CHAPTER VII.

I. CONVOCATION FOR THE EXTIRPATION OF HERESY (1512).

[Sidenote: Lollards go to hear Colet’s sermons.]

[Sidenote: Two heretics burned at Smithfield.]

Colet’s labours in connection with his school did not interfere with his ordinary duties. He was still, Sunday after Sunday, preaching those courses of sermons on ‘the Gospels, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer,’ which attracted by their novelty and unwonted earnestness so many listeners. The Dean was no Lollard himself, yet those whose leanings were toward Lollard views naturally found, in Colet’s simple Scripture teaching from his pulpit at St. Paul’s, what they felt to be the food for which they were in search, and which they did not get elsewhere. They were wont, it seems, to advise one another to go and hear Dr. Colet; and it was not strange if, in the future examination of heretics, a connection should be traced between Colet’s sermons and the increase of heresy.[392] That heresy was on the increase could not be doubted. Foxe has recorded that several Lollards suffered in 1511 under Archbishop Warham, and, strange to say, Colet’s name appears on the list of judges.[393] Foxe also mentions no fewer than twenty-three heretics who were compelled by Fitzjames, Bishop of London, to abjure during 1510 and 1511. And so zealous was the Bishop in his old age against them that he burned at least two of them in Smithfield during the autumn of 1511.[394] So common, indeed, were these martyr-fires, that Ammonius, Latin secretary to Henry VIII., writing from London, a few weeks after, to Erasmus at Cambridge, could jestingly say, that ‘he does not wonder that wood is so scarce and dear, the heretics cause so many holocausts; and yet (he said) their numbers grow--nay, even the brother of Thomas, my servant, dolt as he is, has himself founded a sect, and has his disciples!’[395]

It was under these circumstances that a royal mandate was issued, in November 1511, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to summon a convocation of his province to meet in St. Paul’s Cathedral, February 6, 1512.[396]

[Sidenote: Convocation summoned.]

The King--under the instigation, it was thought, of Wolsey[397]--was just then entering into a treaty with the Pope and other princes with a view to warlike proceedings against France; and the King’s object in calling this convocation was doubtless to procure from the clergy their share of the taxation necessary to meet the expenses of equipping an army, which it was convenient to represent as required ‘for the defence of the _Church_ as well as the kingdom of England;’ but there was another object for which a convocation was required besides this of taxation--one more palatable to Bishop Fitzjames and his party--that of the ‘_extirpation of heresy_.’[398]

On Friday, February 6, 1512, members of both Houses of Convocation assembled, it would seem, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, to listen to the sermon by which it was customary that their proceedings should be opened.

[Sidenote: Colet appointed to preach the opening sermon.]

Dean Colet was charged by the Archbishop with the duty of preaching this opening address.

It was a task by no means to be envied, but Colet was not the man to shirk a duty because it was unpleasant. He had accepted the deanery of St. Paul’s not simply to wear its dignities and enjoy its revenues, but to do its duties; and one of those duties, perhaps _the_ one to which he had felt himself most clearly called, had been the duty of _preaching_. Probably, there was not a pulpit in England which offered so wide a sphere of influence to the preacher as that of St. Paul’s.

[Sidenote: St. Paul’s Cathedral.]

[Sidenote: St. Paul’s Walk.]

The noble cathedral itself was _then_, in a sense which can hardly be realised _now_, the centre of the metropolis of England. In architectural merits, in vastness, and in the beauty of its proportions, it was rivalled by few in the world; but it was not from these alone that it derived its importance. Under the shadow of its gracefully-tapering spire, 534 feet in height, its nave and choir and presbytery extended 700 feet in one long line of Gothic arches, broken only by the low screen between the nave and choir. And pacing up and down this nave might be seen men of every class in life, from the merchant and the courtier down to the mendicant and the beggar. _St. Paul’s Walk_ was like a ‘change, thronged by men of business and men of the world, congregated there to hear the news, or to drive their bargains; while in the long aisles kneeled the devotees of saints or Virgin, paying their devotions at shrines and altars, loaded with costly offerings and burning tapers; and in the chantries, priests in monotonous tones sang masses for departed souls.

[Sidenote: Colet had now preached at St. Paul’s seven years.]

In _this_ cathedral had Colet preached now for seven successive years. He had preached to the humblest classes in their own English tongue,[399] and, in order to bring down his teaching to their level, had given them an English translation of the Paternoster[400] for their use. He had seen them kneeling before the shrines, and had faithfully warned them against the worship of images.[401] He had preached to the merchants and citizens of London, and they had recognised in him a preacher who practised what he preached, whose life did not give the lie to what he taught; and he had done all this in spite of any talk his plain-speaking might create amongst the orthodox, and notwithstanding the open opposition of his bishop. If poor Lollards found in him an earnestness and simple faith they did not find elsewhere, he knew that it was not _his_ fault. It was not _he_ who was making heretics so fast, but the priests and bishops themselves, who were driving honest souls into heretical ways by the scandal of their worldly living, and the pride and dryness of their orthodox profession. And now, when he was called upon to preach to these very priests and bishops, was he to shrink from the task?

Colet had already, in his lectures at Oxford, given expression to the pain which ecclesiastical scandals had given him; and in his abstracts of the Dionysian treatises he had recorded, with grief and tears, his longings for ecclesiastical reform. These, however, had never been printed. They lay in manuscript in his own hands, and could easily be suppressed. It remained to be seen whether seven years’ enjoyment of his own preferment had closed his lips to the utterance of unpopular truths.

[Sidenote: Condition of the clergy.]

