CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY

The Treasure of the Church WALTER R. BOUMAN

The Early Success and Gradual Decline of Lutheranism in England, 1520-1600 BASIL HALL

A Marxist De-Lutheranization of the German Reformation DOUGLAS C. STANGE

Brief Studies

Homiletics

Theological Observer

Book Review

01. xxxvrn October 1967 No.9 The Early Success and Gradual Decline of Lutheranism in England, 1520 -1600 BASIL HALL n a new calendar associated with the But this calendar was an unofficial enter­ I Book of Common Prayer in 1578 there prise intended to oppose the names of are four days of some interest to those con­ "Protestant saints" to those of "Popish cerned with English attitudes to Lutheran­ saints" in the traditional calendars in Eliza­ ism in the 16th century: bethan use, and it cannot be taken to mean "February 16 the learned clerk Philip that a deep or ready sympathy existed for Melanchthon as upon this Lutheran doctrine and religious practices day was born. at that time. In fact it would be difficult to February 18 Martin Luther the servant find an Elizabethan writer approving of of God died as upon this Lutheran teachings and methods of wor­ day. ship and advocating them apart from those February 22 Martin Luther his body as subjects which had become common to upon this day was trans­ lated to Witemberg and Protestantism, including justification by buried in the chapel of the faith. Castle there. For example, in the controversy between October 31 This day in the yeere of the Puritan Thomas Cartwright and Arch­ our Lord God 1517 and bishop Whitgift, Cartwright, in seeking 101 yeeres after ye death suppOrt for his criticism of the state of the of John Hus, Martin Lu­ Church of England, cited Peter Martyr: ther gave his propositions who upon the tenth chapter of II Book of in ye universitie of Wit­ Kings saith: The Lutherans must take heed emberg against ye Pope's lest whilst they cut off many popish errors, pardons." 1 they follow Jehu by retaining also many 1 Liturgies and Occasional Forms of Prayer popish things. For they defend still the Set Forth in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth real presence in the bread of the Supper, (Parker Society, 1847) 445 and 453. and images and vestments, and saith that religion must be wholly reformed to the Basil Hall is University Lecturer in Eccle­ siastical History at the University of Cam­ quick. bridge (England) and Nivison Professor of Archbishop Whitgift replied: Church History at Westminster College, M. Martyr nameth the popish things which Cambridge. The accompanying article was originally presented as a lecture at Luther­ the Lutherans observe to be the real pres­ Tyndale Church in London at a convocation ence, images, all the popish apparel which commemorating Martin Luther's posting of they used in their mass (for so doth he the Ninety-five Theses. The article outlines mean) and this Church ri. e., the Church the main areas of Lutheran influence on the of England] hath refused.2 EngBish Reformation and suggests reasons why Lutheranism failed to achieve lasting 2 The Works of fohn Whitgift (Parker success in England. Society, 1853), III, 549-50. 576 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 577

Again, it is surprising to find Richard continuation of certain "Popish" practices, Hooker, the carefully irenic apologist of which must be totally rejected. the "Ecclesia Anglicana," writing in his But would an observer of the religious Second Sermon on Justification, Works, changes among Englishmen in the reign and HoUl the Foundation of Faith Is Over­ of Henry VIII have been able to predict throUln in 1585 that the Church of Rome the probability of this rejection of Lu­ in its teachings "in spite of their confessing theranism in the reign of Elizabeth I? Pro­ remission of sins through Christ over­ fessor A. G. Dickens can go so far as to threw the very foundation of faith by con­ write, in the epilog to his excellent study, sequent: doth not that so likewise which The Englisb Reformation, "If Henry had the Lutheran churches do at this day so foreseen the ultimate political dangers of stiffly and so fiercely maintain?" He then Calvinist Protestantism, he might have adds: "For mine own part, I dare not been prompted to thrust aside his scruples hereupon deny the possibility of their sal­ and adopt as his state religion a fully­ vation, which have been the chiefest in­ fledged Lutheranism, with its veneration struments of ours albeit they carried to for the godly prince. Yet whether this step their grave a persuasion so greatly repug­ would have exorcized more radical creeds nant to the truth." 3 The Elizabethan atti­ or merely paved the way for their advent, tude to Lutheranism can also be seen at the we can only conjecture." 5 Nevertheless, popular level in a doggerel rhyme against the more one reflects upon Henry's attitude a Romanist: to Luther himself and his obtuse and ill­ Till Luther's time you say that we informed dislike of Lutheran doctrines, Heard not of Christ: but you shall see upon his hostility to foreign influences in That we, not you, have heard of him England, and upon his obtaining all that As only pardoner of our sinne; the doctrine of the godly prince could Thrise happy Luther, and the rest, convey both in fact through his own polit­ (Except some faults which we detest).4 ical action and in theory through the strong In sum, the majority of Elizabethan advocacy on the one hand of Archbishop Protestant Englishmen, almost without ex­ Cranmer, who profoundly believed in it, ception, were willing to admire Martin and on the other through the cautious but Luther for his stand against the pope, and powerful support of Bishop Gardiner's authoritarian legalism in his De vera for his great insight in rediscovering the obedientia, the more one doubts that Henry truth of justification by faith alone, but would have allowed the Church of England they believed that he and his followers to become Lutheran.s It is true that Henry allowed in the Lutheran churches the de­ chose Latimer and Cranmer for bishops and velopment of dangerous doctrines and the

5 A. G. Dickens, The English Reformation 3 The Works of Richard Hooker, ed. J. (1964), 328-29. Keble, 3d ed. (1845), III, 503. 6 P. Janelle, Obedience in Church and State, 4 Select Poetry Chiefly Devotional of the gives a reprint of Bishop Gardiner's De vera Reign of Queen Elizabeth (Parker Society, obedientia. Gardiner's book was printed at 1845), II, 288. An Answere to a Romish Rime Hamburg for presentation to Lutheran princes Lately Printed, 1602. and divines. 578 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND that both of these men were influenced by Zwingli and Oecolampadius about the Sup­ Lutheran doctrines, especially Cranmer, per grew warm, he did violence to many who had been closely associated at first­ passages of Scripture." 8 Hooper himself hand with German Lutheranism. But nei­ was on this point as on others an adherent ther of them was a wholehearted Lutheran, of Zurich theology. The Marian martyr in the sense of accepting the full range of John Bradford, before he was burned at Lutheran theology. At his trial, in Mary's Smithfield market in 1555, said under ex­ reign, Cranmer denied that he had ever amination in prison: "My faith is not held the Lutheran doctrine of the Real builded on Luther, Zwingli or Oecolam­ Presence. Latimer in a sermon before Ed­ padius on this point [the Real Presence}, ward VI in 1549 said: "Oh Luther when and indeed to tell you truly, I never read he came into the world first and disputed any of their works on this matter." 9 While against the Decretals and the Canon Law, from the beginning of the Reformation in what ado had he! But ye will say perad­ England most English Protestants accepted venture he was deceived in some things. Luther's teaching on justification and I will not take it upon me to defend him works, some to the extent of almost slav­ in all points. I will not stand to it that ishly repeating his words, yet his doctrine all that he wrote was true." 7 When Lati­ of the Lord's Supper made almost all of mer went to his death at the stake in 1553, them uneasy. This hesitation about, and in he was to be burned, as was his younger fact rejection of, Luther's doctrine of the friend Cranmer, who saw his death agony sacraments taken together with the power­ from the roof of the Oxford prison Bo­ ful influence of a South German and cardo, for denying the Real Presence Zurich-centered Biblicalism containing a transl~bstantialitet'} and their own belief moral legalism based on the covenant prin­ on the Eucharistic Presence could not be ciple so alien to Luther's doctrinal method, described in terms acceptable to their Lu­ and taken together with Henry's refusal to theran contemporaries. In fact, it would be accept Lutheran formularies and the lu­ difficult to determine who in England theran agenda for cleansing abuses in the maintained consistently through his Prot­ church, decisively prevented England from estant career and in writing, from Tyndale becoming a Lutheran land. onwards, the Lutheran doctrine of the The unwillingness of Englishmen to ac­ Lord's Supper. cept Luther's sacramental theology no This was indeed to be the chief hin­ doubt was due to influences opposed to it drance to the advance of Lutheranism in from both within England and from England. Bishop Hooper wrote to Martin abroad. It has been fashionable until a Butzer in June 1548, while Hooper was at decade or two ago to ignore the continuing Zurich: "Although I readily acknowledge effect of Lollardy in England in the 16th with thankfulness the gifts of God in him century: this anti sacerdotal and antisacra- who is now no more, yet he was not with­ 8 Original Letters Relative to the English out his faults. After the dispute with Reformation (Parker Society, 1846), First Se­ ries, 46. 7 The Works of Hugh Latimer (Parker 9 The Writings of John Bradford (Parker Society, 1844). p.212. Society, 1848), I, 525. SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 579 mental movement was dismissed as negligi­ affirmed the continuity between Law and ble or irrelevant, whereas in fact it pro­ Gospel against Luther, who firmly set them vided a widespread underground of in opposition. If English Puritanism, which antipapalism before and after Protestant­ developed later in the century, may be re­ ism entered England from Germany. Lol­ garded in its theology as pietism grounded lardy was centered on a literalistic and un­ on moral legalism, then its ultimate an­ scholarly Bil:>licism affirming obedience to cestor is Tyndale. It was through Tyndale's the precepts of the Law and of the Gospel emphasis on the covenant principle that (this is almost inevitable, given the con­ the theology of Zurich developed in En­ ditions through which the movement sur­ gland. Again one of the earliest of English vived). Here was a continuity between Lutherans, Dr. Robert Barnes, the Cam­ the Old and New Testaments in the law bridge Augustinian whom Luther referred of God that Luther deliberately set aside, to after his martyrdom as "Saint Robert," since this emphasis on precepts for obedi­ while he was wholeheartedly Lutheran dur­ ence would bring in works again by an­ ing his residence at Wittenberg, yet, dur­ other door. It could be, and surely was, the ing the last 10 years of his life, he may well breeding ground for "covenant" ideas, have accommodated his theology to the since a covenant or federal theology soon English situation wherein the covenant attracted early English Protestantism­ principle opposed the influence of Lu­ and a covenant theology is always inimical theran teaching on the Real Presence.n to a sacramental theology. This tendency The third reason, already suggested, for towards a legalistic Biblicalism that could Lutheranism's failure to become the ac­ so readily move into a covenant theology, cepted religion of the English nation was with its relation of obedience to being the opposition to it shown by Henry VIII. elect and "foreknown," was very tenacious in England. Like Lollardy, it was a native 11 W. A. Clebsch, in his England's Earliest of the soil and survived in English non­ Protestants, 1520-1535 (New Haven, 1964), p. 68, believes that Barnes altered his orig­ conformity until well into the 19th century. inally wholly Lutheran view of justification by It is significant that England's "first Lu­ faith alone to allow some measure of justifica­ theran," William Tyndale, was unwilling tion before the world by works. Also, W. D. J. Cargill Thompson believes that Barnes modi­ to adopt Luther's sacramental teaching. fied his doctrine of kingship between the two Almost from the first, Tyndale was at­ editions of his Supplication to Henry VIII; see T;"ansactions of the Cambridge Biblio­ tracted by the principle of the covenant, graphical Society, 1960, pp. 133-42. a requirement of obedience in the con­ A modernized reprint of the major part of tract between God and His people, which the Supplication with helpful introduction and Zwingli had set forth at Zurich and which notes is to be found in N. S. Tjernagel, The Reformation Essays of Dr. Robert Barnes his successors there, especially Bullinger, (London, 1963). Clebsch draws attention (pp. were to develop.lO Like Zwingli, Tyndale 81-85) to the Scotsman Patrick Hamilton's Patrick's Places. These were an early statement 10 Exposition and Notes of Sundry Portions of Lutheran teaching in English in 1529. They of the Holy Scriptures, William Tyndale were modified in the interests of later English (Parker Society, 1849), [on the Sermon on the Protestantism by John Foxe in The Acts and Mount]. Tyndale's positive contribution of Lu­ Monuments and by John Knox in his History theran theology to England will be shown later. of the Reformation in Scotland. 580 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND

(A comparison of the ecclesiastical situa­ he always hoped that his king would be­ tion in England with that of Sweden would come good. Among other things, we often be interesting: there was much in com­ disputed why the king should love that mon between the aims and methods of the abominable title: Defensor fidei et in ter­ ris caput supremum et immediatum post Reformation adopted in the two countries, Christum Ecclesiae Anglicanae. But as this the point of contrast being that King many times was the answer: Sic vola, sic Gustavus Vasa accepted the major Lu­ iubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas, so that one theran doctrines for the Church of Sweden could see very well by this time that whereas Henry rejected them for England.) Squire Harry wished to be God and to do Henry's view of his kingdom, his kingship, what he pleased.12 his supreme headship of the church, com­ Henry never understood the essential bined with his theological conservatism, themes of Luther; the doctrine of justifica­ his refusal to put himself in spiritual or tion by faith passed him by like words intelk -~.- - 1 ~'-~:Jage to a German friar in down the wind. Henry had received some Saxony, and his interest in an Erasmian theological training alongside his other type of church reform, led him to oppose more liberal and diversified smdies but it the development of a Lutheran Church of was theology in a traditional scholastic England. If this is thought to be over­ mold, producing those limitations which emphatic, then it may be well to consider can be seen in his AS.wrtion of the Seven here the shrewd insight of Luther himself, Sacraments against Luther, in which he for he had got the measure of Henry when did not come to grips with the essential he wrote, after Robert Barnes was burned argument of Luther, although it won for in 1540: him that timlar recognition from the pope When this holy martyr, St. Robert, under­ as Defensor fidei, which he desired as a stood at last that his king (by your leave) minor weapon in his diplomatic activities. Harry of England, had become an enemy Moreover, Henry had been educated by of the pope, he returned to England with men interested in the new learning and the hope that he might plant the Gospel in his fatherland; and at last he was suc­ had many about him at court who were cessful in entering upon this. . . . But influenced by humanist writings, especially when we had deliberated, at great length those of Erasmus. Henry's friendship for and at a great expense to our noble Prince men as diverse as Thomas More and Elector of Saxony, we found in the end Thomas Cranmer reflects his and their that Harry of England had sent his em­ common interest in the new learning. bassy not because he wanted to become Some have argued that there were no guid­ evangelical, but in order that we at Wit­ ing principles in Henry's pattern of refor­ tenberg would agree to his divorce .... mation in the Church of England;13 but Harry is pope, and the pope is Henry of this is to reduce one of the most powerful England. Dr. Robert Barnes himself often and astute of princes to being a cipher. told me: Rex meus non curat religionem. Rather, a good case could be made for the Yet he so loved his king and his country that he was ready to endure everything, 12 WA LI, 449-50. and always he was striving how to help 13 For example, compare The New Cam­ England. . . . Hope deceived him. For bridge Modern History (1958), II, 241. SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 581 view that the Henrician reformation of the the former then a determination to main­ church shows a very close relationship with tain orthodox fences around the new learn­ the Erasmian principles of ecclesiastical re­ ing he had known and admired in his form: the abolition of the jurisdiction of youth. Yet, in spite of Henry and in spite the pope in favor of the direct initiative of the suspicion and hostility of the men for reform resting with the Christian of the old learning, led by Bishop Gar­ prince; the closing of religious houses; the diner, Lutheran influences, both doctrinal translation of the Bible from the original and liturgical, were at work in England. tongues into the vernacular; the cleansing Already in 1521 Archbishop Warham had of certain abuses, for example the excessive become increasingly alarmed about the number of saints days and holidays and number of Lutheran books circulating in superstitious customs associated with pil­ England, and he wrote to Wolsey: grimages to shrines and other old but un­ Please it your grace to understand that fruitful practices; the promotion of He­ now lately I receyvid letters from the Uni­ brew and Greek studies and good classical versitie of Oxford and in those same cer­ Latinity, leading to a new Biblical theology tayne newes which I am very sorry to here. to displace scholasticism. These and other For I am enformyd that diverse of that themes of church reform dear to the Eras­ Universitie be infectyd with the heresyes mians can all be seen at work in produc­ of Luther and of others of that sotte hav­ ing among theym a grete nombre of books ing the pattern of Henrician Catholicism.14 of the saide perverse doctrine which wer It was due to a measure of common forboden by your graces auctoritie as ground between Erasmians and Lutherans Legate de latere of the See apostolique, in Biblical theology that a certain amount and also by me as Chauncellor of the of Lutheran teaching infiltrated the devo­ saide Universitie. . . . But it is a sorrow­ tional and theological literature of the Hen­ ful thing to see how gredyly inconstaunt rician church. Henry, in part through ig­ men, and specyally inexpert youthe, falleth norance of the sources and in part through to new doctrynes be they never so pesti­ lent.15 recognizing the value of the new Biblically grounded theology, did not realize how There was a bonfire of Lutheran books much Lutheran influence was at work. His in London May 12, 1521. When we reflect sharp criticisms of the "Bishops' Book" that Lutheran influence could attain a (The Godly and Pious Institution of a pulpit in Cambridge in December 1525, Christian Man, 1537) and his restoration through Robert Barnes preaching a sermon of a more conservative and traditional that wholeheartedly expounded Lutheran theology in the "King's Book" (The Neces­ doctrines, then it is not surprising that this sary Doctrine and Erudition of a Christian together with other examples of the spread Man, 1543) may reflect if not a suspicion of these heresies made in Germany should of the presence of Lutheran influence in lead to the issuing, by 1531 or shortly thereafter, of a second list of books for- 14 Many of these themes of church reform can be seen in Erasmus's Enchiridion militis 15 Henry Ellis, Original Letters, Illustrative Christiani and are implied behind the mockery of English History, First Series (1824), I of his Praise of Folly. 239 if. ' 582 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND

bidden in England. Among its 85 titles fasshoninge wherby we beleve and truste were 22 by Luther.16 in eny wother thinge then god, then make Latin works from overseas would be con­ we us an idole: for it is the faithe and truste only in owre hartes that maketh fined to scholars like that group of Cam­ other [i. e., either] god or ydole.18 bridge men, including Robert Barnes, who met in the White Horse Tavern (which In 1534 appeared another English in those days was in a long vanished side Primer edited by William Marshall (the street near Queens' College), where they first book to be printed in England con­ read and discussed Luther's writings. But taining fairly large portions of the Bible a wider influence for Lutheran views could in English), which reprinted over half of be found in the books of private devotion J aye's version of the H ortulus; most of the in English called Primers, published for remainder of the work was a reproduction the use of laymen. When George Joye of writings by Luther without mentioning issued the Ortulus anime (i. e., H ortulus his name, for example, the Preface is animae) in English in 1530, he used Lu­ adapted from the Betbuchlein of 1522, and theran sources for some of the prayers, as later there appear free translations of ser­ Dr. Butterworth has shown; for example, mons by Luther on prayer and on the the morning prayer and the graces before Passion.19 Another Primer of MarshaH­ and after dinner are taken from Luther's who was bold enough to add at the foot of Betbuchlein and Kleiner Katechismus in the title page of his little treatise against their Latin versionP Also it is plain what the worshiping of images, "I dout not but lies behind the following extract: some popish doctor or pevish proctor wyl The question grunt at this treatise" - the Goodly Primer For as myche then as god is the spirite and of 1535, contained "Thoffice of all estates," maye not be ymagined of other wittes: which showed the characteristic Lutheran howe shall we knowe hym? theme of Beruf as demonstrated by Tyn­ The answere dale.20 Faithe and truste fynde hym when we are But more important, not least because in perel and shewe hym unto us and yet of its fundamental authority and because this fay the to fynde hym must he geve us: of its having the widest dissemination, was for if we gete us a faithe of owre owne the Bible in English, beginning with Wil­ liam Tyndale's New Testament which was 16 The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, ed. J. Pratt and]. Stoughton (n. d.), IV, 667. indebted, among other versions, to Lu­ Foxe gives the title of this catalog Libri sectae ther's translation and included prefaces and sive factionis Luthera1~ae importati ad civitatem London per /autores ejusdem sectae, quorum notes reflecting Luther's theology, notably nomina et auctores sequuntur, and the date as the Preface to Romans, which was almost 1529, but this is probably at least two years too a direct translation from Luther. The whole early. Bible, revised and completed on the basis 17 C. C. Butterworth, The English Primers (1529-1545), 1953, p. 33. Once again, how­ of Tyndale's work, was prepared for publi- ever, it should be remembered that Joye was not a whole·hearted favorer of Lutheranism; he 18 Ibid., p. 36. was Zwinglian in his Eucharistic doctrine, like 19 Ibid., p. 61. Tyndale. 20 Ibid., p. 108. SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 583 cation by Miles Coverdale, and the title ments under Henry begin with the Ten declared it to be "faithfully translated out Articles of 1536 (the first stage in the of Douche and Latyn into Englishe" in journey to the Thirty-nine Articles issued 1535. "Douche" here refers particularly under Elizabeth I and still in use), which to the Zurich German translation, which were described as "Articles devised by the owed much to the Swiss scholars Leo King's Highest Maiestie to stablyshe Chris­ Jud and Pellikan, but also something to ten quietnes and Unitie amonge us and to Luther's version. The "Matthew" Bible avoyde contentious opinions." These ar­ (edited in fact by John Rogers) contained ticles represent a curious mixing of certain Lutheran themes in some of its many notes characteristic themes of Lutheranism with and "Prologues." Coverdale not only gave traditional Catholicism. They were in two much of his energy to the work of revising parts, the :first doctrinal, concerning relation and editing an English version of the Bi­ to the creeds, the sacraments, and Justifica­ ble; he also, among other literary activities, tion, the second ceremonial, and in the translated Luther's Der 23st Psalm auf ein­ former show traces of the Augsburg Con­ en Abend iiber Tisch nach dem Gratias fession and possibly the Apology of the attSgelegt (1536) in 1537 and a little later Confession by Melanchthon. To Me1anch­ issued his Goostly Psalmes and Spirituale than they could be written off, not sur­ Songs draw1~ out of the holy Scripture, prisingly, as confusissime compositum which markedly reflect the impact made ("most confusingly put together") .22 But on him by Luther's own metrical German not even the English love of compromise, versions of Psalms and other Biblical which these articles display in its most passages?l This book of Goostly Psalmes tortuous form, could continue to satisfy was listed among a large number pro­ Archbishop Cranmer. The next step in in­ scribed on Henry's order in 1539, which terpreting the belief of a church that had showed the rising tide of Lutheran litera­ cast off the papacy but left the English lay­ ture in translation as well as in the orig­ man puzzled about what doctrinal require­ inal, that had been flowing into England ments were laid on him was that book from the time of the public appearance of prepared by Archbishop Cranmer and a Luther as Reformer. commission of bishops, The Institution of The influence of Lutheranism is even a Christian Man (popularly known as the more marked in the doctrinal and liturgical "Bishops' Book"), which was the nearest documents of the church of England under approach to full Protestantism in an official Henry and even under Edward, although publication of the reign of Henry. Here it is being challenged and outdistanced by the Melanchthonian definitions that ap­ the increasingly dominating Swiss theology peared, rather heavily disguised, in the Ten of Zurich - more marked because these Articles are incorporated and expanded. were official documents almost all issued But more than this, both the Small and with the full authority of the crown and of Large Catechisms of Luther are used, close the church. The formal doctrinal state- parallels occurring in several places. For example, compare the "Bishops' Book": 21 H. E. Jacobs, The Lutheran Movement in England (1891), pp. 118-24. 22 Corpus Re/ormatoru1n, III, 1490. 584 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND

I acknowledge and confess that he suffer­ laws, one of the right inheritors of his king­ eth and causeth the sun, the moon, the dom." Cranmer disallowed this addition, stars, the day, the night, the air, the fire, which showed Henry's Erasmian Catholic the water, the fowls, the fishes, the beasts legalism relying upon works, by his anno­ and all the fruits of the earth to serve me tation: for my profit and my necessity. This book speaketh of the pure Christian with Luther's Large Catechism: faith unfeigned, which is without colour, He causes all creatures to serve for the as well in heart as in mouth. He that hath necessities and uses of life - sun, moon this faith, converteth from his sin, re­ and stars in the firmament, day and night, penteth him. . . . This is the very pure air, fire, water, earth and whatever it bears christian faith and hope, which every good and produces, bird and fish, beasts, grain Christian man ought to profess, believe and all kinds of produce. and trust. . . . And as far as the other faith . . . that those which "persevere in Again, Article V of the Augsburg Con­ God's lavvs and precepts, so long as they fession must surely behind the follow­ lie so do, they be the right inheritors of his ing words in the "Bishops' Book": kingdom," this is not the commendation To the attaining or which faith, it is also of a Christian man's faith, but a most to be noted, that Christ hath instituted and certain proposition, which also the devils ordained in the world but only two means believe most certainly, and yet they shall and instruments, whereof the one is the never have their sins forgiven by this faith, ministration of his word, and the other is nor be inheritors of God's kingdom, be­ the administration of his sacraments in­ cause they lack the very christian faith, stituted by him; so that it is not possible not trusting to the goodness and mercy of to attain this faith, but by one, or both God for their own offences. of these two means.23 Cranmer extended himself much further The degree to which Cranmer had become on this theme, because he recognized that committed to the doctrine of justification Henry's proposed emendations undercut by faith, even to the extent of flatly op­ the whole doctrine of saving faith. He was posing Henry, who never really grasped more terse and pointed when Henry wished what it was about, can be seen in the anno­ to add "I doing my duty" to the words tation he made to one of several proposed "And I believe that by this passion and additions or corrections written by Henry death of our Savior Jesus Christ ..."; for in the margin of the "Bishops' Book": he stated flatly: And I believe also and profess, that he We may not say that we do our duty. is my very God, my Lord, and my Father, Nevertheless he hath not the right faith and that I am his servant and his own in his heart, that hath not a good heart son by adoption and grace, and * the right and will do his duty [and refers to the inheritor of his kingdom. former annotation above]. But no man doth do all his duty, for then he needeth Henry wished to add between the "and" not to have any faith for the remission and "the" (at the asterisk) the words "As of his sins.24 long as I persevere in his precepts and 24 Remains of Archbishop Cranmer (Parker 23 Jacobs, p. 109. Society, 1846), II, 84, 89. SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 585

Henry's need for good diplomatic rela­ present under the species of bread and tions with the Lutheran princes, at a period wine: and that under the same species they when he felt threatened by a Catholic alli­ are truly and really exhibited (presented) ance, led to prolonged consultations be­ and distributed to those who receive the tween German and English theologians. It sacrament whether they are good or evi1.26 was hoped that these consultations would Henry, however, could still bewilder and produce a theological formulation both finally exasperate the Lutherans by accept­ sides could agree on and one that would ing gladly and praising a work for the meet the demand of the Lutheran princes instruction of clergymen by the able Lu­ that they could satisfy their consciences in theran theologian Erasmus Sarcerius, forming political alliances only if these re­ translated by Richard Taverner in 1538 as flected the confessing of the faith. The re­ Coman places of Scripture ordrely set forth, sult of these discussions was the Thirteen and then in 1539 issuing the Six Articles Articles, which, although they were set (the «Whip vvith Six Strings"), all except aside after the breakdown of the negotia­ possibly the :first attacking those who de­ tions between Henry and the Lutheran nied traditional Catholic practices already princes in 1538 and therefore were never described and rejected by the Lutherans as published or sanctioned for USe, represent notorious "abuses" during rhe discussions clearly the second stage on the road to the in 1538. Melanchthon with unusually vig­ Forty-two Articles under Edward VI and orous condemnation attacked these articles the Thirty-nine Articles under Elizabeth I. at length in a letter to Henry, though Hardwick has shown not only that the crediting the bishops, especially Gardiner, Thirteen Articles follow closely the pat­ with writing them; Luther more bluntly tern of the Augsburg Confession, includ­ declared that he and his were "glad to be ing extensive verbal agreement, but also rid of the blasphemer."27 that they formed the basis for the later de­ After the death of Henry, Protestantism velopment of the .Articles of Religion, took a leap forward under his infant son where the salle subject matter was re­ Edward VI and his council. More radical, quired.25 Article however, was not and more Swiss, theological trends devel­ going to reappear later, for it set forth the oped, although Archbishop Cranmer re­ Lutheran teaching on the Eucharist close mained loyal to a more conservative Prot­ to the Augsburg definition and very close estantism, continuing to use Lutheran to the article on the Eucharist in the con­ ference in Wittenberg in 1536 (the Repe­ 26 Hardwick, p.266. Jacobs, p.139, cites the article of the Eucharist from the Repetitio titio of ~..felanchthon brought back by the from Seckendorf. English commissioners?). 27 COfPUS Re/ormatorum, III, 806. G. R. On the Eucharist we constantly believe and Elton shows well that Thomas Cromwell sup­ teach that in the sacrament of the body and ported Lutheranism, at least on political grounds. England Under the Tudors, 1956, blood of the Lord, the body and blood of pp. 152-56. See also the useful and thorough Christ are truly, substantially, and really article by C. S. Meyer, "l\1:eianchthon, Theolo­ gian of Ecumenism," in The Journal 0/ Eccle­ 25 C. Hardwick, A History 0/ the Articles siastical History, XVII, 2 (October 1966), pp. 0/ Religion (1904), Appendix II. 185-207. 586 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND sources in both his doctrinal teaching in a fact which Bishop Gardiner in Edward's catechism, homilies, and articles, and also reign used to embarrass Cranmer by claim­ in his remarkable though brief career as a ing that Cranmer had then taught the Real liturgist. In 1548 appeared Catechismus: Presence.28 In replying to Gardiner's claim that is to say a short Imtruction into Chris­ that the Real Presence had been set forth tian Religion for the synguler commoditie in this catechism, Cranmer stated that in and profyte of childre and yong people, set speaking of receiving with the mouth the forth by the moost reverende father in God body and blood of Christ he was assuming Thomas Archbyshop of Canterbury, Pri­ acquaintance with "olde aundent authors" mate of all England and Metropolitane. and their "phrase and manner of speech." It is difficult to determine whether Cran­ He added that the Presence was to be un­ mer was personally and wholly responsible derstood spiritually and that in any case for the work of translating the Latin cate­ nothing was saici, in the sermon translated, chism of Justus Jonas, who had been at the of reserving the sacramental elelnents. But Diet of Augsburg in 1530 in company with Cranmer must have been embarrassed by Melanchthon. The translation may have the consequences arising from the publica­ been made in part by one of his chaplains tion of the catechism, for Burcher wrote to set to this task by Cranmer, but it is certain Bullinger in October 1548 that "the Arch­ that it was overseen by him and approved bishop of Canterbury has caused a cate­ for publication under his authority, as the chism of some Lutheran opinions to be title before the preface of the English edi­ translated and published in our language. tion shows; and in reply later to an attack This little book has occasioned no little by Bishop Gardiner, he wrote of "the Cate­ discord, so that fightings have frequently chisme of Germany by me translated into taken place among the common people on English." There are some minor alterations account of their variety of opinions, even together with a few additions and dele­ during the sermons." 29 This was not to be tions, and one major addition of some the only occasion in which Cranmer's iren­ length attacking "idolatry," that is, worship ical, Biblically grounded, and nondoc­ associated with popular English "famouse trinaire theology would be misrepresented and notoriouse" images such as those of by the obtuse or the partisan. the Virgin at W alsingham and Ipswich and This catechism is now virtually forgot­ of St. Anne of Buxton. Two points of con­ ten as are doctrinal statements like the Ten siderable interest arise, however, concern­ Articles and the unpublished Thirteen Ar­ ing the sermons on the three sacraments, ticles, but one sourcebook for Lutheran in­ which are attached to Jonas' catechism and fl uences in England in Cranmer's time still given in English without addition or dele­ survives and is used wherever Anglicans tion: Baptismj The Authoritie of the Kayes,' worship, The Book of Common Prayer. The Communion or the Lord's Supper. This influence, partly ignored or underesti­ Here Cranmer is giving to England Lu­ mated by certain Anglican liturgical schol- theran teaching on Absolution as it was 28 Burton, C1'anmer's Catechism (1829) , held in the 1530s, but also he is authoriz­ pp. vf. ing Lutheran doctrine on the Communion, 29 Ellis, II, 643. SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 587 ars of the later 19th century who were un­ K yrie eleison and the long list of saints' willing to accept influences other than names, and from Luther's litany in both Catholic on the English litutgy, needs re­ of its versions, Latin and German.32 appraisal in the light of more recent litur­ The Lutheran sources are more marked gical studies.so As long ago as 1895, the in the Order for Holy Communion in the American Lutheran scholar, H. E. Jacobs, first Book of C011Z1n01~ Prayer of 1549, in his useful book The Lutheran Movement though these sources are almost ignored in Ellglalld provided much material, but it in Procter and Frere, A New History of is time that this matter should receive a the Book of Common Prayer, where one new and thorough investigation, for Jacobs vague parallel to a Lutheran source is men­ sometimes adduced evidence of a Lutheran tioned in a footnote. The exhortation is influence on the English Prayer Book that modeled on that in the SimjJlex et pia de­ could in fact derive from a pre-Reforma­ liberatio prepared for Archbishop Her­ tion source.31 mann of Cologne by Melanchthon and First in time came Cranmer's English Butzer, which in tutn derives from the ex­ litany of 1544. Versions of this ancient hortation in the order of Cassel of 1539. form of processional prayer used for special The third exhortation of the order in The occasions of danger, dire need, and pen­ Boo.k of CommOll Prayer is derived from ance, as well as during Lent had appeared the second in the Pia deZiberatio, which already in English in the 14th centuty, here followed the order of Niirnberg by and also in Henry's reign, in the Sarum Volprecht in 1524. The language of the Primer and in Marshall's "Goodly Primer." prayer of confession and of the absolution Marshall's version of 1535 already showed in the new order of Holy Communion also some influence of the litany that Luther closely resembles that of the confession and had prepared for use at Wittenberg after absolution in the Pia deliberatio. The March 1529, first in Latin and then in Ger­ phrase "Hear what comfortable words" man. Then Cranmer issued in May 1544 surely reflects the German "Horet den an English litany under the following de­ evangelischen trost" also in the Pia delib­ scription: "An exhortation unto prayer, eratio. Again, the words of administration thought mete by the kinges maiestie and very probably reflect Luther's insistence in his clergy, to be read to the people in his Der kleine Katechismus and elsewhere every church afore processyons. Also a that the words "given for you;' "shed fot Letanie with suffrages to be said or song you," and "for the remission of sins" were in the time of the said processyons." Edit­ fundamental to the right observance of ing and rewording, Cranmer here wove to­ this sacrament. The words of administra­ gether strands from the English version set tion of the English order closely resemble out in Marshall's Primer, after excising the those in the order of Schwabisch Hall pre­ pared by Brenz in 1547. While a similar 30 Older histories of The Book of Common PraYef which reflect this tendency observed are formula can be found in the manuals, those of F. Procter and W. H. Frere, and of though not the missals, of pre-Reformation ]. H. Blunt. 31 ]. Dowden, Further Studies in the Prayer 32 ]. Dowden, The Workmanship of the Book (1908), p. 34. Prayer Book, 2d ed., (1902), pp. 152 if. 588 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND

England, yet the vital clue for Lutheran prayer for the depatted is removed from influence lies in the words "given ... shed the prayer of consecration, and the words ... for thee," a fact ignored or overlooked of administration are radically altered to by Procter and Frere.33 That Cranmer was something nearer to the position of Bullin­ familiar with the Lutheran words of ad­ ger. Largely because of this change the Lu­ ministration can be seen from the fact that theran influences are almost entirely absent the catechism of Justus Jonas, referred to from the order of Holy Communion above, has a brief section on the impor­ printed in the Book of Common Prayer of tance of the words "given for you" and 1662, which is still in use.35 "shed for you." In the Communion of the The order of Baptism of 1549, which sick the rubric requiring some others to today remains largely unaltered in The communicate with the sick person is taken Book of Common Prayer, shows a much either from the Pia deliberatio or from an­ more marked influence of the Lutheran other Luthe~~n nrr1er, for the requirement orders, for three fourths of this rite is de­ is almost universal in the German orders. rived from Lutheran sources, especially This is not to say that Cranmer followed from the German translation of the Pia any order closely, for the originality of his deliberatio. The exhortation is largely de­ liturgical genius can be seen in his addi­ rived from that of Luther in 1523 in his tions to, and contractions of, his various T aufbuchlein, which was followed in many sources. He was resolute, moreover, in sup­ of the German church orders. The first pressing from his order of Holy Commun­ prayer at Baptism is taken from Luther, and ion the elevation, which was retained in the collect "Almighty and everlasting God, several Lutheran orders, including that of heavenly Father ..." is almost wholly a di­ the Palatinate introduced by Osiander, Cran­ rect translation from the Lutheran prayer. mer's wife's uncle. Nevertheless, it is not In the order for private Baptism the ques­ surprising that Hilles wrote to Bullinger in tions asked follow closely those in the Pia June 1549 on the new order of Holy Com­ deliberatio. Other orders and forms in The munion: "We have a uniform communion Book of Common Prayer indicate a Lu­ of the eucharist throughout the entire theran background: the order of confirma­ realm, yet after the manner of the Nurem­ tion follows the Pia deliberatio very prob­ berg books and some of the Saxons. The ably in the use of a brief catechism, and the bishops and magistrates present no ob­ insistence on the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and struction to the Lutherans." 34 This state­ Ten Commandments in the preparation of ment is not to be understood as approving the communicant. It is interesting that of the Lutheran influence, rather it deplores signing with the sign of the cross, which it, and within less than three years the was retained at Baptism (though omitted powerful pressure group it represents won at confirmation) together with the words the removal of Lutheran elements from the declared at that point, are found in the Pia order of Holy Communion in the second 35 It could be added, however, that the Book of Common Prayer, 1552. Here the Communion of the Sick, which survived in 1662, shows the influence of Lutheran orders. 33 J. Dowden, Further Studies, p.236. Dowden, Further Studies in the Prayer Book 34 Ellis, Original Letters, p. cxxi. (1908), pp. 248 if. SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 589 deliberatio and were to be one of the fun­ thereby conveying a profounder signifi­ damental grounds of attack on the Prayer cance to the statement. The opening ad­ Book by the Puritans in the time of Eliz­ dress on the nature of Christian marriage abeth I and later as an unreformed popish (which follows much that is in the Sarurn ceremony.36 order) contains several phrases echoing the Since in the services of Matins and Even­ Lutheran orders, especially that of Schwa­ song Cranmer undertook a markedly new bisch Hall. In addition, the words "else approach to Sunday parochial worship, we hereafter forever hold his peace" reflect might expect Lutheran influence here, for words used in several Lutheran orders be­ there had been a similar development in ginning with that of Brandenburg-Niirn­ Protestant Germany. Yet though well aware berg by Osiander in 1533.38 Finally, the of the radical revision of breviary hours by order for the visitation of the sick reflects Quinones and of the patterns provided by in its exhortation the Saxon order of 1539 the German orders, Cranmer showed his either directly or as mediated through the originality and his liturgical touch at its Pia deliberatio; and the anthem in the or­ best in the two offices, and borrowed little der for the burial of the dead, Media vita, from other sources. There are traces, how­ "In the midst of life," contains the words ever, of the order of Calenberg and Got­ "Suffer us not at our last hour," which have tingen, of 1542, in the order of Matins in no place in the original Latin sequence and the first Book of Comm01Z Prayer, where derive (through Coverdale's translation of the arrangement of the service follows a Luther's version of the sequence "Mitten very similar pattern.37 The form of sol­ wir im leben sind") from Luther's own emnization of matrimony in The Book of beautiful addition: Common Prayer is still in use and shows Du ewiger Gott, plainly the influence of luther's Traubuch­ Lass uns nicht entfallen lein fur die einfiiltigen Pfarrherrn, for ex­ Von des rechten Glaubens Trost.3s ample, the words "Those whom God hath "A Catechism," which is set in the Prayer joined together" derive from "Was Gatt Book between the baptismal and confirma­ zusammen gefuget hat, sol kein Mensch tion services, follows a pattern that had scheiden." Again the words "After God's been established by Brenz beginning with ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony" what was given to the child in Baptism and derive from "nach gottlicher Ordenung continuing through the Creed, Ten Com­ zum heiligen Stande der Ehe." Moreover, mandments, and Lord's Prayer, and in some the words "this company," so often taken of the explanations on the Commandments to mean no more than those individually appears to echo Luther's Catechism. There present at the ceremony, reflect in fact the is also an influence of Lutheranism in the German "gemein," meaning the church, provision of religious instruction for the 36 Dowden, p.271. It could be added, too, people, and this lies in the first Book of that part of the general confession is derived Homilies, issued in July 1547, containing from the Pia deliberatio, Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer 38 Dowden, pp. 283, 284. (1925), p.488. 39 Dowden, The Workmanship of the Prayer 37 Dowden, p. 79. Book, 2d ed. (1902), p.162. 590 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND

12 homilies. Cranmer himself was respon­ (this had been prepared by Brenz in sible for four if not five of these twelve, the 1551). Articles IX, XI, XVI, XIX, XX, third of which, "Of the Salvation of Man­ XXVI, XXXVII, and XXXVIII all reflect kind by Only Christ Our Saviour," is em­ the Augsburg Confession, and other arti­ phasized as being especially important for cles also have words and phrases reflecting its teaching on justification by faith in its influence, either directly or as it was Article XI of the Thirty-nine Articles. Pro­ mediated through the Wiirtemberg Con­ fessor Jacobs cites among other less ob­ fession. (It is worth noting that what vious instances the parallelism between many Anglicans believe to be the modera­ Melanchthon's Loci Communes: De Evan­ tion and traditionalism of the articles in gelio: "Justification is given fully, that is, comparison with continental confessions not on account of our worth, yet there can be seen also in Lutheran articles and must be a ransom for us," and the words are not therefore peculiarly distinctive of of the homily: "Although this justification Anglicanism other than in the sense that be free unto us, yet it cometh not so freely Archbishop Parker sympathized with that unto us, that there is no ransom paid there­ kind of pattern rather than with a more for at all." 40 While verbal similarities, in radical one.) Also the }.l.pology of the spite of Professor Jacobs, are much more Augsburg Confession and the Smalcald rare than this citation might suggest, yet Articles may be traced here and there in this homily as well as "Of the True and the Thirty-nine Articles. But it should not Lively Faith" and "On Good Works" cer­ be overlooked, on the other hand, that four tainly reflect how far Cranmer was work­ or five of the articles show the rising in­ ing from within the same pattern of the­ fluence of the Swiss theology before which, ology as that created by Luther's great in­ flOm Edward's reign onwards, Lutheran­ sights on the doctrine of grace. ism was very largely retreating in England, The Book of Homilies is no longer sig­ and also these few articles represent more nificant in the life of the Church of Eng­ the specific impact of Reformed theology land, but assent to the Thirty-nine Articles than those articles which reflect a Lutheran is still required of clergy upon their insti­ source, since often enough that source may tution to benefices. The preliminary draft­ well have been common ground in Protes­ ing of the Articles of Religion began in tantism in generaI.41 1551 and was undertaken by Cranmer him­ The amount of Lutheran literature com­ self, and after some revision they were ing into England during Henry's reign has issued numbering 42 in 1553. Archbishop already been referred to above,42 but this Parker revised these to some extent, omit­ deserves more detailed attention. The ex­ ting some articles and adding others, and tent of the influence of a Lutheran book they were issued in their final form in 1571. imported from Germany, or translated and Articles I-IV reflect, sometimes verbatim, published in England, is imponderable. similar statements in the Augsburg Con­ How can one tell how many readers a given fession. Article V is very close to the third book would reach? Humphrey Monmouth, articles of the Wiirtemberg Confession 41 Ibid., pp. 341,342. 40 Jacobs, p.337. 42 Supra, pp. 581 if. SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 591 a London draper and alderman "noted as had begun with Tyndale from 1528 and well for his piety as his wealth," had "ar­ earlier in The Parable of a Wicked Mam­ ticles mynystred against" him in Novem­ mon, and the Prologue to the Epistle to ber 1537: "thaw hast had or bought divers the Romans issued in Tyndale's New Test­ and many Books, Treaties, and Works of ament and taken from Luther's own Pro­ the said Martyn Luther, and other of his logue, and by 1536 the Augsburg Confes­ detestable sect . . . thou art named and sion had been translated with the Apology reputed to be avancer and a Favourer of of the Augsburg Confession, by Richard the said Martyn Luther, his Heresies and Taverner. The dysclosyng of the canon of detestable Opinions, and one of the same the popysh Masse, with a sermon annexed Sect." 43 How many came to read Luther unto it, of ye famous clerk of worthy mem­ for the first time through visiting Mon­ ory D. Nlarten Luther, by me Hans Hit­ mouth's house? The number of occasions pfycke (1548?) shows Luther being used on which Lutheran books are quoted or as a propellant for an English rocket named in correspondence, heresy trials, ser­ against "popery." mons, and other English +J-,6~lA3icallitn~~­ It is interesting th.at Luther's sacramental rure, lists of condemned books, would be theology is avoided in English versions of a complicated study in itself. No more can his works and that in the reign of Eliza­ be done here than draw attention to book beth I the translations from Luther are titles from Germany, and to the English from his Biblical expositions (and even translations of some of these during the these are modified by the omission of pas­ years in which these books were prominent sages where his sacramental teaching ap­ and indicate their characteristic subject pears) 45 and ignore his earlier explosive matter. A list of prohibited books, one of treatises, which would by then be consid­ several after 1526, was entitled Libri sectae ered old weapons unsuited to post-Triden­ sive factionis Lutheranae importati ad ci­ tine controversial needs. Melanchthon's vitatem London per fautores ejusdem sec­ confessional writings in English have been tae (probably dating from 1531 or a little mentioned already, and also some of his later), included Luther's Latin catechism, minor treatises appeared in English, in­ De tibertate Christiana, De bonis operibus, cluding A godlye treatyse of prayer De votis monasticis, the commentary on ( 1553?) translated by John Bradford, who Galatians, and other works with some of was soon to be burned under Mary. More­ his letters. In this list also were works by over, a list of translations from other Lu­ Bugenhagen, Urbanus Rhegius, Melanch­ theran authors could be compiled, includ­ than, Agricola, and Brenz, but Zwinglian ing Brenz, Osiander, Sarcerius, Rhegius, and South German writers are also found but these mostly appeared in Henry's time; in it, Oecolampadius, Pellikan, Butzer, hardly any Lutheran author is translated Francis Lambert, and Zwingli himself.44 under Elizabeth I save Luther and Me-

English translations of Lutheran literature 45 For example, see P. S. Watson, Com­ mentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians 43 J. Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials (1721), by Martin Luther (1953), pp. 3, 4, 473, where 1,317,318. he shows the deletions and adjustments made 44 Foxe, IV, 667. in Luther's text. 592 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND lanchthon, and these titles begin to disap­ "Laudian divines" of the Stuart Church of pear after 1585. England, how often one is reminded of A question that is almost wholly ignored Melanchthon's "synergism," his irenic atti­ by those who write on English ecclesiasti­ tude to Roman Catholic liturgical ceremo­ cal history under the first two Stuarts is nial and things that could be described as the degree to which Lutheranism, after the "adiaphora," his emphasis on patristic stud­ pattern of Melanchthon's disciples, resem­ ies and the consensus of the fathers with bled certain emphases made by the Lau­ the concurrent appeal to the first five cen­ dians. Was this resemblance fortuitous, turies of the church as guiding principles did like causes produce like effects in parts for the church. Nevertheless, these matters of Germany as in England, or was there an are not sufficient to suggest the direct influence of the followers of Melanchthon though delayed influences of Melanchthon; even though indirectly? Arminianism in the Laudians could well arrive at similar Holland, especially as seen in Grotius, rep= conclusions by 8n independent though par­ resented the revival of certain emphases allel route and, moreover, they gave less made by Erasmus long before, which were heed to the Melanchthonian insistence on not far from the hearts of Melanchthon the senft:s proprius of Scripture as the norm and some of his later followers, even as by which all else is to be studied. In any they were attractive to the Laudians. The case the revival of Lutheranism in the Stu­ note so often sounded by Erasmus and Me­ art Church of England was already long an lanchthon and others of that generation can impossibility: by Laud's time Lutheranism be heard again in Richard Mountague, who was a dead issue. The Anglican insistence in his Apello Caesarem (1626), written on episcopalianism would not appeal to the three years before he became bishop of majority of Lutherans (indeed, to none, if Chichester, wrote: "(forsaking Protestant it were to be understood as meaning that scholastic divinity) ... I betooke myself orthodoxy depended on historical succes­ to Scripture, the Rule of Faith, interpreted sion), and much less still would Lutheran by Antiquity, the best Expositor of Faith scholasticism appeal to either Laudians or and applier of that Rule: holding it a point Puritans who recoiled from it with indif­ of discretion, to draw water, as neere as ference or dislike. I could, to the wellhead, and to spare labour But had there been no chance, before in vaine, in running further off to cisternes Puritanism arose and Laudianism developed and lakes." 46 Calixt in Germany, an ad­ later in opposition to it, that England might miring disciple of Melanchthon's teachings, have looked again with sympathy towards held views similar to this principle of the Lutherans when Elizabeth I began to Mountague and opposed the orthodoxy of reign? It is worth remembering that Eliza­ Calov with an appeal to the Melanchtho­ beth as a girl had read Melanchthon's Loci nian ideal of the Consensus quinquesaecu­ communes (the edition of 1538 was dedi­ laris, which was also so attractive to the cated to her father). It is sometimes sug­ Laudians. When reading the works of the gested that Elizabeth differed from her sub­

