Who were the Pilgrims?

by William T. Davis

1. That if any one denied that the bread and the wine of the sacramental supper were the real body and blood of Christ, he should be burned alive, without the privilege of abjuring.

2. That the bread is both the body and the blood, and that the wine is both the body and blood, of Christ, so that partaking of either is sufficient.

3. That priests ought not to marry.

4. That vows of chastity are perpetually binding.

5. That private masses ought to be continued.

6. That confession to a priest is necessary to forgiveness.

It was added that whoever should deny either of the last five articles should forfeit—even if he should recant—all his goods and chattels, and be imprisoned as long as the King pleased; and if he continued obstinate, or, after recanting his disbelief, relapsed, he should be put to death.

But though Henry remained a Catholic, as averse as ever to the doctrines of the Reformation, his warfare with the Pope could not fail to let in a little sunlight on the seeds of Protestantism about him, and swell them into vegetation and growth. In order that the minds of the people might be turned against Rome, the Bible, translated into English by Tyndale a few years before, and smuggled as a prohibited book into England from the Continent, was permitted to be printed at home, and thus the popular use and reading of the Scriptures became the corner-stone on which the structure of religious freedom was destined to be built.

Thus the reign of Henry the Eighth ended, in 1547, and that of his son, Edward the Sixth, began. Sir Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, and eldest brother of Queen Jane, the mother of Edward, who had been named as one of the executors, was created Duke of Somerset, and made Lord Protector of the realm. Having been a friend of the Reformation, he had secured John Cheeke, a Greek lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and Richard Cox, as preceptors of the prince, who had instructed their pupil with great care in the Protestant faith. Edward immediately after his accession favored the Reformation, and urged the religious instruction of the people. The Statute of the Six Articles was repealed, and a new liturgy, or Book of Common Prayer, was drawn up. The mass was changed into the communion; confession to the priest was left optional; but the sign of the cross in baptism, in confirmation, and in anointing the sick was retained. The English Bible was placed in every church, marriages by the clergy were permitted, the removal of all images and pictures from the churches was ordered, and the ceremonies of bearing palms on Palm-Sunday, candles on Candlemas-day, ashes on Ash-Wednesday, and some of the rites used on Good-Friday and Easter, were forbidden. Cranmer and Ridley and other prominent leaders in the Reformation were, however, too timid to venture upon a thorough reform, lest they might shock the prejudices of the people, and finally failed in their attempted work. Thus in framing the new liturgy many Popish superstitions were retained, and the Roman manual was to a great extent adopted as its model. But as in every reform the most speedy and thorough eradication of old errors is the surest and safest method, so the timid policy of Somerset and Cranmer not only failed to appease the opponents of reform, represented by Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and Tonstal, Bishop of Durham, but also fell far short of meeting the requirements of the reformers, who were panting for the entire demolition of the Roman establishment.

The result of this policy was Puritanism, and the first Puritan was John Hooper. An Oxford scholar at the time of the passage of the Statute of the Six Articles, Hooper was severe in its denunciation, and in consequence was obliged to leave the university. Afterward, further persisting in his opposition to the ecclesiastical tyranny of Henry, he fled to Germany, where he pursued his studies in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, and became a learned scholar and divine. Returning to London early in the reign of Edward, he was permitted by Somerset to preach, and recommended by him to the King. He was afterward commanded by his Majesty to continue his labors, and on the 5th of February, 1550, received orders from the King and Council to preach before the court once a week during Lent. In 1550 he was appointed Bishop of Gloucester, but declined it on account of the oath, and the habits worn by the bishops. The oath of supremacy was made in the name of God and the saints and the Holy Ghost, which Hooper thought impious, because God alone ought to be appealed to. The King, becoming convinced of this, struck the offensive words out of the oath; but the scruples of the new bishop concerning the habits were not so easily reconciled. The King and Cranmer were inclined to dispense with them, but a majority of the Council said, “The thing is indifferent, and therefore the law ought to be obeyed.” After a contest of nine months, in the course of which Hooper suffered a short imprisonment for his contumacy, a compromise was effected, by which he consented to be robed in his habits at his consecration, and when he preached before the King or in any public place, but at all other times they should be dispensed with.