useful among us. The ploughman, reading in the gospel that _no man having put his hand to the plough should look back_, would soon lay aside his labour.... The baker, reading that a _little leaven leaveneth the whole lump_, will in future make us nothing but very insipid bread; and the simple man finding himself commanded _to pluck out the right eye and cast it from thee_, England, after a few years, will be a frightful spectacle; it will be little better than a nation of blind and one-eyed men, sadly begging their bread from door to door."[565] [564] With great pomp and prolixity. Gilpin's Life of Latimer, p. 8. [565] The nation full of blind beggars. Gilpin's Life of Latimer. p. 8. This discourse moved that part of the audience for which it was intended. "The heretic is silenced," said the monks and clerks; but sensible people smiled, and Latimer was delighted that they had given him such an adversary. Being of a lively disposition and inclined to irony, he resolved to lash the platitudes of the pompous friar. There are some absurdities, he thought, which can only be refuted by showing how foolish they are. Does not even the grave Tertullian speak of things which are only to be laughed at, for fear of giving them importance by a serious refutation?[566] "Next Sunday I will reply to him," said Latimer. [566] Si et ridebitur alicubi materiis ipsis satisfiet. Multa sunt sic digna revinci, ne gravitate adorentur. (Contra Valentin, c. vi.) See also Pascal's Provincials, Letter xi. And if ridicule shall at any time be excited, it is quite suited to such subjects. Many things deserve thus to be overcome, lest by a serious refutation, they get more respect than they deserve. [Sidenote: LATIMER'S REPLY.]