'Finally, as to purgatory, the people shall be taught that Christians ought to pray for the souls of the dead, and give alms, in order that others may pray for them, so that their souls may be relieved of some part of their pain.'[403]
——'All that we teach is here approved of,' said the great opponent of protestantism.[404]
Such was the religion which the prince, whom some writers call the father of the Reformation, desired to establish in England. If England became protestant, it was certainly in spite of him.
=THE ARTICLES ACCEPTED.=
A long debate ensued in convocation and elsewhere. The decided evangelicals could see nothing in these articles but an abandonment of Scripture, a 'political daubing,' in which the object was only to please certain persons and to attain certain ends. The men of the moderate party said, on the other hand, 'Ought we not to rejoice that the Scriptures and ancient creeds are re-established as rules of faith, without considering the pope?' But above these opposite opinions rose the terrible voice of the king: Sic volo, sic jubeo: Such is my pleasure, such are my orders. If the primate and his friends resisted, they would be set aside and the Reformation lost.
It does not appear that Cranmer had any share in drawing up these articles, but he signed them. It has been said, to excuse him, that neither he, nor many of his colleagues, had at that time a distinct knowledge of such matters, and that they intended to make amendments in the articles; but these allegations are insufficient. Two facts alone explain the concessions of this pious man: the king's despotic will and the archbishop's characteristic weakness. He always bent his head; but, we must also acknowledge, it was in order to raise it again. Archbishop Lee, sixteen bishops, forty abbots or priors, and fifty archdeacons or proctors signed after Cromwell and the primate. The articles passed through Convocation, because—like Anne's condemnation—it was the king's will. Nothing can better explain the concessions of Cranmer, Cromwell, and others in the case of Anne Boleyn, than their support of these articles, which were precisely the opposite of the Scriptural doctrine whose triumph they had at heart. In both cases they had yielded slavishly to those magic words: Le roi le veut, The king wills it. Those four words were sufficient: that man was loyal who sacrificed his own will to the sovereign. It was only by degrees that the free principles of protestantism were to penetrate among the people, and give England liberty along with order. Still that excuse is not sufficient: Cranmer would have left a more glorious name if he had suffered martyrdom under Henry VIII., and not waited for the reign of Mary.
When the king's articles were known, discontent broke out in the opposite parties. 'Be silent, you contentious preachers and you factious schoolmen,' said the politicians: 'you would sooner disturb the peace of the world, than relinquish or retract one particle!'[405] The articles were sent all over England, with orders that everyone should conform to them at his peril.
Cranmer did not look upon the game as lost. To bend before the blast, and then rise up again and guide the Reform to a good end, was his system. He first strove to prevent the evil by suggesting measures calculated to remedy it. Convocation resolved that a petition should be addressed to the king, praying him to permit his lay subjects to read the Bible in English, and to order a new translation of it to be made;[406] moreover, a great number of feast-days were abolished as favoring 'sloth, idleness, thieves, excesses, vagabonds, and riots;'[407] and finally, on the last day of the session (20th of July), Convocation declared—to show clearly that there was no question of returning to popery—that there was nothing more pernicious than a general council;[408] and that, consequently, they must decline to attend that which the pope intended to hold in the city of Mantua. Thereupon parliament and Convocation were dissolved, and the king did without them for three years.
=CROMWELL'S INSTRUCTIONS.=
Henry VIII. was satisfied with his minister. Cromwell was created Lord Privy-Seal, the 2d of July, 1536, baron, and a few days later vicegerent in ecclesiastical matters (in rebus ecclesiasticis). Wishing to tone down what savored too much of the schools in the king's articles, he circulated among all the priests some instructions which were passably evangelical. 'I enjoin you,' he said, 'to make your parishioners understand that they do rather apply themselves to the keeping of God's commandments and fulfilling of his works of charity, and providing for their families, than if they went about to pilgrimages.[409] Advise parents and masters to teach their children and their servants the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten Commandments, in their mother-tongue.' He even undertook to reform the clergy. 'Deans, parsons, vicars, curates, and priests,' he said, 'are forbidden to haunt taverns, to drink or brawl after dinner or supper, to play at cards day or night. If they have any leisure, they should read the Scriptures, or occupy themselves with some honest exercise.'