A History of the Reformation (Vol. 2 of 2)

by Thomas M. Lindsay

To complete the list, it is necessary to mention that the two Convocations of Canterbury and of York solemnly declared that “the Roman Pontiff had no greater jurisdiction bestowed on him by God in the Holy Scriptures than any other foreign (externus) Bishop”—a declaration called the Abjuration of the Papal Supremacy by the Clergy.[426]

This separation of the Church of England from Rome really meant that instead of there being a dual control, there was to be a single one only. The Kings of England had always claimed to have some control over the Church of their realm; Henry went further, and insisted that he would share that supervision with no one. But it should be noticed that what he did claim was, to use the terms of canon law, the potestas jurisdictionis, not the potestas ordinis; he never asserted his right to ordain or to control the sacraments. Nor was there at first any change in definition of doctrines. The Church of England remained what it had been in every respect, with the exception that the Bishop of Rome was no longer recognised as the Episcopus Universalis, and that, if appeals were necessary from the highest ecclesiastical courts in England, they were not to be taken as formerly to Rome, but were to be settled in the King’s courts within the land of England. The power of jurisdiction over the affairs of the Church could scarcely be exercised by the King personally. Appeals could be settled by his judges in the law courts, but he required a substitute to exercise his power of visitation. This duty was given to Thomas Cromwell, who was made Vicar-General,[427] and the office to some small extent may be said to resemble that of the Papal Legate; he represented the King as the Legate had represented the Pope.

It was impossible, however, for the Church of England to maintain exactly the place which it had occupied. There was some stirring of Reformation life in the land. Cranmer had been early attracted by the writings of Luther; Thomas Cromwell was not unsympathetic, and, besides, he had the idea that there would be some advantage gained politically by an approach to the German Protestants. There was soon talk about a set of Articles which would express the doctrinal beliefs of the Church of England. It was, however, no easy matter to draft them. While Cranmer, Cromwell, and such new Bishops as Latimer, had decided leanings towards the theology of the Reformation, the older Bishops held strongly by the mediæval doctrines. The result was that, after prolonged consultations, little progress was made, and very varying doctrines seem to have been taught, all of which tended to dispeace. In the end, the King himself, to use his own words, “was constrained to put his own pen to the book, and conceive certain articles which were agreed upon by Convocation as catholic and meet to be set forth by authority.”[428] They were published in 1536 under the title, Articles devised by the Kyng’s Highnes Majestie to stablysh Christen quietnes, and were ordered to be read “plainly” in the churches.[429] They came to be called the Ten Articles, the first doctrinal symbol of the Church of England.

According to the preface, they were meant to secure, by royal authority, unity and concord in religious beliefs, and to repress and utterly extinguish all dissent and discord. Foxe the Martyrologist describes them very accurately as meant for “weaklings newly weaned from their mother’s milk of Rome.” Five deal with doctrines and five with ceremonies. The Bible, the Three Creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian), and the doctrinal decisions of the first four Œcumenical Councils, are to be regarded as the standards of orthodoxy; baptism is necessary for salvation—children dying in infancy “shall undoubtedly be saved thereby, and else not”; the Sacrament of Penance is retained with confession and absolution, which are declared to be expedient and necessary; the substantial, real, corporeal Presence of Christ’s Body and Blood under the form of Bread and Wine in the Eucharist is taught; faith as well as charity is necessary to salvation; images are to remain in the churches; the saints and the Blessed Virgin are to be reverenced as intercessors; the saints are to be invoked; certain rites and ceremonies, such as clerical vestments, sprinkling with holy water, carrying candles on Candlemas Day, and sprinkling ashes on Ash-Wednesday, are good and laudable; the doctrines of Purgatory and of prayers for the dead were not denied, but people were warned about them. It should be noticed that while the three Sacraments of Baptism, the Eucharist, and Penance are retained, no mention is made of the other four, and that this is not unlike what Luther taught in the Babylonian Captivity of the Church of Christ; that while the Real Presence is maintained, nothing is said about Transubstantiation; that while images are retained in churches, all incensing, kneeling, or offering to images is forbidden; that while saints and the Virgin may be invoked as intercessors, it is said that it is a vain superstition to believe that any saint can be more merciful than Christ Himself; and that the whole doctrine of Attrition and Indulgences is paralysed by the statement that amendment of life is a necessary part of Penance.

