“That Henry, previous to this time, had been a devoted papist, may be inferred from a book which he wrote in defence of popery, against Martin Luther, the celebrated Saxon reformer; for which the pope had bestowed on him the title of ‘Defender of the Faith,’ still retained by our monarchs. During this period many persons suffered persecution; and though it is far from my intention to enter into an account of many of the ‘noble army of martyrs,’ yet, to render you thankful for the mercies _you_ enjoy in this privileged land, I will just mention, that, in 1519, six men and a woman were _burnt_ at Coventry, for teaching the Lord’s prayer, the creed, and the ten commandments, in the _vulgar tongue_. “On the 14th of November, 1532, Henry was secretly united to Ann Boleyn. On the second of May, 1534, the sentence of divorce was formally pronounced by Cranmer, between the king and Catherine of Arragon; and, on the twenty-eighth of the same month, his marriage with Ann Boleyn (who afterwards became the mother of our celebrated queen Elizabeth) was publicly confirmed. The pope’s excommunication followed this step immediately; and Henry was so enraged, that he resolved to break entirely with the see of Rome, and to abolish the papal authority for ever. “The parliament confirmed his proceedings, and thus were our forefathers delivered from the tyranny of Rome. “But, strange as it may appear to you, persecution still raged, and many sufferers might be named, who, about this period, underwent martyrdom; for Henry, though he had indignantly renounced the temporal authority of the pope, was still zealously devoted, in all spiritual matters, to the Romish forms. Neither party, consequently, escaped his wrath. The reformers, who, by their preaching and writings, attacked the doctrinal errors, and exposed the superstitious and burdensome ceremonies of papacy, were equally liable to punishment with the Romish priests and laymen, who denied his supremacy. Whilst the lesser abbeys, to the number of three hundred and seventy-six, were suppressed, and, not long after, the greater ones shared the same fate; yet, with an inconsistency peculiar to Henry’s character, he caused several eminent protestants, among whom was the excellent lady Ann Askew, to be burnt to death in Smithfield.