A rare treasure of sermons from the years 1552/3 from The Martyr Hugh LatimerA rare treasure of sermons from the years 1552/3 from The Martyr Hugh Latimer
While the church as many literary treasures, none are so valued as those of martyrs who preached truth despite the impending threat of death. Hugh Latimer was an early English Protestant whose work in England helped lay the foundation for the English Reformation.
Latimer was a distinguished academic in his time and beloved minister. Here, he illuminates the Christmas story and liturgical calendar as only a man living between the full blossoming of English Protestantism and declining Catholicism could.
If Christmas is the season of looking for "light to shine out of darkness" surely we find such light here in sermons of Hugh Latimer.
Latimer was a famous Protestant martyr. He was born into a family of farmers in Thurcaston, Leicestershire. From around 14 years of age he started to attend Peterhouse, Cambridge, and was known as a good student. After receiving his academic degrees and being ordained, he developed a reputation as a very zealous Roman Catholic. At first he opposed the Lutheran opinion of his day, but his views changed after meeting the clergyman Thomas Bilney.
In 1510, he was elected a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge and in 1522 became university preacher. He became noted for his reformist teachings, which attracted the attention of the authorities. During King Henry VIII's reign he was twice imprisoned in the Tower of London (1539 and 1546).
During the reign of Henry's son Edward VI, he was restored to favour as the English church moved in a more Protestant direction. However, when Edward's sister Queen Mary I came to the throne, he was tried for his beliefs and teachings in Oxford and imprisoned. In October 1555 he was burned at the stake outside Balliol College, Oxford.
... Show more