It is vital to emphasise the importance of preaching in the Protestant Reformation. Thomas Bilney has been described as the “Reformation’s first important evangelist” (1). So we immediately begin to see that the Reformation was not just about the Church establishing right doctrine. It was also about proclaiming Christ to those who are lost in sin and unbelief and the establishment of the primacy of preaching the gospel in the life of the Church.
The Bishop of Ely ordained Thomas Bilney in 1519, and he was made a Fellow of Trinity Ha;; Cambridge in 1520 (2). Far more significantly, however, it was in 1519 that Bilney was brought to a saving faith in Christ, as he was reading the New Testament produced by Erasmus, which took the format of parallel texts in Greek and Latin. It had first been produced in 1516, and a second edition appeared in 1519. Erasmus would have shunned any identification with the early Protestant Reformers, but he was nevertheless a fine example of Renaissance humanism in his scholarship and desire to study original sources, and in God’s providence his Greek New Testament was highly significant in the development of the thinking of the Reformers.
Bilney had been labouring under deep conviction of sin, but the clergy of the day were unable to show him the way of peace. They advised him to engage in various acts of penance, in fasting and saying masses, and even paying for the pardon of sins. He did all that the Roman Catholic Church asked of him, but peace never came to his heart (3). However, as he read Erasmus’s New Testament the Holy Spirit began to speak to him, particularly through the words of 1 Timothy 1:15,
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).
Bilney said of this verse, “Through God’s instruction and inward working … (it) did so exhilarate my heart, being before wounded with the guilt of my sins, and being almost in despair, that Immediately I felt a marvellous comfort and quietness, insomuch that my bruised bones leaped for joy” (4) . Bilney was taking a risk by reading Erasmus’s work, because the University authorities had forbidden its being brought onto college premises by any means (5).
Bilney’s basic nature was to be shy and retiring, but as the gospel began to take hold of him, he longed to share what he had discovered with others. He came to be particularly gifted in engaging in personal evangelism amongst his contacts in Cambridge. By doing this, he had a great influence upon the course of the developing Reformation movement (6). He even had a beneficial effect upon one who would be a future Archbishop of Canterbury under Elizabeth 1st, namely Matthew Parker (7). Another notable figure with whom he had contact was the eminent classics scholar, George Stafford, who drew large numbers of students to his lectures, and so his conversion to Christ under Bilney’s direction had a significant impact on Cambridge life. Bilney was also instrumental in the conversion of a Queen’s College student called John Lambert, who went on to be an associate of Thomas Cromwell, one of the primary instigators of the legal aspects of the English Reformation during Henry VIII’s reign. In 1536 Lambert was burnt at the stake as a heretic, because he rejected the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (8), (9).
It may perhaps cause us to smile somewhat in that a primary seedbed where the ideas behind the English Reformation would first be nurtured was in fact a public house. Located in Cambridge, it was called ‘The White Horse Inn’. The church authorities came to view Cambridge as a centre for what they saw as the new German heresy, the teachings of Martin Luther. Bilney was at the heart of the meetings taking place at the White Horse Inn, particularly in the years 1525 and 1526. Amongst those who came to these gatherings was the reformer and martyr, Robert Barnes, who also took part in smuggling the Bible in English into the country. Also in attendance would be Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, Miles Coverdale and Thomas Cranmer (10), another future Archbishop, and also a martyr.
A key church in the initial development of English Protestantism was the small church of St. Edward in Cambridge, the church attached to Clare College, Cambridge, where Bilney and Latimer were located. They and Robert Barnes would be amongst the preachers at this church, and the White Horse Inn was also in the same parish. The meetings for discussions on what the Bible really teaches could have begun as early as 1520, because there was an official book burning of heretical works carried out by the authorities in Cambridge either late in 1520 or early in 1521. We also know that the writings of Erasmus and Luther were circulating in England even in 1519 (11).
In May 1521 there was a more grand public burning of books setting forth the ideas of the early Reformers at St. Paul’s in London. Cardinal Wolsey, leading nobles and bishops were present (12). This brings home to us how dangerous the climate was for these pioneers of Reformation thinking.
