SELECT SERMONS
LETTERS
DR. HUGH LATIMER,
BISHOP OF WORCESTER AND MARTYR, 1555.
LONDON: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY ;
t56, PATERNOSTER ROW ; 65, ST. PAUI/S CHUKCHYARD ;
AND 1 64, PICCADILLY : AND SOLD BY THE BOOKSELLERS.
>77
•• 551
CONTENTS
A BRIEF account of the Life of Bishop Latimer ............ 1
SERMONS.
The first of the Sermons of the Card.
Preached at Cambridge, in Advent, about the year 1529. . 13
The^ second of the Sermons of the Card 26
The Sermon of the Plough.
Preached in the Shrouds at Paul's Church, in London,
on the 18th of January, 1548-9 84
Sermon on the Passion of Christ.
His seventh Sermon preached before King Edward VI., at
Westminster, April 1 9, 1 549 '. 51
Sermon on Covetousness.
His last Sermon preached before King Edward VI.,
A D. 1 550 70
Sermon on Covetousness.
Being a second Sermon preached before King Edward VI.,
A. D. 1550, in the afternoon of the same day 85
Sermons on the Lord's Prayer.
Preached before the Duchess of Suffolk, A.D. 1552.
The first Sermon 108
The second Sermon 121
The third Sermon 132
The fourth Sermon 1 44
The fifth Sermon 162
The sixth Sermon 1 84
The seventh Sermon 1 97
The Christian Walk.
Preached on the twenty-third Sunday after Trinity. 1552.. 215 Christ the best Physician.
Preached on the twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity, 1$52. 235 The Day of Judgment.
Preached on the second Sunday in Advent, 1552 253
11 CONTENTP.
Page Jesus Christ the true Messiah.
Preached on the third Sundny in Advent, 1552 278
On Christian Love.
Preached on the 28th of October. 1552 29)
The Birth of Christ.
Preached on Christmas Day, 1552 298
The Birth of Christ
Pleached on St. Stephen's Day, being the day after Christ mas Day, 1552 808
Joseph and Mary at Jerusalem.
Preached on the first Sunday after Epiphany, 1558 320
The Leper Cleansed.
Preached on the 26th of January, 155S 336
Christ Stilling the Tempest.
Preached on the 81 st of January, 1 553 g 19
The Parable of the Tares.
Preached on the 7th of February, 1 553 856
The Parable of the Householder.
Preached on the Sunday called Septuagesima, 1 553 365
Extract from the Sermon on Repentance 375
Extract from the Sermon preached before the convocation of
the clergy, June 9, 1 536 87rt
Extract from the Sermon preached on Twelfth Day, 1553 .... 376
LETTERS.
Letter of King Henry VIII., for the restoring again the free
liberty of reading the Holy Scriptures 383
Extracts from a Letter to M. Morice, concerning the articles
written which were falsely and untruly laid against him. . 393
letter to Sir Edward Bay n ton, *night 401
Second Letter to Sir Edward Baynton 411
To One in prison for the profession of the gospel : giving his
judgment, whether it be lawful to buy off the cross 424
A Letter sent to Mistress Wilkinson, of London, widow, out of
Bocardo, in Oxford 429
The Protestation of M. Hugh Latimer, rendered in writing, to
Doctor Weston, and others of the queen's commissioners
with him, concerning certain questions to him propounded.
in an assembly at Oxford, holden the twentieth of April.
A. D. 1554 ; faithfully translated out of Latin into English 430
A
BRIEF ACCOUNT
at
DR. HUGH LATIMER.
Bishop of Worcester, and Martyr, 1555.
OR. HUGH LATIMER was the son of a respectable farmer of Thurcaster in Leicestershire. He was born about the year 1480, and at an early age gave evidence of good abilities, so that his parents sent him to school, and afterwards to the University of Cambridge, where he was distinguished for his diligence in study.
When ordained, he endeavoured to discharge his duties with much zeal ; as he afterwards expressed, " I remember how scrupulous I was in my time of blindness and ignorance ;" and he once had the intention of becoming a friar, thinking that by living a monastic life he should escape damnation. Fox adds, " In this blind zeal he was a very enemy to the professors of Christ's gospel, as his oration against Philip Melancthon and his other works plainly declared " He used publicly to contra dict Stafford, the lecturer in divinity at Cambridge, a follower of the truth, and exhorted the students not to believe the doc trines of the gospel taught in his lectures. This zeal had obtained for Latimer the approbation of his superiors, and he was appointed the cross-bearer to the university ; whose office it was to carry the cross in the popish processions so frequent in those days.
But the time for his conversion was at hand. Bilney heard Latimer's oration against Melancthon, and pitying his blind ness, was anxious that this zealous but ignorant brother should y>e brought to the true knowledge of Christ. With this view Bilney went to Latimer's study, and entreated him to hear his confession. In this, the former took the opportunity to
LATIMER. H
2 Lalimer
make a particular declaration of his faith, and the scriptural grounds upon which it was founded ; " at the hearing whereof,' says Fox, " Latimer was, through the good Spirit of God, so touched, that he forsook his former studying of the school doctors, and other such fopperies, and became an earnest stu dent of true divinity ; so that, whereas before he was an enemy and almost a persecutor of Christ, he was now a zealous seeker after him."
Latimer thus became an earnest preacher of the faith which he once opposed, and instructed both the students and the common people in the truths of the gospel, as he could find opportunity. The Romish ecclesiastics now persecuted him, and he was accused of heretical opinions before Cardinal Wolsey, who examined Latimer, but not finding him an igno rant character, as he had been represented to be, the cardinal gave him a general license to preach, instead of silencing him, as his adversaries had expected.
When King Henry VIII. began to throw off the shackles of the papacy, Latimer, as well as other favourers of the refor mation, was called into notice. He resided in London for some time, and preached repeatedly with much acceptance. What ever were Henry's faults, he never objected to honest plain dealing, and Latimer never shrunk from reproving what he considered to be wrong. A valuable instance of this is pre served in Latimer's letter to the king, against a proclamation which forbad the use of the Scriptures and religious books in the English language, and which was afterwards recalled. About the year 1531 he was appointed to the living of West Kington, in the county of Wilts, to which place he immediately went, preferring the discharge of his pastoral duties to remain ing at court. In this cure his diligence was so great and his preaching so successful, that the adversaries of the truth again sought to bring him into trouble. The accusations against him were founded upon his disregard of some popish supersti tions, especially with respect to purgatory, and are noticed particularly in his letters to M. Morice and Sir E. Bayntun. Being cited before the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London in 1532, articles were presented to Latimer, which he was required to subscribe; b'ut, by the interference of the king he was dismissed after a partial submission and
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apology for his opinions, He returned to the faithful discharge of his parochial duties, and in the year 1535 was appointed to the bishopric of Worcester.
In this new charge Latimer acted with the same zeal and integrity as formerly, and promoted the reformation to the utmost of his ability. In particular, he laboured to remove the superstitious ceremonies which remained, or at least to point out Christ as the only object of adoration. Thus, in distributing the holy bread, the ministers were to say, " Of Christ's body this is a token — Which on the cross for our sins was broken ; — Wherefore of your sins you must be forsakers — If of Christ's death ye will be partakers." A. considerable part of the year he spent in visiting the different parts of his diocese, preaching twice every Lord's day, and whenever opportunity occurred, on the week days. The evil designs of his adversaries were re peatedly baffled by his honesty and courage. One time in particular he was accused before the king for a sermon which he had preached at court, and his open testimony against the vices and evil deeds of the times was stigmatized as seditious. Henry sternly required Latimer to answer this accusation, and his noble reply to the king has been preserved. After calling upon his accuser to say how he ought to have preached, he turned to the king, and declaring his respect for his majesty, added, " I never thought myself worthy, nor did I ever sue, to be a preacher before your Grace, but I was called to it, and am willing, if you mislike me. to give place to my betters ; for 1 grant there are a great many more worthy than I am : and if it be your Grace's pleasure so to allow them for preachers, I could be content to bear their books after them ; but if your Grace allow me for a preacher, I would desire your Grace to give me leave to discharge my conscience, and give me leave to frame my doctrine according to my audience. I had been a very dolt to have preached so at the borders of your realm as I preach before your Grace." Let it be observed how Latimer made this difference in his preaching — not flattering men t.u their faces, and reproving them when absent, but honestly and faithfully bearing his testimony as a messenger from God unto them. In the same spirit, one New Year's day, when the courtiers were presenting costly articles to the king, according to the custom of those times, Latimer presented an English Ne\v B 2
4 Latimer.
Testament, folded down at the text, " Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." This anecdote sufficiently proves that Latimer was ill qualified to shine as a courtier. In fact, he studiously avoided meddling with public affairs, but was uctive in promoting the spiritual interests of the nation ; and with that desire he preached the sermon at the commencement of the convocation of 1536. One beneficial result from the debates of that assembly, was the authorized publication of the Bible in the English language.
In the year 1539, Gardiner and other popish ecclesiastics gained considerable influence over the king's mind, and the act of Six Articles was passed, which restored some of the leading points of popery. Upon this Latimer resigned his bishopric, and with much cheerfulness returned to private life ; he was, however, committed to the Tower at the instigation of bishop Gardiner, and although the king did not allow his enemies to proceed against him to the full extent which they desired, he was kept a prisoner during the remaining six years of that reign.
On the accession of Edward VI. Latimer was set at liberty. He was pressed to resume his bishopric, but declined again andertaking that charge, on account of his age and infirmities which, however, did not prevent him from diligently pursuing his studies, for which purpose he used to rise at two o'clock in the morning. He also constantly preached the gospel, both at court and in various parts of the country. His chief residence during this period was with Cranmer at Lambeth, where many came to him for advice under sufferings and wrongs of a temporal nature, as well as for spiritual advice. A striking instance of the latter we have in the case of John Bradford, who, in his letters to Father Traves, repeatedly mentions having resorted to Latimer for .counsel ; and the extent to which his assistance was sought, as to the former, is described by himself in one of his sermons before the king and the court. " I cannot go to my book," says he, " for poor folks who come to me, desiring me that I will speak, that their matters may be heard." The deplorable state of the administration of justice in those times, is often severely animadverted upon in his sermons.
Fox thus describes the labours of Latimer during this reign ; ' As the diligence of this man of God never ceased, all the time
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of King Edward, to profit the church, both publicly and pri vately ; so among other doings in him to be noted, this is not lightly to be overpassed, but worthy to be observed, that God not only gave unto him his Spirit, plenteously and comfortably to preach his word unto his church, but also by the same Spirit he did evidently foreshow and prophesy of all those kinds of plagues which afterwards ensued. And as touching himself, he ever affirmed that the preaching of the gospel would cost him his life ; to which he cheerfully prepared himself, and felt certainly persuaded that Winchester (bishop Gardiner) was kept in the Tower for that purpose, as the event too truly proved."
When Queen Mary succeeded to the throne, Latimer was in the neighbourhood of Coventry, and the council sent a citation for him to appear before them. The purpose of this summons was evident, and John Careless, a protestant weaver of that city, who afterwards died in prison for the truth, hastened to give Latimer information of the officer's approach. The venerable martyr thus had six hours' notice, during which he might have escaped, and even afterwards he had still further opportunities, for the officer only left the summons, and did not take his person. It is probable that, the counsellors of the queen rather wished to drive the aged Latimer from the realm, than to exhibit him to the people as suffering for the truth. As Fox observes, " They well knew his constancy would deface their popery, and confirm the godly in the truth."
But Latimer felt that after the public and decided testimony he had given to the truths of the gospel, it was his duty not to shrink from suffering for them ; and his age and infirmities gave him no opportunity of serving his Lord and Master in any other way so likely to be profitable to the souls of others. He was fully aware of the fate prepared for him ; and as he passed through Smithfield, on his arrival in London, he said, " that place had long groaned for him," expecting to be committed to the flames where so many had been burned in previous years- With the same constancy and cheerfulness of spirit, when again imprisoned in the Tower, and the winter came on, he told the Lieutenant, that " unless they allowed him fire, he should deceive them ; for they purposed to burn him, but he should be starved with cold."
6 Latimer.
As the number of prisoners increased, Cranmer, Ridley, and Bradford were confined in the same apartment with Latimer. The benefit derived from their conferences he mentioned in his protestation presented to the popish delegates at Oxford, which will be found in a subsequent part of this volume. In April 1554, the three bishops were removed to Oxford, where they were appointed to dispute in public respecting the sacrament. A full account of what passed was drawn up by bishop Ridley, and is inserted by Fox in the Acts and Monuments. When the Romanists pressed their scholastic distinctions and arguments from the Fathers upon Latimer, he at once told them that such allegations had no effect upon him, that the Fathers often were deceived, and he saw no reason to depend upon them, except ing when they depended upon scripture. After these disputa tions, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were condemned, and kept in prison for many months, during which time they occu - pied themselves in conferences on religious subjects, in fervent prayer, or in writing for the instruction and support of their brethren. Fox states, " M. Latimer, by reason of the feeble ness of his age, wrote least of them all in this latter time of his imprisonment ; yet in prayer he was fervently occupied, wherein oftentimes he continued so long kneeling, that he was not able to rise without help." The principal subjects of his prayers are related by Fox, and were as follows :
First, That as God had appointed him to be a preacher of his word, so also he would give him grace to stand to his doc trine until his death, that he might give his heart's blood for the same. Secondly, That God of his mercy would restore his gospel to England again, and these words, " once again, once again," he did so repeat as though he had seen God before him, and spoke to him face to face. The third matter was to pray for the preservation of the Queen's majesty, that now is, (Queen Elizabeth,) whom in his prayers he was wont to name, and entreated that she might be made a comfort to the then comfortless realm of England." These were prayers of faith, and, as such, were not offered in vain.
On the 30th of September, 1555, Ridley and Latimer were brought before the commissioners appointed by the pope to examine and condemn them. Latimer's appearance is thus described : " He held his hat in his hand, having a kerchief on
Life. '.
his head, and upon it a night cap or two, and a great cap, such as townsmen use, with two broad flaps to button under the chin, wearing an old threadbare Bristol frieze gown, girded to his body with a penny leathern girdle, at which his testament hung by a string of leather, and his spectacles without case depending about his neck upon his breast." The popish eccle siastics exhorted him to recant, which he refused, and met their arguments by reference to the word of God. They accused him of want of learning, on which he emphatically replied, " Lo, you look for learning at my hands, who have gone so long to the school of oblivion, making the bare walls my library, keeping me so long in prison without book, or pen and ink, and now you let me loose to come and answer to articles ! You deal with me as though two were appointed to fight for life and death; and over-night the one, through friends and favour, is cherished, and hath good counsel given him how to encounter with his enemy ; the other, for envy or lack of friends, all the whole night is set in the stocks. In the morning, when they shall meet, the one is in strength and lusty, the other is stark* of his limbs, and almost dead for feebleness. Think you that to run this man through with a spear is a goodly victory r"
This is but too correct a representation of the manner in which these examinations were conducted, and it is unnecessary to enter into further details respecting them. We now proceed to the account of Latimer's last sufferings, as recorded by Fox. On the morning of October 16th, 1555, Latimer and Ridley were led to the place prepared for their burning, in *he front of Baliol College at Oxford. They kneeled down, and prayed separately, and afterwards conversed together. A sermon was then preached, in which their doctrines and their characters were aspersed, but they were not suffered to reply. " Well," said Latimer, " there is nothing hid but it shall be opened." The jailer then took off their upper clothes, to prepare them for the stake, when it was seen that Latimer had put on a shroud as his under-garment ; and although he had appeared a withered uld man, his body crazed and bent under the weight of years, he now " stood upright, as comely a father as one might any where behold."
8 Latimer.
All being prepared, a lighted fagot was brought and laid at Ridley's feet. Latimer then tunied. and addressed his fellow- sufferer in these memorable and emphatic words : " Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man ; WE SHALL THIS
DAY LIGHT SUCH A CANDLE, BY GOD'S GRACE, IN ENGLAND,
AS I TRUST SHALL NEVER BE PUT OUT." The fire burned fiercely ; Ridley suffered much with great constancy, but Lati mer was soon delivered. He exclaimed aloud, " O Father of heaven, receive my soul." Bending towards the flames, he seemed to embrace them, and bathe his hands therein, and speedily departed. When the fire was burned low, and the spectators crowded round the dying embers, they beheld his heart unconsumed, and a quantity of blood gushed from it, reminding them of his prayer already mentioned. He had in deed shed his heart's blood as a testimony to the truth of the doctrines he had preached
This awful testimony to the truth was not fruitless. Julius Palmer, a Fellow of Magdalen College, was present ; he had been a bigoted papist, but his mind was excited to examine into the doctrines held by those who suffered, that he might ascertain what enabled them to undergo such cruel torments unmoved. He was present at the examinations and the burning of Ridley and Latimer, and their Christian fortitude was made the means of dispelling his prejudices. He shortly after himself suffered for the truth, but had been enabled to count the cost, and before the hour of suffering arrived, he declared, " Indeed it is a hard matter for them to burn that have the mind and soul linked to the body, as a thief's foot is tied in a pair of fetters ; but if a man be once able, through the help of God's Spirit, to separate and divide the soul from the body, for him it is no more difficulty to burn, than for me to eat this piece of bread." There also is reason to believe that the sufferings of Latimer and Ridley, and of other martyrs, were made useful to one at least of the Spanish ecclesiastics who were at that time in England.
The distinguishing characteristic of Latimer was sincerity, or faithful zeal for the truth ; — in a follower of Christ these qualities are inseparable. They were especially displayed in his sermons, and the attention of his auditors was fixed by the lively and cheerful style in which he delivered the truths of the
Life. 9
gospel, and reproved the evil practices of men. "When preach ing, he frequently introduced anecdotes and detailed statements, in a manner which would appear singular in a modern preacher ; but this is to be accounted for by the customs of the times in which he lived, and his anxiety to avail himself of the opportunities for usefulness so peculiarly presented to him. Many of these illustrations seem harsh to modern ears, but they were well suited to make an impression upon minds al most wholly unacquainted with the Scriptures ; and this igno rance was so general in that day, that it sufficiently accounts for his minuteness in detailing the events of sacred history.
To the anecdotes and particulars of the customs and man ners of those times, much of the popularity of Latimer's Sermons in later days, may probably be attributed ; but the present selection has been made with the view of presenting to the reader his doctrinal sentiments, as a main pillar of the reformation, rather than to exhibit historical details of the times in which he lived, and it is chiefly composed of the sermons which were preserved by his faithful attendant and follower Augustine Bernher. The limits of the present work required selection ; it has been made with a desire for the edification of the follower of gospel truth, though it contains much for the instruction and information of the general reader.
