King Edward VI., just ten years old, succeeded his father; and the
members of his council, especially his uncle, the Duke of Somerset,
strongly in favour of the Reformed Church, were determined that the Pope
should not win back any of his old authority. In this, all the thinking
people were of their opinion, but some of the poor people, who had
formerly received much in charity from the monks, were very bitter, and
there was more than one rebellion in favour of the monasteries. However,
these were put down, and the reformers went on with their work. Edward
was crowned as Head of the Church in England, and, for the first time, a
Bible, translated into the English tongue, was set in his hands at the
coronation service. For only within the last ten years had the Bible
been read to the people in a language they could understand, and you
will remember how first Wycliffe, and then Tyndale, had failed in their
attempts to place this book in the hands of all, that all might read and
learn of God’s teachings, by the light of the understanding which God
had given them. Two years after the coronation a Prayer-Book was
published, also in English, not exactly the same Prayer-Book as we use
now, for as time went on the spirit of the people changed in favour of a
still simpler service than that which found favour with the early
reformers in England, and in the reign of Charles II. a revised
Prayer-Book was issued, as in the reign of James I. our present
translation of the Bible was authorised. But it was in Edward’s reign
that an English Bible and Prayer-Book first found their way into the
Abbey.
The plan of having a Bishop at Westminster does not seem to have
succeeded. Thirleby was removed to Norwich, and Richard Cox became the
Dean. But he remained in the simple quarters, near the Little Cloister,
which had been assigned to Dean Boston, and the Abbot’s house passed
into the possession of a layman for the time being. Protector Somerset
had certainly no feeling of veneration for the grand old pile of
buildings. Not only did he put the Abbey under the Bishop of London,
and insist on cart-loads of stone, which once had formed part of the
solid monastery buildings, being used for his own palace, Somerset
House, but of the few lands which still remained to the Abbey, he took
some and made them over to St. Paul’s, from time immemorial the rival of
Westminster. You have often heard the saying "robbing Peter to pay
Paul;" now you know its origin. And as if to cut off every possible
association with the past, the House of Commons moved from the Chapter
House to St. Stephen’s Chapel, part of the old Westminster Palace, and
there met until the great fire in 1834, after which the present Houses
of Parliament were built.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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