Acts and Monuments Volume 2 Part 2, Book 11 · Letters 1 · Letter 4
¶The copy of a letter sent by mayster Latimer, person of Westekington, in the countie of Weltes. to Syr Edward Baynton Knight. Salutem in Christo.
RIght worshipfull Syr, I recommend me vntounto youre maystership, with harty thankes for your so frendly, so charitable, and so mindefull remembraunce of me so poore a wretch. Wheras of late I receaued your letters by M. Bonnam, perceiuing therein both who be greeued wt me, wherfore, & what behoueth me to do, in case I must needs come vp, whiche your goodnes towardes me wt all other such like to recompense, where as I my selfe am not able, I shall not cease to pray my Lorde God, which both is able and also doth in deede reward all them that fauour the fauourers of his truth for his sake, for the truth is a common thinge, pertayning to eueryevery man, for the which eueryevery man shall aunswere an other daye. And I desire fauour neither of your maystership, neither of any man els, but in trueth, and for the trueth, I take God to witnesse whiche knoweth all. In verye deede maister Chauncellour dyd shew me that my Lord byshop of London had sent letters to him for me: and I made aunswere that he was myne Ordinary, and that both he might & shuld reforme me as farre as I needed reformation, as wel and as soone as my Lord of London. And I woulde be very loth (nowe thys deepe winter) being so weake and so feeble (not onelyonly exercised with my disease in my head and side, but also wyth new, both the colike and the stone) to take suche a iourney: and though he might so do, yet he needed not, for he was not bound so to do: notwithstāding I sayd, if he to do my Lord of London pleasure to my great displeasure, woulde needes commaund me to go, I would obey his commandement: yea, though it shuld be neuer so great a greuance and paynefull to me: with the which answere he was content, saying he would certifie my Lord of London thereof, trusting his Lordship to be content with the same: but as yet I heare nothing from him. M. Chauncellour also said that my Lord of Londō maketh as though he wer greatly displeased with me, for yt I did contēpne his authoritie, at my last being in London. Forsooth I preached in Abbe-church, not certayne then (as I remember) whether in his Dioces or no, intending nothing lesse then to contemne his authoritie, and this I did not of myne owne suinge, or by mine owne procuration, but at the request of honest merchaunt men (as they seemed to me) whose names I do not knowe, for they were not of myne acquayntaunce before: & I am glad therof for their sakes, least if I knew thē I shoulde be compelled to vtter them so, and theyr godlye desire to heare godly preaching shuld return to their trouble: for they required me very instantly, and to say ye truth euen importunately. Whether they were of that parish or no, I was not certayn: But they shewed not onelyonly themselues but also many other to be very desirous to hear me, pretending, great hunger, and thyrst of the word of God & ghostly doctrine. And vponupon consideration, and to auoyd al inconueniences, I put them of, and refused them twise or thrise, till at the last they brought me word that the Parson and Curate were not onelyonly content, but also desired me, notwithstanding that they certified him both of my name playnly, and also that I had not the bish. seale to shew for me, but onelyonly a licence of ye Uniuersitie, which Curate dyd receiue me, welcommed me, and when I shuld go into the pulpite gaue me the common benediction: so that I hadde not ben, alonely vncharitable, but also churlishly vncharitable if I would hauehave sayd nay. Nowe al this supposed to be trueth (as it is) I maruell greatly howe my Lorde of London can alledge any contempt, of him in me.