The preaching of Latimer has been thus described : " The method and course of his doctrine was, to set the law of Moses before the eyes of the people in all the severities and curses of it, thereby to put them the more in fear of sin, and to beat down their confidence in their own performances, and so to bring them to Christ, convincing them thereby of their need of him, and of flying to him by an evangelical faith. He could not bear that such as were hastening to heaven should be detained by the way by thieves and robbers, as he expressed it ; that is, to be cast into the pope's prison of purgatory, to be tormented, and never allowed to depart thence unless money were paid to the robbers. He spoke against the opinion of obtaining pardon of sin, and salvation, by singing masses and wearing monks' cowls. He taught, on the contrary, that Christ alone was the aut-hor of salvation, and that he, by the one only oblation of his body, sanctified for ever all those that believe — that to him was given the key of David, and that he
ft a
10 Latimer
opened, and none could shut, and that he shut, and none could open. He preached how God loved the world, and so ^ved it, that he delivered his only Son to be slain, that all who from thenceforth believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life ; that he was a propitiation for our sins, and therefore upon him alone we must cast all our hopes, and that however men were laden with sins, they should never perish to whom he reckoned not sin, and that none of them should fail that believed in him." These were the spiritual and sound contents of Latimer's sermons, and this is the account of a learned man, Sir R. Morryson, who lived in those days, and asks, " Did there ever any man flourish, I s;?y not in Eng land only, but in any nation of the world, since the apostles, who preached the gospel more sincerely, purely, and honestly, than Hugh Latimer, bishop of Worcester ?" (See Strype.)
The letters and smaller pieces of Latimer have not before been presented to the public in an accessible form : they will be found equally deserving of attention with his sermons; they exhibit the true character of this venerable saint. The whole of his writings show his conformily in principles and opinions with the other reformers, both British and Foreign. They may have expressed various doctrines with different de grees of strength, but modern writers exercise ingenuity in vain when they attempt to show that in their sentiments they were opposed to each other.
Latimer preached with much force and eloquence, ample traces of which remain, although in writing they must appear much feebler than when spoken. It is evident that he spoke from the heart, and his words, we may conclude, by the divine blessing, in many instances went to the heart. Like Paul, he preached the faith which once he destroyed. Concerning zeal, he had persecuted the church, and touching the righteousness which was by the law, he was blameless ; but the things which were gain to him he counted loss for Christ.
FRUITFUL SERMONS,
PREACHED BY THK RIGHT REVEREND FATHER, AND CONSTAN7 MARTYR OF JESUS CHRIST,
HUGH LATIMER.
THE FIRST
OF
THE SERMONS OF THE CARD.*
Preached at Cambridge, in Advent, about the year 1523.
JOHN i.
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent Priests and Levitesfrom Jerusalem, to ask him, Who art thou ?
Tu quis es ? Which words are as much as to say in English, " Who art thou ?" These are the words of the Pharisees, who were sent by the Jews unto St. John Bap tist in the wilderness, to know of him who he was ;
* These sermons " of the Card" are interesting as the earliest of those preached by Latimer which have been preserved. In reading them, we must remember that the Reformation had made but little progress at that time, and that it was then usual for preachers to seize upon some topic of the day to engage the attention of tlieir hearers, who had not been accustomed to the close exhibition of the gospel, and to whom as yet a sermon wholly confined to scriptural doctrines would have proved strange and uninteresting. Speaking of these sermons, Fox says, " At Christmas, 1529, M. Latimer, alluding to the common custom of the season, gave the people certain cards out of the v. vi. vii. chapter of St. Matthew, whereupon they might not only then but always profitably employ their time. For the chief triumph (or trump) in the cards he fixed upon the heart, as the prin cipal thing they should serve God with, whereby he quite overthrew all hypocritical and external ceremonies which do not tend to the necessary furtherance of God's holy word and sacramenls. For the better attaining hereof, he wished the scriptures to be in English, whereby the common people might the better learn their duties to God as well as to their neighbours. The handling of this matter was apt for the time ami pleasantly applied by him, and also wrought in the hearers much fruit, to the overthrow of popish super stitiun and setting up of perfect religion."
Fox then gives these two sermons as being " the tenour and effect" of those which were thus preached by Latimer. They are evidently only the substance of what he delivered, and it is also probable that the persons who took them down were better able and more anxious to preserve the illustrations than the doctrine and ap plication.
14 Latimtr. — Sermon.
which words they spake unto him of an evil intent, think ing that he would have taken on him to be Christ, and so they would have had him do of their good wills, because they knew that he was more carnal, and given to their laws, than Christ himself should be, as they perceived by their old prophecies : and also, because they marvelled much at his great doctrine, preaching, and baptizing, they were in doubt whether he was Christ or not : wherefore they said unto him, " Who art thou ?" Then answered St. John, and confessed that he was not Christ.
Now here is to be noted, the great and prudent answer of St. John Baptist unto the Pharisees, that when they inquired of him who he was, he would not answer directlv of himself, what he was himself, but he said he was not Christ. By which saying he thought to put the Jews and Pharisees out of their false opinion and belief towards him, in that they would have had him to exercise the office of Christ, and so he declared farther unto them of Christ, saying, " There standeth one among you, whom ye know not ; he it is who coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoes' latchet I am not worthy to unloose." By this you may perceive that St. John spake much in the laud and praise of Christ his master, professing himself to be in no wise like unto him. So likewise it is neces sary for all men and women of this world, not to ascribe unto themselves any goodness of themselves, but all unto our Lord God, as shall appear hereafter, when this ques tion, "Who art thou?" shall be put unto them; not as the Pharisees did unto St. John, of an evil purpose, but of a good and simple mind, as may appear hereafter.
Now then, according to the preacher's mind, let every man and woman, of a good and simple mind, contrary to the Pharisees' intent, ask this question, " Who art thou ?" This question must be moved to themselves, what they are of themselves, and on this fashion, " What art thou when thou comest into this world ? What substance, what virtue, what goodness art thou of by thyself?" Which question if thou rehearse oftentimes unto thyself, thou shalt well perceive and understand, how thou shalt make answer unto it : which must be made on this wise ; " I am of myself, and by myself, coming from my natural father and mother, the child of the wrath and indignation of God, and the true inheritor of hell, a lump of sin, and working nothing of myself, but all towards hell, except I have better help of another, than I have of myself."
Of the Card. IS
Now we may see in what state we enter into this world, that we are of ourselves the true and just inheritors of hell, the children of the wrath and indignation of Christ, working all towards hell, whereby we deserve perpetual damnation, by the right judgment of God, and the true claim of ourselves : which unthrifty * state that we are born unto is come unto us for our own deserts, and may be proved by this example following.
Let it be supposed that it might please the king, to accept into his favour a mean man, of simple degree and birth, not born to any possession ; whom the king fa- voureth, not because this person has of himself deserved any such favours, but because the king casts his favour unto him of his own mere motion and pleasure : and because the king will more fully declare his favour unto him, he gives unto this man a thousand pounds in lands, to him and to his heirs, on this condition, that he shall take upon him to be the chief captain and defender of his town of Calais, and be true and faithful to him in the custody of the same, against the Frenchmen especially above all other enemies. f
This man takes on himself this charge, promising fidelity thereto. It chances in process of time, that by the sin gular acquaintance and frequent familiarity of this cap tain with the Frenchmen, the Frenchmen give unto the said captain of Calais a great sum of money, so that he will allow them to enter into the said town of Calais by force of arms, and so thereby obtain the same for the crown of France ; and upon this agreement the French men do invade the said town of Calais, only by the negli gence of this captain.
Now the king, hearing of this invasion, comes with a great force to defend this his said town, and by good policy of war overcomes the Frenchmen, and enters again into his town of Calais. Then being desirous to know how these enemies of his came thither, he makes strict search and inquiry, by whom this treason was conspired . by this search it is known and found that his own captain was the author and beginner of the betraying- of it. The
* Unprofitable, evil.
T Calais was t ken from the French by King Edward III. in 1340, and continued in possession of the English till 1558. It was highly valued as the key of France, and was kept with much care. The |oss of it deeply affected Queen Mary, and was one cause of hef death.
1 6 Latimer. — Sermon.
king, seeing the great infidelity of this person, discharges this rr.an from his office, and takes from him and his heirs the thousand pounds possessions. Think you not that the king doth justly unto him, and all his posterity and heirs ? Yes, truly : the captain cannot deny but that he had true justice, considering how unfaithfully he behaved himself to his prince, contrary to his own fidelity and pro mise. So likewise it was of our first father Adam. He had given unto him the spirit and science of knowledge, to work all goodness therewith : this said spirit was not given only unto him, but unto all his heirs and posterity. He had also delivered him the town of Calais, that is to say, paradise in earth, the strongest and fairest town in the world, to be in his custody : he nevertheless by the instigation of these Frenchmen, that is to say, the tempta tions of the fiend, obeyed their desire, and so he brake his promise and fidelity, the commandment of the ever lasting King his Master, in eating of the fruit by him forbidden.
Now then, the king seeing this great treason in his cap tain, deposed him, and all his heirs and posterity, from the thousand pounds of possessions, that is to say, of ever lasting life in glory ; for as he had the spirit of science and knowledge, for himself and his heirs, so when he lost the same, his heirs lost it also by him, and in him So now, this example proves, that by our father Adam we had once in him the true inheritance of everlasting joy ; and by him and in him, again we lost the same.
The heirs of the captain of Calais could not by any manner of claim ask of the king the right and title of their father, in the thousand pounds possessions ; for the king might answer, and say unto them, that although their father deserved not of himself to enjoy so great posses sions, yet he deserved by himself to lose them, and greater, committing such high treason as he did, against his prince's commandments ; whereby he had no wron<>- in losing his title, but was unworthy to have the same, and had therein true justice ; let not you, that are his heirs, think that if he had justice to lose his possessions, you have wrong to lose the same. In the same manner it may be answered unto all men and women now in being, that if our father Adam were justly excluded from his pos session of glory in paradise, let us, that are his heirs, think that we have no wronc; in ulso losing the same; yea,
Of the Card. 17
\ve have true justice and right. Then in what a miserable state are we, who by our own deserts have rightly and justly lost the everlasting- joy, and of ourselves are become true inheritors of hell. For he that committeth deadly sin willingly, binds himself to be an inheritor of everlasting pain : and so did our forefather Adam willingly eat of the forbidden fruit. Wherefore he was cast out of the ever lasting joy of paradise into this corrupt world amongst all vileriess ; whereby of himself he was not worthy to do any tiling laudable and pleasant to God, but evermore bound to corrupt affections and beastly appetites, transformed into the most unclean and variable nature that was made under heaven ; of whose seed and disposition all the world is lineally descended, insomuch that this evil nature is so diffused and shed from one to another, that at this day there is no man or woman living that can, of themselves, wash away their abominable vileness ; and so we must needs grant ourselves to be in the same displeasure of God, as our father Adam was. By reason hereof, as I said, we are of ourselves children of the indignation and vengeance of God, the true inheritors of hell, and working all to wards hell ; which is the answer to this question, made to every man and woman by themselves, " Who art thou ?"
And now, the world standing in this damnable state, the incarnation of Christ cometh in. The Father in heaven perceiving the frail nature of man, that he by himself and of himself could do nothing for himself, by his prudent wisdom sent down the second person in the Trinity, his Son Jesus Christ, to declare unto man his pleasure and commandment. And so at the Father's will Christ took on himself human nature, being willing to deliver man out of this miserable way, and was content to suffer cruel pas sion* in shedding his blood for all mankind, and so left behind, for our safeguard, laws and ordinances, to keep us always in the right path unto everlasting life, as the gos pels, the sacraments, the commandments, and so forth : which if we keep and observe according to our profession, we shall answer better to this question, " Who art thou ?" than we did before
The answer of this question, when I ask it of myself, is, " I must say that I am a Christian man, a Christian wo man, a child of everlasting joy, through the merits of the bitter passion of Christ." This is a joyful answer. Her« * Sufferings.
18 Latimer. — Sermon.
we may see how much we are bound, and indebted unto God, who has revived us from death to life, and saved us that were damned : which great benefit we cannot well consider, unless we remember what we were of ourselves before we meddled with him or his laws : and the more we know our feeble nature, and set less by it, the more we shall conceive and know in our hearts what God has done for us : and the more we know what God has done for us, the less we shall set by ourselves, and the more we shall love and please God ; so that in no condition shall we either know ourselves or God, except we utterly confess ourselves to be mere vileness and corruption. Well, now it is come to this point, that we are Christian men, and Christian women ; I pray you what does Christ require of a Christian man, or of a Christian woman ? Christ re quires nothing1 of a Christian man or woman, but that he will observe his rule. For as he is a good Augustine friar that keeps well St. Augustine's rules, so he is a good Christian man that keeps well Christ's rule.
Now then, what is Christ's rule? Christ's rule con sists in many things, as in the commandments, and the works of mercy and so forth. And because I cannot de clare Christ's rule unto you at one time, as it ought to be done, I will apply myself according to your custom at this time of Christmas ; I will, as I said, declare unto you Christ's rule, but that shall be in Christ's cards. And as you are wont to celebrate Christmas by playing at cards,* I intend, with God's grace, to deal unto you Christ's cards, wherein you shall perceive Christ's rule. The game that we will play at shall be the triumph (01 trump), which, if it be well played at, he that deals shall win ; the players shall likewise win, and the standers and lookers on shall do the same; insomuch that there is no man that is willing to play at this triumph with these cards, but they shall all be winners, and no losers.
Let, therefore, every Christian man and woman play at these cards, that they may have and obtain the triumph ; you must mark also that the triumph must apply to fetch home unto him all the other cards, whatsoever suit they are of. Now then take this first card, which must appear and be showed unto you as follows. You have heard what was spoken to men of the old law, "Thou shalt not kill ;"
* Tt was usu il for the preachers in those days to explain their meaning by reference to the customs and manners most in practice.
Of the Card. 19
whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of judgment, and whosever shall say unto his neighbour " Raca," that is to say, brainless, or any other like word of rebuking, shall be in danger of a council, and whosoever shall say unto his neighbour, " Fool," shall be in danger of hell-fire. This card was made and spoken by Christ, as appears in the fifth chapter of St. Matthew.
Now it must be noted, that whosoever shall play with this card must first, before they play with it, know the strength and virtue of the same; wherefore you must well note and mark terms how they are spoken, and to what purpose : let us, therefore, read it once or twice, that we may be the better acquainted with it.
Now behold and see, it is divided into four parts : the first part is one of the commandments that was given unto Moses in the old law before the coming of Christ, which commandment we of the new law are bound to observe and keep, and it is one of our commandments. The other three parts spoken by Christ are but expositions unto the first part of this commandment : for in effect all these four parts are but one commandment, that is to say, " Thou shalt not kill :" yet, nevertheless, the three last parts show unto you how many ways you may kill your neighbour contrary to this commandment : yet for all Christ's expo sitions in the three last parts, the terms are not open enough to you who now read and hear them spoken. No doubt the Jews understood well enough when he spoke unto them the three last sentences : wherefore seeing that these terms were natural terms of the Jews, it shall be necessary to expound them, and compare them unto some like terms of our natural speech, that we, in like manner, may understand Christ as well as the Jews did. We will begin with the first part of this card, and then afterwards with the other three parts. You must therefore understand that the Jews and the Pharisees of the old law, to whom this first part, this commandment, " Thou shalt not kill," was spoken, thought it sufficient and enough for their dis charge not to kill with any manner of material weapon, as sword, dagger, or with any such weapon ; and they thought it no great fault whatsoever they said or did to their neigh bours so that they did not harm or meddle with their bodies; which was a false opinion in them, as the three last sentences following the first prove well.
Now as to the three other sentences, you must note or
20 Latimer. — Sermon.
take heed what difference there is between these three manner of offences : — to be angry with your neighbour I— to call your neighbour brainless, or any such word of dis dain : — or to call your neighbour fool. Whether these three manner of offences are of themselves one more grievous than the other, is to be opened unto you. Truly, as they are of themselves divers offences, so they kill diversely, one more than the other. As you shall perceive, by the first of these three a man who conceives against his neigh bour or brother, ire, or wrath in his mind, by some occa sion given unto him, although he is angry in his mind against his neighbour, he will, peradventure, express his ire by no sign, either in word or deed : yet neverthe less, he offends against God, and breaks this command ment in killing his own soul, and is therefore in danger of judgment.
Now to the second part of these three. The man that is moved with ire against his neighbour, and in his ire calls his neighbour brainless, or some other word of displea sure, as a man might say in his fury, " I shall handle thee well enough," which words and countenance do more represent and declare ire to be in this man than in him that was but angry, and spake no manner of word, nor showed any countenance to declare his ire : wherefore as he that so declares his ire either by word or countenance, offends more against God, so he both kills his own soul, and does what he can to kill his neighbour's soul in moving him unto ire, wherein he is faulty himself,- and so this man is in danger of a council.
Now to the third offence, and last of these three. The man that calls his neighbour fool more declares his angry mind toward him than he that calls his neighbour but brainless, or any such words moving ire : for to call a man " fool," shows more envy in a man than " brainless" does. Wherefore he offends most because he most earnestly with such words expresses his ire, and so he is in danger of hell-fire : wherefore you may understand now these three parts of this card to point out three offences, and that one is more grievous to God than the other, and that one kills the soul of man more than the other.
Now, peradventure, there are some who will marvel that Christ did not declare his commandment by some greater faults of ire, than by these which seem bi t small faults, as to be angry and speak nothing of it — to declare
Of the. Card. 21
ft, and to call a man brainless — and to call his neighbour fool ; truly these are the smallest and the least faults that belong to ire, or to killing in ire. Therefore beware how you offend in any kind of ire — seeing that the smallest is damnable to offend in, see that you offend not in the greatest. For Christ thought, if he might bring you from the smallest faults, and give you warning to avoid the least, he reckoned you would not offend in the greatest and worst, as to call your neighbour thief, or more blasphemous
names
Now you have heard that to these different offences of ire and killing, are appointed punishments according to their degrees : for look, as the offence is, so shall the pain be : if the offence is great, the punishment shall be accord ingly ; if it is less, there shall be less pain for it. I would not now that you should think because there are but three degrees of punishment spoken of, that there are no more in hell : no doubt Christ spoke of no more here than these three degrees of punishments, thinking they were sufficient enough for example, whereby we might understand that there are as divers and many pains as there are offences ; and so by these three offences, and these three punish ments, all other offences and punishments may be com pared with each other : yet I would satisfy your minds farther in these three terms of judgment, council, and hell- fire. As you might say, what was the cause that Christ declared the pains of hell by these terms, more than by any other terms ? I told you before that he knew well to whom he spake them ; these terms were natural, and known well among the Jews and the Pharisees. Where fore Christ taught them with their own terms, to the intent they might understand his doctrine the better : and these terms may be likened unto three terms which are common and usual amongst us, that is to say, the sessions of inqui- rance or inquest ; the sessions of deliverance, and the execution day. Sessions of inquirance is like unto judg ment ; for when session of inquiry is, then the judges cause twelve men to give verdict of the felon's crime, whereby he shall be judged to be indicted. Sessions of deliverance is much like a council ; for at sessions of deliverance, the judges go by themselves to counsel, to determine sentence against the felon. Execution day is to be compared unto hell fire ; for the Jeics had amongst themselves a place of
22 Ijdtimtr. — Sermon.
execution, named hell-fire ;* and surely when a man goes to his death, it is the greatest pain in this world : where fore you may see that there are degrees in our terms, as there are in those terms. These evil-disposed affections and sensualities in us are always contrary to the rule of our salvation. What shall we now do or imagine to thrust down these Turks,t and to subdue them ? It is great ignominy and shame for a Christian man to be bound and subject unto a Turk. Nay, it shall not be so, we will first cast a trump in their way, and play with them who shall have the better, let us play therefore on this fashion with this card. Whensoever these foul passions and Turks shall rise in our stomachs against our brother or neigh bour, either for unkind words, injuries, or wrongs, which they have done unto us, contrary unto our mind, straight way let us call unto our remembrance, and speak this question unto ourselves, " Who art thou ?" The answer is, " I am a Christian man." Then farther we must say to ourselves, "What requires Christ of a Christian man?" Now turn up your trump, your heart, (hearts is trump, as 1 said before) and cast your trump, your heart, on this card, and upon this card you shall learn what Christ re quires of a Christian man, not to be angry, nor moved to ire against his neighbour, in mind, countenance, or othec- vvays, by word or deed. Then take up this card with your heart, and lay them together: that done, you have won the game of the Turk, whereby you have defaced and over come by true and lawful play ; but, alas, for pity, the Rhodes \ are won and overcome by these false Turks, the strong castle faith is decayed, so that I fear it is almost impossible to win it again.
