THE visitors at the modern wateringplace of Herne Bay, in their strolls along the road that leads to the ancient city of Canterbury, might have noticed, some few years ago, an antique-looking house, that stood at a short distance from the pretty village church of Herne. That house had an interesting history. There, during the year 1543, a number of dignitaries of the Established Church met together, for the purpose of compiling a book of common prayer. The owner of that dwelling was the eminent man of God who is to form the subject of the following paper, and one of a noble band, to whom Protestants look with a high degree of reverence, on account of the part which they were called upon to take in those troublous times, when the wall of separation was built between the advocates of error and superstition and the friends of scriptural truth.

NICOLAS RIDLEY was born at Wilmontswick, in Northumberland, about the commencement of the sixteenth century, and received his earliest education at Newcastle. Thence, in 1518, he went to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where his memory is still preserved, in the name given to a walk in the orchard of the college, along which he was wont to pedestrianise, committing to memory almost all the Epistles in the original Greek. There he was supported by his uncle, Dr. Ridley, a fellow

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of Queen's. His entrance upon university life was at a period of startling interest. The year before, on the 31st of October, Luther had affixed his celebrated theses on indulgences to the gates of the castle church at Wittemberg, and by that act flung down the glaive of defiance to the authority of the pope, that had for ages been consolidating and entrenching itself in the midst of haughty sacerdotal pretensions, and that had largely profited by the ignorance and slavish superstition of priests and people."

At Cambridge, Ridley was a diligent student. He made himself familiar with the learned languages, and passing through a course of philosophy and theology, took his degree as master in 1525; two years later he was admitted to holy orders.

From Cambridge, as was the fashion in those days with many, he went to France, and became a student in the Sorbonne, at Paris; and subsequently spent a short time at the University of Louvain. In 1529 he returned to Cambridge, with a good reputation as a scholar, and was elected, in 1533, senior proctor of the university.

It was during this year, that the matter of the pope's supremacy became the subject of earnest consideration; the authority of Scripture being appealed to for an adjudication of the question. The decision arrived at,

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which received the sanction of the university, in the persons of the vicechancellor and two proctors, was, that "the Bishop of Rome had no more authority and jurisdiction derived to him from God, in this kingdom of England, than any other foreign bishop."

In 1538, Ridley, having obtained some notoriety as a bold and faithful preacher of the Gospel, was instituted vicar of Herne, by Archbishop Cranmer, at a time when the whole land was in a state of feverish excitement from the suppression of the monasteries; and when the recently-awakened iconoclastic zeal, displayed by Protestants, was met by no small amount of resistance on the part of the Papists. Here he began to preach the doctrines of the Reformation, which, by this time, had spread over half Europe, and shaken the hearts of great nations, "as if a storm passed by." Copies of the newlytranslated English Bible were ordered to be set up in all the churches; and the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments-the whole amount of theological knowledge, it is to be feared, possessed by millions—were ordered to be taught the people by their respective ministers.

Henry, like a true tyrant as he was, with no more real love for Protestantism than he had for Popery, save as it promoted his own selfish ends, adopted and promulgated the celebrated statute of the Six Articles, or Bloody Statute. In this, some of the worst features of Popery were reproduced; and the highest penalties attached to a violation of the provisions of the

measure.

Against this act Ridley courageously uttered his protest; and no evil appears to have befallen him in consequence. Indeed, in 1540, he was made a king's chaplain, having during that same year been created a doctor of divinity, and appointed master of his college at Cambridge. A short time after this, he was made a prebendary of Canterbury; and in the fulfilment of his duties, as one of the preachers at the cathedral, he so fearlessly rebuked

the superstitious follies and unscriptural practices which were prevalent, that some who were opposed to him in that city brought charges against him, at the archbishop's visitation, for preaching contrary to the statute of the Six Articles. But they did not succeed in procuring a conviction. Gardiner, the crafty and unscrupulous Bishop of Winchester, whose papistical inclinations were unquestionable, sought to compass his destruction, by citing him first before the justices of peace in the county of Kent, and subsequently by bringing his case before the king in council, and charging him with preaching against auricular confession, and other violations of the laws which had been framed by Henry for the regulation of the church. The king, however, delegating the consideration of these charges to Cranmer, who was a firm friend of Ridley, they were soon disposed of, and he remained unmolested.

In 1545 he was made prebendary of Westminster, and it was at this time that he appears to have become familiar with the writings of some of the German and Swiss Reformers, on the subject of transubstantiation. Hitherto, Ridley, in common with many of those who had shaken off the yoke of Rome, had, from the force of early prejudices and practice, still adhered to the popish doctrine, from which Luther himself, with all his devout reverence for scripture teaching, can be said to have diverged very little. A more thoughtful consideration of the whole subject, however, not in the reflected light of tradition and human authority, but in the calm, clear radiance of gospel teaching, led to the abandonment of error on the part of Ridley, and the maintenance of the scriptural truth concerning the Eucharist.

