33. Chapter 30: The Church Is Reformed in England, 1534-1563

CHAPTER 30 The Church Is Reformed in England,1534-1563

1. Wycliffe Had Early Prepared England for Reform The Reformation in England ran a course different from that in any other country, and the out­come was different. It went through a number of stages under four successive rulers: Henry VIII, 1509-1547; Edward VI, 1547-1553; Mary, 1553-1558; and Elizabeth, 1558-1603. The stirring in the Church during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries had in a general way prepared England for the Ref­ormation as it had other countries. But on this island there had been a very special preparation such as, outside of Bohemia (ch. 22, sec. 7), no other country had experi­enced. It was over England that the morning star of the Reforma­tion had risen in the person of Wycliffe. The Council of Constance had condemned Wycliffe as the arch-heretic. It had ordered his body dug up out of its grave in the peaceful churchyard of Lutter­worth, his bones to be burned, and the ashes to be strewn over the waters of the Severn River. The river had carried Wycliffe’s ashes out to sea, but his ideas continued to work as a leaven. Lollardism (ch. 22, sec. 6) lived on in Eng­land.

JOHN WYCLIFFE The Council of Constance had also ordered Wycliffe’s writings to be burned. Hundreds of his books had been burned, but they had not all been destroyed. Many of the men who became leaders in the re­formatory movement in England were acquainted with his writings. When at last the Reformation broke through in England, it fol­lowed in some respects the lines laid out by Wycliffe. In the early years of the reign of Henry VIII (from 1511 to 1514), Erasmus had lectured at Cambridge University. He had made many friends in England, and his writings, with their biting criticism of the abuses in the Roman Church, were widely read. In England as in other countries, the Reformation received its direct impulse through the writings and the bold stand of Luther. Four months after Luther published his theses Erasmus sent them to his English friends John Colet and Sir Thomas More. Thereafter many of Luther’s books were imported into England. A man in London in 1520 wrote to his son, "There be here­tics here which take Luther’s opinions." Lutheran doctrine in­vaded the two great English uni­versities of Oxford and Cambridge. At Cambridge a number of young men met regularly in the White Horse Tavern to discuss the new ideas. The tavern acquired the name "Germany," and the students who met there for discussion were called "Germans." Several of these students later became leaders in the reformatory movement in Eng­land. From year to year the num­ber of Englishmen who embraced the teachings of Luther increased.

2. Tyndale Translates the Bible for the English From the beginning the Word and the Spirit of God have been the two greatest factors in the his­tory of the Church, (ch. 1, sec. 3). The preaching of Jesus and the apostles was rooted in the Old Tes­tament. Later the Old and New Testaments came to be the one source of knowledge of Christian truth, the only rule for faith and conduct. The translation of the Bible into various languages has been one of the most important things in the history of the Church. Even today missionaries, as soon as they are able to do so, translate the Bible into the language of the people to whom they bring the Gospel. The Seventy translated the Old Testa­ment from Hebrew into Greek (ch. 6, sec. 6) about three centuries before the birth of Christ, and pro­duced the Septuagint. Jerome translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, and produced what is known as the Vulgate. Wycliffe translated the Bible into the English of his day. Transla­tions of the Bible were among the most powerful agencies for the pro­motion of the Reformation. Luther translated the Bible into German; Calvin made a French translation. The translation of the Bible into Dutch was a great help to the Ref­ormation in the Netherlands. Now Tyndale set to work to translate the Bible into English.

William Tyndale was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. He be­came acquainted first with the ideas of Erasmus, then with those of Luther, and at last also with those of Zwingli. He decided to place the Bible within reach of the people of England. The common people could not, of course, read the Latin Bible. Copies of Wycliffe’s translation into English were not numerous, and besides, in the course of two centuries the English language had undergone such great changes that his trans­lation was no longer understood.

Tyndale could not get his trans­lation published in England. He went to the continent, visited Luther, and finally in 1525 had it published in the city of Worms. It was a very excellent translation of the New Testament from the origi­nal Greek, not from the Latin Vul­gate as Wycliffe’s had been. The first edition was six thousand copies. In the ten years following, seven editions appeared. Next he translated parts of the Old Testa­ment. These were published in Co­logne and Antwerp. Tyndale ac­complished all this in the face of fierce opposition and bitter perse­cution. Finally his enemies caught up with him, and on October 6, 1536, Tyndale suffered a martyr’s death near the city of Brussels.

Many copies of his translation were smuggled into England. This translation did much to further the cause of the Reformation in England and also in Scotland. God’s Word again proved to be more powerful than the sword. In 1535 another English version — this time of the whole Bible ­was published. This translation was the work of Miles Coverdale.

