The Church of England

Despite the Second Henrican Injunctions of 1538, which required an English Bible in every church, in 1543 Henry prohibited common folk from reading the Bible in English.  Consequently, only the elite of society had the privilege.

The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, by Matthew Barrett

Henry VIII.  From “Defender of the Faith” to…well, you know.  His story is well-known, but it is important here because it demonstrates the connection of the advance or decline of Protestantism with the position of the king or prince.

Many wives, no male heirs.  His first wife, Catherine, bore six children, but only one survived – a girl, Mary.  Henry wanted an annulment after eighteen years of marriage.  This wasn’t going to happen – at least not via the pope.  Further complicating matters, Henry’s wife was the aunt of Charles V, the emperor. 

Cardinal Wolsey was sent on a mission to get Francis I to assist with the pope; Wolsey failed in this mission.  Therefore, he was accused of treason, taken to the Tower of London where he died before his trial.  Thomas More, the new lord chancellor, was no more compliant toward Henry’s desire.

Eventually, Thomas Cranmer of Cambridge asked a most Protestant question: why rely on the pope when you can judge the matter on biblical grounds?  Henry’s marriage to Catherine was sinful in the first place (occurring only through papal dispensation), as she was the widow of Henry’s brother.  So, an annulment now was valid as the marriage was never valid!

Henry was determined and focused to limit the reach of the clergy.  Beginning in 1529, he drove several measures to this end.  By 1532, he achieved veto power over the church: if he didn’t like a canon, out it went.  The clergy would have to petition the king for ecclesiastical changes.  Thomas More would resign.

Cranmer would be named Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533.  He was committed to evangelical principles.  Anne Boleyn, the current desire of Henry’s heart, was supportive.  Later that year, Henry got his annulment.  Anne gave birth…to a girl.

In 1534, Parliament passed a law limiting funds to Rome.  Further, The Act of Supremacy: the king was to be the official head of the church.  He could teach doctrine, but not administer the sacraments.  The Act of Treason: the death penalty for anyone who did not acknowledge Henry’s position as head of the church.  A series of arrests and executions followed.

Wives would come and go by various methods, almost never “natural.”  The last one in this string, Katherine Parr, was influenced by Protestant Reformers.  She would do her best to influence Henry in this direction.

Meanwhile, Henry needed allies as he had gone against both pope and emperor.  He sent a delegation to Wittenberg in 1535.  Might the English and the Lutherans agree to common doctrines?  The Christmas Articles were drafted by the Lutherans as a starting point of discussion.  The two parties then drafted The Wittenberg Articles.  Henry at first agreed, but when he executed Anne Boleyn, the Lutherans shut down all talk of an alliance. 

What was in these articles?  An affirmation of three creeds: the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed; confirmation that Augustine had the true understanding of original sin and grace; contrition, faith, and newness of life.

Without compromising sola gratia or sola fide, the Wittenberg Articles underlined the necessity of works as the fruit of a contrite and trusting faith.

Good works are “necessary for salvation,” because good works ought to follow, of necessity, reconciliation. 

Private confession and absolution were retained; communion in both kinds; celibacy was identified as a papal doctrine.  Finally, there was a place for monasteries: these were useful for training for evangelical purposes.  Monks should not be forced to remain for life; if they so desired, they could be sent out to evangelize.

In any case, the alliance never came to fruition.  By this point, Henry pressured Parliament to pass The Six Articles Act, basically crushing any move toward Protestantism.  These would remain in force until 1547, when Henry’s son, Edward, would succeed him on the throne.

In 1538, an English Bible was required in every church – this just two years after Tyndale was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English!  As noted above, by 1543 it was determined that the Bible was not to be read by common people. 

Henry lamented that the Bible among the average Englishman had resulted in a “sinister understanding of Scripture, presumption, arrogancy, carnal liberty, and contention.”

Edward VI took the throne at nine years of age.  Young, but committed to the evangelical cause.  Once again, both wine and bread would be distributed.  Cranmer would be the architect of Reform, including three pillars: the recruitment of Continental Reformers, the publication of homilies, and the institution of a common prayer book.

