JUDGMENT CONTINUED.
All paid respect to the person and speech of Goldwell; all
acknowledged his influence; and, had he rose to retire, not an
individual would have remained to dispute one moment longer any
matter whatsoever. All knew this well; so that, when the Bishop had
once declared his decision, not the most furious zealot dared to
utter a word. Bilney rose amidst the most profound silence.
'I can perceive,' he said, 'most worthy prelate, how very quickly
these priests of Ipswich judge our motives, how little credit they
give us for sincerity, and how soon they would gag our mouths, could
they prevent our speech before thee. I am glad to find, however,
that they pay thee the respect which not only thine office, but
thyself dost deserve, inasmuch as they retain silence at thy command.
I am silent, Bishop Goldwell, if thou dost command me; but, as thou
hast given me liberty to speak, I will confine my observations to the
one point which my friend has taken up upon this occasion--namely,
the giving the Word of God into the hands of the people.
'Now, if I, or any other person having authority so to do, preaches
the gospel, is the source whence we derive all our knowledge to be
concealed? I would ask, supposing a messenger came to thee to order
thee to go to such a place, wouldst thou not ask whence he derived
his authority, what credentials he had to show for thine undertaking
such a journey?
'No man would attend the bidding of another unless the bidding came
from a source he could not dispute, and he was convinced it was his
duty to obey. So I maintain before thee and all this assembly, that
when we preach and teach the glad tidings of salvation, the people
should have the law and the testimony, the Old and New Testaments,
before them, that they may judge of the truth of the message,
invitation, or threatenings which we hold forth.
'How is it possible for the people to believe any truth of Scripture
without the assurance of the Scriptures themselves? I might as well
preach the heathen mythology if they are merely to believe what we
tell them, without our laying before them the grounds of our belief.
'I would never believe there were such persons as Adam, Abel, Seth,
or Noah, or such an event as the Deluge, or such a person as Abraham,
or the promise given to him as is recorded, without I had read or
heard the Scriptures read, from whence the knowledge of such things
and persons is derived. And how can we expect that the things we
would not believe ourselves without such evidences, others should
take upon a man's mere ipse dixit?
'It is here that men are subject both to credulity and incredulity;
but give them the whole Word of God, let them see the wisdom which it
conveys, let them think for themselves, and I am persuaded that we
need never be afraid of the spread of divine knowledge.
'We cannot pretend to be inspired prophets of God, deriving from him
a direct communication independent of that which he has once shed
upon his ancient prophets and apostles. However secluded and
separated we may be from the rest of the world--I ask thee, Bishop
Goldwell--can we derive a direct communication from Heaven beyond the
written Word of God? I do maintain then, that we should teach
nothing for doctrine, but what the Revelation of God has unfolded.
'I would not, therefore, have the Word of God a sealed book amongst
us, but spread far and wide among all people, that honest hearts may
see the salvation of God, and glorify the Father of Light from whom
it proceeded.
'Such appearing, to my mind, to be the wisdom required in the present
day to drive from men's minds the clouds of darkness, I ask thee,
Bishop Goldwell, wherein I speak what can, with justice, be called
heretical? I should be glad to hear thy decision upon this point.'
The priest of St. Peter rose quickly from his seat, and stood erect
before the company. He had his hair shorn with the utmost precision,
his scalp bald, save the curling edges of grey hair which were
allowed to cover his ears. He had a dark, black, piercing eye, which
told of anything but calmness, every now and then flashing at Bilney
and at the Bishop, as if it would strike a spark out of theirs to
consume them. His spirit was evidently perturbed within him, and he
could scarcely compose his nerves sufficiently to let his words come
forth without passion.
He shook his vest with anger, as if he would not be contaminated with
the touch of such men as spake that day.
'Shall the church,' he exclaimed vehemently, 'hold no more
traditions? Shall we teach no kind of observances? Is the advice of
our prelates and preachers to be no longer listened to, except it
accord with the crude notions of this man? Are the people to run
wild here and there after such preachers as John Bale and Thomas
Bilney? We may as well at once give up our holy vows, and yield our
right to the power of this wild abuse--that the people are to have
private judgment, and cavil at our interpretation of the Bible. They
hear our anthems, they join our prayers, they attend our altars,
receive our absolution, and what would they have more? They want not
to trouble their heads about the Scriptures. It is surely much
better for them to accept what we tell them than to seek to be wise
above learned men.
'But if their minds become disturbed by such men as these, there is
no telling what may be the consequence. The real fact, Bishop
Goldwell, is, these men have become bitter enemies to the Church of
Rome, and, under the pretence of introducing the Scriptures to the
notice of the people, they take every opportunity of inveighing
against our authority. They know themselves deserving of censure
from the church, they subject themselves to punishment, and I should
think it no more than a duty I owed to the church, if I were in thy
place, to commit them at once to the custody of some keeper.
'I conjure thee, venerable Prelate, not to listen to their complaint;
"the poison of asps is under their lips, and they do but flatter with
their tongues." I conjure thee, by the vows thou hast taken to
support the church, to summon at once to thy court at Norwich these
refractory sons of the church, that they may be made to answer before
thy dean and chapter for the evil they have done; that if they do not
cease publishing their absurd notions of religious freedom, their
mouths may be stopped by thine authority, which, if thou dost fail to
use, I tell thee before this company that I shall at once make a
complaint to the Pope.
