STOUT Hugh Latimer is the most attractive as well as the most conspicuous of the English Reformers. He was not comely in face, nor did he possess the learning of some of his colleagues; he very seldom indulged in profound doctrinal harangues as they did, but nevertheless he secured the affection of his hearers in a manner, and to an extent, which they did not. His transparency, honesty, blunt wit, courage, and sincerity were all qualities which men could appreciate in this workaday world, and they are also all of them such wealth as is current even nowadays. Men who did not care much about the opinions of the Fathers trembled under Latimer's terrible exposure of their especial sins and infirmities. Those who had no relish for doctrinal controversy were interested in his biographical anecdotes and pathetic narratives, and by them they learned the importance of the doctrines that he preached. His knotty nature invited confidence, and repaid it. He was such a man as men love to cling to in their moments of weakness or of suffering. One can read, even now, in the rugged lines of his face the hardy character of the man, and yet with a Samson's strength a nervous tenderness was blended. A man he was terrible in attack like one of the prophets of God, but withal gentle to the penitent, and a son of consolation to all who were in need of his sympathy. His words are still fragrant and forceful to-day, and it is not difficult to understand that as spoken by Latimer they must have been an irresistible force in the national life and reformation. His mission was largely to the unthankful, and it ended in martyrdom, but his life and death both give the same counsel to us to-day—"BE STRONG AND PLAY THE MAN!”
HARRINGAY PARK, LONDON, N.