The great occasion of the loss of this Rhodes is by rea son that Christian men daily kill their own nation, so that the very true number of Christians is decayed : which murder and killing one of another, is increased especially two ways, to the utter undoing of Christendom, that is to say, by example and silence. By example as thus : when the father, the mother, the lord, the lady, the master, the
* Topiiet, mentioned 2 Kings xxiii. ; Isaiah xxx. ; and repeatedly by Jeremiah.
t Evil affections and sensual inclinations.
} Rhodes, which, though strongly fortified, was captured by the Turks in I.~>r2. At that period the Turks were invading Europe «';d umde considerable prcirress efiper.iaJlv »D
( )f tne. Card. 23
•iame, are themselves overcome by these Turks, and are continual swearers, adulterers, disposers to malice, never in patience, and so forsooth in all other vices. Think you not when the father, the mother, the master, the dame, are disposed unto vice or impatience, but that their children and servants shall incline and be disposed to the same. No doubt, as the child takes his natural disposition of his father and mother, so shall the servants apply themselves unto the vices of their masters and dames ; if the heads are false in their faculties and crafts, it is no marvel if the children, servants, and apprentices, joy therein. This is a great and shameful manner of killing Christian men, that the fathers, the mothers, the masters, and the dames, shall not only kill themselves, but all theirs, and all that belong to them, and so this way a great number of Christian lineage are mur dered and spoiled. The second manner of killing is by silence. By silence a great number of Christian men are slain, which is in this manner — although the father and mother, master and dame, of themselves are well disposed to live according to the law of God, yet they may kill their children and servants by suffering them to do evil before their faces, and not using due correction according unto their offences. The master seeth his servant or apprentice take more of his neighbour than the king's laws, or the order of his faculty* admits, or he suffered him to take more of his neighbour than he himself would be content to pay if he were in like condition : thus doing, I say, such men kill wittingly their children and servants, and shall go to hell for so doing ; and their fathers and mothers, mas ters and dames, shall bear them company for so -suffering. Wherefore I exhort all true Christian men and women to give good example unto your children and servants, and not suffer them by silence to offend. Every man must be in his own house, according to St. Augustine's mind, a bishop, not only giving good example, but teaching according to it, rebuking and punishing vice, not suffering your children and servants to forget the laws of God. You ought to see them learn their belief, know the command ments of God, keep their holy days, and not lose their time in idleness ; if they do so, you shall all suffer pain for it, if God is true in his saying, as there is no doubt thereof: and so you may perceive that there are many who break this card, " Thou shalt not kill," whereby they are nc * Trade, employment
24 Latimer. — Sermon.
winners, but great losers ; but who are they now-n-days that can clear themselves of these manifest murders used to their children and servants ? I think that many have these two ways slain their own children unto their damna tion, were not the great mercy of God ready to help them when they repent thereof.
Wherefore considering that we are so prone and ready to continue in sin, let us cast down ourselves with Mary Magdalen ; and the more we bow down with her towards Christ's feet, the more we shall be afraid to rise again in sin, and the more we know and submit ourselves, the more we shall be forgiven, and the less we know and submit ourselves, the less we shall be forgiven, as appears by this example.
When Christ was in the world amongst the Jews and Pharisees, there was a great Pharisee whose name was Simon. This Pharisee desired Christ on a time to dine with him, thinking in himself that he was able and worthy to give Christ a dinner. Christ refused not his dinner, but came unto him. In time of their dinner, there came into the house a common sinner, named Mary Magdalen. As soon as she perceived Christ, she cast herself down, and called unto her remembrance what she was of herself, and how greatly she had offended God, whereby she conceived in Christ great love, and so came near unto him, and washed his feet with her tears, and shed upon his head precious ointment, thinking that by him she should be delivered from her sins. This great and proud Pharisee, seeing that Christ accepted her oblation in good part, had great indignation against this woman, and said to himself, "If this man Christ were a holy prophet, as he is taken for, he would not suffer this sinner to ceme so nigh him." Christ, understanding the evil mind of this Pharisee, said to him : " Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee." " Say what thbu pleasest,'1 quoth the Pharisee. Then saith Christ, " I pray thee tell me this : If there be a man to whom is owing twenty pounds by one, and forty by another, and the man to whom this money is owing, per ceives these two men are not able to pay him, and he forgives them both. Which of these two debtors ought to love this man most?" The Pharisee said, "That man ought to love him best that hath most forgiven him?' Christ said, " So it is with this woman. She hath loved me most, therefore most is forgiven her : she hath known
Of the Card 2h
her sins most, whereby she hath most loved me ; and thou hast least loved me, because thou hast least known thy sins • therefore because thou hast least known thine offences, thou art forgiven least." So this proud Pharisee had an answer to allay his pride ; and think you not, but that there are amongst us a great number of these proud Pha risees, who think themselves worthy to invite Christ to dinner, who shall presume to sit by Christ in the church, and disdain this poor woman Magdalen, their poor neigh bour, with a high, disdainful, and solemn countenance, and be always desirous to climb highest in the church, reckoning themselves more worthy to sit there than ano ther — poor Magdalen under the board, and in the belfry, hath more forgiven of Christ than they have ; for it is likely that these Pharisees less know themselves and their offences, whereby they love God less, and so they are for given less.
I would to God we would follow this example, and be like unto Magdalen. I doubt not but we all are Magda- lens in falling into sin, and in offending : but we are not again Magdalens in knowing ourselves, and in rising from sin. If we are true Magdalens, we should be as willing to forsake our sin, and rise from sin, as we were willing to commit sin, and to continue in it, and we then should know ourselves best, and make more perfect answer than ever we did, unto this question, " Who art thou ? To the which we might answer, that v/e are true Christian men and women : and then I say you should understand and know how you ought to play at this card, " Thou shalt not kill ;* without any interruption of your deadly enemies the Turks, and so triumph at the last, by winning everlasting life in glory. Amen.
LATIMER.
ttfi
THE SECOND
THE SERMONS OF THE CARD.
JOHN i.
" And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, Who art thou ?
Now you have heard what is meant by the first card, and how you ought to play with it, I purpose again to deal unto you another card, almost of the same suit ; for they are of such near affinity, that one cannot be well played without the other. The first declared, " that y6u should not kill ;" which might be divers ways, as being angry with your neighbour, in mind, in countenance, in word, or deed. It declared also how you should subdue the pas sions of ire, and so clear yourselves from them : and where this card kills in you those stubborn Turks of ire ; this second card wills not only that they should be mortified in you, but that you yourselves shall cause them to be mor tified also in your neighbour, if your neighbour has been through you moved unto ire, either in countenance, word, or deed. Now let us hear the tenour of this card.
" Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee ; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
This card was spoken by Christ, as St. Matthew testi fies in his fifth chapter, against all such as presume to come to the church to make oblation unto God, either by prayer, or any other deed of charity,* not having their neighbours reconciled to them. Reconciling is as much as to say, Restore thy neighbour unto charity, who by thy words or deeds is moved against thee : then if thou hast spoken to, or of thy neighbour, whereby he is moved tc
*• Love I. Oud and man.
Of the Card. 27
ire or wrath, thou must lay down thy oblation. Oblations are prayers, alms-deeds, or any work of charity ; these are called oblations to God. Lay down therefore thine obla tion : before thou begin to do any of these works, go unto thy neighbour, and confess thy fault unto him ; declaring thy mind, that if thou hast offended him, thou art glad and willing to make him amends, as far as thy words and substance will extend, requiring him not to take it at the worst. Thou art sorry in thy mind, that thou shouldest be the occasion of his being offended. " What manner of card is this ?* will some say. " Why ? what have I to do with my neighbour's or brother's malice ? Cain said, ' Have I the keeping of my brother, or shall I answer for him and for his faults?' This were no reason: as for myself, I thank God I owe no man malice nor displeasure, if others owe me any, at their own peril be it. Let every man answer for himself." Nay, sir, not so, as you may understand by this card ; for it saith, If thy neighbour has anything, any malice against thee, through thine occasion, " Lay down," saith Christ, " thine oblation ; pray not to me, do no good deeds for me; but go first unto thy neigh bour, and bring him again unto my flock, who has for saken the same through thy evil words, mocks, scorns, or disdainful countenance, and so forth ; and then come and offer thine oblation, then do thy devotion, then do thy alms-deed, then pray, if thou wilt have me hear thee." — O good Lord, this is a hard reckoning, that I must go and seek him out that is offended with me, before I pray or do any good deed. I cannot go unto him. Peradventure he is a hundred miles from me, beyond the seas, or else I cannot tell where ; if he were here nigh, I would with all my heart go unto him. — This is a lawful excuse before God, provided that thou wouldest in thine heart be glad to re concile thy neighbour, if he were present, and that thou thinkest in thy heart, whensoever thou shalt meet with him, to go unto him, and require him charitably to forgive thee, and so never intend to come from him until you both depart one from the other true brethren in Christ. Yet peradventure there are some in the world that are so devilish and hard-hearted, that they will not apply in any condition* unto charity. For all that, do what lieth in thee by all charitable means to bring him to unity : if he will in no wise apply thereunto, thou mayest be sorrowful * By any persuasion, or under any circumstances. c 2
28 Latimer. — Sermon,
in thy heart, that by thine occasion that man or woman continues in such a damnable state : notwithstanding this, if thou do the best that lieth in thee to reconcile him, according to some doctors' minds, thou art discharged towards God. Nevertheless St. Augustine doubteth even in this case, whether thy oblations, prayers, or good deeds shall avail thee before God, or not, until thy neighbour come again to a good state, whom thou hast brought out of the way. Doth this noble doctor doubt therein, what aileth us to be so bold, or to count it but a small fault or none, to bring another man out of patience for every trifle that standeth not with our mind ? You may see what a grievous thing it is to bring another man out of patience, whom peradventure you cannot bring in again with all the goods that you have : for surely, according to the opinion of great wise men, friendship once broken will never well be made whole again. Wherefore you shall hear what Christ saith unto such persons : " I came down into this world, and so took on me bitter suffer ings for man's sake, by the merits whereof I intended to make unity and peace in mankind, to make man brother unto me, and so to expel the dominion of Satan, the devil which worketh nothing else but dissension : and yet now there are a great number of you who have professed my name, and say you are Christian men, who do rebel against my purpose and mind. I go about to make my fold ; you go about to break the same, and kill my flock. How darest thou (saith Christ) presume to come unto my altar, unto my church, or unto my presence, to make oblation unto me, who takest on thee to spoil my lambs? I go about like a good shepherd to gather them together : and thou doest the contrary, ever more ready to divide and lose them. Who made thee so bold to meddle with my silly sheep, which I bought so dearly with my precious blood ? I warn thee out of my sight, come not into my presence ; I refuse thee and all thy works, except thou g-o and bring home again my lambs which thou hast lost ; wherefore, if thou thyself intend to be one of mine, lay down thine oblation, and come no farther towards mine altar, but go and seek them without any quest-ions, as it becomes a true and faithful servant."
A true and faithful servant, whensoever his master commands him to do anything, makes no stops or questions, but goes forth with a good mind: and it is not unlikely
Of the. Card. 2i>
but that he continuing in such a good mind and will, shall well overcome all dangers and stops, whatever betides him in his journey, and shall effectually bring to pass his master's will and pleasure. On the contrary, a slothful servant, when his master commands him to do anything, he will ask questions, where, when, which way ? and so forth : and he puts every thing in doubt, so that although both his errand and his way be ever so plain, yet by his untoward and slothful behaviour, his master's command ment is either quite undone, or else so done that it shall stand to no good purpose. Go now forth with the good servant, and ask no such questions and put no doubts ; be not ashamed to do thy Master's and Lord's will and com mandment. Go, as I said, unto thy neighbour that is offended by thee, and reconcile him whom thou hast lost by thy unkind words, by thy scorns, mocks, and other dis dainful words and behaviour, and be not nice to ask him the cause why he is displeased with thee ; require of him charitably to remit, and cease not till you both depart one from the other true brethren in Christ. Do not thy master's message with cautels* and doubts, like the sloth ful servant ; come not to thy neighbour whom thou hast offended, and give him a pennyworth of ale, or a banquet, and so make him a fair countenance, thinking that by thy drink or dinner he will show thee like countenance. I grant that you both may laugh and make good cheer, and yet there may remain a bag of rusty malice, twenty years old, in thy neighbour's bosom ; and when he departs from thee with a good countenance, thou thinkest all is well then. But now I tell thee it is worse than it was, for by such cloaked charity, where before thou didst offend Christ but once, thou hast offended twice herein : for now thou goest about to give Christ a mock, if he would take it of thee : thou thinkest to blind thy master Christ's commandment. Beware and do not so, for at length he will overmatch thee, and take thee wheresoever thou art, and so as I said, it should be better for thee not to do his message on this fashion, for it will stand thee in no pur pose. " What ?" some will say, " I am sure he loveth me well enough now. He speaketh fair to my face." Yet for all that thou mayest be deceived. To speak fair proves not true love in a man. If he loves thee with his mind and heart, he loves thee with his eyes, with his * Selfish cautions.
80 Latimer. — Sermon.
tongue, with his feet, with his hands and his body ; for all ihese parts of a man's body are obedient to his will and mind. He loves thee with his eyes, who looks cheerfully on thee, when thou meetest with him, and is glad to see thee prosper and do well. He loves thee with his tongue, who speaks well of thee behind thy back, or gives thee good counsel. He loves thee with his feet, who is willing to go and help thee out of trouble and business. He loves thee with his hands, who will help thee in time of necessity, by giving some alms, or with any other employ ment of the hand. He loves thee with his body, who will labour with his body, or put his body in danger to do good for thee, or to deliver thee from adversity, and so forth, with the other members of his body. And if thy neigh bour will do according to these sayings, then thou mayest think that he loves thee well, and thou in like wise oughtest to declare and open thy love unto thy neighbour, or else you are bound one to reconcile the other, till this perfect love is engendered amongst you. It may be, you will say, I am content to do for my neighbour what I can, saving myself harmless. I promise thee Christ will not hear this excuse : for he himself suffered harm for our sakes, and for our salvation was put to extreme death. I wish if it had pleased him, that he might have saved us and never felt pain ; but in suffering pains and death, he gave us an example, and teaches us how we should do one for another, as he did for us all. For, as he saith himself, he that will be mine, let him deny himself, and follow me in bearing my cross and suffering my pains. Wherefore we must needs suffer pain with Christ to do our neighbour good, as well with the body and all its members, as with heart and mind.
Now I trust you know what your card means, let us see how we can play with the same. Whensoever you go and make your oblation unto God, ask of yourselves this question, " Who art thou ?" The answer as you know is, " I am a Christian man !" Then you must again ask ot yourself, what Christ requires of a Christian man ? By and by cast down your trump, your heart, and look first upon one card, then upon the other. The first tells thee thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not be angry, thou shalt not be out of patience. This done, thou shalt look if there are any more cards to take up, and if thou look well, thou shalt see another card of the same suit, wherein thou shalt
Of the Card. 31
know that thou art bound to reconcile thy neighbou» Then cast thy trump unto them both, and gather them all three together, and do according to the virtue of thy cards, and surely thou shalt not lose. Thou shalt first kill the great Turks,* and discomfit and thrust them down. Thou shalt fetch home again Christ's sheep which thou hast lost, whereby thou mayest go both patiently, and with a quiet mind unto the church, and make thy oblation unto God, and then without doubt he will hear thee. But yet Christ will not accept our oblation, although we are in patience, and have reconciled our neighbour, if our obla tion be made of another man's substance — it must be our own. See therefore that thou hast gotten thy goods according to the laws of God and of thy Prince. For if thou gettest thy goods by polling t and extortion, or by any other unlawful ways, then if thou offer a thousand pound of it, it will stand thee in no good, for it is not thine. In this point a great number of executors offend ; for when they are made rich by other men's goods, then they take upon themselves to build churches, to give orna ments to God and his altar, to gild saints, and to do many good works therewith ; but all in their own name, and for their own glory. Wherefore, saith Christ, " they have in this world their reward," and so their oblations are not their own, nor are they acceptable before God. Another way God will refuse thy voluntary oblation, as thus ; If thou hast gotten ever so truly thy goods, according to both the laws of God and man, and hast with the same goods not relieved thy poor neighbour, when thou hast seen him hungry, thirsty, and naked, God will not take thy oblation when thou shalt offer the same, because he will say unto thee : " When I was hungry, thou gavest me no meat ; when I was thirsty, thou gavest me no drink ; and when I was naked, thou didst not clothe me : wherefore I will not take thy oblation, because it is none of thine. I left it to thee to relieve thy poor neighbours, and thou hast not done therein according unto this my commandment, I will have mercy, rather than sacrifice. Wherefore until thou dost the one as well as the other, I will not accept thine oblation." Evermore bestow the greatest part of thy goods in works of mercy, and the less part in voluntary works. Voluntary works are called all manner of offering in the church, except your offering days, and your tithes * Evil passions and sinful lusts. t Fraud, robbery.
32 Latimer. — Sermon.
Setting up candles,* gilding, and painting, building of churches, giving ornaments, going on pilgrimage, making highways, and such others, are called voluntary works, which works are of themselves good, and proper to be done. Necessary works, and works of mercy are called commandments ; and works of mercy consist in relieving and visiting thy poor neighbours. Now then, if men are so foolish that they will bestow the most part of their goods in voluntary works, which they are not bound to keep, but willingly and by their devotion ; and leave the necessary works undone, which they are bound to do, they and all their voluntary works are like to go unto everlast ing damnation. And I promise you, if you build a hun dred churches, give as much as you can make to the gilding of saints, and honouring of the church, and offer candles as great as oaks,* if thou leave the works of mercy and the commandments undone, these works shall not avail thee. No doubt the voluntary works are good, and ought to be done ; but yet they must be so done, that by the occasion the necessary works and the works of mercy are not decayed and forgotten — if you will build a glorious church unto God, see first yourselves to be in charity with your neighbours, and suffer not them to be offended by your works. Then when you come into your parish church, you bring with you the temple of God ; as St. Paul saith, " You yourselves are the very holy temples of God :" and Christ saith by his prophet, " In you will I rest, and intend to make my mansion and abiding place :" again, if you gild and paint Christ in your churches, and honour him in vestments,t see that the poor people die not for lack of meat, drink, and clothing. Then you deck the very true temple of God, and honour him with rich vestures, that will never be worn out. Do use yourselves accord ing unto the commandments ; and then finally set .up your candles, and they will report what a glorious light remains in your hearts, for it is not fitting to see a dead manj light candles ! Then, I say, go your pilgrimages, build your churches, do all your voluntary works, and they will then represent unto God, and testify with you, that you have movided him a glorious place in your hearts. But be-
* It is customary in popish countries to offer large wax tapers, or Other lights, to be burned before the image of a saint. See note p. 13.
t Images were not yet put away, but Latimer ventures to show that works of charity were to be preferred to them.
