not only visible in the work itself, but in the Supplement to it. For unfortunately in the very instance under consideration, he observes, "In the Convocation "of the year 1543, we have only this short word; that

on the 29th of April the Archbishop treated of the "Sacraments, and on the next day on the Article of "Free Will. This is all that I could gather from the copy of the minutes of the Convocation." p. 161. If the reader turns to the minutes alluded to, which are preserved in Wilkins, as above quoted, he will find, that something more than Burnet's short word was recorded; he will perceive, that on the 20th of April the Exposition of the Lord's Prayer in English was considered; on the 21st, that of the five first precepts of the Decalogue; on the 24th and 25th, that of the remaining five, with another of the Sacraments, and not on the 29th, as Burnet states; on the 27th, that of the word Faith, of the 12 Articles of Faith, of Justification, Works, and Prayer for the dead; and on the 30th, that of the Article of Free Will. Upon which latter day the minute runs thus; "Quo die lectos et publice "expositos in vulgari Articulos liberi Arbitrii tradidit Reverendissimus Prolocutori eo animo, ut ipse eun"dem tractatum coram Prælatis inferioris Domus perlegeret. Quem lectum restituerunt superiori Domui "cum hac approbatione, quod pro catholicis et reli"giosis eos acceptarunt, necnon gratias ingentes patri"bus egerunt, quod tantos labores, sudores, et vigilias "religionis et reipublicæ causa, et unitatis gratia, subie"runt." Now the different expositions thus considered, comprise the several parts of the "Necessary Erudi❝tion," published in that year.

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If these productions be minutely examined, not only the ideas, but sometimes the very language, of the Lutherans will appear to have been closely copied in both, upon the subject at least before me. The reader may

find the Articles in Burnet's Hist. Reform. vol. i. Addenda, p. 805; some account of "The Necessary Erudition" in the same work, vol. i. p. 286. and of “ The "Institution" in Collier's Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 139.

I have fixed the date of the "Necessary Erudition" in 1543, as Collier has correctly done, and not in 1540, according to Burnet. The latter observes, "It was “finished and set forth in this year, (viz. 1540,) with "a preface written by those of the Clergy, who had "been employed in it," (a preface however, which never existed except in his own imagination.) "To this the "King added another preface some years after." Vol. i. p. 293. But this is not all. To corroborate his statement, Burnet misquotes an Act of Parliament, which passed in the year when the work actually appeared, but before it was completed for publication. In this statute (he remarks) all the Books of the Old and New Testament of Tindal's translation are forbidden to be kept or used in the King's dominions, "with all other "books contrary to the doctrine set forth in the year "1540." And again, "Every person might read and "teach in their houses the book set out in the year 1540." Vol. i. p. 322. Now the words of the Act are these: in the first instance, "contrary to that doctrine, which, "since the year of our Lord 1540, is, or any time here"after during the King's Majesty's life, &c. . . . . shall "be set forth by his Highness;" and in the second instance, (not the book set out in the year 1540, but)" all "such doctrine, as, since the said year of our Lord 1540, "is or shall be set forth by the King's Majesty, &c." expressions certainly conveying a meaning very different from that of Burnet. The truth was, that the commissioners appointed to draw up the work in question (as mentioned in the subsequent note) did certainly meet in 1540; but that the work itself was not published until after the prorogation of the Parliament, on

the 12th of May, 1543. During the last week in April we find it in the hands of the Convocation; and on the following 29th of May it was printed.

I have been the more particular on this occasion in pointing out the inaccuracies of Burnet, because he seems in general to have been too implicitly trusted, misleading perhaps subsequent writers by his loose style, and looser statements, more than any other historian.

Page 15, note (°).

