History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 26

[461] But also that there was no place to do it in all England. Tynd.

Doctr. Tr. 396.

[Sidenote: HIS INDIGNATION AGAINST THE PRELATES.]

He then made a great sacrifice. Since there is no place in his own country where he can translate the word of G.o.d, he will go and seek one among the nations of the continent. It is true the people are unknown to him; he is without resources; perhaps persecution and even death await him there.... It matters not! some time must elapse before it is known what he is doing, and perhaps he will have been able to translate the Bible. He turned his eyes towards Germany. "G.o.d does not destine us to a quiet life here below," he said.[462] "If he calls us to peace on the part of Jesus Christ, he calls us to war on the part of the world."

[462] We be not called to a soft living. Tynd. Doct. Tr. 249.

There lay at that moment in the river Thames a vessel loading for Hamburg. Monmouth gave Tyndale ten pounds sterling for his voyage, and other friends contributed a like amount. He left the half of this sum in the hands of his benefactor to provide for his future wants, and prepared to quit London, where he had spent a year. Rejected by his fellow-countrymen, persecuted by the clergy, and carrying with him only his New Testament and his ten pounds, he went on board the ship, shaking off the dust of his feet, according to his Master's precept, and that dust fell back on the priests of England. He was indignant (says the chronicler) against those coa.r.s.e monks, covetous priests, and pompous prelates,[463] who were waging an impious war against G.o.d.

"What a trade is that of the priests!" he said in one of his later writings; "they want money for every thing: money for baptism, money for churchings, for weddings, for buryings, for images, brotherhoods, penances, soul-ma.s.ses, bells, organs, chalices, copes, surplices, ewers, censers, and all manner of ornaments. Poor sheep! The parson shears, the vicar shaves, the parish priest polls, the friar sc.r.a.pes, the indulgence seller pares ... all that you want is a butcher to flay you and take away your skin.[464] He will not leave you long. Why are your prelates dressed in red? Because they are ready to shed the blood of whomsoever seeketh the word of G.o.d.[465] Scourge of states, devastators of kingdoms, the priests take away not only Holy Scripture, but also prosperity and peace; but of their councils is no layman; reigning over all, they obey n.o.body; and making all concur to their own greatness, they conspire against every kingdom."[466]

[463] Marking especially the demeanour of the preachers, and beholding the pomp of the prelates. Foxe, Acts, v. p. 118.

[464] Doct. Tr. p. 238. Obedience of a Chr. Man.

[465] Ibid. p. 251.

[466] Ibid. p. 191.

No kingdom was to be more familiar than England with the conspiracies of the papacy of which Tyndale spoke; and yet none was to free itself more irrevocably from the power of Rome.

Yet Tyndale was leaving the sh.o.r.es of his native land, and as he turned his eyes towards the new countries, hope revived in his heart.

He was going to be free, and he would use his liberty to deliver the word of G.o.d, so long held captive. "The priests," he said one day, "when they had slain Christ, set poleaxes to keep him in his sepulchre, that he should not rise again, even so have our priests buried the testament of G.o.d, and all their study is to keep it down, that it rise not again.[467] But the hour of the Lord is come, and nothing can hinder the word of G.o.d, as nothing could hinder Jesus Christ of old from issuing from the tomb." Indeed that poor man, then sailing towards Germany, was to send back, even from the banks of the Elbe, the eternal Gospel to his countrymen.

[467] Tyndale, Doct. Tr. p. 251.

CHAPTER IX.

Bilney at Cambridge--Conversions--The University Cross-Bearer--A Leicestershire Farmer--A Party of Students--Superst.i.tious Practices--An obstinate Papist--The Sophists--Latimer attacks Stafford--Bilney's Resolution--Latimer hears Bilney's Confession--Confessor converted--New Life in Latimer--Bilney preaches Grace--Nature of the Ministry--Latimer's Character and Teaching--Works of Charity--Three Cla.s.ses of Adversaries--Clark and Dalaber.

[Sidenote: BILNEY AT CAMBRIDGE.]