46 Richard Mountague, Apello Caesarem jects in having Lutheran sympathies. This (1625), pp. 11, 12. suggestion derives largely, if not exclu- SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 593 sively, from her statement to the Spanish that more elaborate ceremonial of church ambassador in 1559 at the time of the worship which Lutherans also approved, Elizabethan Settlement of Religion that she Elizabeth had no intention whatever of wished "the Augustanean Confession" to bringing forward Lutheran doctrine and be maintained in her realm and then added practices in such a way that the Church of "it would not be the Augustanean Confes­ England would be associated in men's sion but something else like it, and that minds with Lutheran Scandinavia or North she differed very little from us [that is, the Germany. Elizabeth, like her father, put Roman Catholics} as she believed that God first her sovereignty, which included her was in the Sacrament of the Eucharist and status as supreme governor of the Church only dissented from three or four things in of England. She was never troubled in con­ the Mass" 47 (He was not the only Spanish science like Elector John of Saxony, who ambassador to be obtuse in matters of Prot­ in Luther's time feared, under the Gospel, estant religion; many of their statements to exercise princely rule bClth in church on religious matters under the Tudors are and state.48 That Elizabeth robustly set misleading or ill-stated. Did he not realize, aside such scruples can be seen in her too, that many Protestants could say as formidable though brief letter to Dr. Cox, much as the Queen did on the Mass?) Her Bishop of Ely, in 1573 when he had op­ statement is sometimes dismissed as diplo­ posed her desire to hand over to Sir Chris­ matic double-talk, but why should it not topher Hatton the palace and garden in be taken as a simple statement of fact? Her Holborn belonging to the see of Ely: words reflect the moderate reform views of Proud Prelate, her youth when she had translated at the You know what you were before I made age of eleven "The Mirror of a Sinful Soul" you what you are now. If you do not im­ by the French princess Marguerite of An­ mediately comply with my request, I will gouleme, where as all her life she was un­ unfrock you, by God. influenced by the Swiss and Genevan the­ Elizabeth 49 ology of the great majority of her subjects Poor Cox was not in fact so proud a - in fact, she utterly detested it since she prelate, but he was left in no doubt on the recognized in it, with an insight lacking in authority of the Godly Prince in England. most of her bishops, a potential hostility to This firm control-no one at home or her royal prerogative in religion, an incip­ ient republicanism, and consequent rebel­ 48 Article "Johann der BestG.ndige," Realen­ lion. The Lutheran authority of the Godly cyclopadie fur ProteJtantische Theologie und Kirche, 3d ed., IX, 240-41. Prince was fundamental to her conception 49 The Letters of Queen Elizabeth, ed. G. B. of her duty and her calling. Harrison (1935), p.120 (this letter to Cox is Moreover, in spite of her saying that dated 1573). A sympathetic consideration of Elizabeth's religious views and of her attitude she would have preferred something like to contemporary religious affairs is given in the conservative theology of the Augsburg C. S. Meyer's Elizabeth I and the Religious Confession, and in spite of her liking for Settlemem 0/ 1559 (St. Louis, 1960). This work also contains an examination of the degree 47 M. A. S. Hume, Calendar 0/ State Papers, of influence of Lutheranism in the early years Spanish, Elizabeth (1892), I, 61-62. of Eliza beth 1. 594 SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND abroad failed to see that "she intended with Geneva, but also because it would princely to rule" - Elizabeth exercised over have weakened her policy of noncommit­ all her subjects, including the clergy, as an ment in international affairs.5o Englishwoman over Englishmen, a nation Would it be an accurate generalization then more given to xenophobia than nowa­ to say that Luther's theological insights, days. She wanted no alliances with foreign other than those associated with the doc­ powers who could entangle her political trine of grace, were left without a witness initiative; nor would she tolerate her sub­ in England under Elizabeth and after­ jects seeking to foster such alliances even wards? Not really: but some may wish to on the grounds of religion. She clearly point to the curious case of Richard wanted what that same Dr. Cox desired in Cheney, Bishop of Gloucester from 1562, the congregation of English refugees at cited by the Catholic historian Philip Frankfurt in Mary's reign, "the face of an Hughes, as "the solitary Lutheran" among English church." This meant that Elizabeth the Elizabethan bishops.51 The basis for opposed nor the ill uence of Rome, his statement lies m mden's description Zurich, or Geneva but ahv that of Witten­ of Cheney, mediated hrough Strype, as berg. Political alliances went with confes­ "most addiu'.:d to Ln ~r, both in respect, sional relations. n ccause of this fundamen­ I suppose, of the doctrir,e of the presence, tal fact Luthe:canism could never hope to as also for the retaining of old customs, as achieve in England what it achieved, for crucifixes and pictures of saints in the example, in Sweden. None of the Tudors churches, and such like." 52 But this could from the time of Henry VIII would accept well mean that Cheney was conservative putting the state of England, and this in­ in religion following the pattern implicit cluded the Church of England, under the in the first Book of Common Prayer of authority or guiding influence of a con­ 1549. Also it is known that he disliked the tinental power and continental church, save views and proceedings of Bishop Hooper, Mary, whose alliance with Spain and rein­ his predecessor at Gloucester, who was cer­ troduction of papal authority were detested tainly a Zwinglian; and Strype affirms that in England Protestants and who made Cheney held "that no doctrine could be even Catholics uneasy because she was mak­ shewn that had universally deceived an ing England an entail of Spanish politics. 50 It was from Geneva that John Knox The attempt by presbyterianizing Puritans had attacked "the monstrous regiment of from 1570 onwards to bring the Church women," the rule of Mary Stuart and Mary of England into line with the Reformed Tudor. He led a revolution in arms against his sovereign in Scodand. Elizabeth neither churches of Switzerland, France, and the forgave nor forgot this fact. For her view of Palatinate, however much it was favored the political dangers inherent in presbyterianiz­ by many in the church, the House of Com­ ing Puritanism see her letter to James VI of Scodand, Letters of Queen Elizabeth and King mons, and even in the Privy Council, was James VI of Scotland, ed. John Bruce (Camden rudely shattered by Elizabeth, supported Society, 1849), p.63. by the bishops whom she regarded as her 51 P. Hughes, The Reformation in England, III, 46. right arm in governing the church, not 52 J. Strype, Annals of the Reformation, merely because she disliked anything to do 2d ed. (1725), I, 281. SUCCESS AND DECLINE OF LUTHERANISM IN ENGLAND 595 oecumenical council. And on this he built allusive swallows do not make a Lutheran his real presence in the sacrament: because summer. After Elizabeth's reign English­ this was the ancient faith. . . ." 53 This men regarded Lutheranism as part of the makes a conservative Henrician of Cheney perspective of history and not as a living and shows no ground for assuming a Lu­ influence presenting a valid option in reli­ theran theology of the Presence as being gious belief and practice. It is known that attractive to him. That he was not a secret Captain Henry Bell endured imprisonment upholder of Tridentine Catholicism may be with more ease through translating Lu­ seen by the fact that he risked dissenting ther's Table Talk, and that John Wesley from the articles concerning Transubstanti­ was profoundly moved at hearing Luther's ation agreed on by Convocation in 1553, at Preface to Romans at a meeting in Alders­ the opening of Mary's reign.54 gate Street in London, and that Julius Hare Perhaps other more positive and tangible wrote vigorously The Vindication of Lu­ evidence of Lutheran influences could be ther Against His Recent English Assailants found in Elizabeth's reign, for example, in in 1855. But even if one were to include the work of the martyrologist John Foxe, the great affection for "A Safe Stronghold who not only wrote a commendatory pref­ Our God Is Still," these facts present no ace to an English translation of one of revival of Lutheranism in England. That Luther's sermons (A Commentary upon the a revival is possible would not be denied; Fifteenth Psalm, 1577) but also, and this there are today a number of Lutherans in fact is too little realized, was indebted to England, but that they can build on old Luther's apocalyptic view of Christian his­ foundations is doubtful, for those founda­ tory and also the periodization characteris­ tions are long buried or built over by other tic of Melanchthonian historiography in the more enduring structnres of English design. earlier sections of his Acts and Monuments. It is to be hoped, nevertheless, that these Nevertheless, Foxe was markedly Swiss in new Lutherans of England will restore to his theology as a whole. In any case, a few English religious life something at least of the profound insights of one of the 53 Ibid., pp.282, 283. most creative theologians in the history of 54 P. Heylin, Ecclesia Restaurata, or The the church. History of the Reformation of the Church of England, ed. G. C. Robinson (1849), II, 387. Cambridge, England