History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 27

[Sidenote: THE CONFESSOR CONVERTED.]

He went to the college where Latimer resided. "For the love of G.o.d,"

he said to him, "be pleased to hear my confession."[480] The _heretic_ prayed to make confession to the _catholic_: what a singular fact! My discourse against Melancthon has no doubt converted him, said Latimer to himself. Had not Bilney once been among the number of the most pious zealots? His pale face, his wasted frame, and his humble look are clear signs that he ought to belong to the ascetics of catholicism. If he turns back, all will turn back with him, and the reaction will be complete at Cambridge. The ardent Latimer eagerly yielded to Bilney's request, and the latter, kneeling before the cross-bearer, related to him with touching simplicity the anguish he had once felt in his soul, the efforts he had made to remove it; their unprofitableness so long as he determined to follow the precepts of the church, and lastly, the peace he had felt when he believed that Jesus Christ is _the Lamb of G.o.d that taketh away the sins of the world_. He described to Latimer the spirit of adoption he had received, and the happiness he experienced in being able now to call G.o.d his father.... Latimer, who expected to receive a confession, listened without mistrust. His heart was opened, and the voice of the pious Bilney penetrated it without obstacle. From time to time the confessor would have chased away the new thoughts which came crowding into his bosom; but the penitent continued. His language, at once so simple and so lively, entered like a two-edged sword. Bilney was not without a.s.sistance in his work. A new, a strange witness,--the Holy Ghost,[481]--was speaking in Latimer's soul. He learned from G.o.d to know G.o.d: he received a new heart. At length grace prevailed: the penitent rose up, but Latimer remained seated, absorbed in thought.

The strong cross-bearer contended in vain against the words of the feeble Bilney. Like Saul on the way to Damascus, he was conquered, and his conversion, like the apostle's, was instantaneous. He stammered out a few words; Bilney drew near him with love, and G.o.d scattered the darkness which still obscured his mind. He saw Jesus Christ as the only Saviour given to man: he contemplated and adored him. "I learnt more by this confession," he said afterwards, "than by much reading and in many years before[482].... I now tasted the word of G.o.d,[483]

and forsook the doctors of the school and all their fooleries."[484]

It was not the penitent but the confessor who received absolution.

Latimer viewed with horror the obstinate war he had waged against G.o.d; he wept bitterly; but Bilney consoled him. "Brother," said he, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow." These two young men, then locked in their solitary chamber at Cambridge, were one day to mount the scaffold for that divine Master whose spirit was teaching them. But one of them before going to the stake was first to sit on an episcopal throne.

[480] He came to me afterwards in my study, and desired me for G.o.d's sake to hear his confession. Latimer's Sermons, p. 334.

[481] He was through the good Spirit of G.o.d so touched. Foxe, viii, p.

438.

[482] Latimer's Sermons, p. 334.

[483] From that time forward I began to smell the word of G.o.d. Ibid.

[484] Ibid. p. 335.

Latimer was changed. The energy of his character was tempered by a divine unction. Becoming a believer, he had ceased to be superst.i.tious. Instead of persecuting Jesus Christ, he became a zealous seeker after him.[485] Instead of cavilling and railing, he showed himself meek and gentle;[486] instead of frequenting company, he sought solitude, studying the Scriptures and advancing in true theology. He threw off the old man and put on the new. He waited upon Stafford, begged forgiveness for the insult he had offered him, and then regularly attended his lectures, being subjugated more by this doctor's angelic conversation[487] than by his learning. But it was Bilney's society Latimer cultivated most. They conversed together daily, took frequent walks together into the country, and occasionally rested at a place, long known as "the heretic's hill."[488]

[485] Whereas before he was an enemy and almost a persecutor of Christ, he was now a zealous seeker after him. Foxe, Acts, vii, p.

338.

[486] Ibid.

[487] A man of a very perfect life and angelic conversation. Becon's Works (Parker Soc.) p. 425.

[488] Foxe, viii, p. 452.

[Sidenote: BILNEY PREACHES GRACE.]

So striking a conversion gave fresh vigour to the evangelical movement. Hitherto Bilney and Latimer had been the most zealous champions of the two opposite causes; the one despised, the other honoured; the weak man had conquered the strong. This action of the Spirit of G.o.d was not thrown away upon Cambridge. Latimer's conversion, as of old the miracles of the apostles, struck men's minds; and was it not in truth a miracle? All the youth of the university ran to hear Bilney preach. He proclaimed "Jesus Christ as He who, having tasted death, has delivered his people from the penalty of sin."[489] While the doctors of the school (even the most pious of them) laid most stress upon _man's_ part in the work of redemption, Bilney on the contrary emphasized the other term, namely, _G.o.d's_ part. This doctrine of grace, said his adversaries, annuls the sacraments, and contradicts baptismal regeneration. The selfishness which forms the essence of fallen humanity rejected the evangelical doctrine, and felt that to accept it was to be lost. "Many listened with _the left ear_," to use an expression of Bilney's; "like Malchus, having their _right_ ear cut off;" and they filled the university with their complaints.

[489] Christus quem pro virili doceo.....denique et satisfactionem.

