History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 31

[566] Si et ridebitur alicubi materiis ipsis satisfiet. Multa sunt sic digna revinci, ne gravitate adorentur. (Contra Valentin, c. vi.) See also Pascal's Provincials, Letter xi. And if ridicule shall at any time be excited, it is quite suited to such subjects. Many things deserve thus to be overcome, lest by a serious refutation, they get more respect than they deserve.

[Sidenote: LATIMER'S REPLY.]

The church was crowded when Buckingham, with the hood of St. Francis on his shoulders and with a vain-glorious air, took his place solemnly in front of the preacher. Latimer began by recapitulating the least weak of his adversary's arguments; then taking them up one by one, he turned them over and over, and pointed out all their absurdity with so much wit, that the poor prior was buried in his own nonsense. Then turning towards the listening crowd, he exclaimed with warmth: "This is how your skilful guides abuse your understanding. They look upon you as children that must be for ever kept in leading-strings. Now, the hour of your majority has arrived; boldly examine the Scriptures, and you will easily discover the absurdity of the teaching of your doctors." And then desirous, as Solomon has it, of _answering a fool according to his folly_, he added: "As for the comparisons drawn from the _plough_, the _leaven_, and the _eye_, of which the reverend prior has made so singular a use, is it necessary to justify these pa.s.sages of Scripture? Must I tell you what _plough_, what _leaven_, what _eye_ is here meant? Is not our Lord's teaching distinguished by those expressions which, under a popular form, conceal a spiritual and profound meaning? Do not we know that in all languages and in all speeches, it is not on the _image_ that we must fix our eyes, but on the _thing_ which the image represents?... For instance," he continued, and as he said these words he cast a piercing glance on the prior, "if we see a fox painted preaching in a friar's hood, n.o.body imagines that a fox is meant, but that craft and hypocrisy are described, which are so often found disguised in that garb."[567] At these words the poor prior, on whom the eyes of all the congregation were turned, rose and left the church hastily, and ran off to his convent to hide his rage and confusion among his brethren. The monks and their creatures uttered loud cries against Latimer. It was unpardonable (they said) to have been thus wanting in respect to the cowl of St. Francis. But his friends replied: "Do we not whip children? and he who treats Scripture worse than a child, does he not deserve to be well flogged?"

[567] Gilpin's Life of Latimer, p. 10.

The Romish party did not consider themselves beaten. The heads of colleges and the priests held frequent conferences. The professors were desired to watch carefully over their pupils, and to lead them back to the teaching of the church by flattery and by threats. "We are putting our lance in rest," they told the students; "if you become evangelicals, your advancement is at an end." But these open-hearted generous youths loved rather to be poor with Christ, than rich with the priests. Stafford continued to teach, Latimer to preach, and Bilney to visit the poor: the doctrine of Christ ceased not to be spread abroad, and souls to be converted.

One weapon only was left to the schoolmen; this was persecution, the favourite arm of Rome. "Our enterprise has not succeeded," said they; "Buckingham is a fool. The best way of answering these _gospellers_ is to prevent their speaking." Dr. West, bishop of Ely, was ordinary of Cambridge; they called for his intervention, and he ordered one of the doctors to inform him the next time Latimer was to preach; "but,"

added he, "do not say a word to any one. I wish to come without being expected."

[Sidenote: LATIMER PREACHES BEFORE THE BISHOP.]

One day as Latimer was preaching in Latin _ad clerum_, the bishop suddenly entered the university church, attended by a number of priests. Latimer stopped, waiting respectfully until West and his train had taken their places. "A new audience," thought he; "and besides, an audience worthy of greater honour calls for a new theme.