J One who is spiritually dead.
Of the Card. 33
ware, I say again, that you do not run so far into your voluntary works, that you quite forget your necessary works of mercy, which you are bound to keep : you must ever have a good respect unto the best and worthiest works towards God, to be done first and with most effi cacy, and the other to be done secondarily. Thus if you do, with the other that I have spoken of before, you may come according to the tenour of your cards, and offer your oblations and prayers to our Lord Jesus Christ, who will both hear and accept them to your everlasting joy and glory, to which may he bring us, and all those whom he suffered death for. Amen.
THE SERMON OF THE PLOUGH,
Preached in the Shrouds* at Paul's Church in London, on the 18th day of January, anno 1548 — 9
ROMANS xv. "All things which are written, are written for our erudition and knowledge. All things that are written in God's book, in the Bible book, in the book of the holy scripture, are written to be our doctrine." I told you in my first sermon.f honourable audience, that I purposed to declare unto you two things, the one, what seed should be sown in God's field, in God's plough land ; and the other, who should be the sowers.
That is to say, what doctrine is to be taught in Christ's church and congregation, and what men should be the teachers and preachers of it. The first part I have told you in the three sermons past, in which I have assayed to set forth my plough, to prove what I could do. And now I shall tell you who are the ploughers ; for God's word is seed to be sown in God's field, that is, the faithful congre gation, and the preacher is the sower. And it is said in the gospel ; " He that soweth, the husbandman, the ploughman, went forth to sow his seed/' So that a preacher is compared to a ploughman, as it is in another place ; " No man that putteth his hand to the plough, and looketh back, is apt for the kingdom of God." (Luke ix.) That is to say, let no preacher be negligent in doing his office. This is one of the places that has been racked,} «s I told you of racking scriptures, and I have been one of them myself that have racked it, I cry God mercy for it ; and have been one of them that have believed, and have expounded it against religious persons that would forsake their order which they had professed, and would go out of their cloister : whereas indeed it relates not to monkery, nor makes at all for any such matter ; but it is directly
* The Shrouds were a covered place on the north side nf the Cathedral where a congregation could be sheltered, when the seve. rity of the weather prevented them from standing in the open air at Paul's Cross.
+ The sermon here mentioned has not been preserved.
J Wrested o- perverted.
Of the Plough. 35
spoken of diligent preaching of the word of God. For preaching of the gospel is one of God's plough -works, and the preacher is one of God's ploughmen.
Be not offended with my similitude, in that I compare preaching to the labour and work of ploughing, and the preacher to a ploughman : ye may not be offended with this my similitude, though I have been unjustly slandered
by some persons for such things But as preachers
must be wary and circumspect, that they give not any just occasion to be slandered and ill-spoken of by the hearers, so the auditors must not be offended without cause. For heaven is in the gospel likened unto a mustard-seed : it is compared also to a piece of leaven ; and Christ saith, that at the last day he will come like a thief; and what dis honour is this to God? Or what derogation is this to heaven ? You should not then, I say, be offended with my similitude, because I liken preaching to a ploughman's labour, and a prelate to a ploughnan. But now you will ask me, whom I call a prelate ? A prelate is that man, whatsoever he is, that has a flock to be taught by him ; whosoever has any spiritual charge in the faithful congre gation, and whosoever he is that has a cure of souls.
Well may the preacher and the ploughman be likened together : first, for their labour at all seasons of the year ; for there is no time of the year in which the ploughman has not some special work to do ; as in my country in Leicestershire, the ploughman has a time to set forth, and to assay his plough, and other times for other necessary- works to be done. And they also may be likened 'together for the diversity of works, and variety of offices that they have to do. For as the ploughman first sets forth his plough, and then tills the land, and breaks it in furrows, and sometime ridges it up again ; and at another time harrows it and clotteth it,* and sometimes dungs it and hedges it, digs it and weeds it, and makes it clean ; so the prelate, the preacher, has many diverse offices to do He has first a busy work to bring his parishioners to a right faith, as Paul calleth it; and not a swerving f faith, but to a faith that embraces Christ, and trusts to his merits ; a lively faith, a justifying faith ; a faith that makes a man righteous, without respect of works : as you have it very well declared and set forth in the Homily. He has then a busy work, 1 say, to bring his flock to a right faith,
* Breaks the clods. f "Wandering, changing.
36 Lattmer. — Sermon.
and then to confirm them in the same faith. Now casting them down with the law, and with threatenings of God for sin ; now ridging them up again with the gospel, and with the promises of God's favour. Now weeding them, by telling them their faults, and making them forsake sin ; now clotting them, hy breaking their stony hearts, and by making them supple-hearted, and making them to have hearts of flesh ; that is, soft hearts, and apt for doctrine to eater in. Now teaching to know God rightly, and to know their duty to God and their neighbours. Now ex horting them when they know their duty, that they do it, and be diligent in it ; so that they have a continual work to do. Great is their business, and therefore great should be their hire. They have great labours, and therefore they ought to have good livings, that they may commo- diously feed their flock ; for the preaching of the word of God unto the people, is called meat : scripture calls it meat ; not strawberries, that come but once a year, and tarry not long, but are soon gone : but it is meat, it is not dainties. The people must have meat, that is familiar and continual, and daily given unto them to feed upon. Many make a strawberry of it, ministering it but once a year ; but such do not the office of good prelates. For Christ saith, " Who think you is a wise and a faithful ser vant ? He that giveth meat in due time." So that he must at all times convenient preach diligently : therefore saith he, " Who think ye is a faithful servant?" He speaks as though it were a rare thing to find such a one, and as though he should say, there are but few of them to be found in the world. And how few of them there are throughout this realm that give meat to their flock as they should do, the visitors can best tell. Too few, too few, the more is the pity, and never so few as now.
By this then it appears that a prelate, or any that has the cure of souls, must diligently and substantially work and labour. Therefore, saith Paul to Timothy, " He that desireth to have the oflice of a bishop, or a prelate, that man desireth a good work." Then if it is a good work, it is work ; you can make but a work of it. It is God's work, God's plough, and that plough God would have still going. Such then as loiter and live idly, are not good prelates, or ministers. And of such as do not preach and teach, and do their duties, God saith by his prophet Jeremy, " Cursed be the man that doth the
Of the Plough. 37
work of God fraudulently, guilefully, or deceitfully ; some books have it negligently or slackly." How many such prelates, how many such bishops, Lord, for thy mercy, are there now in England ? And what shall we in this case do ? shall we company with them ? O Lord, for thy mercy ! shall we not company with them ? O Lord, whither shall we flee from them? But " Cursed be he that doth the work of God negligently or guilefully." A sore word for them that are negligent in discharging their office, or have done it fraudulently ; for that is the thing which makes the people ill.
But it must be true that Christ saith, " Many are called, but few are chosen." (Matt, xxii.) Here I have an occa sion by the way to say somewhat unto you ; yea, for the place that I alleged unto you before out of Jeremy, the forty-eighth chapter. And it was spoken of a spiritual work of God, a work that was commanded to be done, and it was of shedding blood, and of destroying the cities of Moab. For, saith he, " Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from shedding of blood." As Saul, when he kept back the sword from shedding of blood, at the time he was sent against Amalek, was refused of God for being disobedient to God's commandment, in that he spared Agag the king. So that place of the prophet was spoken of them that went to the destruction of the cities of Moab, among which there was one called Nebo, which was much reproved for idolatry, superstition, pride, avarice, cruelty, tyranny, and hardness of heart ; and these sins was plagued of God arid destroyed.
Now what shall we say of these rich citizens of Lon don ? what shall I say of them ? Shall I call them proud men of London, malicious men of London, merciless men of London? No, no, I may not say so; they will be offended with me then. Yet must I speak. For is there not reigning in London as much pride, as much covetous- ness, as much cruelty, as much oppression, and as much superstition, as there was in Nebo ? Yes, I think, and much more too. Therefore I say, Repent, O London ! repent, repent. Thou hearest thy faults told thee, amend them, amend them. I think, if Nebo had had the preach ing that thou hast, they would have converted. And, you rulers and officers, be wise and circumspect, look to your charge, and see you do your duties ; and rather be gfad (o amend your ill living than be angry when you are
38 Lalimer. — Sermon
warned or told of your fault. What ado was there made in London at a certain man, because he said, (and indeed at that time on a just cause,) "Burgesses," quoth he, " nay, butterflies."* What ado there was for that word ! and yet would that they were no worse than butterflies Butterflies do but their nature ; the butterfly is not cove tous, is not greedy of other men's goods ; is not full of envy and hatred, is not malicious, is not cruel, is not mer ciless. The butterfly glories not in her own deeds, nor prefers the traditions of men before God's word ; it com mits not idolatry, nor worships false gods. But London cannot abide to be rebuked ; such is the nature of men. If they are pricked, they will kick ; if they are galled, they will wince ; but yet they will not amend their faults, they will not be ill spoken of. But how shall I speak well of them ? If you could be content to receive and follow the word of God, and favour good preachers, if you could bear to be told of your faults, if you could amend when you hear of them, if you could be glad to reform that which is amiss : if I might see any such inclination in you, that you would leave off being merciless, and begin to be chari table, I would then hope well of you, I would then speak well of you. But London was never so ill as it is now. In times past men were full of pity and compassion, but now there is no pity ; for in London their brother shall die in the streets for cold, he shall lie sick at the door, and perish there for hunger. Was there ever more unmercifulness in Nebo? I think not. In times past, when any rich man died in London, they were wont to help the poor scholars of the universities with exhibitions. When any man died, they would bequeath great sums of money toward the relief of the poor. When I was a scholar in Cambridge myself, I heard very good report of London, and knew many that had relief from the rich men of London ; but now I hear no such good report, and yet I inquire of it, and hearken for it; but now charity is waxen cold, none helps the scholar nor yet the poor. And in those days, what did they when they helped the scholars? They maintained and gave them livings who were very papists, and professed the pope's doctrine :
* This was spoken in allusion to the fickle conduct of many of the London citizens a few years before. In the latter part of the reign of Henry V11I., when the king hearkened again to his popish counsellors, many citizens became favourers of Uomanism who had promoted the Reformation at first.
Of the Plough. 39
and now that the knowledge of God's word is brought to light, and many earnestly study and labour to set it forth, now hardly any man helps to maintain them.
Oh London, London, repent, repent; for I think God is more displeased with London than ever he was with the city of Nebo. Repent therefore, repent, London, and remember that the same God liveth now that punished Nebo, even the same God, and none other ; and he will punish sin as well now as he did then : and he will punish the iniquity of London, as well as he did them of Nebo. Amend therefore. And you that are prelates, look well to your office ; for right prelating is busy labouring, and not lording. Therefore preach and teach, and let your plough be going. Ye lords, I say, that live like loiterers, look well to your office, — the plough is your office and charge. If you live idle and loiter, you do not your duty, you follow not your vocation ; let your plough therefore be going, and not cease, that the ground may bring forth fruit.
But now methinks I hear one say unto me: "Wot ye what you say ? Is it a work ? Is it a labour ? How then hath it happened, that we have had for so many hun dred years so many unpreaching prelates, lording loiterers, and idle ministers ?" You would have me here to make answer, and to show the cause thereof. Nay, this land is not for me to plough, it is too stony, too thorny, too hard for me to plough. They have so many things that make for them, so many things to say for themselves, that it is not for my weak team to plough them. They have to say for themselves, long customs, ceremonies, and authority, placing in parliament, and many things more. And I fear this land is not yet ripe to be ploughed : for, as the saying is, it lacketh weathering : it lacketh weathering, at least it is not for me to plough. For what shall I look for among thorns, but pricking and scratching ? What among stones, but stumbling? What, I had almost said, among ser pents, but stinging? But this much I dare say, that since lording and loitering hath come up, preaching hath come down, contrary to the apostles' time : for they preached and lorded not, and now they lord and preach not. For they that are lords will ill go to plough : it is no meet office for them ; it is not seeming for their estate. Thus came up lording loiterers : thus crept in unpreaching prelates, and so have they long continued. For how many unlearned prelates have we now at this day ' And no marvel ; for
40 Latimer. — Sermon.
if the ploughmen that now are, were made lords, they would give over ploughing ; they would leave off' their labour, and fall to lording outright, and let the plough stand: and then both ploughs not walking,* nothing should be in the commonweal but hunger. For ever since the prelates were made lords and nobles, their plough standeth, there is no work done, the people starve. They hawk, they hunt, they card, they dice, they pastime in their pre lacies with gallant gentlemen, with their dancing minions, and with their fresh companions, so that ploughing is set aside. And by the lording and loitering, preaching and ploughing is clean gone. And thus, if the ploughmen of the country were as negligent in their office as prelates are, we should not long live, for lack of sustenance. And as it is necessary to have this ploughing for the sustenta- tion of the body, so must we have also the other for the satisfaction of the soul, or else we cannot live long spiri tually. For as the body wastes and consumes away for lack of bodily meat, so the soul pines away for default of spiritual meat. But there are two kinds of enclosing, to hinder both these kinds of ploughing ; the one is an en closing to hinder the bodily ploughing, and the other to hinder the holy day ploughing, the church ploughing.
The bodily ploughing is taken in and enclosed for the gain of individuals. For what man will let go, or diminish his private advantage for a commonwealth ? And who will sustain any damage for public benefit ? The other plough also no man is diligent to set forward, and no man will hearken to it. But to hinder it all men's ears are open ; yea, and there are a great many of this kind of ploughmen, who are very busy, and would seem to be very good workmen : I fear some are rather mock-gos pellers, than faithful ploughmen. I know many myself that profess the gospel, and live nothing thereafter. I know them, and have been conversant with some of them. I know them, and I speak it with a heavy heart, there is as little charity and goodf living in them as in any others, according to that which Christ said in the gospel to the great number of people that followed him ; as though they had an earnest zeal for his doctrine, whereas indeed they had it not; "Ye follow me, saith he, not because ye have seen the signs and miracles that I have done ; but because ye have eaten the bread, and refreshed jour bodies. * Working- + Holy and virtuous.
Of ffu Plough. 41
therefore you follow me. " So that I think, many now-a-days profess the gospel for the living sake, not for the love they bear to God's word. But they that will be true ploughmen, must work faithfully for God's sake, for the edifying of their brethren. And as diligently as the husbandman plougheth for the sustentation of the body, so diligently must the prelates and ministers labour for the feeding of the soul ; both the ploughs must still be going, as most necessary for man. And wherefore are magistrates ordained, but that the tranquillity of the commonweal may be confirmed, limiting both ploughs ?
But now for the fault of unpreaching prelates, methinks I could guess what might be said for excusing of them. They are so troubled with lordly living, they are so placed in palaces, couched in courts, ruffling in their rents, dan cing in their dominions, burdened with ambassages, pam pering themselves like a monk that maketh his jubilee ; and moiling* in their gay manors and mansions, and so troubled with loitering in their lordships, that they cannot attend it. They are otherwise occupied, some in the king's matters, some are ambassadors, some of the privy council, some to furnish the court, some are lords of the parliament, some are presidents, and some comptrollers of mints.t
Well, well, is this their duty ? Is this their office ? Is this their calling ? Should we have ministers of the church to be comptrollers of the mints ? Is this a meet office for a priest that hath cure of souls? Is this his charge? I would here ask one question ; I would fain know who controlleth the devil at home in his parish, while he con- trolleth the mint ? If the apostles might not leave the office of preaching to the deacons, shall one leave it for minting ? I cannot tell you ; but the saying is, that since priests have been minters, money hath been worse than it was before. And they say that the evilness of money hath made all things dearer. And in this behalf 1 must speak to England. " Hear, my country, England," as Paul said in his first epistle to the Corinthians, the sixth chapter ; for Paul was no sitting bishop, but a walking and a preaching bishop — but when he went from them, he left there behind him the plough going still ; for he wrote
* Drudging.
f The popish prelates who are described by Latimer in this and the preceding paragraphs, were accustomed to hold offices of state, and to be concerned in the government.
42 Latimer. — Sermon.
unto them, and rebuked them for going to law, and plead ing their causes before heathen judges: " Is there," saith he, " among you no wise man, to be an arbitrator in matters of judgment ? What, not one of all that can judge between brother and brother; but one brother goeth to law with another, and that before heathen judges ? Ap point those for judges that are most abject and vile in the congregation." Which he speaks to rebuke them ; " For," saith he, " I speak it to your shame." So, England, I speak it to thy shame ; is there never a nobleman to be a lord president, but it must be a prelate ? Is there never a wise man in the realm to be a comptroller of the mint ? I speak it to your shame. I speak it to your shame. If there be never a wise man, make a water-bearer, a tinker, a cobbler, a slave, a page, comptroller of the mint : make a mean gentleman, a groom, a yeoman, or a poor beggar, lord president.
Thus I speak, not that I would have it so ; but to your shame, if there is never a gentleman meet or able to be lord president. For why are not the noblemen and young gentlemen of England so brought up in knowledge of God, and in learning, that they may be able to execute offices in the commonweal ? The king has a great many wards, and I trow there is a court of wards ; why is there not a school for the wards, as well as there is a court for their lands ? Why are they not set in schools where they may learn ? Or why are they not sent to the universities, that they may be able to serve the king when they come to age? If the wards and young gentlemen were well brought up in learning, and in the knowledge of God, they would not when they come to age so much give themselves to other vanities. And if the nobility be well trained in godly learning, the people would follow the same train. For truly, such as the noblemen are, such will the people be. And now, the only cause why noble men are riot made lord presidents, is because they have not been brought up in learning.*
Therefore for the love of God appoint teachers and schoolmasters, you that have charge of youth ; and give the teachers stipends worthy their pains, that they may bring them up in grammar, in logic, in rhetoric, in philo-
* The nation was then emerging from popery, or Latimer would not have been allowed to make such remarks ; the state of things to which he refers existed in the days of Romanism.
Of the Plough. 43
sophy, in the civil law, and in that which I cannot leave unspoken of, the word of God. Thanks be unto God, the nobility otherwise is very well brought up in learning and godliness, to the great joy and comfort of England ; so that there is now good hope in the youth, that we shall another day have a flourishing commonweal, considering their godly education. Yea, and there are already noble men enough, though not so many as I would wish, able to be lord presidents, and wise men enough for the mint. And as unmeet a thing it is for bishops to be lord presi dents, or priests to be minters, as it was for the Corinthians to plead matters of variance before heathen judges. It is also a slander to the noblemen, as though they lacked wisdom and learning to be able for such offices, or else were no men of conscience, or else were not meet to be trusted, and able for such offices. And a prelate has a charge and cure otherwise ; and therefore he cannot dis charge his duty and be a lord president too. For a pre sidentship requireth a whole man ; and a bishop cannot be two men. A bishop has his office, a flock to teach, to look unto ; and therefore he cannot meddle with another pffice, which alone requires a whole man ; he should therefore give it over to whom it is meet, and labour in his own business ; as Paul writes to the Thessalonians, " Let every man do his own business, and follow his calling." Let the priest preach, and the nobleman handle the tem poral matters. Moses was a marvellous man, a good man : Moses was a wonderful man, and did his duty, being a married man : we lack such as Moses was. Well, I would all men would look to their duty, as God hath called them, and then we should have a flourishing Chris tian commonweal.
And now I would ask a strange question ; who is the most diligent bishop and prelate in all England, that passes all the rest in doing his office? I can tell, for I know who it is ; I know him well. But now I think I see you listening and hearkening that I should name him. There is one that passes all the other, and is the most diligent prelate and preacher in all England. And will ye know who it is? I will tell you — it is the Devil. He is the most diligent preacher of all others ; he is never out of his diocese ; he is never from his cure : you shall never find him unoccupied ; he is ever in his parish ; he keeps resi dence at all times ; you shall never find him out of the
44 Latimer — tiermon.
way ; call for him when you will he is ever at home. He is the most diligent preacher in all the realm ; he is ever at his plough ; no lording nor loitering can hinder him ; he is ever applying his business, you shall never find him idle I warrant you. And his office is to hinder religion, to maintain superstition, to set up idolatry, to teach all kinds of popery. He is ready as can be wished for to set forth his plough ; to devise as many ways as can be to deface and obscure God's glory. Where the devil is resident, and has his plough going, 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 noon-day. Where the devil is resident, that he may prevail, up with all superstition and idolatry ; censing, painting of images, candles, palms, ashes, holy water, and new service of men's inventing ; as though man could invent a better way to honour God with, than God himself hath appointed. Down with Christ's cross, up with purgatory pickpurse,f up with him, the popish purgatory, I mean. Away with clothing the naked, the poor and impotent, up with decking of images, and gay garnishing of stocks and stones : up with man's traditions and his laws, down with God's traditions and his most holy word. Down with the old honour due to God, and up with the new god's honour. Let all things be done in Latin : there must be nothing but Latin, not so much as *'• Remember man that thou art ashes, and into ashes shalt thou return :" which are the words that the minister speaketh unto the ignorant people, when he gives them ashes upon Ash-Wednesday, but it must be spoken in Latin. God's word may in no wise be translated into English.
Oh that our prelates would be as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine, as Satan is to sow cockle and dar nel ! And this is the devilish ploughing, which worketh to have things in Latin, and hinders the iruitful edification. But here some man will say to me, What, sir, are you so privy to the devil's counsel that you know all this to be true? — Truly I know him too well, and have obeyed him a little too much in condescending to some follies ; and I know him as other men do, yea that he is ever occupied, and ever busy in following his plough. I know by
* The lighted tapers used in the popish services, t Alluding to the vast sums extorted under pretence of praying or the souls in purgatory.
Of the Plough. 45
St. Peter, who saith of him, " He goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." I would have this text well viewed and examined, every word of it : " He goeth about" in every corner of his diocese ; he goeth on visitation daily, he leaves no place of his cure unvisited : he walks round about from place to place, and ceases not. " As a lion," that is, strongly, boldly, and proudly ; stately and fiercely, with haughty looks, with his proud counte nances, with his stately braggings. " Roaring ;" for he lets not any occasion slip, to speak or to roar out when he seeth his time. " He goeth about seeking," and not sleep ing, as our bishops do ; but he seeketh diligently, he searcheth diligently all corners, where he may have his prey. He roveth abroad in every place of his diocese ; he standeth not still, he is never at rest, but ever in hand with his plough, that it may go forward. But there was never such a preacher in England as he is. Who is able to tell his diligent preaching, which every day, and every hour, labours to sow cockle and darnel, that he may bring out of form, and out of estimation and renown, the institution of the Lord's supper and Christ's cross? For there he lost his right ; for Christ said, " Now is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world shall be cast out. And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lift up. (John iii.) And when I shall be lift up from the earth, I will draw all things unto myself." — For the devil was disappointed of his purpose ; for he thought all to be his own : and when he had once brought Christ to the cross, he thought all was sure.
But there lost he all reigning : for Christ said, " I will draw all things to myself." He means, drawing of man's soul to salvation. And that he said he would do by his own self; not by any other sacrifice. He meant by his own sacrifice on the cross, where he offered himself for the redemption of mankind ; and not the sacrifice of the mass to be offered by another. For who can offer him but himself? He was both the offerer and the offering. And this is the mark at which the devil shooteth, to evacuate* the cross of Christ, and to mingle the institution of the Lord's supper ; which although he cannot bring to pass, yet he goes about by his sleights and subtle means to frustrate the same ; and these fifteen hundred years he has been a doer, only purposing to make Christ's death of * To empty, or make of none effect.
46 Latimer. — Sermon.
small efficacy and virtue. For whereas Christ, " accord ing as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness," so would he himself be exalted ; that thereby as many as trusted in him should have salvation ; but the devil would none of that. They would have us saved by a daily obla tion propitiatory ; by a sacrifice expiatory, or remissory.*
Now if I should preach in the country, among the unlearned, I would tell what propitiatory, expiatory, and remissory mean ; but here is a learned auditory : yet for them that are unlearned I will expound it. Propitiatory, expiatory, remissory, or satisfactory, for they signify all one thing in effect, and it is nothing else but whereby to obtain remission of sins, and to have salvation. And this way the devil used to evacuate the death of Christ, that we might have affiance in other things, as in the daily sacrifice of the priest ; whereas Christ would have us to trust in his sacrifice alone. So he was " the lamb that hath been slain from the beginning of the world ;" and therefore he is called " a continual sacrifice ;" and not for the conti nuance of the mass, as the blanchers have blanched it, and wrested it; and as I myself did once mistake it. But Paul saith, " By himself, and by none other, Christ made pur gation and satisfaction for the whole world."
Would that this word, by himsflf, had been better weighed and looked upon, and to make them holy; for Christ is a continual sacrifice, in effect, fruit, and operation ; that like as they, who seeing the serpent hang up in the desert, were put in remembrance of Christ's death, in whom as many as believed were saved ; so all men that trusted in the death of Christ shall be saved, as well they that were before, as they that came after. For he was a continual sacrifice, as I said, in effect, fruit, operation, and virtue. As though he had from the beginning of the world, and continually should to the world's end, hang still on the cross ; and he is as fresh hanging on the cross now, to them that believe and trust in him, as he was fif teen hundred years ago, when he was crucified.
Then let us trust upon his death alone, and look for no other sacrifice propitiatory, than the same bloody sacrifice, the lively sacrifice ; and not the dry sacrifice^ but a
* In the Romish church the mass is offered daily, as a sacrifice for the remission of sins.
t The papists distinguish the sacrifice of the mass from the artnaj death of Christ upon the cross by calling it " an unbloody sacrifice"
Of the Plough. 47
bloody sacrifice. For Christ himself said, " It is perfectly finished :" " I have taken at my Fathers hand the dispen sation of redeeming mankind, I have wrought man's redemption, and have despatched the matter." Why then mingle ye him ? Why do ye divide him ? Why make-you of him more sacrifices than one ? Paul saith, " Christ our passover is offered up ;*' so that the thing is done, and Christ hath done it, and he hath done it once for all : and it was a bloody sacrifice, not a dry sacrifice.
Why then, it is not the mass that avails or profits for the quick and the dead. Woe to thee, O devil, woe to thee, that hast prevailed so far and so long ; that hast made England to worship false gods, forsaking Christ their Lord. Woe to thee, devil, woe to thee, devil, and all thy angels. If Christ by his death draw all things to himself, and draws all men to salvation, and to heavenly bliss, that trust in him ; then the priests at the mass, at the popish mass, I say, what can they draw, when Christ draweth all, but lands and goods from the right heirs ? The priests draw goods and riches, benefices and promotions to them selves ; and such as believed in their sacrifices they draw to the devil. But Christ is he that draweth souls unto him by his bloody sacrifice. What have we to do then, but to eat in the Lord at his supper?
What other service have we to do to him, and what other sacrifice have we to offer, but the mortification of our flesh ? What other oblation have we to make, but of obedience, of good living, of good works, and of helping our neigh bours ? But as for our redemption, it is done already, it cannot be better : Christ has done that so well, that it cannot be amended. It cannot be devised how to make that any better than he hath done it. But the devil, by the help of that Italian bishop* yonder, his chaplain, has laboured by all means that he might, to frustrate the death of Christ and the merits of his passion. And they have devised for that purpose to make us believe in other vain things by his pardons ; as to have remission of sins for praying on hallowed beads ; for drinking of the bakehouse bowl ; as a canon of Waltham Abbey once told me, that whenever they put their loaves of bread into the oven, as many as drank of the pardon bowl should have pardon for drinking of it. A mad thing, to give pardon to a bowl ! Then to Pope Alexander's holy water, to hallowed bells, palms, candles, ashes, and what not ! And of these things, every one liaa * The pope
48 Laiimer.- Sermon.
taken away some part of Christ's sanctification ; every one has robbed some part of Christ's passion and cross, ana has mingled Christ's death, and has been made to be pro pitiatory and satisfactory, and to put away sin. Yea, and Alexander's holy water yet at this day remains in England, and is used for a remedy against spirits, and to chase sway devils ; yea, and I would this had been the worst. I would this were the worst. But woe v/orth thee, O devil, that hast prevailed to evacuate Christ's cross, and to mingle the Lord's supper. These are the Italian bishop's devices, and the devil hath shot at this mark to frustrate the cross of Christ : he shot at this mark long before Christ came ; he shot at it four thousand years before Christ hanged on the cross, or suffered his passion.
For the brazen serpent was set up in the wilderness, to put men in remembrance of Christ's coming ; that as they which beheld the brazen serpent were healed of their bodily diseases, so they that looked spiritually upon Christ that was to come, in him should be saved spiritually from the devil. The serpent was set up in memory of Christ to come, but the devil found means to steal away the memory of Christ's coming, and brought the people to worship the serpent itself, and to cense him, to honour him, and to offer to him, to worship him, and to make an idol of him. And this was done by the market men that I told you of. And the clerk of the market did it for the lucre and advantage of his master, that thereby his honoui might increase ; for by Christ's death he could have but small worldly advantage. And so even now has he certain blanchers* belonging to the market, to stop the light of the gospel, and to hinder the king's proceedings in setting forth the word and glory of God. And when the king's ma jesty, with the advice of his honourable council, goes about to promote God's word, and to set an order in matters of religion, there shall not lack blanchers that will say : as for images, whereas they have used to be censed, and to have candles offered unto them, none are so foolish to do it to the stock or stone, or to the image itself; but it is done to God and his honour, before the image. And though they should abuse it, these blanchers will be ready to whisper the king in the ear, and to tell him, that this abuse is but a small matter ; and that the same, with all other like abuses in the church, may be reformed easily. " It is
* White wasners, persons who gloss over popish doclnnca anJ practices
Of the Plough. 49
oat a little abuse, say they, and it may be easily amended. But it should not be taken in hand at the first, for fear of trouble or further inconveniences. The people will not bear sudden alterations ; an insurrection may be made after sudden mutation, which may be to the great harm and loss of the realm. Therefore all things shall be well, but not out of hand, for fear of further business." These are the blanch ers that hitherto have stopped the word of God, and hindered the true setting forth of the same. There are so many put-offs, so many put-byes, so many respects and considerations of worldly wisdom. And I doubt riot but there were blanchers in the old time to whisper in the ear of good King Hezekiah, for the main tenance of idolatry done to the brazen serpent, as well as there have been now of late, and are now, that can blanch the abuse of images, and other lik* things.
But good King Hezekiah would not be so blinded ; he was like to Apollos, fervent in spirit. He would give no ear to the blanchers ; he was not moved with these worldly respects, with these prudent considerations, with these policies : he feared not insurrections of the people : he feared not lest his people would not bear the glory of God, but he (without any of these respects, or policies, or con siderations, like a good king, for God's sake and for con science sake) presently plucked down the brazen serpent, and destroyed it utterly, and beat it to powder. He out of hand cast out all images, he destroyed all idolatry, and clearly extirpated all superstition. He would not hear these blanchers and worldly wise men, but without delay followed God's cause, and destroyed all idolatry out of hand. Thus did good King- Hezekiah ; for he was like Apollos, fervent in spirit, and diligent to promote God's glory
And good hope there is that it shall be likewise here in England ; for the king's majesty* is so brought up in knowledge, virtue, and godliness, that it is not to be mis trusted but that we shall have all things well, and that the glory of God shall be spread abroad throughout all parts of the realm, if the prelates will diligently apply to theii plough, and be preachers rather than lords. But our blanchers, who will be lords, and no labourers, when they are commanded to go and reside upon their cures, and
* Edward VI. had then just succeeded *^ the throne, and the giob&er corruptions of the church of Rome were being removed. ^ATIMER. J>
50 Latimsr. — Sermon
preach in their benefices, they would say, Why ? I have set a deputy there ; I have a deputy that looks well to my flock, who shall discharge my duty. A deputy, quoth he, [ looked for that word all this while. And what a deputy must he be, trow ye ? Even one like himself; he must be a Canonist : that is to say, one that is brought up in the study of the pope's laws and decrees ; one that will set forth pa pistry as well as himself will do ; and one that will maintain all superstition and idolatry ; and one that will not at all, or else very weakly, resist the devil's plough ; yea, happy it is if he take no part with the devil : and where he should be an enemy to him, it is well if he take not the devil's part against Christ. But in the mean time, the prelates take their pleasures. They are lords, and no labourers ; but the devil is diligent at his plough. He is no unpreach- ing prelate : he is no lordly loiterer from his cure ; but a busy ploughman ; .... he still applieth his business. — Therefore, ye unpreaching prelates, learn of the devil : to be diligent in doing of your office, learn of the devil : and if you will not learn of God, nor good men, for shame learn of the devil ; " I speak it for your shame:" if you will not learn of God, nor good men, to be diligent in your office, learn of the devil. Howbeit there is now very good hope that the king's majesty, being by the help of good gover nance of his most honourable counsellors, trained and brought up in learning, and knowledge of God's word, will shortly provide a remedy, and set an order herein ; which thing that it may so be, let us pray for him. Pray for him, good people ; pray for him. You have great cause and need to pray for him
ON
THE PASSION OF CHRIST,
The Seventh Sermon preached before King Edward, within the preaching place in the garden of the palace at West' minster, April 19th, 1549.*
Romans xv.
" All things that are written, they are written to be our doctrine."
BY occasion of this text, most honourable audience, I have walked this Lent in the broad field of scripture, and used my liberty, and treated of such matters as I thought meet for this auditory. I have had to do with many states, even with the highest of all. I have treated of the duty of kings, of the duty of magistrates and judges, of the duty of prelates ; allowing that which is good, and disallowing the contrary. I have taught that we are all sinners ; T think there is not one of us all, either preacher or hearers, but may be amended, and redress our lives. We may all say, yea, all of us, " We have offended and sinned with our forefathers," there is none of us all, but have in sundry things grievously offended almighty God. I have treated of many faults, and reouked many kinds of sins. I intend to-day, by God's grace, to show you the remedy of sin. We are in the place of repentance, now is the time to call "or mercy, whilst we are in this world ; — we all are sinners, even the best of us all. Therefore it is good to hear the remedy of sin.
* During Lent that year Latimer preached seven sermons before king Edward VI. and his court. A pulpit was set up in the garden, the chapel being too small for the numbers that attended. In the six first of these sermons Latimer treated very fully of the duty of kings and those in authority, and boldly reproved the unjust and iniquitous practices then prevalent. These sermons are very inter esting, but they are historical rather than doctrinal; this seventh sermon refers more particularly to the scriptural doctrines of truth. D2
52 Latimer. — Sermon.
This day is commonly called Good Friday. Althougti every day ought to be with us Good Friday, yet this day we are accustomed especially to have a commemoration and remembrance of the sufferings of our Saviour Jesus Christ. This day we have in memory his bitter passion and death, which is the remedy of our sin. Therefore 1 intend to treat of a part of the history of his passion ; I am not able to treat of all. That I may do this the better, and that it may be to the honour of God, and the edifica tion of your souls, and mine also, I shall desire you to pray, &c. In this prayer I desire you to remember the souls departed ; with lauds and praise to almighty God ; that he vouchsafed to assist them at the hour of their death.* In so doing you shall be put in remembrance to pray for yourselves, that it may please God to assist and comfort you in the agonies and pains of death.
The place that I will treat of is the twenty-sixth chapter of St. Matthew. Howbeit, as I treat of it, I will borrow part of St. Mark, and part of St. Luke: for they have somewhat that St. Matthew hath not. The text is, " Then when Jesus came ;" some have in villam, some in agrum, some in prasdium. But it is all one ; whether Christ came into a grange,f into a piece of land, or into a field, it makes no matter ; call it what you will. At that time he had come into an honest man's house, and there eaten his paschal lamb, and instituted and celebrated the Lord's Supper, and set forth the blessed communion ; then when this was done, he took his way to the place where he knew Judas would come. It was a solitary place, and thither he went with his eleven apostles : for Judas, the twelfth, was about his business, he was occupied about his merchandise, and was providing among the bishops and priests, to come with an ambushment of Jews to take our Saviour Jesus Christ.
And when he was come into the field or grange, this village, or farm-place which was called Gethsemane, there was a garden, saith Luke, into which he went, and left eight of his disciples without; howbeit he appointed them what they should do. He saith, "Sit you here, whilst I go yonder and pray." He told them that he went to pray, to admonish them what they should do — to iiiil to prayer
* Not praying for their deliverance from purgatory, according to the Komish custom t A lonely farm.
On the Passion of Christ 5£
as he did. He left them there, and took with him but three, Peter, James, and John, to teach us that a solitary place is fit for prayer. Then when he was come into this garden, " He began to tremble," insomuch that he said, " My soul is heavy and pensive even unto death."
This is a notable place, and one of the most especial and chiefest of all that are in the story of the passion of Christ. Here is our remedy. Here we must consider all his doings and sayings, for our learning, for our edification, for our comfort and consolation.
First of all, he set his three disciples that he took with him an order, and told them what they should do, saying, " Sit here, and pray that ye enter not into temptation." But of that I will treat afterward. Now when he was in the garden, " he began to be heavy," pensive, heavy- hearted. I like not Origen's playing with this word " began ;" it was a perfect heaviness : it was such a one as a greater never was seen — it was not merely the beginning of a sorrow.
We have great cause to thank God for these doctors,* but yet I would not have them always allowed. They have handled many points of our faith very godly ; and we may have a great support from them in many things ; we could not well do without them : but yet I would not have men sworn to them ; and so addicted, as to take hand over head whatsoever they say : it were a great inconvenience so to do.
