IIEFORMATION. 



their decrees ; and the Piotellaut princes in the diet of Ra- 

 tifbon proteftod againlt their authority ; and were, in confe- 

 quenco of this, prol'cribed by the emperor, who railed an 

 army to reduce them to obedience. Thus commenced the 

 war of Smalcald, which was proiecutcd with various fuccefs 

 on both lides, till, in the year 1552, Charles was furprifcd 

 at Infpruck. by Main-ice of Saxony, and was conllrained to 

 conclude at PafTau the famous treaty of pacification, (which 

 fee,) with the Protelbnts, which is confidered by thofe of 

 Germany as the bafisof their rehgious liberty ; and to pro- 

 mife in fix months to afTemble a diet, in which all the tumults 

 and diffenfions, that had been occafioned by a variety of fen- 

 timents in rehgious matters, (hould be entirely removed. 

 This diet, though not adembled at the ilipulated time, met, 

 however, at Auglhurg, in the year 1555, and terminated 

 thofe deplorable Icenes of blooddied, defolation, and difcord, 

 that had fo long afflitled both church and Itate by that relt- 

 rioiis peace, as it is commonly called, which fecured to the 

 Proteftants the free excrcife of their rehgion, and eita- 

 blifhed this incftimable hberty upon the firmed foundations. 

 For, after various debates, the following memorable afts 

 were palled ; that the Proteftants who followed the con- ■ 

 feffion of Augfburg, (hould for the future be confidered as 

 entirely exempted from the jurifdiiSlion of the Roman pon- 

 tiff, and from the authority and fuperintendance of the 

 bifhops ; that they were left at perfeft hberty to enaft laws 

 for themfelves, relating to their rehgious fentiments, dil- 

 ciphnc, and worlhii) ; that all the inhabitants of the German 

 empire fnould be allowed to judge for themfelves in religious 

 matters, and to join themfelves to that church whofe doc- 

 trine and worlhip they thought the pureft and moft confonant 

 to the fpirit of Chrilhanity ; and that all thofe, who fhould 

 injure or perfecute any perfon under religious pretexts, and 

 on account of their opinions, (hould be declared, and pro- 

 ceeded againft, as public enemies of the empire, invaders of 

 its liberty, and difturbers of its peace. 



In the year 1533, Henry VIII. king of England, who, 

 in the beginning of thefe troubles, had oppofed the doftrine 

 and views of Luther with the utmoft vehemence, partly be- 

 caufe he had fpoken with contempt of Thomas Aquinas, 

 the king's favourite author, having fued for a divorce from 

 Catharine of Arragon, his brother's widow, at the court of 

 Rome, for almoft fix years, during which period Clement VII. 

 negociated, proniifed, retrafted, and concluded nothing, de- 

 termined to apply to another tribunal for that decree which 

 he had unfuccefsfully fohcited at Rome. Cranmer, arch- 

 bi(hop of Canterbury, by a fentence founded on the autho- 

 rity of univerfities, doftors, and rabbles, who had been 

 confulted with refpeft to the point, annulled the king's 

 marriage with Catharine ; and Anne Boleyn, whofe charms 

 had captivated the king, was acknowledged as queen of Eng- 

 land, Clement, apprehenfive left England would revolt from 

 the holy fee, determined to give Henry fuch fatisfaftion as 

 might ftill retain him within the bofom of the church. But 

 the violence of the cardinals precipitated him, in 1534, to 

 iffue a bull refcindijig Cranmer's fentence, confirming Henry's 

 marriage with Catharine, and declaring him excommunicated, 

 if, within a time fpecified, he did not abandon the wife he 

 had taken, and return to her whom he had deferted. En- 

 raged at this unexpeiRed decree, Henry kept no longer any 

 meafures with the court of Rome ; his fubjefis feconded his 

 refentment ; an aft of parliament was paffed, abolhhing the 

 papal power and jurifdiftion in England ; by another the 

 king was declared fupreme head of the church, and all the 

 authority of which the popes were deprived was vefted in 

 him ; the moriajlcrles, (which fee,) were fuppreilied, and their 

 revenues applied to other ptirpofes. 