This ship did not bear away all the hopes of England. A society of Christians had been formed at Cambridge, of which Bilney was the centre. He now knew no other canon law than Scripture, and had found a new master, "the Holy Spirit of Christ," says an historian. Although he was naturally timid, and often suffered from the exhaustion brought on by his fasts and vigils, there was in his language a life, liberty, and strength, strikingly in contrast with his sickly appearance. He desired to draw to the knowledge of G.o.d,[468] all who came nigh him; and by degrees, the rays of the Gospel sun, which was then rising in the firmament of Christendom, pierced the ancient windows of the colleges, and illuminated the solitary chambers of certain of the masters and fellows. Master Arthur, Master Thistle of Pembroke Hall, and Master Stafford, were among the first to join Bilney. George Stafford, professor of divinity, was a man of deep learning and holy life, clear and precise in his teaching. He was admired by every one in Cambridge, so that his conversion, like that of his friends, spread alarm among the partisans of the schoolmen. But a conversion still more striking than this was destined to give the English Reformation a champion more ill.u.s.trious than either Stafford or Bilney.

[468] So was in his heart an incredible desire to allure many. Foxe, Acts, iv, p. 620.

[Sidenote: A LEICESTERSHIRE FARMER.]

There was in Cambridge, at that time, a priest notorious for his ardent fanaticism. In the processions, amidst the pomp, prayers, and chanting of the train, none could fail to notice a master-of-arts, about thirty years of age, who, with erect head, carried proudly the university cross. Hugh Latimer, for such was his name, combined a biting humour with an impetuous disposition and indefatigable zeal, and was very quick in ridiculing the faults of his adversaries. There was more wit and raillery in his fanaticism than can often be found in such characters. He followed the friends of the word of G.o.d into the colleges and houses where they used to meet, debated with them, and pressed them to abandon their faith. He was a second Saul, and was soon to resemble the apostle of the Gentiles in another respect.

He first saw light in the year 1491, in the county of Leicester.

Hugh's father was an honest yeoman; and accompanied by one of his six sisters, the little boy had often tended in the pastures the five score sheep belonging to the farm, or driven home to his mother the thirty cows it was her business to milk.[469] In 1497, the Cornish rebels, under Lord Audley, having encamped at Blackheath, our farmer had donned his rusty armour, and mounting his horse, responded to the summons of the crown. Hugh, then only six years old, was present at his departure, and as if he had wished to take his little part in the battle, he had buckled the straps of his father's armour.[470]

Fifty-two years afterwards he recalled this circ.u.mstance to mind in a sermon preached before king Edward. His father's house was always open to the neighbours; and no poor man ever turned away from the door without having received alms. The old man brought up his family in the love of men and in the fear of G.o.d, and having remarked with joy the precocious understanding of his son, he had him educated in the country schools, and then sent to Cambridge at the age of fourteen.

This was in 1505, just as Luther was entering the Augustine convent.

[469] My mother milked thirty kine. Latimer's Sermons, (Parker ed.) p.

101.

[470] I can remember that I buckled his harness. Ibid.

[Sidenote: AN OBSTINATE PAPIST.]

The son of the Leicestershire yeoman was lively, fond of pleasure, and of cheerful conversation, and mingled frequently in the amus.e.m.e.nts of his fellow-students. One day, as they were dining together, one of the party exclaimed: _Nil melius quam laetari et facere bene_!--"There is nothing better than to be merry and to do well."[471]--"A vengeance on that _bene_!" replied a monk of impudent mien; "I wish it were beyond the sea;[472] it mars all the rest." Young Latimer was much surprised at the remark: "I understand it now," said he; "that will be a heavy _bene_ to these monks when they have to render G.o.d an account of their lives."

[471] Eccles. iii. 12.

[472] I would that _bene_ had been banished beyond the sea. Latimer's Sermons, p. 153.

Latimer having become more serious, threw himself heart and soul into the practices of superst.i.tion, and a very bigoted old cousin undertook to instruct him in them. One day, when one of their relations lay dead, she said to him: "Now we must drive out the devil. Take this holy taper, my child, and pa.s.s it over the body, first longways and then athwart, so as always to make the sign of the cross."

But the scholar performing this exorcism very awkwardly, his aged cousin s.n.a.t.c.hed the candle from his hand, exclaiming angrily: "It's a great pity your father spends so much money on your studies: he will never make anything of you."[473]

[473] Ibid. p. 499.

