and memory to be never more remembered except to his contumely and reproach.'—Wilkins, Concilia, p. 773.
[47] 'Make diligent search and wait.'—King's proclamation. Foxe, Acts and Monuments, v. p. 70. Wait properly signifies ambuscade.
[48] 'Sigilla de cera rubea.'—See for the pattern and the signatures, Rymer, Acta, vii. pp. 185-209.
[49] 1 Peter ii. 9.
[50] Acts i. 15.
[51] Acts vi. 2.
[52] 2 Cor. viii. 19.
[53] Digesta, lib. I. tit. ii.; De decurione, No. 2.
[54] 1 Timothy iii.; Titus i.
[55] Ephesians iv. 11; vi. 21; Colossians i. 7; 1 Timothy iv. 6.
[56] The Thirty-nine Articles.
[57] Luther, De missa Germanica.
[58] Grotius, De imperatoris summa potestate circa sacra.
CHAPTER III.
BEGINNING OF DANGER FOR THE QUEEN AND FOR TYNDALE.
(1534 to August 1535.)
Two persons were at this time specially dreaded by the Roman party: one was at the summit of the grandeurs of the world, the other at the summit of the grandeurs of faith—the queen and Tyndale. The hour of trial was approaching for both of them.
There existed another reformation than that of which the sheriffs were to be the agents; there were other reformers than Henry VIII. One man, desirous of reviving the Church of Christ in England, had made the translation of the Holy Scriptures the work of his life. Tyndale had been forced to leave his country; but he had left it only to prepare a seed which, borne on the wings of the wind, was to change the wildernesses of Great Britain into a fruitful garden.
=TYNDALE AT ANTWERP.=
The retired teacher from the vale of the Severn had settled in 1534 as near as possible to England—at Antwerp, whence ships departed frequently for British harbors. The English merchants, of whom there were many in that city, welcomed him with fraternal cordiality. Among them was a friend of the Gospel, Mr. Thomas Poyntz, whose brother filled an office in the king's household. This warm-hearted Christian had received Tyndale into his house, and the latter was unremittingly occupied in translating the Old Testament, when an English ship brought the news of the martyrdom of Fryth, his faithful colleague. Tyndale shed many tears, and could not make up his mind to continue his work alone. But the reflection that Fryth had glorified Jesus Christ in his prison, aroused him: he felt it his duty to glorify God in his exile. The loss of his friend made his Saviour still more precious to him, and in Jesus he found comfort for his mind. 'I have lost my brother,' he said, 'but in Christ, all Christians and even all the angels are father and mother, sister and brother, and God himself takes care of me. O Christ, my Redeemer and my shield! thy blood, thy death, all that Thou art and all that Thou hast done—Thou thyself art mine!'[59]
=TYNDALE'S CHARITY AND ZEAL.=
Tyndale, strengthened by faith, redoubled his zeal in his Master's service. That indefatigable man was not content to study the Scriptures with eagerness: he desired to combine with learning the charity that worketh. The English merchants of Antwerp, having given him a considerable sum of money, he consecrated it to the poor; but he was not content with mere giving. Besides Sunday he reserved two days in the week, which he called his 'days of recreation.' On Monday he visited the most out of the way streets of Antwerp, hunting in garrets for the poor English refugees who had been driven from their country on account of the Gospel; he taught them to bear Christ's burden, and carefully tended their sick. On Saturday, he went out of the city, visiting the villages and solitary houses, and 'seeking out every hole and corner.'[60] Should he happen to meet some hard-working father burdened with children, or some aged or infirm man, he hastened to share his substance with the poor creatures. 'We ought to be for our neighbor,' he said, 'what Christ has been for us.' This is what Tyndale called his 'pastime.'[61] On Sunday morning he went to a merchant's house where a large room had been prepared for evangelical worship, and read and explained the Scriptures with so much sweetness and unction and in such a practical spirit that the congregation (it was said) fancied they were listening to John the Evangelist.[62] During the remainder of the week the laborious doctor gave himself entirely to his translation. He was not one of those who remain idle in the hope that grace may abound. 'If we are justified by faith,' he said, 'it is in order that we may do Christian works.'
