Hs5s £> & &* PRINCETON, N. J. \ Presented by )y Vnsa \ cKe/x-\\- YcaWox^ . BR 746 .M3 1884 MacNaughton , Samuel . The gospel in Great Britain THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BEITAIN; FROM ST. PATRICK TO JOHN KNOX AND JOHN WESLEY. THE GOSPEL IN GKEAT BEITAIN ; FROM ST. PATKICK TO JOHN KNOX AND JOHN WESLEY. BY THE REV. SAMUEL MACNAUGHTON, M.A., AUTHOR OF " JOY IN JESUS : MEMORIALS OF BELLA DARLING ; "OUR CHILDREN FOR CHRIST;" "THE WINES OF SCRIPTURE;" "THE DUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN RELATION TO THE TEMPERANCE REFORM" (A PRIZE ESSAY), ETC. ETC. — M^s^£&%^*N*— LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET, 1884. EDINBURGH : PRINTED BY LORIMER AND GILLIES, 31 ST. ANDREW SQUARE. PREFACE. HE following Lectures, for the most part, were originally prepared without any idea of publication. The deep interest taken in the first part of the series by Evangelical Churchmen and some who had been brought up in the Roman Catholic communion, as well as by the members of my own Church, led me to entertain the idea of giving greater publicity to them than could be obtained by the living voice. The interest which attended their delivery far exceeded my own expectations. Commencing with the intention of delivering a few lectures on " The Early Ages of Christianity in Great Britain," with the object of showing that this country was not indebted to the Church of Rome for the Gospel, but that a pure evangel was preached and embraced long before the arrival of the first Roman Catholic missionaries, the design of the present volume grew upon me — namely, to trace an evangelical succession, outside of Rome and opposed to it, all adown the centuries, and to note VI PREFACE. with some degree of fulness the prominent evangelical agencies that brought blessing to the nation at different periods. Hence, special prominence is given to the noble work of St. Patrick, Columba, and others in the early centuries; William the Conqueror, Edward III., and Wycliffe before the Reformation period ; Tyndale, Bilney, Latimer, Cranmer, and Knox at the time of the Reformation; Howe, Baxter, Bunyan, and Henry after the Restoration ; and Whitefield and the Wesleys in the eighteenth century. Another special feature in the design of this volume was to include as much of the civil history of the nation, with full and accurate dates, as was deemed necessary to illustrate the history of the Church and the Gospel, and to explain and account for the apparent temporary failure of thoroughly Scriptural agencies through severe and protracted persecution ; as, for example, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, when Presbyterian Nonconformity was all but stamped out in England by persistent persecution. It is shown, however, that the evangelical spirit and Scriptural polity of Presbyterianism was perpetuated under another name in Methodism. Historical research will also show that, when the blighting influ- ence of Arianism and Socinianism spread over the land like a deadly pall, and was entering Noncon- formist pulpits as well as those of the Church of England ; when Presbyterian government under the PREFACE. Vll exigencies of the times was practically suspended, so that false doctrine could not be checked and false teachers could not be excluded, — the Evangelical Pres- byterians, for the most part, cast in their lot with the Methodists, and helped in no small degree to build up that great evangelical fabric which bulks so largely in the ecclesiastical history of the last century. It may not be out of place to remark that in the preparation of this volume a very large number of standard authorities have been consulted, and great care has been taken, amid the conflicting statements of interested parties, to arrive as nearly as possible at the actual facts. For fuller information on the several periods touched upon in this volume the earnest student may consult Patrick's " Confessiones," or Autobiography; Bede's "Ecclesiastical History;" and numerous authorities cited by D'Aubigne' in his " History of the Keformation ; " Fuller's " Church History ; " Wycliffe's " Tracts and Treatises ; " Foxe's " Acts and Monuments," and " Book of Martyrs ;" Lewis' " History of Wycliffe ;" Yaughan's " Life of WyclirTe ; " Erasmus' " Letters ; " Tyndale and Fryth's Works ; Latimer's " Sermons ; " Strype's " Ecclesiastical Mem- orials," Life of Parker, Whitgift, Cranmer, &c. ; Lord Herbert's " Life of Henry VIII. ; " Burnet's " History of the Keformation," and " History of His Own Times ; " Somers' " Tracts ; " M'Crie's " Life of Knox," and "History of the Scottish Church;" Macaulay's Vlll PREFACE. "History of England;" Hallam's " Constitutional History of England ;" Stevens' "History of Methodism ;" and Kurtz's " History of the Christian Church." The reader must not expect to find in this volume any attempt at thrilling description or beauty of style. The author's aim has been, by brevity and simplicity of style, to make the facts of history speak for them- selves, hoping to create interest in the subject by a simple narrative of facts rather than by any fictitious colouring or imaginative ornamentation. Although these lectures have been prepared, one every week without intermission, amid all the duties of a busy pastorate, yet the author is not without hope that the volume will be welcomed by many who have not had time to master the literature of such an extensive subject. All who have made the attempt know well that it is a work of years. It seemed to the author that a handy-book for busy men on this subject was much needed, and the celebration of the Quincentenary of our first great Reformer during the present year makes the need urgent. If the following pages will contribute in any degree to a clearer understanding of the history of the Gospel in Great Britain by sound Protestants, the author will feel devoutly thankful to the Great Head of the Church for being guided and blessed in the undertaking. Preston, May, 1884. CONTENTS. L— The Early Ages of Christianity in Scotland. The Gospel early embraced in Scotland — The Culdees — Period of Growth — Period of Corruption — Rome sent, not the Gospel, but Persecution — Government of Early British Churches, not Hierarchical, but Presbyterian — St. Patrick — Columba and the Presbyters of Iona — Their Missionary Zeal — Purity of Doctrine and Worship — Constantine and Christianity — The Anglo-Saxons — Augustine arrived — The British Church resist- ing Romish Christianity — Persecution — Oswald and Oswy, II. — Columba to William the Conqueror. Columba's Hymns — His Doctrinal Teaching — Conversion of Anglo-Saxons — Oswy's Weakness — Yields to Rome — Firm- ness of the Presbyters of Iona — Rome and the Pictish King — Grand Churches — Duration of the Early British Church — Ireland and the Pope — A Roman Catholic Writer and Roman- ism — Perversion of Scotland — William of Normandy — The Heroes of Bannockburn, 13 III. — William the Conqueror to Wycliffe. William and Religious Liberty — Hildebrand — Celibacy of the Clergy — William Rufus — Yoke of Royalty — Reaction in favour of Rome — Supremacy — Clement — Boniface — Disputa- 9 X CONTENTS. PAGE tion — Anselm — Thomas a Becket — Henry II. — Ecclesiastical Crimes — The Pope and the King — The Papacy never got the People — A Weak King and a Strong Pope — King John a Vassal of the Pope — Magna Charta — The Papacy and Liberty — Peter and Papal Infallibility — Grostete — Sewal — Bradwardine — Edward III. — Stringent Measures against Papal Interference, 26 IV. — Wycliffe — the Morning Star of the Reformation. Early Reformers — Supremacy of Christ and the Scriptures — Wycliffe and Huss — Justification by Faith — Savonarola — Wycliffe's Early Experience — His Influence — Preacher and Politician — Parliament rejects the Supremacy of the Pope — Two Rival Popes — Wycliffe's Poor Priests —Richard II. — Persecution — Wycliffe's Illness — His Attacks upon the Papacy — Rejection of Romish Dogmas — Translation of the Bible— Four Phases of Wycliffe's Work, .... 39 V. — State of Eeligion from Wycliffe to Knox. Wycliffe's Theology and Teaching — Church Government — The Sacraments — Council of Trent — Canons and Catechism — Transubstantiation — Wafer- Worship — Henry IV. and the Church — Martyrdom of Sawtre — "Constitutions of Arundel" — Lord Cobham — Council of Constance — Two Popes for Thirty Years — Council of Pisa — Immoral Popes — Pope deposed — Attempts at Reformation, 52 VI. — The Reformation in England — Henry VIII. The True Agents of Reform — God's Word — Erasmus' Greek Testament — The Revival of Learning — Revival in the Universities — Bilney — Tyndale — Henry writes against Luther — "Defender of the Faith" — Tyndale's Labours and Persecution — Translation of the Bible — John Fryth — Tyndale preceded Luther — Henry VIII. not the Author of the English Reformation, 65 CONTENTS. XI PAGE VII.— Reformation Worthies — Bilney and Latimer. George Stafford — Hugh Latimer — Bilney's Confession — Latimer's Conversion — Wolsey's New College — John Clark — Inquisi- tion at Cambridge — Rome and the Scriptures — Attack on Romish Doctrines — Revival at Oxford — Persecution at Oxford and Cambridge — Reformers imprisoned — The New Testament proscribed and declared Heretical, . . .76 VIII. — Henry VIII. and the Pope. Henry's Quarrel with the Pope — Cardinal Wolsey and the Divorce — Henry's Early Scruples — Dispensation from the Pope — Anne Boleyn — Duplicity of the Pope — Wolsey's Fall and Retirement — Death and Dying Words — Thomas Cranmer — The Word of God the Ultimate Authority — Thomas Cromwell — Oaths and Counter-Oaths, 88 IX. — The Final Breach with Rome. Various Agencies of Reform — The Word of God Supreme — The Universities decide on the Legality of the Marriage — Parlia- ment rejects the Pope's Authority — The King declared to be the Head of the Church — Parliament reforms Abuses — Roman Catholic Ceremonies retained — Martyrdom of Leading Re- formers — The "Six Articles" — Persecution — Henry not the Author of the Reformation, 100 X. — Edward VI. and the Reformation. The Young King's Piety and Learning — Cranmer and the Council reform the Church — Ignorance of the Clergy — Book of Homilies — New Testament set up in every Church — Images removed and Superstitious Practices abolished — Service con- ducted in English — The "Six Articles" repealed — Book of Common Prayer — Elevation of the Host forbidden — Strict Conformity not insisted on — Communion Service — Cranmer in favour of more Thorough Reform — Edward's Death, . .112 xii CONTENTS. PAGE XI. — The Martyrs in the Reign of Mary. Regeneration necessary to a True Reformation — Courtiers opposed to a Rigid Reform in Manners — Lady Jane Grey and the Succession — Mary proclaimed Queen — Preaching prohibited — Romish Ritual introduced — Protestant Bishops dismissed — Images set up in the Churches — Cranmer's Firmness — Imprisonment — Mass illegally celebrated at the Opening of Parliament — Lady Jane Grey executed — Elizabeth imprisoned — Trial of Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, . . . .124 XII. — Queen Elizabeth and the English Reformation. Accession of Elizabeth — Her Protestantism — Act of Uniformity — Act of Supremacy — Public Debate on Controverted Doctrines — Triumph of Protestant Principles — Elizabeth's Firmness — The Bishops refuse the Oath of Supremacy — Monasteries broken up — The New Liturgy — The New Bishops — The Queen's Ritualism — The Bishops opposed to Popish Vest- ments — The Church established on a Compromise, . .138 XIII. — John Knox and the Church of Rome. Corruptions of the Church of Rome — Penance — Indulgence — Purgatory — The Sacrifice of the Mass — Ignorance of the Priests — Opposition to the Bible — Birth of Knox — His Edu- cation — Study of the Bible — The Bible in Scotland — George Buchanan — Sir David Lindsay — Influence of Poets and Dramatists — Immorality of the Clergy — The Scottish Reformation a Revival — Patrick Hamilton — His Labours and Martyrdom — Period of Persecution — George Wish art, . . 151 XIV. — John Knox and the Scottish Reformation. Impression of Wishart's Death — Reformation advancing — Act permitting the Bible to be read — Knox as Professor and Preacher — Public Discussion — "The Man of Sin" — First Observance of the Lord's Supper — Protestants attacked by French Troops — Captivity of Knox— Offer of a Bishopric — CONTENTS. xiii PAGE Opposed to a Hierarchy — Christ the Head of the Church — Residence in England — Retirement to the Continent — Return to Scotland — Abundant Labours — He wins the Nobility — Returns to Geneva — Labours in Dieppe — Geneva Bible, . 1G6 XV. — John Knox and the Scottish Reformation — continued. Martyrdom of Walter Mill — Procession in Edinburgh — Duplicity of the Queen-Regent — Protestant Preachers arraigned for Trial — Knox arrives — The Clergy Panic-stricken — Riot at Perth — The Monastery demolished — Signatories to the Covenant- Threat of the Archbishop — Courage of Knox — Rising of Pro- testants — Reformers triumphant — French Soldiers expelled — Protestantism established by Parliament — Confession of Faith approved by Parliament, 181 XVI. — John Knox and Mary Queen of Scots. The First Book of Discipline — Constitution of the Scottish Church — Evangelical in Doctrine, Scriptural in Government — Education — First General Assembly — Mary Queen of Scots — Popish Plot — Firmness of Knox — The Queen's Marriage — Compelled to abdicate — Earl of Murray appointed Regent — Mary's Imprisonment — Acts of Parliament — Assassination of " The Good Regent "—Death of Knox, 194 XVII. — The Rise of the Puritans. Character of the English Reformation — Contention of the Puritans — Authority of Scripture — Headship of Christ — Free- dom of the Church — Right of Private Judgment — Intolerance of Parker — London Ministers refuse to conform — Puritan Party popular — Supported by Several Bishops — Episcopacy adverse to Liberty — Three Parties in the State, . . . 209 XVIII. — Persecution of the Puritans. Strength of the Puritan Party — Roman Catholics excluded from Parliament — The Thirty-Nine Articles — Modified Subscrip- tion — Norfolk's Conspiracy — Protestantism of Puritans — xiv CONTENTS. PAGE " Prophesyings " — Preaching prohibited — Friends at Court — Presbyterian Government set up in London — Puritan Claims — Severe Statutes — Brownists — Persecution — Loyalty of Puri- tans — " Good Queen Bess," 221 XIX.— Progress of Presbyterian Principles under James I. Accession of James — Ireland and Scotland — Despotism of the King — Episcopacy and Presbytery — Retrograde Movement towards Rome — Arminian Doctrine — Petition of Presbyterian Clergy — Influence of the Bishops — Conference at Hampton Court — The Puritans and Sabbath Observance — " Book of Sports " — Cause of Puritan Austerity, 235 XX.— Progress of Presbyterianism under Charles I. Ecclesiastical Policy — Teaching of the Bishops — Petition of Right — Despotism of Charles — Laud persecutes the Puri- tans — The Pillory — Massacre of Ulster Protestants — The Scots support the Puritans — Oath against Change — Strength of Presbyterian Party — Archbishop Usher's Scheme — Epis- copacy abolished by Parliament — The Independents — Oliver Cromwell — Solemn League and Covenant — Assembly of Divines — Confession of Faith and Catechisms — Presbyterian Principles triumphant, 247 XXI. — The State of Religion under Cromwell and CHA.RLES II. Presbyterian Government set up by Parliament — Cromwell's Ironsides — Duplicity of Charles I. — Presbyterians opposed to Extreme Measures —Expulsion of Parliament — The Rump — Execution of Charles I. — Charles II. in Scotland — Cromwell Lord High Protector — Presbyterianism in London and Lancashire — Presbyterian Party dominant in the Commons — Union of Royalists and Presbyterians — General Monk — Moderate Proposals for Union — Early Moderation of Charles II. — Manifesto in favour of Compromise, . . .259 CONTENTS. XV PAGE XXII. — Persecution of the Puritans and Covenanters. The King violates his Pledges — High Church Party in Power — The Savoy Conference — Compromise defeated — Demands of the Presbyterians — Terms of Subscription — Episcopal Ordina- tion Compulsory — Compulsory Communion — St. Bartholomew's Day, 1662 — Cruel Severity — Ejected Ministers — The King's Clemency defeated by the Bishops — Religious Assemblies suppressed — Imprisonment for Non-attendance at Church — Further Repressive Measures — Intolerance of the Bishops — The Great Plague and other Calamities — Ejection of Presby- terian Ministers in Scotland — The Marquis of Argyll — Murderous Persecution of Covenanters, . . . . .271 XXIII. — Eminent Puritans. Baxter— Bunyan — Howe — James II. and his Parliament — Rom- ish Proclivities of the King — Attempt to aggrandise Rome — Opposition of Parliament and Nobility — Overtures to Dissent- ers — Declaration of Indulgence — Anglican Party alarmed — Anglican Divines court the favour of the Presbyterian Clergy — Erection of Puritan Places of Worship — Baxter set at Liberty — Howe returns from Exile — Presbyterians join with Churchmen in opposing the Jesuitical Designs of the King — Bunyan's Genius and Labours — Union of Anglicans and Puritans — The Prince of Orange — Favours the Puritans and Low Church Party — Second Declaration of Indulgence — Opposition by Bishops and the Presbyterian Clergy — Trial of the Bishops — A Wholesome Lesson to High Churchmen — Landing of Prince of Orange — William's First Parliament — Toleration Act, 283 XXIV. — The Rise of Methodism. Puritan Leaders summoned Home — Fraternal Feeling between Churchmen and Presbyterians interrupted — Accession of Anne — High Church Party dominant— Oppressive Measures — Non- conformists not responsible for Spiritual Deadness— Matthew Henry's Commentary — Bishop Burnet — Ignorance of the XVI CONTENTS. PAGE Clergy — Rationalism and Infidelity — Addison — Berkeley — Johnson — Revival of Spiritual Life — Whitefield and the Wesley s — Wesley's Ancestors Presbyterians — The " Holy Club " — The Wesleys visit America — Moravian Teachers — A New Revelation — Whitefield' s Ordination and Consecration — Successful Labours — Open-air Preaching — Temporary Sepa- ration — Whitefield labours in America — Prince of Preachers — Rapid Growth of Methodism — Calvinistic Methodism — Griffith Jones and Howell Harris — Whitefield's Death — Wesley's Prolonged Labours — The Two Powerful Evangelical Churches, 295 THE GOSPEL IN GEEAT BRITAIN. ■♦- LECTURE I. THE EARLY AGES OF CHRISTIANITY IN SCOTLAND. " Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." — Jude 3. ROBABLY in no period of the world's history was this earnest exhortation more strikingly fulfilled than in the earlier centuries of Scottish history. In medi- tating upon the great work accomplished for Scotland by the illustrious and fearless reformer, John Knox, the mind is naturally carried back to a much earlier period, when the religion of Christ was first preached and gladly embraced in Scotland. It is generally assumed that the pure Scriptural doctrine and government of the Presbyterian Church dates no farther back than the year 15 60, when the Scottish people, under their great leader, threw off for ever the yoke of Rome. This is not the case, however. The great Reforma- B 2 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. tion in the time of Knox was only a grand revival of the Presbyterian doctrine and government loved and practised by many in Scotland more than a thousand years before Knox electrified the people by his stirring appeals. The Roman Catholic Church was not the first to bring the Gospel of Christ to these islands. It is generally accepted as a historical fact that the Apostle Paul preached the Gospel in Britain ; and for centuries no one disputed the claim of the Culdees in Scotland to have received the Gospel from the Apostle John, if not in person, certainly by his writings. For centuries before the Christian era, vessels traded between Britain and the ports of Asia Minor. This circumstance is referred to by Herodotus, who wrote more than four centuries before Christ. During the lifetime of the Apostle John, who lived until the commencement of the second century, and during the second and third centuries, there was a considerable trade kept up between these islands and Asia Minor, Greece, and Alexandria. Among these traders there were earnest Christians, who had embraced the Gospel under the teaching of the apostles, and rejoiced to be heralds of the glad tidings to the people in this and other lands. History also records that British prisoners of war had learned to know Christ and His salvation during their captivity, and had brought back to their countrymen the knowledge of the Messiah. Fifty-five years before Christ, Julius Cassar conquered a considerable portion of Britain, and carried off hostages ; and Britain remained under the Romans until 410 A.D. These islands, therefore, THE EARLY AGES OF CHRISTIANITY IN SCOTLAND. 3 were well known and much frequented in these early ages. Tradition has it that one of the first converts to Christianity in Scotland was a prince named Lucius. Be that as it may, it is certain that while those who saw the Apostle John, and heard the Gospel from his lips, were still living, there were many Churches in the south and west of Scotland where Christ was preached and worshipped. This fact is attested by several early Christian writers. And, if further confirmation were necessary, we have it in the fact that the country was known as " The Isle of Saints." Before the Reformation in the time of Knox, the Christian Church in Scotland passed through two great phases, — the first was the period of its formation and growth, the other the period of its corruption, through the influence of Rome and the popish hierarchy. When the Roman armies invaded Britain, the Roman Empire was heathen and not Christian. It was not until the fourth century of the Christian era that the Emperor Constantine embraced the Christian religion, and established Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire (a.d. 323). The first thing the British Christians received from Rome was bitter persecution. This drove the Christians in the south of the island to Scotland. They lived such holy, happy lives as to impress the Scots with the reality and power of the religion of Christ. They at once abandoned their sacred oaks, and mysterious caverns, and blood-stained altars, and cordially embraced the Gospel. Thus Roman perse- cution, instead of stamping out Christianity in Britain, 4 THE GOSPEL IN GEEAT BRITAIN. greatly increased the number of disciples. These events happened within less than two hundred years after the death of the Apostle John. These early Churches, therefore, were formed after the type of the Churches in Ephesus, and Corinth, and Alexandria, founded by the apostles, and consequently they had no connection with Rome ; for the Roman Empire was still pagan, and persecuted the Christians everywhere. This accounts for the fact that these early Churches were Presbyterian, not only in doctrine, but in government and in simplicity of worship. In the year 372 A.D. an event happened that had far-reaching consequences. On the banks of the Clyde, not far from Glasgow, in the little Christian village of Bonavern, now Kilpatrick, a little boy, whom his parents called Succat, was born. His father, Calpurnius, was a most pious man, and a deacon in the Christian Church at Bonavern. His mother, Conchessa, was a sister of the celebrated Martin, Archbishop of Tours. They carefully taught their boy the precious truths of the Gospel. One day, while he and his two little sisters were playing on the sea-shore, some Irish pirates carried them all off to their boats and sold them to a petty chieftain in Ireland. While herding the swine in solitude, he meditated much upon the lessons his pious mother had taught him ; and at the age of sixteen, after passing through a severe mental and spiritual struggle, he found peace and joy through believing in Jesus. " The Lord opened my eyes," he says, " and I was converted with my whole heart to the Lord my God. The love of God increased in me, with faith and holy THE EAKLY AGES OF CHRISTIANITY IN SCOTLAND. 5 fear. The Spirit urged me to such a degree that I poured forth as many as a hundred prayers a day." Twice a captive and twice rescued, Succat, after- wards known as St. Patrick, felt an irresistible desire in his heart to carry the Gospel to Ireland, where he had first found Christ and the blessings of salvation. His parents endeavoured to turn his mind from his purpose, but he could not turn aside the call of God. It was a great struggle to leave his parents, but he overcame. " It was not done in my own strength," he says, " it was God who overcame all." He went to Ireland, not by way of Rome, as a Roman Catholic writer of the twelfth century asserts without a shadow of evidence, but direct to his work, commissioned by God alone. The people flocked to hear the simple preaching of the Gospel, and large numbers were converted to Christ. In a short time all Ireland was won over to Christianity. In one of the Churches formed by St. Patrick there arose a man destined to do a great and good work. This was Columba, grandson of King Fergus. Although of royal blood, he resolved to devote his life to preach- ing the Gospel of Christ. Feeling how much his native country owed to Scotland, he said, " I will go and preach the Gospel in Scotland." In company with several earnest Christians he set out in a small boat, and eventually landed on the island of Iona, in the year 565. Here he found a little colony of Christian Culdees, where they had sought refuge from persecution. Columba and his companions erected a small chapel, a portion of which still remains, being 6 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. built into the walls of the large cathedral, which is now an interesting ruin. Columba was filled with the missionary spirit of the Apostle Paul, and went from house to house, and from kingdom to kingdom, proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation. Presently he had the great gratification of seeing the king of the Picts embrace the religion of Christ, as well as very many of his people. A school of theology was founded at Iona for the training of missionary preachers. There was no sacerdotalism here, nor salvation by works. Columba taught that the Holy Spirit alone made a servant of God. When the youths of Caledonia assembled around these holy ministers, they were taught such truths as these : " The holy Scriptures are the only rule of faith." " Throw aside all merit of works and look for salva- tion to Christ alone." " Beware of a religion that consists of outward observances. It is better to keep the heart pure before God than to abstain from meats." "Christ alone is the Head of the Church." " Bishops and presbyters are one and the same. They should be the husbands of one wife, and keep their children in subjection." The presbyters of Iona knew no such doctrines as transubstantiation, or confession to a priest, or pur- gatory, or prayers for the dead, or the celibacy of the clergy. They used no lighted candles or incense in their worship. The affairs of the Church were managed by a synod, and not by bishops or a pope. The government was purely Presbyterian. They celebrated Easter on a different day from the Church of Rome — that is, on the same day as the Eastern THE EARLY AGES OF CHRISTIANITY IN SCOTLAND. 7 churches — proving that Patrick and Columba had no intercourse with the Roman Catholic Church. The students were ordained for missionary work by the laying-on of hands of the presbyters. As in New Testament times, they were called either presbyters or bishops, — presbyters, or elders, in virtue of their office ; bishops, as having oversight of the flock. Here we have the Presbyterian form of government flourish- ing in Scotland one thousand years before it was restored by John Knox. These holy men were so filled with missionary zeal that their religion soon spread over Great Britain, penetrating into Wales. Filled with holy zeal, they carried the Gospel even to the Continent. These missionary bishops, as they were called, found their way to France, and Holland, and Italy, and Switzerland, and Germany, carrying with them the pure Gospel of Jesus, without the corruptions of Rome. The Presby- terian, or New Testament form of government, was everywhere established. Among the Waldenses, and in the valleys of Italy, the Church of Rome has never been able to root it up ; so that there never was a time since the apostles when Christ was without faithful witnesses to the truth, apart altogether from the Romish Church ; and there never was a time when Presbyterianism was stamped out. The historian, speaking of the missionary zeal that characterised these early Presbyterians, says, " We might almost imagine this unknown people to have been a new Israel, and Iona and Bangor to have inherited the virtues of Zion." Columba by many writers has been placed in the first rank after the apostles, and he certainly infused 8 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. the missionary spirit of the apostles into his followers. He lived moment by moment as in the very presence of God, redeeming the time. He prayed and read, wrote and taught, travelled and preached like another Paul. Publicly, and from house to house, he ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. One point worthy of special notice with regard to these early Scottish Christians is, that there was not the slightest approach in their worship to sacerdotalism and ritualism. Where there is true spiritual life and fellowship with God, empty forms and ceremonies can never find a place. It is impossible to conceive of an earnest minister of the Gospel, intent upon leading souls to Christ and seeking to build them up in holi- ness, inviting the worshippers to look at lighted candles, and incense, and the attitudes of the minister, instead of pointing them to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. Where such mean- ingless rites are observed, there can be no real spiritual life. It was the intense earnestness of these early Scottish Christians that kept them pure in life and doctrine and worship. Men who keep up constant communion with Christ, by a living, ever-acting faith, will be guided aright, and they will not dare to put anything between anxious souls and their Saviour. The presbyters of Iona were not trammelled by the State, and that gave them perfect freedom to teach and to preach according to the Word of God. Through- out the Roman Empire the Christian Church was a State institution since the year 323, when the Emperor Constantine embraced the Christian religion. The conversion of Constantine seemed at the time to be a THE EARLY AGES OF CHRISTIANITY IN SCOTLAND. 9 great conquest for Christianity ; but ultimately it proved to be a source of weakness. Christianity is strong only as the individuals who embrace it are strong; and individual Christians are strong only as they maintain fellowship with Christ, and lead pure, holy, consecrated lives. What a source of weakness it must have been to the Christian Church that the whole Roman Empire should have become nominally Christian in a day, without even hearing of God's way of peace through simple faith in Jesus ! From this time the Roman legions went forth, con- quering armies, and baptizing them on the battle-field. Thus was Roman Christianity corrupted at this early period. The proud Anglo-Saxons in England, who came over in 449, had persistently refused to receive the Gospel from the humble missionaries of Iona. Gregory I., now bishop of Rome, — not pope, or universal bishop, for there were no popes at this period, — in the year 596 laid a project for bringing Britain under his spiritual sway. The Roman occupation of Britain had ceased in the year 410, and the Saxon invaders held sway in the country. Hence Roman Christianity could not be forced upon the Saxons in England. The work had to be done by missionaries. So Gregory despatched a mission under Augustine — a name not to be confounded with that of the great theologian of the fourth century. This man believed that faith and holiness were less essential to the Church than authority and power ; hence he made no attempt to win souls to Christ, but sought simply to enlist them under the sceptre of Rome. Worldliness, and ambi- 10 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. tion, and love of power, and greed of gain, were from this time dominant in the Church of Rome. Augustine and his forty missionaries landed on the island of Thanet ; and the king of Kent, from fear of magic, resolved to receive them in the open air. By an imposing procession, and chanting Latin hymns, they inspired sufficient confidence in Ethelbert to obtain his permission to celebrate their worship in an old chapel at Canterbury. Shortly after, the king and thousands of his subjects accepted certain Christian doctrines, together with the numerous errors of Rome, including the doctrine of purgatory. Thus the Anglo- Saxons became Roman Catholics. The Britons had already been driven to Wales, and Cornwall, and Scotland by the Saxon invaders, and retained their pure Scriptural Christianity. Augustine, now appointed Archbishop of the Saxon and British Church, sought to bring all the Christians in Britain under the jurisdiction of Rome. At this time, about the year 600, there was in Bangor, North Wales, a large Christian community of over three thousand, in addition to those in Scotland and other parts of the kingdom. Augustine proposed a con- ference, hoping to win them over by plausible words. However, they resolutely refused to acknowledge the superior claims of the bishop of Rome, whom Augus- tine pompously styled " father of fathers." In the year 601 he called a general assembly of both British and Saxon bishops. In vain did the archbishop lavish arguments, and prayers, and censures. The Britons were firm, and would not yield. Some of them, who had eaten with the Saxons while thev were heathens, THE EARLY AGES OF CHRISTIANITY IN SCOTLAND. 