If it were possible so far to look behind the screen of the past as to see the bishops of the province of Canterbury with the sight and knowledge of Colet, as he saw them assembled at St. Paul’s on that Friday morning, then, and then only, would it be possible to appreciate fairly what it must have cost him to preach the sermon he did on this occasion.

[Sidenote: The bishops and their benefices.]

The Archbishop and some of the bishops were friends of his and of the new learning; but even some of these were so far carried away by the habits of the times, as to fall inevitably under the censure of any honest preacher who should dare to apply the Christian standard to their episcopal conduct. There might be honourable exceptions to the rule, but, _as a rule_, the bishops looked upon their sees as _property_ conferred upon them often for political services, or as the natural result of family position or influence. The pastoral duties which properly belonged to their position were too often lost sight of. A bishopric was a thing to be sued for or purchased by money or influence. It mattered little whether the aspirant were a boy or a greyheaded old man, whether he lived abroad or in England, whether he were illiterate or educated. There was one bishop, for instance, whom Erasmus speaks of as a ‘youth,’ and who was so illiterate that he had offered Erasmus a benefice and a large sum of money if he would undertake his tuition for a year--a bribe which Erasmus, albeit at the time anxiously seeking remunerative work of a kind which would not interfere with his studies, refused with contempt.[402] Then there was James Stanley, an old man, whose only title to preferment was his connection with the Royal Family and a noble house, who, in spite of his absolute unfitness, had been made Bishop of Ely in 1506, and was now living, it is said, a life of open profligacy, to the great scandal of the English Church, and of the noble house to which he belonged.[403]

There was a bishop, too, whom More satirised repeatedly in his epigrams, under the name of ‘Posthumus;’ at whose promotion he expresses his delight, inasmuch as, whilst bishops were ‘generally selected at _random_, this bishop had evidently been chosen with _exceptional care_. If an error had been made in this case, it could not certainly have arisen from _haste_ in selection; for had the choice been made out of a thousand, a _worse or more stupid_ bishop could not possibly have been found!’[404] From another epigram, it may be inferred that this ‘Posthumus’ was one of the ignorant Scotists whose opposition the Oxford Reformers had so often to combat; for More represents him as fond of quoting the text, ‘_The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life_,’--the text which is mentioned by Tyndale as quoted by the Scotists against the literal interpretation of Scripture;--and then he drily remarks, that this bishop was too illiterate for any ‘_letters_ to have killed him, and that, if they had, he had no _spirit_ to bring him to life again!’[405]

[Sidenote: The bishops and their benefices.]

These may, indeed, have been exceptional or, at all events, extreme cases; but, however the bishops of the province of Canterbury had come by their bishoprics, their general practice seems to have been to use their benefices only as stepping-stones to higher ones. No sooner were they promoted to one see than they aspired to another, of higher rank and greater revenue. This, at least, was no exceptional thing. The Bishop of Bath and Wells had been Bishop of Hereford; the Bishop of Chichester had been translated from the see of St. David’s. The Bishop of Lincoln had been Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. Audley had filled the sees of Rochester and Hereford in succession, and was now Bishop of Salisbury. Fitzjames had been first promoted to the see of Rochester, after that to the see of Chichester, and from thence, in his old age, to the most lucrative of all--the see of London. Fox had commenced his episcopal career as Bishop of Exeter; he had from thence been translated, in succession, to the sees of Bath and Wells, and Durham, and was now Bishop of Winchester. And be it remembered that these numerous promotions were not in reward for the successful discharge of pastoral duties: those who had earned the most numerous and rapid promotions were the men who were the most deeply engaged in _political_ affairs, sent on embassies, and so forth, whose benefices were thus the reward of purely secular services, and who, consequently, had hardly had a chance of discharging with diligence their spiritual duties. The Bishop of Bath and Wells was a foreigner, and lived abroad; and so also the Bishop of Worcester owed his bishopric to Papal provision, and lived and died at Rome. His predecessor and his successor also both were foreigners.[406]

[Sidenote: Wolsey.]

[Sidenote: Wolsey’s ambition.]

There was also, amongst the clergy of the province of Canterbury, a man who was to surpass all others in these particulars; who was to be handed down to posterity as the very type of an ambitious churchman; who was already high in royal favour, always engaged in political affairs, and considered to be the instigator of the approaching war; who had the whole charge of equipping the army committed to his care; who had lately been promoted to the deanery of Lincoln, and was waiting for the bishopric as soon as it should be vacant; who had already had conferred upon him, in addition to the deanery, two rectories, a prebend, and a canonry; who, before another year was out, without giving up any of these preferments, was to be made Dean of York; and who was destined to aspire from bishopric to archbishopric, to hold abbeys and bishoprics _in commendam_, sue for and obtain from the Pope a cardinal’s hat and legatine authority, and to rule England in Church and State--England’s king amongst the rest--failing only in his attempt to get himself elected to the Papal chair. This Dean of Lincoln, so aspiring, ambitious, fond of magnificence and state, was sure to be found at his place in a convocation called that the clergy might tax themselves in support of his warlike policy, and in aid of his ambitious dreams. Wolsey, we may be sure, would be there to watch anxiously the concessions of his ‘dismes,’ as Bishop Fitzjames would be there also, to await the measures to be taken for the ‘extirpation of heresy.’

It was before an assembly composed of such bishops and churchmen as these, that Colet rose to deliver the following address:--

[Sidenote: Colet’s sermon.]

[Sidenote: Need of reformation in the church.]

