Glances at some of the Great Preachers of

England.

No. I.-HUGH LATIMER.

We propose, now and then-if possible, at regular intervals -to give, as the title indicates, brief glances at some of the masters of our Israel-at those good and great men, each of whom deserves the truly honorable appellation, "a prince of preachers." The nature of our scheme is after this sort :We think of giving a very slight biographical sketch of the preacher we have in hand, but chiefly to occupy the allotted space with those extracts from his sermons which seem to us worthy of being read and remembered.

We are not without hope that this part of our periodical will prove interesting and instructive to its readers. There is much admiring speech concerning the wonders of Persepolis and Nineveh. Men are ready, and justly, to cover Layard with laurels for his noble efforts to exhume the long-buried cities of the East; and we are not without hope that we shall deserve some small meed of praise for bringing to the light a few of those mental treasures which English sermons contain, and which, to say the least, are as worthy of our notice and study as the "winged bulls" and sculptured slabs of ancient Babylonia.

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But here one word of kind and hopeful advice concerning our extracts to those of our readers who are engaged in 'public speaking." They will be given not as models for imitation, but as suggestive materials, and as specimens of truly excellent thinking. A mere imitation of another man's thoughts, and repetition of another man's words, are very likely to call forth only mistrust, censure, and contempt. "Where is the animal," said the ape, "that I can't imitate?" "And where is the animal," said the fox," that will imitate thee?" So

much for the proem: proceed we now to our work; and let us take a "glance," by way of beginning, at "honest" Hugh Latimer, "the father of all those" who, since the Reformation, have given themselves to the preaching and publishing of sermons in our noble mother-tongue.

Biographical Sketch.

Leicestershire was the native county of Latimer. He first saw the light in the reign of the fourth Edward, in the year 1470. Concerning his parentage and domestic circumstances, he tells Edward VI. and his court (Sermon V., London Edition, 1787), in his own good style, "That upon a farm of four pounds a year at the utmost, his father tilled as much ground as kept half-a-dozen men; that he had it stocked with a hundred sheep and thirty cows; that he found the king a man and a horse, himself remembering to have buckled on his father's harness (armour) when he went to Blackheath; that he gave his daughters five pounds a piece at marriage; that he lived hospitably among his neighbours, and was not backward in his alms to the poor." He was sent to, and acquitted himself well at, the grammar schools of his native place and of Leicester, and, in 1488, went to Cambridge. From early youth he appears to have been pious, at least according to the measure of light he possessed, for he was certainly a very zealous Papist. The preaching of Bilney was the means of opening his eyes to the blessings of a purer faith, and, henceforth, he became a zealous Protestant, and a powerful, popular, preacher of the reformed religion. In 1535 he was made Bishop of Worcester by Henry the Eighth, having been, for some time before, chaplain to Anne Boleyn; but his bishopric was no bed of roses, for the worthy monarch who gave him his mitre conferred upon him, in the course of time, an imprisonment of six years in the Tower. It was sunshine with him during the short reign of Edward the Sixth, of which promising, but perhaps over-praised, youthful prince he was a prudent adviser and a favorite preacher. With Queen Mary came in dark days for England, and a violent death for poor

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Latimer. Oxford had the honor of burning him and Ridley. They suffered in front of Balliol College, and died in a right noble mode. "Fidelis est Deus." "I thank God most heartily that he hath prolonged my life to this end, that I may glorify God by this kind of death." 'Brother, we shall this day light such a candle in England as shall never be put out." Such were the dying utterances of this brave soldier of "the noble army of martyrs." Truly, "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church."

We have not space to attempt any lengthened critique of Latimer's mental capacity or moral character. He was not a great man in the usual sense of the word; he did not possess the gorgeous imagination of Taylor, nor the logical acuteness of Barrow, nor the sublime, serene, intellect of Howe, nor the persuasive power and pathos of Baxter: but he possessed considerable mental force, moral rectitude of the noblest order, and a spiritual earnestness which has not often been surpassed. We will now select a few passages from his writings to illustrate the following prominent features of his character:

1. The clearness of his evangelical views. "Now, if I should preach in the country, among the unlearned, I would tell what propitiatory, expiatory, and remissory, is; but here is a learned auditory. But for them that be unlearned, I will expound it. Propitiatory, expiatory, remissory, or satisfactory, signify all one thing in effect, and is nothing else but a thing whereby to obtain remission of sins, and to have salvation. And this way the devil useth to make void the death of Christ, that we might have affiance in other things, as the sacrifice of the priest; whereas Christ would have us to trust only in his sacrifice. So he was 'the Lamb which hath been slain from the beginning of the world;' and, therefore, he is called 'a continual sacrifice,' and not for the continuance of the mass, as I myself once took it to be: but the scripture saith, by himself,' and by none other, Christ made purgation and satisfaction for the whole world.' -(Sermon IV., p. 84, London Edition, 1788; see also Sermon XI., p. 226.)

2. His zeal as a preacher. "I came once myself to a

place, riding on a journey homeward from London, and I sent word, over-night, into the town that I would preach there in the morning, because it was holiday, and methought it was an holiday's work. The church stood in the way, and I took my horse and my company, and bent thither. I thought I should have found a great company in the church, and when I came there the church door was fast locked. I tarried there half-an-hour and more. At last the key was found; and one of the parish comes to me, and said, 'Sir, this is a busy day with us; we cannot hear you. It is Robin Hood's Day. The parish are gone abroad to gather for Robin Hood; I pray you hinder them not.' . . . . . It is no laughing matter, my friends; it is a weeping matter, a heavy matter. Under the pretence of gathering for Robin Hood, a traitor and a thief, to put out a preacher; to have his office less esteemed; to prefer Robin Hood before the ministration of God's word.". (Sermon X., p. 201.)

3. His bold exposure of the faults of the great :—

Bishops."I heard of a bishop of England that went on visitation; and as it was the custom, when the bishop should come, to be rung into the town, the great bell's clapper was fallen down, the tyall was broken, so that the bishop could not be rung into the town. There was a great matter made of this; and the chief of the parish was much blamed for it in the visitation. The bishop was somewhat quick with them, and signified that he was much offended. They made their answer, and excused themselves as well as they could. 'It was a chance,' said they, that the clapper brake, and we could not get it mended yet: we must tarry till we can have it done. It shall be mended as shortly as may be.'

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Among the others there was one wiser than the rest; and he came to the bishop. Why, my lord,' saith he, 'doth your lordship make so great a matter of the bell that lacketh his clapper? Here is a bell,' saith he, and pointed to the pulpit, that hath lacked a clapper this twenty years. We have a parson that fetcheth out of his benefice fifty pounds every year, but we never see him.' I warrant you the bishop

was an unpreaching prelate. He could find fault with the bell that wanted a clapper, to bring him into the town, but he could not find any fault with the parson that preached not at his benefice."-(Sermon X., p. 200.)

Judges.-"Thou land of Jerusalem, thy magistrates, thy judges, are unfaithful.' They will talk of many gay things; they will pretend to this and that, but they will keep no promise: they be worse than unfaithful. He was not afraid to call the officers unfaithful, and the 'fellows of thieves;' for thieves and thieves' fellows be all of one sort. He calleth princes thieves! What!-princes thieves! What a seditious varlet was this! Was he worthy to live in a commonwealth that would call princes, in this wise, fellows of thieves? Had they a standing on Shooter's Hill, or Standgate hole, to take a purse? Why did they stand by the highway-side? Did they rob or break open any man's house or door? No, no; that is a poor kind of thieving; they were princes: they had a prince-like kind of thieving. "They all love bribes.' Bribery is a princely kind of thieving." (Sermon VII., p. 134.)

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Cambyses was a great king; such another as our master is. He had many land-deputies, land-presidents, and lieutenants, under him. It is a great while ago since I read the history. It chanced he had under him, in one of his dominions, a briber, a gift-taker, a gratifier of rich men. As the old saying is, 'Happy is the child whose father goes to the devil.' The cry of the poor widow came to the emperor's ear, and caused him to flay the judge quick, and laid his skin in his chair of judgment, that all judges that should give judgment afterward should sit in the same chair. Surely it was a goodly sign, a goodly monument, the sign of the judge's skin. I pray God we may once see the sign of the skin in England."-(Sermon VII., p. 142.)

J. H.