First, he did neuer inhibite me in my life, and if hee did inhibite his Curate to receaue me, what pertaineth that to me, which neither did know thereof, nor yet made any sute to the curate deceiptfully, nor it did not appeare to me very likely that the Curate would so litle hauehave regarded my Lords inhibitiō, which he mayntayneth so vigilantly, not knowing my Lords minde before. Therefore I coniected with my self that eyther the Curate was of such acquayntaunce with my Lord, that he might admitte whome hee would, or els (and rather) that it was a trayne and a trap layde before me, to the intent that my Lorde himselfe, or other pertayning to hym was appoynted to hauehave bene there, and to hauehave taken me if they coulde in my sermon, which coniecture both occasioned me somewhat to suspect those men which desired me, though they speake neuer so fayre and frendly, and also rather to go. For I preach nothing, but if it might be so, I woulde my Lorde him selfe might heare me eueryevery sermon I preache. So certayne I am that it is trueth, that I take in hand to preache. If I had wt power of my frendes (the Curate gaynesaying and withstanding) presumed to hauehave gone into the pulpitte, there had bene something wherefore to pretend a contēpt. I preached in Kent also, at the instaunt request of a Curate: yet here I not that his Ordinary layeth any contēpt to my charge, or yet doth trouble the curate. I maruel not a little, how my Lord Bysh. of London, hauing so brode, wyde, and large Dioces committed vntounto hys cure, and so peopled as it is, can hauehave leysure for preaching and teaching the word of God, oportune importune, tempestiue, intempestiue, priuatim, publice to his owne flocke, i…stando, arguendo, exhortando, monendo, c…m omni lenitate & doctrina, hauehave leysure (I say) eyther to trouble me, or to trouble him selfe wt me, so poore a wretch, a stranger to him & nothing pertayning to his cure, but as eueryevery man pertayneth to eueryevery mans cure, so intermixing & interm…ling himselfe with an other mans cure, as though he had nothing to doe in his owne. If I would do as some men seyn my Lorde dothe, gather vp my …oyle, as wee call it, warely and narrowly, and yet neyther preache for it in mine owne cure, nor yet other where, peraduenture he woulde nothing deny me. In very deede I did monish Iudges and Ordynaryes to vse charitable equitie in their iudgementes towardes suche as been accused, namely of suche accusers, which beene as like to heare and bewray, as other bene to say amisse, and to take mens words in the meaning therof, and not to wrast them in an other sense, then they were spoken in: for all suche accusers and witnesses be false before God, as sainct Hierome saith vponupon the xxvi. chapiter of Mathew. Nor yet I do not accompt those Iudges wel aduised, which wittingly will geue sentēce after such witnesses, much lesse those whiche procure suche witnesses agaynst any man: nor I thinke not iudges now a dayes so deeply confirmed in grace or so impeccable, but that it may behoue and become preachers to admonish thē to do well as wel as other kindes of men, both great and small. And this I did, occasioned of the epistle whiche I declared. Rom. vi. wherein is this sentence, non istes sub lege, sed sub gratia, ye christen men yt beleeue in Christ, are not vnderunder the law. What a saying is this (quod I) if it be not rightly vnderstande, that is as saynct Paule did vnderstand it? for the wordes sound as though he would goe about to occasion Christen men to breake lawe, seeing they be not vnderunder the law: and what tht pseudapostles, aduersaryes to sainct Paule would so hauehave taken them, and accused sainct Paule of the same to my Lord of London? if my sayd Lord would hauehave heard sainct Paule declare hys owne mynde, of his owne wordes, then he shoulde hauehave escaped, and the false Apostles put to rebuke: if he would hauehave rigorouslye followed vtennque allegata & probata, and hauehave geuen sē tence after relation of the accusers, then good S. Paule must hauehave borne a fagot at Paules crosse, my Lord of Lō don being hys iudge. Oh, it had ben a goodly sight to hauehave seene saynct Paule with a fagot on his backe, euē at paules crosse, my Lord of London Byshop of the same, sitting vnderunder the crosse. Nay verily I dare say, my Lord shoulde sooner hauehave burned him, for saynct Paule did not meane that christen men might breake law, and doe what soeuer they would, because they were not vnderunder the law: but hee did meane that Christen men might keepe the law & fulfill the lawe, if they woulde, because they were not vnderunder the law, but vnderunder Christ, by whome they were deuided from the tyranny of the law, and aboue the law, that is to saye, able to fulfill the lawe to the pleasure of him that made the law, which they could neuer do of their own strength, and without Christ: so that to be vnderunder the law, after Saynct Paules meaning, is to be weake to satisfie the lawe: and what could saynt Paule doe withall, though his aduersaries would