Leaving, therefore, the subject I had proposed, I will take up one that relates to the episcopal charge, and will preach on these words: _Christus existens Pontifex futurorum bonorum_." (Hebrews ix. 11.) Then describing Jesus Christ, Latimer represented him as the "true and perfect pattern unto all other bishops."[568] There was not a single virtue pointed out in the divine bishop that did not correspond with some defect in the Romish bishops. Latimer's caustic wit had a free course at their expense; but there was so much gravity in his sallies, and so lively a Christianity in his descriptions, that every one must have felt them to be the cries of a Christian conscience rather than the sarcasms of an ill-natured disposition. Never had bishop been taught by one of his priests like this man. "Alas!" said many, "our bishops are not of that breed: they are descended from Annas and Caiaphas." West was not more at his ease than Buckingham had been formerly. He stifled his anger, however; and after the sermon, said to Latimer with a gracious accent: "You have excellent talents, and if you would do one thing I should be ready to kiss your feet."[569]...

What humility in a bishop!... "Preach in this same church," continued West, "a sermon ... against Martin Luther. That is the best way of checking heresy." Latimer understood the prelate's meaning, and replied calmly: "If Luther preaches the word of G.o.d, I cannot oppose him. But if he teaches the contrary, I am ready to attack him."--"Well, well, Master Latimer," exclaimed the bishop, "I perceive that you smell somewhat of the pan.[570]... One day or another you will repent of that merchandise."

[568] Strype's Eccles. Mem. iii. p. 369.

[569] I will kneel down and kiss your foot. Ibid.

[570] Ibid. 370.

West having left Cambridge in great irritation against that rebellious clerk, hastened to convoke his chapter, and forbade Latimer to preach either in the university or in the diocese. "All that will live G.o.dly shall suffer persecution," Saint Paul had said; Latimer was now experiencing the truth of the saying. It was not enough that the name of heretic had been given him by the priests and their friends, and that the pa.s.sers-by insulted him in the streets; ... the work of G.o.d was violently checked. "Behold then," he exclaimed with a bitter sigh, "the use of the episcopal office ... to hinder the preaching of Jesus Christ!" Some few years later he sketched, with his usual caustic irony, the portrait of a certain bishop, of whom Luther also used frequently to speak: "Do you know," said Latimer, "who is the most diligentest bishop and prelate in all England?... I see you listening and hearkening that I should name him.... I will tell you.... It is the devil. He is never out of his diocese; ye shall never find him out of the way; call for him when you will, he's ever at home. He is ever at his plough. Ye shall never find him idle, I warrant you. Where the devil is resident--there away with books and up with candles; away with bibles and up with beads; away with the light of the Gospel and up with the light of candles, yea at noondays; down with Christ's cross, up with purgatory pickpurse; away with clothing the naked, the poor, and impotent, up with decking of images and gay garnis.h.i.+ng of stocks and stones; down with G.o.d's traditions and his most holy word Oh! that our prelates would be as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine as Satan is to sow c.o.c.kle and darnel!"[571] Truly may it be said, "There was never such a preacher in England as he is."[572]

[571] Latimer's Sermons (Park. Soc.) vol. i. p. 70. Sermon of the Plough.

[572] Ibid. p. 72.

The reformer was not satisfied with merely speaking: he acted.

"Neither the menacing words of his adversaries nor their cruel imprisonments," says one of his contemporaries,[573] "could hinder him from proclaiming G.o.d's truth." Forbidden to preach in the churches, he went about from house to house. He longed for a pulpit however, and this he obtained. A haughty prelate had in vain interdicted his preaching; Jesus Christ, who is above all bishops, is able, when one door is shut, to open another. Instead of one great preacher there were soon two at Cambridge.

[573] He adds: Whatsoever he had once preached, he valiantly defended the same. Becon, vol. ii. p. 424.

[Sidenote: ROBERT BARNES.]

An Augustine monk named Robert Barnes, a native of the county of Norfolk, and a great scholar, had gone to Louvain to prosecute his studies. Here he received the degree of doctor of divinity, and having returned to Cambridge, was nominated prior of his monastery in 1523.