WILLIAM TYNDALE TRANSLATING THE SCRIPTURES
Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions 3. Henry VIII Declares the King Head of the Church of Eng­land The Reformation in England had many peculiarities. One of them was that, as in France and the Netherlands, there was in England no single, great, outstanding leader. England had no Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, or Knox. Another peculiarity of the English Ref­ormation was this, that changes were made in the Church in Eng­land not by an officer of the Church but by the king. In the course of history a strong national feeling had developed in England. The people were against any domination by a foreigner. The pope was an Italian. More­over, during the Renaissance the papacy had become secularized, that is, it had become more and more interested in the things of this world. To the English people, therefore, the pope appeared to be little more than a foreign prince. Consequently, although the great majority of the English people were still good Catholics, they were beginning to resent more and more the rule of the pope over the Church in England. In addition, they did not like to send to Rome all the money that the pope de­manded.

However, even though there was a strong feeling against the pope, and although more and more people in England were accepting the ideas of Luther, it is probable that for many years no changes would have been made in the Church in England if it had not been for the king, and for the fact that he wanted a divorce.

HENRY VIII
Painting by Holbein, Warwick Castle

Henry VIII applied to the pope for a divorce from his wife, Cath­erine. He wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. Much time passed and still the pope did not give his decision. At last the king’s patience grew thin. He made up his mind to take things into his own hands. He was a very powerful king, able to con­trol Parliament. In 1534 he had Parliament pass a law which de­creed that the king "justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England." This law is called the Act of Supremacy.

Reformation of the Church means changes for the better in the doctrine, worship, government, and life of the Church (ch. 25, sec. 1). The Act of Supremacy intro­duced an important change in the Church of England. It was a change in the Church in only one respect — not in doctrine or form of worship, but in the government of the Church (sec. 4). And it was a change in the government of the Church only in this one particular, that the pope as head of the Church was replaced by the king. It was a big change, but it could not be called a Reformation.

Henry VIII regarded Luther as a heretic. As early as 1518 Henry had written a book against heretics entitled, The Seven Sacraments. For that service the pope had be­stowed upon him the title of "De­fender of the Faith." When Henry VIII made himself head of the Church in England in place of the pope, he did not feel that he had ceased to be a good orthodox Catholic.

Powerful king that he was, Henry could not have pushed the pope aside if he had not had the support of the nation. The Catho­lics felt as the king did. They be­lieved that in spite of the change that had been made they could still be good Catholics. Those who favored the ideas of Luther, on the other hand, looked upon the change as a first feeble step in the direc­tion of the Reformation. But not all Englishmen were willing to submit to the Act of Supremacy. The king had expected that this would be the case. So he had another law passed, the Law of Treason and Heresy. This law stated that to hold any doctrines other than those of the Catholic Church was heresy, and to refuse to acknowledge the king as head of the Church in England was treason.

Under the Law of Treason and Heresy a number of persons were put to death. Monks were executed for denying the supremacy of the king. Two very prominent men: John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, one of Eng­land’s most illustrious scholars, were also executed. Both had re­fused to take the oath of suprem­acy. For his opposition to the Act of Supremacy the pope had re­warded Bishop Fisher by making him a cardinal. A cardinal wears a certain kind of red hat. In a fit of fury the king exclaimed that he would send the bishop’s head to Rome to get the hat. The seventy-six year old bishop was beheaded in June, 1535. Sir Thomas More had been a zealous Catholic and had caused many English Luther­ans to be sent to the stake. Now the tables were turned. In July More was beheaded.

4. Henry Makes Other Changes in the Church The first change made in the Church in England, a change in its government, is the only change that was ever made in its organiza­tion. When the king became the supreme head of the Church, the rest of its organization remained what it had been when the pope was supreme head. The Church of England, or the Anglican Church, as it is also called, has ever re­mained a church governed by bishops, under the king as supreme head. Hence the Church of Eng­land or the Anglican Church is also called the Episcopal Church. Episcopal comes from the Greek word episcopos, which, you will re­member, means "bishop" (ch. 3, sec. 7).

Later in the reign of Henry VIII some changes were also in­troduced in doctrine, form of wor­ship, and certain practices. Two changes made in the general prac­tice of the Church became perma­nent. Monasteries were discon­tinued; and relics were no longer displayed or regarded as sacred.

