Light From Old Times

A while back I went through a bit of a J. C. Ryle phase, and I thought I had read most of his books. But I think I might be three short, of which I now own two of those. This one is a series of biographies of Christian martyrs mostly under Queen Mary. I think Ryle's agender of his time was to remind the people of his day of the evils of Catholicism and to remember those who stood up for the protestant faith at the cost of his life. I am a little hazy on the exact circumstances Anglicanism in England was under, but from Ryles's writings, he did seem to be often pushing back on much of Catholic thinking. From Ryle, I got the impression that the Church of England was still trying to work out which side of the Reformation they were going to land. How true this threat actually was, I am not sure.

If I am honest, I put this book down for a few months as most of the early chapters were pretty much the same. Their story arch would be something like, successfully young budding priest who served faithfully and moved up the eccelastical ranks under Henry VIII. But when Mary came to rule, she moved for the church to go back to Rome. They were then unfairly accused of some doctrine, imprisoned and then burn at the stake. Some even got tip-offs that they would be arrested, but didn't flee and stood firm, willing to face death for their preaching. This is the story of people like John Rogers (the first to be burned), John Hooper, Hugh Latimer, John Bradford and Nicholas Ridley to name some.

While the stories were a bit repetitive, with really only minor details changed, I was impressed by the courage these clergy people had. They literally died for their beliefs. These guys knew the cost and were steadfast in their beliefs. I'm not sure the church has this much spunk today. Today we fear (with or without reason) being cool-shamed, cancelled or perhaps even fined or losing our jobs for making non-PC statements against the secular orthodoxy today. This issue goes right back to Stephen who may or may not have known if he's speaking to power was going to get him killed, but since then, throughout history that hasn't been a deterrent for some.

Near the end of the book some of the stories did change a little bit. Samuel Ward was a non-conformist who did go to prison but was released. William Gurnall was the author of a book Ryle liked (Christian in Complete Armour) so he set out to write about this guy. Even though there wasn't much to say, it was interesting that Ryle could pad about 20 pages, not saying much, inferring much and quoting pretty much the scant historical records we have of Gurnall.

Archbishop Laud was painted as the villain of the time advancing both politically and within the church his own gains. He was put in prison for 5 years before being beheaded by Protestants. Even though Ryle was no fan of Laud, considering him more of a politician than a priest and he bemoaned the effects of his policies on the church, Ryle still thought the trial was unfair.

To close there was a chapter on the Seven Bishops James II tried to put on trial for being protestant (standing up to the King in defiance of one of his orders), but essentially the heart of the English folk were not buying it anymore, so they were deemed not guilty. From this story closing out the book, I think the main idea was for churchmen to remember where they had come from and to know the power that they have and give to ministers. They can and should protest points of doctrine they do not deem correct from the Bible, and to uphold ministers who are orthodox (protestant).

I found stories and details throughout this book quite interesting, and sometimes petty in their feuding. I think Ryle assumed more of a level of English History on the reader than I had, so some references to people or events were lost on me. There were lots of references and long quotes from Foxe's Book of Martyrs (which I haven't read), but after reading this book I imagine it would be quite similar. You can read this book for free around the web. This site has it in a few file formats.