latimer's last stand
It was a crisp October day in 1555, a day that dawned like a thousand October mornings before, but a day destined to stand out among the thousands. Two men, refusing to recant their personal faith in Jesus Christ would die a terrible death that morning. They would be burned at the stake.
What crossed their minds, that fine autumn day, as these two men walked out the doors of dreary Bocardo Prison and into the sunlight of their last moments on earth? We can't know all their thoughts, yet we have more than stones in the pavement to mark their passing.
We have a few words as well.
We know that as they approached the stake, Hugh Latimer turned to Nicholas Ridley and said, "Be of good cheer, Ridley. Play the man! We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace...as I trust shall never be put out."
Play the man!
Three words. One point. Sound advice.
Somewhere along the line, Hugh Latimer had evidently come across the account of a second-century martyr named Polycarp. Dying at his own stake in a Roman stadium before a bloodthirsty capacity crowd, Polycarp had literally blazed the path ahead of Latimer and Ridley
An ancient account of that early martyr includes this extraordinary passage:
But as Polycarp entered into the stadium, a voice came to him from heaven; "Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man." And no one saw the speaker, but those of our people who were present heard the voice.
When Latimer, in that moment of supreme crisis, repeated those words, "Play the man," was he remembering the noble Polycarp? Was he remembering the courageous believer who had died with such dignity before a jeering crowd in a stadium? Was he calling to mind those words of encouragement, spoken from heaven itself, to sustain him and his friend in that hour of their greatest trial?
Seems likely, doesn't it?
Weber, Stu. (1997). Four Pillars of a Man's Heart. Sisters: Multnomah.