11 now refused to do so, because they had submitted to Rome. Some of the Scotch bishops were particularly firm, and would not eat with the Saxons, not only at the same table, but not even under the same roof. Thus Augustine was foiled a second time, and the independence of the ancient British Church seemed secure. Augustine called a third council, and again failed. Filled with rage, he exclaimed, " If you will not receive brethren who bring you peace, you shall receive enemies who shall bring you war. If you will not unite with us in showing the Saxons the way of life, you shall receive from them the stroke of death." Argument had failed ; now for the sword. That has been Rome's method from that day to this. She will not acknowledge defeat. What she cannot accomplish by fair means, she will attempt by foul means. So the archbishop incited Edelfrid, one of the Anglo- Saxon kings, to march on Bangor with a numerous army; and they massacred in cold blood 1250 men, unarmed, while kneeling in prayer, and destroyed the town. Thus by bloodshed and butchery did the Roman Catholic Church establish itself in Britain. And yet they claimed the exclusive right to bear the name of Christ. Alas that they should bear so little of His image ! To be a Christian is to be like Christ, and to fol ow in His steps. But He refused to establish His kingdom by the sword. He came to bring peace to the earth, and not a sword. He came to save life, not to destroy it. Still, notwithstanding the stern and threatening attitude assumed by Rome, brave Scotland held out against the ruthless invader. 12 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. King Edwin, of Northumbria, the founder of Edin- burgh, about the year 625, expelled the sons of a former king, Oswald and Oswy. They took refuge in Iona, and were brought up Christians. Oswald was truly converted, and was baptized into the Scottish Church. He loved to sit at the feet of the presbyters of Iona, and listen to their words. They told him of Jesus Christ going about from place to place doing good. They taught him that Christ was the only Head of the Church ; and he promised never to acknowledge any other. He soon conceived the idea of converting Northumbria to Christ, as well as gaining the throne for himself. This he did in the year 634. At the head of a little band, few in number but strong in faith, he knelt in prayer on the battle-field, and rose to conquer. He drove out the enemy, and set up in Northumbria the Kingdom of Christ. LECTURE II. COLTJMBA TO WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. Among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." — Phil. ii. 15. N the previous lecture we traced a pure Scriptural Christianity, not only outside of but utterly opposed to Rome and the papacy, down to the middle of the seventh century. The Britons in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the North of England, persistently refused to acknow- ledge the claims of the Roman Catholic Church, or to embrace her distinctive doctrines. From the letters and hymns of St. Patrick, Columba, and others, we learn that they held and taught the fundamental evangelical doctrines of the Gospel in all their primitive purity and simplicity. The doctrine of the Trinity is clearly set forth in such hymns as : — " We worship Thee, Almighty King ; To God, the Father, praise we bring ; To Jesus, Saviour of the lost, And to the blessed Holy Ghost." This hymn, which belongs to the era of St. Patrick, gives a brief sketch of the life of Christ. The " Altus 13 14 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. Prosator" of Columba recognises the Trinity, and also the Divinity of Christ : — " Great Father of all, the Almighty, we praise, The One-unbegotten, the Ancient of Days, Eternally first and eternally last, With Thee there remains neither future nor past. " With Thee, co-eternal in glory and might, • Keigns Christ on the throne in the regions of light, Thine only-begotten, the Son of Thy love ; And there, too, the Spirit, the heavenly dove. " The judgments of heaven shall be scattered abroad On all who deny that Jesus is God ; But we shall be raised up with Jesus on high, To where the new mansions all-glorious lie." How beautifully we have here set forth the divinity of Christ. There were no Unitarians among those grand old fathers of Scottish and Irish Christianity. They had mind enough to grasp the idea of unity in trinity. A Three-one God was not a contradiction of terms in their eyes. Hence, with humble faith and reverent heart they sing : — " Unity in Trinity ! help, for in Thee I live ! Trinity in Unity ! all my sins forgive ! " There was no unitarianism and no popery in their beliefs. They asked God, and not the priest, to forgive their sins : — " Trinity in Unity ! all my sins forgive ! " Their hymns and writings further show that they held the true doctrine of the incarnation, death, resur- COLUMBA TO WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 15 rection, ascension, and intercession of Christ, and His coming again in glory. They also taught the necessity of the regenerating and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit to make men sons of God and heirs of eternal blessedness. The perfect life was attained through fellowship with Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and not by fasting, and penance, and priestly absolution, and purgatory. They held also that the Holy Scriptures were the Word of God, and the only rule of faith and doctrine. They rejected with indignant scorn all appeals to human tradition, and Catholic councils, and the authority of the Pope. Their motto was : " To the law and to the testimony ; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." The distinctively Romish doctrines of human merit, through afflicting the body ; of absolution, in which the priest declares the forgiveness of sin; of purgatory, a place where souls are supposed to be purified after death, by having masses said for them by the priests, — for which, of course, they are well paid, — found no place in their teaching, as they find no place in the Scriptures. Nor do we hear anything of the worship of saints, the worship of the Virgin Mary, transub- stantiation, or the infallibility of Church councils — much less of the Pope. All these distinctive tenets of modern Romanism are never heard from the lips of these holy men, who went about like the apostles, teaching and preaching Jesus Christ, and evangelising the world. St. Bernard says that this ancient Church of the Scots " rejected auricular confession, as well as authori- 16 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. tative absolution, and confessed to God alone, believing that God only could forgive sin." Marriage was regarded as a civil rite, not as a sacrament, and con- sequently was performed by the magistracy. It is perfectly clear, therefore, that these Scotch and Irish Christians had no sympathy with Rome, but were utterly opposed to the doctrines and government of the Roman Catholic Church. Although by means of plausible pretences and fawning flattery Rome succeeded in winning over kings and princes, and thus got a foothold in certain parts of Scotland and Ireland after the year 701, yet this free, pure, primitive Church held sway in the hearts of the Scotch and Irish people until the twelfth century. This Scriptural Church, evangelical and missionary, " contended earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints," " holding forth the Word of Life in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation," and carried the Gospel to nearly every country in Europe, and thus became the means of blessing to myriads of mankind. The Anglo-Saxons, notwithstanding their aversion to the Britons, whom they had dispossessed two centuries before, as late as the year 660, were con- verted to the religion of the presbyters of Iona, the whole Saxon heptarchy, with the exception of Kent, having adoj:>ted the British Confession in preference to the Romish. The good work, commenced by Oswald, king of Northumbria, was vigorously pro- secuted by the presbyters of Iona and missionaries from Bangor, in Ireland ; and in a short time pure religion had overspread nearly the whole kingdom, COLUMBA TO WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 17 and the Roman Catholic Church was all but extinct in England. The pious Oswald, who has left a name dear to British Christianity, fell in battle, exclaiming, " Lord, have mercy on the souls of my people." He was succeeded by his brother, Oswy, a most ambitious and unscrupulous man, who shrank from no crime that would increase his power. His wife had been brought up in the Romish communion ; and, as a condition of the marriage, had a Roman Catholic priest as her chaplain. The king had no religious convictions, although brought up with his brother among the elders of Iona. For a time he outwardly adhered to the British Confession, while his wife observed the Romish ritual ; and, following the rule of the Eastern churches, he would be joyfully commemorating the resurrection of Christ with the British, while his wife would be keeping Palm Sunday with fasting and humiliation. After a time his crimes began to trouble him and prey upon his mind, especially the murder of his relative, Oswyn. And, having had no personal experience of the power of religion, and not knowing that Christ was the door and the only way to the Father, he sought among men a door-keeper who would open to him the kingdom of heaven. The representative of Rome claimed that the Roman Catholic Church was the Church of the Apostle Peter — a claim which is rather remarkable for a Church that forbids her bishops and priests to marry, for Peter was certainly a married man. Still, they claim that Peter was the founder of the Church at Rome, and that the keys of the kingdom had been given to c 18 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. him, and transmitted through the bishops of Rome. The king asked the presbyters of Iona if it was true that Christ said to Peter, " I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." They replied, " It is true." " Can you prove that similar powers were given to your Columba ? " asked the king. They replied, "We cannot." So Oswy exclaimed, "Peter is the door-keeper. I will obey him, lest when I appear at the gate of heaven there shall be no one to open to me." He forgot that Christ had said, " I am the door. By Me if any one enter in, he shall go in and out and find pasture." " I am He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth." He put Peter, the servant, in the place of Jesus, the Master. Thus, instructed by Rome, he yielded to the claims of the papacy. He stretched out his hands to Rome, and Rome riveted the chains upon him. He sought to enter heaven through Peter and the Church of Rome, instead of through the finished work of Christ ; and it is pretty certain that he never got there — for Peter himself says of Jesus, " Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Determined to uphold the doctrine of Christ in its purity, the presbyters of Iona withdrew from the conference, refusing to bend beneath the yoke of Rome. Thirty Anglo-Saxon bishops also withdrew, and their hatred of popery became more intense than ever. Thus, in the year 66 4 the greater portion of England accepted the sway of Rome; but Scotland and Ireland still stood firm. COLUMBA TO WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 19 However, a final effort is made to win over the Scottish Christians. Alfred is now king of Northum- bria. The senior presbyter of lona is invited to the court. By pomp and presents and flattery they win over the vain old man. He goes back to Scotland to betray his Church; but the college of presbyters at lona banished from their presence the renegade from the faith, and he was compelled to leave the country. Failing with the presbyters of Scotland, Rome, nothing daunted by defeat, approaches the prince, Naitim, king of the Picts. Like Oswy of Northum- bria, he was a vain and ambitious prince, fond of pomp and gorgeous display. So the priests of Rome, wise in their generation, approach the prince in a manner calculated to flatter his vanity. "The Roman Church," they said, " is a monarchy, and ought to be the church of every monarch. The Roman ceremonial corre- sponds with the pomp and splendour of royalty, and her temples are palaces, fit for kings to worship in." This last argument convinced the ambitious king. He asks to have an architect sent who will build a gorgeous church after the Roman pattern, of stone, not of wood. The church is built. The king assembles his nobles and the pastors of the Church, and thus addressed them: "I recommend all the clergy of my kingdom to receive the tonsure of St. Peter." He sent agents to all the provinces to cause the clergy everywhere to receive the circular tonsure of Rome. A royal proclamation, and a few clips of the scissors on the crown of the head, in the year 710 placed a large number of the Scotch clergy under the authority of Rome. That is Rome's way of 20 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. converting the world. Not a word about doctrine, not a word about Christ, not a word about pardon and a holy life ; simply a gorgeous church for the king to worship in with pomp and splendour, and a shaved crown for the clergy. That is the way to enter into life ! Give a contribution to build a splendid cathe- dral for your monarch, and outwardly connect yourself with the Church of Rome, and wear her habiliments, and you are a Christian ! Such was the stream that flowed from the fountain-head of Rome one thousand years ago, when she was only half-way along her path of corruption. The Lord Jesus said to weary, strug- gling souls, burdened with the weight of sin, and longing for peace and fellowship with God, " Come unto Me . . . and I will give you rest." " He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." But Rome says, " Come into the Roman Catholic Church. He that hath communion with Rome hath life, and he that hath not communion with Rome let him be accursed." Submission to a church built, not upon Christ, not even upon Peter, but upon human tradition and the decisions of fallible councils, that is what Rome asks of her converts. But against all this the faithful in Scotland placed Christ and the Word of God : " Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Notwithstanding the defection of the prince and a portion of the clergy, still very many, both in Scotland and in Ireland, held out for centuries, and refused to bow to the rule of Rome. In Scotland, a pure Church, owing no allegiance to pope or prince, and unfettered bv State control, existed until the time COLUMBA TO WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 21 of King David, known as the " Sair Saint," in 1124. During much of these early centuries all Scotland was aglow with Gospel life. The earnest Christian men of those early days carried the Gospel of Christ with living, converting power into every village and nook of the Highlands, and into every island of the Hebrides, and also became missionaries to nearly every nation in Europe. All honour to these brave devoted men, who dared dangers and defied popes and princes that they might hold forth the Word of Life, and preserve to posterity and preach to the world a pure Gospel, whose power and preciousness they themselves had felt and proved. The same is true of Ireland during the same period. For eight hundred years after the birth of St. Patrick a powerful, free Christian Church existed in Ireland, only a single province having previously yielded to Rome. In the year 1155, Pope Adrian IV., the only Englishman who ever sat in the pontifical chair at Rome, issued a bull giving the kingdom of Ireland to Henry II. of England, assigning as his reason, that the Irish were " very bad Christians " and " schismatics," — that is, they persisted in refusing to acknowledge the rule of Rome. And, as the pope could get nothing from these shrewd Irish Christians, he made a present of the whole island to the king of England, in order that he might make good Catholics of the people, or, in other words, compel them to pay tithes to the pope. The pope, then, in his pride and arrogance, claimed the right to dispose of all Christian lands according to his pleasure. The ambitious Henry 22 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. was only too glad to receive from the pope what was not the pope's to give ; and thus Ireland became annexed to the English crown. We find many Irish- men in our day, ignorant of the history of their country, blaming England for seizing Ireland, whereas it was the pope who sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. So it has always been with the papacy. The pope lays absolute claim to the property and bodies — ay, and the souls, too — of all who acknowledge his rule. The one aim of the papacy is to get, not to give ; and, excelling all other traffickers in goods, they do not scruple to make money out of the souls of the deceased, keeping them in the torments of purga- torial fire until immense sums of money are extracted from simple-minded, but, alas ! deluded friends. Hence for money — the tithes and first-fruits — Ireland was sold by the pope to Henry II. of England. O'Driscol, an honest, well-informed Roman Catholic writer, says of this period : " There is something very singular in the ecclesiastical history of Ireland. The Christian Church of that country, as founded by St. Patrick and his predecessors, existed for many ages free and unshackled. For above seven hundred years this Church maintained its independence. It had no connection with England, and differed in many points of importance from Rome. The work of Henry II. was to reduce the Church of Ireland into obedience to the Roman pontiff. Accordingly he procured a council of the Irish clergy held at Cashel in 1172, and the combined influence of Henry and the pope prevailed. This council put an end to the ancient Church of Ireland, and submitted it to the yoke of Rome. That COLTJMBA TO WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 23 apostasy has been followed by a series of calamities hardly to be equalled in the world. From the days of St. Patrick to the Council of Cashel in 1172 was a bright and glorious era for Ireland. From the sitting of this council to our time the lot of Ireland has been unmixed evil, and all her history a tale of woe." Such is the unbiassed testimony of an honest Roman Catholic, who looks at history in the light of actual facts. We thus find that up to the middle of the twelfth century a pure, Scriptural Church, independent of Home, flourished in both Scotland and Ireland. But now darker days are in store for these noble churches which did so much to evangelize Europe. On the marriage of Malcolm with the English Roman Catholic Princess Margaret, Rome began for the first time to make a permanent impression upon the Scottish people. This Saxon queen completed the outward perversion of Scotland to Romanism. She summoned a council of the clergy in 1074, under the pretence of introducing reforms. The Gaelic language was the only language the clergy could speak, although they had a professional knowledge of Latin. The king had to act as interpreter between the queen and the clergy. The queen, however, failed to convince the ministers. They declined to acknowledge the supremacy of the pope. Thus it appears that although the court was Roman Catholic, and although the Romish religion was from this time nominally the religion of Scotland, yet the old religion continued to live in the hearts of the people. In the meantime William of Normandy had con- 24 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. quered the Saxons in England, having defeated them at Hastings in 1066 — eight years before Margaret began her work of reducing Scotland to the pope of Rome. During William's reign we have the first step towards Protestantism in England. The four advancing steps are : William of Normandy — Wycliffe — Edward III. — and the Reformation in the time of John Knox. By Protestantism, we mean the protest against the corruptions of the Roman Catholic Church in favour of a pure Scriptural religion, such as had flourished in Scotland and Ireland for eight centuries previous to this time. In 1124 David, who was educated in England, ascended the throne of Scotland. His court was filled with Norman and English gentry. The Celtic chiefs were pushed aside to make room for English barons. Thus the Romish religion was strengthened in Scotland. With the decay of the power of the Celtic chiefs the Scottish Church, as a Church, also passed away, four centuries before the great reformer, John Knox, appeared upon the scene. And yet there were many faithful men in the west and north of Scotland who held firm to the pure religion of their fathers. The bulk of Bruce's army, who fought and conquered at Bannockburn in 1314, were descendants, lineally and religiously, of the ancient Scottish Church. Retaining the piety and simplicity of worship of their forefathers, we find them kneeling in prayer on the battle-field ; and, strong in the strength of the God of battles, they rise to conquer. They were men of faith and prayer. Their religion was a reality ; not a mere outward form, but a thing of the heart and life. COLUMBA TO WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 25 They felt that God was near, a present help in every time of need. The reality of their faith, as seen on the battle-field, astonished the English Catholics, whose religion consisted in mere external rites and ceremonies ; and before the day was done the strength of their arm astonished them more. Thus it will be seen that the torch of true religion, extinguished on the throne and at the court of Scotland, still con- tinued to burn brightly in many faithful hearts on Caledonia's heathery hills. LECTURE III. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO WYCLIFFE. "Christ is the Head of the Church."— Eph. v. 23. IN the preceding lectures we have traced a pure evangelical Scriptural Christianity in Scotland and Ireland, and in parts of England, down to the middle of the twelfth century, outside of and opposed to Rome. And even after that date we saw that the heroes of Bannockburn, in the year 1314, led to glory and to victory by Robert the Bruce, were true descendants of the Free Christian Church so long upheld in Scotland by their forefathers. It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose that the true light of Christianity was ever quenched in Great Britain in these early centuries, or that Rome ever held undisputed sway in this country. Much less is Great Britain indebted to Rome for the light of the Gospel. Noble men of God all adown the cent- uries held forth the Word of Life in spite of the efforts of Rome to stamp out the pure religion of Christ. While the ancient Church of Ireland and Scotland was still strong in the hearts of the people, William the Conqueror, having conquered the Saxons in 26 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO WYCLIFFE. 27 England in 1066, threw off the yoke of Rome. No sooner had the foot of the Conqueror touched the soil of Great Britain than he seemed to be inspired with the idea of religious liberty, for which the British Church had contended for centuries. He determined to allow no prince or prelate to possess in his dominions any power or jurisdiction independent of his own. The papacy unwittingly furnished him with weapons to accomplish his purpose. The Roman legate pressed the king to dismiss the English bishops in a body. The bishops, finding that they must choose between the king and the pope, at once sided with William. The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to go to Rome at the command of the pope, and set himself to carry out the designs of the king. William opposed the supremacy of the sword to the supremacy of the pope, and declined to allow the pope to interfere in any way with the affairs of his kingdom. Hildebrand, one of the greatest and best of the popes, now filled the chair of St. Peter. Hildebrand was mighty in the Church, mighty in diplomacy ; and William was mighty in war and mighty in will. And the mail-clad hand of the Conqueror proved to be too strong for the mightiest and proudest of Roman pontiffs. The pope claimed the right to all ecclesiastical appointments throughout Christendom. William, however, would not allow him to interfere in England. The pope submitted, as it was a matter of temporalities. Then Hildebrand, wishing to enslave the clergy, issued a bull depriving the priests of their lawful wives. William got a decree passed by the Council of Winchester in 1076, declaring that married priests 28 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. should not put away their wives, thus defying the pope. The pope at once summoned the archbishop to Rome ; William forbade him to go. Hildebrand exclaimed, " Never did king, not even pagan, attempt against the holy see what this man does not scruple to carry out." The pope demanded an oath of fidelity. William refused the homage. He even went so far as to forbid the clergy to recognise the pope, or to publish any of the pope's bulls without the approval of the king in council. William the Conqueror was succeeded by his son, William Eufus. He went even further than his father in opposition to Rome, and for ten years did without a pope, or archbishop, or bishops, and squan- dered the revenues of the Church. This imprudence on the part of the king brought about a reaction in favour of authority in Church matters being vested in the pope. It was a choice between the yoke of royalty and the yoke of Rome. How slow were men, then as now, to see that no Church can be truly free that is in bondage to any man, be he pope or king, who claims to take Christ's place as the Head of the Church. " One is your Master, even Christ ; and all ye are brethren," said the Lord Himself. Christ is the only King and Head of the Church. This must ever be a fundamental principle in any true Scriptural Church. It can never be departed from without danger and disaster. No prince, or prelate, or pope can be recognised as Head of the Church without dishonouring Christ and denying His right to rule. What every true Protestant, and what every true Christian claims, is not the supremacy of the king as WILLIAM THE CONQUEROK TO WYCLIFFE. 29 opposed to the supremacy of the pope, but the sole supremacy of Christ in His Church. We, therefore, direct attention to the supremacy of the Conqueror in the Church, not by way of approval, but simply as an historical fact, to prove that the power and authority of Rome were not acknowledged in England, when there was a ruler strong enough to assert his rights and maintain religious liberty. From this time to the time of Henry VIII. the struggle goes on between the supremacy of the king and the supremacy of the pope; while here and there throughout the kingdom a few faithful men bravely contend for the sole supremacy of Christ and the Holy Scriptures. Clement, a pious and learned doctor of the Scottish Church, gifted with wonderful power of discernment, declared that the authority of man, substituted for the authority of Christ, was the source of all the errors of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a man of firm faith and holy, devoted life, and deeply imbued with a missionary spirit. During his missionary labours among the Franks and Germans he encountered Boniface, a fanatical champion of Rome, who preached the doctrine of tithes and the supremacy of the pope. Boniface confronted the Scotch divine with the laws and canons of the Romish Church. Clement replied by denying their authority, and refuted them from the Word of God. Boniface appealed to the decisions of Church councils. Clement replied, "If the decisions of councils are contrary to Holy Scripture, they have no authority over Christians." Boniface then aj>pealed to the writings of the illustrious fathers of the Latin 30 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. Church, quoting Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory, of the fourth and fifth centuries; but Clement rejected all authority except the Word of God alone. Boni- face then appealed to the whole Catholic Church, . which, by its priests and bishops united to the pope, forms, as he claimed, an invincible unity. But Clement excluded all, except so far as they taught according to the Word of God ; and boldly declared that the true Church was found only among those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. Thus we see that the grand principles of the Reformation were earnestly upheld by able men centuries before Luther, and Calvin, and Knox appeared on the scene. Throughout all the centuries there were found faith- ful men, earnest and bold in advocating the supremacy of Christ and the Word of God. During the last years of the eleventh century, William Rufus was seized with a dangerous malady, and under the influence of remorse consented to receive an archbishop from the pope. This was Anselm, a great theologian. Taking advantage of the circum- stances which led to his appointment, he succeeded in setting the Church free from the yoke of royalty, but only to bring it under heavier bondage to the yoke of Rome. He was succeeded in the archbishop's seat by Thomas a Becket. The work of binding England to Rome, commenced by a great theologian, was to be carried out by a great worldling. He soon became the champion of the priests in their crimes, although he affected to be a great saint. He actually took under his protection a priest, who added to the crime of seduction the murder of his victim's father. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO WYCLIFFE. 