This prophecy was not fulfilled. He became Fellow of Clare Hall in 1509, and took his master's degree in 1514. His cla.s.sical studies being ended, he began to study divinity. Duns Scotus, Aquinas, and Hugo de Sancto Victore were his favourite authors. The practical side of things, however, engaged him more than the speculative; and he was more distinguished in Cambridge for his asceticism and enthusiasm than for his learning, He attached importance to the merest trifles. As the missal directs that water should be mingled with the sacramental wine, often while saying ma.s.s he would be troubled in his conscience for fear he had not put _sufficient water_.[474] This remorse never left him a moment's tranquillity during the service. In him, as in many others, attachment to puerile ordinances occupied in his heart the place of faith in the great truths. With him, the cause of the church was the cause of G.o.d, and he respected Thomas a Becket at least as much as St. Paul. "I was then," said he, "as obstinate a papist as any in England."[475] Luther said the same thing of himself.

[474] He thought he had never sufficiently mingled his ma.s.sing wine with water. Foxe, Acts, viii, p. 433.

[475] Ibid. p. 334.

[Sidenote: STAFFORD AND THE SOPHISTS.]

The fervent Latimer soon observed that everybody around him was not equally zealous with himself for the ceremonies of the church. He watched with surprise certain young members of the university who, forsaking the doctors of the School, met daily to read and search into the Holy Scriptures. People sneered at them in Cambridge: "It is only the _sophists_," was the cry; but raillery was not enough for Latimer. One day he entered the room where these _sophists_ were a.s.sembled, and begged them to cease studying the Bible. All his entreaties were useless. Can we be astonished at it? said Latimer to himself. Don't we see even the tutors setting an example to these stray sheep? There is Master Stafford, the most ill.u.s.trious professor in English universities, devoting his time _ad Biblia_, like Luther at Wittemberg, and explaining the Scriptures according to the Hebrew and Greek texts! and the delighted students celebrate in bad verse the doctor,

_Qui Paulum explicuit rite et evangelium._[476]

[476] Who has explained to us the true sense of St. Paul and of the Gospel. Strype's Mem. i, p. 74.

That young people should occupy themselves with these new doctrines was conceivable, but that a doctor of divinity should do so--what a disgrace! Latimer therefore determined to attack Stafford. He insulted him[477]; he entreated the youth of Cambridge to abandon the professor and his heretical teaching; he attended the hall in which the doctor taught, made signs of impatience during the lesson, and cavilled at it after leaving the school. He even preached in public against the learned doctor. But it seemed to him that Cambridge and England were struck blind: true, the clergy approved of Latimer's proceedings--nay, praised them; and yet they did nothing. To console him, however, he was named cross-bearer to the university, and we have already seen him discharging this duty.

[477] Most spitefully railing against him. Foxe, Acts, viii, p. 437.

Latimer desired to show himself worthy of such an honour. He had left the students to attack Stafford; and he now left Stafford for a more ill.u.s.trious adversary. But this attack led him to some one _that was stronger than he_. At the occasion of receiving the degree of bachelor of divinity he had to deliver a Latin discourse in the presence of the university; Latimer chose for his subject _Philip Melancthon and his doctrines_. Had not this daring heretic presumed to say quite recently that the fathers of the church have altered the sense of Scripture?

Had he not a.s.serted that, like those rocks whose various colours are imparted to the polypus which clings to them,[478] so the doctors of the church give each their own opinion in the pa.s.sages they explain?

And finally had he not discovered a new _touch-stone_ (it is thus he styles the Holy Scripture) by which we must test the sentences even of St. Thomas?

[478] Ut polypus cuicunque petrae adhaeserit, ejus colorem imitatur.

(Corp. Ref. i, p. 114.) As the polypus resembles in colour the rock to which it clings.

[Sidenote: LATIMER HEARS BILNEY'S CONFESSION.]

Latimer's discourse made a great impression. At last (said his hearers) England, nay Cambridge, will furnish a champion for the church that will confront the Wittemberg doctors, and save the vessel of our Lord. But very different was to be the result. There was among the hearers one man almost hidden through his small stature: it was Bilney. For some time he had been watching Latimer's movements, and his zeal interested him, though it was a zeal without knowledge. His energy was not great, but he possessed a delicate tact, a skilful discernment of character which enabled him to distinguish error, and to select the fittest method for combating it. Accordingly, a chronicler styles him "a trier of Satan's subtleties, appointed by G.o.d to detect the bad money that the enemy was circulating throughout the church."[479] Bilney easily detected Latimer's sophisms, but at the same time loved his person, and conceived the design of winning him to the Gospel. But how to manage it? The prejudiced Latimer would not even listen to the evangelical Bilney. The latter reflected, prayed, and at last planned a very candid and very strange plot, which led to one of the most astonishing conversions recorded in history.

[479] Foxe, Acts, vii, p. 438.