The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

V. Cranmer at the Stake Repudiates Pope as Antichrist

Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and Bradford were all burned for their testimony against the prophesied papal Antichrist, just as Cobham, Huss, and Jerome before them. A host of martyrs thus sealed their testimony. Indeed, the Reformation rests on such testimony. To fail to recognize this is to miss the very basis of that work, for the prophetic was inseparably joined to the evangelical, and jointly guided the Reformers in their separation from Rome. PFF2 387.1

THOMAS CRANMER (1489-1556), archbishop of Canterbury, was born in Nottinghamshire. When he was fourteen he was sent to the University of Cambridge, from which he received his M.A. in 1515. In 1519 he began a systematic study of the Scriptures. The fame of the Lutheran controversy had reached Cambridge, and he set out to find on whose side was truth. Made a reader at Buckingham College, and assiduously studying Greek and Hebrew, he obtained his D.D. in 1523, and was soon chosen public examiner in theology for clerical candidates. Cranmer favored submitting the question of the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon to the universities for decision, instead of waiting for Rome to decide. PFF2 387.2

Picture 1: POWERFUL FIGURES IN REFORMATION CONFLICT IN BRITAIN
Archbishop William Laud of Canterbury (Left), Who Was Strongly Romanist, Sought Absolutism in Church and State, and Persecuted Dissenters; Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (Right), Whose Activities in the English Reformation Under Edward VI Were Set Back by the Accession of Bloody Mary, and Who, After Imprisonment in the Tower, Went to a Martyr’s Death in 1556
Page 388

About the close of 1529 Cranmer was appointed a member of the embassy to Rome that was to plead the cause of, the king’s annulment before the pope, but it brought back little definite result. Cranmer was chosen as Henry’s sole ambassador to the court of Charles V, in order to win the German divines to the cause of Henry VIII. His mission was unfavorable in its out come; but Cranmer was summoned by Henry to return to Eng land, to receive the highest ecclesiastical post in the realm, the archbishopric of Canterbury. This elevation was unexpected, as meantime he had married the daughter of Osiander, pastor at Niirnberg, noted German Reformer and expositor of prophecy, previously mentioned. PFF2 388.1

In 1535 Cranmerformally renounced allegiance to the see of Rome, being followed by other English bishops. The erasure of the pope’s name from every prayer book was also directed, and the king of England was announced as head of the English Church. The dissolution of the monasteries was now a project of the king, and a measure for the suppression of the smaller religious houses was passed in, 1536. In 1537 a third edition of Coverdale’s complete Bible (first finished in 1535) was printed. On the title page of this third edition were the significant words, “Set forth with the Kynges moost gracious licence.” In all probability Cranmer had a large share in this transaction. In 1538 Cranmer also endeavored to secure a union between the Ger man Protestants and the Church of England, and doubtless presided at the conferences of visiting German divines with Eng lish bishops that year. PFF2 388.2

1. PENDULUM SWINGS BETWEEN CATHOLICISM AND PROTES TANTISM

Then disappointments came. The Catholic reaction of 1539 set in, which Cranmer sought to stay. The Act of Six Articles was passed, making it a felony to oppose transubstantiation, communion in one kind, celibacy of the clergy, monastic vows, private masses, and auricular confession. In the year 1544 Cranmer succeeded in mitigating the Act of the Six Articles. However, opposition grew, and the archbishop escaped the Tower only through the friendship of the king. But before Henry VIII died (January, 1547), he had named Cranmer one of the regents of the young Protestant king Edward VI, in whose favor Cranmer steadily advanced. Protestantism became the state religion, and a number of reforms were carried out. The Six Articles and other persecuting statutes were repealed; images were removed from the churches; the first prayer book of Edward was finished; the clergy were allowed to marry; the communion table was substituted for the Roman Catholic altar; the Articles of Religion were published. ⁴⁷ PFF2 389.1

Upon the accession of Catholic Mary (1553), England was received back into the bosom of the Papacy. ⁴⁸ Thousands of Protestant leaders went into exile, hundreds were imprisoned, and not a few were burned. Among them was Cranmer, who was arrested, and imprisoned in the Tower in September, 1553. Then in March, 1554, he and his two illustrious fellow prisoners, Ridley and Latimer, were removed to Oxford, where they were subjected to interrogation by Roman prelates. ⁴⁹ All three—Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer—were condemned, and excommunicated as heretics. However, they were not executed immediately. PFF2 389.2