It is only when these Articles are read along with the Injunctions issued in 1536 and 1538 that it can be fully seen how much they were meant to wean the people, if gradually, from the gross superstition which disgraced the popular mediæval religion. If this be done, they seem an attempt to fulfil the aspirations of Christian Humanists like Dean Colet and Erasmus.

After warning the clergy to observe all the laws made for the abolition of the papal supremacy, all those insisting on the supremacy of the King as the “supreme Head of the Church of England,” and to preach against the Pope’s usurped power within the realm of England, the Injunctions proceed to say that the clergy are to expound the Ten Articles to their people. In doing so they are to explain why superfluous holy days ought not to be observed; they are to exhort their people against such superstitions as images, relics, and priestly miracles. They are to tell them that it is best to keep God’s commandments, to fulfil His works of charity, to provide for their families, and to bestow upon the poor the money they often lavish on pilgrimages, images, and relics. They are to see that parents and teachers instruct children from their earliest years in the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. They are to be careful that the sacraments are duly and reverently administered within their parishes, are to set an example of moral living, and are to give themselves to the study of the Scriptures. The second set of Injunctions (1538) goes further. The clergy are told to provide “one whole Bible of the largest volume in English,” which is to be set somewhere in the church where the parishioners can most easily read it; and they are to beware of discouraging any man from perusing it, “for it is the lively word of God that every Christian man is bound to embrace and follow.” They are to preach a sermon at least every quarter, in which they are to declare the very gospel of Christ, and to exhort the people to the works of charity, mercy, and faith especially prescribed in the Scriptures. They are to warn them against trusting to fancies entirely outside of Scripture, such as “wandering to pilgrimages, offering of money or candles to images or relics, kissing or licking the same, and saying over a number of beads or suchlike superstitions.” They are not to permit candles, tapers, or images of wax to be placed before the images in the churches, in order to avoid “that most detestable offence of idolatry.”[430]

The Ten Articles thus authoritatively expounded are anything but “essentially Romish with the Pope left out in the cold.” They are rather an attempt to construct a brief creed which a pliant Lutheran and a pliant Romanist might agree upon—a singularly successful attempt, and one which does great credit to the theological attainments of the English King.

It was thought good to have a brief manual of religious instruction to place in the hands of the lower clergy and of the people, perhaps because the Ten Articles were not always well received. A committee of divines, chiefly Bishops,[431] were appointed to “compile certain rudiments of Christianity and a Catechism.”[432] The result was a small book, divided into four parts—an exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, of the seven Sacraments, of the Ten Commandments, of the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ave Maria. Two other parts were added from the Ten Articles—one on Justification, for which faith is said to be necessary; and the other on Purgatory, which is stoutly denied. Great difficulties were experienced in the compilation, owing to the “great diversity of opinions”[433] which prevailed among the compilers; and the book was a compromise between those who were stout for the old faith and those who were keen for the new; but in the end all seemed satisfied with their work. The chief difference between its teaching and that of the Ten Articles is that the name sacrament is given to seven and not three of the chief ceremonies of the mediæval Church; but, on the other hand, the doctrine of Purgatory is denied. It was expected that the King would revise the book before its publication,[434] but he “had no time convenient to overlook the great pains” bestowed upon it.[435] Drafts of an imprimatur by the King have been found among the State Papers,[436] but the book was finally issued in 1537 by the “Archbishops and Bishops of England,” and was therefore popularly called the Bishops’ Book. All the clergy were ordered “to read aloud from the pulpit every Sunday a portion of this book” to their people.[437] The Catechism appears to have been published at the same time, and to have been in large request.[438]