In the year 1540, a motion was made by Cromwell, in the upper House, for the appointment of a committee "of Bishops and Divines, to draw up an exposition of "those things, that were necessary for the institution of "a Christian man." Burnet, vol. i. p. 274, and Journal of the House of Lords, in which Cromwell's Speech is given. The committee was accordingly appointed, and drew up, not the work entitled, "The Institution of a "Christian Man," which had been published three years before, but that which was termed, "A Necessary Doc"trine and Erudition for any Christian Man." Cromwell's motion for the appointment of the committee was made April 13, 1540; upon the 13th of June following, he was arrested and sent to the Tower, and upon the 28th of July beheaded. Seven days before his execution, a bill passed both Houses of Parliament, which empowered this committee, or any other which the King might appoint, "to declare the principal Articles of the "Christian belief, with the ceremonies, and way of "God's service to be observed." It appears by Fox's Martyrology, vol. ii. p. 1693. ed. 1610, that at this precise period these Commissioners attempted to establish such Doctrines, as might tend to the revival of Popish error and superstition; that even Bishop Heath and Bishop Skip (who were in the commission, and friendly to the Protestant cause) earnestly entreated Cranmer

not to oppose the design, for fear of incurring the King's displeasure; but that he resisted their entreaties, disdaining, as Fox terms it, to deal colourably on the occasion, notwithstanding the dread of Henry's anger, and the alarming effects of it visible in the sudden fall and expected fate of Cromwell; " and that in the end, "by discharging his conscience, and declaring the truth "unto the King, God so wrought with the King, that "his Highness joined with him against the rest, so that, "the book of Articles passing on his side, he won the "goal from them all, contrary to all their expectations, "when many wagers would have been laid in London, "that he should have been laid up with Cromwell, at "that time in the Tower for his stiff standing to his "tackle. After that day," adds the historian," there "could neither Counsellor, Bishop, or Papist, win him "out of the King's favour." The Articles in question, or what are given as such, may be seen in Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. i. Appendix, p. 306. They were probably intended, as the same writer observes, (vol. i. p. 356.) to contain "the public judgment and "professed doctrine of the Church of England," as they constantly commence with the phrases, "Docemus, cre"dimus," From them, parts of our 25th, 26th, and 34th Articles were borrowed. In our 25th Art. (as worded in 1552,) the Sacraments are thus defined; "Sacra❝menta a Christo instituta non tantum sunt notæ pro❝fessionis Christianorum, sed certa quædam potius tes"timonia, et efficacia signa gratiæ atque bonæ in nos "voluntatis Dei, per quæ invisibiliter ipse in nobis ope"ratur, nostramque fidem in se non solum excitat, ve"rum etiam confirmat." This was manifestly taken from the production of the year 1540, above alluded to. "Docemus," it is there said, "quod Sacramenta, quæ

per verbum Dei instituta sunt, non tantum sunt notæ "professionis inter Christianos, sed magis certa quæ

"dam testimonia et efficacia signa gratiæ, et bonæ vo"luntatis Dei erga nos, per quæ Deus invisibiliter ope❝ratur in nobis, et suam gratiam in nos invisibiliter dif"fundit, siquidem ea rite susceperimus. Quodque per "ea excitatur et confirmatur fides in his, qui eis "utuntur." Strype's Eccles. Mem. vol. i. Appendix, p. 306. But even this passage is derived from the following in the Augsburg Confession; "De Sacramen"torum usu docent, quod Sacramenta instituta sunt, "non modo ut sint notæ professionis inter homines, sed magis ut sint signa, et testimonia voluntatis Dei erga "nos." Art. 13. August. Confess.

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26th Article of our Church.

"Quamvis in Ecclesia visibili bonis mali sunt semper "admixti, atque interdum ministerio verbi et Sacramen"torum administrationi præsint, tamen cum non suo, sed "Christi nomine agant, ejusque mandato et authoritate "ministrent, illorum ministerio uti licet, cum in verbo "Dei audiendo, tum in Sacramentis percipiendis, neque "per illorum malitiam effectus institutorum Christi "tollitur, aut gratia donorum Dei minuitur, quoad eos, qui fide et rite sibi oblata percipiunt, quæ propter in"stitutionem Christi, et promissionem efficacia sunt, "licet per malos administrentur."

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Articles of 1540.

"Et quamvis in Ecclesia secundum posteriorem ac"ceptionem mali sunt bonis admixti, atque etiam mi"nisteriis verbi et Sacramentorum nonnunquam præ"sint, tamen, cum ministrent non suo, sed Christi no"mine mandato et authoritate, licet eorum ministerio "uti, tam in verbo audiendo quam recipiendis Sacra"mentis, juxta illud, Qui vos audit, me audit. Nec per “eorum malitiam imminuitur effectus, aut gratia dono

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rum Christi rite accipientibus. Sunt enim efficacia "propter promissionem et ordinationem Christi, etiamsi per malos exhibeantur."