WHY WERE OUR REFORMERS BURNED?
From the Book - Five English Reformers
by J.C. Ryle - 1890
There are certain facts in history which the world
tries hard to forget and ignore. These facts get in the way of some of the
world's favourite theories, and are highly inconvenient. The consequence is that
the world shuts its eyes against them. They are either cut dead as vulgar
intruders, or passed by as tiresome bores. Little by little they sink out of
sight of the students of history, like ships in a distant horizon, or are left
behind like a luggage train in a siding. Of such facts the subject of this paper
is a vivid example:-" The Burning of our English Reformers; and the Reason why
they were Burned."
It is fashionable in some quarters to deny that there is any such thing as
certainty about religious truth, or any opinions for which it is worth while to
be burned. Yet, 300 years ago, there were men who were certain they had found
out truth, and were content to die for their opinions.-It is fashionable in
other quarters to leave out all the unpleasant things in history, and to paint
everything a rose-coloured hue. A very popular history of our English hardly
mentions the martyrdoms of Queen Mary's days! Yet Mary was not called "Bloody
Mary" without reason, and scores of Protestants were burned in her reign. Last,
but not least, it is thought very bad taste in many quarters to say anything
which throws discredit on the Church of Rome. Yet it is as certain that the
Romish Church burned our English Reformers as it is that William the Conqueror
won the battle of Hastings. These difficulties meet me face to face as I walk up
to the subject which I wish to unfold in this paper. I know their magnitude, and
I cannot evade them. I only ask my readers to give me a patient and indulgent
hearing.
After all, I have great confidence in the honesty of English men's minds. Truth
is truth, however long it may be neglected. Facts are facts, however long they
may lie buried. I only want to dig up some old facts which the sands of time
have covered over, to bring to the light of day some old English monuments which
have been long neglected, to unstop some old wells which the prince of this
world has been diligently filling with earth. I ask my readers to give me their
attention for a few minutes, and I trust to be able to show them that it is good
to examine the question, "Why were our Reformers burned ?"
(I). The broad facts of the martyrdom of our Reformers are a story well known
and soon told. But it may be useful to give a brief outline of these facts, in
order to supply a framework to our subject.
Edward VI., "that incomparable young prince," as Bishop Burnet justly calls him,
died on the 6th July, '553. Never, perhaps, did any royal personage in this land
die more truly lamented, or leave behind him a fairer reputation. Never,
perhaps, to man's poor fallible judgment, did the cause of God's truth in
England receive a heavier blow. His last prayer before death ought not to be
forgotten," 0 Lord God, defend this realm from papistry, and maintain Thy true
religion." It was a prayer, I believe, not offered in vain.
After a foolish and deplorable effort to obtain the crown for Lady Jane Grey,
Edward was succeeded by his eldest sister, Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. and his
first Queen, Catherine of Aragon, and best known in English history by the
ill-omened name of "Bloody Mary." Mary had been brought up from her infancy as a
rigid adherent of the Romish Church. She was, m fact, a very Papist of Papists,
conscientious, zealous, bigoted, and narrow-minded in the extreme. She began at
once to pull down her brother's work in every possible way, and to restore
Popery in its worst and most offensive forms. Step by step she and her
councillors marched back to Rome, trampling down one by one every obstacle, and
as thoroughas Lord Strafford in going straight forward to their mark. The Mass
was restored; the English service was taken away; the works of Luther, Zwingle,
Calvin, Tyndale, Bucer, Latimer, Hooper, and Cranmer were proscribed. Cardinal
Pole was invited to England. The foreign Protestants resident in England were
banished. The leading divines of the Protestant Church of England were deprived
of thefr offices, and, while some escaped to the Continent, many were put in
prison. The old statutes against heresy were once more brought forward, primed
and loaded. And thus by the beginning of 1555 the stage was cleared, and that
bloody tragedy, in which Bishops Bonner and Gardiner played so prominent a part,
was ready to begin.
For, unhappily for the credit of human nature, Mary's advisers were not content
with depriving and imprisoning the leading English Reformers. It was resolved to
make them abjure their principles, or to put them to death. One by one they were
called before special Commissions, examined about their religious opinions, and
called upon to recant, on pain of death if they refused. No third course, no
alternative was left to them. They were either to give up Protestantism and
receive Popery, or else they were to be burned alive. Refusing to recant, they
were one by one handed over to the secular power, publicly brought out and
chained to stakes, publicly surrounded with faggots, and publicly sent out of
the world by that most cruel and painful of deaths, the death by fire. All these
are broad facts which all the apologists of Rome can never gainsay or deny.
It is a broad fact that during the last four years of Queen Mary's reign no less
than 288 persons were burnt at the stake for their adhesion to the Protestant
faith.
In 1555 there were burnt : 71
In 1556 there were burnt : 89
In 1557 there were burnt : 88
In 1558 there were burnt : 40
_____________________
288 [1]
[1]These numbers are given by Soames, in his History of the Reformation (vol.
iv. p.587), and are taken from Strype. Some historians give higher numbers.
Indeed, the faggots never ceased to blaze whilst Mary was alive, and five
martyrs were burnt in Canterbury only a week before her death. Out of these 288
sufferers, be it remembered, one was an archbishop, four were bishops, twenty~ne
were clergymen, fifty-five were women, and four were children. It is a broad
fact that these 288 sufferers were not put to death for any offence against
property or person. They were not rebels against the Queen's authority, caught
red-handed in arms. They were not thieves, or murderers, or drunkards, or
unbelievers, or men and women of immoral lives. On the contrary, they were, with
barely an exception, some of the holiest, purest, and best Christians in
England, and several of them the most learned men of their day.
I might say much about the gross injustice and unfairness with which they were
treated at their various examinations. Their trials, if indeed they can be
called trials, were a mere mockery of justice.-I might say much about the
abominable cruelty with which most of them were treated, both in prison and at
the stake. But you must read Foxe's Martyrs on these points. -I make no comment
on the stupid impolicy of the whole persecution. Never did Rome do herself such
irreparable damage as she did in Mary's reign. Even unlearned people, who could
not argue much, saw clearly that a Church which committed such horrible
bloodshed could hardly be the one true Church of Christ Ii But I have no time
for all this. I must conclude this general sketch of this part of my subject
with two short remarks.
For one thing, I ask my readers never to forget that for the burning of our
Reformers the Church of Rome is wholly and entirely responsible. The attempt to
transfer the responsibility from the Church to the secular power is a miserable
and dishonest subterfuge. The men of Judah did not slay Samson; but they
delivered him bound into the hands of the Philistines! The Church of Rome did
not slay the Reformers; but she condemned them, and the secular power executed
the condemnation I The precise measure of responsibility which ought to be meted
out to each of Rome's agents in the matter is a point that I do not care to
settle. Miss Strickland, in her "Lives of the Queens of England" has tried in
vain to shift the blame from unhappy Mary. With all the zeal of a woman, she has
laboured hard to whitewash her character. The reader of her biography will find
little about martyrdoms. But it will not do. Mr. Froude's volume tells a very
different tale. The Queen, and her Council, and the Parliament, and the Popish
Bishops, and Cardinal Pole, must be content to share the responsibility among
them. One thing alone is very certain. They will never succeed in shifting the
responsibility off the shoulders of the Church of Rome. Like the Jews and
Pontius Pilate, when our Lord was crucified, all parties must bear the blame.
