had provoked, and its cruelties incensed, were ready to league with any allies against it, and reform and spoliation went hand in hand. The accession of Henry VIII. to the throne of England promised to the world a reign of splendor, popularity, and peace. With every advantage of person, he united high degree of bodily and mental accomplishment; his understanding was quick and vigorous; and his learning such as might have raised him to distinction, had he been born in humble life. Among the passions of Henry must be reckoned that which he had for the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. His veneration for this vigorous champion of the Roman orthodoxy was carried so far that, Luther having contradicted St. Thomas with acumen, Henry thought himself bound to enter the lists and defend his master. He, therefore, wrote a Treatise, or Assertion of the Seven Sacraments, against Luther, who admitted with all the reformed churches of no inore than two. The latter treated his new adversary as his equal, and ridiculed him; but the pope, who perhaps really laughed at the book as much as Luther did, appeared so much delighted with his literary efforts in his favor, that he bestowed on Henry the title of defender of the faith.' Little did the world imagine that Henry was so soon to become one of the most potent enemies of the papacy; and that the Reformation under his auspices would be introduced into England. A speech of the court fool upon that occasion has been preserved: O, good Harry, let thou and I defend one another, and let the faith alone to defend itself.' Henry had now been married eighteen years to Catherine of Arragon, who had been brought over from Spain to marry his eldest brother, prince Arthur, who died some months after his cohabitation with her. Henry had three children by this lady, one of whom was still living, while she herself was esteemed for her virtue and the gentleness of her disposition. It happened at length, that among the maids of honor that then waited on the queen, his attention was attracted by Anna Bullen, the daughter of a gentleman of distinction, though not of the nobility. The king, who never restrained one passion which he desired to gratify, saw and loved her; but, after several efforts to induce her to comply with his criminal passion, he found that without marriage he could have no hopes of succeeding. This obstacle, therefore, he undertook to remove; his own queen was now become hateful to him, and, in order to procure a divorce, he pretended his conscience rebuked him for having so longed lived in incest with his present queen, formerly his brother's wife. In this perplexity, therefore, he applied to Clement VII., who owed him obligations, and from whom he expected a ready compliance, to dissolve the bull of the former pope, who had given him permission to marry Catherine, and to declare it was contrary to all laws both divine and human. Clement was now in the utmost perplexity. Queen Catherine was aunt to the emperor, who had lately made him a prisoner, and whose resentment he dreaded to rekindle, by thus injuring so near a relation; besides he could not, in honor, declare the bull of the former pope illicit, for this would be entirely destroying the papal infallibility. On the other hand, Henry was his protector and friend, the dominions of England were the chief source of his finances; and the king of France, some time before, had got a bill of divorce in somewhat similar circumstances. In this exigence he thought the best method was to spin out the affair by negociation; whilst it depended, he was sure of two great friends, but, when it should be decided, of one great foe: and thus he argued, temporised, promised, recanted, and disputed, hoping that the king's pas sion would never hold out during the tedious course of an ecclesiastical controversy, or that the not improbable death of the queen, or some other of those accidents to which human affairs are subject, might extricate him from his embarrassment. During the negociations, on which Henry's happiness seemed to depend, he expected, in his favorite Wolsey, a warm defender, and a steady adherent; but Wolsey seemed to be in almost as great a dilemma as the pope himself. On the one hand he was to please his master, the king, from whom he had received a thousand marks of favor; on the other hand he could not disoblige the pope, whose servant he more immediately was, and who had power to punish his disobedience. The king's resentment was consequently excited against the car dinal, who died soon after, in all the pangs of repentance and remorse. Henry, by the advice of Cranmer, had the legality of his present marriage canvassed in the different universities of Europe. Almost all the colleges of Italy and France declared his present marriage against all law, divine and human; and that, therefore, it was not, at first, in the power of the pope to grant a dispensation. Among the places where it was most warmly opposed were Cambridge and Oxford; but, at last, they also concurred in the same opinion. Thus fortified, the king was resolved to oppose even the pope himself, for his passion could by no means brook the delays and subterfuges of the holy