Ridley and Latimer were executed eighteen months later, October 16, 1555, but Cranmer was held for another five months, and subjected to another exhaustive trial. A letter from the pope (Paul IV), dated November 14, 1555, declared him guilty of heresy and commanded his excommunication. On February 14 he was degraded. Finally his courage forsook him, and he was prevailed upon to write or to sign with his own hand a series of recantations. ⁵⁰ PFF2 390.1

2. DYING TESTIMONY REJECTS POPE AS ANTICHRIST

Then Cranmer’s firmness returned, and he renounced his recantations. Condemned to death at the stake, he went to the fire with courage and fortitude, and perished in the flames for his faith. Here is his dying testimony, given just before his death. Having made a final exhortation, he finished with these words, written with his own hand: PFF2 390.2

” ‘And now I come to the great thing that so much troubleth my con science more than any thing that ever I did or said in my whole life, and that is, the setting abroad of a writing contrary to the truth: which now here I renounce and refuse as things written with my hand contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be; and that is, all such bills and papers which I have written or signed with my hand since my degradation; wherein I have written many things untrue. And forasmuch as my hand offended, writing contrary to my heart, my hand shall first be punished therefore: for, may I come to the fire, it shall be first burned. PFF2 390.3

” ‘And as for the pope, I refuse him as Christ’s enemy and antichrist, with all his false doctrine. PFF2 391.1

” ‘And as for the sacrament, I believe as I have taught in my book against the bishop of Winchester; the which my book teacheth so true a doctrine of the sacrament, that it shall stand at the last day before the judgment of God, where the papistical doctrine contrary thereto shall be ashamed to shew her face.’ ” ⁵¹ PFF2 391.2

Upon uttering this, Cranmer was led to the fire. Having put off his outer garments, he stood there in a shirt which hung down to his feet. His thick beard covered his bosom. An iron chain was tied about him, and the fire set to the fagots. As the fire drew close to him he stretched out his right hand, which had signed his recantation, and thrust it into the flame, holding it there immovable, declaring, “This hand hath offended.” ⁵² Finally, he cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” In a short time more the flames had left him a blackened corpse. Like Peter, he had wavered in a moment of weakness. But, like Peter also, he fully repented and became adamant for truth. PFF2 391.3

3. PLACED IN OFFICE TO CALL FLOCK OUT OF BABYLON

In the Preface to his A Defense of the True and Catholic Doc trine of the Sacrament (1550), occurs this solemn declaration of Cranmer’s prophetic interpretation of the Papacy as Antichrist and Babylon: PFF2 391.4

“I know in what office God hath placed me, and to what purpose; that is to say, to set forth his word truly unto his people, to the uttermost of my power, without respect of person, or regard of thing in the world, but of him alone. I know what account I shall make to him hereof at the last day, when every man shall answer for his vocation, and receive for the same good or ill, according as he hath done. I know how antichrist hath obscured the glory of God, and the true knowledge of his word, overcasting the same with mists and clouds of error and ignorance through false glosses and interpretations. It pitieth me to see the simple and hungry flock of Christ led into corrupt pastures, to be carried blindfold they know not whither, and to be fed with poison in the stead of wholesome meats. And moved by the duty, office, and place, whereunto it hath pleased God to call me, I give warning in his name unto all that profess Christ, that they flee far from Babylon, if they will save their souls, and to beware of that great harlot, that is to say, the pestiferous see of Rome, that she make you not drunk with her pleasant wine.” ⁵³ PFF2 391.5

4. TRIPLE-CROWNED ANTICHRIST SEATED IN TEMPLE

In the Preface to his A Confutation of Unwritten Verities (1547), Cranmer states: PFF2 392.1

“After all these sprung up the pope, that triple-crowned monster, and great antichrist, which took upon him authority, not only over the clergy, but also climbed above kings and emperors, deposing them at his pleasure, and settled himself in the temple of God, that is, in the consciences of men, extolling himself above God, dispensing with good laws, and giving men leave to break them, and to regard more his decrees than the ever lasting commandments of God.” ⁵⁴ PFF2 392.2

In chapter 3 of this treatise, on “Canons of the Apostles and Councils Not Kept nor Used,” Cranmer cites certain canons, and then states the contrary action of the Papacy. PFF2 392.3

“But now Antichrist of Rome, contrary to this decree, hath extolled himself above his fellow-bishops, as God’s vicar, yea, rather as God him self; and taketh upon him authority over kings and emperors, and sitteth in the temple of God, that is, in the consciences of men, and causeth his decrees to be more regarded than God’s laws; yea, and for money he dispenseth with God’s laws, and all other, giving men licence to break them.” ⁵⁵ PFF2 392.4

5. ROME Is APOCALYPTIC BABYLON AND ANTICHRIST

Applying first the fourth and fifth seals of Revelation, Cranmer shows that the Antichrist of Babylon must reign from seven-hilled Rome. PFF2 392.5