Bilney became more and more diligent as a gospel minister. He visited the sick, not only to attend to their practical needs but also to show them the way of salvation. He was in this way doing essential pioneering work in the cause of the Reformation, and the key was his receiving the vital doctrine of justification by faith alone, rather than trying to earn one’s salvation through works and religious duties (13). He also engaged in much prison visitation to proclaim the gospel message. The norm for a very long time had been for Church leaders to neglect any particular emphasis on the vital importance of Bible-based preaching in the Church’s ministry to the world (14). Bilney sought to remedy this situation.
He was officially given authority to preach in the diocese of Ely in 1525. He also began to go further afield (15). In 1527, even though he had been warned by Cardinal Wolsey to stop preaching what the authorities regarded as dangerous Lutheran doctrine, he began itinerating around the Eastern counties of England. His preaching included attacks on corrupt teaching within the Church, and he spoke, for example, against praying to the saints, the Church’s view of purgatory, the practice of ascribing miraculous powers to relics, and the veneration of images (16). His Bible-based preaching was so controversial that on two occasions at Christ Church in Ipswich he was physically pulled down from the pulpit. John Foxe tells us that “at Hadleigh (in Suffolk Bilney) preached with such success that a great number of that Parish became exceeding well learned in the Holy Scriptures” (17). Bilney’s preaching also took place in the open air – in the fields of Norfolk.
Bilney was actually engaged in itinerant preaching, when he was arrested in November 1527. This is surely significant. He was not arrested, as he was writing a scholarly paper in his study, but as he was out in the highways and byways proclaiming Christ. He was again summoned to appear before Cardinal Wolsey at Westminster on November 29th, who was joined by Bishop Tunstall of London and Sir Thomas More. He went through lengthy cross-examination over many days. There were witnesses present willingly testifying against him about his heretical opinions. We must remember that Bilney was by nature a very quiet and retiring individual, and under all the pressure created by this summons before the church authorities, he, very sadly, agreed publicly to denounce Luther’s teachings. This was primarily because he did not have enough light at this stage to agree with Luther about the necessity of separation from the Roman Catholic Church. To Bilney, there was simply one true Church, which of course is correct in terms of the true body of Christ comprising those saved by grace alone, but which is not true concerning any human institution called a church.
Despite this regrettable public rejection of the German reformer by Bilney, he still remained in deep trouble with the authorities, refusing to withdraw all that he himself had been teaching. He continued to deny, for example, Mary’s perpetual virginity, and the intercession of departed saints such as Peter and Mary on behalf of God’s people, the Lord Jesus Christ being our only Mediator and Advocate with the Father. He was being held in prison, and his life was still in danger on the charge of being a heretic. Increasing pressure was placed upon him to recant all that he had been preaching against the Church. He asked to call witnesses in his support, but this was not permitted.
However, friends were allowed to come and visit him. They tried to convince him that he could accomplish far more in the Lord’s service by staying alive than by refusing to recant and so be executed (18). He was influenced by these arguments, and he was also mentally and physically exhausted, and with the extended nature of the cross-examinations which he had to undergo, he tragically and finally chose publicly to recant all that he had ever preached, and admitted that he had been guilty of heresy. He did this on December 7th 1527 (19).
Bilney was then marched through the streets of London in a public act of humiliation, and was kept in prison for a further year, only being released either in late 1528 or early 1529. The time in prison was a time of deep darkness and despair for him, and even after his release, he continued in deep depression for another year, so much so that his friends ere fearful of his being left on his own. He knew that he had denied the truths of God’s word and he was profoundly convicted.
So we must endeavour not to be too hard on Bilney for his act of recanting. In these early pioneering days of the Reformation he simply did not realise that there was any other way of faithfully serving God other than through the Church of which he was a part. To imagine that the Church itself could actually be the enemy of the gospel was simply beyond the light which he had so far received. Of course, because of the labours of those who have gone before us, we now understand fully that churches can indeed be the enemies of the gospel.
Gradually by God’s grace light and peace did finally return to Bilney. He slowly began to accept that he had done what he had done, but that God was also merciful. He continued studying the Scriptures for some months and started having regular meetings once more with Hugh Latimer and others. He also reengaged in the task of visiting those who were sick (20).
