tector, to restore him to the bishopric: The Protector was very willing to gratify the parliament, and propofed the refumption of his bishopric to Latimer; who now thinking himself unequal to the weight of it, refused to resume it, choofing rather to accept an invitation from his friend Archbishop Cranmer, and to take up his refidence with him at Lambeth; where his chief employment was to hear the complaints, and redress the grievances of the poor people; and his character, for fervices of this kind, was fo univerfally known, that ftrangers from every part of England would refort to him. In thefe employments he ipent more than two years, during which time he affifted the Archbishop in compofing the Homilies, which were fet forth by authority, in the 1ft year of King Edward. He was alfo appointed to preach the Lent fermons before his Majefty, which office he alfo performed during the three first years of his reign.

Upon the revolution, which happened at court after the death of the Duke of Somerset, he seems to have retired into the country, and to have made use of the King's licence as a general preacher in those parts, where he thought his labours might be moft ferviceable. He was thus employed during the remainder of that reign, and continued in the fame courie, for a fhort time, in the beginning of the next; but as foon as the re-introduction of Popery was refolved on, the first step towards it was the prohibition of all preaching, and licenfing only fuch as were known to be popifhly inclined. The Bishop of Winchefter, who was now prime minifter, having profcribed Mr. Latimer from the firft, fent a mellenger to cite him before the council. He had notice of this defign fome hours before the meffenger's arrival, but he made no ufe of the intelligence. The meffenger found him equipped for his journey, at which, exprefling his furprize, Mr. Latimer told him, that he was ready to attend him to London, thus called upon to answer for his faith, as he ever was to take any journey in his life; and that he doubted not but that God, who had enabled him to ftand before two princes, would enable him to ftand before a third. The meffenger then acquainting him, that he had no orders to feize his perfon, delivered a letter, and departed. However, opening the letter, and finding it a citation from the council, he refolved to obey it, and fet out immediately. As he paffed through Smithfield, he faid chearfully, This place of burning hath long groaned for me. The next morning he waited upon the council, who having loaded him with many fevere reproaches, fent him to the Tower.

This was but a repetition of a former part of his life; only he now met with a harther treatment, and he had more frequent occafion to exercife his refignation, which virtue no man poffeffed in a larger measure; nay, even the usual cheerfulness of his difpofition did not forfake him, of which we have an inftance ftill remaining. A fervant leaving his apartment, Latimer called after him, and bid him tell his mafter, that unless he took better care of him, he thould certainly escape. Upon this meffage the Lieutenant, with fome difcompofure, came and defired an explanation. Why you expect, I fuppofe, fir, faid he, that I fhould be burnt; but if you do not allow me a little fire this frofty weather, I can tell you, I fhall first be ftarved."

Cranmer and Ridley, were alfo prifoners in the fame cause with Latimer; (fee Cranmer's life in page 5.) and; when it was refolved to have a public difputation at Oxford, between the most eminent of the Popish

and

and Proteftant divines, these three were appointed on the part of the Proteftants. Accordingly they were taken out of the Tower, and fent to Oxford; where they were clofely confined in the common prifon, and might eafily imagine how free the difputation was likely to be, when they found themselves denied the use even of books, pens, and ink.

He behaved with the nobleft fortitude throughout the public dispute; wherein, though much artifice was used for that purpose, he never would be drawn into any formal reasoning with his adverfaries; full well affured that it would answer no end to be explicit. However, he answered their queftions, as far as civility required; and in those anfwers it is obfervable, he managed the argument much better, than either Cranmer or Ridley; who, when they were preffed in defence of tranfubftantiation, with fome paffages from the fathers, inftead of difavowing an infufficient authority, weakly defended a good caufe. Whereas when the fame proofs were multiplied upon Latimer, he told them plainly, that fuch proofs had no weight with him; that the fathers no doubt were often deceived, and that he never depended upon them, but when they depended upon fcripture. "Then you are not of St. Chryfoftom's faith, replied his antagonist, nor of St. Auftin's." "I have told you, replied Latimer, I am not, except when they bring fcripture for what they fay."

The difpute being ended, fentence was paffed upon him in the beginning of October, and he and Ridley were martyred the 16th. They were brought to the fire, on a spot of ground on the North fide of Baliol College, where, after a fermon, being told by an officer, that they now might make ready for the ftake; Latimer, having thrown off his prifon attire, appeared in a fhrowd prepared for the purpofe; and "whereas before; fays Mr. Fox, he feemed a withered and crooked old man, he now ftood bolt, upright, as comely a father as one might lightly behold.” Being thus ready, he recommended his foul to God, and delivered himfelf to the executioner, faying to Ridley, "We fhall this day, my lord, light fuch a candle, in England, as fhall never be extinguished." He died in the 80th year of his age, A. D. 1555.