There came good news from London to console him for the death of Fryth. In every direction people were asking for the New Testament; several Flemish printers began to reprint it, saying: 'If Tyndale should print 2000 copies, and we as many, they would be few enough for all England.' Four new editions of the sacred book issued from the Antwerp presses in 1534.
There was at that time living in the city a man little fitted to be Tyndale's associate. George Joye, a fellow of Cambridge, was one of those active but superficial persons, with little learning and less judgment, who are never afraid to launch out into works beyond their powers. Joye, who had left England in 1527, noticing the consideration which Tyndale's labors brought to their author, and being also desirous of acquiring glory for himself, began, though he knew neither Hebrew nor Greek, to correct Tyndale's New Testament according to the Vulgate and his own imagination. One day when Tyndale had refused to adopt one of his extravagant corrections, Joye was touched to the quick: 'I am not afraid to cope with him in this matter,' he said, 'for all his high learning in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.'[63] Tyndale knew more than these. 'He is master of seven languages,' said Busche, Reuchlin's disciple: 'Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, French, and so thoroughly, that whichever he is speaking one might believe it to be his mother tongue.'[64]
In the month of August Joye's translation appeared at Antwerp: he had advertised it as 'clearer and more faithful.' Tyndale glanced over the leaves of the work that had been so praised by its author, and was vexed to find himself so unskilfully 'corrected.' He pointed out some of Joye's errors, and made this touching and solemn declaration: 'I protest in the presence of God and Jesus Christ, and before the whole assembly of believers, that I have never written anything through envy, to circulate any error, or to attract followers to me. I have never had any other desire than to lead my brethren to the knowledge of Christ. And if in what I have written or translated there should be anything opposed to God's word, I beg all men to reject it as I reject it myself, before Christ and his assembly.'
It was in November 1534 that Tyndale made this noble protest.
While Joye was waging this petty war against Tyndale, every ship that came from London to Antwerp brought the cheering news that the great war seemed to be dying out in England, and that the king and those around him were drawing towards protestantism. A change had been worked in Anne's mind analogous to that which had been wrought in her position. She had been ambitious and worldly, but from the moment she ascended the throne, her character had expanded; she had become queen, she wished to be the mother of her people, especially of those who trod in the paths of Holy Scripture. In the first transports of his affection, Henry had desired to share all the honors of sovereignty with her, and she had taken this high position more seriously than Henry had intended. When he saw her whom he had placed by his side imagine that she had any power, the selfish and jealous monarch knit his brows: this was the beginning of the storm that drove Anne Boleyn from the throne to the scaffold. She ventured to order Cromwell to indemnify the merchants who had suffered loss for having introduced the New Testament into England. 'If a day passes,' people said, 'without her having an opportunity of doing a service to a friend of the Gospel, she is accustomed to say with Titus, "I have lost a day."' Harman, a merchant of Antwerp and a man of courage, who had helped Tyndale to publish the Gospel in English, had been kept seven months in prison by Wolsey and Hacket.[65] Although set at liberty, he was still deprived of his privileges and compelled to suspend business. He came over to England, but instead of applying either to the lord chancellor or to Cromwell for the restoration of his rights, he went straight to the queen. Anne, who was then at Greenwich palace, was touched by his piety and sufferings, and probably without taking council of the king, she dictated the following message to the prime minister, which we think worth quoting at full.
By the Queen.