The BLOOD is upon them all.
A lady in high position told Bonner in a letter, after Philpot's death, that his
cruelty had lost the hearts of 20,000Papist" In twelve months.
For another thing, I wish my readers to remember that the burning of the Marian
martyrs is an act that the Church of Rome has never repudiated, apologized for,
or repented of, down to the present day. There stands the huge blot on her
escutcheon; and there stands the huge fact side by side, that she never made any
attempt to wipe it away. Never has she repented of her treatment of the Vaudois
and the Albigenses;-never has she repented of the wholesale murders of the
Spanish Inquisition; -never has she repented of the massacre of St.
Bartholomew;-never has she repented of the burning of the English Reformers. We
should make a note of that fact, and let it sink down into our minds.
Rome never changes. Rome will never admit that she has made mistakes. She burned
our English Reformers 300 years ago. She tried hard to stamp out by violence the
Protestantism which she could not prevent spreading by arguments. If Rome had
only the power, I am not sure that she would not attempt to play the whole game
over again.
II. The question may now arise in our minds, Who were the leading English
Reformers that were burned? What were their names, and what were the
circumstances attending their deaths? These are questions which may very
properly be asked, and questions to which I proceed at once to give an answer.
In this part of my paper I am very sensible that I shall seem to many to go over
old ground. But I am bold to say that it is ground which ought often to be gone
over. I, for one, want the names of our martyred Reformers to be "Household
Words" in every Protestant family throughout the land. I shall, therefore, make
no apology for giving the names of the nine principal English martyrs m the
chronological order of their deaths, and for supplying you with a few facts
about each of them. Never, I believe, since Christ left the world, did Christian
men ever meet a cruel death with such glorious faith, and hope, and patience, as
these Marian martyrs. Never did dying men leave behind them such a rich store of
noble sayings, sayings which deserve to be written in golden letters in our
histories, and handed down to our children's children.
(1) The first leading English Reformer who broke the ice and crossed the river,
as a martyr in Mary's reign, was John Rogers, a London Minister, Vicar of St.
Sepulchre's, and Prebendary and Reader of Divinity at St. Paul's. He was burned
in Smithfield on Monday, the 4th of February, 1555. Rogers was born at Deritend,
in the parish of Aston, near Birmingham. He was a man who, in one respect, had
done more for the cause of Protestantism than any of his fellow-sufferers. In
saying this I refer to the fact that he had assisted Tyndale and Coverdale in
bringing out a most important version of the English Bible, a version commonly
known as Matthew's Bible. Indeed, he was condemned as "Rogers, aliasMatthew."
This circumstance, in all human probability, made him a marked man, and was one
cause why he was the first who was brought to the stake.
Rogers' examination before Gardiner gives us the idea of his being a bold,
thorough Protestant, who had fully made up his mind on all points of the Romish
controversy, and was able to give a reason for his opinions. At any rate, he
seems to have silenced and abashed his examiners even more than most of the
martyrs did. But argument, of course, went for nothing. "Woe to the conquered!"
If he had the word, his enemies had the sword.1
On the morning of his martyrdom he was roused hastily in his cell in Newgate,
and hardly allowed time to dress himself. He was then led forth to Smithfield on
foot, within sight of the Church of St. Sepulchre, where he had preached, and
through the streets of the parish where he had done the work of a pastor. By the
wayside stood his wife and ten children (one a baby) whom Bishop Bonner, in his
diabolical cruelty, had flatly refused him leave to see in prison.
Rogers' prophetic words in prison, addressed to Day, printer of Foxe's "Acts and
Monuments," are well worth quoting: "Thou shalt live to see the alteration of
this religion, and the Gospel freely preached again. Therefore, have me
commended to my brethren, as well in exile as here, and bid them be circumspect
in displacing the Papist" and putting good ministers into Churches, or else
their end will be worse than ours.' '-Foxe, iii. p.300 (1684 edition).
He just saw them, but was hardly allowed to stop, and then walked on calmly to
the stake, repeating the 51st Psalm. An immense crowd lined the street, and
filled every avail-able spot in Smithfield. Up to that day men could not tell
how English Reformers Would behave in the face of death, and could hardly
believe that Prebendaries and Dignitaries Would actually give their bodies to be
burned for their religion. But when they saw John Rogers, the first martyr,
walking steadily and unflinchingly into a fiery grave, the enthusiasm of the
crowd knew no bounds. They rent the air with thunders of applause. Even Noailles,
the French Ambassador, wrote home a description of the scene, and said that
Rogers went to death "as if he was walking to his wedding." By God's great mercy
he died with comparative ease. And so the first Marian martyr passed away.
(2) The second leading Reformer who died for Christ's truth in Mary's reign was
John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester. He was burned at Gloucester on Saturday, the
9th of February, 1555.
Hooper was a Somersetshire man by birth. In many respects he was, perhaps, the
noblest martyr of them all. Of all Edward the Sixth's bishops, none has left
behind him a higher reputation for personal holiness, and diligent preaching and
working in his diocese. None, judging from his literary remains, had clearer and
more Scriptural views on all points in theology. Some might say that Edward the
Sixth's Bishop of Gloucester was too Calvinistic; but he was not more so than
the Thirty-nine Articles. Hooper was a farsighted man, and saw the danger of
leaving nest-eggs for Romanism in the Church of England. In his famous dispute
with Cranmer and the other bishops about wearing Romish vestments at his
consecration, it has been, I know, the fashion to condemn him as too stiff and
unbending. I say boldly that the subsequent history of our Church makes it
doubtful whether we ought not to reverse our verdict. The plain truth is, that
in principle Hooper was right, and his opponents were wrong.
A man like Hooper, firm, stern, not naturally genial, unbending and unsparing in
his denunciation of sin, was sure to have many enemies. He was one of the first
marked for destruction as soon as Popery was restored. He was summoned to London
at a very early stage of the Marian persecution, and, after lingering eighteen
months in prison, and going through the form of examination by Bonner, Gardiner,
Tunstall, and Day, was degraded from his office, and sentenced to be burned as a
heretic. At first it was fully expected that he would suffer in Smithfield with
Rogers. This plan, for some unknown reason, was given up, and to his great
satisfaction Hooper was sent down to Gloucester, and burnt in his own diocese,
and in sight of his own cathedral. On his arrival there, he was received with
every sign of sorrow and respect by a vast multitude, who went out on the
Cirencester Road to meet him, and was lodged for the night in the house of a Mr.
Ingram, which is still standing, and probably not much altered. There Sir
Anthony Kingston, whom the good Bishop had been the means of converting from a
sinful life, entreated him, with many tears, to spare himself, and urged him to
remember that "Life was sweet, and death was bitter." To this the noble martyr
returned this memorable reply, that "Eternal life was more sweet, and eternal
death was more bitter."
On the morning of his martyrdom he was led forth, walking, to the place of
execution, where an immense crowd awaited him. It was market-day; and it was
reckoned that nearly 7000 people were present. The stake was planted directly in
front of the western gate of the Cathedral-close, and within 100 yards of the
deanery and the east front of the Cathedral. The exact spot is marked now by a
beautiful memorial at the east end of the churchyard of St. Mary-de-Lode. The
window over the gate, where Popish friars watched the Bishop's dying agonies,
stands unaltered to this day.
