ABSTRACT

In the previous chapter, the scene was set for some explanation of the relative decline in the influence of hospital chaplains with regard to the moral and physical improvement of the sick. The violent shifts in the organization of society during the era of the Reformation led to a much stronger sense of government in the lives of both individuals and the nation. Where once there had been a close interest in the inner workings of those in hospital, now there was a desire to engender outward compliance and evidence of moral conduct. Through the hospitaller’s instruction of the prayers to be said on discharge, patients assumed responsibility for their future behaviour. Kneeling in the presence of two representatives of the City and the hospitaller, the former patients petitioned God for a ‘working spirit’ which set aside ‘all our vice and idleness’. In effect, the discharged patients were placed in the position of breaking their word if they did not mend their ways and prove to be useful.