All Things Seen & Unseen

The story of Henry VIII's obsession to secure a male heir so that the possibility of another Civil War (as had happened between the Lancasters and the Yorks in the brutal 'War of the Roses') could be avoided is well-known. Catherine of Aragon of Spain, had formerly been married to his older brother Arthur who died six months after their marriage.   Although Henry VII was not keen for his youngest son to marry Catherine, she did have a large dowry and when King Henry VII died, his son Henry VIII married Catherine.  But her child-bearing years with Henry were accompanied by frustration with the only success being her giving birth to a female heir (Mary, later Mary I). Therefore, Henry determined to gain an annulment from his marriage to Catherine from the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) but was refused for political reasons. So, Henry decided to break with Rome by getting his own clergy to annul the marriage and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was happy to oblige his king. 1   Thomas ...

One of the great themes running through Anglican worship is the theme of MERCY. Someone has said that whereas John Calvin focussed on the Sovereignty of God which is an important theme of the Scriptures, Martin Luther could never forget the mercy of God particularly as shown in the Incarnation and in Christ's Redemption. For Luther, God's coming to the creation in the Person of His Son and our Lord's dying on the cross was the greatest act of mercy that the universe has ever beheld. (Cranmer was heavily influenced by Martin Luther as is evident in the former's liturgy and preaching. He even married his first wife while in holy orders even though on arriving back in England he was forced to give up holy orders because of this decision!) In a letter to Philipp Melanchthon his closest friend, Martin Luther with characteristic vigour said: If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear th...