Arizona republican., 1908-03-30
CARDINAL WOLSEY.

i Rev Julius w. Atwood. pastor of the | Trinity church, delivered a lecture on i Cardinal Wolsey. of which the follow ing is an extract:
 Cardinal Wolsey was one of the last. and he wa salso one of the ablest of the great ecclesiastical statesmen who
 adorn the annals of English history. | The only ecclesiastic after his time who deeply influenced the political his tory of his country and who was quite as much of a politician as a church. man as Archbishop Land.
 The reign of Henry VIII. began with hope and brightness for England. He
 was the prince of great personal charm. of noble bearing, and very de- cided talents. He had the magnetic gift which later characterized his daughter. Queen Elizabeth, of knitting close to his own heart the hearts of his 1 people. The deterioration of his char acter the disfiguring of his life by lust and cruelty was the outcome of later years. He had a great love for his people. He wanted England free from
 all foreign influences and domination.
 He made her strong and feared abroad. He rendered a great service to the church of England by helping to make her free. With this exception Henry had little or no sympathy for refor- nation ideas and was wholly Roman at heart. Neither he or any other man could stay the progress of the refOr-
 nation when it had begun. for back of it was the great heart of the nation, crying for qualification of life and re- form in dogma and ritual.
 According to tradition. Wolsey was the son of butcher and was born in Ipswich about the year 147L He
 was of humble origin. He became early in the succeeding century one of the chaplains of the archbishop of Canter-
 bury and a little later the kings chap lain. On the accession of Henry VIII. in 1909 he immediately rose to favor
 and honor after honor. responsibility
 after responsibility was thrust upon him. till finally he became the chief parsonage in the realm after the king.
 In the days of his greatest glory he lived like royalty itsself He founded
 great educational institutions. the col lege at Ipswich, the Cardinal college. 1 This magnificent scheme of national ! education failed, not through his fault. But Wolsey's overbearing manner, his extreme measures of taxation raised up an opposition against him which sought his destruction. He was safe as long as he had the support of the king
 but that at last failed him. In the question of the kings divorce he obeyed the king in what he did. The whole question of divorce was involved in political considerations. Ii seemed impossible for men to approach it from the standpoint of religion. The pope waVered. Wolsey failed and he lost
 favor with the king. It was not his failure in the divorce alone which brought his ruin. He had sought long
 before to alienate the king from Anna
 Boleyn and thus incurred her hatred.
 He had become unpopular with the people on account of the vast sums of money which he had demanded from
 French war He had honestly sought
 reform in the church and in this way
 raised an opposition among the clergy.
 To all these opposing forces was added
 the fact that his foreign policy was not
 successful as it had been formerly He
 was deprived of his wealth and secular
 honors and retired to the north. There he seemed to begin a new career as an
 ecclesiastic but on the eve of his in-
 stallation as archbishop of York he was arrested on the charge of high treason.
 Sick in body and in mind when he
 came to Liecester abbey he exclaimed
 as he sought shelter there: Father Abbott. l am come hither to leave my
 bones among you. This prophecy was soon fulfilled. As he lay on his death
 bed he turned to Kingston. the lord
 lieutenant of the tower, and said: If
 had served my God as diligently as
 l lave done the king. He would not
 have given me over in my gray hairs