The people had been gradually prepared for this great 

 innovation. Each fucceeding feffioii of parliament had 

 made fomc retrenchment from the power and profits of the 

 Roman pontifl. Care had been taken, during lome yeara, 

 to teach the nation that a general council was much fuperior 

 to a pope. But now a bilhop preached every Sunday at 

 Paul's Crofs, in order to inculcate tlie doctrine, that the 

 pope was iutitled to no authority at all beyond his own 

 diocele. 



The laws pafied during this feffion (1534) fufficiently 

 evince, that the king was determined not to (urrender any 

 part of his affumed prerogative. All payments made to the 

 apoftolic chamber : all provifions, bulls, difpenfations, were 

 aboliflied : monafteries were to be (ubjedtcd to the regulation 

 and government of the king alone : the law for punching he- 

 retics was moderated : the ordinary was prohibited from im- 

 prifoning or trying any perfon upon fulpicion alone, with- 

 out prelentmcnt by ten lawful witnefles : and it was declared 

 that to (peak againft the pope's autliority was no herefy : 

 biihops were to be appointed by a conge d'elire from the 

 crown, or, in cafe of the dean and chapter's refufal, by 

 letters patent ; and no recourfe was to be had to Rome for 

 palls, bulls, or provifions. Campeggio and Ghinucci, two 

 Italians, Were deprived of the bi(hoprics of Sah(bury and 

 Worcefter, which they had hitherto enjoyed : the law which 

 had been formerly made againft paying annats, or firft fruits, 

 but which had been left in the king's power to fufpend or 

 enforce, was finally eftabli(hed : and a fubmiffion which was 

 exacted two years before from the clergy, and which had 

 been obtained with great dilficulty, received this feffion the 

 fandtion of parliament. In this fubmiffion, the clergy ac- 

 knowledged that convocations ought to be aflemblcd by the 

 king's authority only : they promiled to enaft no new canons 

 without his confent : and they agreed that he (hould appoint 

 32 commiffioners, in order to examine the old canons, and 

 abrogate fuch as (hould be found prejudiciiJ to his royal 

 prerogative. An appeal was alfo allowed from the bifhop's 

 court to the king in chancery. But the molt important aft 

 paffed this felfion, was that which regulated the fucccffioa 

 to the crown : the marriage of the king with Catharine 

 was declared unlawful, void, and of noeffeft: the primate's 

 fentence annulling it was ratified ; and the marriage with 

 queen Anne was eftabli/hed and confirmed. The crown was 

 appointed to defcend to the iffue of this marriage, and fail- 

 ing there, to the king's heirs for ever. An oath was hke- 

 wife enjoined to be taken in favour of this order of fuccei- 

 fiou, under the penalty of imprifonment during the king's 

 pleafure, and forfeiture of goods and chattels : and all (lander 

 againft the king, queen, or their iffue, was fubjefted to the 

 penalty of mifprifion of treafon. Thefe feveral afts, fo con- 

 temptuous towards the pope, and fo deftruftive of his autho- 

 rity, were parted at the very time that Clement pronounced 

 his hafty fentence againft the king. The king found his 

 ecclefiaftical fubjefts as comphaiit as the laity. The convo- 

 cation ordered that the aft againft appeals to Rome, toge- 

 ther with the king's appeal from the pope to a general coun- 

 cil, (liould be affixed to all the doors of all the churches 

 in the kingdom ; and they voted that the biihop of Rome had, 

 by the laws of God, no more jurifdiftion in England than 

 any other foreign bilhop ; and that the authority which he 

 and his predeceffors had there exercifed, was only by ufurpa- 

 tion, and by the fufferance of Engli(h princes. The biftiops 

 went fo far in their complaifance, that they took out new 

 commiflions from the crown, in which all their fpiritual and 

 epifcopal authority was exprefsly afBrmed to be derived ul- 

 timately from the civil magiftrate, and to be entirely de- 

 pendent on his good pleafure. 



I Henry, 