Well, let us go forward. He took Peter, James, and John, into this garden. And why did he take them with him, rather than others ? They were those that he had taken before, to whom he had revealed in the mount the transfiguration, and declaration of his deity, to see the re velation of the majesty of his godhead ; now in the garden he revealed to the same the infirmity of his manhood : — because they had tasted the sweet, he would they should taste also the sour. He took these with him at both times : for two or three are enough to bear witness. And he began to be heavy in his mind: he was greatly vexed within himself, he was sore afflicted, he was in great heaviness. fie had been heavy many times before ; and he had suf fered great afflictions in his soul, as for the blindness of the Jews, and other causes, and he was likely to suffer more pangs of pain in his body. But this pang was greater * Learned meu.
54 Latimer. — Sermon.
than any he ever suffered : yea, it was a greater torment unto him, I think a greater pain than when he was lianged on the cross, than when the four nails were knocked and driven through his hands and feet, than when the sharp crown of thorns was thrust on his head. This was the heaviness and pensiveness of his heart, the agony of the spirit. And as the soul is more precious than the body, even so are the pains of the soul more grievous than the pains of the body : therefore there is one who writes, " The horror and irksomeness of death, are sorer than death itself." This is the most grievous pain that Christ ever suffered, even this pang which he suffered in the garden. It is one of the most noble places in the whole story of the passion, when he said, " My soul is heavy to death. And " when he began to quiver, to shake." The grievous- ness of it is declared by this prayer that he made, " Father, if it be possible, away with this cup : rid me of •t." He understood by this cup his pains of death ; for .»e knew well enough, that his passion was at hand, that Judas was coining upon him with the Jews to take him.
There was now offered unto him the image of death, the image, the sense, the feeling of hell : for death and hell go both together. I will treat of this image of hell, which is death. Truly no man can show it perfectly, yet I will do the best I can, to make you understand the grievous pangs that our Saviour Christ was in, when he was in the garden. As man's power is not able to bear it, so no man's tongue is able to express it. Painters paint death like a man without skin, and as a body having nothing but bones. And hell they paint with horrible flames of burning fire : they bungle somewhat at it, they come nothing near it. But this is not true painting. No painter can paint hell, unless he could paint the torment and condemnation both of body and soul ; the possession and having of all infelicity. This is hell, this is the image of death, this is hell — such an evil-favoured face, such an ugly countenance, such a horrible visage our Saviour Christ saw of death and hell in the garden. There is no pleasure in beholding it, but more pain than any tongue can tell. Death and hell took unto them this evil-favcured face of sin and through sin. This sin is so highly hated of God, that he pronounces it worthy to be punished with the loss of all felicity, with the feeling of infelicity. Death and hell are not only the wages, the reward, the stipend
On the Passion of Christ. 55
of sin: but they are brought into the world by sin, "through sin death entered into the world," saith St Paul. Moses showeth the first coming1 in of it into the world : whereas our first father Adam was set at liberty to live for ever, yet God forbidding him to eat of the apple, told him : " If thou meddle with this fruit, thou and a?l thy posterity shall fall into necessity of death ; from ever living, thou and all thy posterity shall be subject to death." Here came in death and hell ; sin was their mother ; therefore they must have such an image as their mother sin would give them.
An irksome thing and a horrible image, must it needs be that is brought in by such a thing so hated of God ; yea, this face* of death and hell is so terrible, that such as have been wicked men, had rather be hanged than abide it. As Ahithophel, that traitor to David, like an ambitious wretch, thought to have come to higher promotion ; and therefore conspired with Absalom against his master David He, when he saw his counsel took no place, goes and hangs himself, in contemplation of this evil-favoured face of death. Judas also, when he came with ambushments to take his master Christ, when he beheld this horrible face, hanged himself. Yea the elect people of God, the faithful, beholding his face, though God hath always preserved them, (such a good God he is to them that believe in him, that "he will not suffer them to be tempted above that which they are able to bear ;") yet for all that, there is nothing that they complain of more than this horror of death. Go to Job, what saith he ? " Woe worth the day that I was born, my soul would be hanged," saying in his pangs almost he wist not what. This was when with the eye of his conscience, and the inward man, he beheld the horror of death and hell ; not for any bodily pain he suf fered ; for when he had boils, blotches, blains, and scabs, he suffered them patiently : he could say then, " If we have received good things of God, why should we not likewise suffer evil ?"
It was not for any such thing that he was so vexed ; but the sight of this face* of death and hell was offered to him in so lively a manner, that he would have been out of this world. It was this evil-favoured face of death that so troubled him. King David also said, in contemplation of this uglisome face, " I have been sore vexed with sighing * Appearance.
56 Latimer. — Sermon.
and mourning, mine eye hath been greatly troubled in my rage." A strange thing; — when he had to fight with Goliath, that monstrous giant, who was able to have eaten nim, he could abide him, and was nothing afraid. And now what a work ? What exclamations he makes at the sight of death ? Jonah likewise was bold enough to bid the shipmen cast him into the sea — he had not seen that face and visage ; but when he was in the whale's belly, and had there the beholding of it, in what terror and distress he abode ! Hezekiah when he saw Sennacherib besieging his city on every side most violently, was not afraid of the great host and mighty army that was like to destroy him, yet he was afraid of death! When the prophet came unto him, and said, " Set thy house in order, for thou shalt surely die, and not live," (2 Kings xx.) it struck him so to the heart that he fell a weeping. O Lord, what horror was this ! There are some writers who say, that Peter, James, and John were in this feeling at the same time ; and that Peter, when he said, " Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man," tasted some part of it : he was so astonished, he wist riot what to say. It was not long that they were in this anguish ; some say longer, some shorter : but Christ was ready to comfort them, and said to Peter, " B^ not afraid." A friend of mine told me of a certain wont;*--*, that was eighteen years together in it. I knew a man myself, Bilney, little Bilney,* that blessed martyr of God, when he had borne his fagot, f and was come again to Cambridge, had such conflicts within himself, beholding this image of death, that his friends were afraid to let him be alone ; they were fain to be with him clay and night, and comforted him as they could, but no comforts would serve. As foi the comfortable places of scripture, to bring them unto him, was as though a inan would run him through the heart with a sword : yet afterwards, for all this, he was revived, and took his death patiently, and died well against the tyrannical see of Rome. Woe will be to that bishop who had the examina tion of him, if he repented not
* Bilney had been induced by the papists to recant, but suffered such inward torment of mind for his apostacy, that he could not rest till he had ag-iin openly professed the gospel, for which he was ^ain apprehended and was burned in A. D. 1531. Bilney \va» one of L.i timer's earliest instructors, and very intimate with him.
t Recanted.
On the Passion of Christ. 57
Here is a good lesson for you, my friends ; if ever you come in danger, in durance, in prison for God's quarrel, and his sake, (as he did for purgatory matters, and was put to bear a fagot for preaching the true word of God against pilgrimages, and such matters,) I will advise you first, and above all things, to abjure all your friends, and all your friendships, leave not one unabjured : it is they that shall undo you, and not your enemies !
It was his very friends that brought Bilney to it. By this it may somewhat appear what our Saviour Christ suffered ; he doth not dissemble it himself when he saith, " My soul is heavy to death :" he was in so sore an agony, that there issued out of him, as I shall treat of anon, drops of blood.
An irksome thing surely, which this fact and deed shows us, what horrible pains he was in for our sakes. But you will say, How can this be? It were possible that I, and such as are great sinners, should suffer such affliction ; but the Son of God, our Saviour Christ, who never sinned, how can this be, that he should be thus handled ? He never deserved it.
I will tell you how ; we must consider our Saviour Christ two ways ; one way in his manhood, another in his godhead. Some places of scripture must be referred to his Deity, and some to his humanity. In his godhead he suffered nothing, but now he made himself void of his Deity ; as scripture saifh, " Whereas he was in the form of God, he emptied himself of it, he hid it, and used himself as though he had not had it ;" he would not help himself with his godhead ; " he humbled himself with all obedience unto death, even to the death of the cross :" this was as he was man, he took upon him our sins Not the work of sin, I mean not so, not to do it, not to commit it, but to purge it, to cleanse it, to bear the stipend of it : and that way he was the great sinner of the world ; he bare all the sin of the world on his back ; he would become debtor for it.
Now to sustain and suffer the dolors* of death, is not to sin : but he came into this world with his passion to purge our sins. Now what he suffered in the garden is one of the bitterest parts of all his passion : this fear of death was the bitterest pain that ever he abode, due to
Sorrows, griefs. D 3
58 Latimer. — Sermon.
sin which he never did, but he became debtor for us. All this he suffered for us ; this he did to satisfy for our sins.
It is as if I owed another man twenty thousand pounds, and should be required to pay it out of hand, or else go to the dungeon of Ludgate;* and when I am going to prison, one of my friends should come and ask, " Whither goeth this man ?" And after he had heard the matter, should say, " Let me answer for him, I will become surety for him. Yea, I will pay all for him."
Such a part our Saviour Christ acted for us. If he had not suffered this, I for my part should have suffered, according to the gravity and quantity of my sins, damna tion. For the greater the sin is, the greater is the punish ment in hell. He suffered for you and me, in such a degree as is due to all the sins of the whole world. It was as if you would imagine, that 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.
Suppose, and put the case that our Saviour Christ had committed all the sins of the world : all that I for my p:\rt have done, all that you for your part have done, and that any man else hath done ; if he had done ail this himself, his agony that he suffered should have been no greater nor more grievous than it was. This that he suffered in the garden, was a portion I say of his passion, and one of the bitterest parts of it. And this he suffered for our sins, and not for any sins he himself committed ; for we all should have suffered, every man according to his own deserts.
This he did of his goodness, partly to purge and cleanse our sins, partly because he would taste and feel our miseries, " That he should the rather help and relieve us ;" and partly he suffered to give us an example to behave ourselves as he did. He did not suffer, to discharge us wholly from death, to keep us quite from it, not to taste of it. Nay, nay, you must not take it so. We shall have the beholding of this uglisome face every one of us, we shall feel it ourselves.
Yet our Saviour Christ did suffer, to signify to us, that
death may be overcome. We shall indeed overcome it, if
we repent, and acknowledge that our Saviour Jesus Christ
pacified with his pangs and pains the wrath of the Father ;
* The prison for debtors.
On the Passion of Christ. 59
if we have a love to walk in the ways of God ; if we believe in Jesus Christ, we shall overcome death : I say it shall not prevail against us.
Wherefore, whensoever it happeneth to thee, my friend, to have the tasting of this death, — that thou shalt be tempted with this horror of death, — what is to be done then? — Whensoever thou feelest thy soul heavy to death, make haste and resort to this garden : and with this faith thou shalt overcome this terror when it cometh.
Oh, it was a grievous thing that Christ suffered here. Oh, the greatness of this dolor that he suffered in the garden, partly to make amends for our sins, and partly to deliver us from death ; not so that we should not die bodily, but so that this death should be the way to a better life, and to destroy and overcome hell. Our Saviour Christ had a garden, but he had little pleasure in it. You have many goodly gardens, I would that in the midst of them you would consider what agony our Saviour Christ suffered in his garden. That were a goodly meditation to have in your gardens ! It should occasion you to delignt no farther in vanities, but to remember what he suffered for you. It may draw you from sin : it is a good monu ment, a good sign, a good admonition, to consider how he behaved himself in this garden.
Well ; he saith to his disciples, " Sit here and pray with me." He went a little way off, as it were a stone's cast from them, and prayed, and said, " Father, if it be possi ble, away with this bitter cup, this outrageous pain." Yet afterwards he corrects himself, and says, " Not my will, but thy will be done, O Father." Here is a good medi tation for Christian men, at all times, and not only upon Good Friday : let Good Friday be every day to a Christian man, to know to use his passion to that end and purpose ; not only to read the story, but to take the fruit of it.
Some men, if they had been in this agony, would have run themselves through with their swords, as Saul did ; some would have hanged themselves, as Ahithophel did. Let us not follow these men, they are no examples for us ; but let us follow Christ, who in his agony resorted to his Father with his prayer : this must be our pattern to work by.
Here I might dilate the matter as concerning praying to saints. Here we may learn not to pray to saints. Christ bids us, " Pray to thy Father that is in heaven," to the
60 Lafimer. — Sermon.
Creator, and not to any creature. And therefore awaj with these avowries : let God alone be our avowry ;* n hat have we to do to run hither or thither, but only to the Father of heaven? I will not tarry to speak of "this matter.
Our Saviour Christ set his disciples an order, and commanded them to watch and pray, saying, " Watch and pray ;" — Whereto should they watch and pray? He saith by and by, " that ye enter not into temptation." He bids them not pray that they should not be tempted ; for that is as much as to say, to pray that we should be out of this world. There is no man in this world without tempta tion. In the time of prosperity, we are tempted to wan tonness, pleasures, and all lightness ; in the time of adver sity, to despair of God's goodness. Temptation never' ceases. There is a difference between being tempted, and entering into temptation. He bids them therefore not to pray that they be not tempted, but that they " enter not into temptation." To be tempted is no evil thing. For what is it? — it is no more than when the flesh, the devil, and the world, solicit and move us against God.
To give place to these suggestions, and to yield our selves, and suffer ourselves to be overcome by them, this is to enter into temptation. Our Saviour Christ knew that they should be grievously tempted, and therefore he gave them warning, that they should not give place to tempta tion, nor despair at his deatli : and if they forsook him. or run away — in case they tripped or swerved, yet to come again.
But our Savtour Christ did not only command his dis ciples to pray, but fell down upon his knees flat upon the ground, and prayed himself, saying, " Father, deliver me from this pang and pain that I am in, this outrageous pain." This word, Father, came even from his inmost heart, when he made his moan ; as who should say, " Father, rid me ; I am in such pain that I can be in no greater ! Thou art my Father, I am thy Son. Can the father forsake his son in such anguish ?" Thus he made his moan, " Father, take away this horror of death from me, rid me of this pain, suffer me not to be taken when Judas conies, suffer me not to be hanged on the cross, suffer not my hands to be pierced with nails, nor my heart with the sharp spear." A wonderful thing, that he should so often tell his disciples * A oleader or advocate.
On the Passion of Christ 61
of it before, and now, when he comes to the point, desire to be rid of it, as though he would have been disobedient to the will of his Father.
Before this he said that he came to suffer, and now he says, " Away with this cup." Who would have thought that ever this should have come out of Christ's mouth ? What a case is this ! What should a man say ? You must understand, that Christ took upon him our infirmi ties, of which this was one, to be sorry at death. Among the stipends of sin, this was one, to tremble at the cross : this is a punishment for our sin.
It goeth otherwise with us than with Christ : if we were in like case, and in like agony, we should almost curse God, or rather wish that there were no God. This that he said was not of that sort, it was referring the matter to the will of his Father ; but we seek by all means, be it right, be it wrong, of our own nature, to be rid of pain ; he desired it conditionally, as it might stand with his Father's will, adding a " nevertheless to it ; so his request was to show the infirmity of man. Here is now an example what we should do when we are in like case. He never deserved it, we have. He had a " notwithstand ing :" let us have so too, we must have a " nevertheless, thy will be done, and not mine." Give me grace to be content to submit my will unto thine. Mis deeds teach us what to do. This is our surgery, our physic, when we are in agony ; and reckon upon it, friends, that we shall come to it, we shall feel it at one time or another.
What does he now? what came to pass when he had heard no voice ? He resorts to his friends, seeking some comfort at their hands, seeing he had none at his Father's hand ; he comes to his disciples, and finds them asleep ! he spake unto Peter, and said, " Ah, Peter, art thou asleep?" Peter before had bragged stoutly, as though he would have killed Christ's enemies, and now, when he should have comforted Christ, he was asleep ; not a word ! He was fain to say to his disciples, " Watch and pray ; the spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak ;" he had never a word from them again. They might at the least have said, "O Sir, remember yourself; are you not Christ? came not you into this world, to redeem sin ? Be of good cheer, be of good comfort ; this sorrow will not help you, comfort yourself by your own preaching : you have said, ' It behoves the Son of Man to suffer.' You have not
62 Lalimer. — Sermon.
deserved anything, it is not your fault." Indeed if they had done this, they had played a friendly part ; but they gave him not so much as one comfortable word. We run to our friends in our distresses and agonies, as though we had all our trust and confidence in them. He did not so ; he resorted to them, but trusted not in them : we run to our friends, and come no more to God ; he returned again. What! shall we not resort to our friends in time of need? and think ye, we shall not find them asleep? Yes, I warrant you ; and when we need their help most, we shall not have it. But what shall we do, when we shall find lack in them ? We cry out upon them, upbraid them, chide, brawl, fume, chafe, and backbite them. But Christ did not so ; he excused his friends, " Oh," said he, " watch and pray : I see the spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak." What means this? surely it is a comforting scripture. For as long as we live in this world, when we are at the best, we have but the readiness of the spirit with the infirmity of the flesh. The very saints of God said, " My will is good, but I am not able to perform it." I have been with some, and fain they would, fain they would — there was readiness of spirit, but it would not be ; it grieved them that they could not take things as they should do. The flesh resists the work of the Holy Ghost in our hearts, and hinders it. We have to pray ever to God. Oh prayer, prayer ! oh, that, it might be used in this realm, as it ought to be by all men, and especially by magistrates, by counsellors, by great mlers ; to pray, to pray that it would please God to put godly policies* in their hearts. — Call for assistance.
I have heard say, that when the good queen f who is gone, had ordained in her house daily prayer, both before noon, and after noon, the admiral got out of the way, like a mole digging in the earth. He shall be Lot's wife to me as long as I live. He was, I heard say, a covetous man, a covetous man indeed : I would there were no more in England. He was, I heard say, an ambitious man, I would there were no more in England. He was, I heard say, a seditious man, a contemner of common prayer, I would there were no more in England. Well, he is gone. I would he had left none behind him. Remember you, my lords, that you pray in your houses for the better
* Public designs.
+ Catharine Parr, who married the lord admiral Seymour.
On the Passion of Christ. 63
mortification of your flesh. Remember, God must be honoured ; I urge you to pray, that God will continue his Spirit in you. I do not put you in comfort, that if ye have once the Spirit, ye cannot lose it. There are new spirits started up of late, that say, after we have received the Spirit, we cannot sin. I will make but one argument : Saint Paul had brought the Galatians to the profession of the faith, and left them in that state ; they had received the Spirit once, but they sinned again, as he testified of them himself: he saith, " Ye did run well," ye were Oflce in a right state ; and again, " Received ye the Spirit from the works of the law, or by the righteousness of faith?" Once they had the Spirit by faith, but false prophets came, (when he was gone from them,) and they plucked them clean away from all that Paul had planted them in ; and then said Paul unto them, " O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you ?" If this is true, we may lose the Spirit that we have once possessed. I will not tarry in ii. fi'it DOW to the passion again.
Christ had been with his Father, and felt no help : he had been with his friends, and had no comfort : he had prayed twice, and was not heard ; what did he now ? Did he give over prayer ? No, lie goeth again to his Father, and saith the same again ; " Father, if it be possible, away with this cup." Here is an example for us, although we are not heard at the first time, shall we give over our prayer ? Nay, we must go to it again, we must be instant in prayer. He prayed thrice, and was not heard ; let us pray threescore times : folks are very dull now-a-days in prayer, or to come to sermons, or to resort to common prayer. You housekeepers, and especially great men, give an example of prayer in your houses.