With the appointment of Sir Thomas More as Lord Chancellor and Bishop Stokesley as Bishop of London, the danger to those drawn to Luther’s teachings and a more Biblical outlook was now increasing greatly. Both More and Stokesley had a much severer attitude to the alleged heretics than their predecessors, Wolsey and Bishop Tunstall. This more vicious environment had the effect of drawing the attendees at the White Horse Inn meetings into deeper fellowship with one another (21). This more intense level of danger from the authorities may actually have been used by the Lord to strengthen Bilney’s own personal resolve. Another factor may have been the increasing effect and stir which Latimer’s preaching was now causing.
In a wonderful indication of his being restored in his walk with the Lord, early in 1531 Bilney left Cambridge and resumed his preaching, both privately and publicly. He had with him a copy of William Tyndale’s New Testament, which was a banned book. He resumed open air preaching and returned to his former teachings (22). Because of this, it was now only a matter of time, and he knew it, before he would be arrested again for heresy.
He also travelled to London, where Latimer was preaching, despite the hostility of Bishop Stokesley. On then returning to Norfolk Bilney was sure enough arrested and imprisoned as a relapsed heretic. He would soon be burnt at the stake during that same year. He was no more than about 36 years of age, but what a great and influential pioneer of Reformation teaching he had been in the movement’s early days.
We must also note see that his impact most definitely included his public preaching. The truth of Jesus Christ and his gospel of salvation cannot be hidden; it must be publicly proclaimed. The Lord told His disciples,
“What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops” (Matthew 10:27).
We began by referring to the enormous influence which Bilney had also by means of his personal witnessing to others. Perhaps the most significant figure amongst all those who heard Bilney’s testimony was Hugh Latimer, whom Bilney, by God’s grace, led to the Saviour in 1524. He did so by describing to him his own personal conversion experience, which, when Latimer heard it, greatly disarmed and humbled him.
Latimer was born c.1485 and become a Fellow of Clare Hall Cambridge in 1509. In the late 1510s and early 1520s his academic abilities began more and more to shine forth, and he became University Preacher and Chaplain at Cambridge in 1522 at a still relatively young age for such a position of no little importance and influence (23). At this stage he was using his many skills to defend the teachings of the Church in its utterly unreformed state. Indeed, he had obtained his divinity degree precisely on the grounds of his scholarly attack on Melanchthon’s writings. However, he said of Bilney’s witnessing to him that it made him learn far more spiritual truth than he had been able to acquire up to then over many years. It needed great humility for Latimer to confess that, and it demonstrates how the Holy Spirit was powerfully at work, when Bilney witnessed to him.
After his conversion in 1524 Latimer starts attending the White Horse Inn meetings in Cambridge frequented by those strongly drawn to the ideas of the Reformers. he joined Bilney in visiting the sick and those in prison in Cambridge. As Ryle informs us, “He commenced preaching in the University pulpits in a style hitherto unknown in Cambridge, and soon became famous as one of the most striking and powerful preachers of the day. He stirred up hundreds of his hearers to search the Scriptures and inquire after the way of salvation” (24).
Thomas Becon, who would later become chaplain to Thomas Cranmer, was converted under Latimer’s ministry. Becon wrote concerning Latimer’s preaching, “None, except the stiff-necked … went away from it without being affected with (a) high detestation of sin and moved unto all godliness and virtue” (25). Interestingly, Thomas Becon was the first Englishman ever to campaign for schools to be set up for the education of girls (26). The stance of the Reformers, with their strong emphasis on all the people being able to read the Bible for themselves in their own tongue, inevitably led to the embracing of the notion of proper education being necessary for all.
Latimer often preached at St. Edward’s Church in Cambridge, but he went further afield as well. He received opposition from the Bishop of Ely for his attacks upon orthodox teachings and practices, but Cardinal Wolsey, though no friend of the Reformers, liked Latimer’s style and even gave him license to preach throughout the country (27).
So when people tell us today that the only reason that the English Reformation took place was because a wicked and lustful king wanted a divorce, nothing could be further from the truth. The Reformation took place, because there was a rediscovery of the absolute authority of God’s word, the Bible.