not so take it? But my Lord would say peraduenture that men will not take the preachers woordes otherwise then they meane therein, bona verba, as though S. Paules woordes were not otherwise taken, as it appeareth in the thyrd chapiter to the Romaynes, where hee sayth, quod iniustitia nostra dei iustitiam commendat, that is to say, our vnrighteousnes commēdeth and maketh more excellent the righteousnes of God, which soundeth to many as though they should be euill, that good shoulde come of it, and by vnrighteousnes, to make the righteousnes of God more excellent. So saynct Paule was reported to meane: yet he did meane nothing so, but shewed the inestimable wisedome of God, which can vse our naughtines to the manifestation of his vnspeakable goodnes: not that we shuld do noughtily to that end and purpose. Now my Lord will not thinke (I dare saye) that S. Paule was to blame that he spake no more circumspectly, more warely, or more playnely, to auoyd euill offense of the people: but rather he will blame the people, for that they took no better heede, and attendaunce to Paules speaking, to the vnderstanding of the same: yea, he will rather pitty the people, whiche had bene so long nozeled in the doctrine of the Phariseis, and wallowed so long in darcknes of mans traditions, superstitions, and trade of liuinge, that they were vnapt ts receaue the bright lightnes of the truthe, and wholsome doctrine of God, vttered by Saynt Paule. Nor I thinke not that my Lord wil require more circumspection, or more conuenience to auoyd offense of errours in me, then was in sainct Paule when hee did not escape maleuolous corrections, & sclaunderous reportes of them that were of peruerse iudgementes, whiche reported hym to say, what soeuer he appeared to thē to say, or what so euer seemed to them to follow of his saying: but what followeth sic aiunt nos dicere, sic male loquuntur de nobis so they report vsus to say, sayth sainct Paule. So they speake euill of vsus: sed quorum damnatio iusta est, but such, whose damnation is iust sayth he: and I thinke the damnation of al such that euill reporten preachers nowe a dayes, likewise iust: for it is vntruth nowe and then. Yea Christ himselfe was misreported, & falsely accused, both as touching his words and also as concerning the meaning of his wordes. First he sayd: destruite, that is to say, destroy you: they made it possum destruere, Euill will neuer sayth well.that is to say, I can destroy: he sayd templum hoc, this temple, they added manu factum, that is to say made with hand, to bring it to a contrary sense. So they both inuerted his wordes, and also added vntounto hys wordes, to alter his sentence: for he did meane of the temple of his bodye, and they wrast it to Salomons temple. Now I reporte me whether it be a iust fame raysed vpp, and dispersed after this manner.Diffa…tion. Nay verely, for there be three maner of persons which can make no credible information. First, aduersaries, enemies: Second, ignoraunt & without iudgement: Thirdly, susurrones, that is to saye, whisperers, and blowers in mennes eares, whiche wyll spew out in hudder mudder, more then they dare auow openly. The first will not, the second cannot, the third dare not: therefore relation of such is not credible, and therfore can make no fame lawfull, nor occasion anye indifferent Iudge to make processe agaynst anye man, nor it maketh no litle matter what they be themselues that report of any man, neyther well or euill, for it is a great commendation to be euill spoken of, of them that be naughty themselues, and to be commended of the same, is many tymes no lytle reproche. God send vsus once all grace to wish one to an other, and to speake well one vponupon an other. Me semes it were comely, for my Lord (if it were comely for me to say so) to be a preacher himselfe, hauing so great a cure as he hath, then to be a disquieter and a troubler of Preachers, and to preache nothing at all himselfe. If it woulde please his Lordship to take so great laboure and payne at anye tyme,…ay, my Lord wil… none of …. as to come preache in my little Byshoppricke at Westkington, whether I were present or absent my selfe, I would thank his Lordship hartily, and thinke my selfe greatly bounden to hym, that hee of his charitable goodnes would go so farre to helpe to discharge me in my cure or els I were more …naturall then a beast vnreasonable nor yet I would dispute, contende or demaunde by what authoritie or where he had authoritye so to do, as long as his predicatiō were fruitfull, & to ye edification of my parishioners. As for my lord may do as it pleaseth his lordship I pray God he do alwayes as wel as I would wishe him euer to do: but I am sure S. Paule ye true minister of god, & faythfull dispensour of Gods miste & ries, right exemplar of all true and very byshoppes, saith in the first chapter to the Philippians, that in hys tyme some preached Christ for enuy of hym, thinking therby so to greeue hym withall, and as it were to obscure him, and to brynge hys authoritie into contempt, some of good wil and louelove, thinking thereby to comfort him: notwithstanding (sayth hee) by all manner of wayes, and after all fashions, whether it be of occasion or of truth, as ye would say for truthes sake so that Christ be preached and shewed, I ioy and will ioy, so much he regarded more the glory of Christ, and promotion of Christes doctrine, to the edificatiō of christē soules then the mayntenaunce of hys own authoritie, reputation and dignitie, considering right well, as he sayd, that what authoritie so euer he had, it was to edification and not to destruction. Now I thinke it were no reproch to my lord but very commendable, rather to ioy with saynt Paule, & be glad that Christ be preached quouismodo, yea thoughe it were for em…y, that is to say in disdayne, despite and contempt of his Lordship (Which thing no man well aduised will enterprise or attempte) then when the preachyng can not be reprooued iustly, to demaunde of the preacher austerely as the Phariseis did of Christ, qua authoritate haec facis, aut quis dedit tibi istam autoritatem? as my authoritie is good enough, and as good as my Lorde can geue me any, yet I would be glad to hauehave hys also, if it wold please his Lordship to be so good Lorde vntounto me. For the vniuersitie of Cambridge hath authoritie Apostolicke,… to admitte. 12. yearely, of the which I am one, and the kynges highnes. God saue his grace, did decree that all admitted of Uniuersities, should preache throughout all hys realm as lōg as they preached well, without distreine of any mā, my Lorde of Caunterbury, my Lorde of Duresme, wyth such other not a fewe standing by, and hearyng the decree nothing again saying it, but consenting to the same. Now to contemne my Lord of Londons authoritie were no litle fault in me: so no lesse fault might appeare in my Lorde of London to contemne the kinges authoritie and decree, yea so Godlye, so fruitefull, so commendable a decree pertayning both to the edification of christen soules, and also to the regard and defence of the popish grace and authoritie Apostolique. To hauehave a booke of the kinges not inhibited, is to obey the kyng, and to inhibite a preacher of the king admitted, is it not to disobey the kinge? is it not one king that doth inhibite and admitte, and hath hee not as great authorititie to admitte as to inhibite? He that resisteth the power, whether admitting, or inhibiting, doth he not resist the ordinaunce of God? we low subiectes are bound to obey powers, and their ordinaunces: and are not the highest subiectes also, who ought to geue vsus ensample of such obedience? As for my preaching it selfe, I trust in God my Lorde of London cannot rightfully belacke it, nor iustly reproue it, if it be taken with the circumstance thereof, and as I spake it, or els it is not my preaching, but hys that falsely reporteth it, as the Poet Martiall sayd to one that depraued hys booke: quem recitas meus est, o Fidentiue, libellus: sed male cum recitas, incipitesse tuus. But now I heare say that my Lorde of London is informed, and vponupon the sayd information hath informed the king, that I go about to defend Bilney, and his cause, agaynst his ordinaryes and iudges, whiche I ensure you is not so: for I had nothing to do with Bilney, nor yet with hys Iudges, except his Iudges did him wrong: for I did nothing els but monishe all Iudges indifferently to doe right, nor I am not altogether so foolish as to defende the thing which I knewe not. It might hauehave become a preacher to say as I sayd, though Bilney had neuer bene born I hauehave known Bilney a great while, I thinke much better then euer did my Lord of London: for I hauehave bene his ghostly father many a time: and to tell you the truth,Bilney cō mended. what I hauehave thought alwayes in him, I hauehave knowne hetherto few such so prompt, and ready to doe eueryevery man good, after hys power, both frends and foe, noysome wittingly to no man, and toward hys enemy so charitable: so seking to reconcile them, as he did, I hauehave knowne yet not many, and to be shorte in a summe a very simple good soule, nothing fitte nor meete for thys wretched worlde, whose blinde fashion and miserable state (yea farre from Christes doctrine) he could as euill beare, and would sorow, lamēt and bewayle it as much as any man that euer I knew: as for his singular learning, as well in holy scripture, as in all other good letters, I will not speake of it. Notwythstanding if he eyther now of late, or at any tyme attempted any thing contrary to the obedience whiche a christian man doth owe, eyther to hys prince or to hys byshoppe, I neyther do nor will allowe and approue that, neyther in hym nor yet in any other man: we be all men, and readye to fall: wherfore he that standeth, let hym beware hee fall not. Now he ordered or misordered hymself in iudgemeēt, I cannot tell, nor I will not meddle wythall: God knoweth, whose iudgementes I will not iudge. But I cannot but wonder, if a man liuyng so mercifully, so charitablye, so paciently, so continently, so studiously, and vertuously, and killyng hys old Adam, that is to say, mortifie his euill affections, & blynde motions of hys hart, so dilligently should dye an euill death, there is no more but let hym y• standeth beware that he fall not: for if such as he shall dye euill, what shall become of me such a wretch as I am? but let this goe, a little to the purpose, and come to the poynt we must rest vponupon. Eyther my Lord of London wil iudge my outward man onelyonly, as it is sayde, Omnes vident quae foris sunt, or els he will be my God, & iudge mine inwarde manne, as it sayd Deus autem intuetur cor: if he will hauehave to do onelyonly with mine outward man, and meddle with mine outward conuersation, how that I hauehave ordered my selfe towarde my christen brethren the kynges liege people, I trust I shall please and content both my Lorde God, and also my Lorde of London: for I hauehave preached and teached but accordyng to holy scripture, holy fathers, and ancient interpretours of the same, with the whiche I thinke, my Lord of London will be pacified: for I hauehave done nothing els in my preaching, but with all diligence moued my auditours to fayth and charitie to do theyr duety, and that that is necessary to be done. As for thinges of priuate deuotion, meane thynges, and voluntary thinges, I hauehave reproued the abuse, the superstition of them, without condemnation of the thinges themselues, as it becommeth Preachers to do, which thyng if my Lord of London will do himselfe (as I would to God he would doe) he shoulde be reported (no doubt) to condempne the vse of such thynges, of couetous men which chaue dammage, and finde lesse in theyr boxes by condemnation of the abuse, whiche abuse they sayd rather should continue stil, then your profite should not continue, (so thorny be theyr hartes:) if my Lord wyll needes coste and inuade my inward man, will I nill I, an… breake violently into my hart, I feare me I shall either displease my Lord of London, which I would be very lothe, or els my Lord GOD, which I will be more lothe: not for anye infidelitie, but for ignoraunce, for I beleue as a christen man ought to beleue: but peraduenture my Lord knoweth and wyll know many thyngs certaynely, which (perchaunce) I am ignoraunt in, wyth the which ignoraunce though my Lorde of London may if hee will, … discontent, yet I trust my Lorde God will pardon it as long as I hurt no man withall, and saye to hym with dilligent study, and dayly prayer paratum cor meum Deus, paratum cor meum, so studying, preaching, and tarying the pleasure and leisure of God. And in the meane season. Actes. viij. as Apollo did, when hee knew nothing of Christ, but Baptismum Iohannis, teach and preache myne euen christen that, and no farther then I know to be true. There be three Creedes, one in my masse, an other in my mattyns, the thyrd common to them that neyther sayeth masse nor mattyns, nor yet knoweth what they say when they say the Creede: and I beleue all three wyth all yt God hath left in holy writte, for me and all other to beleeue: yet I am ignoraunt in thynges whiche I truste hereafter to know, … I do now know thinges, in which I hauehave bene ignorau…t at heretofore: euer learne and