CHAP. XVII. discussion. He is accurate in his statements, clear in his argument, and logical in his conclusions; but he Edmund fell far short of his opponent in sagacity and learning. Grindal. 1575-61583. Ridley's judgment. prefer ments. After a discussion which lasted three days, the Bishop of Rochester gave judgment. He began by asserting that the judgment of divines must be based first on the authority, majesty, and verity of Holy Scripture, and then on the testimonies of the ancient Catholic Fathers, "who, after my judgment, do sufficiently declare this matter." He went on to prove, by reference to certain texts of Scripture and to certain passages adduced from "the ancient Fathers, a thousand years past," that neither by the Bible nor by the Fathers can the figment of transubstantiation be established. He shows that it is contrary to the very nature of a Sacrament-that it tends to the Eutychean heresy, and is inconsistent with a belief in the verity of Christ's Ascension. It appears from Ridley's correspondence that while he remained at Rochester he occasionally employed Grindal in disputations with the Anabaptists on the one extreme, and with the Papists on the other. On the translation Grindal's of Ridley to London, the Bishop desired to have Grindal constantly with him. He was appointed, therefore, one of the Bishop of London's chaplains. He was, in this capacity, associated with men eminent for their piety, their learning, and their judicious support of the principles of the English Reformation. He was still employed in private conferences on religion at the houses of Sir William Cecil and Sir Richard Morysin. Precentor Chaplain. On August 24, 1551, Grindal was collated by the Bishop to the precentorship of St. Paul's; and in the December following he was appointed one of the royal chaplains, with a salary of 40l. a year. In June 1552 he received a licence to preach in any parish XVII. within the province of Canterbury; and on July 28 in CHAP, the same year he was installed a Prebendary of Westminster. Edmund Grindal. 1583. At this period of our history a royal chaplain was 1575-6not a merely honorary appointment. In number the chaplains were not fewer than six, of whom two were always to be in waiting upon the king; while the other four were sent to different parts of the kingdom, especially into parishes in which the incumbent was unable to preach; to instruct the people in the principles of true religion and in the duty of obedience to their prince,-a point on which, when the king was a child, there was much difference of opinion. How highly the chaplains were esteemed may be gathered from the fact that before the Articles were accepted by the two Convocations, they were submitted to the judgment of their brethren of the Chapel Royal. It is probable that through their frequent intercourse with the sovereign they obtained an influence and power which excited the jealousy of the bishops; for a new appointment of chaplains was not made during the last thirty years of Elizabeth's reign, salaries Bishop's On this account it probably was, that when the Proposed Bishop of London desired to make a permanent provision for the for his chaplain, he was prevented from accomplish- chaplains. ing his wish by the members of the council. They wished to keep the preferment, so to say, in the market; and we regret to record that, although on political grounds they advocated the principles of the Reformation, yet they adhered to the worst practices of preceding generations when the question arose of enriching themselves and their dependants by the misappropriation of ecclesiastical property and the goods of the Church. As illustrative of the principles of the time, and of the corruption of a CHAP. XVII. Edmund Grindal. 1583. Controversy about the Kentish Town. court professing the principles of the Reformation, we will enter into some details upon this subject. The prebend of Kentish Town was about to be 1575-6 vacant. The Bishop of London intended to collate his chaplain to it; but he was frustrated by the manœuvres of the court, from which we except, of course, the wellPrebend of intentioned child by whom the throne was occupied. It was thought at one time to forestall the Bishop by the resignation of the incumbent; but he maintained his own, and only consented to give assurance to the council that he would not collate to the prebend without first giving notice of the vacancy to the king. On the death of Layton, the incumbent, the notice according to promise was given, and the council wrote to the bishop to stay the collation, and to demand the stall for a clerk of the council. When the Bishop refused to give heed to the injunction, and when the council remembered his constant fairness, they despaired of making a provision for their friend; but they were determined to VI. gives insult and annoy the Bishop, and they obtained letters from the king, requiring the Bishop to stay proceedings. The Royal boy, not knowing what he did, or the prohis stable. faneness of which he was guilty, was persuaded to alienate the income of the stall, and actually to appropriate it to the maintenance of his stable and the support of his grooms. Edward income of the stall to the main tenance of This was strange conduct on the part of those zealous reformers, and it roused the honest indignation of Bishop Ridley. That brave prelate gave utterance to * According to Newcourt the prebend of Kentish Town was also styled Kentissetune or Caulters, or sometimes Kentillers. The prebendary had the tenth stall on the right side of the choir; and the corps of his prebend lay in the parish of St. Pancras. Newcourt, Repertorium, 169. CHAP. Edmund Grindal. his feelings of indignation in a letter addressed to Sir John Cheke. This letter he desired to have shown to his other friends at Cambridge, and asked whether, when reprobating the conduct of many of our dignified clergy 1575-6before the Reformation, they could hear without repro"Is this," he Ridley's bation of conduct so disgraceful as this? asks, "the fruit of the Gospel? Speak, Master Cheke, Sir John speak, for God's sake, in God's cause, unto whomsoever Cheke. and all think may you do any good withal." a 1583. Bishop letter to prevents fanation. Cheke interfered, not, indeed, to obtain the stall Cheke for Grindal, but to save it from degradation, by securing the prothe appointment for the Bishop's other chaplain more able, if not a better man-John Bradford, who died a martyr for his opinions. Bucer. Of Grindal's university career we have not more to Grindal's friendship narrate, beyond the honourable fact that, when he was with yet a young man, only thirty-two years of he was age, admitted to an intimacy with Martin Bucer, a foreign reformer, the sweet piety of whose heart brought him many friends. On some of the most important controversies in the English Church Grindal was consulted by Bucer. He attended Bucer in his last illness; and when that reformer was buried at St. Mary's Church in Cambridge, Grindal supported the hearse. death. When warned of his danger, and exhorted to arm Bucer's himself against the assaults of Satan, Bucer replied that he had nothing to do with the devil, he being wholly in Christ. "God forbid," he said, "that I should not now have experience of the secret consolations of Christ!" And he added, "Cast me not off, oh my God, in my old age when my strength faileth me!" "Ille, Ille regit," he exclaimed," et moderatur omnia!" ("The Lord, the Lord only ruleth and disposeth of all things!") СНАР. Grindal. 1575-61583. He spake, and meekly gave up the ghost." Of Grindal the report prevailed that, young as he Edmund was, he was designed for a bishopric. It was even said that Ridley was to be translated to Durham, and that Grindal was to succeed him in the diocese of London. But for these reports there appears to have been no solid foundation. What was conjectured as possible was reported as probable, and what was possible and probable found credit with those who believe without enquiry. Designed for a bishopric in the north of England. *The exact date of Bucer's death is not known: according to Martin Crusius he died in February 1551. Pars 3, Annal. Suev. lib. xi. cap. 25. Pentaleon de Viris illustribus Germania, produced in April of that year. According to Dr. Perne he died March 10, 1550. Erasmus Middleton leaves the question in doubt. |