iilll!liillilil!|!l«fliiW«!i'iii, X£t ^ O^ £^ «£^ i:^. ^^ .vr PRINCETON, N. J. 3j t* rv --v -x- ] SAMUEL AGNEW, OF P U I r. A n E I. P H I A , PA. 7h/ e^iA/ eX J&t^^§5d : m ' 2^0 . SSiih 1842 '^ V . 3' Stebbing, Henry, 1799-1883 History of the church of Christ ^ y "m^ r HISTORY CHURCH OF CHRIST, FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG 1530, TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ORIGINALLY DESIGNED AS A CONTINUATION OF MILNEr's HISTORY. HENRY STEBBING, D.D. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: T. CADELL, STRAND, AND W. BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. 1842. rniMED BV JAMKS AND LUKE J. HANSABB, NEAR LINCOLn's-INN FIELDS. [ V ] ?-«« i0 CONTENTS OF VOL. III. CENTURY XVI.-XVII. Chap. I. State of the Protestant Churches — Divisions and Controversies — Melancthon _ _ _ _ page i Chap. II. Calixtus and Syncretism — The Mystics - p. 37 Chap. III. State of Religion in England — Measures of the Church — Hise of the Puritans — General View of Affairs - - - ~ - - - -p. 109 C^AP. IV. Archbishop Whitgift and the Puritans — Sabbath Observances — Disputes on the Doctrine of Election — Accession and Proceedings of James I. — Conference — Bancroft — Abbot — Increase of Ptiritanism - - p. 196 Chap. V. Accession of Charles I. — Case of Montague — Pears entertained by the Church — Sibthorpe and Manivariny — Rise and Influence of Laud—His Measures, and Remarks thereon --------p. 266 Chap. VI. Proceedings against the Puritans — Improvement of Churches — Laud's Letter to Sir Kenelm Digby — Excitement in Scotland — Increase of the Puritans — Their Successes — Summary of Events - - - - p. 287 [ vi ] Chap. VII. Mise of Arminianism — Controversy coficerniiig Predestination — Arminians and Gomarists — Their Dispu- tations—Death of Arminius, and succeeding Controversies — Synod of Dort ------ p. 350 Chap. VIII. Jansenistn — Port Royal and its Supporters — Their Strggules — Progress and Issue of the Contio- versy _-__---_ p. 455 Chap. IX. Summary of Events — Concluding Remarks p. 476 r CENTURY XVI.—XVII. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. CHAP. I. STATE OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES DIVISIONS AND CONTROVERSIES MELANCTHON. A NEW era is dawning- upon us in the history of the Church of Christ. The period described in the preced- ing volumes, was chiefly remarkable for the open con- flict of antient authority, with the roused and indignant spirits which its fearful abuses had so long oppressed. We should be falling into a common error were we to conclude, because the parties most conspicuously opposed to each other during the struggle, did, after a certain time, retreat to distant parts of the field, that, therefore, the conflict was at an end, or that either party could fairly lay claim to the victory. Advantages were gained on both sides ; and sufficient to inspire the leaders on each to look forward to a renewal of the war- fare at some distant period. These advantages consisted, on the one part, in the successful defence of a power, and of pretensions, which seemed scarcely able to resist the awakening of general intelligence ; and, on the other, in the assertion of an independence, and the esta- blishment of principles of which mankind had scarcely dreamed since the earliest ages of Christian truth. If indeed we were to consider the former party as possess- ing an inalienable right to the authority which it had VOL. III. "^ B 2 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. I. hitherto exercised, the late contest had been productive of tlie most injurious consequences; but viewing it in the character of a usurping power, or of one tottering to its fall, the issue of the struggle amounted even to bril- liant success, for notwithstanding the inroads made upon its territory, it still possessed a dominion sufficiently ex- tensive to satisfy the most ambitious of potentates. That there was only a pause in the conflict, and not that the struggle was at an end, is a consideration to be kept in mind throughout the perusal of the following narrative. The development of many important doc- trines and theories was dependent upon this state of affairs. Some of the most interesting circumstances in the later history of the Church are only to be accounted for by a reference to this fact, and though it wdll not be always necessary to bring it prominently forward, its being borne in mind will generally add force and clear- ness to the detail. It was the grand object of the Reformation to purify the religious system, which millions acknowledge to be the gift of God, from the corruptions which time, and human ambition, and the host of selfish passions attend- ant thereon, had gradually introduced. But these cor- ruptions admit of being considered under a twofold cha- racter. There were those which belonged to the mere government of the Church, and those which more imme- diately respected the truths which it was instituted to promulge. We are to look then, in the times now to be contemplated, for ajuster species of ecclesiastical rule; for authority exercised upon maxims more accordant with the spirit of the gospel ; for doctrines set free from the alloy of human conceits, and examples of holiness founded on the sure foundation of godly wisdom. But not forgetting that the excitement attending the Reformation had its share of salutary influence on the op- posite party, it will become us to trace with candour the indications of spiritual mindedness, and of an earnest zeal to promote the glory of God, found in numerous individual members of the Church which we have seen exposed to such a mighty onset of collected learning, wisdom, and holiness. Collecting in this manner, the CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 3 proofs of increasing light and grace, wherever they are to be discovered, we shall have abundant reason to rejoice at the results of the revolution just accomplished. But while thus looking with thankful delight upon the manifestations of divine power, the gratification belong- ing to such a spectacle must not prevent our scanning the opposite side of the picture. There, unhappily, we shall see too clearly pourtrayed awful scenes of folly and inconsistency ; melancholy examples of human weak- ness and corruption, to demonstrate, beyond contradic- tion, the inadequacy of either rules or systems, or even the full freedom to employ all the means of grace, to complete the emancipation of mankind from sin and ignorance. In order to accomplish the design thus alluded to, we shall have to trace the progress of opinions rather than of events. At the period when the Diet of Augsburg was held, truth had its broad, bold statements to make in the face of a host of enemies haughty and uncom- promising. Others but accidentally connected with these foremost defenders of error were gradually drawn in to support the same cause ; and the champions of the pure gospel had thus to meet an army, the ranks of which extended in length and depth to the extreme borders of Christendom. There was little time left in the conduct of such a battle for the development of the principles asserted, for proving by their effects how sound or valuable they were, or what was to be expected from them when they should no longer be employed as a war- cry, but should begin to operate tranquilly in men's minds, left at liberty to obey their convictions, or the higher influences of Heaven. The period, therefore, which has been just described, was eminently one of action and events, and the conduct of public men necessarily demanded our chief attention. Now, on the other hand, we have to contemplate the important conse- quences of the struggle, and to show how the two great parties themselves, and those to which they gave rise, proceeded to unfold their several designs. The state of the Lutheran Church was at this time but little encouraging to the friends of peace and order. B 2 4 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [chap. I. Luther bad clearly foreseen the agitations which would follow his decease. Whatever the ardour of his friend- ship for Melancthon, or the veneration in which he liekl his piety and genius, he well knew his unfitness to stand at the head of a party, or perform the tasks for the execution of which no qualities were more needed than fortitude and determined resolution. Nor was he less acquainted with the feelings of the men who, most active in their opposition to Rome, were, by disposition originally, and now still more so by habit, ready to delight in any species of agitation, and, there- fore, as likely to rise against tlie final settlement of a reformed Church, on any fair and proper foundation, as they had previously been to resist the tyranny of the Popes. Scarcely was Luther dead* when all these anticipated causes of disturbance came into full play. Melancthon's mind was as capacious as his spirit was catholic. He had present to his thoughts whatever learning as well as divine charity could suggest in favour of tolerance and mutual forbearance. Had he been able to make his associates understand, not only the force but the connexion of his arguments, — their general relation, that is, to evangelical truth, in its largest and broadest acceptation, as well as their present expediency, he might have exercised a most profitable influence over their minds. But while some acknowledged their value in tlie latter sense only, others restricted their admira- tion of them to the former ; and the violent pressure of outward circumstances soon drove both parties far be- yond the reach of his admonitions. Whatever there was of bitterness in the disposition of those preparing for fresh controversy, it received no small accession of virulence from the general state of affairs. The main question respecting the ordinary * Luther had been regarded ])y many with a fiilso and extravagant vene- ration ; some had even attaclied to liis name a more than mortal lionoiir. By sueh persons he was called, " the man ofGod ;" "the new Elias ;" "the last prophet, a])pearing at the end of the world." When he died, it is said, it seemed as if an oracle had suddenly become dumb, or that his scholars were dej)rived of wliat was most necessary to their instruction and advance- pient. — ^^Hcnkc, t. lu., p. 40,5. CENT. XVl.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 5 rights of conscience had been well nigh settled ; but while documents now existed, which proved that neither states, nor churches, could any more resist the imperative demands of common sense and justice, the minor attempts of persecution were being perpetually renewed ; and the theoloo-ian went to his loo;ic and his Bible with a burn- ing and a throbbing heart, dreading or already suiiering from the acts of a petty tyrant. The treaty of 1555 seemed to promise many years of tranquillity. But such pacifications can, at best, only damp for the moment the fires of religious hatred. It is rarely they are extinguished. For the most part, they waste themselves and go out, like every other passion not proper to the ordinary condition of the human mind. In the present case they shot up from time to time into a broader glare, and the controversy between one petty state and another, — between the prince and the people, or one section of the people and another section, frequently assumed as fierce a character as the grand conflict itself between Rome and the whole mighty assemblage of those who dared to resist its power. It was with scarcely the shadow of good feeling that the Emperor Ferdinand had assented to any of those measures which secured the dissenters from the Roman Church in the possession of their rights, either as citi- zens or Christians. That he was thus backward to accord what seemed fairly demanded of the temporal ruler by every principle of social equity, must not be too hastily attributed to religious severity or bigoted zeal. Ferdinand saw plainly how much was to be dreaded from the unsettled spirit of those who most eagerly demanded the boon, dear to every enlightened mind, but sought with no less passion by those who, the instant it is gained, only use it to their own ruin, and the discomfiture of truth and holiness. It was his duty, as a wise governor, to take notice of all those signs of the times which might in any degree lead him to a course, terminating in the prospect of more settled feelings. Let this be allowed, and it will tend partially to counterbalance the more painful impressions which b3 6 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. I. are left by the view of Ferdinand's character in the conduct of religious affairs. That he was inclined, by an unjust preponderance of feeling, to defend the rights of tlu; one party rather than tliose of the other, appears plain from the whole tenor of the history of these times. He deserves whatever censure posterity can heap upon the memory of rulers guilty of such offences. But he was a man of more generosity, — of better temper, and we shall not be wrong, perhaps, if we add, of a far more Christian spirit than his brother. His line of policy was marked out for him by his fears as a prince, — by his deep anxiety for the tranquillity of his dominions, as well as by his zeal for the faith which he professed, and the communion to which he belonged. Germany, but a short period before happy in the prospect of continued peace, was now torn by the ruinous dissensions of its rulers. The weak, oppressed by the powerful, were anxiously seeking distant alli- ances ; while the powerful found new food for ambition in the forfeitures of states and offices demanded of those who preferred their religion to their dignities. The Duke of Ortenburg, deprived of his dominions by the Archduke of Bavaria, and Donauwerth, with its de- pendencies, furnish memorable instances of this fact. Nor was it on the side of the Roman Catholics only that proofs occurred of the angry and persecuting spirit of the age. The reformers were complained of in language no less bitter, and with accumulated accusa- tions of oppressive conduct. The exactness of such complaints, on either side, may be well disputed ; but there is ample reason to believe that no slight por- tion of what was said had its origin in truth ; and that religion was now repeatedly made use of for the purpose of veiling worldly ambition or private enmity. The conflict thus carried on between the two parties had but few and uncertain intermissions; still a fair pros- pect of peace was given by the determinations of the J)iet of Augsburg in 1555. Scarcely, however, had four years passed away, when in the Diet, held at the same place, the reformers and their opponents heaped such accusations on each other that it evidently only CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 7 wanted the aid of some powerful arm, on eitlier side, to excite again all the evils of war. Unhappily for mankind, it rarely happens that, when parties are en- raged against each other, they have long to wait for leaders. A slight review of the state of affairs, as determined by the peace of Augsburg, will show how many causes there were to foment the jealousy then existing. The reformers had obtained at the hand of the Emperor a legitimate right to the profession, and exercise of their religion. This grant, however, was sternly resisted by the ecclesiastical dignitaries on the other side, and it was even disputed whether the Prince had either the right, or the power, to accord such a liberty. As it was, the favour bestowed was rather yielded to the de- mands of the confederate sovereigns, who agreed in the evangelical confession, than granted as a boon to the body at large who professed the reformed faith. By the main article of the treaty, each independent prince was allowed to establish in his dominions whatever religion he pleased ; and tlie only liberty granted his subjects, not professing the same doctrines, was to leave the ter- ritory, and seek a country where their faith was esta- blished. The division of the property belonging to the Church had, from the first, been a fruitful cause of dispute. Neither Luther, nor his followers, had contemplated the establishment of their principles without those adjuncts of a system through which alone they could look for their permanence, or general utility. They had, there- fore, in the earliest stages of their success, gladly ac- cepted whatever revenues, or other ecclesiastical pro- perty, their temporal rulers saw lit to place at their disposal. No contemptible degree of wealth had thus passed into the hands of the reformers ; nor is it to be supposed that they held it with a loose or careless grasp. Some there doubtless were who valued it for its own sake, and struggled to retain it with all the selfish vigour which belongs to such a feeling. But the majority may be supposed to have acted from the better principle of zeal for the interests of their faith, and to have felt B 4 8 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. I. themselves bound to lay hold of every opportunity, and to employ every available means, that might be pre- sented for the furtherance of their ultimate object. The tenacity, therefore, with which they retained the possessions tiiat had fallen to their lot, left no hope to the Roman Catholic clergy of recovering what had been thus cut off from their antient heritaoe. There was, on the contrary, every reason to dread that the work of spoliation, as they accounted it, would be car- ried on to a far greater extent. Not a year passed without giving fresh proofs of the intimate connection that existed between the zeal of Protestant subjects, and the ambition or rapacity of Protestant princes. The diffusion of the reformed doctrines was every where attended with the secularizing of more or less of Church property. Political power, and station, whatever, in short, miglit be regarded by worldly men as things most valuable for their own sake, or by those who as- pired to a reputation for religion, as most useful in the prosecution of its interests, furnished now a cause for strife which the -most unspiritual minds might com- prehend, and the most earthly of passions contemplate as sufficient to engage them unceasingly in the contest. Never, apparentl}^, was there a state of things more unfavourable to the advancement of religion. Many of the chiefs of the Lutheran party had been converted into politicians, warriors, persecutors. Their followers could hardly fail to imbibe somewhat of the spirit by which they were instigated. Truth itself was thus ex- posed to grievous injury. They had risen in defence of the gospel. The gospel was preached among tliem. Their thoughts and opinions were couched in the lan- guage of evangelical fervour, and they still claimed credit for being the foes of wliatever stood opposed to pure religion. The leaders of the Roman Catholics, and the large body of people who increased in zeal for their faith, tlie greater the dangers by which it was sur- rounded, jjointed triumpliantly to every act committed on the side of the Protestants, tliat violated peace or charity; and it was argued, though by a species of logic which might at all times have been turned with far CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 9 greater force against their own Church, that that system of doctrine was little likely to have truth for its basis, which had so slight a hold on the consciences of its professors. Nor was this the only source of evil. The differences between the Protestants themselves were every day aug- menting. No church, or sect, has ever bound the con- sciences of its members by a sterner law than that of the Augsburg confession. This strictness of the dog- matic rule, in the Lutheran Church, was an immediate result of the personal character and views of its founder. One of its most conspicuous effects was the production of feelings, uncompromising as his own, in a large pro- portion of those who embraced his tenets. But though this was the case with a considerable number of the reformers, it was not so with all. There were many who soon began to revert to principles which had a longer growth in their minds than those of Luther. He first brought them within the reach of influences proper to the development of that desire of knowledge and. freedom, which made them his partizans. But glad and animating as was the feeling which filled their minds in the early stages of the Reformation, and grate- ful as they could not but be for the victory achieved under the guidance of their great master, no sooner was the surprise that so much had been done, passed away, than they began to feel the weight and pressure of the armour, defended by which they had gained the victory. The confession of faith; the rules of discipline; the rites and orders which characterized the Cliurch to which they had newly joined themselves, left them, it was seen, less at liberty than might have been expected. They were yet far from being entirely free to judge for themselves, to add to or abridge the articles of faitli, as it might seem best to their own individual convictions. This discovery, slow and gradual with many, with some, perhaps, almost instantaneous, produced a long train of anxious and painful thoughts. Of the numbers thus affected, one part satisfied themselves with proposing modifications of the articles received in their Church, while others looked around to see if there were no band 10 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. I. of believers to whom they might join tliemselves, in the hope of enjoying greater freedom of thouglit, or a fuller prospect of the wide empire of pure, unconfined, unde- based truth. Though disappointment only could attend those who had formed, in the first place, a most erroneous estimate of their own powers and sincerity, and, in the next, an equally false notion of the state of other religious bodies, there were, at the present moment, a sufficient number of divisions and subdivisions among the reformers, to render it an easy matter for minds of almost any class, to find sympathizing associates, and a sect ready to hail them as sincere converts to the truth. In the cantons of Switzerland, in France, in Geneva, the gospel had been preached with a success which demonstrated by numerous happy examples the con- verting power of its doctrines. Churches had been established, or congregations formed, in which the utmost solicitude was shown for the permanent ad- ministration of all the means of grace to those who had been, or should hereafter be, roused to a sense of their lost condition. A comparative degree of union existed among the reformers in these countries ; but scarcely had the doctrines of Zuinglius or Calvin been made known in Germany, when an excitement began to manifest itself, which threatened the Lutheran Church with long and fearful troubles. For some time the in- fluence of the foreign reformers was unrecognized by those who were most anxious to preserve the unity of the Church newly established among them. Crypto- calvinism, or the doctrines of the Genevese theologians, concealed with the caution wdiich the severe character of the Lutheran doctors rendered necessary, existed in Germany before any apprehensions were entertained of the disorders which it was so soon to excite. It would be an unprofitable labour to trace minutely the progress of a controversy which each party saw sufficient cause to lament, and the subjects of which, however important in the sight of those by whom it was commenced, had little relation to the infinitely import- ant interests connected with the dispute between Luther CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 11 and Rome. The first appearance of Calvinism among the reformers of Germany was met, on the part of the princes, with the most decided opposition. No tolerance was to be allowed to the further action of a principle, resistance to which was, in fact, the head and front of Rome's own offence. German potentates thought them- selves justified in persecuting for Luther's sake, while they heaped measureless obloquy on the head of the Pope for defending the patrimony of St. Peter. Such inconsistencies are, perhaps, inseparable from the imbe- cility and selfishness of human reason. They may even, it is possible, find virtuous and ingenious apologists ; but it is not for the historian to pass them over unnoticed, or to sacrifice to the dread of unfair inferences one of the most striking features of the times he is describing. The injury which the cause of reform suffered from these disputes was quickly apparent. While the very men who claimed exemption from the tyranny of Rome were employing against each other the better portion of their strength, the common enemy not only looked on, and rejoiced, but busily employed himself in erecting defences against a power which had otherwise soon left him without further resources. The lamentable conse- quences of such a strife at length compelled the wiser men on each side to propose terms of peace. A meeting between the representatives of the two parties took place at Torgau in 1576. It was attended by several eminent divines, and a new abstract of doctrine was offered to their consideration, with a favourable prospect of its leading to a permanent reconciliation. In the early part of the following summer, they met in the town of Torgau, when the terms of agreement were embodied in a concordate, and published by the authority of several of the Lutheran princes. It was to Jacob Andrea, chancellor of Tubingen, and the celebrated theologian, Martin Chemnitz, that the praise belonged of originating this design. Some at- tempt was made to bring it into action as early as the year 1569 ; but it was not till more than five years after that the formulary, on which the reconciliation had to rest, was presented to the heads of the two parties. This 13 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. I. took place in tlie monastery of Maulbnin, and the pre- paration was thus made for tlie more solemn meeting of the deputies at Torgau. As many as fifty-three princes and thirty-five cities agreed, in the course of a few years, to accept the Concordate, and hopes were reasonably entertained, that a permanent defence had been raised ao-ainst the evils which threatened the reformers of Ger- many with the speedy dissolution of their body.* This celebrated formulary consists of two parts, the former entitled ' Epitome,' and the latter ' Solida De- claratio.' In the eleven articles which stand at the head of the work, a full account is given of the view entertained by its authors, and those by whom they were employed, on the important subjects of original sin ; of free-will ; of the righteousness of faith ; of good works ; of the law and the gospel ; of the three uses of the law ; of the Lord's Supper ; of the person of Christ ; of his descent into hell ; of church rites which are termed Adiaphora, or things indifferent ; and of the external fore-knowledge and choice of God. Appended to the statement of doctrine on these several topics, are the arguments commonly employed against the sects which had sprung up since the commencement of the Reformation, and which continued to resist, with an un- compromising determination, the members of tlie Augs- burg confession. A further development of the creed exhibited in the Concordate, is found in the ' Declaration' which forms the second part of the work. Somewhat of an apology is here introduced for the publication of what might be regarded by many as a new form of belief. To such it is answered, that no novelty is admitted into the system of doctrine originally proposed to the Reformed Church ; and that the only object of the formulary is thesupj)res- sion of errors introduced during the late controversies. As an instance of this, reference is made to the heresy supported by the learned Flacius.| This distinguished • Guorikc: Christliche Symbolilc, p. 86. Sclirockh, t. iv. p. 680-631. Planck, 1. c. p. 622-546. f He was i)rofcssor of Hebrew at Wittenberg till the year 1649, when lie left that university. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 13 theologian had been gradually involved in a dispute ^vhich drove him at last, to seek refuge in an assertion considered more characteristic of despair than of know- ledge or discretion. Sin, he contended, is not an acci- dent in the present state of human nature, but a quality of its very essence. Either too deeply enamoured of his opinion, or too jealous of his reputation, to withdraw from this position, he continued to argue upon the sub- ject, till he became involved in a labyrinth of difficulties, in the treatment of each of which there was some fresh temptation to overstep the line of Christian simplicity. Anxious to silence for ever the presumptuous claims of human merit, he trembled, lest by allowing that origi- nal sin was an accident only in the constitution of our nature, no answer could then be given to the assertion, that man was not so altogether lost and abandoned, or incapable of taking some part in his own conversion, as the evangelical believer has been ever foremost to con- tend. Melancthon's sentiments had, at least, been greatly modified in respect to this subject. This might be suc- cessfully urged by those who sought an apology for the eager spirit with which they pursued the controversy. The first to follow the example of Melancthon,* was John Pfeffinger, who, in a dissertation on free-will, strongly advocated the opinions started by his master. It required less provocation than that furnished by Pfeffinger's essay to excite the zeal of those who adhered to the old, stern spirit of the Lutheran creed. Amsdorf assailed the author with force and earnestness. Two new parties were thus created, and men of piety grieved to hear of Lutherans and Melancthonians, and to find * Corpus Doct. Christ. De libero Arbitrio, 1565, p. 342. Melancthon was himself cautious to separate the evangelical view of doctrine, from the notions generated by philosophical speculation, but in this he was badly imitated by others engaged in the controversy. " Nee mis- cenda est, disputatio de determinatione divina, questioni de libero arbitrio. Nam cum de voluntate hominis et de ceteris humanis viribus quseritur, tantum de humana infirmitate disscritur, non de omnibus motibus in tota natura Hanc doctrinam de nostris morbis proponit Ecclesia, non ut stoicas opLniones serat, non ut mentes implicet pcrplcxis ct inextricabilibus disputationibus, sod ut monstrct nobis bcneficia Filii Dei, qui missus est ut destruat opera diaboli, qui triste vulnus fecit in humana natura. — Corpus Doct. Christ. Lipsiai, 1505. p. 342. 14 HISTORY OF THK CHURCH [CHAP. I. the vocabulary of theologians increased by the barbarous terms of Synergism and Strigelism. The former of these was invented to describe the views of Melancthon and his followers ; the latter was derived from the name of the most distinguished of the divines who engaged in the dispute. Yictorin Strigel had ob- tained considerable reputation, by a series of lectures which he delivered at Jena, on Melancthon's elements. But they exhibited the most marked opposition to the original tenets of the Lutheran Church. He thus be- came more conspicuous in the controversy than any previous writer who had espoused similar views. Both parties seemed every day to gather fresh fuel for wrath. At length the civil power interfered. The leaders were threatened with imprisonment or exile, and the Lutherans on' comparing their state with that of their opponents had every reason to consider themselves the victors. It was at this period in the controversy, and when hopes were generally entertained that it would soon cease to be heard of, that Flacius presented himself, and again involved the religious portion of his countrymen in doubt and apprehension. His banishment was the first remedy tried for the cure of the disorders created by the controv^ersy ; but his death, which occurred in 1575, afforded another proof of the fact, so frequently exhi- bited in the history of religious disputes, that the most violent of controversies often depend almost entirely on the stimulants which belong only to a single mind. But the difference of opinion which prevailed on the points of doctrine thus agitated, even when it no longer continued to agitate the minds of men with fierce and rancorous hostility, was far from ceasing to exist. Though less heard of in schools of theology, it might be traced in books and sermons, the main subjects of which had little immediate connection with such a topic. Some loss of confidence,- and not unfrequently a diminu- tion of affection, and mutual esteem between the clergy themselves, orthe pastor and his flock must have been the consequence of this state of things, and hence the rise of numberless evils, all of which tended to weaken the re- CENT. XVI. -XVII. ] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 15 ligious character, or to prepare the way for the novelties of scepticism, on the one side, and those of fanaticism on the other. The controversy respecting free will was not the only one which agitated the reformed Churches at this period. A variety of opinions still prevailed on the Lord's Supper. Melancthon's influence had been long exerted in an endeavour to soften the asperity of those most opposed, and to bring into brotherly union those whose differences appeared to him to depend only on verbal niceties, or obscurities. To this he was encouraged by the evident tendency of some of the Swiss divines, and especially of Calvin, to speak of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and of Luther's views on the subject, with more caution than in the days of Zuingle. Calvin and Melancthon were sufficient to sway the temper, as well as the opinions, of a vast body of their cotemporaries. They liad, moreover, a sincere and brotherly affection for each other, and were equally convinced of the im- portance of treating the subject of the sacrament with caution and reverence. But their influence did not extend to those who combined with their own personal convictions the strong feelings that belong to the un- dving recollections which embalm the names of our first masters in Christ. What Luther and Zuingle had taught were, to many such men, dearer than their lives. The doctrines they had received from their lips, or to which they had given the solemn assent of repeated church confessions, were not to be shaken, or modified, by the pretended necessity of explaining their notions in a sense less extreme than that which they originally bore. Thus a zeal, passionate and persevering, was excited among the adherents to the early confessions. What- ever had been produced, as the first fruits of the Re- formation, seemed to possess a beauty and a virtue more precious than any of a later growth. It was almost impossible that such a feeling should not lead to a weakening of the distinctions between human comments, or opinions, and even individual notions, and the supreme authority of scripture. The passage from a constant appeal to some few commentators on Divine 16 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. I. truth, as illustrating that truth, to that of regarding those writers as independent authorities, is easy and frequent. It is a matter of little surprise that this was the case with many of the followers of Luther, and that they learnt to use his name, and to rest on his incidental statements of opinion, with almost the same confidence which they had, at the first, allowed only to the distinct language of the Bible. Thus each party had its own particular temptation : the older reformers that above alluded to ; the adherents to the Protestant cause, who thought more of liberty than religion, the thousand allurements to doubt, and curious and profitless inquiry, which commonly end in a wretched, though, perhaps, concealed infidelity. Melancthon anxiously strove to silence, by a species of compromise, the disputes existing on the Eucharist. He was willing to drop expressions, in the definition of doctrine, which did not seem to him absolutely necessary to convey the simple scriptural truth.* The danger of * Guerike, t. ii., p. 1021. Thus in his edition of the Confession, pub- lished m 1540, instead of the words "^ Quod corpus et sanguis Domini (sub specie panis et vini) vere adsint'et distribuantur vescentibus in Coena Domini, et improbant secus docentes," he mserted merely, " Quod cum pane et vino vere exhibeantur corpus et sanguis Christi vescentibus in Coena Domini." Calvin's doctrine is plainly statel in the following passage : — Horum omnium adco solidam habcmus testificationem in hoc sacramento, ut ccrto statuendum sit, vere nobis exhiberi non secus, acsi Christus ipse . prfesens aspccti nostro objiceretur, ac manibus attrectaretur. Hoc enim verbum ncc mentiri nee illudere nobis potest, accipite, edite, bibite, hoc est corpus meum, quod pro vobis traditur : hie est sanguis, qui in remissionem pcccatorum effunditur. Quod accipere jubet, significat nostrum esse ; quod edere jubet, significat unam nobiscum substantiam fieri : quod do corpore pra^dicat pro nobis esse ti-aditum, do sanguine pro nobis cffusum, in eo docct utruuKiue non tarn suum esse quam nostnam : quia utnimque non suo com- modo, sed in salutem nostram et sumpsit et posuit. Ac diligenter quidem observandum est, potissimam et pn?ne totam sacramenti encrgiam in his verbis sitam esse, quod pro vobis traditur, qui ]iro vobis effunditur : alioqui non magnojiere nobis conduceret, corpus et sanguinem Domini nunc distribui, nisi in redemptionem ac salutem nostram exposita semel fuissent. Itaque sub pane et vhio repra-scntantur, quo discamus, non modo nostra esse, sed nobis destinata in spiritualis vita? alimentum. Id est qiiod antea admonui- mus, a rcl)us corporeis, quje in sacramento profei-untur, quadam analogia nos ad spirituales deduci. Sic quum panis nobis in symbolum corporis Christi datur, htec statim concipicnda est similitudo, ut corporis nostri vitam panis alit, sustinet, tuetur: ita corpus Christi vegetandic ac vivificandae animse unicum esse cibum. Quum vinum in symbolum sanguinis propositum intueniur, cogitandum quos corpori usus vinum affcrat, ut cosdcm spirituali- ter afferri noljis Christi sanguine reputemus ; sunt autum, fovere, reficci-e, confirmare, exhilarave. Nam si satis perpcndimus, quid nobis sacrosancti hujus corporis traditio, quid sanguinis effusio profucrit, non obscure persjn- CENT. XVI.- XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 17 such a disposition will be apprehended according to the proportions in which the love of peace, or the clear, acute sense of distinctions in spiritual things, operates on our ciemus, haec panis ct vini attrilnita, secundum ejusmodi analogiam, optime illis erga nos convenire, dum nobis communicantur. PoiTo nobis liic duo cavcnda sunt vitia : ne aut in extenuandis signis nimii, a suis mysteiiis ca divcllcrc, quibus quodamniodo annexa sunt, aut in iisdem extollendis ininiodici, mysteria interim etiam ipsa nonnihil obscurare videamur. Christum esse pancm vitse, quo in salutem oeternam nutriantur fideles, nemo est nisi prorsus irreligiosus, qui non fateatur. Sed lioc non perinde inter omnes convenit, qualis sit ejus participandi ratio. Sunt enim, qui manducarc Christi caruem, et sanguinem ejus bibere, uno verbo defi- niuntj nihil esse aliud, quam in Christum ipsum credere. Sed milii expres- sius quiddam ac sublimius videtur voluisse docere Christus in pr»chira ilia concione, ubi carnis sua^ manducationera nobis commendat : nempe vera sui participatione nos vivificari, quam manducandi etiam ac bibendi verbis ideo designavit, ne, quam ab ipso vitam percipimus, siraplici cognitione percipi quispiam putarct. Quemadmodum enim non aspectus, sed ejus panis corporis alimentum suificit, ita vere ac penitus participem Christi animam fieri con- venit, ut ipsius virtute in vitam spiritualem vegetetur. Interim vcro banc non aliam esse, quam fidei manducationem fatemur, ut nulla alia fingi potest. Verum hoc inter mea et istorum verba interest, quod illis manducare est duntaxat credere : ego credendo manducari Christi carnem, quia fide noster efficitur, eamque manducationem fructum effectimique esse fidei dico. Aut ei clarius velis, illis manducatio est fides : mihi ex fide potius conscqui videtur. In verbis quidem parvum, sed in re non mediocre est discrinien. Nam etsi docet Apostolus, Christum in cordibus nostris habitare per fidcm (Eph. iii. 17)> nemo tamen haljitationem istam fidem interpretabitur : sed eximium fidei efFectum explicari omnes sentiunt, quod per ipsani fideles consequuntur, ut Christum in se habiant manentem. In hunc modura voluit Dominus, pancm vitffi se nuncupando, non tantum docere, in mortis resurrectionisque suae fide repositam esse nobis salutem : sed vei'a etiam sui communicatione fieri, ut vita sua in nos transeat ac nostra fiat ; non secus ac panis, dum in alimen- tum sumitur, vigorena corpori administrat. Nee alio sensu Augustmus, quem illi patronum sibi advocant, credendo nos manducare scripsit, quam ut manducationem istam fidei esse, non oris indicaret. Quod neque ipse nego ; sed simul tamen addo, nos fide com- plecti Christum non eminus apparentem, sed re nobis eminentem, ut ipse caput nostrum, nos vero ejus membra simus. Neque tamen locutioneni illam simplicitur improbo : sed tantum nego, plenam esse interpretationem, si definire volunt, quid sit Christi carnem edere. Alioqui video Augustimira hac loquendi forma sa?pius usum esse, ut f[uum dicit libro de doctrina Chris- tiani : " Nisi manducaveritis carnem filii hominis : figura est praecipiens pas- sioni Domini esse communicandum et suaviter atque utiliter recondendum in memoria, quod pro nobis caro ejus crucifixa et vulnerata sit." Item quum dicit, tria ilia millia hominum, qui Petri concione conversi simt (Act ii 41) sanguinem Christi, quenr saeviendo fuderant, credendo bibisse. Verum plurimis aliis locis illud fidei bcneficium egregie commendat, quod per ipsam non minus reficiuntur carnis Christi communione animae nostrae, quam corpora pane, quo vescuntur. Atque id ipsum est, quod alibi scribit Chry- sostomus, Christum non fide tantum, sed re ipsa nos suum etficere corpus. Neque enim aliunde, quam a fide tale bonum conscqui intelligit : sed hoc tantum vult excluderc, ne quis, dum fidem nominari audit, nudam imagina- tionem concipiat. Eos vero, qui coenam volunt externa! solum i)rofessionis notam esse, nunc praetereo, quia satis eorum errorem refutassc mihi videor, quum agerem de Sacrameutis in gencre (cap. 14, sect. 1.3). Hoc solum ob- servent lectores, dum calixvocatur foedus in sanguine (Luc. 22, 20), promis- VOL. III. C. 18 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. I. minds. That he opened the way to many speculatists, encouraged others to content themselves with the rough outline of a creed agreable to, because nearest the limits of, human reason ; and delighted a third class with the flattering notion that they were filled with the love of charity and Christ, seeing that they were ready to sacrifice a portion of their former tenets to the prejudices of their neighbours, seems fairly deducible from the general tenor of his history. But if this must be allowed, so also is there good reason to believe, that he effected an important improvement in the temper of parties, and that many were taught by his example, or persuaded by his eloquence, to cease from disputes in which they had engaged rather from pride, or other inferior motives, than from any which properly belonged to the interests of conscience. The Concordium signed at Wittemberg, in 1536, pro- cured but a short and delusive peace. However sincere the Lutherans, the opposite party had yielded onl}^ to the pressure of the moment. The former were stern and unbending ; the latter were not less attached to their tenets ; when they submitted, therefore, it was but for the preservation of their common rights. When Luther found himself, in 1544, drawing to the close of his career, he again, after a long silence, spoke upon the subject. It was observable that, though no less earnest than formerly in the statement of his doctrine, he had lost much of the angry feeling which characterized his earlier tone of speaking, and that time and experience had evidently softened him. Melancthon's opinions had never, it is probable, any effect upon the doctrines of Luther ; but they exercised, there can be little doubt, no slight influence over his feelings. It could not be concealed from him, that there was a gradual tendency in the mind of that eminent man to favour the system adopted by the Swiss divines. The proceedings which took place, at an early period, when the controversy was entirely with the Roman Catholics, were alike charac. sionem exprimi, quse ad fideni coufirmandam valoat. Undc sequitur, nisi in Dcum respicimus et amplectimur, quod offcrt, nos sacra ccena recte non uti. — Inst. lib. iv. c. xvii. sec. 3-6. CENT. XYI.-X7II.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 19 terized, on the part of Melaiicthon, b}^ an effort to soften its bitterness, and by mutual concessions to establish permanent good will. We have seen with what anxiety Luther watched these signs of his friend's yielding and forbearing mind. He found it necessary to employ the whole strength of his own resolution to prevent the quiet spirit thus at work from giving up much that he had perilled his life to secure. It was a danger of a different kind that presented itself to his thoughts, when he saw the growing friendship between Melancthon and the disciples of Calvin or Zuingle. The line which sepa- rated his own system of doctrines from theirs, was far less broad and distinct than that which ran, like an im- passable trench, on the side of his confession, where it lay opposed to Rome. In the latter case, there could be no modifying of his sentiments. He had discovered errors, the magnitude of which grew upon his vision the greater his experience in the gospel of Christ, Nothing could lessen his hostility to Rome, — nothing soften the indig- nation with which he contemplated its infamous viola- tions of Christian liberty, holiness and truth. He looked back upon the early stages of his career, and recollected how little he had demanded as the price of his return into the bosom of the Papal Church. The continuation of the controversy between him and its advocates was not promoted by any mere theoretical reasoning. It w^as not the fruit of a proud imagination, or of a bold, acute intellect, delighting to find occasions for exercising its power ; but the plain result of a necessity imposed upon his conscience by enlarging views of the gospel. But in the former case, those with whom he disputed were as ardently attached to the cause of Christian holiness as he himself was. They were, at least, not inferior to him in zeal for the Scriptures, and for the general promulgation of the doctrines discovered in their pages. Most of them, moreover, were distinguished for Spiritual- mindedness ; for the same unselfishness of feeling as appeared in his own temper ; and the mighty cause of the Reformation at large, owned, in its progress, the substantial value of their devotion. Whatever, therefore, might be the anxiety of Luther c 2 20 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAR. I. to keep his followers from any union witli those whose views were ditlerent to his own, he could not continue to cherish feelings of hostility towards the Swiss reformers with the same degree of Ijitterness apparent in his sen- timents as formerly expressed. It was a circumstance, moreover, of no slight importance to this desirable change in his temper, that many of those who had adopted the most suspicious of Zu ingle's opinions, were now evidently inclined to look with more reverential regard to the sublime mysteries of the Eucharist. From causes of this nature, tranquillity prevailed to a con- siderable extent, and those who were ready to believe the signs of the times rather than their past experience, trusted that it would be permanent.* * Cranmer, a few years before this, " propounded," it is said, "■ a great and weighty business to Melancthon, and a matter tluTt was likely to jirovo highly useful to all the Churches of the Evangelical profession. It was this. The Archbishop was now driving on a design for the better uniting of all the Protestant Churches ; viz. by having one common confession and harmony of faith and doctrine, drawn up out of the pure A\''ord of God, Avhich they might all own and agree in. He had oliserved what differences there arose, among Protestailts, in the doctrine of the sacrament , in the divine decrees ; in the government of the Church, and some other things. These disagreements had rendered the professors of the Gospercontem]>tible to those of the Roman communion, which caused no small grief to the heart of this good man, m-arly touched for the lionoiir of Christ, his master, and his true Church, which suffered thereby. And like a person of a truly public and lai-ge spirit, as his function was, he seriously debated and deliberated with him- self for the remed^'ing this evil. This made him judge it very advisable to jirocure such a confession. And in order to this, he thought it necessary for the chief and most learned divines of the several churches to meet together, and with all freedom and friendliness to debate the pohits of controversy, according to the rule of Scripture; aid after mature deliberation, by agree- ment of all parties, to draw up a book of articles and heads of Christian faith and practice, which should serve for the standing doctrine' of Pro- testants. " As for the place of this assembly, he thought England the fittest in re- spect of safety, as the afftiirs of Christendom then stood, and communicating tliis his purpose to the King, that religious prince was very ready to grant his allowance and protection. And as Helvetia, France and Germany were the chief countries abroad where the gospel was professed, so he sent his letters to the most eminent ministers of each, namely, to Bullinger, Calvin, and Melancthon, disclosing this his pious design to them, a)id re(|uiring their counsel and furtherance. Melancthon, first of all, came acquainted with it by Justas Jonas, junior, to whom the Archbishop hail related the nuitter at large, and desired him to signify as much in a letter to the said Melancthon, and that it was his request to him to commmiicate his judg- ment thereupon. This Jonas did, and Melancthon accordingly writ to our Archbishop on the calends of May this j'ear, to tliis j)urpose, — ' That if his judgment and opinion were required, he should be willing both to hear the sense of othor learned men, and to speak his own, and to give his I'oasons, CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 21 But, in the year 1552, the controversy was renewed by Joachim Westphal, a preacher at Hamburg, wlio not only assailed the doctrines of Calvin on the Lord's Suj)- per, but accused several of the Lutheran theologians of secretly propagating them among the jDeople. Albert Hardenberg, on the other side, though professedly a Lutheran, boldly attacked the tenth article of the con- fession. He was the intimate friend of Melancthon, and his mind had evidently been long decided upon the subject in debate. His associates among the clergy opposed him with untiring zeal. He had, however, many friends among the laity, and the controversy was carried on in a manner which proved the determination of both parties to yield no point in the dispute. Har- Tct i^tfv TTtlOiov, Tc'ih TTtiOof-csvoQ, pcrftiKiding and being persuaded^ as ought to be in a conference of good men, letting trnth, and the glory of God, and the safety of the Church, not any private affection, ever carry away the victory.' Telling him withal, ' that the more he considered of this his deliheration, than which he thought could be nothing set on foot more weighty and neces- sary, the more he wished and pressed him to publish such a tnie and clear con- fession of the whole body of Christian doctrine, according to the judgment of learned men whose names should be subscribed thereto; that among all nations there might be extant an illustrious testimony of doctrine delivered by grave authority, and that posterity might have a rule to follow\' And he was of opinion that this confession should be much of the nature of their confession of Augsburgh, only that some fe^v points of controversy might be in plainer words delivered than was in that. ' That ambiguities might not hereafter occasion new differences. And that in the Church it was best to call a spade a sjiade, and not to cast ambiguous words before posterity as an apple of contention. And that if in Gennany there had been an entu-e consent of all the churches, they had not fallen into miseries.' And so con- cludes, earnestly exhorting our prelate to apply himself vigorously in these his pious cares and thoughts for the good estate of the churches. " Not long after he pursued his first letter with a second, wherein he again reminded our reverend father of that caution, viz. ' That nothing- might be left under general terms, but expressed with all tlie persjjicuity and distinctness imaginable ;' which I suppose, he said, to meet with the opmion of some, who thought it might be more convenient in order to jjcace, to suffer more difficult and controverted points to pass under dubious expres- sions, or in the very words of Scripture, w'ithout any particular decisi\'e sense and explanation imposed on them. And concerning this it is probable our Archbishop had desired his opinion. This Melancthon was against, saying, ' that, for his part, he loved not labyrinths, and that therefore all his study was, that Avhatsoever matters he undertook to treat of, they might ajipear jdain and unfolded. That it was indeed the practice of the Council of Trent, wdiich, therefore, made such crafty decrees, that so they might defend their errors by things ambiguously spoken. But that this sophistry ought to be far from the Church. That there is no absurdity in truth rightly propounded, and that this goodness and perspicuity of things is greatly in- viting, wheresoever there be good minds.'" — Strype's Memorials, vol. ii. b. iii. c. xxiv., sec. 407. c 3 22 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cilAP. I. denberg was frequently asked to declare, on oath, his adherence to the Augsburg confession, and the apology.* He answered, " that he could never believe it his duty to make vows on any other book than the Bible, for that alone was without any mixture of error ; that when he became a doctor, he promised to abide entirely by the Bible, and the old, true Christian doctrines; that nothing had conduced more to involve the world in error than the ready adoption of mere human compositions, while the Bible itself was left in comparative neglect." To this he added, " that he did not consider that there M^as any real difference between his own belief and the Augsburg confession, which, in his opinion, had been drawn up as well as the times would permit, but with an evident desire to accommodate its style so as to gain, if possible, the favour of the Emperor and the Pope, or, at least, to avoid increasing their ill will." Melancthon himself, it was said, had acknowledged that it was far from perfect; and the tenth article was especially subject to doubtful interpretation. "If, however," continued Hardenberg, "you will accept that interpretation of the article which is allowed by Melancthon, and the school of Wittemberg, I am at once ready to give my assent to your views." Hardenberg could have had no expectation that this offer would be accepted. The party opposed to him exhibited, on the contrary, daily a greater determina- tion to persevere in the defence of the old doctrine. Being possessed of the chief authority in the Church, they began to expel tlie followers of Hardenberg from their offices, and even denied to certain of the preachers a participation of the sacrament. The King of Denmark was applied to, with an earnest request that he would employ his influence and authority to silence the heretics ; and the superintendent, Tileman Hesshus, pro- claimed aloud from the pulpit, at Bremen, that both Hardenberg and his companions were accursed, and children of the devil. In this melancholy state of things, the sentiment of brotherly charity could exercise no control. The only remedy for the evil was Hardenberg's expulsion ; and to * Scluofkh, t. IV., 11.000. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 20" give an appearance of justice to this proceeding, he was again examined as to the real nature of his doctrines. But his confession still partook largely of what was con- sidered the poison of rationalism. He could only be induced to say, that, though the body of Christ was in heaven, it might, indeed, through the word, and the holy s^anbols, be present in the sacrament, but not ac- cording to place and quantity. In the same manner, he contended that the actual partaking of the body of Christ was confined to believers; whence, it appeared, that he had given up none of the opinions for which he originally incurred the hostility of his colleagues in the ministry. He was, therefore, condemned to banishment ; but it was especially understood that this sentence was passed, not in the way of punishment, but purely for the sake of restoring peace, and preventing, as far as pos- sible, the recurrence of the disorders which had now so long prevailed. Hardenberg found an honourable retreat with the Count of Oldenburg, and continued to preach at Emden till near the period of his death, which happened in 1574. The affairs at Bremen were not much improved by his exile. A temporary tranquillity succeeded his removal, but the principal office in the Church being intrusted to Simon Musseus, a man of violent disposi- tion, measures were introduced for the future govern- ment of the clergy, and their congregations, which roused into activity the passions that had hitherto lain dormant in the breasts of many pious and excellent men. An order was published, which, among other instances of oppressive zeal, declared, that whosoever might be suspected of heresy, should immediately suffer the penalty of excommunication. The severity of this order excited the alarm of the civil magistrates. An effort was made to induce the superintendent to modify his rules ; but the preachers, in a body, returned for answer, that this was a most re- prehensible and wicked attempt at the destruction of spiritual government, which God would, assuredly, not leave unpunished, nor suffer the magistrates, under pre- tence of their worldly dignity, to set their feet in the c 4 24 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. I. Church, and prescribe to their teachers what kind of orders they should publish for the government of the congregation. But notwithstanding the threats and violence exhibited by Musa}us and his associates, the magistrates steadily pursued their course, and, after a lengthened struggle, the unbending Lutherans were, in their turn, expelled from Bremen. In their retreat, they published to the world, that the city out of which they had been thus driven, was the very hot-bed of heresy. They succeeded so far in establishing these accusations, that Hamburg and Lubeck refused to consider Bremen any longer as one of their league. A similar feeling was shown by other cities, and the merchants of Bremen saw reason to fear that the persevering enmity of the exiled ministers would soon have the effect of inflicting no less injury on trade and commerce, than it was believed to have done on the interests of religion. The banished theologians were, at length, allowed to return to their homes, but they were refused the use of the pulpits ; and it was not till a considerable period had passed away, that the opposite parties began to exhibit again any feeling of brotherly charity. This is but a single instance of the fearful disputes which succeeded the first age of the Reformation. Such things are the common result, as we have seen, of the excitement belonging to a period remarkable for the recovery of long-forfeited rights. We must endeavour, however, in the history of Christ's Church, to avoid falling into the error, so frequently committed, of ima- gining, that when we have found a reason to account for the existence of disorders, we have, at the same time, found a fitting apology for their rise. Nothing can be more painful to a Christian mind than the appearance of that spirit of discord which has, in so many cases, dis- turbed the peace, and endangered the union of God's people. The only consolation which any view of the su})ject, can suggest, is that which we derive from the assurance, that out of evil the overruling Spirit is able to produce unexpected good, and that even the untoward circumstances which are so greatly lamented, are but the CENT. XVI.-XVIT.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 25 common proportion of ill attendant even upon events the most beneficial to mankind. It is possible, however, to become too familiar with this species of reasoning, and to commit grave offences thereby against the sober lessons of experience. Arguments have, indeed, been found to excuse haughty and unsettled minds, as under the excitement of novel events, when the character of turbulence was only given to the events by those minds themselves. And there is not unfrequently a trust re- posed in the supreme operations of Providence which is the fruit of indolence, or timidity, rather than of faitli ; and, lastly, there is often a feeling which disposes us to rest satisfied with an inferior portion of good rather than use the necessary exertion to secure a larger, if that further struggle should oblige us, for a time, to forego the immediate enjoyment of what has been already gained : or we are ready to apologize for not attempting the clearing away of the intermixed evil, which might be removed, because we have too readily concluded that the case in which we are concerned is one of those that must be left to the arbitrement of time, and the necessary succession of events. Errors of this kind are common to those who dwell with ardent minds on the grand periods of change that have generally furthered the cause of truth. They may be supposed to have influenced some of those which exercised a certain degree of control over the events to which we are now alluding. Certain it is, that there were, on the one side, men who seemed to abhor the thought of pausing any where short of universal revo- lution ; and that, on the other, there were those who seemed as anxious now to prevent their fellow-believers from advancing beyond the lines originally traced by Luther, as they were at the beginning to work out his designs, or establish his scriptural and spiritual views. Melancthon died in the midst of the troubles which many of his associates were inclined to attribute, in no slight degree, to his own want of firmness. He la- mented as deeply as Luther the threatening aspect of the times ; and no sacrifice could have been demanded 2G HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. I. of him, that his love for the gospel, and his fervent affection for liis brethren, would not have induced him to render. As his end approached, he spoke more and more openly on this melancholy subject. " I have," said he, " but one care. It is, that the Churches which are in Christ may at length be brought into union." He frequently repeated the prayer of our Lord, " Let them be one in us, as we are one." Just before he breathed his last, whilst listening to the passage, " As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons cf God, even to them that believe on his name," he cried, with uplifted hands and eyes, " Ah ! that word is ever in my soul ;" and then continued to repeat, as long as his failing strength would allow, *' O God ! have mercy on me, for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ ! On thee have I trusted, 1 shall not be put to confusion !" He then fell asleep.* No pain or struggle attended his departure ; and labouring, as he had ever done, to diffuse sentiments of peace and love in the Church, he seemed to be rewarded with a signal and most tran- quillizing sense of the sufficiency of J)ivine grace, and of the presence of his Lord, in this last act which he had to perform, depending upon tiie supports of faith. He had long looked forward to the event with the feelings which might be supposed to occupy the mind of a man devoted for so many years to the contempla- tion of heavenly mysteries. A few days before his death, he wrote on a sheet of paper, communing with his own soul, " Yes ! thou shalt enter into light : thou shalt see God ! Thou shalt learn the wonderful mys- teries which in this life it was impossible for thee to understand : for example, why thou wast created ; and how the union of both natures was effected in Christ." Referring to the struggles and afflictions which had * His death took place April 19th 1.5f)0, Camcrarius says, that when he left him, a few days before his death, great hopes were entertained of his recovery. " Et ipse cui)idum me remanendi diutius reverti domum ad meos jusserat vultu hilari et Isetis verbis, quod diceret, proximo mercatu, qui jam appropinquabat, se ad nos ycnturum. Addens (juidem hoc : vel una pcrpetuo futuros aliquando esse in feterna vita. Sed septima incursio inor])i finem fecit vitse in terris ipsius, id(iue ego in itinerc cognoveram." — Mta Philippi Melancthonis, p. 372. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 27 most heavily oppressed liis gentle nature, he added, " And thou shalt be free from sin : thou shalt be deli- vered from trouble and anxiety, and shalt be protected from the madness of theologians."* The remains of Melancthon were consigned to a grave, dug close to the side of Luther's, in the Schloss- kirk of Wittemberg. His funeral was attended with whatever of pomp and ceremony could be employed to exhibit sentiments of love and reverence. The pro- fessors of philosophy bore him to the ground, and the short account of his life, placed in the coffin, was con- cluded with the affectionate testimonial, that they thereby performed the last duty towards him, whom they regarded as their father, — their protector, — their truest and best instructor. Notwithstanding, hov/ever, the veneration thus ex- hibited towards the memory of Melancthon, no man of eminence, it has been observed, was ever more harshly treated, either before or after his death.-f Reasons, easily understood, have been assigned to ac- count for this. Among the first is the circumstance, that he never gave himself up entirely to the interests of any party, as distinguished from the mass of those who simply sought the glory of Christ and the gospel. Great, it is said, as was the sum of the benefits which he had conferred upon the Church and religion, — upon learning and philosophy, — they were in reality counted as nothing, because not confined to the little circle of some sect, or to the exclusive advancement of a par- ticular doo:ma. It is not denied that he had his weak- nesses ; and even his admirers are but little inclined to contend that he did no harm by his readiness to listen, at all times, to the representations of those who, not like himself, wholly devoted to the truth, persuaded him to concessions which had no other object than the establishment of a vain and treacherous peace. He is not, indeed, altogether free from the charge of having vacillated in certain points of his creed, and of having thereby injured, in some degree, the best interests of * Adami Vitfe Germann. Philos. p. 93 ; ed. 1705. f Schiockli; t. IV., b. ii., p. 688. ■28 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. I. the Churcli wliicli he hud so great a shave in founding. But charges of this kind, when brought against a man like Melancthon, create at once a strong feeling of doubt respecting their correctness. It is plain, from the whole course of his life, that he never had any personal interests to serve. All his nearest and most valued friendships, the noblest of his recollections, urged him rather to keep in the old track than depart from it in the slightest degree, or for a single moment. The change tJien which may be discovered in the deve- lopment of his opinions, must be attributed to causes belonging either to a mistaken view of what was ex- pedient in the management of parties, or to the actual influence of conviction, the fruit of intenser thought, of a deeper insight into the heavenly mysteries. Much might be said in favour of the latter supposition. Me- lancthon was a man of vast learning, and his stores of knowledge were perpetually increasing. Remarkable for intellectual lal30ur, he was no less distinguished for holiness of life and disposition. Combined with these features of character were also his remarkable love of candour, his openness to conviction, and his freedom from those obstacles which exist in a less refined class of minds to the ready acknowledgment of each successive discovery of the truth. When these things are considered, there seems great reason to believe, that the clianges in Melancthon's opinions were rather the result of careful inquiry, than the consequence of a facility, approaching to weakness, to yield to those who appeared to have in their hands the peace of the Church. He was, doubtless, at all times ready to sacrifice for great objects whatever he sup- posed of no vital importance to the interests of holi- ness ; nor could he endure to see strife and enmity kept up, when persuasion, or an open declaration of bro- therly kindness, had the smallest chance of subduing the hostile spirit. When the feelings of those with wdiom he was associated are brought into tlic calculation, a still greater probability is given to the belief that it w\as tlie superiority wliich he possessed in ])owers of tliought and inquii-y, happily combined with a true CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 29> Cliristiaii spirit, and no infirmity of purpose, that led him to speak and act, as he did, in relation to the doctrinal differences existing between the reformed Churches. The men to whom he was opposed, in these respects, were many of them constitutionally intolerant, of hard and angry tempers, and but little disposed to spend any time in the investigation of systems not exactly accordant with their own. Whether, these things considered, Melancthon, or his accusers, were the more likely to be on the side of truth ; whether piety owed greater obligations to this or that party, it is not for us to decide ; but, at all events, a doubt may fairly be entertained respecting the justice of most of the harsh notions indulged in, and propagated, by those who were resolved, if possible, to judge all men by their own standard, and rule the movements of other minds by the laws proper to themselves. Melancthon's services to religion were important and permanent. By the continued grace of him who, at the first " gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ :"* ac- cording to the appointments of the same enduring mercy, God's people have still been supplied with men fitted according to their several ranks and positions, to carry forward the designs of the gospel. Melancthon was no less needed than those who rendered themselves more conspicuous in the energetic and irresistible appeals of popular preaching. Were the plans of Divine goodness confined to a single season, the readiest and the boldest workman would ever be the object of our choice. But it is an important consideration that God's designs are for countless ages, and that, conse- quently, the strength which would expend itself in exertions restricted, by their nature, to the present, is not sufficient to tlie fulfilment of the heavenly purpose, but must be combined with another species of energy, — with the quiet, temperate, foreseeing activity of minds that love to dwell, in the secret retirement of their thoughts, on the broad expanses of the future, and to * Ephc*. 0. iv., V. 11, 12. 30 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. I, prepare a way througli the desert, for generations yet unborn. The value of such meditations is not always seen, perhaps it was not intended to be seen, in the immediate course of brilliant and profitable action. But there are surely thoughts which have a good and value in themselves : inquiries which begin and end with truth as the chief and best possession of the soul. And if such be, in any degree, the case, then the disposition of some minds to shrink from outward cnterprize, and to dwell long and carefully on their owai internal work- ings, may be regarded as no less clearly indicating the goodness of God, than the variety of seasons, climates, and elements, whereby alone the universal necessities of the world can be adequately supplied. Melancthon did not belong to the highest class of intellects, but he was thoughtful, spiritual, and abounding in the ripe fruits of erudition. He attracted around him, by the influence of these endowments, a vast number of men who needed to be conciliated in order to be converted. There were some who listened attentively to Luther, because he was venerated by Melancthon, and others who, originally convinced by his mighty demonstrations of the truth, were kept steady to the vows of their first enthusiasm, by the serene, benignant course of his aff'ectionate associate. Melancthon's learning was of no ordinary cast, nor did it fail to produce those effects, which, though vainly looked for from the acquirements of cold and worldly men, are rarely wanting to the labours of those whose knowledge is added to faith and holiness. The harshness of the old styles was as strongly con- trasted with the freshness and harmony of IVIelancthon's current of thought and language, as were the marrowless sentences of the schoolmen with the noble, evangelical sermons of Luther. It was almost impossible that the students of Wittemberg should resist the attractions of his eloquence, or tliat the writings, in which he stored up his experience, and set forth the doctrines on which he placed his hope of acceptance with God, should cease to be read, till the principles which they were intended to establish had acquired sufficient maturity to pro- duce a literature of their own. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 31 The good thus effected must have far outweighed the injury, if any, which resulted from Melancthon's sup- posed want of resolution in the conduct of controversy. Even the severest judgment must acknowledge that neither indolence nor insincerity, neither selfishness nor ambition, influenced his determinations. His offence, at the worst, was the consequence of miscalculating the dispositions of men, the force of their tendencies towards peace. His merits were indisputable : so also his piety, his benevolence, his faithfulness to the gospel ; his tender and devoted love to Luther ; his earnest and untiring zeal for the promotion of whatever he deemed best adapted to promote the glory of God, and peace and good-will towards men. Melancthon had formed a party, but this was less by his own calculated and designed influence, than by the power which he incidentally exercised. Moderate men of all classes gathered round him, for he was willing to listen to them all, and he had, to a certain degree, the ability to do good to all. They confessed the force of his arguments when he proved the value of his own principles : they were grateful for the willingness which he manifested to secure for them, as far as it was allowed him, the blessings of brotherly communion. Thus, independently of any peculiar modification of existing systems, there was sufficient in ]\Ielancthon's station and temper to obtain for him a numerous band of followers, and it is easy to perceive that among those who owned his influence, from these common and general motives, many would be found attached to him more closely by their absolute approval of those shades of opinion, in which he was supposed to vary from the doctrines of the stricter Lutherans. But whatever origin may be assigned to the party of which Melancthon was confessedly the leader, it soon ceased to exist when he could no longer be appealed to as its guide and supporter. His death gave, at first, a fresh impulse to the enthusiasm of his followers, and the most active among them gathered round his son-in-law. Gasper Peucer, a physician, a man of learning and ability, and fondly devoted to Melancthon's views. The 32 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. I. party, of which he thus became the centre, pressed their design with untiring- assiduity, and, with many, nothing less was desired than the supplanting of Lutheranism by the gradual introduction of the complete system of Calvin. For some time they were permitted to work unnoticed, except by those who had habituated themselves to the constant scrutiny of theological strife. At length, how- ever, the season of concealment was at an end. The Crypto-calvinists could do no more than they had, without coming boldly forth, and challenging their opponents to an open trial of strength for the possession of the field. This was done, by the publication of a work, entitled, " Exegesis perspicua controversiae de Coena Domini." In this treatise, an unmodified declaration was made in favour of the Calvinistic doctrines, and the peculiarities of Lutheranism were treated with a boldness approach- ing to scorn. The government could no longer remain an inactive spectator of the contest. Its honour and integrity, the stability of some of its institutions not the less important to its welfare,' because of their late modification, and especially its credit for consistency and foresight, were exposed to no slight degree of peril in the present strife. The most resolute proceedings were necessar}^ supposing that the aflfair was viewed in a simply political point of view, to stop the diff*usion of the opinions which had become current in Germany. Augustus, the elector of Saxony, had hitherto seemed to regard the dispute as unworthy of particular attention. His theologians con- vinced him, at this stage of the controversy, that terms must no longer be kept with those who had, as they considered, held such bad faith with the founders of their church. Many an amiable man, and excellent divine, had used eftbrts which they hoped might tend to soften the asperity of parties, and convince them that, without danger to the purity of evangelical doctrine, they might live in peace and charity. But there was a sternness in the leading spirits of those times which re- sisted persuasion, and generally preferred suflfering of any kind to the subjection, or sacrifice of opinion. Despising the threats which their continued adherence CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. S3 to the Calviiiistic doctrines had provoked, they soon en- countered the resentment of the government as culprits no longer deserving forbearance. The foremost of their party wer^ cast into prison, nor was the treatment of the sufferers softened by any of thos€ indulgences which, it might have been supposed, would certainly, in pro- testant Germany, have been extended to men suffering for conscience' sake. So great was the misery endured by these champions of the persecuted opinions, that one of them died in prison after twoyears of captivity ; another was so bowed down by agony that he fell into despair, and sought to destroy himself. His death at length fol- lowed the tortures which he endured upon the rack, but the cause of his exposure to such a punishment remains still a matter of mystery. Peucer, Melancthon's son- in-law, shared the prison with this unfortunate man, and remained in confinement no less than twelve years ; this lengthened captivity being attributable, it is con- jectured, as much to the jealousy which his former in- fluence with the elector had inspired, as to his actual efforts to promote the sentiments which he was accused of supporting. Frequently offered his freedom, on con- dition that he should submit to the ordinances of the Lutheran Church, he refused to accept it on such terms, and, in the midst of his worst distresses, had the boldness to warn the elector of the combined folly and danger of every attempt to overcame the truth.* Though for a time suppressed, the hopes of the Cal- vinistic party were far from extinguished. It was utterly impossible that this should be tlie case in a state of things like that under which they had begun to exist. They had as much of essential vitality in them as those which had urged on the Lutherans themselves, through so many stages of trial and difficulty, to final success. They rested, moreover, on appeals to Scripture ; were nourished by an intense and very widely-professed zeal for spiritual holiness ; and could draw fresh strength from the deep fountains of brotherly love and sympathy existing in foreign churches. * He was set free, at last, in sulniiission to the entreaties of the Prince of . Anhalt, and became physiciaii to that prince, in whose service he died in the jear 1602. VOL. III. D 34 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [chap. I. During the short reign of Christian I. the Calvinists of Saxony recommenced their operations with sanguine expectations of success. The prince himself was known to be favourable to any design which might soften the severity of tlic high Lutheran party. His minister, Crellius, was still more openly inclined to the same opinions. But the popular mind was against the re- forms wliich they meditated; and in the midst of the struggles that ensued, the Calvinists were suddenly left, by the death of their protector, to the unbridled resent- ment of a sovereign of the most opposite character and opinions. The unfortunate Crellius fell a sacrifice to the measures whereby he attempted to support the interests of his party,* and the prisons again beheld their chambers tenanted by men celebrated for their piety and learning. While such were the disorders excited by the conflict of the Lutheran and Calvinistic systems, new modifica- tions of doctrine were every day making their appear- ance. Of these, some were the proctuct of ingenious minds, merely seeking employment for their restless energies. Others had their birth in the proud desire of opposing what seemed to be settled by authority ; and a third class were the offspring of an anxious bene- volence, trusting, mistakingly in too many instances, that something might be suggested, or contrived, for the amalgamating of all parties into one. Among the theologians who rendered themselves conspicuous, at this period, by statements of doctrine, the uncompromising violence of which provoked fresh controversies, was Samuel Huber, a native of the canton of Bern, and a minister of the Swiss Church, as esta- blished on the general principles of the Reformation. The diffusion of Calvin's opinions on the subject of election and reprobation, called his attention particularly to this branch of theology. He was soon led to believe that the dogmas of the Genevese reformer were opposed to the truth and mercy of God. His opinions becoming known, he was deprived of his parish, and, according to the fashion of the times, he was further punished by "" This was after a ten years' imprisonment. His execution took place at Dresden, in the year 1601. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 33 imprisonment. On obtaining his liberty, he hastened into Germany, where he joined the Lutherans, and was not long in acquiring the esteem of those with whom he became connected. His learning, and zealous desire to promote the cause of holiness, amply justified his friends in the efforts they employed to promote his wel- fare. But his hatred of the Calvinistic account of the doctrine of election had undergone no diminution since his retirement from Switzerland. His mere theological hostility was now, moreover, combined with no slight degree of personal resentment, ever renewed and strengthened by the recollection of the troubles to which he had been exposed by the advocates of Calvin's system. Yielding, at length, to the most violent of his feelings, he openly declared that, instead of receiving the doctrine of election, according to any of the modes in which it was at present interpreted, he believed that God had elected, without any reservation, the whole human race to the enjoyment of eternal life. The publication of such views could not be allowed to pass unnoticed ; he was cited before the Consistory, but pleaded his cause so well, that he was not only acquitted of the charge of heresy, but obtained an appointment to the chair of theology at Wittemberg. It was impossible, however, for him to repress his desire to enter the lists with the Calvinists. Though now surrounded by men little likely to offend his prejudices, he provoked more than one of his fellow professors to controversy. In the end, he was obliged to leave Wittemberg, and many years of his future life were spent in the vain effort to diffuse his notions through different provinces of the Reformed Church. The consequences of the dispute thus excited were little likely to advance the credit of either party in the eyes of the common enemy. But Huber never appears to have possessed much personal influence, and his career would probably have ended in disappointment and misery, but for the benevolence of the Duke of Brunswick, who granted him a pension, and in the enjoyment of which he died, in the year 1624, at the age of seventy-seven. D 2 36 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. I. It is generally acknowledged by Lutheran writers that, notwithstanding the troublesome character of Ruber's proceedings, his opinions were much less op- posed to the doctrines of their church, in reality, than in appearance. The arguments hy which he supported his notions were derived from such passages of Scrip- ture as these : " According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame, before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will :" and, " The grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men."* Man, he further argued, was created in the image of God, and hence a proof of the intended universality of grace. The promise given immediately after the fall, and the nature of the sacra- ments, afforded another ground, as he supposed, for the support of his opinions. But that the doctrine which he taught was, in reality, of no practical importance, appears from his own decla- ration. " I confess," he says, " that, if the knowledge of God's grace, as here described, should be bestowed on all men, there is no doubt but that they would still be divided into two great classes, distinguished by belief and unbelief. The one would follow the path marked out by God, receive and do every thing according to his appointment, and at last attain to that for which it is chosen in Christ, namely, eternal life. The other class, and that by far the larger, w^ould not hear the gospel, or, if it should hear it, w^ould despise it, and obstinately disregard and cast aside that salvation to which God had elected, foreordained, and chosen it, no less than the other. This multitude is eternally condemned and lost."t On this confession one of the divines who employed no slight share of ability in opposing Huber, observes, that " his intentions were evidently far better than his expressions," and his obscurity of language has been attributed to a misunderstanding of the statements, * Ephes. i., 4, 5. Titus, ii., 11. f Schiockli, t, IV., p. 663. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 37 *' Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the right- eousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life ;" and, " God was in Christ, recon- ciling the world unto himself, not imputing their tres- passes unto them."* Some wonder has been expressed that a controversy, so bitter as that to which Huber gave rise, could have continued to support itself on such seemingly slight grounds. But the difficulty is removed b}^ the recol- lection, that, while he was venturing to assail a party, daily increasing in strength, he aroused even that to which he professedly belonged, to resist the haughty and dogmatic spirit with which he propounded his opinions. CHAP. II. CALIXTUS AND SYNCRETISM. THE MYSTICS. Never had the church of Christ been exposed to more distressing difficulties than those which it had, at this time, to encounter. Times of persecution bring with them, by the grace of God, the blessings which attend upon the devotion of martyrs and confessors. " I can do all things, through Christ which strengtheneth me," is then the common language of believers ; and the power of Christ, and the pervading influence of his spirit, are recognized as antagonist principles sufficient to overcome the mightiest efforts of the world. Times in which the people of God are known to be few and scattered, and when religion has so declined in strength, that the multitude who bear the name of Christ are manifestly strangers to his grace, do often present such a depth of piety, such noble instances of spiritual energy in the srnall band of faithful Christians, that their firm hold of the promises, and the living beauty * Romans, v., 18. 2 Cor. v., 19. D 3 38 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. of their virtues, are sufficient to remove despondence as to the condition of succeeding generations. But we are now studying the events of a period when dangers existed, which seemed to render doubtful the state of believers themselves. In many seasons of outward peril, God's people, driven together by com- munion of faitli and hopes, rather than by fear, have remained safe in the sanctuary, whither the enemy thought not of penetrating, except for the sake of in- flicting upon them wounds that could neither injure any vital principle, nor disturb the serenity of their souls. The present dangers belonged immediately to the most enlightened and devout professors of evangelical re- ligion ; and hence the duty of every one who could make his voice heard, through even a small circle, to rouse, exhort, and persuade those whom he might by any means influence to provide for their safety. Wliat were the dangers to w^hich we allude? Whence their origin? What the probable means of escaping them ? It requires many eflbrts of earnest thought to realize the notion of what has been called primitive Christianity. By this we do not mean that it is diffi- cult to tell what the first disciples of Christ believed, or how they acted. But by primitive Christianity seems generally to be meant a system of doctrine, discipline and practice, no less distinctly impressed with special characteristics than any of those later systems which have been designated by particular titles. There is a tendency to confound the state of the individual believer with that of the community to which he belongs; and to apply indiscriminately the terms which can only properly describe the one to the peculiarities of the other. Christianity in the believer of the first century, can have exercised only the same powers, can have been developed in the renew(;d character, by no other than the same means and methods with Avhich its true pro- fessors have been familiar in every succeeding age. Its divine author, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, those most intensely quickened by his spirit, must exhibit the same unchangeable elements of being. Primitive Christianity tlien presents to our notice the CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 39 features of a system, existing in the first ages of the gospel, and not the character of individual disciples. Was the main distinction of that early system of a spiritual kind ? If so, it could only have been in the degrees of its strength and continuity of operation that it made that period differ from any other. The dis- tinction thus considered is one which scarcely deserves the name ; for there have been, in the different ages of the Church's progress, seasons of every variety of tem- per and degree of spirituality and fervour; and periods when, if we may judge by their fruits, the spirit of faith and fervent devotion was as powerful as in the very earliest season of evangelical religion. But while it would be vain to ascribe the difference between primitive Christianity and the Christianity of any other age to a superior intensity of the one general and spiritual principle, we may, perhaps, find some element of that diflference in the relative weight and force of particular graces ; some of them occupying a place, a relative height and power, superior to those which they have enjoyed at any later period. Let us examine, with this view, the character of the earliest Christian community. There will be faith with its train of heroic graces ready for the loftiest designs. Hope giving a tone of gladness to expressions of awful devotion. There will be the spirituality which knows no compromise with the sensual world, and an earnest- ness of thought, and directness of heavenly purpose, which have never had their equals since, except in seasons acknowledged to be remarkable for instances of spiritual power. But there is still another virtue of the Christian com- munity to be mentioned, and that is, brotherly love ; nor is it possible to contemplate long the state of the Church in the earliest times, without discovering the immense preponderance which this virtue had in the formation of the system by which it was originally governed. Faith, hope, and their kindred graces, belong to individuals ; but the spirit of fraternal charity is proper to a community, and cannot exist in any high degree, without giving to the system which it animates D 4 40 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. 