When Hooper arrived at this spot, he was allowed to pray, though strictly
forbidden to speak to the people. And there he knelt down, and prayed a prayer
which has been preserved and recorded by Foxe, and is of exquisitely touching
character. Even then a box was put before him containing a full pardon, if he
would only recant. His only answer was, "Away with it; if you love my soul, away
with it I" He was then fastened to the stake by an iron round his waist, and
fought his last fight with the king of terrors. Of all the martyrs, none
perhaps, except Ridley, suffered more than Hooper did. Three times the faggots
had to be lighted, because they would not burn properly. Three quarters of an
hour the noble sufferer endured the mortal agony, as Foxe says, "neither moving
backward, forward, nor to any side," but only praying, "Lord Jesus, have mercy
on me; Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;" and beating his breast with one hand till
it was burned to a stump. And so the good Bishop of Gloucester passed away.
(3) The third leading Reformer who suffered in Mary's reign was Rowland Taylor,
Rector of Hadleigh, in Suffolk. He was burned on Aldham Common, close to his own
parish, the same day that Hooper died at Gloucester, on Saturday, the 9th
February, 1555. Rowland Taylor is one of whom we know little, except that he was
a great friend of Cranmer, and a doctor of divinity and canon law. But that he
was a man of high standing among the Reformers is evident, from his being ranked
by his enemies with Hooper, Rogers, and Bradford; and that he was an exceedingly
able and ready divine is clear from his examination, recorded by Foxe. Indeed,
there is hardly any of the sufferers about whom the old Martyrologist has
gathered together so many touching and striking things. One might think he was a
personal friend.
Striking was the reply which he made to his friends at Hadleigh, who urged him
to flee, as he might have done, when he was first summoned to appear in London
before Gardiner: -What will ye have me to do?. I am old, and have already lived
too long to see these terrible and most wicked days. Fly you, and do as your
conscience leadeth you. I am fully determined, with God's grace, to go to this
Bishop and tell him to his beard that he doth naught. I believe before God that
I shall never be able to do for my God such good service as I may do now.' 'Foxe's"Acts
and Monuments," vol. iii. p.138.
Striking were the replies which he made to Gardiner and his other examiners.
None spoke more pithily, weightily, and powerfully than did this Suffolk
incumbent.
Striking and deeply affecting was his last testament and legacy of advice to his
wife, his family, and parishioners, though far too long to be inserted here,
excepting the last sentence : -"For God's sake beware of Popery: for though it
appear to have in it unity, yet the same is vanity and Antichristianity, and not
in Christ's faith and verity."-Foxe's "Acts and Monuments," vol. iii.p.144.
He was sent down from London to Hadleigh, to his great delight, to be burned
before the eyes of his parishioners. When he got within two miles of Hadleigh,
the Sheriff of Suffolk asked him how he felt. "God be praised, Master Sheriff,"
was his reply, "never better. For now I am almost at home. I lack but just two
stiles to go over, and I am even at my Father's house."
As he rode through the streets of the little town of Hadleigh, he found them
lined with crowds of his parishioners, who had heard of his approach, and came
out of their houses to greet him with many tears and lamentations. To them he
only made one constant address, "I have preached to you God's Word and truth, t
and am come this day to seal it with my blood."
On coming to Aldham Common, where he was to suffer, they told him where he was.
Then he said,-" Thank God, I am even at home."
When he was stripped to his shirt and ready for the stake, he said, with a loud
voice,-" Good people, I have taught you nothing but God's Holy Word, and those
lessons that I have taken out of the Bible; and I am come hither to seal it with
my blood." He would probably have said more, but, like all the other martyrs, he
was strictly forbidden to speak, and even now was struck vio- lently on the head
for saying these few words. He then knelt down and prayed, a poor woman of the
parish insisting, in spite of every effort to prevent her, in kneeling down with
him. After this, he was chained to the stake, and repeating the 51st Psalm, and
crying to God, "Merciful Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, receive my soul into
Thy hands," stood quietly amidst the flames without crying or moving, till one
of the guards dashed out his brains with a halberd. And so this good old Suffolk
incumbent passed away.
(4) The fourth leading Reformer who suffered in Mary's reign was Robert Ferrar,
Bishop of St. David's, in Wales. He was burned at Carmarthen on Saturday, the
30th March, 1555. Little is known of this good man beyond the fact that he was
born at Halifax, and was the last Prior of Nostel, in Yorkshire, an office which
he surrendered in 1540. He was also Chaplain to Arch-bishop Cranmer and to the
Protector Somerset, and to this influence he owed his elevation to the Episcopal
bench. He was first imprisoned for various trivial and ridiculous charges on
temporal matters, in the latter days of Edward the Sixth, after the fall of the
Protector Somerset, and afterwards was brought before Gardiner, with Hooper,
Rogers, and Bradford, on the far more serious matter of his doctrine. The
articles exhibited against him clearly show that in all questions of faith he
was of one mind with his fellow-martyrs. Like Hooper and Taylor, he was
condemned to be burned in the place where he was best known, and was sent down
from London to Carmarthen. What happened there at his execution is related very
briefly by Foxe, partly, no doubt, because of the great distance of Carmarthen
from London in those pre-railways days; partly, perhaps, because most of those
who saw Ferrar burned could speak nothing but Welsh. One single fact is recorded
which shows the good Bishop's courage and constancy in a striking light. He had
told a friend before the day of execution that if he saw him once stir in the
fire from the pain of his burning, he need not believe the doctrines he had
taught. When the awful time came, he did not forget his promise, and, by God's
grace, he kept it well. He stood in the flames holding out his hands till they
were burned to stumps, until a bystander in mercy struck him on the head, and
put an end to his sufferings. And so the Welsh Bishop passed away.
(5) The fifth leading Reformer who suffered in Mary's reign was John Bradford,
Prebendary of St. Paul's, and Chaplain to Bishop Ridley. He was burned in
Smithfield on Monday, July the 1st, 1555, at the age of forty-five. Few of the
English martyrs, perhaps, are better known than Bradford, and none certainly
deserve better their reputation. Strype calls Bradford, Cranmer, Ridley, and
Latimer, the "four prime pillars" of the Reformed Church of England. He was by
birth a Manchester man, and to the end of his life retained a strong interest in
the district with which he was connected. At an early age his high talents
commended him to the notice of men in high quarters, and he was appointed one of
the six royal chaplains who were sent about England to preach up the doctrines
of the Reformation. Bradford's commission was to preach in Lancashire and
Cheshire, and he seems to have performed his duty with singular ability and
success. He preached constantly in Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Bury, Wigan,
Ashton, Stockport, Prestwich, Middleton, and Chester, with great benefit to the
cause of Protestantism, and with great effect on men's souls. The consequence
was what might have been expected. Within a month of Queen Mary's accession
Bradford was in prison, and never left it until he was burned. His holiness, and
his extraordinary reputation as a preacher, made him an object of great interest
during his imprisonment, and immense efforts were made to pervert him from the
Protestant faith. All these efforts, however, were in vain As he lived, so he
died. [1]
[1]Bradford seems to have had a very strong feeling about the causes for which
God permitted the Marian persecution. Writing to his mother from prison, he
says: ' Ye all know there never was more knowledge of God, and less godly living
and true serving of God.-God, therefore, is now come, and because He will not
damn us with the world He punisheth us. -Foxe, iii. p.255.