31 Henry II. was now king ; and, it being represented to him that no less than one hundred murders had been committed by priests and prelates during the first ten years of his reign, he summoned a council in 1164, which drew up a code of regulations limiting the power of the clergy. The archbishop signed the code under strong pressure from the king ; but the pope at once released him from his oath. From this time there began a fierce and long struggle between the king and the representative of the pope. The king and the archbishop mutually defied each other. A Becket threatened to excommunicate Henry, and Henry banished A Becket from his realm. Thus we see that Rome as late as the year 1170 had but a fitful foothold in England. Henry one day, worried almost to death by the intrigues of the primate and the pope, exclaimed in haste in the presence of his courtiers, " Would to God some one would rid me of A Becket ! " Four knights, catching up these hasty words and misinterpreting them, crossed over from France and cruelly put the archbishop to death. Henry was terribly grieved on account of their rash crime, and as a penance yielded all the pope's demands, and voluntarily submitted to be scourged. Thus England was again surrendered to the pope. The pope in return gave Henry Plantagenet authority to annex Ireland, on condition that he should collect the tithes and first-fruits for the pope. However, in all these changes it must be remem- bered that the papacy got no real hold of the people. It was simply a matter of arrangement between the pope and the king. It is a most remarkable fact that 32 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. the Roman Catholic Church has never been able to convert nations by moral power. She either conquered them and called them Catholic, willing or unwilling ; or else by diplomacy and intrigue she has won over kings and princes, and then claimed the people. In England, as in Scotland and in Ireland, the people during these centuries were never Roman Catholic by conviction. When religious life was at a low ebb the papacy was endured ; but, whenever there was a revival of personal religion, thousands were found ready to protest against the assumptions and corrup- tions of Rome. The Romish Church knows nothing of a true missionary spirit — that is, to lead sinners one by one to personal faith in the personal Saviour. Henry II., following in the footsteps of William the Conqueror, protests against the authority of the pope, and England is Protestant. Again in a moment of remorse he accepts the rule of the pope, and England is declared Catholic. Yet England underwent no change. No man in the kingdom had changed his opinions. What a fiasco ! And yet it was quite satisfactory to the Roman pontiff. He received tithes and Peter's pence to fill his treasury, and what pope ever wanted anything more ! Henry II. was succeeded by his son Richard in 1189. He spent the ten years of his reign in wars on the Continent and crusades to the Holy Land. He had no time to devote to pope or prelates ; hence in ecclesiastical affairs his reign is a blank. He was succeeded by his brother John in 1199. Under this weak and foolish king, England was on the verge of becoming Mohammedan, in the same way WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO WYCLIFFE. 33 that she had at previous periods become Roman Catholic. John refused to acknowledge the arch- bishop nominated by Pope Innocent III., the most powerful pope that ever filled the pontifical chair. However, a very strong pope proved to be more than a match for a very weak king. Innocent, determined to carry his point, laid England under an interdict, thereby excommunicating the king, and forbidding all worship and burial services for the dead until such time as the king should yield. That has always been the method adopted by Rome. Weak popes use only policy and diplomacy; strong popes have resort to force. In this emergency John made what show of resistance he could, and ordered all prelates and monks to leave the country. At the same time, he sent an ambassador to the king of Spain, offering to turn Mohammedan, and asked his protection. But Philip Augustus, taking advantage of his extremity, was preparing to dethrone John and take the kingdom for himself. John, therefore, choosing, as he thought, the least of two evils, made up his mind to become a vassal of the pope, and yielded up his crown and king- dom in the year 1213. This daring act of the pope in claiming the king- dom, and the weakness of the king in complying with his demand, roused the English nation to strike for liberty. The Magna Charta was drawn up — that great charter of civil and religious liberty — claiming the rights of the people against both pope and king. Forty-five barons, surrounded by their knights, and servants, and soldiers, compelled the king to sign it, thus laying the foundation of that liberty which has D 34 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. been so dear to Britons in all ages. This was Pro- testantism in a new aspect. It was not the resistance of an ambitious king merely ; it was the heart of the nation demanding civil and religious liberty, and determined to have it. Innocent swore, as was his custom, at the conduct of the barons ; swore, and still was " Innocent " — in name, if not in nature. Popes can swear profanely, although Christ said, " Swear not at all." To swear profanely is disobedi- ence to Christ, and, therefore, a sin. But it would be a poor thing if the pope, who claims power to for- give all sins, had not power to forgive himself. So he swears and forgives himself. In the same way, I presume, Sergius III. and the three Johns, X., XL, and XII., who, on the admission of Roman Catholic historians, were notoriously immoral men, dispensed pardon to themselves. Innocent soon found that he had gone too far — that he had committed a very serious blunder in stirring up the opposition of the English nation. That happened, however, before popes were infallible. They make no mistakes now ! They always speak the right word at the right time S And, of course, a wrong act becomes right by their doing it ! What a progressive age is ours — develop- ment, progress everywhere ! The present pope of Rome and his predecessors since 1870 have far out- stripped even the Apostle Peter. No sooner had Peter received the keys of the kingdom than he spoke the wrong word, and even rebuked his Master ; and Christ had to say to him, " Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an offence unto me ; for thou savour- est not the things that be of God, but the things WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO WYCLIFFE. 35 that be of men." And on another occasion he does the wrong thing, and denies his Lord. But modern popes never err ! If Romish doctrine and dogma be true, we have here a most marvellous instance of development. Poor Peter must have been a very long way behind the present occupier of his chair at Rome. Nobody has ever thought of proclaiming the infallibility of St. Peter. Innocent swore and declared the great charter null and void ; forbade the king to observe the agreement he had signed ; declared the conduct of the barons to be the work of the devil ; and ordered them to make an apology. This is the way the papacy wel- comed the first dawning of manly liberty among the nations. To this struggle we owe our free institutions and government by the representatives of the people. The struggle was short but decisive. The pope thundered, but the barons would not yield. John was supplied with an army to subdue them to the pope. Yes ; the fire and the sword are always the last arguments with Rome. Blood-stained assassins scoured the country during the night, with the flaming faggot in one hand and the sword in the other ; murdering barons, dis- honouring their wives and daughters, all under the approval and benediction of the pope. The heart of England was not Roman Catholic at this time. John could find no soldiers at home to fight for the supremacy of the pope. They had to be sent from abroad. While engaged in this murderous work, as the royal waggons were crossing the sands of the Wash, the tide suddenly rushed in and carried off all, 36 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. both men and horses. The king regarded this start- ling calamity as a direct judgment from heaven ; and, filled with dread and dismay, fled to a convent, drank himself drunk with cider, and died in a drunken debauch. Such was the miserable end of a king, despised during his life and abhorred in his death. God, however, is able to bring good out of evil. From this vile reign England dates her love of liberty, her free institutions, and her dread of popery. Twenty years after the signing of Magna Charta, Robert Grostete, Bishop of Lincoln, sounded the note of reform and defiance of the pope in the Church, as the barons and nobility had done in the State. He publicly declared that, " To follow a pope who rebels against the will of Christ, is to separate from Christ and His body, the Church ; and if ever the time should come when all men follow an erring pope, then will be the great apostasy, and all true Christians will refuse to obey." Thus in the year 1235, this great and good man predicted the Reformation of the six- teenth century. Pope Innocent commanded him to appoint his infant nephew a canon in Lincoln Cathedral. He nobly replied, " Although the chief of the angels should order me to commit such a sin, I would refuse. My obedience to God forbids me to obey, therefore I rebel." These brave and manly words embodied the principles of the Reformation. It was putting God and his Word above the pope. Sewal, Archbishop of York, took the same noble stand ; and " the more the pope cursed him, the more the people blessed him." He wrote to the pope, " Moderate your tyranny ; for the Lord said to Peter, WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO WYCLIFFE. 37 ' Feed my sheep ' — not fleece them, flay them, and devour them." England now grew in greatness as she grew in her opposition to the pope. Religious liberty and civil power marched on hand in hand. A king of France led captive to London ; Spain and Italy compelled to acknowledge British valour ; Edward III. conqueror over the French at Crecy, in 1346, and at Poictiers, in 1356 — England could not long acknowledge a foreign despot in the pope. England was Catholic only in her times of weakness. In the days of her valour and vigour she always shook off the shackles of Rome, The opposition to the papacy was so strong during the first half of the fourteenth century, that an Englishman was condemned as a traitor and banished, for having brought to London a bull of excommunication issued by the pope. Bradwardine, chaplain to Edward III., was one of the most pious men of his time, and the victories of his monarch were ascribed to his prayers. He lectured at Merton College, Oxford, on the sufficiency of Scripture, rejecting tradition and all Romish cere- monies and superstitions. Edward III., in 1350, passed, by consent of parliament, the Statute of Provisors, which made void every appointment of the pope, without election by the chapters and the approval of the patron and the king. This bold step alarmed the pope. He became submissive, and contented himself with simply con- firming all appointments made by the king and Parliament. When asked by one of his cardinals why he yielded, he replied, " If Edward had appointed an 38 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. ass, I would have accepted him." Edward III. was too strong a man for the pope to wrestle with ; so he prudently withdrew from the ring, and allowed the king to have his own way. Romanism had spent its force in England. It still stood for a time, like an old blasted tree of the forest, dead, but still standing because the roots had sunk deep in the soil. William the Conqueror and Edward III. stripped off every leaf and branch of this wide- spread upas tree. It remained for a later age to pull it up by the roots. During the half-century from 1343 to 1393, under Edward III. and Richard II., most stringent laws were passed, which forbade all interference of the pope, all appeals to the court of Rome, all bulls from the pope, all excommunications, &c, declaring that whoever should bring such documents into England, or receive them, or publish them, should by that act put himself out of the king's protection and forfeit all his property. Such was the relation of England to the Romish see during the latter half of the fourteenth century. Edward III. and the pious Bradwardine had prepared the way for WyclifTe, the Morning Star of the Reformation, who now appears upon the scene. This brief sketch of the noble work of these early pioneers will suffice to prove that the English Reformation did not commence with Henry VIII., as many unacquainted with ecclesiastical history suppose. Then the Church of England in its Episcopal form had its origin. But Protestantism had existed in the hearts of the people all adown the centuries. LECTURE IV. WYCLIFFE THE MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION. " "We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts." — 2 Pet. i. 19. IIURING the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the ecclesiastical atmosphere was full of the spirit of reform. The seed sown centuries before by Scotch and Irish missionaries from the ancient British Church, was now bearing fruit on the Continent. As the corruptions and pretensions of Rome increased, earnest men began to recognise more fully the pressing necessity for adhering to a pure Scriptural form of worship, as opposed to outward show and ceremonial ; and of asserting the supremacy of Christ and the Scriptures, as opposed to the authority of the pope, and the decisions of church councils. This longing for reformation found exponents in England, in Grostete, Bradwardine, and Wycliffe ; in Bohemia, in John Huss and his followers ; in France, in the Bishop of Cambray, Gerson, and Louis d'Allemand, Archbishop of Aries. Louis d'Allemand was deposed and excom- municated by one pope (Eugene IV.) ; restored by 39 40 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. another (Nicholas V.) ; and canonised as a saint by a third (Clement VII.). Germany and Italy also had their reformers declar- ing against the corruptions of the Church and the vices of the clergy. And for centuries the Walclenses and Albigenses in the valleys of Switzerland and Italy, and in France, preserved a reformed church outside of Rome. While the theologians of France and Germany were attacking the more glaring corruptions of the Romish Church, a deeper work was going on in England and Bohemia. In these countries earnest men were not satisfied with the correction of outward abuses. They were convinced that the Church had moved away from its true basis ; and they began to assert not only the right of private judgment, but, what was of infinitely more importance, the supremacy of Christ and the Holy Scriptures. It was the assertion of the supremacy of the Word of God, and the necessity of personal faith in the crucified Saviour as the only ground of pardon and salvation, that won for WyclifTe the proud title of " The Morning Star of the Reformation." The asser- tion of the same grand truths had also made Huss famous in Bohemia. They had anticipated Luther, and Calvin, and Knox, in proclaiming that there could be no genuine and satisfactory reformation of the Church, except the doctrine of justification by faith was again set up as a corner-stone in the Church. WyclifTe and Huss found this cardinal doctrine where Luther found it — in the Word of God. In Holland also several reformers appeared, three of WYCLIFFE : THE MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION. 41 whom completed their work and passed away within a few years of the birth of Luther — from 1475 to 1489. Of the accomplished and devoted Wessei, Luther said : " If I had read Wessel before I began, my opponents would have imagined that Luther had derived every- thing from Wessel, so entirely do we agree in spirit." Italy, too, had at this time a distinguished reformer. While Luther was in his infancy, Savonarola was boldly preaching a pure Gospel in Florence. From Scripture and the writings of St. Augustine he had learned the precious truths of the Gospel. His power- ful oratory and his fearless attacks upon the vices of the clergy and the princes, as well as of the people, attracted immense crowds to hear him. He had a thorough knowledge of the way of salvation, and pressed men's consciences so closely, that many an obstinate sinner was arrested and accepted Christ through his earnest faithful ministry. He created an immense sensation in Florence, and soon became the idol of the people. However, an end was put to his noble work by an ignoble pope, who would not look quietly on while souls were being saved by Christ, and sin was forgiven, and the life renewed, through simple faith in the sinner's Saviour, without the intervention of priest or pope. So Pope Alexander VI. hurled his anathema against the holy reformer, and he was con- demned to the stake in 1498 as a heretic and a seducer of the people. Among the heresies laid to his charge was that of having taught the people the doctrine of justification by faith. This was twenty years before Luther published his famous theses. Everywhere, therefore, the breath of reformation was 42 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. in the air during the latter part of the fifteenth century. England, however, was leading in the van, with Bohemia closely following. John Wycliffe and John Huss preceded these other reformers by more than half-a-century. Wycliffe was born in a little village in Yorkshire in the year 1324. He studied at Oxford under the pious Bradwardine, and greatly distinguished himself as a student in the University. His high attainments soon procured his promotion. In 1348, when he was twenty-four years of age, a terrible plague appeared in England, after having carried off one-half of the inhabitants of Europe and Asia. This visitation of God filled him with alarm, for as yet he had not found the way of peace. He spent his days and nights in crying for mercy, and pleading with God to lead him into light and liberty. Through the study of the Scriptures he soon found Christ to be the satisfaction of his soul, and from that moment he resolved to make known the way of life to others. In 1360 he was elected warden of Balliol College, and, in a few years, of Canterbury College also. Thus he had abundant opportunities of preaching the doctrine of faith which had already lighted up his own soul. A profound scholar, an eloquent and fearless preacher, and, what was even more rare amongst the corrupt clergy of that time, of unblemished life, he began to wield tremendous influence over the people. He publicly accused the clergy of having cast aside the Word of God, and demanded that it should be restored to its rightful place and authority in the teaching of the Church. WYCLIFFE : THE MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION. 43 Wycliffe was not only a devoted Christian, but an able and astute politician as well ; and hence he maintained the right of the crown against the assumptions of the papal hierarchy. By his powerful arguments he enlightened arid moved the members of Parliament as well as the common people. His irresistible arguments were reproduced in the House of Lords. " Tribute is due/' said one, " only to him who can grant protection." " England belongs not to the pope," said another. "The pope is but a man subject to sin ; but Christ is the Lord of lords, and this kingdom is held solely and directly of Christ alone." " Whv" said a third, "was this tribute originally demanded ? Simply and solely to pay the pope for absolving John. It is therefore mere simony, a kind of clerical swindling, which the Lords spiritual and temporal are bound to oppose." Animated and inspired by such manly counsels, Parliament decided unanimously that no prince had a right to alienate the sovereignty of the kingdom to any foreign prelate without the consent of the Lords and Commons. Hence, John's action in yielding up the kingdom was illegal and unconstitutional ; and if the pope should take proceedings against the king as his vassal, then the nation should rise as one man to assert and maintain the independence of the crown. No wonder the avarice and greed of the Roman pontiff had provoked such a storm of opposition, for the taxes paid to the pope amounted to five times the proceeds of all the revenues paid to the crown ; and ecclesiastical benefices were either sold or given to foreign prelates, who spent their large revenues 44 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. abroad, and who did not even keep the churches at home in decent repair. Edward III. made WyclhTe one of his chaplains ; and never after did the pope dare to lay claim to the sovereignty of England. Although the pope from this time lost all temporal power in England, he nevertheless strove hard to maintain supremacy and authority in all ecclesiastical matters. Hence, a compromise was arranged at a conference in 1375. However, the Parliament of Edward III. was in no mood to make any compromises with the pope, and refused to confirm it. The Commons said, " The priests sent from Rome are more dangerous to the kingdom than Jews and Saracens. Every papal agent resident in England, and every Englishman living at the court of Rome, ought to be punished with death." Thus spoke the patriotic men who formed the Good Parliament. In the fourteenth century the nation called a Parliament " good " that resisted the claims of the papacy. Hence we see that both the parliament and the nation were thoroughly Protestant in senti- ment more than a hundred and fifty years before the Protestantism of Henry the Eighth. Wycliffe now publicly attacked the claims of the pope, declaring that the two rival popes at Rome and Avignon made one antichrist. He exposed the vices and follies of monastic orders in such a vivid manner as to endanger their very existence in the country. These unsparing attacks upon the cherished institutions of Rome, brought down upon him several papal bulls denouncing him as a heretic. But WyclifTe had too many friends at court and at the University, and WYCLIFFE : THE MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION. 45 in Parliament, to be affected by the ravings of the pope. In 1381 a wonderful change came over the reformer, especially in reference to his methods of work. He now eagerly seeks to extend the Kingdom of Christ in the hearts of the people, leaving to others the defence of the kingdom of England. He became possessed with the idea of carrying a pure Gospel to every hamlet and town in England. " If begging friars," he said, " go throughout the country reciting the legends of saints and the history of the Trojan war, we must do for God's glory and the salvation of souls what they do to fill their wallets.'' So he instituted an itinerant ministry. Addressing the most pious and most gifted of his disciples, he said, " Go, and preach the Gospel of Christ to the people. It is the noblest work to which you can be called. But do not imitate the priests, whom we see, after the sermon, sitting in the ale-houses, or at the gambling- table, or wasting their time in hunting. After your sermon visit the sick, and the aged, and the needy, and help them according to your ability." Those " poor priests," as they were called, set out like the early disciples of Christ, without purse, or scrip, or two coats, living by the kindness of friends among whom they laboured. The people gathered around them in crowds, hungry for the Bread of Life, and charmed by their simple natural eloquence and earnestness, and many were converted to Christ through their ministry. But the papacy cannot look on unconcerned while souls are being converted to Christ, knowing that to 46 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. be converted to Christ is to be converted from the pope. Courtenay, a bitter enemy of Wycliffe, is now archbishop ; and a law is passed commanding every king's officer to commit the preachers and their followers to prison. Edward III. was now dead after a glorious reign of fifty years, and his grandson, Richard II., a boy of eleven years, succeeded to the throne. In 1379, while Wycliffe was laboriously discharg- ing his duties as professor of divinity at Oxford, and was incessant in labour, preaching and teaching the people, he took suddenly and dangerously ill. The priestly party were jubilant. Death will silence the bold preacher whom papal bulls could not alarm. All that is wanted now to complete their triumph is that he should be prevailed upon to recant and dis- avow his teaching the Scriptures to the common people, and his opposition to the papal see. Four regents, representing the four religious orders, and four aldermen, came to his bedside, and hoped to frighten him into submission to Rome by threatening him with the vengeance of the Almighty. They said, " You have death staring you in the face, repent of your errors, and retract in our presence all you have said and done to the injury of the Church," Wycliffe in his weakness remained silent for a few minutes, no doubt looking to God in prayer for strength and wisdom to speak the right words. Feeble and worn, he was raised up and supported on his couch ; and, fixing his eagle-eye upon the friars, like a thunder- bolt from heaven his words fell upon their astonished ears, " I shall not die, but live, and again proclaim the WYCLIFFE : THE MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION. 47 evil deeds of the friars." Thus, like another Elijah, he puts to confusion the priests of Baal. The reformer rose up from his bed, as he had predicted, to complete his work, and to publish the most important of his books against the pope and his clergy. He now advances in his attack upon Rome. No longer satisfied with exposing the arrogant claims of the pope and the vices of the clergy, he boldly attacks the corrupted doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. His first attack is made upon the doctrine of transubstantiation, which affirms that the wafer, when consecrated by the priest, becomes the very body of Christ, and is very God. Wycliffe taught his students that "the host is the body of Christ only in a spiritual and figurative sense. The consecrated wafer which we see on the altar is not Christ or any part of Him, but simply His efficient sign or memorial." He denied the efficacy of the mass offered by the priest, because it was substituted for the sacrifice of the cross offered by Jesus Christ. He rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation, because by asserting the presence of Christ in the consecrated wafer, and in it alone, it denied the presence of Christ by His Spirit in the hearts of believers. This false and pernicious doctrine has been a most powerful engine in the Roman Catholic Church. It is this : He who receives the wafer at the hand of a priest receives Christ and is saved ; and he who does not receive it has no Christ, and is damned eternally. It is the old claim that there is no salvation outside the pale of the Roman Catholic Church. There is not one Roman Catholic priest to-day who will admit that any man 48 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. can be saved by Christ without the help of a priest and the rites of the Roman Catholic Church. They cannot, however, save their own best people, not even a pope. They can only send them to purgatory ; and there they must remain until sufficient prayers are said for the repose of their soul ; or, what is the same thing, until they can extort no more money from poor, deluded, superstitious relatives. Of all forms of blasphemy this is the grossest. It denies that Christ is the Saviour of those who put their trust in Him ; and that is certainly speaking falsely of Christ, for He Himself has said, " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." How, it might be asked, were people saved before there was any Roman Catholic Church to say prayers for their souls, and to give them the body of Christ in the consecrated wafer, and extreme unction and absolution in the article of death ? What of Enoch aDd Elijah, taken direct to heaven ? Did they never arrive because there was no purgatorial fire to purify them ? What of Abraham, and Moses, and Samuel, and David, and John the Baptist ? There was no consecrated wafer then to be the vehicle of bringing Christ into them, for the Lord's Supper had not been instituted. There was no way for them to receive Christ but by faith, and the personal indwelling of His Spirit. Who gave extreme unction — the last anointing — to Peter and Paul, and other apostles who suffered martyrdom ? There was no priest present at their death ! John got a very liberal anointing when he was thrown into a caldron of boiling oil, but that was not bestowed by a priest ; and one would think that of all the apostles WYCLIFFE : THE MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION. 49 he who received the most needed it the least. Is it any wonder then, that a system so dishonouring to Christ, so destructive to deluded souls, so contrary to Scripture and reason and common-sense, should stir to their deepest depths the souls of such earnest and devout theologians as Wycliffe, and Luther, and Calvin, and Knox? So Wycliffe, zealous for purity of doctrine and the salvation of souls, publicly exposed the doctrine of transubstantiation. " How canst thou, priest," he exclaimed, " who art but a man, make thy Maker ? What ! the thing that groweth in the fields to-day, become thy God to-morrow ! Woe to the adulterous generation that believeth the testimony of the pope, rather than the Word of God." Thus spoke the holy man, inspired by the power of God resting upon him. Wycliffe called upon his adversaries to refute his opinions, but their only answer was threats of imprisonment and the displeasure of the pope. They convened synods to condemn him. At the first synod in London, as they were about to pronounce sentence of condemnation, there was an earthquake that struck terror into the whole assembly, so weak and super- stitious were they, and so conscious of the wrong part they were enacting. At another council held at Oxford, he defended his teaching with such courage and power, that not a single voice was raised to con- demn him. They were utterly confounded by his cogent reasoning. Neither pope, nor archbishop, nor special councils could silence the bold reformer. God was with him, and therefore he was strong and safe. E 50 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. In 1380 he gave to the English people his transla- tion of the Bible. Some fragments of Holy Scripture had already been translated into English. The venerable Bede had translated the Gospel according to St. John centuries before. The learned men at the court of Alfred the Great had translated the four gospels. There was also a version of the Psalms and a few books of the Old Testament. But these few manuscript copies were all hidden away in the libraries of the convents. So soon as he had finished his translation it was copied out and circulated through- out the kingdom. This was his greatest work for England. The queen, wife of Richard II., learned English in order to be able to read the wonderful book that had created such a stir in the country. She so prized the gospels, that she made them known to Arundel, Archbishop of York. He read them him- self, and rebuked the prelates who neglected to study them. So rapidly did the good news spread, that, as a contemporary writer affirms, you could not meet two men on the highway but one of them was a disciple of Wycliffe. However, the monks and lower clergy were deadly opposed to this innovation. " It is heresy," they cried, " to speak of Holy Scripture in English. Learn to believe in the teaching of the Church rather than in the Gospel." For ten years the good work went on ; but then a motion was made in the House of Lords to seize and burn all copies of the Bible. To this the Duke of Lancaster replied, " Are we the very dregs of humanity that we cannot possess the laws of our WYCLIFFE : THE MOKNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION. 51 religion in our own language ? " Such, no doubt, was the opinion of Rome. These were the four grand phases in Wycliffe's life- work. He first asserted, as a politician, the supre- macy of the king and Parliament, as opposed to the supremacy of the pope. Then by means of his "Poor Priests " he proclaimed the Gospel to the poor. Thirdly, he asserted the supremacy of Christ and the Word of God in the Church, as opposed to the pope and the decisions of Church councils, and gave the Bible to the people in their own language. Fourthly, he exposed the doctrinal teaching of the Romish Church, especially in regard to the sacraments and the sacrifice of the mass. His profound study of the Bible made him an able theologian. Wycliffe was truly a friend of the people. He spent his life in their behalf, and always stood up for their liberties and rights. In his great work, "Trialogus," he promulgated the grand truths of Protestantism and evangelical religion. " The Church has fallen," he declared, " because she has abandoned the Gospel and preferred the laws of the pope." John Wycliffe was the first great reformer in Christendom. If Luther, and Calvin, and Knox were the fathers of the Reformation in their respective countries, then he, as sounding the first warning note against the corruptions of Rome, was its grandfather, and well deserves the beautiful appellation — the Morning Star of the Reformation. LECTURE V. STATE OF KELIGION FKOM WYCLIFFE TO KNOX. " A bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers." — Titus i. 9. iYCLIFFE'S work did not die with his death. The great truths of the Gospel which he had so diligently taught during his life did not fail to bring forth fruit after his death. His work was enthusiastically taken up by his followers, who were known by the name of Lollards. His theology, as well as his English Bible, exerted a mighty power in the land. In the forefront of all his teaching he placed the sole supremacy of the Scriptures as the only rule of life and doctrine. And having put the Bible in the hands of the English people in their own language, all were able to compare the teaching of the Church with this infallible standard. Thus he opened the eyes of the nation to see how far the Church had descended in the path of corruption, in doctrine as well as in life. He magnified the Word of God as opposed to human tradition and the teaching of the Church. He magnified Christ, as the soul and centre of Christianity. Men are saved by Christ, and R9 STATE OF RELIGION FROM WYCLIFFE TO KNOX. 53 not by the Church. He laid special stress on the necessity of the Incarnation of Christ in order that he might render a perfect obedience to God's law in our nature. He insisted with equal emphasis on the necessity of Christ's death for us as our Substitute, "bearing our sins in His own body on the tree." While asserting the perfect sufficiency of Christ's obedience and death as an atonement for sins, he rejected the popish dogma which gave rise to the scan- dalous traffic in indulgences — namely, the superfluous merits of Christ and the Saints, of which the Church was the depository, and which the pope could dispense on his own terms. He declared that the renewal or regeneration of the soul is the work of the Holy Spirit, and is not accomplished by penance and fasting, and confession, and the rites of the Church. To believe in the power of man in the regeneration of the soul he declared to be " the great heresy of the Church of Rome." He also maintained in accordance with Scripture that " Faith is the gift of God/' and puts aside all claim of human merit. The one thing essential in the Christian life and in the Lord's Supper is not formal rites and superstitious ceremonies, but communion with Christ by faith, according to the power of the spiritual life conferred in regeneration. He recognised as a true Scriptural Church that only which acknowledged Christ as the Head ; the Word of God as its only rule and directory ; and the Holy Spirit as its life and animating principle. Whatever the Bible enjoined was to be strictly observed ; and whatever had no sanction in the Word of God was to be regarded as man's invention and heresy. 