THE ENGLISH DEMOSTHENES; OR, THE TRIBUNE OF THE REFORMATION.
"Eyes rekindling and prayers
Follow your steps as ye go;
Strengthen the wavering line,
Stablish, continue our march,
On to the bound of the waste,
On to the city of God!”
—MATTHEW ARNOLD.
“A thousand hearts kindled by thee with consecrated fire.
Ten flaming spiritual hecatombs offered on the mount of God: Verily, O man, with truth for thy theme, eloquence shall throne thee with archangels.”
—TUPPER.
TEACHING CONVOCATION; MORE PLAIN SPEAKING— BELIEVING BY MEASURE, OR A KING WHO RULED CONSCIENCES— THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE THAT INTENDED MURDER—PREACHING AGAINST THE REBELS—TYNDALE'S PRAYER ANSWERED ROBIN HOOD, OR A BISHOP DEATH OF THE QUEEN AND BIRTH OF THE PRINCE— HENRY'S MARRIAGE SCHEMES.
ON the 9th of June 1536 the Convocation met for the first time since the overthrow of Papal authority. The opening sermon was preached by Latimer, than whom no man could have been better fitted for the task. It was indeed remarkable that, whereas only four years before he had stood at the bar of Convocation to plead for his life as a suspected heretic, and now, as Bishop of Worcester, he was selected to teach the men who had sat as his judges.
With his usual practical wisdom, Latimer selected the parable of the unjust steward for comment, and he spoke thus:—
“Who is a true and faithful steward? He is one that coineth no new money, but taketh it ready coined of the good man of the house, and neither changeth it nor clippeth it, but spendeth even the selfsame that he had of his Lord, and spendeth it as his Lord's commandment is.... Tell me now, as your conscience leadeth you, were there not some that, despising the money of the Lord, either coined new themselves, or else uttered abroad newly coined by others? Sometime either adulterating the Word of God, or else mingling it? Sometime in the stead of God's Word blowing out the dreams of men?... The end of your convocation shall show what ye have done; the fruit that shall come of your consultation shall show what generation ye be of. For what have ye done hitherto, I pray you, these seven years and more? What have ye brought forth? What one thing that the people of England have been the better of a hair; or you yourselves either more accepted before God, or better discharged toward the people committed unto your care?... Now, I pray you, in God's name, what did you so, great fathers, so many, so long season, so oft assembled together?"... After alluding to their murder of Tracy, he refers to their attempt to destroy himself thus: "This other (Latimer), which truly never hurt any of you, ye would have raked in the coals, because he would not subscribe to certain articles that took away the supremacy of the King. Take away these two noble acts, and there is nothing else that ye went about that I know, saving that now I remember that somewhat ye attempted against Erasmus, albeit as yet nothing is come to light. Ye have oft sat in consultation, but what have ye done? Ye have had many things in deliberation, but what one is put forth whereby Christ is more glorified or else Christ's people made more holy? I appeal to your own conscience." After specifying various flagrant abuses that required correction, Latimer exhorted his hearers to employ themselves upon a diligent search for abuses which might be remedied, and he concluded with these solemn words of warning: "Be not deceived; God will come. God will come; He will not tarry long away.... Therefore, my brethren, leave the love of your profit; study for the glory and profit of Christ; seek in your consultations such things as pertain to Christ, and bring forth as the last somewhat that may please Christ. Feed ye tenderly with all diligence the flock of Christ. Preach truly the Word of God. Love the light, walk in the light, and so be ye the children of light while ye are in this world, that ye may shine in the world to come bright as the sun.”
The sermon was speedily translated from Latin into English, and transmitted through the length and breadth of the land. But it was soon evident that, while Convocation was in earnest and united in its desire to correct abuses, it was hopelessly divided as to what constituted abuses. The one party, led by Stokesley, demanded that the preaching of the Reformers should be stopped, while others desired, on the contrary, liberty of conscience and the free circulation of the Word of God. The King himself intervened and drew up ten articles which he decided were to limit the belief of his subjects. Neither more nor less was to be believed and taught than Henry laid down, but it was found to be not so easy to limit and regulate these matters as it is to decide upon measures of weight and length. The authoritative standard for faith and practice is given in the Word of God, and to that alone men will bow. Baptismal regeneration, penance and confession to a priest, transubstantiation, the worship of images and the praying to saints as mediators; the ceremonies, such as giving ashes on Ash Wednesday, of creeping to the cross on Good Friday, and similar Papist follies, and above all things the profitable figment of Purgatory, Henry decided were to be retained and believed in. These articles were too Roman to please the Reformers, and not sufficiently Roman to please the adherents of the old creed. Yet Cranmer and Latimer subscribed them, although the latter made some attempts to convince the King of the absurdity of the doctrine of Purgatory. It would have been wiser for the Reformers not to have accepted the articles at all, for it was soon evident that the Romanists would not be satisfied with less than supremacy. The priests excited the people to a rebellion, and on the 2nd of October the insurrection began at Louth. This was allayed without bloodshed; but in Yorkshire a rising which was called the Pilgrimage of Grace proved to be far more formidable. York, Hull, and Doncaster were seized in turn by the rebels, many of whom were men of good social position. Near forty thousand in number, the rebels now marched, under the leadership of Robert Aske, to London. Before them, as the sign of their crusade, a banner was carried, emblazoned with the crucifix, the chalice, and the five wounds of our Lord.