In 1547, Edward VI. succeeded his father on the English throne, and Ridley was one of the first and most favoured of those who preached before him. This was soon shown in the substantial mark of approbation bestowed

upon him, by making him Bishop of Rochester. In this prominent position, he displayed the same fearless and earnest spirit of zeal, in the maintenance and propagation of the reformed doctrines; in attempting, and not without success, to draw away the minds of the people from the refuges of lies to which they had been trusting, and leading them to a simple confidence in the all-prevalent intercession of the Great High Priest of the Church, whose one sacrifice, once for all, has "obtained eternal redemption for us."

Associated with others of the principal Reformers, and encouraged by the unmistakable sympathy of the youthful king, he sought to diffuse widely the clearer views of truth which he had been privileged to embrace. To effect this object, he, in conjunction with Cranmer and others, compiled the Book of Common Prayer, which formed the substance of that now in use in the Church of England. This was designed to take the place of the old Latin Book of the Mass, which had hitherto been in universal use. It contained very little that was not in the old one; the chief addition being that of the Litany. The traditions of Herne are, that in the house to which reference was made in our opening paragraph, the conferences were held from which this book emanated. It is certain, "that he was the first to have the Te Deum chanted in English in the parish church." *

ably of infinite moment, were denied by some; but instead of leaving such to be dealt with by fair argument, and assailed by scriptural proofs, the more summary, but far less satisfactory method was adopted, of handing them over to the scaffold or stake; and in this unhappy and mistaken line of conduct Ridley was a transgressor.

In 1549, Bonner, Bishop of London, who, whatever his faults, at least merits the praise of consistency to his principles, was deposed from his bishopric, by the act of a commission, constituted to try that prelate for holding views opposed to the king and his spiritual advisers; and in the next year, Ridley was appointed as his successor in that important see. The same fidelity and industry were manifested by him, in this new and larger sphere of service, as had been displayed in his previous and less important ones. "Every sabbath and holiday, he preached in one place, or other, except extraordinary occasions hindered him; and to his sermons multitudes of people resorted, swarming about him like becs, to gather the sweet flowers and wholesome juice of his fruitful doctrine." At the request of the council of the king, and assisted by Cranmer, he drew up some articles of faith, forty-two in number, which were believed to embody the cardinal doctrines of truth, as held by the great lights of the Reformation. These, after having been submitted to other bishops, and subjected to certain cor

king in council, and promulgated as authoritative, in matters of doctrine, in the English Church.

During the present year a monument has been erected to the memory of Ridley, in the above church, chiefly through the efforts of W. Newton, Esq., a resident at Herne Bay, aided by the voluntary contributions of others. It bears the appropriate inscription-" For the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ."

There can be no doubt that Ridley possessed a great amount of power over the mind of the young monarch, from the fact, that as the result of one of his earnest appeals before the court, on the subject of beneficence towards the poor, as a means of exemplifying the excellency of reli

* Clark's "Marrow of Ecclesiastical History," 1654.

gion, Edward was led to found three institutions, to meet the cases of the indigent, the sick, and the depraved. Grey Friars' Church, with its revenues, was devoted to the welfare of orphans altered now somewhat from its original design into the yet valuable institution known as Christ's Hospital; St. Bartholomew's, near Smithfield, was made an hospital; and the residence of the young Prince himself, known by the name of Bridewell, was turned into a house of correction for the profligate and criminal, and gave the name to subsequent similar institutions.

In the year 1532, Ridley, on his way from Cambridge, paid a visit to the Princess Mary, then residing at Hunsdon, in Hertfordshire, and sought to interest her on behalf of the reformed doctrines. He asked permission to preach before her, with the hope of producing the conviction in her mind of their scripturalness. This request, however, was not only pesemptorily denied, but remembered by that bigoted and revengeful woman, at a subsequent period, with a bitterness of spirit that indicated the most virulent hostility, both to the Protestant faith and its advocates. Ridley, though defeated in his attempt to do her good, was so little angered by the rebuff, that he urged upon the young king the propriety of allowing her to hold her own views, diametrically opposed as they were to his, without molestation.

On the death of the King, Ridley sought, in conjunction with others, to place Lady Jane Grey upon the throne. At St. Paul's Cross he preached on her behalf, and warned the people of the consequences of Mary's accession, and even of Elizabeth's, whose Protestantism was not of an unquestionable order. There can be no doubt that, though influenced by these high considerations, he committed, under the then existing state of things, a grave political error. The abortive attempt, as every one knows, failed; and that ill-fated lady, after an unwill

ing assumption of the style and dignity of a queen, for a few days, gave way to Mary; and early in the following year was executed, together with her husband and father, for high treason.