54 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. He thus insisted -upon Laving a pure Scriptural Church, both in government and in doctrine. Let Christians submit, he said, not to the word of a priest, but to the Word of God. How nobly he contended for the authority of Christ and His Word ! Himself a priest and a doctor of theology, he would not magnify himself and his teaching above the Word of God. In the matter of church government he advocated the Presbyterian theory as opposed to the Episcopal. In the primitive Church there were but two orders, the presbyter and the deacon — presbyter and bishop being one and the same. In reference to the Lord's Supper, he rejected the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation. He defined a sacrament to be " a visible and effectual sign, instituted by Christ, of an invisible reality." To be recognised as a sacrament he held that it must have the authority of Christ. Only two of the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church had this authority — namely, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Therefore he rejected the other five. He rejected Penance, Confirmation, and Extreme Unction as wholly unscriptural ; and the other two, Ordination and Marriage, although sanctioned and enjoined by Scripture, he did not recognise as sacraments. In regard to Penance, he declared that true penitence, genuine heart-contrition for sin, with the forsaking of it, is what God requires ; and Absolu- tion he declared to be a daring assumption of Rome. He held that Confirmation, in the sense of imparting grace to those confirmed, had no place in Scripture ; and therefore denied it a place among the sacraments. But the dogma which he persistently attacked with all STATE OF RELIGION FROM WYCLIFFE TO KNOX. 55 his force and learning was the doctrine of transubstan- tiation. This he held to be a gross perversion of the true doctrine of the Lord's Supper. The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on this subject is, that the whole substance of the bread and wine is changed at the moment of consecration into the real body and blood of Christ, so that it is no longer bread and wine, but the soul and divinity of Christ — a whole Christ. That there may be no misapprehension, I shall quote the exact words of their belief, as given in the Canons and Catechism of the Council of Trent, drawn up in 1562, and which is to-day accepted by the entire Roman Catholic Church as their own author- itative exposition of the doctrine : — Canon I. "If any man shall deny that in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist there is contained truly, really, and substantially the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, — and, therefore, a whole Christ, — but shall say that He is only in it in sign, or figure, or power, let him be accursed." Canon II. "If any shall say that in the holy sacra- ment of the Eucharist there remains the substance of the bread and wine, together with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and shall deny that wonderful and peculiar conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and the whole substance of the wine into the blood, while only the appearance of bread and wine remains, which conver- sion the Catholic Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation, let him be accursed." Canon VI. " If any shall say that in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, is not to be adored, and that outwardly with the worship of Latria, . . . nor carried about solemnly in procession, 56 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. or that He might not be publicly exhibited to the people that He may be worshipped, let him be accursed." The Catechism of the Council of Trent remarks upon these canons : "It is also in this place to be explained by the pastors that there is contained not only the true body of Christ, and whatever belongs to a true definition (or description) of a body, such as Bones and Nerves, but a whole Christ." This, then, is the doctrine which Wycliffe and all the reformers attacked, as being not only unscriptural but idolatrous. It affirms, first, that by the act of consecration by the priest, the bread and wine cease to be bread and wine, and are instantly converted into the real body, blood, bones, nerves, soul, and divinity of Christ. And, secondly, that the host, or consecrated wafer, is to be worshipped as God, when lifted up by the priest, or carried about in processions. And, observe, it cannot be said that the worshippers are only required to reverence the consecrated wafer. They are bound to worship it as very God — that is, with the worship of Latria. The Roman Catholic Church recognises three degrees of worship : doulia — worship rendered to saints and holy angels ; hyper- doulia — a higher degree, rendered to the Virgin Mary ; and Latria — the highest degree of worship, rendered to God alone. It is with this highest degree of worship that they are to adore the host, or victim, as the wafer is called. They are bound to believe that the wafer becomes the very body, soul, and divinity of Christ ; and as such it is to be worshipped as God. The priest thus claims to be able to perform the most stupendous miracle ever wrought by human or Divine power — STATE OF EELIGION FROM WYCLIFFE TO KNOX. 57 namely, to cause a thing to be that which it is not. Taste it, it is bread. Touch it, it is mere lifeless matter. Break it, crush it, you find no bones nor any throb or thrill of life. Let the rats find it in the priest's house, as in the case of Father Chiniquy, it cannot defend itself. And yet poor deluded mortals must believe that this wafer possesses the bones, nerves, life, and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, or be forever accursed. They are asked to believe not only what is above reason — faith can do that ; but what is absolutely contrary to reason and to fact — superstition alone can do that. Their worship, there- fore, becomes idolatry, in worshipping a lifeless thing ; and their faith becomes superstition, by believing what is absurd and impossible. No wonder, therefore, that WyclifTe and his followers lifted up their voice against this God-dishonouring doctrine, as did all the reformers that succeeded them. In 1395, eleven years after Wycliffe's death, his followers petitioned Parliament to " abolish celibacy, transubstantiation, prayers for the dead, offerings to images, auricular confession," and other superstitious practices, such as " blessing oil, salt, wax, incense, and pilgrims' staffs." In the preamble to the petition they said, " The essence of the worship that comes from Rome consists in signs and ceremonies, and not in the efficacious power of the Holy Ghost, and there- fore is not that which Christ has ordained." The pious Queen Anne, wife of Richard II., was now dead, and Richard, who did good or evil according to the influence brought to bear upon him at the moment, yielding to the persuasion of Arundel, 58 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. Archbishop of York, forbade Parliament to take the petition of the reformers into consideration, and even threatened with death the leaders of the new move- ment, if they did not desist from spreading their opinions. Thus the work of Wycliffe received a severe check. However, as the annalist records, Richard had no sooner withdrawn his hand from the Gospel than God withdrew His hand from him. For in 1399 his cousin, Henry, son of the Duke of Lancaster, usurped the throne. The wily archbishop, observing the course of events, forsook Richard at the moment of his fall, gave his hand to Henry IV., and placed the crown on his head; and at the same time whispered in his ear, " To establish your throne, conciliate the clergy and sacrifice the Lollards." " I will protect the Church," replied Henry, being caught in the snare so skilfully laid for him. To show his zeal for the Church, Henry IV. ordered every heretic to be burned alive. He soon had an opportunity of putting the severe statute into practice. The Rev. Sir William Sawtre, a most pious and inoffensive priest, had dared to say, "Instead of adoring the cross on which Christ suffered, I adore the Christ who suffered on the cross." This was pro- nounced heresy. They were bound to worship the cross and the consecrated wafer, but they must not dare to worship Christ. This answers once for all the plea sometimes put forward on behalf of the Romish Church by those who are ignorant of her practices, that the cross and images are used only as a medium through which Christ is worshipped. But William Sawtre was pronounced a heretic, simply STATE OF RELIGION FKOM WYCLIFFE TO KNOX. 59 because he worshipped Christ ; and the first of the fires of Smithfield was lighted around his body. He was burned alive in March, 1401 ; and thus had the distinction of being the first martyr to the Protestant religion. Now a series of canons, known as " The Constitu- tions of Arundel," were drawn up, forbidding the laity to read the Bible, and proclaiming that the pope was not a mere man, but a true God. The year 1400 is memorable in the history of English Protestantism for having the first Act against heresy placed upon the statute-book. It was passed by a usurper, who required the support of the unscrupulous hierarchy of the Church of Rome to consolidate his throne; and he was base enough to purchase their support at so high a price. The archbishop's palace at Lambeth was soon filled with pious men, who were pronounced heretics, and cast into the dungeons, many of whom were burned alive at the stake. John Resby, an English priest, to escape persecution, fled to Scotland, and there preached the Gospel. But in 1405 he was condemned as a heretic, and was burned alive at Perth. Lord Cobham, better known as Sir John Oldcastle, who was in high favour with the king, offered an asylum to many of those who were persecuted. His favour with Henry secured his own safety. But no sooner was Henry IV. succeeded by his son, Henry V., than Arundel had him summoned before the king. In his defence he asserted the supremacy of the Scriptures. The archbishop replied, " We must believe what the holy Church of Rome teaches, 60 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. without demanding Christ's authority." " Believe ! " shouted the priests. " I am willing to believe all that God desires," he replied, " but that the pope should have authority to teach what is contrary to the Scriptures, that I shall never believe." He was led to the Tower condemned to die. Having effected his escape from the Tower, he took refuge in Wales, and thus prolonged his life for four years. In December, 1417, he was again taken, and at St. Giles he was suspended over a slow fire and burned to death. The followers of Wycliffe were everywhere perse- cuted with brutal ferocity. The mad fanaticism of the Romish Church spent itself in adding degradation to cruelty. The annalist of this period records that it was decreed that they should be hanged on the king's account, and burned for God's — incendio propter Dewm, suspendio propter regem. Thus these early reformers were compelled to hold their meetings in secret. The reformed religion, like primitive Christ- ianity, must pass through its baptism of blood before it can rise in resurrection power to overspread the land and become a blessing to the world. These cruel and barbarous tortures were not the work of a fanatical archbishop merely. They received the full sanction of the Church of Rome. In 1415 the Council of Constance, the largest council ever assembled, solemnly denounced the writings of Wycliffe, and ordered his bones to be exhumed and burned. Huss, the Bohemian reformer, and Jerome of Prague, a man of brilliant talents and great devotion to the truth, were sentenced to the stake by this same council, being denied the privilege of defending themselves. STATE OF RELIGION FROM WYCLIFFE TO KNOX. 61 These brutal crimes — for they are crimes, not events — naturally suggest the inquiry, What kind of a pope filled the chair of St. Peter when such barbarous proceedings were sanctioned ? Yes ; the inquiry is natural, and the circumstances demand that it should be made. If the pope and the supreme council of the Romish Church are one and all converted into fiends in their public capacity, the world ought to know something of their private character. The infallible Church had got into a very fallible state at this time. During the previous century, from 1309 to 1377, the papal court was removed from Rome and spent nearly seventy years' exile in Avignon, in France. Here the court became the centre of all manner of intrigue and frivolity and looseness and lewdness. At the death of Clement V. in 1312 the French and Italian cardinals held a protracted struggle, lasting two years, each party determined to elect their own nominee. At length John XXII., the candidate of the French party, by means of lying and strategy, secured the necessary majority of votes. He promised the Italian cardinals upon oath to transfer the papal court to Rome, if they would concur in his election. He swore that he would never mount horse except to go to Rome ; and, leaving his oath and his Italian supporters behind him, he at once took ship for Avignon. Under Gregory XL the papal court was brought back to Rome on account of political disturb- ances. He died the following year, and the Italian party in the council elected Urban VI. The French party, however, elected a Frenchman, Clement VII., who took up his residence at Avignon. For thirty 62 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. years (1378-1409) there were two popes in the One Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church, each in turn excom- municating and anathematising the other. It would be a very interesting study for some intelligent Koman Catholic to endeavour to find out with infallible certainty through which of these lines of rival popes apostolic succession has been transmitted. It would indeed form a very puzzling problem, as both parties seem to have had equal claims. The task, too, would be practically useless, even if the claims of one or other of the popes could be clearly established ; for the Council of Pisa, summoned in 1409 specially to pronounce on the claims of the two rival popes, — Gregory XII., now pope in Rome, and Benedict XIII. , pope in Avignon, — deposed both of the popes, and elected Alexander V. This infallible council, therefore, practically declared that during these thirty years, while infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit, they, by the will of God, had made a very serious mistake in placing the tiara upon the wrong head. Now surely that is a breaker on which apostolic succession must have made shipwreck. And certainly the unity of the Church, about which Roman Catholics boast so much, was broken at the same time. They claim to have ever been the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church. This episode in the history of the Church blots out the words " One," " Catholic," and " Apos- tolic ; " and, under the next pope, the word " Holy " also is thrown overboard. In 1410 Alexander V. was " removed," to use a modern euphemism for murder, by poison, adminis- tered in all probability by his successor, one of the STATE OF RELIGION FROM WYCLIFFE TO KNOX. 63 vilest wretches that ever trod the earth. He took the title of John XXIII. He had been a pirate in his youth. He called a council at Home, and arranged that all the passes leading to Italy should be occupied by banditti, so as to prevent the arrival of the French bishops. However, in 1414, he was compelled to summon the Council of Constance. It was attended by 18,000 of the clergy, besides a host of princes and knights. This council not only condemned the re- formers to be burned, but also deposed the pope, John XXIII. He was charged before the council with murder, gross immorality, simony, and other crimes. Instead of defending himself against these formidable charges, thinking no doubt that discretion was the better part of valour, he fled in disguise. He was deposed by the council and taken prisoner. Evidently the Roman Catholic Church did not believe in the infallibility of the pope in those days. The Council of Constance did not scruple to assert its authority over the pope. Again, in 1433, the pope, Eugene IV., and the council were in open conflict. The pope formally dissolved the council, but the council continued its deliberations. In 1439 the pope excommunicated the council, and the council by way of returning the compliment relieved the pope of his duties and chose another. In 1459 a General Council held at Mantua condemned the decisions of the General Council of Constance as heretical. So that neither popes nor councils were infallible in those times. From this time to the Reformation the vice and immorality of the popes knew no bounds. Sixtus IV. 64 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. established brothels at Rome to add to his income, and gave benefices to his friends and relatives, who possessed no qualifications whatever for filling them. His successor, Innocent VIII., filled the papal chair from 1484 to 1492. He was blessed with sixteen illegitimate children — sixteen innocents — eight inno- cent sons and eight innocent daughters. On this account, as it was sarcastically said at the time, " Rome was well entitled to call him father" Alexander VI, who died in 1503, two years before John Knox was born, was, if possible, even more abominable in his life than his predecessors. Among other enormities he is reputed to have been guilty of incest with his own daughter. This is but a brief sketch of the untold enormities of the papacy immediately prior to the Reformation. Monasteries and convents were also open sinks of iniquity. During all this time, however, there were earnest men on the Continent, as well as in England, who laboured zealously for a reform in the Church, in both head and members. This spirit of reform was manifested in the canons of the Councils of Pisa (1409), Constance (1414-1418), and Basle (1431-1443). However, these attempts at reformation all failed. They failed because they sought to lop off corrupt branches merely, instead of pulling up the upas tree by the roots. The Church of Rome had ceased to be one — had ceased to be holy — had ceased to be catholic — had ceased to be apostolic — had ceased to be in any true sense a Christian Church ; and, therefore, it must give place in the good providence of God to a pure Scriptural church — the Church of the Reformation. LECTURE VI. THE KEFOKMATION IN ENGLAND HENRY VIII. " Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church." — Eph. v. 25. HE English Reformation did not becnn with Henry VIII. As we have already seen, Wycliffe and others had originated the movement which eventually overturned the papacy. It is no true theory of this great reform to assume that Henry VIII. was the prime factor in English Protestantism, or that the substitution of the English king for the Roman pontiff as the head of the Church, was the soul and substance of the Reformation. That was only the outward or political aspect of the struggle. Its soul and centre and motive power are to be found elsewhere. Neither churchly power nor kingly power could have accomplished so great a work. Two mightier powers than these were at work in Great Britain and on the Continent at the beginning of the sixteenth century — the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Another important factor in the Reformation was the revival of learning. It became the medium of 65 F 66 THE GOSPEL IN GEE AT BRITAIN. spreading abroad a knowledge of God's Word. As there can be no true religious life except by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, changing and renewing the heart and life, so it is impossible that a corrupted church should be thoroughly purified by any other means. Church life is but an extension of individual Christ- ian life. And, as the individual heart, corrupted by sin and swayed by low passions, can be renewed and purified only by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God — "by the washing of water through the Word" — so must it be with the Christian Church. No mere external power, whether it be that of the king, or of the pope, or of church councils, or of the populace, can regenerate a church any more than the heart of man. He, therefore, who would truly tell the story of the Reformation, must go back behind the several human agents and external circumstances, and see the Spirit of God brooding over the religious chaos of that time, as He brooded over the chaos of creation, bringing all into a perfect cosmos. What lighted up the Reformation of the sixteenth century with such glory and brilliancy, and placed it on a higher platform than all previous revivals, and made it permanent, was the prominence and authority accorded to the Word of God, together with a pro- founder and more intelligent faith in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of true believers. Wycliffe, and Luther, and Calvin, and Zwingli, and Knox, all claimed for the people the right to read and interpret the Word of God for themselves under the guidance and illumination of the Spirit of God. The THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND — HENRY VIII. 67 place that had been conceded to the pope and the councils of the Church was now accorded to Christ and the Scriptures. The Reformation, therefore, was not merely external and political — the outcome of the caprice of a king who had been thwarted in his projects by the pope ; but internal and religious, the spontaneous outcome of a deeper religious life, and intenser love and reverence for the Word of God. The Reformation had struck its roots deeply in English soil before Henry VIII. was born ; so that it cannot be said that it originated with him. It lost, moreover, the ground gained 'during the latter part of his reign under his immediate successor, " the Bloody Mary," who was a bigoted Roman Catholic ; so that the work of the Reformation was not completed and established in Henry's time. In England the work of reformation depended more exclusively upon the silent power of God's Word, than in almost any other country. There was no command- ing personality in England able to rouse the nation, as Luther and Knox roused Germany and Scotland. But Wycliffe had given the English Bible to the English people, and the scholarly Erasmus had given the New Testament in Greek to the learned in the land. There can be no true reformation in doctrine or in life, either in the Church or in the individual heart, apart from the Word and Spirit of God. The Scrip- tures, by setting forth the sinless life and vicarious death of Christ, as the sinner's Substitute, and the doctrine of justification by faith and regeneration by 68 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. the Holy Spirit, brought light and life into English hearts and English homes. Reformation through the instrumentality of God's Word meant much more than merely rejecting the claims of the papal hierarchy. It meant the surrender of the heart of the nation to God, and the conforming of the laws of the nation to the law of God. Although the Word of God was the chief agent of reform, still God used other instruments to separate the English Church from the Roman see. The spiritual power of the pope was broken by the Word of God. His temporal power was broken by the authority of the king. So far as the pope possessed temporal power, so far his authority was political and national ; and this power could be broken only by the representative of national and political power in the country — namely, the king. But the rejection of the pope's spiritual power over the souls and con- sciences of men was the great work of the Reforma- tion ; and this was effected by the Word of God revealing the way of salvation and the path of duty. Wycliffe's English Bible had prepared the hearts of the common people for casting off the galling yoke of Rome ; and the Greek Testament of Erasmus opened the eyes of the learned to see how totally the Church had corrupted the doctrines of Scripture. " The entrance of Thy Word giveth light " was especially true in the early history of the Reforma- tion. This fact was so deeply impressed upon the minds of the leading reformers that we find Wycliffe, and Luther, and Tyndale giving the Bible to the THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND — HENRY VIII. 69 masses in their own language. They themselves found peace and rest to tbeir souls by being pointed to Christ through the medium of the Word ; and they were convinced that the greatest blessing they could confer upon their fellow-men was to place this precious treasure within their reach. The priests declaimed against Erasmus from their pulpits, as they had previously done against Wycliffe. They said, " This man has committed the unpardon- able sin. He is a heretic, a very antichrist. If this book be tolerated, it will be the death of the papacy. We must drive this man from the University, and turn him out of the Church." So it has been with the papacy in all ages. Its teachers know too well that its corrupt doctrines and dark designs cannot stand the light of God's truth. So they denounce not only the Greek Testament, but the Greek language as well, — the language in which Christ spoke, and in which the apostles wrote. One of them even denounced the book and the language while preaching in his turn before the king. On leaving the church, Henry said, " Bring this priest to me ;" and, address- ing Sir Thomas More, he said, " You shall defend the Greek cause, and I will listen to the disputation." The priest, however, knowing that he could not defend his wild ravings, fell on his knees before the king, saying, " I do not know what spirit impelled me to do. it." " A spirit of madness," said the king, " and not the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Have you ever read Erasmus ? " " No, your majesty." " Away with you, then, you simpleton ! How dare you preach against that of which you are totally ignorant ! " The 70 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. king was a friend of learning and the Word of God ; and the Romish Church misjudged the man when they thought by empty declamation to enlist the sympathies of Henry VIII. in their efforts to prevent the revival of learning and the circulation of the Scriptures. The different orders of monks went throughout the land preaching against this new heresy. " Why should they want the Scriptures ? They had the apostolical succession of the clergy, and what more did they need ? " While this storm of opposition raged, the Word of God was silently doing its work. It had received a warm welcome at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Students and Fellows were to be seen eagerly reading the Greek Testament at the colleges, and earnestly advocating the urgent necessity of a thorough reformation of the Church in doctrine and in life. They appealed to the written Word as the only ultimate authority, and openly advocated the necessity of re-establishing the Kingdom of Christ after the model of primitive times. Among these earnest inquirers after truth were Thomas Bilney, William Tyndale, and John Fryth. They declared that no priest on earth had power to grant remission of sins — that pardon of sin can be obtained only by faith in Christ ; and that faith, when genuine, purines the heart and life. Bilney, who was a distinguished young doctor, thoroughly versed in canon law, had long sought peace with God and the salvation of his soul. The priests prescribed fasting, vigils, masses, indulgences ; but still there was no light, no liberty, no peace. He THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND — HENRY VIII. 71 heard some of his friends talk of this new book, the Greek Testament ; but as his confessors had strictly- prohibited all Greek and Hebrew books, as the sources of all heresies, he hesitated. At last he gained courage, secretly bought a copy, and shut himself up in his room to study it. His eye lighted upon the words of Paul addressed to Timothy, " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." " What ! St. Paul the chief of sinners, and yet sure of being saved ? " He pondered deeply over this' new and wondrous revelation, and light dawned upon his troubled soul. Christ saves sinners, and he was saved. Joy and peace filled his whole soul. He was a new man. Tyndale found peace in the same way. He began to read the Greek Testament simply as a study of literature. This marvellous book laid hold upon him in a manner that excited wonderment. It spoke to him of Christ, the Saviour of sinners, and regenera- tion by the power of the Holy Spirit. In a short time he became a new creature in Christ Jesus. Other members of the University gathered around him, and eagerly drank from the same fountain of truth and salvation. Tyndale at Oxford, and Bilney at Cambridge, found Christ and salvation through the Scriptures in the same year that Luther had found peace in Germany. God was working in England, and Germany, and Switzerland at the same time by His Word and Spirit. The Reformation has commenced, and as yet Henry VIII. has no quarrel with Rome. 72 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. Four years after these events, in 1521, Henry VIII. wrote a book against Luther, and obtained from the pope the title of " Defender of the Faith ; " and also promoted a persecution of the reformers. Tyndale left Cambridge in the year 1519, and returned to his home in the valley of the Severn, and became tutor in the family of Sir John Walsh. Here he met at table many distinguished men, attracted by Sir John's bountiful table and generous hospitality. They discussed the theological questions now agitating all minds in England and Germany. Tyndale not only discussed doctrine and proved everything by Scripture, but aimed at bringing home to the hearts of all what he significantly called " the sweet inner marrow of the Gospel." On Sundays Tyndale preached in the little chapel attached to the mansion, with great unction and power. Mild and gentle in his manner, it was said of him that he was St. John and St. Paul combined, uniting the mildness of the one with the strength and argumentative force of the other. The little chapel soon became too small for the congregations that assembled ; and the people of Bristol flocked to hear him on St. Austin's Green. Everywhere the priests opposed his work, and denounced him as a heretic, and trampled under foot the seed he had sown. He thus was made to feel the urgent need for the Word of God in the language of the people ; for Wycliffe's Bible had long ago been proscribed by the pope. " Without the Bible," he said, " it is impossible to establish the laity in the truth." Therefore, he will devote himself to the work of giving the people the Word of God in their own language. THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND — HENRY VIII. 73 Meanwhile, the Romish hierarchy are vowing ven- geance on Tyndale and all who dared to assert the sole supremacy of the Scriptures. Cardinal Wolsey and the Bishop of Lincoln prevailed upon the king, by false representations, to sanction a persecution of the heretics, as the reformers were called. On 20th October, 1521, Henry signed an order commanding all his subjects to assist the bishop in putting down heresy. Thus was inaugurated a reign of terror throughout the diocese of Lincoln. Scrivener, a pious colporteur, who was employed to carry from house to house the books and tracts of the reformers, was burned at the stake ; and, by a horrible refinement of cruelty, they put the torches that were to light the fire in the hands of his own children; and then, held by the strong hands of the executioners, they were compelled to hold the burning torches to the body of their own father. Such are the tender mercies of Rome — the infallible, unchanging Church of Rome. These persecutions compelled Tyndale to bid fare- well to his patron and protector. If he is to carry out his cherished design of giving the Word of God to the common people, he must seek an asylum else- where. A brave man of God, full of faith and the Holy Ghost, he feared neither toil, nor poverty, nor danger, if he could only serve God and his country by putting the Scriptures within the reach of all. He left the banks of the Severn, and repaired to London. Here his love for Christ and the souls of men constrained him to preach the Gospel in all its fulness and freeness, regardless of personal consequences. 