Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/531

1550.] the naughtiness of the making;' and yet more shameful, that woollens, fraudulent in make, weight, and size, were exposed in the place of St Mark with the brand of the Senate upon them, as damning evidence of the decay of English honesty with the decay of English faith.

Such was the state of things which lay before the successors of Somerset. They were called upon to fight against a corruption which had infected the whole community, and among the rest, had infected themselves. It was easier and pleasanter to earn the title of ministers of God by patronizing teachers who insisted on the worthlessness of 'good works,' and could distinguish correctly between imputed and infused righteousness. Yet there were not wanting honest men who saw in what was round them not the triumph of the gospel, but the disgrace and dishonour of it. Latimer, not always practically wise, was consistent in his hatred of evil, and he was not afraid to speak the truth in the face of the world.

The preacher was closing the third course of sermons which he had delivered before the Court. The King was present, the privy council, and the household. He spoke of Nineveh and of Jonah. He sketched the condition of England, where profligacy was no longer held a crime, but something to be laughed at; where the law was so weak, that neither the gentlemen could be compelled to do their duty as landowners, nor the people