Anne the Queen.—Trusty and right well-beloved, we greet you well. And whereas we be credibly informed that the bearer hereof, Richard Harman, merchant and citizen of Antwerp in Brabant, was in the time of the late lord cardinal put and expelled from his freedom and fellowship of and in the English house there, for nothing else, as he affirmeth like a good Christian man,[66] but only for that, that he did, both with his goods and policy to his great hurt and hindrance in this world, help to the setting forth of the New Testament in English. We therefore desire and instantly pray you, that with all speed and favor convenient, you will cause this good and honest merchant, being my Lord's true, faithful, and loving subject, to be restored to his pristine freedom, liberty, and fellowship aforesaid. And the sooner at this our request: and at your good pleasure to hear him in such things as he hath to make further relation unto you in this behalf.
Given under our signet at my Lord's manor of Greenwich, the xiv. day of May.
To our trusty and well-beloved Thomas Cromwell, principal secretary to his Majesty, the king my lord.
This intervention of the queen in favor of a persecuted evangelical was much talked about. Some ascribed her conduct to the interests of her own cause, others to humanity: most of the friends of the Reformation regarded it as a proof that Anne was gained over to their convictions, and Tyndale manifested his gratitude to the queen by presenting her with a handsome copy of his New Testament.
=DISPLEASURE OF THE KING.=
What gave such joy to Tyndale annoyed the king greatly. Such a private order as this coming from the queen singularly displeased a monarch whose will it was that no business should be discussed except in his council. There was also in this order, at least in Henry's eyes, a still greater evil. The evangelical reformation, which Henry had so stoutly combated and which he detested to the last, was making great progress in England. On the 4th of July, 1533, Fryth, the friend of Harman and Tyndale, was burnt at Smithfield, as being one of its followers; and ten months later, on the 14th of May, 1534, Harman, the friend of Tyndale and Fryth, had been declared 'a good Christian' by the queen. Anne dared profess herself the friend of those whom the king hated. Did she design to make a revolution—to oppose the opinions of her lord the king? That letter did not remain without effect: it was reported that the friends of the Word of God, taking advantage of these favorable dispositions, were printing at Antwerp six separate editions of the New Testament, and were introducing them into England.
=SNARES LAID FOR TYNDALE.=
It was not only the king who was irritated, the anger of the Romish party was greater still; but as they dared not strike the queen, they looked about for another victim. Neither Bishop Fisher, Sir Thomas More, nor Henry VIII. appear to have had any part in this new crime. Gardiner, now bishop of Winchester, gave a force to the episcopal body of which it had long been deprived; and several prelates, 'incensed and inflamed in their minds,' says a document,[67] called to remembrance that the best means of drying up the waters of a river is to cut off its springs. It was from Tyndale that all those writings proceeded—those Gospels which, in their opinion, were leading England astray. The moment seemed favorable for getting rid of him: he was actually in the states of Charles V., that great enemy of the Reformation. Gardiner and his allies determined to send into the Low Countries two persons with instructions to keep an eye upon the reformer, to take him unawares, and have him put to death. For this purpose they selected a very clever monk of Stratford Abbey and a zealous young papist, who had the look of a gentleman, and who (they hoped) would soon gain Tyndale's heart by his amiability.
It was about the end of the year 1534, while the reformer was still living at Antwerp in the house of Thomas Poyntz, when one day, dining with another merchant, he observed among the guests a tall young man of good appearance whom he did not know. 'He is a fellow-countryman,' said the master of the house, 'Mr. Harry Philips, a person of very agreeable manners.'[68] Tyndale drew near the stranger and was charmed with his conversation. After dinner, just as they were about to separate, he observed another person near Philips, whose countenance from being less open pleaded little in his favor. It was 'Gabriel, his servant,' he was told. Tyndale invited Philips to come and see him: the young layman accepted the invitation, and the candid reformer was so taken with him, that he could not pass a day without him—inviting him at one time to dinner, at another to supper. At length Philips became so necessary to him that he prevailed upon him, with Poyntz's consent, to come and live in the same house with him. For some time they had lost sight of Gabriel, and on Tyndale's asking what had become of him, he was informed that he had gone to Louvain, the centre of Roman clericalism in Belgium. When Tyndale and Philips were once lodged beneath the same roof, their intimacy increased: Tyndale had no secrets from his fellow-countryman. The latter spent hours in the library of the hellenist, who showed him his books and manuscripts, and conversed with him about his past and future labors, and the means that he possessed for circulating the New Testament throughout England. The translator of the Bible, all candor and simplicity, supposing no evil, thinking nothing but good of his neighbor, unbosomed himself to him like a child.
