CHAPTER VI.

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

THE time had now arrived, when the highest dignitary of the English church must fall a prey-offered up, in flames, to the insatiable Moloch of popery; and snatched by special grace, even at the last, as a brand from unquenchable burning. The history of that amiable and estimable man, THOMAS CRANMER, arcbbishop of Canterbury, is one of no ordinary interest. By the singular providence of God, he was brought from the retirement of private life, to become one of the most conspicuous characters of that eventful period; to promote, beyond any other individual, the sacred cause of the gospel in England; and finally after a grievous fall to rise again, and stand at the post of martyrdom, a witness for the truth.

Cranmer was of a good and ancient family, born in Nottinghamshire; he entered at Cambridge, where, prospering well in the higher orders of study, he was chosen fellow of Jesus College. By marrying, however, he soon forfeited his fellowship, and became reader in Buckingham College. His wife dying soon after, he was re-elected fellow, by his former companions, where he soon attained the degree of doctor and lecturer in divinity, and from his high reputation was generally chosen one of the heads, whose office it was to examine the candidates for degrees, either admitting them, or suspending the admission until they should be bet ter furnished with learning. Dr. Cranmer, early impressed with the importance of scriptural knowledge, would never admit any to proceed in divinity, until they were thoroughly acquainted with the Bible history; so that he gave much offence, and provoked no little resentment among those whom he sent back to study this neglected branch. Nevertheless, in after time, some of these individuals becoming famous and useful to the church through their scriptural knowledge, were in the habit of highly extolling Cranmer's firmness in this point, to which they owed all their attainments. When Wolsey's famous college, at Oxford, was in progress, Cranmer was greatly solicited to accept a fel

lowship in it; but he refused, though at the hazard of incurring the haughty cardinal's displeasure: and this was the first evident link in the remarkable chain of his future eminence. Remaining at Cambridge, he was exposed to the dangers of the plague, which broke out there; and having the two young sons of a Mr. Cressy under his charge, in college, he took them home to their father's house, at Waltham Abbey, from the peril of the infection; himself remaining there as a guest.

It was just at this time that Henry VIII., who had been for two or three years agitating the subject of his divorce among the canonists and learned men, found himself trifled with by the two cardinals, Campeius and Wolsey, who suddenly closed their commission, when he expected an immediate sentence, pretending that it was not allowable to hold courts on ecclesiastical matters during harvest. The king, exasperated at this, had despatched Campeius back to Rome, and in very bad humour left London, to pass a night or two at Waltham. His two chief helpers in the cause, Stephen Gardiner, then secretary, and Dr. Fox, almoner, accompanying him, were lodged in the house of Mr. Cressy, where, meeting Dr. Cranmer at supper, the discourse turned upon the king's business, which was freely discussed by them, being old college acquaintances. Cranmer, on his opinion being asked, said he had not studied the matter, but it seemed to him they were taking a wrong course. Instead of pursuing the case in ecclesiastical courts, he thought the better way would have been simply to propound the question, whether a man may marry his brother's wife or no? and to let the divines discuss it by the authority of the word of God, whereby the king's conscience might be better satisfied than by these uncertain proceedings. He spoke much of the certainty that Scripture would declare and show the truth; which might as well be discovered in England as at Rome.

The next day Henry removed to Greenwich, and being, as usual, very restless on the subject, he sent for his two favourite counsellors, asking them what he should now do: whether he must send a new commission to Rome; lamenting the impossibility of foreseeing when there would be an end of it. Dr. Fox, anxious to set his master's mind at rest, told him there was a hope of settling it with less labour; and repeated Cranmer's advice. Gardiner showed no little vexation at this honest proceeding, for he intended

to have taken the credit of it on themselves, and endeavoured still to give that colour to the affair, but the impetuous mind of Henry had caught what he rightly judged would be a clue to guide him out of the labyrinth: he ordered that Cranmer should forthwith be sent for, adding, “That man hath the sow by the right ear; and if I had known this device but two years ago, it had been in my way a great piece of money, and had also rid me of much disquietness."

Cranmer, who greatly disliked the summons, entreated his friends by some means to excuse him to the king; and they strove so to do; but Henry scolded and insisted, and showed how vain it was to oppose his despotic will. Cranmer was introduced, and Henry, both requesting as a friend, and commanding as a king, that he would set apart all other business and affairs to see his cause furthered, he was obliged to assent, suggesting, however, that it would be best to commit the examination of the matter by the word of God to the principal men in the universities. Henry agreed to this, still insisting that Cranmer should write out his own mind concerning it. He then called the earl of Wiltshire, giving him charge to entertain Cranmer in his house for this purpose; and to provide him with books and all other requisites. This was done; Scripture, general councils, and ancient writers, were all adduced in support of Cranmer's individual opinion, which was this-that the bishop of Rome had no such authority as whereby he might dispense with the word of God and the Scripture.