74 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. He boldly proclaimed the doctrine of justification by faith, and thus took first rank among the reformers of his day in England. He hoped to find a patron and protector in Tonstal, the Bishop of London, who was a learned man, and favourable to literature. However, in this he was disappointed. God was teaching him that he was not to rely on the help of man. And now, mounting up on the wings of faith, he said : " The people are hungering for the Word of God. I will translate it whatever they may do to me. God will not suffer me to perish until I have finished His work." Humphrey Monmouth, one of his hearers, who had found the way of life under Colet's preaching, in 1515, inquired as to his means of liviog, and invited him to his house that he might prosecute his work. His college friend, John Fryth, now joined him at Monmouth's house, and, with consuming ardour, they shut themselves up in their room to translate into English the Greek Testament of Erasmus. Persecu- tion, however, soon interrupted their work. After one year's residence in London, by the advice of friends, Tyndale sought an asylum in Germany. Shaking off the dust of his feet against the Romish hierarchy, with a firm faith in God, he left his native land that, by God's help, he might bring back to it the precious treasure of the Scriptures. He settled down to his work in Hamburg, and the next year, 1524, published the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Two years later he had completed the whole of the New Testament. Thus Tyndale's New Testament was in the hands of the English people eight THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND — HENRY VIII. 75 years before Martin Luther had given the German Bible to the German people. The English Reforma- tion therefore was not imported from Germany, but grew up on English soil. Tyndale had preceded Luther, both in declariDg the way of salvation through simple faith in the sinner's Saviour, and in giving his countrymen the Word of God in their mother- tongue. In January, 1526, Tyndale's New Testament was doing its beneficent, soul-saving work in the homes and universities of England. The revival of learning in England had prepared the soil for the reception of the good seed of the Word. And now with the Word of God in their hands, and the Spirit of God in their hearts, and Christ sanctified in their lives, these early reformers lighted a torch in England which no papal hierarchy or kingly power can ever extinguish. Tyndale was beheaded, and Fryth was burned at the stake ; but their work was imperishable, because it was God's work. The Reformation has begun, and Henry VIII. is still a true son of Rome and a persecutor of reformers. During the progress of the Reformation, and before the nation through its sovereign had formally cast off the yoke of Rome, there were differences between the king and the pope — a trial and a divorce; and partisans of Rome call that the Reformation in England. But Henry VIII. was in no sense the author or originator of the English Reformation. It was originated by a much mightier power — namely, the Word of God and the Spirit of God. LECTURE VII. REFORMATION WORTHIES BILNEY AND LATIMER. " The time conieth that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor Me." — John xvi. 2, 3. HILE Tyndale was translating the Word of God on the Continent, his friend Bilney was busily engaged at Cambridge pre- paring the ground for the reception of the good seed of the Gospel. He was the first to receive the light of the Gospel through the reading of Erasmus' Greek Testament ; and full of zeal in his first love, he soon succeeded in gathering around him an influential company of Masters and Fellows of the University. He was an eminent doctor of canon law ; but after he had found Christ as the satisfaction of his soul through the study of the gospels, there was no canon law for him but Scripture. Among the first to join Bilney was George Stafford, professor of divinity, a man greatly admired for his profound learning and holy, devoted life. His conver- sion created quite a sensation at Cambridge, for he possessed immense influence at the University. He 76 REFORMATION WORTHIES — BILNEY AND LATIMER. 77 now expounded the gospels and St. Paul's Epistles with such lucidity and power that the students proclaimed him to be another Paul. While the other professors at Cambridge were teaching that reconciliation with God must be wrought out by prayers, and penances, and the strict observance of all the rites and ceremonies of the Church, Stafford proclaimed, on the authority of Scripture, that redemption was already accomplished — that recon- ciliation was effected by the finished work of Christ — that the satisfaction that He offered to the holy law of God was complete, and did not require to be supplemented by the formal rites of the Church — that eternal life was the free gift of God to all who personally accepted Christ as Saviour. He also taught that popery had set up the kingdom of the law, but the Reformation was reviving and restoring the Kingdom of Grace. Bilney did noble service for God and the truth, when, by the help of the Holy Spirit, he won over to the reformed doctrine the most illustrious professor in the English universities. But there were still greater conquests in store for this holy man of faith and prayer. In 1505, the year in which John Knox was born, and in which Martin Luther entered the convent of St. Augustine, Hugh Latimer entered the University of Cambridge. After taking his degree, he was speci- ally noted for his asceticism and enthusiasm, and conscientious scruples. As the Romish Missal directs that the sacramental wine should be mixed with water, he would be greatly troubled lest he had not added enough of water ! Such trifles would fill him 78 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. with the keenest remorse ; for he sought soul-rest in strict observance of ordinances, and not through faith in Christ. He thus became a bigoted and fanatical priest, zealous for his Church, and a persecutor, like Saul of Tarsus. But the same power that subdued the persecuting Saul, and changed the current of his life, was soon to change the heart and life of the enthusiastic Latimer. Bilney had been watching his movements, and became deeply interested in him, knowing that a man of such intense earnestness and enthusiasm would be a mighty power for good if once brought to a true knowledge of the Gospel. He took the matter to God in prayer, as was his custom, — for he was mighty in wrestling with God, — and then planned how he might win him to Christ. He resolved to go to him to make confession, that he might thus pour the marrow of the Gospel into his ear. Latimer, in relating the circumstance, says, " He came to me, and desired me for God's sake to hear his confession." The enthusiastic priest, thinking that Bilney had been won back to the Church by his thesis against Luther and Melanchthon, eagerly embraced the opportunity, as he hoped, of receiving the leader of the reformers into the bosom of the Church again. Bilney's confes- sion was simply a recital of his personal experience. In earnest pathetic tones he described the agony of soul through which he had passed in struggling into light and peace. He had, according to the direc- tion of the Church, given himself to prayers, and penance, and fasting and vigils, but all to no purpose. But the moment he saw Jesus as " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," his whole soul REFORMATION WORTHIES — BILNEY AND LATIMER. 79 was filled with heavenly peace, and from that day he had the sweet consciousness that God was his Father and ever-present Friend ; the burden of sin was taken away, and his happiness and joy in the service of God knew no bounds. Bilney's prayer was answered. The sword of the Spirit had pierced Latimer's heart. He is a new man. God had spoken by the lips of His servant. Latimer now regarded with amazement and horror his past life of opposition to God. The con- fessor weeps in the presence of the penitent ; and Bilney pronounces the true words of absolution : " Brother, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool ; for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Latimer, to use his own words, " at once forsook the doctors of the school and all their fooleries," and shut himself up with Bilney to study the Word of God. It was at the fountain of God's Word that these young men received that nourish- ment and strength which enabled them in after life calmly to mount the scaffold and seal their testimony with their blood. The change in Latimer's life and disposition was most marked. The superstitious fanatic became meek and gentle and Christlike. Instead of seeking company and the pleasures of the table, he chose solitude, that he might feed upon the Word of God. The conversion of Latimer gave a mighty impetus to the cause of evangelical truth. It recalled to many minds the miraculous conversions of apostolic times, when a great company of the priests became obedient to the faith. The students now flocked to hear 80 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. Bilney proclaim the glad tidings of salvation, conscious that the power of Christ rested upon him ; and many young hearts received the leaven of the Gospel through his earnest ministry. He boldly proclaimed the evangelical doctrines of satisfaction for sin by the death of Christ ; regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit ; and justification by simple faith in Christ. Bilney, however, was more a man of prayer than a rousing preacher; and a man of enthusiasm, and energy, and eloquence, like Latimer, was needed to rouse the nation. Latimer at once came forward as a bold and thorough reformer, and shook off the sacer- dotal system which makes the salvation of the soul depend upon the deeds and intention of the priest, and cordially embraced the Gospel plan of salvation, which seeks to point the soul direct to Christ. With Tyndale's New Testament in the hauds of the people in their own language ; with George Stafford expound- ing the Epistles of Paul from the professor's chair ; with Thomas Bilney wrestling in prayer with God, and exhibiting the power and blessedness of the Gospel in a holy, consecrated life ; and Latimer, with eloquence and power, preaching the Gospel, and urging every one to flee to Christ as the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, — the Reformation sun had risen on England, dispelling the darkness, while Henry VIII. is still a defender of the Roman Catholic faith. The Reformation in England had its origin in the faithful preaching of a pure Gospel, and not in the quarrel between the king and the pope. REFORMATION WORTHIES — BILNEY AND LATIMER. 81 The light of the Gospel which had dispelled the darkness of Romish superstition at Cambridge, was also to penetrate the thick gloom at Oxford. Cardinal Wolsey, anxious to adorn his new college, which he had founded at Oxford, invited John Clark, a distin- guished doctor, as the first professor of divinity. He, too, had found Christ as the anchor of his soul ; and no sooner was he installed at Oxford than he began to lecture on St. Paul's Epistles, and to expound the gospels, and to preach and teach daily with great eloquence and power. His influence over the young men at the University was remarkable, and many were brought to a true knowledge of Christ, through his teaching and preach- ing, accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus the Word of God and the Spirit of God were regenerating these ancient seats of learning, and rais- ing up a band of noble men who were soon to make Rome tremble to its foundation. In 1523, such was the influence of the reformers that the bishops determined to arrest the leaders on a charge of heresy. The agents were appointed and arrived at Cambridge to commence their work of inquisition. But the sudden death of the pope caused Wolsey to countermand the order, as his whole time would now be occupied in intriguing for the chair of St. Peter, for which he was a candidate. Thus in the providence of God, the reformers received a short breathing time, which they diligently improved in advancing the Kingdom of Grace. Fortunately for England, Wolsey failed to secure election ; for, with a man of such marvellous capacity and bigotry in the 82 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. pontifical chair, the evangelical religion must surely have been stamped out in England. Wolsey's chagrin and disappointment also did much to damp his ardour, and even to disgust him with the way things were conducted at Rome. Failing to secure the object of his life's ambition, he determined to show his power on a smaller scale. If he could not rule the Catholic world from the pontifical throne, he could at least govern the Catholic Church in England. So he undertakes to reform the Church by removing certain of the grosser abuses. The monasteries were carefully inspected ; and those religious houses that had become notorious for their corruption and immorality were suppressed, and their revenues applied to Wolsey's new college at Oxford. A patron of learning, and a great admirer of learned men, he would have allowed more liberty to learned doctors than to the despised Lollards. During subsequent events, however, to save himself, he found it con- venient to accuse the reformers. While Tyndale was translating the Scriptures, and Stafford was expounding the doctrines of the Gospel in the University, Latimer was declaring from the pulpits in Cambridge that the common people ought to be allowed to read the Bible in their own language. He placed the law of God above the authority of kings and popes and emperors. His hearers were delighted. It seemed to them like life from the dead. The true evangel had long been buried beneath dead forms and superstitious ceremonies, but now there is a glorious resurrection. The breath of a new life is perceptible on every hand. Cambridge is ivon for Christ. REFORMATION WORTHIES — BILNEY AND LATIMER. 83 As yet there was no formal separation from Rome, and no reform in ritual. But the Word of God was restored to its true place in the minds and hearts of the people, and men were directed to look to Christ for pardon and salvation, and not to the priests and the rites of the Church ; and that was the essence of the Reformation, which carried with it all other reforms. When Christ and the Scriptures are set up in the hearts of the people, then the rule of Rome is at an end. The Romish hierarchy by their actions testified to their own belief in this great truth. So they set them- selves to preach against the Scriptures. They said : " Latimer extols in his sermons the blessings of the Gospel, we must preach a sermon to show its dangers." The professors were enjoined to have a strict oversight of the students under their care, and to charge them that if they sympathised with the evangelical party they would bar the way to their promotion. But the generous-hearted students chose rather to suffer perse- cution with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures and rewards of sin. Stafford continued his prelections, Bilney prayed and visited the poor, and Latimer preached to the people with stirring eloquence and lively wit. And thus the doctrines of the Gospel were published on every hand, and many souls were converted to Christ. But " all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Latimer is forbidden to preach either in the University or in the diocese. The most brilliant preacher of his time was to be silenced for no other fault than that he faithfully preached Christ 84 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. and advocated the study of the Word of God. But Latimer was not so easily vanquished. The churches were closed against him, but the homes of the common people were open to the earnest preacher of God's Word. However, he was not to remain long without a pulpit. In the same year Robert Barnes, a doctor of great learning, became prior of the monastery at Cambridge. Although he had no experience as yet of the power of the Gospel in his own heart, he expounded to his class the Epistles of Paul, wishing to introduce the study of Holy Scripture into the colleges. Bilney, the man of faith and prayer, sets his heart on leading Barnes to a true knowledge of the Saviour; and in a short time another trophy is won for the Gospel of Christ. He, too, throws his whole soul into the new movement, and invites Latimer to preach in the monastery, which was not under the jurisdiction of the bishop. Here crowds eagerly flocked to hear the Word of God. Fryth, who for a time assisted Tyndale in translating the New Testament, was beginning to take a foremost place among the reformers. He united to humility and gentleness great firmness and courage. While Tyndale's New Testament was crossing the seas, Latimer, Bilney, Stafford, Barnes, and Fryth, arranged for a simultaneous attack upon the corrup- tions of the Church. This was on the Sunday before Christmas, in the year 1525. But the time had not come to favour Zion. The seed of the Word must first be scattered abroad. A society was formed with the object of assembling all who wished to study the Word of God, and the writings of the German reform- REFORMATION WORTHIES — BILNEY AND LATIMER. 85 ers. Thus a pure Scriptural church was formed at Cambridge, outside of the Romish Church. A similar work was going on at Oxford. Wolsey had invited some of the ablest Fellows of Cambridge to teach at Oxford, Fryth among others. They held meetings, like their friends at Cambridge, and formed a society. Thus God was preparing the way for the Scriptures. England was all astir with excitement and expecta- tion, when, in the beginning of 1526, Tyndale's New Testament was landed on our shores. The bishops did all in their power to stamp out this revival of true religion and love of God's Word, and Henry VIII. supported them in their unholy war against the Gospel ; but God had said, " Let there be light," and the victory was sure. God, by His Word and Spirit, was raising up in England a spiritual church, before He broke the fetters that bound her to Rome. He first gave life, and afterwards liberty. But as the teaching of the Lord Jesus had to be sealed by His blood, so was it to be with these holy, devoted men. The scholars of Oxford and Cambridge must receive the crown of martyrdom — the baptism of blood ; for, " except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." Christ in becoming the Saviour of the world had to shed His life's blood, and those who at this time were called to be saviours of their country must do the same. It is thus that men become convinced of the truth and reality of the Gospel. Garret, and Dalaber, and Clark, and Fryth, and many others at Oxford, were thrown into prison, for that which is a monstrous crime in the eyes of the papacy — reading and circulating the Word of God. 86 THE GOSPEL IN GKEAT BRITAIN. The same mercy was meted out to the scholars of Cambridge. Bilney, Latimer, Stafford, Barnes, and their friends were pounced upon ; but most of them had time to conceal the books before the agents of Wolsey arrived, and thus obtained a short breathing time. The pestilent air of the foul dungeon carried off the elegant scholar Clark, and three others, after six months' imprisonment. The rest were liberated, and many of them lived to do good service to the Reformation. But the Sacred Scriptures were placed under the ban. The clergy declared that they " con- tained a pestilent poison." On the 24th October, 1526, the Bishop of London enjoined his archdeacons to seize all copies of the New Testament in English. And the Archbishop of Canterbury issued an injunc- tion against all books containing " any particle of the New Testament." Such was the treatment the words of Christ and the apostles received at the hands of that organisation, which arrogantly claims to be the only true, Christian, and apostolic church. But Rome had a stronger power to fight against than the scholars and doctors of Oxford and Cambridge. God was on their side ; and He would see that His Word should have free course and be glorified. Faster than they could destroy the New Testament, new editions poured in from the Continent. And thus, in defiance of the king and the clergy, the good seed of the Word was disseminated throughout the land. But a more determined effort was to be made to suppress the Word of God. At the meeting of Con- vocation, in November, 1529, the Bible, and a number of books by Tyndale, Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, REFORMATION WORTHIES — BILNEY AND LATIi.. 89 Fryth, and others were proscribed. It was declared, to be unlawful for the laity to read the Bible in their mother-tongue. It was classed among heretical books; and Henry issued a proclamation that no one should keep any heretical book in his house. How, then, can it be said that he was the patron and father of the Reformation who was its persecutor? Before the close of the year 1531, Bilney, Bayfield, and many others, for the single offence of possessing God's Word, by the authority of Henry VIII., cruelly perished at the stake. 86 LECTURE VIII. HENRY VIII. AND THE POPE. " If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing ; . . . they shall be childless." — Lev. xx. 21. S we have already seen, the Reformation in England was brought about through the agency of the Word of God and the Spirit of God, and not through the differences between Henry and the pope. The Reformation sun had risen upon England while Henry VIII. was a zealous champion of Rome and a persecutor of the reformers. The essence of the Reformation was spiritual life, which neither pope nor king could communicate, but the Spirit of God only. Had there not been spiritual life, and had not the supremacy of Christ and the Word of God been established in the hearts of the people, the rupture with Rome might have taken place without any real reformation in life, and doctrine, and ritual. The result would simply have been the transference of the nominal headship of the Church from a worldly-minded pope to a worldly- minded and ambitious king. No one who knows anything of history will give Henry VIII. the credit of being a true reformer, much less " the father " of HENRY VIII. AND THE POPE. 89 the English Reformation. It was simply a coinci- dence that Henry VIII. sat on the throne of England when the reformers and the Romish hierarchy measured swords with each other, — the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, with the authority of the pope. However, Henry's quarrel with the pope is a matter of history ; and although it was not either the cause or the completion of the Reformation, yet it no doubt hastened on the rupture that for ever separated England from Rome. It certainly was a powerful instrumentality in exposing the hollowness and duplicity of the papal court, and in preparing the English people to shake off that religious super- stition which constrained them to reverence and cling to the Church of their fathers, notwithstanding its known departure from the teaching and practice of Christ and the apostles. Our study of the Reforma- tion, therefore, would be incomplete without some reference to the history of that divorce, which exhibits not only the weakness and fickleness of Henry, but also, in a much more marked degree, the intrigues and duplicity of the papal hierarchy. Cardinal Wolsey, mortified by his failure to secure the papal chair, determined to wreak his vengeance on the Emperor Charles V., who had deserted him, and had given his influence to his rival. Accord- ingly, he sets to work to sever the tie that bound the two kingdoms together. " They intrigue to keep me in the second rank," he said. " Very well, I will create such a rupture and confusion as the world has not witnessed for centuries." He had also another 90 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. motive. Catherine of Aragon had chided him for his immorality and vicious life, and he had long meditated revenge. By one fell stroke he will take vengeance on both Catherine and Charles. He will prevail upon Henry to have Catherine divorced, and thus destroy the alliance. The idea of divorcing Catherine of Aragon originated with Wolsey and not with Henry. He boasted of this to the French ambassador. "I planned and instigated the divorce," he said, " to bring about a lasting separation between the houses of England and Burgundy." The most reliable writers of that period, of both parties, agree in making Wolsey the author and instigator of the divorce. It is affirmed by Cardinal Pole, Tyndale, Sanders, Pallavicini, Roper, and others. Henry before his marriage declined to be bound by an engagement made by his father during his minority. His conscience revolted. It was against the law of the Church, and, as he believed, against the law of God. He had read in the New Testament that John the Baptist had told Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his brother's wife. And Catherine of Aragon had been married to Arthur, Henry's elder brother, now deceased. On the death of Prince Arthur, Henry VII., anxious to retain Catherine's large dowry, and to secure against her marrying any rival, proposed that she should be betrothed to his second son, Henry, who was now proclaimed heir of the kingdom. It was against the law of the Church ; and the Archbishop of Canterbury declared against the proposal. The Bishop of Winchester, however, HENRY VIII. AND THE POPE. 91 suggested that a dispensation from the pope might be obtained. So Pope Julius II, in December, 1503, granted a dispensation permitting the marriage, " for the sake of preserving union between the Catholic princes." Henry and Catherine were betrothed, but not married, he being only in his thirteenth year. The nation complained, and declared that no dispensation of the pope could make legal that which the law of God prohibited. Henry VII shortly after took seriously ill, and the dread messenger, death, bore off his queen. He looked upon these visitations as judgments from heaven, on account of the violation of the divine law. Young Henry, on the day before he attained his majority, 27th June, 1505, formally protested against the engagement, and declared that he could not entertain the thought of marrying Catherine without violating his conscience. In his younger days Henry was conscientious and generous, although in after years he became unfeeling and cruel. On ascending the throne on the death of his father, four years afterwards, he still adhered to his previous decision. Bishops and councillors, however, prevailed over his scruples. They had two powerful arguments, First, if she should marry a rival, and take with her the Spanish Alliance and her marriage dowry, the crown of England might soon be removed from his head. Secondly, would he be more scrupulous than his holiness the pope, who had granted a dispensation ? Henry yielded, and the marriage was celebrated on the 11th of June, 1509. Seventeen years have passed away, and the king and his queen lived on the happiest terms with each 92 THE GOSPEL IN GEE AT BRITAIN. other. Erasmus, so frequently the guest of Henry during these years, repeatedly speaks of their home-life as a pattern of domestic virtue and happiness. And Wolsey, for the sole purpose of taking vengeance on Charles, now steps in to create a breach and secure a separation. It was the passion of Cardinal Wolsey for power, and not the passion of Henry for Anne Boleyn, that was the prime factor in the proceedings that culminated in the divorce of Catherine. Events had happened which paved the way for Wolsey's daring proposal. Henry had no son, and all of his children had died in infancy except Mary, who afterwards came to the throne, and is known by the unenviable sobriquet of " Bloody Mary." The queen was inconsolable on account of the death of her child- ren. She would rise at midnight and kneel upon the cold stones to implore the Divine mercy. Henry saw in the death of his children a manifest mark of God's displeasure. Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, had never admitted the validity of the marriage. Now Longland, the king's chaplain and confessor, declared against it. Now is Wolsey's time. He waits upon the king, reminds him of his former scruples — " The holiness of your life, the salvation of your soul, and the legitimacy of your children are in peril." " Good father," replied the king, " consider well the weight of the stone you would attempt to remove. The queen is a woman of such exemplary life that I can have no just motive to desire a separation." The determined Wolsey, nothing daunted, returns in three days in company with the Bishop of Lincoln. They implore the king to submit the matter to com- HENRY VIII. AND THE POPE. 93 petent judges. Henry yielded, and appointed Fox, one of his chaplains, Pace, Dean of St. Paul's, and Wakefield, an Oxford professor, to study the Levitical law on the subject. Three of the most distiDguished bishops of the realm united in declaring his marriage unlawful. His favourite author, Thomas Aquinas, did the same. Henry read for himself in Leviticus xx. 21, " If a man shall take his brother's wife it is an unclean thing ; . . . they shall be childless," and was greatly alarmed, as he had no heir. Such were the influences brought to bear upon Henry, and, to quote his own words, his mind was agitated with horror and alarm, and he gave way to melancholy. These events preceded by a considerable period Henry's passion for Anne Boleyn. In fact, during these preliminary negotiations she was not at Henry's court, not even in England. The Roman Catholic Church has persistently charged Henry with all manner of unworthy motives in seeking to divorce Catherine, whereas the blame has to be laid at the door of the Church itself. Cardinal Wolsey conceived the idea, persistently pressed Henry to entertain it, prevailed upon him to appeal to learned doctors and Scripture for guidance in the matter, con- vinced him that his marriage with his brother's wife was contrary to the law of God, and that his soul's salvation depended upon a separation; and further, that God was displeased with him, and smote down his infant children that he might have no heir from this unholy union. Henry's passion for Anne Boleyn was subsequent to all this. The dignitaries of the Church declared his marriage illegal ; the necessary 94 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. steps for securing a separation were being taken. The pope, Clement VII., had promised to grant a decretal sanctioning the divorce, but, through fear of Charles V., Catherine's nephew, he contrived to put off the evil day, as he regarded it, as long as possible. Wolsey also in August, 1527, sought for Henry the hand of the Princess Renee, daughter of Louis XII. of France. This was more than a year after Wolsey had prevailed upon Henry that a separation must take place between him and Catherine. So far, therefore, as Henry was concerned, the order of the motives for a separation were, first, conscientious scruples, enter- tained long before his first marriage, which were first removed by the dignitaries of the Church and the dispensation of the pope to further their own ends, and afterwards revived for the same purpose ; secondly, desire for an heir to secure the safety of the kingdom, and the permanency of the throne ; and lastly, but not until the divorce was promised by the pope, his love for Anne Boleyn. Injustice to Anne Boleyn, it must be said that it was not until the pope had granted the decree for the divorce — although he recalled it before it reached England — that she could be persuaded to become queen of England. It was only when she saw the Church prepared to pronounce the divorce, that she allowed herself to entertain the thought of becoming Henry's wife. Therefore, for whatever stain these tragical occurrences have left upon the throne of England the Roman Catholic Church is primarily responsible. Except for the Church, Henry never would have married his brother's wife ; and except for the Church he would never have divorced her. HENRY VIII. AND THE POPE. 95 The pope's nuncio arrived in England, bringing with him the decretal pronouncing the divorce, but with positive instructions to keep it secret, and in no case to let it out of his own hands. Campeggio sought first to prevail upon Catherine to enter a nunnery. This plot failed. Then he endeavoured to persuade the king to abandon the idea of the divorce. Then, when the king charged the pope with duplicity and false dealing, the nuncio read to him the decretal of the pope pronouncing the divorce, and showed it to him, without, however, letting it out of his hands. " Craft and delay " were the nuncio's orders. The pope wished to gain time to see how it would fare with the Emperor Charles. If Charles was defeated the pope would side with Henry ; but if the armies of Charles were successful the pope would not dare to oppose his will. It was not a matter of religion or of right with the pope ; the motives that regulated his action were purely political. The king and the nation were now convinced that the pope had been acting a double part, and the trick filled the king with utter disgust. The pope was no longer a spiritual ruler, but a crafty, designing poli- tician ; and as such he must be dealt with. Wolsey cherished an undying hatred against the Boleyns, and knowing also that Anne had imbibed the doctrines of the reformers, he, during the later stages of the case, privately advised the pope to withhold the decree of divorce, while in England he advocated it. The reason given to the pope for his change of opinion was that " if Henry was divorced from Catherine a friend of the reformers would become 96 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. queen of England." Wolsey's letter to the pope was laid before the king ; and from that day Wolsey's fate was sealed, and all England was disgusted with the treachery and perfidy of Rome. Nearly all the bishops, the peers, and the councillors were in favour of the separation, declaring that the marriage was illegal, seeing that the law of God could not be set aside by the dispensation previously obtained from Julius II. And yet a spiteful cardinal who first suggested the separation in order to have vengeance on Charles for refusing to assist him in his candi- dature for the papal chair, now seeks to prevent it in order to strike a blow at the Boleyns and reformers. Such is Rome — crafty, designing, perfidious, seeking only power over men, and caring nothing for truth, and honour, and righteousness. Wolsey, having lost the king's favour, foresaw his own speedy fall. So he professed to have become tired of managing the affairs of State, and with a false show of piety and humility, he professed a desire to return to his Episcopal duties in the diocese of York. False at heart, full of craft and cunning, possessing marvellous ability and consummate tact for carrying out his sinister designs, inflated with pride and ambition, he was feared and hated by all the king's councillors, and his exposure and fall were hailed with rapturous delight. Eventually arrested for high treason in conspiring to hand over England to the pope, before his trial came off he died on 29 th November, 1530. Shortly before his death, address- ing the governor of the Tower, he passed his own verdict upon his life and its deserts : " Master Kingston, HENRY VIII. AND THE POPE. 97 if I had served my God as diligently as I have served the king, He would not have thus forsaken me in my grey hairs ; " and then, conscience reigning supreme, as he stood upon the verge of eternity, he added, " but this is my just reward." Such was the terrible end of the highest dignitary of the Romish Church in England. His fall was the presage of the fall of Rome and the rise of the Reformation. No sooner have the king and nation got rid of the perfidious Wolsey, than a new star is announced. This was Thomas Cranmer, a Cambridge doctor. He had for several years made the Scriptures his special study. At forty years of age he was doctor of divinity, university preacher, and examiner of candidates for holy orders. He was accustomed to direct the candi- dates for the ministry to study the Scriptures, and to accept them as their only rule of faith. Henry's secretary and chaplain, having met him at a friend's house, asked his opinion about the divorce. He had been recently appointed on the commission to investi- gate the matter from the standpoint of Scripture. His answer was clear and unambiguous, — " The question is, What says the Word of God ? If God has declared such a marriage bad, the pope has no power to pro- nounce it good. When God has spoken, man is bound to obey. The Word of God is superior to the Church and the pope." The secretary informed the king that Dr. Cranmer maintained that the Bible should be the sole authority to decide the matter. Cranmer, who shrank from publicity, was a gentle and timid man, but frank, and candid, and honourable. When asked to appear before the king, he pleaded to be excused. H 98 THE GOSPEL IN GEE AT BRITAIN. However, the king had him brought into his presence, and commissioned him to employ all his skill and learning in investigating the subject, adding, " All I wish to know is, whether or not my marriage is contrary to the law of God." The king commanded Anne Boleyn's father to take Cranmer to his house until he had completed his report. Thus Cranmer, who was destined to do so much for the Reformation in after days, was, in God's good providence, brought into close contact with Anne Boleyn, who was soon to be queen of England, a friend of the reformers, and the mother of good Queen Elizabeth, who confirmed and consolidated the Protestant Church of the Refor- mation. Anne Boleyn had already been taught to love the Word of God, by Margaret of Valois. She had also read with pleasure and profit Tyndale's book, " The Obedience of a Christian Man," and had com- mended it to the king, who read it with great interest. Cranmer lost no opportunity in instructing Anne Boleyn in the precious truths of the Gospel, and the good seed of the Word was soon to bring forth a rich harvest of fruit. Thus, at every point and turn in the path that led to the glorious Reformation, we see the Word of God made prominent. The work was not man's, but God's. Thomas Cromwell, a man of great courage and capacity, also did signal service in convincing the king of the necessity of breaking with Rome. On being presented to the king, he said, " The pope refuses your request. But why do you ask his consent? Ought an Italian bishop to share your power, and place himself above the king of England ? The pope's HENRY VIII. AND THE POPE. 99 bishops and cardinals make oath to your majesty, and then make another oath to the pope absolving them from their oath to you. Sir, you are but half a king, and we are but half your subjects. Throw off the yoke of Rome, like Frederick and other German princes. Become once more a king, and govern your kingdom by the advice of your Lords and Commons. . . . Now is the moment to act. Put confidence in your Parliament. Proclaim yourself the head of the Church in England. Then shall your glory be increased, and the prosperity of your people be insured." This speech greatly impressed the king. The independence and prosperity of the monarchy were in jeopardy. Cromwell drew from his pocket a copy of the oath the bishops make to the pope, and presented it to the king. From that moment Henry determined to treat the pope as an ambitious and designing despot, for daring to claim superior power to him even in his own kingdom. England from that day was virtually set free from the shackles of popery, by which she had been bound for centuries. This was on 2nd November, 1529. Parliament had not assembled for seven years, Wolsey having administered the affairs of State. The reform of the Church brought with it the reform of the State, and established the rights of the people ; for Henry, having cast off Wolsey, felt the necessity of consulting parliament on the important steps that he was about to take. Thus civil and religious liberty went hand in hand. So soon as the power of Rome was broken, the people began to enjoy their rights. LECTURE IX. THE FINAL BREACH WITH ROME. ' ' Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habita- tion of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird." — Rev. xviii. 2. ^OWHERE in Christendom were the many phases of the struggle between the reformed religion and the papacy so fully m manifested as in Great Britain. In Germany, Switzerland, Holland. Italy, and France the Word of God and spiritual life had taken the place of papal bulls and empty ceremonies, but the personal struggle with the pope was in a great measure reserved for England. To superficial observers the contest between the court of England and the court of Rome may seem to have been to a large extent simply persooal and political, but the profound and reverent student of history can see great spiritual issues as the consequence of this protracted struggle. The Word of God faithfully preached and diligently read, had accomplished great things at the universities and among the common people ; but the king and his councillors and the nobles were to be reached by other methods. Custom and antiquity have a greater hold 100 THE FINAL BKEACH WITH ROME. 101 upon the aristocracy than upon the common people. They require the stern logic of facts to convince them of the necessity of change. A contest with the pope was necessary to bring out in bold relief the craft and duplicity of the weak, erring mortal who claimed to be lord of the conscience, the head of the Church, and the vicar of Christ on earth. All kings and potentates were required to bow to his infallible will on the peril of their soul's salvation, and for the security of their throne. To destroy this superstitious reverence for the pope, he must be exhibited before the eyes of kings and princes in his true light, as a mocker and deceiver, and a monster of iniquity. Worldly-minded kings paid no attention to the inner life of the papacy under ordinary circumstances ; and, ignorant of the corruptions of Rome, they could not be persuaded to join in any movement for the reformation and regen- eration of the Church. But, now that the time to favour Zion has come, God, in His providence, will compel Henry VIII. to study the papacy, that he may see for himself the rottenness of that system which the reformers were labouring to uproot and destroy. To prepare the king for setting himself free from the coils of the serpent that had charmed him and others by its cunning, he must first be bitten by that serpent and feel the force of its fangs. The divorce, therefore, was not important in itself. It was important only as it prolonged and intensified a contest which so exposed the hollowness and false- ness of the Romish hierarchy, that the English king and the English people were convinced that the pope had no claim to be regarded as the vicar of Christ, 102 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. and the head of the Church, and the dispenser of salvation. The negotiations for the divorce proved to be the best possible means of holding up before Henry's eyes the intrigues of the Roman court, until he was convinced that the pope, who claimed to be superior to kings, was weaker morally than the weakest of men. But the divorce was not the cause of the Reformation. It simply kept the king's gaze fixed upon the corruptions of Rome until his super- stitious regard for ancient customs was overcome — until he saw that the pretensions of Rome were an innovation upon the ancient rights of English kings. Nor was this all. These negotiations were the means of directing Henry to the Word of God. Baffled by the pope, he was pleased to find the Word of God pointing in the same direction as his own desires. Previously he had placed the word of the pope above the Word of God, like a good Catholic. Now the pope's authority is brought down, and the Word of God gets its rightful place. Thomas Crom- well taught the king to respect himself and no longer bow to the authority of the pope. Thomas Cranmer taught him to respect the Word of God, and take it as the only rule of faith and practice. Thus these two noble men broke both arms of the papacy at a single blow ; and the king and his kingdom were delivered from the strong arm that had so long held them in bondage. Dr. Cranmer said, " Let the Word of God settle the king's matter." But who shall interpret the Word of God? "The universities," was Cranmer's reply. " Let the matter be laid before the professors ' THE FINAL BKEACH WITH HOME. 103 of divinity." Now the pope is to keep silence and the Word of God is to speak. See what a mighty principle was here laid down ! Previously the final appeal was to the pope. JSTow there is an appeal from the pope to the Word of God. God's Word is to have free course and be glorified. The much- neglected Scriptures are to be restored to their rightful place. The king and his councillors are prepared by current events to have the laws of God set up in the realm instead of the laws of the pope. An unenlightened piety may see nothing but personal and political motives in all this controversy ; but the well-instructed Christian will see God's guiding hand at every point in the proceedings, and be led to adore the wisdom and power that can make even the intrigues and dark designs of men a means of carrying out His all- wise and gracious purposes. The papacy for centuries had oppressed the con- sciences of Christians, and had denied them the right of interpreting the law of God for themselves. But this appeal from the pope to the law of God virtually declared that hereafter the authority of the pope must bow before Scripture interpreted by an enlight- ened conscience. The reformers claimed that Christ should be recognised as the Head of the Church, and the Scriptures set up as the laws of the Church ; and a great point was gained when Henry and his council threw off the authority of Rome. It was a step in the right direction. The fetters that enslaved the conscience were thereby snapped asunder. The further steps necessary to complete the work of reformation were to have men's consciences enlightened by the 104 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. Word of God, and their hearts regenerated by the Spirit of God. Henry and his council, to their great commenda- tion, go deliberately to work. The matter of the legality of the king's marriage with his brother's wife is submitted to the universities, with the injunction that the king sought to know only the mind of God as revealed in His Holy Word. The universities were unanimous in declaring the marriage contrary to the law of God. In this they agreed with the teach- ing of the Church in all ages. And still, as if to guard against any undue haste in a matter of such moment, a deputation, consisting of Dr. Cranmer, Dr. Bennet, Dr. Stokesley, Bishop of London, the Earl of Wiltshire, and other scholars, was sent to the pope to argue the matter before him from the standpoint of Scripture. A day was appointed for the disputation, but no one appeared to oppose the English deputies, their case being thus admitted to be unassailable. Dr. Cranmer also appeared before the Emperor Charles to debate the matter, and with a similar result. On all hands the case is admitted. Henry is pronounced by all the scholars of Europe to have contracted an illegal marriage, against which he himself had pro- tested when he attained his majority. The pope persistently refuses to liberate him, through fear of the emperor. Therefore, what is to be done ? There is nothing else for it but to ignore the pope, and follow the Word of God as interpreted by learned men and the consent of the Universal Church. During these events, Warham, Archbishop of Can- terbury, who had never consented to the marriage, THE FINAL BREACH WITH ROME. 105 died ; and on his return Cranmer was appointed to the see of Canterbury. For five years the king's case had " dragged its slow length along." The pope had temporized all this time. By promises which he never intended to fulfil he sought to conciliate Henry and gain time. When pressed, he signed a decree sanctioning the divorce, and then issued instructions to his nuncio, charging him under no circumstances to give effect to the decree. Henry even submitted to the indignity of being summoned before the pope's tribunal, consisting of two of his own subjects, for a decision of the case, only to be mocked ; and, after repeated adjournments, to have the case postponed indefinitely. The patience of the nation became exhausted before the patience of the king, and both Parliament and people called upon Henry to ignore the pope, to deny his supremacy and his right to control the affairs of the kingdom, and to entrust the whole matter to his bishops and Parliament. Henry yielded. Arch- bishop Cranmer pronounced the decree of divorce in 1532. Parliament assembled, and declared the king to be the head of the Church, and "by the whole consent of the House of Parliament, the pope's supremacy was utterly abolished out of this realm of England for ever;" and all were commanded to call him u pope" no more, but " bishop of Rome." Thus ended the supremacy of the pope in England. But that was not the Reformation, although it was an important step towards it, by removing a mighty barrier out of the way. To depose the pope and set up a Catholic king as head of the Church, was not a 106 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. reformation in itself, but only a change. A truly reformed and Scriptural church must acknowledge only Christ as its Head, and the Word of God as the only rule of faith and life. Henry, however, was still a Catholic in doctrine and in ritual. He had obtained the title of " Defender of the Faith " by writing a book against the doctrines of Luther; and as the reformers in England held the principal doctrines of Luther, having found them in the Bible where Luther found them, Henry had no sympathy with them, and even permitted and sanctioned severe persecutions against them. And although he had rejected the supremacy of the pope, he was not prepared to recog- nise the supremacy of Christ and the sole authority of the Scriptures. The great task of reforming the numerous abuses in the Church was begun by Parliament, and not by the king ; but was completed by the Word of God, and sealed by the blood of the martyrs. The Parliament of 1529, sometimes referred to as the first Protestant Parliament in England, made a bold step towards reformation. They manfully attacked the avaricious practices of the clergy — their fines and fees — without touching upon doctrine. The stand taken by Parliament compelled the bishops in self-defence to hold a Convocation of the province of Canterbury, in order to reform the most scandalous abuses, especially in the lives of the clergy. On 12 th November it was decreed that the priests should be forbidden to keep shops or taverns, play at dice, pass the night in houses of evil repute, or go about with sporting dogs and birds of prey, and other THE FINAL BREACH WITH ROME. 107 unmentionable vices. These stringent laws were passed by Convocation, being rendered necessary by the scandalous lives of the clergy. The need of reform was recognised on all hands. It was thought possible to reform the Romish Church in the land. However, it was eventually discovered that the only possible reformation was to reform it off the land, and set up a Scriptural Church in its place. But this work was reserved for another than Henry VIII. The Bible was still a proscribed book. Latimer and others pleaded for the free circulation of the Scriptures among the people in English. Henry replied that the teaching of the priests was quite enough for the people, adding that " he would con- sider the question of giving the Bible to his subjects when they renounced the arrogant pretention of interpreting it according to their own fancies." For the single offence of possessing and circulating the Scriptures in English, Bilney, Bayfield, Bainham, Tewkesbury, John Fryth, Andrew Hewet, Thomas Bennet, and many others, perished in the fires of Smithfield from 15 31 to 1534. In 1536, William Tyndale, the translator of the Scriptures, and in 1538 John Lambert, a distinguished scholar, also sealed their testimony with their blood. Thus while Henry was resisting the pope with the one hand, he was smiting down the Reformation worthies with the other. The most active preachers were compelled to seek refuge in a foreign land, while many were thrown into prison. Cranmer and Latimer and others, who were in high favour with the king, saved themselves by a studied moderation. 108 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. In 1540, seven years after his divorce from Rome, Henry summoned a Parliament, also a synod of all the archbishops, bishops, and learned doctors, to discuss certain matters touching religion in the realm. Certain resolutions, known as the Six Articles, were adopted and decreed by this Convocation, and were approved by the king. The first article set forth the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation without any modification. " The natural body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, as conceived by the Virgin Mary," was declared to be truly present under the form of bread and wine ; and that after consecration there remained no substance of bread and wine, but the substance of Christ, God and man. The second article declared that communion in both kinds was not necessary — that is, the cup would still be withheld from the laity. The third article declared that priests, after taking orders, might not marry by the law of God. The fourth article set forth the Roman vows of chastity and widowhood. The fifth article acknowledged private masses for the dead as agreeable to God's law. The sixth article enjoined auricular confession as expedient and necessary, and that it ought to be retained and continued in the Church of God. It is clear, therefore, that although the Church in England had been cut adrift from the pope, it was still at sea so far as sound doctrine was concerned. Archbishop Cranmer was the only one in the Assembly that opposed these articles. The rest, knowing the THE FINAL BREACH WITH ROME. 109 king's pleasure, lacked courage to oppose his will. Thus the articles were passed ; and all subjects, under pain of death by burning and forfeiture of all their goods and estates, were enjoined to observe them, and in no way, by word or writing, to publish any contrary opinion. During the four years that Anne Boleyn was queen of England, her love for the reformed doctrine may have restrained the king. But after she was beheaded in 1536, and especially after the Six Articles became law in 1540, persecution raged. The first step in the reformation and transformation of England was originated by Thomas Cromwell, and carried out by Parliament, in declaring against the supremacy of the pope. The second step was suggested by Cranmer, in setting up the supreme authority of Scripture. But a third step had yet to be taken. There must be not only reformation, but regeneration. There must be spiritual life. This is the final step ; and, alas ! it has to be taken in blood. The true representatives of the Reformation are to be found in the martyrs, who recognised Christ as the only Head of the Church, and yielded up their lives at the stake, crying, " None but Christ, none but Christ." As the negotiations with the pope had disgusted the nation with the papacy, so the cruel deaths of so many godly men, and their sweet forgiving spirit and triumph in the flames, disgusted the people with persecution ; and they became convinced of the power and preciousness of God's Word and Spirit. Henry VIII. was in no sense the father of the Reformed Protestant Church in England. He lived and died in the Catholic faith, although he disowned 110 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. the pope's authority. At his death he left £600 a year to the Church of Windsor, for the priests to say masses every day for his soul. Had he embraced the true doctrine of the Reformation, it would have reformed and regenerated him, as it reformed and regenerated the Church after his death ; and history would never have had to record that a king of England had fallen so low, and had become so brutal, as to behead two wives, and put aside another, and marry a fourth, in the short space of six years. In 1541, Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, a ferocious tyrant, prevailed upon the king, by wicked counsel, to institute a persecution under the Six Articles recently passed into law. So great was the number arrested for professing Christ's Gospel and possessing the Scrip- tures, that all the prisons in London were too small to contain them. John Porter, for the simple offence of reading aloud from the Bible in St. Paul's, placed there by the order of Bonner, the Bishop of London, with the consent of the king, was sent to Newgate, heavily fettered with irons, and fastened to the wall of the dungeon by a collar of iron around his neck. He was so inhumanly treated that he died in a few days. Anthony Pearson was burned in 1543 for preaching against the sacrifice of the mass. Dr. Haynes was arrested for preaching against holy bread and holy water. Even Cromwell, who had been of such immense service to the king and the nation, but who was in cordial sympathy with the reformers, was beheaded in July, 1541. The Parliament of 1544 revised and modified the Six Articles, but still persecution raged all the THE FINAL BREACH WITH ROME. Ill days of Henry VIII. Within a few months of his death, in June, 1546, Anne Askew and four others sealed their testimony with their blood in the fires of Smithfield. Anne Askew was a noble lady of culture and refinement. She refused to believe that private masses relieved or benefited the souls of the departed, and taught the Scriptures to those about her; and because she did this she must die. On the day of her execution she was brought to Smithfield, and was bound with a chain to the stake, in company with others. With great Christian constancy she triumphed in the flames, and exhorted her companions to be steadfast to the end. In January, 1547, Henry VIII. died, and the Church had rest for a time, during the reign of his son, Edward VI. Henry left behind him three children — Mary, by Catherine of Aragon ; Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn ; and Edward, by Lady Jane Seymour. He was survived by his sixth wife, Catherine Parr. LECTURE X. EDWARD VI. AND THE REFORMATION. " See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." — Heb. viii. 5, N the death of Henry VIII., his only son, Edward VI., ascended the throne before he was ten years of age, in January, 1547. He was a most accomplished and pious prince, and was thoroughly in sympathy with the reformers. During Edward's minority the Duke of Somerset, who also belonged to the Protestant and reforming party, was appointed protector of the king- dom. Now a golden era for the Church is about to be inaugurated, although in a short time the good work is to be interrupted by terrible trials and bitter per- secution. The young king was early imbued with a profound reverence for the Word of God. On one occasion he showed marked displeasure with a person who stood upon a Bible in order to reach something on a shelf. His piety was deep and sincere, and far removed from superstition. He was endowed with brilliant gifts, and made most astonishing progress in learning. At eight years of age he wrote Latin letters to the king, and Queen Catherine Parr, and to the 112 EDWARD VI. AND THE REFORMATION. 113 Archbishop of Canterbury. Great hopes were enter- tained of him, and had not his life been cut short, he would have left behind him a splendid momument in a thoroughly reformed and Scriptural Church, built upon the apostles and prophets, Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone. As it was, his reign was fraught with untold blessing to the Church and nation. Archbishop Cranmer, now set free from, the imperious will of Henry, zealously undertook the work of reformation. Although cordially supported by the king, the protector, and the council, the task proved to be a most formidable one. Many of the bishops and most of the clergy, who were very ignorant, had a strong leaning towards the old religion with its super- stitious rites and ceremonies. It has always been true of the Roman Catholic Church that " ignorance is the mother of devotion." So soon as men become enlightened, and have courage to think for them- selves, they soon part company with the meaningless and superstitious ceremonies of Rome. But where there is ignorance there will be a clinging to the old forms of worship, and perfect contentment with corrupt and unscriptural doctrine. Cranmer and the reformers had to contend with this ignorance. The inferior clergy were totally unfit for instructing and preaching to the people. Hence they deprecated a change for which they were not qualified. This evil was intensi- fied and perpetuated by the action of Henry VIII. When he suppressed the monasteries, he granted to the monks pensions for life. These pensions eventually took the form of benefices in the gift of the crown. Thus it came to pass that a great majority of the I 114 THE GOSPEL IN GEE AT BRITAIN. livings were held by ignorant and dissolute monks, who were totally unfit for conducting a reformed service, and who were also too indolent to qualify them- selves for the new state of things. Although personally their living was of more account to them than their religion, still at heart they resisted the change brought about by the Reformation. Cranmer at once sought to remedy this evil. With the consent of the council he placed in the chairs of divinity in the universities learned Protestant divines from Germany. This wise and timely measure soon secured a plentiful supply of earnest and capable young preachers. In the meantime, however, it was found necessary to send out a number of itinerant preachers to those districts and churches whose clergy were most ignorant and superstitious. In order to enable the clergy to instruct the people in the fundamental truths of the Gospel, a book of homilies was drawn up and appointed to be read by the clergy. Prominence was given in these homilies to the Gospel plan of salvation through simple faith in the finished work of Christ ; and the people were enjoined to lead godly lives according to the rules laid down in the Word of God. Erasmus' New Testament was translated into English, and ordered to be set up in every church. The council possessed plenary powers during Edward's minority, and they determined to reform abuses and set up a purer and simpler wor- ship. Cranmer resolved to proceed by degrees, and to give reasons for every change, in order, as he hoped, to prevent opposition. Several of the bishops — Bonner of London, Gardiner of Winchester, and EDWARD VI. AND THE REFORMATION. 