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English Reformation touched its highest point under Henry VIII. Cranmer and the King were now united hand in hand, and notwithstanding the gloomy displeasure of many of the clergy, a great advance' was made. The opening sermons were indeed followed up by a memorial to the King on the subject of prevailing heresies, containing several thrusts at Latimer's supposed opinions. This sufficiently showed the temper of the Convocation; but it met in Henry, for the moment, a temper equally excited and far more authoritative. He addressed to them in reply a series of articles of religion, imposed with a view to the settlement of differences. These Articles (the King's own composition, it has been supposed*) mark a decided progress of opinion. They still retain the cherished doctrine of the corporeal presence in the Eucharist, to which Henry's mind clung with a faithful tenacity, and in which both Cranmer and Latimer were as yet contented to rest; but the great Protestant doctrine of justification by faith is plainly and comprehensively asserted; purgatory, in any special sense, and as the basis of the gross papal corruption which had so widely

* The evidence seems very slight (except on his ground of believing implicitly in state documents) on which Mr Froude comes to this conclusion (vol. iii. p. 67). Cranmer, I should think, was the more likely author of the "Fourteen Articles," although the King may well have had a share in them, and even "put his own pen to the book" on the subject. But supposing the Articles were the production of the King himself, the inference Mr Froude would found upon this fact as to the moral position of the King at the moment in relation to Ann Boleyn's death (he had been married only three weeks to Jane Seymour), is, to say the least, of a very uncertain character. That a man is to be held less guilty of a great crime because he can busy himself, some few weeks after, with the dictation of a series of theological articles, is certainly neither warranted by the facts of evidence nor the workings of human nature.

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prevailed, denied; while prayer for souls departed is merely commended as a good and charitable deed. "The Articles were debated in convocation, and passed, because it was the King's will. No party was pleased. The Protestants exclaimed against the countenance given to superstition; the Anglo-Catholics lamented the visible taint of heresy, the reduced number of the sacraments, the doubtful language upon purgatory, and the silence, dangerously significant, on the nature of the priesthood." * They were signed, however, by all sides, and remain of great interest to this day, as the "first authoritative statement of doctrine in the Anglican Church."

Besides the Articles thus passed, the power of the Pope to call general councils was expressly denied; directions were issued for the instruction of the people in the Paternoster, the Apostles' Creed, and the Commandments, lately published in England; and as the crowning and most important act of all, the English Bible was authorised in every parish. Every church was "to provide a book of the whole Bible in Latin and English, and lay the same in the quire for every man that will to read and look thereon." †

Onwards from the point that we have now reached -where we see Latimer in a distinct attitude of authority, as it were, heading the Anglican reform movement-it might be supposed that we would be able to trace his career in a clear light. This, however, is not the case. After his appearance in the Convocation of

FROUDE'S History, vol. iii. p. 74.

+ The Bible thus authorised for popular perusal was Coverdale's edition of Tyndale's translation, sanctioned by Cranmer.

1536, he withdraws again from public view, and his activity is mainly traceable in quiet works of reform within his own diocese. It is characteristic of him, in comparison with all the other reformers, that he nowhere takes an active part in the political changes which attended the course of the Reformation. There is some reason to think that, not only now, but afterwards, he was a chief friend and counsellor of Cranmer, as he was a frequent resident at Lambeth ; while his letters to Cromwell show what a lively interest he cherished in all that was going on, and what constant and ready service he continued to render to the Secretary. Still he does not, even during the time that he continued to hold his bishopric, stand out in any sense as a political leader. His influence seems everywhere present, but it does not obtrude itself, save at isolated points, upon public notice. We are the less reluctant, therefore, to be obliged to sum up in a very brief space the main facts of his future life, and to characterise them in very general terms.

First of all, we see him devoting himself with great zeal and diligence to his special duty as Bishop of Worcester. This is mainly the view we get of him in the vague and desultory notices of Foxe. His life is represented as a constant round of "study, readiness, and continual carefulness in teaching, preaching, exhorting, writing, correcting, and reforming, either as his ability would serve, or else the time would bear." This was his true nature; he was eminently practical, wise, and prudent, doing what he could, although "the days then were so dangerous and variable that he could not in all things do that he would." His zeal he re

served for the pulpit. All his episcopal acts were characterised by a cautious wisdom and moderation. Where he could not remove corruptions altogether, he did his best to amend them: he so wrought that they should be used with as little hurt and as much profit as might be. Holy water and holy bread, for example, must still be dispensed. Neither the priestly nor the popular feeling could understand or tolerate their dis

use.

But he prepared a few plain verses, embodying a significant Christian lesson in each case, which he instructed the clergy of his diocese to repeat to the people on delivering the old symbols.*

In such sort of work we see the genuine spirit of the English Reformation-proceeding not from any dogmatic or comprehensive principle of an ideal right or good in the Church, but simply working onwards under a practical Christian impulse. The "sparkling relics" of the old superstition are got rid of for the most part gradually; and where, as in the case of some of the most flagrant ecclesiastical impostures,† we see them fall violently, even the violence is legalised-there is an order preserved in it; and the popular feeling, where it comes into play, is stimulated by a just indignation at the grossness of the delusion practised upon it, rather than by any polemical and anti-idolatrous excitement.

Latimer's cheerful labours in his diocese were no doubt most to his heart. A shadow falls upon him so soon as we begin to contemplate him in any other *FOXE, vol. vii. p. 461.

+ As, for example, the blood of Hailes (with the investigation into the nature of which Latimer was connected, Remains, 407), and the Rood of Boxley. See FROUDE, vol. iii. pp. 286, 287.

capacity. He is in trouble, but ill-satisfied with his work; and, worse than all, he is a sharer-we gather from his own letter on the subject-a reluctant sharer in one, at least, of the most tragic and pathetic of the miserable and contradictory martyrdoms which signalise the period.

In 1537 he was engaged, along with his brethren of the Episcopal bench and other divines, in the publication of the book known as The Institution of a Christian Man-a book designed as a religious manual for the times. It consisted of an exposition of the Creed, the Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer," and was characterised by a mild and temperate spirit of devotion and great beauty of composition. Latimer, however, was but indifferently pleased with its doctrines, which formed a reaction rather than an advance upon the articles of the previous year. The bishops were obviously, from the manner in which he writes on the subject to Cromwell,† greatly divided about it. "It is a troublous thing," he says, "to agree upon a doctrine in things of such controversy with judgment of such diversity, every man (I trust) meaning well, and yet not all meaning one way. . . . If there be anything either uncertain or impure, I have good hope that the King's highness will separare quicquid est veteris fermenti; at least, may give it some note that it may appear he perceiveth, though he do tolerate it for a time-so giving place

From the descriptions given of it, this book seems very much to resemble a corresponding book connected with the Scottish Reformation ---viz. Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism.

+ Remains, p. 380.

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