Such was the life and death of Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, one of the leaders of that glorious army of martyrs, who introduced the Reformation into our land. He had a happy temper, formed on the principles of true Christianity. Such was his cheerfulness, that none of the accidents of life could difcompofe him; fuch was his fortitude, that not even the fevereft trials could unman him: he had a collected fpirit, and on no occafion wanted a resource: he could retire within himself, and hold the world at defiance.

And as danger could not daunt, fo neither could ambition allure him : though converfant in courts, and intimate with princes, he preferved to the laft,- -a rare inftance of moderation!-his primæval plainnefs in his profeflion he was indefatigable; and that he might beftow as much time as poffible on the active part of it, he allowed himfelf only thofe hours for his private ftudies, when the bufy world is at reft, conftantly rifing, at all feafons of the year, by two in the morning. How confcientious he was in the discharge of the public parts of his office, we have many examples. No man could perfuade more forcibly; no man could exert on proper occafions, a more commanding feverity. The wicked, in whatever station, he rebuked with cenforian dignity, and awed yice more than the penal laws.

He

He was not efteemed a very learned man, for he cultivated only useful learning, and that he thought lay in a very narrow compafs. He never engaged in worldly affairs, thinking that a clergyman ought to employ himfelf only in his profeflion. Thus he lived rather a good, than what the world calls a great man. He had not those commanding talents which give fuperiority in bufinefs; but for purity and fincerity of heart, for true fimplicity of manners, for apoftolic zeal, in the caufe of religion, and for every virtue, both of a public and private kind, which fhould adorn the life of a Chriftian, he was eminent beyond moft men of his own; any other time.

or of

As to his fermons, they are indeed far enough from being exact pieces of compofition; yet his fimplicity and low familiarity, his humour and gibing drollery, were well adapted to the times; and his oratory, according to the mode of eloquence at that day, was exceeding popular. His action and manner of preaching too were very affecting, and no wonder, "for he spoke immediately from his heart-His abilities, however, as an orator, made only an inferior part of his character as a preacher. What particularly recommends him, is that noble and apostolic zeal, which he continually exerted in the cause of truth.

SACRED CRITICISM, No. X.

A CRITIQUE, ON PSALM II.
(Concluded from page 82.)

REMARKS.

THAT great and unfathomable myftery of the fucceffive generations, births or manifestations of the ONLY GENUINE SON OF GOD —His eternal generation or primæval birth as Wisdom perfonified, or THE ORACLE and his next, during his incarnation, as the fon or defcendant of David; born at Bethlehem, the birth place of David, and conceived in the chofen Virgin; and his future manifeftation in glory, are briefly foretold in that most noble and illuftrious prophecy of Micah 5. 2, 4. "the most fully authenticated" in its application to the MESSIAH, and to Jesus, as the MESSIAH, by the concurrent teftimony of the primitive Jewish and Christian Churches, Matt. 2. 1, 6.

I. And thou Bethlehem, territory of Judah,

Art by no means leaft among the captains of Judah ;
For from thee thall iffue forth a LEADER,

Who fhall guide my people, the Ifrael [of GoD].

II. (But his iffuings forth are from old,

From days of eternity).

III. Therefore He will give them up [for a feafon],

Until the time that She which jhall bear, have borne:
Then fhall the refidue of thy brethren return,

Along with the Sons of Ifrael.

And He fhall ftand [faft], and guide them in the ftrength of THE
LORD,

In the majefty of the name of THE LORD HIS GOD:

And when they return, He fhall be magnified

Unto the ends of the earth. And He thall be THE PEACE [of the

world].

In

5. 2,

In the first part of this wonderful prophecy, I have followed the Evangelift's mafterly tranflation; which is greatly fuperior to the Septuagint, and all the ancient verfions, and more full and explicit than the original itfelf; as I have fhewn more particularly, in a letter on the introduction of the Evangelifts in the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, for June and July, 1801.-1. Seizing the fpirit of Micah's interrogation: "And art thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, little to be accounted among the thousands of Judah ?” (See p. 132 foregoing). 2. Supplying the important leffon (Nagid) Hys, which is wanting in the original, and in the Septuagint verfion, at prefent: for Nagid, is a ufual epithet of the MESSIAH, 1 Chron. Ifai. 55. 4. and Dan. 9. 25. and in all these places is rendered Ηγέμενο, Hy, "LEADER" by the Septuagint :-and 3. expreffing the nature of his rule (w) by Topave" he shall guide," as "the Shepherd of Ifrael." Pf. 80. 1. or chief Shepherd.' 1 Peter, 5. 4. as intimated by Mical himself alfo, in the third part, 7, rendered, nai To by the Septuagint. Matthew here following the Septuagint verfion of 2 Sam. 5. 2. The fecond part, incidentally guards against the erroneous opinion, that this was the firft or original birth of the MESSIAH, at Bethlehem, as a mere man; ftating his eternal generation: and fo, OUR LORD explicitly declares his own pre-existence, before the world was"-" before the foundation of the world"*-John 17. 5, 24. Affuming to himself the character of WISDOM perfonified, as we have feen. And as he was then ftiled, "the beginning of God's way"-so is He termed by John, Rev. 3. 14. "The beginning of God's creation ;” and by Paul, Col. 1. 15. "The first born of all creation."-The prophet then proceeds in the third part, to ftate THE LEADER's temporary rejection of the tribes of Judah and of Ifrael, during their refpective captivities, the Affyrian, Babylonian and Roman, and their final deliverance, after THE LEADER'S miraculous human birth; intimated in the remarkable expreffion, . Paritura pariet, "She that shall bear, have borne-which corresponds to Ifaiah's illuftrious prophecy of CHRIST'S miraculous conception, 7. 14. "THE VIRGIN jhall conceive and bear a fon"-applied to the Virgin Mary, by the Archangel Gabriel, Luk. 1. 31. "Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bear a fon, &c." And as Micah, was contemporary with Ifaiah, and appears to have been intimately converfant with his writings, from many allufions thereto, particularly to that remarkable prophecy of Ifaiah, 2. 2, 5, defcriptive of the converfion of the Jewish and Gentile world to CHRIST, which Micah has copied and improved, 4. 1, 4,-there cannot remain a reasonable doubt of the true import of this myfterious expreffion.