115 Tonstal of Durham — were opposed to all change ; but Cranmer had the young king, the protector, Ridley, Bishop of Rochester, and Latimer on his side. A general visitation of all the dioceses in the king- dom was resolved upon, in order to ascertain the true state of religion and the needs of the people, as well as the fitness of the clergy for their duties. The great hindrance to the spread of the Gospel was found to be the want of capable preachers. The Reformation was, for this reason, making slow progress in many parts of the country, especially where ignorant and fanatical priests inveighed against the new order of things. The injunctions made by Lord Cromwell in Henry's time, but never enforced, were re-enacted. Images were to be removed from the churches, and all customs abused to superstition were to be abolished. The Scriptures were to be read and the litany said in English. The clergy were enjoined to preach sermons for the instruc- tion of the people, to catechise, to visit the sick, and to lead exemplary lives. The Lord's Day was to be strictly observed, and wholly spent in the worship and service of God, in the duties of religion, or in deeds of charity, instead of spending the day, after attending mass in the morning, in pleasure, and gambling, and drunkenness, as was the general custom. The bishops were enjoined to ordain to the office of the ministry only such as were duly qualified to preach. In Henry's time, the prayers for the dead implied a purgatory, now the prayer for departed souls asked only for the consummation of their happiness at the last day, — thus dealing a death-blow to purgatory. The visitation was proceeded with as rapidly as 116 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. possible, and everywhere images were removed and superstitious practices and ceremonies were abolished. Bonner protested and refused to conform, but after- wards yielded to the authority of the council. Gardiner refused to receive the Book of Homilies, because it taught that the sacraments and rites of the Church did not justify, but the merits of Christ alone, received and appropriated by personal faith on the part of the recipient. Parliament repealed the Six Articles, and the Acts of previous reigns against the Lollards. It was made a punishable offence to deny the supremacy of the king, or to assert the supremacy of the pope. It was ordained that, in the Lord's Supper, the laity should receive the cup as well as the bread, and that the people should always communicate with the priest. Thus private masses were abolished. A great abuse had gradually crept into the Church. Persons who did not attend the Sacrament of the Supper were enjoined to give their offerings, and were led to believe that the priests received it in their stead. This practice gave rise to masses for the dead on the pay- ment of certain sums of money. All of these abuses were now swept away. In February, 1549, an Act was passed permitting the clergy to marry — a privilege denied to priests since the eleventh century. Gregory the Great, in endeavouring to found a new ecclesiastical empire, judged that unmarried men would be his best servants, as the married clergy in his time had to take an oath of allegiance to the State. Hence celibacy was imposed upon the clergy. Cranmer procured an order of council which prohibited carrying candles on EDWARD VI. AND THE REFORMATION. 117 Candlemas Day, ashes on Ash Wednesday, and palms on Palm Sunday. Cranmer and Ridley, in the year 1549, compiled the liturgy, and three years later drew up forty-two Articles of Belief. On the basis of these, the Convo- cation of London in 1562 adopted thirty-nine Articles as a Confession of Faith, and a liturgical directory for the English Church. Both were combined under the title of the Book of Common Prayer, and were incor- porated in the Statutes as a part of the laws of the realm during the reign of Elizabeth in 1571. The reform in ritual was not so thorough in England as in other countries. A copious ceremonial was retained. Kneeling at the sacrament was allowed to continue, although a rubric was added guarding against the idea that the adoration of the host was signified by the act. The liturgy was intended to be a medium between the pomp of Roman Catholicism and a plain Scriptural simplicity, as a kind of compromise between the two extreme parties in the Church. For the same reason, Episcopacy and Apostolical Succession were retained, although they had no sanction from Scripture. In order to gain the clergy and the people, it was resolved to retain all forms and practices that had not been abused to superstition and idolatry. Not the least important of the reforms was the enactment that the whole service should be conducted in the language of the people, and in a distinct and audible voice. Altars were removed from the churches. Auricular confession and priestly absolution were abolished. The sign of the cross in baptism, and in the consecration of the sacramental elements, was retained, although 118 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. the elevation and adoration of the host were forbidden. The elevation of the host — that is, the lifting up the communion elements in the presence of the people that they might adore them as being very God — was originally introduced into the service to set forth the lifting up of Christ on the cross ; but the practice gradually led to the adoration of the wafer. This idolatrous act was therefore prohibited. The reform in the communion service was brought about principally through the influence and firmness of the distinguished Scottish Reformer, John Knox. He was at this time resident in England, and one of the king's chaplains. He was in high favour with the king and Archbishop Cranmer, and was offered a bishopric. This honour, however, he courteously but firmly declined, for two reasons — first, because the episcopal office had no sanction in Scripture; and, secondly, he could not conscientiously conform to the liturgy, as some of the superstitious ceremonies had been retained, such as the sign of the cross and anointing in baptism and confirmation, kneeling at the sacrament, and genuflexions. He also claimed that ministers ought to have authority to exclude the unworthy and profane from the Lord's table. As king's chaplain and itinerant preacher, he was not bound to conform to the entire liturgy. Absolute conformity was not pressed upon ministers in the time of Edward. The liturgy was intended, like the Book of Homilies, as a help merely to the less capable of the clergy, who had not the gift of free prayer and preaching. Strict conformity was not insisted upon until the time of Elizabeth. Hence, Knox was free EDWARD VI. AND THE REFORMATION. 119 to exercise his gifts in preaching, and his influence in reforming the service and creed of the Church. The Church of the Reformation in England owes much more to the wisdom and firmness and courage of Knox than modern Churchmen are willing to concede. In the year 1551, he was consulted by Cranmer and Ridley in the revision of the Book of Common Prayer. The English reformers did not think it expedient to go the whole length of reducing the service to the simplicity of the Scriptural model, as Knox desired, fearing the opposition such a coarse might evoke among those who had been accustomed to a gorgeous ritual. However, Knox's influence secured the abolition of the sacrifice of the mass, the corporal presence of Christ in the sacrament, the eleva- tion and adoration of the host, and the use of the wafer. In his tract entitled " An Admonition to the Professors of the Truth in England," he refers to these reforms with evident satisfaction. He says, " God gave boldness and knowledge to the Court of Parliament to take away the round-clipped god, wherein standeth all the holiness of the papists, and to command common bread to be used at the Lord's table ; and also to take away the most part of superstitions (kneeling at the Lord's table excepted), which formerly profaned Christ's true religion." The papists among the clergy were greatly offended by these reforms, and attributed them to the influence of Knox. Dr. Weston, during the reign of Queen Mary, less than five years after the revision, in his disputation with Latimer, publicly attributed these reforms to the influence of Knox. His words are : " A runagate Scot did take away the 120 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. adoration or worshipping of Christ in the sacrament, by whose procurement that heresy was put into the last communion book ; so much prevailed that one man's authority at that time." Weston was a rank papist, and, of course, regarded the reform as heresy. In October, 1552, Knox and the rest of the king's chaplains were directed to consider and revise the Forty-two Articles, drawn up by Cranmer, and report to the king. These Articles of Faith were approved by Parliament the same year. In the final revision of the Prayer-book, the opinion of Calvin was obtained, which concurred with the counsel of Knox and Bucer regarding the holy oil used in anointing at baptism, confirmation, and ordination, so that it was discon- tinued. The use of the cross in consecrating the communion elements was also dispensed with. Prayers for the dead, and those expressions that seemed to favour the doctrine of transubstantiation, were struck out ; and the Book of Common Prayer, substantially as it is at the present time, was ratified by Parliament in 1552. In the communion service prepared in 1548, the words prescribed to be pronounced by the ministers were, "The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul into ever- lasting life," and " The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul into everlasting life." In the revised service in 1552, this was changed so as to avoid the use of language that might be construed to teach the real bodily presence. The words to be used by the minister were, " Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ EDWARD VI. AND THE REFORMATION. 121 died fpr thee, and feed on Him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving, — Drink this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for thee, and be thankful." These words set forth the true import of the ordinance as a loving commemoration of the Saviour's death, bearing out His own words, " This do in remembrance of Me." However, on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, who was not such a thorough reformer as Edward, the words of the old service were prefixed to the new — another attempt at compromise which pleased neither Catholics nor Protestants. This change sadly marred the service by introducing contradictory sentiments, one portion favouring the Roman Catholic dogma of transubstantiation, the other setting forth the true Scriptural doctrine advocated by the reformers. The strong popish party that existed in England made the Reformation of the Church a very difficult and delicate matter for the reformers. In their excessive desire to conciliate and win over the Catholic party, they thought it expedient to refrain from carrying out their own convictions in all matters of government, and doctrine, and worship. The leading reformers were opposed to vestments and all ritualistic ceremonies. Cranmer and his associates were not satisfied even with the last revision of the Prayer-book. He drew up another which was declared to be " an hundred times more perfect," but before it could be adopted the young king was called away, and the fanatical Mary sat upon the throne, so that further reform became impossible. Cranmer and Ridley also intended to have had an Act passed abolishing all sacerdotal vestments. They were also 122 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. agreed with Knox and Calvin, and other Presbyterian divines, that the office of bishop was not a distinct order — that the Scriptural doctrine of Church govern- ment was not Episcopal but Presbyterian. Cranmer formally set forth his opinion in writing, declaring that " bishops and priests were one and the same, not two things, but both one office in the beginning of Christ's religion." Thirteen bishops, with a great number of divines, signed a declaration that "in the New Testament there is no mention made of any degrees or distinctions in orders, but only deacons or ministers, presbyters or bishops." Bishop Hooper, under date 8th February, 1550, in a letter to Bullin- ger, the Swiss reformer, says : " The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of Rochester, Ely, St. David's, Lincoln, and Bath were sincerely bent on advancing the purity of doctrine, agreeing in all things with the Helvetic Churches." Latimer and Hooper both expressly maintained that by Divine institution bishops and presbyters are one and the same. Cranmer also proposed to establish courts similar to the kirk-sessions and presbyteries and synods shortly afterwards set up by Knox in the Presbyter- ian Church of Scotland. In the matter of Church discipline also, all the Protestant bishops and divines in the time of Edward were in favour of providing a tribunal, by which all unworthy persons might be excluded from the Lord's table. The courtiers, how- ever, whose lives were such as to insure their being seriously affected by such a court, offered bitter opposition to the measure. Thus those noble men were hampered on every hand. The popish party EDWARD VI. AND THE REFORMATION Y 12 5 stirring up open rebellion on one hand, and worlai^ minded, immoral courtiers protesting against discipline on the other, the best intentions of the godly men who were carrying on the Reformation were in a large measure frustrated. They were hindered and retarded in their work, so that it was far from completed when the " Bloody Mary " came to the throne, and not only overthrew their work, but committed the greater portion of these noble reformers to the fires of Smithfield. Edward VI. died on 6th July, 1553, amid the tears of a weeping and grateful nation. He was a prince of exemplary virtue and earnest piety — the wonder of his time, on account of his marvellous attainments in learning and in all matters pertaining to the kingdom, although only sixteen years of age. His reign extended over a period of only six years and a-half, a period very short in time, but full of blessed deeds, and fraught with untold blessings to the Church and nation, and to the Reformation cause throughout the world. 122 LECTURE XI. THE MARTYRS IN THE REIGN OF MARY. " These are they winch have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." — Rev. vii. 14. gHE short reign of Edward VI. was fraught with rich blessing to the English nation, and greatly advanced the cause of the Reformation. It was too short, however, to consolidate the kingdom and establish in the hearts of the nation the great principles advocated by the leading reformers. The more ignorant and super- stitious among the clergy, and many of the people, still cherished a secret affection for the old state of things, and had no sympathy with the bishops and learned divines who were devoting all their energies to the purification of the Church. Many of the courtiers also, whose lives would not stand the test of discipline, became apprehensive lest the rigid measures of the reformers would bear heavily on their loose practices; and they, too, began to desire a religion which allowed them to indulge their appetites and passions, and yet promised them the favour of God and permitted them to enjoy the rites of the Church. 124 THE MARTYRS IN THE REIGN OF MARY. 125 It thus became evident that there could be no true and abiding Reformation apart from personal regenera- tion. The papacy, therefore, was not killed as yet, it was only scotched ; and it must be accorded a little space in order that it may be seen in its true colours, as no longer a spiritual Church, but an elaborately organised political engine aiming at the suppression of civil and religious liberty, denying the supreme authority of the Scriptures, and claiming for the pope absolute authority over the consciences of men. That the nation may return to allegiance to Christ, and be confirmed and established in its opposition to the papacy, the hell-hounds of persecution must be let loose, until the people are sickened by the blood of the martyrs, and turn away in bitter disgust from the inhuman and brutal deeds of Rome. Queen Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, narrow-minded, bigoted, superstitious, was a fitting agent to exhibit to the world the real character of Romish intolerance and fanaticism. Shortly before his death, Edward, by the advice of his councillors, signed an instrument devolving the succession upon Lady Jane Grey, daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, and grand-niece of Henry VIII. She was a lady of unblemished life and brilliant gifts, and had thoroughly mastered the Greek and Latin languages. On the death of Edward, the council acknowledged her queen. However, she at first refused to accept the crown, saying, that of right it belonged to Mary or Elizabeth. But when she was assured that the judges and privy councillors had declared that she was the legal heir, she yielded to 126 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. their representations, and was proclaimed queen on the 9th of July, 1553. Twenty-one councillors subscribed to a letter addressed to Mary, informing her that Lady Jane was now queen, and that, as the marriage between her father and mother had been declared null by the high court of Parliament, she could not succeed to the throne. They also informed her that Edward, before his death, had excluded his sisters on account of the sentences passed in the ecclesiastical courts and confirmed by Parliament ; and the next in the succession was Lady Jane Grey, whose right they had acknowledged, and who was prepared to uphold the true religion and the laws of the land. Lady Jane Grey was married to Lord Guilford Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland's son. The duke was very unpopular on account of the execution of the Duke of Somerset, and the suspicions that were whis- pered about him as being concerned in the death of Edward. Hence, when Mary asserted her claim, the Earl of Sussex and other opponents of the Duke of Northumberland raised forces on her behalf; and she, having promised not to alter the established religion, was proclaimed queen after a brief struggle of ten days with the supporters of Lady Jane Grey. Mary was supported by her cousin, the Emperor Charles, and, as Lady Jane was known to be in thorough sympathy with the Reformation, the Catholic party naturally preferred to see Mary seated upon the throne. The Earl of Arundel and other nobles were deter- mined to prevent the return of the Duke of Northum- berland to power, and cast in their lot with Mary's party. Elizabeth, also, with a thousand cavalry, came THE MARTYRS IN THE REIGN OF MARY. 127 to Mary's assistance. With scarcely any opposition she came to the throne, the council preferring to adopt her rule to that of Northumberland. Mary was scarce securely seated upon the throne when her craft and cruelty began to be manifest. Notwithstanding her promise to the men of Suffolk to uphold the established religion, she wrote to Gardiner in her own hand, declaring her determination to burn every Protestant who would not return to the Catholic faith. Lady Jane Grey and her husband were com- mitted to the Tower to await the day of execution. The Duke of Northumberland was offered a free pardon on condition that he would renounce his religion and attend mass. He promptly yielded, and even exhorted the people to return to the Romish faith. But in less than a month he lost his head. He died unpitied, on account of his ambition and his treachery towards Cromwell and Somerset, who had done so much to establish the Reformation. On the 12th of August, Mary made a proclamation to the Lord Mayor and magistrates of London, declaring that she did not mean " to compel or strain the conscience " of any one in the matter of religion, except as they might be persuaded by the preaching of godly, virtuous, and learned preachers. But within a week she issued a royal proclamation retracting the promise of toleration, and forbidding any one to preach or expound the Scriptures without the queen's special permission in writing. This proclamation was followed, as a matter of course, by the introduction of the Romish ritual into the majority of the churches. On the 22nd of August, five weeks after Mary's 128 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. accession, Sir Thomas Palmer and Sir John Gates were beheaded on Tower Hill, publicly professiog their faith in the reformed religion. Thus her reign commenced as it ended, in shedding the blood of the faithful followers of Christ. The pope had lost no time in secretly advising Mary to exercise the supremacy conferred upon her as the head of the Church in England, in winning back the people to the Romish see. She immediately dismissed the Protestant bishops, and filled their places with rank Romanists. The fanatical and bloody Bonner was made Bishop of London, in place of Ridley ; Gardiner was appointed Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Winchester ; Day was made Bishop of Durham ; Heath, Bishop of Worcester ; Tonstal, Bishop of Chichester ; Vesie, Bishop of Exeter, in the place of Miles Coverdale, the translator of the Scriptures ; Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester ; and Ridley and Latimer were committed to prison. These changes greatly alarmed the reformers, for they indi- cated beyond the possibility of doubt the course the queen was determined to pursue. Gardiner was appointed, on 29th August, to license such preachers as met with his approval; all others were forbidden to preach. Many paid no heed to this interdict, but went on preaching the Gospel as they had been accus- tomed to do. But everywhere Gardiner's preachers began to set up images in the churches, and revived the ritual and ceremonies of the Romish Church. The majority of the nation was Protestant, but they were powerless against the tyranny of the queen and the recently appointed bishops and preachers. Many of the reformers seeing imminent danger THE MARTYRS IN THE REIGN OF MARY. 129 ahead, without any hope of being useful to the cause of Christ in England, as they were forbidden to preach the Gospel, thought of retiring to the Continent. Cranmer approved of the suggestion as being in accordance with the teaching and practice of Christ Himself : " When they persecute you in one city flee ye to another." However, the archbishop himself refused to leave the country. When urged by anxious friends to flee from certain death, he nobly replied, " The post that I hold, and the part I have taken, require me to make a stand for the truths of Holy Scripture. I shall therefore undergo with constancy the loss of life rather than remove secretly from the realm." There were some grounds for hoping that Cranmer would not be proceeded against ; for Mary could not have forgotten that by his intercession she was saved from the anger of her father, Henry VIII. He had, indeed, signed the document which excluded her from the succession, but he was the last to adhibit his name, and did so most reluctantly. However, a false report was circulated that the archbishop had set up the mass at Canterbury. This circumstance drew from him a declaration, couched in very strong language, de- nouncing the mass as a device and invention of the devil, and wholly contrary to Scripture, and containing many horrible abuses. He concluded by offering to defend " not only the common prayers of the Church, the ministrations of the sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies, but also all the doctrine and religion set out by King Edward VI. as being more pure and according to God's Word than any other that hath been used in England these thousand years." K 130 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. This bold declaration afforded his enemies a plausible excuse for treating him as severely as others. Accordingly he was summoned to appear before the Council on the 7th of September, and boldly declared his intention of posting a similar document upon the door of St. Paul's and other churches in London, if time had permitted. No just case could be made out against this action, for he was simply defending the laws and established religion of the realm ; for, as yet, no contrary laws had been passed. However, he was summarily committed to the Tower during the queen's pleasure. Mary's coronation took place on the 1st of October, and although the service of the mass was illegal, it was celebrated on the occasion. Bishop Gardiner, who was also Lord Chancellor, performed the act of coronation. The queen granted a general pardon, but expressly excepted the prisoners confined in the Tower, the Fleet, and sixty-two others. Grafton and Whitchurch were among the latter. They had com- mitted an offence wholly unpardonable in the eyes of a Roman Catholic queen. They had published the Bible in English — that and nothing more. It was now abundantly evident that no mercy would be extended to any who refused to return to the Romish faith. Protestants of foreign birth received permission to leave the country, and about eight hundred English reformers left with them. On the 20th of October, parliament was assembled, and Mary commanded that a mass should be celebrated before the despatch of business. The service was contrary to the laws of the realm, but the queen had THE MARTYRS IN THE REIGN OF MARY. 131 determined to begin as she intended to end. The Protestant bishops had nearly all been deprived of tbeir sees already, and now the Archbishop of York is committed to the Tower. There remained only two bishops opposed to the corruptions of Rome, Taylor and Harley ; and Harley was not allowed to take his seat, because he was married. Bishop Taylor refused to kneel when the wafer-god was lifted up, and he was immediately expelled. Thus the tyrannical queen, by riding rough-shod over the laws of the realm, succeeded in excluding all the reformed bishops. By similar illegal means the House of Commons was packed with her partisans. All laws relating to religion, passed during Edward's reign, were repealed, not, however, without strenuous opposition in the Commons, many of the members arguing strongly for the continuance of the liturgy in English. These were in a minority, however, and it was enacted that after the 20th of December, any other service than that in use at the death of Henry VIII. would be illegal. Another Act was passed by which any one attempting to interfere with the Romish service should be imprisoned for three months. During the same session an Act of attainder was passed against Lady Jane Grey, her husband, Archbishop Cranmer, Lord Ambrose, and others, by which their goods and estates were forfeited, and themselves deprived of the queen's protection. So far as Cranmer was concerned, this severe measure was probably intended, in the meantime at least, only to disqualify him for retaining the see of Canterbury, and thereby prevent him from sitting in Parliament. Early in 1554 eleven new bishops and 132 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. several deans, all rank papists, were appointed ; so that within six months after Mary's accession she had removed all the leaders of the Reformation from office in the Church, and from the chairs in the universities. On the 15th of January, Mary declared her inten- tion of marrying a Catholic prince, Philip, the son of the Emperor Charles. On this becoming known, popular discontent was very great, and the country was threatened with civil war. The Duke of Suffolk and Sir Thomas Wyatt even undertook to raise the standard of rebellion. They were taken and be- headed, as was also Lady Jane Grey and her husband, although they took no part in the rebellion. The duke professed his faith on the scaffold : " I. beseech you all to bear me witness, that I die in the faith of Christ, trusting to be saved by His blood only, and by no other sacrifice ; for Christ died for me, and for all them that truly repent and steadfastly trust in Him." On the 12th of February, Lady Jane and her hus- band were led out to execution. Her dying testimony was clear and decisive : " Bear me witness, I beseech you, good friends, that I die a true Christian, and that I hope for salvation only through the blood of Jesus." She met her cruel fate with noble fortitude and perfect resignation. Her last words were, " Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Fecknam, Abbot of Winchester, who was entrusted with the customary duty of preparing her for death, afterwards expressed his astonishment at her great knowledge, the extraordinary sense she had of the comforting and sustaining power of religion in the near prospect of death. She maintained, with great force of reason- THE MARTYRS IN THE REIGN OF MARY. 133 ing and profound knowledge of Scripture, the true reformed doctrines, although she was only seventeen years of age. Her beautiful life and brilliant talents made her the object of universal admiration. Not satisfied with the blood of Lady Jane Grey, the cruel, jealous Mary committed her sister, Elizabeth, to the Tower. Knowing her great popularity with the Protestant party, she feared that on the arrival of Philip for the consummation of the marriage, the nation might again rise in rebellion, and so Elizabeth suffers ignominious treatment. The marriage took place on 25th July, 1554, at Winchester Cathedral; and Philip, in order to gain popularity with the nation, immediately secured the release of Elizabeth. He signally failed, however, in gaining the affections of the English people. He was of a reserved and sullen disposition, and arbitrary in his counsels and dealings. His Spanish attendants were insolent and overbearing. As a consequence of the marriage, Calais was lost to England ; and the nation never forgave Philip. He soon left the kingdom in disgust, to the great relief and satisfaction of the nation. No sooner had Mary come to the throne, than the pope approached her by secret agents to overthrow the reformed religion, and re-establish the papacy in the realm. Cardinal Pole was appointed as the pope's legate at the English court, but was prudently kept on the Continent until events warranted his open appearance in England. A few days after her acces- sion, Mary declared to the pope's secret agent that the very name of Rome was mortally hated in England, and that they would require to proceed with 134 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. the greatest possible caution, lest they would stir up such opposition as to frustrate all their endeavours to restore the Church to the pope. Little by little, as we have seen, was Protestant ascendancy put down. Convocation and Parliament