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Later Reformers
113
“Do you know,” said Latimer, “who is the most diligent bishop
in England? I see you listening and hearkening that I should name
him. I will tell you It is the devil. He is never out of his diocese;
you shall never find him idle. Call for him when you will, he is ever
at home, he is ever at the plow. You shall never find him remiss, I
warrant you. Where the devil is resident, there away with books,
and up with candles; away with Bibles, and up with beads; away
with the light of the gospel, and up with the light of wax tapers,
yea, at noonday; down with Christ’s cross, up with the purgatory
pick-purse; away with clothing the naked, the poor, the impotent;
up with the decking of images and the gay garnishing of stones and
stocks; down with God and his most holy word; up with traditions,
human councils, and a blinded pope. Oh that our prelates would be
as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine as Satan is to sow cockle
and darnel!”
The grand principle maintained by Tyndale, Frith, Latimer, and
the Ridleys, was the divine authority and sufficiency of the Sacred
Scriptures. They rejected the assumed authority of popes, councils,
Fathers, and kings to rule the conscience in matters of religious faith.
The Bible was their standard, and to this they brought all doctrines
and all claims.
Faith in God and his word sustained these holy men as they
yielded up their lives at the stake. “Be of good comfort,” exclaimed
Latimer to his fellow-martyr as the flames were about to silence their
voices, “we shall this day light such a candle in England as, I trust,
by God’s grace shall never be put out.”
[174]
The Church of England, following in the steps of Rome, perse-
cuted dissenters from the established faith. In the seventeenth cen-
tury thousands of godly pastors were expelled from their positions.
The people were forbidden, on pain of heavy fines, imprisonment,
and banishment, to attend any religious meetings except such as
were sanctioned by the church. Those faithful souls who could not
refrain from gathering to worship God, were compelled to meet in
dark alleys, in obscure garrets, and at some seasons in the woods at
midnight. In the sheltering depths of the forest, a temple of God’s
own building, those scattered and persecuted children of the Lord
assembled to pour out their souls in prayer and praise. But despite
all their precautions, many suffered for their faith. The jails were