The Surprise Ending

The Surprise Ending

Be thou faithful unto death.

IN 1534 King Henry VIII made himself head of the Church of England, separating it from the Roman Catholic Church. This did not indicate a change in doctrine but merely meant that Henry VIII, not the pope, now controlled the English Church. However, Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury, the ecclesiastical head of the Church of England, was a committed Protestant believer. Cranmer appointed Hugh Latimer as royal chaplain. Latimer had experienced a dramatic conversion ten years earlier when another minister shared the gospel with him. Archbishop Cranmer appointed Nicholas Ridley as his own personal chaplain. Ridley, unlike Latimer, still espoused the Roman Catholic faith. However, in the following decade his thinking changed radically.

In the late 1530s the influence of Cranmer and Latimer, then a bishop, was growing. Henry VIII had unknowingly authorized the publishing of Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible, and Cranmer was pushing for a more Protestant liturgy.

Henry VIII became more dictatorial as he grew older. In 1539 he published his Six Articles, making belief in certain Roman Catholic doctrines obligatory and putting the growing number of Protestants in jeopardy. Latimer had to resign his bishopric because of the Six Articles. Ridley, whose views were gradually changing, became royal chaplain. Fortunately, after a year the king suspended enforcement of the Six Articles.

In 1547 Henry VIII died and was succeeded by his nine-year-old son, a sincere Christian, who became King Edward VI. During Edward’s reign, Archbishhop Cranmer had great influence, and the liturgy of English churches was changed from Latin to English. Ridley, by then a convinced evangelical, became a bishop, and Latimer, no longer a bishop, was actively preaching at least two sermons every Sunday. Unfortunately, Edward died in 1553 and was succeeded by his half sister, Mary Tudor, a Roman Catholic. She was crowned Queen Mary I and soon earned her nickname of “Bloody Mary.” Under Mary, all bishops were replaced by Roman Catholics, and Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley were imprisoned, tried for heresy, and condemned to death.

On October 16, 1555, Latimer and Ridley were led out of prison to be burned at the stake. As the fire was lit, Latimer said, “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.”

Cranmer was then “degraded,” a formal ceremony in which all symbols of his office of archbishop were physically removed from him. Back in prison Cranmer was told that if he would recant he might be spared and given the opportunity to heal the divided church of England. After much pressure Cranmer finally signed a recantation denouncing Luther as a heretic and affirming the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

But Queen Mary I and the Catholic bishops had no intention of sparing Cranmer. They knew that the Reformation seemed to grow stronger with each martyrdom, so their plan was to show the folly of the movement through the collapse of a major leader. They planned to have Cranmer make a public statement of his conversion to Catholicism to show his weakness and then execute him.

But Cranmer had the last word. On the appointed day Cranmer was brought to the platform to speak to the assembled crowd. He confirmed his faith in God and in the Bible. Then to the horror of the church dignitaries, he said, “As for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ’s enemy and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine.” Amid an uproar, Cranmer was pulled off the platform, but he broke away and ran straight to the stake and stood resolutely to be burned.

The flames soon consumed him, but his brave denunciation destroyed forever the power of Roman Catholicism in England, making it a Protestant nation. The deaths of Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer indeed lit a candle that has never been put out.

Reflection

Latimer and Ridley remained faithful throughout their imprisonment, whereas Cranmer temporarily weakened. Yet Cranmer’s final repentance and faithful testimony had a greater impact on England than even the deaths of Latimer and Ridley. When you find yourself failing in your faithfulness to God, it’s not too late to ask him to restore you and keep you faithful to the end.

Those who endure to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:13