22 



ENGLAND. (ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.) 



Jerusalem, were suppressed, and, to complete 

 the business, the parliament granted to the king 

 the revenues of the two universities, and all the 

 cliauntrie*, free chapels, and hospitals, in the king- 

 dom. 



Henry had now laid waste the temporal heritage 

 of that church of which he had made himself the 

 head. It is estimated, that the religious establish- 

 ments suppressed by him must have amounted to 

 above 273,000 sterling yearly income, and, at a 

 moderate computation, would now fall little short of 

 5,000,000 per annum. The abbey of St Alban, 

 (the British protomartyr,) which was valued at 

 2,500 yearly revenue, possessed estates which, a 

 ivntury afterwards, yielded 32,000 annually. Many 

 schemes were proposed to render the acquisition of 

 such immense property useful to the community and 

 the nation, by founding seminaries for the study of the 

 law, for the acquisition of useful languages, and the 

 education of those intended for diplomatic offices and 

 high situations under government. But Henry had 

 anything at heart but the education of his subjects ; 

 and nothing like a system of general instruction has 

 ever yet been established in England. 



The monasteries were the great asylum, and only 

 support, of the indigent; and these last had been 

 vastly increased by the recent abolition of the feudal 

 system by Henry's father, a system at once formidable 

 to the state, and dangerous to the stability of the 

 throne. Before that time, a very great propor- 

 tion of the population lived in a state of 'vassal 

 dependance upon the great barons, and held their 

 small possessions by military tenure. By the bounty 

 of their chiefs they were supported, at their hospitable 

 lialls they were fed, and about their persons they 

 were retained. The great earl of Warwick, the last 

 of the powerful barons, and commonly denominated 

 the king-maker, had no less than 30,000 of these 

 retainers, who daily fed at his table. But this system 

 of vassalage being dissolved by Henry VII., thou- 

 sands were thrown into absolute indigence ; and but 

 for the support which they received from the monas- 

 teries, abbeys, and hospitals in the kingdom, would 

 liave died of extreme want. On the suppression of 

 the religious houses, the country was over-run with 

 vagrants, who subsisted by begging, or robbing and 

 plundering all they met, whether in woods, or on the 

 highways; and no less than 73,000 persons were 

 capitally convicted and executed in the reign of 

 Henry VIII. To prevent, indeed, if possible, the 

 persons, supported formerly by the monasteries, &c., 

 from being thrown upon the public, large quantities 

 of church lands had been sold, at easy rates, to enable 

 the purchasers to keep up the wonted hospitality ; 

 and, to enforce this duty, a penalty of 6 13s. 4d. 

 per month, was imposed on the violators of this 

 engagement; but the measure failed, and another 

 attempt was made, in 1536, to lay the burden upon 

 the parochial clergy, every parish priest being 

 obliged to devote a Targe portion of his income for 

 repairing the church, and supporting the poor. But 

 this plan also proved abortive; and it was at last 

 judged proper to compel the parish where the poor 

 were born to support them ; which was done in the 

 reign of queen Elizabeth, and continued to be the 

 law of the land until the year 1834, when some 

 material alterations on the Poor Laws were effected 

 by the Whig ministry. Whatever may have been 

 the corruptions that attached themselves to the 

 administration of the old laws, it is to be regretted, 

 tliat, in the changes that have been made, the bar- 

 barous doctrines of Malthus are almost exclusively 

 acted upon, and ,the vested rights of the poor to 

 parochial relief are little recognized. 



The separation of the English church from that of 



Rome, contributed but little to its reformation ; but 

 the progress of knowledge abroad, with the number 

 of books published, some of which found their way 

 into this country, and were translated, revived learn- 

 ing, and raised popular curiosity to look into the 

 state of religion at home . WicklifPs New Testament, 

 reprinted by Tyndal at Antwerp, A. D. 1527, was 

 the first that made its appearance. At the com- 

 plaints of the bishops, however, all the copies were 

 called in by proclamation ; the king promising a 

 more correct translation. But it was impossible to 

 stop popular curiosity once excited ; for, though the 

 bishops bought up, and burnt, all the copies of 

 TyndaPs Testament, that they could find, yet they 

 were reprinted abroad, and sent over to merchants in 

 London, who privately dispersed them among their 

 acquaintance and friends. At last, the convocation 

 decreed to have the Bible translated into English, 

 and printed for common use, and set up in churches. 

 This translation made its appearance in 1538 ; and 

 Cromwell procured a warrant from the king author- 

 izing all his subjects to read it. Upon notice of the 

 diversity of doctrines delivered in the pulpits, the 

 king forbade all preaching, till he himself should set 

 forth certain articles of faith to be believed by all his 

 subjects, which were accordingly framed by himself, 

 and ratified by a number of the clergy. By these, the 

 Scriptures and the ancient creeds were made the 

 standards of faith, without the tradition of the church, 

 and the decrees of the pope. The doctrine of justi- 

 fication by grace is well stated, four of the seven 

 sacraments are passed over, and purgatory left doubt- 

 ful. But trans ubstantiat ion, auricular confession, and 

 the worshipping of saints and images, still remained. 

 For this daring infringement of papal prerogative, 

 Henry was excommunicated by his rival the pope ; 

 which produced no other effect, but to make him 

 again require his subjects to swear allegiance to him 

 as supreme head of the church ; and to execute 

 several refractory priests. 



The sole right of reforming the church was now 

 vested in the crown ; and, in case of the king being 

 a minor, in the council. Edward, Henry's son, suc- 

 ceeded ; and a bright sun dawned upon the Reforma- 

 tion. As Edward was a minor, the government was 

 under the management of a council appointed by the 

 late king ; in which, the reforming party preponder- 

 ated. The severities of the late reign were immedi- 

 ately relaxed, the persecution was stopt, and several 

 refugees, as Coverdale, Hooper, and Rogers, (the 

 proto-martyrs in Mary's reign,) and many others, were 

 recalled home ; and the reformers, freed from their 

 subjection to the late king, preached fully and freely 

 against Popery. 



In 1552, the common prayer book was revised and 

 reduced to its present form ; and a book of articles 

 of faith for the church of England, about forty-two in 

 number, were drawn up by Cranmer and Ridley, and 

 sent to the other bishops for corrections and amend- 

 ments, and being again reviewed by Cranmer, who 

 gave them the finishing touch, they were presented 

 to the council, and received the royal signature. 

 They are the same in substance with the present 

 articles, being reduced to thirty-nine in the beginning 

 of Elizabeth's reign. See the section Church for a 

 summary of their principles. 



The Reformation did not advance farther, being 

 left in an imperfect state by the death of king 

 Edward, who died at the age of sixteen, in 1553, and 

 was succeeded by Mary, the daughter of Henry's first 

 queen ; which put a total stop to the growth of 

 Protestantism for some years. In her short reign 

 of five years, no less than 277 Protestants suffered at 

 the stake, comprising five bishops, among others 

 Cranmer, twenty-one ministers, eight gentlemen, 