It was his fortune to reconcile learning and the Gospel in the university; but by leaning too much to learning he diminished the force of the word of G.o.d. A great crowd collected every day in the Augustine convent to hear his lectures upon Terence, and in particular upon Cicero. Many of those who were offended by the simple Christianity of Bilney and Latimer, were attracted by this reformer of another kind. Coleman, Coverdale, Field, Cambridge, Barley, and many other young men of the university, gathered round Barnes and proclaimed him "the restorer of letters."[574]

[574] The great restorer of good learning. Strype, i. p. 568; Foxe, Acts, v. p. 415.

[Sidenote: HIS LECTURES.]

But the cla.s.sics were only a preparatory teaching. The masterpieces of antiquity having aided Barnes to clear the soil, he opened before his cla.s.s the epistles of St. Paul. He did not understand their divine depth, like Stafford; he was not, like him, anointed with the Holy Ghost; he differed from him on several of the apostle's doctrines, on justification by faith, and on the new creature; but Barnes was an enlightened and liberal man, not without some degree of piety, and desirous, like Stafford, of subst.i.tuting the teaching of Scripture for the barren disputations of the school. But they soon came into collision, and Cambridge long remembered that celebrated discussion in which Barnes and Stafford contended with so much renown, employing no other weapons than the word of G.o.d, to the great astonishment of the blind doctors, and the great joy of the clearsighted, says the chronicler.[575]

[575] Marvellous in the sight of the great blind doctors. Foxe, Acts, v. p. 415.

Barnes was not as yet thoroughly enlightened, and the friends of the Gospel were astonished that a man, a stranger to the truth, should deal such heavy blows against error. Bilney, whom we continually meet with when any secret work, a work of irresistible charity, is in hand,--Bilney, who had converted Latimer, undertook to convert Barnes; and Stafford, Arthur, Thistel of Pembroke, and f.o.o.ke of Benet's, earnestly prayed G.o.d to grant his a.s.sistance. The experiment was difficult: Barnes had reached that _juste milieu_, that "golden mean"

of the humanists, that intoxication of learning and glory, which render conversion more difficult. Besides, could a man like Bilney really dare to instruct the restorer of antiquity? But the humble bachelor of arts, so simple in appearance, knew, like David of old, a secret power by which the Goliath of the university might be vanquished. He pa.s.sed days and nights in prayer; and then urged Barnes openly to manifest his convictions without fearing the reproaches of the world. After many conversations and prayers, Barnes was converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.[576] Still, the prior retained something undecided in his character, and only half relinquished that middle state with which he had begun. For instance, he appears to have always believed in the efficacy of sacerdotal consecration to transform the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. His eye was not single, and his mind was often agitated and driven to and fro by contrary thoughts: "Alas!" said this divided character one day, "I confess that my cogitations be innumerable."[577]

[576] Bilney converted Dr. Barnes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Foxe, Acts, iv, p. 620.

[577] Ibid. v. p. 434.

Barnes, having come to a knowledge of the truth, immediately displayed a zeal that was somewhat imprudent. Men of the least decided character, and even those who are destined to make a signal fall, are often those who begin their course with the greatest ardour. Barnes seemed prepared at this time to withstand all England. Being now united to Latimer by a tender Christian affection, he was indignant that the powerful voice of his friend should be lost to the church.

"The bishop has forbidden you to preach," he said to him, "but my monastery is not under episcopal jurisdiction. You can preach there."

Latimer went into the pulpit at the Augustine's, and the church could not contain the crowd that flocked to it. At Cambridge, as at Wittemberg, the chapel of the Augustine monks was used for the first struggles of the Gospel. It was here that Latimer delivered some of his best sermons.

[Sidenote: JOHN FRYTH.]