There were many small monas­teries and a few large ones in Eng­land. Together they possessed im­mense wealth in land and in jewels and gold. That land the king par­celled out among his favorites. By doing this he created a new landed aristocracy, which was very loyal to him. The relics were gross frauds. Among the things that were claimed to have been preserved were — a part of Peter’s hair and beard, stones with which Stephen was stoned, the hair shirt and bones of Thomas, an angel with one wing, who had brought to Eng­land the spearhead with which the side of Jesus had been pierced, the ear of Malchus that Peter had cut off, and a foot of Philip covered with gold and precious stones. At Maidstone there was a crucifix which could turn its head, roll its eyes, move its lips, foam at the mouth, and shed tears. When it was removed a mechanism was dis­covered inside, which the priests had used to manipulate it. It was found that the blood of Christ was a piece of red silk in a thick glass. Scattered all over England were pieces of wood said to be frag­ments of the cross. There were enough of these to fill three carts. The removal and destruction of these things during the reign of Henry VIII was a heavy blow at medieval superstition.

England was not a Protestant nation at the close of the reign of Henry VIII. It is perhaps safe to say that in London and the south­eastern part of England the ma­jority of the people were Luther­ans. But the west and north of England were still almost solidly Catholic. That included probably about three-fourths of the popula­tion.

5. The Reformation Makes Prog­ress under Edward VI

Upon the death of Henry VIII in 1547 his son Edward VI suc­ceeded to the throne. Since Edward was a boy of only nine years of age, his uncle, the Duke of Somer­set, was made regent with the title of Protector.

Throughout the reign of Henry VIII sentiment in favor of the Reformation had been steadily grow­ing in England. The protector Somerset and his new government leaned toward the Reformation. So during the brief reign of Edward VI the Reformation made consider­able progress in England. No further changes were made in the form of government of the Church of England, but changes were made in its doctrine and form of wor­ship.

Almost at once, in 1547, Parlia­ment passed a law which provided that all communicants should be allowed to partake of the wine as well as of the bread. Early the next year it was decreed that images should be removed from the churches. A year later celibacy of the clergy was done away with, and marriage for priests and the higher clergy was declared lawful. In 1549 Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity. This Act made the use of the Book of Common Prayer compulsory in church serv­ices. It is known as the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. This Prayer Book substituted the use of the English language in the service of the Episcopal Church for the Latin used in the Roman Church. More changes were made later on, as we shall soon see. But funda­mentally it is still today the Prayer Book of the Church of England. The First Prayer Book of Ed­ward VI, introduced in 1549, did not satisfy anyone. Those who con­tinued to cling to Catholicism did not like the changes that had been made. For those who wanted a Reformation the changes did not go far enough. In 1552 Parliament passed a new Act of Uniformity. The First Prayer Book was re­vised. Most of the Catholic prac­tices in worship were now dis­carded. Prayers for the dead were dropped. A communion table took the place of the altar.. In the Lord’s Supper common bread was used in­stead of the wafer. Exorcism (casting out of evil spirits) and anointing went out of use. Special vestments or ceremonial garments of the clergy were discarded, with the exception of the surplice, an outer white linen garment. The form used in the administration of the Lord’s Supper was based upon Zwingli’s belief that the bread and wine are symbols of Christ’s body and blood. The Reformation made progress also in the matter of doctrine. A new creed was formulated by Cranmer, archbishop of Canter­bury. With the help of six other theologians, of whom Knox was one, it was put into final shape, and then adopted as the creed of the Church of England under the name of the Forty-two Articles. In general this creed was even more definitely Protestant than the Prayer Book. The Reformation in England seemed to have complete victory within its grasp. Then suddenly its triumphal march was halted, and Catholicism regained much of the ground it had lost since the reign of Henry VIII.

6. There Is Strong Catholic Reac­tion under Bloody Mary

Edward was always frail and sickly. He died of tuberculosis in 1553, when he was only sixteen years old. His sister Mary suc­ceeded him to the throne of Eng­land.

Mary was strongly Catholic. She proceeded to set the clock of the Reformation in England back at least twenty-five years. The laws regarding the Church which Par­liament had passed during the pre­vious reign were repealed. The form of worship in use during the last year of Henry VIII was re­stored. Bishops and all the lower clergy who were known to favor the Reformation were removed from office. Many leading Protes­tants fled to the continent, where they were warmly received by Cal­vin. Among the Lutherans they met with a chilly reception, because they did not believe in Christ’s bodily presence in the, Lord’s Supper.

Cardinal Pole, who had fled to the continent during Henry’s reign, returned to England. Parliament voted the restoration of the author­ity of the pope over the Church in England. It re-enacted the laws against heresy, and repealed the legislation of Henry VIII with ref­erence to the Church. The clock had been set back. The work of the Reformation in England had been incomplete. Now it was entirely undone. The Church was again as it had been before 1534 (sec. 3), with one exception. The property that had belonged to the mon­asteries was allowed to remain in the hands of the new possessors.

