could never gain much Ground after this and indeed many hoped that he should be quickly sent after Cromwell some complained of him in the House of Commons and Informations were brought the King that the chief Encouragement that the Hereticks had came from him The Ecclesiastical Committees imployed by the King A Book of Religion set out by Bishops were now at work and gave the last finishing to a Book formerly prepared but at this time corrected and explained in many Particulars They began with the Explanation of Faith which according to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome was thought an implicit believing whatever the Church proposed But the Reformers made it the chief Subject of their Books and Sermons to perswade People to believe in Christ and not in the Church and made great use of those Places in which it was said That Christians are justified by Faith only tho some explained this in such a manner that it gave their Adversaries Advantages to charge them that they denied the necessity of Good Works but they all taught that tho they were not necessary to Justification yet they were necessary to Salvation They differed also in their Notion of Good Works The Church of Rome taught that the Honour done to God in his Images or to the Saints in their Shrines and Relicks or to the Priests were the best sort of Good Works Whereas the Reformers prest Justice and Mercy most and discovered the Superstition of the other The Opinion of the Merit of Good Works was also so highly raised that many thought they purchased Heaven by them This the Reformers did also correct and taught the People to depend meerly upon the Death and Intercession of Christ Others moved subtiller Questions As whether Obedience was an essential part of Faith or only a Consequent of it This was a Nicety scarce becoming Divines that built only on the Simplicity of the Scriptures and condemned the Subtilties of the Schools and it was said that Men of ill Lives abused this Doctrine and thought that if they could but assure themselves that Christ died for them they were safe enough So now when they settled the Notion of Faith The Explanation of Faith they divided it into two sorts The one was a Perswasion of the Truth of the Gospel but the other carried with it a Submission to the Will of God and both Hope Love and Obedience belonged to it which was the Faith professed in Baptism and so much extoll'd by St. Paul It was not to be so understood as if it were a Certainty of our being predestinated which may be only a Presumption since all God's Promises are made to us on Conditions but it was an entire receiving the whole Gospel according to our Baptismal Vows Cranmer took great Pains to state this matter right and made a large Collection of many places all written with his own Hand both out of Antient and Modern Authors concerning Faith Justification and the Merit of Good Works and concluded with this That our Justification was to be ascribed only to the Merits of Christ and that those who are justified must have Charity as well as Faith but that neither of these was the meritorious Cause of Justification After this was stated they made next a large and full Explanation of the Apostles Creed with great Judgment and many excellent practical Inferences the Definition they gave of the Catholick Church runs thus It comprehended all Assemblies of Men in the whole World that received the Faith of Christ who ought to hold an Unity of Love and Brotherly Agreement together by which they became Members of the Catholick Church After this they explained the seven Sacraments In opening these there were great Debates for as was formerly mentioned the method used was to open the Point enquired into by proposing many Queries And of the Sacramenss and every one was to give in his Answer to these with the Reasons of it and then others were appointed to make an Abstract of those things in which they all either agreed or differed The Original Papers relating to these Points are yet preserved which shew with how great Consideration they proceeded in the Changes that were then made Cranmer had at this time some particular Opinions concerning Ecclesiastical Offices That they were delivered from the King as other Civil Offices were and that Ordination was not indispensibly necessary and was only a Ceremony that might be used or laid aside but that the Authority was conveyed to Church-men only by the King's Commission yet he delivered his Opinion in this matter with great Modesty and he not only subscribed the Book in which the contrary Doctrine was established but afterwards published it in a Book which he writ in King Edward's days from whence it appears that he changed his Mind in this Particular Baptism was explained as had been done formerly Penance was made to consist in the Absolution of the Priests which had been formerly declared only to be desirable where it could be had In the Communion both Transubstantiation Private Masses and Communion in one kind were asserted They asserted the Obligation of the