‘You are come together to-day, fathers and right wise men, to hold a council. In which what ye will do, and what matters ye will handle, I do not yet know; but I wish that, at length, mindful of your name and profession, ye would consider of the reformation of ecclesiastical affairs: for never was it more necessary, and never did the state of the Church more need your endeavours. For the Church--the spouse of Christ--which He wished to be without spot or wrinkle, is become foul and deformed. As saith Esaias, “The faithful city is become a harlot;” and as Jeremias speaks, “She hath committed fornication with many lovers,” whereby she hath conceived many seeds of iniquity, and daily bringeth forth the foulest offspring. Wherefore I have come here to-day, fathers, to admonish you with all your minds to deliberate, in this your Council, concerning the reformation of the Church.

[Sidenote: Colet’s modesty.]

‘But, in sooth, I came not of my own will and pleasure, for I was conscious of my unworthiness, and I saw too how hard it would be to satisfy the most critical judgment of such great men. I judged it would be altogether unworthy, unfit, and almost arrogant in me, a servant, to admonish you, my masters!--in me, a son, to teach you, my fathers! It would have come better from some one of the fathers,--that is, from one of you prelates, who might have done it with weightier authority and greater wisdom. But I could not but obey the command of the most reverend Father and Lord Archbishop, the President of this Council, who imposed this duty, a truly heavy one, upon me; for we read that it was said by Samuel the prophet, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” Wherefore, fathers and most worthy sirs, I pray and beseech you this day that you will bear with my weakness by your forbearance and patience; next, in the beginning, help me with your pious prayers. And, before all things, let us pour out our prayers to God the Father Almighty; and first, let us pray for his Holiness the Pope, for all spiritual pastors, with all Christian people; next, let us pray for our most reverend Father the Lord Archbishop, President of this Council, and all the lords bishops, the whole clergy, and the whole people of England; let us pray, lastly, for this assembly and convocation, praying God that He may inspire your minds so unanimously to conclude upon what is for the good and benefit of the Church, that when this Council is concluded we may not seem to have been called together in vain and without cause. Let us all say “the _Pater noster_, &c.”’

The Paternoster concluded, Colet proceeded:--

[Sidenote: Text from Rom. xii.]

‘As I am about to exhort you, reverend fathers, to endeavour to reform the condition of the Church; because nothing has so disfigured the face of the Church as the secular and worldly way of living on the part of the clergy, I know not how I can commence my discourse more fitly than with the Apostle Paul, in whose cathedral ye are now assembled: (Romans xii. 2)--“Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye reformed in the newness of your minds, that ye may prove what is the good, and well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.” This the Apostle wrote to all Christian men, but emphatically to priests and bishops: for priests and bishops are the lights of the world, as the Saviour said to them, “Ye are the light of the world;” and again He said, “If the light that is in you be darkness, how great will be that darkness!” That is, if priests and bishops, the very lights, run in the dark way of the world, how dark must the lay-people be! Wherefore, emphatically to priests and bishops did St. Paul say, “Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye reformed in the newness of your minds.”

‘By these words the Apostle points out two things:--First, he prohibits our being _conformed_ to the world and becoming _carnal_; and then he commands that we be _reformed_ in the Spirit of God, in order that we may be _spiritual_. I therefore, following this order, shall speak first of _Conformation_, and after that of _Reformation_.

[Sidenote: Of ‘conformation.’]

‘“Be not,” he says, “conformed to this world.” By the _world_ the Apostle means the worldly way and manner of living, which consists chiefly in these four evils--viz. in _devilish pride_, in _carnal concupiscence_, in _worldly covetousness_, and in _worldly occupations_. These things are in the world, as St. John testifies in his canonical epistle; for he says, “All things that are in the world are either the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eye, or the pride of life.” These things in like manner exist and reign in the Church, and amongst ecclesiastical persons, so that we seem able truly to say, “All things that are in the _Church_ are either the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life!”

[Sidenote: Pride of life.]

‘In the _first_ place, to speak of _pride of life_--what eagerness and hunger after honour and dignity are found in these days amongst ecclesiastical persons! What a breathless race from benefice to benefice, from a less to a greater one, from a lower to a higher! Who is there who does not see this? Who that sees it does not grieve over it? Moreover, those who hold these dignities, most of them carry themselves with such lofty mien and high looks, that their place does not seem to be in the humble priesthood of Christ, but in proud worldly dominion!--not acknowledging or perceiving what the master of humility, Christ, said to his disciples whom he called to the priesthood. “The princes of the nations” (said He) “have lordship over them, and those who are amongst the great have power. But it shall not be so with you: but he who is great among you, let him be your minister; he who is chief, let him be the servant of all. For the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” By which words the Saviour plainly teaches, that magistracy in the Church is nothing else than humble service.

[Sidenote: Lust of the flesh.]

‘As to the second worldly evil, which is the _lust of the flesh_--has not this vice, I ask, inundated the Church as with the flood of its lust, so that nothing is more carefully sought after, in these most troublous times, by the most part of priests, than that which ministers to sensual pleasure? They give themselves up to feasting and banqueting; spend themselves in vain babbling, take part in sports and plays, devote themselves to hunting and hawking; are drowned in the delights of this world; patronise those who cater for their pleasure. It was against this kind of people that Jude the Apostle exclaimed: “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear; clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”

[Sidenote: Covetousness.]

‘_Covetousness_ also, which is the _third_ worldly evil, which the Apostle John calls _the lust of the eye_, and Paul _idolatry_--this most horrible plague--has so taken possession of the hearts of nearly all priests, and has so darkened the eyes of their minds, that now-a-days we are blind to everything, but that alone which seems to be able to bring us gain. For in these days, what else do we seek for in the Church than rich benefices and promotions? In these same promotions, what else do we count upon but their fruits and revenues? We rush after them with such eagerness, that we care not how many and what duties, or how great benefices we take, if only they have great revenues.

