1327.] [ 641 ] 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN, 



The History of the Reformation of the 

 Church of England, by Henry Sonnies, 

 M.A., Hector of Shelley, in Essex. Vol. 3. 

 Reign of Edward VI; 1827. The re- 

 ception Mr. Soames's former volumes met 

 with, has, it seems as was indeed to be 

 expected induced him to pursue the story 

 of the English Reformation to its comple- 

 tion, in the commencement of Elizabeth's 

 reign. The bulky volume before us con- 

 tains the church history of Edward's 

 reign ; and in another volume two at 

 the least-- his design, he says, may be 

 accomplished. Very slight encourage- 

 ment generally proves to be stimulus 

 enough for prosecuting to conclusion a 

 career, the chief difficulties of which at- 

 tend the commencement, and which diffi- 

 culties have been surmounted with tole- 

 rable, though not very flattering credit. 

 No man likes to lose his labour ; but that 

 he is sure to do, if he abandon an unfinish- 

 ed performance such performance, un- 

 less it have strong redeeming qualities, is 

 sure to be thrown aside whereas, by per- 

 severing, he may mend in skill and effi- 

 ciency, and make his last exertions con- 

 tribute to float the first and sinking ones 

 again he may convert defeat into tri- 

 umph. 



Of any remarkable encouragement the 

 publication before us had received 

 though on the whole not ill executed we 

 should little expect to hear. It might have 

 been thought a superfluous undertaking-. 

 Burnett's has not yet lost all its credit ; 

 it is still in every body's hands, nor 

 likely very soon to become obsolete; and 

 the additions, or the corrections, which 

 Mr. Soames's researches furnish, were 

 scarcely sufficient to demand a new his- 

 tory. Burnett's chief fault is prosiness ; 

 and though prosiness be not so much the 

 characteristic of Mr. Soames's work, yet 

 he is occasionally far too circumstantial, 

 while the general tone of sentiment is 

 feeble, and the mass of his Work, before 

 he has done with it, will at least equal that 

 of his predecessor. 



The Reformation, on Henry's death, was 

 greatly in arrear of the advances made 

 in other Protestant countries. His own 

 mind had all along wavered, and he seem- 

 ed disposed by his will to keep the minds 

 of his subjects in the same indecisive 

 state. The sixteen guardians, whom he 

 left for his infant son, were divided in 

 their theological views ; nor was it at all 

 apparent, at first, which party would pre- 

 dominate. The chances seemed rather to 

 favour the Catholics. Wriothesley, the 

 chancellor, and Tunstall, bishop of Dur- 

 ham, were avowedly and actively the sup- 

 porters of Catholic principles. Wriothes- 



M.M. New Series. VOL. III. No. 18. 



ley's ambition, however, overleaped itself, 

 and his very first measures ruined his 

 authority for ever. The Earl of Hertford, 

 the king's maternal uncle, was named 

 protector, and Cranmer's influence in 

 ecclesiastical matters, seconded as they 

 zealously were by the protector's autho- 

 rity, carried all before him. The young- 

 king was educated by Protestants, and 

 his mind thoroughly imbued with a de- 

 testation of popery, and reverence for the 

 reformers. The child's real influence was 

 of course nothing ; but his name was used 

 on all occasions, and was, as usual, a 

 tower of strength. The grave face with 

 which the progress of the Reformation is 

 ascribed to this child's zeal and intelli- 

 gence, byProtestant writers, from his own 

 days even to ours, and by the writer be- 

 fore us, is all but ridiculous. Cranmer is 

 the man to whom the whole is to be attri- 

 buted. Ridley and Hooper, with the 

 foreigners, Martyn and Bucer, were all 

 manifestly working in subservience. They 

 might suggest, advise, adopt, but he was 

 the effective performer. His is the visible 

 hand in the political institution of the Pro- 

 testant Church. 



We have said, English reformers, on 

 Henry's death, were greatly in arrear. 

 This is evident from many circumstances, 

 but especially from the fact that it was 

 not till this year (1547) that Cranmer and 

 Ridley's own sentiments were at all shaken 

 on the question of transubstantiation; and 

 throughout Edward's reign, transubstan- 

 tiatioii was the grand topic of discussion 

 the fortress which the reformers at- 

 tacked, and the Catholics defended. On 

 this point itwas that Gardiner, and Bonner, 

 and Tunstall were deprived, and for which 

 heretics were harassed by interrogatories, 

 or burnt at the stake. So much did 

 Mr. Soames feel this to be the leading fea- 

 ture of the polemics of this reign, that he 

 has thought it indispensible to trace the 

 history of the question from its earliest 

 sources; and the extent to which this 

 tracing has carried him, he alleges as the 

 chief cause of the extreme bulkiness of 

 his volume. His view of this subject is, 

 if not one of the best parts of his book, 

 at least the one about which he has taken 

 most pains ; and he has actually brought 

 together materials that were not before 

 assembled. 



Very early, even in the second century, 

 extraordinary respect was paid to the 

 consecrated elements. It quickly became 

 the practice to carry them to the sick, 

 and this soon came to be done with aug- 

 menting tokens of reverence, and some- 

 thing of parade. By and by, the elements 

 could be consecrated only in churches, 



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