The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-23 00:00:00

PROM:IT-4 NT MA RT YR&

CRANMER, LATIMER, RIDLEY, AND •
•
HOOPER.
IT is common to call this the age of progress ;
it might with equal truth be styled the age of
paradox. Men whom we have been accustomed
to revile we have lately been taught to revere ; .
others, whose memories we have fondly cherished,
and whose very names are treasured in many
households, are now held up to ridicule, and 4
denounced as " miscreants" and " utterly unre-
" deemed villains." It is certainly startling to
read that Naito was tender-hearted, and names )
a pattern of chastity ; that HENRY the EIGHTH
sent an old and barren wife to the block in order s
that he might marry a young sod comely girt
solely for the purpose of serving his country ;
but marvellous though these things appear
as first sight, they are yet capable of t
a simple and natural explanation. It ,
is in sot:ordain* with the better feeling
of human nature to dis:over an apology fur those
who have been charged with foul deeds and
blamed for leading vile lives. When death, the
great reconciler, has swept the oppressor and th
111,40•041111.0 r
be• blamed who 7ndeaveurs toshOw' thud ty
extended to the victim should not be withheld
from the perpetrator. Should the attempt be made
to prove that the victim's sufferings were magnified, j
if not imaginary, credit should be given for an
endeavour to soothe enmities whieb might well be
buried in obliviqn. On the contrary, when the I
martyr for truth is hold up to scorn as the pro- 11-
pagator of evil, we are shocked at the bad taste
which could prompt the act and loathe the calum-
niator of a departed and defenceless sufferer. It 1.
is is the part of the denouncer of men whet°
virtues have stood the test of ages, whose repute- -
tions have been honoured by posterity, and whose
errors it is ungenerous even to recall, that Dr.
LirrteueLa has challenged public notice, and has -
merited public rebuke. He has discovered that- r
the heroes of the English Reformation are " utterly
" unredeemed villains." In his opinion they rank
below the cut-throats of the French Revolution. -
According to him it is insulting to such men-as
ROBESPIERE, PARTON, and MARAT to name them
in the same breath with "miscreants" like CP r
tux, RI ',tee, HOOPER, and LATIMER.
When using this language Dr. lerrtenlts is .
blameworthy ; but he is not wholly eccentric. He -
gives utterance to the sentiments of others when ,
expressing his own extraordinary opinions. Am' ,
one of the leading members of the Ritualistic party, .
be is empowered to speak on behalf of his com-
panions. What ho recently said at Liverpoal, .
and repeated in a letter to the giatrdiart, is in
substance what his party has taught for may
years, and still glories in teaching. He enun-
ciated his views in this matter in a letter
to the Archbishop of CANTERBURY last -
year. He then stated that all advanced
broad Churchmen are tending towards Posi-
tivism, which, he believes, " will be the
"-sole survivor of the warring brood sprung from
" the dragon's teeth of Protestantism." As the
!Sounders and ehief propagators of Protestantiani,
the Bishops who suffered at the stake are pecu-
liarly obnoxious to those who regard Protest-
antism as the root of every evil under which we
groan. Now, what did these men really do f
CR INNER was not a model Bishop. He fluc-
tuated between allegiance to his Soveazzee and
obedience to his GOD ; at once time he renounced
the errors of Romanism at the bidding of con-
victiou ; and at another ho embraced them
in order to prolong his life. Ho was
a vacillating and by ne means an admirable
man. Yet he redeemed many mistakes by his
demeanour at the last, and punished the hand
which "had offended by writing contrary to his
" heart" by thrusting it into the flames kindled
to devour his body. Nor did he suffer at the
stake for his faith so much as for his political
principles. Had he been a lees thorough Engreh-
man, and cared nothing about the POPE having
supremacy within this realm, ho would have led a
happier life and died a less horrible death. So
was it with Hoopla. He was the victim of a
perverted political system. GARDINER, who
acted as his judge, had held the opinion for which
he was tried ; but it was vain for HOOPER and those
who stood their trial with him to allege in
their defence that GARDINER'S book had taught
them to reject the authority of the Bishop of
Rome. Theis judge had changed alike his creed
and his allegiance : they were doomed to a cruel
death because their consciences were less elastic
and their courage greater than his. RIDLEY had
also committed the unpardonable crime of pre-
ferring Lady Jams Gaze to MARY. As a heretics
and a traitor he was sentenced to the stake. But
if ever England produced a man of whom all sects
might well be proud, that man was Laramie The
fearless preacher, in an age when boldness was the
most dangerous of virtues ; the divine, whose
eloquence was not more powerful than his example
in persuading men to walk in the paths of holiness;
the good, grave, and virtuous old man who re-
fused to avert by recantation the death from
which the utterance of a few words would have
saved him, this is he whom Dr. LITLLEDALR
classes among " utterly unredeemed villains,"
this is he whom he thinks unfit company for
such patterns of heroic virtue as Roersereartzt,
Dasrear, and MARAT ! Revolting as the com-
parison may appear, it is not entirely useless for
our instruction. The blood of the Protestant
Martyrs was the seed, not of the Church only, but
also of English freedom. They died that the
truth might prevail. Their deaths did more than
all their exertions could have done towards
propagating the doctrines which, in their persons,
it was designed to annihilate. On the other
band, when the heads of the sanguinary leaders of
the French Reign of Terror fell on the scaffold,
the reign of despotism recommenced. The world
has since felt that the doom of Dr. lerrerizers's
heroes was a merited one. It is himself and the
modern Ritualists alone who glory in the slaughter
of the victims of the Protestant Reformation. If
they would take a lesson in tolerance, we might
ask them to consider what has been the verdict
passed on these butcheries by the members of that
church of which Quase Mese was a too ardent
member. Let them turn to the pages of lezzeeen's
" History of England," and they will find that a
Roman Catholic priest is unable to refer to that
which pleases them so thoroughly in milder terms
than as " these horrors."

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