58 CHARACTER OF CRANMER. A. D. Ch. 4. freely circulated it among the people, abolished the old Latin service, and substituted his inimitable liturgy, compiled from 1547 all that was profound and devotional in the public worship of to God for 1,500 years. He destroyed images, and abolished 1553. auricular confession, the celibacy of the clergy, masses for the mer. dead, imposing altars, and pompous ceremonies. He caused the communion to be administered in both kinds to the laity, prepared a book of homilies for the clergy, curtailed the authority of the ecclesiastical courts, invited eminent scholars from the Continent to settle in England, founded new professorships in the universities, and introduced a uniform creed in the form of forty-two articles, the same, in substance, with the thirty-nine articles of the present liturgy. He corresponded with learned men throughout Europe, listened to the voice of experience, healed the disorders of the kingdom, and suppressed anarchy and immorality. These are the acts, by which he will be finally judged by posterity. Charac- In carrying out these great reforms, he was mild and tolerant. of Cran- Comparatively few suffered from religious persecution, in an age when punishment for heresy was generally advocated. His treatment of his greatest enemies was not sanguinary, as in the case of Bishops Gardiner and Bonner. Nor did he abuse his great powers for self-exaltation. He wished to add no new dignities to the see of Canterbury. It seemed to be his prevailing desire to free England from the superstitions of the Middle Ages; and, in conjunction with Bishops Latimer and Ridley, and other good men imbued with his spirit, he carried the work of Reform as far as was then practicable, and probably as far as has ever since been desired by a majority of his countrymen. In another reign, and under peculiar circumstances, he exhibited great infirmities and weakness, even recanting, for a time, the principles he had spent his life in defending. But it is the privilege of great characters to be judged by their works in aid of civilDeath of ization, not by their infirmities and mistakes. Edward VI. Unfortunately, the young King died early (July 6, 1553), ACCESSION OF MARY. 59 A. D. at a period when his life was of the most importance to the Ch.4. Protestant cause, and when Cranmer was in the height of his usefulness and fame. Yet there is no period of corresponding 1553. length when such great changes were made so wisely, with such little bloodshed, and on a firmer basis. Nor was there ever a period of six years when such magnificent charities were endowed in various parts of the realm. The succession to the throne fell to the Princess Mary, or, as princesses were then called, the Lady Mary; nor could she be excluded from the enjoyment of her rights. Edward, acting under the influence of Northumberland, had bequeathed the crown to Lady Jane Grey, and this ambitious nobleman having contrived to keep the death of the King secret for two days, and to secure from the mayor and aldermen of London a promise to respect the will, had her proclaimed Queen of Lady England. "So far, however, was she from any desire of this Grey. advancement, that she began to act her part of royalty with many tears, thus plainly showing to those who had access to her, that she was forced by her relations and friends to this high but dangerous post." She was accomplished, beautiful and amiable, devoted to her young husband, and very fond of Plato, whom she read in the original. Jane Mary's friends quickly exerted themselves, and her causethe cause of legitimacy rather than of Catholicism-gained ground. Northumberland was unequal to the crisis, and found himself very feebly sustained. His forces were suppressed, his schemes failed, and his hopes fled. From rebellion to the scaffold there is but one step; and this great nobleman suffered the fate of Somerset, his former rival. His execution Fall of Northconfirms one of the most striking facts in the history of umberabsolute monarchies, namely, that no subject, or confede- land. racy of subjects, however powerful, stand much chance in resisting the claims of a legitimate prince. Mary was apparently a powerless woman when Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen by the party of Northumberland, and yet she had but to signify her intention to claim her rights, and the 60 A. D. MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN. Ch. 4. nation was prostrate at her feet. The Protestant party dreaded her accession, but loyalty was a stronger principle than even 1553. Protestantism, and she was soon firmly established on the throne of Henry VIII. Still her reign must be regarded as a reaction in the progress of Protestantism, and it will be chiefly remembered for its religious persecutions. perse Reli- A total change in the administration immediately followed, gious which affected both the political and religious state of the cution. country. Those who had languished in confinement on account of their religion obtained their liberty, and were elevated to power. Gardiner, Bonner, and other Roman Catholic bishops, were restored to their sees, while Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Hooper, Coverdale, and other eminent Protestants, were imprisoned. All the statutes of Edward VI. pertaining to religion were repealed, and the queen sent assurances to the Pope of her allegiance. Cardinal Pole, descended from the royal family of England, and a man of great probity, moderation, and worth, was appointed legate of the Pope. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, was made Lord Chancellor, and became prime minister. He and his associates recommended violent measures, and a reign unparalleled in England for religious persecution commenced. Marriage of the Soon after the Queen's accession she married Philip, son of the Emperor Charles, and heir of the Spanish monarchy. Queen. This marriage, brought about by the intrigues of the Emperor, and favored by the Catholic party, was acceptable to Mary, whose issue would inherit the thrones of Spain and England. But ambitious matches are seldom happy, especially when the wife is much older than the husband, as was the case in this instance. Mary was attached to Philip, but he treated her with great indifference. This Spanish match, the most brilliant of that age, failed to satisfy the English people, who had no notion of becoming the subjects of the King of Spain. In consequence of this disaffection, a rebellion broke out, under Sir Thomas Wyatt, in which the Lady Jane Grey and her husband became im RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. .61 tion of plicated, though unjustly. The rebellion was easily sup- Ch. 4. pressed, and the leaders sent to the Tower. Then followed A. D. one of the most melancholy executions of this reign-that of 1555. the Lady Jane Grey, who had been reprieved three months before. The queen urged the plea of self-defence, and the Execusafety of the realm-the same plea that Queen Elizabeth, in Lady after times, urged in reference to the Queen of Scots. Her Jane Grey. unfortunate fate excited great compassion, and she suffered with a martyr's constancy. The Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane, was also executed. The Princess Elizabeth expected to be sacrificed, both because she was a Protestant, and the next heiress to the throne, but she carefully avoided giving offence, and managed with such consummate prudence, that she was finally preserved. Smith The year 1555 opened gloomily for the Protestants. The prisons were crowded with the victims of religious persecution, and bigoted inquisitors had only to prepare their fagots and Fires of stakes. More than a thousand ministers were ejected from field. their livings, and such as escaped further persecution fled to the Continent. No fewer than two hundred and eighty-eight persons, among whom were five bishops, twenty-one clergymen, fifty-five women, and four children, were burned for religious opinions, besides many thousands who suffered various other forms of persecution. The constancy of Ridley, Latimer, and Hooper has immortalized their names as illustrious martyrs; but the greatest of all the victims was Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. The most artful pro- Death mises were held out to him, to induce him to retract. Life and dignities were promised if he would deny the faith. In an evil hour he yielded to the temptation. Timid, heartbroken, and old, the love of life and the fear of death were stronger than the voice of conscience and duty. But when he found he was mocked, he came to himself, and suffered patiently and heroically. His death was glorious, as his life was useful; and the sincerity of his repentance redeemed his memory from shame. of Cran mer. 62 Ch. 4. A. D. to 1558. EFFECTS OF PERSECUTION. Cranmer may be considered as the great author of the English Reformation, and he was certainly one of the most 1555 enlightened men of his age, although timid, politic, and timeserving. The Reformation produced no perfect characters in any country. Some great defect blemished the lives of almost all the illustrious men who then justly earned imperishable glory. But the characters of such men as Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, strikingly contrast with those of Gardiner and Bonner. The former did, indeed, show some lenity after a time, but Bonner gloated to the last in the blood which he caused to be shed. He even whipped Protestant prisoners with his own hands, and once pulled out the beard of an heretical weaver, and held his finger in the flame of a candle, till the veins shrunk and burnt, that his victim might realize what the pain of burning was. So blind and cruel is religious Effects intolerance. But Providence ordered that this persecution should prepare the way for a movement of a very different character in cution. the subsequent reign. The fires of Smithfield, and the of perse cruelties of the pillory and the prison, opened the eyes of the |