Latimer became Rector of West Kington in Wiltshire and was appointed as Bishop of Worcester in 1535. In 1536 Cranmer asked him to preach in front of the Convocation of the Clergy, an amazing opportunity to exercise real influence, and when doing so, Latimer spoke of the need to for reform of the Church, and against various disreputable practices, such as the veneration of relics, the worship of images, bogus miracles and the sale of masses (28). So the doctrines of the Reformers were making some headway, and interestingly, in the Bishops’ Book of 1537, a credal exposition of the teachings of the then Church in England, the following admirable statement was made : “The office of preaching is the chief and most principal office whereunto priests or bishops be called” (29). In other words, the primacy of preaching was being asserted, even at this very early stage of the development of the Reformation. There was accordingly an increasing awareness that the minister’s or bishop’s fundamental role was not as an administrator, and nor was it as a priest offering up sacrifices at an altar, but it as a preacher of the word of God.
However, there was also a strong reaction welling up against the reforming influences. Despite Henry’s break with papal supremacy over the English Church, the King remained thoroughly Catholic in his doctrine, including accepting the error of transubstantiation, and in 1539, he had much personal input in causing the Six Articles Act to come onto the statute book, the purpose of which was to enforce key Roman Catholic doctrines with severe penalties for non-compliance. For example, the Act upheld auricular confession to a priest, the celibacy of the priesthood and decreed that any denial of transubstantiation would incur the penalty of death by burning.
Latimer felt that he had to oppose the Six Articles Act. As a result, he was made to resign his bishopric, and was imprisoned (30) . He was also again imprisoned in 1546, demonstrating to us that right up to the end of his reign Henry was jailing those who upheld the doctrinal principles of the Protestant reformers. Therefore, in the 1530s and 40s, as long as Henry was on the throne, Roman Catholicism continued to be the national religion, despite the King’s dissolution of the monasteries and his formal break with papal authority.
Latimer was released from prison upon the accession of the young Edward VI to the throne in 1547. His personal calling to preach was so strong that he desired to do this rather than resume his role as a bishop. So a pulpit ministry became his priority, along with some open air preaching at St. Paul’s Cross in London, where large numbers of passers-by would listen (31). Latimer preached, so to speak, ‘where the people were at’, having an ability to communicate with the less educated hearer. His sermons were earnest, witty, lively and engaging. One contemporary declared, ‘I have an ear for other preachers, but I have a heart for Latimer’ (32).
We read of our Lord in Luke 5,
And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship” (Luke 5:1-3) .
Latimer used this incident in our Lord’s ministry, which he quaintly described as preaching from “an old rotten boat, … to champion outdoor preaching … (He) thought that to limit preaching to the church building was superstition. He urged Edward VI to commend (any) preacher, wherever he preached the word of God, whether sitting on a horse or preaching in a tree … (he) may have got the idea of preaching on horseback from Rowland Taylor, one of his chaplains, who did so around the diocese of Worcester” (33).
Latimer’s preaching did not draw back from addressing the special evils of the day; not in terms what we would today call the social gospel, which is a heresy, but in terms of applying Biblical principles to people’s conduct which affected the well-being of others, especially the poorer classes (34). He would therefore often denounce covetousness as it affected others in society (35).
On 15th January 1548 Latimer preached his renowned Sermon on the Plough. It included an appeal to the nation’s bishops to focus upon the primary task of the Christian ministry, namely to preach the gospel, strongly criticising those prelates who neglected this task. Likening the preacher’s work to that of a ploughman who prepares the ground and makes it fit for growth, Latimer declared that a Christian minister, and therefore not least each bishop, must bring his hearers “to a faith that embraces Christ, and trusts to his merits; a lively faith, a justifying faith; a faith that makes a man righteous, without respect of works … now casting them down with the law, and with the threatenings of God for sin; now ridging them up again with the gospel” (36).
The boy king Edward was most favourable towards the Reformation, and so, in God’s providence, Latimer had much opportunity to preach before him and his royal court. What a national blessing this was (37).
