Rescued from these perils by lord Cromwell, he was by the latter now introduced to Anne Boleyn, and by her appointed chaplain ; and in 1535 he was honored with the bishopric of Worcester. In this new appoint- ment, which marks an important epoch in the ecclesias- tical history of the day, Latimier was remarkably zeal( us in the discharge of his office ; he was active, determined, and vigilant. " In writing, frequent ; in ordaining, strict; in preaching, indefatigable; in reproving, severe ; in exhorting, persuasive." In 1536, finally, he was brought from the somewhat secluded position he had hitherto occupied to a more public exhibition by a sum- mons to Parliament and Convocation, at the opening of which he preaclied two very powerful sermons, boldly urging the necessity of reform. Ever since 1534 es-
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trangement between the pope and the king had been quite decided. Cranmer's decree of 1533, approving the marriage with Anne Boleyn, had been declared first null and void by the pope, and Henry had been threatened with excommunication; but, as he had ignored the pa- pal threat, a bull to this effect was published in 1534-5. These proceedings on the part of Home left no other course open to Henry than either to repent, or to estab- lish himself as the supreme head of the English Church. The Convocation of Canterbury, in 1531, had pronounced orHcially in favor of constitutional reforms, and an act of Parliament in 1533 repudiated papal supremacy by withdrawing first the pajTnent of the bishops' annates or first-fruits, and next by an " act for the restraint of appeals," which forbade appeals to Rome on any pretext, and asserted the civil and ecclesiastical authorities in England competent to decide without any consultation of the papal power, followed by another act conferring on the English monarch the right of episcopal appoint- ment, as well as another forbidding applications to the lioman see for faculties, dispensations, etc. It was therefore no great task to prevail upon the convocations of Canterbury and York, in 1534, to declare formally against the claim of the Koman see to exercise any ju- risdiction in England; and, when once the step had been taken by the convocations, both the universities, as weU as the whole of the bishops, and an overwhelm- ing majority of the clergy, cheerfidly followed in the same wake, "all apparently feeling that there was no sound theological reason for the maintenance of so bur- densome and unconstitutional a tyranny" (Blunt [John Henry], Key to Ch. History [modern ], p. 23). "With all these initiatory measures secured, Henry had no reason any longer to hesitate on the decided step of seizing the supreme power over the English Church, which, in 1531, the convocations of Canterbury and York had consented to recognise only with the definite limitation "as far as the law of Christ will allow," and he began the work bj' an order, in 1534, to omit the ])ope's name from the ser- vice-books, quickly followed by t\vo successive acts, passed by a servile Parliament, confirming the suprem- acy, and giving to the king unlimited power to repress all heresies, and to punish as high treason the denial of his right to the title of supreme head of the Church. In order further to secure him in the position which he had assumed, the Convocation of 153G, in which Lati- mer, as we have seen above, figured quite prominently, was urged to settle the questions of doctrine and devo- tion, which were agitating the English Church, and, as the result of their deliberations, sent forth the following ten articles, the original predecessors of the Thirty-nine Articles of Keligion. See Auticles.
I. Enjoined belief in the Holy Bible, the three creeds, and the teaching of the first four general councils.
II. Set forth the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. HI. Defined penance as consisting of repentance, con- fession, absolution, and amendnieut of life.
IV. Declared fully the doctrine of the real presence, without asserting that of trausubstantiation.
V. Explained justiiicatiou as attainable by repeut.auee, faith, and charity, through the merits and mission of our blessed Lord.
VI. Declared that images might l)e profitably nsed as aids to devotion, but not worshipped nor nndulyhonored.
VII. Set forth the honor due to saints as God's faithful people who pray for us.
Vin. Showedthat, with certain limitations, the prayers of the saints might be asked for.
IX. Spoke of minor rites and ceremonies of the Church, such as the use of holy water, ashes on Ash-Wednesday, palais on Palm-Sunday, etc., and declared that they might he fitly used to excite devotional feelings, but not as if they could obtain remission of sins.
X. Distinguished prayers for the dead from the Romish doctrine of pnrgatory, repudiating the latter.
In the following year these doctrinal articles were succeeded by the Institution of a Christian Afan (q. v.), a plain and authoritative expositiou of Church doctrine, composed by a commission of fi)rty-six divines, appoint- ed by the king, and including all the bishoi)s as well as some other dignitaries of the Church. In this commis- sion all shades of opinion had been represented, Cranmer
and Latimer, as well as Gardiner and Bonner, being of the number; but it was evident throughout that the Kelbrmers were in the majority ; and when, to all out- ward aijpearances, the reform movement seemed des- tined to prove a success in England, it suddenly received, Irom a quarter where it was last looked for, a blow that stimned it almost completely. The separation between the king of England and the pope of Kome having be- come complete, the Lutherans grew anxious to effect a union with the English Reformers, and to this end three German divines, with Burckhardt at their head, had come to England in 1538, to discuss and amicably settle all minor religious differences of opinion. Unfortunate- ly, however, they not only failed to bring about an agree- ment on sacramental doctrine, but the discussion even induced the king to cling more tenaciously than ever to the belief of the Romish Church, especially on transub- stantiation ; and in 1539 the king actually caused the passage of" the bloody act of the Six Articles," or " the whip with six strings," as the Protestants termed it, by which the denial of transubstantiation was made pun- ishable ivith death, and other mediieval dogmas were enforced by fine and imprisonment (comp. Froude, Hist. of Eni/lund, iii, ch. xvi). From these six articles (q. v.) the reformers, of course, totally dissented; many of them preferred to hold their peace, and kept their places. Latimer, however, was not one of these : accustomed to speak his mind, he at once manifested his dissent to this enactment by his resignation of the bishopric. Some historians will have it that he was induced to resign by lord Cromwell; the latter, "either himself deceived or desiring to smooth the storm, told Latimer that the king advised his resignation" (Froude, iii, 370, foot note). The state papei-s (i, 849), however, state " that his majes- ty afterwards denied this, and pitied Latimer's condi- tion ;" and when we consider that Latimer had found a tried friend in Cromwell, we can hardly conclude that either he or the king had anything to do with the res- ignation, which was an act only to be expected oi' Lati- mer, ever imlependcnt and bold to speak the truth. Froude (on the authority of Hall) will have it even that Latimer, together with Shaxton (q. v.), were im- prisoned immediately after their resignation, but if this be true he can have been confined onl}- a brief period, as by a summary declaration of pardon the bishop's dun- geon doors were thrown open and the prisoners were dismissed a very .short time after their imprisonment.