66 66 bishop of having written P. Martyr's treatise upon the same subject. "Item, that the said Thomas Cranmer .... did compile, and cause to be set abroad, divers books. Whereunto, when the names of the "books were recited unto him, he denyed not such "books, which he was the true author of. As touch"ing the treatise of P. Martyr upon the Sacrament, "he denyed that he ever saw it, before it was abroad, "yet did approve and well like it." Fox, p. 1704. Perhaps their object was similar in both instances; they might have hoped in the first, to obtain more positive and allegeable proof, than they seemed at the time to possess, against Ridley, whose love of truth would have induced him, if at all concerned in it, not to disavow it; and in the second, to procure an additional charge against Cranmer. Page 20, note (12). "Itaque fuit crematus Angliæ primas, maximæ vir ❝eruditionis et authoritatis." Sleidani Commentarii, anno 1556." Quibus perceptis, antiquissimos tam "Græcos quam Latinos patres evolvit: concilia om"nia, et antiquitatem, ad ipsa Apostolorum tempora, "investigavit. Theologiam totam, detracta illa, quam "Sophista obduxerunt, vitiata cute, ad vivum reseca"vit; quam tamen non doctrina magis quam moribus " atque vita expressit." Archbishop Parker's Antiquit. Britannicæ, p. 331.-" Quæque vir humanissimus a "Gratiis et Musis fictus promisit, ea omnia cumulatis"sime præstitit." Melchior. Adam. Vitæ Theologorum Exterorum, p. 18. Other testimonies might be adduced from P. Martyr's preface to his tract on the Sacrament, Andr. Osiander, &c. Tremellius, as Gilpin remarks, terms him, “ homo φιλόξενος, nec minus φιλόλογος.” Life of Cranmer, p. 231. Page 21, note (13). Probably one short specimen of the manner, in which, when he pleased, he was capable of expressing himself, may be sufficient to disprove the censure of Burnet. After noticing with some severity that the Romish Antichrist and his Ministers, in their doctrine of deliverance from Purgatory, "take upon them to "do for us, that thing which Christ either would not, "or could not do," he thus exclaims; "O haynous "blasphemy, and most detestable injury against Christ! "O wicked abomination in the temple of God! O "pride intolerable of Antichrist, and most manifest "token of the Son of Perdition, extolling himself above "God, and with Lucifer exalting his seat and power "above the throne of God!" Preface to his Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament. Ought he, who was master of language like this, to be slighted as incoherent, spiritless, and inelegant? But to form a thorough conception of his style, it is necessary to consult his writings themselves, in which, to use his own expressions, he flattered himself, that he had made "more clearly appear the light from the darkness, the "truth from false sophistical subtleties, and the certain "word of God from men's dreams and phantastical in"ventions." Ibid. p. 14. He is not indeed always nervous, but he is always clear and flowing, eloquent and impressive. Page 22, note (14). To give an adequate idea of his diction seems difficult. It has a certain unobtrusive elegance about it, which mocks description; Illam Componit furtim, subsequiturque decor. Tibullus Eleg. iv. 2. 8. Page 22, note (15). The difference of style in Henry's and Edward's time, from that which began to prevail in Elizabeth's, appears striking, when we compare the works of the same person at the different æras. In the reign of Henry, an author of the name of Taverner, who was "Clerk of the Signets" to that Monarch, wrote a paraphrase upon the Epistles and Gospels of the year, which was very gravely and decently composed. The same person is said by Antony Wood to have delivered a singular Sermon (being a licensed preacher, although a layman) at St. Mary's, Oxford, in the reign of Elizabeth, which thus commenced; "Arriving at the "mount of St. Mary's, in the stony stage where now I "stand, I have brought some biscuits, baked in the "oven of charity, carefully conserved for the chickens of "the Church, the sparrows of the Spirit, and the sweet "swallows of salvation." History and Antiq. of the Univ. of Oxford, vol. ii. p. 152. Indeed, at an intervening period, we perceive some occasional traces of so perverted a taste in the letters of those, who were imprisoned by Mary for their attachment to the Reformation; but these principally occur in the compositions of illiterate men. Careless, a Coventry weaver, thus expresses himself in a letter to a