372 OBSERVATIONS ON BISHOP BURNETT'S 
made at the risk of his life), and his stout resistance to the sangui- 
nary enactment of the Six Articles,2' or whip with six strings, as 
it was familiarly called, subjected as he was to trials unknown to 
ourselves, assume the magnanimity of virtue. 
It must, indeed, have fretted his righteous soul, whilst struggling 
to do the work of God in the most acceptable manner—to spread 
that word of truth among the people which was given “ to be a lan- 
tern unto the feet, and a light unto their paths’—to find himself 
exposed to the rage and malice of those persons who ought to have 
been the champions of the genuine faith “once delivered to the 
saints,” instead of the corrupt abettors of idolatrous superstitions. 
Further, it may be observed, that his patronage and love of letters— 
for he had a richly endowed and even ornamented mind ; the bound- 
aries of his scholarship being not limited to Hebrew, Greek, and La- 
tin only, but extending to the French, Italian, and German tongues 
—his desire to admit all toa share of that intellectual improve- 
ment, which all have an interest in acquiring:** the moderation, 
these politic considerations to the secretary, which were the properest argu- 
ments to be used with a statesman, and for him to use and urge before the 
king, that so he might be an instrument of saving the lives of these men, 
however they differed from him, and, it may be, were none of his very good 
friends.”—Strype, Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 28. 
21 Dr. Lingard affirms that Cranmer wrote an apology to the king for his 
presumption in having opposed the opinion of his majesty.— Hist. of England, 
vol. vii. But we apprehend that this is wholly a mistake or misrepresenta- 
tion; for we are almost certain that the learned doctor can produce no autho- 
rity for this statement. 
22 Our age is distinguished by a generous concern for the struction of 
the lower classes of the community. At the time of the Reformation the 
poor man’s son, unless he sang in the choir or responded in the services of the 
church, had not even the benefit of being taught to read. But though Cran- 
mer was the son of a gentleman, and was brought up, as Fox says, “not with- 
out much good civility,” yet he rose superior to all contracted prejudices, to 
all exclusive systems, and nobly advocated the education of the poor. For 
when it was proposed by some of the Commissioners that none should be ad- 
mitted to the Grammar School of Canterbury but only gentlemen’s children, 
the archbishop said that “he thought it not indifferent so to order the matter ;” 
“¢ for,” said he, “ poor men’s children are many times endued with more singu- 
lar gifts of nature, which are also the gifts of God: as with eloquence, memo- 
ry, apt pronunciation, sobriety, and such like, and are commonly, also, more 
apt to apply their study than is the gentleman’s son delicately educated.” 
This whole argument well deserves the attention of the religionist, the phi- 
losopher, and the politician, and shows that the Reformers looked to education 
as the most effectual means of securing the attachment of the people.—See 
Strype, Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, book i, chap. xix. 
— 
