"As we were of late at Walden, the abbot, then being a man of good learning and right sincere judgment, as I examined him alone, shewed me secretly, upon stipulation of silence, but only unto you, as our judge, that he had contracted matrimony with a certain woman secretly, having present thereat but one trusty witness; because he, not being able, as he said, to contain, though he could not be suffered by the laws of man, saw he might do it lawfully by the laws of God; and for the avoiding of more inconvenience, which before he was provoked unto, he did thus, having confidence in you that this act should not be anything prejudicial unto him."--_MS. State Paper Office_, temp. Henry VIII., second series, Vol. XXXV. Cromwell acquiesced in the reasonableness of the abbot's proceeding; he wrote to tell him "to use his remedy," but to avoid, as far as possible, creating a scandal.--_MS._ ibid. Vol. XLVI. The government, however, found generally a difficulty in knowing what to resolve in such cases. The king's first declaration was a reasonable one, that all clergy who had taken wives should forfeit their orders, "and be had and reputed as lay persons to all purposes and intents."--Royal Proclamation: Wilkins's _Concilia_, Vol. III. p. 776. [67] Luther, by far the greatest man of the sixteenth century, was as rigid a believer in the real presence as Aquinas or St. Bernard. [68] We were constrained to put our own pen to the book, and to conceive certain articles which were by you, the bishops, and the whole of the clergy of this our realm agreed on as Catholic.--Henry VIII. to the Bishops and Clergy: Wilkins's _Concilia_, Vol. III. p. 825. [69] Whether marriage and ordination were sacraments was thus left an open question. The sacramental character of confirmation and extreme unction is _implicitly_ denied. [70] _Formularies of Faith_, temp. Henry VIII., Oxford edition, 1825. Articles devised by the King's Majesty to stablish Christian quietness and unity, and to avoid contentious opinions. [71] Cromwell's patent as lord privy seal is dated the 2d of July, 1536. On the 9th he was created Baron Cromwell, and in the same month vicegerent _in rebus ecclesiasticis_. [72] The judgment of the convocation concerning general councils, July 20, 28 Henry VIII: Burnet's _Collectanea_, p. 88. [73] Burnet's _Collectanea_, p. 89. [74] The Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula was on the 1st of August. These injunctions could hardly have been issued before August, 1536; nor could they have been later than September. The clergy were, therefore, allowed nearly a year to provide themselves. [75] Lewis's _History of the English Bible_. [76] Lewis's _History of the English Bible_. [77] The printing was completed in October, 1535. [78] There is an excellent copy of this edition in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. [79] Preface to Coverdale's _Bible_.