his divorce, they have taken little care to examine how matters (that is, Church matters) were transacted in his time. the "But if we consider the great things that were done by him, we must acknowledge that there was a signal providence of God in raising up a King of his temper, to clear way for that blessed work that followed, and which could hardly have been done but by a man of his humour: so that I may very fitly apply to him the witty simile of an ingenious writer, who compares Luther to a postilion in his waxed boots and oiled coat, lashing his horses through thick and thin, and bespattering all about him. "This character befits King Henry better, (saving the reverence due to his crown), who, as the postilion to the Reformation, made way for it through a great deal of mire. "There are two prejudices which men have generally drunk in (imbibed) against that time. The one is from the King's per sonal deportment and government, which make many think no good could be done by I am so ill a man and so cruel a Prince. not to defend him, nor to lessen his faults. . . . . God's ways are a great deep; He has often showed His power and wisdom by raising up unlikely and unpromising instruments to do great services in the world; not always the best men in them, lest they should have the praise which is due to the Supreme Governor of the world. "The other prejudice touches the Reformation in a more vital and tender part; it is, that Cranmer and the other bishops who promoted the Reformation in the succeeding reign, did in this reign comply too servilely with King Henry's humours, both in carrying on his frequent divorces, and in retaining those corruptions in the worship which, by their throwing them off in the beginning of King Edward's reign, we may conclude were then condemned by them; so that they seem H to have acted against their conscience in this compliance. .... They did not (however) at once attain to the full knowledge of divine truth, as in that of the bodily presence in the Sacrament; so that if themselves were not enlightened, they could not instruct others. And besides all this, it must be confessed they were men, and had mixtures of fear and human infirmities with their other excellent qualities. .. But their virtues, as well as their faults, are set before us for our instruction; and how frail soever the vessels were, they have conveyed to us a treasure of great value, the pure Gospel of our Lord and Saviour; which if we follow, and govern our hearts and lives by it, we may hope in easier and plainer paths to attain that blessedness, which they could not reach but through the flames of martyrdom; and if we do not improve the light which this Gospel affords, we may look for some of those trials which were sent for the exercise of their faith and patience, and perhaps for the punishment of their former compliances; or if we escape these, we have reason to fear worse in the conclusion." CHAPTER VII. And thus I see amid these pleasant things, Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness. CARDINAL WOLSEY. IN the 19th of May 1534,* the Lord Mayor of London, at his Majesty's command, pro ceeded by water to Green wich, then a royal residence, to fetch from thence the new-made Queen, to whose coro Stow states it to be the 31st. |