supremacy of the king, this created much jealousy against Cranmer, and
his translation of the Bible was strongly opposed by Stokesley, bishop
of London. It is said, upon the demise of queen Catharine, that her
successor Anne Boleyn rejoiced--a lesson this to show how shallow is the
human judgment! since her own execution took place in the spring of the
following year, and the king, on the day following the beheading of this
sacrificed lady, married the beautiful Jane Seymour, a maid of honour to
the late queen. Cranmer was ever the friend of Anne Boleyn, but it was
dangerous to oppose the will of the carnal tyrannical monarch.

In 1538, the holy Scriptures were openly exposed to sale; and the places
of worship overflowed every where to hear its holy doctrines expounded.
Upon the king's passing into a law the famous Six Articles, which went
nearly again to establish the essential tenets of the Romish creed,
Cranmer shone forth with all the lustre of a Christian patriot, in
resisting the doctrines they contained, and in which he was supported by
the bishops of Sarum, Worcester, Ely, and Rochester, the two former of
whom resigned their bishoprics. The king, though now in opposition to
Cranmer, still revered the sincerity that marked his conduct. The death
of Lord Cromwell in the Tower, in 1540, the good friend of Cranmer, was
a severe blow to the wavering protestant cause, but even now Cranmer,
when he saw the tide directly adverse to the truth, boldly waited on the
king in person, and by his manly and heartfelt pleading, caused the book
of Articles to be passed on his side, to the great confusion of his
enemies, who had contemplated his fall as inevitable.

Cranmer now lived in as secluded a manner as possible, till the rancour
of Winchester preferred some articles against him, relative to the
dangerous opinion he taught in his family, joined to other treasonable
charges. These the king delivered himself to Cranmer, and believing
firmly the fidelity and assertions of innocence of the accused prelate,
he caused the matter to be deeply investigated, and Winchester and Dr.
Lenden, with Thornton and Barber, of the bishop's household, were found
by the papers to be the real conspirators. The mild forgiving Cranmer
would have interceded for all remission of punishment, had not Henry,
pleased with the subsidy voted by parliament, let them be discharged;
these nefarious men, however, again renewing their plots against
Cranmer, fe