'It is all very well for thee to make this show of popularity in this
ancient palace, and at thine own board, but a bishop who is so
discourteous to his own clergy, and so very partial to these
recusants, is not, I conceive, faithful to his trust. I am
discontented and dissatisfied with the treatment which we true sons
of the Roman Catholic Church have met with this day, and I conceive
that a just cause of complaint is given to the hierarchy in Ipswich;
and, unless a direct distinction be forthwith made in our behalf, I
shall call upon all my brethren to join me in a petition to the
higher authorities, that we may be justified in the sight of our
fellow-townsmen.'
A dead silence pervaded that assembly, and even the Bishop waited to
see if any other speaker would venture to utter a word. All eyes
were turned towards the place where he sat; yet the only person seen
to move was Alice De Clinton, who, leaning towards the Bishop, begged
an exchange of place with Lord De Freston, that she might the more
easily communicate what she had to say in the Bishop's ear. From her
well-known character, her stern dignity, and cold-blooded, chilly
disposition, it was well considered that nothing amiable could
proceed. It was with some degree of shame that the Lord De Freston
saw this female influence exercised, as unbecoming modesty as it was
the real interest of her sex.
Ellen read in her father's face his dissatisfaction, little thinking
that the sight of her intelligent countenance would awaken the
eloquence of her friend Latimer; but De Freston had been speaking to
him and urging him to say a word upon the occasion. Alice, however,
having taken her seat with immoveable frigidity of feature, and
silence still prevailing, Latimer rose.
'As a stranger to thee, Bishop Goldwell, and to the greater part of
this company, I should not have risen to give utterance to the words
of my heart had I not been urged thereto by my learned and truly
liberal friend Lord De Freston. He assures me that, so far from
being affronted with my boldness, thou wilt be the rather pleased
that I venture to trespass upon the attention of thine assembly. At
Oxford we are, as it is well-known, infected, if I may so call it,
with orthodoxy, overgrown to such a state of particularity as to make
things in themselves of no moment appear of the utmost consequence,
and things of the most vital interest of but minor consideration. We
are, moreover, intent upon learning, and never doubt for a moment
that wisdom will ultimately prevail.
'If a youth who departed from this town a few years ago, and who has
since become so distinguished for his learning and wisdom were here
this day, I should keep silence before him and thee, well convinced
that he would be much better able to speak those truths which I
conceive ought this moment to be spoken. His relatives and friends I
see before me, and some of them may not be sorry to hear me reëcho
his sentiments, though they may regret his absence. Speaking in our
theatre, some days ago, upon the same subject this day discussed, I
heard him declare, in a long and animated speech, the duties of
students with regard to scriptural learning, and the study of the
original languages in which the Scriptures were written; but as all
could not be learned enough to understand many things difficult
therein, the duty of the ministry is to explain those things, and to
afford living examples of that faith which they teach and preach. He
hoped to see the time when the Scriptures might be unlocked and
distributed in abundance to feed the people. His arguments were
based upon the grounds of truth, that the Word of God can never be
too widely circulated.
'The clergy, he declared, were but a very small portion of the
visible church, and would lose nothing of their influence with the
people by liberating their minds from ignorance of the Word of the
living God. In speaking of heresy, he maintained before the whole
university that it was nothing heretical to disseminate the
Scriptures.
'I mention Wolsey as my authority for this assertion, not only
because I know that in this his native place his fame is justly
celebrated, his learning esteemed, and he himself, though young, is
so highly respected, but because, Bishop Goldwell, his sentiments
accord with my own. I would ask any man here present, who desires to
know anything of his Redeemer, how he is to do so without the
Scriptures? Our Saviour said, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye
think ye have eternal life, and these be they which testify of me."
Now if we can have the Scriptures to search, it is our duty to look
into them, that we may discover the truth as it is in Him.
'I see before me all the principal priests of the various parishes in
this town, who all are attached to the ancient See of Rome. I value
the preservation of the records of truth there as highly as any of
them; but I say now, that heresy consists in the introduction of
impositions, not required by the Word of God. The impositions I call
_heresies_, are those of teaching for doctrine the commandment of men.
'I was at Bury lately, and saw what numbers of devout penitents were
sent from all parts of the kingdom to pay their devotion to a piece
of St. Edmund's shirt: Is not this heresy? There I saw what was
termed the sinew of St. Edmund, his sword, the parings of his toes;
and are such things to be held sacred?
'The monks showed me certain drops of what they termed St. Stephen's
blood. Even if it had been the blood of Stephen, was it an object to
be worshipped? is not this heresy? They showed me the coals on which
St. Lawrence was broiled, Thomas à Becket's boots and his penknife,
and numerous other things, to all of which they attributed such a
degree of sanctity, that I was convinced of their ignorance; and
however much history, revelation, and faith, might induce me to thank
God for the examples of such men, I could not but think it _heresy_
to pay any kind of adoration to relics of such things.
'But the spread of God's Word cannot be heresy, nor are those who
preach it heretics. God grant that our country may be the foremost
to spread the light of truth over this benighted world. Nothing can
be productive of so much happiness, either to the priest or the
people, as this enlightenment. But I have done, Bishop Goldwell, and
I have only to apologise for the length of time I have occupied the
attention of this assembly.'
Latimer took his seat, not without a smile of thanks from Ellen,
which not even the stern expression of Alice could in the least
chill. Yet Alice frowned at Ellen as if she despised her for that
look; and nothing but the rising of Bishop Goldwell to speak to his
guests prevented her precipitate and indignant retirement.