see; being therefore supported by his clergy, and authorised by the universities; having seen the pope formerly degraded by a lay monarch, and Luther's doctrine followed by thousands; and yet still further instigated by the king of France, he, without further dispensation, annulled his marriage with queen Catherine; and Cranmer, now become an archbishop, pronounced the decree. The pope now thought himself obliged to hold no measures with the king; and, therefore, published a sentence declaring queen Catherine alone to be Henry's lawful wife, and requiring him to take her again, with a denunciation of censures in case of refusal. Henry, enraged that the pope should dare to thwart his pas sion, declared himself at once head of the church of England, and prohibited all intercourse with Rome; the tribute of Peter-pence, and the interference of the pope in the collation to benefices. The people came into the king's proposal with joy, and took an oath, called the oath of supremacy; all the credit of the pope, that had subsisted for ages, was now at once over thrown, and few, except those who held to the religious houses, seemed dissatisfied. In this manner began the Reformation of England, and by such surprising methods providence brought about its designs. or that vows of chastity could innocently be broken, or that private masses were unprofitable, or that auricular confession was unnecessary, should be burnt or hanged as the court should determine. The kingdom, at that time, was in some measure divided between the followers of Luther and the adherents to the pope; this statute, with Henry's former decrees, in some measure excluded both, and therefore opened a wide field for persecution. Children were now compelled to accuse their parents and parents their children, wives their husbands and husbands their wives, unless they would share the same fate. The poor wretches, who saved their lives by abjuration, were, under the name of perpetual penance, condemned to perpetual bondage, being distributed to monasteries beyond the precincts of which they were never to pass, and where by their labor they were to indemnify the convent for their share of such food as was regularly bestowed as charity at the gate. The mark of the branding iron they were never to conceal; they were to bear a faggot at stated periods, and once at the burning of a heretic; for which every one who contributed a faggot was rewarded with forty days indulgence. Henry was very sensible that the parliament was, even from motives of interest, entirely devoted to him, and therefore he was resolved to make use of the opportunity, and render himself absolute. Being empowered to act as he thought proper, he went vigorously to work in the suppression of monasteries, colleges, and religious houses. To reconcile the people to these proceedings, Henry took care to have the counterfeit reliques exposed, the scandalous lives of the friars and nuns made public, and all their debaucheries detected. Whatever had served to engage the people in superstition, was publicly burnt; but what grieved the people most to see, were the bones of Thomas Becket, the saint of Canterbury, burnt in public, and his rich shrine, in which there was a diamond of great value, confiscated among the common plunder. But, though the king had entirely separated himself from Rome, yet he was by no means willing to be a follower of Luther. The invocation of saints was not yet abolished by him, but only Among the martyrs of those days, Thomas restrained; he ordered the Bible to be trans- Bilney is one whose name will ever be held in lated into the vulgar tongue, but not put into the deserved reverence. He had been brought up hands of the laity. The publication of Tindal's from a child at Cambridge, where, laying aside Translation of the Bible was at this time, in its the profession of both laws, he entered upon effects upon this nation, the most important what was then the dangerous study of divinity; volume that ever issued from the press. Under and being troubled in mind repaired to priests, the patronage of Humphrey Monmouth, a who enjoined him masses, fasting, watching, and wealthy and benevolent citizen, Tindal travelled the purchase of indulgences, till his scanty into Germany, where he conferred with Luther purse and feeble constitution were both well and others of the great protestant divines, and nigh exhausted. At this time hearing the New then settling at Antwerp, as the best place for Testament, which Erasmus had just published, printing his book and securing its transmission praised for its Latinity, he bought it for that to England, completed the New Testament. inducement only; and opened it upon a text, Tindal had perceived, he said, that it was im- which finding his heart open, rooted itself there: possible to establish the people in any truth, ex-This is a faithful saying and worthy of all accept the Scriptures were plainly laid before them in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text. The Romanists understood perfectly well how little the practice of their church was supported by Scripture; and that, if the ark of the covenant was admitted, Dagon must fall. No sooner therefore was it discovered