And that fome obfcure notices of the miraculous conception, were communicated to the earlier prophets, we may collect, from Prov. 30. 18, 19, and Ecclef. 11. 5, and afterwards from Jer. 31. 22.-And the high importance of the fubject, induces me to ftate thefe notices, in a fuller and clearer light, than I have any where hitherto feen, and to mark their connexion with each other, and with the prophecies in queftion.

The firft of thefe notices, appears to be contained in the last of the wife Agur's myfteries: Prov. 30. 19.

Quum mundus

*This fecond part of Micah's prophecy is thus excellently explained in the Pirke of R. Eliefar. "Egreffiones ejus funt ab initio”—h. e. nondum effet conditus." Prov. 8. 22,

Thefe

Thefe three things are too wonderful for me:
But the fourth I know not:

The way of an eagle [flying] in the air;
The way of a ferpent [gliding] on a rock;
The way of a fhip [failing] in the main fea,
The way of a male child [conceived] in a virgin.

"The way" in all thefe cafes, fignifies "the mode or manner of operation" in the laft, which is reprefented as the most mysterious, the word, ny, ufed both by Agur and Ifaiah, is appropriated to a pure virgin, (like Taper, in Greek) in all the other paffages in fcripture, wherein it occurs; being applied to Rebecca, Gen. 24. 43, to Miriam, Exod. 2. 8, to virgins in religious proceflion, Pf. 68. 25. And diftinguished from queens and concubines, as maids of honour, Canticles, 6. 8.-And the word, 71, fignifies a male child, in Job, 3. 3, and is there rendered by the Septuagint, apr.-A rendering, which feems to be adopted, in the account of the mysterious birth of our REDEEMER, Revel. 12. 5, where he is reprefented, as, & apply, a male child," who is "to rule all the Gentiles with an iron fceptre"-(clearly pointing out THE MESSIAH of David's description) but who, until then, was caught up unto God and his throne" to protect him from that Great Dragon, who ftood ready to devour him at his birth.

In the fecond of thefe notices, Solomon feems to allude to Agur's ;, Ecclef. 11. 5.

"As thou knoweft not what is the way of the wind;
As [thou knoweft not, what is the way of] the bones
In the womb of the pregnant: 10, thou canst not know
The work of Gop, who maketh the univerje."

A paffage, finely applied by OUR LORD, in his myfterious conversation with Nicodemus, to illuftrate the unknown nature of Spiritual generation, John, 3. 8.

[As] the wind bloweth where it lifteth ;

And thou hearest the found thereof, but knoweft not

Whence it cometh and whither it goeth :

So, is every one that is born of THE SPIRIT."

And Jeremiah ftill more plainly alludes to Ifaiah's prophecy :

"THE LORD createth a new thing in the earth :—

A woman fhall compass a male child!"

Here the fame word, 2 is ufed, as in Agur's myftery, and requires, to be rendered, the fame way-" a male child." For furely, there could be nothing new or fupernatural in the pregnancy of a married woman; a woman," muft denote an unmarried one, or by, a virgin," as in Ifaiah: especially as in both prophets, it is reprefented as a fign, folemnly propofed by THE LORD to a difobedient and gainfaying people.

,נקבה,therefore

་

Thefe interpretations of Agur's, Ifaiah's and Jeremiah's myftery, are not novel; they are fupported by refpectable Jewish authority.The celebrated R. Judah, furnamed Hakkadofh, or "the Holy," the author of the Mishna, allegorizes the whole of Agur's myfteries, as relating to THE Vol. III. Churchm, Mag. Sept, 1802, S MESSIAH,