MARY. Pole. Paul IV.

friend, Thirlby; and the consequence was that his resolution
gave way, and he signed various documents retracting all
he had taught contrary to the doctrines and authority of
the Roman see. All this while preparations were going
on for his execution; and, with a duplicity which is a fit
consummation of the whole, he was kept in ignorance of
his intended fate until almost the hour of his immolation.
On the 21st of March, 1556, the very day of

A.D. 1556.
his execution, his eyes were opened by a visit
from Dr. Cole, Provost of Eton, who furnished him with
the usual preliminary to an execution in the shape of fifteen
crowns to give to the poor. He was informed that his re-
cantation must be read in public, and was conducted to St.
Mary's Church, where, after a sermon from Cole, his
confession was to be made. At the conclusion of the sermon
Cranmer rose, and having prayed and addressed some
words of exhortation to the people, pronounced a summary
of his faith, utterly renouncing the recantations into which
he had been deceived, "as things written with my hand
contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and
written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be.
And forasmuch as my hand offended, writing contrary to
my heart, my hand shall first be punished therefore; for,
may I come to the fire, it shall be first burned." Upon this
he was hurried to the place already consecrated to the
memory of Latimer and Ridley, amidst reproaches and
insults. When the flames began to ascend, stretching forth
his right hand he held it therein, ofttimes repeating, "this

State the circumstances which immediately preceded it, and write down his memorable declaration before he was led to the stake. Briefly relate the circumstances which attended his execution.

unworthy right hand, this unworthy right hand!" so long as his voice would suffer him; and using the words of Stephen, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit," in the greatness of the flame he gave up the ghost. Thus perished Cranmer, nobly redeeming in death the irresolution that clouded the latter years of his life.

Cranmer's Character.

}

72. Few men have received harder measure from posterity than Cranmer. Romanists, smarting under the overthrow of their system, have loaded his memory with indiscriminate abuse. And even Protestants have thought more of his subserviency under Henry, and of his recantations under Mary, than of the firmness he showed repeatedly under both, and of his great services to the cause of scriptural Christianity. The truth is, that his convictions were slowly and cautiously formed, and that ne had not the nerve with which some men are blessed. Yet it is not just to condemn him as wanting in moral firmness; for we find him challenging the Roman hierarch to discuss the papal power in the very seat of its existence; arguing against his sovereign's tyrannical statute of the "Six Articles;" refusing to fly in the hour of peril; and repudiating the charge of compliance with popery, on the accession of its known and zealous upholder. To his private worth even his enemies are compelled to bear testimony; while his readiness to forgive private injuries gave rise to the saying, "do my lord of Canterbury an ill turn, and he will be your friend for life.” Professor Blunt defends him from the charge of Puritanism

MARY.

Pole.

Paul IV.

72. Give a short account of Cranmer's character. Show that he was not wanting in moral firmness, and that he was unfairly claimed by the Puritans. To whom is the Church principally indebted for her formularies and articles ?

MARY.

Pole.

Paul IV.

by referring to his resolute opposition even to the king's letter of recommendation that the ceremonies used in consecration might be dispensed with in the particular case of Hooper; to the omission in his translation of the catechism of a passage in the Latin text, reflecting upon certain mysteries which at a very early period were caviare to the Puritan; and to the spirit that pervades the whole sermon on the Keys" in the same catechism, wherein is a warning against "false and privy preachers, which privily creep into cities, and preach in corners, having none authority, nor being called to the office." It is to Cranmer, under God, that the Church is indebted for those sound formularies and articles which identify her with scriptural and primitive antiquity.

66

Death of
Mary.

A.D. 1558.

73. The leading Reformers had either perished or gone into exile,* when the unhappy queen ended a reign of continued disaster on the 17th of November, 1558. Cardinal Pole, her chief religious adviser, followed her to the gravc within sixteen hours of her own decease; and thus was England delivered from bonds which it is fervently to be hoped will never again be cast round her. But for the cruelties to which her ill-informed zeal, no less than her chosen counsellors, impelled her, Mary might have claimed respect, if not affection. "She was," says Burnett, a lady of great virtues: she was strict in her religion to superstition: her temper was much corrupted by

66

*With the exception of Sir | who recanted.

John Cheke, the late king's tutor,

73. When did Queen Mary die? Give a short account of her character and proceedings.

melancholy; and the many cross accidents of her life increased this to a great degree." In one thing Mary undoubtedly contrasts favourably with the secular promoters of the Reformation. She abhorred sacrilege; and restored all the Church property retained by the crown in the shape of first-fruits, tenths, &c. All her habits were those of a professed and sincere devotee. But her reign was a reign of terror, and her sanguinary zeal against alleged heresy has naturally enough supplied the epithet by which she is distinguished in the calendar of English sovereigns. suffered the barbarity of Romanism to be so displayed that moderate people revolted from a religion which spake of peace, but shed blood like water upon the earth. Hence, bonfires were lighted in the streets before Mary was cold, and tables spread for merry-making in honour of her

successor.

She

MARY.

Pole. Paul IV.

CHAPTER VI.

Accession

of

Elizabeth.

THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

74. On Mary's demise, her half-sister, ELIZABETH. Elizabeth, succeeded amid the acclamations Paul IV. of all except the bigots, who felt that the reign of terror was closed. She had con

formed to Romanism in the late reign, when non-compliance

74. What religion did Elizabeth profess in the latter years of Mary's reign

ELIZABETH. might have endangered her life. But her anti-Romanist Paul IV. feelings were indicated on her accession by the refusal of her hand to Bonner; by the gratification with which she received a Bible on her procession through London; and by the appointment of eight friends of the Reformation (one of whom was Cecil, afterwards Lord Burghley,) upon her council. Yet she resolved to proceed with circumspection in her dealings with a divided people. For instance, at her coronation,* on the 15th of January, 1559, she partook of the mass, Romanism A.D. 1559. being then the religion of the country; she silenced all preachers, whether Protestant or Romanist, until the meeting of parliament ;t she at first refused, but at last conceded, the marriage of the clergy. "She offends the zealots of both parties, for she openly espouses the cause of neither; but she makes that party her own which represents the sober, the stable, the somewhat phlegmatic good sense of the English people."‡

The Act of
Supremacy,
&c.

75. Parliament met ten days after the queen's coronation, and one of its earliest proceedings was the passing an act for restoring first-fruits and tenths to the

* Oglethorpe, Bishop of Carlisle, officiated at the ceremony, the other bishops having declined to take part in it.

litany, the Lord's prayer, the creed, the decalogue, and the epistle and gospel, were admitted in English.

Any other service than the Blunt's Sketch of the ReformRomish, which was yet authorisedation in England, p. 301. by law, was forbidden; but the

How did she manifest her feelings on her accession? Give some instances of the caution with which she proceeded. *[Note]. By whom was she crowned? 75. Name some of the proceedings taken by the parliament soon after Elizabeth's coronation. By what act was the Church of England finally separated from that of Rome? What title was substituted for that of "Head