that copies of this translation were industriously dispersed in England than it was prohibited, as being corrupted with articles of heretical pravity, and opinions erroneous, pernicious, pestilent, and scandalous; tending to seduce persons of simple and unwary dispositions; but a spirit had now been roused which no persecution could suppress; the book was therefore eagerly sought for and widely dispersed. It was a capital crime to believe in the pope's supremacy, and yet equally heinous to be of the reformed religion, as practised in Germany. Henry's opinions in religion were delivered in a law, which, from its horrid consequences, was termed the bloody statute, by which it was ordained that whoever, by word or writing, denied transubstantiation, that whoever maintained that the communion in both kinds was necessary, or that it was lawful for priests to marry, ceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.' The comfort which these words conveyed was confirmed by the frequent perusal of a book which now became sweeter than honey, or the honeycomb; and he began to preach, as he had learnt, that men should seek for righteousness by faith. It was not long before he was accused before Cuthbert Tonstal, then bishop of London, a man of integrity and moderation, though compelled to bear a part in proceedings which were utterly abhorrent to his natural disposition. The main accusations against him were, that he asserted Christ was our only mediator, not the Virgin Mary, nor the saints; that pilgrimages were useless; and that offerings to images were idolatry. Of these doctrines he was found guilty; the sheriff, to whose custody he was delivered, happened to be one of his friends, and therefore treated him with every kindness which could be afforded during his imprisonment. The night before he was to suffer some friends who visited him found him at supper eating heartily, and with a cheerful countenance; and one of them saying he was glad to see him refresh himself thus so shortly before he was to undergo so painful a death, he replied, 'I follow the example of those, who, having a ruinous house to dwell in, hold it up by props as long as they may another observed that his pains would be short, and the spirit of God would support him in them, and reward him afterwards with everlasting rest. Bilney, upon this, put his finger into the candle, which was burning before him more than once. 'I feel,' said he, by experience, and have long known by philosophy, that fire is naturally hot; yet I am persuaded by God's holy word, and by the experience of some saints of God there n recorded, that in the flames they may feel no heat, and in the fire no consumption. And I constantly believe that, however the stubble of this my body shall be wasted by it, yet my soul and spirit shall be purged thereby-a pain for the time, whereon followeth joy unspeakable;' and then he repeated the words of Scripture: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, and called thee by thy name; thou art mine own; when thou goest through the water, I will be with thee, and the strong floods shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest in the fire, thou shall not be consumed, and the flame shall not burn thee; for I the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, aviour. This text he applied to himself e who were present, some of whom, ree words as a legacy of a blessed marem fairly written on tables, or in i derive comfort from them till their y. On the following morning he was execution, one of his friends exhorting him at the prison door, with few and secret words, to take his death patiently and constantly. Bilney answered, When the mariner is tossed upon the troubled sea, he beareth his perils better, in hope that he shall yet reach his harbour; so, whatever storms I shall feel, my ship will soon be in its quiet haven; thereof, I doubt not, by the grace of God,-and I entreat you, help me with your prayers, to the same effect.' The place of execution was a low valley, surrounded with rising ground, without the bishop's gate. Having put off the layman's gown, in which after his degradation he had been clad, he knelt upon the sledge, and prayed with deep and quiet devotion, ending with the 143d Psalm, in which he thrice repeated the verse, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.' He then put off his jacket and doublet, and remained in his hose and shirt, and so was chained to the stake. The dry reeds were kindled; and in a few minutes Bilney, triumphing over death, rendered up his soul, in the fulness of faith, and entered into his reward. Those who adhered to the pope, or those who followed Luther, were now equally the objects of royal vengeance and ecclesiastical persecution. In the houses of parliament, parties were nearly equally divided; there were on both sides men of great learning, ability, and address. After long consultation and debate certain articles were at length set forth in the king's name as head of the church of England; it being in the preamble stated, among the chief cares appertaining to his princely office, diligently to provide that unity and concord in religious opi nions should increase and go forward; and