Levitical Law about the Degrees of Marriage and the Indissolubleness of that Bond. They set out the Divine Institution of Priests and Deacons and that no Bishop had Authority over another they made a long Excursion against the Pope's Pretensions and for justifying the King's Supremacy They said Confirmation was instituted by the Apostles and was profitable but not necessary to Salvation and they asserted extream Unction to have been commanded by the Apostles for the Health both of Soul and Body Then were the Ten Commandments explained the second was added to the first but the Words For I am the Lord thy God c. were left out It was declared that no Godly Honour was to be done unto Images and that they ought only to be reverenced for their sakes whom they represented therefore the preferring of one Image to another and the making Pilgrimages and Offerings to them was condemned but the censing them or kneeling before them was permitted yet the People were to be taught that these things were done only to the Honour of God Invocation of Saints as Intercessors was allowed but immediate Addresses to them for the Blessings that were prayed for was condemned The strict rest from Labour on the seventh day was declared to be Ceremonial but it was necessary to rest from Sin and Carnal Pleasure and to follow Holy Duties The other Commandments were explained in a very plain and practical way Then was the Lord's Prayer explained and it was asserted that the People ought only to pray in their Vulgar Tongues for exciting their Devotion the more The Angels Salutation to the Virgin was also paraphrased They handled Free-will and defined it to be a Power by which the Will guided by Reason did without constraint discern and choose Good and Evil the former by the help of God's Spirit and
Merchants of London furnished them with Mony promised him his Liberty if he would discover who they were that encouraged and assisted them so he told him the Bishop of London did more than all the World besides for he had brought up the greatest gart of a faulty Impression The Clergy when they condemned Tindall's Translation promised a new one but a Year after in a long Condemnation of several Books that were published by Warham Tonstall and other Canonists and Divines they added this that it was not necessary to publish the Scripture in English and that the King did well not to set about it There came out a Book writ by one Fish of Grayes-Inn that took mightily The Supplication of the Beggars called the Supplication of the Beggars by which they complained that the Alms of the People were intercepted by the Mendicant Friars that were an useless Burden to the Government they also taxed the Pope of Cruelty for taking no Pity on the Poor since none but those that could pay for it were delivered out of Purgatory The King was so pleased with this that he would not suffer any thing to be done against the Author More answered it by another Supplication in behalf of the Souls in Purgatory setting forth the Miseries they were in and the Relief which they received by the Masses that were said for them and therefore they called on their Friends to support the Religious Orders that had now so many Enemies This was elegantly and wittily written but did not take so much as the other for such is the ill nature of Mankind that Satyres are always better received than Apologies and no Satyres are more acceptable than those against Church-men Frith answered More in a Book more gravely written Frith writes against Purgatory in which he shewed that there was no mention made of Purgatory in the Scripture that it was inconsistent with the Merits of Christ by which upon sincere Repentance all Sins were pardoned for if they were pardoned they could not be punished And tho Temporary Judgments either as Medicinal Corrections or for giving Warning to others do sometimes fall even on true Penitents yet terrible Punishments in another state cannot consist with a free Pardon and the remembring of our Sins no more In expounding many Passages of the New Testament he appealed to More 's great Friend Erasmus and shewed That the Fire which was spoken of by St. Paul as that which would consume the Wood Hay and Stubble could only be meant of the fiery Trial of Persecution He shewed That the Primitive Church received it not Ambrose Jerom and Austin did not believe it the last had plainly said that no mention was made of it in Scripture The Monks brought it in and by many wonderful Stories possessed the World of the belief of it and had made a very gainful Trade of it This Book provoked the Clergy so much that they resolved to make the Author feel a real Fire for endeavouring to extinguish their Imaginary one More objected Poverty and want of Learning to the new Preachers But it was answered The same thing was made use of to disgrace Christ and his Apostles but a plain Simplicity of mind without Artificial Improvments was rather thought a good Disposition for Men that were to bear a Cross and the Glory of God appeared more Eminently than the