Philips, less of a gentleman than he appeared, was the son of a tax-gatherer in Devonshire; and the pretended domestic, a disguised monk, was that crafty and vicious churchman, who had been brought from Stratford and given to the so-called gentleman—apparently as a servant, but really as his counsellor and master. Neither Wolsey, More, nor Hacket had succeeded in getting hold of Tyndale; but Gardiner, a man of innate malice and indirect measures, familiar with all holes and corners, all circumstances and persons, knew how to go to work without noise, to watch his prey in silence, and fall upon it at the very moment when he was least expected. Two things were required in order to catch Tyndale: a bait to attract him, and a bird of prey to seize him. Philips was the bait, and the monk Gabriel Dunne the bird of prey. The noble-hearted Poyntz, a man of greater experience than the reformer, had been for some time watching with inquisitive eye the new guest introduced into his house. It was of no use for Philips to try to be agreeable, there was something in him which displeased the worthy merchant.[69] 'Master Tyndale,' he said one day to the reformer, 'when did you make that person's acquaintance?'—'Oh! he's a very worthy fellow,' replied the doctor, 'well-educated and a thorough gentleman.' Poyntz said no more.
Meanwhile the monk had returned from Louvain, where he had gone to consult with some leaders of the ultramontane party. If he and his companion could gain Mr. Poyntz, it would be easy to lay hold of Tyndale. They thought it would be sufficient to show the merchant that they had money, imagining that every man was to be bought. One day Philips said to Poyntz: 'I am a stranger here, and should feel much obliged if you would show me Antwerp.' They went out together. Philips thought the moment had come to let Poyntz know that he was well supplied with gold, and even had some to give to others. 'I want to make several purchases,' he said, 'and you would greatly oblige me by directing me. I want the best goods. I have plenty of money,' he added.[70] He then took a step farther, and sounded his man to try whether he would aid him in his designs. As Poyntz did not seem to understand him, Philips went no farther.
=IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT CONSULTED.=
As stratagem did not succeed, it was necessary to resort to force. Philips by Gabriel's advice set out for Brussels in order to prepare the blow that was to strike Tyndale. The emperor and his ministers had never been so irritated against England and the Reformation. The troops of Charles V. were in motion, and people expected to hear every moment that war had broken out between the emperor and the king.[71] On arriving at Brussels the young Englishman appeared at court and waited on the government: he declared that he was a Roman catholic disgusted with the religious reforms in England and devoted to the cause of Catherine. He explained to the ministers of Charles V. that they had in the Low Countries the man who was poisoning the kingdom; and that if they put Tyndale to death, they would save the papacy in England. The emperor's ministers, delighted to see Englishmen making common cause with them against Henry VIII., conceded to Gardiner's delegate all that he asked. Philips, sparing no expense to attain his end,[72] returned to Antwerp, accompanied by the imperial prosecutor and other officers of the emperor.
It was important to arrest Tyndale without having recourse to the city authorities, and even without their knowledge. Had not the hanseatic judges the strange audacity to declare, in Harman's case, that they could not condemn a man without positive proof? The monk, who probably had not gone to Brussels, undertook to reconnoitre the ground. One day, when Poyntz was sitting at his door,[73] Gabriel went up to him and said: 'Is Master Tyndale at home? My master desires to call upon him.' They entered into conversation. Everything seemed to favor the monk's designs: he learnt that in three or four days Poyntz would be going to Bar-le-Duc, where he would remain about six weeks. It was just what Gabriel wanted, for he dreaded the piercing eye of the English merchant.