all occasion of dissent and discord, touching the same, be repressed and utterly extinguished.' The articles were such as could satisfy neither party, both having struggled to introduce their own opinions, and each with considerable success, though on the whole to the manifest advantage of the reformers. The Bible and the three creeds were made the standards of faith, no mention being made of tradition, nor of the decrees of the church. Three sacramentsthose of baptism, penance, and the altar-were said to be necessary to salvation-four being thus pretermitted; but the corporal presence was declared, and the necessity of auricular confession. Images were allowed as useful, but they were not to be worshipped; and saints might laudably be addressed as intercessors, though it was asserted that Christ is our only sufficient mediator. The existing rites and ceremonies were to be retained as good and laudable; not as having power to remit sin, but as useful in stirring and lifting up our minds unto God, by whom only our sins can be forgiven. Lastly, prayers for the dead were advised as good and charitable; though the question of purgatory was said to be uncertain by Scripture, and the abuses which under that belief had arisen were to be put away. Thomas Cromwell, raised by the king's caprice from a blacksmith's son to be a royal favorite, and Cranmer, now become archbishop of Canterbury, with all their might assisted the Reformation. The pope had long threatened to issue a bull of deposition, but had hitherto delayed it because of the displeasure which he knew it would occasion to other sovereign princes. The manner in which Becket had been uncanonised put an end to this sus pension; and the bull was now fulminated, requiring the king and his accomplices to appear at Rome, and there give an account of their actions on pain of excommunication and rebellion, otherwise the pope deprived him of his crown, and them of their estates, and both of Christian burial. He interdicted the kingdom; absolved his subjects and their vassals from all oaths and obligations to them; and offered his dominions to the king of Scotland, if he would go and take them. But the throne of England was no longer to be shaken by such thunders. Even the Romish bishops joined in the declaration which Henry set forth, that Christ had forbidden his apostles or their successors to take to themselves the power of the sword, or the authority of kings; and if the bishop of Rome, or any other bishop, assumed any such power, he was a tyrant and usurper of other men's rights, and a subverter of the kingdom of Christ. At length so many hundred persons were thrown into prison upon the six articles, that Henry himself thought it better to grant a ge neral pardon, than to proceed against them all; and this bloody act slept till is determination to put away Anne of Cleves, and marry Catherine Howard, drew on the fall of Cromwell, whom the duke of Norfolk, uncle to the bride elect, mortally hated. Now the six articles were enforced with extreme severity; and Henry as if to show his impartiality while he executed as heretics those reformers who went beyond the limits which he had laid down, put to death as traitors those Romanists who refused to acknowledge his supremacy. The alterations in the reign of Henry were rather separations from the pope than a reformation of religious abuses: in the reign of his successor, Edward VI., the errors of Rome, in reality, began to be reformed. It was left to people's choice to go to confession, which had hitherto been deemed an indispensable duty, or to neglect that practice. It was ordered that all images should be taken out of churches; priests were allowed to marry; the old mass was abolished; and a new liturgy drawn up, which retrenched several abuses in the service of the church, and which is the same with that now used, excepting a few alterations. Gardiner and Bonner, refusing their consent to these momentous changes, were deprived of their sees and imprisoned; but no rigor was used towards them, nor did the protestants in any instance abuse their triumph by retaliating upon the papists for the persecution which they had endured. Immediately upon the death of the young king, two competitors put up for the crown; Mary relying upon the justness of her pretensions, and the lady Jane Grey supported by the duke of Northumberland, her father-in-, law. Mary was strongly bigoted to the popish superstitions. Her zeal had rendered her cruel, and she was not only blindly attached to her religious opinions, but even to the popish clergy who maintained them. On the other hand, Jane Grey was attached to the reformers; though yet but sixteen, her judgment had obtained such a degree of perfection as few enjoy in their more advanced age. Queen Mary, however, obtained possession of her rightful throne without the loss of a single life; so completely did the nation acknowledge her claim, whilst an after insurrection rashly planned, and worse conduct ed, served only to hasten the destruction of the lady Jane and her husband. Mary began by giving orders for the suppression of all married bishops and priests; the mass was directed to be restored; the pope's authority