Instruments seemed Contemptible But the Pen proving too feeble A Persecution set on by More and too gentle a Tool the Clergy betook themselves to that on which they relied more Many were vexed with Imprisonments for teaching their Children the Lord's Prayer in English for harbouring the Preachers and for speaking against the Corruptions in the Worship or the Vices of the Clergy but these generally abjured One Hitton that had been a Curate and went over to Tindall was taken coming back with some Books and was by Warham condemned and burnt Bilney after his Abjuration formerly mentioned returned to Cambridge Bilney's Martyrdom and fell under great Horrour of mind but overcame it and resolved to expiate his Apostacy by a publick Acknowledgment And that he might be able to do that on surer Grounds he followed his Studies close two Years for then he left the University and went into Norfolk where he was born and preached up and down that County against Idolatry and Superstition exhorting the People to live well to give much Almes to believe in Christ and to offer up their Souls and Wills to him in the Sacrament He openly confessed his own Sin of denying the Faith and using no Precaution as he went about he was taken by the Bishops Officers and was condemned as a Relapse and degraded More not only sent down the Writ to burn him but to make him suffer another way he affirmed in Print that he had abjured But no Paper signed by him was ever shewed and little credit was due to the Priests who gave it out that he did it by word of Mouth But Parker afterwards Archbishop was an eye Witness of his Sufferings He bore all the hardships he was put to patiently and continued very cheerful after his Sentence and eat up the poor Provision that was brought him heartily for he said he must keep up a ruinous Cottage till it fell He Isaiah He had those Words often in his Mouth When thou walkest thorow the Fire thou shalt not be burnt And by burning his Finger in the Candle he prepared himself for the Eire and said it would only consume the Stubble of his Body but would purify his Soul On the 10th of November he was burnt At the Stake he repeated the Creed to shew he was a true Christian for the Clergy made strange Representations of his Doctrine Then he prayed earnestly and with a deep sence repeated those Words Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant Dr. Warner that waited on him embraced him shedding many Tears and wished that he might die in as good a state as that in which he then was The Friers desired him to declare to the People that they had not procured his Death and he did it so the last Act of his Life was full of Charity to his Enemies His Sufferings Animated others Byfield that had formerly abjured was taken dispersing Tindall's Books and one Tewkesbury were condemned by Stokesley and burnt Two Men and a Woman were also burnt at York Upon these Proceedings the Parliament that sate that Year complained to the King but that did not cool the Heat of the Clergy One Bainham a Councellour of the Temple was taken on Suspicion of Heresy and whipt in More 's presence and afterwards rackt in the Tower Yet he could not be wrought on to accuse any but through Fear he abjured After that being discharged he was in great trouble of Mind and could find no quiet till he went publickly to Church and openly confessed his Sins and declared the Torments he felt in his Conscience for what he had done
Upon this he was again seized on and condemned for having said That Thomas Becket was a Murderer and was damned if he did not repent And that in the Sacrament Christ's Body was received by Faith and not chewed with the Teeth Sentence past upon him by Stokesly and he was burnt Soon after this More delivered up the Great Seal so the Preachers had some ease Crome and Latimer were accused but abjured Tracy Ancestor to the present Lord Tracy made a Will by which he left his Soul to God in hopes of Mercy through Christ without the help of any other Saint and therefore he declared that he would leave nothing for Soul-Masses This Will being brought to the Bishop of London's Court to be proved after his Death provoked them so much that he was condemned as an Heretick and an Order was sent to the Chancellour of Worcester to raise his Body but he went further and burnt it which could not be justified since he was not a Relapse Tracy's Heirs sued him for it and he was turned out of his place and fined in 400 l. The Clergy proclaimed an Indulgence of fourty days Pardon to any that carried a Faggot to the burning of an Heretick that so Cruelty might seem the more Meritorious And an aged Man Harding being condemned by Longland Bishop of Lincoln as he was tied to the Stake one flung a Faggot with such force at him that it dashed out his Brains After an Intermission of two Years Gardiner represented to the King That it would give him great Advantages against the Pope if he would take hold of some occasion to shew his hatred of Heresy So Frith seemed a fit Person to offer as a Sacrifice to demonstrate his Zeal