‘O Covetousness! Paul rightly called thee “the root of all evil!” For from _thee_ comes all this piling-up of benefices one on the top of the other; from _thee_ come the great pensions, assigned out of many benefices resigned; from _thee_ quarrels about tithes, about offerings, about mortuaries, about dilapidations, about ecclesiastical right and title, for which we fight as though for our very lives! O Covetousness! from _thee_ come burdensome visitations of bishops; from _thee_ corruptions of Law Courts, and those daily fresh inventions by which the poor people are harassed; from _thee_ the sauciness and insolence of officials! O Covetousness! mother of all iniquity! from _thee_ comes that eager desire on the part of ordinaries to enlarge their jurisdiction; from _thee_ their foolish and mad contention to get hold of the probate of wills; from _thee_ undue sequestrations of fruits; from _thee_ that superstitious observance of all those laws which are lucrative, and disregard and neglect of those which point at the correction of morals! Why should I mention the rest?--To sum up all in one word: every corruption, all the ruin of the Church, all the scandals of the world, come from the covetousness of priests, according to the saying of Paul, which I repeat again, and beat into your ears, “Covetousness is the root of all evil!”

[Sidenote: Worldly occupation.]

[Sidenote: Apostolic priests.]

[Sidenote: Modern priests.]

‘The _fourth_ worldly evil which mars and spots the face of the Church is the incessant _worldly occupation_ in which many priests and bishops in these days entangle themselves--servants of men rather than of God, soldiers of this world rather than of Christ. For the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “No man that warreth for God entangleth himself in the affairs of this life.” But priests are “soldiers of God.” Their warfare truly is not carnal, but spiritual: for our warfare is to pray, to read, and to meditate upon the Scriptures; to minister the word of God, to administer the sacraments of salvation, to make sacrifice for the people, and to offer masses for their souls. For we are mediators between men and God, as Paul testifies, writing to the Hebrews: “Every priest” (he says) “taken from amongst men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” Wherefore the Apostles, the first priests and bishops, so shrank from every taint of worldly things that they did not even wish to minister to the necessities of the poor, although this was a great work of piety: for they said, “It is not right that we should leave the word of God and serve tables; we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the word of God.” And Paul exclaims to the Corinthians, “If you have any secular matters, make those of you judges who are of least estimation in the Church.” Indeed from this worldliness, and because the clergy and priests, neglecting spiritual things, involve themselves in earthly occupation, many evils follow. First, the priestly dignity is dishonoured, which is greater than either royal or imperial dignity, for it is equal to that of angels. And the splendour of this high dignity is obscured by darkness when priests, whose conversation ought to be in heaven, are occupied with the things of earth. Secondly, the dignity of priests is despised when there is no difference between such priests and laymen; but (according to Hosea the prophet) “as the people are, so are the priests.” Thirdly, the beautiful order of the hierarchy in the Church is confused when the magnates of the Church are busied in vile and earthly things, and in their stead vile and abject persons meddle with high and spiritual things. Fourthly, the laity themselves are scandalised and driven to ruin, when those whose duty it is to draw men _from_ this world, teach men to love this world by their own devotion to worldly things, and by their love of this world are [themselves] carried down headlong into hell. Besides, when priests themselves are thus entangled, it must end in _hypocrisy_; for, mixed up and confused with the laity, they lead, under a priestly exterior, the mere life of a layman. Also their spiritual weakness and servile fear, when enervated by the waters of this world, makes them dare neither to do nor say anything but what they know will be grateful and pleasing to their princes. Lastly, such is their ignorance and blindness, when blinded by the darkness of this world, that they can discern nothing but earthly things. Wherefore not without cause our Saviour Christ admonished the prelates of his Church, “Take heed lest your hearts be burdened by surfeiting or banqueting, and the cares of this world.” “By the cares (He says) of this world!” The hearts of priests weighed down by riches cannot lift themselves on high, nor raise themselves to heavenly things.

[Sidenote: Invasion of heretics.]

‘Many other evils there be, which are the result of the worldliness of priests, which it would take long to mention; but I have done. These are those four evils, O fathers! O priests! by which, as I have said, we are conformed to this world, by which the face of the Church is marred, by which her influence is destroyed, plainly, far more than it was marred and destroyed, either at the beginning by the persecution of tyrants, or after that by the invasion of heresies which followed. For by the persecution of tyrants the persecuted Church was made stronger and more glorious; by the invasion of heretics, the Church being shaken, was made wiser and more skilled in Holy Scriptures. But after the introduction of this most sinful worldliness, when worldliness had crept in amongst the clergy, the root of all spiritual life--charity itself--was extinguished. And without this the Church can neither be wise nor strong in God.

[Sidenote: Wicked life of priests the worst kind of heresy.]

‘In these times also we experience much opposition from the laity, but they are not so opposed to us as we are to ourselves. Nor does _their_ opposition do us so much hurt as the opposition of our own wicked lives, which are opposed to God and to Christ; for He said, “He that is not with me is against me.” We are troubled in these days also by heretics--men mad with strange folly;--but this heresy of theirs is not so pestilential and pernicious to us and the people as the vicious and depraved lives of the clergy, which, if we may believe St. Bernard, is a species of heresy, and the greatest and most pernicious of all; for that holy father, preaching in a certain convocation to the priests of his time, in his sermon spake in these words:--“There are many who are catholic in their speaking and preaching who are very heretics in their actions, for what heretics do by their false doctrines these men do by their evil examples--they seduce the people and lead them into error of life--and they are by so much worse than heretics as actions are stronger than words.” These things said Bernard, that holy father of so great and ardent spirit, against the faction of wicked priests of his time; by which words he plainly shows that there be two kinds of heretical pravity--one of perverse doctrine, the other of perverse living--of which the latter is the greater and more pernicious; and this reigns in the Church, to the miserable destruction of the Church, her priests living after a worldly and not after a priestly fashion. Wherefore do you fathers, you priests, and all of you of the clergy, awake at length, and rise up from this your sleep in this forgetful world: and being awake, at length listen to Paul calling unto you, “Be ye not conformed to this world.”

