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ween, all the canonical epistles. Of which study, although in time a great part did depart from me, yet the sweet smell thereof, I trust, I shall carry with me into heaven: for the profit thereof, I think-I have felt in all my lifetime ever after. . . . The Lord grant, that this zeal towards that part of God's word, which is a key and true commentary to all the Holy Scriptures, may ever abide in that College, so long as the world shall endure ! "

Then, after bidding adieu to Herne in East Kent, that "worshipful and wealthy parish," to which Cranmer had called him, as his first cure; to Canterbury Cathedral, whereof he had once been a member; and to Rochester, where he had been Bishop; he addressed his late See, the Metropolis: "O London, London, to whom now may I speak in thee, or whom shall I bid farewell? Shall I speak to the Prebendaries of Paul's? Alas! all that loved God's Word, and were the true setters-forth thereof, are now,... some burnt and slain, some exiled and banished, and some holden in hard prison, and appointed daily to be put to most cruel death, for Christ's Gospel-sake. . . . As to my deposition and the spoil of my goods, I refer it unto God, which is a just judge; and I beseech God, that that, which is but my personal wrong, be not laid to thy charge in the latter day. . . . O thou now wicked and bloody See, why doest thou set up again the altars of Idolatry, which, by the word of God, were justly taken away? Why hast thou overthrown the Lord's Table? Why dost thou daily delude the people? Why babblest thou the Common Prayer in a strange tongue?... Nay, hearken, thou whorish bawd of Babylon, thou wicked limb of Antichrist, thou bloody wolf, why slayest thou down and makest havoc of the prophets of God? Why murderest thou so cruelly Christ's poor silly sheep, which will not hear thy voice, because thou art a stranger, and will follow none other but their own pastor, Christ? . . . Thinkest thou, that the Lord will not require the blood of his Saints at thy hands? . . . Yet, O London, I may not leave thee thus!". . . and then, passing into a strain more accordant to his mild and kindly temper, he remembered the many secret mourners in that city, who were groaning under the iniquity of the times; bestowed a noble eulogium upon the two

Mayors, Sir Richard Dobs and Sir George Barnes, who had so zealously co-operated with him in the establishment of the Hospitals, and would have done so much more, had King Edward continued to reign; bade all the faithful citizens farewell; his fellow-sufferers, whether in prison, or in banishment, they were bearing witness to the truth; and, finally, the universal Church of Christ... "Farewell, dear brethren, farewell; and let us comfort our hearts, in all troubles, and in death, with the word of God; for Heaven and Earth shall perish, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever!"

In this language did Ridley express his feelings, while he was looking forward to the stake. At length, White, Brooks, and Holyman, the Bishops of Lincoln, Gloucester, and Bristol, were sent to Oxford, as Commissioners from the Legate, Cardinal Pole,. to ascite, judge, and condemn him and Latimer. Ridley was called for first, and appeared before them in the Divinity School: he stood bareheaded while the Commission was being read; till hearing the Legate of the Pope named, he immediately put on his cap. The Bishop of Lincoln upon this told him, that unless he uncovered at the names of the Cardinal and Pope, they must order his cap to be taken off. Ridley replied, that he intended no contumacy toward them, nor any derogation toward the Lord Cardinal, whom, for his learning and virtue, as well as for his royal blood, he knew to be worthy of all humility, reverence, and honour and with that he put off his cap and bowed his knee: "But in that he is Legate of the Pope," said he, covering his head as he spake, "whose usurped supremacy and abused authority I utterly renounce, I may in no wise give any obeisance unto him." The admonition was courteously repeated; and again with the like mild firmness answered Ridley, saying, they would do as they pleased in taking his cap off, and he should be content. A beadle was then ordered to pluck it off. His answer was then required to certain questions concerning the Sacrament; in which he acknowledged a spiritual, but denied a corporal presence. They would not receive his protestation against their authority, as coming from the Pope; but he was told to answer now, and on the morrow he might erase, add, and alter, what he would. When he requested they would suffer him to

speak three words, White answered, that to-morrow he should speak forty; so having answered briefly to the articles, he was remanded; and Latimer was called in.

