ties. The effect of these measures upon the public mind is remarkable at first, it was thought suffieient to propound that the council was above the pope; but, "afterwards," says Burnet, “they struck "a note higher; and declared to the people, that "the pope had no authority in England*." For the first time, perhaps, in the annals of history, the powerful artillery of the press was now brought forward in aid of a great public measure. Many works, advocating the royal views, and indisposing the nation against the see of Rome, were printed and extensively circulated. The most remarkable of these were, "The Institution for the necessary Erudition of a Christian Man;" the treatise of Fox, bishop of Hereford, "De Verâ dif"ferentiâ Regiæ Potestatis et Ecclesiæ ;" and the work of Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, "De "Verâ Obedientiâ." The most popular, was a Latin oration of doctor Richard Sampson, printed, in 1553, by Berthelet. Henry himself broke a lance against the pope :-"The king," says Strypet, "wrote a book. It was a large and ample treatise "of the tyranny and usurpation of the bishop of "Rome; and bore this title, "De Potestate Chris"tianorum Regum in suis Ecclesiis contra Pontificis 66 Tyrannidem et horribilem impietatem." In the mean time, the advocates of the supremacy of the pope were not idle: its most distinguished champion was cardinal Pole : he addressed to the king a laboured dissertation, "Pro Unitate Ecclesiasticâ;" * History of the Reformation, book ii. and carefully sent it to him by a private hand. It was afterwards published at Strasbourg, and several copies found their way to England. Some replies to it were published: the harsh terms, in which the cardinal expressed himself, respecting the king, were objected to his work; he defended it against this and other charges by his treatise, intituled, Unitatis Ecclesiasticæ Defensio, published at Strasbourg in 1555, and at Ingolstadt, in 1587: the two works were often printed in one volume. The appendixes to bishop Burnet's History of the Reformation, and Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, contain several letters, written by the cardinal, and several, addressed to him: no documents show so well the general tenor of the arguments, by which, at this time, the papal supremacy was attacked and defended; but, it must be admitted, that, in subsequent times, the subject, if not better understood, has certainly been more ably discussed. The next attempt of the advocates for the royal supremacy was, to procure a formal recognition of it by the convocations of the clergy.-While they lay at the mercy of the crown, in consequence of their supposed guilt, in submitting to cardinal Wolsey's legatine authority, it was pressed upon them, as a measure, likely to soothe his majesty's anger, that they should acknowledge his title of supreme head of the church. A petition was accordingly brought into the upper house of convocation of the province of Canterbury. The king was styled in it "the protector and supreme head of the "church." Some opposition to this expression was made, and the consideration of the petition postponed. It was then proposed to qualify the obnoxious words, by adding to them the expression," so far as is permitted by the law of "Christ." With this qualification, the sentence was adopted, and the petition signed by the convocation of each province. For a time, the king appeared to be satisfied: but, to use the words of Strype," he finally made them buckle to."-In the following year, the parliament passed an act, prohibiting appeals to Rome, and subjecting those who made them, to the penalties of præmunire. The convocations ordered the act to be fixed upon the church door of every parish: and, in March and May 1534, announced, that "a general council "represented the church, and was above the pope, "and all other bishops; and that the bishop of "Rome had no greater jurisdiction, given him by "God in the holy scriptures, within the kingdom of England, than any other foreign bishop." In the convocation of Canterbury, this allegation was opposed by four voices only; one other expressed doubt: in the convocation of York, it passed, without a dissenting voice. Both the universities, all the capitular and all the conventual bodies throughout the realm, followed their example. Compliance with the royal wishes now became the order of the day: the bishops took out new commissions from the crown, and in these, not only their Eccl. Mem. vol. i. p. 133. temporal, but even their spiritual and episcopal authority, was affirmed to be derived from the magistrates, and to be dependent upon their will. But nothing contributed so much to reconcile the nation to the views of the court, as the general language of the leading members of both houses of parliament, when ecclesiastical concerns were the subject of their deliberations. The care, which the ministers of the crown took to bring the subject, under various forms, into the house of commons, shows that, even in those arbitrary times, the weight of this branch of the legislature, the importance of public opinion, and the influence of parliamentary discussion, were on the increase. Hence, in both houses of parliament, severe invectives against the dissolute manners, the ambition and the avarice of the clergy, were not only allowed, but encouraged their encroachments both on the crown and the general body of the nation, were represented in strong colours; while the immense sums, which were said to be drawn out of the kingdom by the pope, were held out to the view and indignation of the public. Several bills also were passed, restraining some of the most invidious of the impositions of the clergy. The manner, in which they were received by the nation, instigated the crown to still bolder measures. The ultimate tendency of these proceedings had not been unobserved. In 1529, when the motion was made in the upper house of the convocation of Canterbury, for suppressing the lesser monasteries,-"Beware my lords," exclaimed bishop Fisher," Beware of yourselves, and your country! "beware of your holy mother, the catholic church! "The people are subject to novelties; and Luther"anism spreads itself among us. Remember Ger many and Bohemia.-Let our neighbours' houses "which are on fire, teach us to beware of our "own! "An axe," continued the learned prelate, "came upon a time, into the wood, making his moan to "the great trees, that he wanted an handle to work "withall; and, for that cause, he was constrained "to sit idle; therefore, he made it his request to "them to grant him one of their small saplings, "within the wood, to make him an handle. "now, becoming a complete axe, he fell so to work "within the same wood, that, in process of time, "there were neither great nor small trees to be "found in the place, where the wood stood. And But so, my lords, if you can grant the king these "smaller monasteries, you do but make him an "handle, whereby, at his own pleasure, he may cut "down all the cedars of the Lebanons *." XIV. 4. The Acts of Parliament declaring Henry the eighth Ar length, the final blow was struck. In the 26th year of his reign, the statute was passed, which declared Henry head of the church of England. After reciting, that "the king's majesty justly * Dr. Bayley's Life of bishop Fisher, p. 108. |