When the king saw this book, he asked, "Will you abide by this that you have here written, before the bishop of Rome?" "That I will do, by God's grace," replied Dr. Cranmer, "if your majesty do send me thither." Thus, by his means, learned men having been sent abroad to discuss the matter in foreign universities, it was also solemnly disputed in Oxford and Cambridge; and by them it was concluded that no such matrimony was, by the word of God, lawful. The next step was the sending of an embassage to Rome, consisting of the earl of Wiltshire, Cranmer, Stokesby, Carne, Bennet, and other learned doctors and gentlemen. Such a mission had never before approached the wearer of the triple crown: such a blow had never been aimed at his authority. Henry, recently the pope's champion against Luther, had laid hold on the weapon beneath which alone the mighty power of the papacy crumbles into

dust; and little did the selfish, despotic king foresee what consequences would ensue from this daring step, of sending to inform him who exalteth himself above all that is called God and is worshipped, that the word of inspiration was of higher authority than the thundered dicta of his infallibility!

The interview with the pope was marked by an incident which Fox records with much glee, as ominous of what was shortly to take place between the Romish see and England. When they came into the presence, the bishop of Rome, seated on high in his cloth of estate, richly apparelled, offered his sandaled foot to be kissed by the ambassadors. The earl of Wiltshire, not choosing so to degrade himself, stood still, and the rest followed their leader's example. It happened that the earl had brought with him a favourite spaniel of a large breed, which accompanied him on this occasion, and he, being somewhat in advance of his master when the pope's foot was graciously put forth, took the liberty of applying thereto not only his nose but his teeth, and pinched the pontifical great toe, so smartly, that his holiness lost no time in drawing it in from the sacrilegious salute; and while the ambassadors smiled in their sleeves at the incident, he tacitly dispensed with any further ceremony of that sort, and gave ear at once to their message. Strange to say, no direct opposition was offered to their plea against his authority for dispensing with the precepts of God's word; and after divers promises, and frequently appointing days for debating the question, he sent them away complimented and uncontradicted.

The rest returning to England, Cranmer went to the emperor's court, to make good his argument, even in presence of queen Katharine's nephew, and succeeded in silencing all his doctors. On his return home, Warham's death left the see of Canterbury vacant; and Henry justly conferred the dignity on the best friend and ablest advocate he had ever found within his realm. In this high pastoral charge, Cranmer so deported himself as to answer St. Paul's description of a bishop; while his fulfilment of the duties annexed to it, as a great office of state, was admirably correct.

So forgiving was he, and so careful to return good for evil, that it became a common saying, "Do my lord of Canterbury an ill turn, and you may be sure to have him your friend while he liveth." His personal character was, indeed, most lovely, the qualities of his mind rare, his ac10

MARTYROLOGY.-VOL. II.

quirements singularly great, and his integrity, fidelity, and disinterestedness in the service of his king, such as even the caprice of that suspicious tyrant could never call in question. Indeed the attempts that were frequently made to shake his confidence in Cranmer, only served to show how fixed it was. The Lord doubtless gave him this favour in the king's eyes, that he might the better fulfil his appointed task of building up again the prostrate church of Christ. His opposition to the enactment of the flagitious Six Articles, proved a great trial of Henry's friendship for the archbishop: Stephen Gardiner, his secret and most implacable enemy, continually practised against him; and on one occasion so far prevailed, by means of his emissaries who abused the king's ear with tales that Cranmer and his chaplains by their preaching were filling the whole realm with pernicious heresies, that Henry allowed them to commit him to the tower, and to proceed so far as to make their envious malice fully apparent; but he had taken care, by privately instructing Cranmer how to proceed, and giving him his ring to produce at the proper moment, to ensure him a triumphant deliverance from their toils. So openly was the shield of royal favour thrown over this upright prelate, that it soon became a hopeless task to assail him: for whosoever slandered the archbishop of Canterbury was sure to receive some of the king's pungent rebukes, accompanied with menaces that no one liked to provoke at the hands of such a monarch. Such was Henry's affection for Cranmer, that he even connived at his living in the state of wedlock, notwithstanding the Six Articles; and faithfully kept the secret.

When Edward ascended the throne, Cranmer who had recently been convinced through Ridley's means, of the true doctrine of the sacrament, on which he never till then had been rightly persuaded, wrote five books on the subject, for public instruction, wherein he cverthrows the corporeal presence, transubstantiation, adoration, the receiving of Christ's body by the ungodly, and the blasphemous sacrifice of the mass. Stephen Gardiner, then at leisure in the tower of London, took on himself to answer this publication, to whose sophistical work Cranmer again learnedly and copiously replied. This did not silence Gardiner, who wrote another book, which Cranmer was employed in confuting, during his subsequent imprisonment in Oxford. Ridley also, being 'deprived of pen, ink and paper, broke a