Well ; did his Father look upon him this second time ? No, he went to his friends again, thinking to find some comfort there, but he finds them asleep again, more deep asleep than ever they were ; their eyes were heavy with sleep ; there was no comfort at all, they wist not what to say to him. A wonderful thing, how he was tossed, one while to his Father, and was destitute at his hand ; anothet while to his friends, and found no comfort at them i
Almighty God beheld this battle, that he might enjoy the honour and glory ; " that in his name all knees should bow, in heaven, earth, and hell." Tliat the Father would not hoar his own Sun, was puotluT punishment due to our
64 Latimer. — Sermon.
sin. When we cry unto him, he will not hear us. The prophet Jeremiah saith, " They shall cry unto me, and I will not hear them." These are Jeremiah's words ; here he threatens to punish sin, with not hearing their prayers. The prophet saith, " They have not had the fear of God before their eyes, nor have they regarded discipline and correction." I never saw so little discipline as is now-a-days : men will all be masters, they will be mas ters and not disciples.
Alas! where is this discipline now in England? The people regard no discipline ; they are without order. Where they should give place, they will not stir one inch : yea, where magistrates should determine matters, they will break into the place before they come, and at their coming not move a whit for them. Is this discipline ? Is this good order ? If a man say anything unto them, they regard it not. They that are called to answer, will not answer directly, but scoff the matter out. Men, the more they know, the worse they are ; it is truly said, " Know ledge makes us proud, and causes us to forget all, and set away discipline." Surely in popery they had a reverence, but now we have none at all. I never saw the like. This same lack of the fear of God and of discipline in us, was one of the causes that the Father would not hear his Son. This pain our Saviour Christ suffered for us, who never deserved it. Oh what it was that he suffered in this garden, till Judas came ! The dolors, the terrors, the sorrows that he suffered are unspeakable. He suffered, partly, to make amends for our sins, and partly to give us example, what we should do in like case. What comes of this in the end ? Well, now he prays again, he resorts to his Father again. He was in sorer pains, in more anguish than ever he was ; and therefore he prays longer, more ardently, more fervently, more vehemently, than ever he did before. Oh, what a wonderful thing is this ! this horror of death is worse than death itself, and is more irksome. He prays now the third time. He did it so instantly, so fervently, that it brought out a bloody sweat, and in such plenty, that it dropped down even to the ground. There issued out of his precious body drops of blood. What pain was he in, when these bloody drops fell so abundantly from him ! Yet for all that, how un thankful do we show ourselves toward him that died, only for our sakes, and for the remedy of our sins ! Oh what
On the Passion of Christ. 65
blasphemy do we commit day by day ; what little regard have we to his blessed passion, thus to swear by God's blood, by Christ's passion ! We have nothing in our pas time, but " God's blood," " God's wounds." We con tinually blaspheme his passion, while hawking, hunting, dicing, and carding. Who would think he should have such enemies among those that profess his name ?
What became of his blood that fell down, trow ye ? was the blood of Hales* of it? woe worth it. What ado was there to bring this out of the king's head ?f This great abomination, of the blood of Hales, could not be taken out of his mind for a great while.
You that are of the court, and especially, ye sworn chaplains, beware of a lesson that a great man taught me at my first coming to the court ; he told it me for good-will ; he thought it well. He said to me, " You must beware howsoever you do, that you contradict not the king ; let him have his sayings, follow him, go with him." Marry, out •ipon this counsel! shall I say as he says? Say your conscience ; or else what a worm shall you feel gnawing, what a remorse of conscience shall you have, when you remember how you have slacked your duty ! It is a good wise saying, " The drop of rain maketh a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling." Likewise a prince must be turned, not violently, but he must be won by a little and a little. He must have his duty told him ; but it must be done with humbleness, with request of pardon, or else it were a dangerous thing. Unpreaching prelates have been the cause, that the blood of Hales so long blinded the king. Woe worth that such an abominable thing should be in a Christian realm ; but thanks be to
* At Hales, in Gloucestershire, was a famous relic pretended to be the blood of our Saviour brought from Jerusalem. If any man was in mortal sin, and hud not received absolution, he could not see the precious deposit ; which, otherwise, to any pious person, was visible enough. To prepare therefore, for a sight of the miracle, it was customary to confess to a priest, and make a suitable offering at the altar, before the relic- was shown. The blood was kept in :\ crystal vessel, very thick on one side, but thin and transparent on the other. If a wealthy person appeared, the monks turned the thick side, where the eye could discern nothing ; which was done to open his heart and his pocket ; and when he had bought as many masses, or made as many offerings as they thought fit, they turned the thin side, and the blood became visible. William Thomas, clerk of the council to Edward VI., says that this blood was nothing more than that of a duck, renewed every week. — Collier, vol. ii. p. 149.
t Ring Henry VIII
6tJ Latimer. — Sermon.
God, it was partly redressed in the king's days, that dead is, and much more now. God grant good-will and power to go forward, if there is any such abomination still behind, that it may be utterly rooted up.
O how happy are we, that it hath pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe that his Son should sweat blood for the re deeming of our sins ! and again, how unhappy are we, if we will not take it thankfully, who were redeemed so pain fully ! Alas, what hard hearts have we ! Our Saviour Christ never sinned, and yet he sweat blood for our sins. We will not once water our eyes with a few tears. What a hovrible thing is sin ; that no other thing would remedy and pay the ransom for it, but only the blood of our Saviour Christ ! There was nothing to pacify the Father's wrath against man, but such an agony as he suffered : all the sufferings of all the martyrs that ever were, all the sacrifices of patriarchs that ever were, all the good works that ever were done, were not able to remedy our sin, to make satisfaction for our sins, nor anything, except this extreme passion and blood-shedding of our most merciful Saviour Christ.
But to draw toward an end, what became of this three fold prayer? At length, it pleased God to hear his Son's prayer, and send him an angel to corroborate, to strengthen, to comfort him. Christ needed no angel's help, if he had listed to ease himself with his deity. He was the Son of God, what then ? Forsornuch as he was man, he received comfort at the angel's hand ; as it accords to our infirmity. His obedience, his continuance, and suffering, so pleased the Father of heaven, that for his Son s sake, be he ever so great a sinner, yet leaving his sin, and repenting for the same, he will owe him such favour, as though he had never committed any sin.
The Father of heaven will not suffer him to be tempted with this great horror of death and hell, to the uttermost, and above that which he is able to bear. Look for it, my friends, by him and through him, we shall be able to over come it : let us do as our Saviour Christ did, and we shall have help from above, we shall have angels' help ; if we trust in him, heaven and earth shall give up, rather than we shall lack help. He saith he is " a helper in time of need."
When the angel had comforted him, and when this horror of death was gone, he was so strong, that he offered himself to Judas; and said, "I am he." To make an
On the Passion of Christ. 67
end. I pray you take pains, it is a day of penance, as we use to say, give me leave to make you weary this day. The Jews had him to Caiaphas and Annas, and there they whipped him, and beat him : they set a crown of sharp thorns upon his head, and nailed him to a tree. Yet all this was not so bitter, as the horror of death, and the agony that he suffered in the garden, in such a degree as is due to all the sins of the world, and not to one man's sins. Well, this passion is our remedy ; it is the satisfac tion for our sins
He descended into hell. . I see no inconvenience to say, that Christ suffered in soul in hell.* I singularly com mend the exceeding great charity of Christ, who for our sakes would suffer in hell in his soul. It sets out the unspeakable hatred that God hath to sin. I perceive not that it derogates from the dignity of Christ's death ; as in the garden, when he suffered, it derogates nothing from that which he suffered on the cross. Scripture speaks on this fashion ; " He that believeth in me, hath life everlast ing." Here he sets forth faith as the cause of our justifi cation ; in other places, as high commendation is given to works ; and yet, are the works any derogation from that dignity of faith ? No. And again, scripture saith, " Christ died for our sins, and rose again for our justification." It attributeth here our justification to his resurrection ; and doth this derogate anything from his death ? Not a whit. It is whole Christ. What with his nativity, what with his circumcision, what with his incarnation and the whole process of his life ; what with his preaching, what with his ascending, descending, what with his death, it is all Christ that worketh our salvation. He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and all for us. All this is the work of our salvation. I would be as loath to derogate anything from Christ's death, as the best of you all. How inestimably are we bound to him ! What thanks ought we to give him for it ! We must have this continually in remem brance, " For thee we are in dying continually."
The life of a Christian man is nothing but a readiness to die, and a remembrance of death. If what I have spoken of Christ's suffering in the garden, and in hell, derogate anything from Christ's death and passion, away
* Latimer here affixes a different sense to the words " He de« scended into hell" from that which they have generally been consi dered to bear.
68 Lainner — Sermon.
with it, believe me not in this ; if it do not, it commends and sets forth very well unto us the perfection of the sa tisfaction that Christ made for us. and the work of redemp tion, not only before witness in this world, but in hell, in that irksome place ; where, whether he suffered, or wrestled with the spirits, or comforted Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I will not desire to know. If you like not that which I have spoken of his sufferings, let it go, I will not strive in it ; I will be a prejudice to nobody, weigh it as ye list; 1 do but offer it you to consider. It is likely his soul did somewhat the three days that his body lay in the grave. To say, he suffered in hell for us, derogates nothing from his death. For all things that Christ did before his suffer ing on the cross, and after, work our salvation. If he had not been incarnate, he had not died ; he was beneficial to us with all things he did. Christian people should have his suffering for them in remembrance. Let your gardens admonish you, your pleasant gardens, what Christ suffered for you in the garden ; and what benefit you have by his suffering. It is his will you should so do ; he would be had in remembrance.
Mix your pleasures with the remembrance of his bitter passion. The whole passion is satisfaction for our sins ; and not the bare death, considering it so nakedly by itself. The manner of speaking of scripture, is to be considered. It attributes our salvation now to one thing, now to another that Christ did : whereas indeed it pertained to all. Our Saviour Christ has left behind him a remembrance of his passion, the blessed communion, the celebration of the Lord s Supper ; alas ! it hath been long abused, as the sacrifices were before in the old law. The patriarchs used sacrifice, in the faith of the seed of the woman, which should break the serpent's head. The patriarchs sacrificed in hope, and afterward the work was esteemed. There came others after, and they considered not the faith of Abraham and the patriarchs, but did their sacrifice accord ing to their own imagination ; even so it came td pass with our blessed communion. In the primitive church, in places when their friends were dead, they used to come together to the holy communion. What ? to remedy them that were dead ? No, not a straw ; it was instituted for no such purpose. But then they would call to remem brance God's goodness, and his passion that he suffered for us, wherein they comforted much their faith.
On the Passion of Christ. 69
Others came afterwards, and set up all these kinds of massings. all these kinds of iniquity. What an abomina tion is it ! the foulest that ever was, to attribute to man's work our salvation ! God be thanked that we have this Viessed communion set forth so now, that we may com fort, increase, and fortify our faith at that blessed celebra tion. If he is guilty of the body of Christ, that takes it unworthily ; he finds great comfort at it, that eats it worthily : he eats it worthily, that eats it in faith. In faith ? in what faith ? Not long ago a great man said openly, " They babble much of faith, I will go on with my licentiousness, and have as good a faith as the best of them all." I think he never knew other than the whore monger's faith. It is no such faith that will serve. It is no bribing judge's, or justice's faith, no rent-raiser's faith, *io whoremonger's faith, no lease-monger's faith, nor the seller of benefice's faith ; but the faith in the passion of our Saviour Christ. We must believe that our Saviour Christ hath taken us again to his favour, that he hath delivered us his own body and blood, to plead against the devil, and by merit of his own passion, of his own mere liberality. This is the faith, I tell you, that we must come to the communion with, and not the whoremonger's faith. Look where remission of sin is, there is acknowledging of sin also. Faith is a noble duchess, she ever hath her gen tleman-usher going before her, the confessing of sins ; she hath a train after her, the fruits of good works, the walk ing in the commandments of God. He that believeth will not be idle, he will walk, he will do his business. Have ever the gentleman-usher with you. So if you will try faith, remember this rule, consider whether the train is waiting upon her. If you have another faith than this, a whoremonger's faith, you are like to go to the bottomless pit, and there you shall have weeping and gnashing of teeth ; much good do it you — you see your fare. If you will believe and acknowledge your sins, you shall come to the blessed communion of the bitter passion of Christ worthily, and so attain to everlasting life ; to the which may the Father of heaven bring you and me. Amen.
70
ON COVETOUSNESS,
BEING
ffis last Sermon preached before King Edward, A.D. 1550.
LUKE xii. Take heed and beware of covetousness.
TAKE heed and beware of covetousness : — take heed and beware of covetousness : — take heed and beware oi covetousness. And what and if I should say nothing else, these three or four hours (for I know it will be so long, in case I am not commanded to the contrary) but these words, " Take heed and beware of covetousness." It would be thought a strange sermon before a king, to say nothing else but Cavete ab avaritia, " Beware of covetous- ness." And yet as strange as it is, it would be like the sermon of Jonas, that he preached to the Ninevites ; as to the shortness and the fewness of the words. For his sermon was, " There is yet forty days to come, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." Thus he walked from street to street, and from place to place round about the city, and said nothing else; but " There is yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." There is no great odds nor difference, at least in the number of words, nor yet in the sense or meaning between these two sermons ; " There is yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed ;" and these words which I have taken to speak of this day : " Take heed, and beware of covetousness." For Nineveh shall be destroyed for sin, and of their sins covetousness was one, and one of the greatest; so that it is all one in effect. And as they are alike concerning the shortness, the paucity of words, the brevity of words, and also the meaning and purpose ; so I would they might be alike in fruit and profit. For what came of Jonah's sermon ? what was the fruit of it? "At the preaching of Jonas they believed God." Here was a great fruit, a great effect wrought
On Covetousness. 71
They believed God. They believed God's preacher, God's officer, God's minister, Jonas, and were converted from their sin. They believed that, as the preacher said, if they did not repent and amend their life, the city should be destroyed within forty days. This was a great fruit '. for Jonas was but one man, and he preached but one sermon, and it was but a short sermon, as to the number of words : and yet he turned the whole city, great and small, rich and poor, king and all.
We are many preachers here i^ England, and we preach many long sermons, yet the people will not repent nor convert. This was the fruit, the effect, and the good that his sermon did, that all the whole city at his preaching converted, and amended their evil living, and did penance in sackcloth. And yet in this sermon of Jonas is no great curiousness, no great clerkliness,* no great affecta tion of words, nor of painted eloquence ; it was none other but, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be de stroyed:" it was no more. This was no great curious sermon, but it was a nipping sermon, a pinching sermon, a biting sermon ; it had a full bite, it was a nipping ser mon, a rough sermon, and a sharp biting sermon. Do you not here marvel that these Ninevites cast not Jonas in prison, that they did not revile him, and rebuke him ? They did not revile him, nor rebuke him ; but God gave them grace to hear him, and to convert and amend at his preaching. A strange matter, for so noble a city to give place to one man's sermon ! Now England cannot abide this, they cannot be content to hear God's minister, and nis threatening for their sin, though the sermon be ever so good, though it be ever so true. It is, " a naughty fellow, a seditious fellow, he maketh trouble and rebellion in the realm ; he lacketh discretion." But the Ninevites rebuked not Jonas that he lacked discretion, or that he spake out of time — that his sermon was made out of season: but in England, if God's preacher, God's minister, 4s anything quick, or do speak sharply, then he is a foolish fellow, he is rash, he lacketh discretion. Now-a-days if they cannot reprove the doctrine that is preached, then they will re prove the preacher, that he lacketh due consideration of the times, or that he is of learning sufficient, but he wantetn discretion.
72 Latimer. — Sermon.
They say, " What a time is this picked out to preach such things ! he should have a respect and a regard to the time, and to the state of things, and of the commonweal." It rejoices me sometimes, when my friend comes and tells me that they find fault with my discretion, for by likeli hood, think f, the doctrine is true ; for if they could find fault with the doctrine, they would not charge me with the lack of discretion, but they would charge me with my doctrine, and riot with the lack of discretion, or with the inconvenience of the time.
I will now ask you a question — I pray you, when should Jonas have preached against the covetousness of Nineveh, if the covetous men should have appointed him his time ? I know that preachers ought to have a discretion in their preaching, and that they ought to have a consideration and respect to the place, and the time that they preach in ; as I myself will say here what I would not say in the country. But what then? Sin must be rebuked, sin must be plainly spoken against. And when should Jonas have preached against Nineveh, if he should have forborne for the respect of the times, or the place, or the state of things there ? For what was Nineveh ? A noble, a rich, and a wealthy city.' What is London to Nineveh ? Like a village, as Islington, or such another, in comparison of London.* Such a city was Nineveh, it was three days' journey to go through every street of it, and to go but from street to street. There were noblemen, rich men, wealthy men, there were vicious men, and covetous men, and men that gave themselves to all voluptuous living, and to worldliness of getting riches. Was this a time well chosen and discreetly taken of Jonas, to come and reprove them of their sin, to declare unto them the threat- enings of God, and to tell them of their covetousness, and to say plainly unto them, that except they repented and amended their evil living, they and their city should be destroyed by God's hand within forty days ? And yet they heard Jonas and gave placo to his preaching. They heard the threatenings of God, and feared his stroke and ven geance, and believed God, that is, they believed God's preacher and minister; they believed that God would be true to his word that he spake by the mouth of his
* At that time London was not half its present extent.
On Covetous?ie.ss 73
prophet, and thereupon did penance, to turn away the wrath of God from them. Well, what shall we say? 1 will say this and not spare ; Christ saith, Nineveh shaH arise against the Jews at the last day, and bear witness against them ; because that hearing God's threatening for sin, "They did penance at the preaching of Jonas in ashes and sackcloth," as the text saith there : and I say Nineveh shall arise against England — thou, England — Nineveh shall arise against England, because they will not believe God, nor hear his preachers that cry daily unto them, nor amend their lives, and especially their covetous- ness. Covetousness is as great a sin now as it was then ; and it is the same sin now as it was then. And God will as surely strike for sin now, as he did then. But ah, good was God, that would give them a time of repentance, after his threatening. First, to see whether they would amend or not, or he would destroy them. For even from the beginning of the world they fell to sin. The first age from Adam, which was about two thousand years, they ever fell to sin, yet they had preachers, Noah and Enoch, and other holy fathers. And in that time a great multN plication grew in two thousand years ; for the scripture saith, " The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives from among all that they had chosen." This would be a long matter to speak of. But what means this, the sons of God saw the daughters of men ? who were these sons of God ?
The sons of God were those that came of the good men, of the good preachers, of the holy fathers that were God's men ; they that came of Seth and Enoch, who were good men, and of others. For our grandmother Eve, when Cain had killed Abel, and when she had another son by Adam, who was called Seth, she gave thanks to God for him, and acknowledged that it was God who had given him unto her ; for she said, " God hath given me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew."
Here is a long matter to talk on. Some will say, was this a natural mother? was this naturally done, to publish the sin of her own son? What needed she to speak of that matter, or to make any rehearsal of that matter, to open the sin of her son ? What needed she to do this ? Yes, she was now a good woman : when she believed the serpent, she was not good. But now she had repented that deed, and had taken hold of the promise of God,
LATIMER. K
74 Latimer, — Sermon.
that there should come of her a seed, that should tread down and destroy the head of the serpent. She had now taken hold of this promise, and was a good woman, and a godly woman ; she opened the fault of her son, and hid it not. Here could I say somewhat to them, if I would, that spake so much against me for my preaching here the last year. But to return to Eve, and to declare that by " the sons of God" are to be understood those who came of good men, as of Seth and Enoch.