euer to be learned, to profit… wt learning, with ignorance not to noy. I hauehave thought in times past, that the Pope Christes Uicar, had bene Lord of all the world as Christ is, so that if he should hauehave depryued the kyng of hys Crowne, or you of ye Lordshyp of Bromeham, it had bene enough: for he could do no wrong. Now I might be hyred to thyncke otherwyse: not withstanding I hauehave both seene and heard scripture drawen to that purpose, I hauehave thought in tymes past, that the Popes dispensations of pluralities of benefices,No man so … but he may learne. and absence from the same, had discharged consciences before God: forasmuche as I had heard ecce vobiscum sum, & qui vos a…dit, me audit, bended to coroborate the same. Nowe I might be easely entreated to thinke otherwise &c.
I hauehave thought in times past yt the P. could hauehave spoyled purgatory at his pleasure wt a word of his mouth: now learnyng might perswade me otherwise, or els I woulde maruayle why he would suffer so muche money to be bestowed that way, whiche so needefull is to be bestowed otherwise, and to depriue vsus of so many patrones in heauē as he might deliuer out of purgatorye. &c. I hauehave thought in tymes past, that and if I hadde bene a Fryer and in a cowle, I could not hauehave bene dāpned, nor afeard of death and by occasion of the same I hauehave bene minded manye tymes to hauehave bene a Fryer, namely whē I was sore sick and diseased. Now I abhorre my superstitious foolishenes. &c. I hauehave thought in tymes past, that diuers Images of sayntes could hauehave holpen me, and done me much good, and deliuered me of my diseases: now I know that one can helpe, as much as an other. And it pittyeth myne hart that my Lord and such as my Lord is, can suffer the people to be so craftely deceiued, it were to long to tell you what blindnes I hauehave bene in, and howe long it were or I coulde forsake such folly, it was so corporate in me: but by cōtinual prayer cōtinual study of scripture, & oft cōmuning wt men of more right iudgemēt, God hath deliuered me &c. Yea, mē thinketh yt my lord himself hath thought in tymes past that by Gods lawe a man might marrye hys brothers wyfe, which nowe both dare thinke and say contrarye: and yet this his boldnes might hauehave chaunced in Pope Iulius dayes, to stand hym eyther in a fire, or els in a fagot. Whiche thing deepely considered, and pondered of my Lord, might something stirre hym to charitable equity and to be something remissable toward men, which labor to do good as theyr power serueth wyth knowledge, and doth hurt to no man with theyr ignorauncye, for there is no greater distaunce, then betweene Gods lawe and not gods law: nor it is not so, or so, because any man thinketh it so, or so: but because it is so or so in deede, therefore wee muste thynke it so, or so when God shal geue vsus knowledge thereof, for if it be in deede eyther so or not: it is so or not so, though all the world hadde thought otherwyse these thousand yeares &c. And finally as ye saye, the matter is weightye and ought substantially to bee looked vponupon, euen as weighty as my lyfe is worth: but howe to looke substantially vponupon it, otherwyse know not I, then to pray my Lord God day and nyght, that as he hath bolded me to preache hys truthe, so hee will strengthen me to suffer for it, to the edification of them which hauehave taken by the workyng of hym, fruite thereby, and euen so I desire you, and all other that fauour me for hys sake, lykewise to pray: for it is not I, (wythout his mighty helping hand) that can abide that brute, but I hauehave trust that God will helpe me in tyme of neede, whiche if I had not, the Ocean sea, I thinke should hauehave deuided my Lord of Lō don and me by thys day. For it is a rare thing for a Preacher to hauehave fauour at hys hand which is no preacher him selfe, and yet ought to be: I pray God that both he and I may both discharge our selues, he in hys great cure, and I in my little, to Gods pleasure and safety of our soules. Amen. I pray you pardon me that I write no more dystinctly, more truely: for my head is so out of frame, that it should be to paynefull for me to write it agayne, and if I be not preuented, shortly I intend to make mery with my Parishioners thys Christmas, for all the sorrowe, least perchaunce I neuer returne to them agayne: and I hauehave heard say, that a Doe is as good in wyn…er, as a Bucke in sommer.