fellow-prisoner, whose name was Green. "Oh blessed Green! Thou meek " and loving lamb of the Lord! How happy art thou "to be appointed to die for his sake! A full dainty "dish art thou for the Lord's own tooth. Fresh and "green shalt thou be in the house of the Lord, and thy "fruits shall never wither nor decay." Fox's Martyrol. p. 1746. And again, in a letter to Philpot; "Oh my good master Philpot, which art a principal pot "indeed, filled with most precious liquor, as it appeareth 66 by the plenteous pouring forth of the same! Oh pot "most happy, of the high Potter ordained to honour, "which dost contain such heavenly treasures in the "earthen vessel! Oh pot thrice happy!" Id. 1745. What a complete contrast does the language of this unlettered man form with the following extract from an epistle of Lady Jane Gray to her sister, at the same period; "Be penitent for your sins, and yet despair "not be strong in faith, and yet presume not." Ibid. p. 1292. How highly the composition of our Liturgy ranked in the estimation of so good a judge as Swift, appears from the following passage in his letter to the Lord Treasurer, containing a proposal for correcting, improving, and ascertaining the English tongue." Then,” he remarks," as to the greatest part of our Liturgy, "compiled long before the translation of the Bible now "in use, and little altered since, there seem to be in it "as great strains of true sublime eloquence, as are any "where to be found in our language; which every man "of good taste will observe in the Communion Service, "that of Burial, and other parts." Indeed so admirable was the style of those who composed it, that even in the parts which are direct translations from the ancient Latin forms, they preserved all the grace and spirit of original composition. In proof of this assertion may be alleged the following passage in our Communion Service, which is almost literally taken from the Preface to the Canon of the Mass; "It " is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we “should, at all times, and in all places, give thanks "unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, Almighty, Everlast"ing God! Therefore, with angels and archangels, "and with all the company of heaven, we laud and "magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee, "and saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Hosts, "heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to "thee, O Lord most high." Compared with this, in how disadvantageous a point of view, how flat and heavy, appears the subsequent translation of the same preface, by a Roman Catholic Bishop of the present day. "It is truly meet and just, " right and wholesome, that we always, and in all places, "should give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Almighty "Father, Everlasting God, through Christ our Lord. "Through whom the angels give praise to thee, the "dominations adore, the powers tremble, the heavens, " and the virtues of the heavens, and the blessed sera"phims, with common jubilee join in glorifying thy "Majesty. With whom we beseech thee, that thou "wouldst order our voices also to be admitted, saying "with a most humble confession, Holy, holy, holy "Lord God of Sabaoth. The heavens and the earth are full of thy glory; hosanna in the highest; blessed "is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." See p. 66 89. of a small tract, entitled, " The Garden of the Soul; "or a Manual of Spiritual Exercises, &c." by the Ven. and R. R. Dr. Richard Challoner, Bishop of Debra, and Vicar Apostolic. Lond. 1799. The collect for the 7th Sunday after Trinity commences in these words; " Deus virtutum, cujus est totum, quod est optimum, insere pectoribus nostris "amorem tui nominis, &c." With what spirit is it thus rendered; "Lord of all power and might, who art "the author and giver of all good things, graft in our "hearts the love of thy name, &c." But the superiority in the language of our Liturgy will appear perhaps more striking, if we contrast a short prayer in it, first translated from the Latin Breviary for the Primer of Henry VIII. (in which, indeed, the whole of our present Litany is to be found,) with another, derived from the same source, and published at the same period. "Deus, cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere, suscipe deprecationes nostras, ut, quos de"lictorum catena constringit, miseratio tuæ pietatis ab"solvat Christum Dominum nostrum.' per "O God, whose nature and property is ever to have 66 |