before they had any authority from the Pope for their proceedings, and while as yet the enactments of King Edward's reign in favour of Protestantism remained unrepealed. They could not therefore take any imme. diate steps towards the execution of their bloody purpose. The sentence which they had now passed was in fact void from its illegality; and it was necessary therefore that a new commission should be procured from Rome, and a fresh process instituted. Hence it happened that Latimer remained unmolested in prison until the latter end of September in the following year 1555, when Cardinal Pole, the Pope's Legate a latere, having received authority from Rome, appointed the Bishops of Lincoln, Gloucester, and Bristol, as Commissioners in the affair.

On the 30th of September he was brought before these new Commissioners. He came attired as he was on the first occasion, and was again compelled to undergo a vexatious questioning on the same Articles, which had been submitted to him on his previous examination, and from which he again expressed his dissent. The Pope's supremacy was a point also much pressed upon him on this occasion, which he strenuously disclaimed with much force of reasoning. His infirmities and age were so far consulted that he was allowed to sit down, but did not obtain, in other respects, a respectful consideration from the unfeeling audience. Once or twice his answers were greeted with laughter. Such barbarous levity at such a fearful crisis roused him indeed to expostulate with them.

Why, my masters," said he to them, "this is no laughing matter, I answer upon life and death." At the conclusion of the examination, the Bishop of Lincoln informed him, that it would be ne. cessary for him to appear again on the following day. He answered, that he required no respite-it would REMEMBRANCER, No. 72.

The

be in vain-as he was fully determined;--and prayed that he might not be troubled any more. Bishop replied, "that they trusted, that God might yet work with him, and that he could not be excused from appearing the next day in St. Mary's Church."

The next day accordingly, soon after eight o'clock in the morning, the Bishops repaired to the church, where the whole body of the University and of the town were assembled to see the issue of the matter respecting Ridley and himself, Cranmer being reserved for a future occasion.

Ridley having first appeared before them, and received his sentence of condemnation, Latimer was then summoned. A cloth which lay upon the table, during Ridley's examination, was removed, (to mark, as it seemed, the difference of the degrees of the prisoners,) when Latimer was placed before it. Latimer perceiving this, put his hat, which was an old felt, under his elbows, and immediately addressed the Commissioners, saying; "My Lords, I beseech your Lordships to set a better order here at your entrance; for I am an old man, and have a very evil back, so that the press of the multitude doth me much harm." The Bishop of Lincoln promised that attention should be paid to his infirm state; for which he returned his thanks with a very low bow. The Bishop then began to harass him again with solicitations to return to the Papal Church, and with a repetition of the Articles, demanding his determi nate answer to each without further reasoning." But nothing favourable to the Papal cause could be extorted from him, as he varied not from his answers given on the previous days.

After his answers had been written down by the Notaries, the Bishop of Lincoln finally exhorted him "to recant and revoke his errors and false assertions;" to which he briefly replied, that he "could not, and would not deny his Master, Christ, and his 4 Ꮓ

verity." The Bishop next desired him to listen to him, and then, when Latimer was expecting to hear some new matter urged, proceeded to read to him his condemnation; after which, the three Commissioners broke up their session, and dismissed the audience.

Latimer then claimed a promise, which the Bishop of Lincoln had made him the day before, that he should have license briefly to declare the cause why he refused the Pope's authority. But the Bishop refused hearing him, regarding him as one that was now out of the Church. He next inquired whether it was not lawful for him to appeal from their judgment; and being asked to whom he would appeal, he said, "to the next General Council, which should be truly called in God's name." The Bishop acquiesced; but added, that "it would be a long season before such a convocation as he meant would be called."

The Bishop then committed him to the custody of the Mayor, and, the people still continuing assembled in the expectation of further proceedings, care was taken to prevent his being hurt by the pressure of the crowd, as he had been at his

entrance.

Returning again to his prison, he remained closely confined until the 16th of October, the day appointed for his execution. Early in the morning of that day, the ViceChancellor of Oxford, with his retinue, repaired to the place over against Balliol College, where the bloody scene was to be transacted. To guard against any tumultuous interruption from the people, the Lord Williams, by command of the Queen, was stationed at the spot with an armed force. Every prepa. ration being completed, Latimer was brought forth by the Mayor aud Bailiffs, together with Ridley. The contrast exhibited in the appearance of the two exemplary sufferers, excited the liveliest feelings of sym

pathy in the spectators :-Ridley, who encountered his martyrdom with a kind of festal triumph, being attired in the habit of his order, depicted the state of honour which both had once enjoyed; whilst the austere and melancholy garb of Latimer strikingly pointed out how sadly they were fallen. In addition to the frieze frock, the buttoned cap and the kerchief, which he had worn at his trial, a new long shroud, hanging over his hose down to the feet, marked his solemn preparation for his death. Both having reached the stake, they affection. ately embraced each other; and kneeling down, prayed earnestly. After that, they engaged in conver sation for a little while.