11. a very striking and peculiar character. However neces- sary it is to the life of Christian practice, at all times, lamentable experience shows that it has but rarely been allowed to exercise its proper force ; nor has it, there is reason to fear, ever since the primitive ages, operated to the full extent of its energies in giving form and life to the institutions of the Church. Whatever we know of primitive Christianity, it is by the prevalence of this virtue that it may be best dis- tinguished from the Christianity of other times. " See how these Christians love one another"! It was the very characteristic which struck the eye of the most superficial observer. When the mysterious tokens of faith could be reg-arded as little different from other mystic things, the Christian brotherhood, founded on a common belief, but exhibiting proofs of a strength and activity which no other common profession had ever been known to bestow, excited the admiration of the multitude, the curiosity of the few, the emulation of all who had in their hearts the anxious desire to improve the condition of mankind, by bringing the different parts of the family into nearer and more affectionate com- munion. It is not necessary here to speak of the principles on which the early Chistians founded this holy brother- hood. They had a great deal more than the mere commands of their Lord to animate their affections. There was one spirit as well as one hope of their calling: there was one fountain of salvation, and one altar, and one sacrifice. Wonderful objects for contemplation, and capable of effecting, by mere external influence on the thoughts, no slight change in the tendencies of the mind. But they were things to be participated in as offer- ing life ; and, when duly received, they made the comers thereunto perfect in Christ, the head of the body of which they were thus rendered living members. Little could it matter by what name this true bro- therhood was called. It had indeed "a name which is above every name," in regard to earthly institutions, or even earthly comprehension. In one language, how- ever, it received a title significant of the state of its CENT. XVI.^XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 41 members with reference to the world : in another, a name descriptive of their subjection to the Lord. But the nature of the system could not be affected by its appellation, and whether JEcclesia, or Church, the title given to the family of God, in Christ, neither adds to, nor takes from, its genuine attributes. That a society or communion of this kind existed, immediately after the original publication of the gospel, has never been denied. That it was mainly distin- guished by the principle here spoken of, is almost equally a matter of history. Had that society then continued in the state in which it existed at the be- ginning, there would have been as little difficulty in determining its characteristics, as in forming an esti- mate of its claims to the admiration of generous and virtuous minds. But what does the actual history of this society show ? It was next to impossible that it should really rapidly increase. Yet it did seemingly increase beyond all expectation. There were numberless contradictions, in its very constitution and spirit, to the principles of the world, yet in an incredible short time the world had pro- fessedly submitted itself to its government. Was this, we are compelled to ask, an act of complacency on the part of mankind, at large, or a sacrifice on the side of the followers of Christ ? Did the former, or the latter, make the first approaches ? It is not necessary that we should answer these ques- tions, but it may be useful to consider how the Christian communion acquired its most rapid and conspicuous enlargement. It is evident, if we keep carefully in view the origin, the fundamental principles, the main and life-giving spirit of the evangelical system, that there could be no proper addition to the numbers of those in communion with its original supporters, but by fresh outpourings of heavenly grace, and that the new mem- bers of the society could only actually be incorporated by becoming participants of the one spirit, as truly as they had declared themselves believers in respect to the one faith. And what do we suppose was the hope entertained by 42 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. those who preached the gospel, under the immediate influence of divine grace ? Is there reason to believe tliat they expected the actual advance of the kingdom of righteousness with such rapid strides ? There are, indeed, intimations of the confidence with which they looked forward to the final triumph of the gospel, and there are some which plainly prove, they had enough of hopefulness in regard to their own personal labours, and the efficacy of their prayers, to press on, step by step, in the spirit of conquest, and successful enterprize. " Yea ! so have I strived," was the familiar language of these holy men " to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation ; but, as it is written, to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see ; and they that have not heard, shall understand." But there was no indistinct recol- lection of the question, involving a multitude of sad and awful considerations, " When I come, shall I find faith on the earth ?" False brethren, creeping in un- awares ; apostates, hypocrites, reprobates, deniers of the Lord that bought them ; representatives of the world in all its provinces of evil; rose before the eyes of those who knew that, to fulfil the commission with which they were charged, they must penetrate to the earth's utmost bounds. Both prophecy, and the acquaintance which they possessed with the gospel itself, and with the na- ture of the difficulties to be encountered in its diff'usion, prevented their forming the notion of its becoming, in any readily measured period, the religion of the world. It is reasonable to conclude from hence, that the means employed for the government of the primitive institution, would be such as were simply adapted to a very small, and well-disposed society. The highest penalty that it could even desire to inflict, would be expulsion from its communion. Its officers would be strictly ministers, persons, that is, whose distinction it was to be constantly employed in distributing the won- derful meansof grace with which the Lord had intrusted them for the general good of the whole body. Now, let us hasten forward a little. One, two, three centuries have passed away. Where is the society so CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 43 full of the life which God's spirit gives? The commu- nity, so strongly marked by the noblest influences of fraternal charity ? Does it no longer exist ? God for- bid ! for then were the promises forfeited, and our faith become of no avail. Where must we look for it? The first person of whom we ask this question, answers, " The brotherhood, of which you are in search, consists now of nearly the whole human race." We inquire imme- diately, " Does it continue to exhibit the same qualities, the same striking characteristics which distinguished it, in the first periods, from the mighty masses of mankind ?" The questions thus put, are among the most difficult which Christians, of an advanced era, can have to answer. They hear their creed repeated by multitudes of fellow- worshippers. Society impressed, far below its mere surface, by the traces of Christian influence, declares the sovereignty of the gospel ; and present charity, in numberless forms, owns that it was generated, and first began to be, in moments coeval with the incarnation of the Son of God. What then should hinder our acknow- ledging that the brotherhood has been kept up to the present time, or lead us to deny that the Church has the same elements of life which it enjoyed in the earliest ages ? History affords a very intelligible reply to these in- quiries : it shows that the Church has been increased in a twofold manner. According to the one, it has become enlarged by the operation of its own inward spirit ; its graces diffusing themselves like the rays of the sun, and renewing those upon whom they happily fall, till they become assimilated in nature to the living body whence they receive the light. But other, and the far larger, additions are made to it by the influence which it exercises on the circumstances of mankind. Though so essentially opposed to whatever is low or earthly, Christianity has ever afforded the best supports to prin- ciples and designs in the highest degree profitable to the well-being of society. Hence the most devoted ad- vocates of expediency could easily be induced, prior to the existence of particular prejudices, to accept its aid in the promotion of their plans. Hence, too, the possibility 44 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. of bribing many, who had no apprehension of the actual obligations imposed by the gospel, to bear the name of Christians, and yield an outward obedience to the laws of their supposed belief. Before the commencement of the fifth century, the experiment had been tried of governing provinces and kingdoms by the new rule of the gospel. Another age brought conviction to many of the sagest and most ex- perienced minds, that no better system could be devised for the management of the world at large, than one which should consist of methods established, in the main, on certain modifications of evangelical doctrine. What was found to be true and good, on the larger scale, was not wanting in power to confer benefits in the narrower circles of social life. A general complacency of feeling was thus created in favour of the adoption of Christianity as the religion of the world. Millions of disciples were added in a far shorter space of time than had been employed by apostles, and apostolic men, in converting a few hundreds. The features of society were changed : new names were imposed, new laws instituted ; not only the substance, but even the trace of what was old had soon passed away. Here then was an increase of the Church; but it was made, either by the exercise of power from without, or by the suggestions and calculations of natural reason. It was not an increase like that before described. But notwithstanding the dissimilarity of the additions, and of the modes in which they were effected, the difference could be discerned by those only who had been made partakers of the living and sublime spirit of the early institution. The whole mass, as one compact body, bore a common name, was governed apparently by the same laws, and acknowledged with equal and unhesitating homage the same head. Grand, however, as this triumph of the gospel seemed, it was impossible that wise, earnest, devoted believers in Christ should fail to perceive the danger to which their faith and principles were exposed. The brother- hood still existed ; but who could say that it was com- mensurate with the Christian world ? Who would now CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 45 venture upon the task of tracing those lineaments of holiness and love which gave so obvious an expression to the primitive Church ? It was plain that the rule, which had been sufficient to keep the small, faithful band of God's servants obedient to the truth, could hardly avail under such altered circumstances. Efforts were made to supply the deficiency : efforts prompted alike by piety and wisdom. Confessions were drawn up to preserve entire the system of divine faith : to protect it against the fluctuations of human zeal, and to afford sincere and humble minds a ready place of refuge from the pursuit of soul-destroying heresies. But neither was the profoundest wisdom in the go- verning spirits of the Church sufficient to control the petulance of new professors, nor could even an external union be kept up, for any considerable period, though aimed at, and promoted, by all the power of the empire. Heresies and parties had existed in very early times, but they were insignificant, as to strength, when com- pared with the orthodox. Essentially it was so still : but practically not. Huge masses were attached to the small, living body, by artificial bands. Time had brought them into closer adherence : and as they con- tinued to be rent forcibly from the frame to which they were bound, the very heart of the Church seemed to beat with convulsive throes, and to feel for the mo- ment as if it had been itself torn with innumerable wounds. A new power was at length brought into operation. The growing influence of the Roman hierarchy acted as an antagonist force to the wantonness of the multitude, and the pride of w^its and philosophers. An apparent unity was thereby again established, and it was, to a great extent, preserved, till the Reformation, loosing the strings of the machine, or breaking the sides of the earthen vessel in which the streams of human opinion had been collected, again left the multitude of Christian professors to choose leaders for themselves, or set up, in their own minds, some favoured dogma, as their guide and master, in the formation of a scheme which should offer no difficulties either to their understanding or their conscience. 46 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. With what success such attempts were likely to be made, we have already seen. The increasing excite- ment, and multiplying divisions in the churches of their dominions, could not but demand the attention of the sovereigns in whose countries they occurred. It is often lost sight of, that religious dissensions are fully as likely as any other to disturb the course of govern- ment, and permanently injure the prosperity of a nation. A monarch, therefore, who might have no regard what- ever for the interests of this or that party, who might have no knowledge even of the subject in dispute, would yet feel himself constrained to take very active mea- sures for the silencing of those whom he saw foremost in promoting disputes. This course was taken, and that by sovereigns of very different personal characters. But, with whatever vigour pursued, it was followed, scarcely in any case, with even a moderate share of the success which attended the plans of Papal Rome. The authority of the Popes had an element in it M^hich could not be found in that of temporal rulers. Their most politic, therefore, as well as their most strenuous efforts failed, for the most part, of their object. Observant and benevolent men, foreseeing the growing evils of such a state of things, strove to discover in the vast volume of church experience, spread before them, the means of quieting the present excitement. Unfor- tunately for the interests of charity, the case was dissi- milar, in many respects, from any which presented itself in tlie records of former times. They were, therefore, obliged to call to their aid the resources of their own judgment. This would have connected them, in principles of action, with the very parties whose bold and heedless daring they were most anxious to suppress. It was necessary, consequently, that they should look far back into the annals of their religion, and that, not resting in the mere facts of histor}^, they should make themselves masters of the moods of thought and feeling which belonged to times when there was as much of love as knowledge, and when the institutions existing, and those proposed, were chiefly regarded as valuable, CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 47 because they tended to preserve entire this principle of union. To restore so noble a feature of the Christian com- munity to its original distinctness and beauty, was a project that lay near the heart of many of the leaders of churches and sects in those days. It furnished the strongest of the impulses which Melancthon obeyed ; but it was reserved for George Calixtus to make the actual experiment of bringing about a union of all parties, and to argue openly and decidedly against, what he regarded, the intolerant exclusiveness of contemporary churches. This remarkable man was born in 1586, in the obscure village of Meelby, in the duchy of Schleswig. Such was his rapid advancement in the university of Helm- stadt, that before he reached the age of twenty, he became distinguished as a teacher of philosophy and the sciences. Having shortly after devoted himself to the study of theology, he pursued this new branch of learning with an earnestness and devotion proportioned to its importance. His first guide through the difficult paths of scientific divinity was Martini, a theologian deeply imbued with the love of antient learning. By his advice, Calixtus gave a large portion of his time to the perusal of the earliest writers, and thence acquired those stores of erudition which afforded him, in after years, such a manifest superiority to most of his opponents in con- troversy. According to the custom of the age, he soon began to display his powers in lectures and disputations ; but his good sense convinced him, that he still needed experience, and a wider acquaintance with the state of religion, than could be readily acquired at Helmstadt. Yielding to this conviction, he visited several of the most celebrated universities, and spent some time at Mainz, where he found many learned men, and a noble library. He next repaired to the university of Giessen, near Frankfort. There his views met with some oppo- sition*, and he returned to Helmstadt, in order to defend * From Menzei", Oculatissimo temporis sixi censore. Weismanni Intro- ductio in Memorabilia Ecclesiastica Historiee Sacrse Nov. Test.^ Pars, ii., sec. xvii., p. 1195. 48 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. a series of disputations on the " principal heads of the Christian religion." Having accomplished this object, he set out on another and more extensive tour, in company with JNIatthias Overbeck, an accomplished and wealthy Netherlander. At Cologne they remained six months, Calixtus dili- gently employing the whole of the time in observing the actual state of the Roman Catholic Church in that place. It was for purposes of this kind only that he had undertaken the journey. He acknowledged the necessity of studying the characters of the great anta- gonist parties for himself; and the result of his in- quiries, conducted as they were with much of caution and acuteness, furnished the inquirers of his age with many incentives to the more charitable treatment of opponents. His work on " The Pontifical Sacrifice of the Mass" exhibits the temper in which he observed and reasoned. To many it could not but appear too apolo- getical in the tone of some of its most important pas- sages. But while the style of a writer whose sole object it is to suppress rancour of spirit will occasionally be not far different from that of the actual advocate, a slight exercise of candour will suffice to make the dis- tinction, and save the labours of a peace-loving mind from the wretched calumnies wdth which they have frequently been met. Calixtus next visited England, where he is said to have gained much and valuable information. His chief companion in London was the celebrated scholar, Isaac Casaubon. Through him, he obtained an introduction to the bishops, and other distinguished members of the English Church ; and Protestantism, or the grand fea- tures of the Reformation, were thus presented to him under circumstances, and in a form, entirely new. Having returned to Germany by way of Paris, where he continued his investigations with unexhausted curio- sity and zeal, he was soon after entreated, by the mother of a young nobleman of Brunswick, to undertake a controversy with a learned Jesuit, influenced by whose arguments, her son was on the point of falling into the snares of Romanism. Calixtus had prepared himself CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 49 in the most admirable manner for such a task. Not like the common herd of controversialists, he was in no danger of being surjorised by unanswerable representa- tions of facts to which he was a stranger. He knew exactly how much weight there would be in the scale opposite his own, and what solidity there must be in the materials with which he intended to secure the pre- ponderance. His triumph was of real importance to the Church. The Jesuit, it is said, retired secretly after the first day's encounter, and Calixtus enjoyed a reputa- tion, during the remainder of his life, which would have left little to be desired by a far more ambitious man. The Archduke Augustus, renowned for his learning and wisdom, endowed him with the revenues of the Abbey of Konigslutter, and employed him as his most confi- dential counsellor. In this honourable situation he continued till his death, which happened in the year 1656. Active and intelligent as were the times in which Calixtus lived, he appears to be generally regarded as in advance of his age. His merits, however, will neces- sarily be estimated at a very different rate by different parties ; nor ought we to be too ready to accuse those who opposed him of uncharitableness or zealotr3^ It requires not only very high acquirements, but singular gifts of nature, to enable a man to look on the contro- versies of his times as Calixtus did on tlie strife which raged around him. In nine cases out often, it is pride or indifference which prompts the language of those who speak of religious contentions as intolerable violations of consistency. The real, heartfelt desire of bringing the professors of different dogmas into a holy bond of brotherhood is then only respectable when its birth can be traced legitimately to charity and knowledge. Even then, such is the jealousy with which it is natural for anxious minds to view proposals of compromise, that their true origin will often be doubted, and their authors have to endure the pain of finding their sincerity sus- pected, and their noblest intentions resisted with indig- nation and contempt. VOL. III. E 50 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. CalixtLis, it is probable, like most men of ardent temperament, considered, at the beginning of his career, man}^ objects attainable which vanished into immeasur- able distance as he continued to pursue them. He might, at first, conceive the idea of actually reuniting the separate branches of the Catholic Church. But it appears evident, from expressions in his writings, that this notion was not of long duration. It yielded to the one which minds deeply imbued with the spirit of hope and charit}^ will, in every age, be found to entertain. He fondly continued to believe, that though no formal or visible union might be attainable, much of essential peace might be recovered, and that the incitements to rancour being removed, future ages would have the full enjoyment of the fruits of concord.* * " If human authority," saj's W'arburton, " hath usurped upon con- science, there are not wanting those who, on the other hand, have used conscience for a cloak of maliciousness, and, on pretence of one being our Father which is in heaven, have denied that obedience to the Church of Christ which, as a mere human society, it might claim, and which, on that very footing, Christ himself hath commanded us to pay unto it, where he directs his followers to hear the Church. But authority, which these words imply, is a mockery without sulnnission and obedience. Hence the reason- ableness of subscription to a general formulary of faith, which the nature of society makes necessary in order to tie a number of particulars into one body. A bond, which may have its due efficacy without violating any of the rights of conscience ; for all the jurisdiction which follows from it is only this, that so long as any member of the community professeth that general formulary, which the end of society requires, to admit him into church-communion, he be obedient to such laws of his spiritual governors as concern discipline, so for the authority of the Church, as a religious society, extends, and no farther. For whenever a private member of it can no longer, with a good conscience, subscribe to the points of doctrine pro- fessed, or conform to the mode of worship in practice, or submit to the rules of discipline enforced, all that remains is expulsion or exconnnunication ; but unattended with opprobrious censures, civil incapacities, or cor^joral or pecuniary inflictions ; in a word, with every consequence that may inju- riously affect the person, fortune, or reputation of the ejected member." .... Again : " The spirit of dominion soon betrayed itself in the newly manumised Churches of God. First, l)y too unreasonably narrowing the bottom of church- comm\mion, and thereby persecuting of those whose con- sciences would not suffer them to subscribe to their terms. So that the simple, imiform gospel faith, on which the Protestant churches were pro- fessedly founded, soon became broken into sects and conventicles ; and every defenceless party which had most suffered for opinions, no sooner got civil power on their side, than they returned the injustice with double injury. For persecution, though it may strengthen and improve our faith, doth not so easily enlarge [our cliarity." — " Of Church Authority," Works, vol. ix., p. 196-199 CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THI-: DIET OF AUGSBURG. 51 To promote even tlie lowest realization of such con- ceptions, it was necessary to begin with trials of his own mind, to prove the power which its reason could exer- cise over prejudice, and its love of truth and benevo- lence against the promptings of passion, whether gene- rated in selfish or in party pride ; and this Calixtus seems to have attempted with a high and generous effort; but his earliest experiments involved him in painful disputes. When he endeavoured to make it appear that many of the grosser charges urged against the Roman Catholics were daily becoming less tenable, he was immediately accused of seeking to betray the interests of Protestantism. When, again, he sought to prove the comparatively slight importance of many of the topics which separated the Lutherans and the reformed, he was assailed with still greater virulence, and viewed as concentring within himself whatever is most hateful in heresy. To all these accusations he replied with consummate skill in argumentation ; but he is generally considered as having overstepped the bounds of prudence, by often stating in terms broad and startling, what he thought of errors, which provoca- tion only tempted him to soften or excuse. While, however, there was much in the mind and temper of Calixtus which might be regarded as the result of an effort, the consequence of a careful disci- plining of the thoughts, according to the dictates of peace and charity, there may be traced in some of his ruling opinions themselves grounds for the course which he took in regard to more than one of the controversies in which he held a conspicuous station. Thus, for ex- ample, though merely from motives familiar to many cultivated and generous minds of a peculiar order, he sought to palliate the superstitions of Romanism, he agreed, to a large extent and from conviction, in some points with Roman Catholic divines. His republication of Vincentius Lirens, and his general sentiments on the subject of tradition, afforded plausible reasons for doubt- ing his confidence in the sufficiency of Scripture, the characteristic of the orthodox of his church and times. E 2 52 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. 11. So also in regard to the mass, the mode and means of justification, and other subjects of a similar nature, a style of argument is adopted, through which it is easy to discern a greater sympathy with the parties separate, at tho time, from his own communion than with that communion itself. This could not escape the observa- tion of the divines who occupied influential stations in the Lutheran Church. He was suspected, from the very commencement of his career, of giving up important points to the adversary, and of mingling some notic^ns of his own with the other parts of the Christian faith, which partook more of Aristotelian subtilty than evan- gelical truth.* But even after it has been allowed, that he made some concessions which few, if any, circumstances could justify, and that he also exhibited a tendency to uphold opinions not agreeable to the well-ascertained sense of orthodox creeds, lie has still, on his side, a host of witnesses to the purity of intention with wliich he laboured to soften * The first to assail him was Meiizer, the head of the University of Giessen. He wrote a k'tter to his son, warning him, in tlie strongest terms^ to avoid tlie errors of Calixtus. This letter, not intended for the public, was printed, many years after^ by one of the bitterest opponents of Syncre- tism. Menzer says : " De imagine Dei et pcccato video multa dici ad palatum Papistanim, quae cordatis theologis ]irobari non possunt. Doctrina de prffidestinatione recte proponitur, sed mii'or lnuic locutionem usurpari, electionem nostram nihil aliud esse, quam decretum de nostra salute. Nam electio facta est secundum decretum, sive i)r()positum Dei, tanquam regulam. De unione ITypostatica qua?dam erudite disseruntur, sed de Communicatione Idiomatum sermo lubricus est ; et, ubi de officio redemptionis agitur, pia mens acquies- cere non jiotest in eo, quod humanaj naturaj tribuatur tantum quod huma- num est. Non facta mentione communicationis operationum, juxta canonem conciliiChalced. Neque probare possum verba, meritum Chvisti esse aliqua ex parte infinitum. Justificationi assignantur duse partes, remissio pecca- toi'um atque imputatio justitias Christi : atque non sunt diversse illae partes ; sed qui nnum dicit, dicit alterum, idque necessario includit. Nimirum remissis peccatis justitia imputatur, et imputata justitia peccata remittuntur, ut patet Rom. iv., 6, 7. Confer in ipsa epitome ubi hajc sententia con- firmatur. In discrimine V. et N. T. c[uadani admiscentur Calvinianis non ingrata, quamadmodum et de Sacramentis ita loquitur, ut placere iis queat. Imprimis vehementer offendunt pios animos verba: 'Alio modo intelligere possumus Deum esse causam peccati, indirecte, improprie, et per accidens.' At, inquam ego nnllo modo Deus est causa peccati, quod etiam naturae ipsius, et voluntati, nobis in verbo revelatfe, est contnirium, ac proinde illud edit, detestatur, proliibet et punit."' — Rlollieri Cimbria Literata, t. iii., p. 139, sec. 40. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 53 the angry spirit of religious controversy. Had his design been encouraged by even a moderate degree of patient and benignant thought, on the part of those who held high offices in the churclies appealed to, it might, at least, have so far succeeded as to lessen the abuses and evils from which none were entirely free. The very silencing of that language of opprobrium, so common in polemics, would have removed those obstacles to reform which will ever remain, so long as the passions are engaged in creating fresh causes of offence. But his plans and theories were regarded as utterly impractica- ble, nor were there wanting those who flung back his proposals of a renewed brotherhood with unutterable scorn. Some of the most influential of the Jesuits spoke of them as only calculated to destroy every vestige of a church, and to supply its place with another Babylon, or wi}atever might best betoken folly and confusion. The Lutherans and reformed spoke with no less rancour, and the only adherents to Calixtus, even in his most prosperous circumstances, were a small number of men, distinguished, like him, for their intense anxiety to see peace restored to the churches. While, however, a numerous body existed, at all times prepared to heap calumny on the head of Calixtus, some one was still required to lead the attack in regular form, and fairly and openly try the value of his princi- ples. Such a leader was found in Statins Buscher, a preacher at Hanover, and possessing, it appears, several of the qualities most fitted to render him a persevering antagonist to such a man as Calixtus. The first effort of Buscher, in this character, was the publication of a work entitled, "Crypto-Papisraus Novae Theologian Helm- stadiensis," or, "The Hidden Popery of the NewTheology of Helmstadt." His main argument rested upon the assertion, that Calixtus had departed from the profes- sion to which he had bound himself by solemn oath. The terms of this profession were said to be set forth, with well-defined exactness, in the symbolical books published by authority of Duke Julius, in 1576. This collection consisted of the three antient creeds ; the Augsburg Confession, and the Apology ; the Articles of Smalcalde; 64 HISTOIIY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. Luther's Catechisms, and the Advice to Preachers by Urbaiiiis Regius. Bat Calixtus, instead of acknowledg- ing the expediency of such a vokiminous development of faith, contended, that it would have been wiser in the late leaders of parties, had they remained contented with the antient creeds, simply taking as aids in their interpretation, the articles of the Council of Ephesus and Chalcedon, and the well-ascertained opinions of the primitive Church. They were, however, he asserted, far more anxious to satisfy the Emperor, than to exhibit their belief in the simplest form, and hence committed the fault attendant upon too great a nicety of division and definition. In the further exhibition of this notion, Calixtus observed to the Jesuits of Cologne, that as their church would not receive the Augsburg Confession, nor his the decrees of the Council of Trent, the dispute between them ought at once to be cut short, by their limiting the terms of communion to the acknowledgment of the few antient authorities received by them all. Here was a sufficient foundation for Buscher's argument. But Calixtus explained himself still more clearly, when he said, that, while rejecting unequivocally the heresies condemned by the antient Church, he was united, in spirit, v/ith Christians of every denomination, who obeyed the truth according to the rule mentioned above. Even his doubts afforded reason for bitter accusation. He ventured to confess chat he dare not determine whether Luther was right or wrong in his interpretation of cer- tain passages, or in his assertion that Rome is the seat of Antichrist. Few writers of this age presented so many tempta- tions to a controversialist as Calixtus. The variety and extent of his speculations laid him open to attack. There was scarcely a subject in the vast range of theological science upon which he had not expressed an opinion. All this, however, it is said, would scarcely have pro- voked hostility in a free and inquiring age, had he not so perseveringly rebuked the rivalry and discord which disturbed the Church. This was the great offence which rendered him hateful to all parties; and when he ap- CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 55 peared in 1G45 at the Colloquy of Thorn,* the suspicion already incurred was greatly increased. The elector of Brandenburg, at whose instance he came to Thorn, held a conspicuous place among tlie reformed. Calixtus, moreover, conversed on terms of familiarity and friend- ship, with the representatives of that party, and acted in other respects so as to afford his opponents a colourable pretence for saying, that he was more attached to the sectaries, who only merited hatred and contempt, than to his own church. f His answer to this and similar accusations was tlie best which could be given. He employed his great and various abilities in confuting what he believed to be the errors of those with whom he was thus willing, for the general good of religion, to hold friendly and liberal intercourse. This was the case in regard to the reformed. It was equally so in respect to the Roman Catholic Church, He continued to insist upon the possibility of union ; but he declared, at the same time, that there were doctrines, on both sides, which it was improbable could ever be sacrificed or modified, and that thus a vast inter- val must always exist between the several parties in the Christian world, did their union depend upon sameness * Wcismamii, pars, ii., sec. xvii., p. 1203. MoUieri Cimbria Literata, t. III., p. 146. f " Ultimuiii, inter odii zelotarum Lutheranorum inCalixtum implacabilis causas, locum occupet, cui primus debebatur, desideriuni et studium eon- cordise inter Ecclesias Cliristianas, Orientalem et Occidentaleni, hujusque tres, coetus majores, Pontificium, Lutheranum et Reformatum, hactenus dissidcntes, sed eadem tamen symbola, Apostolicum, scilicet, et reliqua a conciliis profecta cecumenicis, complectentes, instaurandae, aut tolerantisa saltern mutuae inter eosdem stabiliendse, perpetuum atque ardentissimum. Hoc enim disputationibus istis, soli ferme Theologiae assuctis polemicse, et ceteras studii sacri partes, etsi magis necessarias, illi plerumque posthaben- tibus, Concordia autcm restituta, vel tolerantia communi firmata consensu, neminem, cum quo litigarent, cuiquc centies jam olini, vel millies, inculcata denuo oggererent, liabituris, non potuisse non esse niolestissimum, et ad iram animos adeo bellaccs provocare, omnes facile intelligunt. ' Amore,' scilicet (Scliaderi hie verbis utor), ' Cliristi Spiritu accenso, erga universam per totum orbem sparsam ecclesiam noster flagraliat, non tantum pro cju3 conservatione et incremento vota precesque quotidie fundens, sed et cum- primis pro pace illius, et omnium fidelium unione, tam enixe, tam omni animo ac cogitatione, sollicitus, ut ca causa vigilias, studia, labores maximos, exantlaverit, livoris, invidiam, calumnia?, virulenta tela plurima exceperit, quinimo vita ac sanguine suo, si qua fieri posset, pacem Christianis concOiare fuerit paratus. Hinc Christianje charitatis necessario studio, quoad valuit, insudavit, hinc, corporis viribus defectus, ad extremum usque spiritum ingemuit." — Mollieri Cimbria Literata, t. in., p, 130, sec. 35. E 4 56 HISTORY OF THE CHUWCII [CHAP II. of tenets, rather than harmony of belief. His antago- nists, however, persevered in asserting, that were such views admitted, there would be nothing to prevent men from adopting the wildest errors, or uniting themselves to the most obnoxious sects. They might become Ro- manists, or any thing else, against which the antient formularies could not be readily brought to bear; and it required but little knowledge of theology, or of the history of the Church, to show that innumerable here- sies had sprung up in the ages succeeding those which gave birth to the three creeds. That this was no vi- sionary apprehension, had been amply proved by the actual passing over of some of the followers of Calixtus to the Komish Church. But he could fairly answer, on the other hand, that such a conduct was by no means justified on any principles which he had advanced ; and he had 3^et the further and very peculiar argument to urge in his defence, namely, that it was the long-esta- blished rule of the university to which he belonged, to demand of every professor, on his entering upon the duties of his office, a solemn declaration that he would exert his influence to tlie uttermost in the promotion of peace and concord among the professors of the gospel. The controversies to which the opinions of Calixtus gave rise, did not cease with his death.* Syncretism, as it was called, continued for many years to disturb the churches, which it was the main object of the theory, so termed, to bring back to the primitive state of con- cord. A minute account of such disputes would be as little profitable as interesting ; but the knowledge that they existed, and that they were pursued with a reckless indifference frequently to the interests of catholic truth, and yet more commonly in despite of justice and charity, is necessary to our acquaintance with the times of which we are treating, Calixtus has been blamed, even by those who express a profound admiration of liis virtues and abilities, for undertaking a work far above the power of any single individual to accomplish, and for which his age had not the rightful characteristics to aff"ord the * Schrockh, t. iv., b. ii., p. 704. Herike Allgemeine Geschichte, t. iv.^ c. v., p. 264. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FUOM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 57 slightest prospect of success. Hence the attempt, how- ever noble and generous in itself, was productive of harm. It provoked many who would have remained silent to speak out in the language of fear and offended pride, and obeying the impulse of these feelings, they thereby widened the distance between the hostile churches. The causes of separation were multiplied a thousand- fold. Even the most distant hope of a reunion between the churches was represented as involving, in some way or the other, a disposition to heresy ; and he, conse- quently, who talked loudest and most fiercely respecting the abominations practised by every party but his own, was regarded as the person chiefly to be depended upon in the defence of the gospel. The controversy ceased ; but many of the impressions remained which were made by the strong, clear language employed in proving that no general communion could ever be looked for. Evil as this was in itself, it was rendered still greater by the novelties mixed up with many of the juster arguments of Calixtus. Thus we find intimations of a doubt respect- ing the plenary inspiration of the Bible, and a denial that the number of the sacraments could be determined either from scripture, or from the fathers. The being and unity of God, and other truths, usually compre- hended in what is termed natural religion, were repre- sented in his system as not properly articles of faith, seeing that they might be proved by reason, or the arguments which, aided by common knowledge, it could readily supply. As an instance of the speculative cha- racter of his notions, it is mentioned, that he described man as originally mortal, but endowed with immortality by the especial gift of God. His bold assertion respect- ing the divine origination of sin, though under certain limitations and conditions, still more clearly illustrates the daring character of his theories ; and we may fairly deduce therefrom, that though his love of peace, and enthusiastic desire of union, merit the highest praise and admiration, a mind less readily moved by the sudden suggestions, ever multiplying themselves in the course of theological inquiry, would have been far better 58 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. calculated, if inspired by a proportionable degree of spiri- tuality and benevolence, to work out the plan which he had vainly, though earnestly, traced. The controversy arising from the views of Calixtus, had a close connection with many of the principles, naturally and essentially, belonging to the Christian Church. They could not be opposed in themselves, without controverting the best established rules of spi- ritual religion. This formed, at the same time, the stronghold of his party, and the stumbling-block of the most honest and conscientious of his opponents. But while the struggles of the more active and conspicuous men of the age were concentred in the endeavour to work out some few apparently expedient plans, the efforts of another class of minds were directed to objects of a distinct and almost contrary character. It was at this period that the Church of Christ saw a new effort made to contrast the world, with all its miohty interests, its visible grandeur, and practical wisdom, long now acknowledged as not necessarily opposed to spiritual things, with the solemn, permanent and substantial realities of the divine kingdom. The history of pietism is confessedly involved in an obscurity properly answerable to the nature of the sub- ject. A most important difficulty attending it arises from the doubts which have been thrown upon the actual existence of the thing itself. Mysticism, described by those wdio have claimed the privilege of enjoying its awful glories, as a divine vision, is spoken of by otiiers as the mere shadow of a shade, as a notion created only by the most fanciful minds, and having neither type nor antitype. The language employed by opponents of this kind would lead us to doubt their capability of understanding any of the sublimer doc- trines of a spiritual revelation, or their power of passing into the sanctuary behind the veil of visible being. Such reasoners, therefore, can hardly be regarded as qualified for entering the lists in a contest of this nature. They have nothing in common with those who take the opposite side. The first principles, the language, the most simple terms upon which any controversy can CENT. XVI.-XVll.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 59 be commenced, as employed by the one party, are foreign to the other. Hence we must look, not to the repre- sentations of writers who are the declared and violent opponents of mysticism, or its cognate systems, for the best arguments against whatever it involves of error, but , to those who had so much in common with its authors, that they could clearly understand their language, enter into the meaning and spirit of their system, and try the worth of its supposed discoveries by actual comparison with the bright, substantial glories of a divine and comprehensive, yet most intelligible faith. Mysticism existed in the Church at a very early period. It was almost impossible that such a system should not make its appearance soon after the establish- ment of the gospel. Religion, under any form, if very ardently embraced, carries the thoughts into a sphere so far apart from the visible world, that a new and strange effort of mind is required to bring them back into their ordinary course, or make them submit to the simple government of the understanding. This is not merely the result of religion as a stimulant to the imagi- nation, but the proper effect of a system which buoying up the whole moral and spiritual being, lifting it out of the deep pit of sensuality in which it had been sunk, gives it a liberty, a power of willing and acting, which, however eccentric in its first operations, still proves the reality of the change wrought upon the soul. Some minds will more readily than others recover themselves from what is startling in a great religious change. They will look down from the eminence gained witli a keen and steady glance. Earthly things will appear in their just proportions, and the estimate taken of the several duties of life, and of the value of the objects for which labour is to be employed, will be at least as clear and exact as that given by the most skilful of worldly calculators. Minds thus acting, how- ever deep and vital their faith, will not readily take part with mystics or pietists. They have heard in their innermost soul, " I pray not, that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil." 60 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. There are others, on the contrary, \vhich remain entranced with the splendour of their hopes, the sur- passing grandeur of the visions perpetually opening before them. To retain the same degree of vivid enjoyment which attended their earliest raptures is the great object of their lives, and to this end they readily subject themselves to the discipline best calcu- lated to secure that stillness of heart so essential to continued meditation. It is, however, among those whose speculative opi- nions often fill the mind with the highest expectation of noble results, that there have ever been found the worst specimens of hypocrisy or weakness. The annals of pietism are thus filled with miserable instances of folly, fanaticism and sensuality. Many good men have con- templated these examples of the weakness of such theories to sanctify their professors, till they have learnt to doubt, and shrink from, every pretension to inward light, or a peculiar apprehension of divine mysteries. The cold, worldly and unspiritual, on the other hand, have been encouraged herefrom to boast of their contempt of the workings of grace, and of the blessed testimony of the Holy Spirit to the reality of conversion, as a manifest proof of their superiority to error. Hence the history of every such party as that to which we are alluding, is involved in difficulty, and it requires an equal degree of caution, of spiritual feeling and good sense, to avoid sinning, on the one hand, against divine doctrine, and, on the other, against the relations and duties which belong to our present state. By far the most eminent of ihe remarkable men en- gaged in the controversy respecting pietism, was the highly accomplished and devout-minded Spener. But before he entered upon his career, the attention of a numerous party had been engaged by the eccentric reasonings of a writer of very difi'erent character ; this was the celebrated Jacob Boehmen, whose system, and the influence which it continued to exercise for two or three generations, claim an important place in the his- tory of the human mind. Two conditions are generally necessary to the develop- CENT XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 61 ment of novel opinions. There must be men of a tem- perament fitted for their cultivation, and there must be something also in the character and disposition of the times creating a want of, or thirst for, new theories, and those of a particular order. Both these conditions were answered at the period we are now describinry childish guess, or seeming analogy, for a newly-discovered truth. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 73 But this censure must be applied with far greater caution when attention is turned to those parts of Jacob's works in which he contents himself with em- ploying his scriptural knowledge, or speaks only ac- cording to his experience of Christian holiness. Even these, unhappily, are mingled up with wild and daring speculations ; but looked at in themselves, and apart from their metaphysical application, they prove that both the natural powers and the spiritual graces of the writer were of an extraordinary kind. Jacob's appeal was, in the first instance, to the Bible ; and he properly exhorted those who would understand its revelations, to seek the light of the Holy Spirit. But this plain doctrine of the gospel was immediately covered with a cloud of dark expressions. He in- sisted that, whatever is said, written or tauglit of God, is dumb, and void of meaning, without the knowledge of the signature. But he to whom the Spirit makes known the signature, understands the true mind of the Spirit, and understands more and more, " as the Spirit reveals itself, out of the essence, through the Princi- pium, by the voice in sound." The language employed in the evolving of his scheme is such as few but his followers would venture to adopt. Thus, speaking of the creation, he says, that God made all things out of nothing, and he himself is this nothing. More especially are the world and mankind made out of the being of God. Again : from him flow two prin- ciples, light and darkness, or love and anger. In him exist, besides the Trinity and the seven Spirits, many kings and princes. Of Satan's fall we read, " Could not God have hin- dered and prevented the pride of Lucifer, that he might have abstained from his high-mindedness?" " This is a high question," it is answered, " on which all those lay hold that justify and plead the cause of the devil. But they are all cited to appear at the court of justice held for the trial of malefactors. Let them be cautious how they plead for their master, lest the sentence of judg- ment should be pronounced against him, and he will lose his crown." Further : " Behold, King Lucifer was 74 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. the head in his whole region, circuit or circumference. Also he was a mighty king, and was created out of the kernel or marrow of his whole region and circumfer- ence. Also, he would fain have kindled that whole circumference by his elevation, that so all might have burned, and qualified, or operated, as he did, in his own body. Though, indeed, the Deity, without or dis- tinct from his body, would have meekly and gently qualified or acted towards him, and have enlightened and exhorted him to repentance. Yet now there was no other will in Lucifer, but that he would needs rule over the Son of God, and kindle that whole region or cir- cumference, and in such a way himself would be the whole God, above and over all the angelical hosts or armies. Now, when the heart, with his meekness and love, made haste towards Lucifer, he despised it, and thought himself far better, and then stormed back again with fire and coldness, in hard claps of thunder against the Son of God, supposing he must be in sub- jection under him, and that he himself was Lord, for he despised the light of the Son of God." To this, it is supposed to be said, " How had Satan such power V and it is answered, " He had this power ; for he was a great part of the Deity, and besides was from or out of the kernel thereof. He made an attempt also upon that king and great prince Michael, to spoil and destroy him who, at last, fought with him and overcame him, in whom the power of God, in Lucifer's kingdom, fought vehemently also against its king, till he was tlirust down from his kingly scat as one that was vanquished." It is then suggested that God " should have enlightened his heart, that he might have re- pented." But it is answered, " No! he would receive no other light than his own, for he scorned the light of the Son of God, which did shine without, distinct from his body, seeing he had such a glittering light in him- self, and so elevated himself more and more, till his water was quite dried up, and burnt, and his light was put out, and then all was done with him,"* Of the Book of the Three Principles, which Jacob * P. 136, c. 14. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 75 himself considered the key to his entire system, it is saidj " A man cannot conceive the wonderful know- ledge-before he has read this book diligently through, which he will find to be contained in it. And he will find that ' The Threefold Life ' is tenfold deeper than this, and ' The Forty Questions' to be tenfold deeper than that, and that to be as deep as a spirit in itself (as the author says), than which there can be no greater depth, for God himself is a Spirit." It deserves to be remarked, that, notwithstanding the high spiritual pretensions of our Theosophist (the title by which he was best known among his admirers), he scru- pulously avoided indulging the notion that he was en- dowed with the power of bestowing any share of his light in a miraculous manner upon others. He says, respecting the sources of knowledge, " The writings of the saints, and the children of God, tell us, that God created the world by his wisdom, and by the spirit of his mouth ; and it is so ; neither have we any other knowledge than that God hath revealed himself in his wisdom."* On some occasion, it is said, he was sitting- alone, meditating, when a stranger entered his apart- ment, and introducing the subject of his spiritual reve- lations, offered him rich returns, in the way of money, if he would make known the secret whereby such high endowments might be obtained. Jacob answered the stranger, that " he accounted himself unworthy of the esteem of having those greater gifts and arts as was by him imagined, and that he only found in himself an entire love of his neighbour, and simple perseverance in the upright belief and faith in God. As for any other endowments beyond these, he neither had them nor esteemed them ; much less enjoyed the society of any familiar spirit." Then addressing the applicant in a more hortatory tone, he said, " But if there be in you that desire of obtaining the Spirit of God, you must, as I have done, enter into earnest repentance, and pray the Father, from whom all good gifts proceed, and he will give it, and it will lead you into all truth."']" Had Boihrnen always spoken in this manner, he * The Threefold Life of Man, c. v., sec. 80. f Life, p. xxi. 7G HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHaP. II. >vould have deserved a very different kind of fiime to that which attended his labours. His piety and good abilities qualified him for becoming extensively useful among his contemporaries. But while he was guilty of awful presumption, " intruding into things which he had not seen," so also did he render himself ridiculous in pretending to peculiar wisdom when uttering notions which had either their original in such writers as Theo- phrastus Paracelsus, or were wanting in even the sem- blance of divine or intellectual power. A system like that of Boehmen's was not to be at once uprooted. It offered too many attractions to specu- lators of every class. The proudest of reasoners saw themselves defied in an}^ attempt to speak of mysteries higher than those treated so familiarly by the Teutonic Theosophist. Men of the humblest aljility on the other hand, were easily tempted, by seeing how much could be done, with little learning, to try their strength in the hitherto inaccessible paths of philosophy. The field opened to them was as wide as they could desire ; and even the most fanciful suggestion was sure to obtain a certain meed of praise. We have spoken of Boehmen and his theory as occu- pying the most conspicuous place in the school of the mystics. But he was preceded by several writers of his own character of thought ; and while mysticism was fast spreading among those who only panted after the reve- lation of things far removed from human comprehension, another class of men was laying the foundation of a sys- tem of infinitely greater importance, because influencing for permanent good the state of opinion and morals. Of Boehmen's predecessors the most celebrated were Valen- tine Weigel, a man superior both in learning and other accomplishments to Boehmen, but less endowed with the qualities which give the power of creating sects and parties. He died in 1588 at Tschopan, where he held the ofiice of preacher, enjoying the esteem and affection of most of his contemporaries. It was at a later period that his opinions began to rouse attention. The first of his printed works appeared in the year 1611, that is, not till some time after Jacob Ba-hmen had begun to astonish CENT. XVI. -XVII. ] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 77 the world by his fanciful notions. The titles of some of Weigel's works are indicative of that eccentricity of ex- pression which exposed him to the suspicion of colder minds. Thus his sermons are described as drawn "" out of the right catholic and apostolic ground, and fountain of Israel." Another work is entitled " A Dialogue con- cerning Christianity ; that is, the Conversation of the three most famous Persons in the World, as, Auditor, Preacher, and Death." Another is called "The Golden Grasp ; that is, an Introduction to the Knowledge of all Things without Error, to many highly learned unknown, and yet necessary to be known by all Men." Again : in 1621 there appeared a pamphlet of his under the name of " A short, but complete Proof, that at this time, in almost all Europe, there is no Chair in either Schools or Churches, whereon there is not seated a false Prophet, or a false Christ ; a Deceiver of the People, a false Inter- preter of Scripture, a blind Leader." It is evident that much of Weigel's peculiar feeling was derived from the grief which he conscientiously in- dulged at beholding the coldness and numberless vices of the professing churchmen of his day. Few subjects have been considered more deserving the exercise of inquiring minds, than that which involves the question, how much we ought to ascribe to natural energy, and how much to the mere influence of circumstances, in the formation of characters remarkable for their pecu- liarities, or their greatness. At the time when Weigel wrote, there was one main circumstance to excite a mind ambitious either of distinction for itself, or of effecting good for others. This was, the manifest depression of religion and its interests. There were both room and cause for a bold exercise of individual energy. When the absolute force of the mind thus engaged is not sufficient for the undertaking, it is driven to those resources so readily furnished by enthusiasm. A new theory is created ; arguments are gathered from remote analogies ; restrictions to the application of particular rules are forgotten ; and the severest and most authori- tative language is employed to awe those who with diffi- culty yield to persuasion. 78 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. At the foundation of Weigel's teaching lay the im- portant distinction between the literal and spiritual interpretation of Scripture. Christians, he said, who contented themselves with the former could not fail to be divided into countless sects; for every reader, accord- ing to this mode of study, would feel himself at liberty to determine the meaning of the Divine Word in con- formity with his own notions. They, on the other hand, who formed their judgment from the belief which is of the Spirit, and from the inward state of the heart, remained immoveable. It is altogether in vain, he added, that we learn what men have written on heavenly subjects, unless we be taught by the Holy Spirit, and his anointing grace. " This teaching transforms, in one hour, a peasant into a doctor. The Bible is written for those only who have already an understanding prepared to receive its doctrines. When God works in us, so also must we, in order to hear his voice, subdue our minds, and await, in silence, his revelations, forget- ting ourselves, and all things around us. Then will the inner eye perceive in a moment the invisible things of the Spirit." Ao;ain : " The Word of God comes to all, if not out- wardly by preaching, yet doubtless inwardly, and who- soever hears it, to him pertains also outward intelligence. There is an inborn light in every one, from which all knowledge flows. He who follows not this, treads the broad way to destruction, for he must believe what others say. There is, on the other hand, a false theology, fre- quent in universities, which is only employed about Biblical commentaries and other books. Thus the student learns of man, not from God ; and we preach Christ before w^e know him ourselves. Many, indeed, there are who bind themselves by a solemn oath before God,* that they will learn nothing but what is contained in human books, in the symbolical writings, or such like compositions. These persons thank God that every thing in theology is so easy. True theology consists especially * Vor Gott ein Sacrament thun, class sie niclits andcrs lehren wollen, als was in Menschenbuchern, in Symbylischen Scriften, und dergleichen mehfj vorgeschrieben ist. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 79 in the knowledge of one's self, tliat is, whereoiit, through whom, and to what end, man is created and ordained."* It would have been difficult for Weigel's enemies to draw from statements like these, the accusations which were subsequently brought against him. A mind strongly impressed with the spirituality of the religion of Christ, will, even in its ordinary reasonings on the subject, express itself in language full of allusions to the oppo- sition between the outward and inward world. When the conviction thus felt is personal, real and experi- mental, it will inspire a yet more fervent tone of thought ; and Weigel appears to have possessed every charac- teristic of sincerity and earnestness. But let a man of fervent temperament have succeeded, according to his wishes, in rousing the dormant feelings of those around him to a new exercise of thought, and let the period in which he lives be one of marked cold- ness and inferiority, he is exposed to almost irresistible temptations to stimulate the subject-minds of his fol- lowers to further efforts in the way of curious inquiry. We ought not to be surprised, therefore, on finding that Weigel intermingled with his devouter opinions many fanciful and dark conceits which proved that his feelings were not always under the same influence. Thus, of the person of Christ, he asserted, that his flesh and blood were not from earth, but from heaven, derived from the Holy Ghost, that we also in the same flesh might obtain heaven. In addition to this divine body he had also a visible and mortal, which suffered. Of original sin, he remarked, " that it is, in one sense, an accident, and, in another, a substance, because man, out of Christ, be- comes possessed of a new and heavenly body. By faith, man falls away from himself, and is joined to God in Christ ; whence a new-born child cannot sin. The dying of the members which are upon the earth, through the in-dwelling of Christ, is repentance, or justification. By the new birth, man becomes again one with the Spirit, both soul and body, for the body itself is thereby made new, and altogether other than it was. We must enter into union with each other in God, and that not only * Sclirockh, t. iv., b. ii., p. 676. 80 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. iiccording to the Spirit, but according to the flesh and blood, })odily. So also must we be born of the eternal seed, which is no shadow, but a real being, and we must have Christ in us spiritually and bodily ! There are two Eves, both sprung from man, the earthly comes out of Adam, the heavenly is God himself; it has borne the Son of God from eternity in the Trinity. This has borne Christ for us bodily into the world. The third Eve is the Christian Church, which was born out of the side of the heavenly Adam on the cross." Of the sacraments, it is said, that they are high and excellent mysteries, but not productive of faith. Woe, therefore, to those who pretend to derive therefrom a necessary blessedness. They betray the land and the people, and set up a false and shameful Christianity. Baptism, he asserted, ought to be allowed to believers only, and that neither Baptism nor the Lord's Supper, in whatever sect received, can confer any other benefit than that appointed by Christ himself. Again: the out- ward man may confess before the priest; but it is for- bidden to the inner man to seek or desire that absolution from a mortal which God only can bestow. A similar distinction is made as to some other points, and it is easy to perceive that, however pure and exalted Weigel's ordinary sentiments were, his mind had too readily yielded to the fascinations which attend the discovery of any species of superiority, of religious not less than any other. Weigel and Boehmen may be considered as the authors of a distinct species of mysticism. Their sys- tem possessed sufficient novelty to attract, and hold enamoured, men who had rejoicingly cast off the fetters of superstition. It obtained the respectful notice of many far superior to its originators in learning and power of intellect, and continued to exercise a certain degree of secret influence long after the main pretensions of the scheme had been effectually set aside. This was not because it enjoyed an exemption from the measure of persecution to which new systems are usually subjected. Besides the contempt with which it was assailed by the sterner members of the orthodox party, and the remon- CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 81 strances that arose from the few who most earnestly desired the return of a pure and simple evangelical spirit, in some states, the writings of Weigel were col- lected, and publicly burnt, and other means were employed to warn the {)eople against their dangerous tendency. But while men of this character were arousing their contemporaries to a variety of eccentric eftbrts in favour of spiritual religion, others were about to appear who, with no less superiority to the cold theology of the schools, were prepared, both by sounder judgment and a purer knowledge, to advance the interests of the gospel. John Arndt* contributed very largely to the improve- ment most earnestly coveted by devout minds. Mysti- cism, as far as it had succeeded, had involved great numbers of persons in perplexities, from which they were little likely to issue as sound believers. But, on the other hand, the opposition made to it was, for the most part, calculated to reduce divine truth more and more to a level with the low notions of worldly minds; to deprive the gospel of all its warmth, its spiritual force and glory, and to bring men under subjection to the austere dominion of a rationalism more imperious in its demands on the mind and conscience. Such men as Arndt and Spener seem to have been endowed with the excellent gifts they possessed for the purpose of protecting spiritual doctrine from the dangers to which it was now exposed from two such opposite classes of reasoners. The former of these admirable men was born at Ballenstadt, in Anhalt, in the year 1555. Having studied the usual number of years at Helm- stadt, Wittenberg, Basle, and Strasburg, he began at the latter place to perform the duties of an instructor, and his first efforts as a theologian were devoted to the Epistle to the Romans. His fame rapidly increased ; and, after exercising the office of a preacher for some time in his native town, he was appointed to a similar situation in the city of Badeborn. There he remained till the Prince of Anhalt issued a decree forbidding the * Guerike, b. ii., p. 1049. Schrockh, t. iv., b. ii., p. 4.51. The former of these authors styles Arndt the Fcncloii of the Lutheran Church. VOL. III. G 82 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. use of exorcism at baptism. Arndt immediately de- clared, that it was contrary to his conscience to submit to such an ordinance, and he justified his opposition by an appeal to the fathers of the first three centuries ; to the example of the whole orthodox Church, and to Scripture itself. In consequence of this resistance, he was deprived of his pulpit ; but his merits and piety were too conspicuous to allow of his remaining long un- employed. He received successive calls to Quedlinburg-, Brunswick, Eisleben, and Zelle, at which last place he died in 1611, having been appointed the same year to the honourable situation of superintendent - general. Many things may be discovered in the writings of Arndt, which savour of the style of Weigel and his followers. This was sufficient to excite against him the suspicion of those who trembled lest the Church might soon be overrun by the rank weeds of mysticism. It was enough to make him at once an object of hatred to those who could bear with no attempts to give new vigour to the gospel in its deeper applications to the heart and con- science. The most celebrated of Arndt's writings are his four books on True Christianity. This work contains the greater part of his system of theology, and is eminently distinguished by a clear insight into the sources of human sin and folly, and by a corresponding know- ledge of the means whereby they are most eflTectually to be resisted. " Nothing," he says, in his preface to this book, " could more strongly prove the shameful misuse of the gospel in his days, than the scandalous and unchristian lives of those who were so ready to boast themselves of Christ and his Word. The contemplation of this frightful inconsistency had urged him, he adds, to write the present work, in which he proposed to show, that true Christianity consists in the proof of a real, living and active faith, as indicated through genuine piety and the fruits of righteousness. We are named after Christ, not merely because we believe in him, but because we live in him and he lives in us. True confession proceeds from the innermost ground of the heart ; thus heart, sense and mind must become CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 83 changed, that we may be made like unto Christ, and, through the Word of God, be daily renewed according to the new creature. Then, as every seed produces its like, so must the Word of God in us bring forth daily new spiritual fruit; and as we, through faith, become new creatures, so must we, also, live in the new birth. In a word, as Adam dies in us, so Christ shall live in us. It is not enough to know the Word of God ; we must bring it into living, actual practice. Many suppose that theology is a mere science, or disputative art, whereas it consists in a living experience and practice. Men now study it that they may become great and celebrated in the world, not that they may be holy. So, also, the world runs after those who are distinguished for their high attainments, and from whom art, eloquence and wisdom may be gained ; but from our only Doctor, Jesus Christ, no one is ready to learn gentleness and true humility, whereas his holy and living example is the right rule and guiding string of our lives ; yea, it is the highest wisdom and art, and we may properly say, that the life of Christ can teach us all things. Every one would willingly be a servant of Christ ; no one will be his follower. But he himself says, " If any man serve me, let him follow me." * A true servant and lover of Christ, therefore, must be a follower of Christ. He who loves Christ, loves, also, the example of his holy life, his humility, gentleness, patience, the scorn and contempt which he suffered, however opposed it be to the will of the flesh."! Deeply spiritual and practical, as is the reasoning of Arndt, he handles in regular and systematic order the great topics of theology. In his first chapter, he treats of the image of God in man. This, he says, is the con- formity of the human soul, of the understanding, spirit, mind, will, of all the inward, and outward body-and- soul strength, to God and the Holy Trinity, and to all their divine attributes, virtues, will and properties ; according, that is, to the first decree of the triune God, " Let us make man in our image." * John xii, 26. f Das Erste Buch vom Wahren Christenthuin, sec. 1, 2. G 2 84 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. The fall of Adam is next considered, and immediately after tlie recovery of lost mankind in Christ. Prayers are appended to the several chapters, and many of these devotional pieces are of great force and beauty. Few can be found superior to that for deliverance from the old man of sin. " Oh thou great and terrible God ! to thee I cry out of the deep, and pour forth the laments of my heart. Thou didst create me to be a light in thee, but tlirough the fraud of Satan, and mine own neglect, darkness has covered my understanding round about. I can of myself comprehend nothing that pertains to the Spirit of God. It is foolishness to me, and I cannot perceive it. There is, therefore, no true fear of God before mine eyes. Instead of seeking and loving thee, the highest good, 1 turn my back to thee instead of my face. I am sprung of a sinful race, and in sin did my mother conceive me, so the thoughts and intentions of my heart have been only evil from my youth up. I am a child of wrath, a wretched, perverted, apostate creature, becoming more and more rebellious every day ; and, what is most wretched, unable to perceive my wretchedness. All the strength of my soul is gone. I love darkness more than light. ' I find a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.'* ' Oh wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?' My God ! I know well that thou, most pure, and most holy, canst have no fellowship with one so base and polluted. Therefore must all necessity, and sorrow and misery be mine. Yea ! I must have been separate from thee through all eternity, and must have mourned and pe- rished in my sins, unless thy mercy had provided for me the means of salvation. Gracious God ! Thou who hast mercy over all thy works, let not the creation of thine hand perish. Break thou the bands of death wherein I am held. Give me a true knowledge and feeling of my misery, and let it work in me a heart-felt humility, inward mercy and pity towards my neighbour, ardent supplications for him, mistrust of my own strength, and most earnest desire for thy grace and help. So free me also, Oh my God ! that this wicked sinful disposition * Kom. vii. 21. CENT. XVI.- XXVI.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 85 may no longer reign in my mortal body, holding me captive to its lusts ; but give me strength and resolution to crucify the flesh with all its aflections and desires, so that the sinful body may no longer exist, and that I may cease to serve sin. At length deliver my soul out of this prison, and free me from this death, that I may live eternally, and proclaim thy grace and truth, my God and my Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Arndt's statements of doctrine are imbued with the most earnest and affectionate spirit. The feeling of in- terest which they inspire is considerably increased by our knowledge of the fact, that they were made at a time when truths of such a character, proclaimed fully and clearly, were absolutely needed to save the Church from sinking into utter lethargy. Arndt had two ob- jects in view ; the one, to give again that prominence to evangelical doctrines which they possessed in the more prosperous days of the Reformation ; the other, to demon- strate the necessity of a life of holiness, answerable in all its parts to the particulars of divine truth as revealed in Christ. By this union of a practical design with reason- ings, eminently calculated to place the Christian faith in its most proper light, he prepared the way for a better system of theology than could have been looked for, while so great a majority of divines confined them- selves to controversial technicalities. Nothing can better prove the high claims which Arndt possessed to the admiration of his contemporaries, than the manner in which he keeps in perfect combination the two parts of his design. Few indeed are the writers who have ap- proached him in this excellency, and at the period when he wrote there was no little danger in making the attempt to which he devoted himself. His zeal for the practical application of divine truth exposed him, on the side of those from whom he could most confidently look for sympathy, to occasional suspicion. The very completeness of his exhibitions of the gospel, of its doc- trines and requirements, was a stumbling-block to men who had become enamoured of their own partial views ; and it is not less surprising tlian comforting to find, that, with so many obstacles in his way, he succeeded, as far G :i 8G HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. as he did, in recovering so much of the lost groirad of evangelical earnestness. " True Christianity,"^* it is said, " consists only in pure belief, in love, and in a holy life. But holiness of life arises from genuine confession and repentance, and from self-knowledge, whereby a man becomes daily acquainted with his defects, daily corrects them, and acquires, through faith, a share in the righteousness of Christ. Would you experience this in yourself, beloved Christian 1 Then must you live in the filial, humble fear of God, and not be ready at all times to do that which is pleasing to the flesh. ' All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient,' f ssljs St. Paul. That it, all things do not profit. As a child in the house of its parents will not venture to do in its own freedom all that it would wish to do, but must fear before his lather, and have an eye to his good pleasure, so also must a true Christian, and child of God, correct his inclinations by a holy discipline, must neither do nor speak any thing without the fear of God, as a well-taught and obedient child looks to his father when he would say or do any thing, and does all with reverence. Most people resign themselves, without regarding God, to worldly pleasures. But better is it always to have the fear of God in the heart, than to live continually in worldly delight. This fear of God is the origin of much devotion, and of much wisdom, but the vain pleasures of the world destroy divine wisdom, all devotion, all fear of God. Througli daily repentance and crucifying of the flesh, we are daily renewed, J and such renewals bring with them heavenly joy, while the joys of the world leave behind them nothing but remorse and the worm that never dies.". . . . " Ha])py is the man who can be sad with a godly sorrow, and rejoice with a spiritual and heavenly glad- ness. Often do we laugh lightly and wantonly when we should w^eep. There is no true freedom or joy but in the fear of God and a good conscience. But a good * B. i., c. XX., sec. 1-7- The heading of this chapter is, Durch Christliche, valire Roue win! das Lebcn tiiglich gehessert, der Mcnsch zum Reiehe Gottes gi'schitkt, iind 7,11 in ewigcn Lebcn bcfordert. t I Cor. vi. 12. X 2 Cor. iv. 16, CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 87 conscience cannot exist without belief and a holy life. Faith and godly repentance through the Holy Spirit daily corrects our faults. He who does not daily correct his faults, misses the most perfect good in this life ; strives against the new birth, hinders the progress of the kingdom of God, and cannot be freed from the blindness of his heart." Of salvation, it is said,* " As a good master-builder, when he is preparing to erect a lofty edifice, first lays a deep and solid foundation, so our gracious and merciful God, when he would raise the mighty and eternal struc- ture of our salvation, placed the foundation, in the depth of his mercy, on the firm and everlasting ground of the person and office of his own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the true rock of salvation that cannot be moved ;'|" which foundation and rock the Lord described to St. Peter as that upon which he would build his Church, and as being so firm that the gates of hell should not prevail against it." .... " But as our gracious, loving, heavenly Father had laid the foundation of our happiness and righteousness in the deep abyss of his mercy, in his eternal love, in his dear Son, in his most tender Father's heart, so has he also placed the same in the depth of our heart, in the inner- most ground of our soul ; in order that through the new godly light, and the strength of faith which he works in us by the Holy Spirit, the righteousness of Christ alone may be comprehended, and imputed to, and bestowed upon us, through grace, without regard to our works, whether past or future. And, truly, in order that he may thoroughly justify man, and from the ground of his soul, as man in the innermost faculties of the soul, and to its lowest and most secret depths has been poisoned by Satan, our righteousness must of neces- sity proceed from faith alone, for God works this, in order that it may depend on him only, and not on outward human doings, or hypocrisy, as the righteous- * B. ii., c. iii., sec. 1-7. Dass unserc Gcroclitigkcit vor Gott allein Ijestche in dem vollkonimcnen Gt-horsam mid Verdicnst Jesu Christi, und in der Vergebung der SiindcU; welehe der Glaube ergeifrt. t Isa. xxviii. 16. G 4 88 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. nessof the Pliarisees, which was outward only, and had no phice in the ground of the heart. " Further, tliat our heart, spirit, and soul may wholly renounce their own mere natural strength and means, to which the deceits of Satan, and their own learning, self-love, and pride incline them, and may, on the con- trary, cast their whole dependence on the precious merits and sufficiency of Christ, from which alone, through grace, flows the forgiveness of all our sins, since Christ Jesus only has atoned for the sins of the w^orld, and satisfied the Father. Again: in order that the lighteousness of Christ may become ours by faith, therefore hath he, through his Word and Spirit, wrought and kindled faith in our liearts, that we may become partakers of this unspeakable treasure. And this is the highest, the most incomprehensible consola- tion, that our righteousness is not that of a man, or of a great lord, or even of an angel, but of Christ, and of God. ' It is God that justifieth.' Therefore if the sins of a man were great enough to fill the whole world, yet are the merits of Christ greater ; for he is God, our righteousness. Can sin be mightier than God ? It is as if a man owed two shillings, and paid his creditor with a thousand times ten thousand pounds of gold. Such is the blood of Christ, which St. Paul calls the blood of God, when reckoned against our guilt. So great is the righteousness of Christ which he bestows on us, through faith, and in such a manner that we not only become righteous through him, but righteousness itself."* .... " Moreover, although our first parents, in their inno- cence, had a perfect righteousness, yet had they not so high and overflowing a righteousness as w^e have in Christ. For the righteousness and holiness which he imparts to us, through faith, are far greater than Adam could have transmitted to us, had he never fallen, but remainc d steadfast in purity. So also has Christ become well-pleasing to God, by a higher humility and obedi- ence than Achnn's, he being worth more than a thousand Adams, even in a state of innocency. And ulthougli ' 2 Cor. V. 21. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 89 Adam had made us heirs of his righteousness, and united us in the same, yet is the union which we have with God in Christ much closer, since Christ became man, assumed our human nature, and brought it into such strict conjunction with himself as it never enjoyed in Adam. Once united with him, humanity remains eternally united with him ; and in the same manner every individual believer. Thus Christ is altogether ours, and we are altogether his. And so pure as he his own human nature made, in his own person, so pure has he our nature made before God, which we in the revelation of that day shall experience, when our mortal bodies shall become like to his glorious body." Of the importance of prayer Arndt repeatedly speaks in the strongest terms.* Having shown from Scripture how ready God is to hear our petitions, he says, " He who is not moved hereby must have a heart of stone. He who believes it not has a graceless heart, and is not worthy the name of man. This is not denied ; where- fore then believe we not ? Or why do we not pray ? Why are we not heard ? Or why do we not obtain the Holy Spirit ? Simply for this reason : We do not pray in a right faith ; we do not silently and patiently wait for God. A right faith holds God. in still and deep tranquillity. But he who doubts is faithless, and renders his prayer of no avail ; for God can give him nothing. On the other hand, he makes God a liar, and powerless, as if he either would not or could not give that which we need. These are two wicked fea- tures. Faith, on the contrary, keeps the heart still; makes it capable of godly graces. God requires nothing of man but the Sabbath ; rest from all his works, especially from himself. Our spirit and mind are like water, over which the Spirit of God hovers without ceasing. When it once becomes tranquil, and is agi- tated by no wind of temporal cares, God remains therein, and speaks his mighty Word in that still water. This view is better and nobler than the whole world. * It is the especial subject of the thirty-fourth chapter, Wie eiu Meusch (Uirch (las Gebct die Wcisheit Gottes suchcn soil, and which is itself divided into twelve chapters. 90 HISTOIIY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. Still waters are soon Marmed by the sun, but quick and rushing streams scarcely ever. The unbeliever robs God of his honour, and his name of truth and faithfulness. A Christian is thereby reduced to hea- thenism ; and if he remain therein is certainly and eternally condemned." The necessity of a simple dependence on divine grace in prayer is further shovv^n, in a chapter devoted to the subject. " If a man pray on account of his piety, or holiness, he remains not in the middle path, and in simplicity, as a child, but turns himself to the right, runs before Christ, as a thief and murderer; steals from him his due honour, since he alone is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and ascribes it to his own vain works, as if there were any merit in man, and not in Christ alone ; or as if God would hear pra3^er on account of human works, and not on account of his Son." " As little as we can help the sunshine, so little can our works help the grace of God. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Elias, were all blessed by the grace of God, and had learnt to say, 'Enter not into judgment with thy ser- vant.' Suppose, however, that some one should cease to pray, because, impressed with the recollection of his sins, he considers himself unworthy and unholy, he leaves the middle path, falls to the left hand, as the other to the right, is overwhelmed with grief and misery and offences against tlie Son of God ; and if he continue in this path, yields at last to despair, as if the sufferings and death of Christ were not sufficient for the sins of the whole world. In such a case, let us comfort ourselves with words like this : ' If our sin be great, yet greater is the mercy of God ; for where the offence abounded, grace did much more abound.' Our misery appeals to God's mercy ; our weakness to his strength ; our un- worthiness to his glorious majesty ; our unrighteousness to his righteousness. It is a dear and precious word that ' Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners,' and, ' As I live, saitli the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.' CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 91 " Should 1 refrain from praying till I find myself worthy, or able, I should never pray. Should God refuse to afford me help till I become holy, or righteous in myself, then would he never give me that of which I stand in need. My friend ! what wilt thou give to him who has no want of thy gifts? what wouldst thou merit at the hand of God, with all thy trifling works and piety ? Nothing ! Vanish all work-righteousnesses, and let all creatures be silent before him. Thy worthiness helps thee in no wise ; thine unworthiness injures thee in no wise. Christ has covered, and forgiven it. Therefore learn to say, ' As a drop of water in the sea, so are my sins to the incomprehensible grace of Jesus Christ. O ! gracious God, and merciful Father, thou who teach est me in thy Word, how I should walk in Christ thy Son, that I may continue in the middle path, and fall neither to the right nor to the left ; that is, that I may neither be self-righteous, nor sink into despair, nor continue in wickedness, and so die in my sins ; teach me earnestly to consider how my own worthiness cannot forward me, nor my great sins hinder me in Christ Jesus. Then shall I remain steadfast in all my struggles, nor ever be overcome by the fair devil, called vanity, which destroys in the noonday. Let me not tremble before the horrors of the night, or the pestilence which walketh in darkness ; so shall I not sink under the load of my sins, but grow strong in the joyful trust of faith. This begin, continue, and fulfil in me, I beseech thee, O Lord Jesus Christ !'"* These passages from Arndt's most celebrated work, will serve to show some of the peculiarities of liis style, and the main objects of his theology. INothing could have been more opposed to the favourite authors of the schools, and he was accordingly assailed by a host of opponents who accused him of advocating a system which exhibited the combined errors of Popery, Cal- vinism, Flacianism, and all the worst novelties that had lately appeared to corrupt the Church. To tliese ac- cusations Arndt was contented that the readers of his * B. ii., c. xxxiv., sec. n. Bcten wegen eigencr "Wiirdigkcit ist so grosse ?^iinde, als gar nicht bctcu wegcn vorbegangener Siincle. 92 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. book, warmed and edified by a spirit of evangelical faith, should make answer for him. He remained un- disturbed, well satisfied with the happy effects which daily followed the more earnest study of those scriptures to wliich his writings made such a new and powerful appeal. But to the great comfort of Arndt and his followers, he was not left alone in this work. Other divines ap- peared who assisted in restoring a spiritual tone and feeling to the language of theology. Among these the most frequently mentioned is John Gerhard, a learned professor of divinity at Jena.* His " Loci Theologici," and more especially his " Schola Pietatis," and " Me- ditationes Sacra?," were read with great eagerness by those who saw in what peril the majority of Christians stood through the coldness and indifference of their teachers. John Valentine Andrea, abbot of the monastery of Bebenhausen, was another of the excellent men of this period who employed their gifts and opportunities in the same direction.. He observed with equal keenness and sorrow the errors of the time, and while he opposed them by frequent and solemn addresses from the pulpit, he did not refuse the meaner helps furnished by any of the materials of ridicule and satire. f The best proof, perhaps, that can be given of the sincerity of his de- votion to the cause of the gospel is the fondness with which he was always accustomed to speak of Arndt. To that venerable man he ascribed his acquaintance with the gospel, and he delighted to acknowledge and address him as a father. But much as was now being done to awaken a better spirit in the Church, more was still required. There was need of a man who sliould possess the comprehensive mind of a true theologian, with the graces of a popular preacher, and the qualifications necessary to a faithful and efficient pastor. By God's mercy such a man was * Gucrike, b. ii., c-. ii.. p. 1050. Schrockh, t. iv., p. 455. t His wuik.s weic illustrated by cngravin,c;s from his own designs, and both the text and tiic illustrations are eonsidcred to afford good speeimens of wit. The best known of his writings arc the RcipublicK' Christianas Descriptio: Civis Christianus : Menippus: and My thologia Christiana. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 93 raised up to carry forward the work which Arndt, and a few others, had lately commenced. Spener was born at Rappoltsweiler, in Alsace, in the year 1635. He pursued his studies under the most distinguished scholars of the time, and acquired that reputation for extensive learning * which characterized so many of the theologians of this period. But he had a mind, the spiritual dispositions of which gathered strength from a culture that had been little favourable, in other instances, to the growth of evangelical faith. Several journeys into France and Switzerland made him acquainted with the general state of religious feeling, and in 1G64 he took his degree of doctor in divinity, about two years after which he was invited to occupy the honourable post of senior of the evangelical preachers at Frankfort. The style of preaching, we have seen, had degenerated in his time into the cold and formal manner which has commonly the effect of making ordinary hearers doubt the sincerity of the teacher, or the worth of the doctrine. It is easy to ascribe this at once to a general decline in the earnestness of the clergy. To no slight degree, it is certain, we should be right in doing so. But the cha- racter of sermons may be greatly deteriorated in the qualities of fervency and unction without proving a loss of piety, or zeal, proportionable to the commonness of this change. There are seasons in which it may be the conscientious conviction of the best of men, that plain, didactic instruction is more needed than any appeal to the feelings.. Their example will be followed by others, and a style formed which, however useful at certain periods, will almost necessarily degenerate into the cold and harsh, the instant it loses even the slightest portion of those milder graces conferred on it by the sincerity and thoughtfulness of its originators. Spener's discourses offered to a people wearied with dry dissertations, the nourishment now become essential to the revival of spiritual life and feeling. He took the * The variety of his acquirements is proved by the curious fact, that he was the first writer in Germany on the science of heraldry. — Schrockh, t. VIII.. b. iii.j p. 2.56. 94 HISTORY OF THE CHURCPI [CHAP. II. scriptures, and expounded and reasoned upon the doc- trines they contain, in the language and with the wis- dom of love. Anxious hearers soon gathered round him ; he convinced them of the necessity of admitting truth into the heart ; of yielding their affections to its influence, and reducing its rules to practice. The cri- tical systems by which other preachers had for a long time thought it necessary to model their sermons, in vain opposed themselves to the simple energy of Spener's zeal. He described in order the doctrines and rules of Ciiristianity, but the order which he observed still left him free to introduce whatever topics were best adapted to win the regards of his auditory. Objections have been made to his style, and to the length of his sermons. They are those, however, which subsequent readers, rather than the original hearers, have started. The discourses which weary persons indifferent to the main object of the preacher, are full of power to those who dwell on his lips as pouring forth the Word of life. Spener was eminently successful in his own labours ; but he soon procured a large body of coadjutors. The sentiments which formed the animating principle of his system were diffused throughout the Protestant Churches. Evangelical religion re-appeared in its most conspicuous forms, and the traces of Spener's exertions were destined to remain when some of the bulwarks of the Reformation, then most depended upon, should have almost crumbled away. It was at Halle that Spener found his wishes and designs most readily understood. There appeared Breithaupt, Francke, Anton, and, at a somewhat later period, the not less distinguished Joachim Lange. The last of these revivers of Christian theology published a treatise entitled, " Oratoria Sacra, ab Artis Homileticae Vanitate repurgata, qua, Pra^missa dicentis Habilitate, pra^terMethodium publico cumFructu docendi, etiam de Usu Verbi privato,nec non dcPrsejudiciisConcionatorum ex vero agitur." A great improvement was effected by the clearer views thus given of the proper objects of pulpit exercises. Still more was done by the custom, sedulously followed wherever Spener's party possessed any influ- CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 95 ence, of reading large portions of scripture, accompanied by commentaries adapted to the capacity and immediate wants of the hearers. Another means was also employed by Spener to re-awaken that devotional spirit without which even truth itself will exercise but a transient influence. He held prayer-meetings at his house, and gathered around him a number of persons who readily confessed, that the common aids afforded them by the church were not sufficient to keep them in a state of mind necessary to the life of holiness.* In these meetings Spener usually referred to the discourses which he had last delivered in the church ; and by copious extracts from them, with additional observations, he permanently infixed in the memory of the persons assembled the most important lessons of his ministry. The associations thus formed acquired the title of " Collegia Pietatis," and became, to a large degree, in- fluential in the creation of that more earnest feeling which had been so long needed in the Protestant con- gregations. In addition to the prayers and observations made by Spener himself, in the meetings at his house, the company were called upon to state their own sen- timents on the portion of scripture which he read for that purpose. Clearly understood as his views and intentions were, these exercises were followed by none of the abuses which, under other circumstances, there is sufficient reason to apprehend. Spener's main object was known to be so entirely removed from those which excite pride, or curiosity, or favour a selfish love of independence, that the society which he formed was amply satisfied with the wholesome knowledge derived from its meetings, and the evident increase of its members in Christian virtue. Spener's own mind was indebted to the exercises in which it was thus employed for much of its most valuable acquirements, and it does * The evil thus referred to has heen considerably increased in our own times, by the very general neglect of the helps offered in the stated services of the Church. The author ventures to refer to a pamplilet of his own on the subject, entitled, " An Address on the Duty of attending Week-day Services in the Church." — Rivingtons. 96 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. not seem difficult to trace their influence on many of his views, as they are described in his practical writings. But though the judgment of Spener himself was sufficiently sound and influential to preserve these meetings from abuse, assemblies of the same kind gathered together in other places, produced so much uneasiness and disturbance, that the pastors of the several towns, in which they were becoming common, found themselves constrained to suppress them ; and greatly to the disappointment of the pious men who had seen in such meetings the happy opportunity of exciting a thoughtful and devotional spirit, they were accused of holding them at the sacrifice of good order and discipline. Spener defended the custom against the censures thus passed upon his proceedings. He had received ample practical proofs of the utility of his system ; but it is impossible to deny that there was much of truth in the suggestions of his opponents. The opinions started on both sides are deserving of at- tention, not only on account of the general importance of the subject, -but as illustrating the state of feeling which prevailed at the time, and the ideas entertained by both the clergy, and the people, on the best means of promoting the interests of the gospel. It is the noble characteristic of genuine zeal and piety, not to allow opposition to act as a discouragement to the execution of their well-formed purposes. Spener saw the necessities of the Church, and he was resolved to persevere in making them known to otliers, trusting that the prayers and exertions, which would follow therefrom, would not fail of the divine blessing. His writings soon obtained a considerable circulation, and he began to be regarded generally as a reformer of tlie Church, and of the religious character of his age. From the responsibility involved by a reputation of this kind, he shrunk with the timidity of a delicate, and the un- feigned humility of a pious, mind. " I am not guilty of the absurdity," he says, in a letter to a friend, " of viewing myself in the light of a reformer. I know my weakness too well, and that I have neither the power CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 97 nor the wisdom proper to such a character. It is enough for me that my voice can make itself heard among others, prepared to forward the work of the Reformation, and urged thereto by the Lord. In such a position, therefore, I need no party, nor do I wish to draw others around me. There is no necessity, how- ever, that I should break with those theologians, of whom I have reason to entertain good thoughts and hopes, or who have never, apparently, resisted, in the slightest degree, the cause of godliness. Much rather would I draw them by good will, and, by every means and method that is not opposed to conscience, uphold their resolution, that so my plans might be somewhat promoted by their sympathy, or that they might be rendered the more diligent in the duties of their own station, or, at least, be prevented from maliciously op- posing others in their Christian undertakings." * On another occasion he writes : " I know well enough, not only that the Reformation cannot be the labour of one man, but that I am neither the best qualified, nor among the best qualified, to bring to pass that which God intends for his Church, wanting, as I do, the gifts neces- sary to such an object. I have already more honour than I deserve, in that God has so widely blessed my ' Pia Desideria,' that the work, as with a loud voice, has awakened others, I will not say to learn somewhat from me, but to meditate on things more carefully, according to the gifts which they have from God." In the year 1686, Spener was appointed to the high office of chief court-preacher, with its many at- tendant dignities, at Dresden. The opportunities of carrying on the work so dear to his heart were greatly increased by this his elevation. Nor did he waste any part of the precious season allowed him for labour. But the difficulties of his position were in proportion to the more extended views, and the larger means, which it affi)rded him. He had to struggle against a host of new opponents, — men who could hardly be made to under- stand that discipline, churchmanship, and genuine piety may be found among those who feel it their duty to * Schrockh : Theologischo Bedenken. VOL. III. H 08 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. attempt much against the pride, confidence, self-suf- ficiency and inditierence of parties grown old in the possession of power and luxury. But Spener, zealous as he was, did not fail in the exercise of judgment; and his indisputable ability, and genuine piety, obliged the bitterest of his opponents to exercise some degree of caution, and even of mildness, in their treatment of his opinions. Thus he found himself in a condition to effect many important reforms in the general system of public religious teaching. Catechetical lectures, and careful expositions of the scriptures, became, for the first time, common through the electorate. To secure, moreover, a sufficient body of preachers who should be both able and ready to follow his method, Spener introduced into his own house a number of young men intended for the ministry ; and these he instructed him- self, and with all the care which his intense anxiety for their future usefulness inspired. In 1689, Herman Franke, who had enjoyed the ad- vantage of a residence under Spener's roof", with John Caspar Schade.and Paul Anton, began a regular course of lectures on the New Testament, in the university of Leipzig. These lectures were of a popular and prac- tical character, and intended not to set aside the study of theology in its higher and more recondite branches, but to supply that indispensable requisite to the educa- tion of the clergy — instruction as to the power and application of divine truth in the common operations of holiness,* * Spenor's view of biblical study is clearly and succinctl}^ given in some observations of liis, addressed to a friend who had begun the practice of CAr<;ful scriptural reading. " I am delighted," he says, " to learn from your lettcre, that you have found yourself impelled to an earnest study of the Bible, and that others have been moved by your example to a corresponding diligence, some masters even visiting you on the Sabbaths to establish a scripture exercise. Pursue, my friends, this way to heaven : persevere on this track, so sure to lead you to the true internal theology." Having alluded to the strong remarks of Seckendorf on this subject, he says, " This golden advice I would place before the eyes of all doctors, or, rather, I would have it inscribed on their hearts." He then answers the questions put to him, by suggesting briefly a plan of study. " It is most proper, and surely worthy of theologians, that you should begin with praj^er ; for, since scripture can be rightly understood by no other spirit than that by which it was written, he surely must be invoked, from whom all light is to be received, and in whom all things divine are to be contemplated The know- CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 99 The influence exercised by the new professors was not confined to the large number of students who at- tended their lectures. Many of the townspeople gladly availed themselves of their instruction ; and the mem- bers of the Collegia Pietatis soon became remarkable for the strictness of their morals, the high tone of their religious conversation, and the simplicity of their per- sonal attire. They quickly found themselves exposed to the taunts of those who shrunk from imitating their example. The name of Pietists was given them in scorn ; and when the common sense of men in general took the sting out of such a species of ridicule, other epithets of a more abusive kind were heaped upon their heads. But, not content witli this species of attack, the more influential members of the orthodox party renewed ledge of sacred things, which is not sought with this mind, is either not obtained, or is not living and profoundly fixed in the soul. " Let it not be, for an instant, supposed that I doubt the authority or inspiration of the books of the Old Testament ; but I would advise that the commencement of this pious exercise should be from the books of the New Testament, or at least that they should occupy by far the larger portion of time, till, more profoundly imbued with the heavenly truth, clearly revealed in the New Testament, we may approach more profitably the shadows of the Old. " I should not consider it wise to read a whole chapter at one time, lest the work should seem forced and wearisome. Rather let us consider, if we be truly intent upon our purpose, that even a few verses are almost more than enough for an hour. For I believe heavenly food to be of such worth, that it ought not to be swallowed in great masses, but to be mas- ticated by minute particles, that we may rightly perceive and taste its sweetness, and be nourished by its secret virtue, to secure which effects we must be contented with a slower process. We can hardly follow a better method than that taught by the example of Sebastian Schmid, who very properly admitted his family among the classes which he instructed. He, after he had spoken of the general scope of the whole book or chapter, descended next to each separate verse. In these he noted first of all the connection^ avruipiiav, whence the best light might be drawn for the dis- covery of the true meaning. Then he examined each word singly, and spoke of its proper sense. Next he drew forth what he called the common places, not of one kind only, but also where they might adorn a paraphrase, in which the nucleus of the whole exposition was found. " I remember that I myself, with some friends at Frankfort, established such an exercise, the first epistle of the most mellifluous St. John being taken as the subject of our study. The series we observed was this : first, we noted the various readings of the verse, for we examined each verse separately', and then we gave our judgment, if any difference occurred between the several versions : secondly', single words were considered, and their particular force examined from parallel places, or wherever else they might occur, and every thing was unfolded which concerns the literal sense : thirdly, we proceeded to the inferences, Tropiafiara ; and, at the beginning, dogmatic pi'opositions were formed, often in great number." H 2 100 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. their formal accusations against Spener and his fol- lowers, as opposing the fundamental principles of the Lutheran Church. Instead of being called Pietists, they ought rather, it was said, to be considered as schismatics and heretics, who, despising faith, placed their whole trust on individual merit. At the head of these anta- gonists was the celebrated theologian, Carpzov, now engaged in his commentary on Isaiah, Spener replied to these attacks in his usual mild and firm manner. He proved how unjustly he was accused of opposing the interests of theological learning, but, at the same time, insisted more strongly than ever on the worth of those studies which have for their object the cultivation of a deep spiritual feeling; and so far was he from trembling at the accusations of his enemies, that he placed Arndt at the head of his favourite writers, and even contended that Jacob Bcehmen himself was not condemned by the whole Church. In the year 1691, Spener removed to Berlin, where he was appointed provost and inspector of the church of St. Nicholas, and assessor of the consistory. About the same time a new university was established at Halle, and in which the most attached of his friends were soon placed as professors. Notwithstanding the anxiety which Spener had always expressed to avoid being named or regarded as the head of a party, the large body of students and others who were distinguished for any increase of seriousness were now called Spenerians or Hallensians, while those of the opposite party assumed to themselves the title of the Orthodox or Witten- bergians. Angry as were the feelings already existing between the two parties, they were still more inflamed by the impetuosity of Mayer, formerly of Wittenberg, but now a preacher at Hamburg, a man of considerable genius, but violent beyond measure in his enmity to opponents. At his instigation means were adopted for obtaining the general consent of the clergy to the condemnation of Spener and his party. Confounding, with the efforts of the new reformers to restore practical religion, the wildest pretensions of false philosophy, they unjustly, CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 101 and to the no slight injury of unformed minds, heaped obloquy on characters which had at least sufficient of what was great and good to demand a certain measure of affection. A more formidable attack on Spener's credit was made by the theological faculty at Wittenberg. In the writing sent forth from this primitive home of Luther- anism, Spener was accused of having supported no fewer than 264 errors. Among the false opinions thus laid to his charge, the greater number respected the attacks which he had made rather on the state of the Church, and the laxity of the clergy, than on any of the doctrines proper to the Lutheran creed. He had brought, it was said, through his Colleges of Piety, the office of the preacher into contempt.* This will afford a key to the true sentiments of his opponents. The errors imputed to Spener were, indeed, for the most part, only such as viewed under the erring light of haughty and prejudiced minds. Thus it was imputed to him as hete- rodoxy that he spoke of the union of many societies as effected by an internal bond of peace ; that he described regeneration as a new nature ; and that the worst evils which the Church had to suffer had sprung from the introduction of carnal and unreg-enerate men into the number of Christ's ministers ; that the new man was not less nourished by the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament, than the natural man by the natural bread and wine ; and that the sacrament of the Lord's * One of the best answers that could have 1>een given to tliis accusation might have been found in Spener's reply to the inquiry, whether it was lawful for laymen to administer the Lord's Supper among themselres. This, he observed, can in no wise be allowable ; for as the sacraments are the seals of the preached word, so have they no power to administer them, orderly and openly, to whom the office of the preacher is not committed by God, and through his Church. As holy baptism is the appointed enti'ance into the Church, so does the Church readily open the same through her representatives ; although it is allowed that necessity may give the power to other members to act in their stead, when their help cannot be procured. But as the holy supper was both established by Christ, and has ever been considered by the Church as a sacrament which should be the bond of a common union of its members, and therefore especially called the com- munion, it follows therefrom that the administration thereof must pecu- liarly pertain to those alone to whom is committed the oversight of tlie whole community. — Spener's Deutsche und Lateinische Theologischc Be- denkcn. Hcnnicke, Halle, p. 384. H 3 102 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. II. Supper was the most excellent means whereby we may become partakers of the divine nature; that the evan- gelical Church had retained only the misuse and not the proper use of confession ; that the validity of abso- lution depends upon the truth and reality of the pre- going confession, and that all absolution, however spoken, is to be understood with certain conditions ; that Chris- tians are fellow-heirs and associates with the angels in dominion ; that they are blessed already in this world, and enjoy eternal life ; and that works of nature, even under their best form, are not truly good. It is well observed by the learned and pious Schrockh, that a man can hardly believe his eyes in finding opinions like these branded as heretical, closely united as they are with the simplest principles of evangelical religion. But easy as it must have been for unprejudiced minds to determine on which side truth had taken her stand, the proceedings of the Wittenberg divines gave rise to a series of controversies, the last of which seemed likely to end in a definitive sentence against the peace and unity of the Church in Germany. The year 1695 and part of the two following years, are described as the most painful portion of Spener's laborious life. A dispute on the nature and object of con- fession involved him in contention with many of those whose good opinion he would willingly have conciliated. Certain abuses, it seems, had crept into the Church, which went far towards nullifying the efficacy of confes- sion, and of substituting for its genuine objects false confidence on the one side, and an impious assumption of independent authority on the other. It was the opinion of Spener that the error alluded to had sprung from a confused notion, that the power of absolution belonged to the office of the preacher, rather than to the Church. " Our Saviour," says he, " has wisely constituted his Church ; and power over its members, therefore, is com- mitted, not to one or two orders, but to the entire body. Thus, in every community, there should be a spiritual jurisdiction belonging to the clergy and their superiors ; another to other officers of the society, or, where the weightiest matters are in dispute, to the social body at CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 103 large. From this should all censure proceed ; and as soon as any doubt arises of the worthiness of a member, an examination should be immediately commenced, in the fear of the Lord, to determine whether he ought still to be considered as a brother and fellow-member or not. When, however, one or even two orders assume to them- selves the right of judgment, that which was before a blessing is converted into a curse. And hence it is, that conscientious preachers generally consider the duty of receiving confessions as the most burthensome part of their office ; and heartily do I rejoice," emphatically adds Spener, " that I have now nothing to do therewith." The sentiments entertained by Spener himself, on this subject, were readily embraced by his followers. So important was the matter considered, that he found it necessary to deliver his opinions in a more open and defined manner than he had hitherto done. In 1697 he preached two discourses, the main purpose of which was to show, that forgiveness of sins may never be looked for without a true and radical improvement of character. To such a height, at length, did the dispute arise, that it was found expedient to establish a commission of in- quiry, in order that the whole subject might be fully investigated. The popular feeling, it seems, was in favour of the confessor's authority ; and the expulsion of Caspar Schade, the intimate friend of Spener, and to whose known dislike to the prevailing system the present agitation might be ascribed, was strongly and perseveringly insisted upon. Spener contemplated the increasing movement with regret. Anxious to repress, if possible, the evils likely to arise from such a state of things, he made certain proposals calculated to remove the abuses commonly attendant upon the rite of confes- sion. As a foundation for these efforts, he stated it as his conviction, that those who conscientiously refused to make a particular confession ought to be admitted to communion, after proving themselves attentive hearers of the gospel, and partakers in the blessings resulting from a common absolution. The wisdom and fatherly spirit indicated in this opi- nion had their due effect. Both parties were not only H 4 104 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. persuaded to reconsider their opinions, but were induced to acknowledge the possibility of securing peace without the sacrifice of any doctrine proper to the strictness of their belief. A judicious order, issued opportunely by the government, contributed greatly to the same end. According to the decree thus published, persons on both sides were to be left to the decision of their consciences. Those who deemed confession necessary might make it without being chargeable with superstition, while those who conscientiously objected to the rite were allowed to partake of the Lord's Supper after having simply pre- sented themselves before a clergyman. The activity of Spener continued undiminished to the end ; and, not- withstanding the opposition which he had to encounter at the hands of many of the most powerful of his contem- poraries, he retained a position in the opinion of the mass, which enabled him effectually to perform the task which had been committed to his execution. He had been invited to return to Dresden — a distinguished proof of the favour of the court, — but prudence taught him to refuse the offer. Soon after this his health began to decline, and he' died at Berlin on the 5th of February 1705. It is impossible to review even this cursory notice of Spener's career without feeling impressed with admi- ration of the man, and thankfulness to God who was pleased to raise him up at such a period. That Spener entertained opinions, some of which might be little accordant with a strict degree of orthodoxy, his warmest eulogists have not ventured to deny. That his oppo- nents, on the other hand, were only instigated by pre- judice or other unworthy motives, it would be as unwise as uncliaritable to assert. But, when we consider the decay of piety, the want of any practical knowledge of the duties of churchmen, we can scarcely wonder that so faithful and ardent a minister of divine truth was led, by the very force of his anxiety to warm and animate his spiritless age, into an occasional appearance of imprudence. Men, whose errors he could, under other circumstances, hardly have failed to reprobate, were re- commended to his favour by the mere fact that, having CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 105 much of piety and spiritual feeling, they stood opposed to the cold and faithless temper of the times. This was a fair ground for the censures of those who could not be made to understand that there might be an effectual improvement secured to the Church, although somewhat of irregularity marked the commencement of the change. Many, from the constitution of their minds, will always prefer the severe regularity of a fixed though unpro- gressive and unfruitful state, to the most promising of conditions exposed to change and occasional agitation. Such men, when provoked to defend their position, fre- quently exhibit an angry resolution, an inflexible spirit of opposition, which may easily be mistaken by those of a different character as the result of a proud and selfish prejudice ; on the contrary, such a state of mind ought not, in itself, to be taken as a proof of the want of piety or religious feeling. The desire to preserve things as they are, may as often be the consequence of ardent piety as the keen spirit of reform. Martyrs have existed on the one side as well as on the other ; and truth and charity are no less wounded, when men, honestly apprehensive of excitement, are accused of opposing the interests of holiness, than when the fervent advocates of a new order of things are themselves charged with folly or hypocrisy. But Speiier was superior to most of the weaknesses which commonly attend minds stimulated like his, and exposed to alternate irritation and the temptations of a noble success. Though not always equally cautious, he was more so than the generality of reformers. The consequences which attended the intemperate proceed- ings of some of his followers could not justly be charged upon himself. Separation from the Church, it is rightly said, never entered into his thoughts, nor was it ever advocated by any of his genuine disciples.* The • The severe language which he employed, when lamenting the condition of the Lutheran Church at this period, was sufficient to give a semblance of firobability to this charge. " 1 can," he says, " consider it in no other ight than one of the heaviest of the judgments of God on our poor and un- thank ful Church, that the larger number of us pass their lives in sin and iniquity, having nothing about them that is christian or evangelical but the mere name, and an association in outward worship. In our own order, more- 106 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. II. " Collegia Pietatis" continued long after his death to be viewed with jealous}^ and served, it is believed, more than any thing connected with his reforms, to pro- voke the hostility of what was still called the orthodox party. These obnoxious establishments had, it seems, lost no slight portion of their original character. The charm and value of Spener's institution depended mainly upon his own fatherly spirit; when that was withdrawn, or was wanting in power to exercise its influence over the whole extent of the widening circle, the style and go- verning feeling of the plan gave way to the prevalent opinion, or caprice, of any theological teacher who might have a momentary influence sufiiciently strong to gain the attention of a few ardent and enthusiastic minds. Hence the institution, which was at first characterized by the most amiable traits of a domestic piety and com- munion, soon became known, at least in several instances, by a disposition to assume independence, to act in opposition to the rightful authority of the Church, to judge, to acquit, or condemn, by no other rule than that prescribed by the force of a present and fashionable opinion. It may be matter of controversy whether justice was done in the particular instances, but in many districts over, great is the number of those who, mstead of worthily bearing them^ selves, seek neither the honour of God, nor the salvation of the people, but only themselves." — Die Kirclie : Bedenken, p. 445. Again : " That things do not go on as they should in our evangelical Church, is, I think, sufficiently made out, and will not be denied, except by those who are wilfully bluid, or ignorant of what the will of the Lord is. When I contemplate the times of Jeremiah, as they are especially descril)ed in his prophecies, and compare them in every particular with our own, I find that one egg is not more like to another than is our Jerusalem to that of antient times, excejjt that we have no Jeremiah, who, enlightened and commissioned to that end, might foieshew the miseries that are coming upon us, if one may imagine that the Haltel of modern times is intended to act against Jerusalem as did the Bal.el of antiquity." — lb., p. 44G. Still further : " Since the papacy, as the papacy, in its outward constitution is Babel, so is it necessary that they to whom God has made this known, should separate themselves from its communion. But, in our Church, nothing more is needed tliaii that rigliteous souls, convinced thereof, should remain apart from any share in misuses ; should shun false principles, which recommend themselves to the rude multitude in the place of sound learn- ing ; all trust in the opus opciatum ; a wicked life, and such like, whilst they still remain in the communion of the congregation and its worship, and in the inward communion of doctrine and a holy life, separating them- selves from nothmg which is still true and good." — lb., p. 472. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 107 the Colleges of Piety were put down by decrees of the state ; this was especially the case in Sweden, where the pietists were assailed with a violence which it is hard to account for by reference to any of the genuine results of Spener's own designs. But Spener's opinions were combated with no less obstinacy than his institutions and plans for reform. His enemies seized upon every sentiment that he uttered, to convert it, if possible, into the substantial form of a doctrine that might immediately be branded as here- tical. A long and bitter controversy was founded on his observing, that the theology of an unregenerate man could be no true theology. The relation of good works to faith and justification furnished another ample field to be sown with the seeds of strife. But in this case it was not with words, or with ingenious arguments, that Spener allowed himself to be concerned, but with the solemn statements of scripture, sufficient in their broad simplicity to form the foundations of his theology. The controversy concerning the adiaphora, or things indifferent, was attended with a sacrifice of temper no less lamentable than that which followed disputes on the most important points of doctrine. The question had often been asked, whether any thing can properly be considered as indifferent? To this Spener and his party answered in the negative, and they rested their conclusion on the common fact, that nothing can be done without influencing the feelings either for good or evil. Dancing was an instance especially brought forward. As a simple exercise it was confessed to be unsinful, but the usual accompaniments of the dance were condemned as productive of pride and levity, and as inconsistent with the gravity of a Christian. So strong was the feeling on this subject, that many clergymen refused the sacrament to those of their conq-reo-ation who were known to engage in the dance.* Nor was * Spener says, " A Christian may do nothing which is not of faith, and of which he is not convinced in his heart that it is })leasing to God. A Chris- tian may do nothing of which it cannot be said that lie docs it to the glory of God, and in the name of Jesus Christ. The Christian, therefore, will never occupy himself in that which has not either tlie honour of God, according to the first table, for its immediate object, or the good of his 108 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. It. this feeling confined to the clergy only, several of the most powerful of the nobility directed the preachers in their countships to regard no one as a Christian who was known to indulge in either dancing, or card-playing. Among other supposed proofs of Spener's enthu- siasm or want of sober attention to the views of the Church, it was urged that he supported the notion of a millenium. Tha't he had embraced any opinion of this kind, neither his writings nor his discourse bore any sufficient indication. He seemed to have looked for nothing more than that which animates the hopes of most thoughtful and pious men. The enlargement of the Church, the conversion of the Jews, and tlie fall of the papacy, regarded by him as essential parts in the plan of Providence, have no connexion with the per- sonal reign of Christ upon earth, or with any other of the events which mainly characterize the millenarian doctrines. The history of pietism exhibits from this period a distressing mixture of ill-formed opinions, bewildering fancies, and remnants of systems recalling, with their broken outline, the recollection of great men and chris- tian designs, which it was once fondly hoped might conduct to permanent improvement and the establish- ment of general concord. Pietism, long venerable by the associations connected almost with the very sound of the word, became at last in the minds of sensible men, to whatever class belonging, the synonym of what is most fanatical and erroneous in the wide com- pass of religious thought. The enthusiast, glad to neighbour in spiritual or bodily things, or the supply of his own spiritual or temporal necessity. Beyond these things, I can see no end for which God has placed us in the world. A man is also bound so to employ the whole of his time, that he may be able to give an account thereof to God, and to avoid the wilful waste of any of his hours, thus preserving himself from all appearance of evil, and disposing his life to a strict endeavour to resist the love of the world, ' the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.' Supposing that this rule be avcII established, it must surely lie difficult to understand how any one who feels in his heart even a small degree of holy shame, should be able to say that he dances, as led by an assured belief, to the honour of God, and in the name of Jesus Christ." He then pi'oceeds to show, as mentioned in the text, that if exercise be neces- sary, it ought to be sought in a Avay least likely to lead to sin, which cannot usually be said of dancing. — Spener's Deutsche und Lateinischc Theolo- gische Bedeukcn. Ilennickc, Halle, p. 146. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 109 avail himself of such support, the proud separatist, thankful for such a retreat, readily consented to bear the name of a party which was once only known for its superior holiness, and anxious zeal in the cause of the gospel. What they gained by this subterfuge, the true pietists lost in respectability ; and the only actual mo- nument of Spener's virtues, and of the faithfulness of his immediate followers, is that which the spiritual reader still sees existing in those imperishable wri- tings which influenced to so large an extent, and for many successive generations, the minds of his coun- trymen, and through them the temper of the Church at large. CHAP. III. STATE OF RELIGION IN ENGLAND — MEASURES OF THE CHURCH RISE OF THE PURITANS GENERAL VIEW OF AFFAIRS. While such was the conflict of opinion in the very birth-place of the Reformation, in other countries the light and interests of the gospel increased, and were developed by events, the powerful course of which effectually overcame the resistance of human opponents. We shall first, therefore, turn our attention to some of the main circumstances distinguishing the state of religious feeling in the countries where the principles of the Reformation displayed a direct influence ; after which we shall note the state of opinion in that large portion of the Christian community still remaining in allegiance to the Church of Rome. Notwithstanding the prior claims of Germany to our respect and vene- ration, as the birth-place of those true servants of God who revived the knowledge of the gospel, England may claim at the hands of Christendom a not inferior homasfe as an appointed instrument of Divine Providence for the solid and permanent establishment of the reformed faith, and as destined to become the centre of the circle around which the light of evangelical knowledge was 110 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. to continue to be diflPiised. Germany must ever enjoy the enviable g:lory which attends the mother of illus- trious children, — the love and admiration which so peculiarly attach to individual names and }3ersonal virtues. England, on the other hand, has an inalienable right to the praise of being the first, we may say, perhaps, the only nation which embraced, and incor- porated with every principle of its Church and polity, the great interests of the reformed faith. At the death of Henry VIII. it was evident to most observant persons, that the new opinions had taken sufficient root to place them beyond the reach of human control. The accession of a sovereign adverse to their propagation, might, it is true, in the present state of affairs, have retarded their immediate growth. Hap- pily for the interests of truth, the reign of Edward VI. was allowed to intervene between the early trials at- tending a successful movement, and those which it was designed by the wisdom of God should test the power and sincerity of the men and institutions to which the truth had been committed as an inestimable treasure. If we may believe, that human affairs and dignities are intended to be ever subservient to the infinitely more important objects of religion, we can hardly fail to observe that the reign of Edward lost none of its value by the shortness of its duration. Had it been pro- longed for many years, time would have been given for the reformed Church and its pastors to lapse too soon into a feeling of security. The force and energy, so necessary to the effectual diffusion of the truth through a populous land, would probably have early yielded to the softness or indifference of repose. Had the period of Edward's reign not been given to ma- ture the knowledge, and develop the opinions, of the heads of the reformed Church, they might, indeed, have remained faithful to the profession they had made, but their faith itself would still have exhibited the im- perfections and inconsistencies which usually mark the season of religious transition. Nothing can better prove the disposition of the new monarch in favour of the Reformation, springing as it CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. Ill did from a renewed veneration for the Word of God and its authority, than an anecdote, related amongothers, of Edward's conduct at his coronation. Three swords having been brought him, as emblems of a threefold kingdom, he is said to have remarked, that one was yet wanting. To the inquiry what that was, he answered, " The Bible:' " That book," added he, " is the sword of the Spirit ; and to be preferred before these swords. That ought in all right to govern us, who use them for the people's safety by God's appointment. Without that sword we are nothing, we can do nothing, we have no power. From that we are what we are this day. From that we receive whatsoever it is that we at this present do assume. He that rules without it is not to be called God's minister, or a king. Under that we ought to live, to fight, to govern the people, and to perform all our affairs. From that alone we obtain all power, virtue, grace, salvation, and whatsoever we have of divine strength." General report, it appears, had long been influenced by the growing virtues of the youthful monarch. " I doubt not," says a contemporary writer, " but the Lord hath sent him for the singular comfort of England. Not that I temerariously define any thing to come con- cerning him, considering it only in the Lord's power. But I desire the same Lord to preserve his bringing up from the contagious drinks of those false physicians. And this is to be prayed for of all men." When ac- tually seated upon the throne, the venerable Latimer replied to the vain scoffs of the Romanists, that Ed- ward was but a child, and knew nothing of the doings of his protector, and ministers ; " Have we not a noble king ? Was there ever king so noble, so godly, brought up with such noble counsellors, so excellent and well learned schoolmasters ? I will tell you this, and I speak it even as I think, his Majesty hath more godly wit and understanding, more learning and knowledge at this age, than twenty of his progenitors, that I could name, had at anv time of their life." The most strenuous efforts were made to stop those improvements which it was evidently the wish both of 112 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. the king and his immediate advisers to promote. A prelate is said to have observed, when the bishop of St, David's preached on the necessity of a further reforma- tion, " that he laid a platform for confusion and dis- turbances in state ; and that the council, who had so much other business to do, should not have such inward disorders added to them ; that if his brother St. David's did, like a champion with his sword in his hand, make enter for the rest, the door of license opened, there would be more, by folly, thrust in with him than his grace would wish ; and that, if the bishop of St. David's and such other, had their heads covered with any new platforms, he would wish they were commanded, between this and the king's full age, to draw the platform dili- gently, to hew the stones, dig the sand, and chop the chalk, while the time was unseasonable for building, and when the king came to full age to present their labours to him, and in the meantime not to disturb the state of the realm." But an opposition of this kind served no other purpose than to stimulate the friends of reform to the exercise of greater caution as well as zeal. It now became every day more evident, that, if the great interests of the Reformation were indeed to be preserved, they must be committed, in no slight degree, to the keeping of the people ; but that if the nation at large was to be made responsible for so high a trust, it would require a vast increase of the means of knowledge and intelligence. In no respect, perhaps, was the good sense of the higher clergy, engaged in the present work, more conspicuously shown, than in their ready acquiescence in a truth which, since the era of the Reformation, has been so often exposed to imminent peril from the very successes of Protestantism itself. A reformed Church is bound by a thousand considerations to supply, without ceasing, the means of improvement to the people. It is indebted for the greater part of its most valuable privileges to a principle which recognizes, indisputably, the right of mankind, at large, to the study of the highest truths and the sublimest science. To preserve its rightful power from popular invasion, the solid arguments on CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 113 which it is believed to rest must be rendered familiar to men's minds from childhood, and with such a familiarity as is attendant, not on the mere readiness with which they may be stated or repeated, but on the manly conviction of an understanding nourished and enlightened by sound and religious education. That the vast proportion of even the lower classes of society are capable of receiving, and profiting by, such a disci- pline, seems proved to most minds by the very character and requirements of Christ's religion. It has been practically demonstrated, in later times, by numberless coinfortino; and encourao-ing; instances of success. But, considering the opinions which prevailed at the period of which we are speaking, it was a noble proof of fore- sight, an admirable example of Christian largeness of mind, to see the necessity of circulating throughout the country, and placing in the hands of every member of the Church, however humble his condition, a plain and undisguised exposition, not only of what ought to be received, but of the grounds on which it had been adopted, by the most enlightened classes of the com- munit}^ A translation of the Pharaphrase of Erasmus was among the earliest of the works employed in popular instruction. It is a carious fact, that both Queen Catherine and the Lady Mary had employed themselves in this translation. In Catherine's letter to the princess on the subject, she speaks of it as " her most fair and useful work ;" and, inquiring whether she should publish or conceal her name, she observes that, "in her opinion, she would seem to do a wrong to her own work if slie should refuse to commend it to posterity under the advantage of her own name, in which her accurate translation she had gone through so much pains for the public good, and would have undertaken more had her health permitted. She saw not," she said, " why she should reject the praise which all deservedly would give her ; yet she left all to her own prudence, as being ready to approve of that most which she thought best to be done." The version ushered into tlie world under such high VOL. III. I 114 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. auspices was mainly accomplislied by Nicolas Udal, a man of learning and piety, and who is said to have spent the better part of his life in executing tasks of this kind. He regarded Erasmus as one of the most efficient opponents of Romish error. Speaking of the paraphrase, he says, " he bringeth in, and briefly com- priseth, the pith of the minds and meanings of all the good doctors of the Church, that ever writ in justifica- tion of faith, in honouring God only, in repentance and purity of a Christian man's life, in detesting of imagery, and corrupt honouring of saints ; in opening and de- facing the tyranny, the blasphemy, the hypocrisy, the ambition and usurpation of the see of Rome ; in noting the abuses of all the abominable sects and rabbles of counterfeit religious and idle cloisters ; in betraying the juggling sleights and fine practices of popery, in choice of meats, in esteeming the difference of days, in mani- festing of vain ceremonies, in the colour and pretence of holiness crept into Christ's Church ; in reprehending of pilgrimages, with all the circumstances of idolatry and superstition'; in describing of a prince's office; in teaching obedience of the people towards their rulers and governors; in declaring of a pastor's duty; in show- ing the part of an evangelical preacher, and what and how his doctrine ought to be out of the scriptures." A still more important effi)rt was made in the pre- paration and publication of successive editions of the Homilies. An order was issued that these homilies should be read every Sunday in the churches throughout the realm. It was not to be supposed, that discourses of so evangelical a character would be received in every place without opposition ; to a large portion of the peo- ple, however, they came as a precious boon, and the re- formed Churches of the continent received them gladly as a noble addition to the means of common instruction. Bucer, then at Strasbourg, wrote an epistle addressed to the Church of England, for the express purpose of declaring how highly he valued them. " They had received," he said, " those pious sermons wherein the people were so godly and effectually exhorted to the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and faith was so well CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 115 explained, whereby we become Christians ; and justi- fication, whereby we are saved ; and the other chief heads of Christian religion so soundly handled." And therefore, as he added, " these foundations being rightly laid, there could nothing be wanting in our churches requisite towards the building hereupon sound doctrine and discipline." It seems to have been generally understood, that the words last quoted were written to urge the English re- formers to a more definite preaching of those doctrines, which were regarded as constituting the sum and sub- stance of evangelical belief. Thus, it is said, " he com- mended much the homily of Faith, the nature and force of which was so clearly and soberly discussed, and wherein it was so well distinguished from faith which was dead. He much approved of the manner of treating concerning the misery and death we are all lapsed into by the sin of our first parent, and how we are rescued from this perdition only by the grace of God and by the merit and resurrection of his Son, and how hereby we are justified in the sight of God, and adopted infco the number of his children and heirs; and then showing what ought to be the study and work of those that are justified and regenerate. So that, he said, by this full and dexterous restitution of Christ's doctrine, his king- dom was so fully explained to the people, that there could no relics of the old leaven remain long in any parts of our ceremonies or discipline. Then he took occasion to stir up the ecclesiastical rulers to go on with the reformation of the sacraments; that they might be administered according as Christ commended and delivered them to us; that all might partake of Christ's grace and saving communication, as conferring very much to the undoubted restoring of faith and god- liness," Cranmer's own catechism was another of the books carefully circulated at this time ; and, in addition to the efforts thus used, every care was taken to appoint preachers well qualified for their ofiice. But with all the exertions made, the clergy were so generally found unqualified for instructing the people, that, had it not I 2 116 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. been for a severe and constant inspection, tlie great mass of the new converts would have rapidly fallen into tlie error entertained by not a few, and would have igno- rantly supposed that the surest way of reforming reli- gion was by despoiling churches of their ornaments, and then pulling down the churches themselves. So con- vinced were the bishops of the dangers thence arising, that the more active among them seized every opportunity of occupying the pulpit themselves. The names of Latimer and Ridley will ever on this account be venerable to posterity. It was only, however, by severe measures that the ignorant on the one side, and the disaffected on the other, could be prevented from interrupting the work which was otherwise successfully proceeding. Preaching was forbidden, except authorized by a license. Even the bishops themselves were subjected to this law, and could neither license others to preach nor preach themselves, without conforming to the royal proclama- tion. While such was the care taken to promote the im- provement of the people, no less anxiety was manifested to correct the abuses existing in the great seats of learn- ing, by appointing men of distinguished piety and ability to the principal offices and professorships. Nor was the choice limited to the scholars of England. Peter Martyr and Bucer were both invited to come over and accept the chair of divinity, the one at Oxford, the other at Cambridge. No doubt could be entertained of their learning and experience; as little of their faithfulness and piety. It admits, however, of serious question, whether this introduction of foreign divines, as co-ope- rators with the reformers of the national Church, was not a dangerous experiment. Their views on many, not unimportant, points, could not fail to be different from those of men bred up according to the strict rule of ecclesiastical discipline, and still proposing to them- selves the support of the Church in all its rights, claims to authority, and agreement with the primitive faith. The disposition of the foreign reformers tended to more extensive and radical changes than any contemplated, at least at present, by the great men at the head of CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 117 affairs. They did not merit the charge of intemperance when directing their views to what English divines will properly regard as inimical to the interests of their Church. On the continent the Reformation was begun in hostility to a Church haughty and overbearing; resolved to remain as it was ; to resign no particle of the vast machinery of its tyranny, and to persevere as resolutely in the defence of its corruptions as in the assertion of its apostolic origin, and the respect which on that account it might justly claim. In England, on the contrary, the Reformation was not the offspring of a power rising against the Church, but a movement within the Church itself, — the stirring of its own spirit endea- vouring to recover its pristine freedom, and instinctively looking out for the nourishment and the means of strength which should best fulfil its purpose. This essential difference in the origin of their design, could not but make itself apparent in the subsequent plans of the admirable men who led the movement in England, and on the continent. Here, though there was much to reform, there was every thing to preserve. With what a pious, filial tenderness an English church- man, notwithstanding his attachment to the Reformation, looked, as such a character must ever look, at whatever belongs even to the outward form and proportions of his Church, strangers, however pious, could scarcely be expected to comprehend. But such was the lamentable state of things at this period, that it was necessary to run risks of a far worse kind than tliose encountered by the admission of such men as Bucer and Peter Martyr to the councils of English bishops. Whatever might be their desire to extend some articles of the Reformation beyond the boundary line so deeply traced by the very idea of a national Church, their ability was eminently calculated to aid the general effort to protect the prin- ciples of the Reformation from its more immediate assailants. And it was to this, there can be little doubt, they were mainly indebted for the high consideration which they enjoyed in the universities. Their inter- ference in any matters more minutely afiecting the I 3 118 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. order, discipline, or opinions of the Church, ought, per- liaps, to be regarded rather as an accident of the posi- tion in wliich the most weighty considerations had placed tlieni, than as a designed and foreseen conse- quence. It was with fear and trembling that thoughtful men of all classes contemplated the state of the kingdom. The unsettled condition of the Church communicated its worst symptoms to the nation. Excitement prevailed to an alarming degree in the lower ranks. Something new and advantageous was constantly expected, and there was reason to apprehend, that the blessings attend- ing a reformation of religion would not be found by the multitude to be what they had coveted. The ex- travagance of the Anabaptists and other enthusiasts, contributed largely to the disorder which prevailed ; nor was there any species or cause of trouble to which the malice of the Romanist party did not add tenfold force. " The popish clergy," it is said, " outwardly conform themselves under the king's proceedings, and to the English communion book and the king's injunctions, but inwardly preserve their good-will to their supersti- tions." Again, it is stated, that one of the bishops remarked, " Laws must be obeyed, and civil ordinances I will follow ; but my heart in religion is free to think as I will." It was the acknowledged policy of the government to make no violent attempt at securing a more complete and honest conformity. But there were those who did not assent to the maxims of the state. " Out with them !" Latimer is reported to have exclaimed to the king ; " I require it in God's behalf. Make them quon- dams, all the pack of them !" He is further said to have told the king, " that he might well supply the places of the suspected dignitaries by his own chaplains, who were well-learned men, and of good knowledge ; and that, if there were not a sufficient number of these, there were still many laymen well acquainted with the scriptures, of great piety, and better learned than many of the clergy Tliese/' he added, " he would have CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 119 placed in the Church." " Let them," he concluded, " be called to it orderly; let them have institution, and give them the name of the clergyman." The whole of the period of which we are speaking was as perilous and stormy as almost any in English history. Insurrections existed in various parts of the kingdom ; the most exalted of the king's counsellors were suspected of treason, and the people at large were driven well nigh mad by distress and wretchedness. Religion was dishonoured by violences of the most appalling kind. Fanaticism assumed a hundred different forms, in order the more effectually to oppose the vital interests of piety. The melancholy story of the Maid of Kent, the clamours and sufferings of the Anabaptists, the rancour with which many of the leaders of the two great parties handled the most solemn themes on which the mind can be employed, and the fearful readiness with which, on all sides, recourse was had to the sword and the faggot, these formed but a portion of that long list of evils which threw so dark a shadow upon the reign of the young and saint-like Edward. It is not difficult to account for the existence of these disorders. The Reformation had done but little as yet towards the good of the people, as the people themselves are capable of understanding wdiat may improve their condition. Efforts were being made to supply them with means of information, to secure for them the bless- ings attendant upon a pure worship, to eniich them by the gift of the entire and uncorrupted Bible. But how little likely was it that the value of these things should be understood by those who had never been trained to spiritual thought, and whose religious affections were naturally engaged on the side of those older institutions, — of those forms and objects long endeared to them, and hallowed by every recollection that had any thing to do with the worship of the imagination or of the heart ! It cannot be denied, that there must have been a vast num- ber among those who lived in these times, to whom the sudden changes, and frightful spoliations daily taking- place, could be fraught only with horror. We know, I 4 120 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. when trying the subject by the clear judgment of spiritual experience, how little it was they lost in com- parison with what was so soon to be offered as a compen- sation for the sacrifice. But they did not know this. Ages of careful teaching have been employed in the effort to bring men to a due sense of the blessings they enjoy in the free use of the Bible, and of a worship pure, scriptural and intelligible. But while, notwithstanding tlie pains and labour thus employed, the multitude still remains unimpressed with a due sense of these invalu- able privileges, how little surprise ought to be felt when, prior to the employment of means proper to a reformed Church,* the ruin of antient institutions was looked upon as nothing less than the overthrow of what was most dear to God and valuable to his people. A cause of discontent, ample enough for the purposes of the enemies of protestantism, existed clearly and palpably in the circumstances above stated. The posi- tion occupied by the reformed bisliops was far from favourable. They were taught to consider themselves, in many respects, as almost entirely dependent upon the government. Cranmer had even tendered his see to the new sovereign, and professed to hold it only by his bounty and good will. It is impossible, moreover, that men of a certain order should see others of like rank and dignity suffering, and not feel moved by the convic- tion of their own danger or insecurity. Wliatever necessity might exist for the deposition of the incom- '* The difficulty of providing a sufficient supj^ly of sound and useful in- structiouj by its most proper and legitimate channels, may be inferred from the following passage in Ednard's Injunctions, puldishcd in 1547 : " That the persons above rehearsed shall make, or cause to be made, in their churches, and every other cure they have, one sermon every quarter of the year at the least, wlierein they shall purely and sincerely declare the 'VV^ord of God ; and in the same exhort their hearers to the works of faith, mercy and charity, specially i)rescribed and commanded in scripture ; and that works devised by men's fantasies, besides scripture, as wandering to pilgrimages, offering of money, candles or ta])ers, or relics, or images, or kissing and licking of the same, praying upon beads, or such like superstition, have not only no promise of reward in scripture for doing of them, but, contrariwise, great threats and maledictions of God ; for that they be things tending to idolatry and superstition, which, of all otiier offences, God Almiglity doth most detest and ablior, for that the same diminish most his honour and glory." — Dr. Cardwcll's Documentary Annals, vol. i., p. 6. CENT, XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 121 pliant bishops, consequences followed therefrom highly injurious to the independence of the Church, and some of the virtues of the episcopal character. The unhappy difference between Hooper and the other prelates, on the subject of the episcopal habit, contributed still further to increase these evils. Hooper had returned from Switzerland deeply impressed with the admiration which he had conceived for the simple forms and discipline of its churches. Nominated to the see of Gloucester, he refused to be clothed in the usual habit of his order. Interest was employed by bis powerful friends to enable him to accept the dignity, and indulge at the same time the scruples of his conscience It was a struggle such as men of foresight must have long expected would arise ; the feelings in which it com- menced forming a prominent feature of the most active era of the reformed and protestant Churches. They operated with all possible force in the middle and lower ranks of the clergy ; and it is a circumstance which may fairly excite surprise, that instances like that of Hooper, in the times of which we are speaking, were not more numerous among the higher clergy. With Hooper's personal feelings we have little con- cern, but his objections gave rise to a discission of no slight importance to the Church as it then existed. It led to the examination of points which it was absolutely ne- cessary should, sooner or later, be brought under review. There were, doubtless, many who looked with extreme anxiety to see how far the rulers of the English Church would go in retrenching the outward grandeur and adornments of the sanctuary. The sentiments of those who exercised most influence on church affairs could hardly, as yet, have been on matters of this kind suffi- ciently known. It was a curious question, also, whether the reform of doctrine, and the laying aside of those fond inventions which had characterized the darker ages of the Church, must necessarily be attended with the aboli- tion of every species of form or ceremony, and the ordi- nary means of securing the common attention of man- kind to tlie peculiar claims and distinctions of religious order. 122 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. We know that this inquiry was soon to be answered by powerful parties in England, with tlie same sweeping- decision by which it had been met by many of the re- formers on the continent. But that no absolute connexion was felt to exist between the reform of doctrine and the rejection of whatever outward appliances might tend to the decent splendour or pathos of public worship, may be fairly inferred, it would seem, from the practice of the Lutheran Church, and still more plainly from the known sentiments of such men as Bucer and Peter Martyr. In the answer which the latter sent to Hooper's inquiry, he states, indeed, that he was thankful for every endeavour to retrieve the antient purity and unaffected plainness of religion ; that he found it no small difficulty to disengage himself from the customs of Strasbourg, where the distinctions of habit, with respect to holy ministrations, were laid aside ; and that in religious rites he was for keeping as close as possible to the precedents of holy scripture, and the most uncorrupted ages of the Church. " But," he added, " he could not go so far, in the other extreme, as to believe the substance of religion to be affected by clotlies. Hethought things of this nature altogether indifferent, and left at liberty by the \Yord of God. Had he been of Hooper s mind, that the cus- tomary habits for priests and bishops had been clearly unlawful, he would never have joined himself to the English communion. He thought conformity in these matters at present might be a serviceable expedient." He adds, " That the contesting circumstantials ought to be declined till the Reformation was better settled; that exerting our zeal upon indefensible points and things of small moment might lose the good opinion of the people, make them question the judgment of the reformed preachers, and give no credit to what they delivered in matters of the last importance." Moreover he com- mends Hooper for his great pains in preaching ; that by his talent and application this way he had gained a con- siderable reputation, and put himself in a condition of doing a great deal of service. And here he precautions him not to overshoot in his zeal, and launch out into invectives, for that this would be the way to disappoint liis CENT. XVI-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 123 pious intention. Besides, by charging these indifferent things as altogether unlawful," we shall," says he, "• draw an imputation upon unexceptionable communions, and condemn the practice of the most celebrated antiquity."* The main point of Hooper's objection, that the dis- tinctions of habit were inventions of antichrist, and that we ought not only to renounce the pope's jurisdic- tion, but reject the novelties and customs which it had introduced, was met by the argument, " that to maintain the unlawfulness of all rites and customs practised in the Church of Borne looks like an indefensible asser- tion ; that to govern by such narrow maxims would draw a very inconvenient restraint upon the Church of God."' It is further added, " Our ancestors moved much more freely than this comes to. They made no difficulty of turning heathen temples into Christian churches. They translated the revenues dedicated to the support of ido- latry to pious uses, and the maintenance of the clergy." Besides, he thought ^oojo^r mistaken in his supposition. He could not grant that these vestments of ojficiating were brought into the Church by the pope. " For," says he, " don't we read in the ecclesiastical history that >S'^. John the Apostle wore a plate of gold, or mitre ? And does not Pontius, in the life of St. Cyprian, ac- quaint us that this saint at his martyrdom gave part of his episcopal robes to his deacons, and was executed in a linen habit ? Thus St. Chrysostom makes mention of the white vestments in which the clergy performed their ministration ; and here he puts Hooper in mind that persons at their baptism put on a white habit." But, supposing that it be allowed that these distinctions of habit had their origin with Rome, it is remarked by Martyr, that " he did not think the contagion of popery so malignant as to carry infection to every thing it touched, and make it prove mortal to a good man that made use of it". Hooper himself owned that every thing was not to be condemned on the score of its being a human constitution : for instance, to communicate, in the forenoon, fasting, stands upon no higher ground * Collier, I't. ii.; B. iv.^ sec. 293. Stivpc, Mem. of Cranmcr, vol. i., B. ii.^ c. 17. 124 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CTIAP. III. than ecclesiastical, tliat is,, lniman antliority ; and yet lie conceived Hooper would not censui'e this custom. His opinion was, therefore, " The antient usage ought to be continued for a time. That the pressing unseasonable alterations might obstruct advantages of a more signifi- cant kind. That to prevent any weak brothers being misled by the continuance of the customary habits, the people ought to be reminded of the indifference of these things, that they don't reach into the substance of re- ligion, nor make part of the essentials in divine worship." Again, it had been objected, " that the particularity and richness of this religious equipage would be apt to draw the eyes of the congregation, to break their atten- tion, and turn to an amusement; whereas, if the habit was plain and unornamented, nothing of this would happen." The answer to this was, " that things commonly seen are seldom gazed at to any disorder ; and if the people shoidd be aHected to any degree more than ordinary, it is to be hoped the solemnity of the habit, the holy pomp, might prove serviceable to them, that it might awaken their respect, and re-collect their thoughts for the busi- ness that they were about ; and this seems to be one end of the institution of the sacraments, that by sensible signs the mind might be wrought up to proper meditations." When Hooper insisted, that " whatsoever is not of faith is sin,'' Martyr replied, that " to the clean, all things are clean^' and " that every creature of God is good.'' And, lastly, when Hooper argued, that whatever pertains to religion ought to be established by the express warrant of scripture, Martyr again urged, that if the substance was secured, and the general rules observed, the gover- nors of the Church might, in lesser matters, use a dis- cretionary latitude. Bucer spoke in the same tone, and pressed similar arguments on the attention of Hooper. While freely owning that he earnestly desired to see the Church restored as near as possible to primitive simplicity, he could not agree with Hooper in the severe view which he took of things that miglit fairly be left to the deter- mination of the heads of the establishment. He spoke CENT. XVI. -XVII ] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 125 with no sligljt dcg-ree of severity respecting the abuses vvliich existed in England at this time. " The laity," he said, " had, with sacrilegious profanity, invaded the property of the Church ; rich men. having seized the best pi'eferments, had contented themselves with giving two or three benefices to their stewards and huntsmen, while they reserved a part of the income for themselves ; the unfortunate people having thereby vicars set over them, not because of their good qualifications, but because they had been ready to engage with the patron on the lowest terms. The universities," he continues, " which were to furnish the Cliurch with proper guides, had no small number of students, either erroneous in their belief, or licentious in their practice ; and as to the service of the Church, it was performed in such a cold, lame and unintelligible manner, that the people were little better edified than if the ofiice were said in the Phoenician or Indian language ; neither baptism nor marriage was celebrated with that gravity and solem- nity the business required ; and the people could hardly distinguish between the Lord's Supper and the Mass, ex- cepting that the Liturgy was in English." He adds, "Pastoral duties are lamentably neglected; there are no catechetical instructions, no private admonitions, no pub- lic censures of disorder. The disciplineof the Church is so little put in use, that the spiritual authority is in a manner disregarded, and few persons will so much as own that Christ gave his ministers the power of binding and loosing^ while people are promiscuously admitted to the privileges of communion without any proof of being- qualified either in faith or manners. Thus they appear empty before the Lord, and take little care of the poor at their religious assemblies ; the churches are made places for commerce and diversion; and the audience are so far from observing that plainness and sobriety in their cloaths recommended by the Apostles, that the highest solemnities of religion cannot make them baulk their vanity, nor come to the Lord's temple without gold and jewels, without expense and gaudiness in dressing. Alas!" he continues, " the meaning of the Church, the communion of Saints, and the kingdom of 126 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP, III. Christ is little understood ; the want of discipline is the occasion of this unhappy ignorance ; — thus the fear of God, and the notion of religion makes a very faint im- pression ; and hence it is, that lying, cheating, theft, perjury and whoredom are so much the complaint of the times." It was evident to the strong good sense of Bucer, that so long as this state of things continued, it was vain, indeed, to think of restoring the people by out- ward reforms to a sense of Christian simplicity or pri- mitive purity. Whatever success might have attended the wishes of such men as Hooper, it would have been little better than that of the sepulchre white-washers in earlier times. Good and wise men, therefore, con- templating the real state of religion in England at this period, earnestly desired to see the whole force which pious minds could command constantly and judiciously employed against essential corruptions. It is one of the most deplorable proofs of the deceitfulness of the human breast, that it is ever inclined to pass from the consi- deration of that which is internal and spiritual, to things of only accidental, and perhaps never of any real, importance. The common notion is, that such errors belong exclusively to those who overlay the sacred body of Christian faith and truth with number-, less garments of their own manufacture. But surely there cannot be much more spiritual understanding in those who imagine that they purify a church by divesting it of ornaments, or denying it the use of forms which have nothing whatever to do with its faith, than in those who believe they are adding to its power by mul- tiplying its ceremonies ! An undue importance is given in both cases to that which will ever be subject to the fluctuations of human feeling. It is only in a few extra- ordinary instances that forms are made the vehicle of doctrine. Wherever this happens, there can be no doubt they ought to be watched with the utmost jea- lousy. But in the case of the reformed Church there was no pretence on the one side or the other. The notion of teaching any positive truth or dogma by symbols had been fairly discarded ; and it was with CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 127 equal clearness made known, that it did not rest its claims to purity of faith on the jDuritanism of unfur- nished churches or unsurpliced ministers. Bucer, having stated that he could not believe, tliat the abuses formerly existing in respect to ecclesiastical vestments rendered their use altoo-ether unlawful calls upon Hooper to show what texts of scripture there are to prove " that the devil or evil men have such a power over God's creatures, that they can make them good for nothing or unlawful." "It is certain," he adds, " that our Saviour has only prescribed the substance in matters of order and the administration of the sacra- ments, and that the circumstances are left to the regula- tions of those who preside." The opinions of Bucer and Martyr thus plainly stated are of great value, as showing how men best acquainted with the history of the Church will reason on a subject so liable to excite the most violent contentions. Nei- ther of them could be suspected of any prejudice in favour of forms. Their private feelings were con- fessedly on the side of Hooper's general opinion re- specting a plain and simple worsliip. But they under- stood how fearful an opening would be made for evils innumerable, if right were given to every individual, while it was denied to the Church at large, to determine what shall or what shall not be done for the support of religious ordinances. For the time, however, argu- ments were urged in vain to overcome the objections of Hooper. His doubts, on the contrary, seemed daily to gather strength; and, not content with nurturing them in his own mind, he began to express them freely both in the pulpit and in society. This was not to be en- dured, when even the bishops themselves dared venture on nothing without the royal license, and every friend of the Church had daily to deplore real abuses left uncorrected, because its rulers were deprived of the authority legitimately belonging to their office. Hooper, therefore, was first, by an order of council, commanded to consider himself a prisoner in his own house. But there was not enough of terror in this order to insure his obedience. He met it by pub- 128 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP, III. lisliing; a confession of his faith, and was immediately ordered into confinement at Lambeth. His contumacy remaining- still uncorrected, he was sent to the Fleet, and a large party in the country contemplated his con- duct as a noble instance of devotion to the rights and liberties of Christians. But in the midst of the po- pularity thus acquired, he saw reason to change his opinion, or, at least, in some degree, to sacrifice it to the necessity of the times. In this he was met by the indulgent feeling of the heads of the Church. While he consented to the forms of consecration, and to wear the episcopal vestments on all solemn and public occa- sions, he was permitted to dispense with their use at other periods. It would be difficult to say which party gained the victory in this case, and the more so since it is evident, that the concession made to Hooper on the part of the Church itself was certainly of a kind which would not have been made wdthout necessity.