Regarding Continental Reformers, Cranmer would secure Peter Martyr Vermigli for Oxford and Martin Bucer for Cambridge.  Two sets of sermons, known as The Book of Homilies, were prepared, with Cranmer likely playing a leading role in authorship.  Finally, the Book of Common Prayer was the official and legal liturgy for the Church of England.  Anyone who stood opposed faced imprisonment. 

All of these reflected evangelical convictions, although John Knox felt that these did not go far enough.  In any case, Cranmer was not done.  Forty-two articles of faith, approved in 1553 (eventually reduced to thirty-nine eighteen years later).  The three creeds, Augustinian, man has no power on his own to perform works of merit, justification is by faith alone.  And good works are the inevitable and necessary fruit of this justifying faith. 

Not even one month after these articles, Edward died.  The future for the evangelicals in England grew uncertain.  Lady Jane Grey was announced queen, but this wouldn’t stand.  Mary would announce herself as the real queen (and she had the stronger claim). 

…Catholics across England rallied to her side.  Jane’s reign lasted but nine short days.

Mary would move swiftly.  Daughter of Catherine of Aragon, she declared Henry’s annulment to her mother invalid – she was the lawful child, therefore the lawful heir.  She opened the door to papal supremacy; yet, the people did not return to Rome in droves. 

She would turn aggressive.  Legislation passed under both Henry and Edward was reversed.  Cranmer’s reforms were battered; papal allegiance and Catholic practice were restored.  Some evangelical ministers recanted, many did not.  All this in three short years.  How did she do this?

Her suppression of potential resisters accelerated, starting with Lady Jane Grey, beheaded in February 1554.  Mary would then work with a restored Cardinal Pole to reconcile with Rome.  Yet, the heartfelt conviction of the people would not turn so easily.  A hunt for heresy began.

At the start of 1555, Mary had her first kill: John Rogers (ca. 1500 – 1555).

Rogers was first summoned before a council.  He would not recant: “That which I have preached, I will seal with my blood.”  He was burned at the stake, but instead of driving fear in the evangelicals, his constancy of witness only made them stronger.

The next day, it was John Hooper.  When Henry had passed his six articles, Hooper fled to Paris.  He would later return to England, only to flee again to Basel and Zurich.  Having returned once more, he would not flee again.  His duty as a pastor, providing care to his flock, kept him in England.  It was a fatal decision.

Seven thousand attended his burning.  As Hooper prepared for death, he recited the Lord’s Prayer and the creed.  He suffered a long, agonizing death.  A cold, wet day, several times the fire would start only to burn out.  But this did not ease the pain; it was prolonged.  Even when the fire finally reached the gunpowder around his neck, the explosion did not kill him.  He suffered almost an hour in such a condition.

Rogers and Hooper were only the first of some three hundred martyrs. There was also the martyrdom of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley.  They were to be burned back-to-back.  When they met at the stake, Ridley ran to Latimer and embraced and kissed him.

Given one last chance to recant, Ridley would reply: “So long as the breath is in my body, I will never deny my Lord Christ, and his known truth: God’s will be done in me.”  The execution was brutal; on Ridley’s side, the flame stayed low and his suffering continued.  Eventually the flame ignited the gunpowder, and Ridley succumbed.

The ultimate story is that of Thomas Cranmer.  Under pressure, he recanted not once, but six times.  Mary still wanted him burned at the stake.  At this point, Cranmer went off script – he would recant his recantation.

“And now I come to that great thing, that so much troubleth my conscience more than anything I ever did or said in my whole life…”

He admitted that his earlier recantations were merely an attempt to save his life, that anything he said or did since his degradation should be considered untrue.  As he signed such things with his hand, he said that first it will be his hand that burns.

“And as for the pope, I refuse him as Christ’s enemy and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine.”

Conclusion

This all came to an end with Mary’s premature death in November 1558 – after only three years on the throne.  Cardinal Pole would die on the same day!  Elizabeth would follow Mary, and would reign for forty-five years.  She would preside over a moderation, walking between the two opposing sides.  For example, Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer was reestablished, however not before some of the more polemical language against Rome was removed. 

Elizabeth was excommunicated in 1570.