The first blows were aimed at the court-chaplain. The bishops, finding it dangerous to have such a man near the king, would have liked (Latimer tells us) to place him on burning coals.[139] But Henry loved him, the blow failed, and the priests had to turn to those who were not so well at court. Thomas Bilney, whose conversion had begun the Reformation in England,[140] had been compelled to do penance at St. Paul’s Cross; but from that time he became the prey of the direst terror. His backsliding had manifested the weakness of his faith. Bilney possessed a sincere and lively piety, but a judgment less sound than many of his friends. He had not got rid of certain scruples which in Luther and Calvin had yielded to the supreme authority of God’s Word.[141] In his opinion none but priests consecrated by bishops had the power to bind and loose.[142] This mixture of truth and error had caused his fall. Such sincere but imperfectly enlightened persons are always to be met with—persons who, agitated by the scruples of their conscience, waver between Rome and the Word of God. At last faith gained the upper hand in Bilney. Leaving his Cambridge friends, he had gone into the Eastern counties to meet his martyrdom. One day, arriving at a hermitage in the vicinity of Norwich, where a pious woman dwelt, his words converted her to Christ.[143] He then began to preach ‘openly in the fields’ to great crowds. His voice was heard in all the county. Weeping over his former fall, he said: ‘That doctrine which I once abjured is the truth. Let my example be a lesson to all who hear me.’ Before long he turned his steps in the direction of London, and, stopping at Ipswich, was not content to preach the Gospel only, but violently attacked the errors of Rome before an astonished audience.[144] Some monks had crept among his hearers, and Bilney, perceiving them, called out: ‘_The Lamb of God taketh away the sins of the world._ If the Bishop of Rome dares say that the hood of St. Francis saves, he blasphemes the blood of the Saviour.’ John Huggen, one of the monks, immediately made a note of the words. Bilney continued: ‘To invoke the saints and not Christ, is to put the head under the feet and the feet above the head.’[145] Richard Seman, the other brother, took down these words. ‘Men will come after me,’ continued Bilney, ‘who will teach the same faith, the true gospel of our Saviour, and will disentangle you from the errors in which deceivers have bound you so long.’ Brother Julius hastened to write down the bold prediction.