‘This concerning the _first_ part.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Reformation.]

‘Now let us come to the _second_--concerning _Reformation_.

‘“But be ye reformed in the newness of your minds.” What Paul commands us secondly is, that we should “be _re_formed into a new mind;” that we should savour the things which are of God; that we should be reformed to those things which are contrary to what I have been speaking of--_i.e._ to humility, sobriety, charity, spiritual occupations; just as Paul wrote to Titus, “Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.”

[Sidenote: Must begin with the bishops.]

‘But this reformation and restoration in ecclesiastical affairs must needs begin with _you_, our fathers, and then afterwards descend upon us your priests and the whole clergy. For you are our chiefs--you are our examples of life. To you we look as waymarks for our direction. In you and in your lives we desire to read, as in living books, how we ourselves should live. Wherefore, if you wish to see our motes, first take the beams out of your own eyes; for it is an old proverb, “Physician heal thyself.” Do you, spiritual doctors, first assay that medicine for the purgation of morals, and then you may offer it to us to taste of it also.

[Sidenote: Existing laws must be enforced.]

‘The way, moreover, by which the Church is to be reformed and restored to a better condition is not to enact any new laws (for there are laws enough and to spare). As Solomon says, “There is no new thing under the sun.” The diseases which are now in the Church were the same in former ages, and there is no evil for which the holy fathers did not provide excellent remedies; there are no crimes in prohibition of which there are not laws in the body of the Canon Law. The need, therefore, is not for the enactment of new laws and constitutions, but for the observance of those already enacted. Wherefore, in this your congregation, let the existing laws be produced and recited which prohibit what is evil, and which enjoin what is right.

[Sidenote: Wicked and unlearned men admitted to holy orders.]

‘First, let those laws be recited which admonish you, fathers, not to lay your hands on any, nor to admit them to holy orders, rashly. For here is the source from whence other evils flow, because if the entrance to Holy Orders be thrown open, all who offer themselves are forthwith admitted without hindrance. Hence proceed and emanate those hosts of both unlearned and wicked priests which are in the Church. For it is not, in my judgment, enough that a priest can construe a collect, propound a proposition, or reply to a sophism; but much more needful are a good and pure and holy life, approved morals, moderate knowledge of the Scriptures, some knowledge of the Sacraments, above all fear of God and love of heavenly life.

‘Let the laws be recited which direct that ecclesiastical benefices should be conferred on the worthy, and promotions in the Church made with just regard to merit; not by carnal affection, nor the acceptation of persons, whereby it comes to pass in these days, that boys instead of old men, fools instead of wise men, wicked instead of good men, reign and rule!

[Sidenote: Simony.]

‘Let the laws be recited against the guilt of simony; which plague, which contagion, which dire pestilence, now creeps like a cancer through the minds of priests, so that most are not ashamed in these days to get for themselves great dignities by petitions and suits at court, rewards and promises.

[Sidenote: Residence of curates.]

‘Let the laws be recited which command the personal residence of curates at their churches: for many evils spring from the custom, in these days, of performing all clerical duties by help of vicars and substitutes; men too without judgment, unfit, and often wicked, who will seek nothing from the people but sordid gain--whence spring scandals, heresies, and bad Christianity amongst the people.

[Sidenote: Worldly living of priests and monks.]

‘Let the laws be rehearsed, and the holy rules handed down from our ancestors concerning the life and character of the clergy, which prohibit any churchman from being a merchant, usurer, or hunter, or common player, or from bearing arms--the laws which prohibit the clergy from frequenting taverns, from having unlawful intercourse with women--the laws which command sobriety and modesty in vestment, and temperance in dress.

‘Let also the laws be recited concerning monks and religious men, which command that, leaving the broad way of the world, they enter the narrow way which leads to life; which command them not to meddle in business, whether secular or ecclesiastical; which command that they should not engage in suits in civil courts for earthly things. For in the Council of _Chalcedon_ it was decreed that monks should give themselves up entirely to prayer and fasting, the chastisement of their flesh, and observance of their monastic rule.

[Sidenote: Worldly bishops.]

‘Above all, let those laws be recited which concern and pertain to _you_, reverend fathers and lords bishops--laws concerning your just and canonical election, in the chapters of your churches, with the invocation of the Holy Spirit: for because this is not done in these days, and prelates are often chosen more by the favour of men than the grace of God, so, in consequence, we sometimes certainly have bishops too little spiritual--men more worldly than heavenly, wiser in the spirit of this world than in the spirit of Christ!

‘Let the laws be rehearsed concerning the residence of bishops in their dioceses, which command that they watch over the salvation of souls, that they disseminate the word of God, that they personally appear in their churches at least on great festivals, that they sacrifice for their people, that they hear the causes of the poor, that they sustain the fatherless, and widows, that they exercise themselves always in works of piety.