“And as the true church of Christ can never be long without persecution, in like manner can the false church of Satan and antichrist never cease from persecuting; as it appeareth throughout the histories of the whole bible. Of the tyranny and cruelty of antichrist in persecuting of Christ’s true church, prophesied Daniel long before. Speaking of the empire and regiment of Rome: ‘The fourth beast,’ saith he, ‘shall be the fourth kingdom, which shall be greater than all other kingdoms: it shall devour, tread down, and destroy all other lands; he shall speak words against the Highest of all; he shall destroy the saints of the Most Highest, and think that he can change times and laws.’ And again, he saith of Antiochus, which was a figure of antichrist: ‘There shall arise a king unshamefaced of face; he shall be wise in dark speaking; he shall be mighty and strong, but not in his own strength; he shall destroy above measure, and all that he PFF2 392.6

goeth about shall prosper in his hand: his heart shall be proud, he shall slay the strong and holy people, and through his craftiness falsehood shall prosper in his hand, and many a one shall be put to death in his wealthiness; he shall stand up against the prince of princes, but he shall be slain without hand. ’ PFF2 393.1

“Of the tyranny and prosperous success of antichrist in slaying of the saints of God, and the reward of them that be slain for the witness of God’s truth, speaketh also St John, in the sixth chapter of his Apocalypse, under the opening of the four and five seals: and in the seventeenth chapter he lively setteth forth the pope in his own colours, under the person of the whore of Babylon being drunken with the blood of saints; pointing, as it were with his finger, who this whore of Babylon is, and the place where she shall reign, saying: ‘The woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.’ Now what other city reigned at that time, or at any time since, over the Christian kings of the earth, but only Rome? Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scrip tures, old writers, and strong reasons.” ⁵⁶ PFF2 393.2

6. LAST EXAMINATION CONCERNS ARROGATION OF ANTI CHRIST

The full record of Cranmer’s “Examination at Oxford Before Brokes,” in September, 1555, after the disputations, has been preserved. James Brokes, bishop of Gloucester, was the pope’s subdelegate, with other commissioners. Permission being given to speak, Cranmer declared, “I will never consent that the bishop of Rome shall have any jurisdiction within this realm.” Citing a dozen reasons for his stand—the last of which was that Antichrist arrogated to himself what was not his own—Cranmer said: PFF2 393.3

“Christ saith, that antichrist shall be. And who shall he be? Forsooth, he that advanceth himself above all other creatures. Now if there be none already that hath advanced himself after such sort besides the pope, then in the mean time let him be antichrist.” ⁵⁷ PFF2 393.4

Toward the close of the examination, after charging the pope with being the author of the erroneous teachings of the papal church, and declaring “the author of the same to be very antichrist,” Cranmer solemnly asserts: PFF2 393.5

“Not content herewithal, more insolent than Lucifer, [the Pope] hath occupied not only the highest place in this world above kings and princes, but hath further presumed to sit in the seat of Almighty God, which only he reserved to himself, which is the conscience of man; and to keep the possession thereof, he hath promised forgiveness of sins totiens quotiens. PFF2 393.6

“He hath brought in gods of his own framing, and invented a new religion, full of gain and lucre, quite contrary to the doctrine of the holy scripture, only for the maintaining of his kingdom, displacing Christ from his glory, and holding his people in a miserable servitude of blindness, to the loss of a great number of souls, which God at the latter day shall exact at his hand: boasting many times in his canons and decrees, that he can dispense contra Petrum, contra Paulum, contra vetuset novum Testamentum; and that he, plenitudine potestatis, tantumpotest quantum Deus: that is, ‘Against Peter, against Paul, against the old and new Testament; and of the fulness of power may do as much as God.’ O Lord, who ever heard such blasphemy? If there be any man that can advance himself above him, let him be judged antichrist. PFF2 394.1

“This enemy of God and of our redemption is so evidently painted out in the scriptures, by such manifest signs and tokens, which all so clearly appear in him, that, except a man will shut up his eyes and heart against the light, he cannot but know him: and therefore, for my part, I will never give my consent to the receiving of him into this church of England, and you, my lord, and the rest that sit here in commission, consider well and examine your own consciences: you have sworn against him; you are learned, and can judge of the truth. I pray God you be not wilfully blind. As for me, I have herein discharged mine own conscience toward the world, and I will write also my mind to her grace [Queen Mary], touching this matter.” ⁵⁸ PFF2 394.2

A similar declaration, in even stronger language, was made by Cranmer at his degradation. ⁵⁹ PFF2 394.3