Remembering the English Reformers
CATHEDRAL NEWSLETTER - 17 October 2024
Illustration: Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
Friends in Christ, a little church history this week... The 16th of October is the sad anniversary of the burning at the stake in 1555, of English Reformers, Bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, under the direction of 'bloody' Queen Mary.
She was heading a campaign to restore Roman Catholic doctrine to England, after the death of her half-brother: the young, convictionally protestant King Edward VI in 1553. She restored the sacrifice of the Catholic mass with its understanding of transubstantiation (i.e. the bread literally changes into the flesh of Christ, though it looks no different), and the church services went back from English to Latin (and so out of ordinary people's understanding), and so forth...
Via her chosen bishops, the leaders of the newly protestant Church of England were kicked out of their offices and called before special commissions to recant their religious views, upon pain of death. Over her reign there were about 300 people burnt at the stake for sticking with the protestant Christian faith.
Not, I note, "as thieves, or murderers, or drunkards, or unbelievers", as J.C. Ryle put it, nor "as rebels against the Qeeen's authority caught red-handed in arms". But for their religious convictions...
They were shaped by the full and final authority of Scripture and by doctrines such as justification through grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone.
Before Latimer and Ridley, John Rogers, John Hooper, Rowland Taylor and John Bradford had made the ultimate sacrifice. Afterwards would follow Archbishop Thomas Crnamer, the principle author of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, which still shapes our church services today. (And which we use Evensong and the 8:30am Sunday Communion service.)
Here's how Ryle described the final day on earth in the life of Latimer and Ridley...
On the day of their martyrdom they were brought separately to the place of execution, which was at the end of Broad-street, Oxford, close to Balliol College. Ridley arrived on the ground first, and, seeing Latimer come afterwards, ran to him and kissed him, saying, “Be of good heart, brother; for God will either assuage the fury of the flames, or else strengthen us to abide it.” They then prayed earnestly, and talked with one another, though no one could hear what they said. After this they had to listen to a sermon by a wretched renegade divine named Smith, and, being forbidden to make any answer, were commanded to make ready for death.
Ridley’s last words before the fire was lighted were these,—“Heavenly Father, I give Thee most hearty thanks that Thou hast called me to a profession of Thee even unto death. I beseech Thee, Lord God, have mercy on this realm of England, and deliver the same from all her enemies.” Latimer’s last words were like the blast of a trumpet, which rings even to this day—“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.”
When the flames began to rise, Ridley cried with a loud voice in Latin, “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit: Lord, receive my spirit,” and afterwards repeated these last words in English. Latimer cried as vehemently on the other side of the stake, “Father of heaven, receive my soul.”
Latimer soon died. An old man, above eighty years of age, it took but little to set his spirit free from his earthly tenement. Ridley suffered long and painfully, from the bad management of the fire by those who attended the execution. At length, however, the flames reached a vital part of him, and he fell at Latimer’s feet and was at rest. And so the two great Protestant bishops passed away.
And here is how Ryle concluded his lecture "WHY WERE OUR REFORMERS BURNED?" (Church Association Lecture No. VI; St James’s Hall, Piccadilly, March 26, 1867):
Who is there here that loves the Church of England as it was made by our Reformers, and wishes it to be unchanged? Who is there here that desires his children may worship, after his death, in a church where there is an English Liturgy, and an English Bible, and a scriptural Lord’s Supper, and not a Popish mass, and no Confessional in the vestry? You are the man that ought to help us. Arise, and do something for Christ’s cause. Help us to withstand Ritualism.
In the name of the Lord let us set up our banners. If ever we would meet Ridley and Latimer and Hooper in another world without shame, let us contend earnestly for the truths which they died to preserve. The Church of England expects every Protestant Churchman to do his duty. Let us not talk only, but act. Let us not act only, but pray.
Our particular modern issues and challenges may be different, but I believe the authority of Scripture in all matters of faith and godly living, along with the centrality of Christ and the need for salvation through faith in him alone remain as constant fundamentals of our trinitarian faith.
Warmly in Christ,
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney