Hamont Matthew

Matthew Hamont, by trade a ploughwright, of Hethersett, in the county of Norfolk, three miles from Norwich, was cited to appear before the Bishop of that diocese, in the year 1579, for having, as Stowe observes, denied Christ our Saviour. When he made his appearance, he was charged with having given publicity to the following heretical propositions; namely, that the New Testament and the Gospel of Christ were pure folly, a human invention and mere fable; that man was restored to favour by the divine mercy alone, and not by the blood, death and passion of Christ; that Christ is not God, nor the Saviour of the world, but a mere man, a sinner, and an abominable idol, and that all who worship him are abominable idolaters; that Christ did not rise from the dead, or ascend to heaven, by the power of his own divinity; that the Holy Ghost is not God, but a mere non-entity; and that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are useless rites. The probability is, that, allowing for the gross misrepresentations of ignorance and bigotry, Hamont had called in question the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures; the doctrine of Satisfaction, or a vicarious Atonement; the deity of Christ, his claim to divine homage, and his power to raise himself from the dead; the personality of the Holy Spirit; and the rites of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as perpetual, and standing ordinances in the Christian Church.

In any other sense, the charges against him are absurd and incredible: yet on these charges, he was condemned in the Consistory Court, on the 13th of April, 1579, and handed over to the custody of the Sheriff of Norwich. For these things, and for having spoken blasphemous words against the Queen and her Council, he was condemned to have his ears cut off, and to be burnt alive; and this cruel sentence was carried into execution in the month of May of the same year,— the former part of it in the market-place, and the latter at the Castle Moat of Norwich. Camden, in his Annals of Elizabeth, (p. 285,) says, " The execrable impiety of Matthew Hamont, which about this time he openly poured forth against God and his Christ, and which is, I hope, extinct with his burning alive, is rather to be buried in oblivion, than remembered." On this passage, Limborch remarks, in a letter to Locke, dated Amsterdam, June 23rd, 1699, "I lately read Camden's History of England under Elizabeth, in the Second Part of which, Anno 1579, I found these words. 'Execranda Matthaei Hamonti impietas, quae in Deum Christumque ejus Norwici hoc tempore debacchata est, et cum illius vivicomburio, ut spero, extincta, oblivione potius est obruenda, quam memoranda.' I wish Camden had a little more distinctly indicated this impiety, that the atrocity of a crime, deserving to be visited by so horrible a punishment, might have been made manifest. We know that harmless errors are sometimes called execrable blasphemies and impieties by Theologians, in order that they may find out some pretext for the cruelties which they inflict upon those who differ from them. I have thus far sought in vain for a more exact account of this Hamont, in authors to whom I have access: but I doubt not that such an account may be found in English writers. You would oblige me, if you could, without inconvenience, supply me with his history." In his answer, Mr. Locke says, that he has sought for a more exact account of Hamont, but has not been able to meet with any writer, who throws further light upon the subject. In a subsequent letter, however, Mr. Locke gives from Hollinshed the details, which have already been repeated at the beginning of this article. Crakanthorp also, in his Defence of the Church of England against the Archbishop of Spalatro, says, " In the 21st of Elizabeth one Hamont, an Arian, with insolent madness blasphemed Christ, and the Gospel, and denied that Christ was God. He was burnt to ashes at Norwich, and suffered the punishment justly due to his blasphemy."

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