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" poral fal, I take it nothing so. For he being, I trust, " reconciled to God, from his pomp and vanities, I now set " more by his licence than ever I did before, when he was " in his most felicity . ,1
resorted much to London, and preached the gospel in di- vers churches there, to the great benefit of many, and the propagation of religion. Here, in 1532, he gave a cha- ritable visit to James Bayneham, a little before his burning, upon this occasion. " After Mr. Bayneham had been con- " demned between More, the lord chancellor, and the bi- " shops, and committed unto the secular power to be brent ; " and so, immediatly after his condempnation, lodged up
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 373 " in the deep dungeon in Newgate, ready to be sent to the CHAP. " fire, Edward Isaac, of the parish of Wei, in the county XXVI11, " of Kent, and William Morice, of Chipping Ongar, in the Anno 1555. " county of Essex, esq. and Raphe Morice, brother unto " the said William, being togethers in one company, met " with Mr. Latymer in London. And for that they were " desirous to understand the cause of the said Bayneham , s " condempnation, being to many men obscure and unknown, " they entreated Mr. Latymer to go with them to Newgate, " to th'intent to understand by him the very occasion of his ** said condempnation ; and otherwise to comfort him to " take his death quietly and patiently. When Mr. Latymer " and thother before named, the next day before he was " brent, were come down into the dungeon, where al things " seemed utterly dark, there they found Bayneham sitting " upon a couch of straw, with a book and a wax candle in " his hand, praying and reading therupon. " And after salutation made, Mr. Latymer began to com- Latymer " mune with him in this sort : Mr. Bayneham, we hear say £" m d jJ_ n " " that you are condempned for heresy to be brent ; and course. " many men are in doubt, wherfore you should suffer ; and " I, for my part, am desirous to understand the cause of " your death ; assuring you, that I do not allow that any " man should consent to his own death, unles he had a " right cause to dy in. Let not vainglory overcome you in " a matter that men deserve not to dy for : for therin you " shall neither please God, do good to your self, nor your " neighbour. And better it were for you to submit your " self to the ordinances of men, than so rashly to finish " your life without good ground. And therfore we pray " you to let us understand the articles that you are con- " dempned for. I am content, quoth Bayneham, to tel you " altogether. The first article that they condemne me for " is this, that I reported that Thomas Becket, sometime " archbishop of Canterbury, was a traitor, and was dampned " in hel, if he repented not : for that he was in armes against [237] " his Prince, as a rebel ; provoking other foreign princes to " invade the realm, to the utter subversion of the same.
374 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP. " Then said Mr. Latymer, Where read you this? Quoth " Mr. Bayneham, I read it in an old history. Wei, said Anno 1555. a M r> Latymer, this is no cause at all worthy for a man to " take his death upon ; for it may be a ly, as well as a true " tale ; and in such a doubtful matter it were mere mad- " nes for a man to jeopard his life. But what else is layd " to your charge ? The truth is, said Bayneham, I spake " against purgatory, that there was no such thing, but that " it picked mens purses ; and against satisfactory masses : " which [assertions of mine] I defended by the authority of " the Scriptures. Mary, said Mr. Latymer, in these articles " your conscience may be so stayed, that you may seem " rather to dy in the defence thereof, than to recant both " against your conscience and the Scriptures also. But yet " beware of vainglory : for the Devil will be ready now to " infect you therwith, when you shall come into the multi- " tude of the people. And then Mr. Latymer did animate " him to take his death quietly and patiently. Bayneham " thanked him heartily therfore. And I likewise, said " Bayneham, do exhort you to stand to the defence of the " truth : for you, that shall be left behind, had need of " comfort also, the world being so dangerous as it is. And " so spake many comfortable words to Mr. Latymer. Latymer " At the length Mr. Latymer demanded of him, whether
