In 1524, at the
age of about thirty, he proceeded to the degree of B.D., and on the
occasion of his doing so he argued publicly for the Pope's authority
against opinions of Melancthon. Thomas Bilney went afterwards to
Latimer's rooms, gave him his own reasons for good-will to the teaching
of Melancthon, and explained to him his faith as a Reformer in a way that
secured Latimer's attention. Latimer's free, vigorous mind, admitted the
new reasonings, and in his after-life he looked always upon "little
Bilney" as the man who had first opened his eyes.
With homely earnestness Latimer began soon to express his new
convictions. His zeal and purity of life had caused him to be trusted by
the University as a maintainer of old ways; he had been appointed cross-
bearer to the University, and elected one of the twelve preachers
annually appointed in obedience to a bull of Pope Alexander VI. Now
Latimer walked and worked with Bilney, visiting the sick and the
prisoners, and reasoning together of the needs of Christendom. The
Bishop of the diocese presently forbade Latimer's preaching in any of the
pulpits of the University. Robert Barnes, prior of the Augustinian
Friars at Cambridge, a man stirred to the depths by the new movement of
thought, then invited Latimer to preach in the church of the
Augustinians.
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