A very different man from Latimer, and particularly from Barnes, was daily growing in influence among the English reformers: this was Fryth. No one was more humble than he, and on that very account no one was stronger. He was less brilliant than Barnes, but more solid. He might have penetrated into the highest departments of science, but he was drawn away by the deep mysteries of G.o.d's word; the call of conscience prevailed over that of the understanding.[578] He did not devote the energy of his soul to difficult questions; he thirsted for G.o.d, for his truth, and for his love. Instead of propagating his particular opinions and forming divisions, he clung only to the faith which saves, and advanced the dominion of true unity. This is the mark of the great servant of G.o.d. Humble before the Lord, mild before men, and even in appearance somewhat timid, Fryth in the face of danger displayed an intrepid courage. "My learning is small," he said, "but the little I have I am determined to give to Jesus Christ for the building of his temple."[579]

[578] Notwithstanding his other manifold and singular gifts and ornaments of the mind, in him most pregnant. Tyndale and Fryth's Works, iii, p. 73.

[579] That is very small, nevertheless that little. Ibid. p. 83.

Latimer's sermons, Barnes's ardour, and Fryth's firmness, excited fresh zeal at Cambridge. They knew what was going on in Germany and Switzerland; shall the English, ever in front, now remain in the rear?

Shall not Latimer, Bilney, Stafford, Barnes, and Fryth do what the servants of G.o.d are doing in other places?

[Sidenote: CHRISTMAS EVE, 1525.]

A secret ferment announced an approaching crisis: every one expected some change for better or for worse. The Evangelicals, confident in the truth, and thinking themselves sure of victory, resolved to fall upon the enemy simultaneously on several points. The Sunday before Christmas, in the year 1525, was chosen for this great attack. While Latimer should address the crowds that continued to fill the Augustine chapel, and others were preaching in other places, Barnes was to deliver a sermon in one of the churches in the town. But nothing compromises the Gospel so much as a disposition turned towards outward things. G.o.d, who grants his blessing only to undivided hearts, permitted this general a.s.sault, of which Barnes was to be the hero, to be marked by a defeat. The prior, as he went into the pulpit, thought only of Wolsey. As the representative of the popedom in England, the cardinal was the great obstacle to the Reformation. Barnes preached from the epistle for the day: _Rejoice in the Lord alway_.[580] But instead of announcing Christ and the joy of the Christian, he imprudently declaimed against the luxury, pride, and diversions of the churchmen, and everybody understood that he aimed at the cardinal. He described those magnificent palaces, that brilliant suite, those scarlet robes, and pearls, and gold, and precious stones, and all the prelate's ostentation, so little in keeping (said he) with the stable of Bethlehem. Two fellows of King's College, Robert Ridley and Walter Preston, relations of Tonstall, bishop of London, who were intentionally among the congregation, noted down in their tablets the prior's imprudent expressions.

[580] Philippians iv, 4-7.

[Sidenote: FERMENT IN THE COLLEGES.]

The sermon was scarcely over when the storm broke out. "These people are not satisfied with propagating monstrous heresies," exclaimed their enemies, "but they must find fault with the powers that be.

To-day they attack the cardinal, to-morrow they will attack the king!"

Ridley and Preston accused Barnes to the vice-chancellor. All Cambridge was in commotion. What! Barnes the Augustine prior, the restorer of letters, accused as a Lollard!... The Gospel was threatened with a danger more formidable than a prison or a scaffold.

The friends of the priests, knowing Barnes's weakness, and even his vanity, hoped to obtain of him a disavowal that would cover the evangelical party with shame. "What!" said these dangerous counsellors to him, "the n.o.blest career was open to you, and would you close it?... Do, pray, explain away your sermon." They alarmed, they flattered him; and the poor prior was near yielding to their solicitations. "Next Sunday you will read this declaration," they said to him. Barnes ran over the paper put into his hands, and saw no great harm in it. However he desired to show it to Bilney and Stafford.

"Beware of such weakness," said these faithful men. Barnes then recalled his promise, and for a season the enemies of the Gospel were silent.