Then Dr. Smith began to address them in a sermon on this text of St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians; "Si corpus meum tradam igni, charitatem autem non habeam, nihil inde utilitatis capio." His argument was; "that the good. ness of the cause, and not the order of death, made the holiness of the person; which he confirmed by the examples of Judas, and of a woman in Oxford, who had lately hanged herself; for that they, and such like, might otherwise be accounted righteous, who desperately sundered their lives from their bodies, as he feared those men who stood before him would do. He further cautioned the people to beware of them, for they were heretics and died out of the Church. He also alluded to the various parties into which the Protestants were divided, under the names of Lutherans, Ecolampadians, Zuinglians, of which sect he said they were; whereas the old Church of Christ, and the Catholic faith, believed otherwise."

As Dr. Smith made this observation, both Latimer and Ridley, lifted up their hands and eyes to heaven, as in the act of calling God to witness of the truth. The same gesture they repeated at several

other passages. The sermon concluded with a short exhortation to them to recant, and come home again to the Church, and save their lives and souls, which else were condemned.

Ridley then essayed to reply to the sermon; but as soon as he began to speak, the Vice-Chancellor and the Bailiffs ran up to him, and stopped his mouth with their hands. Latimer, finding the like attempt on his part would be equally fruitless, exclaimed, after his usual manner, "Well, there is nothing hid, but it shall be opened;" saying also," that he could answer Smith well enough, if he might be suffered."

Immediately upon this, they were commanded to make them ready; and with all meekness they obeyed the order. Ridley proceeded to distribute portions of his dress, and other memorials from his person, to different persons about him, who received them with eyes full of tears: but Latimer gave nothing, quietly suffering his keeper to pull off his hose and the rest of his attire. When he was stripped to his shroud, his form assumed a sympathetic attitude with the elevation of his mind; and, whereas in his clothes he appeared a withered and crooked and helpless old man, he now stood quite upright, and presented to the view at once a comely and venerable per

son.

A

Then the smith took an iron chain, with which he secured them both to the stake. Ridley's brotherin-law had provided some gunpowder as a means of terminating their sufferings more quickly; some of which he gave to Latimer. faggot was then brought already kindled and laid at Ridley's feet, to whom Latimer observed;" 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."-As the flames advanced on them, on one side Ridley

was heard loudly exclaiming "Lord, Lord, receive my spirit"on the other Latimer as vehemently crying out, "O Father of heaven, receive my soul," while he courted the flames as it were with embraces. Ridley lingered for some time in the torture, his lower extremities being first consumed, but Latimer, after he had stroked his face with his hands, and, as it were, bathed them in the fire, soon died, as it appeared, with very little pain, or

none.

Such was the unshaken constancy of this holy Martyr both in his death and his life. death and his life. Possessing a primeval simplicity of character, he forgot not himself amidst the allurements of a Court in the day of his prosperity, nor amidst the storms with which the close of his life was overshadowed. An unaffected intrepidity was his uniform characteristic. It was displayed in all his words and actions. Whether we watch his course at the University, where we find him at one time a zealous defender of Popery, at another equally zealous in avowing and defending his change of sentiments in favour of the reformed religion;— or whether we look to his ministerial labours-to that uncompromising plainness with which he did the work of an Evangelist in the highest station of the Church, as well as in its inferior office-reproving vice in whatever order of men it might be found without partiality or reserve; or lastly whether we contemplate his cheerful resignation to the will of God through the trying emergencies of his life even to the bitterness of death;- -we cannot but feel an enthusiastic admiration of that excellent spirit which was in this extraordinary man.

One example indeed of his resolution, to which we have not hitherto adverted, deserves particularly to be recorded. There was scarcely a man to be found in the days of Henry VIII, who could have dared to reprove that tyrannical

Sovereign. But Latimer shrunk not from the duty. It was the custom, that the Bishops should present to the King some gift on the occurrence of every New Year. Latimer converted his present into a source of admonition to his Sove reign. For instead of making the costly offerings which some other Bishops made, he presented the King with the New Testament, having a napkin folded round it, on which was the following inscription.-Fornicatores et adulteros judicabit Do

minus.

Happy indeed has the Reformation been in possessing such a son. While others may have advanced

the cause of the truth by indirect means, on the whole promoting the good result, but at the same time suffering their own passions to intermingle with their useful exertions, and inflicting a wound on religion by their unskilful mode of healing its disorders-Latimer is subject to no such imputation. The cause of the Reformation was the predominant principle in his heart. He pursued it with a singleness of purpose almost unparalleled-it was the object of his ambition, and his pride, and his love. He was not only a teacher of a purer religion by word, but by the unexceptionable evidence of a spotless example.