Ep. ad Tonstallum episcop. Foxe, Acts, iv, p. 633.

But Bilney did not allow himself to be stopped. The idea of eternity had seized on his mind, and perhaps he still retained some feeble relic of the exaggeration of asceticism. He condemned every kind of recreation, even when innocent. Music in the churches seemed to him a mockery of G.o.d;[490] and when Thurlby, who was afterwards a bishop, and who lived at Cambridge in the room below his, used to begin playing on the recorder, Bilney would fall on his knees and pour out his soul in prayer: to him prayer was the sweetest melody. He prayed that the lively faith of the children of G.o.d might in all England be subst.i.tuted for the vanity and pride of the priests. He believed--he prayed--he waited. His waiting was not to be in vain.

[490] Ibid. p. 621.

[Sidenote: NATURE OF THE MINISTRY.]

Latimer trod in his footsteps: the transformation of his soul was going on; and the more fanaticism he had shown for the sacerdotal system, which places salvation in the hands of the priest, the more zeal he now showed for the evangelical system, which placed it in the hands of Christ. He saw that if the churches must needs have ministers, it is not because they require a human mediation, but from the necessity of a regular preaching of the Gospel and a steady direction of the flock; and accordingly he would have wished to call the servant of the Lord _minister_ (?p???t?? or d??????? t?? ?????), and not _priest_,[491] (?e?e?? or _sacerdos_.) In his view, it was not the imposition of hands by the bishop that gave grace, but grace which authorized the imposition of hands. He considered activity to be one of the essential features of the Gospel ministry. "Would you know," said he, "why the Lord chose _fishermen_ to be his apostles?... See how they watch day and night at their nets to take all such fishes that they can get and come in their way.... So all our bishops, and curates, and vicars should be as painful in casting their nets, that is to say, in preaching G.o.d's word."[492] He regarded all confidence in human strength as a remnant of paganism. "Let us not do," he said, "as the haughty Ajax, who said to his father as he went to battle: Without the help of G.o.d I am able to fight, and I will get the victory with mine own strength."[493]

[491] Minister is a more fit name for that office. Latimer's remains, p. 264.

[492] Ibid. p. 24.

[493] Latimer's Sermons, p. 491. Sophocles, Ajax, 783, et seq.

The Reformation had gained in Latimer a very different man from Bilney. He had not so much discernment and prudence perhaps, but he had more energy and eloquence. What Tyndale was to be for England by his writings, Latimer was to be by his discourses. The tenderness of his conscience, the warmth of his zeal, and the vivacity of his understanding, were enlisted in the service of Jesus Christ; and if at times he was carried too far by the liveliness of his wit, it only shows that the reformers were not _saints_, but sanctified men. "He was one of the first," says an historian, "who, in the days of king Henry VIII, set himself to preach the Gospel in the truth and simplicity of it."[494] He preached in Latin _ad clerum_, and in English _ad populum_. He boldly placed the law with its curses before his hearers, and then conjured them to flee towards the Saviour of the world.[495] The same zeal which he had employed in saying ma.s.s, he now employed in preaching the true sacrifice of Christ. He said one day:--"If one man had committed all the sins since Adam, you may be sure he should be punished with the same horror of death, in such a sort as all men in the world should have suffered.... Such was the pain Christ endured.... If our Saviour had committed all the sins of the world; all that I for my part have done, all that you for your part have done, and all that any man else hath done; if he had done all this himself, his agony that he suffered should have been no greater nor grievouser than it was.... Believe in Jesus Christ, and you shall overcome death.... But, alas!" said he at another time, "the devil, by the help of that Italian bishop, his chaplain, has laboured by all means that he might frustrate the death of Christ and the merits of his pa.s.sion."[496]

[494] Strype's Mem. iii, part i, p. 378.

[495] Flying to him by an evangelical faith. Ibid.

[496] Lat. Ser. p. 74.

[Sidenote: WORKS OF CHARITY.]

Thus began in British Christendom the preaching of the Cross. The Reformation was not the subst.i.tution of the catholicism of the first ages for the popery of the middle ages: it was a revival of the preaching of St. Paul, and thus it was that on hearing Latimer every one exclaimed with rapture: "Of a _Saul_, G.o.d has made him a very _Paul_."[497]

[497] This was said by Ralph Morice, afterwards Cranmer's secretary.

Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii, part i, p. 368.

To the inward power of faith, the Cambridge evangelists added the outward power of the life. Saul become Paul, the strong, the ardent Latimer, had need of action; and Bilney, the weak and humble Bilney, in delicate health, observing a severe diet, taking ordinarily but one meal a-day, and never sleeping more than four hours, absorbed in prayer and in the study of the word, displayed at that time all the energy of charity. These two friends devoted themselves not merely to the easy labours of Christian beneficence; but caring little for that formal Christianity so often met with among the easy cla.s.ses, they explored the gloomy cells of the madhouse to bear the sweet and subtle voice of the gospel to the infuriate maniacs. They visited the miserable lazar-house without the town, in which several poor lepers were dwelling; they carefully tended them, wrapped them in clean sheets, and wooed them to be converted to Christ.[498] The gates of the jail at Cambridge were opened to them,[499] and they announced to the poor prisoners that word which giveth liberty. Some were converted by it, and longed for the day of their execution.[500] Latimer, afterwards bishop of Worcester, was one of the most beautiful types of the Reformation in England.