The House of Tudor seemed destined to follow the dynasties that had one after another been expelled by their sturdy subjects, when God interposed in the interests of the Gospel. A sudden flood delayed the march of the army, and gradually the rebel forces melted away, and before the January of 1537 the danger was gone. Not, however, wholly, for murmurs against the King and the Reformers were heard from time to time; in fact, the whole nation was long convulsed with terrible excitement. Latimer was too useful to be left in his diocese; he was summoned at once to London, and on the 5th of November 1536 he preached at St. Paul's Cross against the northern rebels. Nor can we wonder at his complying with the Royal mandate when we 'consider that the triumph of the Pilgrimage of Grace would have involved the restoration of Papal supremacy and such scenes as were witnessed at Smithfield when Mary came to the crown. All who desired to read their Bibles in peace, and who had no desire to see the wealth of the kingdom squandered by foreign ecclesiastics, longed for the suppression of the rebellion, and, like good men, did their part to put it down. After that the crusade had been suppressed Latimer was employed to converse with the leaders, who were in the Tower awaiting their execution.
In the same year there was published the book entitled "The Institution of a Christian Man." "In point of language the Institution' is beyond all question the most beautiful composition that had yet appeared in English prose," says Froude, and it certainly marked a considerable religious advance. It rendered lawful the teaching of the commandments in English, for doing which, only a few years before, seven men had been burned at the stake.
In the same August of 1537 Henry actually licensed the translation of the Scriptures which is generally known as the "Bishop's Bible." Thus Tyndale's prayer had at last been answered, and God had opened the King of England's eyes!
It must have been with a light heart that Latimer went upon visitation in the September of 1537, for although his diocese was in a lamentable condition, at last the Word of God was set free. His diocese is probably a fair specimen of what might have been seen in many other parts of England, but it is lamentable to behold the practical heathenism that Latimer speaks of: "Clergy without Bibles not even the New Testament in English; preaching set aside on any pretext or none; communicants unable to repeat the Lord's Prayer in the vulgar tongue; children untaught in the elements of the Christian faith; parish priests nonresident, or leading scandalous lives; squires and landlords persecuting the few clergy brave enough to do their duty, and only too ready to defame and defy their new Bishop; friars turned out of monasteries and transformed into sturdy beggars or lubberly loiterers,' or fomenters of rebellion and high treason! Here was work enough for strength and patience. Latimer's injunctions go to the root of all these evils. Feeling the great need of England to be the Word of God, his constant care was that this Word should be known, read, and preached throughout his diocese.”
In his sixth sermon before King Edward, Latimer thus speaks of this period: "I came once myself to a place riding on a journey homeward from London, and I sent word over night into the town that I would preach there in the morning, because it was holiday, and we thought it was a holiday's work. The church stood in my way, and I took my horse and my company, and went thither; I thought I should have found a great company in the church, and when I came there the church-door was fast locked. I tarried there half-an-hour and more; at last the key was found, and one of the parish comes to me and says, ' Sir, this is a busy day with us; we cannot hear you; it is Robin Hood's day. The parish are gone abroad to gather for Robin Hood: I pray you let them not! '”
On the 12th of October the King, before whom this incident was afterward related, was born, and his birth was hailed by the Reformers with great delight. Jane Seymour, his mother, died twelve days after the birth of her son, and Latimer was summoned to London in order to preach at her funeral. This he did on the 13th of November, at which time he was in such feeble health that he wrote to Cromwell thus: "I am in a faint weariness over all my body, but chiefly in the small of my back. But I have a good nurse, good Mistress Statham, which, seeing what case I was in, hath fetched me home to her own house, and doth pymper me with all diligence: for I fear a consumption.”
This good woman lived in Milk Street; and in the days of Bloody Mary she had to suffer for her kindness to Latimer and other Reformers. Latimer recovered, thanks to the "pympering" of Mistress Statham, and returned to his western home. With him he took Barnes, one of the Reformers for whom Latimer had conceived an especial regard. And so in the quiet, diligent duties of daily life, of which no record is kept, but which, after all, make up the most as well as the really useful portion of life, he spent the remainder of the year. The Reformation was slowly advancing step by step; it seemed as if it could not be stayed. Henry the Eighth, under the guiding will of Cromwell, was beginning to see that his wisest policy was to place himself at the head of United Protestantism; and without knowing how fast he was moving, he was deserting his old beliefs and practices. Cromwell's keen eye had detected the true policy for England, but unfortunately his design miscarried. Henry was now looking around for his fourth wife, and Cromwell suggested a German Princess. This would at once give Henry the weight in the councils of Germany that he required, and would also be a mutual benefit to the Reformed in both countries. Unfortunately (to anticipate), after acceding to this policy, and marrying a German Princess, Henry was disgusted with his new wife, and lie took steps to discard her. With culpable and inexplicable facility Cranmer lent himself to Henry's will, and pronounced the marriage invalid. This divorce ultimately involved the downfall of Cromwell and the triumph of the Roman party.
It was providential that before this reaction came some of the wicked and foolish practices of the priests had been publicly exposed. The Royal Commission reported that in Reading the remains of an angel with one wing were preserved, while at Bury St. Edmunds the toe-nails of one saint and the coals that had been used in order to roast another, with some old boots and similar rubbish, were preserved for the worship of the deluded people.
At Bexley, in Kent, there was a famous crucifix that sometimes frowned, bent its head, and moved its body, to the terror of the worshippers who came from far and near to worship the image: —
"He was made to juggle,
His eyes would goggle,
He would bend his eyes and frown.
With his head he would nod,
Like a proper young God,
His jaws would go up and down.”
The mechanism by which this jugglery was effected was discovered, and the image was exhibited publicly, first at Maidstone, and then at St. Paul's Cross, London. At the latter ceremony Latimer "in the western part of St. Paul's carried a small image in his hand, which he threw out of the church, though the inhabitants of the country whence it came constantly affirmed that eight oxen would be unable to remove it from its place.”
Such frauds were too gross to be defended, and their exposure prepared the way for the spread of the truth.