Latimer had been kept waiting during Ridley's examination. As soon as he entered, he said, " My Lords, if I appear again, I pray you not to send for me until you be ready; for I am an old man, and it is a great hurt to mine old age to tarry so long gazing upon cold walls." He was, at this time, nearly seventy years of age, and had never recovered the hurt which he had received, when far advanced in life, by a tree falling upon him. He had suffered also in his health, from the inhumanity of the Lieutenant of the Tower, before his removal to Oxford. One day he sent this person word, that if he did not look better to him, he should, perchance, deceive him. The Lieutenant, thinking that he meant to escape, and had been simple enough to boast of it, came to him, and demanded what he meant? "You look, I think," said Latimer," that I should be burnt; but, except you let me have some fire, I may deceive your expectation; for I am like to starve here for cold." His crazed body had not recovered from this winter's usage; and his appearance might have moved compassion, even in those who had not heard him preach before the Court, and known the reputation of the man, and his singular integrity and worth. He came hat in hand, with a kerchief bound round his head, and over it a night-cap or two, and a great cap, such as townsmen used in those days, with two broad flaps to button under the chin. His dress was a gown of Bristol frize, old and threadbare, fastened round the body with a penny leathern girdle; his Testament was suspended from this girdle by a leathern string; and his spectacles, without a case, were hanging from his neck upon his breast.

White, of Lincoln, began by exhorting him to return to the unity of the Church. Christ, he affirmed, had said to St. Peter, Rege oves meas; words which implied pre-eminence and government, Kings being called Reges à regendo; and that authority was inherited by the See of Rome. If he persisted in schism and heresy, they must then pronounce him a lost child, a son of dition, a rotten member; and, as such, to be cut off. "Therefore, Master Latimer," said he, "for God's love, consider your estate! Remember, you are a learned man; you have taken de

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grees in the schools, borne the office of a Bishop: . . . remember you are an old man; spare your body, accelerate not your death: ... and especially remember your soul's health; consider that, if you die in this state, you shall be a stinking sacrifice to God, for it is the cause that maketh the martyr, and not the death; consider, that if you die in this state, you die without grace; for without the Church can be no salvation. Let not vain-glory 'have the upper hand; humiliate yourself, captivate your understanding, subdue your reason, submit yourself to the determination of the Church."

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Latimer's reply to this was altogether characteristic. He took hold of the argument, that Christ had given a jurisdiction to St. Peter, when he bade him regere, govern his people. "The Bishops of Rome," he said, "have taken a new kind of regere. Indeed, they ought regere; but how, my Lord? Not as they will themselves: this regere must be hedged in and ditched in. They must regere; but secundum Verbum Dei: they must rule; but according to the Word of God." He then spake of a book, lately published, in which it was argued, that the Clergy possessed the same authority as the Levites; and where the Bible said, that the Levites, if there arose any controversy among the people, should decide the matter, secundum legem Dei, according to the law of God, . . . these words were left out, and the text was quoted as saying, that, as the Priests should decide the matter, so it ought to be taken of the people. "A large authority, I ensure you!" said Latimer. "What gelding of Scripture is this! What clipping of God's coin!" White replied, he knew nothing of the book: upon which Latimer told them, it was written by one who was now Bishop of Gloucester; a person whom he did not know, nor had ever, to his knowledge, seen. This occasioned a laugh; because that Bishop was one of his judges, and now rose up, saying, it was his book. "Was it your's, my Lord?" quoth Latimer; "indeed, I knew not your Lordship; nor did I ever see you before,... neither yet see you now, through the brightness of the sun shining betwixt you and me." The audience, upon this, with a brutality, of which even educated men are capable, when they act in crowds, laughed again. "Why, my Masters," said the old man, "this is no laughing matter! I answer upon life and death! Væ vobis qui

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ridetis nunc, quoniam flebitis!" The Bishop defended his book, and said, "Master Latimer, hereby every man may see what learning you have!" "Lo," exclaimed the infirm old man, whose intellect and heart were still sound and vigorous as ever, "Lo, you look for learning at my hands, which 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 through this man with a spear is not a goodly victory?"

When Latimer had answered to the articles, he prayed they would let him declare, in three words, why he refused the authority of the Pope. He was answered, as Ridley had been, that on the morrow he might speak forty. "Nay, my Lords," said he, "I beseech you, do with me now as it shall please your Lordships. I pray you, let me not be troubled to-morrow again. As for my part, I require no respite, for I am at a point." But they insisted that he should appear again, saying, they trusted God would work with him by the morrow; and thus he was remanded.

On the following day, the Session was held, in St. Mary's Church, which had been fitted up for the occasion, with a high throne for the Commissioners, trimmed with cloth of tissue and silk; at some distance from their feet, Ridley was set, at a framed table, which was covered with a silken cloth: the space wherein the table stood was compassed with seats for the Heads of the University and their friends, and the body of the building crowded with spectators. After the Bishops had in vain exhorted and entreated him to submit himself to the Church, he desired leave, as had been promised him, to state why he could not, in conscience, admit the authority of the Pope. White acknowledged, that when he had demanded leave to speak three words,

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