PAST MASTERS

Past Masters: Hugh Latimer

By Stewart Holloway

The Preacher Today

Though more than four centuries separate us from Latimer’s sermons, his words are still convicting today. Modern day preachers should note Latimer’s indelible stamp on the power and importance of preaching. While not all will hold his sacramental view of preaching, all should realize and trust in the power with which the Lord has vested the foolishness of preaching the Word of God. Truly, it is an awesome honor and privilege to handle and to engage in such an authoritative, potent, and effective work.

Further, we must heed Latimer’s instruction that the devil is the most diligent preacher of all. If we will take hold of this perceptive observation of the spiritual realm, we will be much more conscientious and assiduous in our work. Our preaching will take on a renewed urgency and fervency. Heaven’s gates will burst open, and hell’s gates will tremble. The Spirit will triumph, and the Word will be remembered. Though our words might be powerful and our presentation creative, our efforts will pale in comparison with the God whose Word we proclaim.

Preachers, take to your ploughs! There is ground to plow, seed to sow, and, ultimately, a harvest to gather for His name’s sake. May we never be “done ploughing.”

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Stewart Holloway is Pastor of Forestburg Baptist Church in Forestburg, TX.

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1. Hugh Latimer, First Sermon on the Lord’s Supper, in Sermons of Hugh Latimer, Sometime Bishop of Worcester, Parker Society ed. (Cambridge: The University Press, 1844), 334.

2. Ibid., Sermon of the Plough, Sermons, 67.

3. Latimer, Sermon Preached in Lincolnshire, in Sermons and Remains of Hugh Latimer, Sometime Bishop of Worcester, Parker Society ed. (Cambridge: The University Press, 1845), 24.

4. Ibid., Sermon of the Plough, Sermons, 59.

5. Ibid, Sermon Preached in Lincolnshire, Remains, 38.

6. Ibid., The Fourth Sermon on the Lord’s Prayer, Sermons, 382.

7. Ibid., Sermon Preached at Stamford, Sermons, 292-3.

8. Ibid., Sermon Preached on Sexagesima Sunday, Remains, 210.

9. Ibid., The Sixth Sermon on the Lord’s Prayer, Sermons, 418.

10. Ibid., The First Sermon Preached before Edward VI, Sermons, 86.

11. Ibid., Sermon Preached at Stamford, Sermons, 290.

12. Ibid., The First Sermon Preached before Edward VI, Sermons, 85.

13. Ibid., Sermon Preached at Grimsthorpe, Remains, 117.

14. Ibid., Sermon Preached at Stamford, Sermons, 285.

15. Ibid., Sixth Sermon before Edward VI, Sermons, 202.