wife he was a a we eping. What, quoth Latymer, is this your constancy behind. " to Godwards ? What mean you thus to weep ? O ! Sir, " said Bayneham to Mr. Latymer, you have now touched " me very nigh. I have a wife, as good a woman as ever " man was joyned unto. And I shal leave her now, not " only without substance, or any thing to live by ; but also, ** for my sake, she shal be an opprobrie unto the world, " and be pointed at of every man in this sort, Yonder goeth " a heretique's wife ! And therfore she shall be disdained " for my sake ; which is no small grief unto me. Mary, " Sir, quoth Latymer, 1 perceive that you are a very weak " champion, that wil be overthrown with such a vanity. " Where are become all those comfortable words that so UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 375 late vou alledsred unto us, that should tary here behind CHAP. • XXVIII. you ? I mervail what you mean. Is not Almighty God . ( f- liable to be husband to your wife, and a father unto Anno 1555 « " your children, if you commit them to him in a strong " faith ? I am sory to se you in this taking, as though God " had no care of his, when he numbreth the hairs of a " manys head. If he do not provide for them, the fault " is in us that mistrusteth him. It is our infidelity that " causeth him to do nothing for ours. Therfore, repent, " Mr. Bayneham, for this mistrusting of Almighty God's " goodnes. And be you sure, and I do most firmely be- " lieve it, that if you do commit your wife with a strong " faith unto the governance of Almighty God, and so dy " therin, that within this two years, peradventure in one " year, she shal be better provided for, as touching the feli- [238 J " city of this world, than you, with al your policy, could " do for her your self, if you were presently here. And " so, with such like words, expostulating with him for his " feeble faith, he made an end. Mr. Bayneham, calling his " spirits to himself, most heartily thanked Mr. Latymer for " his good comfort and counsel ; saying plainly, that he " would not for much good, bvit he had come thither to " him : for nothing in the world so much troubled him, as " the care of his wife and family. And so they departed. " And the next day Bayneham was burnt." Of whose death this wondrous thing is recorded, that in the midst of the flames he professed openly, that he felt no pain ; and that the fire seemed unto him as easy as lying down in a bed of down. But return we to Latymer, who glorified God twenty-three years after in the same manner of death, and under the same imputation of heresy. As for his writings, I know none else published, but his Latymer's sermons set forth by his faithful servant Augustin Bernher; wn ings ' and divers letters, and a sermon or two, and his protesta- tion, all extant in Fox. For as Cranmer and Ridley had delivered in writing their sentiments or protestations upon the three questions propounded by the Papists to them, to dispute on at Oxford ; so old father Latymer also delivered
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CHAP. his. A copy whereof, such as Fox could then procure, is " . recorded in his Acts and Monuments ; but it is very imper-
Number
XXXIV. The con- tents there- of.
Anno 1555. feet, and many mistakes made, and many things omitted, as tat!on r ° teS I ^ n< ^ kv a very good copy that I have met with among the Foxian MSS. and therefore I have placed it in the Catalogue, that all the relics of such eminent professors and planters of religion, and furtherers of the Reformation, might be preserved. In this protestation, "he prayed his lords and masters, the transubstantiators, (as he styled them,) to take better heed of their doctrine, lest they conspired with some an- cient heretics, who denied that Christ had a true natural body. Which heresy he knew not how they could avoid, who would have the natural body of Christ contained in a wafer-cake. He said, that the sacrifice of the mass was really invented and maintained for the support of priests. And therefore he asketh, what St. Paul meant, to say, that the Lord hath ordained, that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel? when as he should rather have said, that the Lord hath ordained, that they that sacrifice at mass should live of the sacrificing. Indeed, said he, the Holy Ghost appointed no living for the mass-sayers in God's word, but they had appointed themselves a living in Antichrist's decrees. He was sure, if God would have a new kind of sacrificing priests at mass, then would Christ, or some of his apostles, have made some mention thereof. But, belike, said he, (according to his pungent way of speaking,) his secretaries were not the massers' friends. And he could not wonder enough that Peter, and all the apostles, should thus negligently forget the office of sacrificing.