On the day of his execution he was led out from Newgate to Smithfield about nine
o'clock in the morning, amid such a crowd of people as was never seen either
before or after. A Mrs. Honey-wood, who lived to the age of ninety-two, and died
about 1620, remembered going to see him burned, and her shoes being trodden off
by the crowd. Indeed, when he came to the stake the Sheriffs of London were so
alarmed at the press that they would not allow him and his fellow-sufferer,
Leaf, to pray as long as they wished. "Arise," they said, "and make an end; for
the press of the people is great."
At that word," says Foxe, "they both stood up upon their feet, and then Master
Bradford took a faggot in his hands and kissed it, and so likewise the stake."
When he came to the stake he held up his hands, and, looking up to heaven, said,
"0 England, England, repent thee of thy sins! Beware of idolatry; beware of
false Antichrists! Take heed they do not deceive you!" After that he turned to
the young man Leaf, who suffered with him, and said, "Be of good comfort,
brother; for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night." After that
he spoke no more that man could hear, excepting that he embraced the reeds, and
said, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth to eternal life,
and few there he that find it." "He endured the flames," says Fuller, "as a
fresh gale of wind in a hot summer day." And so, in the prime of life, he passed
away.
(6, 7) The sixth and seventh leading Reformers who suffered in Mary's reign were
two whose names are familiar to every Englishman,-Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of
London, and Hugh Latimer, once Bishop of Worcester.
They were both burned at Oxford, back to back, at one stake, on the 16th of
October 1555. Ridley was born at Willimondswike, in Northumberland, on the
borders. Latimer was born at Thurcaston, in Leicestershire. The history of these
two great English Protestants is so well known to most people that I need not
say much about it. Next to Cranmer, there can be little doubt that no two men
did so much to bring about the establishment of the principles of the
Reformation in England. Latimer, as an extraordinary popular preacher, and
Ridley, as a learned man and an admirable manager of the Metropolitan diocese of
London, have left behind them reputations which never have been surpassed. As a
matter of course, they were among the first that Bouner and Gardiner struck at
when Mary came to the throne, and were persecuted with relentless severity until
their deaths.
How they were examined again and again by Commissioners about the great points
in controversy between Protestants and Rome,-how they were shamefully baited,
teased, and tortured by every kind of unfair and unreasonable dealing, how they
gallantly fought a good fight to the end, and never gave way for a moment to
their adversaries, all these are matters with which I need not trouble my
readers. Are they not all fairly chronicled in the pages of good old Foxe? I
will only mention a few circumstances connected with their deaths.
On the day of their martyrdom they were brought separately to the place of
execution, which was at the end of Broad Street, Oxford, close to Balliol
College. Ridley arrived on the ground first, and seeing Latimer come afterwards,
ran to him and kissed him, saying, "Be of good heart, brother; for God will
either assuage the fury of the flames, or else strengthen us to abide it." They
then prayed earnestly, and talked with one another, though no one could hear
what they said. After this they had to listen to a sermon by a wretched renegade
divine named Smith, and, being forbidden to make any answer, were commanded to
make ready for death.
Ridley's last words before the fire was lighted were these, "Heavenly Father, I
give Thee most hearty thanks that Thou-hast called me to a profession of Thee
even unto death. I beseech Thee, Lord God, have mercy on this realm of England,
and deliver the same from all her enemies. ' Latimer's last words were like the
blast of a trumpet, which rings even to this day,-" Be of good comfort, Master
Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day, by God's grace, light such a candle
in England as I trust shall never be put out."
When the flames began to rise, Ridley cried out with a loud voice in Latin,
"Into thy hands, 0 Lord, I commend my spirit:
Lord, receive my spirit," and afterwards repeated these last words in English.
Latimer cried as vehemently on the other side of the stake, "Father of heaven,
receive my soul."
Latimer soon died. An old man, above eighty years of age, it took but little to
set his spirit free from its earthly tenement. Ridley suffered long and
painfully, from the bad management of the fire by those who attended the
execution. At length, how-ever, the flames reached a vital part of him, and he
fell at Latimer's feet, and was at rest. And so the two great Protestant bishops
passed away. "They were lovely and beautiful in their lives, and in death they
were not divided."
(8) The eighth leading English Reformer who suffered in Mary's reign was John
Philpot, Archdeacon of Winchester. He was burned in Smithfield on Wednesday,
December the 18th, 1555. Philpot is one of the martyrs of whom we know little
comparatively, except that he was born at Compton, in Hampshire, was of good
family, and well connected, and had a very high reputation for learning. The
mere fact that at the beginning of Mary's reign he was one of the leading
champions of Protestantism in the mock discussions which were held in
Convocation, is sufficient to show that he was no common man. The relentless
virulence with which he was persecuted by Gardiner is easily accounted for, when
we remember that Gardiner, when he was deposed from his See in Edward VI.'s
time, was Bishop of Winchester, and would naturally regard his successor, Bishop
Ponet, and all his officials, with intense hatred. A Popish bishop was not
likely to spare a Protestant archdeacon.
The thirteen examinations of Philpot before the Popish bishops are given by Foxe
at great length, and fill no less than one hundred and forty pages of one of the
Parker Society volumes. The length to which they were protracted shows plainly
how anxious his judges were to turn him from his principles. The skill with
which the Archdeacon maintained his ground, alone and unaided, gives a most
favourable impression of his learning, no less than of his courage and patience.
The night before his execution he received a message, while at supper in Newgate,
to the effect that he was to be burned next day. He answered at once, "I am
ready: God grant me strength and a joyful resurrection." He then went into his
bed room, and thanked God that he was counted worthy to suffer for His truth.
The next morning, at eight o'clock, the Sheriffs called for him, and conducted
him to Smithfield. The road was foul and muddy, as it was the depth of winter,
and the officers took him up in their arms to carry him to the stake. Then he
said, merrily, alluding to what he had probably seen at Rome, when traveling in
his early days, "What, will you make me a Pope? I ana content to go to my
journey's end on foot."
When he came into Smithfield, he kneeled down and said, "I will pay my vows in
thee, Oh Smithfield." He then kissed the stake and said, "Shall I disdain to
suffer at this stake, seeing my Redeemer did not refuse to suffer a most vile
death on the cross for me?" After that, he meekly repeated the 106th, 107th, and
108th Psalms; and being chained to the stake, died very quietly. And so the good
Archdeacon passed away.
(9) The ninth and last leading Reformer who suffered in Mary's reign was Thomas
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was burned at Oxford, on the 21st of
March, 1556. Cranmer was born at Aslacton, in Nottinghamshire. There is no name
among the English martyrs so well known in history as his. There is none
certainly in the list of our Reformers to whom the Church of England, on the
whole, is so much indebted. He was only a mortal man, and had his weaknesses and
infirmities, it must be admitted; but still, he was a great man, and a good man.
Cranmer, we must always remember, was brought prominently forward at a
comparatively early period in the English Reformation, and was made Archbishop
of Canterbury at a time when his views of religion were confessedly half-formed
and imperfect. Whenever quotations from Cranmer's writings are brought forward
by the advocates of semi-Romanism in the Church of England, you should always
ask carefully to what period of his life those quotations belong. In forming
your estimate of Cranmer, do not forget his antecedents. He was a man who had
the honesty to grope his way into fuller light, and to cast aside his early
opinions and confess that he had changed his mind on many subjects. How few men
have the courage to do this!
Cranmer maintained an unblemished reputation throughout the reigns of Henry
VIII. and Edward VI., although frequently placed in most delicate and difficult
positions. Not a single man can be named in those days who passed through so
much dirt, and yet came out of it so thoroughly undefiled.
Cranmer, beyond all doubt, laid the foundation of our present Prayer-book and
Articles. Though not perhaps a brilliant man, he was a learned one, and a lover
of learned men, and one who was always trying to improve everything around him.
When I consider the immense difficulties he had to contend with, I often wonder
that he accomplished what he did. Nothing, in fact, but his steady perseverance
would have laid the foundation of our Formularies.
I say all these things in order to break the force of the great and undeniable
fact that he was the only English Reformer who for a time showed the white
feather, and for a time shrank from dying for the truth! I admit that he fell
sadly. I do not pretend to extenuate his fall. It stands forth as an everlasting
proof that the best of men are only men at the best. I only want my readers to
remember that if Cranmer failed as no other Reformer in England failed, he also
had done what certainly no other Reformer had done.
From the moment that Mary came to the English throne, Cranmer was marked for
destruction. It is probable that there was no other English divine whom the
unhappy Queen regarded with with such rancour and hatred. She never forgot that
her mother's divorce was brought about by Cranmer's advice, and she never rested
till he was burned Cranmer -as imprisoned and examined just like Ridley and
Latimer. Like them, he stood his ground firmly before the Commissioners. Like
them, he had clearly the best of the argument in all points that were disputed.
But, like them, of course, he was pronounced guilty of heresy, condemned,
deposed, and sentenced to be burned.
And now comes the painful fact that in the last month of Cranmer's life his
courage failed him, and he was persuaded to sign a recantation of his Protestant
opinions. Flattered and cajoled by subtle kindness, frightened at the prospect
of so dreadful a death as burning, tempted and led away by the devil, Thomas
Cranmer fell, and put his hand to a paper, in which he repudiated and renounced
the principles of the Reformation, for which he had laboured so long.
Great was the sorrow of all true Protestants on hearing these tidings! Great was
the triumphing and exultation of all Papists. Had they stopped here and set
their noble victirn at liberty, the name of Cranmer would probably have sunk and
never risen again. But the Ronsish party, as God would have it, outwitted
themselves. With fiendish cruelty they resolved to burn Cranmer, even after he
had recanted. This, by God's providence, was just the turning point for
Cranmer's reputation. Through the abounding grace of God he repented of his
fall, and found mercy.
Through the same abounding grace he resolved to die in the faith of the
Reformation. And at last, through abounding grace, he witnessed such a bold
confession in St. Mary's, Oxford, that he confounded his enemies, filled his
friends with thankfulness and praise, and left the world a triumphant martyr for
Christ's truth.
I need hardly remind you how, on the 21st March, the unhappy Archbishop was
brought out, like Sansson in the hands of the Philistines, to make sport for his
enemies, and to be a gazing-stock to the world in St. Mary's Church, at Oxford.
I need hardly remind you how, after Dr. Cole's sermon he was invited to declare
his faith, and was fully expected to acknowledge publicly his alteration of
religion, and his adhesion to the Church of Rome. I need hardly remind you how,
with intense mental suffering, the Archbishop addressed the assembly at great
length, and at the dose suddenly astounded his enemies by renouncing all his
former recantations, declaring the Pope to be Antichrist, and rejecting the
Popish doctrine of the Real Presence. Such a sight was certainly never seen by
mortal eyes since the world began!
But then came the time of Cranmer's triumph. With a light heart, and a clear
conscience, he cheerfully allowed himself to be hurried to the stake amidst the
frenzied outcries of his disappointed enemies. Boldly and undauntedly he stood
up at the stake while the flames curled around him, steadily holding out his
right hand in the fire, and saying, with reference to his having signed a
recantation, "This unworthy right hand," and steadily holding up his left hand
towards heaven.[1] Of all the martyrs, strange to say, none at the last moment
showed more physical courage than Cranmer did. Nothing, in short, in all his
life became him so well as the manner of his leaving it. Greatly he had sinned,
but greatly he had repented. Like Peter he fell, but like Peter he rose again.
And so passed away the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury.
[1]Soames is my authority for this statement about Cranmer's left band. I
canfluditnow~ere else. He also mentions, what other historians record, that when
the fire had burned down to ashes, Cranmer's heart was found unconsumed and
uninjured.-Soames' "History of the Reformation," vol. iv. p.544.
I will not trust myself to make any comment on these painful and interesting
histories. I have not time. I only wish my readers to believe that the half of
these men's stories have not been told them, and that the stories of scores of
men and women less distinguished by position might easily be added to them,
quite as painful and quite as interesting.But I will say boldly, that the men
who were burned in this way were not men whose memories ought to be lightly
passed over, or whose opinions ought to be lightly esteemed. Opinions for which
"an army of martyrs" died ought not to be dismissed with scorn. To their
faithfulness we owe the existence of the Reformed Church of England. Her
foundations were cemented with their blood. To their courage we owe, in a great
measure our English liberty. They taught the land that it was worth while to die
for free thought. Happy is the land which has had such citizens I Happy is the
Church which has had such Reformers I Honour be to those who at Smithfield,
Oxford. Gloucester, Carmarthen, and Hadleigh have raised stones of remembrance
and memorial to the martyrs!
(II) The following martyrdoms are recommended to the special notice of all who
possess Foxe's Book of Martyrs: Laurence Saunders, burned at Coventry; William
Hunter, at Brentwood; Rawlins White, at Cardiff; George Marsh, at Chester;
Thomas Hawkes, at CoggeshaU; John Bland at Canterbury; Alice Driver, at Ipswich;
Rose Allen, at Colchester; Joan Waste, at Derby; Richard Woodman, at Lewes;
Agnes Irest, at Exeter; Julius Palmer, at Ncwbury; John Noyes, at Laxfield, in
Suffolk.
(III) But I pass on to a point which I hold to be one of cardinal importance in
the present day. The point I refer to is the special reason why Os" Re/ormers
were bsirned. Great indeed would be our mistake if we supposed that they
suffered for the vague charge of refusing submission to the Pope, or desiring to
maintain the in-dependence of the Church of England. Nothing of the kind!
The principal reason why they were burned was because they refused one of the
peculiar doctrines of the Romish Church. On that doctrine, in almost every case,
hinged their life or death. If they admitted it, they might live; if they
refused it, they must die.
