“HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION.” 207 
righteous and just ; and to be the inheritor of everlasting life. Thou, 
merciful Lord, was born for my sake ; thou didst suffer both hunger 
and thirst for my sake ; thou didst teach, pray, and fast for my sake ; 
all thy holy actions and works thou wroughtest for my sake ; thou 
sufferedst most grievous pains and torments for my sake ; finally, 
thou gavest thy most precious body, and thy blood to be shed on the 
cross, for my sake. Now, most merciful Saviour, let all these things 
profit me, that thou freely hast done for me; which hast given thy- 
self also for me. Let thy blood cleanse, and wash away, the spots 
and foulness of my sins. Let thy righteousness hide and cover my 
unrighteousness. Let the merits of thy passion and bloodshedding 
be satisfaction for my sins. Give me, Lord, thy grace, that the 
faith of my salvation in thy blood waver not in me, but may ever be 
firm and constant.’”* These words demonstrate no Pelagian confi- 
dence of human merit, no clinging to the tenet, held by every indivi- 
dual of the church of Rome, that fallen man is both capable of pre- 
paring himself for the reception of grace, and of deserving it by his 
own virtue ; but a recognition of the grand doctrine of justification by 
faith, asserted by our church, that “we are accounted righteous be- 
fore God for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by 
faith, and not for our own works and deserving ;” and therefore 
assuredly the seeds of protestantism}+ were sown in Cromwell’s 
heart. : 
Every age has its generation of hypercritics, who, in any casual 
observations, fancy themselves able to discover some refinements 
hidden from common eyes, esoteric doctrines, concealed meanings, 
* Hall says “ then made he his prayer, which was long, but not so long as 
both godly and learned. ”—Edit. 1548. p. And in another place this chroni_ 
cler remarks, “he was a man that, in all his doings, seemed not to favor any 
kynde of popery.” It is not very likely, then, that he should have closed 
his eventful life in the character ofa papist. 
+ It is a sufficient answer, to those who have fallen into such absurdity 
and paradox as to deny the vicegerent’s attachment “to the new learning,” 
to observe that, when the impression of the whole Bible in English was com- 
pleted, under the patronage of Cranmer, known by the title of “ Matthew’s 
Bible”—though this name was unquestionably fictitious, the translation be- 
ing partly executed by Tyndale and partly by Coverdale, Cromwell took upon 
himself to present a copy of this bibleto Henry, and to obtain the king’s 
leave for its sale and diffusion ; upon which the archbishop thus writes to 
the minister :—‘ Your lordships shall have a perpetual laud and memory of 
all them that be now, or hereafter shall be, God’s faithful people, and favour- 
ers of his word. And this deed you shall hear of at the great day, when all 
things shall be opened and made manifest.”——Strype’s Cranmer, b. i, chap. 15. 