He was a young Man much famed for Learning Frith's Sufferings and was the first that writ against the Corporal Presence in the Sacrament in England He followed Zuinglius's Doctrine on these Grounds Christ received in the Sacrament gave Eternal Life but this was only to those that believed from which he inferred that he was received only by Faith St Paul said that the Fathers before Christ eat the same Spiritual Food with Christians from which it appears that Christ is now no more corporally present to us then he was to them And he argued from the nature of Sacraments in general and the ends of the Lord's Supper that it was only a Commemoration Yet upon these Premises he built no other Conclusion but that Chist's presence was no Article of Faith Frith put these Reasons in Writing which falling into More 's hands was answered by him but Frith never saw that till he was put in Prison And then tho he was loaded with Irons and had no Books allowed him he replied He insisted much on that Argument That the Israelites did eat the same Food and drank of the same Rock that was Christ and since Christ was only mystically and by Faith received by them he concluded that he was now received only by Faith He shewed that Christ's Words This is my Body were accommodated to the Jewish Phrase of calling the Lamb the Lord 's Passover and confirmed his Opinion with many Passages out of the Fathers in which the Elements were called Signes and Figures of Christ's Body and they said that upon Consecration they did not cease to be Bread and Wine but remained still in their own proper Natures He also shewed That the Fathers were Strangers to all the Consequences of that Opinion as that a Body could be in more places than one at once or could be in a place after the manner of a Spirit Yet he concluded That if that Opinion were held only as a Speculation so that Adoration were not offered to the Elements it might be well tollerated but that he condemned as gross Idolatry This was intended by him to prevent such Heats in England as were raised in Germany between the Lutherans and Helvetians by reason of their different Opinions concerning the Sacrament He was seized on in May 1533 and brought before Stokesly Gardiner and Longland They objected to him his not believing Purgatory nor Transubstantiation He gave his Reasons that determined him to look on neither of these as Articles of Faith but he thought that neither the affirming nor denying them ought to be determined positively The Bishops seemed unwilling to proceed to Sentence but he continuing resolute Stokesly pronounced it and so delivered him to the Secular Arm obtesting that his Punishment might be moderated so that the Rigour might not be too extream nor yet the gentleness of it too much mitigated This Obtestation by the Bowels of Christ was thought a Mockery when all the World knew that it was intended that he should be burnt One Hewet a Prentice of London was also condemned with him on the same account When they were brought to Smithfield Frith expressed great Joy and hugged the Faggots with some Transport Cook a Priest that stood by called to the People not to pray for them more then they would do for a Dog Frith smiled at that and prayed God to forgive him The Fire was kindled which consumed them to ashes This was the last Instance of the Cruelty of the Clergy at this time for the Act formerly mentioned regulating their Proceedings followed soon after Philips at whose Complaint that Bill was begun was committed upon Suspicion of Heresy a Copy of Tracy's Will was found about him and Butter and Cheese being also found in his Chamber in Lent But he being required to abjure appealed to the King as Supream Head and upon that he was set at Liberty but whether he was tried by the King or not is not upon Record The Act that was past A stop put to further Cruelties gave the new Preachers and their Followers some Respite The King was also impowered to reform all Heresies and Idolatries And his Affairs did now oblige him to unite himself to the Princes of Germany that by their means he might so imbroil the Emperour's Affairs asnot to give him leisure to turn his Arms against England and this produced a slackning of all Severities against them For those Princes in that first fervour of the Reformation made it an Article in all their Treaties that none should be persecuted for favouring their Doctrine The Interests the Reformers had at Court The Queen did also openly protect them she took Latimer and Shaxton to be her Chaplains and promoted them to the Bishopricks of Worcester and Salisbury Cranmer was fully convinced of the necessity of a Reformation and that he might carry it on with true Judgment and justify it by good Authorities He made a great Collection of the Opininions of the Antient Fathers and later Doctors in all the Points of Religion of which I have seen two Volumes in Folio But by a Letter of the Lord Burghly's it appears there were then six Volumes of his Collections in his hands He was a Man of great Candor and much Patience