‘Let the laws be rehearsed concerning the due distribution of the patrimony of Christ--laws which command that the goods of the Church be spent not in sumptuous buildings, not in magnificence and pomp, not in feasts and banquets, not in luxury and lust, not in enriching kinsfolk nor in keeping hounds, but in things useful and needful to the Church. For when he was asked by Augustine, the English bishop, in what way English bishops and prelates should dispose of those goods which were the offerings of the faithful, Pope Gregory replied (and his reply is placed in the _Decretals_, ch. xii. q. 2), that the goods of bishops should be divided into four parts, of which one part should go to the bishop and his family, another to his clergy, a third for repairing buildings, a fourth to the poor.

[Sidenote: Reform of Ecclesiastical Courts.]

‘Let the laws be recited, and let them be recited again and again, which abolish the scandals and vices of courts, which take away those daily newly-invented arts for getting money, which were designed to extirpate and eradicate that horrible covetousness which is the root and cause of all evils, which is the fountain of all iniquity.

[Sidenote: Councils should be held oftener.]

‘Lastly, let those laws and constitutions be renewed concerning the holding of Councils, which command that Provincial Councils should be held more frequently for the reformation of the Church. For nothing ever happens more detrimental to the Church of Christ than the omission of Councils, both general and provincial.

‘Having rehearsed these laws and others, like them, which pertain to this matter, and have for their object the correction of morals, it remains that with all authority and power their _execution_ should be commanded, so that having a law we should at length live according to it.

[Sidenote: The bishops must first be reformed, then the clergy,]

‘In which matter, with all due reverence, I appeal most strongly to _you_, fathers! For this execution of laws and observance of constitutions ought to begin with _you_, so that by your living example you may teach us priests to imitate you. Else it will surely be said of you, “They lay heavy burdens on other men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them even with one of their fingers.” But you, if you keep the laws, and first reform your own lives to the law and rules of the Canons, will thereby provide us with a light, in which we shall see what we ought to do--the light, _i.e._ of your good example. And we, seeing our fathers keep the laws, will gladly follow in the footsteps of our fathers.

[Sidenote: then the lay part of the Church.]

‘The clerical and priestly part of the church being thus reformed, we can then with better grace proceed to the reformation of the lay part, which indeed it will be very easy to do, if we ourselves have been reformed first. For the body follows the soul, and as are the rulers in a State such will the people be. Wherefore, if priests themselves, the rulers of souls, were good, the people in their turn would become good also; for our own goodness would teach others how they may be good more clearly than all other kinds of teaching and preaching. Our goodness would urge them on in the right way far more efficaciously than all your suspensions and excommunications. Wherefore, if you wish the lay-people to live according to your will and pleasure, you must first live according to the will of God, and thus (believe me) you will easily attain what you wish in them.

‘You want obedience from them. And it is right; for in the Epistle to the Hebrews are these words of Paul to the laity: “Be obedient” (he says) “to your rulers, and be subject to them.” But if you desire this obedience, first give reason and cause of obedience on your part, as the same Paul teaches in the following text--“Watch as those that give an account of their souls,” and then they will obey you.

‘You desire to be honoured by the people. It is right; for Paul writes to Timotheus, “Priests who rule well are worthy of double honour, chiefly those who labour in word and doctrine.” Therefore, desiring honour, first rule well, and labour in word and doctrine, and then the people will hold you in all honour.

‘You desire to reap their carnal things, and to collect tithes and offerings without any reluctance on their part. It is right; for Paul, writing to the Romans, says: “They are your debtors, and ought to minister to you in carnal things.” But if you wish to reap their carnal things, you must first sow your spiritual things, and then ye shall reap abundantly of their carnal things. For that man is hard and unjust who desires “to reap where he has not sown, and to gather where he has not scattered.”

‘You desire ecclesiastical liberty, and not to be drawn before civil courts. And this too is right; for in the Psalms it is said, “Touch not mine anointed.” But if ye desire this liberty, loose yourselves first from worldly bondage, and from the cringing service of men, and claim for yourselves that true liberty of Christ, that spiritual liberty through grace from sin, and serve God and reign in Him, and then (believe me) the people will not touch the anointed of the Lord their God!

‘You desire security, quiet, and peace. And this is fitting. But, desiring peace, return to the God of love and peace; return to Christ, in whom is the true peace of the Spirit which passeth all understanding; return to the true priestly life. And lastly, as Paul commands, “Be ye reformed in the newness of your minds, that ye may know those things which are of God; and the peace of God shall be with you!”

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Conclusion.]

‘These, reverend fathers and most distinguished men, are the things that I thought should be spoken concerning the reformation of the clergy. I trust that, in your clemency, you will take them in good part. If, by chance, I should seem to have gone too far in this sermon--if I have said anything with too much warmth--forgive it me, and pardon a man speaking out of zeal, a man sorrowing for the ruin of the Church; and, passing by any foolishness of mine, consider the thing itself. Consider the miserable state and condition of the Church, and bend your whole minds to its reformation. Suffer not, fathers, suffer not this so illustrious an assembly to break up without result. Suffer not this your congregation to slip by for nothing. Ye have indeed often been assembled. But (if by your leave I may speak the truth) I see not what fruit has as yet resulted, especially to the Church, from assemblies of this kind! Go now, in the Spirit whom you have invoked, that ye may be able, with his assistance, to devise, to ordain, and to decree those things which may be useful to the Church, and redound to your praise and the honour of God: to whom be all honour and glory, for ever and ever, Amen!’

Comparing this noble sermon with the passages quoted in an earlier chapter from Colet’s lectures at Oxford and his Abstracts of the Dionysian writings, it must be admitted that what, fourteen years before, he had uttered as it were in secret, he had now, as occasion required, proclaimed upon the housetops. What effect it had upon the assembled clergy no record remains to tell.

[Sidenote: Wolsey obtains four dismes.]

The object which Wolsey had in view in the convocation was, it may be presumed, attained to his satisfaction. The clergy granted the King ‘four dismes,’ to be paid in yearly instalments.[407] And this was the full amount of taxation usually demanded by English sovereigns from the clergy in time of war, except in cases of extreme urgency.[408]

Whether Bishop Fitzjames succeeded equally well in securing the inhuman object which was nearest to his heart, is not equally clear.

[Sidenote: Discussion on the burning of heretics.]

But one authentic picture of a scene which there can be little doubt occurred in _this_ Convocation has been preserved, to give a passing glimpse into the nature of the discussion which followed upon the subject of the ‘extirpation of heresy.’ In the course of the debate, the advocates of increased severity against poor Lollards were asked, it seems, to point out, if they could, a single passage in the Canonical Scriptures which commands the capital punishment of heretics. Whereupon an old divine[409] rose from his seat, and with some severity and temper quoted the command of St. Paul to Titus: ‘A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject.’ The old man quoted the words as they stand in the Vulgate version: ‘Hæreticum hominem post unam et alteram correptionem _devita_!’--‘_De-vita!_’ he repeated with emphasis; and again, louder still, he thundered ‘DE-VITA!’ till everyone wondered what had happened to the man. At length he proceeded to explain that the meaning of the Latin verb ‘devitare’ being ‘de vita tollere’ (!), the passage in question was clearly a direct command to punish heretics by death![410]

A smile passed round among those members of Convocation who were learned enough to detect the gross ignorance of the old divine; but to the rest his logic appeared perfectly conclusive, and he was allowed to proceed triumphantly to support his position by quoting, again from the Vulgate, the text translated in the English version, ‘Suffer not a witch to live.’ For the word ‘witch’ the Vulgate version has ‘maleficus.’ A heretic, he declared, was clearly ‘maleficus,’ and therefore ought not to be suffered to live. By which conclusive logic the learned members of the Convocation of 1512 were, it is said, for the most part completely carried away.[411]

This story, resting wholly or in part upon Colet’s own relation to Erasmus, is the only glimpse which can be gathered of the proceedings of this Convocation ‘for the extirpation of heresy.’

II. COLET IS CHARGED WITH HERESY (1512).

[Sidenote: Colet’s sermon printed.]

Before the spring of 1512 was passed, Colet’s Sermon to Convocation was printed and distributed in Latin, and probably in English[412] also; and as there was an immediate lull in the storm of persecution, he may possibly have come off rather as victor than as vanquished, in spite of the seeming triumph of the persecuting party in Convocation.

The bold position he had taken had rallied round him not a few honest-hearted men, and had made him, perhaps unconsciously on his part, the man to whom earnest truth-seekers looked up as to a leader, and upon whom the blind leaders of the blindly orthodox party vented all their jealousy and hatred.

[Sidenote: Completion of Colet’s school.]

[Sidenote: Jealousy against Colet’s school.]

He was henceforth a marked man. That school of his in St. Paul’s Churchyard, to the erection of which he had devoted his fortune, which he had the previous autumn made his will to endow, had now risen into a conspicuous building, and the motives of the Dean in building it were of course everywhere canvassed. The school was now fairly at work. Lilly, the godson of Grocyn, the late Professor of Greek at Oxford, was already appointed headmaster; and as he was known to have himself travelled in Greece to perfect his classical knowledge, it could no longer be doubted by any that here, under the shadow of the great cathedral, was to be taught to the boys that ‘heretical Greek’ which was regarded with so much suspicion. Here was, in fact, a school of the ‘new learning,’ sowing in the minds of English youth the seeds of that free thought and heresy which Colet had so long been teaching to the people from his pulpit at St. Paul’s. More had already facetiously told Colet that he could not wonder if his school should raise a storm of malice; for people cannot help seeing that, as in the Trojan horse were concealed armed Greeks for the destruction of barbarian Troy, so from this school would come forth those who would expose and upset their ignorance.[413]

No wonder, indeed, if the wrath of Bishop Fitzjames should be kindled against Colet; no wonder if, having failed in his attempt effectually to stir up the spirit of persecution in the recent Convocation, he should now vent his spleen upon the newly-founded school.

But how fully, amid all, Colet preserved his temper and persevered in his work, may be gathered from the following letter to Erasmus, who, in intervals of leisure from graver labours, was devoting his literary talents to the service of Colet’s school, and whose little book, ‘De Copiâ Verborum,’ was part of it already in the printer’s hands:--

_Colet to Erasmus._[414]

‘Indeed, dearest Erasmus, since you left London I have heard nothing of you....

‘I have been spending a few days in the country with my mother, consoling her in her grief on the death of my servant, who died at her house, whom she loved as a son, and for whose death she wept as though he had been more than a son. The night on which I returned to town I received your letter.

[Sidenote: A bishop blasphemes Colet’s school.]

‘Now listen to a joke! A certain bishop, who is held, too, to be one of the wiser ones, has been blaspheming our school before a large concourse of people, declaring that I have erected what is a useless thing, yea a bad thing--yea more (to give his own words), a temple of idolatry. Which, indeed, I fancy he called it, because the poets are to be taught there! At this, Erasmus, I am not angry, but laugh heartily....

‘I send you a little book containing the sermon’ [to the Convocation?]. ‘The printers said they had sent some to Cambridge.

‘Farewell! Do not forget the verses for our boys, which I want you to finish with all good nature and courtesy. Take care to let us have the second part of your “Copia.”’

[Sidenote: ‘De Copiâ,’ preface of Erasmus.]

