threatened with farther effects of the council's dis- CHAP. pleasure. THESE severities, being exercised on men possessed of office and authority, seemed in that age a necessary policy, in order to enforce a uniformity in public worship and discipline: But there were other instances of persecution, derived from no origin but the bigotry of theologians; a malady which seems almost incurable. Though the protestant divines had ventured to renounce opinions deemed certain during many ages, they regarded, in their turn, the new system as so certain that they would suffer no contradiction with regard to it; and they were ready to burn in the same flames, from which they themselves had so narrowly escaped, every one that had the assurance to differ from them. A commission by act of council was granted to the primate and some others, to examine and search after all anabaptists, heretics, or contemnors of the book of common prayer. The commissioners were enjoined to reclaim them if possible; to impose penance on them; and to give them absolution: Or if these criminals were obstinate, to excommunicate and imprison them, and to deliver them over to the secular arm: And in the execution of this charge, they were not bound to observe the ordinary methods of trial; the forms of law were dispensed with; and if any statutes happened to interfere with the powers in the commission, they were overruled and abrogated by the council. Some tradesmen in London were brought before these commissioners, and were accused of maintaining, among other opinions, that a man regenerate could not sin, and that, though the outward man might offend, the inward was incapable of all guilt. They were prevailed on to abjure, and were dismissed. But there was a woman accused of heretical pravity, Called XXXIV. 1549. CHAP. called Joan Bocher, or Joan of Kent, who was so perXXXIV. tinacious, that the commissioners could make no im1549. pression upon her. Her doctrine was, "That Christ "was not truly incarnate of the Virgin, whose flesh, "being the outward man, was sinfully begotten, and "born in sin; and consequently, he could take none "of it: But the Word, by the consent of the inward "man of the Virgin, was made flesh." This opinion, it would seem, is not orthodox; and there was a necessity for delivering the woman to the flames for maintaining it. But the young king, though in such tender years, had more sense than all his counsellors and preceptors; and he long refused to sign the warrant for her execution. Cranmer was employed to persuade him to compliance; and he said. that there was a great difference between errors in other points of divinity and those which were in direct contradiction to the Apostles creed: These latter were impieties against God, which the prince, being God's deputy, ought to repress; in like manner, as inferior magistrates were bound to punish offences against the king's person. Edward, overcome by importunity, at last submitted, though with tears in his eyes; and he told Cranmer, that if any wrong were done, the guilt should lie entirely on his head. The primate, after making a new effort to reclaim the woman from her errors, and finding her obstinate against all his arguments, at last committed her to the flames. Some time after, a Dutchman, called Van Paris, accused of the heresy which has received the name of Arianism, was condemned to the same punishment. He suffered with so much satisfaction that he hugged and caressed the faggots that were consuming him; a species of frenzy, of which there is more than one instance among the martyrs of that age. P Burnet, vol. ii. coll. 35. THESE Strype's Mem. Cranm. p. 181. XXXIV. THESE rigorous methods of proceeding soon CHAP. brought the whole nation to a conformity, seeming or real, with the new doctrine and the new liturgy. 1549. The lady Mary alone continued to adhere to the mass, and refused to admit the established modes of worship. When pressed and menaced on this head, she applied to the emperor; who using his interest with sir Philip Hobby, the English ambassador, procured her a temporary connivance from the council.' Heylin, p. 102. С НА Р. 1549. GHAP. XXXV. Discontents of the people-Insurrections-Conduct THERE is no abuse so great in civil society, as not to be attended with a variety of beneficial consequences; and in the beginnings of reformation, the loss of these advantages is always the people. felt very sensibly, while the benefit resulting from Discon tents of the change is the slow effect of time, and is seldom yet ! XXXIV. yet did it provide to many a relief from the ex- CHAP. treme pressures of want and necessity. It is also observable, that as the friars were limited by the 1549. rules of their institution to a certain mode of living, they had not equal motives for extortion with other men; and they were acknowledged to have been in England, as they still are in Roman catholic countries, the best and most indulgent landlords. The abbots and priors were permitted to give leases at an under-value, and to receive in return a large present from the tenant; in the same manner as is still practised by the bishops and colleges. But when the abbey-lands were distributed among the principal nobility and courtiers, they fell under a different management: The rents of farms were raised, while the tenants found not the same facility in disposing of the produce; the money was often spent in the capital; and the farmers, living at a distance, were exposed to oppression from their new masters, or to the still greater rapacity of the stewards. THESE grievances of the common people were at that time heightened by other causes. The arts of manufacture were much more advanced in other European countries than in England; and even in England these arts had made greater progress than the knowledge of agriculture; a profession which of all mechanical employments requires the most reflection and experience. A great demand arose for wool both abroad and at home: Pasturage was found more profitable than unskilful tillage: Whole estates were laid waste by inclosures: The tenants, regarded as a useless burden, were expelled their habitations: Even the cottagers, deprived of the commons on which they formerly fed their cattle, were reduced to misery: And a decay of people, as well as a diminution of the former plenty, was remarked in the kingdom." This grievance was Strype, vol. ii. Repository Q. now ་ |