[498] Preaching at the lazar cots, wrapping them in sheets. Foxe, Acts, vol. iv, p. 620. Lond. 1846.

[499] Latimer's Sermons, p. 335. (Park. Soc.)

[500] She had such a savour, such a sweetness, and feeling, that she thought it long to the day of execution. Ibid. p. 180.

[Sidenote: WORLDLINESS AND BRUTALITY.]

He was opposed by numerous adversaries. In the front rank were the priests, who spared no endeavours to retain souls. "Beware," said Latimer to the new converts, "lest robbers overtake you, and plunge you into the pope's prison of purgatory."[501] After these came the sons and favourites of the aristocracy, worldly and frivolous students, who felt little disposition to listen to the gospel. "By yeomen's sons the faith of Christ is and hath been chiefly maintained in the church,"[502] said Latimer. "Is this realm taught by rich men's sons? No, no; read the chronicles; ye shall find sometime n.o.blemen's sons which have been unpreaching bishops and prelates, but ye shall find none of them learned men." He would have desired a mode of election which placed in the Christian pulpit, not the richest and most fas.h.i.+onable men, but the ablest and most pious. This important reform was reserved for other days. Lastly, the evangelists of Cambridge came into collision with the _brutality_ of many, to use Latimer's own expression. "What need have we of universities and schools?" said the students of this cla.s.s. The Holy Ghost "will give us always what to say."--"We must trust in the Holy Ghost," replied Latimer, "but not presume on it. If you will not maintain universities, you shall have a _brutality_."[503] In this manner the Reformation restored to Cambridge gravity and knowledge, along with truth and charity.

[501] Strype's Eccles. Memorials, vol. iii, pt. i, p. 378.

[502] Latimer's Sermons, p. 102.

[503] Ibid. p. 269.

[Sidenote: PERSECUTION SUSPENDED.]

Yet Bilney and Latimer often turned their eyes towards Oxford, and wondered how the light would be able to penetrate there. Wolsey provided for that. A Cambridge master of arts, John Clark, a conscientious man, of tender heart, great prudence, and unbounded devotion to his duty, had been enlightened by the word of G.o.d. Wolsey, who since 1523 had been seeking every where for distinguished scholars to adorn his new college, invited Clark among the first. This doctor, desirous of bearing to Oxford the light which G.o.d had given Cambridge, immediately began to deliver a course of divinity lectures, to hold conferences, and to preach in his eloquent manner. He taught every day.[504] Among the graduates and students who followed him was Anthony Dalaber, a young man of simple but profound feeling, who while listening to him had experienced in his heart the regenerating power of the Gospel. Overflowing with the happiness which the knowledge of Jesus Christ imparted to him, he went to the Cardinal's college, knocked at Clark's door, and said: "Father, allow me never to quit you more!" The teacher, beholding the young disciple's enthusiasm, loved him, but thought it his duty to try him: "Anthony," said he, "you know not what you ask. My teaching is now pleasant to you, but the time will come when G.o.d will lay the cross of persecution on you; you will be dragged before bishops; your name will be covered with shame in the world, and all who love you will be heart-broken on account of you....

Then, my friend, you will regret that you ever knew me."

[504] Teach or preach, which he did daily. Foxe, Acts, v, p. 426.

Anthony believing himself rejected, and unable to bear the idea of returning to the barren instructions of the priests, fell on his knees, and weeping bitterly,[505] exclaimed: "For the tender mercy of G.o.d, turn me not away." Touched by his sorrow, Clark folded him in his arms, kissed him, and with tears in his eyes exclaimed: "The Lord give thee what thou askest!... Take me for thy father, I take thee for my son." From that hour Anthony, all joy, was like Timothy at the feet of Paul. He united a quick understanding with tender affections. When any of the students had not attended Clark's conferences, the master commissioned his disciple to visit them, to inquire into their doubts, and to impart to them his instructions. "This exercise did me much good," said Dalaber, "and I made great progress in the knowledge of Scripture."

[505] Foxe, Acts, v, p. 426.

Thus the kingdom of G.o.d, which consists not in forms, but in the power of the Spirit, was set up in Cambridge and Oxford. The alarmed schoolmen, beholding their most pious scholars escaping one after another from their teaching, called the bishops to their aid, and the latter determined to send agents to Cambridge, the focus of the heresy, to apprehend the leaders. This took place in 1523 or the beginning of 1524. The episcopal officers had arrived, and were proceeding to business. The most timid began to feel alarm, but Latimer was full of courage; when suddenly the agents of the clergy were forbidden to go on, and this prohibition, strange to say, originated with Wolsey; "upon what ground I cannot imagine," says Burnet.[506] Certain events were taking place at Rome of a nature to exercise great influence over the priestly councils, and which may perhaps explain what Burnet could not understand.

[506] History of the Reformation, vol. i, p. 25. Lond. 1841.