When the Roman Catholic Queen Mary came to the throne in 1553, Latimer was imprisoned in the Tower of London (38). He knew six hours before his arrest that it was about to happen, but he chose not to flee. His attitude was, I have declared God’s word to two former kings, and I will now do so to the current Queen (39). He was now around 70 years of age. He was inevitably found guilty of heresy, and was burnt at the stake alongside Nicholas Ridley on October 16th 1655 (40). Before being toed to their stakes Latimer and Ridley embraced one another. Ridley then said to Latimer, “Be of good cheer, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the flames or else strengthen us to abide it”. An iron chain was bound around Latimer and Ridley’s midriffs and they were fastened to the same stake. As a flame was applied to the faggots around Ridley’s body, Latimer uttered the following famous words, “Be of good comfort, Brother Ridley, We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out” (41).
Our task today is to continue to keep that candle burning by fearlessly preaching the gospel. Latimer’s ministry shows us that the primary call of any minister in Christ’s church is to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Nor does this mean preaching only in a church pulpit. When the Holy Spirit is leading a man into the Christian ministry, it is a leading to be a preacher, an expounder of the word of God, which is our only authority. The minister’s calling is a constraint to make Christ known to as many people as possible through preaching. The minister in Christ’s church should be able to say with the apostle Paul,
“Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel” ( 1 Corinthians 9:6).
The word of God itself specifically focuses upon preaching as the primary instrument to bring sinners to Christ, because Paul states in Romans 10,
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher”? (Romans 10:14).
Latimer’s preaching focussed upon the problem of sin in the lives of men; it focussed on the need for righteousness before a holy God. Its emphasis was on ministering to the lost. He knew that bringing sinners to the Saviour was his task above all else. In the book of Proverbs wisdom is personified, and it refers to the second Person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Proverbs 1 we are told that
“Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words” (Proverbs 1:20–21). So there we are told that the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to a lost world is to be seen as in particular taking place in the public places where people gather.
If we wish to see true revival in Britain, it can only be through going into the public places and speaking of the universality of sin and of the need to flee from the wrath to come. Our priority is to explain Biblical truth to those who have not the slightest comprehension of the most basic reality concerning the nature of man, namely that all without exception are governed and controlled by hearts which are corrupted and polluted by nature, and that they therefore need new hearts – in other words, they must be born again. They must come in repentance and faith to Christ who makes all things new.
Concerning Hugh Latimer’s preaching, Bishop Ryle made the following assessment : “Few, probably, have ever addressed an English congregation with more effect than he did … if a combination of sound gospel doctrine, plain Saxon language, boldness, liveliness, directness and simplicity can make a preacher, few, I suspect, have ever equalled old Latimer” (42).
Let us note two of those characteristics : boldness and directness. These are essential elements in true gospel preaching. We must never be tempted to fashion our message to comply with the spirit of the age or to avoid upsetting anyone. We must never resort to the device of, in inverted commas, just preaching the gospel, so that we always avoid actually mentioning the prevailing sins of our own generation. We of course never focus exclusively on any one sin and we never seek to offend simply for the sake of it. However, it would be an absolute dereliction of duty if we made a point of never referring to the most fashionable sins of the present day.
In God’s providence Latimer had opportunity to preach before two kings, Henry VIII and Edward VI. He refused to preach in any different manner when doing so than when preaching to the common people. He knew that the God who is His Judge has an infinitely greater authority than the earthly king before whom he stood, and therefore he could not compromise upon the plain declarations of God’s word. This of course is telling us today that Christian preachers must be prepared to confront the government of the day, if that government is defying the laws of God.