was re-established with some restrictions; the laws against heretics were renewed; and the church and its privileges put on the same foundation in which they were before the alteration of Henry VIII. This was kindling up the fires of persecution anew; at the head of these measures were Gardiner bishop of Winchester, and Bonner bishop of London. Gardiner began this bloody scene with Hooper and Rogers. Hooper had been bishop of Gloucester; Rogers was a clergyman who had shone among the most distinguished of the protestants. He was prebendary of St. Pauls, and refused all submission to the church of Rome, which he looked upon as antichristian. They were both condemned by the commissioners appointed by the queen, with the chancellor at the head of them. Rogers suffered in Smithfield. When he was brought to the stake he had it in his power to save himself, by recanting his opinions; but neither hopes nor fears could prevail on him to desert his religion. When the faggots were placed around him he seemed no way daunted at the preparation, but cried out, I resign my life with joy, in testimony of the doctrine of Jesus;' and washing his hands in the flames, as they blazed around him, took his death with so calm and resolute a patience, that many who were present blessed God for the support which had been vouchsafed him. Hooper had his pardon offered him upon the same terms, but he refused it with equal indignation. This old martyr, who was executed at Gloucester, was three-quarters of an hour in torment; the fire either from malice or neglect had not been sufficiently kindled, so that his legs and thighs were first burnt, and one of his hands dropped off before he expired; yet the voice with which he called upon his Redeemer was not that of one impatient, or overcome with pain; he remained still and calm, we are told, to the last; and at length, in the words of Fox, died as quietly as a child in his bed.' No father in his household, no gardener in his garden, no husbandman in his vineyard, was ever more employed than Hooper had been in his diocese among his flock, going about the towns and villages teaching and preaching to the people there. 6 Saunders and Taylor, two other clergymen, whose zeal had been distinguished in carrying on the Reformation, were the next that suffered. And now Ridley bishop of London, "and the venerable Latimer bishop of Worcester, were to receive the martyr's crown. Ridley was one of the ablest champions of the Reformation: his piety, learning, and solidity of judgment, were admired by his friends and dreaded by his ene mies. The night before his execution he invited the mayor of Oxford and his wife to see him die; and when he saw them melted into tears he himself appeared quite unmoved. When he came to the stake where he was to be burnt, he found his old friend Latimer there before him, and began to comfort him in his sufferings, while Latimer was as ready to return the kind office. Ridley distributed such trifles as he had about him to those who were near him; aud many pressed about him to obtain something as a relic. They then undressed for the stake; and Latimer, when he had put off his prison dress, remained in a shroud which he had put on, instead of a shirt, for that day's office. When the fire was brought Latimer said, Be of good comfort, master Ridley, and play the man! we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out!' The venerable old man received the flame as if embracing it; and having, as it were, bathed his hands in the fire, and stroked his face with them, died apparently without pain. Ridley endured a long martyrdom, and fell at Latimer's feet. As the bodies were consumed the quantity of blood which gushed from Latimer's heart astonished the beholders. As soon as Cranmer perceived what course events were likely to take, after king Edward's death, he gave orders that all his debts should be paid to the uttermost farthing, and cancelled the bills which were due to him from persons who were not in a condition to discharge them. This being done, he said he was his own man, and, with God's help, able to answer all the world and all worldly adversities. Those adversities soon came upon him; he was attainted of treason, and adjudged guilty of it. Accordingly he was arraigned for blasphemy, incontinency, and heresy, before the same commissioners who condemned his fellow-prisoners: but he was dealt with very differently from any of the former sufferers; being removed to the house of the dean of Christ Church, and treated there rather as a guest than a prisoner. We have noticed the success of this treatment on a mind naturally timid. See our article CRANMER. He signed a recantation of his former opinions, and concluded it with a protestation that he had done it freely and only for the discharge of his conscience. The queen, however, was resolved to make him a sacrifice to her resentments. She said it was good for his own soul that he repented; but, since he had been the chief spreader of heresy over the nation, it was necessary to make him a public example; so the writ was sent down to burn him: and, after some stop had been made in the execution of it, new orders came for doing it suddenly. This seems