Ridley, now seeing the hopelessness of any further persistence in his cherished and darling scheme of securing a Protestant successor to the throne, sought to placate Mary. But it was not in the nature of the queen easily to forgive such a man, especially as he had taken so prominent a part in seeking to set aside her succession to the throne. The important position he had filled in the Protestant Church, and the earnest efforts he had made to promulgate and maintain the doctrines of the Reformation, caused him to be a marked personage; and one of the first acts of the new sovereign was his committal to the Tower. This took place in July, 1553.

During the latter part of this year. and the commencement of the following, the Reformers and Catholics held several disputations on the points of controversy between the two religious parties. Complaints being loud and general that the queen had, by his imprisonment, prevented Ridley, one of the most able and learned of the party opposed to herself and friends, from attending, he, with Cranmer and Lati mer, was removed from the Tower to Oxford, where, in the convocation held on the doctrine of the real presence, they both took a prominent part.

For some months Ridley remained in prison at Oxford, where efforts were repeatedly made to get him to renounce his opinions; and there is reason to believe that, had he been recreant to the faith, he might have found the queen willing to spare his life. Bat happily, he, who had more than once displayed the infirmity common to men, stood firm. His doom, therefore, was sealed; and fifteen days after his condemnation the flames were kindled for his martyrdom.

The records of the church are full of

instances of heroic endurance, under tortures and agonies, the very thought of which makes humanity shudder; and that which Oxford witnessed in front of Baliol College, on the morning of the 16th of October, 1555, when Ridley and Latimer, who counted not their lives dear unto them for the gospel's sake, were bound to the stake, was only one of many illustrations of the words of Paul: "Through faith they quenched the violence of fire, out of weakness were made strong; were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection." This dreadful event was contemplated by the venerable martyr with a serenity of spirit that was most enviable. He spoke of his death as his marriage morning. It was his bridal with immortality; and he knew that not only earth, but heaven, sent forth attesting witnesses of the solemn ceremonial. The night preceding his execution was passed by him as calmly as though the next morning was to usher in one of the most ordinary days of his life. He would not allow his brother to remain in his cell, when his fraternal love suggested the wish to spend the night with him, but said, "that he minded, God willing, to go to bed, and to sleep as quietly that night as ever he did in his life."

Led to the place of martyrdom, he appeared before the vast assembly, that had gathered together to behold his last moments, with a cheerful aspect; and when Latimer, who was to be his companion in suffering, was escorted by his guards to the spot, he ran to him, and embracing him, said, in tones of encouragement, "Be of good heart, brother; for God will either assuage the fury of the flame, or else strengthen us to abide it." Both then kneeled down, and commended themselves into the hands of the Great Shepherd and Bishop of their souls.

After a brief conference with each other, Dr. Smith, a renegade from Protestant principles, addressed them from the words, "Though I give my body

to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." What follows is gathered from the notice of the martyr in Clark's work, before quoted, and from his life, by his relative, Dr. Gloster Ridley:

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"When the sermon was finished, Ridley asked Latimer, whether he would first answer it; but Latimer desiring Ridley to begin, both of them kneeling down, Ridley, addressing himself to the Lord Williams, Dr. Marshall, the Vice-Chancellor, and other commissioners appointed for that purpose, said, 'I beseech you, my lord, even for Christ's sake, that I may speak but two or three words.' And while Lord Williams was inclining his head to ask the Mayor and Vice-Chancellor whether he might permit him to speak, the ViceChancellor and bailiffs ran up hastily to him, and with their hands stopping his mouth, said, 'Master Ridley, if you will revoke your erroneous opinions, and recant the same, you shall not only have liberty to do so, but also the benefit of a subject; that is, your life.' 'Not otherwise?' said he. 'No,' returned Dr. Marshall. Therefore, if you will not do so,then there is no remedy, but you must suffer for your deserts.' 'Well,' replied the noble martyr, so long as the breath is in my body I will never deny my Lord Christ, and His known truth. God's will be done in me.' After this speech, he rose up and said, with a loud voice, Well then, I commit my cause to Almighty God, who will judge all indifferently.' Ridley, being stripped to his shirt, stood at the stake and prayed, 'O Heavenly Father, I give unto Thee most hearty thanks for that Thou hast called me to be a professor of Thee, even unto death. I beseech Thee, Lord God, take mercy upon the realm of England, and deliver the same from all her enemies.' Then the smith took an iron chain, and brought it round the two martyrs, and, as he was driving in the staple, Dr. Ridley shook the chain, and said to the smith, Good fellow, knock it in hard, for the flesh will have its course.' His brother now

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