FALSE FRIENDS, WHO HELPED, HOWEVER, WHEN THEY INTENDED TO HINDER
“Of every malice that gives God offense
The aim is injury;
But as deceit is man's peculiar stain,
God hates it most.”
—DANTE
“All our aches and pains is nothing but growin' pains, if we use 'em right. These pains of yours, friend, they're on'y growin' pains, the wings pushing up a bit, lengthening and strengthening, till some day they'll be full-grown, and then you'll clap the glad wings and tower away." MISTER HORN AND HIS FRIENDS.
A BIBLE IN EVERY CHURCH—GARDINER'S RETURN—LAMBERT'S MARTYRDOM—RESIGNATION OF BISHOPRIC—THE KINDNESS OF SOME FRIENDS—ANNE ASKEW.
NOT only was the imposture of the Rood of Bexley exposed, but also that of the famous "Sibyl," a very sacred image of the Virgin Mary, which was exhibited in Worcester Cathedral and these with their "old sister of Walsingham, their young sister of Ipswich, with their other sisters of Doncaster and Penrise, and the great Welsh idol ‘Dderfel Gadern,' and others beside," met with similar ignominious treatment; and above all, the " great abomination of the blood of Hales, which had been for so long an object of worship to so many deluded country-folk, was "bolted and sifted" by the Bishop himself, and proved to be "a few drops of yellowish gum-like birdlime," probably "melted honey, colored with saffron." Such an exposure of deception and of ignorant blind idolatry there had never before been made in England, and much of this discovery was due to the zeal and activity of the Bishop of Worcester. Not that he confined himself to merely exposing abuses, for Latimer was far too earnest and practical a man to commit such folly. His chief business was to preach, and this he did whenever opportunity served.
A tradition is still extant in the neighborhood of the Episcopal Palace at Hartlebury, which records his custom of preaching near a ford by the riverside, where many used to come and go, crossing the river, and the spot is still pointed out to the curious inquirer where, in "an hermitage in a rock by the Severn, able to lodge five hundred men," Latimer was accustomed to gather his friends to listen to his expositions of the Word of God.
Latimer's earnest desire to do the very utmost that lay in his power for the spread of the Gospel induced him to obtain the services of a suffragan Bishop. A friend of Cranmer's, who had already proved himself to be a stout adherent of the Reformation, was accordingly selected for the office. Latimer urgently required assistance, for he was now troubled very much with sleeplessness, which in his feeble state of health must have weakened him greatly. One probable cause of his anxiety was perhaps the intrigues of the friars, who, although their designs had come to naught in the Pilgrimage of Grace, were still secretly sowing sedition by means of the confessional. One of the chief offenders was John Forest, a friar, who had taken the oath of allegiance to King Henry; "but," said he, "it was only my outward man that gave assent; my inward man never consented thereto." Such a man could not be called a martyr, he was a rebel, who for political reasons had assumed the guise of religion. As a civil offender he was tried, and under the good advice of Cranmer and Latimer, Forest seemed to be penitent. But his brother friars, probably from motives of self-interest, induced him to change his mind, and the King abandoned him to the law. At his execution Latimer preached, an office which one would have preferred that he had not assumed.
In the September of the year 1538 an injunction required that a copy of the Bible should be placed in every parish church, and Latimer must have hailed this triumph, for such it really was, with great delight.
But the progress of the Reformation was now to suffer a severe check, for a man was at hand who, able, unscrupulous, and subtle, was to give it a severe defeat. This was Gardiner, who was afterward the chief persecutor in Mary's reign. Cromwell was his personal enemy, and now a struggle commenced between the two in which the deepest interests of the nation were involved. The triumph of Cromwell meant the gradual spread of the Reformation in England; if Gardiner should win the prize for which he was playing, persecution would follow. A preliminary success of Gardiner was the trial and execution of Lambert, who had been one of Bilney's most promising disciples. Lambert, after hearing a sermon upon transubstantiation, courteously and gently spoke to the preacher about his error. The preacher declined an argument, and requested Lambert to state his opinions in writing. Too eager to reflect upon the risk that he ran in so doing, Lambert complied with this request. This paper was laid before Cranmer, who proceeded to summon Lambert before him. Lambert appealed to the King. This pleased Henry's vanity, and upon a set day the King presided over a great assembly. After a preliminary oration by the Bishop of Chichester, Henry rose from his seat, and leaning upon a cushion of silver tissue, turned towards the prisoner with a frowning brow and said, "He! good fellow, what is thy name?”
