The
Content of Preaching
For Latimer, the Word of God was central to the content of preaching. Scripture
could transform lives, but Scripture preached was the power of God unto salvation.
Holding to the principle of sola scriptura, Latimer viewed Scripture
as a great and eternal book, penned by a great and eternal author.10
Because the Word comes from God, it is authoritative, and every person, including
rulers, should give credence to it and order their steps according to it.
In his famous analogy, Latimer likened the preacher to a ploughman whose seed
was the Word of God; the ground was the people of God. The word of God, not
the word of man, was the seed. Latimer proclaimed, “Many teach men’s way, but
that should not be. We should learn viam Dei, God’s way; and that truly,
without mixture, temperature, blanching, powdering.”11
Only God’s Word can teach God’s way. If any person wondered what constituted
the Word of God, Latimer clarified, “Those [words] which are of God written
in God’s book.”12 To assure the proper proclamation of
the truth, Latimer insisted that preachers be ruled by the word of God through
careful hermeneutics.13 Sola
scriptura was the rule in theory and practice, in study and pulpit.
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The
Aim of Preaching
Latimer likened preaching to an angler’s net, which brings people to shore so
that God can open their hearts.14 This imagery reveals
Latimer’s aim for preaching. Though he did not neglect the need for sermons
to provide edification, Latimer emphasized the need for them to lead people
to salvation. For Latimer, preaching was not a means of grace but the
means of grace.
Two passages in Romans were especially important. First, Latimer interpreted
Rom.1:16 as a reference to preaching saying, “God’s word opened: it is the instrument,
and thing whereby we are saved.”15 The second passage
was Rom. 10:14. Latimer commented, “[I]f we will come to faith, we must hear
God’s word: if God’s word be necessary to be heard, then we must have preachers
which be able to tell us God’s word.”16
When one considers Latimer’s understanding of the aim of preaching, he can see
readily why Latimer was so concerned over the lack of preaching prelates. Latimer
proclaimed, “God commanded thee to preach: and . . . if thou warn not the wicked,
that they turn and amend, they shall perish in their iniquities. . . . If you
do not your office . . . you shall be damned for it.”17
Because
preaching was so powerful in bringing people to salvation, Latimer believed
preaching to be “the thing that the devil wrestleth most against: it hath been
all his study to decay this office.”18 While Christian
prelates may be content to neglect their office, the devil is never content
to neglect his. He is the most diligent preacher of all.