spirit was encouraged to show itself. March.The sermons at Paul's Cross breathed of revolution. Barlow, Bishop of St David's, whose indiscretion had already assisted to ruin Cromwell, preached on the most inflammable points of controversy.[1] Ridley, Principal of Pembroke Hall at Cambridge, then first emerging into prominence, denounced the use of holy water and the presence of images in churches, loudly and violently. When Lent opened, a Doctor Glazier affirmed that fasting had no divine sanction, that it was 'a politic ordinance of men.' and might therefore be broken by men at their pleasure:[2] and in a manuscript contemporary diary by some unknown writer, I find the significant entry, that 'this year the Archbishop of Canterbury did eat meat openly in Lent, in the Hall of Lambeth, the like of which was never seen since England was a Christian country.'[3]
The Bishop of Winchester who, when in a minority, understood the merits of moderation, ventured, though excluded from the council, to advise some caution. He entreated Somerset to forget his elevation for a moment,
- ↑ I have not found a copy of the sermon, but the character of it may be gathered from a protest addressed by the Bishop of Winchester to the Protector; 'You need fear nothing,' wrote Gardiner, 'if quiet may be maintained at home, and at home, if the beginning may be resisted, the intended folly may easily be interrupted. But if my brother of St David's may, like a champion with a sword in his hand, make entry for the rest, the door of license is opened.'—Gardiner to the Protector, Feb. 28: Foxe, vol. vi.
- ↑ Stow.
- ↑ To four-fifths of the English world as agitating as if among ourselves the Opera House was to be opened on a Sunday and the Bishop of London to appear in a private box.