were Romanised by illegal means ; and now both Houses of Parliament resolved to present an address to the queen, praying her to intercede with the legate to have them reconciled to the pope, and they in return agreed to repeal all the laws which were directed against the pope's authority, in proof of their repentance. Cardinal Pole pronounced the following absolution : — " We, by apostolic authority given unto us by the most holy lord, Pope Julius III., the vicar of Christ on earth, do absolve and deliver you, with the whole realm and dominions thereof, from all heresies and schism, and from all and every judg- ment, censures, and penalties for that cause incurred : and also we do restore you again to the unity and fellowship of our holy Mother Church, as in our letters it shall more plainly appear, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Thus England became Catholic again in December, 1554. And no sooner is the Roman Catholic religion legalised than the flames of persecution burst forth. Mary occupied the throne only four years from the formal restoration of the Catholic religion ; but in that short period, no less than two hundred and eighty- eight innocent and faithful followers of Christ perished in the flames of Smithfield, for no other crime than worshipping God according to the teachings of Christ and the apostles, and refusing to take part in the superstitious and idolatrous worship of the Romish THE MARTYRS IN THE REIGN OF MARY. 135 Church. Many hundreds also were imprisoned or driven from the country to find an asylum on the Continent. Archbishop Cranmer, and Bishop Ridley and Bishop Latimer, were summoned to Oxford in 1554, and were required to subscribe articles assert- ing their acceptance of the cardinal doctrines of Romanism : First, that the wafer when consecrated becomes the real body, blood, bones, and nerves of the Lord Jesus Christ ; second, that in the mass there is a living propitiatory sacrifice of the Church for the sins of the living and the dead. They were allowed to argue these points with Romish divines ; that is, they were permitted to state their objections, which were answered by the doctors of the Church of Rome ; but if they did not then subscribe the articles, and take part in the idolatrous act of adoring the wafer-god, their lives were to be forfeited. Cranmer was first called, and boldy declared that these propositions were false, and contrary to God's holy Word. Ridley replied also, " They are false, and spring from a sour and bitter root." Latimer replied, " I have recently read my New Testament over deliberately seven times, but I can find no doctrine of the mass in it, nor yet the marrow-bones nor sinews of the same." Cranmer drew up his views in a most able and concise paper, which he laid before his judges. He asserts, that " those who deny the cup to laymen, in obedience to some human tradition, are manifestly repugnant to Christ, and obnoxious to those rebukes which He addressed to the Scribes and Pharisees, e Ye have made the commandment of God 136 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. of none effect by your traditions. But in vain do ye worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.' The mystical bread and wine, received according to Christ's institution, are not only sacra- ments of His body broken and blood shed for our sakes, but they are also seals, as it were, of the Divine promises and gifts. Faithful Christians hold fellow- ship with Jesus, and with all His members. From this communion they derive heavenly food, nourishing them unto life eternal, a living stream, quenching the thirst of their labouring consciences, an ineffable joy diffusing itself over their hearts, and strengthening them for all the offices of piety." He thus sets forth the true doctrine of the Lord's Supper as a com- memoration of Christ's death, a seal and pledge of His love, and communion with Him by faith ; and then goes on to refute the erroneous dogmas of Rome. Some idea of the corrupt and abominable doctrines advocated by the Romish Church at the time of the Reformation, may be obtained from the fact that men were condemned to the flames for refusing to believe that wicked men receive Christ's body in the sacra- ment. Thus faith and holiness were declared unneces- sary to salvation. Let a man, however reprobate, swallow the wafer, and he thereby receives Christ. In opposition to this most blasphemous doctrine, Cranmer declared that, " Only they who partake of Christ are of His mystical body, but evil men are not of His mystical body, therefore they do not partake of Christ." The sentence of excommunication against these three worthy men was being read. The prolocutor paused TFE MARTYRS IN THE REIGN OF MARY. 137 in the middle of it, and again asked them if they would recant. " In the name of God, read on," was their noble reply. When the sentence of excommuni- cation was passed, Cranmer said : " From this your judgment and sentence, I appeal to the just judgment of Almighty God, trusting to be present with Him in heaven, for whose presence on the altar I am thus condemned." Ridley also addressed the judges in these words : " Although I be not of your company, yet doubt I not that my name is written in another place where this sentence will send us sooner than would, in all probability, the common course of nature." The aged Latimer bravely said : " I thank God most heartily that He hath prolonged my life to this end, that I may in this case glorify God by this kind of death." Dr. Weston replied to them : " If you go to heaven in this faith, then I shall never come thither, as I am persuaded." And I suspect he never uttered a greater truth. LECTURE XII. QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE ENGLISH EEFORMATION. In the church I had rather speak five words with my under- standing that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." — 1 Cor. xiv. 19. RCHBISHOP CRANMER, Bishops Ridley, Latimer, and Hooper ; and Taylor, Bradford, and Rogers, have all sealed their testimony with their blood during the bloody persecution of Mary, Queen of England. In four short years no less than two hundred and eighty- eight men, sixty women, and forty children were publicly burned for refusing to return to the idolatrous worship of Rome. Her frenzied zeal for the restoration of the Roman Catholic faith, carried out by means of the rack and the stake, made Mary an object of universal abhorrence ; and when, on the 17th of November, 1558, the stern messenger laid his hand upon her and called her to account, a universal sigh of relief went up from the heart of the nation. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII., by Anne Boleyn, was immediately proclaimed queen, amid the unbounded enthusiasm and public rejoicings of the nation. The Te Deum was chanted in all the London churches on the Sunday after her accession. All praised God as if 138 QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. 139 the nation had been suddenly delivered from some terrible calamity. Elizabeth was not long in making known the fact that she still retained her Protestant opinions, although, to save her head, she had conformed to the Romish worship during the fierce persecutions of her fanatical sister. On the day of her installation, she refused to allow the bloody Bonner, Bishop of London, the honour of kissing her hand. This act was justly translated to mean that she regarded with utter abhorrence the part he had taken in fanning the flames of persecution. In selecting her council she also showed that she was determined to make import- ant changes in ecclesiastical affairs. Persecution was immediately stopped in all parts of the kingdom ; and all those who had been cast into prison for their reli- gious opinions were set at liberty. Like the reformers in the time of her brother Edward, Elizabeth resolved to proceed cautiously and with moderation. An incident which occurred during the procession at the time of her installation, showed, to the delight of all true Protestants, how highly she prized the Word of God. In passing through Cheapside, amidst a magni- ficent display of loyalty and popular enthusiasm, one who acted a part in the pageant presented her with a handsomely-bound copy of the Bible. She received it with evident pleasure, saying, " I thank you heartily for your present. I shall often read this book." This act was taken as a good omen. Within two months of her accession she summoned a Parliament, which met in January, 1559. The principal object for assembling parliament was to place the affairs of reli- gion on a satisfactory basis, and to recognise the validity 140 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. of her title to the throne. Acts were passed also against treason and seditious attacks against the queen's person. Two most important Acts — the Act of Uniformity and the Act of Supremacy — were also the work of this parliament. The Act of Uniformity aimed at establishing a uniform worship on the lines of the liturgy of Edward VI., several passages most offensive to the Roman Catholics being omitted — such, for example, as the prayer, " From the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities " deliver us. A rubric directed against the dogma of the real bodily presence of Christ in the sacrament was also omitted ; and the words used in distributing the elements were a compromise intended to satisfy both Protestants and Catholics. In the early part of Edward's reign, the words used conveyed, implicitly at least, the Romish doctrine of the real bodily presence. The bread is spoken of as the " body of Christ," " The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy soul into everlasting life." In the revised Prayer-book of Edward VI., these words were rejected, and a form much more in accordance with Scripture was adopted : " Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on Him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving." In the re-establishment of the Protest- ant religion by the first Parliament of Elizabeth, in the hope of satisfying both parties, the old formula was superinduced upon the new, so that the formula as it now stands is both Catholic and Protestant — the one part being contradictory of the other. Hence, in these legalised formula?, ritualists have authority for QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. 141 teaching the Romish doctrine of the real bodily presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Supper. I suspect very few communicants in the Church of England are aware that the words repeated by the officiating minister were deliberately rejected by the early reformers as savouring of popery, and were afterwards restored with the express intention of conciliating the Roman Catholics. By the Act of Supremacy the supreme authority in ecclesiastical affairs was vested in the crown. By the Oath of Supremacy all who held office in the Church or State, declared as follows : — " I do utterly testify and declare that the queen's highness is the only supreme governor of this realm, as well in all spiritual and ecclesiastical things or causes, as temporal." By this oath the spiritual as well as temporal jurisdiction of the pope, or any foreign prince or prelate, was renounced. The Act of Uniformity prohibited the use of any but the established liturgy, under the penalty of forfeiting goods and chattels for the first offence, a year's imprisonment for the second, and imprisonment during life for the third ; and imposed a fine of one shilling on all who absented themselves from church on Sundays and holy-days. This Act absolutely interdicted Roman Catholic services, how- ever privately celebrated. It is worthy of note that the learned lawyers of that time did not introduce the Act establishing the royal supremacy as a new measure, but as claiming an ancient right. It was entitled, " An Act restoring to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction over the estate ecclesiastical and spiritual." The pope never had 142 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. any legal claim to jurisdiction in England from the time that England became a monarchy until the Reformation. There is an uninterrupted series of canons and statutes, establishing the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Crown throughout this entire period. Hence, when the pope claimed jurisdiction in England, he was a usurper of power and authority that did not belong to him. Weak kings at different periods, for political reasons, had shown him considerable deference, but he never had any legal claim to supremacy. Obedience rendered to the pope was always illegal and unconstitutional. The Act of Supremacy was intended to correct many abuses and anomalies introduced during the reign of Queen Mary. It prohibited all appeals to any foreign power, and particularly to the pope of Rome. All payments of tithes and first-fruits to the see of Rome were positively forbidden. All dispensations from the pope were declared null and void. In the Lord's Supper, the cup was enjoined to be given to all com- municants, and ordinary bread was to be used in the ordinance instead of the Romish wafer. Before the Act of Uniformity was passed by Parlia- ment, ample opportunity was given to those who favoured the Roman Catholic service to defend their cause. The head of their party, the Archbishop of York, was asked by the Council to nominate eight of their ablest theologians, to meet in public conference an equal number of reformers to debate the leading points in the controversy between them. The challenge was accepted. The archbishop nominated four bishops and four other ecclesiastics as disputants to uphold the QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. 143 Romish cause. The questions for debate were : (1.) Whether it is not against the Word of God, and the custom of the ancient Church, to use a tongue unknown to the people in the common prayers, and in the administration of the sacraments ? (2.) Whether every church has not authority to appoint, change, and take away ceremonies and ecclesiastical rites, so that the same be done to edification ? (3.) Whether it can be proved from the Word of God that in the mass there is a propitiatory sacrifice for the dead and the living ? On the 31st of March, 1559, the disputants met in Westminster Abbey, in the presence of the Privy Council and both Houses of Parliament. On the first day they discussed the question of conducting the services of the Church in a language unknown to the people. Dr. Cole, Dean of St. Paul's, opened the dis- cussion on the Catholic side by a speech full of decla- mation and abuse, but utterly devoid of argument or proofs. He closed his harangue by declaring that "nothing is more inexpedient than to bring down religious rites to the level of vulgar understandings, for ignorance is the mother of devotion." Dr. Home, Dean of Durham, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, was chosen to reply. In a calm and scholarly argument, drawn from the First Epistle to the Corinthians and the Fathers of the first five centuries, he presented the whole subject in such a clear and convincing light, that the modern Romish usage was seen to be an entire departure from the teaching of Scripture and the custom of the early Christian Church. The Roman Catholic party, conscious of having utterly failed to establish their position on the first question, by various 144 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. dre texts managed to evade further discussion. They had lost their cause, and the papacy had received its death-blow in England. The country and Parliament had come to the determination that both the doctrine and the ritual of the Church should be brought to the touchstone of Scripture. The moment that this was done, the Roman Catholic cause was lost. The Church of Rome in all ages has been conscious of this fact ; and hence sought to deprive the people of the Word of God ; and, where this could not be effected, to reserve to herself the sole right of interpretation. The conference having resulted in the triumphant vindication of Protestant principles, a bill was intro- duced into parliament for restoring the English liturgy. It met with vigorous opposition in the House of Lords, all the bishops and ten lay peers having voted against it. However, on the 28th of April, the bill became law under the name of the Act of Uniformity. It provided that the second service-book of Edward VI., as altered by the committee of divines appointed for that purpose, should be used in all places of worship from and after the festival of St. John the Baptist next ensuing. Another bill was passed for the suppression of all the monasteries, their revenues to divert to the crown. A measure was introduced into the House of Commons for restoring to their benefices all incumbents who were deprived during Mary's reign on account of having married. This measure was abandoned at the request of the queen, who had a personal prejudice against married clergymen. On the 15th of May, the bishops and other clergy QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. 145 of note, were summoned to attend a meeting of the privy council under the presidency of the queen. They were solemnly enjoined to conform to the Acts recently passed by Parliament. The Archbishop of York reminded Her Majesty that during the preceding reign, England had been reconciled to the Roman see, and that her sister, with the consent of Parliament, had engaged to suppress heresy. They could not now recede from this engagement without incurring disgrace and the malediction of the pope. Elizabeth was equal to the occasion, and nobly replied, " ' As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord ' (Josh, xxiv. 15). Being resolved to imitate Josiah, who assembled the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, in order to make, under their advice, a covenant with God, I lately called together my clergy and my Parliament. My object was to bind myself and my people unto the Lord, and not unto the Roman see. My sister's power extended not to contract the obligations which have just been mentioned. Our records show that the papal jurisdiction over this realm is an usurpation, and they fully justify the statutes which have lately been enacted. It is by following the precedents which have come down to me from a long line of predecessors that I mean to rule; and I hope that in this my successors will follow my example. My crown is in no way subject to any power whatever, save to that of Christ, the King of kings. I shall therefore esteem as enemies, both to God and myself, all such of my subjects as shall hereafter own any foreign or usurped authority within my realm." Bishop Bonner, whose hands were so deeply dyed L 146 THE GOSPEL IN GEE AT BRITAIN. in the blood of the martyrs, was the first individual who was required to take the oath of supremacy, and thereby renounce allegiance to the pope. This he refused to do ; and so did all the bishops, except Kitchen of LlandarT. It was well for the cause of religion that they refused to conform ; for the retention of such men in office would, in a very large measure, have defeated the projected reforms. A considerable number of dignitaries in the Church were deprived of their benefices by this test ; but the greater part of the inferior clergy conformed. The monasteries, however, were broken up everywhere, and the monks and nuns left the country. The deprived bishops and clergy at first enjoyed the full exercise of liberty. The following year, however, they began to organise ^opposition, preach sedition, and denounce the Reform- ation. The most prominent of them were then taken into custody. All of them, however, except Bonner, were allowed a large degree of liberty. The queen was determined to avoid even the appearance of harsh dealing ; and by this gentle treatment she conciliated very many in the nation who were heartily sick of the horrors perpetrated in the name of religion by her fanatical sister during her brief and bloody reign. On the 12th of May, 1559, the English service was introduced into the royal chapel, and England was finally relieved from an idolatrous service and a liturgy unintelligible to the great majority of the worshippers. There was nothing in the new liturgy that could offend the most rigid Roman Catholic, the greater part of it being translated from the prayers QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. 147 and liturgies of the Romish Church. Had Cranmer and Ridley, and others of the martyr-throng, been living, they would have insisted on a much more thorough revision, and would have advanced upon the second service-book of Edward instead of goino- back to conciliate the Catholic party. But there were no thorough-going reformers left in the nation, and hence the natural tendency was to adopt a ritual that would not necessarily arouse the opposition of moderate Catholics. And in this they seemed to have been successful ; for during the first eleven years of Eliza- beth's reign, according to Chief- Justice Coke, "no person, of whatsoever persuasion of Christian religion, at any time refused to come to the public service celebrated in the Church of England. But after the bull of Pius Y. was published against her Majesty, all they that depended on the pope obeyed the bull and refused to come to church." It is clear, therefore, that the English liturgy did not in itself give offence to the Catholics. It was intended to be a compromise between the Romish liturgy and the simple service of the Churches of Geneva and Scotland. Dr. Parker, who had been chaplain to Anne Boleyn, the queen's mother, a divine of great prudence and learning, was elected Archbishop of Canterbury ; and the vacant bishoprics were filled up by learned and godly men. Dr. Jewel, the newly-ordained Bishop of Salis- bury, immediately employed his great stores of learning in proving that all the dogmas of Rome, which had been rejected by the Protestants, were never heard of in the Christian Church during the first six centuries. The new bishops did all in their power to instruct the 148 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. people and complete the reformation of the Church in their own diocese. Many of the inferior clergy who had conformed were ignorant and ill-qualified to discharge their ministerial duties. With a view of obviating objections to their principles and doctrine, a declaration of belief was drawn up for them to subscribe. It contained an assent to the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion, and a renunciation of Romish and Anabaptist errors. Although the most advanced of the reformers had been cut off by the persecution of Mary, still the new bishops were in advance of the queen in their desire for a thorough reformation of the ritual and decora- tions of the Church. The queen for a long time persisted in having lighted candles and a crucifix in her own chapel, and maintained that such decorations, together with figures of the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John, might be suffered to remain in the churches. It was only after persistent pleading that the bishops procured an order authorising the visitors to remove everything that had been abused to super- stitious and idolatrous purposes. Elizabeth now wished to have at least a cross erected in every church ; but the bishops knew well that such a concession could not fail to operate injuriously upon weak and super- stitious minds, and to the credit of the queen, she graciously yielded the point. She was not, however, convinced as yet; and, though she yielded for the time to the representations of the bishops, and allowed the crucifix to be removed from her own chapel, yet she had it replaced about the year 1570. On another point — namely, the marriage of the clergy — she never QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. 149 could be persuaded to adopt the Protestant and Scrip- tural view. During her long reign of forty-five years, she never consented to repeal the statute passed during Mary's reign, making it illegal for the clergy to marry. The ritualistic predilections of the queen proved a serious obstacle in other matters of reform, and espe- cially in the matter of vestments. The most eminent bishops — Jewel, Grindal, Sandys, Nowell, Parkhurst, and others — argued strongly against the use of the surplice and other popish vestments. The late Bishop Hooper, who died at the stake for the Protestant cause, long refused to wear the episcopal vestments. Bishop Ridley, perhaps the most famous of all the martyrs, pulled down the altars in the churches, and ordered the Lord's Supper to be administered at tables placed in the middle of the churches. Bishop Jewel declared clerical vestments to be a stage dress, a fool's coat, a relic of the Amorites. Archbishop Grindal loug hesitated to accept the office of archbishop, owing to his intense aversion of what he termed " the mum- mery of consecration." Bishop Parkhurst urged the Church of England to adopt the simple service and garb of the Presbyterian Churches of Geneva and Scotland, founded by Calvin and Knox. Notwith- standing the personal influence of the queen, the proposal to abolish these objectionable usages was lost in the Convocation of 15 62 by only one vote. It is evident, therefore, that the queen alone was the prime cause of retaining in the worship of the Church those ritualistic and popish observances which so soon com- pelled the Puritan party to withdraw from the Estab- lished Church. Besides the vestments, it was proposed 150 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. to abolish saints' days, to omit the sign of the cross in baptism, and to leave the matter of kneeling at the Lord's Supper to the discretion of the ordinary. That such proposals should have been rejected was a great calamity to the Church, as subsequent events abun- dantly proved. The Reformed Church of England was established upon a compromise. It aimed at taking a middle course between a Scriptural simplicity and a gorgeous ceremonial. The Reformed Churches in Scotland and on the Continent adopted the simple forms of the primitive Church, as set up by the apostles, and prospered and enjoyed internal peace. In England it was different. The compromise with Rome proved to be the seed of bitter dissension. LECTURE XIII. JOHN KNOX AND THE CHURCH OF EOME. " All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecu- tion."— 2 Tim. iii. 12. VERY age of the world has had its heroes — men of brave heart and noble purpose. The Church of the Reformation, in a very special sense, was rich in such heroic worthies. For firm faith in God, unswerving fidelity to duty, love and loyalty to Christ and the Scriptures, and an utter disregard of danger and all personal considerations, no one of that noble army is entitled to a higher place on the roll of fame, or a dearei place in Christian hearts, than the illustrious Scottish reformer, John Knox. He was not the first reformer. He was preceded by Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli on the Continent, and Bilney, Latimer, and others in England. Still, the Christian Church owes much to the courage and earnestness and fidelity of this heroic man of God. His lot was cast in troublous times. Brave hearts were needed for the defence of the truth. By corruption in doctrine, and the vices of the clergy, and the superstition of the masses, pure religion had almost disappeared. From the time of Wycliffe, indeed, earnest, faithful men here and there 151 152 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. had lifted up their voice in favour of reformation in doctrine, in ritual, and in life ; but Rome invariably answered their demand by the fire and the stake. From being a community of brethren, all one in Christ Jesus, as in the time of the apostles, the Church had gradually become an absolute monarchy, with the pope as supreme law-giver. Instead of all being members of the Church who had the Spirit of Christ, those only could receive the Spirit who were members of the Church. The Church, through its bishops, came to be regarded as the only channel through which the Holy Spirit could be received. Whoever opposed the teaching of the Church, or questioned the authority of the pope, was excommunicated and placed under the ban of the Church, and was, therefore, beyond the reach of salvation. Salvation was dispensed by the Church only. The pope claimed to be the vicar of Christ on earth, and forgave sins, as Christ forgave them while on earth. The doctrine of justification by faith and salvation by grace was a dead letter. Kites and ceremonies were multiplied. Penance took the place of penitence. At first penance consisted in a public confession of certain scandalous sins by those who had been temporarily excluded from church-fellow- ship and wished to be restored. By and by it came to include every sin, and took the place of true repent- ance. Instead of looking to Christ for pardon through faith in His finished work, men were taught to seek pardon through penance, and tears, and fasting, and mortifying the flesh. It was salvation by works and not by faith. JOHN KNOX AND THE CHURCH OF ROME. 153 This system soon became too burdensome to be endured ; hence indulgences were substituted for penance and afflicting the body. On the payment of certain sums of money to the Church, men were to have their sins remitted — a scale being fixed accord- ing to the means of different classes, and according also to the character of the sin. It was claimed that the Church had a vast treasure of merits which she could dispense on her own terms. This treasure consisted of the blood of Christ, together with the merits of the saints of past ages, who, by their devotion and self-sacrifice and charity, had done more than was required for their own salvation. The control of this treasure was confided to the pope, as Christ's vicar on earth. He could dispense it as he thought fit, and on his own terms, to sinners on earth and to souls in purgatory. The philosophers of Alexandria, conscious that men's lives and character in themselves were not such as to fit them for fellowship with God in heaven, and knowing nothing of the Gospel plan of salvation, had suggested a purifying fire into which the souls of men passed at death, and where they remained until they were thoroughly purified and perfected. The Church of Rome adopted this suggestion, and made it a dogma of the Church under the name of purgatory. The pope claimed to be able, by the rites of the Church, not only to forgive the sins of the living, but also to release the souls of departed friends from the pains of purgatorial fire. So much money, paid for priests to say masses for the souls of the dead, shortened their stay in that awful place. 154 THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN. The sacrifice of the mass was substituted for the death of Christ, and thus men were turned away from the sinner's Saviour and were directed to look to the ceremonies of the Church for salvation. From no pulpit in the land was the loving voice of Jesus heard, saying, " Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." The Word of God was kept from the people, and the service was conducted in an unknown tongue. And so ignorant were the priests of their duties, as the spiritual instructors of the people, that many were found boasting that they had never read the New Testament, although they had burned many copies of it. In 1545, when very severe laws were passed against reading or possessing the New Testament, such was the ignorance of the priests, that many of them declared it to be a new book written by Martin Luther. As for them, they did not want any new testaments, give them the old one. About the same time, when the Vicar of Dollar, Thomas Forrest, was summoned before the Bishop of Dunkeld for preaching from the gospel and epistle for the day, he was admonished, and told that it was too much to preach every Sunday. " It is enough," said the bishop, " when you find any good gospel or good epistle, that setteth forth the rights of the Church, to preach that, and let the rest be." Forrest replied that he had carefully studied the Old and New Testaments, and he found that all the gospels and epistles were good ; but if his lordship would show him the good and evil epistles, he would preach the good and pass over the evil. The bishop replied, sharply, »