ing him so strictly, that no man might come at him to supply him in his needs ; no, not so much as to mend his hose, though he had but one pair : that to him, that had preached hours two or three together before kings, when he was before them, they would not give him a quarter of an hour's space, to declare to them his faith, without
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" had any pernicious enemies within her realms, those they • h j; °f_ " were that caused her to maintain idolatry, and wet her taries. " sword of justice in the blood of those her people, that " were set to defend the gospel. For he was afraid it would " make this commonwealth of England to quake shortly. " He bade them take warning by a number of other coun- " tries brought to desolation, that forsook God's known " truth, and followed the lies of men. He told those com- And to the " missioners, who were sent to judge them, that they were^ llee " s " not learned, whatsoever they thought of themselves, be-sioners. " cause they knew not Christ and his pure word. For that " it was nothing but plain ignorance to know many things, " without Christ and his gospel. He made a particular re- " mark upon Dr. Weston, [one of the commissioners that " had condemned him and his two fellows,] that he had " been curate of the church near Bishopsgate all King Ed- " ward's reign, and had owned the doctrine they allowed ; " and held him well content, to feed his parishioners with " the doctrine that he now called heresy - praying God to 378 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP. " send him a more merciful judgment at the hand of Christ, _H__1_ " than they had received of him. 11 Anno 1555. And, in fine, he said, " he would stand to the answer he " had made, even to the fire ; and declared, that he died " for the truth. And seeing the Queen's proceedings were " directly against God's word, he would obey God more " than man, and embrace the stake.'" In this and much more did Latymer 1 s excellent protestation consist, wherein, besides his divinity and constancy, one may perceive notable footsteps, in this his old age, of his former quickness, acute- ness, and wapprjcr/a. [240] And lastly, let me add one thing more of this famous di- Latymer v i ne that he was one of the first, which in the days of King one of the ' ' . first preach- Henry VIII. set himself to preach the gospel in the truth gospel. ^ an d simplicity of it, which he did with great eloquence and Apomaxis. conviction : insomuch that a man of great sobriety and learn- ing, I mean Sir R. Morison, asketh this question concern- ing him ; " Did there ever any man flourish, I say not in " England only, but in any nation in the world, after the " apostles, who preached the gospel more sincerely, purely, " and honestly, than Hugh Latymer, bishop of Worcester P 11 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 took occasion much, in these his discourses about the law, to shew, that those that believed in Christ were freed from the law of Moses ; and therefore, they being the sons of God, they were not, like Jews, to be thrust upon servile works ; and Latymer would that the observation of ceremonies should be turned upon the Jews, who would not submit themselves to Christ, nor enter into society with him. He could not brook, that such as were hastening to heaven, should be detained and taken up 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
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 379 never to depart thence, unless money were paid to the rob- CHAP, bers. He declaimed against the opinion of obtaining pardon of sin and salvation by singing of masses, and by monks'' Anno 1555. cowls. He taught them, on the contrary, that one Christ was the author of salvation, and that he, by the one only oblation of his body, did sanctify for ever all those that be- lieve. 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 that from henceforth believed in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. That he was a propitia- tion for our sins : and that therefore, upon him alone, we must cast all our hopes : and that, however men were loaden with sins, they should never perish, to whom he imputed not sin ; and that none of them should fail that believed in him. These were the spiritual and sound contents of his sermons, when and before he was bishop of Worcester; quite different from the insipid, unprofitable preachings of the priests, the monks, and friars. This was the account that the learned man aforesaid, who lived in those days, gave of this worthy martyr's method of preaching.
--J i g a CHAP. XXIX. 225 Latymer's letters. Bishop Ridley's character. VARIOUS are the letters of this reverend father, and penned with an excellent acumen, and intermixed with a very hearty and honest zeal for God and his truth : divers of which are preserved by Mr. Fox. Among the rest of them registered in his volume, there be two that deserve some more particular remark. The one was to King Henry ; occasioned by a proclama-Hisietterto tion, which he set forth against having the Scripture in a g.' ^ ]st ^7 English, making it treason so to do ; led on hereunto by the prelates. Popish clergy ; in which he boldly spake against the wealth and grandeur of spiritual men: mentioning to the King,
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CHAP.