* * Hooper held Worcester in commendam with Gloucester, and, in his visitation of both his dioceses, proposed certam articles to be subscril)ed l)y the \\holc of the clergy. These articles, not generally received, were fol- lowed liy the following inteiTOgatories : — I. What is the cause of his non-residency, and whether his curate l)e sufficient ? II. Whether the communion be used in such place, and after such sort, as most varieth from, and is most distant from, the Popish mass ? III. Whether they preach any doctrine to avouch purgatory, pardons, auricular confession, praying to saints, the bishop of Rome, holy water, holy bread, palms, ashes, beads ? IV. Whether they allure the people to the love of any other person or persons within this realm, or without, to this intent, that the people should favour them V V. Item, Whether they say one part of their service softly, and the other aloud, as tliey were wont to say the Pater-noster, with a small voice, and the psalms with a loud voice ? VI. Item, Whether they sit at one part of the service, and kneel at another, and stand at another, as they were wont ? VII. Item, Whether they use any month's mmds and anniversaries? VIII. Item, Whether they use any corporas cloth in the communion? IX. Item, Whether they ring or knoll the bells m the time of the com- munion, or between matins and the communion ? X. Item, Whether they suffer the people to sit at the epistle, and stand at the gospel ? XI. Item, Whether, at the visitation of the sick, they bear the sacrament with covering their heads with the surplice, or at their breast, or with any light ; or, when they come into the house, they suffer the people to kneel and honour it ? CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 129 It now seemed every day to become more expedient to employ force against the prelates, who still opposed the Reformation. Gardiner, after an imprisonment of two years, and several examinations, was deprived of his bishopric-; Bonner received a similar treatment. Other bishops were likewise deposed on the sentence of the court; and a responsibility was incurred by its ecclesiastical advisers more weighty and perilous than in that season of excitement could be made to appear. In the brief intervals of quiet which proceedings like these allowed, care was taken to settle the rule of faith, and some still questionable points of Church order. It is not consistent with our plan to give minute details of the affairs of this period; our object will be sufficiently answered by a statement of such of the circumstances as are best calculated to show the spirit and feeling of the age. By what has been already related, we see clearly, that the power of the state had nearly set aside some of the most necessary principles of Church polity. The reformers themselves could not be ignorant of this ; it must have been understood that bishops who held their authority with a trembling hand, and who could never tell what a day might bring forth, were in no good position for the exercise of those solemn functions upon which the discipline of the Church so materially depends. It is evident, in the next place, that many of the determinations arrived at respecting forms and cere- XII. Item^ Whether any of them speak irreverently of God the Father, the Son, or tlie Holy Ghost, or mock and scorn at the Word, laws and pro- mUes of God ? XIII. Item, How many priests within the deanery have suljscribed to the articles that I put forth unto them ? Then follow these questions relating to the laity : XIV. Whether the midwives^ at the labour, or Inith of any child, do use any prayers, or invocations to any saints (saving to God only in Christ), for the deliverance of the woman ; and whether they do use any salt, herbs, water, wax, cloths, gyndils, relics ? XV. Item, Whether any midwife refuse to come to any woman labouring of child, for religion sake, or because she is a wife to a minister of the church that hath married, or do marry, both by God's laws and the king's ? XVI. Item, How many priests within this deanery have subscribed to my ai'ticlcs ? — Strypc's Memorial, vol. ii., part ii., p. 3. VOL. III. K 130 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. monies, were the fruit of a compromise in which both parties were glad to find shelter in the asserted right of the Church to legislate on the subject. In this, the most important aid was given to those who could not help asking, whether conviction ought not to be as earnestly sought, and considered as necessary, in one set of objects as in another, if both pertain to the worship of God ? whether, that is, any thing can be safely adopted on which faith looks with hesitation ? By the recog- nition of Church authority, such a species of evidence was brought to bear upon the question as its nature required. The proof of a doctrine, the setting forth of a creed, or the arrangement of articles of faith, can be trusted to no particular Church whatever. If the ap- peal to its authority be regarded as final, it must show that it has itself appealed to primitive sources, and must be ready at all times to demonstrate clearly and honestly that it holds and teaches the truth, which, simply because it is truth, has an original and un- changeable right to acceptance. But the introduc- tion of ceremonies, or the continuance of them, can only be justified by a general sense of propriety ; by the proof that, while they are not contrary to holiness, they are becoming, significant and impressive. To look for arguments or authorities on these points in the Christian scriptures is a vain labour; they neither require, nor can be established by, the same rule as catholic creeds and doctrines. The original of the Church is in Christ; the original of discipline, as exhibited in its several forms and defences, is in the Church. Whatever, therefore, may be the private notions of the Christian, as to the fitness of this or that custom in the Church of which he is a member, it is not to scrip- ture that his appeal is to be made ; nor can he rest in his own opinion, unless, indeed, he be wanting in the first qualities of a Christian mind, — humility and bro- therly love. Though it may not, therefore, be in his power to satisfy his feelings as to the absolute fitness or value, of the doubtful rite, he may convince himself, of this, that the Church has a privilege, not usurped, but fairly conceded to it, of instituting such rules and practices as seem generally expedient. And this is the CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 131 sort of conviction required by the case.. It is not neces- sary that he should be able to prove the legitimacy of the practice from divine injunctions, but the divine ori- gin of the power which enjoins its observance. Assured of the latter, he safely sacrifices his private notions to the general rule, and finds his thoughts set free to dwell, with undivided energy, on the infinitely more necessary matters of faith and righteousness. The arrangement of the articles of religion was by far the most important undertaking in which the leaders of the English Reformation had found themselves engaged; it was also that in which they were led to exercise higher functions than those called into action at any earlier period. The independence of any particular Church, in respect to the settlement of doctrine, requires supports of a very diflTerent character to those on which it so easily establishes its right to arrange points of order and discipline. Isolation and independence are readily mistaken for each other ; but a Church commits a fearful error when it asserts its independence to the injury of that sentiment of union in which the power of the Church Catholic consists. Nothing short of its supposing itself the sole depository of the truth, and being resisted on all sides in the faithful ministration of heavenly doc- trine, could justify it in assuming an independence which did not admit of being much modified by the manifold influences of general communion. There can be no doubt, that our reformers were ex- posed to the danger of committing this grave ofience against catholic union, at more than one stage of their proceedings ; but at no period was this more evident than in that when they set about the final settlement of the national faith. Their power and influence were at the height ; minor controversies were well nigh settled, so far at least as was requisite to the free exercise of authority on more important matters ; they were re- garded with supreme respect by those whose favour it was most necessary to conciliate ; and might derive, even from the circumstances which agitated the nation at the time, additional means for executing their plans in security. K 2 132 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. But, whatever the temptations to which they were exposed, the English reformers can never be justly- accused of neglecting the teaching or opposing the spirit of the universal Church. The articles were framed with a caution which had not its origin in a desire to usurp authority or exhibit independence, but in a holy anxiety to preserve the unity of the faith in the bond of peace, to interpret divine truth with as entire a freedom from private influences as possible, and to clear away all obstacles to its reception which had been created by such causes, on the part either of single churches or of rulers become too powerful. The success which attended these eflbrts has not been estimated at the same price by succeeding generations. While one party, in the Church itself, has contended that the articles were framed with an exclusive view to some favourite doctrines, another asserts that they plainly support the contrary side. One party, again, has seemed to discover that the grand merit of the articles consists in their forming, as it were, a wall not onl}^ of defence but of separation, and that they were framed, therefore, in the spirit of antagonism rather than with the evangelical sentiment which disposes to peace, and looks for its establishment in a full and plain exhibition of general truth in its most unencumbered forms. It can with no fairness be denied, that there has always existed a party in the Church disposed to contend for the latter view of the articles, and which, amid the clamours of controversy, has been taught to listen to the teaching of their Church as one M'ith that of the Church at large, in so far as it is not suff'ering under human usurpation, or appears broken into sects and fragments. It is difficult to conceive, how any other view than this, should ever have been taken by those who feel hiterested in the honour and welfare of their church. The more perfectly a creed or a set of articles exhibits the doctrines of scripture, the more, it is universally allowed, arc those who receive them bound to venerate their statements; but it certainly is not a necessary truth, that the more exclusively they express the opi- nions of a party, the more closely they agree with CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 133 scripture ; or that they who compose formularies of confession for a church ought to be more jealous of the worth of that which tends to its isolation, than of tliat which multiplies its points of union with other churches, or proves its oneness with the Church universal. The sentiment of catholicity, most plainly and power- fully exhibited in the compilation of the liturgy,* ap- pears with scarcely less distinctness in the articles. As originally proposed and published, they consisted of forty- two, and afforded an admirable illustration of the care with which the subject had been considered by those to whom they are mainly ascribed. But it was not yet that tlie religion of the country was to be settled on a steady and firm foundation. The death of Edward exposed the Reformation in all its parts to imminent peril, and mere human hope would have utterly perished in the frightful struggle which the interests of the Church had suddenly to undergo. It cannot be denied that the conduct which had been pursued towards the Princess Mary was neither wise nor just. The unfortunate movements made imme- diately on the death of Edward were as little calculated to aid the cause of the Reformation.']' But whatever error had been committed, it was sufficiently atoned for by the sufferings of those to whose charge it might, * The first edition was ratified by parliament in 1548, and the revised or second book in 1.552. t In all this army of martyrs, Mr. John llogers, burnt in Smithfield, February 4th, 1555, led the van ; and five martyrs, burnt at Canterliury, Novem1)er 10th, 1558 (namely, John Comford, Christopher Brown, John Herst, John Siioth and Katherinc Knight), brought up the rere, according to their own prayer (not to say prophecy), at tlie stake, that they might be the last, as by God's mercy so it proved. All these were executed in the four last years of Queen Mary's reign, none suffering in tlie first year thereof; in vrhich time the butchers under her did only prepare their .shambles for slaughter, whet their knives, and make ready tlieir instru- ments of cruelty. Comparisons, I know, are odious, and the more when made between persons of eminence. However, to such as peruse the wliole story, these proportions will appear true. Of all the Marian martyrs, Mr. Pliilpot was the best born gentleman ; Bishop Ridley, the profoundest scholar ; Mr. Bradford, the holiest and devoutest man ; Archbishop Cranmer, of the mildest and meekest temper ; Bishop Hooper, of the sternest and austcrest nature ; Dr. Taylor had the merriest and pleasantest wit ; Mr. La- timer had the plainest and simplest heart, ike. Oh, the variety of these several instruments ! Oh, tlieir joint harmony in a consort to God's glory ! — Fuller, xvi. cent., p. 21. K 3 184 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. eitl.er directly or indirectly, be laid. Nobler exhibitions of tl e power of devotion, hner examples of sincerity, of pati( nee, of Christian temper, have never been given than those which were the fruit of the Marian persecu- tions. They are too well known to require that we should devote to them any portion of our limited space. It is enough to observe, that the value of the truths lately brought to light was counted higher than that of fortine, liberty or life ; that none of the circumstances of station, and few even of the varieties of personal dis- position, weighed with those who were called upon to bear witness to the worth of evangelical religion ; and, which is the most important of all, that many of the evils were corrected by this season of fierce trial, which had otherwise, it is probable, reduced the Church of England to a lower degree of slavery than that from which it was happily to be delivered. The opinions which prevailed on these proceedings of the queen and her counsellors, were not the same, even in the party for whose sake they were instituted. They had been commenced in the spirit of wrath and resentment. The notion, common for so many ages, that heresy ought to be rooted out at any expense and by any means, had its usual degree of influence, but it was not the only cause of these persecutions, as it has been of many others. While Mary herself had suffered no slight injury at the hands of the reformers, her ecclesiastical advisers had endured still more ; and their personal feelings, tlierefore, were likely to be awakened to at least an equal degree with their professional con- victions. It was this which gave so fierce and bloody a character to the persecution ; and it is in the well- known alternations continually taking place in the mere tempers of men, that we may find a reason, perhaps, for the doubts occasionally expressed by the persecutors themselves as to the wisdom or propriety of their cruelties.* * The preface to Bonr.er's Articles of Visitation spealcs a language which the niilde^it spirit might use. " Articles to be inquired of in the general visitation of Echnund bishop of London, exercised l)y him in the year of our lord God 1514, in the city and diocese of London, and set forth liy the same, fur hib own dischaigc towards CJud and the worlds to the honour of tJod, CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 135 We may surmise that something of this kind occurred, from the circumstance, that King Philip's own chaplain preached before his majesty against the punishment of death for heresy ; and that a short time after Bonner and others received a sharp rebuke for what was con- sidered a too great increase of moderation.* But, whatever the feelings entertained on the subject by the chief actors in these fearful proceedings, the opinions of the people at large were daily becoming more favourable towards the sufferers and their cause. Hitherto the popularity of the Reformation seems to have been confined to two comparatively small parties ; the one consisting of those who were ready to rejoice at any change, or who would have been found to coin- cide with any movement, so that it did but tend to the overthrow of existing institutions, and the consequent opportunity of reaping in the rich harvest-fields of ruin ; the other composed of those who sincerely gloried in the Reformation for the supports which it promised to afibrd to faith and godliness. This, it need scarcely be said, was far inferior in numbers to that before named. But the spectacle of suff'ering holiness, so frequently now presented to popular observation, produced a speedy change in numerous minds. Many that had confounded, by a blind and prejudiced judgment, the cause of the and his Catholic Church, and to the commodity and profit of all those that either are good (which he would were all), or delight in goodness (which he wisheth to be many), without any particular grudge or displeasure to any one, good or bad, within this realm : which articles he desireth all men of their charity, especially those that are of his diocese, to take with as good intent and mind, as the said bishop wisheth and desireth, which is to the best : and the said bishop withal desireth all people to understand, that whatsoever opinion, good or bad, hath been received of him, or whatsoever usage or custom hath been heretofoi'e, his only intent and purpose is to do his duty charitably, and with that love, favour and respect, both towards God, and every Christian person, which any bishop should show to his flock in any wise." — Documentary Annals, vol. i., p. 124. * Collier Eccles. Hist., pt. ii., b. v., p. 382 : " Note, that Tonstall, in Queen Mary's time, was no great liloodj persecutor. For Mr. Russel, a preacher, was before him, and Dr. Himuer, his chancellor, would have had him examined more particularly. The bishop stayed him, saying, ' Hi- therto we have had a good report among our neighbours, I pra}' jou bring not this man's blood upon my head.' Fox in Fuller, who says, ' Tlie bishopric of Durham had halcyon days of ease and quiet, under tJod, and good Cuthbcrt Tonstall, the bishop thereof.' " — Fiilkr, xvi. cent., p. 20. K 4 13C HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. real reformers with that of the men with whom they were accidentally associated, now began to discover their error. The meek and patient piety which so readily submitted to every species of infliction for the gospel's sake, could not, it was felt, be engaged in a cause that wise men might despise without inquiry. Others were affected by the mere appeal to their sympathies, and concluded that their souls must needs be safe if joined in communion witli such patterns of faith and resignation. Proved as the truth was being in this season of affliction, the converts to its cause may be considered as having show^n a force and virtue in their profession far superior to that of many who had joined the ranks of the re- formers at an earlier period. Persecution wrought, therefore, the two-fold good, of trying the older pro- fessors of the purified faith by all the applications of a severe discipline, and forming, according to the best examples, those who now first believed it their duty to reject the antient superstitions. But Mary's reign was drawing to a close ; and, while the ashes of some of tlie martyrs were almost still warm, the Church found itself suddenly set free from the terrors which it had cost many of its best children so much to en- counter. Elizabeth's accession revived the hopes which had been conceived by the most sanguine spirits at the commencement of the Reformation. The numerous exiles thathad sought refuge among the protcstant communities on the continent heard, with inexpressible joy, that they were at liberty to return to their country, and to the nursing bosom of their Church. It must create some wonder that, in the midst of this excitement, the govern- ment could proceed with that caution which so eminently characterized its measures at this period. It was not till the commencement of the new j^^ear that the reformers began to taste the fruits of this season of hope. On the first sabbath, which was also new year's day, every church again resounded with the voice of prayer and thanksgiving, uttered in intelligible and familiar words. The Holy Scriptures were again opened, and read to crowds of grateful hearers ; and preachers, who had only CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 137 in secret ventured to speak, here and there, to a few scattered followers, again proclaimed aloud the un- abridged message of salvation. The first legal announcement of the intentions of the new sovereign was made at the passing of the Act which declared the queen * " to be the only supreme governor of her kingdoms, in all matters and causes, as well spiritual as temporal." " But the papists," it is said, " found them- selves much aggrieved at this ecclesiastical power declared and confirmed to be in the queen. They complained that the simplicity of poor people M^as abused, the queen declining the title of head, and assuming the name of governor of the Church, which, though less offensive, was more expressive. So, whilst their ears were favoured in her waiving the word, their souls were deceived with the same sense under another expression. They cavilled how King Henry VIII. was qualified for that place and power, being a lay-man ; King Edward, doubly debarred for the present, being a lay-child ; Queen Elizabeth, totally excluded for the future, being a lay-woman."'}' In the convocation, the eflTort made to resist the re- vival of the reformed doctrines was plainly dictated more from a feeling that something ought to be said, than from any hojie or expectation of success. The address presented to parliament by the few members assembled on this occasion, furnishes us with an authori- * The line of policy intended to be pursued was very clearly indicated in the speech of the lord keeper. " In the management," said he, " of this affair touching religion, two extremes are to be carefully avoided. On the one hand, there must be a guard against unlawful worship and superstition ; and, on the other, things must not be left under such a loose regulation as to occasion indifferency in religion, and contempt of holy things. The exem- plary punishment of undue worship and superstition, and especially of atheism and immorality, is clear from the history of all ages, and needs not be particularly recited, and the blessings of Providence are no less remark- able on the contrary practice ; and, for your further encouragement, I think I may affirm, that neither good King Hezekiah, nor the noble Queen Esther, had a stronger zeal to discharge error, and reform what's amiss, thau cur sovereign lady has to recommend herself to the approbation of God Al- mighty. Let, therefore, the consideration of our duty to God, the terror of his judgments, the sense of his goodness, the love to our country and our- selves, and the encouragement of so inviting an example in the queen, put us upon our best endeavours for providing such laws as may tend to the honour of God, the settlement of his Churchy and the repose of the kmg- dom." — Collier, b. vi., p. 413. f Fuller, cent, xvi., p. 53. 138 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. tative statement of the views and opinions of the Roman- catholic party. " Reverend fathers in Christ, and our honourable lords," says this important document ; *' whereas by the report of public fame it hath come unto our knowledge that many doctrines of the Christian religion hitherto re- ceived and approved by the unanimous consent of Chris- tian nations, and with joint agreement, as by hands deduced from the Apostles unto us, especially the articles under written, are now called in question. Hence it is that we, the inferior and secondary clergy of the province of Canterbury, assembled in one body, God so disposing it, and the command of our lady the Queen's most excellent Majesty, together with the mandate of the dean and chapter of Canterbury, the parliament writ, and all due and wonted ecclesiastical monition declared so requiring it, conceived it to belong unto us to provide for the eter- nal salvation both of ourselves and such as are com- mitted to our charge, by all means possible for us to obtain. Wherefore, stirred up by the examples of our predecessors who have lived in the like times, that faith ■which in the articles under written we believe to be true, and from our souls profess, to the praise and honour of God, and the discharge of our duty, and such souls as are committed unto us, we thought in these presents publicly to insert, affirming and avowing as God shall help us in the last day of judgment." Then follow the articles alluded to, " First, that in the sacrament of the altar, by the virtue of Christ's assisting, after the word is duly pronounced by the priest, the natural body of Christ, conceived of the Virgin Mary, is really present, under the species of bread and wine, also his natural blood. Item^ that after the consecration, there remains not the substance of bread and wine, nor any other substance, save the sub- stance of God and man. Item, that the true body of Christ, and his true blood, is offered a propitiatory sa- crifice for the quick and dead. Item, that the supreme power of feeding and governing the militant Church of Christ, and of confirming their brethren, is given to Peter the Apostle and to liis lawful s^uccessors in the see CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 139 apostolic, as unto the vicars of Christ. Item, that the authority to handle and define such things which belong to faith, the sacraments, and discipline ecclesiastical, hath hitherto ever belonged, and only ought to belong, unto the pastors of the Church, whom the Holy Spirit hath placed in the Church of God, and not unto lay- men." " Which, our assertion," it is added, " affirmation and faith, we, the lower clergy aforesaid, so represent the aforesaid consideration unto your fatherhoods, by the tenour of these presents, humbly requesting that, because we have not liberty otherwise to notify this our judgment and intention to those which in this behalf are concerned, you who are fathers would be pleased to signify the same to the lords in parliament, wherein, as we conceive, you shall perform an office of charity and piety, and you shall provide, as it is meet, for the safety of the flock committed to your charge, and shall dis- charge your duty towards your own soul."* The bishop of London placed this address in the hands of the lord keeper ; and it was followed by another from both the universities, declaring their concurrence in the articles above given, with the single exception of the last. Soon after, a public disputation was appointed to take place in Westminster Abbey, on the following questions : 1 . Whether service and sacraments ought to be celebrated in the vulgar tongue ? 2. Whether the Church hath not power to alter ceremonies, so all be done to edification ? 3. Whether the mass be a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead ? As might have been expected, the inquiry thus insti- tuted tended only to useless strife. It was found impos- sible to persuade the parties engaged to agree on the necessary preliminaries of the disputation, and lord keeper Bacon dismissed the assembled bishops with these significant words : " Seeing, my lords, we cannot now hear you, you may perchance shortly hear more of us." The Bill for umformity of Common Prayer^ introduced in the year 1559, having gone through the House of Commons, gave rise to a debate in the upper house, the * Fuller^ cent, xvi., p. oo. 140 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. burden of wliicli was chiefly borne, on the side of those who opposed the Reformation, by Fecknam, abbot of Westminster, and Scott, bisliop of Chester. The speeches of both these dignitaries were ingenious and eloquent; but while in some parts they were founded on mis-state- ments, in others they exhibited fresh instances of what is so common in most controversies, namely, of arguing from temporary abuses not denied to exist, to the proof that the system with which they are contemporary has given them birth, and is favourable to their growth. Fecknam instituted three rules to guide the opinions of his hearers ; " First," he observed, " to distinguish the true religion from that which is false, we must consider which of them has the best claim to antiquity, and has been most universally received, both as to time and place. Secondly, which of them has been most constant and uniform with itself. Thirdly, whether of the two reli- gions is most productive of morality and virtue ; and in which communion the people are most exemplary for their piety towards God, and their obedience to the civil magistrate. It is at once apparent, how many explanations a man of ordinary experience in argument would require, before he admitted these postulates of the good abbot of West- minster as axioms. But their author, satisfied with their correctness, delivered a long speech, abounding in re- marks which have ever since been favourite points with his party. The bishop of Chester's address, though scarcely of greater worth in regard to solidity of argument, con- tained observations which fairly claimed the respectful attention of his auditors. Whatever maybe thought of the principles which he assumed, there is a gravity in his remarks on the exposure of the treasures of faith and divine knowledge to the interference of parliament, well calculated to awaken sympathy with the feelings which cherished it. " As for the grounds and articles of faith,'* he said, " than which nothing ought to be better fixed, and more certain, these things must be very floating and precarious, if they hang upon an act of parliament. In earnest, this is but a weak support for CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 141 SO great a weight. And here I desire your lordships to understand me rightly. I have no intention to say any thing to lessen the authority of parliament. I own the acts of this honourable court are not to be con- tested wlien passed upon matters within your juris- diction. But, as to religion, I humbly conceive that it is a subject altogether foreign to the business of par- liament. For faith, as I have observed before, ought to have a firm basis ; to be as unalterable as the laws of the Medes and Persians, and not stand liable to amend- ments and repeals, and all other casualties of the statute- hook. We ought not to waver and be at uncertainties in our belief ; for, as St. James speaks, He that doubts or wavers is like a wave of the sea, always rolling from one figure to another. This man, as the Apostle goes on, is ujistable in all his luays. Besides, the bod;i/ of the parliament consists mostly of the temporal nobility, and the commons, which, though persons of great judgment and learning in civil matters, yet divinity is none of their profession. The exposition of the scrip- tures, the reading of the antients has been none of their employment. These things considered, they cannot be supposed to be rightly qualified to pronounce upon the doctrines and practice of the Church ; neither, indeed, do these things belong to their function, or lie within their character. And for this, iny lords, I appeal to a late instance. I remember this parliament, there was a nobleman's son put under an arrest, and committed. This confinement was resented by your lordships, and the honour of the house was thought to sufi'er by it. Upon this resolution the young gentleman, the bailiff, and the person at whose suit he was arrested, were all ordered to appear before your lordships. But before they were brought into the house, it was thought proper to debate the matter over again, for fear the house might concern themselves in things without their cog- nizance. And here the case was found to contain three points. The first was a debt, and that your lordships thouglit proper to remit to the common law. The second point was, upon inquiry, found an encroachment 142 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. upon the court of chancery. The third was the arrest, and commitment, in which the house thought themselves concerned. Upon the whole, if, by your lordships' re- solution, the parliament has no authority to check the courts of common law and chancery, which relate only to civil justice, and turn upon matters which lie open to human reason, then, by all force of consequence, your pretensions must be still lower in matters o^ faith ; in matters of faith and religion, which so far exceed the extent of reason." Having thus illustrated the main point of his argu- ment, the bishop continues : " The subject of this bill being of this sublime nature, there are three things principally to be considered : first, the importance of the matter ; secondly, the obscurity of the case, and the difficulty in trying the truth ; and thirdly, the danger of mistaking the point, and coming to a wrong reso- lution. As to the first, the importance of the matter, nothing can be greater. 'Tis no temporal interest, no money business, no branch of property ; no, 'tis of a much higher consideration, — the fate of eternity ; life and death, heaven and hell, are concerned in it. For now, as the scripture speaks, life and death, fire and water, are set before us ; now, to judge rightly in a con- cern of this consequence is neither every body's talent, nor every body's business. Farther, we should be es- pecially careful not to pass a rash censure upon the judgment and practice of our forefathers. Now, that system of belief, that form of religion, which is to be set aside by this bill, is the same which was professed by our ancestors for a thousand years and upwards; and, which is much more, it was likewise received by the universal Church from the times of the Apostles. " A noble member of this house was lately pleased to say, tliat our forefathers lived in the dark, and therefore we have great reason to lament their ignorance. To this we may answer, that if our forefatliers were within the hearing of this imputation, we have reason to believe they would reply, as our Saviour did to the woman Mdio lamented for him, Weep not for us, hut for CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 143 yourselves. Do not trouble yourselves for our ignorance, but for your own presumption, for being so hardy to jus- tify your innovation, and condemn the ages before you." Then observing that the subject was perplexed and difficult, he said, " The question to be resolved relates to the Mass-book and the JVew Common Prayer. The first by the bill is to be suppressed, as unorthodox and indefensible ; the other to be established as agreeable to the Hol}^ Scriptures. Now, the commendation of the one, and the dislike of the other, relate to the same matter ; that is, a right administration of the sacraments, pursuant to the institution of our Saviour Christ ; in which administration we are to consider three things : first, the institution of our blessed Saviour, which com- prehends the matter and substance of the sacraments ; secondly, the regulations of the Apostles, from which the form of the sacraments may be said to emerge ; to which, in the third place, we may put the additions of the holy fathers for the perfecting and farther advan- tage in the administration. These three things, as they are necessary, so they are duly observed in the Mass- book, or Old Service. But the other book, which is so much magnified, not only strikes two of them clear out of practice, but makes the third, in a manner, insig- nificant. For, first, as touching the traditions of the antients in the mass, as the Conjiteatur, tlie Misereatur, KupiE Ixifxrov sequentes preces, Sanctus Agnus Dei, &c., to which we may add, the rites prescribed by the Apostles, as benedictions, and the use of the cross ; and in the administration of several of the sacraments, Ccvsuffiations, exorcisms, anointing, praying towards the east, invocations of saints, and prayers for the dead, &c. These rites and usages, I say, are either maimed, or clean taken away by this new book. Notwithstanding which omissions, the compilers pretend it exactly agreeable to our Saviour's institution, and the custom of thu primitive Church. But to waive the insisting upon apostolical regulations and primitive tradition, though these things may justly challenge our regard, however, let us pass over these things at present, and come to the institution of our blessed Saviour, and examine which of these two books 144 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. comes up closest to this standard. And to clear the controversy the better, we will take the mass, or, as they call it, the Lord's Supper, for an instance. And here, as all the fathers collect from the scriptures, our Saviour instituted three things. These he commanded to be continued in remembrance of his passion until his coming again. ' Do this, &c.' The first is the con- secration of the blessed body and blood of our Saviour Christ ; the second consists in the offering up the same to God the Father ; the third we may call the Commu- nion, i. e., the eating and drinking the said blessed body and blood, under the form of bread and wine." The authority of St. Chrysostom is cited in reference to the first named points, but, he adds, " These two things are taken away in the New Service-book. This the compilers of that book are willing to acknowledge : they declaim against the doctrine which asserts Christ's being off'ered more than once ; though, on the other side, the holy fathers unanimously maintain that Christ is still offered in an unbloody manner. Now, if these men would consider the consequences of their tenets, this reflection might be serviceable to recover them : for if there be no external sacrifice, then there is no priesthood ; for the function of a priest, as St. Paul informs us, is to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. Now, if there be no priesthood, under the New Testament, the next inference is, that we have no religion, and thus we are ' without God in this world ;' for these, like the links of a chain, have a close connexion with each other. Farther, I desire your lordships to consider tliat the consecration likewise fails in this modern liturgy. These men talk of nothing but the holy communion, but fall short of the meaning of that expression ; for the things which should make it holy, i. e., the body and blood of Christ, are not there. It is true, when the administration is duly performed, the communion may well be called holy, for then we receive our Saviour's blessed body and blood into our bodies ; and thus we are united with him, like two pieces of wax, which are melted into each other. This similitude St. Cyril and St. Chrysostom make use of upon this occasion ; and, as CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 145 St. Paul speaks, * we are made flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone.' But this great advantage cannot be expected from the new book ; for, by the ministration prescribed, Christ's body is not truly there ; for where there is no consecration, there can be no real presence. But this is the case of the new service ; for these men neither observe the form prescribed by Christ, nor the custom of the Church, The Evangelist informs us, that our Saviour ' took bread, blessed, brake, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and eat ; this is my body : do this in remembrance of me.' By these words we are commanded to take tlie bread in our hands, ' to bless it, and break it:' but by the order of this book, all this is omitted ; for the priest neither takes the bread in his hands, nor blesses it, nor breaks it. And as for the words, ' This is my body,' by the pronouncing of which, as St. Chrysostom teaches us, the consecration is performed, their priests, I say, when they pronounce these words of our Saviour, have no regard to the sa- cramental solemnity, or the force of the expression, or the effect upon the bread, but make no more of the words than if they were telling a story. To proceed : the doctors of the Church affirm, that an intention to do that which Christ did, i. e., to ' consecrate his body and blood,' is a circumstance of absolute necessity. For this purpose, the Church has appointed certain prayers in the canon of the mass to be said before the consecration : the words are these, ' Utfiat nobis corpus et sanguis Domini nostri Jesu Christi ;' i. e., That the elements may be made unto us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus the intention of the Church, and of the priest officiating, is plainly declared ; but in this new book there is neither any such inten- tion declared, nor any petition put up to God for that purpose. The contrary does rather appear, by these words, in their office, ' That we, receiving these thy creatures of bread and wine, may, &c. ;' which words declare they intend notliiug of consecration. And if so, let them value themselves as much as they please upon their communion, it is to no manner of purpose, in regard the body of Christ is not there, which, as I VOL. III. L 146 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. have already observed, is the tiling which should be communicated.' Continuing in this strain of popular argument, he adds : " Yesterday a noble peer was pleased to say, he believed Christ was received in the communion pre- scribed by the new service ; but upon being asked whe- ther he worshipped him there, he answered, ' No, nor ever intended it.' Now this is a strange opinion, that Christ should not be worshipped wherever he is owned to be present. I grant, they tell us, they worship our Saviour no less than we do, but then they distinguish and affirm it is with respect to his being in heaven, and not as he is present in the sacrament ; wdiich is just as if a man should say, that he is willing to pay a civil worship to his prince, when he sits under a state, and has his robes on, but if he comes abroad under a dis- guise, or in a plain habit, they desire to be excused ; and yet, by their favour, he is as much a sovereign in a frieze coat in the streets, as when he sits upon the throne in gold tissue. And thus he that sits on the right hand of God, in the appearance of a glorified body, is the same Christ which is concealed in the sacrament, under the form of bread and wine." Again : " The scripture," as St. Austin expounds it, " commands us to worship our Saviour's body in the sa- crament. The text runs thus, ' Adorate scabellum ejus, &c.,* 2. e.. Worship his footstool, for it is holy. Upon this place St. Augustin's comment is, that Christ assumed flesh of the blessed Virgin, his mother ; in the same flesh he conversed upon earth ; and the same flesh he gave us to eat, but no man will presume to eat before he worships it. And in this sense we may be said to worship his footstool ; and we shall not only not sin in worshipping, but we shall sin in not worshipping." Thus far St. Austin. Having attempted to show tliat the controversies of the Lutherans and Zuinglians on the subject went far to prove the truth of the Romanist doctrine, he continues : " And now, my lords, I beg you would please to consider the subject of the present controversy, and whether your lordships are sufficiently cpialified to examine the points, CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 147 and pronounce upon the case ; i e,, whether your lord- ships are furnished so far with ecclesiastical learning as to give a judgment whether the body of Christ is con- secrated, offered, adored, and truly communicated by the order of this new book ; whether these acts and circumstances are made essential by the institution of our Saviour, and whether this new book follows the direction of that infallible rule. These things, as I observe to your lordships, are weighty and perplexed, and it is no easy matter not to fall into an error ; and then your lordships may likewise consider the condition of the other sacraments ; and that these are either per- fectly sunk or mangled, after the same rate, by this new book. Your lordships may please to remember the great danger you draw upon yourselves, by undertaking to judge in the cause, especially if you should happen to make a wrong decision ; for then, besides the misfortune of your own persons, you will prove the unhappy occa- sion of misleading others. King Jeroboam has this mark set upon him, as an aggravation of his misbehaviour, that, besides his personal miscarriage, he made Israel to sin. My lords, I entreat you would be very careful to prevent the application of this text. To speak freely, in my judgment, if you pass this bill you will not only err yourselves, but be instrumental in misleading the nation, for which you must expect to give an account to Almighty God." Then follows his supposed proofs from the history of the early Church, after which he thus concludes: " I beseech your lordships to recollect, that all princes and magistrates, catholic, heretic and infidel, have all along refused to put themselves in a post which your lord- ships are now going to challenge. But I shall distress your lordships' patience no longer, and conclude with the mention of two instances. The first is in the em- peror Theodosius the Great, who makes no scruple to confess, that " lUicitnm est qui non sit ex ordine sancto- rum episcoporum, ecclesiasticis seimmiscere tractatibus; i. e.. It is not lawful for a man who has not the episcopal character, to interpose in religious affairs. The other is a saying of the emperor Valentinian : ' Mihi quidem L 2 148 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. qui in sorte plebis sum, las non est ista curiosius scru- tari: sacerdotes quibus ista curse sunt, inter seipsos, quocunque loco voluerint, conveniant ;' i.e., It is not lawful for me, who am but a layman, to enter into any curious inquiry upon these matters : this is the bishops' business, and therefore let tliem meet about it wdiere they please. Now if these emperors had nothing to do in such debates, I must crave leave to say, your lord- ships have as little."* We have given this speech of the bishop of Chester almost entire, the arguments which it contains being plainly those on which his party, at that time, most confidently relied, so far at least as subjects of this nature might be treated of in a general and popular way. What weight it possessed in the opinion of liis hearers we have no means of determining. It re- mained unanswered ; but the intentions of the govern- ment also continued the same as before. The Act of Uniformity having passed, and the Service-book being formally sanctioned, the oath of supremacy was offered to the clergy, and employed as the test of their affection towards the new arrangements. The circumstances which followed these proceedings can hardly be reflected upon without pain. Fourteen bishops, three bisliops elect, one abbot, four priors, twelve deans, fourteen archdeacons, sixty canons, a hundred priests holding important benefices, and fifteen heads of colleges in Oxford and Cambridge, were seve- rally deprived of their dignities. Even the strongest conviction of the necessity of the case cannot lessen the feelino- of sorrow that it should have existed ; but to those who have learnt to regard with affectionate reve- rence the heads and pastors of the Church, who have been accustomed to consider the orders they have re- ceived, and the stations they hold, as unlike any of the dignities which changes in the world may affect, to such, the deprivation of the bishops and other clergy spoken of above is a subject full of distressing consi- derations. The best apology that has been urged on the side of the government of the time, is that founded on * Collier, part ii.. b. vi., p. 238. CENT. XVI.-XVII,] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 149 the fact, that the bishops now driven from their stations had, most of them, sworn to the regale in the reign of Henry VIII., and had temporized in that of Edward, so far as to offer no open, or persevering opposition, to the great measures whereby the reformation of the Church was to be finally established. When men have once yielded in a matter where inalienable rights are supposed to be concerned, they can hardly afterwards complain if the world treat those rights as if they rested but upon an ordinary foundation. It also deserves to be borne in mind, that the treatment of the clergy, in this case, was not marked by those enormous offences against spiritual dignity observable in other instances where the power of the state was exercised in affairs of re- ligion. There was no fire or sword employed to make the ministers of God deny, or alter, some vital doctrine of the gospel. The dignitaries deprived held stations to which many temporal advantages, much of wealth, grandeur and influence, wereattached, and which brought them necessarily under the observation of the state, and rendered them subject, so far as those advantages were concerned, to its policy and its will. When it was found that they were hostile to its views, that they were likely to constitute themselves into a party, the exist- ence of which must greatly interrupt the common tran- quillity of the nation, the question would naturally arise, to what degree the unassailable dignity of the mere spiritual office ought to be allowed to shield the wealth, privileges or particular stations of the individual, and which, at least in minds already disposed to make the distinction, might be viewed as not absolutely con- stituting any part of the state or honour which, conferred by Christ alone on his ministers, worldly potentates can never without madness attempt to invade. One of the most striking proofs that exist of the melancholy condition in which the kingdom, for a time, was placed by these events, is the inhibition published against preaching. By virtue of ten proclamations sent to the Lord Mayor of London, " not only all preaching- was forbidden for a time, but all hearing and givino- audience to any doctrine or preaching." The cleroy l3 150 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. were ordered to confine themselves strictly to the read- ing of the epistle and gospel for the day, and the Ten Commandments, and that " without any manner of exposition, or addition of the sense or meaning thereof." * It does not appear that this prohibition was long in force, for the discourses of several court preachers are mentioned as delivered in the following Lent, and the Spital sermons were preached as formerly. f Cardinal Pole had left the see of Canterbury open, by his death, shortly after Elizabeth's succession. Dr. Parker, after a brief interval, was consecrated at Lam- beth, and duly installed in the vacant dignity. It is not agreeable to the plan of this work to dwell on minute particulars ; but no small degree of light is thrown upon the actual state of the Church by what is recorded of the consecration of the new archbishop. Of the four pre- lates by whom the service was performed, two were * " The Queue's Majesty, unclerstanding that there he certain persons having in times past the office of ministery in the Church, Avliich now do !)urpose to use their fonner otficc in preaching and ministery, and partly lave attempted the same ; assemhling, specially in the city of London, in sondry places, great riomhcr of people ; whereupon riseth amonges the common sort not only unfruteful in matters of religion, hut also conten- tion, and occasion to hreak common quiet ; hath therefore, according to the authoritie committed to her highness, for the quiet governaunce of all maner her suhjects, thought it necessary to charge and command, like as hereby her highness doth charge and command, all maner of her subjects as well those that be called to ministery in the Church as all others,' that they do forbear to preach or teach, or to gyve audience to any maner of doctrine or preachyng, other than to the gospels and epistels commonly called the gospel and epistel of the day, and to the Ten Commandments in the vulgar tongue ; without exposition or addition of any maner, sense or meaning to be applyed or added ; or to nse any other maner of jjublick prayer, rite or ceremony in the Church but that which is alrecdy used and by law receaved ; or the common letany used at this present in her majesty's own chappel, and the Lord's Prajer, and the Crede in English ; until con- sultation may he had by parliament by her majestic and her three estates of this realme, for the better conciliation and accord of such causes as at this present are moved in matters and ceremonies of religion. The true advance- ment whereof, to the due honour of Almighty God, the increase of vertue and godlyness, with universal charitie and concord amonges her people, her majestic most desyreth and meaneth effectually, by all maner of means possible, to procure and to restore to this her realme. Whcreunto, as her majestic instantly requireth all her good, faithful and loving subjects to be assenting and ayding with due obedience ; so, if anj^ shall disobediently use themselfes to the breach thereof, her majestic both must and will see the same duely punished both for the qualitie of the offence and for example to all others neglecting her majesties so reasonable commaundment."— ' Strype, Ap. vol. i., pt. ii , p. 391. t Stvypo's Anuals, vol. i., pt. i., p. 59. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 151 bishops elect ; the third, the venerable Miles Coverdale, had no see ; and the fourth was only a suffragan.* Such was the desolate state of that Church which, under God's all-powerful blessing, was at length to sliine forth like a bride adorned with her jewels, in respect to the beauty and graces of her ordinances; or like a giant prepared to run his course when viewed at a later period, in regard to the fulness of its ranks, and the complete- ness of its ministry. Though the battle had been won, the champions of the Reformation still deemed it necessary to show their readiness to grapple Math their adversaries whenever occasion offered for a trial of strength. Thus Jewel, in preaching at Paul's Cross, loudly proclaimed, " That if any learned man of all our adversaries, or if all the learned men that are alive, are able to bring any one sufficient sentence out of any old catholic doctor or father, or out of any old general council, or out of the Holy Scriptures of God, or any one example of the primitive Church, whereby it may be plainly and clearly proved, that for the first six hundred years after Christ there was any private mass in the world ; or that there was then any communion administered under one kind, or that the people had their common prayer in a lan- guage which they did not understand ; or that the bishop of Rome was then called universal bishop, or head of the universal Church ; or that the people were then taught to believe that Christ's body is really, sub- stantially, corporeally, carnally or naturally in the sacrament; or that his body is, or may be, in a thousand places or more at one time ; or that the priest did then hold up the sacrament over his head ; or that the people did then fall down and worship it with godly, that is, divine honour ; or that the sacra- ment M-as then, or now ought to be, fixed depending under a canopy ; or that in the sacrament, after the words of consecration, there remain only the accidents and appearances, without the substance of bread and wine ; or that the priest then divided the sacrament in three parts, and afterwards received himself all * Stiype's Annalsj vol. i., pt. i. p. (JO. L 4 152 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. HI. alone ; or that whosoever had affirmed the sacrament a figure, a })ledg-c, a token, or a remembrance of Christ's body, had been condemned for a heretic ; or that it was then lawful to have thirty, tw^enty, fifteen, ten or five masses to be said in a church in one day ; or that images were then set up in churches for people to worship them ; or that the laity were then forbid to read the scriptures in the language of the country ; or that it was tlieu lawful for the priest to pronounce the words of consecration so low as to be heard by none but himself; or that the priest had then authority to offer up Christ to his Father ; or to communicate and receive the sacrament for another, as they do ; or to apply the virtue of Christ's death and passion to any man by means of the mass ; or that it was then thought sound doctrine to affirm that the mass, " ex opere operate," that is, by the bare force of administration, and without regard to the qualifications of the persons receiving, is able to discharge any part of our sins ; or that then any Christian called the sacrament his Lord and his God ; or that the people w^ere then taught to believe the body of Christ remains in the sacrament as long as the acci- dents of the bread continue without corruption ; or that when Christ said, ' This is my body,' the word this does not refer to the bread, but to an individuum vagum, as some of them say ; or that the accidents or appear- ances of bread and wine are the sacraments of Christ's body and blood, and not rather the very bread and wine itself; or that the sacrament is a sign of the body of Christ that lies hidden under it ; or that ignorance is the mother of true devotion." In conclusion, he said, " If any one of his adver- saries were able to make good but a single proposition amongst all these, either by sufficient declarations in scripture, or by the testimony of the antient fathers and councils, he w^as ready to give up the contest, and subscribe himself a proselyte."* This challenge of Jewel may be considered as the commencement of that boldly-sustained controversy which employed, for so long a period, the best minds * Collier, vol. VI., {uut ii., b. vi.;, p. 303. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 153 that felt the power of the new era. On both sides learning and ability were exhibited with profusion, and a vast mass of information was scattered abroad, which contribnted, in no slight degree, to form tlie character and style of thought observable for a considerable time after the commencement of the controversy. A season of great exertion was now before the clergy. The removal of images from the churches, and the settling of almost numberless other points which, re- maining undetermined, defied any hope of uniformity, either in belief or worship, kept all parties in the state perpetually in movement. Agitation of a far more peri- lous kind prevailed in Scotland, and mighty indeed was the grace of holiness and truth proved to be, working its way, both in the one instance and in the other, through such a host of conflicting powers. The opinions of Elizabeth on many points were but little conformable to those of the clerg}^ ; but this may be traced not so much to any difference with them on matters of doctrine, as to the peculiar sternness or self- will which often marked her conduct. This was evi- dently the case in regard to the marriage of the clergy. Among the other provisions which it seemed to her expedient to make for the welfare of the Church, and for the establishment of which she appears to have imagined her own wisdom and authority were to a great degree sufficient, were the injunctions which forbad " all heads and members of any college, or cathedral church, within the realm, having their wives or any other woman within the precinct of such places," and the penalty for disobedience to which was the forfeiture of " all ecclesiastical promotions belonging to any ca- thedral or collegiate church." Both the order itself, and the mode of its publication, savoured of the worst spirit that was ready to show itself in the civil power at this period. This the archbishop keenly felt, for in his letter to Cecil he says, " I wonder that state should be made a crime in the clergy, which will stand the test in the last day ; and that an engage- ment which pleases God Almiglity should not please her majesty. I am at a loss to understand why her high- 154 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. ness should gratify our adversaries so far as to put us under disfavour upon this account. If our reputation is thus disabled, we shall be thrown out of capacity of doing God and her majesty service. As far as my reading and information reaches, it has been the custom of all princes, both Christian and Pagan, to countenance the ministers of religion. They thought this a neces- sary expedient to recommend the rules of duty, to pre- serve the force of conscience and support the govern- ment; but now it is our misfortune to be singled out from the rest of mankind for infamy and aversion ; to be exposed to the ignorant and malicious, with marks of the last disadvantage ; to be censured as if we had no regard to the circumstances of our profession, as if we were wholly resigned to appetite without the least check of discretion. The queen was so possessed with mismanagement in this matter, that she repented our being trusted with the function, and wished it had been otherwise. This discovery must be sport to the clergy of the late reign. It must be diversion to such people to see in what manner we are handled, and with what distinguishing hardship we are treated by the govern- ment : but this we shall pass over with patience, and rest the event with God Almighty." Yet further : " Her majesty talked of setting forth injunctions of another nature ; but I hope God will stop this motion and alter her purpose ; and that as by the divine assistance she has begun a good work, she will hold on the same course. I do not question but these cBstiis hujnani, these sallies of passion, were occasioned by mis-reports, and that her majesty will acquit herself to advantage, and, like Theodosius the Great, take time for a mature deliberation, and not proceed to a sudden resolution in things of the last importance. It would trouble me if the clergy should be forced upon any in- compliance, and declare with the Apostles, that we must ' obey God rather than men ;' but let those who sug- gest these thoughts be never so considerable, we have no small numbers in our contemptible party, that have courage and conscience enough to sacrifice their lives in defence of their religion." CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 155 Alluding then to that part of the injunction which de- nied to the clergy attached to cathedrals the right of living with their families, he says, " What policy can this be to drive hospitality out of such quarters? To drive away the preachers from the besttowns in the kingdom? When such places are well instructed, the example reaches the coun- try, and the villages are kept in order the better : but, on the other side, for the dignified clergy to stay at their ca- thedrals upon such terms of public disgrace, which way is it to be endured ? What person that has any regard for his credit will live under affronts, and continue in a place wliere his character is maimed and murdered ? To see the clergy thus particularly discouraged when all other people have their liberty, is a melancholy reflec- tion. Besides, this injunction might have had its force in preventing abuses, without disparaging the reputation of the clergy. For my part, I wish I had never engaged in this station, since her majesty has been pleased to discover her disesteem in so remarkable a manner. I have endeavoured to serve her majesty to my power, and I humbly conceive, have done it in no contemptible instances. By the punctual execution of her orders, I have gained the ill-will both of Papists and Protestants ; but my being conscious of serving God and her high- ness, made me easy under obloquy and censure. But the reception I had yesterday from her majesty, and the earnest forcing that progress-hunting injimction upon the clergy, and an order drawn up without advising with any ecclesiastic, this has put me quite under hatches, and indisposed me for all other business ; so that 1 can only mourn to God Almighty, in amaritudine animse meae, ut dicam cum Sara, ' Peto Dominum, ut de vinculo improperii hujus absolvas me, aut certe desuper terram eripias me.' "* The convocation which met in 1562 determined upon a certain modification of the forty-two articles published in the former reign, and v/hich were now reduced in number to thirty-nine. 'j' A riper experience taught the heads of the Church to guard with extreme caution against severity of feeling in aught that did not regard * Collier, t. vi., pt. ii., b. vi., p. 8-35. f Strype's Annals, vol. i., p. 487. 156 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. purity of faith and mariners. They saw, even among the members of their own order, sufficient difference of opinion on many points to furnish tliem with reasons for exercising moderation towards others. Pious as they were, and impressed with a most livley sense of tlie vahie of every tittle of divine truth, they had a personal and practical conviction of the possibility of union being secured, though much liberty was allowed to opinions not essential to the completeness of evangelical con- fession.* Both necessity and charity were consulted in this mode of procedure. That it did not result from any feeling of indifference respecting the value of entire conformity of opinion, may be concluded from the character of the men intrusted with the arrangement of ecclesiastical affairs at this period. Many of them had suffered long and patiently the sorrows of exile, and had hazarded their lives for the sake of points in their confession, which, had they been loose or careless professors, or even inclined to liberalism, in the modern sense of the word, might have been easily reduced to things of little importance. The measures, moreover, taken to secure conformity in matters of discipline and worship, were not those of men who thought lightly of ecclesiastical rule, or who could entertain the notion that, supposing the laws of the realm be not interfered with, religion will be as safe among sects, calling themselves a church, as under the ministrations of a church possessing all the signs of an apostolic origin, unity, order, discipline, and well-proved spiritual power. * Fuller says, " Some have unjustly taxed the composers for too much favour extended m their large expressions, clean through the contexture of these articles, which should have tied men's consciences up closer in more strict and particularizing propositions, which, indeed, proceeded from their commendahle moderation. Children's clothes ought to be made of the biggest, because afterwards their bodies -will grow up to their garments. Thus the articles of this English Protestant Church, in the infancy thereof, they thought good to draw up in general terms, foreseeing that posterity woxild grow up to fill the same. I mean, these holy men did prudently pre-discover that differences in judgment would unavoidably happen in tlie Church, and were loath to unchurch any, and drive them off from an ecclesias- tical communion for such petty differences, wliich made them pen the articles in comprehensive words, to take in all who, differing in the branches, meet m the root of the same religion." — Cent, xvi., b. ix., p. 72. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 157 The state of affairs in Scotland was every day be- coming more troubled and perplexed. Violence of tem- per and purpose characterized the men who had chief influence in the country. But melancholy as were many of the consequences resulting therefrom, they are not to be regarded in the same light as those which were the proper fruit of that long-nourished corruption which doomed both the Church and nation to an equivalent period of agitation and suffering. Much was sacrificed in the eventful struggle, but the gospel itself triumphed. The Church of Christ had again a voice in the land : its ministers by their devout zeal ornamented the courts of the house of the Lord with the trophies of many a spiritual victory ; and tliough it is impossible not to lament what we conceive to have been the effect of a blind hostility, of an enmity not less implacable against what was but accidentally and superficially corrupt, than when rightly indulged against incurable evil, yet this may be well pardoned, when the balance is found to preponderate to so vast a degree on the side of pure religion and its truest interests. We can but allude to the events out of the vortex of which the Church of Scotland was drawn by the mighty hand of the Saviour. That it should have risen without an utter loss of its ministerial functions, that it should have had so much life and power, can be ascribed only to his present blessing. It was one of the many miracles of his grace at this period, that it did not lose the very form of a church, and with it the larger portion of the instruments and forces which alone can enable a church to fulfil its ministerial responsibilities. There are considerations belonging to the whole of this sub- ject, eminently calculated to inspire a thoughtful mind with solemn and grateful views of the providence of God in the care of his people. The methods employed by men when excited by their own eager thoughts, are rarely calculated to effect even the object most dear to tlieir hopes. Their very zeal for the honour of God is full of proofs of self-sufliiciency, or dependence on human means. They sweep away what offends their present conceit; haughtily pretend to the right of legislating for 158 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. future ages, when they themselves are despising tlie teaching of all past times ; and think and speak as if God, by a most wonderful act of selection, had conferred upon them more grace and wisdom than upon the whole multitude of his servants who lived before their days. When out of convulsions thus produced, the faith of the gospel rises in its full power and beauty, and the main instruments of its continued diffusion are happily preserved and put into better order, the Church of Christ, wherever planted, beholds the triumph of its common interests ; and is taught to hope, that the infirmities of the disciples and servants of Jesus will never be allowed to destroy the fruit of their labours, or to prevent their success, in so far as they are striving to secure the main objects of the Church's institution. It was not to be expected that the opinions, and still less, the tastes and feelings, engendered by many English divines during their exile, would yield at once either to arguments on the side of peace and expe- diency, or to the force of law, and state injunctions. The seeds of puritanism were sown deep in the hearts of large numbers of the reformers. Of these, some were influenced in their conduct by no other sentiment than that of love for the gospel, considered apart from every thing else, and as sufficient of itself, give it but a voice, to bring men to faith and holiness. The reformers of this class contemplated with jealousy every instrument employed for the inculcating of religious feeling. They imagined that there must ever be a tendency to honour the means more than the truth, and that, consequently, every instrument and every form, not absolutely necessary to the direct publication of the gospel, ought to be regarded in the light of an evil, and as silently conducing to a species of idolatry. Though the zeal of this class of puritans often partook of a fierceness of temper, of a disposition the most opposed to the meekness and charity of a Christian spirit, they were, for the most part, influenced by holiness of principle, and exhibited in their conduct the perfect sincerity of their devotion to the gospel. But they were imitated in nothing but their infirmities CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 159 by a great body of those who professed like opi- nions. The factious love of opposition; the appetite for change not yet surfeited ; the desire of a licentious liberty, in which no one being obliged to submit to public government, every one might have the chance of playing the tyrant privately ; these furnished the motives to many of the most active leaders in the new movement of the reformed Church. No better proof can be given of the distress which the agitation thus created excited in the minds of good men, than that Fox, the martyrologist, expressed himself on the subject with mingled grief and disgust. He had so little of the violence of the opposite party about him, that he refused to take the oath of conjformity ; and when no other voice was raised on the side of mercy, protested loudly to the queen against the most wicked offence of which she and her counsellors were guilty, in condemning to the flames two miserable and ignorant Anabaptists.* When a man of this kind could be found to speak in terms so strong as those employed by Fox, the party accused can hardly be supposed to have possessed those virtues of perfect Christian holi- ness, to the credit of which it laid claim. Quis tarn turhulentus genius factiosa ista Puritanorum capita afHa- verit ? Flagrat collegium hoc horrihilifactione. These are expressions which no man in his senses, or with a fair portion of charity, would use, unless he felt intensely convinced of the errors or hypocrisy of those to whom they applied. Fox had been irritated, it appears, by the expulsion of his son from Magdalene colleo-e Oxford, of which he was a fellow ; the only ground of accusation against the young man being, that lie had travelled beyond the seas without permission. The president of the college, as well as Fox himself, had openly declared his objections to subscription; but his efforts in favour of the expelled fellow were treated with the same scorn as tlie father's, and both of these vene- rable men were accused of the most culpable luke- warmness in the cause of pure religion. The death of archbishop Parker seemed, for the * Fuller, cent, xvi., b. ix., p. 101. Collier, vol. vi., p. 5-54. 160 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. moment, an event in no slight degree favourable to the puritans. That excellent prelate had stated plainly, that " if the precisians had the ascendant, and prevailed in the administration, her majesty would be undone." In the same tone, he spoke " of the inconstancy of some of the bishops;" and complained that " several of that order lay by, and signified little ; and that some others endeavoured to undermine him." " Her majesty," he says, " once told him that he had a supreme govern- ment ecclesiastical ; but which, upon experiment, he finds very much hampered and embarrassed." In refer- ence to the controversies respecting forms, he observed, that he was " not so much concerned for the tippet, surplice, or such like ceremonies, as for the authority of the laws which enjoined them ; and that if public provisions were once disregarded and treated with con- tempt, the government must sink, of course." *" Grindal, who was, in the course of a few months, appointed to the vacant see, entertained strong opinions respecting the nature of preaching, or, as it was then generally termed, prophesying. But so many abuses had attended the increase of the practice, that his notions on the subject were combated in several quarters witli considerable violence. This, however, did not alter his opinion, that it was only by diligent preaching and frequent conferences among the clergy, that the nation at laro;e could be imbued with the knowledo-e of Chris- tian doctrine. In order, therefore, to preserve the liberty which he considered to be so essential to the good of the people, but at the same time ward off abuses, he issued the following directions: " 1. That the said exercises are to be used only in such churches, and at such times, as the bishop of the diocese, under his hand and seal, shall appoint. 2. That in all assemblies for such conferences, either the archdeacon, if he be a divine, or else some other grave and learned graduate, at least, be appointed by the bishop to moderate at the exercises. 3. That a list of the names of such as are supposed qualified to speak in those exercises be given in ; and that such parts of the scripture shall be only handled as the * Collier^ vol. VI., p. 551. CENT. XVI.- XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 1 Gl bishop shall appoint. 4. That the rest of the ministers who have no talent for speaking- in public, shall have the exposition of some part of scripture assigned them as a task by the moderators ; and that those tasks shall be read privatel}^ before the ministers only, and not before the laity. 5. That no lay person be allowed to speak publicly in those assemblies. 6. That no man in the course of his exercise shall be suffered to libel the Church or state, or censure any person, yjublic or private, either by broad satire or more covert inuendoes. And when any one happens to run riot in this manner, he shall be immediately silenced by the moderator. And here the bishop was to be certified why the check was given ; and the party receiving this rebuke, was not to be re-admitted to any share in the exercise without the bishop's approbation, and making an acknowledgment of his misbehaviour." The seventh article is to the same purport as the pre- ceding; and in the eighth it is laid down, " that no ministers barred the pulpit, or deprived for noncon- formity, should be allowed to speak in these exercises ; that every diocesan should be particularly careful in this matter, and not suffer any persons to expound scripture, and make any discourses at this meeting, excepting those who subscribed the articles of religion, and conformed to the Church establishment."* Objections of no small weight existed to the practice here spoken of. It was urged, " 1. That many modest ministers, and those profitable preachers in their private parishes, were loath to appear in this public way, which made them undeservedly slighted and neglected by others ; 2. That many young men of more boldness than learning, readiness than solidity, carried away the credit, to the great disheartening of those of more age and ability; 3. That this consort of preachers kept not always time and tune amongst themselves, much jarring of personal reflections often disturbing their harmony ; 4. That many would make impertinent excursions from their text to inveigh against the pre- sent discipline and government of the Church : such * Fuller, h. ix., p. 121. Collier, vol. vi., part ii.,b. vi., p. 566. VOL. III. M 162 HISTORY or THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. preachers being more plausible to the people generally best pleased with them, who manifest their disafl'ection against the present authority; 5. That a wise person was often wanting to moderate the moderator, par- tially passing his censures rather according to affection than judgment; 6. That people factiously cried up, some one minister, some another, to the disgrace of God's ordinance; and 7. That these prophesyings being accounted the fairs for spiritual merchandizes, made the weekly markets for the same holy commodities on the Lord's day to be less respected, and ministers to be neglected in their respective parishes." i/- It was on these considerations that the queen is said to have founded her dislike to the conferences of ministers, in which they assembled for the exercise of preaching and mutual expositions of scripture. What abuses had crept into these meetings may be easily conceived ; but it is difficult to believe that a man like Grindal, so interested by his very station in preserving the good order of the Church, should have persevered in supporting the practice of these assemblies, had they not been found profital)le for the times and the advancement of learning and piety. Elizabeth was jealous of every proceeding which might remotely en- danger her authority over the Church. In this feeling she was encouraged by her principal advisers, and there is reason to fear that she not rarely blinded her better understanding, and set aside many arguments to which her piety would have allowed their proper degree of force, through the suspicion that whatever was done contrary to her taste was undertaken in the spirit of schism or disaffection. Her views of preaching were evidently derived from the imperfect manner in which the duty had hitherto been performed. Three or four preachers \vere suffi- cient, she contended, for each county ; more were only likely to inflame the people with the love of novelty, and give rise to infinite disputes. This could never have been said by Elizabeth had she understood tlie real necessities of her subjects, or been ready to give a patient attention to the reasoning of the good men, who CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 1G3 knew so much better than the best of her political advisers what were the dangers and difficulties of the times. The letter which Grindal, grieved at the displeasure of his sovereign, wrote in defence of his proceedings, deserved the weightiest consideration. After expressions of loyalty and gratitude, he says, " Never do I intend to offend your majesty in any thing, unless in the cause, of God or his Church, by necessity of office and burden laid upon me, and burden of conscience, I shall there- unto be enforced. And in these cases, which I trust in God shall never be urged upon me, if I should use dissembling silence, I should very ill requite so many your majesty's and so great benefits ; for in so doing both you might fall into peril towards God, and I myself into endless damnation. The prophet Ezekiel termeth us ministers of the Church specidatores, and not adula- tores. If we, therefore, see the sword coming by reason of any offence towards God, we must of necessity give warning, else the blood of those that perish will be required at our hands." Havmg, in the next place, cited instances from Scrip- ture in which kings were shown to render a willing ear to the teaching of holy men, he continues : " Surely I cannot marvel enough how this strange opinion should once enter into your mind, that it should be good for the Church to have few preachers. Alas ! madam, is the Scripture more plain in any thing, than that the gospel of Christ should be plentifully preached ; and that plenty of laboui'ers should be sent into the Lord's harvest, which, being great and large, standeth in need, not of a few, but of many workmen ? There was ap- pointed to the building of Solomon's material Temple, artificers and labourers, besides three thousand over- seers ; and shall we think that a few preachers may suffice to the building and edifying of the spiritual Temple of Christ, which is his Church ? And in this place, I beseech your majesty to note one thing necessary to be noted, which is this : If the Holy Ghost prescribeth expressly, that preachers should be placed oppiclatim, how can it then well be thought M 2 164 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. that three or four preachers may suffice for a shire ? Public and continual preaching- of God's Word is the ordinary means and instrument of the salvation of mankind. St. Paul calleth it the ministry of recon- ciliation of man unto God. By the preaching of God's Word, the glory of God is increased and enlarged, faith nourished, and charity increased; by it the ignorant are instructed, the negligent exhorted and incited, the stubborn rebuked, the weak conscience comforted, and to all those who sin of malicious wickedness, the wrath of God is threatened. By preaching, also, due obedience to God and Christian princes and magistrates is planted in the hearts of subjects, for obedience proceedeth of conscience, conscience is grounded upon the Word of God, and the Word of God worketh its effect by preaching ; so as generally where preaching wanteth, obedience faileth." Referring then to what had been said respecting the use of homilies, set forth by authority, instead of preach- ing, he observes, " The reading of homilies hath its commodities; but it is nothing comparable to the office of preaching. The godly preacher is learned in the gospel, Fidelis servus qui novit, who can apply his speech to the diversity of times, places and hearers, which cannot be done in homilies. Besides, homilies were devised by godly bishops in your brother's days, only to supply necessity, by want of preachers; and are, by the statute, not to be preferred, but to give place to sermons wheresoever they may be had, and were never thought in themselves to contain alone sufficient instruction for the Church of England ; for it was then found, as it is found now, that this Church of England hath been by appropriations, and that not without sacrilege, spoiled of the livings which at the first were appointed to the office of preaching and teaching, which appropriations were first annexed to abbeys, and after came to the crown, and now are disposed to private men's possessions, without, hope to reduce the same to the original institution. So that at this day, in my opinion, where one church is able to yield sufficient living to a learned preacher, there are, at CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 165 the least, seven churches unable to do the same In such parishes, as it is not possible to place able preachers, for want of convenient stipend, if every flock might have a preaching pastor, which is rather to be wished than hoped for, then were reading of homilies altogether unnecessary ; but to supply that want of preaching God's Word, v/hich is the food of the soul growing upon the necessities before mentioned, both in your brother's time and in your time also, certain homilies have been devised, that the people should not altogether be destitute of instruction ; for it is an old proverb, * Better a loaf than no bread.' " But it was not of mere preaching only that he had to speak ; a more difficult question was involved in the doubts expressed respecting the conferences of the clergy. Of these he says, " (Concerning the learned exercises and conferences amongst the ministers of the Church, I have consulted with divers of my brethren, the bishops, who think the same, as I do, a thing pro- fitable to the Church, and therefore expedient to be continued ; and I trust your majesty will think the like when your majesty shall have been informed of the matter and order thereof, what authority it hath of the scriptures, what commodity it bringeth with it, and what discommodities will follow if it be clean taken away. The authors of this exercise are the bishops of the diocese where this same is used, who, by the law of God, and by the canons and constitutions of the Church now in force, have authority to appoint exercises to their inferior ministers for increase of learning, and knowledge in the scriptures, as to them seemeth most exj3edient; for that penaineth ad disciplinam cler'icalem. The time appointed for this exercise is once in a month, or once in twenty or fifteen days, at the discretion of the ordi- nary. The time of this exercise is two hours ; the place the church of the district, appointed for tlie assembly ; the matter entreated of is as foUoweth: Some text of scripture, before appointed to be spoken, is interpreted in this order ; first, the occasion of the place is showed ; secondly, the end ; thirdly, tlie proper sense of the place; fourthly, the property of the words, those that be learned M 3 IGG HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. in the tongues, showing the diversity of interpretation; fifthly, where the like phrases are used in scriptures ; sixthly, places of scripture that seem to repugn are reconciled ; seventhly, the arguments of the text are opened ; eighthly, it is declared what virtues and vices are therein couched, and to which of the commandments they do appertain ; ninthly, how the like hath been wrested by the adversary, if occasion so require ; tenthly, and lastly, what doctrine of faith and manners the said text doth contain. The conclusion is with a prayer for your majesty, and all estates, as is appointed by the book of Common Prayer, and a psalm." " These orders following are also observed by the said exercise: first, two or three of the gravest and best learned pastors are appointed of the bishops to be mode- rators in every assembly. No man may speak, unless he be first allowed by the bishop, with this proviso, that no layman l)e suftered to speak at any time ; no contro- versy of this present time and state shall be moved and dealt withal ; if any attempt the contrary, he is put to silence by the. moderator ; none is suftered to glance openly or covertly at persons, public or private ; neither yet any one to confute one another. If any man utter a wrong sense of scripture, he is privately admonished thereof, and better instructed by the moderators and other his fellow ministers. If any man use immoderate speeches, or unreverend gesture or behaviour, or other- wise be suspected in life, he is likewise admonished as aforesaid ; if any man do vilify or break these orders, he is presented to the bishop to be corrected." Having thus stated the plan and regulations of the conferences, the archbishop continues : " The ground of this or like exercise is of great and antient authority; for Samuel did practise such like exercises in his time at Naioth in Ramath and Bethel. So did Elizeas the prophet at Jericho, which studious persons in those days were cdWedJirdprophetarum, the disciples of the prophets; that being exercised in the knowledge and study of the scriptures, they might be able men to serve in God's Church, as that time required. St. Paul also doth make express mention, 1 Cor. xiv., that the like in effect CENT. XVI.-XVII.J FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 167 was used in the primitive Churcli, and giveth order for the same, that two or three should speak, by coarse, he meaneth, and the rest shall keep silence. That exercise in the Church in those days St. Paul calleth prophetia, and the speaker propheta, terms very odious in our days to some, because they are not rightly understood ; for indeed propheta in that and like places of the same Paul, doth not, as it doth sometimes, signify pre- diction of things to come, which thing, or which gift, is not now ordinary in the Church of God, but signifieth thereby the assent and consent of the scriptures. And therefore doth St. Paul attribute unto these that he called prophetcE in that chapter, doctrinam ad cediji- cationem, e.vortationem et consolatlonem. This gift of expounding and interpreting the scriptures was, in St. Paul's time, given unto many by a special miracle, without study, so was also by miracle the gift to speak strange tongues, which they had never learned. But now miracles ceasing, men must attain to the Hebrew, Greek and Latin tongues, &c. By travel and study God giveth the increase ; so must men also attain by the like means to the gifts of expounding and interpreting the scriptures ; and, amongst other helps, nothing is so necessary as these above-named exercises and confer- ences amongst the ministers of the Church, which in effect are all one with the exercises of students in divi- nity in the universities, saving that tlie first are done in a tongue understanded to the more edifying of the learned hearers." This statement is followed by the names of several of the bishops who had expressed their approval of the proceedings described, and had found by experience, it was stated, the great benefit of their adoption. "The ministers of the Church, " says the archbishop, " are more skilful and more ready in the scriptures, and more apt to teach their flocks. It withdraweth them from idleness, wandering, gaming, &c. Some afore suspected in doctrine are brought to the knowledge of the truth, ignorant ministers are driven to study, if not for conscience, yet for shame and fear of discipline. The opinion of laymen touching the ableness of the M 4 I(j8 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. clergy is hereby removed ; nothing, by experience, beateth down popery more than that. Ministers, as some of my brethren do confess, grow to such knowledge by means of those exercises, that where afore were not able ministers, not three, now are thirty, able and meet to preach at Paul's Cross, and forty or fifty besides able to instruct their own cures ; so as it is found by ex- perience the best means to increase knowledge in the simple, and to continue it in the learned, only backward men in religion, and continuers of learning, in the countries abroad do fret against it ; which, in truth, doth the more commend it. The dissolution of it would breed triumph to the adversary, and great sorrow and grief to the favourers of religion, contrary to the counsel of Ezekiel, xiii. 18, who saith. Cor justi non est contristandum ; and, although some have abused this good and necessary exercise, there is no reason that the malice of a few should prejudice all. Abuses may be reformed, and that which is good may remain, neither is there any just cause of oflence to be taken, if diverse men make diverse senses of one sentence of scripture, so that all the senses be good and agreeable to the analogy and proportion of faith ; for otherwise we must needs condemn all the antient fathers and divers of the Church, who most commonly expound one and the same text of scripture diversely, and yet all to the good of the Church : and, therefore, doth Basil compare the scriptures to a well, out of which the more a man drawcth, tlie better and sweeter is the water. I trust when your majesty hath considered and weighed the premises you will rest satisfied, and judge that no such inconveniences can grow of such exercises as these, as you have been informed ; but rather the clean contrary. And for my own part, because I am well assured by reasons, and also by arguments taken out of the Holy Scriptures, by experience, the most certain seal of sure knowledge, that the said exercises for the interpretation and exposition of the scriptures, and for the exhortation and comfort drawn out of the sanie, are both profitable to increase knowledge amongst ministers, and tendeth to the edifying of the hearers. '' CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 169 Having- given these reasons for his approval of the system in question, he adds, and that with a feeling of all possible importance to the Church at such a period, " I am inforced with all humility, and yet plainly to profess, that 1 cannot, with safe conscience, and without the offence of the majesty of God, give mine assent to the suppressing of the said exercises, much less can I send out any injunction for the utter and universal subversion of the same. I say, with St. Paul, I have no power to destroy, but only to edify ; and, with the same Apostle, I can do nothing against the truth but with the truth. If it be your majesty's pleasure for this or any other cause to remove me out of this place, I will, with all humility, yield thereunto, and render again unto your majesty that which I have received of the same. I consider with myself, quod terrendum est incidere in manus Del viventis. I consider also, quod qui f licit contra coiisc'icni'iam {divinis in rebus) (cdijicat ad cjehennam. And what shall I win if I gained, I will not say a bishopric, but the whole world, and lose my own soul ? Bear with me, I beseech you, madam, if I choose rather to offend your earthly majesty, than to offend the heavenly Majesty of God." The conclusion of this admirable epistle must have been still less palatable to the haughty temper of Eli- zabeth. " And now, being sorry that I have been so long and tedious to your majesty, I will draw to an end, most humbly praying the same, that you would consider these short petitions following : The first, that you would refer all these ecclesiastical matters which touch religion, or the doctrine or discipline of the Church, unto the bishops and divines of the Church of your realm, according to the example of all Christian emperors and princes of all ages ; for indeed they are to be judged, as an antient father writeth, in ecclesid seu synodo, non in palatiito. When your majesty hath questions of the laws of your realm, you do not decide the same in your court or palace, but send them to your judges to be determined ; likewise for the duties in matters of doctrine or discipline of the Church, the ordinary way is to defer the decision to the bisliops 170 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. and other head ministers of the Church. Ambrose to Theodosius useth these words : Si de causis pecuniariis comites tuos consulis ; quanto magis in causa religionis sacerdotes Domini ccquum est consulas. And likewise to the emperor Valentinian, Si de fide conferendum est, sacerdotum debet esse justa collatio, sic enim factum est Constantino augustce memorice prindpe qui, nullas leges ante prcemisit, sed liherum dedit judicium sacerdotis. And, in the same place, the same father saith, that Constan- tius, the emperor, son to Constantine the Great, began well, by reason he followed his father's steps at the first, but ended ill, because he took upon him difficile intra palathmm judicare, and thereby fell into Arianism. The said Ambrose, so much commended in all histories for a godly bishop, goeth further, and writeth to the the said emperor in this form : Si docendus est episcopus a laico, quid sequitur ? Laiciis ergo disputet, et episcopus audeat a laico. At certh, si vel scripturarum serium divinarum, vel Vetera tempora retractemus, quis est qui ahundat in causa fidei, inqiiam fidei, ep'iscopos solere de imperatoribus -Christianis, non imperatores de episcopis judicare. Would God your majesty would follow this ordinary ! you should procure to yourself much quiet- ness of mind, and better please God, avoid many offences, and the Church should be more peaceable and quietly governed, much to the comfort and quietness of your realm. The second petition I have to make to your majesty is this, that when you deal in matters of faith and religion, or matters that touch the Church of Christ, which is the spouse, bought with so dear a price, you would not rise to pronounce so resolutely and peremptorily, quasi ex authoritate, as you may do in civil and extern matters ; but always remember that in God's cause, the will of God, and not the will of any earthly creature, is to take place. It is the antichristian voice of the pope. Sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas. " In God's matters, all princes ought to bow their sceptres to the Son of God, and to ask counsel at his mouth what they ought to do. David exhortcth all kings and rulers to serve God with fear and trembling. CENT. XVI.-XVII.J FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 171 Remember, madam, that you are a mortal creature ; look not only, as was said to Theodosius, upon the purple, and princely array wherewith you are appa- relled, but consider withal what it is that is covered therewith. Is it not flesh and blood ? Is it not dust and ashes ? Is it not a corruptible body which must return to her earth again, God knoweth how soon ? Must you not one day appear, ante tremendum tribunal crucijidi, ut recipias ibi proiit gesseris in corpore, sive bonum, sive malum. And although you are a mighty prince, yet remember that He that dwelleth in heaven is mightier, as the psalmist saith, Terribilis est is qui aufert spiritum principum, tei^ribilis super omnes reges. Wherefore I beseech you, madam, in visceribus Christi, when you deal in these religious causes, set the Majesty of God before your eyes, laying all earthly majesty aside ; determine with yourself to obey his voice, and with all humility say unto him, Non mea, sedtua voluntas fiat. God hath blessed you with great felicity in your reign now many years. Beware you do not impute this same to your own deserts or policy, but give God the glory ; and as to instruments and means, impute your said felicity, first, to the goodness of the cause which you set forth, I mean Christ's true religion ; and, secondly, to the sighs and groans of the godly in fervent prayer to God for you, which have hitherto, as it were, tied and bound the hands of God, that he could not pour out his plagues upon you and your people, most justly deserved. Take heecl that you never think of declining from God, lest it be verified of you which is written of Joash, who continued a prince of good and goodly government for many years together, and afterwards, cum corroboratus essct elevatum est cor ejus in iuteritum suum, et 7iegle.iit Deum. You have done many things well, but unless you persevere to the end, you cannot be blessed ; for if you turn from God, then will He turn his merciful coun- tenance from you, and what remaineth then to be looked for, but only a horrible expectation of God's judgment, and an heaping up of God's wrath against the day of wrath. But I trust, in God, your majesty will always humble yourself under his mighty hand, and go forward 172 HISTORY OF THE CHUUCH [cHAP. III. ill the godly and zealous setting forth of God's true religion, always yielding true obedience and reverence to the Word of God, the only rule of faith and religion. And if you so do, although God hath just cause many ways to be angry with you and us for our imthankful- iiess, yet I doubt nothing, but for his own name and sake, He will still hold his merciful hand over us, shield and protect us under the shadow of his wings, as He hath hitherto done. I beseech God, our heavenly Father, plentifully to pour his principal Spirit upon you, and always direct your heart in his holy fear. Amen ! Amen !"* It is hard to conceive how a Christian sovereign could be addressed in language like this, and remain unmoved by the appeal; but neither of the parties that had greatest influence at court desired the success of principles so pure and upright as those advocated by the good arch- bishop. The advisers of the crown most famed for political sagacity, scarcely deigned to conceal the jea- lousy with which they regarded every movement on the side of the Church ; while it was notorious that such men as Leicester would have readily sacrificed the whole to the puritans, or to any other party, the successes of which might open to them the prospect of fresh spolia- tion.! * Fullei-, cent, xvi., Ij. ix., p. 123. " 'What," says the venerable historian, " could be written with more s])irit and less animosity, more humility and less dejection? I see a lamb in his own, can be a lion in God and his Chuirh's cause. Say not that orbitasi and seiiec/tis, the two thino^s which made the man speak so boldly to the tyrant (Plutarch's JNhirals), only encouraged Grindal in this his writing, whose necessary l)oldness did arise, })artly from confidence in the goodness of the cause, for which, partly from the graciousness of the queen, to whom, he made his address." -f- It is of importance to observe, that Grindal's sentiments had not their origin in any love for the puritans. ^Miile archbishop of York he had written to tiie chancellor of Cambridge, " to take some speedy course against Cartwright, who, in his readings, did daily make invectives against the eastern policy and distinctions of states in the ecclesiastical government, with other assertions uttered by him publicly." He showed how the youth there, fre(iuenting his lectures in great numljers, Avere in danger to be poi- soned, as he expressed, with a love of contention and liking of novelty, and so mif.dit become hereafter unprofitable, nay, hurtful to the Church. His advice and judgment was, that he the chancellor should write to the vice- chancellor with ex])edition, to command Cartwright and all his adherents to silence, both in schools and ])ul])its; and afterwards, upon examinations and hearing of the matters liefore him^ and some of the lieads, to reduce the CETS^T. XVI. -XVII ] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 173 The solemn and faithful admonitions of Grindal being neglected, the national Church was every day more exposed to evils which were the natural result of its dimi- nished activity. It could hardly fail to be the case, that the clergy, finding themselves exposed to a rude and unnatural opposition, would lose by rapid degrees much of the fervour acquired in the contemplation of their original position. There are minds so happily consti- tuted, or rather so blessed by large infusions of heavenly grace, that danger and difficulty seem but sent to arouse them to a more profitable exercise of their energies. This, however, is not the case with the generality of even good and conscientious men ; they may not yield to any temptation injurious to ordinary consistency, but it is far from common to find them persevering in the course to which they were led by circumstances and impulses calculated to excite hopes of signal success. The times of Elizabeth followed immediately upon a season which had all the remarkable characteristics of a period consecrated to religious revivals. Men had been brought up and tutored during that period, as destined for ex- traordinary efforts, as chosen to do more for God and the Church of Christ than their predecessors for ages past. A tone was thereby given to their thoughts which ren- dered it above all things difficult to make them believe that they could do too much in the service of holiness ; that they could preach too much or too earnestly, or that they could insist with a zeal not fit or profitable, because ardent, on the worth of evangelical ordinances, on the superiority of the Church to temporal institu- tions, or on any thing whatsoever which belonged to the grand system established for the conversion of the world. When the cold, suspicious policy of Elizabeth's ad- visers, and the stern, ungracious demands of Elizabeth herself, were urged with angry haste against men feeling as we have described, nothing was more probable than that they would either allow their minds, broken or chilled by the opposition, to yield ; or disgusted, but not subdued, offenders to conformity, or to expel them out of the colleges or the university, as the cause should require ; and also that the vice-chancellor should not suffer Cartvi^right to proceed doctor of divinity at the approaching commence- ment^ which he had sued for. — Strype's Annals, vol. r., part ii,, p. 07-5. 174 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. immediately begin to consider whether the national Church was indeed the only sphere within which it was possible for them to promote the interests of true holiness. In the course of such an inquiry, some would doubtless be led to suspect that little good had been done by the Reformation, and that though for the time much of evil had been removed, the low and subject state of the Church would soon permit the return of some of the worst abuses under which it had formerly groaned. According, therefore, to the different character of differ- ent minds, some would recollect, with tender regret, the sacrifices made of things which had only been parted with as a price paid for the expected restoration of the independence of the Church, and all its attendant bless- ings.* Others would indulge in more angry feelings of resentment, and look with no slight degree of com- placency on the machinations of the papal emissaries ; while those of another class, full of enthusiastic notions respecting their spiritual attainments, would rejoice at the progress made by the leaders of the puritans. The consequences were such as might have been anticipated. Jesuits soon appeared in different parts of the country, and their work was carried on with a zeal and sagacity sufficient to endanger both the kingdom and the Church. Elizabeth has received credit for much which did not belong to her. The religious policy of her court exhibited as little wisdom as piety. It was the rough rude working of power seeking little else than its own aggrandizement, and manifesting an almost utter blindness to the rights of the Church, on the one side, and to the rights of conscience on the other. The growth of the seed sown by Romish emissaries was rapid and extensive. That it did not bear the expected fruit must be ascribed to the good providence of God, and to that grace and wisdom which He mercifully bestowed * Thus, notwithstanding the care that was tahon hut the last year, that all justices and other gentlemen thi'ough the kingdom should subscribe to the Act of Uniformity, and promise for themselves and their families duly to come to common jn-ayer and sacraments, yet the temper of their minds was the same, and many of them bore favourable hearts to the old superstition. And these did too often, where they could pick occasion, use rigour towards such as more sincerely and earnestly served God and read the scriptures. — Strype's Annals, vol. i., part ii., p. 3(39. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 175 upon those who had otherwise fallen victims to the efforts of the adversary. In the succeeding reign full proof was given of the desperate plans entered upon from time to time for the ruin of the Reformed Church. That such things would have been attempted without a prospect of success can hardly be imagined, nor does it admit of much doubt that the hopes thus conceived were mainly indebted for their existence to errors committed in the reign of Elizabeth. But if this may be said with regard to the Romanist party, with far greater reason can it be asserted in respect to the puritans. The origin of this party may, it is true, be traced to some of the most common prin- ciples of human feeling ; but the Church itself had neither forgotten their existence, nor despised their workings. Without sacrificing an atom of the sacred deposit committed to its charge, without in anywise incurring the sin of wantonly opposing the teaching of catholic antiquity, or throwing off the responsibility of government, it had shown so much of tender regard for conscience, so cautious a spirit in fixing the limits, or determining the terms, of communion, that many of those who felt most strongly on the side of the puritans found that the greatest difficulty with which they had to contend was created by the moderation and charity of the Church. Nor ought this to be regarded with wonder ; moderation, founded on a clear knowledge of the truth, and a deeply conscious resolution to defend it, at any hazard or sacrifice, is the firmest bulwark tJiat any institution can raise against opponents. Tlie Church itself might have made converts of all, and saved the country from the numberless evils attendant upon reli- gious strife ; but it was not left to pursue its own course, or work according to its own principles. The views it had taken were not those of courts or senates, and, when driven to a compromise, it lost the power which it had otlierwise enjoyed to gather together the mass of the people into its bosom. It stood responsible for errors not its own, and even for offences committed in the first instance against itself. Tlie legitimate claims which it had, as a Church, to respect and obedience, were con- 176 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. founded with demands which had an origin foreign to its nature and design. It thus became an object of sus- picion. Whatever it did or taught was subject to cri- ticism, and popular prejudice was often enlisted against its best efforts to promote the diffusion of heavenly truth. On the other hand, the opponents of the Church enjoyed the advantage, so generally laid hold of by the adver- saries of institutions, of appearing altogether on the side of liberty and simple truth. They had no league with the government, and were free to indulge their admirers in every caprice which did not immediately trench upon the right and spirit of opposition. There was nothing to be laid to their charge on the side of the people. Even the most zealous for the absolute authority of the pope or the Church could now use the language of demagogues, without fear of contradiction ; for the ad- vocates of the most unlimited tyranny will often as rea- dily find supporters, if opposed to constituted authorities, however liberal, as those of the latter when resisting the most unjust aggressions. Nothing can better prove the low estate of the Church at this time than the rapidly declining power of the convocation ; it was fast ceasing to have a voice in ecclesiastical affairs. The venerable primate had vir- tually been degraded by the angry temper evinced at court respecting his proceedings ; and it required minds of a firmer and more elevated character than those which appeared among the clergy of the day, to reinstate them in their proper position. The increase of puritanism was more to be dreaded by the anxious friends of the Church than any move- ment of the Romanist party. So much had been done towards enlightening the people, so much had been proved against the papal system, that the good sense of the nation, as well as religious feeling, was believed to be effectually enlisted against Rome. The dangers arising from the present efforts of its emissaries were such as might be looked for while the remains of the vanquished party still retained a sense of injury or disgrace. They w^ere to be viewed accordingly, and guarded against, as those resulting from any other con- CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG, 177 spiracy. But it was not thus in respect to the puritans. They had done nothing which compelled them to pre- cipitate their plans, and instead of separating from the Church, it was rather in tlieir view to subdue it to themselves, and mould it according to the principles which they advocated. Powerful friends at court were always at hand to protect them against the influence or complaints of the bishops ; and impelled only as they seemed to be by a conscientious desire still further to purify the Church, it was hardly possible for them to fail in persuading many men of ardent piety to join their ranks. To an observant eye, there was another feature in the present state of the puritans calculated to excite consi- derable alarm : they were no longer a body kept up by accidental sympathies.* Occasions had been found, and taken advantage of, for introducing certain prin- ciples of government into the party. Thus at one of the meetings of its leaders it was determined to issue certain decrees, the object of which it is not very difficult to discover. For, after it is ordered that no man should offer himself for tlie ministry " till called thereto by some certain church," it is further directed, that such as are so called should make the matter known " unto that classis or conference whereof themselves are, or else to some greater church assembly ; and if such shall be found fit by them, then let them be commended by their letters unto the bishop that they may be ordained ministers by him." The Service-book is next brought under review, and here it is said, " Those ceremonies in the book of Com- mon Prayer, which being taken from popery are in controversy, do seem that they ought to be omitted and given over, if it may be done without danger of being put from the ministry. But if there be any imminent danger to be deprived, then this matter must be com- municated with the classis in which that church is ; * The movement began at Cambridge, and was headed by the celebrated Cartwright, fonnerly of St. John's, but at that time a fellow of Trinity, and Lady Margaret's professor of divinity. Whitgift was then master of the former college, and exerted himself with characteristic vigour to stem the torrent of disaffection. — Strypc's Annals, vol. r., part ii., p. 874. VOL. III. N 178 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. tliMt by the judgment tliereof it may be determined what ought to be done. If subscription to the articles of religion, and to the book of Common Prayer, shall be again urged, it is thought that the book of articles may be subscribed unto, according to the statute, 13th of Elizabeth, that is, unto such of them only as contain the sum of Christian faith, and doctrine of the sacra- ments. But for many weighty causes, neither the rest of the articles in that book, nor the book of Common Prayer, may be allowed : no ! though a man should be deprived of his ministry for it." By the next clause it appears that every part of the arrangements of the Church was to be brought under the supervision of the authors of these decrees. " It seemeth that churchwardens and collectors for the poor might thus be turned into elders and into deacons. When they are to be chosen, let the Church have warning fifteen days before of the time of election, and of the ordinance of the realm, but especially of Christ's ordinance, touching appointing of watchmen and overseers in his Church, who are to foresee that none offence or scandal do arise in the Church ; and if any shall happen, that by them it may be duly abo- lished. And touching deacons of both sorts (videlicet, men and women), the Church shall be monished what is required by the Apostle, and that they are not to choose men of custom and of course, or for their riches, but for their faith, zeal and integrity ; and that the Church is to pray, in the meantime, to be so directed, that they may make choice of them that be meet. Let the names of such as are so chosen be published the next Lord's day ; and after that, their duties to the Church, and the Church's towards them, shall be de- clared. Then let them be received into the ministry to which they are chosen, with the general prayers of the whole Church. The brethren are to be requested, to ordain a distribution of all churches, according to these rules, in that behalf, that are set down in the synodical discipline, touching classical, provincial, comitial, or of commencements, and of assemblies for the whole kingdom." CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 179 Of the classes it is stated that they are '' required to keep acts of memorable matters which they shall see delivered to the comitial assembl}^, that from thence they may be brought by the provincial assembly : also they are to deal earnestly with patrons, to present fit men whensoever any church is fallen void in that classis." Of the comitial assemblies and others, that they " are to be monished to make collections for relief of the poor and of scholars, but especially for relief of such ministers here as are put out for not subscribing- to the articles tendered by the bishops ; also for relief of Scottish ministers and others, and for other profi- table and necessary uses. All the provincial synods must continually aforehand foresee in due time to appoint the keeping of their next provincial synods ; and for the sending of chosen persons, witli certain instructions, unto the national synod, to be holden when- soever the parliament for the kingdom shall be called at some certain set time every year." * The state of affairs indicated by this document may serve in some degree to account for the severity shown towards archbishop Grindal. Fears were entertained that the views which he favoured were too similar to those of the puritans to be tolerated with safety. Having, therefore, in vain employed what arguments he could to conciliate the queen, and refusing to take any steps towards repressing the exercises objected to, he was deprived of his jurisdiction for six months, by a sentence of the star-chamber, and confined to his palace. At the end of the six months an intimation was sent him that it was only by his submitting to the wishes of the queen that the proceedings in the star- chamber were likely to be suspended. To this inti- mation he returned the following answer : — " Right honourable and my singular good lords, I cannot deny but that I have been commanded, both by the queen's majesty herself, and also by divers of your honourable lordships, in her name, to suppress all those exercises within my province which are cominonly called prophecies. But I do protest before God the Judge of * Fuller, cent, xvi., b. ix., p. 140. Strype's Annals, vol. i., part ii., p. 380, N 2 180 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. all hearts, that I did not, of any stubbornness or wilfulness refuse to accomplish the same, but only upon conscience; for that I found such kind of exercise set down in the Holy Scriptures, and the use of the same to have con- tinued in the primitive Church ; and was persuaded that (the abuses being reformed, which I always offered myself ready to labour in,) the said exercises might yet serve to the great profit of the Church, and feared that the utter suppressing of ihcm would breed offence ; and, therefore, was a most humble suitor unto her majesty, that I might not be made the chief instrument in sup- pressing the same ; yet, not prejudicing or condemning any, that, in respect of policy or otherwise, should be of contrary judgment, or being of authority, should sup- press them. For I know right w^ell, that there be some things of that, nature wherein divers men may be of divers opinions, and abound in their own sense (being not repugnant to the analogy of faith), without any pre- judice of their salvation, or any prejudice of either to other. Notwithstanding, howsoever, others, being other- wise persuadetl, might safely do it, yet I thought it not safe for me (being so persuaded in mind) to be the doer of that wdiereof mine own heart and conscience would condemn me. And whereas I have sustained a restraint of my liberty, and sequestration of my jurisdiction, now by the space of six months, I am so far from repining thereat, or thinking m^'self injuriously or hardly dealt withal therein, at her majesty's hands, that I do thank- fully embrace, and frankly, with all humility, acknow- ledge her princely, gracious and rare clemency towards me ; wlio, having authority and power to have used greater and sharper severity against me, and for good policy and example, thinking it so expedient, hath, not- withstanding, dealt so mercifully, mildly and gently with me. " But the greatest grief that ever I had or have, is the loss of her majesty's favour and the sustaining of the displeasure of so gracious a sovereign, by whom the Church and realm of England hath been so long and so liappily governed ; and by wdiom mj^self, privately and specially above other subjects, have received so many CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 181 and so great benefits above all my deserving. For the recovery of whose gracious favour, I most humbly beseech your iordshijDS to be a means to her majesty for me; the which obtained, I shall esteem far above all worldly benefits whatsoever. And I protest here, before God and your honours, that not only my dutiful and humble obedience to her majesty shall be such as she shall have no cause to repent of her gracious goodness and clemency shown unto me ; but also, that by most fervent, hearty and daily prayer, as I liave done liitherto, so I will continue, according to my bounden duty, to make most earnest suit unto Almighty God for the long- preservation of her majesty's most happy reign, to the unspeakable benefit of the Church and realm of Eng- land," * Notwithstanding the humble tone of this address, it failed to move the heart of the queen, and Grindal's sequestration was continued. We find him, however, soon after directed to convene the clergy, and to make known to them, when the nation was agitated at the prospect of her union with the Duke of Anjou, that her resolution, " never to admit of any change in religion continued fixed and unalterable." At another time, the privy council addressed him on the subject of disci- pline, and he was ordered to use his episcopal authority for the suppression of the abuses which had crept into the Church. These circumstances show that he con- tinued to be looked up to as possessing the chief episcopal authority, and it appears that an offer which he had made to resign his high office was not accepted. Being a man of gentle, humble mind, he with difficulty persevered in his determination to support the practices for which personally he was ready to suffer any incon- venience or loss. We accordingly find him, before the end of his career, offering a still humbler submission to the queen, and resigning his favourite point; stating that, " since her majesty had forbidden tiie exercises of prophesying, he had suffered none of them, either in his diocese or peculiars." t * Collier, vol. vi., b. vi., p. 583. f Ibid., p. 638. N 3 182 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. It is supposed, that in consequence of this submission, Grindal was freed from the penalties of sequestration : but his liealth had been gradually declining, and, his sight failing, he renewed his request to be permitted to resign. His wish was attended to, and the proper instruments were prepared, but he died before they were executed, and was succeeded in his high office by Whit- gift, bishop of Worcester. The new archbishop was a man of different temper to Grindal. Firmer, and more severe, he was better pre- pared to grapple with the difficulties of his situation and of the times. The reputation which he enjoyed for learn- ing and ability secured him the respect of all parties ; and lie at once made known the nature of the plans which it would be necessary for him to adopt, to ward off the dangers to which the Church had been exposed under tlie government of his predecessor. At the outset of his proceedings,* Whitgift insisted on the subscription of the clergy to the three articles which respected, first, the queen's supremacy ; secondly, the book of Common Prayer; and thirdly, the consistency of the thirty-nine articles with the Word of God. This occasioned no slight agitation in many parts of the country, and petitions were sent to the privy council from some of the clergy of Kent against the archbishop himself, another arriving about the same time from Suffolk against the bishop of Norwich. Whitgift had been desired to attend the council to answer the charges brought against him ; but probably considering that to comply in this particular would be to compromise his dignity, he made his defence in a let- ter, and in terms plainly indicative of the course which he intended to pursue. Some of the clergy having, in * Not a week passed after Whitgift's accession before he issued orders, addressed to the bishops of his provuice, " tliat all preaching, catechising and praying in any private family where any are present beside the family, be utterly extinguished. That none do preach or catechise, except also ho Avill read the whole service, and administer the sacraments four times a year. That all preachers and others in ecclesiastical orders do at all times wear the habits prescri))ed : that none be admitted to preach unless he be or- dained according to the manner of the Church of England : that none be admitted to preach or execute any part of the ecclesiastical function, unless lie suli.scribe the three following articles, rmed, bruited abroad, that your lordships have sent for me to answer their complaints, and that they hope to be delivered ; wherein I know they report untruly, as the manner is, for I cannot be persuaded that your lordships have any such intent as to make me a party, or to call my doings into question, which from her majesty are immediately committed unto me, and wherein, as I suppose, I have no other judge but herself. And forasmuch as I am by God and her majesty lawfully, without any ordinary or extraordinary or unlawful means, called to this place and function, and appointed to be your pastor, and to have the greatest charge over you in matters pertaining to the soul, I am the more bold to move and desire you to aid and assist me in matters belonging to my office, namely, such as appertain to the quietness of the Church, the credit of religion established, and the maintenance of the laws made for the same. And here I do protest, and testify unto your lordships, that the three articles whereunto they are moved to subscribe, are such as I am ready, by learning, to defend, in manner and form as they are set down, against all mislikers thereof in England or else- CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 187 where. And thus desiring your lordships to take this ray answer in good part, and to forbear my coming thither in respect of this advantage that may be taken thereof by these wayward persons, I beseech Almighty God long to prosper you."^ The archbishop had undertaken a difficult task, and there were many who doubted not only the prudence of his proceedings but their legality. It was argued that the statute, passed in the twenty-fifth year of Henry VI 11. , expressly prohibited "the whole body of the clergy, or any one of them, to put in use any con- stitutions or canons already made or hereafter to be made, except they be made in convocation assembled by the king's writ, his royal assent being also had thereunto, on pain of fine and imprisonment:" and in the next place, that by the statute of the first of Elizabeth, " All such jurisdictions, privileges, superiorities, pre-emi- nences, spiritual or ecclesiastical power and authority, which hath heretofore been, or may lawfully be, exe- cuted or used for the visitation of the ecclesiastical state and persons, and for the reformation of the same, and of all manner of errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, contempts and enormities, are for ever united to the imperial crown of these realms." Again, it was con- tended that the proceedings of the archbishop vio- lated laws which the queen herself had not power to set aside, for that by the statute of the thirteenth of her reign, the subscription of the clergy was to be demanded in nothing but articles of the Church relating to doctrine, and the administration of the sacraments ; while the archbishop insisted on subscription to the whole body of the articles. In the same manner it was contended, that while he declared, that none should be admitted to preach unless ordained according to the manner of the Church of England, the statute above referred to admitted as valid " all ordinations in the time of popery, or after the manner of foreign reformed churches;" so that persons so ordained might be allowed to possess any ecclesiastical preferment. No little ingenuity was employed in the examination * Lilt" and Acts, vol. i., p. 2.50. Fuller, cent, xvi., b. ix., p. 145. 188 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. III. of the arguments thus set forth. To the reasoning of the puritans it was answered that the canon law gave full authority to the archbishop to make such provision as he chose for the well government of the Church ; but to this again it was said, that though it might be so in former times, it was no longer so, now that, according to laws passed at the Reformation, the authority of the bishops was derived from the queen alone. " Queen Mary," it was argued, " had surrendered the whole of her rights in respect to the Church into the hands of the pope ; and it might, therefore, be admitted, that her present majesty, on succeeding to the throne, had no authority in ecclesiastical matters. But the statute of recognition, passed in the first year of her reign, had restored to her that authority ; and the archbishops and bishops being thereby made subject to her rule, the clergy were thenceforth to be governed according to the laws, that is, such canons, constitutions and synodals provincial as were in force before the twenty-fifth of Henry VIII., and are not contrary or repugnant to the laws and customs of the realm, nor derogatory to her "majesty's prerogative royal ; and therefore all canons made before the twenty-fifth of Henry VIII., giving to the archbishops or bishops an unlimited power over the clergy as derived from the see of Rome, are utterly void, such canons being directly against the laws and customs of the realm, which do not admit of any subject exe- cuting a law but by authority from the prince ; and they are derogatory to her majesty's prerogative royal, because hereby some of her subjects might claim an un- limited power over her other subjects, independent of the crown, and by their private authority command or forbid what they please." Hence, it was concluded, the archbishop's articles were forced upon the clergy con- trary to the canons, and w^ere calculated to involve the nation in perpetual strife. To the argument, that the queen, as head of the Church, might procure the uniformity of the clergy by the publication of articles and injunctions, and that the archbishop acted but in accordance with her wishes, the answer wa^, that the queen herself could, rightly, do CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 189 nothing against the laws, and that, consequently, her consent, except given under the great seal, was no justi- fication of the archhishop's proceeding. Taking this for granted, it was insisted that the clergy were, therefore, not obliged, by their oath of canonical obedience, to subject themselves, in the present instance, to the dicta- tion of the archbishop. Whitgift was not to be moved by such arguments. He could plead that the queen had directed him to act with resolution, and that he was placed in the high station which he occupied, in the full expectation that he would carry out the views which seemed most consonant with the good estate of the Church. They who dis- puted the queen's authority might answer it to herself. With regard to the right of the bishops to insist on sub- scription and uniformity, the denial of that right, as attempted on the part of the puritans, seemed to set aside their authority, not merely as derived from the state, but as bestowed on them by the Church at large, the Church universal, and as given them in virtue of principles, regarded from the earliest times as essential to the peace and consistency of the Christian community. It cannot be doubted that there were many holy and learned men who felt grieved and oppressed by the inflexible spirit of the archbishop ; but there is as little reason to doubt, that the loudest and most troublesome part of the agitation proceeded from weak and unsettled men, who were as unable as they were unwilling, want- ing both learning and patience, to enter upon a sufficient investigation of the questions involved in the subjects upon which they were disputing. The first visitation of the archbishop was attended with the consequences which it was natural to expect. In six counties, two hundred and thirty-three ministers were found who refused to subscribe, and were accord- ingly suspended. The other counties furnished propor- tionable numbers, but out of the whole, forty-nine only are named as absolutely deprived of their benefices. It also appears that, notwithstanding the resolution of the archbishop to give up nothing which he deemed essen- 190 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. tied to consistency, there were particular cases which obtained his indulgence, and a milder treatment. Thus six or seven of the suspended ministers were allowed to appear before him at Lambeth, and having stated their opinions, were suffered to subscribe with the express declaration that they did so according to their own view of the rubrics and articles, and in so far as they were accordant to scripture, and the analogy of faith. That Whitgift sacrificed nothing of importance by this indulgence is sufficiently clear from what followed. " Many good and pious men," it is said, " strained their consciences on this occasion ;" but it is added, " Many upon better consideration repented their subscribing in this manner, and would have rased out their names, but it was not permitted." So also, " Some who were al- lured to subscribe with the promises of favour and better preferment, were neglected and forgotten, and troubled in the commissaries' court as much as befoi'e. The court took no notice of their protestations or reserves ; they wanted nothing but their hands, and when they had got them they were all listed under the same colours, and published to the world as absolute subscribers."* This is the statement of a violent opponent, and he seems to have forgotten, that whatever it may prove against the archbishop, it tends in nowise to exalt the credit of the clergy who favoured the views of the puri- tans. The complaint is not that, being hearty in the defence of their principles, they were subject to a cruel persecution, but tliat having yielded out of weakness, or an expectation of preferment, they did not meet with success proportionable to their hopes, Whitgift had declared that it would be far better for the Church to be without the turbulent and unsettled spirits that under- valued and despised its discipline, than to retain them nominally as its members : it is not at all likely, there- fore, that he would be forward in bribing such men to a pretended conformity. The more probable supposition is, that those who had not acted from any very cor- rupt motive, having sought and obtained tranquillity, by * NeaJ, Hist, of Puritans, vol. i., p. 322. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG, 191 sacrificing their doubts to their fears, foimd, after a short time, their doubts returning, and then began to question the terms on which they had subscribed the articles, flattering themselves that the whole had been done in the way of compromise, whereas the idea of a compro- mise was as far as ever from the mind of the rulers of the Church. Unhappily in most conflicts of this nature, there is, in the language and manner of those who contend on the side of authority, an appearance of coldness in respect to many subjects which deservedly engage the affections of the rest of mankind. This is peculiarly a misfortune when the leaders of the controversy are ec- clesiastical dignitaries. The ne<^essity for vigour, and some degree of severity, though it may not in reality, yet will commonly in the opinion of the world, lessen the force of those graces of charity, mildness and fa- therly benignity, which are universally regarded as the chief virtues of the ecclesiastical character. Nor is this all. While the clergy themselves, if high in authority, and exercising that authority to support their rule, stand exposed to no slight degree of suspicion, there is not unfrequently cause to fear that discipline, asserted and supported in respect to points debated, may be allowed imperceptibly to decline with regard to others of no less importance, but depending entirely on the will and temper, the feelings and tastes, of those in power. Whitgift himself was not insensible to the necessity of providing for the better instruction of the clergy. Though avoiding the dangers which seemed to attend the exercises viewed so favourably by his predecessor, he adopted a plan which seemed well suited to the cir- cumstances of the times. Thus it was ordered, that every minister having cure, and being under the de- grees of master of arts and barrister of law, and not licensed to be a public preacher, should, before a certain day, " provide a Bible and BuUinger's ' Decads,' in Latin or English, and a paper book, and every day read over one chapter of the Holy Scriptures, and note the principal contents thereof briefly in his paper book; and should every week read over one sermon 192 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. HI. in the said ' Decads,'* and note likewise the chief mat- ters therein contained in the said paper; and should once in every quarter shew his said note to some preacher near adjoining, to be assigned for that purpose." Under the next head it is ordered, " That the bishop, archdeacon, or other ordinary, being a public preacher, shall appoint certain grave and learned preachers, who shall privately examine the diligence, and view the notes of tlie said ministers, assigning six or seven ministers, as occasion shall require, to every sucli preacher tliat shall be next adjoining to him, so as the ministers be not driven to travel for the exhibiting their notes above six or seven miles, if it may be. And the said preachers shall, by letters or otherwise, truly certify to the arch- deacons or other ordinary of the place, themselves being public preachers, and resident within or next to their jurisdictions, and for want thereof to the bishop himself, who do perform the said exercises, and how they have profited therein, and who do refuse or neglect to perform the same. The archdeacons and others receiving the said certificates, shall certify the same once a year to the bishop, and that about Michaelmas." Lastly, it is stated, " That such as shall refuse to per- form the exercises, or shall be negligent therein, and shall not, after admonition by the bishop, archdeacon, or other ordinary aforesaid, reform liimself, if he be bene- ficed, shall be compelled thereunto by ecclesiastical cen- sure : if he be a curate, shall be inhibited to officiate within the jurisdiction." And moreover, *' it is con- cluded, that the exercise above written, and no other, shall be henceforth publicly or privately used within any part of this province." f The eflxDrts which some members of government deemed it expedient to make to soften the archbishop proved of little avail. He had consented not to press subscription upon those who were already beneficed ; but he would show no favour to such as presented them- * The celebrated work of Bullinger consisted of several short discourses, drawn np for the use of the churches in Switzerland, and obtained there the species of authority now assigned tliem by the archbishop. — Strype's Annals, vol. II., part ii., p. 144 ; Life of Whitgift. t Collier, vol. vii., part ii.., p. 14. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DItT OF AUGSBURG. 193 selves to him for orders, or institution, and desired to escape the test. The time is long- since passed when the ministers of an established Church regarded it as a grievance to be called upon to declare their assent to the principles on which their Church is founded, and on the preservation of which it depends for consistency of teaching among the clergy, and for any degree of safety when assailed by error or faction. But at the period of which we are speaking, many excellent men seem to have considered that the door was still open to change or reformation ; and that they had a right, therefore, ekher to propose their own notions of discipline, or resist the orders of those of the legitimacy of whose authority they liad serious and conscientious doubts. Men of this kind threw a veil over the factious character of the party to whicli they had joined themselves. For their sake alone, questions were debated which the general feelino- would easily have allowed to sink to rest ; and it was not till the violence and intemperate heat of the body at large showed itself to be incurable, that such men as Wakingham gave up the hope of satisfying the demands made upon the Clmvch's moderation and charity. From this time the contest was attended by none of the miti- gating circumstances whicli the prospect or possibility of reconciliation may give to temporary strife. The Church saw, every day, an increasing obligation to mul- tiply or increase its defences ; and the puritans settled down into that stern, dark temper which prepared them for days of wrath and revolution. It ought not to be forgotten, in statements of this kind, that religion was not left fi-ee, at the period spoken of, from political influences. The House of Commons had for some time past taken a conspicuous part in theological discussions. Its votes might be traced like threads, distinct in colour and fibre, through the whole texture of the Reformation. As every year, spite of the arbitrary dispositions of Elizabeth, gave to the po- pular branch of the legislature greater consistency and force, its predominant sentiments on ecclesiastical affairs assumed a greater importance. But by its very consti- tution, the party in opposition to the Church was sure VOL. III. o 194 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. III. to possess the favour of a considerable portion of its members. Its strength and dignity were only to be seen or felt in opposition. . Many a man of healthy, active mind, wlio would liave been free enough from the contagion of fanaticism, was tempted to become a puritan, because as such he could more openly and decidedly plead the cause of liberty. The power, therefore, which the opponents of the Church were gradually acquiring, ought not to be ascribed, except in a very modified sense, to religious convictions that the Church was in the wrong ; but to the combination of two elements, very rarely in other countries found working together, namely, a simple, unmixed, passionate devotion to the interests of re- ligion, and the keen apprehension, attended by practical expei'ience, of the connexion of political freedom with liberty of thought, and integrity of purpose. Nothing was attempted on the part of the puritans, but it obtained countenance in the House of Commons. Formal motions were made for the purpose of setting aside the rules adopted by the archbishop ; and even petitions were presented by the house " to the lords spi- ritual and temporal of the higher house," in support of the claims urged by the dissenters. Of the points in- sisted upon on such -occasions, many were such as had an undoubted right to the serious attention of every friend of religion and the Church. Thus it was stated that as " the form of ordination of priests, confirmed by act of parliament, directs that those who are taken into the ministry should be put in mind that they are pastors and watchmen, God's stewards and messengers," it behoved their lordships to consider, " for some good expedient, that none may be admitted to the ministry but such as are sufficiently furnished for so high and solemn a function." Close, however, upon this pious request is the demand, " that no minister may be pro- secuted, either in the ecclesiastical or temporal courts, for any small omissions either in ceremonies, or reading the Common Prayer," and " that the bishops would restore such godly and learned preachers as have been suspended or deprived for no other crime but their refusal to sub- CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 195 scribe such articles as have been lately put to them ; or if this favour may not be allowed, they may have the liberty at least of preaching in other places to which they are invited." * Requests like these were calculated to throw suspicion upon all the rest ; but a happy thing would it have been for the Church had some of the lessons, now taught in a spirit unfriendly to its interests because opposed to conformity, received greater attention. The weak places which afterwards exposed it to so many perils would then have been closed up, and arguments urged against abuses would not have been so familiar to the popular mind when not correction, but overthrow and ruin, was the object. At one period, there seemed reason to hope that the calm and dignified explanations which Whitgift ren- dered of his principles and policy, had softened some of the most powerful of his adversaries. One of the conferences which he allowed to take place in his palace, ended in the acknowledged defeat of the dissenters ; and Leicester is reported to have confessed, " that they did not expect such clear principles, and such force of per- suasion, on the archbishop's side, nor such trifling ex- ceptions, and so weak an opposition, from the other party." But it is not on the strength of arguments that party depends. Let those, therefore, of which it forms its visible defences be a thousand times overthrown, its force will in no essential respect be less than it was before. The feelings and passions of its members, and the circumstances of the society by which it is sur- rounded, are the real elements of its power. To at- tempt, therefore, the overthrow of a popular party by direct argument, or appeals to truth and reason, may be compared to the proceeding of a general who calculates that, because he has taken a fortress that was deserted, he may make himself master of that which is still full of bold and active troops. Disputes were perpetual at the period of which we are speaking ; but the parties engaged kept, as parties, the same position. Individuals *Ncal: Fuller, o 2 196 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. changed sides, or were happily taught to inquire more earnestly into important truths, or were excited to melan- choly and capricious wanderings, according to the na- tural quality of their minds. But the two large masses were rolled heavily forward, each with its own instincts, and threatening mutual destruction should they ever come into actual collision. CHAP. IV. ARCHBISHOP "VVHITGIFT AND THE PURITANS. — SABBATH OBSERVANCES. DISPUTES ON THE DOCTRINE OF ELEC- TION. ACCESSION AND PROCEEDINGS OF JAMES I. CONFERENCE. BANCROFT. ABBOT. INCREASE OF PURITANISM. It is not easy to point out all the circumstances which contributed to the agitation of this period : it must not, however,_be forgotten that during the whole of the time the queen lost no opportunity of asserting her entire right to control or correct the movements of tlie clergy. Representations having been made that schism or heresy had been connived at, she did not speak of it simply as a cause of grief, or as filling her with earnest desires to see the mischief corrected by such methods as the Church saw fitting, but, alluding to the supposed abuses, exclaims, " All which, if you, my lords of the clergy, do not amend, I mean to depose you ; look you, tlierefore, well to your charges !" The pain which Whitgift suffered in the midst of so many conflicting interests, is feelingly expressed in his letters to Lord Burleigh. Two Cambridgeshire clergy- men, who had been sent for examination to the register, retired from the ordeal in disgust, and made their com- plaints to tlie lord treasurer. On this, the latter wrote to the archbishop, evidently taking up and espousing their cause. " They say they are commanded to be examined by the register at London, and I asked them whereof? They said of a great number of articles ; but they could CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 197 have no copies of them. I answered, that they might answer to the truth. They said, that they were so many in number, and so divers, that they were afraid to answer them, for fear of captious interpretation. Upon this, I sent for the register, who brought me the articles, which I have read, and find so curiously penned, so full of branches and circumstances, that I think the inquisitions of Spain use not so many questions to comprehend and entrap their prey. I know your canonists can defend these witJi all their particles ; but surely, under your grace's correction, this juridical and canonical siftner of poor ministers is not to edify and reform; and, in charity, I think they ought not to answer to all these nice points, except they were very notorious offenders in papistry or heresy. Now, good my lord, bear with my scribbling; I write with testimony of a good conscience. I desire the peace of the Church ; I desire concord and unity in the exercise of our religion ; 1 fear no sensual and wilful recusant ; Lut I conclude thar, according to my simple judgment, this kind of proceeding is too much savouring the Romish inquisition, and is rather a device to seek for oft'enders than to reform any. This was not that charitable instruction that I thought was intended, if these poor ministers should in some few points have any scrupulous conceptions to be removed ; this is not a charitable way to send them to answer to your common register, upon so many articles at an in- stant, without commodity of instruction by your regis- ter, whose office is only to receive their answers, by which the parties are first subject to condemnation before they be taught their errors. It may be, I say, that canonists may maintain tliis proceeding by rules of their laws ; but though omnia licent, omnia non expediinit. I pray your grace hear this (and perchance a fault),, that I have willed them not to answer these articles, except their consciences may sufi'er them; and yet I have sharply admonished them, that if they be disturbers in their churches, they must be corrected."* To this complaint Whitgift replies, that he had pro- ceeded as he had done, " because he would not touch ' Fuller, b.ix. p. 153. o 3 198 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. any for not subscribing only, but for breach of order in celebrating of divine service, administering of the sacra- ments, and executing other ecclesiastical functions, according to their fancies, and not according to the form of law prescribed." Again : " Tlie complaints which your lordship saith are made of me and other my colleagues have hitherto been general, and therefore cannot other- wise be answered but by a fair denial ; but if any man shall charge me or them with particularities, I doubt not but we are and shall be ready to answer them, and to justify our doings. My proceedings are neither so vehement nor so general against ministers and preachers as some pretend, doing me therein great in- jury; I have divers times satisfied your lordship there- in : if any offence be, it is in bearing too much with them, and using them so friendly, which causeth them thus, contrary to their duties, to trouble the Church, and to withstand me their ordinary and lawful judge." It having been said that his measures were calculated to encourage the Romanists, he answers, that it was the strife fomented by the puritans which really favoured that party. " Oh, my lord, I would to God some of those who use this argument had no papists in their families, and did not otherwise also countenance them, whereby, indeed, they receive encouragement, and do become too malapert. Assure yourself the papists are rather grieved at my proceedings, because they tend to the taking away of their chief argument ; that is, that we cannot agree among ourselves, and that we are not of the Church because we lack unity. And I am credi- bly informed, that the papists give encouragement to these men, and commend them in their doings ; whereof I have also some experience." In conclusion : " I know your lordship desireth the peace of the Church and unity in religion ; but how is it possible to be procured (after so long liberty and lack of discipline) if a few persons so meanly qualified, as most of them are, shall be countenanced against the whole estate of the clergy, of greatest account both for learn- ing, years, staidness, wisdom, religion and honesty ? and oj)en breakers and iuipugners of the laws, young in CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 199 years, proud in conceit, contentious in disposition, main- tained against their superiors and governors, seeking to reduce them to order and obedience ? . . . For my own part, I neither have done, nor do any thing in this matter which I do not think in my conscience and duty I am bound to do ; wJiich her majesty hath not with earnest cliarge committed unto me, and which I am not well able to justify to be most requisite for this State and Clnirch, whereof, next to her majesty, tliough most un- worthy, or at least most unhappy, the chief care is com- mitted unto me, which I will not, by the grace of God, neglect, whatsoever come upon me. Therefore I neither care for the honour of the place, which is onus to me, nor the largeness of the revenues, nor any other worldly thing. I thank God in respect of doing my duty ; neither do I fear the displeasure of man, nor the evil tongues of the uncharitable, who call me tyrant, pope, papist, knave, and lay to my charge things which I never did nor thought upon. ... So was Cyprian himself used, and other antient and godly bishops to whom I am not comparable. The day will come when all men's hearts shall be opened. In the meantime, I will depend on him, who hath called me to this place; and will not forsake those that trust in him." To this he adds an earnest entreaty, that his lordship would leave the persons of whom he had spoken to be dealt with according to the order set down, and that he would not change his dispositions towards him, saying, *' Assuredly if you forsake me, which I know you will not, after so long trial and experience, with continuance of so great friendship, especially in so good a cause, I shall think my coming to this place to have been for my punishment, and my hap very hard, that when I think to deserve Ijest, and in a manner to consume myself to satisfy that which God, her majesty, the Church, re- quireth of me, I should be so evil rewarded. Sed meliora spero." * That Lord Burleigh was not much affected by the arch- bishop's appeal is clear, from the conclusion of the brief answer to what he termed " his grace's long letter." * Strypo : llocords and Originals, n. x. ; Fuller, b. ix.^ p. 15G. O 4 200 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IV, " I think your grace's proceeding is, 1 will not siiy rigor- ous or caj)tious, but I think it is scant charitable. 1 have no leisure to write more, and therefore I will end, for writing will but increase offence, and I mean not to offend your grace. I am content that your grace, and my lord of London, where I hear Brown is, use him as your wisdom shall think meet. If I had known his fault, I might be blamed for writing for him ; but when by examination only it is meant to sift him, with twenty- four articles, I have cause to pity the poor man." Tlie controversy was not to stop here. Whitgift was evidently distressed at the view taken of his measures, and of the present state of religious affairs, by the lord treasurer. " God knoweth," he says, in an answer to the last letter, " how desirous I have been, from time to time, to satisfy your lordship in all things, and to have my doings approved to you. For which cause, since my coming to this ])lace, I have done nothing of importance without your advice. I have risen earl}' and sat up late, to write unto such objections and answers as on either side were used. I have not done the like to any man, and shall I now say that 1 have lost my labour, or shall my just dealing with two of the most disordered ministers in a whole diocese (the obstinacy and contempt of whom, especially of one of them, you yourself would not bear in any subjected to your authority) cause you so to think and speak of my doings, and of myself ! No man living should have made me believe it. Solomon saith. An old friend is better than a new; and I trust your lordship will not so lightly cast off your old friends for any of these new-fangled and factious sectaries, whose endeavour is to make division \vheresoever they come, and to separate old and assured friends. Your lordship seemeth to charge me w^ith breach of promise, touching my manner of proceeding, whereof I am no way guilty ; but I have altered my first course of dealing with them for not subscribing onl}^, justifiable by the law and common practice in the time of King Edward, and from the beginning of her majesty's reign, and chosen this, only to satisfy your lordship." Again complaining of the rei)orts respecting him, he CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 201 says, " Mine enemies and the evil tongues of this uncharitable sect report also, that I am revolted and become a papist, and 1 know not what; but it pro- ceedeth from their lewdness, not fi"om any desert of mine, and I disdain to answer to any such notorious untruths, which the best of them dare not avouch to my face. Your lordship seemeth further to burden me with wilfulness. I am sure that you ai'e not so persuaded of me. I will appeal to your own conscience. There is difference betwixt wilfulness and constancy. I have taken upon me the defence of the religion and rights of the Church of England ; to appease the sects of schisms therein, and to reduce all the ministers thereto to uni- formity, and due obedience therein. I intend to be constant, and not to waver with every wind. The vvhich also my place, my person, my dut}^ the laws, her ma- jesty, and the goodness of the cause doth require of me, and wherein your lordship and others, all things con- sidered, ought in duty to assist and countenance me. It is strange that a man in my place, dealing by so good warranties as I do, should be so encountered, and for not yielding to be counted wilful : but I must be con- tented. Vincit qui pat'ttur; and if my friends forsake me herein, I trust God will not; neither the law^, nor her majesty, who have laid the charge on me, and are able to protect me. But of all other things, it most grieveth me, that your lordship should say, that the two ministers fare the worse, because your lordship hath sent them. Hath your lordship ever had any cause so to think of me ? It is needless for me to protest my good heart and affection towards you above all other men ; the world knoweth it, and I am assured that your lordship nothing doubteth thereof. I have rather cause to complain to your lord- ship of yourself, that upon so small an occasion, and in the behalf of two such, you will so hardly conceive of me, yea, and as it were, countenance persons so meanly qualified in so evil a cause against me, your lordship's so long tried friend, and their ordinary. That hath not so been in times past : now it should least of all be. I may not suffer the notorious contempt of one of them especially, unless I will become J^sop's block, and undo all that wliich hitherto hath been done. Well; because 202 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. I would loathe to omit any thing whereby your lordship niiglit be satisfied, I have sent unto you, herein inclosed, certain reasons to justify the manner of my proceedings, which 1 marvel should be so misliked in this cause, having been so long practised in the same, and never before this time found fault with. Truly, my lord, I must proceed this way, or not at all. The reasons I have set down in this paper, and heartily I pray your lordship not to be carried away, either from the cause, or from myself, upon unjust surmises and clamours, lest you be the occasion of that confusion which hereafter you would be sorry for. For mine own part, I desire no further defence in these occasions, neither of your lordship, nor any other, than justice and law will yield unto me. In my own private affairs, I know I shall stand in need of friends, especially of your lordship, of whom I have made always an assured account ; but in these public actions, I see no cause why I should seek for friends, seeing they to whom the care of the com- monwealth is committed, ought of duty therein to join with me."* Much may be learnt of the state of affairs from these important letters. It is evident that the resolution of Whitgift was severely tried, and that, had he yielded, the interests of the Church, to whatever degree they depend upon conformity, must have greatly suffered. That many also of the charges brought against him by his enemies were unfounded, appears from the plain fact, that he did whatever was possible, without a sacrifice of principle, for the maintenance of peace. In a ktter to AValsingham, he says, " I thank you heartily for your letter written unto me on behalf of Leverwood, wherein I perceive the performance of your honourable speeches to myself, in promising to join with me against such as shall be breakers of the orders of the Church established, and movers of contentions therein. Upon that, and other like speeches of yours with me at your last being at Lambeth, I have forborne to suspend or deprive any man, already placed in any cure or charge, for not sub- scribing only, if hereafter he would promise unto me, in writing, the observing of the Book of Common Prayer, ♦ Strypc : Records and Originals, n. xi. ; Fuller, b. ix., p. 160. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 203 and the orders of the Church by law set down. And I do now require subscription to the said articles of such only as are to be admitted to the ministry, and to eccle- siastical livings ; wherein I find myself something eased of my former troubles ; and as yet none, or very few, of the last-named persons, to refuse to subscribe to the said articles, though some of them have been accounted here- tofore very precise." Of the methods employed to escape the force of sub- scription, a curious hint is given in the same letter. " Touching the articles inclosed in your letter, where- unto Lever wood hath subscribed, they are of no moment, but such as may easily be eluded. For whereas he first saith, that he will willingly subscribe as far as tlie law requireth at his hand ; his meaning is, that the law re- quireth no such subscription, for so I am informed, that some lawyers, therein deceived, have persuaded him and others ; and in sa3nng that he will always in the ministry use the Book of Common Prayer, and none else, his meaning is, that he will use but so much of the book as pleaseth him, and not that he will use all things in the book required of liim. I have dealt with him in some particularities which he desireth to use, and there- fore his subscription is to small purpose. I would, as near as I can, promise that none should hereafter come into the Church to breed new troubles : I can be better occupied otherwise ; and God would bless our labours more amply, and give better success to the Word so com- monly and diligently preached, if we could be at peace and quietness among ourselves, which I most heartily wish, and doubt not to bring to pass, by God's grace, the rather through your good help and assistance, whereof I assure m^'self." Happily for the Church, the most active of its op- ponents were not sufficiently agreed among themselves to secure the objects likely materially to injure it. Burleigh, notwithstanding his occasional coolness with Whitgift, was far from wanting in affection to the esta- blishment ; but he felt and reasoned as a statesman, and was more ready to accomplish his purpose by policy than the firm, honest and uncompromising prelate. When 204 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. tlie dissenters pressed him to obtain a reform of the liturgy, he calmly desired them to agree among them- selves, and bring him a better than the one in use, or one which would satisfy tliem all. Not seeing the diffi- cult}'- attending such a task so clearly as the wise old statesman did, the first of the classes into which the body was divided, composed a service-book on the model of the Geneva rules; the second, taking this in hand, disfigured it by six hundred corrections ; the third class disliked the alterations, and began a new form ; while the fourth quarrelled with them altogether. Deplorable injuries were inflicted on religion by these disputes. Men of higli character, both for piety and learning, were perpetually set against each other, and their trials of strength made a spectacle of to those whom they would otherwise have led in happy tran- quillity and steadfastness to the knowledge and love of the truth. Much was sacrificed on both sides ; on both sides there were violent men, whose only reason for engaging in the strife was the gratification which it afforded to their pride or other bad passions. But this was far from being the case with all ; many of the puritans were moved, not only by considerations of per- sonal safety and fortune to desire to be reconciled to the Church, but by others inseparable from pious and enlightened minds. It was next to impossible for the most conscientious among them not to lament their state of separation, or hostility, in respect to a church reformed by the labours of so many saints, adorned with the triumphs of so many martyrs. If their consciences obliged them to refuse the test on which alone the blessings of communion could be enjoyed, they must have felt that they were making a sacrifice only inferior to that of the truth. It is an error into which we easily fall, when judging those who are opposed to us, to view their dissent as springing entirely from party motives, and therefore causing no pain ; whereas truth as well as charity would often show us, that there is a very nice balancing and calculating of arguments in the minds of our opponents, and that, though overpowered by strong convictions against us, they sufler but little less than CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG, 205 we should ourselves in forsaking the hosom of that holy mother of whom they were born, and who che- rished them lovingly till the moment of their separation. Supposing that there were but a scanty number of nonconformists under the influence of feelings of this kind, still the duty which the heads of the Church had undertaken to perform was of the most diffi- cult and distressing character. Men could assuredly not be inspired by the blessed Spirit of evangelical love, and without weeping find themselves constrained to expel from the ministry of the Church brethren, par- takers with them of the same grace. However obvious the path of duty, it is not, therefore, free from thorns. Clearly as the bishops might discern the line which the rule of their Church obliged them to follow, thev would feel no less distressed in pursuing it when the peace, the usefulness, the ministerial virtues and graces of many pastors, beloved by their flocks, were the necessary sacrifice. The absence of sentiments of this kind, or the want of such a feeling of sorrow, would, more than almost anything else, if well proved, lead to a suspicion that the chiefs of the Church were influenced by motives not altogether pure. But to speak with confidence on either side of the question, would require more evi- dence than we possess. The severity of Whitgift does not prove that he was wanting in commiseration for those who, far diflerent to agitators, fell by the force of circumstances under the same penalties. It is difficult, in our own age, to free from the charge of illiberal ity all the measures which he adopted, or even to apologize for them as suggested by considerations superior to personal feeling or passion. Cartwright had doubtless merited chastisement for troubling the Church ; but when with learning and genius, and (there is no reason for denying it) with pious zeal, he composed a valuable treatise on the Rhemish version of the New Testament, it is hard to find arguments whereby to justify the archbishop when he peremptorily ordered the writer to desist from his work, and consigned a confessedly important, erudite and useful work to oblivion. 206 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. Nothing, however, is said of Whitgift, even on the part of his adversaries, so injurious to his character as what is recorded of his coadjutor the bishop of London. If the statements given of the proceedings of that pre- late be not the mere fabrication of the enemy, and if his temper and conduct may be taken in anywise as an indication of the ruling spirit in the hierarchy of the day, certainly it may be said, that no Church was ever more indebted for its preservation to the grace of God, and less to the wisdom or virtue of its rulers, than the Church of England at the time of which we are speaking. Among other incidents alleged as proofs of the tyrannical temper of Aylmer is the following : — A cler- gyman of London, named Benison, well known for his attainments as a scholar, and his usefulness in the ministry, had imprudently, it seems, allowed a number of persons to assemble at his marriage, which, still more imprudently, he solemnized in a manner calculated to excite doubts respecting his views on rites and cere- monies. Scarcely a fortnight was allowed to elapse, when he was apprehended by order of the bishop of London, conveyed to the Gate-house, and cast into a dungeon. This occurred in the year 1579, and, melan- choly to be said, it was not till 1584 that he obtained, by petitioning the Privy Council, any redress of his wrongs. " Thus I continue, '* says he, in his address, "separated from my wife before I had been married to her two weeks, to the great trouble of her friends and relations, and to the staggering of the patient obedience of my wife ; for since my imprisonment, his lordship has been endeavouring to separate us, whom God has joined together, in the open presence of his people. Wherefore, I most humbly beseech your godly honours, for the everlasting love of God, and for the pity you take upon God's true Protestants, and his poor people, to be a means that my pitiful cry may be heard, and my just cause with some credit be cleared, to God's honour and her majesty's, whose favour I esteem more than all the bishop's blessings or bitter cursings; and that I now, being half dead, may recover again to get a poor living, with the little learning that God has sent me, to his CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 207 glory, to the discharging' some part of my duty, and to the profit of the land.'' * Tlie petition thus worded procured from the council the following letter to the bishop: "Whereas Barnaby Benison, minister, has given us to understand the great hindrance he has received by your hard dealing with him, and his long imprisonment, for which, if he should bring his action of false imprisonment, he should recover damao'es which would touch your lordship's credit ; we, therefore, have thought fit to require your lordship to use some consideration towards him, in giving him some sum of money to repay the wrong you have done him, and in respect of the hindrance he hath incurred by your hard dealing towards him. Therefore praying your lordship to deal with the poor man, that he may have occasion to turn his complaint into giving to us a good report of your charitable dealing, we bid you heartily farewell." f Among the names signed to this instrument are those of Leicester, Walsingham and Burleigh, the last mentioned not very likely to be ex- cited by a tale that was not founded in fact. As an illustration of the dangers to which almost every exercise of the ministry was exposed, we may mention the case of Travers and the venerable Hooker: the former had distinguished himself at Cambridge, and been admitted to the degree of bachelor of divinity. As an associate of Cartwright, he was well known for his adherence to the doctrines of the puritans, which was further confirmed by a visit to Geneva. On leaving that city, he repaired to Antwerp, where he received ordination in a synod of twelve ministers, whose certifi- cate states, that their very learned, pious and excellent brother, the reverend doctor Walter Travers, had been, ^' by the unanimous votes and ardent desires of all present, received and instituted into the ministry of God's holy Word, and confirmed according to the ac- customed manner, with prayer and imposition of hands ; and that the next day, after the Sabbath, having preached before a full congregation of English, at the request of the ministers, he was acknowledged and received most * Ncal, vol. I., p. 349. t I^kl., p. 850. 208 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CIIAP. IV. affectionately by the whole cluu'ch." Some time after this, we find him in England, and taking a part in the conference at Lnmbeth. Snch also was the reputation of his arguments that Lord Burleigh appointed him his chaplain, and procured him the readership at the Temple. This was but a poor preferment for a man so highly esteemed, but it was almost the only one which his scruples would allow him to accept. When the mastership fell vacant, efforts were made to secure his elevation to that office, but there were manifest ob- jections to [lis appointment, and Hooker was elected in his stead. Though no personal prejudices or quarrel existed to prevent the agreement of these learned and pious men, scarcely any two could have been found more opposed in feeling or opinion. This soon became apparent to those whom they addressed from the pulpit. In the morning, Hooker supported the strictest views of the Church ; and in the afternoon Travers so powerfully de- fended those of the nonconformists, that it was impos- sible not to regard his discourse as an answer to that of the master. The latter, on the following Sunday, re- turned to the charge, and another reply followed. In this state things continued for two years ; when Hooker made his case know^n to the archbishop, led thereto, we may conclude, from his gentle forbearing disposition, not so much by personal considerations, as by his anxiety for the edification of those placed und^r his charge. Circumstances favoured Hooker's application, and Travers was silenced on the plea, " that he was no law- fully ordained minister according to the Church of England : that he preached without being licensed : that he had openly presumed to confute such doctrine as had been publicly delivered by another preacher, without giving notice of these controversial sallies to the lawful ordinary ; and that this liberty was contrary to a provision made in the seventh year of this reign, for avoiding disturbances in the Church. " The order being thus framed. Lord Burleigh endea- voured to persuade Travers to remove the objection against him, and accej)t orders according to the rites CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 209 of the Church. But to this he answered, " As for myself, I had a sufficient title to the ministerial office, having been ordained according to God's holy Word, with prayer and imposition of hands, and according to the order of a church of the same faith and profession with tlie Church of England, as appears by my testimonials."* The assertion here made was defended by arguments which show the unsettled state of opinion, at the time, on almost every subject connected with religion. "The making of a minister," it is said, "being once lawfully done, ought not by the Word of God to be repeated. Pastors and teachers of the Church in the New Testa- ment had in like manner, by the same Word, their calling to the ministry." Further, it is contended, " that the reiterating in one dominion what was sufficiently done in another, taketh from Christ's authority given him of God in all places : that it made his kingdom like the kingdom of an earthly prince, as if it were bounded with certain limits. That the repeating of the former calling to the ministry made void that former calling, and consequently such acts as were done by him, as con- firmations, marriages, &:c. : that repeating of one action of that nature, which by the Word of God was not to be reiterated, made the repeating of all others, which were of the like nature, as lawful. As, to be baptized again, and married again, to such persons as come into this country after their baptism, or marriage, celebrated in another. That the making void such actions, as were done in all the Churches of God, gave dangerous occasion of schisms and divisions, since the Church of God is one, and a communion was to be maintained among all the saints, and in all the churches : that the universal and perpetual practice of all Christendom, in all places and in all ages, proved that ministers lawfully made in any church of sound profession ought to be acknow- ledged such in any other." Having brought some in- stances, in illustration of the latter statement, and among them, which is not a little extraordinary, the case of Polycarp when he visited Rome, he cites the statute of the 13th of Elizabeth, and says, "that the law appointed * Neal, vol, i., p. 357. VOL. HI. p 210 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. not any formerly ordered to be ordered again, according to the form established, but only to subscribe the articles to qualify them to officiate." * The archbishop subjoined short notes to the chief points in the above argument. They were such as most well-instructed churchmen would have added; nor could it be disputed by any unprejudiced witness of what had taken place, that the proceedings of Travers imperatively called for the interference of the archbishop. His very last act in the Temple was to take notes of Hooker's sermon, and disperse them, with commentaries of his own, among the hearers. The venerable master had stated, " that he doubted not but that God was merciful to thousands of our fathers who lived in popish super- stition ; for that they sinned ignorantly, but we have the light of the truth." Travers met this with a direct contradiction, stating, ^' that salvation belonged to the Church of Christ; and that we might not think that they could be capable of it who lived in the errors held and maintained in the Church of Rome, that seat of antichrist." Cartwright lost no opportunity of aiding the same cause as Travers : he had, like the latter, gathered from circumstances, personally affecting him, fresh motives for party zeal. The injury inflicted on him by the loss of his professorship, and the refusal of his degree, was not likely to be forgotten. However necessary or just the proceeding might be, on the part of those with whom it originated, the feelings to which it gave rise were precisely those most calculated to im bitter a spirit already inclined to resentful opposition. The subse- quent career of this celebrated leader of the puritans tended perhaps more than that of any other individual to the establishment of the party. He threw the whole of his heart into it ; and he was qualified, far above the common run of controversialists, to support his cause by argument. Called at length before the court of high commission, articles were exhibited against him which afford in themselves a history of the struggles in * Strype : Life of Wliitgift, vol. i., h. iii., p. 479, and Records and Ori- ginals, niunbcr xxx., 107. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 211 which the Church, and the chief men among the dis- senters were unhappily engaged. No prejudice, it must be confessed, is created by the proceedings in favour of those who represented the former. Cartwright was called upon to take an oath to answer the interroga- tories of his judges. To this demand he replied, that he believed the laws of God did not oblige him to obe- dience ; and it is plain that the questions were worded in a manner which left him no chance of escape if compelled to answer them according to the mind of his examiners.* The first of the articles states, " We do object and articulate against him, that he being a minister, at least a deacon, lawfully called, according to the godly laws and orders of this Church of England, hath forsaken, abandoned and renounced the same orders ecclesiastical, as an antichristian and unlawful manner of calling unto the ministry or deaconship." The second, that " he departing this realm into foreign parts, without license, as a man discontented with the form of government ecclesiastical, here by law established, the more to testify his dislike and contempt thereof, and of the manner of his former vocation and ordination, was contented in foreign parts, at Antwerp, Middleburgh or elsewhere, to have a new vocation, election or ordination, by imposition of hands, unto the ministry, or unto some other order or degree ecclesiastical, and in other manner and form, than the laws ecclesiastical of this realm do prescribe. Let him declare upon his oath the particular circum- stances thereof. " The third, that, " by virtue or colour of such his latter vocation, election or ordi- nation, becoming a pretended bishop or pastor of such congregation as made choice of him, he established or procured to be established at Antwerp and at Middle- burgh, among merchants and others, her majesty's sub- jects, a certain consistory, seminary, presbytery or elder- ship ecclesiastical, consisting of himself, being bishop or pastor, and so president thereof, of a doctor, of certain antients, seniors or elders, for government ecclesiastical, and of deacons for distributing to the poor." Fourthly, it is objected, " That by the said * Collier, vol. vii., p, 121, 129. p 2 21-2 HISTORY OF TIIK CHURCH [CHAP. IV. eldership, and tlie authority thereof, certain English- born subjects were called, elected or ordained, by impo- sition of hands, to be ministers or ecclesiastical doctors, being not of that degree before, as Hart, Travers, Grise, or some of tliem ; and some that were also minis- ters afore, accordino- to the orders of the Church of England, as Fenner, Acton, were so called, and other English subjects were also called, and likewise ordained elders, and some others were ordained deacons, in other manner and form than the laws ecclesiastical of the realm do prescribe or allow of," Fifthly, " That such eldership so established under the presidentship of him the said Thomas Cartwright, had used (besides this authority of this vocation and ordination of officers ecclesiastical) the censures and keys of the Church, as public admonition, suspension from the Supper, and from execution of offices ecclesiastical, and the censures of excommunication : likewise authority of making laws, degrees and orders ecclesiastical, and of dealing with the doctrine and manners of all persons in that congregation, in all matters whatsoever, so far as might appertain to conscience." Sixthly, " That he, the said Thomas Cartwright, in the public administration of his ministry there, among her majesty's subjects, used not the form of liturgy or Book of Common Prayer, by the laws of this land established, nor, in his government ecclesiastical, the laws and orders of this land, but rather conformed himself in both to the use and form of some other foreign churches." Thus far the articles concerned Cartwright's pro- ceedings on the Continent. A fit of ague had obliged him to return to this country.* On his landing he was immediately apprehended and conveyed to prison ; a sad reception, it must be confessed, for a man eminently distinguished as a scholar ; regarded by many as not less venerable for piety and deep devotion to the cause of truth, and now sinking under the burden of most distressing sickness. An interview with the archbishop delivered Cartwright from the miseries of confinement. The prelate was moved, it is said, by his appearance and demeanour, and Leicester did not fail to use what * Ncal, vol. I., p. 871. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 213 seemed a favourable opportunity, for requesting that Cartvvright might be permitted to preach. Whitgift, however, though properly allowing himself to be softened to an act of personal kindness, could not be persuaded to err against his settled rule of action in public matters. " Mr. Cartwright," he said, " shall be welcome to me at all times ; but to grant him a license to preach, till I am better satisfied of his conformity, is not consistent with my duty or conscience." That Cartwright was far from contented with the position allotted him in his new office, appears from the following articles : in which it is stated, first, " That since his last return from beyond the seas, being to be placed at Warwick, he faithfully promised (if he might be but tolerated to preach) not to impugn the laws, orders, policy, government, nor governors in this Church of England, but to persuade and procure, so- much as he could, both publicly and privately, the estimation and peace of this Church." Secondly ; " That he having no ministry in this Church (other than such as afore he had forsaken, and still condemnetli as unlawful) and without any license (as law requireth) he hath since taken upon him to preach at Warwick and at sundry other places in this realm." Thirdly, " That since his said return, in sundry private conferences, with such ministers and others, as at sundry times, by word and letter, have asked his advice or opinion, he hath shewed mislike of the laws and government eccle- siastical, and of divers parts of the liturgy of this Church ; and thereby persuaded, and prevailed also with many in sundry points, to break the orders and form of the Book of Common Prayer, who observed them before, and also to oppose themselves to the government of this Church, as himself well knoweth or verily believeth." The articles next adduced are founded on his observa- tions against the bishops: thus it is said, "That he hath grown so far in hatred and dislike towards them, as that at sundry times, in his prayer at sermons, and namely, preaching at Banbury, about a year since, in such place as others well disposed pray for bishops, he p 3 214 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. prayed to this or like effect : Because that they which ought to be pillars in the Church, do bend themselves against Christ and his truth, therefore, 0 Lord, give us grace and poiver, all as one man, to set ourselves against them. And this in effect, by way of emphasis, he then also repeated." Again : " That preaching at sundry times and places, he usually reacheth at all occasions, to deprave, condemn and impugn the manner of or- dination of bishops, ministers and deacons : sundry points of the polity, government, laws, orders and rights ecclesiastical, and of the public liturgy of the Church of England, contained in the Book of Common Prayer ; as namely, the use of the surplice, the interrogatories to godfathers and godmothers in the name of infants ; the cross in baptism ; the ring in marriage ; the thanks- giving after childbirth ; burials by ministers; the kneel- ing at communion ; some points of the litany ; certain collects and prayers ; the reading of portions of scrip- ture for the epistle and gospel ; and the manner of singing in cathedral churches and others." So also with regard to the government of the Church, he is said to have spoken much in its derogation and of its unlawfulness, and no less openly in justification, " of a government by elderships in every congregation, and by conference and synods abroad, as divine insti- tutions commanded by Christ, and the only lawful Church government; seeking to prove and establish such elderships out of that word in one of the psalms where thro7ies are mentioned." Moreover, " that by toleration and impunity, he did grow so confident, and withal implacable against the laws, government and orders of this Church of England, that he could not endure Mr. Bourdman and others, preaching sundry times at Warwick, to speak in defence thereof, but took upon him to confute in sundry sermons there, those things which the said Bourdman had truly and duti- fully, in that behalf, spoken and delivered." _ It appears from other articles that these efforts on the side of his party were not made in vain j for it is said, " that by his persuasions, privately and publicly deli- vered, sundry persons, in and about Warwickj were CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. ^15 appointed to impugn, both in words and deeds, the laws, orders and rights prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer." And " that sundry times (or at least once), when he communicated at the Lord's Supper there, he sat or stood upon his feet; and divers others, induced by his persuasions and example, both then and at other times, did the like : and that at other times there, or in other places, where he hath communicated, both him- self and others (as he had appointed or persuaded afore) did walk along and receive the sacrament of the minister as they passed by him." Then follow other proofs of the systematic plans adopted for establishing the independence of the puritans. " Since his placing at Warwick," it is said, " he with others at such times as they saw fit, have agreed to have, and so have had, divers public fasts without the queen's authority, and have invited and persuaded both sundry persons to be there present, and also certain to preach, to the number of three, four or five, successively, one after another, being all noted to be such as mislike and impugn sundry points of the laws, government and liturgy ecclesiastical of this Church of England. In which sermons both he, the said Cartwright, and such others also as then preached, did impugn and inveigh against the present laws, govern- ment, polity and liturgy ecclesiastical of this Church of England." Moreover, " that from time to time, since his abode in Warwick, by his practice and dealing, he hath nourished a faction and heart-burning of one inhabitant there against another, severing them in his own and his followers' speeches, by the names of the godly, or brethreri favom'ing sincerity, and the jiro- fane. Again: "That he doth know, or hath credibly heard, who were the penners, printers or some of the dispersers of the several libels going under the name of Martin Marprelate: of the Demonstration of Discijjline, of Diotrephes; and such like books, before it was known to authority ; and yet in favour of such, and contempt of good laws, did not manifest the same to any who had authority to punish it." Still further : "That being asked his opinion of such books, he answered thus in V 4 21G HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. effect, or something tending this way, meaning the bishops, and others there touched would not amend by grave books and advertisements, and therefore it was meet they should thus be dealt with, to their further reproach and shame." So also, " that for and in the behalf of the Church of England, he penned or pro- cured to be penned all or some part of a little book entitled in one part, Dlsciplina Ecclesice sacra Verho Dei descripta ; and in the other part, Disciplma Synodica in JEcdesiai^um usu. And after it was perused by others, whom he first acquainted therewith, he recommended the same to the censures and judgments of more brethren, being learned preachers, and some others, assembled together by his means, for that and other like pur- poses. Which, after deliberation, and some alterations, was by them, or most of them, allowed as the only lawful Church government, and fit to be put in practice ; and the ways and means for the practising thereof in this realm were also then, or not long after, agreed or con- cluded upon by them." That the latter determination had not been allowed to remain as a mere verbal expression of opinion appears from the following article, in which it is stated that Cartwright and sundry others had met " in assemblies, termed synods, more general as at London, at terms and parliament times; in Oxford at the Act; in Cambridge at the times of commencement and Stourbridge fair ; and also more particular and provincial synods, and at classes or conferences of certain selected ministers ; in one or more places of sundry several shires, as Warwick, Northampton, Rutland, Oxford, Leicester, Cambridge, Norfolk, Sufiolk, Essex and others." Moreover, "that at such synods and conferences, it hath been concluded, that all the ministers which should be received to be either of the said general synods, or of any more particular and j)rovincial, or of a classis or conference, should subscribe to the said discipline, that they did allow it, would promote it, practise.it, and be governed by it. And according to the form of a schedule hereunto annexed, or such like, both he, the said Thomas Cart- wright, and many others, at sundry or some general CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 217 assemblies, as at provincial and at several conferences, have within the said time subscribed the same or some part thereof." The following article is cited to show the systematic manner in which the business of the conference was conducted : " At such synods and all other assemblies, a moderator of that meeting was first by him and them chosen, according to the prescription of the said book. And at some of such meetings and assemblies, amongst other things, it was resolved and concluded, that such particular conferences in several shires should be erected : how many persons, and with what letters from every of them, should be sent to the general assembly ; and that one of them at their coming home to their con- ference should make known tlie determinations of the general assembly, to be by every of them followed, and put in practice. Which course in sundry places of this realm hath, within the time aforesaid, been accordingly followed and performed." Lastly : " That all such several meetings, synods and conferences, within the said time ; many other determinations, as well what should be done and performed or omitted ; as also what should be holden consonant to God's Word, or dis- agreeing from it, have been set down by the said Thomas Cartwright and others. As namely, that all admitted to either assembly should subscribe the said book of discipline, holy and synodical : that those who were sent from any conference to a synod, should bring letters fiduciary, or of credence : that the last moderator should M^'ite them : that the superscription thereof should be to a known man of the assembly then to be holden : that no book made by any of them should be put in print but by consent of the classis at least : that some of them must be earnest ; and some more mild and temperate, whereby there may be both of the spirit of Elias and Elizeus : that all admitted amono-st them should subscribe, and promise to conform them- selves in their proceedings, administration of sacra- ments, and of discipline, to the form of that book ; and that they would subject themselves to the censuring of the brethren, both for doctrine and life ; and, lastly, 218 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IV. that upon occasion, when any of their brethren shall be sent by them upon affairs of the Church (as to the great meetings, parliament, &;c.), they all would bear their charges in common : that there might be no superiority among them, and that the moderatorship (as it hap- pened) is not a superiority or honour, but a burden : that no profane writer, or any other than canonical scripture, may be alleged in sermons : that they should all teach that the ministry of those who did not preach, is no ministry, but a mere nullity : that it is not lawful to take any oath, whereby a man may be driven to discover any thing penal to himself, or to his brother, especially if he be persuaded the matter to be lawful for which the punishment is like to be inflicted, or having taken it, in this case need not discover the very truth : that to a bishop or other officer ecclesiastical, as is used now in the Church of England, none obedience ought to be given, neither in appearing before them, in doing that which they command, nor in abstaining from that which they inhibit : that in such places as the most of the people favoured the cause of sincerity, eldership should warily and wisely be placed and established ; which consistory, in some places, hath been either wholly, or in part, erected accordingly; yea, in some colleges in the university, as he (Cartwrigiit) knoweth, hath heard, or verily believeth." No slight degree of guilt was incurred by the refusal to take an oath before the high commission. The accused and his companions were accordingly committed to prison, and there, probably, would have remained but for the intercession of powerful friends, and the kindly feeling, it is said, which the archbishop himself entertained towards Cartwrigiit. But the same mercy was far from being shown to all. One of the most melancholy instances of the trials endured by the nonconformists occurred at this time, and is not to be contemplated without mingled pity and indignation. Udal had been minister of King- ston-upon-Thames, whence he was driven by the sen- tence of Archdeacon Hone. He then proceeded to Newcastle, and preached for some time undisturbed, CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 219 pleading as his apology for so doing, that, though silenced by the archdeacon of Kingston, he was not bound to refrain from preaching in a province far removed from his jurisdiction. At length, however, orders were sent for his apprehension, and having been brought back to London, he was carried before the com- missioners, and strictly questioned as to the part he had taken in the publication of the scandalous works which had lately been issued by the puritans. To these in- quiries he freely answered, that none of the libels spoken of had proceeded from his pen ; but on being asked who was the author of the book entitled, " The Demon- stration of Discipline which Christ hath prescribed in his Word for the Government of His Church, in all Times and Places, until the World's End," he refused to answer. It can be no matter of surprise, that the work al- luded to had moved the indignation of the heads of the Church. In his preface, addressing the bishops, he says, " Who can deny you, without blushing, to be the cause of all ungodliness, seeing your government is that which giveth leave to a man to be any thing saving a sound Christian ? For certainly it is more free in these days to be a papist, anabaptist, of the family of love, yea, as any most wicked whatsoever, than that which we should be. And I could live these twenty years as well as any such in England, yea, in a bishop's house it may be, and never be molested for it. So true is that which you are charged with in a dialogue lately come forth against you, and since burnt by you, that you care for nothing but the maintenance of your dignities, be it to the damnation of your own souls, and infinite mil- lions more."* The charge, however, made against Udal was not that he had slandered the bishops, but that he had uttered seditious words against the queen ; and when he averred that this was not the case, the judges argued, " that those who speak against her majesty's government in cases ecclesiastical, her laws, proceedings or ecclesias- * Fuller, b. ix., p. 222. 220 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. tical officers, which ruled under her, did defame the queen. * Every effort was made to persuade Udal to deny or confess on oath that he was the author of the obnoxious treatise. " You have taken an oath before," it was urged ; " why should you not take it now ?" " I then," he answered, " voluntarily confessed certain things con- cerning my preaching of the points of discipline, which could never have been proved; and when my friends laboured to have me restored to my ministry, the arch- bishop answered, there was sufficient matter against me by my own confession why I should not be restored ; whereupon I covenanted with my own heart never to be my own accuser again." Udal was declared guilty, but the archbishop inter- fered, and at his desire the judge refi-ained for the time from passing sentence. In the unfortunate minister's own account of the proceedings, it is said, " I was car- ried to the Gate-house by a messenger, who delivered me with a warrant to be kept close prisoner, and not to be suffered to have pen, ink or paper, or any body to speak with me. Thus I remained half a year, in all which time my wife could not get leave to come to me, saving only that in the hearing of the keeper she might speak to me and I to her, of such things as she should think meet : all which time my chamber-fellows were seminary priests, traitors and professed papists. At the end of the half year I was removed to the White Lion in Southwark, and so carried to the assizes at Croydon." The trial at Croydon disgraced the justice of the times. Not a single witness was confronted with the accused, and he was found guilty on mere written state- ments, penned by those who were confidently said to have repented of the part which they had taken against him. Fresh attempts were made to induce him to con- fess his guilt, and plead for pardon. A paper was placed before him, purporting that " The Demonstration of Discipline " contained " false, slanderous and seditious matters." This he was desired formally to sign, and to * Collier, vol. vii., p. 117. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 221 to add " that he did humbly, on his knees, confess the grievousness of his offence, and submit himself to the mercy of the queen, promising that if it should please God to move her royal heart to have compassion on him, ' a most sorrowful convicted person,' he would for ever forsake all such undutiful and dangerous courses, and demean himself dutifully and peaceably," Tliis instrument Udal persisted to the last in refusing to sign ; but that it was not under the influence of pride or obstinacy, may be gathered from the paper delivered to the court on the day preceding his condemnation. " Conceraing the book," he states, " whereof I was by due course of law convicted, by referring myself to the trial of the law, and for that by the verdict of twelve men, I am found to be the author of it, for which cause an humble submission is worthily required and offered of me ; although I cannot disavow the cause and sub- stance of the doctrine debated in it, which I must needs acknowledge to be holy, and, so far as I conceive it, agreeable to the Word of God, yet I confess the manner of writing it is such in some part as may worthily be blamed, and might provoke her majesty's just indigna- tion therein. Whereof the trial of the law imputing to me all such defaults as are in that book, and laying the punishment of the same in most grievous manner upon me, as my most humble suit to her most excellent majesty is, that her mercy and gracious pardon may free me from the guilt and offence which the said trial of the law hath cast upon me, and farther, of her great clemency to restore me to the comfort of my life and liberty, so do I promise, in all humble submission to God and her majesty, to carry myself in the whole course of my life, in such humble and dutiful obedience as shall befit a minister of the gospel and dutiful subject, fervently and continuall}^ praying for a good preservation of her high- ness's precious life and happy government, to the honour of God and comfort of her loyal and dutiful subjects." Submissive as was the tone of this address, it produced no effect. The same ill success attended other appeals to the judges; but being called up to receive sentence, he presented a summaiy of the objections which most 222 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. men of honest mind considered might be urged against his condemnation. At the close of this statement, he says, '* If all this prevail not, yet my Redeemer liveth, to whom I commend myself, and say, as sometime Jeremiah said in a case not much unlike, ' Behold, I am in your hands to do with me whatsoever seemeth good unto you :' but know you this, that if you put me to death, you shall bring innocent blood upon your own heads, and upon the land. As the blood of Abel, so the blood of Udal, will cry to God with a loud voice, and the righteous Judge of the land will require it at the hands of all that shall be guilty of it." The sentence which had been so long hanging over his head was at length passed. He was condemned to die, but infamous as were the whole of the proceedings, the court, it appears, shrunk from incurring the guilt and shame of their consummation. A respite arrived, and some distinguished clergymen were directed to renew the attempts before made to induce him to sign a sub- mission. His firmness, however, had not forsaken him. He would do. no more than express regret at having written some things in a temper not agreeable to Chris- tian moderation. For the rest, his utter dislike to the doctrines professed by the sectaries of the day, and his attachment to the Church, were plainly set forth in a sort of confession of faith which he addressed to the queen. " I believe," said he, " and have often preached, that the Church of England is a part of the true visible Church, the word and sacraments being duly dispensed. For which reason I have communicated with it several years at Kingston, and a year at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and do still desire to be a preacher in the same Church. Therefore, I utterly renounce the schism and separation of the Brownists : I do allow the articles of religion as far as they contain tlie doctrine of faith and sacraments according to law : I do believe the queen's majesty hath, and ought to have, supreme authority over all persons, in all causes, ecclesiastical and civil ; and if the prince commands any thing contrary to the Word of God, it is not lawful for subjects to rebel or resist, but with patience and humility to bear the punishment laid upon CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 223 them : I believe the Church, rightly reformed, ought to be governed ecclesiastically by ministers, assisted by elders, as in the foreign reformed Churches : I believe the censures of the Church ought merely to concern the soul, and may not impeach any subject, much less any prince, in liberty of 'body, goods, dominion or any earthly privilege ; nor do I believe that a Christian prince ought otherwise to be subject to Church cen- sures, than our gracious queen professes herself to be to the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments." Credit may be given to Whitgift for having used his interest in preventing the execution of Udal's sentence.* But surely neither he nor the other bishops ought to be acquitted of all share of the guilt attending this affair. It was by the Church that the persecution was begun, and there can be little doubt that if a purely Christian * Life and Acts, vol. ii., p. 40. An answer was published about this time to Udal's " Demonstration," under the title of " A Remonstrance to the Demon- stration." Of the archbishop it is said, in this book, " Touching that most reverend prelate, you and your complices may, in this licentious and out- rageous world, speak pleasantly : never yet good man spake but honour of him ; whom her majesty liath graciously vouchsafed, under her, to exercise christian jurisdiction and authority ; whose primacy is humility ; who is for his virtue no less honourable than loved; whose leai'ning angereth you; unto whom if ye will make answer, you must study for more learning. I am verily persuaded^ that as God in all ages raised excellent men, instruments of his glory, to confute and banish out of the earth heresy, as Athanasius against the Arians, Augustin against the Donatists, Augustine and Hierom against the Pelagians, and in our later time Bishop Jewel against the false Ca- tholics and Semipelagians ; so God hath stirred up tliis learned man against the false brethren and Arians of our time, to hammer and beat down the schism and singularity of puritans. And further, I speak it in the fear of God, had not her majesty's j^rincipal spirit of wisdom, illuminated with God's truth, together with the heroical prudent spirits of certain honourable per- sonages and industrious learned men, affecting a provident care of the pos- terity of the Church, patronized tliis church discipline, your private sph'its of new-fangled discipline haply had more prevailed agamst these godly and religious proceedings in the Church, nay, to the utter removing of the gospel, by such confusion and anarchy. Imagine that you see the external face of that Church ; where you might see so many thousand superintendents ; so many elderships advanced, in or about the Church, to make orders and to censure at pleasure ; where the people give voices ; the laity lay on hands ; the majesty of the prince excluded from all sway in the presbytery; all antiquity forlorn ; all councils utterly repelled : doctrine divided from ex- hortation ; laymen deacons of the Church ; parish bishops, parrot teachers ; the universities disgraced of the privilege of granting degrees; cathedral churches by greedy wolves spoiled ; all courts of justice overthroAvn, or im- paired by the consistorial court of elders ; and, as it were, all the trees of the garden of Eden plucked up, to implant the fair goodly ciders, or elder- tree. 224 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. spirit and feeling had existed on the subject, the influ- ence of its dignitaries would have been at least sufficient to save Udal from being condemned to suffer the death of a felon. The character of the trial ; the endeavours made to induce him to recant; the very fact of his respite, all tend to prove that the heads of the Church were conscious of the iniquity of the affair, while they were wanting in courage, or generosity, to correct the error into wdiich their unwholesome zeal had plunged them. For two years was Udal allowed to linger in prison after sentence had been passed upon him. Dur- ing that time, such was the interest taken in his case, that King James of Scotland was induced to plead with the queen for his liberation. An offer was made by the Turkey merchants to send him as their chaplain to the factories in Syria or Guinea, and Udal, rejoicing at the bare prospect of liberty, gladly declared his readiness to accept the offer, would the queen but con- sent to change his sentence into that of banishment. A gleam of hope amused him for the moment, while his friends were soliciting the court for mercy : but it was only for the moment. The queen delayed to sign the pardon. The ship in which he was to have embarked sailed without him ; and after lingering a few months longer in captivity, he sunk under the sorrows accumu- lated during a three years' imprisonment, and died of a broken heart.* That Udal w^as justified in either writing as he did, or pursuing the course he had adopted, will hardly be asserted by those who know how much of evil * Warbnrton says, that Neal's account of Udal's death is unworthy of a candid historian, or an honest man ; but it is not disputed that Udal died in prison, and of a broken heart. The bishop says, and the bohhiess of the remark is as great as its want of truth, tliat there is as nuich difference between an historian's pronouncing a man heart-broken, and actual breaking on a wheel, as between a priest's pronouncing an excomnumicate damned, and actual damnation. But Neal did not affirm what the bishop's censuie would seem to imply. He numbered Udal ' among the divines who suffered death for the libels mentioned,' and then gives a particular account of his sufferings, and of the way in which they were terminated : a melancholy result, ver^ different indeed from that of an excommunication, supposed in the bishops comparison to have left the excommunicate totally unscathed. — Warburton's Works, vol. xii., p. 384. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 225 is likely to proceed from the inflammatory language which he used, and from the example which he set of disregard for authority. But it is one thing to chastise, to silence and repress ; and another to take vengeance. Had the heads of the Church been content to punish according to their rightful jurisdiction, as put in charge of discipline and doctrine, an inestimable treasure, and the keeping of which must be attended with equal authority and responsibility, they would have acted but according to their duty. When, on the contrary, they looked on, and, to all appearance, ap- plauded while an opponent or libeller of the Church was condemned to death as a felon, they virtually sacri- ficed much, both of their rights and dignities. Udal was amenable to the Church for what he had done, and the Church had a right to punish him ; but it ought, at the same time, to have been satisfied with the latitude which its principles and the nature of its foundation allowed. It can scarcely be questioned that a fatal mistake was committed by the Church in this and other like instances. Not only did it descend, as it were, from its throne and seat of judgment, and seemingly confess that it was wanting in something to its own completeness, but it inflamed many who were not yet its enemies with inextinguishable hatred ; it led those who had formed but very imperfect notions of religion, to believe that it was not quite safe to take any deep interest in its aflairs ; and the cause of separation and dissent became, from that time, the supposed palladium of liberality, unselfish devotion to piety, and whatever is popularly regarded as opposed to formalism, tyranny and corruption. The puritans needed no better help to further their designs. They saw plainly, that as the Church was glad to have recourse to all the instruments of political power for its defence, they must lose no opportunity of making a party for themselves, and strengthening, by every means at their command, the feelings entertained in their favour by some few of the chief men at court. A spirit eminently watchful, pa- tient and persevering, distinguished the dissenters of this period. They had, many of them, held long com- VOL. III. Q 226 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. munion with the Genevan divines or their associates ; and never were men more remarkable than the early scholars of Calvin for sternness and resolution of pur- pose, for clear-sightedness, for acuteness to discern the strength or weakness of means, or ability to take advantage of the former, or wait in the latter case for their improvement. The force thus possessed was care- fully stored till opportunities should arise for its employ- ment. Temptations to precipitate movements were as carefully avoided as the warmth of individual tempers would allow ; and hence the party grew every day in power and influence, exposing itself to persecution only as it sent forth first this, and then that, emissary to try the temper of the ruling party, and remaining content with the hope, that a season would in due time arrive when they might dictate to their opponents as the latter now dictated to them. The opinions of the puritans were not restrictively their own. This must often be the case with a party ; but when the opinions which characterize it, because put prominently forth, are such as favour strictness of manners, the party soon acquires as much credit, in popular estimation, as it would be entitled to were it itself the author of the rules which it applauds. No sooner is this discovered than another step is commonly taken. What obtained praise in the lower degree, will secure greater admiration, it is hoped, in the higher. Thus virtuous self-discipline will be exaggerated into torture ; fasting into maceration ; devotional retire- ment into quietism, and even the simplest duty into a monster or a caricature. The proper nature of the Sabbath is among the first things forgotten in the cor- ruption of religion. It is only when the minds of a people are fully sensible of the value of the means of grace, and when they have, at least, no very erroneous notions of what those means of grace consist, that the Sabbath is likely to be well observed. During the long reign of corruption preceding the Reformation, the Sabbath, like every other institution, which truth and holiness had enriched, was despoiled of its best treasures. Though acknowledged as holy, it CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 227 was desecrated by every profanation that the world could invent ; and while admitted to be a day especially exempted from lower cares, that souls might be com- forted and nourished, it was for ages allowed to pass away without a question being asked, whether its ori- ginal purpose was really gained by the progressive in- crease of light and knowledge among mankind. An improvement could hardly fail to take place at the Reformation in the mode of keeping the Sabbath. With the awaking of men's minds to thought and inquiry came a new and increasing appetite for information. The Sabbath was the only day which the mass of the peo- ple could give to meditation or inquiry. It was not, more- over, from books merely that they could gather the ex- planations of which they stood in need, or hear answers to the many anxious questionings with which minds of almost every class were at this time busied. Without ascribing to the period, therefore, any extraordinary increase of devotional feeling, it may reasonably be con- cluded, that the Sabbath recovered at the Reformation much of the homage which it had long lost. It was once more a day longed for, not, perhaps, simply on account of its highest offices, but, at least, for the sake of objects infinitely superior to those about which it had hitherto been wasted. And this improvement was likely to continue as Ions; as the excitement lasted in which it had its origin ; as long, that is, as men hungered and thirsted after the rich supplies which the Sabbath provided for their religious wants. When this kind of appetite began to cloy, the old signs of neglect or per- version soon re-appeared. The delight with which the call to hear and pray had been heard, ceased to be felt except by the few. A feeling of the importance of the Sabbath had been implanted which was not likely at once to vanish; and had the Reformation effected nothing more than thus improve the sentiments of the people on a subject so essential to their interests, it would have been hailed as a blessing by pious minds of all subse- quent ages. That its benign effects in this respect have never been entirely lost, is evident from the fact, that in scarcely any country where its principles were esta- Q 2 228 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. blished, lias the Sabbath ceased to be observed with a reverence which secures to those who know its value and its sacredness, the most ample opportunities of instruc- tion and devotional tranquillity. But true as this is, the first feeling on the subject quickly yielded to ordi- nary worldly influences ; and the divines who appre- ciated most intensely the worth of sabbatical ordi- nances, while they grieved at the appearance of return- ing coldness, neglected no means in their power to convince the people of the danger which attended the desecration of the sacred day. It is worthy of observation, that the party by which the most strenuous efforts were made to secure the strictness of the Sabbath, was the one least likely to be moved by superstitious considerations. Days re- garded as holy by others, were by the leaders of this party angrily struck out of the calendar. It must, therefore, have been mainly on considerations suggested by the practical benefits attending a strictly-observed Sabbath, that they rested their arguments. To, a very large extent the reasoning they employed prevailed ; but when the line of argument, founded on the most obvious principles, failed for want of sympathy in those upon whom it was urged, they had immediate recourse to another species of proof, and insisted upon the law of the Sabbath with even a greater degree of severity than they had spoken of its moral and evangelical claims. A controversy sprung out of this subject full of bitterness and peril. One of the principal writers on the question was a Dr. Bound, who insisted in his work, first, that the command of sanctifying every seventh day is moral and perpetual. Secondly, that though the rest of the Mosaic law ceased on the establishment of the gospel, the Sabbath remained in force with the simple change of the day. Thirdly, that the rest of the Sabbath must be of the most especial kind; so that, fourthly, scholars must not study, nor lawyers entertain clients nor peruse evidence : Serjeants, apparators and summoners must be prohibited from executing their respective offices : justices of peace must not take examinations, nor act upon that day. Again : it is CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 229 declared unlawful to ring more bells than one ; to hold public feasts, or make wedding-dinners ; to partake of ordinary diversions, or to discourse of recreations, news or business. To such excesses of opinion did the spirit of contro- versy at length drive men, that it is said to have been openly asserted, " that to throw a bowl on the Lord's day was as great a sin as to kill a man ; that to make a feast or dress a wedding-dinner, as heinous an offence as for a father to take a knife and cut his child's throat ; and that even to ring more bells than one on the Sabbath was as great a sin as to commit a murder.* But wild and fanatical as were these assertions, they had an effect favourable to the puritans. The people believed them in earnest, and that was every thing. Feelings were appealed to which in all ages have been found most serviceable to the support of sects and parties. Men left in an unexciting state of liberty are as amused, for a time, with the novelty of restraint, as, when long kept from indulgence, they are with the utmost latitude of pleasure. To be obliged to be severe and strict, because they belong to a party which de- mands the sacrifice, inspires them with a sense of dignity. It is like wearing a uniform or badge of honour, and, till age tarnish its brightness, acts in the same manner as any other prize bestowed for fidelity. The practices of the puritans did much to further their cause ; the character of some of their doctrines, or rather, perhaps, the mode in which they were exhibited, did more. Among the dogmas most eagerly preached, and adopted with that species of earnestness which delights in making itself manifest, was the Genevan or Calvinistic view of election. On this subject, inquisi- tive minds had, ages before, loved to speculate and converse. Deep as it seems to lie below the range of human thought, it is one of those on which men of every class of intellect have considered themselves entitled to suggest their doubts, or propose their ques- tions. The very difficulty and mysteriousness of the subject in this case, as in others, have first stimulated * Collier, vol. vii., part ii., h. vii., p. 182. Q 3 230 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. JV. to curious inquiry, and then concealed from the in- quirer the errors into which he was momentarily falling. Calvin was elevated, both by piety and genius, at an almost infinite height above the temptation of adapting his views to times and circumstances ; but had he been as subject as ordinary men to the workings of vanity and ambition, he could not have chosen points better adapted than those which have given a name to his system, to secure it the engrossing and passionate de- votion of his followers. It M'ould be an interesting and not unprofitable inquiry, were it possible to answer the question, how far the more prominent opinions of parties, independent of circumstances, have tended to their success and esta- blishment ? Let us take from Calvin's system the doctrine alluded to ; and would its moral features, its aspect and character, be in anywise the same ? Would not the want of that severity, of that awfulness of the alternative which it appals the mind to contemplate, but which so strikingly presents itself in every expo- sition of Calvin's theology ; would not the absence of that one feature alter the nature and appearance of the whole system, and change the tone of almost every phrase employed by its advocates and expounders? But nothing could have been better calculated to rouse attention than the stronger points of this system. Propounded with a power rarely approached in the writings of theologians, the most accomplished divines could not fail to recognize in Calvin's arguments the spirit of earlier, devouter, nobler times. The com- mon people, on the other hand, though unable to fathom the depths of his reasoning, could at once perceive what was positive in his theology, and had a satisfaction, so- lemn and fervent, in finding something presented to their thoughts, which, with all its terrors, had a startling grandeur, peculiarly acceptable to minds not yet suffi- ciently alive to the milder graces, or the remoter glories, of heavenly truth. The puritans were struggling with a vigorous and patient spirit for what they believed to be the essentials of Christian freedom. But while the attention of those CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 231 who watched most jealously over the safety of the esta- blishment was confined to questions concerning Church government and discipline, the progress of the party, in reality, was most effectually promoted by the firmer hold which its doctrines daily acquired in the hearts of the people. It is always difficult to speak of things of this kind, as matters of reflection, without incurring the charge of irreverence ; but there can be little doubt that many of the commonest of human passions came to the aid of more intellectual impulses, and purer religious motives, in the formation of the Calvinistic party. Nothing is easier than the confounding of what belongs to an association, as such, with the great rewards that individuals supported by its maxims, its ordinances or other social helps, will attain to in the perfected state of their own personal virtues. This may be said of par- ties of very different degrees of dignity or importance. It is true of the smallest association as of the largest, and explains, in fact, one of the main causes of the force and energy with which men will act in a body, while, apart from each other, they are incapable of form- ing the least design savouring of an elevated spirit. But the puritans had constituted themselves a party, and that party claimed the honour due to extreme jealousy for the perfection of the gospel and the sole authority of Christ. Each member of the party re- garded himself with complacency as having an indis- putable title to this honour ; and his zeal and inward confidence increased in exact proportion. This, how- ever, was but an ordinary source of resolution. The other alluded to above, furnished stimulants to enthu- siasm unequalled by the most powerful of any other class. When the doctrine of election was embraced, and that by men who felt themselves full of zeal, and zeal in most cases is easily mistaken for holiness, the acceptance of the doctrine, the entering into the party which professed it, was but a manifesting of the conviction that they were themselves of the number of the chosen. The very belief even in the doctrine seems to have been regarded as an especial instance of holiness. If it have not been directly spoken of as the faith which justifies, Q 4 232 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. it has been usually described in language that would lead to the conclusion, that, however fervent, however lively and intense the faith in Christ's merits, or the loving application of the spirit's grace, none of these things could so approve the believer to the people of God as a firm conviction of personal election. Composed then of men imbued, for the most part, with all the sentiments springing from a doctrine of this kind, the puritan party had an element of strength calculated to secure it a large measure of success. To be numbered in its ranks, to be acknowledged by its members as faith- ful and acceptable servants of the gospel, to be accounted worthy partakers of the aflSiictions encountered in the present struggles, was little less than to be ranked with the most excellent and renowned of God's saints, and to hear the voice of heaven pronounce the decree of election. We speak not here, let it be observed, of the awful doctrine on which these sentiments were founded ; nor would we in anywise impugn the wisdom or piety of its most distinguished supporters. It is but in its bearings on the formation of the powerful party, now struggling with the Church, that we speak of its tendencies. In this respect it demands attention, in the same manner as any other mighty instrument employed to bring about great events. Had it been w^anting, the puritans would probably never have prevailed, but would have rapidly yielded to the influence of the Church, and the mere force of circumstances. The daily growth of the party was in nothing in- stanced so plainly, as by the power it possessed to gain the recognition of its favourite doctrine. In this it was confessedly aided by many of the clergy, and others who had no love for any of its other principles. The divines of Cambridge Avere particularly noted for their attachment to the whole of the predestinarian system. Dr. Whittaker, the Regius professor of divinity, was no less zealous than Cartwright himself had been in its defence. *" The same is said to have been the case w^ith * The seeds of the controversy were sown by the lectures of this professor, and the other divinity professor, Dr. Bavo, whose views -sverc wholly opposed CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 233 most of the masters of colleges ; and so generally were Calvin's views of the subject believed to be in accord- ance with the true faith of the catholic Church, that to oppose them was considered as little short of the sin of schism. Whitgift took a very different view of this matter to that with which he regarded other parts of the puritan controversy. On the representation of Dr. Whittaker, he invited Dr. Fletcher, bishop of London elect ; Dr. Vaughan, bishop elect of Bangor, and several other eminent men, to Lambeth, for the express purpose of discussing the doctrines in question. After a careful debate, evidently, from the result, carried on in a friendly and conciliatory spirit, the following articles were drawn up and agreed to : First, " God from all eternity has predestinated some persons to life, and some he has reprobated, or doomed to death and de- struction :" Secondly, "The moving or efficient cause of to Calvinism. A clerum preached at St. Mary's, by Barret, a fellow of Caius, brought the dispute more nearly to an issue. The objectionable points in the clerum were these : 1. Neminem in hoc fragili mundo tanta finnitate esse suf- fultum, saltem certitudine fidei, i.e. nisi per revelationem, ut de salute sua de- beat esse securus. 2. Petri fidem deficere non potuisse, et aliorum posse. Nam pro fide singulorum non oravit Dominus. 8. Quoad finalem perseverantiam, superbam esse illam securitatem de futuro ; eoque natura sua contingent!. Cujus generis est uniuacujusque nominis perseverantia : neque tantum superbam, sed impiissimam. 4. In fide nullam esse distinctionem, sed in cre- dentibus. 5. Reraissionem peccatorum esse articulum fidei, sed non specia- lem, nee hujus nee illius. Nee posse, nee debere quenquam vere fidelem certo credere peccata sua esse sibi remissa. 6. Quod ad eos attinet, qui non servantur, peccatum esse veram, propriam, et primam causam reprobationis. Being summoned before the vice-chancellor, and threatened with punisli- ment, he was induced to make a public retractation, but more, it is said, for the sake of his own (|uiet than from a conviction of error. He had said in his sermon, " As for those that are not saved, I do most strongly believe, and do freely protest, that I am so persuaded against Calvm, Peter Martyr, and the rest, that sin is the true, proper and first cause of reprobation." Acknow- ledging that he had thus spoken, he adds, " But now being better insti-ucted, I say, that the reprobation of the wicked is from everlasting, and that the saying of Augustine to Siraplician is most true, viz., If sin were the cause of reprobation, then no man should be elected, because God doth foreknow all men to be defiled with it ; and, that I may speak freely, I am of the same mind, and do believe concerning the doctrine of election and reprobation, as tlie Church of England bclieveth and teacheth in the book of tlie articles of faith, in the article of predestination." Then humbly apologizing for what he had said of Calvin, Bczer, &c., he concludes, " I am, therefoi-e, very sorry and grieved for this most grievous offence which I have publicly given to this most famous university, which is the temple of religion and sacred receptacle of piety." — Fuller's History of the University of Cambridge, p. 150. Life of Whitgift : Records and Originals, b. iv, n. xxii. 234 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. predestination unto life, is not the divine prescience of faith, or of perseverance, or of good works, or of any other commendable quality in the person predestinated, but only the good will and pleasure of God :" Thirdly, *' The number of the predestinate is fixed and pre- ordained, and can be neither increased nor lessened:" Fourthly, " Those who are not predestinated to salvation shall be, necessarily or inevitably, damned for their sins :" Fifthly, *' A true, lively and j ustifying faith, and the opera- tion of justifying grace, is not extinguished. It neither fails, nor goes off", in the elect, finally or totally :" Sixthly, " A man truly said to be one of the faithful, that is, one furnished with justifying faith, has a full assurance and certainty of the remission of his sins, and of his ever- lasting salvation by Christ : " Seventhly, " Saving grace is not given or communicated to all men ; that is, they have not such a measure of divine assistance as may enable them to be saved if they will : " Eighthly, " No person can come to Christ unless it be given unto him, and unless the Father shall draw him ; but all men are not drawn by the Father that they may come to the Son : " Ninthly, " It is not in every one's will and power to be saved." No part of Whitgift's proceedings is so difiicult to be explained as his share in the drawing up of these articles. However great his legitimate authority, it evidently did not extend to the power of making articles for the Church itself, or even for his own diocese, or the university.* That he did not pretend to such authority we learn from his own lips. The queen, justly offended at the affair, insisted on the annulling of the declara- tion which he had signed ; and he then stated, that it was but with the wish to allay some disputes at Cam- bridge that he had adopted the obnoxious measure)" * The archbishop was not pleased with the proceedings against Barret ; they were too hasty, and in other respects objectionable. Dr. Saravia drew up an excellent paper, embodying tlie principal points of objection to the forced retractation of Barret. Life and Acts of Whitgift, vol. ii., p. 289; Records and Originals, b. iv., n. xxiv. -j- Life and Acts, vol. it., p. 281. The archbishop, it seems, had no wish to have the articles made known to the queen. Dr. Wliittaker, however, had communicated them to the lord treasurer, and the latter, it is supposed, to her majesty. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 235 But though this sufficed to save him from the threatened prcBinunire, it did not exempt him from the severe remarks of many of the high churchmen, who regarded the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination as the badge of puritanism. This was so far the case, that the con- trary doctrine was always imagined to be a remnant of Romanism, or as calculated to lead directly to the sup- port of its worst features. It is an unhappy circum- stance, and thoughtful men readily perceive its existence, that enthusiastic minds are generally M'eak, that is, not as compared with vulgar intellects, but weak as to the. responsibilities which they boldly encounter. Thus one of the few divines who thought it their duty to preach against the strong Calvinistic doctrines now prevalent at Cambridge, was no sooner subjected to annoyance than he allowed his earnestness to degenerate into violence, and at length, wrought upon by his dis- like to the view of election favoured in his Church, passed angrily over to the side of the Romanists. * This occurrence, and the known combination, in many instances, of attachment to the highest Church principles with dislike to the predestinarian views, tended in no slight degree to fix the attention of persons in power on the disputed questions. Elizabeth appears to have temporized throughout. Whitgift had yielded too much ; but she did not wish the Calvinistic party to be vexed into hotter controversy ; when, therefore, Dr. Barof the Margaret professor of divinity at Cambridge, uttered sentiments directly opposed to their views, she allowed him to be exposed to every annoyance which it was in the power of the university authorities to inflict. He had asserted in one of his discourses, that " God created all men according to his own likeness, in Adam, and consequently to eternal life, from which he rejects no man but on account of his sins. That Christ died for all mankind, and was a propitiation for the sins of * Neal, vol. I., p. 453, Barret, before alluded to, a fellow of Caius. Neal calls him a conceited youth ; nor was he undeserving of rebuke, if it be true that he treated with contempt the venerable names of Calvm, Bezer, Zan- chius, &c. &c. t Peter Baro was a French Protestant, and having fled to this country was appointed, through the influence of the lord treasurer, Lady Margaret's professor in 1575. Annals of the Reformation, vol. ii. part, i., p. 568. 236 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. the whole world, original and actual : the remedy pro- vided by him being as extensive as the ruins of the fall : that the promises of eternal life made to us in Christ, are to be generally and universally taken and under- stood, being made as much to Judas as to Peter.'' The efforts used to remove him did not at once succeed ; but he was eventually obliged to resign his professorship ; and that he did so in obedience to the will of a faction, rather than as compelled by any just considerations, is plain from the respect shown to his memory. At the express desire of the bishop of London, his pall was supported by six doctors of divinity ; and the chq^icellor in writing to the university on the manner in whicli he had been treated, complained that he had been ques- tioned like a thief, and that the whole had proceeded from faction and malice. The Lambeth Articles were set aside by the queen's authority ; but an advantage had been gained by the party supporting the principles they inculcated, which no subsequent measure was likely to destroy. From this time the puritans continued to acquire successive triumphs, not of that kind which strike common atten- tion, ])ut such as in due time are sure to exhibit the force of principles established long before, and suffered to work unseen till the time arrive for their open development. Cartwright had obtained permission to return to his situation at Warwick, and others, known as his firmest associates, were liberated from prison. But though the severity practised against the puritans became less as Elizabeth's reign drew to a close, it was not from the growth of more enlightened views on the subject of religious toleration: this was well understood by the party in opposition, and it accordingly retained all the bitterness of feeling engendered by its early suf- ferings. The case of Udal was remembered with no diminution of horror. There was still remaining the in- scription written on the coffin of Rippon, a puritan, who died in Newgate : — " This is the corpse of Roger Rippon, a servant of Christ and her majesty's faithful subject, who is the last of sixteen or seventeen which that great enemy of God, the archbishop of Canterbury, with CENT. XVI-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 237 his high commissioners, have murdered in Newgate within these five years, manifestly for the testimony of Jesus Christ : his soul is now with the Lord, and his blood cried for speedy vengeance against that great enemy of the saints, and against Mr. Richard Young, who in this, and many the like points, hath abused his power for the upholding of the Romish antichrist, prelacy and priesthood."* Nor was it yet forgotten, that it had been said of the commissioners by one suffering at their hands, " These bloody men will allow us nei- ther meat, drink, fire, lodging, nor suffer any whose heart* the Lord would stir up for our relief to have access to us, by which means seventeen or eighteen have perished in the noisome gaols within these ten years. Some of us had not one penny about us when we were sent to prison, nor any thing to procure a maintenance for ourselves and families but our handy labour and trades, by which means not only we our- selves, but our families and children, are undone and starved. Their unbridled slander, their lawless privy searches, their violent breaking open houses, their taking away whatever they think meet, and their bar- barous usage of women, children, &c., we are forced to omit lest we be tedious. That which we crave for us all is the liberty to die openly, or live openly in the land of our nativity. If we deserve death, let us not be closely murdered, yea, starved to death with hunger and cold, and stifled in loathsome dungeons." Unhappily for both parties there were men among them who could tolerate in neither sense of the word. Many, on the one side, viewed every defection, and of the slightest kind, from Christian severity, in the fierce glare of their zeal ; and others, on the con- trary side, regarded every expression of sudden in- temperate passion, as destined to prove the ruin of the Church and monarchy. Hence the former were per- petually furnishing fresh provocatives to persecution, while the latter were as earnestly engaged in magnify- ing the dangers which apparently arose from allowing such men to exist. It is weak and absurd to suppose, * Ncal, vol. I., p. 431. 238 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IV. that the leaders of parties can love each other, unless indeed in such a refined sense of the expression that to ordinary understandings it must mean nothing ; but it can never be necessary, even in the fiercest controversy, that they should hate each other, or determine on mu- tual destruction. It is, however, a lamentable fact, that the heads of our Church were many of them, at the period described, more than ready to silence their opponents by the strength of the civil power. Having found themselves unsatisfied at the results attending their own ecclesiastical censures, they favoured every ingenious refinement of the law which offered the least chance in their favour. Thus the prisons were filled with sufferers accused of some offence against the state, but only guilty in reality of opposing the Church. The indignation inspired by the wrongs first endured, drove many to actual guilt, and they soon lost the loyalty which originally was not found incom- patible with disaffection to the establishment. As the persecution increased, the estrangement became more obvious, and some of the party eagerly pressed forward to denounce the government. The burning sense of injury could no longer be controlled ; it drove on to madness men who had been bred to the most peace- ful employments ; whose thoughts had hitherto been devoted to the humblest ofliices in the Church of Christ ; and who in their most fervent dreams and aspirations, if any they had, never looked beyond the probability of being called to more abundant labours in the mi- nistry. One assuredly of the heaviest crimes for which persecutors will be called into judgment is this of perverting the character of their victims ; of poi- soning their nature, and depriving it of whatever was most worthy of esteem. We know full well, that there are men who only become stronger and better the more they are tried ; but such characters, while they are always rare, are generally least of all to be met Mdth in times like those of which we are speaking. There are many different kinds of persecution ; that to which the puritans were subjected was far more calculated to bring into action the pride, and other passions, of the suflferers. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 239 than to afford instances of noble resignation and Chris- tian heroism. Of those who fell victims to their own intemperance, and to the jealousy of the government, one of the most pitied was a Welsh clergyman, named Penry.* This unfortunate man had studied at both universities, and was known as a powerful preacher. The religious condition of the people in Wales deeply affected him ; and he issued a pamphlet entitled a " View of such public Wants and Disorders as are in Her Majesty's Country of Wales, with an humble Petition to the High Court of Parliament for their Redress." Soon after this appeared his " Exhortation to the Governors and People of Her Majesty's Country of Wales to labour earnestly to have the Preaching of the Gospel planted among them." The tone of these papers, with the general style of his preaching, was sufficient to awaken suspicion against him ; and when the govern- ment found it necessary to take measures to suppress the seditious writings now daily increasing, Penry was among the persons ordered to be apprehended. Being- warned of his danger, he escaped into Scotland ; but he did not learn in his retirement to view things with a soberer spirit : instead of acquiring new strength to tolerate that which, though offensive, would, if borne, have left him and others perfectly free to preach the gospel, he blindly yielded to his passion, and preferred committing the sin of sedition to bearing with things in themselves formal and indifferent. During his stay in Scotland he drew up a paper containing the principal reasons by which he justified to himself the course he had adopted. On this he founded the heads of a petition to the queen ; and armed, as he weakly supposed, with arguments of suf- ficient force to procure attention and indulgence, he ventured to return to England. Scarcely, however, had he readied Stepney when the clergyman of the parish being informed of his arrival, sent word to the authorities, and he was immediately apprehended. * Life and Acts, vol. ii., p. 42; Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i., p. 437. 240 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. The haste of the proceedings instituted against him takes from them even the appearance of charity and leniency. This peculiar severity in his case can only be accounted for by the nature of the statements con- tained in the papers above alluded to. But they were little more than rough hints for some composition in which their character might have been altogether altered. " The cause," said he in his letter to the lord treasurer, " is most lamentable, that the private ob- servations of any student being in a foreign land, and wishing well to his prince and country, should bring his life with blood to a violent end ; especially seeing they are most private and so imperfect, as they have no coherence at all in them, and in most places carry no true English." From some of the heads of the petition we may easily learn the prominent opinions of Penry and men of his class, and the reasons which the government had for peculiar severity in particular instances. Thus addressing the queen, he says, " The last days of your reign are turned rather against Jesus Christ and his gospel, than to the maintenance of the same ; I have great cause and complaint, madam : nay, the Lord and his Church have cause to complain of your government, because we, your subjects, this day, are not permitted to serve our God under your government according to his Word, but are sold to be bond-slaves, not only to our affections, to do what we will, so that we keep ourselves within the compass of established civil laws, but also to be servants to the man of sin, and his ordinances." And yet more plainly : " Among the rest of the princes under the gospel, that have been drawn to oppose it, you must think yourself to be one ; for until you see this, madam, you see not yourself, and they are but sycophants and flatterers whoever tell you otherwise: your standing is, and has been, by the gospel ; it is little beholden to you for any thing that appears ; the practice of your government shews, that if you could have ruled without the gospel, it would have been doubtful whether the gospel should be established or not ; for now that you are established in your throne by CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG 241 the gospel, you suffer it to reach no further than the end of your sceptre limiteth unto it. If we had Queen Mary's days, I think we should have had as flourishing a church this day as ever any ; for it is well known that there was then in London, under the burden, and elsewhere in exile, more flourishing churches than any now tolerated by your authority." Again : " If we cannot have your favour but by omitting our duty to God, we are unworthy of it, and by God's grace we mean not to purchase it so dear ; but, madam, thus much we must needs say, that in all likelihood, if the days of your sister, Queen Mary, and her persecution, had continued unto this day, that the Church of God in England had been far more flou- rishino^ than at this day it is : for then, madam, the Church of God within this land and elsewhere, being strangers, enjoyed the ordinances of God's holy Word as far as then they saw ; but since your majesty came unto your crown, we have had whole Christ Jesus, God and man, but we must serve him only in heart. And if those days had continued to this time, and those lights risen therein which by the mercy of God have since shined in England, it is not to be doubted but the Church of England, even in England, had far sur- passed all the reformed churches in the world. Then, madam, any of our brethren durst not have been seen within the tents of antichrist : now they are ready to defend them to be the Lord's, and that he has no other tabernacle upon earth but them. Our brethren then durst not temporize in the cause of God, because the Lord himself ruled in his Church, by his own laws, in a good measure : but now, behold ! they may do what they will, for any sword that the Church has to draw against them, if they contain themselves within your laws. This peace, under these conditions, we cannot enjoy ; and, therefore, for any thing I can see, Queen Mary's days will be set up again, or we must needs temporize. The whole truth we must not speak ; the whole truth we must not profess. Your state must VOL, III, R 242 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. liave a stroke above the truth of God. Now, madain, your majesty may consider what good the Church of God hath taken at your hands, even outward peace, with the absence of Jesus Christ in his ordinance ; other- wise, as great troubles are likely to come as ever were in the days of your sister. As for the council and clergy, if we bring any such suit unto them, we have no other answer but that which Pliaraoh gives to the Lord's messengers, touching the state of the Church under his government. For when any are called for this cause before your council, or the judges of the land, they must take this for granted, once for all, that the uprightness of their cause will profit them nothing if the law of the land be against them ; for your council and judges have so well profited in religion, that they will not stick to say, that they come not to consult whether the matter be with or against the word, or not, but their purpose is, to take the penalty of the transgressions against your laws. If your council were wise, they would not kindle your wrath against us; but, madam, if you give ear to their words, no marvel though you have no better counsellors." * That there was much, both weak and false, in these statements, and, on the other hand, little of a definite character, was of no avail to the unfortunate accused. His judges set aside any mention of such of his writings as had been printed, and tried him solely on the me- moranda found among his papers. Many of these he asserted were not expressive of his own opinions ; but were set down as those of persons in Scotland, and recorded for the purpose of future examination. Con- siderations of this kind, however, had no influence with his judges. Sentence of death was passed upon him, and almost immediately executed. It has been said that the terror excited by this proceeding tended greatly to the silencing of the puritans. For the moment pro- bably it did ; but general experience, and in this case the known facts of history, show plainly that the spirit of party was not to be overcome by such inflictions. * Neal, vol. i., p. 438. Life and Acts, vol. i., p. 5G5 ; vol. ii., p. 175. CENT. XVI.- XVII.] FROM THK DIET OF AUGSBURG. 243 Even the Brownists, who saw Hacket, the most mise- rable of fanatics, perish on the gallows, continued long- after to exist as a sect ; and the puritans, as might have been expected, numbered Penry among the martyrs of Christ. In the preface to a pamphlet published shortly after his death, and said to have been written by him, he is described as " a godly man ; learned, zealous, and of a most Christian carriage and courage :" and further, " that being used by God for a special instru- ment in the manifestation of his truth, he was hardly entreated, imprisoned, condemned and executed, and so suffered martyrdom for the name of Christ." * — ~*-The accession of James I. introduced a new era in the religious affairs of England. Great things were expected of him by both parties. On the one side, the constitu- tion and policy of the Church were in accordance with his views and interests ; on the other, there were consi- derations of by no means a superficial character, which tended to make him somewhat more than tolerant of the puritans and their allies. We learn much from the events which occurred immediately after his accession. A petition, nominally from a thousand puritan divines, had directed his attention to the controversy, and he made no attempt to conceal the fact, that as a man of letters as well as a sovereign, he felt deeply interested in the questions it involved. Instead, therefore, of leaving the petitioners to his ministers, or answering them in the common phrase- ology of state authority, he invited the chiefs of their party to a conference. This celebrated meeting took place at Hampton Court, in June 1603. The commis- sioners, on the side of the Church, were the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London, Durham, Win- chester, Worcester, St. David's, Chichester, Carlisle, and Peterborough ; the dean of the Chapel Royal, the deans of Westminster, Christ Church, St. Paul's, Wor- cester, Salisbury, Chester and Windsor, Dr. King and Dr. Field. On the part of the puritans appeared Dr. John Reynolds and Dr. Thomas Sparke, both from Oxford ; * Collier, vol. vii., part ii., b. vii., p. 172. R 2 244 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. and Mr. Chadderton and Mr. Knevvstubbs from Cam- bridge.* The king himself presided, and opened the business of the conference in a speech remarkable for good sense and piety. He then stated that he required satisfaction on points which he would arrange under three general heads ; and first, in respect of the Book of Common Prayer ; he remarked on confirmation that " he scrupled the term, for that it imported a confirming of baptism, as if this sacrament was insignificant without it. There was blasphemy in the name, then ; for though the antient custom was defensible, that infants answering by their godfathers should be examined when they came to years of discretion ; that after having owned the en- gagement made for them at the font, they should be confirmed with the bishop's blessing and imposition of hands; yet, that the raising of this usage to a sacra- ment, and ascribing to it the power of giving any force to baptism, was an abuse which ought to be abhorred." In the next place, he objected, that absolution in the Church of England had been described to him as re- sembling the pardons granted by the pope ; whereas, in his opinion, God has given a commission to absolve only in two cases ; the one general, the other particular. As to the former, he conceived that all prayer and preaching imported an absolution ; as to the latter, " it was to be applied to those who had repented of scan- dalous crimes ; otherwise, where the person is neither excommunicated nor under penance, there was no necessity of his being absolved." Private baptism was the next topic ; and while the king spoke strongly against the administration of the sacrament by women or laymen, he made a distinction not commonly brought under notice : " If the baptism," he said, " was private, with reference to place only, he thought it not inconsistent with the practice of the primitive church, but if with reference to the person, he disliked it to tlie last deg-ree." -^to' * The whole of these persons were nominated by James himself; a cir- cumstance which formed the ground of strong exceptions on the part of the puritans to the issue of the conference. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 245 Under the second head were ranged certain questions respecting excommunication. James intimated that he feared the censure might be administered upon occa- sions too light to warrant its infliction ; that it ought not to be intrusted to lay-chancellors and commissaries; and that the bishops would do well to accept the assist- ance of the dean and chapter, or other clergymen of respectability, whose concurrence in the proceeding- would add greatly to its weight and solemnity. A provision for Ireland formed the third head of discussion, but this was considered not so proper a matter for the conference at its present stage. The archbishop, therefore, addressed himself at once to the objections made by the king to the practices alluded to. He was supported by the other representatives of the Church, and James proved himself a willing listener to their arguments and explanations. Another temper was manifested in the discussion with the puritan divines ; and unless every account which we have of the proceedings be utterly untrue, the weakness of their objections to the practices of the Church would have shown itself far more directly and obviously, had there been less impatience and ill -humour on the part of those w^ho felt they were to gain the day. Dr. Reynolds, who headed the party, offered a re- monstrance on the side of the puritans, consisting of four demands. " First, That the doctrine of the Church might be preserved in its purity, according to God's Word : Secondly, That good pastors might be planted in all churches to preach the same : Thirdly, That the church government might be sincerely ministered ac- cording to God's Word ; and, Fourthly, That the Book of Common Prayer might be fitted to more increase of piety." Illustrating his first demand by an appeal to the Articles, he desired that the words in the Sixteenth, " After we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from grace," might be immediately followed by these : " yet neither totally nor finally ;" and that they might be further illustrated by the introduction of the whole of the Articles drawn up at Lambeth. This and R 3 246 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. some other parts of his remonstrance were allowed to be made without interruption ; but he had scarcely intro- duced the subject of confirmation, and intimated that some inconsistency existed between the Collects in the service and the Twenty-fifth Article, when the bishop of London could no longer repress his feelings, but fallincr on his knees before the king, reminded his majesty of the canon, Schismatici contra episcopos non sunt audiendi ; and further, that men who had subscribed the Articles ought not to be permitted to reason against them. James had the good sense to see, that if the bishop's request were granted, it would have been better not to allow or dream of a conference. But though he could discern thus much, he had not sufficient sense of pro- priety to silence the rude raillery of his courtiers, or to teach the powerful party which surrounded him, that their opponents, wanting every advantage which they themselves possessed should, at all events, have received fair and honourable treatment. He closed his obser- vations with the memorable axiom, *' No bishop, no king;" and it was felt that however little the prelates might care to accept this as a fitting argument in defence of episcopal confirmation, it would be vain to discuss the matter with such an opponent. Perhaps the most striking part of the discussion, in which Dr. Reynolds took the lead, was that in which he spoke of pluralities, and pressed the necessity of fur- nishing all parishes with preaching ministers. Bancroft, on hearing this, again fell on his knees, and petitioned his majesty that all parishes might have a praying ministry, for that preaching was grown so much in fashion that the service of the Church was neglected. He added that " pulpit harangues were very dan- gerous," and that, therefore, " the number of homilies should be increased, and the clergy compelled to read them instead of sermons, in which they vented their spleen against their superiors." The king, turning to Reynolds and his associates, inquired what they thought of this sentiment. They answered, that a preaching minister was certainly best and most useful, but ac- CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 247 knowledged that " where preaching could not be had, godly prayers, homilies and exhortations might do much good."* The feelings of the disputants grew evidently warmer the further they considered the subjects proposed for examination. Ceremonies of the most innocent kind, were attacked by the puritans with a zeal which might have led men to suppose, that they were struggling for some fundamental doctrine of the gospel. But if this might fairly be objected to the puritans, it might, with equal propriety, be urged, that the Church insisted on conformity in respect to such things with as much apparent earnestness as it demanded agreement in prayer and doctrine. The argument of one of the puritans, that the ceremonies spoken of were at best but indifferent, and that, therefore, it might be doubted *' whether the power of the Church could bind the con- science without impeaching Christian liberty," was de- serving of the most serious attention. His majesty, however, having repeated the popular arguments on the subject, summed up his remarks with a declaration, which ought to have convinced the puritans at once, of the uselessness of their plea. " As to the power of the Church in things indifferent," he said, *' I will not argue that point with you, but answer as kings in par- liament, Le Roi savisera. It is like," he added, by way of illustration, " Mr. John Black, a beardless boy, who told me, the last conference in Scotland, that he would hold conformity with me in doctrine, but that every man, as to ceremonies, was to be left to his own liberty ; but I will have none of that. I will have one doctrine, one discipline, one religion in substance and ceremony : never speak more to that point, how far you are bound to obey." This, however, did not sufficiently subdue the spirits of the doctor to prevent his urging his complaints or demands. After other points of less importance, he arrived at the subject of prophesyings and diocesan synods, topics on which James was peculiarly sensitive, and not attempting to repress his indignation, he ex- * Neal, vol ii., p. 14 ; Collier, vol. vii., p. 230. R 4 248 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. claimed, that he saw well their intention, and that they were endeavouring to establish a Scots presbytery, " which," lie continued, " agrees with monarchy as well as God and the devil. Then Jack and Tom, Will and Dick shall meet, and, at their pleasure, censure both me and my council. Therefore, pray stay one seven years before you demand that of me, and if then you find me pursy and fat and my windpipe stufled, I shall, perhaps, hearken to you ; for let that government be up, and I am sure I sliall be kept in breath : but till you find I grow lazy, pray let that alone. I remember how they used the poor lady, my mother, in Scotland, and me in my minority." Turning to the bishops, and touching his hat, he said, " My lords, I may thank you that these puritans plead for my supremacy, for if once you are out, and they in place, I know what would become of my supremacy ; for, no bishop, no king." Then address- ing the other side, he said, " Well, doctor, have you any thing else to offer ?" The answer being in the negative, his majesty is reported to have said, " If this be all your party have to say, I will make them conform, or I will hurry them out of this land, or else worse." * It seems evident, from the general tenour of the con- ference, that the puritans were furnished with arguments a2;ainst the Church far less weis:htv than mig-ht have been expected. One cannot help feeling that there was much to justify the remark of James, who, when Mr. Knewstubbs spoke of the weak brethren, asked him, how long they intended to be weak, and whether five-and- forty years was not long enough for them to get strength in; adding, that subscription was not required of laics or idiots, but only of the clergy, who, it might be hoped, did not need to be dieted with milk, but were in a con- dition to feed others. " It is to be feared, however," he proceeded, " that some of them are strong enough, if not headstrong ; and that, how much soever they may plead their weakness upon this occasion, several of them think themselves able to instruct me, and all the bishops in the kingdom." f The sentiment expressed in this observation was re- * Nccil, vul. II., p. 17. t Collier^ vol, vii., part ii., b. viii., p. 291. CENT. XVI. -XVII. J FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 249 peated in the proclamation published shortly after tlie conference. In this, it is said, "that some of those who misliked the state of religion here established, trans- ported with humour, began such proceedings as did rather raise a scandal in the Church than take offence away ; that they both used forms of public serving God not here allowed ; held assemblies with authority, and other things carrying a very apparent show of sedition more than of zeal : that the success of the conference was such as happens to many other things which give great expectation before they are closely examined : that the king found strong remonstrances supported with such slender proofs, that both himself and his council per- ceived there was no ground for SLiiy change in those things which were most loudly clamoured against : that the Book of Common Prayer, and the doctrine of the Established Church, were both unexceptionable ; and, as to the rites and ceremonies, they had the practice of the primitive Church to plead in their defence ; and, lastly, that notwithstanding, with the consent of the bishops, and other learned men, some passages were rather explained than altered, yet, with a reasonable construc- tion, every thing might very well have stood in its former condition. " It was openly confessed by the puritans themselves, that their cause was supported in the conference with but little success. They objected, indeed, to the report given of the proceedings, and questioned its fidelity ; but acknowledged that their chief advocate. Dr. Reynolds, fell below himself, being overawed by the place and company, and the arbitrary dictates of his sovereign opponent. As a party, therefore, they refused their assent to the conclusions arrived at in the meeting, and this. First, " Because the ministers appointed to speak for them were not of their nomination or choosing, nor of one judgment in the points of controversy ; for being- desired by their brethren to argue against tlie corrup- tions of the Church as simply evil, they replied they were not so persuaded. Being further desired to ac- cpiaint the king that some of their brethren thought them sinful, they refused that also. Lastly : Being de- 250 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. sired to give their reasons in writing why they thought the ceremonies only indifferent, or to answer the reasons they had to offer to prove them sinful, they would do neither one nor other." Secondly, " Because the points in controversy were not thoroughly debated, but nakedly propounded, and some not at all touched ; neither was there any one argument to the purpose pursued and followed." Thirdly, " Because the prelates took the liberty of interrupting at their pleasure those of the other side, insomuch that they were checked for it by the king himself."* The alterations insisted upon by the puritans as regarded the Prayer-book ; the liberty which they de- manded in the performance of the services of the Church, would, if granted, have led to a confusion fatal alike to order and tranquillity. Some slight corrections were wisely admitted, and, above all, a ready and zealous attention was given by the king to the desire for a new translation of the Bible. The friends of religion, not strongly influenced by party feelings, and really re- garding many of the points disputed with most heat as things indifferent, were thankful for the prospect afforded of a closer attention being paid to objects con- fessedly most important. Much of the success which James enjoyed may be ascribed to this. It is not to be supposed that his orders and proclamations would have been so quietly submitted to had they been merely supported by the few bishops that surrounded him at the conference. There was an evident readiness in him to promote intelligence in the country on the main subjects of religion. This counterbalanced the jealousy which many of his measures were calculated to excite. But the jealousy existed, and there were men, in the Church itself, who confessed, that they could not sympa- thize altogether with those who taught the monarch, that he was free to measure all men's consciences by the same standard : Dr. Rudd, bishop of St. David's, was one of these. Speaking in the House of Lords, and alluding to the disputes on the sign of the cross, he said, " I wish that if the king's highness shall persist * Neal, vol. ii., p. 19. CENT. XVI.-XVII.3 FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 251 in imposing it, all would submit to it as we do, rather than forego the ministry in that behalf. But I greatly fear by the report which I hear, that very many learned preachers whose consciences are not in our custody, nor to be disposed of at our devotion, will not easily be drawn thereunto; of which number, if any shall come in my walk, I desire to be furnished beforehand by those that be present, with sufficient reasons to satisfy them, if it be possible, concerning some points which have been now delivered." Following up this reasoning, he asks, what he should answer those who objected to the passages alleged in defence of the sign of the cross, that they were figura- tive, and then makes an allusion to the conference, which seems to intimate, that it was not conducted altogether in a manner acceptable, even to the prelates themselves. The argument of which the bishop spoke was that drawn from the example of Hezekiah, and which he confesses was not answered in the conference, fairly or completely. " Hereunto," he adds, " I say that I was one of the conference, yet I was not at that part of the conference where those that stood for refor- mation had access to the king's majesty's presence, and liberty to speak for themselves; for that I, and some other of my brethren, the bishops, were secluded from that day's assembly ; but I suppose it to be true as it has formerly been reported, and I for my own particular admit the consequence. Now, because I wish all others abroad as well satisfied herein as ourselves that we were present, if any of the contrary opinion shall come to me, and say, that the aforesaid answer does not satisfy them, because there is as great reason now to move them to become petitioners to his majesty for abolishing the cross in baptism, as there was to move the godly zealous in Hezekiah's time to be petitioners for defacing the brazen serpent, because the church-going papists now among us do superstitiously abuse the one as the Israelites did the other, what sound answer shall I make to them for their better satisfaction r" Yet further ; and it is plain from the language of the estimable prelate, how deeply he was imbued with 252 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. evangelical sentiments : *' Whereas it has been this day alleged," he says, " that it is convenient and necessary to preserve the memory of the cross of Christ by this means ; if haply any of the other side shall come to me and say, that the memory of the cross of Christ might be sufficiently, and more safely, preserved by preaching the doctrine of the gospel, the sum whereof is ' Christ crucified,' which was so lively preached to the Galatians, as if his bodily image had been crucified among them, and yet we know not of any material or signal cross that was in use in the Church at that time : I desire to know, what satisfaction or answer must be given to them ?" It was manifest, we may presume, from the very expression of countenance among his auditors, that no pleasant feelings were produced by these inquiries. His lordship therefore added, " I protest that all my speeches now are uttered by way of proposition, not by way of opposition, and that they all tend to work pacification in the Church. For I put great difi^erence between what is lawful and what is expedient, and between them that are schismatical and them that are scrupulous only upon some ceremonies, being otherwise learned, studious, grave and honest men." The bishop of London, and some other of the prelates, successively rose to answer their brother of St. David's. It might have been supposed that his high station, and the common privileges of the place where he spoke, would have obtained a patient attention to his reply ; but the president, it is said, forbad his continuing the debate, and he quietly yielded, observing, "that as nothing was dearer to him than the peace of the Church, he was determined to use the best means he could to draw others to unity and conformity with himself, and the rest of his brethren. " It was well for the Church that there were many of its members at this time of a temper so sober and thoughtful. At no period were such men more needed. Though not in the most conspicuous positions, they exercised an influence on both parties, teaching the one to decide with moderation, and the other to forbear CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 253 from those acts of violence which, if pursued, must have involved the whole system in a long and fearful bond- age. The bishop of St. David's, ii is plain, was treated in a manner neither becoming his station, nor calculated to convince the opponents of the Church that its mere friends were ready to use arguments of charity. Whitgift was taken ill shortly after the conference ; but he persevered in the performance of his weighty duties till a stroke of the palsy deprived him of speech and of the use of his right side. This affliction is'supposed to have been brought on by his close attention to public affairs, and an increasing anxiety respecting the state of the Church. The fit occurred after a long discourse with the king and the bishop of London, at Whitehall. James manifested the high esteem which he had for his character by shortly after visiting him at Lambeth, and affectionately assuring him that " he would pray to God for his life; and that if he could obtain it, he should think it one of the greatest temporal blessings that could be given him." The dying prelate endeavoured in vain to address the king, but raising his eyes and hands to heaven, he solemnly exclaimed, Pro Ecclesia Dei. He expired the next day,* calm and self-possessed, and apparently enjoying the peace which the grace of God, and a deep consciousness of having sought his glory and the good of his Church, might be expected to bestow. Suspicions were generally entertained that his end was accelerated by the apprehension of approach- ing changes. Thus it is said, "that when the king began to contend about the common prayer received, and judged some things therein fit to be altered, the archbishop died with grief;" and also that on his death- bed he uttered these words, "And now, O Lord, my soul is lifted up, that I die in a time wherein I had rather give up to God an account of my bishopric, than any longer to exercise it among men." f Many testimonies to the worth and piety of Whitgift are on record. The shortest and the best perhaps is Fuller's, which pronounces him " one of the worthiest men that ever the English hierarchy did enjoy :" such were the difficulties indeed with which he had to con- * Fcl). 29, 1G04. t Life and Acts, vol. ii., p. 507. 254 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IV. tend, that however responsible he rendered himself for some instances of severity and persecution, it is cause of admiration that he resisted temptations to which his suc- cessors so easily yielded. Evils without number might have been spared the Church and people of this country had Laud possessed the same virtues and qualities as Whitgift. Bancroft was his immediate successor, a man in many respects his inferior, but enjoying the advantage of what he had done, and not living long- enough to have his ability or fortitude put to the severest test.* Bancroft adopted his predecessor's views, but abridged the maxims of moderation which had frequently soft- ened the application of his severer principles. Whit- gift, suspected as he had been, left a name without reproach : even his enemies were obliged to confess his worth and integrity. It was felt that he had steered between rocks upon which a man wanting in virtue or wisdom must have made shipwreck. Bancroft lived a season later, and this had an important effect upon men's estimation of his conduct. He had not the same fami- liarity with Cartwright, Travers, and other leaders of the puritans. Whitgift openly confessed the influence which his old college recollections had upon his mind ; and though he would sacrifice no principle to his feelings, he proclaimed by his conduct, as other good men have done, that he was ready to sacrifice feelings to feelings, and prejudices to prejudices. One of the first measures of the new archbishop was the introduction of a body of canons f. For this he * Book X , sec. 2, p. 26. The acknowledgment of Noal, coming as it does from so bitter an opponent, is a yet stronger eulogy : " Though he was a cruel persecutor of the puritans, yet, compared with his successor Bancroft, he was a valuable prelate." — Hist, of Puritans, vol. ii., p. 23. f " He had the sole management of the convocation of the same year also, m which he passed that excellent body of canons and constitutions ecclesiastical to sei"ve for a perpetual standing rule to the Church of England. Succeeding Wliitgift in the see of Canterbury, he resolved to put the canons into execution, and pressed it Avith so stout a courage, that few had confi- dence enough to stand out against him. Some of tliem did, and those he cither deprived or silenced, and thereby terrified the rest to an open con- formity. They saw too plainly that they must not dally with his patience, as they did with AVliitgift's, and tliat he was resolved to break them if tliey would not how ; and they did wisely in so bowing ; for who could stand against a man of such a spirit, armed with authority, having the law on his side, and tlie king to friend ?" — Hcylyn, Cyprian. Anglic, lib. i,, p. 68. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 255 pleaded the autliority given him by the king. There can be little doubt that the new position of the Church rendered many fresh regulations necessary. It will, however, be questioned, whether the time was wisely chosen for the introduction of rules such as those now brought in. Violent jealousy existed against the Church. The interference of the secular power was evident and confessed ; and there was, at all events, not that perfect agreement between the Church and the nation which would have assured the former of success, had it made a direct and unreserved appeal. The archbishop gave the first formal announcement of his intention to introduce the canons alluded to, by proclaiming, that the king had conferred upon him the authority to make such laws for the Church as the times rendered necessary. It was not every division, even of the high Church party, that could view with perfect satisfaction a measure of this kind ; much less was it possible for those who had expected the accession of James as an era of emancipation, to contemplate the proceeding with even tolerable temper. A new, though not altogether open, impulse was thus again given to the puritan cause. Churchmen, who apprehended fresh aggressions on their liberty, felt every day more inclined to seek refuge with the separatists, and the first actual disgust that they experienced drove them into their ranks. The canons were needed to correct many dis- orders which existed in the practice of the Church. Its friends were so far convinced of this, that both houses of convocation gave a ready assent to their introduction. James signified his approbation of their character by allowing them to pass under the great seal ; and had there been less at the time of angry disputation, this act of the monarch would have been accepted as a good proof of his zeal for the religious interests of his people. The objection early urged, and ever since pressed, against the authority of these canons, could never possess the smallest weight with sincere members of the Church. On the contrary, it tends rather to increase their respect for them, and to prove the necessity of a cordial affec- tion for the Church, on the part of those who in any 256 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IV. wise acknowledge its sacred origin. The canons were not ratified by parliament ; they became not, therefore, it is concluded, the law of the land. But even here many persons will restrict the inference, and content themselves with saying, that they did not become the law of the land in the same way as other rules com- monly so called. If, however, in no sense they became the law of the country, they were made the law of the Church, and the more eifectually so, many will con- sider, because resting on the sanctions of the Church alone, making no appeal to a power beyond itself, and only seeking for the sanction of the monarch, as he is confessed to be the head of the Church, and the de- fender of its faith. It would have been in happy conformity with the principles which gave authority to the canons, had the rulers of the Church, at this time, trusted to the in- trinsic worth of their institutions, and not exhibited practically a perpetual doubt of their strength or suffi- ciency. The puritans as they continued to increase in numbers, so they manifested a growing confidence in the independence which they claimed for their synods and congregations. Though having little actual right to such praise, for it was but the force of circumstance which kept them apart from interference, they seemed to possess a superiority to the temporal power which the Church did not. Their synodical assemblies esta- blished rules dictated by the severest spirit ; but they were patiently submitted to, the authority which imposed them being solely religious. This had considerable in- fluence with many who, though resisting the Church and its canons, had no desire for license in respect either to themselves or others. The leaders of the puritans had too much knowledge of antiquity to think lightly of Church government. Mistakes are easily made in the estimation of their views or motives, through forgetfulness of this important circumstance. They were, many of them, in fact, incomparably more faithful to the spirit of primitive rule than some of those who professed the most ardent loyalty to the Church, Grievous errors were committed by them on CENT. XVI.- XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 257 several points ; but they were not guilty of the sin and folly of despising the principles which they imagined to be but badly wrought out in the institutions which they opposed. At the time when puritanism began to make its most rapid advances, feelings of affection, as ardent as ever they had been, existed towards catholic antiquity. Churchmen and nonconformists did not till long after separate on the question, whether all was to be old, or all was to be new ; except on particular points, the language of the learned and accomplished puritan divine was drawn from the same source as that of the churchman. Cartwright and Travers would have been ashamed to call themselves theologians could they not have proved that the best years of their lives had been devoted to the study of the fathers. The spirit of criticism increased with the growing power of opposition ; but the manner of judging, the mould of thought, the form of argument, the feelings of the early puritan, were those which belonged to him equally with the divines who w^ere eminent in the Church for learning and ability. When circumstances allowed it, their conduct proved it, as well as the tone of their writings. Calvin, their great prototype, acted in every respect as any bishop would act who saw the full extent of his responsibilities, and dare not allow the caprices of other men to interfere with his duties. The very first step, therefore, which the puritans took was to form some plan of government to make those who joined them understand that they were to be subject to synods, pastors, elders ; in short, that they were not for a moment to imagine that, because they were leaving the Church they were to be set free from all control but that of their own consciences. This served to conci- liate the favour of that whole class of men, in the number of whom were found those who inherited the scruples of Hooper, of Fox and others, but who had originally no thought of separation. When they saw a society formed which offered them the privilege of communion, and were reminded every day of the growing difficulties of their position as professed members of the establish- ment, the church-like order of the former impressed VOL. III. s 258 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IV. their minds more and more, and in joining its ranks they soon lost the recollection that they had done so as a matter of necessity, and began to convert their party into a rival with the Church, and to prepare it for a bold and general usurpation. James and his council were successful in the measures which they adopted for the defence of the establishment as such. But it is the almost invariable consequence of such efforts to support a church against its adversaries, that the immediate interests of practical piety seem for the time neglected. Experience, perhaps, may be effectually cited to prove that this is truly the case. But whether so or not, the reputation of an age in which contests like that alluded to have occurred, is always injured in respect to things on which common regard is more usually fixed. The reign of James, therefore, is not one in which the Church of Christ may be supposed to have gained any of its noblest triumphs in this country. But it was a period during which the establishment ac- quired more firmness and consistency, and in which its principal members gained far clearer ideas respecting its proper relations both to the state and the people, than had before existed. This was not without beneficial consequences of a more than transitory nature. We still enjoy the good resulting from the calm temper, the plain manly sense with which it then especially began to be the custom of treating of church claims and in- terests. It was not in ecclesiastical affairs only that this spirit of general inquiry now appeared. The great expounders of English law distinguished themselves in James's reign by their profound erudition, and readiness of practical judgment. Philosophy derived a similar impulse from the inquiring spirit of the times; and the language of Bacon may be taken as an index to the sentiments entertained by the most influential men on all the great topics of the day. James himself was under the power of every popular influence. He shared with the learned in their multifarious acquirements, but not a peasant in the country was more subject to super- stitious fears. The conflict between parties and doc- trines was carried on in his own mind with as much CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 259 warmth and as great variety of success as in the nation at large. Sometimes a practice, or a dogma which the Romanists regarded with highest admiration, woukl be the subject of his eulogium or decrees ; at others the Calvinists would find themselves justified in the hope that, some of their peculiar tenets being adopted, the king would, after all, become a puritan. The arbitrary tone in which he was accustomed to address the clergy is strikingly contrasted with the signs, which otherwise appeared, of a better understand- ing of their state and duties. As if the bishops them- selves were not properly qualified to instruct the clergy, or to correct them if they violated their duty, James took upon himself to dictate on what subjects they should preach, and on what not ; and even in disputed matters, which side they should take. A remarkable illustration of the last-mentioned fact is afforded by his treatment of a Mr. Simpson, one of the fellows of Tri- nity-college, Cambridge. Having to preach before his majesty at Royston, he took for his text, " That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and proceeded to discuss the question whether the commission of sin be not always attended with a fall from grace. In illustration of his views, he stated that St. Paul, when he reasons on the subject in the seventh chapter to the Romans, does not represent his own case, but that of a person still lying under the yoke of the law. James, it is said, was highly offended at the sentiments of the preacher ; and, having expressed his anger, ordered the professors of divinity to give their opinion on the subject. This being done, and their statement being that the argu- ment of the apostle was to be understood of a regenerate man, Mr. Simpson was compelled to make, in the pre- sence of the king and of the congregation, a full recan- tation of his opinion. A case of a somewhat similar kind was presented in the harsh treatment of Dr. Mocket,* whose books * " For which severity, thougli many just reasons were alleged, yet it was generally conceived, that as the l)ook tared the worse for the author's sake, so the author did not speed the better for his patron, the archl)ishop's sake, betwixt whom and Dr. James Montague, then bishop of Winchester, there S 2 260 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IV. were publicly burnt, because described as not repre- senting, with due precision, the opinions of the do- minant party. But while these insults were offered to members and ministers of the Church, the intolerant spirit of the government showed itself, from time to time, in a far more angry form towards the noncon- formists and others. Bancroft pursued his measures with unmitigated severity, and they were so far suc- cessful, that a large number of weak unsettled men, who only wanted to be deprived of the power of agitating to become laborious and useful ministers, yielded to the necessity of the times, and ceased from troubling them- selves with nice points of controversy. Others, however, were not to be so silenced ; and terrible were the suf- ferings to which many estimable men were unmercifully subjected. It was next to impossible that the Church should be settled, or uniformity, so essential to its use- fulness and dignity, be established, without provoking some to resistance, and exposing them, in consequence, to certain penalties. But the Star-chamber and the Church commissioners continued to be animated by feelings which bore at least all the appearance of vin- dictiveness ; and holy, learned, and most eminently valuable men, were not only expelled their livings, but either immured in a prison, or ignominiously driven from their country. So little notion, indeed, had been formed as yet of any principles of toleration, that in March 1611, Bar- tholomew Legget, having been accused of Arianism, was carried before the bishop of London ; and refusing to recant, was sentenced, according to the writ de com- hurendo heretico, to be burnt in Smithfield, where he suffered with all the horrors of the worst times of Mary. Scarcely a month had passed, when the bishop of Lich- field and Coventry took similar measures with another person, Edward Wightman, who was also burnt at the stake. had been some differences, which the rest of the court bishops were apt enough to make some use of to his disadvantage." — Heylyn, Cyprian. Anglic, part i., p. 70. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 2G1 There is little reason for surprise at finding that when such proceedings were authorized by the heads of the Church, the representatives of the people became daily more favourable to the parties which seemed most de- termined to resist them. Hence the growth of parlia- mentary power soon became almost identified with that of puritanism. The king unhappily was little awake to the progress of opinion, and spoke openly of his prero- gative as if neither the constitution nor the Church, much less the people, had any thing whatever to do with the decision of his will. Ill concealed was the disgust of the judges, when, having entered upon an argument respecting the king's power to grant com- mendams, they were peremptorily ordered, by a mes- senger from court, to stop the proceedings. They sent for answer, that compliance with such a command would be contrary to law, and unbecoming their high office. On being summoned before his majesty, they were per- suaded, with the exception of Coke, into a show of submission. The great and venerable chief justice of the King's Bench firmly refused to state that he would stay proceedings at the king's call ; but coldly remarked, that when the case happened, he would do his duty. Such an occurrence was calculated to make a deep im- pression on the minds of the most intelligent classes of society, and inferences were doubtless drawn from it, which had no less connection with the aflfairs of the Church, than with those of law or politics. It might have been imagined that the discovery of the conspiracies, which had so nearly terminated in the destruction of James and his family, would have pre- vented him from ever incurring the suspicion of favour- ing the Romanists. But so far was this from being the case, that he was perpetually accused of showing a ten- derness for their views and practices contrasted, in the most striking manner, with his harsh treatment of the pu- ritans. This tended both to alarm and provoke the easily excited multitude, and acted as another of the causes to which the convulsions of a later period may be traced. The state of affairs in Scotland and Ireland presents another singular feature in the character of these times. S3 262 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IV. A pious monarch, deeply impressed with the conviction that the Church of this country was complete in all its parts and offices, could not but desire to see the same form of government extended to the Church in every other portion of his dominions. But this feeling was as likely to be produced by political as by religious con- siderations ; and judged of as James was, the latter presented, to a large number of his subjects, the more probable explanation of his proceedings. At first he seems to have thought that nothing more was necessary to restore episcopacy to Scotland than the appointment of certain ministers with the title of bishops. The ne- cessit}^, however, of their episcopal consecration being generally confessed, Spotswood, archbishop elect of Glasgow, and two others, were sent for to London. An important difficulty, however, now presented itself. None of the bishops elect had received either deacons' or priests' orders, according to the rule of the Church of England, or any other episcopal church. Andrews, bishop of Ely, protested strongly against the inconsist- ency of admitting men not yet recognized as ministers of the English Church to the highest degree it could confer.* But both Bancroft and Abbot, then bishop of London, overcame his objection ; the one urging that the previous ordination of the candidates, as presbyters, was valid ; for that where episcopal ordination could not be had, that given by presbyters ought to be ad- mitted. This opinion, it appears, was entertained by the archbishop in friendly regard to the foreign reformed churches. The bishop of London, on the other hand, suggested, tliat it was not absolutely necessary that orders of any description should precede admission to the epis- copate ; and lie brought forward, in illustration of his position, the well known instances of Ambrose, a civil magistrate, exalted, on a sudden, to the bishopric of Milan ; Nectarius, also a layman, made patriarch of Con- stantinople; and Eucherius, only a monk, consecrated bishop of Lyons. f • Fuller; Collier; Neal. t It is disputed wliich of these arguments was started by this or that pre- late. Tiiere is more of Abbot's usual tone in that which shows so much desire to uphold the character of the foreign churches. Collier, however, attri- CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 26^3 It was considered that these facts sufficiently removed the difficulty spoken of by the bishop of Ely. The prelates elect were accordingl}'' consecrated, and epis- copacy was restored to Scotland. The state of religion in Ireland had been long a subject of anxiety both to the Church and government. James was in the habit of observing that he was but half a king in that country, the bodies only of the people being subject to him, while their consciences acknow- ledged the supremacy of the pope. The colonizing of Ulster with Eno'lish and Scotch families introduced Protestantism into that province under favourable cir- cumstances : but earnest as the new settlers were in the support of religion, their views differed, in some ma- terial points, from those of the governing party in Eng- land. The learned and pious Usher, then provost of Trinity-college, took the lead in the adjustment of the questions hence arising. Instead, however, of the several discussions ending in the settlement of opinion accord- ing to the recognized Articles of the English Church, others were drawn up, and the Lambeth articles made the basis of confession. The agreement between many points in the rule thus brought in, and the general tenour of puritanism, was easily discernible. But no resistance was opposed, on the part of the king, to the adoption of the new articles. They were ratified in his name, and made the rule of the Irish Church, to which a species of liberty and independence was thus accorded, the real origin of which is sought for sometimes in the versatility of the king's own opinions, sometimes in the depth of his political foresight. On the death of Bancroft, Abbot was advanced to the archbishopric of Canterbury. His character and opi- nions had little in common with those of the former prelate. The extreme moderation of his sentiments was highly favourable to the puritans ; and, under his admi- nistration of affairs, the party increased both in power and numbers.* Far too much, however, appears to be butes this to Bancroft ; but Neal ascribes it to Abbot. — Collier, vol. vii., p. 362 ; Neal, vol. n., p. 76. * It was said of him, " that he was a grave man in his conversation, and unblameable in his life, but said withal to have been carried with non amavit S4 2G4 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IV. ascribed to the influence of his example or forbearance. The only effect which can properly be attributed to his elevation, was the softening of those rigours of persecu- tion on which others depended for the defence of their principles. It is difficult, indeed, to imagine that one man's influence, whatever his station, would have been suflicient to stop the progress of opinions firmly held, and dearly loved, by thousands of energetic minds ; favoured to a remarkable degree by the measures adopted in one part of tlie king's dominions, and without contra- diction to the Church ; and in his own hereditary land evidently destined to gain a triumphant and permanent ascendancy. Had Bancroft lived, or had he been suc- ceeded by Andrews, so worthy of all honour, so calcu- lated, on account of his fervent spiritual-mindedness, to win the affections even of opponents, the end would have been the same. Abbot's mildness stopped persecution, lessened the number of those whose injuries were daily appealing to the righteousness of heaven against the violence of churchmen ; but did nothing more ; unless, indeed, we may attribute to individual influence or individual looseness of principle, to effort or neglect, on the part of one man, what the larger part of a nation has resolved to effect for itself. The elevation of Abbot afforded a strong proof of the king's more favourable feeling towards the puritans. This was evidenced in a yet clearer manner by the part which he took in promoting the synod of Dort, the issue of which was foreseen by most of those who favoured its gentem nostram, fors()rt('d by Mr. Byfiehl .. Mr. Hill moved, that there mi^ht be some preface mack' to the Directory in vindication of our ordmation, which is so mudi now vilified.... And then we liad much debate about sending up wliat we had done ; whether we shouhl send up tiie business of presbytery, whicli was followed and agitated with much heat 'We find that a classical presbytery did ordain,' &c. . . . And this the disseuting party lu'ged to go to the question, thinking this reason not to make a clear conclu?iou upon the proposition, ' a classical presbytery did ordain,' ergo^ a single congregation may not. This scoff cost some heat and long debate ; and the thing itself spent al)nndance of time ; at last it was put to the ((uestion ami voted afhnnatively, some five votes difference." — Journal of the Asseml)ly of Divines, April, May. Lightfoot's AVorks, vol. xiii. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 341 sliowed that, " no man ought to take upon him the office of a minister of the word, without a hiwful calling- ; that ordination is always to be continued in the Church ; that it is the solemn setting apart of a person to some public church-office ; that every minister of the word is to be ordained by imposition of hands, and prayer, with fasting, by those preaching presbyters to whom it doth belong ; that it is agreeable to the Word of God, and very expedient, that such as are to be or- dained ministers be designed to some particular church, or other ministerial charge: that the candidate for ordination must be qualified both by character and mi- nisterial abilities ; that he should be examined by those by whom he is to be ordained ; and that no man may be ordained minister for a particular congregation, if they of that congregation can shew just cause of ex- ception against him." Respecting the " power of ordination," it is stated, " ordination is the act of a presbytery. _ The power of ordering the whole work of ordination is in the whole presbytery, which, wlien it is over more congregations than one, whether those congregations be fixed or not fixed, in regard of officers or members, it is indifferent as to the point of ordination." And further : " It is very requisite that no single congregation, that can conveniently associate, do assume to itself all and sole power in ordination; first, because there is no example in scripture that any single congregation which might conveniently associate did assume to itself all and sole power in ordination, neither is there any rule which may warrant such a practice ; secondly, because there is in scripture, example of an ordination in a presbytery over divers congregations ; as in the church of Jerusalem, where were many congregations ; these many congre- gations were under one presbytery, and this presbytery did ordain. The preaching presbyters orderly asso- ciated, either in cities, or neighbouring villages, are those to whom the imposition of hands doth appertain, for those congregations within their bounds respec- tively." But, at the end of the rules thus largely set forth, z 3 342 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VI. indications arc allowed to appear of doubt and appre- hension lest the number of persons prepared for the ministry should be far less than was expected or re- quired. " In extraordinary cases, something extra- ordinary may be done, until a settled order may be had, vet keeping as near as possible to the rule There is at this time, as we humbly conceive, an extra- ordinary occasion for a way of ordination for the present supply of ministers." On this foundation, laid so suddenly, and in the midst of tumults, the now triumphant party proudly hoped to erect a Church which should have all the power and grandeur of a national establishment — all the advantages of primitive ordinances and apostolic discipline, witliout any of the blemishes of the older institution. That these expectations were in most in- stances the fruit of mingled presumption and fanaticism, was amply proved by the event.* But the religious * Milton's testimony to the truth of this statement is all important. " As for the party called presbytcrinn, of whom I believe very many to be good iuid faithful Christians, though misled by some of turbulent sjiirit, I wish them, earnestly and calmly, not to fall off from their first principles, nor to affect rigour and superioiity over men not under them ; not to compel imforcible things, in religion especially, Avhicli, if not voluntary, becomes a sin ; not to assist the clamour and malicious drifts of men, whom they themselves have judged to be the worst of men, the obdurate enemies of God and his Church ; nor to dart against the actions of their bretlircn, for want of other argument, tliose wrested laws and scriptures thrown by prelates and malignants against their own sides, which, though they hurt not otherwise, yet taken u^) by them to the condemnation of tlieir own doings, give scandal to all men, and discover in themselves either extreme j)assion or apostacy. Let them not oppose their best friends and associates, who molest them not at all, infiinge not the least of their liberties, iniless they call it their liberty to bind other men's consciences, but are still seeking to live at peace with them, and lu'otherly accord ; let them beware an old and ])erfect enemy, who, thougli he hope by sowing discord to make them liis instruments, yet cannot forbear a minute the open tlu'catening of his destined revenge uj'.on them, when they have served his purposes. Let them fear, tlieniforc, if they be wise, ratlier what they have done already, tlian what remains to do, and be warned in time they put no confidence in jirinces whom they liave provoked, lest they be added to the examjdes of those tliat miserably liave tasted the event." — Tenure of Kings, sec. .53. " I have somctliing also to the divines, though brief to what were needful ; not to be disturbers of the civil affairs, being in hands better able and more belonging to manage tlicm ; but to study harder, and to attend the office of good ])astors, knowing that he wliose flock is least among them batli a dreadful charge, not ])('rfurmed by mut more like atheists, they li.ave blasphemed the vengeance of God, and traduced the zeal of his people." — lb., sec. 5G. z 4 344 IIlSTOnY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VI. solidity and even grandeur which distinguished the writings of tlie great tlieologians of the same period. Milton himself could not overcome the opposition which existed to any thing great or good in secular authorship. Fierce as he was in defence of puritanism, his mind, his tastes, and deeper feelings were altogether moulded by ecclesiastical influences. But while the great body of theological literature was so nobly indicative of the genius and piety of the clergy, no stronger evidence could be given, that, if the state required tJieir sub- jection to iis will, something like a struggle must yet be passed through before it could be honestly pretended, that they yielded obedience with a sincere and hearty affection, James the Second brought on the struggle sooner than was expected. His infamous proceedings com- pelled the Church to consider its position, and to inrpiire whether, without renouncing its very character as a Church, it could still continue in union with the state. The answer v/ould probably have been in the negative, had not the wisdom and wonderful mercy of God helped to resolve the doubts which the treachery of the monarch and the course of events had created. When the Revolution of 1688 had secured to the several branches of the community their proper relative position, their due powers and rights, the clergy found themselves in a condition better than any they had yet enjoyed for promoting the interests of religion, and the welfare and honour of the establishment. But it requires both wisdom and virtue of tlie highest class to preserve men from relaxing in their watchfulness when there seems little to apprehend ; and if the Church has suffered from such a cause, we only see therein a fresh illustration of the snares and dangers of pi-osperity. The design of these volumes obliges us to confine our statements to such circumstances as most directly show the progress or decline of true religion. In tlie history of the English Church, the effort to disentangle the thread of details leading to the object thus proposed, i'roni others of a different nature, is attended with more tliuu common difficulties. There is da)iger, not always CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 345 avoided even by men of the most acute mind, of dis- regarding events that do not, in the first instance, seem connected with the interests of the gospel. On the other hand, there is the peril, equally great, of con- founding the outward prosperity of the Church with the real advancement of spiritual truth. In both cases, the history of religion in this country is involved in diffi- culty. The Church can rarely be contemplated in so simple and isolated a character as it presents in other nations. Since the Reformation, especially, it has been so intimately connected with the political gov^ernment of the country, that, though occasionally supreme in its influence, it has never itself been superior to influence from without. In many of its most remarkable struggles, tlie piety of its bishops has exhibited itself rather as prudence, manly courage, independence, a sense of the dignity of station, than as heavenly-mindedness, habi- tually raising its possessor above the world, and teaching him not so much to reason and calculate, as to pray, exhort, and trust lovingly in God. We do not say that the great men who represented our Church in its struggles were without the Spirit, the fruit of which are feelings like those alluded to ; but that, owing to the particular circumstances in which our Church has been placed, they were kept so conversant with tem- poral aflairs, so perpetually obliged to watch the current of political opinions, that their language and conduct, if not their actual habits of thought, presented more, as we have said, of Christian prudence, than of that sublime devotional feeling which, even in their transactions with worldly powers, distinguished the prelates of antient times, and less powerful churches. While such was the case with respect to the hier- archy, the influence which had wrought on their cha- racter, operated in a degree fully proportionable on that of the clergy at large. As a body, they felt that they were as dependent on the state as on the Church : that it required no small share of learning and acute- ness to discover what were their peculiar responsibilities as to the latter ; or what, under peculiar contingencies, ought to be their conduct. But a short time had to 346 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VI. elapse before the pniici])le was generally established, that the patronage wliicli the government possessed might be regarded as a most legitimate portion of church machinery ; and that the influence of the clergy was likely to be increased just so far as men of rank and property saw that they might fairly trust their sons to the chances of the profession. It is impossible for men of ordinary piety to shut their eyes to the fact, that the Church of this country did, under circumstances of this kind, rapidly lose its evangelical efliciency. We do not say its evangelical character, but efficiency. The former it had received, and continued to retain, for it was not bestowed on it without the securities of creeds, articles, homilies and ordinances ; but the latter grew less day by day : it had no support except such as was rendered it by the piety, now beginning to be regarded as eccentric, of the few retiring minds that could realize that grandest of experimental truths, the possibility of yielding all faith- ful obedience to authority, and of cultivating, at the same time, the graces of the Spirit, of which it is said, that where he is, "there is libert3^" Instead, therefore, of having a broad line of light to guide us in tracing the progress of opinion in our Church, it requires all the patience of a devout mind to discover the traces which have been left of the real advancement of evangelical truth. The caprices of power have, on many occasions, been wonderfully over- ruled for good. Temptations which, in other countries, have utterly corrupted the clergy, and made them the slaves of superstition, avarice or sensuality, have not, in this, been allowed to debase them to such depths, however much they may have deprived them of the dignit}^ and honour of their proper spiritual pre-eminence. Decency has always been preserved ; and fierce declamation and biting satire have, on this account, shot their darts in vain at the national clergy. There may have been a want of that spirit to which vulgar comprehension is a stranger, which, whether present or absent, the gross temper of the world can never rightly appreciate ; but, put to the trial in respect to things on which mankind CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBUUG. 347 ill general can fairly form a judgment, the national clergy have always heen able to make good their de- fence. The common proprieties of duty have given an amiable and graceful aspect to the body at large. Charity has not been wanting to shed about it a still brighter air ; and the dignity of wealtli and station, enjoyed by many of the order, has always effectually shielded it, not only from the approaches of contempt, but from the temptations which might provoke it. But, with all this, it would be folly to deny, that the highest interests of religion seemed to lose, with each successive generation, more and more of their power to engage attention. Churches began to be shut up from sabbath to sabbath, the people glad to excuse themselves on the plea of worldly occupation, and the clergy coldly yielding to the supposed necessity of the case. Preach- ing, in the meantime, exhibited, in a striking manner, the influence of this state of things : it became every day more adapted to the known necessities of the world, and less fitted to accomplish the peculiar objects of the gospel. The world, it had long been confessed, stood in need of moral rules, and the higher the sanction, the more vivid the motives for obeying them, the greater the advantage to civilization. Preaching could never altogether go out of fashion, or lose the favour of rea- sonable men, while this was felt. But the very ac- knowledgment of its utility, as an instrument of mere social or political good, contributed to annul its higher and nobler pretensions. Preachers imagined that they had well fulfilled their duty when the state of their congregations bore testimony to the worth of moral precepts. By rapid degrees the very doctrines of the clergy, as well as their discourses, lost the unction, the life and power, of the gospel. Doubts were cast on the reality of every thing spiritual. The hearts of the people were rarely stirred either by strong statements of truth, or by solemn and respectful intimations of the existence of naysteries, of the riches of heavenly knowledge, of which, after the due preparation of pe- nitence, they might happily be made partakers. It was 348 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VI. the brightness and tlie coldness of a winter day that gave to the best even of the generality of the professors of this period their superficial feeling of health and activity. When we endeavour, therefore, to discover in the state of the national Church fruits of those sublime efforts which had so lately been made by its reformers, disappointment must inevitably attend our inquiries if we confine our observations to the more conspicuous features of the times. But it is next to impossible that, with a treasure of heavenly doctrine like that, not only committed to its keeping, but openly and continually referred to in its ordinances, our Church should have been, at any time, unproductive of fruits meet to prove the life and presence of an evangelical spirit. The or- ganization which it enjoyed still farther increased the difficulty with which worldly principles would have to contend in opposing its usefulness, or depriving it of its fitness to diffuse blessings through the land. Its clergy were not all exposed to the temptations attending upon its peculiar relation to the state. The condition of many of them was that of a happy mean between riches and poverty, — a condition, that is, in which, it has ever been considered, the mind and heart are most free to obey holy and generous impulses. Nor ought it to be lost sight of, that in the midst of the worst temptations with which the clergy had to contend, they were not like a body of men rudely gathered together by some sudden impulse, or as men untaught in the history of their Church, or in such departments of literature and science as usually tend most powerfully to the strength- ening of healthy principles. Such things could not make up for the want of divine grace ; but wherever the truth was known and felt, even though not in the highest degree, much was likely to be done. The means of in- struction among a well-educated clergy are large and various ; and arguments in favour of the most important doctrines, and of a holy life, are urged with a force not measured by the ca])acity of the individual, but by his command over, and familiarity with, the teaching of the CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 349 Church at largo ; just as tlie fountain throws its waters upwards witli greater power, according to the height and fulness of the source. With the knowledge that so many favourable circum- stances existed, even in the dullest period of our religious history, there is no slight reason to believe that evan- gelical feeling, though far below the level at which it may commonly be observed, must have often exercised its benign influence, and that over large though obscure provinces. Had not this been the case, there would have been none of that preparation for liappier times, which, it may reasonably be supposed, led the way to those im- provements of discipline and temper so conspicuously observable in a subsequent age. Allowing, however, as much as with any reverence for truth can be granted, and thus softening the severity of the judgment with which some periods of our history would be viewed, a religious mind will be ever reverting to the melancholy facts which prove the awful dispro- portion between the advantages enjoyed by our Church, and the work performed ; between the ripe harvest, and the seed gathered in ; between the number of labourers hired and paid, and the duty done. That the Church was carried through a season of such peril without any loss as to its ordinances, discipline or actual independence, is a singular instance of divine favour. With apparently no greater tendency to indif- ferentism ; with fewer supports from without, aiding a corrupt desire of temporal security and wealth ; with less adherence to the world on the part of the clergy ; many an institution has fallen into a state of reproba- tion, and prepared the way for its utter abscision from the Church of Christ. 350 HISTORY OF THC CHURCH [CHAP. VII, CHAP. VIT. RISE OF ATIMINIANISM. CONTROVERSY CONCERNING PRE- DESTINATION. ARMINIANS AND GERMANS. THEIR DISPUTATIONS. DEATH OF ARMINIUS, AND SUCCEEDING CONTROVERSIES. SYNOD OF DORT. It was not in England only that the principles on which the peace of the Church was finally to he esta- blished, were subjected to the fiery trials of controversy and persecution. The freedom at which men so eagerly grasped in the first days of tlie Reformation, produced, in many cases, a different fruit to that which they had looked for. They expected it to bear as if it had been planted in a good and rich soil for many years ; for- getting that the best trees produce little fruit till after long and careful tending. The most disheartening of the circumstances with which the course of religion has in later times been disfigured, are those which have had their origin in disputes on subjects very remotely connected w'ith any vital doctrine or important interest. Disputes of this kind afford melancholy proofs, tliat the pride, tlie selfishness, the caprice of the human heart, are con- tinually opposing themselves to the grace of God ; as if angry at its free course, and jealous lest it should too soon reduce mankind to a state of holiness and peace. But there are controversies which arise, not from the capriciousness of men's tempers, but from the state of vast portions of the Christian community; from the very conditions on which churches are established ; from the power of the gospel itself, acting with sudden and startling force on great and original minds. The Reformation itself was the result of a controversy of this kind. That its consequences were of so grand and important a characterwas owing, not to its being different CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 351 to any other controversy, but to the nature of the times in which it commenced. Many were the struggles of inferior parties during the period immediately succeeding the Reformation. Every ambitious theologian conceived, at that time, the hope of constituting himself the head of a sect. But, as affairs assumed a more tranquil aspect, the strength employed in this way gradually returned into its proper channels. Great principles received their rightful nou- rishment ; Churches and communities felt their growing might; and just in proportion to their discovered defi- ciency in this or that particular, or in breadth and power of expansion, was the feeling of restlessness exhibited by the great men through whom its innermost spirit strove to express its yearnings. Of the controversies to which the seventeenth century gave birth, those of the Arminians and Jansenists were infinitely the most important. They owed their be- ginning to that growth of inward convictions, of that deepening sense of the value and beauty of truth, in which all great controversies have had their rise, and whence, whatever their visible and popular results, they have derived the power of materially affecting the great under-currents of thought and opinion. Arminius* had studied at several of the most cele- brated universities, and was distinguished for his ex- tensive learning, when, in the year 1588, he received an • Bom at Oudevvatcr, in South Holland, In the year 1500. An interesting^ proof is given of the success with which he had pursued his studies at IJaslo, Grynajus was then divinity professor in that university; and when in his lectures any difficult question was suddenly proposed, he would cry, " Let my Hollander answer for me." " Non est veritushonoriscausaArniinium nostrum media in studiosorum turba sedentem citare, ct (ut Chynasi candorcm agno- scas) dicere, respondeat pro me Hollandus meus." He subsequently visited Italy, and of his stay at Rome he was in the habit of observing, that he had derived therefrom both benefits and injuries. Among the former he reckoned tliLS as the chief, that he had seen there the mystery of iniquity, and found it to be baser, and more to be detested, than it had ever entered his mind to con- ceive ; for, that what was commonly related respecting the Roman antichrist was a mere trifle in comparison with what he had witnessed. Among the hitter, he placed the suspicions which were absurdly conceived against him at Amsterdam, on account of his Italian tour, it being commonly asserted that he had kissed the pope's feet, formed an acquaintance with Bellarmine, and actually embraced popery. — Petri Bciiii de Vit. et Oliit. I. Arm. Oratio. It appears, however, that at an early period the activity of his inquiring mind was viewed with suspicion even by his teachers : Veliin te diligentcr 352 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [ciIAP. VII- appointment to one of the cliurches in Amsterdam.* There his abilities as a preacher speedily procured him a high degree of favour, and his character was regarded with profound and general respect. Circumstances soon occurred which indicated the value set u])on his opinions. An enlightened and religious citizen of Am- sterdam, Theodore Roornhert, had, for some time past, expressed violent hostility to Calvin's doctrine of pre- destination. As this was one of the favourite tenets of the Church in Holland, Roornhert was declared a he- retic and libertine. But this sentence tended in nowise to the silencino; of the dispute ; and Arminius was formally requested by the authorities of Amsterdam to refute the sentiments of Roornhert. A new feature, however, was given to the dispute by the clergy of Delft. Roornhert having affirmed that, according to the doctrine of Geneva, God was made the author of sin, these divines allowed that the views of Calvin's strictest followers ought to be taken with some degree of limitation. Thus, while Beza and others represented the eternal counsel of God as necessitating even the full itself, the theologians of Delft considered that the decree ought to be viewed as referring only to events subsequent to the fall. It is to this distinction that the two party denominations, Su- jn'alapsarii and Infralapsarii trace their origin. But so doubtful were the divines, who conceived the idea of modifying Calvin's doctrine, of the propriety of their proceedings, that they referred the matter to Martin L^'dius of Franeker, beseeching that eminent theologian to decide on the correctness or incorrectness of their views. But Lydius was too well aware of the difficulty attending the question to answer it in the summary way desired ; and his experience in dispute taught him to avoid involving himself in the troubles to which even the most laboured reply might lead. He, therefore, wisely desired the clergy of Delft to leave the subject cavere, ut nullis inanibus argutiis te ipsum irretias ; ct quoties nova qujeilam tibi in mentem vcniant, diligenter ilia, quantiunlil)ot in initio tibi ilia arri- seiinit, cxcutorc, jjiiusquam approbcs. — Beza, Philip, Paicum. in Vit. D. Parci., c. 57. Baylo. * Brant. IIist.VitiL> I. Arminii, p. 33. CENT. XVI.-XVIK] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 353 in the hands of Arminins, and to rest satisfied with tlie zeal which he was likely to evince in defending the opinions of a man so much reverenced as Beza. Arminins was appealed to accordingly ; and he straightway set his active and ingenious mind to the task of unravelling the many twisted lines of argument in wliich the doctrine of predestination lay involved. Surely few men can have had stronger claims on sym- pathy than Arminins when commencing the inves- tigation to which he Mas thus called. Many signs existed, that the peace of the Church would, sooner or later, be disturbed by the questions of Roornhert. Ar- minins enjoyed, at present, the esteem and affection of the principal men in the community to which he be- longed. They looked to him as the champion of or- thodoxy ; and daily was it expected that the rich stores of knowledge which he had accumulated would be poured forth in clear and happy explications of the creed of his Church. But while the clergy of Amsterdam and Delft were eagerly awaiting the judgment of Arminins in favour of their views, Arminins himself was suffering intense anxi- ety and alarm. Doubts had for some time possessed his mind respecting the popular notion of predestination. As lie continued to pursue his inquiries, these doubts strengthened into a conviction that the doctrines of his masters in theology were not based on scripture, or on correct views of the divine will. But this conviction was attended with alarming prospects of the surprise and indignation to be anticipated from the discovery of his sentiments. Prudence dictated the propriety of his using the utmost caution in such a matter. He might have erred in his argument : his mind might not be so thoroughly convinced as, for the moment, he supposed ; and charity to others rendered it expedient that nothing should be done which might create excitement. In the case of a mere scholar these prudential sugges- tions might have been easily obeyed. But Arminins was a preacher, and concealment with a sincere and earnest minister of the gospel is next to impossible. The real character of his opinions and feelings, even on the mi- VOL. ]II. A A 354 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. iiutcst points, is sure to discover itself, not, perhaps, in formal statements, in set propositions, but in the tone of his expressions, in the nature of his illustrations, and the general tendency of his reasoning. It was in a sermon preached on the fourteenth verse of the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans that Arminius first gave any intimation of his new opinions.* The language of his discourse was anxiously examined. It did not bear directly upon the subject of predesti- nation ; but it was considered as strongly tinctured with Pelagianism. Suspicion being once awakened, Arminius was no longer allowed to pursue his incpiiries undis- turbed. The magistrates summoned him to give an account of his doctrine ; and he found himself compelled to enter into an engagement that he would preach nothing contrary to the formularies of the Netherland Church, or to the Heidelberg catechism. This assurance might have procured him a temporary repose. But his feelings were now too much aroused to allow of his concealing the results of his inquiry. In discoursing on the ninth chapter of the Romans, he spoke with a plain desire to show, that it was not so clearly in favour of high predestinarian doctrine as Calvin asserted. Though he stated nothing directly against the Geneva system, this effort to weaken the main arguments on which it rested was sufficient to excite still stronger suspicions of his orthodoxy. But the storm passed by, and, in an interval of quiet, Arminius sought the opinions and aid of the most celebrated divines of his country. Franciscus Junius was at that time professor of theology at Leyden, and enjoyed a high reputation for learning and piety. Arminius interchanged letters with this distinguished man ; but there was an indefiniteness * Cum pervenissct at cap. vii. totum illiul, et praesertim posteviorcm illius partem, a vers. 14 ad finem usque, de homiue irregenito, cujus miseviam apoKtolussub sua persona describat, iiitcrprctatus est. De hac explicatioue, duce prajsertim Petro Plancio, lis mota fuit, Arminioque objectum, quod sua explicatione se doctrina> in Ecclesia receptae opponcret, et opinioni Pelagianae pati'ocinaretur. Vcruni prudcntia magistratus lis lisec composita fuit ; et Anninius scriptum coneiimavit de sensu cap. vii., ad Rom., quo ostendit, sentcntiam suam esse consentaneam sacrse scripturse et doctrinae omnium patnim ante Augxistinum, quia et nonnullorum doctorum Reforma- toruni. — Limborch. Relatio Historica de Origine et Progressii Controver- Biurumiu Fcederato Belgio dc Pra?destinatione, p. 5. oo CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 3 and timidity in the answers sent to his qnestions, which convinced him that httle profit was to be derived from the correspondence. John Witenbogart was another cele- brated divine of the day, and one of the most eloquent preachers which the Dutch Church had produced. Tlie views of Arminius had long- attracted his notice ; and his ardent friendship served, in no slight degree, to animate their author to sjDcak more openly and boldly on his favourite topics. Notwithstanding the jealousy with which Arminius had now for some time been viewed, his united ability and virtuous character had obtained him great interest among the more wealthy and powerful members of the community. Through then- influence he was appointed, on the death of Junius, to the vacant chair of theology at Leyden. His new position rendered it still more incumbent on him than before to explain and defend his views. As his followers increased, and manifested their growing admiration of the eloquence and acuteness with which he argued in favour of God's universal compas- sion for fallen man, the impulse to a bolder line of argu- ment became irresistible ; and Arminius no longer hesi- tated to declare the more striking parts of his system. Associated with him in the theological faculty was Franciscus Gomarus, a man of no mean attainments or capacity, but as anxious and ready to support the extreme doctrines of Calvin, as Arminius was to oppose them. In a public dispute which they held together, Arminius freely declared that he utterly renounced the errors of Pelagius, and agreed with Augustine and his followers in what they had written against them. This acknowledg- ment was considered as a fair ground for peace, and it was hoped that nothing would again occur to disturb the tran- quillity of the university. After a short time, however, Arminius introduced again the subject of predestination, and publicly taught, that it is the counsel of God's good pleasure in Christ, determined from eternity, to justify believers, to accept them as his children, and to grant them, to the praise of his grace, everlasting life. Repro- bation, on the other hand, he described as a counsel of wrath, or of God's severe will, according to which He A A 2 356 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. from eternity has resolved to condemn to eternal death those unhelievers who, through their own guilt, and by the righteous judgment of God, do not believe, and are therefore cut off from Christ, in order that thereby his anger and power may be openly declared.* It was generally supposed that, by this account of his belief, Arminius would find the anger of his opponents still fiirtlier subdued ; but Gomarus, far from being satisfied, took occasion to observe, with pointed reference to his associate, that the reformed churches, and more particularly Calvin and Beza, had been most unjustly accused of making God the author of sin. Arminius replied, that wilfully to make God the author of sin was very different from teaching out of mere ignorance that which might be construed into such an assertion; tliat the reformed churches ought not to be confounded with Calvin and Beza, since it was far from correct to impute to a church that which was merely taught by indivi- duals, whose names, however famous, could afford no assurance tliat they were free from error. And further, it was not just to accuse of Pelagianism those who opposed the view of predestination adopted by Gomarus; for that tlie history of antient synods, and the instance of Augus- tine himself, proved that this doctrine might be rejected without any tendency to Pelagianism ; but that the im- mediate inference from the arguments of Gomarus was, that God is the author of sin.f • Branthis. Vita Jac. Ann., p. 207. It was the desire of Arminius in this dispute so to frame his sentences that no one miglit justly hlame him, or accuse him of detracting from the respect due to Calvin and Beza: parcens ipsorum nominibus, neminemquc aliter sentientem perstringens. Soon after this disj>utati()n he published certain 'I'heses, in one of which occurred the assertion, Nullum esse absolutam in rebuB, prajter Deum necessitatem, imo ne ignem quidem urere necessaiio ; sed onmem, quae in rebus sen cven- tibus sit, necessituteni, nihil aliud esse quam relationem causae ad effectum. This excited fresh hostility against him. — Limborch. Relatio Historica de Origine ct Progrcssu Controversiarum in Foederato Belgio de Praedesti- natione, p. 209. f Arminius did not intend this to he taken in the worst sense, or as a wanton blasphemy on the part of Gomarus. He always asserted that it was an inference only from the doctrine of Calvin. The actual assei-tion is said to have been made by certain heretics in the second century, and to have been amply refuted by Irenfeus. " AVhat arguments," says 'Heylyn, *■' the good father used to cry down this blasphemy (for a heresie is a name too milde for so lewd a doctrine), I cannot gather from my author, but such they were, so o]ierative and effectual in stoiming the current of the mischief, tliat cither Florinus and the rest had no followers at all (as most hereticks CENT. XVI.- XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 357 To the grave accusation with which he was thus as- sailed, Gomarus replied by advancing against Arminius the counter charge of representing the divine decrees as depending on the conduct of men, and not on God him- had), or such as never attained to the height of their master's imjmdence. And so that damnable doctrine (the doctrme of devils I may call it) seems to be strangled in the birth, or to be buried in the same grave with the authors of it, never revived in more than thirteen hundred years after the death of Irenaeus, when it was again started b}^ the libertines, a late brood of sec- taries, whom each of the two opposite parties are ashamed to own. This taught, as did Florinus, in the primitive times, Quicquid ego, &c., tu facimus Deus efficit ; nam in nobis est ; that whatsoever thing they did, was God's working in them ; and therefore God to be intituled to those wicked actions which themselves committed. The time of their first breakings out affirmed to be about the year 1529. The founders of this sect, Loppinus and Quin- tinus, Flemings both; and this Prateolus affirms for certain to be the progeny of Calvin, and other leading men of the protestant churches. Tliey came (saith he), e schola nostroe tempestatis evangelicorum. Bellarmm, some- what more remissly, Omnino probabile est, eos ex Calvianianis promanasse; and makes it only probable that it might be so, but not rijrhtly neither. The libertines breaking out, as before was said, anno 1527, when Calvin was of little credit, and the name of Calvinists, or Calvinians, not so mtich as heard of. And on the other side, Paraeus, professor of divinity in the uni- versity of Heidelberg, writing some animadversions on the cardinal's works assures us that they were both papists, acquaints us with the place of their nativity, and the proceedings had against them. Nor was Calvin wanting, for his part, to purge himself from such an odious imputation, not only by confutuig their opinions in a set discourse, but making one Franciscus Por- quius, a franciscan fryer, to be a chief stickler in the cause. Against which I know nothing that can be said, but that the doctrine of the libertines, in this particular, doth hold more correspondence with Calvin's principles than any of the received positions of the fryers of St. Francis. But, whether it were so or not, I shall make this inference, that the doctrine must needs be most impious which both sides detested, which the papists laboured so in- dustriously to father on the schools of Calvin, and the Calvinians no less passionately to charge on some of our great masters in the Church of Rome. " But so it is, that though the impiety was too gross to appear bare fac'd, yet there have been too many, both in the elder and these latter times, who, entertaining in their hearts the same dreadful madness, did recommend it to the world under a disguise, though they agreed riot at all in that masque or vizard which was put upon it. Of this sort Manes was the first, by birth of Persia, and founder of the damnable sect of the Manicheans, anno 273, or thereabouts. This wretch, considering how unsuccessfully Florinus had sped before, in making God (who is all and only good) to be the author of sin, did first excogitate two Gods, the one good' and the other evil, both of like eternity ; asciibing all pious actions to the one, all sins and vices to the other; which ground so laid, he utterly deprived the will of man of tliat natural liberty of which it is by God invested ; and therefore tliat in man there was no ability of resisting sin, or not suljmitting unto any of those wicked actions which his lusts and passions offered to him : ' Condendcbant, item, peccatum non esse a libero arbitrio, sed a daemone, & eaproi)tcr nou posse per liberum arbitrium impediri,' as my author hath it. Nor did they only leave man's will in a disability of hindering or resisting the inciirsions of sin, but they left it also under an incajiability of acting any thing in order to the works of rigliteousncss, tliough (Jod might graciously vouchsafe his assisting grace, making no difierence in this case betwixt a living man and a A A 3 358 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [chap. VII. self ; and of filling tlie human mind with pride, by in- culcating the notion, that right sentiments, rather than divine grace, are the foundation of safety. This, it appears, put an end to the liope of concilia- tion. Arminius became more and more an object of hatred to tlie high Calvinistic party. The pulpits re- sounded with denunciations of his errors ; and the slightest indication of their being regarded with tole- rance was sufficient to bring down upon the suspected person the weightiest threats and anathemas. Arminius himself beheld the rage of his enemies with sorrow rather than resentment. " I know," he said to one of his friends, " and my conscience bears me wit- ness, that I have neither said nor done any thing which stock or statua, for so it follows in my author : ' Sed & nullam prorsus vo- luiitati tribuebaut actionem, ncc quidem adjuvantespiritusancto : quasi nihil interosset inter statuam & voluntatem.' In both directly contrary to that divine council of St. James, where he adviseth us ' to lay apart all filthiness and supei-iluity of naughtiness, and to receive with meekness the ingi-afted word, which is able to save your souls.' Chap, i., vcr. 21. That of St. Peter, exhorting, or requiring rather, ' that we work out our salvation with fear and tremlding.' And, finally, that golden aphorism of St. Augustine : ' Si non sitliberumarbitrium, quomodo Deus judicabit mundum ?' ' \\^ith vvhat justice,' saith the father, ' can God judge or condemn the world, if the sins of men jiroceed not fi-om their own free will, but from some over-rulmg power which uiforced them to it ?' " Others there were, who, harl)ouring in their hearts the said lewd opinions, and yet not daring to ascribe all their sins and wickednesses unto God himself, imputed the whole blame thereof to the stars and destinies ; the powerful influence of the one, and the irresistible decrees of the other, necessitating men to those wicked actions which they so frequently commit. Thus we are told of Bardesanes, ' Quod fato conversationcs hominum ascriberet ;' that he ascribed all things to the power of fate. And thus it is affirmed of Priscillifinus, ' Fatalibus astris homines alligatos ;' that men were thralled unto the stars ; which last St. Augustme doth report of one Colarbus, save that he gave this power and influence to the planets only; but these, if pon- dered as tliey ought, differed but little, if at all, from the mipiety of Florinus before remembered, only it was expressed in a l)etter language, and seemed to savour more of tlie philosopher than the other did. For, if the Lord had passed such an irresistible law of fate, that such and such shoiild be guilty of such foul transgressions as they commonly committed, it Avas all one as if he was proclaimed for the author of them : and then why might not every man take unto himself the excuse and plea of Agamemnon : ' It was not I that did it, but the gods and destiny ' ';• Or, if the Lord had given so irresistible a power to the stars of heaven, as to inforce men to be wickedly and lewdly given, wliat difl'ers this from making God the author of those vitious actions, to which by them we are uiforced ? and then, why might not every man cast his sin on God, and sa^'', as did some good fellows in St. Augustine's time : ' Accusandum potius esse auctorem syderum, quam commissorem scelerum ;' ' tliat he who made the stars was in the fault, not the men that did it.' " — Heylyn, Quniquarticular History of the Western Churches, part ii., c. 1. ; Tracts, p. 506. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 359 can justly cause offence to Gomarus. Readily, ill as he has treated me, could I become friends with him. It is not allowed me to hate any one, or to prolong anger, however justly conceived. This is the lesson taught me in word, in spirit, and example, by that God whom the scriptures describe to us. Oh ! that he would teach me to be moved by nothing except that which may be rightly laid to my charge. It is not for me to direct what another should say or do, and foolish would it be on my part to allow another the power of troubling me at his will. Hie murus aheneus esto ; nil conscire sibi. I will pursue my search begun in the pursuit of truth, and I will adhere to it with God's good help, though I should encounter the hatred and contempt of the whole world. The disciple is not above his master."* A series of annoyances was the consequence of this state of things in the university. Nothing was neglected whereby either the credit or the repose of Arminius might be injured. Compelled to be perpetually on the watch, his noble talents had scarcely any other occupa- tion than that of discovering some new point of contro- versy, or framing apologies for what he believed to be the line of truth and duty. In alluding to the subjects which perpetually engaged liis attention, he says, " Two offences there are which I strive most anxiously to avoid, the one lest God should be constituted the author of sin ; the other, lest human will should be deprived of its liberty : which two errors being avoided, I will allow a man to ascribe whatever he pleases to the provi- dence of God, with no other caution than that which is demanded by the divine perfections." About the same time he published his Thesis on Free Will, respecting which he observed, that he had studied nothing but the peace of the Church ; that he had introduced nothing even bordering upon falsehood, but that he had kept silence as to some things which are true, knowing, in- deed, that the rule respecting silence, in regard to what is true, is not the same as that which forbids the uttering of what is false, of which two things it is impossible * Brantius. Vita Jacob. Armiiiii, p. 215. A A 4 360 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. that the latter should ever be lawful ; while the former is and must be very often expedient.* The disputes at Le37den began now to attract the notice of the clergy in all parts of the country. Tran- quillity had long prevailed in the Dutch Church ; and though many of its members, it is said, were known to dislike the high Calvinistic doctrines, the adoption of wliich was a common sign of orthodox}^, this feeling had not caused any open rupture, and no attempt was made to force the suspected dissidents into a confession of their error. But the importance of the question at issue had gradually become more apparent both to the clergy and the people. Probably also in this, as in some other cases, there was a desire of excitement, a growing restlessness and ambition, which induced many who had never, from any legitimate cause, been induced to enter on the field of controversy, to turn an envious eye towards Leyden and its schools. Arminius had conceived the hope that, notwith- standing all which had occurred, Gomarus and he might ultimately be reconciled. " I trust," said he, in a letter to one of his most intimate friends, " that peace between Gomarus and me will be firmly established, unless, indeed, he give ear to those who wish to fulfil their own prophecies by making our contentions perpetual. I, for my part, will leave nothing undone which may con- tribute to this end ; but will endeavour to make my modesty and equanimity manifest to all, that the cause which I support may be understood to depend only on its goodness and intrinsic merits." While these sentiments, so favourable to tranquillity, were cultivated by Arminius, Gomarus himself an- swered them with similar feelings. But the prospect of peace was speedily lost. Certain deputies arrived at Leyden, both from North and South Holland, charged with the duty, as they stated, of inquiring into the truth of the reports which liad reached their provinces re- specting the new doctrines. In obedience to their * Brniiiius. Vita^ p. 242. Tlic Thesis to -which this alludes isthe eleventh in the riihlic Disputations, and sliows clearly the caution with which Ar- minius stated liis views. — Opera Tlicolog., p. 210. CENT, XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 361 instructions, they desired Arminius to expound his views, and to allow of a dispute between himself and certain candidates for theological honours, who formed part of their company. Arminius replied, with be- coming dignity, that the course pursued was, in the highest degree, displeasing and unbecoming ; for that, if he were to obey the wishes of the deputies, no student in divinity would ever startle his professor by any par- ticular remark, but it would be used as an excuse for driving him into some fresh dispute. When this, and similar reasons, failed to convince the deputies of the impropriety of their demand, he added, that he could not grant their request without the formal permission of the synod ; and, still more, that he was by no means aware of having ever propounded doctrines which con- tradicted either scripture, the confession, or the cate- chism. But, lest they should suspect him of fear or inability, he offered, if they would lay aside their cha- racter as deputies, and confer with him as private indi- viduals, to enter the arena with any of the company, and fully explain and defend his opinions. This offer not being acceptable to the deputies, they took their departure ; but a few daj'^s after, he was visited by some members of the ecclesiastical senate at Leyden. They came to repeat the request of the de- puties, but met with a similar answer; and nothing remained for them but to press the subject, in its most suspicious form, upon the attention of the general synod, which held about this time its annual meeting. The allusion which was accordingly made to the disputes at Leyden provoked not only Arminius, but Gomarus and the other professors of the university. A meeting took place between them, and they unanimously agreed to the declaration, that although circumstances existed which had caused them to dispute with each other more frequently than was well, no dissension prevailed among the professors of theology on fundamental points, and that, with regard even to the rest, they would use their efforts to lessen, as far as possible, the causes of con- tention. 362 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. Goniarus himself beheld, with regret, the bad spirit which existed in those who were thus fanning the flames of controversy. "Easily," he said to his friends, " could I cultivate peace with Arminius, but for the importunity of the churches, and of those deputies who are ever opposing some obstacle to my wish." At the meeting of another synod fresh attempts were made to bring on the wishcd-for disputation. The curators of the uni- versity wisely opposed the measure. A more private course was then taken ; and Arminius, on discovering the machinations of his enemies, began to despair of tranquillit3^ '^ How difficult is it," he exclaimed, " in this unhappy age, and amid such excitement of spirits, to pursue both truth and peace ! Were it not that the consciousness of integrity, the judgment of some few good men, and the open and manifest results which attend my labours, add strength to my resolution, I should scarcely remain unmoved. But, blessed be God, He gives vigour to my mind, and constancy, and makes me almost feel secure whatever the end may be !" The love of peace was a marked feature in the cha- racter and conduct of Arminius. He had never sought controversy ; and when led into it by circumstances, or a strong sense of duty, he did continual violence to the pride which his extensive erudition and talents were calculated to inspire, rather than utter a word which might tend to prolong discord. Even at the present advanced period of the controversy, he watched every thought and expression which the subjects on which he was engaged prompted ; and, painful as it must have been to his active and powerful mind, rigidly confined liimself within the limits marked by the catechism and the confession.* * The following is the account of the state of things as viewed by his opponents: "Ostensum qiioque synodo fuit, passim in ecclesiis disscnsiones quotitlie niagis magisiiue augescciT : plerosque juvencs ex acadeniia Ley- densi atquc Arniinii disci[)lina prodeuntes ad Ecclesiarum Ministerium vocatos, in cxaminilnis qnidcni sententiam suam anibiguis loqiiendi modis, occultarc, iihi vero ad niinistoriuni adniissi essent novas statim disputationes movere, opiniones propngnare, variasque se adversus doctrinani receptam habere considcrationes gloiiari. In classibus ct presbyteriis inter pas- tores de plerisquc doctriiKc capitibus dissensiones atque alt'ercationes acerbas CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 363 There is ever a danger attending discussions like those here spoken of, which few who engage in them are ready to perceive. Arminius was superior to the temptations of a vulgar popularity ; but we find that the number of his auditors was now perpetually on the increase. The evil which must have resulted from the constant effort to describe, in common familiar lan- guage, mysteries the most sublime and awful, is incal- culable ; and it is highly probable, that much of the infidelity which polluted a succeeding age, was the fruit of the rude manner in which, shortly after the Refor- mation, the higher principles of theology were discussed in public assemblies. That Arminius employed any artifice to crowd his lecture-rooms is not for a moment to be suspected ; but his own purity of intention did not, in any way, lessen the danger of the excitement which he produced. He was suspected of heresy ; of believing that the received creed was erroneous ; of wishing to introduce unauthorized views of divine jus- tice ; and when his eloquent discourses fell, with a sjjecies of fascination, on the ears of his auditors, it was not to be wondered at if they began to feel that heresy, schism and novelty were not such terrible enemies to religion as their instructors hitherto had persuaded them to suppose. Justice to the opponents of Arminius would teach us to believe, that it was not mere envy or partisanship, which made them look with regret on the increase of his popularity. But it appears, that however mucli might be laid to his charge, the conduct of his de- tractors was far more deserving of reprobation. Tiie greater portion of what he had taught was couched in a language which confined it to scholars. But his enemies, laying hold of what they considered the most objectionable points of his system, unfolded them in the most popular discourses they could frame, and soon ren- dered opinions which had hitherto been regarded as too oriri. In ipso quoquo populo magna cum Ecclesiarum ofFensione ac pcv- turbatione disceptationes de doctrina varias audiri ; quin et schismatum initia^ eonspici. Pastorcs ciiim Arminio addictos, convent us crebros, in quibus, de doctrinfe suae propap,ationc delibcrarcnt scparatim instituerc, populumque in partes magis magisquc abirc." — Prefatio ad Ecclcsias. Acta Synodi. 364 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. difficult for any but the highest class of minds to debate, the common subject of conversation in every circle. The necessity of some authoritative interference be- came daily more apparent. A national synod offered the only hope of restored tranquillity. It was known to have been the medium of conciliation in numberless other cases ; and men of all parties had long given up the notion that mere partial interference would be suffi- cient for the purpose. The danger which Arminius encountered in the present state of affairs, was shown more conspicuously than ever in the suspicions which attended liis discussion of the doctrine of the Trinity, Every expression that he uttered was twisted so as to convey to prejudiced minds some wrong notion ; and had not his piety and faithful devotion to the gospel, in all its fully-declared and exhibited truths, been placed beyond a doubt with men of even common candour, he would soon have been numbered among those whose pride of reason has set at nought the most essential of divine revelations.* Provincial synods now assumed a new importance, it being generally hoped that they would prepare the way for an assembly which should represent the Church at large. In one of these synods, which held its meetings at the Hague, some of the most weighty points were discussed that could claim the attention of any prepa- ratory assembly. t It was inquired, whether the votes of the delegated ministers alone were finally to deter- mine the questions proposed, and according to what rule their judgment was to be formed ; whether, that is, they were to be bound, or not, to deliver their sen- tence freely, and without respect to any other authority than^ that of tlie Holy Scriptures. To this Arminius and his follow^ers replied in the affirmative ; and no one liad the courage, it seems, directly to oppose this implied assertion of the sufficiency of scripture. But it was subsequently asked, whether it would not be lawful for =* The controversy alluded to arose in this way : One of the students of theology, during a public exercise asserted, " that the Son of God, avTnOtov esse, suamque, adeo esscntiam non a patre, sed a se ipso habere." — Brantius. Vit. Jacob. Arm. t Acta Synodi. Prcfatio ad Ecclcsias. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 365 the judges to bring- to their help the confession of the Belgic churches? Arminius immediately answered, that he recoo:nized and received the confession as a formulary of agreement, but not as a rule of sense {non pi'o 7iorma senstis), and that, therefore, if the confession itself, or any part or iota of it, should be involved in the dispute, it ought not to be referred to in the decision of the judges, which should be founded solely on the Word of God. Nay, further, that the judges, while employed in this matter, ought to be freed from the obligation imposed on them b}'^ their subscription, that thus they might enjoy perfect liberty to decide according to their conscience.* Gomarus, in stating his opinion on the subject, ac- knowledged that the Word of God was the primary rule of faith ; but that the confession and catechism ought to be revived as the secondary rule. Bogermannus, not content with this, asserted, and that in the most pertina- cious manner, that the scriptures themselves were to be interpreted according to the confession and catechism. Arminius strongly rebutted this assertion, and showed that if it were to be taken as true, the whole work of the Reformation would be exposed to immediate ruin.f The catechism of Gouda, a work which the exigencies of the times seemed to demand, appeared about this time. It was compiled professedly for the use of children, and consisted only of such simple and primary truths as could be expressed in scripture terms. The faults of this book, whatever they might be, were ascribed to Arminius and his party. When praise was given to its elementary character, it was objected, that many of the most important articles of faith were not noticed in its pages ; and when its simplicity was spoken of with admiration, it was again answered, that sim- plicity accorded very well with the primitive times, but not with an advanced period, in which evils of every kind abounded, and to which there was necessarily required a corresponding variety of remedies.:}: But the most painful of the tasks which Arminius had to perform, was that of defending himself against the * Brantius. Vit. p. 808. f Ibid., p. 311. | Ibid., p. 832. 3GG HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. charge of having composed five articles of faith now generally circulated through the country under his name. Notliino- could exceed his indignation and distress on tlie first discovery of this circumstance. He had reason to believe that the articles were from the pen of a certain divine whom he had met in one of the late synods. On challenging the suspected person, he was told that the articles in question were not put forth as declaring his particular creed or sentiments, but to serve as an index to the subjects at present disputed in the university of Leyden, The points treated of were jwedestinatioji, the Jail of Adam, frce-ivill, original sin, and the eternal salvation of infants. On the assembling of the synod at the Hague, Arminius brought the matter before the notice of his brethren, and the articles having been read, he solemnly declared that he had not written the articles, and that they by no means expressed his belief. On this, one of the clergy present remarked, that the assembly would be thankful if he would state what part of those articles he rejected, and what he received, that somewhat of his sentiments might be better known. Arminius replied, that the assembly had not been called for the purpose of hearing his defence ; and the subject was allowed to drop. But both he and Witenbogart, who had so long- been associated with him in the strictest friendship and community of sentiments, were subjected every day to increasing calumny. They were actually accused of seeking tlie favour of the pope ; of commending to their followers the writings of priests and jesuites ; of speak- ing with contempt of Calvin, Beza, Peter Mart}^*, and the other reformers ; and of receiving for all these services a stipend from the court of Rome. Arminius felt that such reports were both too wicked and too absurd to deserve attention, and he remarked, that the authors of them ought to be viewed with commiseration, blinded as they were by malice, and incurring as tliey did tlie guilt of sinning against God and their neighbour. " As for me," he said, " the diligence of my friends has saved me from suffering any bad consequences from these slanders; and no other effect has followed but that I, wretched CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 367 creature as I am, and incapable of making myself conspicuous by any virtue or merit, should be spoken of far beyond the limits of my own country, and ren- dered more conspicuous and honourable every day that I live." To show, however, the absolute falsehood of the reports alluded to, he declared that he had never even named to his pupils the books which he was accused of recom- mending- for their daily study. On the contrary, he adds, " After the reading of scripture, the duty of which I ever most earnestly inculcate, and more indeed than any one else, to the truth of which assertion the whole university and the conscience of my colleagues will bear testimony, I exhort my hearers to study the com- mentaries of Calvin, which I fail not to speak of with the highest praise For I say that he is incomparable in the interpretation of scripture, and that his com- mentaries are of more value than whatever the Patriim Bibliotheca furnishes, so that I am ready to concede, that there was in him a more excellent spirit of pro- phecy than in others, nay than in any other. I more- over direct his Institutions to be read after the catechism, as affording a fuller illustration of common places ; and that of all writers his works ought to be perused with diligence. There are numberless witnesses of the truth of this statement, but not one to prove that I ever re- commended the study of any of the books issued by the jesuites."* In a letter to the public orator of the prince Palatine, he says, " Would to the Lord, tliat I were able to obtain even tliis from my brethren in religion and profession, that they would believe me to be, at least, in some degree touched with conscience towards God ! which, indeed. Christian charity would easily obtain for me, if they would only consider its nature and requirements. What good can possibly arise to me from dissension ; from indulging the pride of intellect; from making a schism in the Church of Christ, of which, by the grace of God and of Christ, I profess myself a member. If my accusers suppose that I am incited by ambition or * Epis. ad Scb. Egb. inter Ep. Ecclcs. p. 1B.5. Vit. p. 337. 368 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VH. avarice, I sincerely declare they have not known me. So thoroughly free am I from sucli temptations that they have never assailed me, though, had they done so, I should not have wanted arguments of apology or pal- liation. I have no other than an honest anxiety urging me forwards, and impelling me to inquire with all di- ligence into the meaning of scripture, and, when it is found, to set it forth calmly and peaceably, without any attempt to force my views on oihers, or to lord it over their faith, but only with this desire, that I may win some souls to Christ, and may myself become to him a sweet odour, and a fair name in the Church of the saints. And to this, I trust, through divine grace, and after much patience, to attain, although I may be a reproach to my brethren, even to those who worship and invoke with me the one God and Father of us all, and the one Lord Jesus Christ, in one Spirit, and with the same faith, and who have one hope with me of an inheritance in heaven through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will grant I hope (and would that that blessed and holy day already shone upon us !) that we may meet in tranquil and Christian conference on the things pertaining thereto ; in which I promise, by divine grace, to shew that moderation of temper, and love towards truth and peace, which ought to be looked for from the servant of Christ." * The expectation that a general synod would shortly assemble gave a new impulse to the zeal of those who desired nothing so much as the ruin of Arminius. But there were many difficulties attending the arrangements for such a meeting. Among these, the chief was that which arose from the necessity of determining in what light the synod was to regard the confession and cate- chism. In the high church party it seemed to be generally understood, that to give up the right of appeal to these fornuilaries would very greatly lessen the strength of their cause. Arminius, on the other hand, was as firm in asserting that these human compositions ought not to be introduced in such an investigation as was proposed by the synod. Alluding to this subject in * Biautius. Vit. p. o-il. CENT. XVI.-XVIl ] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 3G9 a letter to one of his friends, he says, " In Jehovah is my trust, and my help is in his word alone, for the truth, the perfection and perspicuity of which, against all the traditions of men, whatever they may be, I will not cease to contend, while God mercifully continues to give me life ; neither will I ever suffer any other rule, whether under the name of secondary, or any other title, to be obtruded on the Church of Christ, besides that wdiich is comprehended in the books of the Old and New Testaments. And I see that this determination is necessary even among us, who did not thus formerly argue against the papists. But now, as deserting our standard, we do not blush to prescribe to churches and their ministers confessions and catechisms as affording a rule for the interpretation of scripture."* However much the meeting of a general synod was to be desired, if means could be employed to secure the fairness of its proceedings, Arminius and Witenbogart saw plainly that they could place little dependence on a meeting convened under circumstances like the present. The reasonableness of their apprehensions was not denied, and it was at length determined, that a meetino' of senators and other authorities should take place at the Hague, and that in their presence Gomarus and Arminius should make a full statement of their respective views. This resolution was no doubt hastened by the unceasing complaints made to the authorities respecting the state of things at Leyden. Bertius, the eloquent author of the far-famed oration pronounced at the death of Arminius, held at that time a distinguished place among the professors of the university. A letter of his still remains, in which he describes the melan- choly consequences of the disputes existing betv/een the principal theological teachers. Having expressed his earnest hope that the proposed colloquy would ter- minate in the restoration of tranquillity, he says, " This variety of views has not only disturbed many minds, but rendered the performance of my duties, never very * Confessiones et catechcscs, utpotc, a doctis viris conscriptas, variis judiciis adprobatas, temporis diuturnitate (mcipiunt enini xl. annorum praescriptionem proferre) Hrmatas, sanguine martyrnni con'ohoratas^tiuiquaia traditiones, ad quarum normam sciiptura? explicari debcant. — Vit. p. 847, VOL. III. B B 370 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. eas}'-, fai' more difficult. I liave desired my pupils to attend the lectures of both professors, without distinction. I urge this upon them as a matter by no means to be neglected. Without any partiality I repeat the readings of each, and endeavour, as I hate strife myself, so to remove it from the college. Hence it happens, that some of mv pupils embrace the opinions of Gomarus, and some those of Arminius, but modestly, fearing the synod, and dreading a repulse v^^hen they offer themselves for the ministry. I hear, indeed, from some, that all who are known to attend Arminius are treated as sus- pected persons, and judged unfit for either the Church or the schools. Hence my own exertions, and the labour of Arminius, have been utterly lost, and it follows, that what our scholars have learnt they must unlearn, and revoke the opinions received in their unprejudiced minds. If there be no remedy for this, far better would it be if they had never studied, or had never seen Ar- minius, since he puts forth doctrines which can only be known under the infamous title of heresy." On the day appointed for the meeting, a numerous assembly prepared to determine the important questions at issue between Arminius and Gomarus. The latter was accordingly directed to declare, without circumlocution, what was the nature of the difference existing between him and his colleague. Gomarus replied, that how- ever much he respected the distinguished persons before whom he appeared, he could not allow that they had any proper jurisdiction in ecclesiastical affairs, and that as it was ever proper to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, so it was commanded to render unto God the things which are God's, and to obey him rather than man. On being pressed, however, for an answer, he observed, " that it was unjust to make him the accuser of Arminius, with whom he had lived on terms of friendship, and when, moreover, he was not quite acquainted with the nature of the sentiments which his colleague had diffused, either in his public or private readings." When further urged to speak more plainly, he said, " that there did exist some difference between him and Arminius, but that it seemed inconsistent with, and prejudicial to, CENT. XVI.