CHAP or punish the resistance which was being offered to VIII them in some of their dioceses by both clergy and A.D. 1537 laity. It is evident, therefore, that the King entirely adopted the theological statements thus set forth by Convocation, and endeavoured to enforce them vigorously on the nation. The Institution of a Man The Ten Articles of 1536 were shortly followed Christian up by a book called "THE INSTITUTION OF A CHRISTIAN MAN," which was indeed an expansion of the statements which they contained. It was imitated on a larger scale thirty years afterwards by the Church of Rome, which put forth upon precisely a similar plan the "Catechism of the Council of Trent." But at the time when the "Institution" was published by the Church of England no work of the kind existed, though the germ of such a work had indeed been extant for ages in the expositions of the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, which were habitually given from the pulpits of parish churches." This book was a noble endeavour on the part of Its plan an old one The title "Institution of a Christian Man" may have been taken from a rudimentary tract of Latin verses, consisting of seven pages, and explaining the Creed, the Sacraments, the deadly sins, &c., which Erasmus wrote at the request of Colet for St. Paul's School. It is printed under the title "Christiani Hominis Institutio," in a collection of "Opuscula Moralia," published by Frobenius in 1520, but had probably been often before printed. The word "Institution," as synonymous with "Instruction," was so used down to the last century. At first sight Erasmus would seem to have had a still closer connection with the "Institution" of 1536 for in 1533 was published a work with the following title: : "A Plain and Godly Exposition or Declaration of the Common Creed (which in the Latin tongue is called Symbolum Apostolorum) and of the X. Commandments of God's Law, newly made and put forth by the famous Clerk, Master Erasmus of Rotterdam, at the request of the most honourable Lord Thomas, Earl of Wiltshire, Father to the most gracious and virtuous Queen Anne, Wife to our most gracious Sovereign Lord King Henry the VIII. Cum privilegio." It is a larger work than the "Institution" of 1536, and in many respects a very admirable work; but there appears to be no trace of any influence exercised by it on the divines who composed the authoritative volume. VIII the bishops to promote unity, and to instruct the CHAP people in Church doctrine. It was the work—as the preface tells us—of a commission appointed by A.D. 1537 the King for the purpose of searching and perusing Holy Scripture, and setting forth a plain and sincere doctrine concerning the whole sum of all those things which appertain unto the profession of a Christian man, that errors and superstitions might be removed, and unity and concord established. The commission consisted of all the bishops, eight archdeacons, and seventeen other doctors of divinity, making forty-six in number altogether.1 the "Institution" The "Institution of a Christian Man" is a volume Contents of which would occupy nearly 200 pages of the work now before the reader's eyes, and consists of a paraphrase and exposition of the Creed and the Lord's VIII CHAP Prayer, with an exposition of the Ten Commandments, the Sacraments, and the Ave Maria, the A.D. 1537 whole of the five doctrinal Articles of 1536 being incorporated with the various portions of the work to which they relate. It may interest the reader to see the proportions of space which the several expositions occupy : A general consensus of the Bishops divines That so large a work should be written on such subjects, in times of active controversy, and yet in and other such a manner as to be adopted as their own by forty-six learned divines of different schools, is a proof that there was an earnest desire to come to an agreement on matters of religion, and that there were not those irreconcileable differences which have been imagined among the learned clergy so long as the spirit of charity was suffered to actuate them. Cranmer, Lee, Gardiner, Latimer, and Bonner, all agreed to this book, and agreed to it, apparently, with sincerity. The fact is that the spirit of reactionary ultramontanism had not then been imported into English affairs, as it afterwards was by the provocations of Edward VI. and his courtiers ; nor had the spirit of Continental Protestantism as yet made its way to any extent among divines. There were differences of opinion, but those differences were not so antagonistic as to be irreconTheir theo- cileable. All could still meet on one common the Church ground of theological statement, and say, This is the doctrine of the Church of England. And, perhaps, logy that of VIII of an indi no book was ever written which did really set forth CHAP so concisely and so completely the true theological tenets of the Church of England, as those tenets A.D. 1537 stand free from the compromises, vaguenesses, and not that of parings down which they have suffered in later times a school or under pressure of endeavours to conciliate dissenters. vidual Like the Book of Common Prayer, it represented a general consensus of doctrine, and was not coloured by the opinions of any particular school, or of any individual divine; while at the same time its uncontroversial tone was such as to make it acceptable to those who loved to learn and practise their religion in peace. It has been already said that this noble book was mainly an expansion of the Ten Articles; but some further account of its theology, where it goes beyond the limited range of those short standards of opinion, may be acceptable to the reader. stitution" Creed The first division of the Institution is a paraphrase The "Inof each Article of the Creed, which extends to about on the thirty-two pages, and is followed by an exposition of the Creed, under the title of "Notes and Observations," occupying twenty-one pages. The character of this paraphrase may be seen from the following paragraph, which concludes "The sense and interpretation of the second Article," and which would have been worthy the pen of Bishop Andrewes : 'Finally, I believe assuredly, and also profess, that this redemption and justification of mankind could not have been wrought nor brought to pass by any other means in the The absence of verbosity is a very remarkable feature of the book. Many excellent works of later times, such as the great work of Hooker, are so verbose as to be VIII A. D. 1537 CHAP world, but by the means of this Jesu Christ, God's only Son; and never man could yet, nor ever will be, able to come unto God the Father, or to believe in Him, or to attain His favour by his own wit or reason, or by his own science and learning, or by any his own works, or by whatsoever may be named in heaven or in earth, but by the faith in the Name and power of Jesu Christ, and by the gifts and graces of His Holy Spirit. And therefore since He is my Jesu Christ, and my Lord, I will put my whole trust and confidence in Him, and will have the self-same faith and affiance in Him in all points, which I have in God the Father. And I will acknowledge Him for my only Lord, and will obey all His commandments all my life without any grudging. And I am sure that while He is my Lord and Governor, and I under His protection, neither sin, neither the Devil, nor yet death, nor Hell, can do me any hurt." The "Institution" on the Lord's Prayer The same devotional form of paraphrastic exposition is adopted throughout the commentary on the Lord's Prayer and is of so beautiful a character that an even longer extract than the preceding will not be thought too long as an illustration of the spirit of the book. It is about one fourth of "the sense and interpretation of the fourth petition." "O our heavenly Father, we beseech Thee give us this day our daily bread. Give us meat, drink, and clothing for our bodies. Send us increase of corn, fruit and cattle. Give us health and strength, rest and peace, that we may lead a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Grant us good success in all our business, and help in adversity and peril Grant us, we beseech Thee, all things convenient for our necessity in this temporal life. And to them to whom thou dost vouchsafe to give more than their own portion necessary for their vocation and degree, give thy grace, that they may be thy diligent and true dispensators and stewards, to distribute that they have (over and above that is necessary, considering their estate and degree) to them that have need of it. For so (good Lord) thou dost provide for thy poor people that have nothing, by them which have of thy gift sufficient |