Latimer referred to the high calling of preaching in the following way. He said, “(It is) the office of salvation and the office of regeneration … Take away preaching and you take away salvation … This office is the … ordinary way that God hath appointed to save us all … Preaching is the thing the Devil wrestle(s) most against” (43). So Latimer rightly perceived that it is through the instrumentality of preaching that men are born again and saved. It is not through music, not through pursuing cultural relevance, not through social activities and community involvement, but through the authoritative proclamation of God’s word, primarily by men called directly by God so to do, but also of course including the personal testimony by any true Christian to his neighbour about Christ being the only Saviour of sinners. In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul declares,
“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
The Christian message of universal sinfulness and salvation from hell through a death on a cross does not accord in any way with accepted human wisdom, but it is the message which we are commanded to proclaim. As we earnestly desire to see revival in our darkened nation today, it must be by means of the authoritative proclamation of men’s urgent need to repent of sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour. So may the Lord raise up in our own time earnest preachers whose steely resolve is that of the apostle Paul, namely,
“I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
© Copyright 2024 Pastor Peter Simpson
FOOTNOTES
1 Jeremy Thomas, The Nation’s Gospel, Wilberforce Publications, Vol. 1, p67
2 Marcus Loane, Masters of the English Reformation, Banner of Truth, p3
3 Marcus Loane, Masters of the English Reformation, Banner of Truth, p7
4 Marcus Loane, Masters of the English Reformation, Banner of Truth, p9 (quoting Pollard’s Wolsey)
5 Marcus Loane, Masters of the English Reformation, Banner of Truth, p8
6 Stuart Fisher, Thomas Bilney, Forgotten Reformer, DayOne, p35
7 Stuart Fisher, Thomas Bilney, Forgotten Reformer, DayOne, p36
8 Stuart Fisher, Thomas Bilney, Forgotten Reformer, DayOne, p33
9 Stuart Fisher, referring to Latimer’s sermon on the Lord’s Prayer, p47
10 Stuart Fisher, Thomas Bilney, Forgotten Reformer, DayOne, p38
11 A.G. Dickens, The English Reformation, Fontana Press, p102,103
12 A.G. Dickens, The English Reformation, Fontana Press, p103
13 A.G. Dickens, The English Reformation, Fontana Press, p118
14Jeremy Thomas, The Nation’s Gospel, Wilberforce Publications, Vol. 1, p74
15 A.G. Dickens, The English Reformation, Fontana Press, p118
16 A.G. Dickens, The English Reformation, Fontana Press, p117,118
17 Jeremy Thomas, The Nation’s Gospel, Wilberforce Publications, Vol. 1, p75
18 Stuart Fisher, Thomas Bilney, Forgotten Reformer, DayOne, p72
19 https://spartacus-educational.com/Thomas_Bilney.htm
20 Stuart Fisher, Thomas Bilney, Forgotten Reformer, DayOne, p79
21 Marcus Loane, Masters of the English Reformation, Banner of Truth, p40
22 Marcus Loane, Masters of the English Reformation, Banner of Truth, p41
23 Stuart Fisher, Thomas Bilney, Forgotten Reformer, DayOne, p41
24 J.C. Ryle, Light from Old Times, Evangelical Press, p150
25 J.C. Ryle, Light from Old Times, Evangelical Press, p150-151
26 A.G. Dickens, The English Reformation, Fontana Press, p293
27 Stuart Fisher, Thomas Bilney, Forgotten Reformer, DayOne, p48-49
28 J.C. Ryle, Light from Old Times, Evangelical Press, p154-155
29 Quoted by Jeremy Thomas, The Nation’s Gospel, Vol. 1, p95
30 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Latimer
31 Hugh Latimer: A Preacher of Righteousness, Thomas William Ernest Drury, The Irish Church Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 27 (Jul., 1914), pp. 202-213 (12 pages), https://www.jstor.org/stable/30067495
32 https://cprc.co.uk/articles/latimer/
33 Jeremy Thomas, The Nation’s Gospel, Wilberforce Publications, Vol. 1, p76
34 A.G. Dickens, The English Reformation, Fontana Press, p310
35 A.G. Dickens, The English Reformation, Fontana Press, p310 and p317
36 Roger Fay, Evangelical Times, quoting Latimer at https://www.evangelical-times.org/the-sermon-of-the-plough/
37 Roger Fay, Evangelical Times, https://www.evangelical-times.org/the-sermon-of-the-plough/
38 A.G. Dickens, The English Reformation, Fontana Press, p355
39J.C. Ryle, Light from Old Times, Evangelical Press, p15
40 https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tudor-england/hugh-latimer/
41 J.C. Ryle, Light from Old Times, Evangelical Press, p162-163
42 J.C. Ryle, Light from Old Times, Evangelical Press, p164
43 J.C. Ryle, Light from Old Times, Evangelical Press, p174