The doctrine in question was the real presenceof the body and blood of Christ in
the consecrated elements of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. Did they, or
did they not believe that the body and blood of Christ were really, that is,
corporally, literally, locally, and materially, present under the forms of bread
and wine after the words of consecration were pronounced? Did they or did they
not believe that the real body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin Mary, was
present on the so called altar so soon as the mystical words had passed the lips
of the priest? Did they or did they not? That was the simple question. If they
did not believe and admit it, they were burned. [1]
[1]The Mass was one of the principal causes why so much turmoil was made in the
Church, with the bloodshed of so many godly men.' '-Foxe's Preface to vol. iii.
of "Acts and Monuments." The sacrament of the altar was the main touchstone to
discover the poor Protestants. This point of the real, corporal presence of
Christ in ths sacrament, the same body that was crucified, was the compendious
way to discover those of the opposite opinion."-Fuller, "Church History," vol.
jii. p.399. Tegg's edition.
There is a wonderful and striking unity in the stories of our martyrs on this
subject. Some of them, no doubt, were attacked about the marriage of priests.
Some of them were assaulted about the nature of the Catholic Church. Some of
them were assailed on other points. But all, without an exception, were called
to special account about the real presence, and in every case their refusal to
admit the doctrine formed one principal cause of their condemnation.
(1) Hear what Rogers said:-I was asked whether I believed in the sacrament to be
the very body and blood of our Saviour Christ that was born of the Virgin Mary,
and hanged on the cross, really and substantially? I answered, 'I think it to be
false. I cannot understand really and substantially to signify otherwise than
corporally.
But corporally Christ is only in heaven, and so Christ cannot be corporally in
your sacrament.' "
Foxe in loco vol. iii. p. ZOZ, edition, 1684.
And therefore he was condemned and burned.
(2) Hear what Bishop Hooper said:
"Tunstall asked him to say, 'whether he believed the corporal presence In the,
sacrament,' and Master Hooper said plainly 'that there, was none such, neither
did he believe any such thing.' Where-upon they bade the notaries write that he
was married and would not go from his wife' and that he believed not the
corporal presence in the sacrament; wherefore, he was worthy to be deprived of
his bishopric."-Foxe in loco,vol. iii. p.123.
And so he was condemned and burned.
(3) Hear what Rowland Taylor said: The second cause why I was condemned as a
heretic was that I denied transubstantiation, and concomitation, two juggling
words whereby the Papists believe that Christ's natural body is made of bread,
and the Godhead by and by to be joined thereto, so that immediately after the
words of consecration, there is no more bread and wine in the sacrament, but the
substance only of the body and blood of Christ."
"Because I denied the aforesaid Papistical doctrine (yea, rather plain, wicked
idolatry, blasphemy, and heresy) I urn judged a heretic."-Foxe in loco, vol.
iii. p.141.
And therefore he was condemned and burned.
(4) Hear what was done with Bishop Ferrar.
He was summoned to "grant the natural presence of Christ in the sacrament under
the form of bread and wine," and because he refused to subscribe this article as
well as others, he was condemned. And in the sentence, of condemnation it is
finally charged against him that he maintained that "the sacrament of the altar
ought not to be ministered on an altar, or to be elevated, or to he adored in
any way."-Foxe inloco,vol. iii. p.178.
And so he was burned.
(5) Hear what holy John Bradford wrote to the men of Lancasire and Cheshire when
he was in prison: -"The, chief thing which I am condemned for as an heretic is
because I deny in the mcrsment of the altar (which is not Christ's Supper. but a
plain perversion as the Papists now use it) to be a real, natural, and corporal
presence of Christ's body and blood under the forms and accidents of bread and
wine: that is, because I deny transubstantiation, which is the darling of the
devil, and daughter and heir to Antichrist'.religion."-Foxe. in loco, vol. iii.
p.260.
And so he was condemned and burned.
(6) Hear what were the words of the sentence of condemnation against Bishop
Ridley :
"The said Nicholas Ridley affirms, maintains, and stubbornly defends certain
opinions, assertions, and heresies, contrary to the Word of God and the received
faith of the Church, as in denying the true and natural body and blood of Christ
to be in the sacrament of the altar, and secondarily, in affirming the substance
of bread and wine to remain after the words of consecration."-Foxe. in loco,
vol. iii. p.426.
And so he was condemned and burned.
(7) Hear the articles exhibited against Bishop Latimer : That thou hast openly
affirmed, defended, and maintained that the true and natural body of Christ
after the consecration of the priest, is not really peesent in the sacrament of
the altar, and that in the sacrament of the altar remaineth still the substance
of bread and wine."
And to this article the good old man replied: -"After a corporal being, which
the Romish Church furnisheth, Christ's body and blood is not in the sacrament
under the forms of bread and wine."-Foxe. in loco, vol. iii p.426.
And so he was condemned and burned.
(8) Hear the address made by Bishop Bonner to Archdeacon Philpot: -"You have
offended and trespassed against the sacrament of the altar, denying the real
presence of Christ's body and blood to be there, affirming also material bread
and material wine to be in the sacrament, and not the substance of the body and
blood of Christ." Foxe. in loco, vol. iii. p.495.
And because the good man stoutly adhered to this opinion he was condemned and
burned.
(9) Hear, lastly, what Cranmer said with almost his last breath, in St. Mary's
Church, Oxford:-"As for the sacrament, I believe, as I have taught in my book
against the Bishop of Winchester, the which my book teacheth so true a doctrine,
that it shall stand at the last day before the judgment of God when the Papist's
doctrine contrary thereto shall be ashamed to show her face."-Foxe. in loco,
vol. iii. p.562.
If any one wants to know what Cranmer had said in this book, let him take the
following sentence as a specimen: -"They (the Papists) say that Christ is
corporally under or in the forms of bread and wine. We say that Christ is not
there, neither corporally norspiritually;but in them that worthily eat and drink
the bread and wine He is spiritually, and corporally in heaven. -Cranmer on the
Lord's Supper." Parker Society edition, p. 54.
And so he was burned.
Now, were the English Reformers right in being so stiff and unbending on this
question of the real presence? Was it a point of such vital importance that they
were justified in dying before they would receive it? These are questions, I
suspect, which are very puzzling to many unreflecting minds. Such minds, I fear,
can see in the whole controversy about the real presence nothing but a logomachy,
or strife of words. But they are questions, I am bold to say, on which no
well-instructed Bible reader can hesitate for a moment in giving his answer.
Such an one will say at once that the Romish doctrine of the real presence
strikes at the very root of the Gospel, and is the very citadel and keep of
Popery. Men may not see this at first, but it is a point that ought to be
carefully remembered. It throws a clear and broad light on the line which the
Reformers took, and the unflinching firmness with which they died.
Whatever men please to think or say, the Romish doctrine of the real presence,
if pursued to its legitimate consequences, obscures every leading doctrine of
the Gospel, and damages and interferes with the whole system of Christ's truth.
