English Reformation (Part 2)

GOD’S TOOLS 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 HENRY VIII E D WA R D 1509–1547 1547–1553 DISCIPLE-MAKER THOMAS BILNEY (1495–1531) TRANSLATOR WILLIAM TYNDALE (1494–1536) MARY 1553–1558 PREACHER HUGH LATIMER (1485–1555) ELIZABETH 1558–1603 SCHOLAR ARCHBISHOP NICOLAS RIDLEY (1500–1555) THOMAS CRANMER (1489–1556) His death completed the circle of five men…who loosed the yoke of Rome from the neck of the Church of England by the sacrifice of their lives: a glorious crown of bishops, the like of which is set upon the brow of no other church in Christendom. R.W. DIXON History of the Church of England HENRY VIII E D WA R D 1509–1547 1547–1553 DISCIPLE-MAKER THOMAS BILNEY (1495–1531) TRANSLATOR WILLIAM TYNDALE (1494–1536) MARY 1553–1558 PREACHER HUGH LATIMER (1485–1555) ELIZABETH 1558–1603 SCHOLAR ARCHBISHOP NICOLAS RIDLEY (1500–1555) THOMAS CRANMER (1489–1556) QUIET DISCIPLE-MAKER Thomas Bilney (1495–1531) • Bilney is converted by reading the Greek NT • He begins spreading Reformation doctrine “I am also like Paul…the greatest of sinners. But Christ saves sinners! At last I have heard of Jesus!”….“Now I see it all. My vigils, my fasts, my pilgrimages, my purchase of masses and indulgences were destroying instead of saving me.” THOMAS BILNEY QUIET DISCIPLE-MAKER Thomas Bilney (1495–1531) • Bilney is converted by reading the Greek NT • He begins spreading Reformation doctrine • He is arrested and recants the Faith Returning to Cambridge in 1528, Bilney fell into a deep depression that nothing could lift. His friends stayed with him day and night, afraid that he might kill himself if left alone. This depression stayed with him until 1531. JOHN FOXE Foxe’s Christian Martyrs QUIET DISCIPLE-MAKER Thomas Bilney (1495–1531) • Bilney is converted by reading the Greek NT • He begins spreading Reformation doctrine • He is arrested and recants the Faith • He is martyred on August 19, 1531 HENRY VIII E D WA R D 1509–1547 1547–1553 DISCIPLE-MAKER THOMAS BILNEY (1495–1531) TRANSLATOR WILLIAM TYNDALE (1494–1536) MARY 1553–1558 PREACHER HUGH LATIMER (1485–1555) ELIZABETH 1558–1603 SCHOLAR NICOLAS RIDLEY (1500–1555) ARCHBISHOP THOMAS CRANMER (1489–1556) DEDICATED TRANSLATOR William Tyndale (1494–1536) • Transfers from Oxford to Cambridge in 1516 • After graduation, he tutors Sir John Welsh’s children • He determines to produce a vernacular translation What is to be done? While I am sowing in one place, the enemy ravages the field I have just left. I cannot be everywhere. Oh! If Christians possessed the Holy Scriptures in their own tongue, they could of themselves without these sophists. Without the Bible it is impossible to establish the laity in the truth. MERLE D’AUBIGNE The Reformation in England, 1:172 The old man looked at him for a while as if he hesitated to disclose some great mystery. “Do you not know,” said he, lowering his voice, “that the pope is very antichrist whom the Scriptures speaketh of?...But beware of what you say… for if you should be perceived of that opinion, you will lose your life!” MERLE D’AUBIGNE The Reformation in England, 1:175 ”I defy the pope and all his laws! If God spares my life, ere many years I will take care that the ploughboy shall know more of the Scriptures than you do!” WILLIAM TYNDALE DEDICATED TRANSLATOR William Tyndale (1494–1536) • Transfers from Oxford to Cambridge in 1516 • After graduation, he tutors Sir John Welsh’s children • He determines to produce a vernacular translation • He produces 3 editions before his martyrdom HENRY VIII E D WA R D 1509–1547 1547–1553 DISCIPLE-MAKER THOMAS BILNEY (1495–1531) TRANSLATOR WILLIAM TYNDALE (1494–1536) MARY 1553–1558 PREACHER HUGH LATIMER (1485–1555) ELIZABETH 1558–1603 SCHOLAR NICOLAS RIDLEY (1500–1555) ARCHBISHOP THOMAS CRANMER (1489–1556) POPULAR PREACHER Hugh Latimer (1485–1555) • He ardently defends the RCC until Bilney… • Becomes the personal preacher to Henry & Edward • He is imprisoned and martyred when Mary is queen 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. HUGH LATIMER HENRY VIII E D WA R D 1509–1547 1547–1553 DISCIPLE-MAKER THOMAS BILNEY (1495–1531) TRANSLATOR WILLIAM TYNDALE (1494–1536) MARY 1553–1558 PREACHER HUGH LATIMER (1485–1555) ELIZABETH 1558–1603 SCHOLAR NICOLAS RIDLEY (1500–1555) ARCHBISHOP THOMAS CRANMER (1489–1556) LEARNED SCHOLAR Nicolas Ridley (1500–1555) • Avoids Bilney’s influence due to his uncle • Becomes Henry’s chaplain in 1541 • By 1545, he refutes transubstantiation LEARNED SCHOLAR Nicolas Ridley (1500–1555) • Avoids Bilney’s influence due to his uncle • Becomes Henry’s chaplain in 1541 • By 1545, he refutes transubstantiation • Martyred by Mary in 1555 If you love me, you will rejoice that God has called me to this honor, which is greater than any earthly honor I could ever attain. Who wouldn’t be happy to die for this cause? I trust in my Lord God, who put His mind, will, and affection in my heart, and choose to lose all my worldly substance and my life, too, rather than deny His known truth. He will comfort me, aid me, and strengthen me forever, even to the yielding of my spirit and soul into His hands. NICOLAS RIDLEY HENRY VIII E D WA R D 1509–1547 1547–1553 DISCIPLE-MAKER THOMAS BILNEY (1495–1531) TRANSLATOR WILLIAM TYNDALE (1494–1536) MARY 1553–1558 PREACHER HUGH LATIMER (1485–1555) ELIZABETH 1558–1603 SCHOLAR NICOLAS RIDLEY (1500–1555) ARCHBISHOP THOMAS CRANMER (1489–1556) TIMELY ARCHBISHOP Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) • Comes under the spell of Bilney at Cambridge • Is brought to the court through Henry’s annulment • Helps reform the church under Edward VI • Recants, returns, and is martyred I come to the great thing which so much troubleth my conscience, 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….And forasmuch as my hand hath offended, writing contrary to my heart, therefore my hand shall first be punished; for when I come to the fire it shall first be burned. THOMAS CRANMER To the Glory of God, and in grateful commemoration of His servants, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer…who near this spot yielded their bodies to be burned, bearing witness to the sacred truths which they had affirmed and maintained against the errors of the Church of Rome, and rejoicing that to them it was given not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake…. TAKEAWAYS 1. God uses only broken tools; know them! 2. Prize your Bible, knowing right doctrine 3. Praise God, for “his steadfast love endures forever” GOD’S TOOLS 2 Corinthians 4:6––12, 16–18 PSALM 136 God brought the English-speaking people his Word, For his steadfast love endures forever. He used the fearful and the faulty, For his steadfast love endures forever. He used the foolishness of preaching, For his steadfast love endures forever. He directed the nation through faith-filled advisors, For his steadfast love endures forever. He turned martyrdom his own ends, For his steadfast love endures forever. ENGLISH REFORMATION Our Heritage