ing about his neck upon his breast." The popish ecclesiastics exhorted him to recant, which he refused, and met their arguments by reference to the word of God. They accused him of want of learning, on which he emphatically replied, "Lo, you look for learning at my hands, who have gone so long to the school of oblivion, making the bare walls my library, keeping me so long in prison without book, or pen and ink, and now you let me loose to come and answer to articles! You deal with me as though two were appointed to fight for life and death; and over-night the one, through friends and favour, is cherished, and hath good counsel given him how to encounter with his enemy; the other, for envy or lack of friends, all the whole night is set in the stocks. In the morning, when they shall meet, the one is in strength and lusty, the other is stark* of his limbs, and almost dead for feebleness. Think you that to run this man through with a spear is a goodly victory?" This is but too correct a representation of the manner in which these examinations were conducted, and it is unnecessary to enter into further details respecting them. We now proceed to the account of Latimer's last sufferings, as recorded by Fox. On the morning of October 16th, 1555, Latimer and Ridley were led to the place prepared for their burning, in the front of Baliol College at Oxford. They kneeled down, and prayed separately, and afterwards conversed together. A sermon was then preached, in which their doctrines and their characters were aspersed, but they were not suffered to reply. "Well," said Latimer, "there is nothing hid but it shall be opened." The jailer then took off their upper clothes, to prepare them for the stake, when it was seen that Latimer had put on a shroud as his under-garment; and although he had appeared a withered old man, his body crazed and bent under the weight of years, he now "stood upright, as comely a father as one might any where behold." All being prepared, a lighted fagot was brought and laid at Ridley's feet. Latimer then turned, and addressed his fellowsufferer in these memorable and emphatic words: "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; WE SHALL THIS LIGHT SUCH A CANDLE, BY GOD'S GRACE, IN ENGLAND, AS I TRUST SHALL NEVER BE PUT OUT." The fire burned fiercely; DAY * Stiff. 1 Ridley suffered much with great constancy, but Latimer was soon delivered. He exclaimed aloud, "O Father of heaven, receive my soul." Bending towards the flames, he seemed to embrace them, and bathe his hands therein, and speedily departed. When the fire was burned low, and the spectators crowded round the dying embers, they beheld his heart unconsumed, and a quantity of blood gushed from it, reminding them of his prayer already mentioned. He had indeed shed his heart's blood as a testimony to the truth of the doctrines he had preached. This awful testimony to the truth was not fruitless. Julius Palmer, a Fellow of Magdalen College, was present; he had been a bigoted papist, but his mind was excited to examine into the doctrines held by those who suffered, that he might ascertain what enabled them to undergo such cruel torments unmoved. He was present at the examinations and the burning of Ridley and Latimer, and their Christian fortitude was made the means of dispelling his prejudices. He shortly after himself suffered for the truth, but had been enabled to count the cost, and before the hour of suffering arrived, he declared, "Indeed it is a hard matter for them to burn that have the mind and soul linked to the body, as a thief's foot is tied in a pair of fetters; but if a man be once able, through the help of God's Spirit, to separate and divide the soul from the body, for him it is no more difficulty to burn, than for me to eat this piece of bread." There also is reason to believe that the sufferings of Latimer and Ridley, and of other martyrs, were made useful to one at least of the Spanish ecclesiastics who were at that time in England. The distinguishing characteristic of Latimer was sincerity, or faithful zeal for the truth;—in a follower of Christ these qualities are inseparable. They were especially displayed in his sermons, and the attention of his auditors was fixed by the lively and cheerful style in which he delivered the truths of the gospel, and reproved the evil practices of men. When preaching, he frequently introduced anecdotes and detailed statements, in a manner which would appear singular in a modern preacher; but this is to be accounted for by the customs of the times in which he lived, and his anxiety to avail himself of the opportunities for usefulness so peculiarly presented to him. Many of these illustrations seem harsh to modern ears, but they were well suited to make an impression upon minds almost wholly unacquainted with the Scriptures; and this ignorance was so general in that day, that it sufficiently accounts for his minuteness in detailing the events of sacred history. To the anecdotes and particulars of the customs and manners of those times, much of the popularity of Latimer's Sermons in later days, may probably be attributed; but the present selection has been made with the view of presenting to the reader his doctrinal sentiments, as a main pillar of the reformation, rather than to exhibit historical details of the times in which he lived, and it is chiefly composed of the sermons which were preserved by his faithful attendant and follower Augustine Bernher. The limits of the present work required selection; it has been made with a desire for the edification of the follower of gospel truth, though it contains much for the instruction and information of the general reader. The preaching of Latimer has been thus described: "The method and course of his doctrine was, to set the law of Moses before the eyes of the people in all the severities and curses of it, thereby to put them the more in fear of sin, and to beat down their confidence in their own performances, and so to bring them to Christ, convincing them thereby of their need of him, and of flying to him by an evangelical faith. He could not bear that such as were hastening to heaven should be detained by the way by thieves and robbers, as he expressed it; that is, to be cast into the pope's prison of purgatory, to be tormented, and never allowed to depart thence unless money were paid to the robbers. He spoke against the opinion of obtaining pardon of sin, and salvation, by singing masses and wearing monks' cowls. He taught, on the contrary, that Christ alone was the author of salvation, and that he, by the one only oblation of his body, sanctified for ever all those that believe that to him was given the key of David, and that he opened, and none could shut, and that he shut, and none could open. He preached how God loved the world, and so loved it, that he delivered his only Son to be slain, that all who from thenceforth believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; that he was a propitiation for our sins, and therefore upon him alone we must cast all our hopes, and that however men were laden with sins, they should never perish to whom he reckoned not sin, and that none of them should fail that believed in him." These were the spiritual and sound contents of Latimer's sermons, and this is the ac count of a learned man, Sir R. Morryson, who lived in those days, and asks, "Did there ever any man flourish, I say not in England only, but in any nation of the world, since the apostles, who preached the gospel more sincerely, purely, and honestly, than Hugh Latimer, bishop of Worcester?" (See Strype.) The letters and smaller pieces of Latimer have not before been presented to the public in an accessible form: they will be found equally deserving of attention with his sermons; they exhibit the true character of this venerable saint. The whole of his writings show his conformity in principles and opinions with the other reformers, both British and foreign. They may have expressed various doctrines with different degrees of strength, but modern writers exercise ingenuity in vain when they attempt to show that in their sentiments they were opposed to each other. Latimer preached with much force and eloquence, ample traces of which remain, although in writing they must appear much feebler than when spoken. It is evident that he spoke from the heart, and his words, we may conclude, by the divine blessing, in many instances went to the heart. Like Paul, he preached the faith which once he destroyed. Concerning zeal, he had persecuted the church, and touching the righteousness which was by the law, he was blameless; but the things which were gain to him he counted loss for Christ. |