except those who were immediately interested by their dependence on Rome." Whatever mixtures of views and motives there were in the king, he was, however, a fit instrument of Providence to lead the way in so difficult an undertaking. His quarrelling with the pope led him to a decision, which ultimately proved of incalculable service to the Reformation. He dissolved the monasteries and religious houses, as they were called, and seized the property belonging to them. These places were haunts of vice, villany, and imposture, probably not inferior to any in the world. Nor did the shrines of the saints escape his rapacious grasp; nay, not even Becket's at Canterbury, which was enriched to a considerable degree by the superstitious devotion of the times. Somner, in his Antiquities of Canterbury, states, that, in one year, no less than one hundred thousand persons came to the shrine of Becket. What reputation he had with the saint-worshippers, may be inferred from the account given of the offerings made to the greatest altars in Christ's church, which, for one year, stood thus :— At Christ's altar At the Virgin's At Becket's £3 2s 6d 63 5 6 .832 12 6 The year following, when the character of the saint. was more fully known, the account was— At the Virgin's altar... At Christ's..... At Becket's £4 1s 8d ..954 6 3 This shrine would considerably augment the king's treasure. By means of the good bishop Cranmer, several holydays were abolished, which, being so exceeding numerous, were considered a burden to the people, a hindrance to business, only serving to nourish superstition, and keep up an idolatrous regard to the saints. He also succeeded in getting the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Creed explained, and recommended to be read by the people. Dr. Nichols says, "that in the year 1545, the King's Primer came forth, wherein are contained, not only the Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments, but also the Morning and Evening Prayer in English, not much different from what it is in our Common-Prayer Books; with a preface to it, showing the necessity of uniformity in prayer, and of young persons being instructed therein. In this Primer, the Venite, Te Deum, the Lord's Prayer, Creed, &c. are the very same translation now used in our CommonPrayer Book. Some time after this, the Litany was published in English, something different from what it is now, and permitted to be read in churches on Wednesdays and Fridays." He adds, "this was as much as could be brought to bear in the reformation of liturgical matters during the king's reign. a It is asserted, that the king was for having the Scripture in the vulgar tongue, and often recommended it : but he was, though he had renounced the authority of the pope, so much swayed by popish councils, that this important work was not accomplished. By an act of Parliament, in the year 1549, and of the king 35, Tindal's translation of the Old and New Testament, called crafty, false, untrue, was prohibited to be kept or read in the King's dominions. Strype says, that about the year 1526, Tindal's translation of the New Testament was first brought into England, being printed in some foreign parts, but presently it was forbidden by Wolsey; a Preface to his Comment on the Common-Prayer, p. 4. and soon after Tonstar and Sir Thomas More bought up the whole impression, and burnt them at St. Paul's cross. Tindal reprinted the New Testament about the year 1530; in which year, for translating into English the New Testament and part of the Old, he suffered martyrdom at Villefort, in Flanders. These Scriptures being sent over to England, were dispersed by his brother John Tindal, and Thomas Patmore, merchants. But for this presumption, they were adjudged in the Star Chamber to ride with their faces to the horse-tail, having papers on their heads, and Testaments tacked to their gowns, which they themselves were to throw into a fire made for that purpose, and then to be fined at the king's pleasure, and were actually fined eighteen thousand four hundred and forty pounds ten shillings and ten-pence, in the year 1531. Stokely, bishop of London, caused all the New Testaments of Tindal's translation to be burnt in St. Paul's Church-yard. In the year 1537, the whole Bible, called Matthews' Bible, was printed at Hamburgh, and, at the king's command, was introduced into all parish churches. But the Catholics prevailed with the king to deliver the Scriptures up to them, and they seized the books, and burnt them as heretical. Notwithstanding this, through the interest of Cromwell, the vicar-general, with the king, the Bible was again printed, and the king, by proclamation, ordered it should be provided in every parish. But in the year 1542 or 1543, the Catholic bishops got it suppressed again. And though the Bible was allowed under certain restrictions, yet no woman, nor artificers, apprentices, journeymen, serving-men, under the degree of yeomen, no husbandmen, nor labourers, might read it. Henry VIII. died 1547, and was succeeded by his only son, Edward VI. called the English Josiah, because he was the wonder and admiration of the age, This amiable prince, whose early youth was adorned with that wisdom, sagacity, and virtue, which would have done honour to advanced years, gave new spirit and vigour to the Protestant cause, being its brightest ornament, as well as its most effectual earthly support. He encouraged learned and pious men of foreign countries to settle in England, and addressed a particular invitation to Martin Bucer and Paul Fagius, whose moderation added a lustre to their other virtues, that, by the ministry and labours of these eminent men, in concert with those of the friends of the Reformation in England, he might purge his dominions from the fictions of popery, and establish the pure and wholesome doctrines of Christianity in this place. For this purpose, he issued out the wisest orders for the restoration of true religion; and he carried on the work begun by his royal father, to the great mortification of Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and Bonner, bishop of London, who, for their opposition to it, were sent to the tower. The Bible, that had hitherto been considered a dangerous book, was now encouraged and recommended to the people to be diligently read in English. Homilies were published in English, as a means of instructing the people in the doctrine of salvation. The clergy were allowed to marry. Images were taken down. The sacrifice of the mass was changed to a commemoration of Christ, and communion of his body and blood. The whole CommonPrayer was examined, and in all the offices such alterations were made, as the state of things at that time would bear, retaining still so much of the old service as was deemed tolerable: the whole being finished and translated into English, was confirmed by act of Parliament, in the year 1548. This was the first Book of Edward VI. which afterwards was revised, and, with many corrections and improvements, was published, in the fifth year of his reign. The Psalms of David, turned into metre by Sternhold and Hopkins, were allowed to be sung in the churches. The altars were changed into communiontables. And in the year 1552, the articles of religion were drawn up, the same in substance with the Thirtynine Articles of the present Church of England. But the reign of Edward VI. was too short to accomplish fully all the great and glorious purposes of his pious and benevolent heart. In the year 1553, he was taken from his loving and afflicted subjects, whose sorrow was inexpressible, and suited to the greatness of their loss. His sister Mary, the daughter of Catharine of Arragon, from whom Henry VIII. had been divorced, succeeded him on the throne. This princess, educated under her mother in Spain, in abhorrence of Protestantism and Episcopacy, had, during the life of her royal father, the resolution to maintain her predilection for popery, and refused to comply with his new institutions. When scarcely seated on the throne, she married her kinsman, the sanguinary Philip, afterwards King of Spain, eldest son of Charles V. Every thing which had been done by Henry VIII. and Edward VI. was overturned. Protestants and Episcopalians were all deposed, disqualified, and persecuted. She was "a furious bigot to the Church of Rome, and a princess whose natural temper was despotic and cruel.” She soon imposed the arbitrary laws and tyrannical yoke of Rome on the people of England. Her zeal for popery became furious, and chains, imprisonments, fire, and faggots, all sorts of cruelty, raged against the Protestants. Gardiner and Bonner acted conspicuously in this horrid work. Among |