Its friends worked with increased energy. The fall from which one of their companions had so narrowly escaped inspired them with fresh zeal. The more indecision and weakness Barnes had shown, the more did his brethren flee to G.o.d for courage and firmness. It was reported, moreover, that a powerful ally was coming across the sea, and that the Holy Scriptures, translated into the vulgar tongue, were at last to be given to the people. Wherever the word was preached, there the congregation was largest. It was the seed-time of the church; all were busy in the fields to prepare the soil and trace the furrows. Seven colleges at least were in full ferment: Pembroke, St. John's, Queens', King's, Caius, Benet's, and Peterhouse. The Gospel was preached at the Augustine's, at Saint Mary's, (the University church,) and in other places, and when the bells rang to prayers, the streets were alive with students issuing from the colleges, and hastening to the sermon.[581]

[581] Flocked together in open street. Strype, Mem. i, p. 568.

There was at Cambridge a house called the White Horse, so situated as to permit the most timid members of King's, Queens', and St. John's Colleges, to enter at the rear without being perceived. In every age Nicodemus has had his followers. Here those persons used to a.s.semble who desired to read the Bible and the works of the German reformers.

The priests, looking upon Wittemberg as the focus of the Reformation, named this house Germany: the people will always have their bywords.

At first the frequenters of the White Horse were called sophists; and now, whenever a group of "fellows" was seen walking in that direction, the cry was, "There are the Germans going to Germany."--"We are not Germans," was the reply, "neither are we Romans." The Greek New Testament had made them Christians. The Gospel-meetings had never been more fervent. Some attended them to communicate the new life they possessed; others to receive what G.o.d had given to the more advanced brethren. The Holy Spirit united them all, and thus, by the fellows.h.i.+p of the saints, were real churches created. To these young Christians the word of G.o.d was the source of so much light, that they imagined themselves transported to that heavenly city of which the Scriptures speak, _which had no need of the sun, for the glory of G.o.d did lighten it_. "So oft as I was in the company of these brethren," said a youthful student of St. John's, "methought I was quietly placed in the new glorious Jerusalem."[582]

[582] Becon, ii, p. 426.

[Sidenote: MEETINGS AT OXFORD.]

Similar things were taking place at Oxford. In 1524 and 1525, Wolsey had successively invited thither several Cambridge fellows, and although only seeking the most able, he found that he had taken some of the most pious. Besides John Clark, there were Richard c.o.x, John Fryer, G.o.dfrey Harman, W. Betts, Henry Sumner, W. Baily, Michael Drumm, Th. Lawney, and, lastly, the excellent John Fryth. These Christians, a.s.sociating with Clark, with his faithful Dalaber, and with other evangelicals of Oxford, held meetings, like their Cambridge brethren, at which G.o.d manifested his presence. The bishops made war upon the Gospel; the king supported them with all his power; but the word had gained the victory; there was no longer any doubt. The church was born again in England.

The great movement of the sixteenth century had begun more particularly among the younger doctors and students at Oxford and Cambridge. From them it was necessary that it should be extended to the people, and for that end the New Testament, hitherto read in Latin and in Greek, must be circulated in English. The voices of these youthful evangelists were heard, indeed, in London and in the provinces; but their exhortations would have been insufficient, if the mighty hand which directs all things had not made this Christian activity coincide with that holy work for which it had set Tyndale apart. While all was agitation in England, the waves of ocean were bearing from the continent to the banks of the Thames those Scriptures of G.o.d, which, three centuries later, multiplied by thousands and by millions, and translated into a hundred and fifty tongues, were to be wafted from the same banks to the ends of the world. If in the fifteenth century, and even in the early days of the sixteenth, the English New Testament had been brought to London, it would only have fallen into the hands of a few Lollards. Now, in every place, in the parsonages, the universities, and the palaces, as well as in the cottages of the husbandmen and the shops of the tradesmen, there was an ardent desire to possess the Holy Scriptures. The _fiat lux_ was about to be uttered over the chaos of the church, and light to be separated from darkness by the word of G.o.d.