Grant for a moment that the Lord's Supper is a sacrifice, and not a sacrament
-grant that every time the words of consecration are used the natural body and
blood of Christ are present on the Communion Table under the forms of bread and
wine grant that every one who eats that consecrated bread and drinks that
consecrated wine does really eat and drink the natural body and blood of
Christ-grant for a moment these things, and then see what momentous consequences
result from these premises. You spoil the blessed doctrine of Christ's finished
work when He died on the cross. A sacrifice that needs to be repeated is not a
perfect and complete thing.-You spoil the priestly office of Christ. If there
are priests that can offer an acceptable sacrifice of God besides Him, the great
High Priest is robbed of His glory.-You spoil the Scriptural doctrine of the
Christian ministry. You exalt sinful men into the position of mediators between
God and man.-You give to the sacramental elements of bread and wine an honour
and veneration they were never meant to receive, and produce an idolatry to be
abhorred of faithful Christians.-Last, but not least, you overthrow the true
doctrine of Christ's human nature.If the body born of the Virgin Mary can be in
more places than one at the same time, it is not a body like our own, and Jesus
was not "the second Adam" in the truth of our nature. I cannot doubt for a
moment that our martyred Reformers saw and felt these things even more clearly
than we do, and, seeing and feeling them, chose to die rather than admit the
doctrine of the real presence. Feeling them, they would not give way by
subjection for a moment, and cheerfully laid down their lives. Let this fact be
deeply graven in our minds. Wherever the English language is spoken on the face
of the globe this fact ought to be clearly understood by every Englishman who
reads history. Rather than admit the doctrine of the real presence of Christ's
natural body and blood under the forms of bread and wine, the Reformers of the
Church of England were content to be burned.
(IV). And now I must ask the special attention of my readers while I try to show
the bearing of the whole subject on ourown position and on our own times. I must
ask you to turn from the dead to the living, to look away from England in 1555
to England in this present enlightened and advanced age, and to consider
seriously the light which the burning of our Reformers throws on the Church of
England at the present day.
We live in momentous times. The ecclesiastical horizon on every side is dark and
lowering. The steady rise and progress of extreme Ritualism and Ritualists are
shaking the Church of England to its very center. It is of the very first
importance to under-stand clearly what it all means. A right diagnosis of
disease is the very first element of successful treatment. The physician who
does not see what is the matter is never likely to work any cures.
Now, I say there can be no greater mistake than to suppose that the great
controversy of our times is a mere question of vestments and ornament- of
chasubles and copes of more or less church decorations of more or less candles
and flowers of more or less bowings and turnings and crossing of more or less
gestures and posture of more or less show and form. The man who fancies that the
whole dispute is a mere aesthetic one, a question of taste, like one of fashion
and millinery, must allow me to tell him that he is under a complete delusion.
He may sit on the shore, like the Epicurean philosopher, smiling at theological
storms, and flatter himself that we are only squabbling about trifles; but I
take leave to tell him that his philosophy is very shallow, and his know-ledge
of the controversy of the day very superficial indeed.
The things I have spoken of are trifles, I fully concede. But they are
pernicious trifles, because they are the outward expression of an inward
doctrine. They are the skin disease which is the symptom of an unsound
constitution. They are the plague spot which tells of internal poison. They are
the curling smoke which arises from a hidden volcano of mischief. I, for one,
would never make any stir about church millinery, or incense, or candles, if I
thought they meant nothing beneath the surface. But I believe they mean a great
deal of error and false doctrine, and therefore I publicly protest against them,
and say that those who support them are to be blamed.
I give it as my deliberate opinion that the root of the whole Ritualistic system
is the dangerous doctrine of the real presence of Christ's natural body and
blood in the Lord's Supper under the forms of the consecrated bread and wine. If
words mean anything, this real presence is the foundation principle of
Ritualism. This real presenceis what the extreme members of the Ritualistic
party want to bring back into the Church of England. And just as our martyred
Reformers went to the stake rather than admit the real presence, so I hold that
we should make any sacrifice and contend to the bitter end, rather than. allow a
materialistic doctrine about Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper to come back
in any shape into our Communion.
I will not weary my readers with quotations in proof of what I affirm. They have
heard enough, perhaps too much, of them. But I must ask permission to give two
short extracts.
Observe what Dr. Pusey says, in a sermon called "will ye also go away?"
(Parker's, 1867): -
"While repudiating any materialistic conceptions of the mode of the presence of
our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, such as I believe is condemned in the term
'corporal presence of our lord's flesh and blood," i.e.,as though His precious
body and blood were present m any gross or carnal way, and not rather
sacramentally, really, spiritually- I believe that in the Holy Eucharist the
body and blood of Christ are sacramentally, supernaturally, ineffably, but
verily and indeed present, 'under the forms of bread and wine;' and that 'where
His body is, there is Christ.'"
Observe what Dr. Littledale says, in a tract called "The Real Presence .
"I. The Christian Church teaches, and has always taught, that in the Holy
Communion, after consecration, the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ are
'verily and indeed' present on the altar under the forms of bread and wine."
"II. The Church also teaches that this presence depends on God's will, not on
man's belief, and therefore that bad and good people receive the very same thing
in communicating, the good for their benefit, the bad for their condemnation.
"III. Further, that as Christ is both God and Man, and as these two natures are
for ever joined in His one person, His Godhead must be wherever His body is, and
therefore He is to be worshipped in His sacrament.
"IV. The body and blood present are that same body and blood which were
conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius
Pilate, ascended into heaven, but they are not present in the same manner as
they were when Christ walked on earth. He, as Man, is flow naturally in heaven,
there to be till the last day, yet He is supernaturally, and just as truly,
present in the Holy Communion, in some way which we cannot explain, but only
believe."
In both these quotations, we may observe, there is an attempt to evade the
charge of maintaining a "gross and carnal presence."
The attempt, however, is not successful. It is a very curious fact that the
Romish controversialist, Mr. Harding, Bishop Jewell's opponent, said just as
much 300 years ago. He said: -Christ's body is present not after a corporal, or
carnal, or naturally wise, but invisibly, unspeakably, miraculously,
super-naturally, spiritually, Divinely, and in a manner by Him known."
" Harding's Reply to Jewell," p.434. Parker Society edit.
In both cases we can hardly fall to observe that the very expressions which our
martyrs steadily refused is employed, "present under the forms of bread and
wine."
It is clear, to my mind, that if Dr. Pusey and Dr. Littledale had been brought
before Gardiner and Bonner three hundred years ago, they would have left the
court with flying colours, and, at any rate, would not have been burned.
I might refer my readers to the other published sermons on the Lord's Supper by
men of high position in our Church. I might refer them to several Ritualistic
manuals for the use of Communicants. I might refer them to the famous book "Directorium
Anglicanum." I simply give it as my opinion that no plain man in his senses can
read the writings of extreme Ritualists about the Lord's Supper and see any real
distinction between the doctrine they hold and downright Popery. It is a
distinction without a difference, and one that any jury of twelve honest men
would say at once could not be proved.
I turn from books and sermons to churches, and I ask any reflecting mind to
mark, consider, and digest what may be seen in any thorough-going Ritualistic
place of worship. I ask him to mark the superstitious veneration and idolatrous
honour with which everything within the chancel, and around and upon the Lord's
table, is regarded. I boldly ask any jury of twelve honest and unprejudiced men
to look at that chancel and communion table, and tell me what they think all
this means. I ask them whether the whole thing does not savour of the Romish
doctrine of the Real Presence, and the sacrifice of the Mass? I believe that if
Bonner and Gardiner had seen the chancels and communion tables of some of the
churches of this day, they would have lifted up their hands and rejoiced; while
Ridley, Bishop of London, and Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, would have turned
away with righteous indignation and said, "This communion table is not meant for
the Lord's Supper on the Lord's board, but for counterfeiting the idolatrous
Popish Mass."