And " the daughters of men" are to be understood as speaking of them that came of Cain and of his seed ; and therefore our grandmother Eve bade beware of marry ing with Cain's seed, for fear of falling from God to wickedness thereby.
And here I would say a thing to your Majesty. I shall speak it of good will to your Highness ; I would I were able to do your grace good service in anything, you should be sure to have it. But I will say this — for God's love beware where you marry ; choose your wife in a faithful stock. Beware of worldly policy, marry in God; marry not for the respect of great alliance, for thereof cometh all these evils of breaking of wedlock, which are among princes and noblemen. And here I would be a suitor unto your Majesty, for I come now rather to be a suitor and a petitioner, than a preacher; for I come now to take my leave, and to take my last farewell, at least in this place ; for I have not long to live, so that I think I shall never come here into this place again ; and therefore I will ask a petition of your Highness. For the love of God, take an order* for marriages here in England. For here is marriage for pleasure and voluptuousness, and for goods, and so that they may join land to land, and pos sessions to possessions, they care for no more here in England. And that is the cause of so much adultery, and so much breach of wedlock in the noblemen and gentlemen, and so much divorcing. And it is not now in the noblemen only, but it is come now to the inferior sort. Every man, if he have but a small cause, will cast off his old wife, and take a new, and will marry again at his pleasure ; and there are many that have so done. I would therefore wish that there were a law provided in this behalf tor adulterers, and that adultery should be punished with death ; and that might be a remedy for all this matter * Give directions respecting.
On Covetous ness. 75
There would not be then so much adultery, fornication, and lechery in England as there is — for the love of God take heed to it, and see a remedy provided for it. I would wish that adultery should be punished with death ; and that the woman being an offender, if her husband would be a suitor for her, she should be pardoned for the first time, but not for the second time : and the man being an offender, should be pardoned if his wife be a suitor for him the first time, but not for the second time, if he offended twice.
If this law were made, there would not be so much adultery nor lechery used in the realm as there is. Weil, I trust once yet, as old as I am, to see the day that lechery shall be punished : it was never more need, for there was never more used in England than there is at this day. It is made but a laughing matter, and a trifle ; but it is a sad matter, and an earnest matter; for it is a great sin: Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for it. And it was one of the sins reigning in Nineveh, for which it should have been destroyed. But think you that lechery was alone ? No, no, covetousness was joined with it. Covet- ousness follows it, and commonly they go together. For why ? They that are given to voluptuousness, and to the vice of lechery, must have wherewith to maintain it, and that must be gotten by covetousness. For at the first when men fell to sin, it was chiefly to this; wherefore the world should be destroyed ; the book saith, " There were giants in the earth in those days : and after that the sons of God had come to the daughters of men, and there had engendered with them, the same became mighty men of the world, and men of renown," &c. This is covetous- ness ; for the hook saith, " The earth was replete with iniquity, for they oppressed the poor." They made them shives, peasants, villains,* and bondmen unto them. These were giants, so called from the property f of giants, for they oppress the weak, and take from them what they list by force, violence, and oppression. They were giants, or of the property of giants, not that they were greater men of stature and strength of body than other men were. For certain writers, speaking of this matter, say, that they were giants for their cruelty and covetous oppression, and not
* Labourers who were not allowed to remove from the pkce whf».re they lived. + Usual conduct.
H a
76 Lattmer. — Sermon.
in stature or procerity* of body. And this was covetous ness, where with God was so displeased, that he repented that he had made men, and resolved utterly to destroy the world ; and so called to Noah, and told him of it. " And I will not dispute the matter with them, saith God, from day to day ; but if they will not amend within a hundred and twenty years, I shall bring in a universal flood, and destroy them all." This was preached by Noah to them ; so that God of his goodness, patience, and long-suffer- ance, gave them a time to repent and amend after his threatenings, because they should see their evil doings, and return to God. So they had a hundred and twenty years to repent. This Noah was laughed to scorn ; they, like fools, laughed this godly father to scorn.
Well, you think little of the history ; if you will know the meaning of it, it is a great proof what anger God hath to sin. But how long time hast thou, England — thou England ? I cannot tell, for God has not revealed it unto me ; if he had, I would tell you of it, I would not be afraid, nor spare to tell it you, for the good will I bear \ou ; but I cannot tell how longtime you have, for God hath not opened it unto me. But I can tell you, that this lenity, this long-forbearing and holding of his hand, calls upon us to repent and amend. And I can tell, that whosoever contemneth this riches and treasure of God's goodness, of his mercy, his patience and long-suffering shall have the more grievous condemnation. This I can tell well enough ; Paul tells ine this ; and I can tell that you have time to repent as long as you live here in this world, but after this life I can make no warrant of any further time to repent. Therefore repent and amend while you are here ; for when you are gone hence, you are past that. But how long that shall be, whether to-morrow or the next day, or t\\enty years, or how long, I cannot tell. But in the mean time you have many a Jonas to tell you of your faults, and to declare unto you God's threatening^ except you repent and amend.
Therefore, to return to my matter, I say as I said at the beginning, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness," see it, first see it, and then amend it. For I promise you there is great complaint of it, and much crying out, and much preaching, but no amendment that I see : but " Beware of covetousness." And why of covetousness ? " For * Strength or superiority.
On Covetausness. 77
iovetousness is the root of all evil, and of all mischief." This saying of Paul took me away from the gospel that is read in the church this day, and it took me from the epistie, that I could preach upon neither of them at this time. But to tell you my imperfection — when I was appointed to preach here, I was newly come out of a sickness, whereof I looked to have died, and weak I was. Yet, nevertheless, when T was appointed unto it, I took it upon me, howbeit I repented afterwards that I had so done. I was displeased with myself; I was testy, as Jonas was, when he should go to preach to the Ninevites. Well, I looked on the gospel that is read this day, but it liked me not ; I looked on the epistle, I could not away with that neither. And yet I remember I had preached upon this epistle once before king Henry the Eighth ; but now I could not frame it, it liked me not in any manner. Well, this saying of Paul came in my mind, and at last I consi dered and weighed the matter deeply, and then thought I thus with myself; Is covetousness the root of all mischief and of all evil ? then have at the root, and down with all covetousness. So this place of Paul brought me to this text of Luke, " See and beware of covetousness." There fore, you preachers, out with your swords and strike at the rcot; speak against covetousness, and cry out upon it. Stand not ticking* and toying at the branches, nor at the boughs, for then there will new boughs and branches spring again ; but strike at the root, and fear not these giants of England, these great men and men of power, these men that are oppressors of the poor ; fear them not, but strike at the root of all evil, which is mischievous covetousness. For covetousness is the cause of rebellion. I have forgotten my logic, but yet I can jumble at a syllo gism, and make an argument of it, to prove it by. Covet ousness is the root of all evil : rebellion is an evil, ergo covetousness is the root of rebellion. And so it was in deed. Covetousness was the cause of rebellion this last summer, and both parties had covetousness, as well the gentlemen as the commons. Both parties had covetous- ness, for both parties had an inordinate desire to have that which they had not, and that is covetousness, an inordinate desire to have what one hath not.f
Trifling. In the su isany parts of Englaad, but chiefly in Norfolk and Devonshire
t In the summer of 1549 there was a very serious insurrection in r?any parts of Englaad, but chiefly in Norfolk
78 Latimer. — Sermon.
The commons would have had from the gentlemen such things as they desired. The gentlemen would none of it, and so there was covetousness on both sides. The com mons thought they had a right to the things that they inordinately sought to have. But what then ? they must not come to it that way. Now, on the other side, the gen tlemen had a desire to keep what they had, and so they rebelled too against the king's commandment, and against such good order as he and his council would have set in the realm. And thus both parties had covetousness, and both parties rebelled. I heard say, that there were godly ordinances devised for the redress of it. But the giants would none of it. I remember mine ownself, a certain giant, a great man, who sat in commission about such matters : and when the townsmen should bring in* what had been enclosed, he frowned and chafed, and so looked and threatened the poor men, that they durst not ask for their right.
I read of late in an act of parliament : and this act made mention of an act that was in king Henry's days, the third, I think, it was ; yea, and such another business there was in king Edward the Second's time also. In this parliament that I speak of, the gentlemen and the commons were at variance, as they were of late. And there the gentlemen that were landlords, would needs have away much lands from their tenants ; and would needs have an act of parliament, that it might be lawful for them to enclose and separate from their tenants, and from the. commons, such portions of their lands as they thought good. Much ado there was about this act ; at last it was concluded and granted that they might so do ; provided alway, that they should leave SUFFICIENT to the tenant.
occasioned by the conduct of the nobility and gentry, who, being willing to make the most of the abbey lands, enclosed a great deal of the waste ground. This, though a real improvement of the coun try, produced loud complaints chiefly among the poor, who lost the benefit of pasturage. To quiet the public mind, commissioners were despatched into the country to examine the grievances ; with instructions to throw open the enclosures, and put things in their former state. These orders, however, were not faithfully executed, and the consequence was, that the disaffection increased till it broke out into open rebellion. The Cornish and Devonshire rebels laid siege to Exeter, but were at last defeated and dispersed. The Norfolk rebels, headed by Ket, a farmer, made themselves masters of Norwich, and began to dictate terms to the government, till the earl of Warwick gave them battle, routed them, and executed Ket, with liis principal adherents. — Slowe's Annals. Holinslied's Chronicles. * Report
On Covetous ness. 79
Well, it was well that they should leave sufficient for them. But who should be the judge to limit what was sufficient for them ? Or who shall now judge what is sufficient ? Well, I for my part cannot tell what is sufficient. But. methought it was well that the tenants and poor commons should have sufficient. For if they had sufficient, thought I, they had cause to be quiet. And then fell I to make this argument within myself: if at that time it were put in their will and power that they might enclose, leaving to the tenant what was sufficient for him ; if they had it then in their power, thought I, that they might do this, they would leave no more than sufficient. If they left to the tenants and poor commons no more in those days than sufficient; then if they had any more taken from them since that time, they now would not have sufficient.
They in Christ are equal with you. Peers of the realm there must needs be. The poorest ploughman is in Christ equal with the greatest prince that is. Let them there fore have sufficient to maintain them, and to find them their necessaries. A ploughland must have sheep, yea, they must have sheep to manure their ground for bearing of corn ; for if they have no sheep to help to fatten the ground, they shall have but bare corn, and thin. They must have swine for their food, to make their veneries* or bacon of; their bacon is their venison (for they shall now have hangum tuum, if they get any other venisonf) so that bacon is their necessary meat to feed on, which they may not lack. They must have other cattle, as horses to draw their plough, and for carriage of things to the markets, and kine for their milk and cheese, which they must live upon and pay their rents with.
These cattle must have pasture, which pasture if they hick, the rest must needs fail them. And pasture they cannot have if the land is taken in, and enclosed from them. So, as I said, there was on both parts rebellion. Therefore, for God's love, restore their ' sufficient' unto them, and search no more what is the cause of rebellion. But see and "beware of covetousness," for covetousness is the cause of rebellion. Well now, if covetousness is the cause of rebellion, then preaching against covetousness is not the cause of rebellion. Some say, that the preach ing now-a-days is the cause of all sedition and rebellion ; for since this new preaching has come in, there has been * Venison or ganu-. t It was felony to steal deer.
80 Lattnter — Sermon.
much sedition ; and therefore it must needs be that the preaching is the cause of rebellion here in England. For sooth, our preaching is the cause of rebellion, much like as Christ was the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem. For, saith Christ, " If I had not come and spoken to them they should have no sin." So we preachers have come and spoken to you, we have drawn our swords of God's word, and stricken at the roots of all evils to have them cut down ; and if you will not amend what can we do more ? And preaching is the cause of sedition here in England, much like as Elias was the cause of trouble in Israel, for he was a preacher there, and told the people of all degrees their faults, and so they winced and kicked at him, and accused him to Ahab the king, that he was a seditious fellow, and a troublous preacher, and made much uproar in the realm. So the king sent for him, and he was brought to Ahab the king, who said unto him, " Art thou he that troubleth all Israel ?" And Elias answered, and said, " Nay, thou and thy father's house are they that trouble all Israel." Elias had preached God's word; he had plainly told the people of their evil doings ; he had showed them God's threatenings ; (in God's behalf I speak, there is neither king, nor emperor, be they in ever so great an estate, but they are subject to God's word,) and therefore he was not afraid to say to Ahab : " It is thou and thy father's house, that causeth all the trouble in Israel." Was not this presumptuously spoken to a king ? Was not this a seditious fellow ? Was not this fellow's preaching a cause of all the trouble in Israel ? Was he not worthy to be cast into Bocardo or Little Ease ?* No, but he had used God's sword, which is his word, and had done nothing else that was evil ; but they could not abide it. He never disobeyed Ahab's sword, which was the regal power, But Ahab disobeyed his sword, which was the word of God. And therefore by the punishment of God, much trouble arose in the realm for the sins of Ahab and the people. But God's preacher, God's prophet, was not the cause of the trouble.
Then it is not we preachers that trouble England. But here is now an argument to prove the matter against the preachers. Here was preaching against covetousness all the last year in Lent, and the next summer followed rebe'.-
* Two orisons where the opposers of popery were often confined
On Covetousness. 81
lion ; ergo, preaching against covetousness was the cause of the rebellion ! A goodly argument !
Here now I remember an argument of Master More's* which he bringeth in a book that he made against Bilney : and here by the way I will tell you a pleasant tale. Master More was once sent in commission into Kent, to find out if it might be, what was the cause of Goodwin Sands, and the shelf that stopped up Sandwich haven. Thither came Master More, and called the country before him, such as were thought to be men of experience, and men that could most likely best certify him concerning the stopping of Sandwich haven. Among others came before him an old man, with a white head, one that was thought to be little less than a hundred years old. When Master More saw this aged man, he thought it expedient to hear him say his mind in this matter ; for, being so old a man, it was likely that he knew most of any man in that company. So Master More called this old aged man unto him, and said, " Father, tell me, if you can, what is the cause of this great rising of the sands and shelves here about this haven, which stop it up so that no ships can arrive here ? You are the oldest man that I can espy in all this com pany, so that if any man can tell any cause of it, you it is likely can say most in it, or at least more than any other man here assembled." " Yea, forsooth, good master," quoth this old man, " for I am well nigh a hundred years old, and no man here in this company is anything near unto mine age." "Well then," quoth Master More. " how say you in this matter ? What think you are the causes of these shelves and flats that stop up Sandwich haven ?" " Forsooth, sir," quoth he, " I am an old man ; I think that Tenterton-steeple is the cause of Goodwin sands. For I am an old man, sir," quoth he, " and I may remember the building of Tenterton-steeple, and I may remember when there was no steeple at all there. And before that Tenterton-steeple was building, there was no speaking of any flats or sands that stopped the haven, and therefore I think that Tenterton-steeple is the cause of the destroying and decay of Sandwich haven." Thus this old man, and even so to my purpose is preaching
* Sir Thomas More was made lord-chancellor by king Henry VIII., in .he year 1529; he resigned the seals in 1532, and was beheaded in the year 1535, because he would not take the oath for acknowledging the king to be the head of the English church, and for abolishing the supremacy of the pope.
82 Latimer. — Sermon.
of God's word the cause of rebellion, as Tenterton-steeple was the cause that Sandwich haven is decayed !
And is not this a gay matter, that such should be taken for great wise men, who will thus reason against the preacher of God's word? But here I would take an occasion, by the way of a digression, to speak somewhat to my sisters, the women, to do them some good too, because I would do all folks good if I could, before I take my last farewell, at leastwise here of this place, for I think I shall no more come here ; for I think I have not long to live ; so that I judge I take my leave now of the court for ever, and shall no more come into this place.
Ahab was a king, but Jezebel, Jezebel, she was the perilous woman. She would rule her husband the king ; she would have to do in all things, and she would order matters as pleased her ; and so will many women do, they will rule their husbands, and do all things after their own minds. They do therein against the order appointed them by God : they break the injunction that God gave unto them. Yea, it is now come to the lower sort, to mean men's wives, they will rule and apparel themselves gorgeously, and some of them far above their degrees, whether their husbands will or no. But they break their injunction, and do therein contrary to God's ordinance. Godsaith: "Thou shalt be subject under the power of thy husband." Thou shalt be subject ; women are sub jects ; you are subjects to your husbands.
At the first, the man and the woman were equal. But after that she had given credit to the serpent, then she had an injunction set upon her : " Thou shalt be subject under the power of thy husband." And ae for one part of her injunction she taketh ; and she taketh one part of her penance, because she cannot avoid it, and that is, " Thou shalt bring forth children with pain and travail.". . But God hath provided herein. And as Christ saith in the gospel, " The woman when she beareth a child hath sorrow, but afterwards she remeinl>ereth not the pain, because there is a soul brought forth into the world."
But as it is a part of your per.ance, ye women, to tra vail in bearing your children; so it is a part of your penance to be subject unto your husb;mds ; ye are under lings, underlings, and must be obedient. But this is now made a trifle and a small matter ; and yet, it is a sad* * Serious.
On Covetovsness. S3
matter, a godly matter, a ghostly * matter, a matter of damnation and salvation. And Paul saith, that " a woman ought to have a power on her head.'1 What is this, to have a power on her head? It is a manner of speaking of the scripture ; and to have her power on her head, is to have a sign and token of power, which is by covering of her head, declaring that she hath a superior above her, by whom she ought to be ruled and ordered : for she is not immediately under God, but mediately. For the husband is their head under God, and they are subjects unto their husbands. But this power that some of them have, is disguised gear and strange fashions. . .
But there are now many Adams that will not displease their wives, but will in this behalf let them have all their own minds, and do as they list. And some others again there are now-a-days that will defend it, and say it may be suffered well enough, because it is Dot expressed in scrip ture, nor spoken of by name. Though we have not express mention in scripture against such laying of the hair in tussocksf and tufts, yet we have in scripture express men tion " of wreathen hair." But of these tussocks that are laid out now-a-days, there is no mention made in scriptures, because they were not \ised in scripture time. . .
But these defenders of it will not have it to be evil, because it is not spoken of in scripture. But there are other things as evil as this, which are not spoken of in scripture expressly, but they are implied in scripture, as well as though they were expressly spoken of.
The prophet Isaiah saith, " Woe unto you that arise early in the morning, and go to drinking until night, that ye may swim in wine.'' This is the scripture against banqueting and drunkenness. But now they banquet all night, and lie a-bed in the day time till noon, and the scripture speaks nothing of that. But what then ? the devil has his purpose this way, as well as the other ; he has his purpose as well by revelling and keeping ill rule all night, as by rising early in the morning and banqueting ail day. So the devil has his purpose both ways. Ye noblemen, ye great men, I wot not what rule ye keep : for God's sake hear the complaints and suits of the poor. Many complain against you that you lie a-bed till eight, or nine, or ten of the clock. I cannot tell what revel you have over night, whether in banqueting, or dicing, or * Spiritual. t Braided locks of hair.
84 Latimer. — Sermon.
carding, or how it