MARY TUDOR, KNOWN AS"BLOODY MARY" At once persecution began. The first victim was John Rogers, who was prebendary of St. Paul’s Church in London. He was burned at the stake on February 4, 1555. On his way to his death he was openly cheered by the people. The Reformation in England was sup­pressed, but it was by no means dead. The year 1555 was a terrifying year for the Protestants in Eng­land. Before the year was over, seventy-five persons in various parts of the land were put to death by fire. The most notable victims of Mary’s persecution were the two bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. As the flames curled around their bodies Latimer spoke courage and comfort to his fellow martyr: "This day we shall light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." Another bishop burned at the stake in the same year was John Hooper.

CRANMER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AT THE TRAITOR’S GATE
Religious News Service

Even the dead were not allowed to rest in their graves. The bodies of the two reformers Martin Bucer (ch. 27, sec. 5) and Paul Fagius were dug up and burned. The body of the wife of Peter Martyr was also dug up.

Mary was not yet satisfied. Her next victim was Cranmer. As arch­bishop of Canterbury he held the highest office in the Church of England. He was known to hold Lutheran views, and late in the year 1555 he was excommunicated in Rome. Cardinal Pole was ap­pointed to the office which had thus fallen vacant. Cranmer now weakened. He declared that he rec­ognized the authority of the pope over the Church in England as it had recently been restored by law. But Mary was bent on Cranmer’s death. Knowing Cranmer’s weak­ness she hoped that he might be made to renounce Protestantism publicly before he died. It was be­lieved that this would do great harm to the cause of the Reforma­tion. Cranmer did sign a statement in which he denied Protestantism. The time of his execution in Oxford was set for March 21, 1556. Just before he was to die he re­nounced his denial, and once more and in the strongest terms declared his Protestant faith. In dramatic fashion he showed how he felt about his denial of the principles of the Reformation. The hand which had signed the denial he held in the flames until it was burned to a crisp. Then the flames scorched his body, and he died the death of a martyr and a hero.

Mary continued her persecution until the day of her death on No­vember 17, 1558. She had caused almost three hundred people to be burned. Her persecutions earned her the name of Bloody Mary.

7. The Reformation Becomes Vic­torious under Elizabeth

Mary was succeeded by her sister Elizabeth. Under Mary her life had been in danger, and she had outwardly observed the Catho­lic ritual. But Elizabeth had been educated under the supervision of Cranmer and was a Protestant at heart. It was now possible for her to make the Reformation victorious in England. The persecutions of Mary had been aimed at the total destruction of Protestantism, but they had done more to arouse anti-Roman sentiment than all previous legislative enactments of Parlia­ment. Here again the blood of the martyrs proved to be the seed of the Church.

Against strong opposition Par­liament on April 29, 1559, passed a new Supremacy Act. For a second time, and now for good, the govern­ment rejected all authority of the pope over the Church of England. To the Catholics still remaining in England, the title of Supreme Head of the Church of England for the English sovereign was ex­tremely distasteful. And so to lessen their anger the title Su­preme Governor was adopted. It really meant the same thing, but it was less offensive to the Catho­lics.

QUEEN ELIZABETH
After a 16th century painting

Next the Second Prayer Book of Edward VI was revised. The prayer against the pope was dropped. The matter of the bodily presence in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, one of the principal doctrines of the Catholic Church, was left an open question. The earlier Prayer Book had defi­nitely stated that kneeling at the Lord’s Supper did not imply adora­tion of the host (as the Catholics call the wafer used in commun­ion); this declaration was now dropped to please the Catholics. These compromises seemed wise at the time, but were the source of much dissatisfaction and conflict in later years. In a new Act of Uniformity, Parliament demanded that after June 24, 1559, all public worship in England should be conducted in accordance with the liturgy pre­scribed in the Revised Prayer Book. In 1563 there was a slight change in the creed. The Forty-two Articles (sec. 5) were reduced to thirty-nine. These now famous Thirty-nine Articles are the official creed of the Church of England today.

Changes had now been made in the doctrine, the worship, and the government of the Church in Eng­land. The adoption of these changes is known as the Elizabethan Set­tlement. Therewith the Reforma­tion in England came temporarily to a halt, but as we shall see in chapter thirty-four, it was later continued — and in a far more radical fashion. The Catholics were now a small minority. On the surface it would seem that the Reformation in England was the work of the government, of kings and queens. It appears to have been political rather than re­ligious in its interests. Yet the kings and queens could never have carried the Reformation through, if there had not been a powerful religious undercurrent in the life of the English nation.