The second part of the ‘Copia’ was accordingly completed, and the whole sent to the press in May, with a prefatory letter to Colet,[415] in which Erasmus paid a loving tribute to his friend’s character and work. He dwelt upon Colet’s noble self-sacrificing devotion to the good of others, and the judgment he had shown in singling out two main objects at which to labour, as the most powerful means of furthering the great cause so dear to his heart.

[Sidenote: Colet’s preaching.]

To implant Christ in the hearts of the common people, by constant preaching, year after year, from his pulpit at St. Paul’s--this, wrote Erasmus, had been Colet’s first great work; and surely it had borne much fruit!

[Sidenote: Colet’s school.]

To found a school, wherein the sons of the people should drink in Christ along with a sound education--that thereby, as it were in the cradle of coming generations, the foundation might be laid of the future welfare of his country--this had been the second great work to which Colet had devoted time, talents, and a princely fortune.

[Sidenote: Erasmus in praise of Colet’s work.]

‘What is this, I ask, but to act as a father to all your children and fellow-citizens? You rob yourself to make them rich; you strip yourself to clothe them. You wear yourself out with toil, that they may be quickened into life in Christ. In a word, you spend yourself away that you may gain them for Christ!

‘He must be envious, indeed, who does not back with all his might the man who engages in a work like this. He must be wicked, indeed, who can gainsay or interrupt him. That man is an enemy to England who does not care to give a helping hand where he can.’

Which words in praise of Colet’s self-sacrificing work were not merely uttered within hearing of those who might hang upon the lips of the aged Fitzjames or the bishop who had ‘blasphemed’ the school; they passed, with edition after edition of the ‘Copia’ of Erasmus, into the hands of every scholar in Europe, until they were known and read of all men![416]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Colet charged with heresy by his bishop.]

But Bishop Fitzjames, whose unabating zeal against heretics had become the ruling passion of his old age, no longer able to control his hatred of the Dean, associated with himself two other bishops of like opinion and spirit in the ignoble work of making trouble for Colet. They resorted to their usual weapon--_persecution_. They exhibited to the Archbishop of Canterbury articles against Colet extracted from his sermons. Their first charge was that he had preached that images ought not to be worshipped. The second charge was that he had denied that Christ, when He commanded Peter the third time to ‘feed his lambs,’ made any allusion to the application of episcopal revenues in hospitality or anything else, seeing that Peter was a poor man, and had no episcopal revenues at all. The third charge was, that in speaking once from his pulpit of those who were accustomed to _read_ their sermons, he meant to give a side-hit at the Bishop of London, who, on account of his old age, was in the habit of reading his sermons.[417]

But the Archbishop, thoroughly appreciating as he did the high qualities of the Dean, became his protector and advocate, instead of his judge. Colet himself, says Erasmus, did not deign to make any reply to these foolish charges, and others ‘more foolish still.’[418] And the Archbishop, therefore, without hearing any reply, indignantly rejected them.

[Sidenote: Proceedings quashed by Warham.]

What the charges ‘_more foolish still_’ may have been Erasmus does not record. But Tyndale mentions, as a well known fact, that ‘the Bishop of London would have made Dean Colet of Paules a heretic for _translating the Paternoster in English_, had not the [Arch]bishop of Canterbury helped the Dean.’[419] Colet’s English translation or paraphrase of the Paternoster still remains to show that he was open to the charge.[420] But for once, at least, the persecutor was robbed of his prey!

* * * * *

For a while, indeed, Colet’s voice had been silenced; but now Erasmus was able to congratulate his friend on his return to his post of duty at St. Paul’s.

[Sidenote: Erasmus to Colet.]

‘I was delighted to hear from you’ [he wrote from Cambridge], ‘and have to congratulate you that you have returned to your most sacred and useful work of preaching. I fancy even this little interruption will be overruled for good, for your people will listen to your voice all the more eagerly for having been deprived of it for a while. May Jesus, _Optimus Maximus_, keep you in safety!’[421]

III. MORE IN TROUBLE AGAIN (1512).

In closing this chapter, it may perhaps be remarked that little has been heard of More during these the first years of his return to public life.

[Sidenote: More engrossed in business.]

[Sidenote: More writes his history of Richard III.]

The fact is, that he had been too busy to write many letters even to Erasmus. He had been rapidly drawn into the vortex of public business. His judicial office of undersheriff of London had required his close attention every Thursday. His private practice at the bar had also in the meantime rapidly increased, and drawn largely on his time. When Erasmus wrote to know what he was doing, and why he did not write, the answer was that More was constantly closeted with the Lord Chancellor, engaged in ‘grave business,’[422] and would write if he could. What leisure he could snatch from these public duties he would seem to have been devoting to his ‘History of Richard III.’[423] the materials for which he probably obtained through his former connection with Cardinal Morton.

[Sidenote: Death of his wife.]

And were we to lift the veil from his domestic life, we should find the dark shadow of sorrow cast upon his bright home in Bucklersbury. But a few short months ago, such was the air of happiness about that household, that Ammonius, writing as he often did to Erasmus, to tell him all the news, whilst betraying, by the endearing epithets he used, his fascination for the loveliness of More’s own gentle nature, had spoken also of his ‘most good-natured wife,’ and of the ‘children and whole family’ as ‘charmingly well.’[424]

[Sidenote: His four children.]

Now four motherless children nestle round their widowed father’s knee.[425] Margaret, the eldest daughter--the child of six years old--henceforth it will be _her_ lot to fill her lost mother’s place in her father’s heart, and to be a mother to the little ones. And she too is not unknown to fame. It was she

... ‘who clasped in her last trance Her murdered father’s head.’...