XXIX. Anno 1555. how they endeavoured to withstand and break the acts, which were done in the last Parliament [preceding this his letter] against their superfluities. Yet he would not that his Grace should take away the goods due to the Church, but take away all evil persons from the goods, and set better in their stead. Then he fell upon their persecution of the gospel, and the true professors of it. And that because they cared not for the clear light : and they whose works were naught, dared not to come to this light, but went about to stop and hinder it; and that made them let, as much as they might, the holy Scrip- ture to be read in the mother tongue: saying, that it would cause heresy and insurrection. And so they la- boured to persuade his Grace. But this was their shame- less boldness, which were not ashamed, contrary to Christ's doctrine, thus to gather grapes of thorns, and Jigs of thistles.'''' He told the King, "how others had shewed him, how necessary it was to have the Scriptures in English ; and how that his Grace had promised it in a late proclama- tion. He prayed the King, that the wickedness of these worldly men might not detain him from his godly pur- pose and promise. He admonished him, that seeing Christ had sent his servants, that is to say, the true preachers, and his own word, to comfort weak and sick souls, he would not suffer these worldly men (as he still called them) to make his Grace believe, that they would cause insurrections and heresies, and such mischiefs as they imagined of their own brains, lest God be avenged,"" saith he, " upon you and your realms. 11
against keeping certain good books, he said, " the very true " cause of it, and his counsellors therein, 11 as the fame went, and not unlikely, " were they, whose evil living and cloaked " hypocrisy those books uttered and disclosed. As indeed " many times before they had set forth, he said, their own " conceits in the King^ name, and as his proclamation. " And what marvel, that they who were so nigh of his UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 381 " Council, and so familiar with his lords, should provoke CHAP. " his Grace and them to prohibit these books; who before. " by their own authority, had forbid the New Testament, Anno 1555. " under pain of everlasting damnation. And yet the book 226 " was meekly offered to every man that would or could to " amend it, if there were any fault.
" extortioners, bribers, murderers, and thieves, that broke " his Grace's laws and ordinances, and the commandments " of Almighty God, but rather their pardons ; which caused " many a man to sin in trust of them. And those very ma- " lefactors beforesaid were the men that cried out most " against these books, and also against them that had them ; " and would have been glad to spend the goods they had " wrongfully gotten upon fagots, to burn both the books, " and them that had them. " That his purpose in thus writing was the love that he " had to God, and the glory of his name; and for the true " allegiance he owed to his Grace, and not to hide in the " ground of his heart the talent which was given him of " God, but to chaffer it forth, and to exhort his Grace to " avoid and beware of these mischievous flatterers, and their " abominable ways and counsels. He bade him take heed, " whose counsels he took in this matter: for some there " were, that for fear of losing their worldly worship and " honour, would not leave their opinions ; which rashly, " and to please the men by whom they had their promo- " tions, they took upon them to defend by writing. So " that now they thought all their felicity, which they placed " in this life, would be marred, and their wisdom not so " greatly regarded, if that which they had so scandalously " oppressed, should be now put forth and allowed. That " they were so drowned in worldly wisdom, that they thought " it against their worship to acknowledge their ignorance. " Finally, he prayed God, that his Grace might be found " acceptable in his sight, and one of the members of his " Church ; and that according to his office that God had " called him unto, he might be found a faithful minister of 382 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP. " his gifts, and not a defender of his faith by man, or man's ' " power, but by God's word only. He prayed him to re- Anno 1555." member himself, to have pity upon his soul, and to think " that the day was at hand, that he must give account of " his office, and of the blood that had been shed with his " sword." This letter is said to have been writ December 1, 1530: if there be no error in the print of the date, we may conclude it penned while Latymer was now at Court, entertained by Dr. Butts, and by him brought unto the presence and know- Yüklə 12,09 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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