with a number of the Romish doctors on the subject of the mass and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The particulars of this disputation were recorded by Jewel, and are given at length in Fox's Acts and Monuments :—the manner in which it was conducted is noticed in a subsequent page of this work: we may, however, observe that Ridley's knowledge of the Greek language, and his being versed in the writings of the Fathers, enabled him to correct many attempts to pervert the meaning of the ancient writers.* After these disputations were concluded, the three bishops were condemned as heretics, when Ridley replied, "Although I be not of your company, yet, I doubt not, but that my name is written in another place, whither this sentence will send us sooner than we should have come by the course of nature." They were not put to death at that time, but were closely confined at Oxford during the next eighteen months. Though kept from scenes of active usefulness, they were not idle. Latimer, weak and enfeebled through age, could do little but read his Testament; and that, as he afterwards declared, he read over diligently seven times during his confinement. Cranmer reviewed, and added to, his writings on the Sacrament. Ridley was strictly watched, deprived of most of his books, and denied the use of pen, ink, and paper; but he snatched every opportunity; and when his scanty supplies of materials for writing failed him, he cut the lead from his prison-windows, and wrote in the margins of the few books he possessed. In the letters given in the following pages, the reader will find many interesting notices of this irksome period of Ridley's confinement. It was particularly severe with regard to him; while in the tower he had been more favourably treated than many others, but when the papists found he could not be wrought upon by all their blandishments they changed their measures, and acted towards him with much severity. At length, in October, 1555, Ridley and his companions were called before commissioners appointed to examine and condemn them. After some discussions, which chiefly related to *Latimer was not well skilled in Greek, having been far advanced in life before that language was much taught. Of this the Romanists took advantage, and when arguing with him, actually falsified a quotation from the New Testament! 2 RIDLEY. the usurped authority of the popes, Ridley was condemned, and also his fellow-prisoners. His life was spared a fortnight longer, during which he wrote some farewell letters and admonitions. On the 15th of October, he was degraded by the Romish commissioners, and the next morning he was led forth to the place where he and Latimer were to be burned. Ridley arrived there first, and as soon as his fellow-sufferer came, Ridley kissed him, saying, "Be of good heart, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the flame, or else strengthen us to abide it." The latter was his experience. Dr. Smith preached a sermon, in which he asserted many falsities respecting the martyrs and their doctrines, to which Ridley wished to reply, but was not permitted: "Well," said he, "so long as the breath is in my body, I will never deny my Lord Christ and his known truth." They were then fastened to the stake. Ridley lifted up his hands towards heaven and prayed. "O heavenly Father, I give thee most hearty thanks that thou hast called me to be a professor of thee even unto death. I beseech thee, Lord God, have mercy upon the realm of England, and deliver her from all her enemies." Ridley then addressed himself to lord Williams, who was appointed to superintend the execution, and besought him to plead with the queen in behalf of his poor relatives, and others who were unlawfully deprived by Bonner of the leases they had agreed for with Ridley while he possessed the see of London. The fire was lighted-when Ridley saw it flaming up towards him, he cried out with a loud voice, "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. O Lord, receive my spirit." Latimer soon died, apparently with little or no pain; but on Ridley's side the fire was kept down, owing to the bad management of those that had built up the fagots, so that it only burned beneath. When Ridley felt this, he intreated them, for Christ's sake, to let the fire come to him. His brother-in-law, desiring to relieve his pain, but misunderstanding his wishes, heaped on more fagots, which kept the fire down still longer, and it burned all his lower parts without touching the upper. He repeated his desire to have the fire suffered to come unto him, and after his legs were consumed, the spectators saw one side of his body, shirt and all, untouched with the flame. But his confident expectation was granted; for although the torment was indeed dreadful, "he was strengthened to abide it." He frequently exclaimed, "O Lord, have mercy upon me," and requested that they would let the fire come to him. At last he was understood; one of the bystanders pulled off the upper fagots-the flame arose, and when the tortured martyr saw the fire, he leaned towards it. After the flame reached the gunpowder affixed to him and it had exploded, he stirred no more; but his legs being wholly consumed, the upper part of his body turned over the chain, and fell at Latimer's feet. These horrifying details are given from Fox, not needlessly to wound the reader's feelings, but for the striking picture they present of the constancy of this faithful martyr of Christ. Let us briefly contrast the last hours of Ridley with those of his cruel persecutor, bishop Gardiner, which occurred immediately afterwards. On the day of Ridley and Latimer's martyrdom, he waited with impatience for the account of their burning, having arranged that messengers should be despatched to inform him as soon as the pile was set on fire. He delayed sitting down to his dinner till he received the desired intelligence. About four o'clock an express arrived with the welcome news, and Gardiner sat down to dinner. He "was not disappointed of his lust, but while the meat was yet in his mouth the heavy wrath of God came upon him." While at table he felt the first attacks of a mortal disease, the effect of vices in which he had long indulged; and though, for some days afterwards, he was able to go out and attend the parliament, his illness rapidly increased, until, as was stated by one of his contemporaries, he became so offensive, "that it was scarcely possible to get any one to come near him." The sufferings of his mind were not less painful than those of his body. He frequently exclaimed, "I have sinned like Peter, but I have not wept like him." Dr. Day, the bishop of Chichester, seeing Gardiner's dreadful state, and knowing that the juggleries of popery could not afford any support at such an hour, endeavoured to comfort him with the offers of free justification through the blood of Christ made in the scripture. Gardiner convinced, but not changed, showed the natural enmity of the heart of man against the doctrines of grace, exclaiming, "What, my lord, will you open that gap now? Then farewell all together. To me, and such other in my case, indeed you may speak it; but open this window to the people, and then farewell all together." He endured these protracted torments longer than Ridley had suffered, lingering in this state till the 13th of November, during which time it is recorded, that “he spake little but blasphemy and filthiness, and gave up the ghost with curses in his mouth, in terrible and unexpressible torments." What were Ridley's sufferings when compared with these? Surely every reader will exclaim, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." The writings of Bishop Ridley are not numerous, some few have been lost, among them a treatise on Predestination, which is much regretted; and it is also to be lamented that some, at least, of his sermons, have not been preserved, for he excelled as a preacher, and devoted much of his studies to preparation for the pulpit. His treatise on the Lord's Supper is the most important of his works; his other pieces, however, are valuable additions to the Writings of the British Reformers. In the present publication, his letters are collected from Fox, Coverdale, and Burnet, and are arranged in the order adopted in Dr. Gloucester Ridley's valuable life of his ancestor; and various references are made to that work, and other sources, which are explanatory of their contents. |