=TREACHERY OF PHILIPS.=
Shortly after this, Philips arrived in Antwerp with the prosecutor and his officers. The former went immediately to Poyntz's house, where he found only the wife at home. 'Does Master Tyndale dine at home to-day?' he said. 'I have a great desire to dine with him. Have you anything good to give us?' 'What we can get in the market,' she replied laconically.[74] 'Good, good,' said the perfidious papist as he turned away.
The new Judas hurried to meet the officers, and agreed with them upon the course to be adopted. When the dinner-hour drew near, he said: 'Come along, I will deliver him to you.' The imperial prosecutor and his followers, with Philips and the monk, proceeded towards Poyntz's house, carefully noting everything and taking the necessary measures not to attract observation. The entrance to the house was by a long narrow passage. Philips placed some of the agents a little way down the street; others, near the entrance of the alley. 'I shall come out with Tyndale,' he told the agents; 'and the man I point out with my finger, is the one you will seize.' With these words Philips entered the house; it was about noon.
The creature was exceedingly fond of money; he had received a great deal from the priests in England for the payment of his mission; but he thought it would be only right to plunder his victim, before giving him up to death. Finding Tyndale at home, he said to him, after a few compliments: 'I must tell you my misfortune. This morning I lost my purse between here and Mechlin,[75] and I am penniless. Could you lend me some money?' Tyndale, simple and inexperienced in the tricks of the world,[76] went to fetch the required sum, which was equivalent to thirty pounds sterling. The delighted Philips put the gold carefully in his pocket, and then thought only of betraying his kind-hearted friend. 'Well, Master Tyndale,' he said, 'we are going to dine together.' 'No,' replied the doctor, 'I am going to dine out to-day; come along with me, I will answer for it that you will be welcome.' Philips joyfully consented; promptitude of execution was one element of success in his business. The two friends prepared to start. The alley by which they had to go out was (as we have said) so narrow that two persons could not walk abreast. Tyndale, wishing to do the honors to Philips, desired him to go first. 'I will never consent,' replied the latter, pretending to be very polite.[77] 'I know the respect due to you—it is for you to lead the way.' Then taking the doctor respectfully by the hand, he led him into the passage. Tyndale, who was of middle height, went first, while Philips, who was very tall, came behind him. He had placed two agents at the entrance, who were sitting at each side of the alley. Hearing footsteps they looked up and saw the innocent Tyndale approaching them without suspicion, and over his shoulders the head of Philips. He was a lamb led to slaughter by the man who was about to sell him. The officers of justice, frequently so hardhearted, experienced a feeling of compassion at the sight.[78] But the traitor, raising himself behind the reformer, who was about to enter the street, placed his forefinger over Tyndale's head, according to the signal which had been agreed upon, and gave the men a significant look, as if to say to them, 'This is he!' The men at once laid hands upon Tyndale who, in his holy simplicity, did not at first understand what they intended doing. He soon found it out; for they ordered him to move on, the officers following him, and he was thus taken before the imperial prosecutor. The latter who was at dinner invited Tyndale to sit down with him. Then ordering his servants to watch him carefully, the magistrate set off for Poyntz's house. He seized the papers, books, and all that had belonged to the reformer; and returning home, placed him with the booty in a carriage, and departed. The night came on, and after a drive of about three hours they arrived in front of the strong castle of Vilvorde, built in 1375 by duke Wenceslaus, situated two or three leagues from Brussels on the banks of the Senne, surrounded on all sides by water and flanked by seven towers. The drawbridge was lowered, and Tyndale was delivered into the hands of the governor, who put him into a safe place. The reformer of England was not to leave Vilvorde, as Luther left the Wartburg. This occurred, as it would appear, in August 1535.[79]
=TYNDALE IMPRISONED.=