A Sermon preached in Whitehall Chapel, on Sunday, June 20,1824, at the Consecration of the Right Rev. Charles James Blomfield, D.D. Lord Bishop of Chester. Published at the Command of His Grace the Archbishop of York. By John Lonsdale, B.D. Domestic Chaplain to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. 4to. pp. 22. Rivingtons.

THERE are no literary productions, the difficulty of whose composition is so little appreciated, as sermons preached on occasions similar to that which produced the discourse now under our notice. The importance of the subject, the unusual character of the auditory, the unequal relation between the preacher

and those most interested in his ad

dress, are sufficient to appal men of ordinary powers, and to make even those, who are most conscious of their superiority, afraid, lest in the trial, they should prove unequal to the task. A Consecration Sermon is no mean opportunity for judging the extent of a man's genius and knowledge; but the proof which it

gives of his judgment, and prudence, and discretion, is as severe as any that can be imagined to exist; if he assume a tone of exhortation, how apt is he to give offence;-if he venture to rejoice that men of talents and virtues are called to high offices in the Church, how liable is his praise to be condemned as flattery?-And since it cannot occur to but few of the Clergy to be called upon to discourse on such occasions, during their whole lives, in more than in one or two instances, the advantage of experience and actual trial is a benefit that cannot be obtained. He that considers well the difficulty of the task, will find cause for wonder and for congratulation, at the very satisfactory manner in which the duty of speaking a word in season, on such occasions, is generally discharged.

It is scarcely possible to judge, by extracts, of the ability which Mr. Lonsdale has displayed in the ser. mon now before us, and of the manner in which he has mastered the difficulties attending this species of composition.

The distinguishing feature of

his discourse is this, that whilst his mind is throughout dwelling with intense interest upon the circumstances present to him, in addressing the congregation, the application of the principle which he enforces, is made chiefly by those who are most interested in it; and we venture to assert, that not a single Governor of the Church, who was present at the time, could have avoided applying the doctrine of the sermon, in its fullest sense, to himself. Mr. Lonsdale takes as his text, 2 Cor. iv. 7. "We have this treasure

power may

in earthen vessels; that the excellency of the be of God, and not of us." He opens his discourse with some clear and judicious observations on the weight of the internal evidence in favour of the authority of the Bible, which is afforded by the ascription of every event to the agency of the one true God. The position which he lays down is thus clearly stated.

"With perfect harmony of purpose, though great variety of expression, from one end of the sacred volume to the other, every thing is ascribed to the agency, or permission, of the same all-directing and all-controlling providence; no other power whatsoever being admitted. Fate and fortune, those two supposed mighty rulers in the world-to whose influence so much of good and evil has, in all ages, been attributed-of whom ordinary writers have inade such frequent mention-and whose names are still so familiar in the mouths of all men, even of us Christians-Fate and Fortune, I say, have no agency, no place, no being, in the pages of the Bible. And when human actors are spoken of there, they are spoken of constantly, not as principals, or master-movers, (the light in which men are naturally disposed, and accustomed to represent themselves, and their fellow-men) but only as ministers to the purposes of the Most High; only as willing, or unwilling instruments in the hands of Supreme Wisdom and Power. Whence then this singular and unparalleled uniformity, upon such a point, in books written by so many authors, of so many different natural characters, and in so many different ages? Can we account for it upon ordinary principles? Or must we not refer it to a higher cause? even to that one and the self-same Spirit, who, in

diversities of gifts, and differences of administrations, could alone produce such agreeing testimony to a truth, which, though lying at the very foundation of pure religion, has never been confidently or consistently maintained, except under the influence of Divine revelation." P. 6.

From these reflections upon the sole agency of God, the writer passes on in natural order to make some remarks upon the weakness of the human instruments employed as the agents of God in this world. The confession made by Moses of his natural insufficiency for the great work to which he was called, "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh?"-the misgivings of Gideon, -the humble condition of David,above all, the dispensation itself of Christianity-are then adduced as affording clear illustrations of "Omnipotence working out its will by means disproportionate to their ends, and examples of God's strength made perfect in man's weakness." The lowly parentage of the Saviour, and the union of infirmity with power in the character of St. Paul, are also brought forward as confirming this principle in the strongest manner. Mr. Lonsdale thus draws the character of the great Apostle:

"For when we look for grace of person and address, a base and weak bodily presence meets our view: when we expect at least to find that which might have compensated such a defect, the talent of popular oratory, we find a contemptible speech in its place. And whatever was the particular nature of that thorn, or as the Apostle elsewhere calls it, that infir mity, and temptation in his flesh, of which he speaks so feelingly; it was clearly of a kind to cause him to be despised and rejected by such as beheld him with the eyes of mere worldly regard.—But Paul was learned-it is granted that he was; and his writings furnish us with indications of the fact. Be it so but whatever may have been the extent of this learning, so far was he from employing it to the utmost in support of the cause to which he had devoted himself; that we find him making mention of it, only for the purpose of its disparagement. He utterly disclaims the aid of excellency of speech, or of wisdom, among those very persons, who