Lord’s Day, Vol. 9 No. 43

Reformation in England – England Receives the Light

It was inevitable that the influence of the movement that has begun with Luther on the Continent of Europe should be felt in England, and especially in the University cities of Oxford and Cambridge where the doctrine of the German reformer was earnestly, and doubtless hotly, debated. Indeed, the inn where a few Cambridge scholars congregated became known as “little Germany”. The group included ‘little (Thomas) Bilney’, Hugh Latimer, Myles Coverdale, Matthew Parker, and in all probably William Tyndale.

The English king of the time was Henry VIII who, until his death in 1547, remained a bitter enemy of the reformed faith, even though it has often been claimed that he was responsible for the Reformation in England. But, whatever else he did, he had no love for Protestant doctrine and Protestant worship. In opposition to the teachings of Luther, he wrote a treatise for which Pope Leo X rewarded him with the title Defender of the Faith. To this day British coins remind us of the award, for they are inscribed Fid. Def. (Defender Fidei) and there are still those who look to the British crown to defend the Christian faith.

Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-wait at the court, and finally, in desperation, he broke with the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. Without Papal approval, he secured the appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury of Thomas Cramer, a man willing to accept Henry’s claim that he had never been married to Catherine of Aragon whom the Pope granted permission to marry. The king then declared himself head of the Church in England. He beheaded Thomas More and John Fisher, two principal men opposed to his actions, persuaded Parliament to pass Acts making the new arrangements in Church and State lawful, and dissolved the numerous monasteries. The monasteries were strongholds of the Papacy. By these measures, the king brought about the political Reformation.

But, as has been already said, Henry was never a Protestant. He continued to defend the principal teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, required all people in England and Wales to adhere to the Roman creed, and was quite willing to put to death men and women who opposed his will by embracing Protestant doctrine.

In one matter, however, Henry, advised by Cramer and Thomas Cromwell, his chief minister of state, took a very important decision concerning the Bible. In the year 1538 he required a copy of the Scriptures in an English translation to be placed in every parish church in his kingdom, and the churches were to be left open to all convenient hours of the day so that people might have access to the volume. Two years earlier, the reformer Tyndale, when dying at the stake had prayed, ‘Lord, open the king of England’s eyes’, and many believed that the giving of the Bible to the people was the fulfilment of this prayer. The title page of what was called the Great Bible of 1539 shows Henry as king giving the Bible to Cronmer and Cromwell, who in their turn present to the clergy of the land, Cormwell to the people of the land. 

In 1533 Anne Boyleyn gave birth to a daughter, who later became Queen Elizabeth I; but the king’s affections were already growing cold, and as she had not presented him with the son and heir he wished for, he soon brought false accusations of unfaithfulness against her, and Anne was executed. To the king’s great joy his next wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to a son, Edward, who succeeded his father upon the throne when he was a mere nine years of age. He reigned until 1553, dying at the age of sixteen.

Between 1547 and 1553 the Reformation in England and Wales made very rapid progress. Cranmer, by this time a genuine Protestant, welcomed reformers from the Continent, cooperated with the king’s regents in removing images from churches, and replaced the Roman Catholic Missal (Service Book) by the English Prayer Book. Actually two such books were issued, the first in 1549, the second in 1552. The former retained certain Romans usages, and as Protestant teaching became more firmly established, it gave place to the 1552 Book which also contained 42 Articles of Religion, still printed in the Church of England Prayer Book but reduced to 39. 

The death of the youthful Edward VI was a tragedy for the British nation, for in those days, in England as on the Continent of Europe, it was taken for granted that the religion professed and followed by a nation must correspond with that professed by the occupant to the throne. An attempt was made to dethrone the Protestant Lady Jane Grey, but it failed, and Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, became queen. She determined to re-establish throughout her realm. Shortly she married Philip of Spain, the son of Emperor Charles V, and the persecution of Protestants commenced. Many leading churchmen fled the Continent to escape her wrath: some found refuge in Germany, others in Calvin’s Geneva. 

The story of the persecutions of Mary’s reign is told in great detail by John Foxe in his famous Book of Martyrs. He spared no pains to collect reliable information from public records and from eye-witnesses about the trial of the Protestants before Catholic bishops and others, and he gave graphic accounts of the actual burnings. In all nearly 300 men and women were burnt at the stake. Chief among them were Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester and Gloucester, Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. The three were burned at Oxford, though Cranmer’s burning was about six months later than that of the others. Latimer encouraged his fellow-suffer with the famous words: ‘Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.’

Bishop John Hooper of Gloucester – he had taken Latimer’s place in that city – was burned outside his cathedral. A person who visited him shortly before he suffered urged him to consider that life is sweet and death is bitter, and that if he would yield to the queen he might thereafter do much good. He replied:

True it is that death is bitter and life is sweet, but the death to come is more bitter and the life to come is sweeter. Therefore for the desire and love I have to the one, and the terror and fear of the other, I do not so much regard this death, nor esteem this life; but have settled myself through the strength of God’s Holy Spirit, patiently to pass through the torments and extremities of the fire now prepared for me, rather than to deny the truth of God’s Word. [Extracted and edited from Sketches from Church History by S.M. Houghton]

Yours lovingly,

Pastor Lek Aik Wee