The humble follower of Christ, bending his knee said, "My name is John Nicholson, although by many I be called Lambert.”
“What!" exclaimed the king, "have you two names? Then I would not trust you although you were my brother.”
Lambert replied, "O most noble Prince, your Bishops forced me of necessity to change my name.”
“Why standest thou still?" demanded the King; "answer concerning the sacrament of the altar; dost thou say that it is the body of Christ, or wilt thou deny it?”
As the King said these words he lifted his cap in token of reverence to what the Lollards called the Papists' breaden God!
Lambert replied, "I answer with St. Augustine, that it is the body of Christ, after a certain manner.”
The King then said, "Answer me neither out of St. Augustine nor by the authority of any other; but tell me plainly whether thou sayest it is the body of Christ or no.”
Lambert answered, "Then I do deny it to be the body of Christ.”
The King added, "Mark well, for thou shalt be condemned by Christ's own words, ' This is My body.”
So the day wore on. The King, being tired of this pretended disputation, said to Lambert, "What sayest thou now, after all this pains taken with thee, and all the reasons and instructions of these learned men? Art thou not yet satisfied? Wilt thou live or die? what sayest thou? Thou hast yet free choice.”
Lambert answered, "I yield and submit myself wholly unto the will of your Majesty.”
Then said the King, "Commit thyself into the hands of God, and not into mine.”
Lambert replied, "I commend my soul into the hands of God, but my body I wholly yield and submit unto your clemency.”
Then said the stern monarch, "If you do commit yourself unto my judgment, you must die, for I will not be a patron unto heretics." And, turning to Lord Cromwell, he said, "Cromwell, read the sentence against him.”
Cromwell, thus called upon, was forced to comply.
Four days after this sham trial Lambert was burned to death at Smithfield. His last words were, "None but Christ; none but Christ!”
The martyrdom of Lambert was not only a committal of King Henry to the policy of persecuting the Reformed, but it was also (and herein appeared the subtlety of Gardiner) a compelling of Cromwell and Latimer and Cranmer to punish those who agreed with their teaching. Henry was not slow to indulge in that which pleased his vanity, and he followed up the death of Lambert by issuing a series of injunctions which were decidedly Roman.
Moreover, Gardiner and the priests were encouraged to resort to violent methods of silencing their opponents, since, as in Lambert's case, they proved, too strong for argument. One Robert Packington, a wealthy London merchant, and a member of Parliament for the City, fell a victim to their vengeance. In his place in Parliament, Packington ventured to make some observations which gave umbrage to the clergy, and the Dean of St. Paul's hired an Italian who shot Packington as he was crossing Cheapside.
With their usual ill fortune the Papists once more opposed that which would have secured the complete triumph of their designs. The King meditated a marriage with a French Princess, and such an alliance might have drawn him back into the Papal fold; but the Pope himself and Cardinal Pole rendered this return impossible. They resolutely opposed the marriage, preferring the present gratification of thwarting Henry to a future and larger triumph by means of him.
The Pope committed the more serious blunder of sending the Cardinal to the Emperor, in order to stimulate that restless tyrant to attempt the conquest of England. The days when the Popes could give away crowns and continents as if they were merely private trinkets had happily gone by, and Henry with his people were driven in sheer self-defense into antagonism to the Pope. The King, however, became more decided in his legislation against the Reformers, especially selecting the married clergy as the objects of his vengeance. In all probability the bulk of the nation thought and felt as Henry did, for the new faith had not yet conquered England. Accordingly, upon the 28th of June 1539 an Act was passed by Parliament which was popularly called the "Bloody Statute," or "The Whip with Six Cords." The latter name alludes to the six articles which were set forth for belief; they were—
1. That in the sacrament of the altar, after the consecration by the priest, there remains no substance of bread and wine, but that it becomes the substance of Christ, God and man, the natural body and blood of our Savior, as born of the Virgin Mary.
2. That communion in both kinds is not necessary, but that in the flesh, under the form of bread, is the very blood, and under the form of wine, with the blood, is the flesh.
3. That priests may not marry.
4. That vows of chastity or widowhood ought to be observed.
5. That it is right and necessary that private masses be continued.
6. That auricular, or private, confession should be retained.
The joy of the Papists at the passing of this Act was extreme, and a nobleman of their party wrote thus to one of his friends:—
“And also there is news here. I assure you, never Prince showed himself so wise a man, so well learned, and so catholic as the King hath done in this Parliament. With my pen I cannot express his marvelous goodness, which is come to such effect, that we shall have an Act of Parliament so spiritual, that I think none shall dare to say that in the blessed sacrament of the altar doth remain either bread or wine, after the consecration; nor that a priest may have a wife; nor that it is necessary to receive our Maker in both kinds; nor that private masses should not be said as they have been; nor that it is not necessary to have auricular confession. Finally, all in England have cause to thank God, and most heartily to rejoice at the King's most godly proceedings.”
