"The Burning of Archbishop Cranmer" 'The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance,' Ps 112:6. The remembrance of those who undoubtedly were righteous is a blessed thing. That is, it imparts a blessing to those who recall their words and actions. None are more the source of blessing than those who made the supreme sacrifice most deliberately, advisedly and, above all, prayerfully. The supreme sacrifice to which I refer is that spoken of by Christ in John 15:13. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." This Thomas Cranmer did on 21st March 1556. The martyr fires had been burning in England since Mary, "Bloody" Mary, had come to the throne in 1553. Upon her ascension, Mary immediately went about re-establishing popery in England. In carrying out her plan, Mary earned her nickname, "Bloody Mary," because during her reign, she had more than 300 persons burned at the stake for heresy. Among them was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. In 1555, included amongst this noble band were Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London and Hugh Latimer, once Bishop of Worcester. These godly men were burned side by side in Oxford on 16th October 1555. The last words of Hugh Latimer ring out still as a trumpet blast of victory. "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day, by God's grace, light such a candle in England as I trust shall never be put out." He was an old man, being over 80 years of age. But age and frailty meant nothing to popery then or now. Such was the atmosphere in England when Thomas Cranmer was arrested tried and burned at the stake in Oxford.