to have been kept from Cranmer's knowledge. He, however, was gradually prepared by a better influence for the worst; and on being carried to St. Mary's where Dr. Cole vindicated the queen's justice in condemning Cranmer while he magnified his conversion and ascribed it to the workings of God's Spirit, the conduct of the archbishop far more surprised his enemies. A Romanist who was present, and who thought that his former life and wretched end deserved a greater misery, if greater had been possible, was yet, in spite of his opinions, touched with compassion at beholding him in a bare and ragged gown, exposed to universal contempt. I think,' said he that there was none that pitied not his case, and bewailed not his fortune, and feared not his own chance, to see so noble a prelate, so grave a counsellor, of so long continued honor, after so many dignities, in his old years to be deprived of his estate, adjudged to die, and in so painful a death to end his life. In this hour of utter humiliation, and severe repentance, he certainly possessed his soul in patience; never had his mind been more clear and collected, never had his heart been so strong. At the stake no cry was heard from him, save the exclamation of the proto-martyr Stephen, Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit! He stood immovable as the tree to which he was bound, his countenance raised, looking to heaven, and anticipating that rest into which he was about to enter. Bonner now seemed not satisfied with single deaths, but sent men in whole companies to the flames; even women were not spared; and in Guernsey, when a woman condemned for heresy was delivered of a child in the midst of the flames, and some of the spectators humanely snatched it out, the magistrate, who was a papist, ordered it to be thrown in again, and it was consumed with the mother! During the four years that this persecution continued, it appears by authentic records that 280 persons were burnt alive; the number of those who perished in priis unknown. The loss of property in London consequent upon the arrest or flight of substantial citizens, and the general insecurity, was estimated at £300,000. Nor was it in wealth alone that the kingdom suffered; the spirit of the nation sunk; and the character, and with it the prosperity, of the English would have been irrecoverably lost, if God in his mercy had not cut short this abominable tyranny. Mary was supposed to be with child; but those appearances, which had so far deceived the queen herself that the cradle was made ready, proved to be the indications of a mortal disease. Not a week before her death three women and two men were burnt at Canterbury. Elizabeth, immediately on her accession, made greater approaches to toleration than any prince who had hitherto reigned on any throne in Europe. Indulgence and forbearance, such as that age had never seen, were freely extended to all; neither were there any violations of this unknown and unthought of generosity till repeated acts of treason endangered the safety both of her person and her throne. When the parliament met, the keeper of the great seal, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was directed, with a moderation at that time very unusual, to entreat the members to reunite all classes of the people by avoiding the extremes of both parties. In consequence of this advice, and in accordance with the known wishes of the queen, public worship was appointed in the vulgar tongue-the supremacy of the queen was restored-the acts of Edward, concerning religion, were renewed and confirmed. No laws were made to punish the Romanist persecutors of the former reign-no retaliation was attempted-no censure was passed-no disapprobation expressed. The first act of the new queen was to take Sir William Cecil into her council, and appoint him her principal secretary. When the bill for restoring the supremacy to the crown was debated in parliament, it was opposed by the bishops. Heath said, that, as concerning temporal government, the house could give her highness no further authority than she already had by right and inheritance, not by their gift, but by the appointment of God, she being their sovereign lord and lady, their king and queen, their emperor and empress. But spiritual government they could not grant, neither could she receive. . The bishop of Chester, speaking upon the same subject, asked of whom those men, who in this and other points dissented from the Catholic church, learned their doctrine? They must needs answer,' said he, that they learned it of the Germans. Of whom did the Germans learn it! Of Luther. Well, then, of whom did Luther learn it? He shall answer himself: he saith, that such things as he teacheth against the mass, and the blessed sacrament of the altar, he learned of Satan, the devil; at whose hands, it is like, he did also receive the rest of his doctrines.' The infamous persecutor, Story, went beyond this in the house of commons. He boasted of the part he had taken; related with exultation how he had thrown a faggot in the face of an carwig, as he called him, who was singing psalms at the stake, and how he had thrust a thornbush under his feet to prick him: wished that he had |