I do not for a moment deny the zeal, earnestness, and sincerity of the extreme
Ritualists, though as much might be said for the Pharisees or the Jesuits. I do
not deny that we live in a singularly free country, and that Englishmen,
now-a-days, have liberty to commit any folly short of "felo-de-se." But I do
deny that any clergyman, however zealous and earnest, has a right to reintroduce
Popery into the Church of England. And, above all, I deny that he has any right
to maintain the very principle of the Real Presence, for opposing which the
Reformers of his Church were burned.
The plain truth is, that the doctrine of the extreme Ritualistic school about
the Lord's Supper can never be reconciled with the dying opinions of our
martyred Reformers. The members of this school may protest loudly that they are
sound churchmen, but they certainly are not churchmen of the same Opinions as
the Marian martyrs. If words mean anything, Hooper, and Rogers, and Ridley, and
Bradford, and their companions, held one view of the Real Presence, and the
ultra-Ritualists hold quite another. If they were right, the Ritualists are
wrong. There is a gulf that cannot be crossed between the two parties. There is
a thorough difference that cannot be reconciled or explained away. If we hold
with one side, we cannot possibly hold with the other. For my part, I say,
unhesitatingly, that I have more faith in Ridley, and Hooper, and Bradford, than
I have in all the leaders of the ultra Ritualistic party.
But what are we going to do? The danger is very great, far greater, I fear, than
most people suppose. A conspiracy has been long at work for unprotestantizing
the Church of England, and all the energies of Rome are concentrated on this
little island. A sapping and mining process has been long going on under our
feet, of which we are beginning at last to see a little. We shall see a good
deal more by and by. At the rate we are going, it would never surprise me if
within fifty years the crown of England were no longer on a Protestant head, and
High Mass were once more celebrated in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's. The
danger, in plain words, is neither more nor less than that of our Church being
unprotestantised and going back to Babylon and Egypt. We are in imminent peril
of re-union with Rome.
Men may call me an alarmist, if they like, for using such language. But I reply,
there is a cause. The upper classes in this land are widely infected with a
taste for a sensuous, histrionic, formal religion. The lower orders are becoming
sadly familiarised with all the ceremonialism which is the stepping-stone to
Popery.
The middle classes are becoming disgusted with the Church of England, and asking
what is the use of it. The intellectual classes are finding out that all
religions are either equally good or equally bad. The House of Commons will do
nothing unless pressed by public opinion. We have no Pums or Hampdens there
now.-And all this time Ritualism grows and spreads. The ship is among
breakers,-breakers ahead and breakers astern,-breakers on the right hand and
breakers on the left. Something needs to be done, if we are to escape shipwreck.
The very life of the Church of England is at stake, and nothing less. Take away
the Gospel from a Church and that Church is not worth preserving. A well without
water, a scabbard without a sword, a steam engine without a fire, a ship without
compass and rudder, a watch without a mainspring, a stuffed carcase with-out
life,~11 these are useless things. But there is nothing so use-less as a Church
without the Gospel. And this is the very question that stares us in the face.-Is
the Church of England to retain the Gospel or not? Without it in vain shall we
turn to our arch-bishops and bishops, in vain shall we glory in our cathedrals
and parish churches. Ichabod will soon be written on our walls. The ark of God
will not be with us. Surely something ought to be done.
One thing, however, is very clear to my mind. We ought not lightly to forsake
the Church of England. No I so long as her Articles and Formularies remain
unaltered, unrepealed, and unchanged, so long we ought not to forsake her.
Cowardly and base is that seaman who launches the boat and forsakes the ship so
long as there is a chance of saving her. Cowardly, I say, is that Protestant
Churchman who talks of seceding because things on board our Church are at
present out of order. What though some of the crew are traitors, and some are
asleep I What though the old ship has some leaks, and her rigging has given way
in some places! Still I maintain there is much to be done. There is life in the
old ship yet. The great Pilot has not yet forsaken her. The compass of the Bible
is still on deck. There are yet left on board some faithful and able seamen. So
long as the Articles and Formularies are not Romanized, let us stick by the
ship. So long as she has Christ and the Bible, let us stand by her to the last
plank, nail our colours to the mast, and never haul them down. Once more, I say,
let us not be wheedled, or bullied, or frightened, or cajoled, or provoked, into
forsaking the Church of England.
In the name of the Lord let us set up our banners. If ever we would meet Ridley
and Latimer and Hooper in another world without shame, let us "contend
earnestly" for the truths which they died to preserve. The Church of England
expects every Protestant Churchman to do his duty. Let us not talk only, but
act. Let us not act only, but pray. "He that hath no sword, let him sell his
garment and buy one."
There is a voice in the blood of the martyrs. What does that voice say? It cries
aloud from Oxford, Smithfield, and Gloucester,-" Resist to the death the Popish
doctrine of the Real Presence, under the forms of the consecrated bread and wine
in the Lord's Supper!"
NOTE.
The following quotations about the doctrine of the "Real Presence" are commended
to the special attention of all Churchmen in the present day :
(1) "Whereas it is ordained in this Office for the Administration of the Lord's
Supper, that the Communicants should receive the same kneeling; (which order is
well meant, for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the
benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy Receivers, and for the avoiding
of such profanation and disorder in the Holy Communion, as might otherwise
ensue;) yet, lest the same kneeling should by any persons, either out of
ignorance and infirmity, or out of malice and obstinacy, be misconstrued and
depraved; It is hereby declared, That thereby no adoration is intended, or ought
to be done, either unto the Sacramental Bread or Wine there bodily received, or
unto any corporal presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood. For the
Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their very natural substances, and
therefore may not be adored; (for that were Idolatry, to be abhorred of all
faithful Christians;) and the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are
in Heaven, and not here; it being against the truth of Christ's natural Body to
be at one time in more places than one.' '-Rubric at the end of the Communion
Service in the Book of Common Prayer.
(2)" As concerning the form of doctrine used in this Church of England in the
Holy Communion, that the Body and Blood of Christ be under the forms of bread
and wine, when you shall show the place where this form of words is expressed,
then shall you purge yourself from that which in the meantime I take to be a
plain untruth."-' 'Cranmer's Answer to Gardiner," pp.52, 53, Parker edition.
(3) "The real presence of Christ's most blessed Body and Blood is not to be
sought for in the sacrament, but in the worthy receiver of the sacrament."-"
Hooker's Eccles. Pol.," bk. V.p. 67.
(4) "The Church of England has wisely forborne to use the term of Real Presence
in all the books set forth by her authority. We neither find it recommended in
the Liturgy, nor the Articles, nor the Homilies, nor the Church Catechism, nor
Nowell's Catechism. For though it be once in the Liturgy, and once more in the
Articles of 1552, it is mentioned in both places as a phrase of the Papists, and
rejected for their abuse of it. So that if any Church of England man use it, he
does more than the Church directs him; if any reject it, he has the Church's
example to warrant him."-" Dean Aldrich's Reply," p.13, 1684. See "Goode on
Eucharist," p. 38.