The Protestants were proportionately discouraged by this untoward legislation, and Latimer resigned his see. Foxe says that "at the time Latimer put off his rochet in his chamber among his friends, he gave a skip on the floor for joy, feeling his shoulder so light, and being discharged, as he said, of such a heavy burden. Howbeit, neither was he so lightened but that troubles and labors followed him.”
The King was intensely displeased at Latimer's resignation, and although such a step was not a violation of any statute, Latimer was kept in custody in the palace of the Bishop of Chichester. Misfortunes still worse followed for the Reformers, for now Henry, after marrying Anne of Cleves, speedily rid himself of her, and his disgust with his wife led to Cromwell's downfall. On the 28th of July 1539 the great Minister perished at the block. After Cromwell's downfall the persecution against the Reformed became more severe, and yet when the King married Catherine Howard it became still worse. But the evil life of the Queen saved the Reformers, and after that she had deservedly gone to the block the Protestants had rest for a brief time. The King's marriage with the gentle and pious Catherine Parr was also a respite for those, who because they were not able to accept the opinions of the King as Divine truth, were exposed to fire and fagot. Of Latimer's life during this long dark time but little record has been preserved to us. In the spring of 1540 the Bishop of Chichester, who had charge of him, was sent to the Tower, and it would appear that Latimer was then permitted to retire into the country. We lose all sight of him for some years, and can only suppose that he was visiting among his friends and acquiring during his season of rest the views of Divine truth which were afterward to form the subject of his preaching during the reign of King Edward the Sixth. On the 13th of May 1546 he was brought before the Council at Greenwich, and Gardiner, his bitter enemy, "declared plainly how much I had loved, favored, and done for his person, and that he had no cause to be offended with me, though I was not content with his doctrine." Latimer was far too keen to be imposed upon by such statements, and he resolutely refused to incriminate himself as they endeavored to induce him to do. "He hath since answered," said his judges, "but in such sort as we be, for the purpose, as wise almost as we were before." Such an unreasonable person, who resolutely refused to assist his enemies to burn him, was of course a great grief to Gardiner and his allies, and failing to slay him, they sent their beloved friend to the Tower, where he remained a prisoner until the death of the King.
Here he had for a fellow-prisoner the heroic Anne Askew, who, after that she had been almost killed by the fiendish cruelty of Gardiner and Wriothesley, desired only that she might be permitted to speak to Latimer. But even this small comfort was denied to her, and deprived of all human sympathy, this delicate and refined lady was put to death. At the stake she refused to accept a pardon which was offered to her on condition that she should recant. In the spirit of the old martyrs she bravely refused to deny her Lord, and answered, "I come not hither to deny my Lord and Master." The fagots were lighted, and "thus," as Foxe says, "the good Anne Askew, with these blessed martyrs, having passed through so many torments, having now ended the long course of her agonies, being compassed with flames of fire, as a blessed sacrifice to God, slept in Jesus, leaving a singular instance of Christian constancy for all men to follow.”
Her death encouraged Gardiner to proceed against Queen Catherine Parr, who was known to favor the Reformers. Henry was even induced to sanction her arrest, but meanwhile the poor woman had made her peace with the tyrant. When, accordingly, upon the morrow Gardiner and his colleague come to arrest the Queen, they were saluted as "beasts, fools, and knaves," and Henry once more changed sides.
The cruel and vile Duke of Northumberland was ordered to the block; and had the King's life been spared for a time, he might perhaps have been more lenient in future to the Reformed. But his time had come, and on the 27th of January 1547 King Henry went to his account. In spite of Froude's attempt to defend his character, the almost unanimous verdict of the English people must be allowed to stand, and Henry the Eighth be pilloried as he deserves. That he served the purpose of God in delivering England was no merit upon his part; yet the sublime wisdom of God is seen in the manner in which even the vices of the tyrant were compelled to accomplish the designs of Divine Wisdom. Mr. Froude might perhaps have admired Henry the less had he been, like Latimer, a prisoner whose life hung precariously upon the tyrant's nod, or one of the many victims who were relentlessly butchered because they believed more or less than the King did!