-XVir.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 371 the liberty of the Church, to explain at siicli a time, and in such a place, in what that difference had arisen." Anninius had hitherto kept silence ; but the apparent disingenuousness of Gomarus provoked him, and he exclaimed, "that he could not refrain from expressing his astonishment at hearing it pretended, that any difficulty existed as to the exposure of his views, or as to the cause of dissension between him and his colleague, for that the reports of his heterodoxy were industriously spread abroad, and he was accused of lighting a fire, the flames of which were already towering above the pinnacles of the Church." Gomarus, compelled now to speak, observed, " that Arminius had taught opinions which contradicted the first article of the Christian faith, that is, ' Of the justifi- cation of man before God,' and the view taken of it in scripture, and the confession of the Belgic churches." To prove this assertion, he quoted passages from the writings of Arminius, and particularly one in which he said, " that in the justification of man before God, the righteousness of Christ is not imputed for righteousness, but that faith itself, or to credere, is, through the gracious acceptance of God, the righteousness whereby we are justified." Gomarus desired that this statement of the doctrine of justification, as set forth by Arminius, might be inserted in tlie records; but Arminius objected, and demanded that the statement might be taken from his own lips. He then added, " I declare, abhorring as I do all unnecessary contention, that I hold for true, pious and holy, the doctrine of justification before God, from faith through faith, or from the imputation of faith unto righteousness, as comprehended in the harmony of con- fessions set forth by all churches; and that I approve thereof, and ever have approved it, and do rest therein. Yea, and that my zeal for the peace of the reformed and protestant churches may the more clearly appear, I solemnly afl^rm, that if any necessity arise for my expressing more distinctly and accurately, in writing, my opinion on this subject, which I am prej^ared to defend by strong arguments against all objections, I shall willingly submit what I have written to the judg- B B 2 372 H16T0RY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. ment of all the churches, so that if, the cause being properly recognized by those who have authority over me, they believe that the doctrine stated, and the pro- pounder thereof, ought not to be tolerated, I will either give up my opinion, as better instructed, or lay down my office." This declaration, however, seemed to make no impres- sion upon Gomarus and his party. Arminius, there- fore, resumed ; and still expressing his earnest desire for peace, proceeded to make his confession on the subject of justification in the very words of the catechism, adding, " I believe with my heart, and confess with my mouth, that I am justified before God only by faith in Jesus Christ, so that, although my conscience accuse me of having grievously sinned against the commandments of God, for I have kept none of them, but am constantly prone to evil, nevertheless, without any merit of my own, and from the mere mercy of God, the satisfaction, righteousness, and sanctity of Christ are imputed to me, even as if I had never committed sin, and were free from all contamination ; yea, as if I myself had rendered that obedience which Christ has rendered for me. Not that by the worthiness of my faith I can please God, but because my righteousness in the sight of God consists solely in the righteousness and holiness of Christ ; and these I embrace and apply to m37self by no other means than faith." Gomarus endeavoured to urge another objection to the statement of Arminius ; but many of the members of the senate began to exhibit impatience at his proceed- ing, and described the contest as nothing more than a strife of words, since both parties made justification to depend not on the merit of human works, but on the grace of God by faith. When Gomarus endeavoured to introduce other points of controversy, the senate in- formed both him and Arminius, that they were bound to confine themselves to those primary articles in which their dispute had its beginning, and that they must commit their opinions on these points to writing, each submitting his statement to the examination and stric- tures of his opponent. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 373 Due attention having been paid to the wishes of the senate, that body declared, that there appeared to be nothing of moment in the controversy between the two professors ; that it referred only to certain abstruse ques- tions concerning predestination, and that these were such as might either be omitted or repressed by the exercise of mutual tolerance. The professors, and others of the clergy, being then summoned before the orders, the pre- sident observed, that praise ought to be given to God that none of the principles of the gospel were the sub- ject of controversy. To this he added, that it was the earnest desire of the assembly that the acts of the con- ference should not be publicly spoken of; and that nothing might, in future, be said which sliould either seem opposed to the confession or catechism, or tend in any other way to disturb the peace of the Church. Gomarus now spoke more openly, and proclaimed aloud, that he dare not stand before God as liis judge, were his opinions like those of Arminius; and that un- less some remedy were speedily applied, province would soon be set against province, church against church, and city against city. Arminius, in reply, declared, as be- fore, his conscious freedom from heresy, and again expressed his readiness to adopt any course which might seem best calculated to promote the return of peace. The severity of Gomarus excited in the minds of many of the auditors extreme disgust, and they whispered, that they would far rather appear before the divine tribunal with the faith of Arminius than with the charity of Gomarus.* But distressed, as several men of piety were, at the ill-timed anger of Gomarus, his influence prevailed to the almost entire subjection of the majority of the clergy to his wishes. A letter of Grotius exists in which he says, that having met Witenbogart one day, and found him more than usually sad, he inquired the reason of his depression, and was answered, that though somewhat might be done by the provincial synod, there was every reason to fear that in the Church, as in other communities, the greater would conquer the better part, * Limborcli, Relatio Historica. BraiUius. B B 3 374 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII, and tliat tliat migbt happen to Arminius which had occurred in the case of Castellio, wlio, through the violence of his adversaries, was driven at last to cut wood for a morsel of bread.* Such, indeed, were the fears entertained by the friends of Arminius at this time, that they found themselves obliged to dissuade him from publishing an apology in answer to the articles pre- ferred against him by his enemies, lest by the force of his reasoning, proving, as it must, the injustice of those who vilified him, he might provoke them from very shame to work him greater harm. There is something equally sad and pathetic in the tone of feeling which runs through the writings of Arminius, Never was a great man more free from pride or arrogance; never was any one more anxious to show the real limits of his ability, as contrasted with the extent of the subjects on which it had to be exercised. "There are those, perchance, who will speak insultingly of me, because I sometimes seem to answer doubtfully, when, as they imagine, a doctor and professor of theology, whose office it is to teach others, ought to be confident, and not to fluctuate in his sentiments. I answer to these suggestions, first, that the most learned and the most skilled in scripture must still be ignorant of many things, and that he himself must ever be a scholar in the school of Christ and the scriptures. But he who is ignorant of many things ought surely not to be expected to reply, without a doubt, to the various questions which necessity or circumstances may create, or which may arise in public or private controversy with numerous ad- versaries. For, far better it is, that when he has no cer- tain knowledge on a particular subject, he should speak doubtfully rather than confidently^ and signify that he confesses the need of a daily progress, and is seeking in- struction in common with others. I trust, indeed, that no one has yet advanced to such a height of boldness as to pretend, that, being a master, he is ignorant of nothing, and doubtful in nothing. In the second place, 1 would urge, that all things in a controversy are not of equal importance, for that there are some points respecting * Grot. Kpist. Opus, p. .'3. Vita, p. 371. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 375 wliicli no one may doubt who would bold tbe name of Cbvistian ; wbile tbere are otber things not of that dignity, and on which the defenders of Catholic doctrine have differed among each other without any injury to the truth, or to the peace of Christendom. Nor, in the third place, would 1 have it considered that my answer is peremptory, not because there is any thing in it which does not agree with my conscience, but because all things which I say are not of the first importance, but suffice to refute the objections made against me, and which rest on no foundation at all." The accusation was also at this time renewed respect- ing his inclination to Romanism. To answer the calum- nies thus ungenerously diffused for the sake of lowering his credit in the controversy to which he was fairly pledged, he published some tlieses on the character of the Roman pontiff*, on idolatry, and on other points of a similar nature. How any suspicion could have been so long entertained against him on this subject it would be impossible to explain, but for the candour of Armi- nius himself. The early clamour excited by his visit to Italy served only to prove the ignorance of his accusers, or the extreme irritability of his countrymen on every point which had reference to Romanism. But the ground on which he was charged with holding opinions hostile to the reformed Church had long been changed. The position in which he stood, the wade range of ob- servation which his duties as a professor of theology obliged him to take, naturally led him to make frequent remarks on the great points of controversy between the reformed churches and that of Rome. In whatever he said of this kind, the same zeal, candour and love of truth were exhibited as in his treatment of other sub- jects. He spoke with a degree of warmth on the cor- ruptions of Rome, and the usurpations of its pontiff',* which would be accounted sufficiently higli even in our own days ; but his honesty would not allow him to conceal what he felt when contemplating the individual character of some of the popes, and when he had openly declared that he believed the Roman pontiff* to be a * Brautius. Vit. p. o80. n li 4 376 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHaP. VII. tyrant, a blasphemer, a usurper, the man of sin, and a son of perdition, lie added, that this was to be understood of tile pontitf discharoiug the pontifical office in the accustomed manner ; but that if any one like Adrian should be exalted to the chair, and should commence from himself and his court the reformation of the Church, and claim no other title or authority than that of bishop, although retaining, according to the antient statutes of the Church, the chief place among the rest, he would not dare to call him by the names above repeated. This was sufficient to bring down upon him a shower of abuse ; and almost overwhelmed with the troubles to wliich he saw himself more and more exposed, he w^as frequently heard to utter the melancholy exclamation of Jeremiah, " Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth ! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury ; yet every one of them doth curse me." * But he was not M'ithout sympathizing friends among the chief men of the country ; and many of those who did not enter into his view^s were far from joining in the clamour with which his enemies were hurrying him to the grave.f The heads of the republic beheld with regret the species of persecution to which he was daily exposed. Another meeting at the Hague was accord- ingly determined upon ; and Arminius was invited to attend, and declare fully his sentiments on all those matters about which there existed any suspicion of his orthodoxy. He obeyed the summons, and, on the ap- pointed day, and in a very full assembly, pronounced a long oration, containing an account of his views on divine predestination ; on grace ; free-will ; the perse- verance of the saints ; the certainty of salvation ; the })erfection of man in this life ; the deity of the Son ; justification ; and the reformation of the confession and catechism. This oration is said to have been listened to with great admiration; but it produced little actual good; * Chap. XV. 10. f lie was now in the forty -ninth year of his age. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 377 and the opponents of Arminius, in a synod held at Dort, about this time, seriously proposed that his followers among the clergy should be compelled to state their objections to the confession and catechism, within the space of a month, and under the pain, if they refused, of ecclesiastical censure. Though this monstrous pro- position met with the opposition which it deserved, the fiercest spirit of persecution began to exhibit itself in every part of the country. Whenever a provincial synod was held, new attempts were made to inflict, as by authority, the heaviest penalties on the followers of Arminius. Exclusion from the ministry was perpetually spoken of as the proper punishment for such offenders ; and when this could not be effected, abuse and calumny were made to supply the place of more destructive instruments. Both the mind and body of Arminius began to exhibit, daily, more evident marks of the ravages pro- duced on his constitution by the anxieties which he suffered. Scarcely able to drag himself along, he made at every interval of exhausting pain and languor some fresh effort to prove his intense desire to continue his labours to the last. A few months only before his death, he expounded, with force and eloquence, his views on the call of men to salvation. In the course of his address he spoke strongly against the notion of an irresistible and necessitating grace ; and observed, that he was nei- ther able nor bold enough to define the mode in which the Holy Spirit performs the work of conversion and rege- neration in man ; but that if any one dare to attempt it, the responsibility of proof would rest upon him. " I am able," he added, " to say how conversion does not come, but not how it does come ; for he only can know this who is able to fathom the deep things of God." To the last observation it was answered, that there is a grace by which men are certainly converted, and from which the necessity of conversion may be argued. Arminius immediately took up the subject de necessitate infalllbiUtatis, remarking, that he derived neither his rule of speech nor his rule of faith from the schoolmen, 378 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. who then began to exist when antichrist was revealed, and whose theology never prevailed till the true and apostolic was driven into exile. Some Roman Catholic having presented himself, and offered to take part in the disputation, Arminius did not refuse to listen to his arguments, but answered them with his usual force and ingenuity. Gomarus, who was present, exhibited, it is said, a more than ordinary degree of enmity towards his associate ; and instead of congra- tulating him on his evident triumph in combating the arguments of the Romanist, spoke of the whole pro- ceeding as calculated to give a new advantage to the enemies of the reformed Church. Arminius observed, as usual, that he should at all times be ready to defend his opinions before the world ; and added, that he was fully convinced that the opinion of Gomarus respecting irresistible grace would be found repugnant to scrip- ture, to antiquity, to the confession, and to the cate- chism. It was on the evening of the day on which this dispute took place, that Arminius, who had left home for the baths, was seized with a paroxysm, which led his friends to fear that his end was drawino- nijxh. But he again rallied, and the brief return of some slight portion of vigour w as seized upon to bring him again into the arena of disputation. The preliminaries of the new meeting having been determined on, Arminius and Gomarus once more appeared to encounter each other on the subjects so often debated between them. Justi- fication was the topic first introduced, and the argu- ments on both sides were speedily brought to bear upon the interpretation of the statement, that faith is counted for righteousness.* Gomarus affirmed, that faith is the instrument of justification. Arminius, on the contrar}^, denied the trutli of this interpretation, and urged, that faith cannot properly be called an instrument, since it is, in fact, an action, and that if it were in anywise an instrument, it would not be the instrument of justifi- cation, which is an act of the divine mind, but an instru- * Rum. IV. 5. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 379 ment of apprehension, or of the reception of Christ the Redeemer, which is a human act, and as such is gra- ciously regarded by a justifying God. Predestination formed the next subject of debate ; and it was inquired whether God, electing and reprobating by one and the same act, contemplated his creatures, in a vast nothingness, as not created ; or whether he beheld them as already created ; if the latter, whether as sin- ning or not; if as sinning, whether as defiled by the sin of Adam only, or as defiled by other sins ; and, lastly, whether he considered those to be elected as faithful and penitent ; and the reprobate as infidels and not penitent, or the contrary. These questions were answered by Gomarus and Arminius according to their respective systems. The grace of God and free-will were next considered. Here both parties readily ac- knowledged, that man of himself, or by his own powers, can do nothing pertaining to salvation : but Arminius added, that while he recognised all the operations of divine grace in the work of conversion, he did not believe that any species of grace was irresistible. This declara- tion was immediately taken up by Gomarus, who replied, that in the regeneration of man that grace of the Holy Spirit is necessary, which may operate so efficaciously, that, the resistance of the flesh being overcome, they who are partakers thereof may certainly and infallibly be converted. The perseverance of the saints presented another im- portant topic ; and it was disputed whether he who had once believed was in nowise able to fall from the faith. Arminius expressed himself as unwilling to oppose the common views on this point, although he confessed that some scruples occasionally disturbed him. Go- marus having replied to the observations made by Arminius, they were both asked, whether any other subjects of importance remained to be discussed; on which the former answered, that they had still to be heard respecting their views of original sin, the provi- dence of God, the authority of scripture, the certainty of salvation, and the present perfectibility of man. 380 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. But it was plainly seen that the strength of Arminins was already exhausted, and that it would be equally cruel and unjust to urge him to further exertion. The assembly, therefore, prepared to dissolve, but first re- quested both the professors to draw up a written state- ment of the arguments advanced in the discussion. It was also desired that the distinguished men, whom each had chosen to attend him in the conference, would render their advice as to the best means of quieting the present disputes. The friends of Gomarus, when they appeared before the assembly, in obedience to this re- quest, openly declared that they believed no other remedy existed to the present evils but the speedy meeting of a provincial or national synod. When the supporters of Arminius were called on for their opinion, they expressed their belief, that there was nothing of sufficient importance in the controversy to require any thinsf further than the exercise of a little mutual for- bearance, and that if envy and acrimony were laid aside, peace might be restored and established ou a permanent basis. Witenboffart took the lead on this occasion. He did not, he said, dispute the usefulness of synods. They were generally regarded as the sheet-anchor of a church in danger; but it had been remarked that the devil sometimes sat at their head as president ; and to avoid the danger implied in this saying, no better expedient could be proposed than that of convoking a synod which should be decidedly fair and open, and in which not only Gomarus and Arminius, but all who had any animadversions to offer, should be allowed to express their opinions. Unhappily, he added, the greater number of those of whom a synod was ordinarily composed were excited solely by passion and prejudice, and had but the one aim of compelling the smaller party to submit to the greater. This abuse, he trusted, would be avoided in the proposed synod; but if the calling of such an assembly was hardly to be expected till after a con- siderable lapse of time, he prayed that, by the intro- duction of some formulary on points of no real practical CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 381 importance, an end might be put to the present disorders of the Church.* Gomarus carefully prepared a summary of the state- ments and arguments which had been employed in the late conference. Arminius attempted to fulfil the task imposed upon him ; but, stretched on a bed of sickness, and almost daily looking for his end, he found it im- possible to complete his work. " I have committed," he said, " to writing all that is absolutely necessary. God has willed that I should not do more ; but so far am I from wishing to alter any thing that I have de- clared, that I am ready, with this same confession, to appear at once before the tribunal of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the judge of the quick and the dead !" The complication of disorders under which Arminius suffered defied the efforts of the eminent physicians who attended him. But amid all his bodily sufferings his mind retained its powers and serenity. When the agony of his frame was too great to allow of his joining his friends in their customary devotions, he entreated them to wait till he returned to himself, and could take part in the blessed work. His most frequent prayer was, " O Lord Jesus, thou faithful and merciful high priest, who wert willing to be like us in all things, sin only except, that, taught by experience itself how diffi- cult it is to obey God in suffering, thou mightest be able to be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, have mercy on me ! Succour thy servant lying here bowed down with so many afflictions ! O God of my salvation, render my soul fit for thy heavenly kingdom, and my body for the resurrection ! O great Shepherd of the sheep, who by the blood of the everlasting cove- nant wert brought back from the dead, O Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, be present with me, thy poor and afflicted sheep !"t It was his constant delight to repeat the passage from the thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, on which he founded this prayer. So fervently did he utter the divine words, that they never faded from the memory of those who watched at his bedside. Among * Brantius. Vit. p. 421. f lb., p. 429. 382 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. the most anxious and affectionate of these was his scholar, the afterwards celebrated Simon Episcopius, who scarcely left him niglit or day, but, sitting by his bed, solicitously conversed with him on every subject which might sooth a dying man, or render his last hours as profitable to others, and to the world at large, as to his own soul. The introduction to his lastwill, drawn upat this time,* strongly expresses the deep sense of piety which pos- sessed his heart. " Before all things," he says, " I commend my soul, when it shall have left this bodv, into the hands of God as a faithful Creator and Saviour ; before whom also I testify, that I have walked with a good conscience, with simplicity and sincerity in my vocation; carefully and circumspectly avoiding pro- posing or teacliing any thing which I had not before learned by diligent study of the scriptures, and found to agree therewith ; but inculcating whatsoever might serve to the propagation and defence of the truth ; to the interests of Christianity ; the worship of God ; the dif- fusion of piety, and of a holy conversation among men ; and, moreover, to the establishment of tranquillity and peace, agreeably to the Word of God, and to the exclu- sion only of the papacy, with which no unity of faith, no bond of Christian piety or peace, can ever be pre- served." Surrounded by numerous friends, among the foremost of whom were Witenbogart and Borrius, he breathed his last sigh on the 19th of October 1609, the tranquillity of his departing spirit exciting those who were present to exclaim with devout emotion, " Let us also die the death of the riohteous ! " Armmms was now gone ; and it might have been supposed, that, when he no longer lived to provoke the hostility of rival professors, peace would speedily be re- stored. But a signal proof was given, that but a small share of the strife which existed could be fairly laid to his charge. Almost immediately after his decease the angry spirits of the age began to exert themselves in contests with the secular power ; and it was generally * He had been married many years, and left a Avidow and nine children. — Vit. p. 438. ' * CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 383 affirmed by the ruling party in the Church, that their authority depended on no one but Jesus Clirist, and that they had the right of framing ecclesiastical laws, and exacting penalties of the disobedient, as they might see fit. Consistories were accordingly established, and mi- nisters and presbyters took their seats in them as solemnly appointed judges in all matters of religion.* Suspension from the privileges of worship, excom- munication, or delivering unto Satan, were the common results of any offence committed against this new autho- rit}'^ ; and the power of the keys, and other similar ex- pressions, became as common in the mouths of Dutch presbyterians as in those of the most enthusiastic of transalpine priests. A strong feeling of opposition existed on the part of the secular power against these proceedings of the clergy. " I see," said an eminent man, " that the censures of our churches are suspected by the magistrates, and that they are regarded as concealing some tyrannical power, which, gathering strength with the course of time, will at length subject to itself the power of the magistrate." It is well known how impatient the human mind is of illegitimate control ; for it holds in detestation all who strive to arrogate to themselves any species of autho- rity. The dispute became still more angry when the government proposed to find remedies for the evils which had arisen in the predestinarian controversy. It was argued by the chief men in the state, that the orders of which it consisted were properly the parents and guardians of the whole community, and the stewards, therefore, not merely of secular interests, but of religious rights and liberty of conscience. And if this statement ought to be acknowledged as correct, the immediate inference was, that the questions which had arisen re- specting the confession and catechism should be re- ferred, not to a synod, but to the magistrates. It is easy to imagine with what indignation such remarks would be received by a clergy in the early stage of new and hot excitement. Everywhere the loud com- plaint was heard, that the magistrates were preparing * Limborch. Relatio Historica de Origine, &c., p. 11. 384 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. to violate the laws of the Church ; and that the}^ denied to the clergy the right of exercising the power which they had received immediately from Christ. A counter charge was immediately put forth by the magistrates, and no one seemed prepared to take the part of a me- diator, till Witenbogart ventured on the difficult office. In a speech addressed to the assembled orders, he ob- served, that the present evils had arisen from the conflict of two collateral powers ; and that the surest method of restoring concord would be to destroy the equality, or right of collateral domination, assumed by the Churcli in reference to the state. Such an observation was well calculated to arouse the anger of a man like Gomarus, and he and his asso- ciates were loud in their reproaches of its author, whom they accused of seeking, by servility and adulation, to ingratiate himself with the government. A book was put forth on the subject, and the ambitious views as- cribed to the Church were declaimed as only proper to Rome and antichrist. To this book Witenbog-art speedily published an answer, and his observations are valuable and important, as showing what were the opinions of the early Arminians on the relations of church and state. He remarked, in the first place, that it was not a collateral rule which the papal go- vernment desired to exercise, but a supreme authority, a power which should subject the civil to the ecclesiastical orders. Gomarus, he continued, did not claim for the Church a superior, but an equal, or a collateral, au- thority, neither of the powers in question having any dependence upon the other. And this, he contended, could only be allowed at the expense of all good go- vernment, of all tranquillity and order. Even in eccle- siastical aflairs, it was argued, the chief authority under Christ ouo'ht to reside in the Christian mag-istrate whose especial duty it is to establish the rites of a pure worship; to build churches in which that worship may be carried on ; to constitute ministers to preside over that worship ; to make laws respecting the times, places, and several circumstances of worship ; to punish mi- nisters guilty of grievous offi^nces ; and, in short, to do CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 385 all those things which pertain to the external government of the Church. The sentiments of Witenbogart were enthusiastically re-echoed by those who regarded every ecclesiastical consistory as a species of papacy in itself. They pro- voked several of the clergy to speak in exaggerated terms of the authority belonging to their body ; and it soon became evident that most of them had mistaken the real intention of the writer upon whom they were heaping their calumnies and anathemas. The contro- versy, as Witenbogart himself earnestly observed, was not about the internal but the external government of the Church. Episcopius, sometime after, undertook to explain more fully the difficulties of the subject by making a distinction between public and private exer- cises of religion. The former, he contended, ought to be under the control of the magistrate ; while the latter, embracing a provision for all the rights of conscience, ought to be regarded as open to the choice of every one who might dissent from the established faith. While this controversy was raging, the most active measures were being employed by Gomarus and his party to procure the expulsion of every minister sus- pected of Arminianism from his parish and pulpit. Means the most violent were resorted to for this purpose. In some provinces the clergy received orders to sign a declaration, that they acknowledged the confession and the Heidelberg catechism as agreeing in every particular with the W^ord of God and the foundation of salvation. Four ministers who declared their readiness to sign the confession, but not the catechism, were immediately punished by suspension. Alarmed as well as disgusted at this tyrannous dic- tation, several of the clergy united in putting forth a pamphlet under the title of a Remonstrance, and whence the Arminians derived the trite appellation by which they were subsequently most commonly designated. In this publication, the opinions of the party were first exhibited, according to the celebrated quinquarticular division ; and the five points formed, from this time, the circumference of a circle, within which the greatest VOL. III. c c 380 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP, VIT. and most active minds, the most profoundly cultivated understandings, and almost every feeling and affection that religions interests can excite, were long content to display their strength. Tile five articles were : 1 . That God, before the foun- dation of the world, determined, by an eternal and im- mutable decree, in Jesus Christ his Son, to save in Christ, for Christ, and through Christ, such of the lapsed and sinful human race as, by the grace of tlie Holy Spirit, believe in his Son, and in that faith, and in the obedience of faith, by the same grace, persevere unto the end. 2. That, therefore, Jesus Christ died for all men and every man ; and so, indeed, that for all, by the death of the cross, he might obtain reconciliation and remission of sins ; but with this condition, that none but the faithful should enjoy that remission. 3. That a man has not saving faith from himself, nor by the free energy of his own will, since, in a state of defection and sin, he can of himself think nothing good, that is, truly good, and such is saving faith ; but he must be regene- rated, renewed in mind, affections or will, and in all his faculties, that he may be able to understand, think, will, or perfect any thing that is good, according to the statement, " Without me ye can do nothing," John, XV., 5. 4. That the grace of God is the beginning, pro- gress and perfection of every thing that is good ; and so, indeed, that a regenerate man himself, without this preceding or attending, exciting, consequent and co- operating grace, can neither think, will, nor do any thing good, nor resist any temptation to evil ; so that every good work which it is possible for us to conceive is to be attributed to the grace of God in Christ. But with respect to tlie mode of the operation of that grace, it is not irresistible, for it is said of many that they re- sisted the Holy Spirit. Acts, vii., and many other places. And 5. That tiiey who are ingrafted into Christ by true faitli, and are thereby made partakers of his quickening Spirit, abound in gifts whereby they may fight against the flesh, and conquer ; but this only through the grace of the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ is present with them, by his Spirit, in all their temptations; he stretches forth CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 387 his hand ; and if they be but ready for the contest, and seek his assistance, nor be wanting in their duty, he confirms them ; and so, indeed, that by no fraud of Satan, or power of seduction, they can be plucked from the hands of Christ, according to John, x. ; but that they are not able, by their own negligence, to desert the principle through which they are upheld in Christ, and again to embrace the world ; to forsake the holy doc- trine once delivered to them ; to make shipwreck of their conscience, and to fall from grace ; must be proved from holy scripture before we can say it with entire tranquillity and satisfaction of mind.* A fair examination of these articles was demanded on the side of the remonstrants. To a certain degree their request was granted, and both parties were desired to refrain from any mention of the disputed doctrines till means could be adopted for finally settling the con- troversy.'f' Another conference was soon after proposed, * Limborcli. Relatio Historica cle Origine, &c., p. 15. f I. De Electione ex Fide Prfevisa. Deus seterno & immutabili decreto, in Jesu Christo filio suo, ante j actum mundum fundamcntum statuit, ex lapso & peccatis obnoxio humano gonere, illos in Christo, propter Cliristiim, & per Christum servare, qui Spiritum Sancti gratia in eundem fUium ejus credunt, & in ea fide, fideique obedientia, per eundem gratiam, usque ad finem per- severant. II. De Redemptionc Universali. Proinde Deus Christus pro omnibus ac singulis mortuus est : atque id ita quidem ut omnibus per mortem crucis reconciliationem et peccatorum remissionem impetraret : ea tamen condi- tione, ut nemo ilia peccatorum rcmissione fruatur, prseter hominem fidelem. John, ii., 16; 1. John, ii,, 2. III. De Causa Fidei. Homo fidem salutarem a seipso non habet, vi liberi sui arbitrii, quandoquidom in statu defectionis et peccati, nihil boni, quod quidem vere est bonum (quale est fides salutaris) ex so potest cogitare, velle, aut facere ; sed neccssarium est, ea a Deo, in Christo, per Spiritum ejus Sanc- tum regigni, renovari mcnte, affectibus, sen voluntatc, et omnibus facul- tatibus, ut aliquid boni posset intelligere, cogitare, velle, et perficere, secun- dum illud, John, xv., 5, Sine me potestis niliil. IV. De Conversione Modo. Dei gratia est initium, progressus et pcrfectio omnis boni, atque adeo quidem, ut ipse homo regenitus, absque hac prsece- danea seu adventitia, excitante, consequente et co-operante gratia, neque boni quid cogitare, velle, aut facere potest, neque etiamuUi malse tentationi resistere, adeo quidem ut omnia bona opera qua? excogitare possumus, Dei gratiae in Christo tribuenda sunt. Quoad vero modum co-operationis illius gratiae, ilia non est irresistibilis : de multis cnim dicitur, eos Spiritui Sancto resistisse. Actorum, vii., et alibi multis locis. V. De Fersevcrantia Incerta, Qui Jesu Christo per veram fidem sunt insiti, ac proinde Spiritus ejus vivificantis participes, ii abunde habcnt tacul- tatem, quibus contra Satanam, pcccatum, mundum et propriam suam carnem pugnent et victoriam ol)tineant : veruntamen per gratia" Spiritus Sancti sub- 0 C 2 388 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. but before it could commence its proceedings, the high predcstinarian party drew up certain articles in the shape of a contra remonstrance, whence the name of Contra-remonstrants, so long after the designation of the Netlierland Calvinists. The sum of these articles was : 1 . That God, from the human race, corrupted in Adam, freed a certain number of men, whom in his eternal and imaiutable counsel, from mere mercy, according to the good pleasure of his will, he elected, in order that he might save them by Christ ; the rest, in his just counsel, being passed over, and left in their sins. 2. That the children of the covenant are to be considered as the elect, as long as they do not by the thing itself declare the contrary, 3. That God, in his election, had not respect to the faith or conversion of his elect, as the cause of election, but that he determined to bestow upon those, whom he elected from the good pleasure of his will, faith and perseverance in piety, and in this way to save them. 4. That God delivered his Son unto death to save his elect, so that although the death of Christ is sufficient to satisfy for the sins of all man- kind it only actually reconciles in the case of the elect. 5. That God not only externally, by the preaching of the gospel, but also internally, so effectually operates in the hearts of his elect, that the}^ are not only able to turn themselves and believe, but also in reality, and of their own will, are converted and do believe. 6. That the truly faithful and regenerate, although through imbe- cility of the flesh they fall into grievous sins, are, not- withstanding, so sustained and preserved by that same virtue of the Hol}^ Spirit whereby they were regenerated, that they are not able totally or finally to fall from faith. The conference, which was preceded by the publi- siflium. Jesus Christus quidem illis Spiritu suo in omnibus tentationibus adest, manuni ])oiTigit, et modo sint ad ccrtamen prompti, et ejus auxilium petant, ncque officio suo dcsint, eos confinnat ; adeo quidem ut nulla Satanae fraude, aut vi seduci, vel h manibus Christi eripi, possint, secundum illud, Johannes x.. Nemo illos e manu mea eripiet ; sed an illi ipsi negligentia sua, priiK-ipium illud quo sustentantur in Cliristo, desercre non possint, et prae- scntem mundum iterum aniplocti, a sancta doctrina ipsis semel tradita de- ficere, conscientia? naufragium facero, a gratia excidere ; penitus ex Sacra Scriptura esset cxpendendum antequam illud cum plena animi tranquillitate ot plercphoria dicere possumus. — Hevlvn, Historical Tracts, Quinqiiarti- tular History, part i., c. v., p. 627. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 389 cation of these articles, took place at the Hague, and seems to have been characterized by all the heat and angry recriminations which had, of late, attended the meetings of ecclesiastics. Among the other causes of contention, which at present existed, was the election of a successor to Arminius in the university of Le3^den. Vorstius had been nominated to the vacant chair. His attachment to the views of the late professor was well known. The whole of the Calvinistic party arose against his election. Even the king of England was engaged to exercise his influence to oppose it ; and the result was, that though Vorstius showed himself ready to apologise for, or explain, what might seem doubtful in his views, he could never establish himself in the rightful possession of the professorship.* With the excited feelings to which this and other occurrences of a similar kind had given rise, the assembly was unable to contend, and it gladly sheltered its want of power under the oft-repeated attempt to exhibit a dignified love of moderation, by advising the warring parties to cease from their useless strife. Political events have, in most great religious disputes, contributed to precipitate the issue. In such cases, thoughtful men will be doubtful whether they ought rather to lament the loss of that development of truth, or doctrine, which they had looked for from the contro- versy, or to rejoice in the speedy and happy, though con- strained, restoration of tranquillity. The celebrated Van Olden Burnevelt had conceived an ardent hope, that it Mas possible for him to secure both the independence of his country, and the religious toleration of his party, by an immediate and bold stroke of policy. Grotius and other men of eminence were inspired with similar feel- ings ; and the remonstrants were speedily converted into a party which seemed, for the moment, to be more anxious to find weapons against the Prince of Orange, than to invent arguments in support of Arminianism and the five points. The issue of the political contest was as unfortunate as it could be for the low party. Grotius and Burnevelt * Liniborcli. Ilelatio Historica dc Originc, &c,, p. 18. C C 3 390 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. were both tlirown into prison ; and the latter was even- tually led from the dungeon to a scaffold. In the midst of the struggle which the Prince of Orange anxiously kept up with the view of establishing his power, the contra-remonstrants, having the whole weight of his influence for their support, determined upon calling a national synod. The season was in every way favourable for their purpose. Most men were terrified at the bare thought of incurring the suspicions which had proved so dangerous to the Arminians ; and though there was amply enough talent in the leaders of the dominant party to exhibit their doctrines in the most favourable point of view, they felt that it was no slight circum- stance in their favour, that the strongest political power in their own country, and the influence of foreign sovereigns, were ready to be exercised in their behalf. It was impossible that a national synod should have been assembled with less appearance of moderation, or li- berality, than that of Dort. Every method that policy could suggest, or influence enable a party to put in prac- tice, was employed to prevent the Arminians from being fairly represented, or making themselves heard in the assembly.* Such proceedings were looked upon with disgust by numbers of men who were only kept silent by the dread of persecution. To those who believed the doctrines which this arbitrary course was intended to support, but who were not instigated by popular rage, the preparations for the synod presented cause for deep humiliation. They forced upon them the uneasy re- flection, that in one of the foremost of the reformed churches, in a community which appeared to have a right to boast of its happy experience of Christian liberty, the example of Rome was being closely fol- lowed, and its spirit obeyed in all the practicable vices of ecclesiastical domination. * Acta Synodi, Session, v., p. 19. Quaproptcr dicta synodus, acccdente gcnerosonim ac nobiliss. d. d., delegatorum authoritate et consensu te per l)rn?sentes vocat ac citat, ut ad fincni privdictum, in synodo te praesenteni sistas, una cum relicpiis ad eundcm fiiicni citatis et vocatis^ intra quatuor- dccim dies post acceptioncm harinn pnvscntium literarum, sine ulla tergi- vcrsatione aut exceptione : ne negiigentia? aut coutumaciae culpa in te invc- iiiatur, aut causse vestva^ defuisse vitlcaris. CENT. XVI.-XVII.J FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 391 The Synod of Dort held its first sitting on the 13th of November 1618. There were present in the assembly twenty-eight foreign divines; among which were bishop Hall, then dean of Worcester ; Dr. Davenant, divinity professor at Cambridge; Carleton, bishop of Llandaff ; and Dr. Samuel Ward. It is one of the most remark- able circumstances of James's reign, that dignitaries of the English Church were formally and officially deputed by the sovereign to be present at such an assembl3^ But political considerations never wanted weight with James ; and both his own views, and those of many of the clergy, were at this time so unsettled in respect to the Calvinistic doctrines, that the proceedings of the synod had great importance in his sight. It was an unhappy controversy that had occasioned the calling of the synod ; and to the utter overthrow of the party in which that controversy had arisen were the views of the assembly more immediately directed. But it had other objects. The common evils arising from a long season of repose were as visible in the Netherland as in other churches. Influence had placed unworthy men in high stations. The same enemy of health and purity in ecclesiastical constitutions had favoured plu- ralism ; had blinded the ruling men in synods, orders or classes, to the vices and negligence of their favoured brethren, and persuaded them to allow the Church itself to remain in constant peril of destruction rather than expose a churchman to the annoyance of doing more than he found it easy to perform. By the rough treatment to which controversy subjects men of all classes, numberless dormant energies were awakened ; and it soon began to be acknowledged, that hosts of parishes stood in need of ministrations which it had hitherto been supposed enough if the}^ received nomi- nally, but of which it was now confessed, they ought to be real and constant partakers. The early sessions of the synod, therefore, were em- ployed in ordering a new translation of the scriptures, in debating the several methods of catechising, and proposing new rules for the better preparation and oq- verning of the Church's ministers. At length an answer c c 4 392 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP, VII. was received from Episcopius and the other remonstrant ministers, to tlie summons issued by the synod. It was couched in terms equally cautious and respectful, but plainly declarative of the sense which was entertained of the injustice with which the party was treated. Having expressed a hearty desire for the speedy return of peace, the remonstrants proceeded to state the condi- tions on which they should be ready to appear in the synod ; and the first and principal of these was, that the matters to be discussed in the synod should be de- bated before it, not as if it had been constituted a legi- timate judge of the Arminian doctrines, but as simply an adverse party ; for that it was impossible for them, either in mind or conscience, to regard those as just and proper judges who openly declared themselves their enemies, and proclaimed them schismatics.* Following this statement are the conditions insisted on by the remonstrants for the instituting of a synod that might fairly claim the obedience of all parties. The sub- stance of these was, that the remonstrants as well as the contra- remonstrants should have the right of delegating a certain number of representatives to the assembly, and that with equal rights, powers and privileges; that a safe conduct should be given them ; that past offences and recriminations should be forgotten ; that a solemn and plenary renunciation should be made of all con- tracts, covenants, decisions and sentences determined on before the meeting, and that ministers who had been pronounced schismatics should, notwithstanding, be now recognised as brothers in Christ, and true members of the reformed Church ; that no molestation should be offered them on account of any thing which had passed in the controversy ; that in the discussion before the synod the inquiry should not be confined to the ques- tion, whether the doctrines spoken of agreed or not with the confession and catechism, but whether they were founded on the Word of God ; that no less attention should be given to the necessity than to the truth of each article ; and that every member of the synod should be bound by oath to declare, that he would not pay regard ' Acta Synodi, Scs. xxv. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 393 to the confession, catechism, or any human writing or writer, but only to the Holy Scriptures, which should be acknowledged as the sole rule of faith ; and that he would not propose any thing which he did not believe in his conscience to agree with that rule. It was further re- quired that the argument should be carried on in writing, except when a contrary method was agreed to ; that the catechism should be submitted to examination, and that no threats should be uttered to prevent the free expres- sion of opinion on its contents ; that in the controversy concerning the articles, no decision should be pro- nounced, but rather an accommodation sought, and that, if agreement should be found impossible, a reference should then be made to the chief magistrate, who should determine both the order and method to be observed in the public teaching of the people. Moreover, that time for fair deliberation should be conceded to those whose consciences taught them to object to the decision arrived at; that, if possible, they should be admitted into the communion and unity of the Church, as if no contro- versy had ever taken place ; but that, if they found themselves obliged to retire from the ministry, they should not be exposed to any persecution on the part of either Church or State, but should be alloM^ed to enjoy the same liberty of conscience conceded generally to others.* A vast number of particular statements and reasons follow this appeal, and it is shown, that, unless the synod intended to follow the example of the Council of Trent, the claims of the remonstrants must be readily and fully granted. In conclusion, they declared, that if their wishes were fulfilled, they would prepare themselves for the debate with cheerful and thankful minds, yielding to none in earnest desire for the peace of the Church, and the prosperity of their country, and ready to exhibit every proof of charity, humility and gentleness; but that, if not allowed to enter the synod according to these just demands, they would remain content with the consola- tory reflection that they had themselves acted religiously * Acta Synodi, Ses. xxv., p. 70. 394 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. and equitably, and tliat future ages would bear testi- mony to the rectitude of their conduct. To the address thus drawn up, and signed by Epis- copius and other eminent Arminians, the synod re- turned for answer, that it was utterly unbecoming in those who had been cited to appear before it to pretend to lay down laws for their judges, and that the objections urged to its mode of proceeding ought rather to have been addressed to the heads of the government, who were, in reality, the authors of the rules spoken of with so little deference and respect. After a brief discussion, it was declared to be the judgment of the whole synod, that the demands of the remonstrants were insolent, iniquitous and untimely, and in open hostility to the laws and wishes of their rulers. Episcopius contended, with force and ingenuity, against this conclusion. He was followed by another of the party ; and many argu- ments were advanced to prove the injustice to which the synod was about to subject them.* * The following is Hales' absti-act of tlie address delivered by Episcopius Avlien first called before the synod : — " That religion was the chiefest note of a man, and we were more distinguished by it from other creatures, than by our reason. That their appearance before the synod, ut illam etiam Spartam ornarent, that they might endeavour something for the preservation of the purity of religion: that religion was nothing else but a right conceit and worship of God : that the conceits concerning God arc of two sorts ; some absolutely necessary', which were the grounds of all true worship; in these to err might finally endanger a man ; some not absolutely necessary, and in tliese sometimes without great danger men might mistake : that they des- cryed many conceits passing in our churches which could not stand with the goodness and justice of God, with the use of the sacraments, with the duties of Christian men ; these had given occasion to the adversaries abroad to ac- cuse our cdiurchcs, and lay upon them many strange imputations ; that there- fore their endeavour had been none other but to remove these imputations, and to provide as much as in them lay that the conceits of some few might not pass for the general doctrine of our churches ; but this their endeavour had hitherunto had but ill success ; and as in a diseased body, many times, when ph^'sick is adniinistered, the humours which were quiet are stirred, and hence the body proves more distempered ; so their endeavours to cui'e the Ciuirch had caused greater disorder ; yet in this had they not offended ; for they laboured to none other end, but that the Cliurdi might not be tra- duced by reason of the private conceits of some of her ministers. That in this l)ehalf the world had been exceedingly incensed against them ; but this envy they esteemed their gloriam et palmarium : that for this they did not mean to forsake their cause ; and were it so that they should lose the day, yet Avould they joy in it, and think it glory enough, magnis ausis excidisse. That this their stirring was not de lana capvina, of small, frivolous and worth- less matters, of mere ([uirks of wit, as many of the common sort were i)cr- suaded ; that out of this conceit it was that they had been so exceedingly CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 395 But neither their eloquence nor their plain appeals to fact moved the assembly. It had for its president John Boffermann, one of the most violent of the Gomarists ; and it was his well-known opinion, that heretics and roughly dealt withall, yea, they might say ssevitum fuisse against them as against unnecessary innovators in the Church : first, matters were handled against them clancularly, and by stealth ; after this, they broke out into open but false accusations, and after this into wrath, into scoffing and bitterness, till at length, effractis moderationis repagulis, every one came with open mouth against them, tanquam in public! odii victimas [here followed a grave and serious invocation of Christ as a witness to the truth of Avhat they said]. True, indeed, it was, that in then- books many thuigs were to be found amiss, for a very hard matter they thought it for minds exasperated semper rectum clavem tenere. That for the setling of these things there could but three courses be thought of; either a national synod, or a mutual toleration of each other's opinions, or the cession or resignation of their calling and place in the Church. To quit them of their calling and to fly, this were a note of the hireling : as for a synod, which they much desked, remorabantur qui minime debebant, and it was pretended that the condition of the times would not suffer it. There remains only a mutual toleration, of the possibility of which alone they had hope ; and for this end, they did exceedingly approve of the decree of the States of Holland and West Fryzeland, which they thought confirmed by the examples of Beza's dealing, with some of their own dealing witli the Lutherans, of the advice of the king of Great Britain; but all this was labour lost ; for there was a buzze and jealousie spread in the heads of men, that under this larve, this whifling suit of toleration, there lay perso- nated more dangerous designs : that behind tliis, tanquam post siparium, there lay intents of opening a way to the profession of all the antient heresies; and that the remonstrants could, pro tempore conscientise suse impcrare quod volunt. Upon this began men's minds to be alienated from them, which things at length brake forth into schism and open separation. Now began their books to be more narrowly inquired into, every line, every phrase, every word and tittle to be stretcht to the uttermost to prove them hereticks. ^V^itness that late work, intituled, ' Specimen Controversarium Belgicainim,' whose author's credit and good dealing had already in part appeared, and hereafter farther would appear. That all fundamental points of divinity they had preserved untouched ; for they knew that there were many things of wliicli it is not lawful to dispute ; and they abhorr'd, from that conceit of many men, who would believe nothing but what they were able to give a reason of. That what they questioned was only such a matter, which for a long time had been, without danger, both pro and contra, dis- puted of. They thought it sufficient if tiie chief points of religion remain unshaken. That there had been alwayes sundry opinions, even amongst the fathers themselves, which yet had not broken out into separation of minds and breach of charity. That it was impossible for all wits to jump in one point. It was the judgment of Pari«us, a great divine, that the greatest cause of contentions in the Church was this, that the schoolmen's conclusions and cathedral decisions had been received as oracles and articles of faith. That they were, therefore, unjustly charged with the bringing in of a sccptick thcologie : they sought for nothing else but for the liberty which is the mean betwixt servitude and license. That now they appeared before the synod, Avhethcr as cited, or otherwise, they were not careful. They had been pre- sent, howsoever, had it been lawful. They required the foreigners not to judge of them as they had heard abroad, but as tlicy now should find them. That the}^ profess tlicy oppose themselves, first, agahist those conclusions con- cerning predestination, which the authors themselves have called horrida de- 396 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP, VII. schismatics ought to be treated with no forbearance, but should be punished as men guilty of the highest crimes. Each successive session afibrded fresh proof that the synod had been called, not to examine the truth or false- hood of particular opinions, but to pronounce a definitive and predetermined sentence. In the twenty-seventh session, which took place on the 11th of December, the remonstrants appeared, in obedience to the citation sent them, and were asked, whether they were prepared to exhibit their opinions on the five articles, and on the confession and catechism, according to the terms of the citation? They replied, that they had drawn up a written statement on the subject, and desired permission to read it. After some delay, the required permission was granted, and, from a paper of considerable length, the representatives of the Arminians renewed their com- plaints of the injustice of the synod, and of its want of authority to pronounce sentence on the truth or false- hood of their doctrines. This renewed protestation met with the same fate as those before made. It also aroused against the remonstrants the combined forces of the foreign divines, who w^ere loud in their support of creta. Secondly, against those who for the five articles, so called, have made a separation, never expecting any synodical sentence. Thirdly, against those who cast from them all those who in some things dissent from them. And yet, to raise the controversy greater, is the question of the right of magistrates added ahove all the rest, which they maintained against those who taught the magistrates should, Avith a hoodwinkt obedience, accept of Avhat the divines taught, without farther incjuiry. These are the points for which we have contended. Give unto us that resjiect which yourselves would look for at our hands if 3'ou were in our case ; we have not ambitiously sued to any; the favour of God alone it is which we have sought; look not upon this small number which 3'ou see, ' Unus patronus bonce causcB satis est.' 'Tis not the smaller which makes schism. If a major part carry the I'ight, what tliink you then of the province of Utrecht, wlicre the greater part are remonstrants? From you doth the schism proceed ; first, here in this synod, by making so unequal a choice of deputies with so small a number of remonstrants ; se- condly, by proceeding against us abroad, not expecting a synodal decree, by cashiering and sul)jecting urito censures the chief patrons of our cause, eos apud quos sunt a(iuilBe nostrtc : and, peradventure, even at this very hour f'ou proceed against some of ours, by suspending, discommuning, by expel- ing them from their churches, &c. But yet we cast not away our swords: the scriptures and solid reason shall be to us instead of multitudes. I'he conscience rests not itself upon the number of suffrages, but upon the strength of reason. Tam parati sumus vinci, quam vincere , he gets a great victory, that being conquered gains the truth. Amicus Socrates, amicus Plato, amica Synodus, sed magis amica Veritas." — Hale's Letters from the Synod of Dort," p. 4». CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 397 Bogermann and his judicial wisdom. The charge of schism, with which the Arminians had rashly and un- justifiably assailed the synod, formed the chief provoca- tive to whatever was said by these learned strangers. English, Genevan and German theologians were equally ready to prove that an assembly composed of the repre- sentatives of a national Church, and whose object it was to defend a creed long and generally received, could never, without gross absurdity, be denominated schisma- tical. It was, moreover, forcibly argued by the English divines, that the objections of the Arminians to the authority of the synod, because they themselves were not admitted into its ranks, were refuted by the historv of all the antient councils. In those assemblies, it was said, the opponents of old and established doctrines were judged and condemned by the orthodox ; and the very necessity of the case compelled this method of proceed- ing, for the supreme power of determining controver- sies must, in every church, be referred to a national synod, legitimately convoked and assembled, since it is impossible that new dogmas should be called in ques- tion and sifted unless by those who faithfully adhere to the antient creed. If neutrals only, therefore, can be judges, such as are strangers to the church in which the dispute has arisen would always have to be sought, and no church would ever be sufficient of itself to deter- mine its owai controversies. Even common equity, it was added, would oppose a position of this kind; for how could the pastors of the Church be justly deprived of their right of judging and condemning heresies ? If such a course were adopted, when heresies arose there v.ould be no one found to oppose them, lest by the very attempt to condemn them the right of judgment might be lost.* According to the opinion of the Genevan divines, the government of the Church being aristocratical in its form, its supreme judicial power resides in a synod le- gitimately convoked, so at least as to constitute an organic and representative body. To a synod thus con- * Acta Syuodi, Ses. xxix., p. 107. 398 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. stituted no member of the churches which it represents can legitimately prefer an objection, since no exception can be taken to a supreme judge, to public and received order and the laws. Other considerations were added which went far to prove, that the course pursued by the remonstrants was inconsistent with the exercise of Christian charity and humility, and that the synod had taken no other way to subdue the present disorders than that which it was authorized to adopt by the very nature of its constitution. It is evident, however, that the argu- ments of these foreign divines were, one and all, founded on the supposition, that the synod was composed of men that might fairly be regarded as representatives of the Church ; that no overwhelming political influence had been employed in determining the choice of its mem- bers ; that it was really fitted to perform the duty of a deliberative assembly ; and that, notwithstanding the known and well-settled principles of those who were to take the lead in its debates, much that had an important bearing on the present state of affairs remained to be determined by the light of charity, and of the peaceable and gentle wisdom which is from above. There is one grave consideration in respect to the complaints of the Arminians, and which there is little doubt affected the minds of many of their cotempora- ries against them. They were themselves the authors of the present disturbance. The Church had enjoyed the blessings of tranquillity and order till Arminius and his disciples began to publish their doubts respecting the scriptural character of the confession and catechism. It was soon discovered that the views thus promulgated were acceptable to a large class of men, of the soundness of whose opinions on the general plan of the gospel suspicions were very commonly entertained. That every effort, therefore, was made to repress the novelties, as they were considered, of Arminianism ; that the whole force of the Church was anxiously employed to pre- vent their rapidly increasing into so many gigantic heresies, can create little surprise ; nor would the guar- dians of the churches amid which these occurrences were CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 399 taking place have deserved aught but praise, had they exercised more consideration and brotherly charity in their ulterior proceedings. At the close of the thirtieth session, the remonstrants were asked, whether they had prepared for the synod a statement of their views on the first article in their sum- mary, that, namely, which referred to divine predesti- nation ? They replied, that they had no written state- ment, but that they were ready to give at once a viva voce explanation of their doctrines. This offer was angrily rejected. They were peremptorily ordered to produce the required document at the first session the following day. The command was obeyed, and on the forenoon of the 13th of December the remonstrants presented their first formal statement of their belief on the great doctrine of predestination. Episcopius, as the now de- clared head of the party, was charged with the duty of reading the important document to the synod. It was signed by each of his companions, and the most explicit statements were given that it expressed the common sentiments of each and all. The paper consisted of ten articles : 1. God did not decree the election of any one to eternal life, or his reprobation from the same, before he decreed to create him, or without respect to any antecedent obedience, or disobedience, according to his mere pleasure, to de- monstrate the glory of his mercy and justice, or of his absolute power and dominion. 2. Since the decree of God concerning the salvation or destruction of every man is not the decree of an end absolutely determined, it follows, that neither are there subordinated to that decree such means that thereby the elect and the re- probated may be efficaciously and inevitably led to their destined end, 3. Wherefore, neither did God with this counsel create in one Adam all men in a state of rec- titude ; he did not ordain his fall and loss ; he did not deprive him of necessary and sufficient grace ; nor does he order the gospel to be preached ; men externally to be called ; the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be conferred, — that these may be the means of leading some to life, while to others the blessing of life is denied. Christ 400 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. as mediator is not only the executor of election, but the foundation of the decree of election itself. That some are efficaciously called, justified, persevere in faith, and are glorified, is not because they are absolutely elected to eternal life : again ; that some are left in their lapsed state, that Christ is not given to them, or that they are altogether not, or not efficaciously, called ; that they are hardened, condemned, is not because they have been absolutely reprobated from eternal salvation. 4. God did not determine, without the intervention of actual sins, to leave by far the greater portion of mankind in their fallen state, and cut off from all hope of salvation. 5. God ordained that Christ should be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world ; and in virtue of that decree he determined to justify and save those believing in him ; and to bestow upon men the means necessary and sufficient for that end, according to that rule which seems good to his wisdom and justice. But in nowise did he determine, in virtue of an absolute decree, to give Christ as a mediator to the elect alone ; to endow them only with faith by effectual calling, to justify them, to preserve them in the faith, and to glorify tiiem. 6. Nor is any one rejected from eternal life, or from the means sufficient for its attainment, by an absolute, antecedent decree, so that the merit of Christ, vocation, and the gifts of the Spirit, may be profitable to the salvation of all ; and are actually so except when men abuse them to their own destruction ; whereas no one is destined to unbelief, impiety, sin, as the medium and cause of damnation. 7. The election of individuals is peremp- tory, from the consideration of their faith in Jesus Christ, and of their perseverance ; but not without this consideration of their faith, and perseverance in the true faith, as a pre-required condition of their election. 8. Reprobation from eternal life is made according to the consideration of an antecedent infidelity, and of perseverance in infidelity ; but not without the consi- deration of an antecedent infidelity, and of perseverance in infidelit3\ 9. All the children of believers are sanc- tified in Christ, so that none of them dying before the age of reason perish. On no account are children of CEN'T. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 401 believers numbered among the reprobate departing this life before the actual commission of sin in their own person, so that neither the sacred laver of baptism, nor the prayers of the Church, might profit them. 10. Children of believers, baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, being still in the state of infancy, are not reckoned among the reprobate by an absolute decree. * * I. Deus lion decrevit queuquam ad vitam asternam eligerc, aut ah eadcm reprobare ordine priusquam eundein creare dccrovcrit, citra uUius obedientise vel inobedieiitiae antecedentis intuitum pro beneplacito siio, ad demonstrandam gloriam misericordiie et jusiitiae suse, vel potestatis et dominii absoluti. II. Cum decretum Dei, de cujiisque hominis turn salute turn exitio, non sit decretuin finis absolute intenti, serpiitumeque eidem decreto subordinata esse media talia, per qufe iinem dcstinatum turn electi tum reprobi etficaciter atque inevitabiliter perducantur. III. Quare nee Dens hoc consilio creavit in uno Adamo omnes homines in recto statu, non oi'dinavit lapsum cjusque peiditionem, non subtraxit Adann giatiam necessariam et sufficientem, non procurat Evangelium prsedicari, homines externe vocari, non confert illis ulla dona Spiritus S. ut ista media essent per qute eoruni aliquos ad vitam perduceret, alios vitse beneficio destitueret. Christus mediator non est solum executor electionis, sed ipsius decreti electionis fundamentum : quod alii efticaciter vocantur, justificantur, in fide perseverant, glorificantur, causa non est quod alisolute ad vitam seternam sint electi, neque qiiod alii in lapsu deserantur Christus iis non detur, prorsus non, aut iuefflcaciter vocentur, indurentur, damnentur, causa non est quod a salute setenia absolute sint reprobati. IV. Deus non decrevit sine intervenientibus peccatis actualibus multo maximam partem hominum ab omni spe salutis seclusam in lapsu re- linquere. V. Deus ordinavit, ut Christus sit propitiatio pro totius mundi peccatis, et vi istius decH'ti, statuit credentes in ipsum justificarc et salvare, homini- busque media ad finem necessaria et aufficientia administrare, ea ratione quam novit suam sapientiam et justitiam dccere. Nequaciuam auteni destinavit ex vi decreti alisoluti solis electis Christum mediatorem dare, eosdemque solos per vocationem eltlcacem fide donare, justificare, in fide conservare ac glorificare. VI. Ncc a vita seterna nee a mediisad eam sufficientibus nllus rcjectus est absoluto aliquo antecedaneo decreto, sic ut meritum Christi, vocatio, omniaque dona Spiritus prodesse ad salutem omnibus possiiit, et revera prosint nisi ea ipsi exitium sibi eorundem abusu vertaiit ; ad incredulitatem autem, impietatem et peccata, tanquam media et causas damnationis, nemo destinatus est. VII. Electio singularium personarum pereintoria est, ex consideratione fidei in Jesum Christum et perseverantise, non autem citra consideradonem fidei et perseverantise in vera fide, tanquam conditionis in eligendo prse- requisitse. VIII. Ileprobatio a vita asterna facta est secundum considerationem anteceilanens infidelitatis, et perseverantia; in infidelitate ; non auteni citra considerationem antecedauese infidelitatis, et perseverantise in infi- delitate. IX. Omnes fidelium libcvi sunt in Christo sanctificati ; ita ut nuHus eoinim ante usum rationis ex liac vita dcccdens pereat. Nequaquam autem in reprobatorum numero censentur et jam nonnulU fidelium liberi, in infaiitiu VOL. III. D D 402 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. At the end of tliis exposition of the first of the five articles, was added the declaration, that this doctrine concerning election and reprobation the remonstrants were prepared to defend against the contrary system, and to explain and unfold as they best might to the glory of God, the satisfying of their own conscience, and the edification of the Church. On its being asked by the synod, whether the opinions stated were those which the Arminians held in common, and whether nothing further was required to complete the statement, an answer was given in the affirmative. The synod then proceeded to observe, that it had been greatly displeased at the conduct of the persons cited, who, in the theses just presented, had rather shown what doc- trines they rejected tlian what they themselves believed, or what they did not think rather than what they ac- cepted as true ; many things, moreover, were mixed up with the first article which properly belonged to others ; and, on the whole, the remonstrants were to be admo- inshed to take better heed for the future, and give more attention to the commands of the synod. When the assembly resumed its labours next day, the remonstrants were again reminded that their theses should consist of affirmative, not of negative, propositions ; and the pre- sident especially directed them rather to treat of those fjuestions which concerned " the sweet doctrine of elec- tion, than odiously to employ themselves on that of re- probation," * In the thirty-fourth session the remonstrants ap- peared before the synod with theses on the rest of their articles. That on the Universality of Redemption was divided into four heads ; under the first of which it was argued, that, as the price of redemption which Christ bore to his Father was not only sufficient in itself, and sua ante ullum actuate peccatum in propria persona commissum ex liac vita discedentes ; adeo ut nee baptism! lavacruni sacrum^ nee preces Ecclesiae ipsis ullo modo ad salutem prodesse possint. X. Nullifidelium liberi baptizati in nomine Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, in infantiifi suae statu viventes, absolut<» decreto reprobatis adscribuntur. — • Acta Synodi, Ses. xxxi., p. 126. * Sul)monuit et praises, ut potius questionibus illis inhaererent, quae circa suavem do electione doctrinam versarentur, quam ut odiose doctrinam de repi-obatione cxagitarent. — lb., Ses. xxxii., p. 128. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 403 by itself, for tlie redemption of the whole human race, but was paid for all and every man, by the decree, the will and the grace of God the Father, no one is cut off from participating in the fruits of Christ's death by any absolute and antecedent decree of God. 2. Christ by the merit of his deatli reconciled God the Father to the whole human race, so that he might, in a manner con- sistent with justice and truth, be willing and able to establish with sinners a new covenant of grace. 3. Al- though Christ has merited for all and every man recon- ciliation with God, and remission of sins, nevertheless, no one according to the condition of this new and gracious covenant actually becomes a partaker of the benefits procured by the death of Christ, otlierwise than through faith. Nor are the sins of sinful men pardoned be'fore they verily and indeed believe in Christ. 4. They alone for whom Christ died are bound to believe that Christ died for them ; but the reprobate, as they are called, for whom Christ did not die, can neither be compelled so to believe, nor be justly condemned for their disbelief; but if such reprobate there were, they would be bound to believe that Christ did not die for them . The third and fourth articles were treated of in twelve propositions, in which the remonstrants fully set forth their views concerning the grace of God, and man's conversion. In the first it is stated : man has not saving faith from himself, nor from the force of his own free-will, since in a state of sin there can be no good thing, which saving faitli especially is ; but it is ne- cessary that he be regenerated in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, and that in thought, affections, will, and all his faculties, that he may be able to understand what things are good and salutary, to meditate thereon, to desire and to accomplish them. This and the following pro- position are the same as in the original statement of the five articles. Under the third head, it is said, that not- withstanding the sole dependence placed on the grace of God, it ought not to be considered that all zeal, care and diligence employed, before faith and the renovation of the spirit, in the desire of obtaining salvation, are D D 2 404 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. vain and useless, yea, more hurtful to man, than bene- ficial and fruitful ; but, on the contrary, that to hear the Word of God, to grieve at the remembrance of sin, to seek salutary grace, and the renewing spirit, all which actually depends upon divine favour, is not only not hurtful and useless, but most profitable and ne- cessary in order to the obtaining of faith and the spirit of renovation. In the fourth section w^e read, that the will, in man's fallen state, has no power or liberty to adopt any tiling that is sahUary ; and, hence, that the liberty of choosing both good and evil, in every state, cannot be present to the will. The next proposition sets fortli, that the eflicacious grace whereby any one is converted is not irresistible; and that, although God may so affect the will by his word, and by the internal operation 'of his Spirit, as to confer the power of believing, or super- natural ability, and so, in fact, may make a man be- lieve ; yet a man of himself has the power to despise this grace, and not to believe, and so to perish by his own fault. It is stated in the following propositions: 1. Al- though, according to the will of God, most perfectly free, the largest measure of grace pertains to all and each of those to whom the Word of God is preached, he confers, or is ready to confer, as much as suffices to pro- mote the conversiem of all men in their several degrees ; therefore, grace sufficient for fuith and conversion per- tains not only to those whom God is said to have willed to save by a decree of absolute election, but also to those who are not really and actually converted. 2. ]\Ian, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, is able to do more good than he really does, and to leave undone more evil than he really leaves undone. Neither do we believe that God is simply unwilling that man should do more good than he does, and omit more evil than he does omit, and that he has decreed from eternity that each should so be done or not done. 3. Whomsoever God calls to salvation he seriously calls, that is, with a sincere and by no means simulated intention and will ; neither should assent be given to the opinion of those who pretend that God calls CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 405 some externally, and some internally, or that there are those whom he does not will to be tj'uly converted, and that even prior to their rejection of the grace of vocation. 4. There is not in God a secret will which so contravenes his will, as revealed in scripture, that, according to that secret will, he desires not the conver- sion and salvation of the greater part of those whom, by the word of the gospel, and his revealed will, he seriously calls and invites to faith and salvation ; neither is that holy simulation, as some speak, or double character, in God, to be acknowledged. 5. Nei- ther should it be believed that God invites the reprobate, as they are called, for the purpose of hardening them more and more, and depriving them of all excuse, so that he may affect them with a heavier punishment, arid prove their helplessness ; but not that they may be converted, or that they may believe and be saved. 6. It is not true, that all things, as well evil as good, are done by the force and efficacy of a secret will, or divine decree, in such a manner that whosoever sins is not able, in consequence of the divine decree, not to sin : that God wishes to distinguish, to procure the sins of men, and their mad, foolish, cruel works, and sacri- legious blasphemy of his name ; that he moves their tongues to this blasphenn^ is not true. 12. It is also false, and horrible to say, that God, by a hidden reason, impels men to the sins which openly he prohibits ; that those who sin do not act contrary to the will of God, pro-' perly so called ; that what is unjust, that is, what is con- trary' to his command, is agreeable to his will ,• nay more, that it is a true and capital fault to do the will of God. It is easy to perceive, from these latter propositions, that the remonstrants had seized upon every inference that could be so drawn from the doctrines of Calvin, as to exhibit them in the most odious light. Wliether this was done with the simple conviction that such were the proper consequences of the opinions in question, or from a determination to take every advantage which the extreme view of the subject gave, without regard to the actual sentiments of their opponents, is hardly to be determined. There were, indeed, some among the con- D D 3 406 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [chap. vn. tra-remonstrants who evinced so daring a spirit in the treatment of themes the most difficult and awful, that, startling- as are the representations of the Arrninians, they perhaps needed but the veil of milder expressions to make them at once acknowledged by the Calvinists as a faithfid transcript of their views. The sulyect of Perseverance, forming the last of the five articles, was treated of in eight propositions. In these it is stated, 1. The perseverance of the faithful in faith is not the effect of that absolute decree whereby God is said to have elected particular persons without any condition of obedience. 2. God instructs the truly faithful by grace and supernatural gifts, as far as in his infinite wisdom he judges sufficient to their perse- verance, and to their overcoming the temptations of the devil, the flesh and the world ; nor is it ever through God that men cease- to persevere. 3. The truly faithful are able to fall from true faith, and to commit sin, which cannot consist with a true and justifying faith ; nor is this merely possible, but is even of frequent oc- currence. 4. The truly faithful are able, by their own fault, to fall into flagitious and atrocious wickednesses, to persevere and to die in them, and thence finally to sink and perish. 5. Yet it is not believed, that the truly faithful, although they sometimes fiiU into grievous sins, and such as injure the conscience, lose all hope of recovery ; but that God, according to the multitude of his mercies, may recall them by his grace to repentance ; and that this does often happen, even when it is impos- sible to decide, for certainty, whether it be so or not. 6. Therefore, these following dogmas, daily circulated in various writings, are utterly rejected as destructive of piety and good manners ; namely, that the truly faithful are not able deliberately to sin, but only from ignorance and infirmity : that the truly faithful can by no sin whatsoever fall from the grace of God : that a thousand sins, nay, all the sins of all the world, cannot render election void; to which if it be added, that all men are bound to believe themselves elected to salvation, and that they arc not able to fall from that election, it is easy to perceive how much these notions must tend to beget a CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 407 carnal security : it is also denied that no sins, however great and fearful, can be imputed to the elect, but must all, both present and future, be remitted : and that the truly faithful, falling into deadly heresies, and most atrocious crimes, such as oblige the Church to refuse to tolerate them in outward communion, and to declare that they have no part in the kingdom of Christ, unless they be converted, are, nevertheless, not able to fall totally and finally from the faith. Such were the opinions which, if the Arminian report be true, were currently taught in the pulpits, writings or conversation of the contra-remonstrants. Nothing can be more evident than that the mere uttering of notions so opposed to what not human wisdom but scripture teaches of the truth and holiness of God, betokens a dark and unhealthy state of mind. Let it even be allowed that the primary dogmas of what is commonly called Calvinism are true, such is the nature of the mystery, that a finite and sin-beclouded understanding can specukite with no safety about its connection with other mysteries. It lies on the extreme verge of revelation, if revelation it be ; and if a step be taken beyond it, the mind finds itself suddenly pre- cipitated into unfathomable depths of darkness. On the other hand, a similar remark may be made with regard to those wdio argue against every view of pre- destination, that it leads to consequences derogatory to the honour of God. Here again it is clear, that the Imman mind may have supposed that there is a depend- ence of one notion on another which have no real con- nection, and that it is altogether unjustifiable, therefore, to argue from the untenableness of the one to the false- hood of the other. The contra-remonstrants were fairly chargeable with nothing more than what they themselves generally confessed might be found within the extent of their scheme. When they were pressed with infer- ences, drawn by others, they might reply, that such conclusions were but the work of a fallible reason, and to the decisions of which they were by no means bound to submit ; that numberless errors might have entered in the process of the argument ; and that they still re- D D 4 408 IlISTORV OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. turned with confidence to the phiiu, direct statement of tlie Woid of God ; heing full}^ assured, that if any notion Avas founded tliercon which contradicted holiness and truth, tlie inconsistency was but the consequence of human error or presumption. Under the seventh head of the statement referred to, we read, that the true believer is able, for the time, to be certain concerning the integrity of his faith and con- science, so that at the present moment he may and ought to be assured of his salvation, and of the saving mercy of God exercised in his favour ; whence the opinion of the papists on tliis subject ought to be rejected. And, lastly, it is stated, the true believer can and ought to be certain, as to the future, that he is able, by medita- tion, watchfulness, prayer and other holy exercises, to persevere in the faith, and tliat divine grace will never be wanting to that perseverance. But how he may be certain that he will never fail in faith, piety and cha- rity, as becomes a man persevering in the school of Christian ^^arfare, does not appear; neither does it seem necessary to be certain on such a point. These propositions are followed by an apology for the occasional introduction of negative statements into the account of the Arm.inian system. It was impossible for them, say tl.'c writers, to describe their ov^n tenets Avithout first showing the errors of their opponents. But marks of displeasure were also exhibited, on the part of the synod, when the remonstrants claimed longer time to explain their views of the catechism, or to exhibit those views according to their own rule and method. To re- peated declarations on the latter point, the answer was as constantly given, that the synod had resolved to exa- mine the opinions of the Arminians, not on election only, but on I'eprobation also, and that they would best show their conscientiousness by a patient and reverential obe- dience to the judgment of the assembl^^ When asked again, whether they would give their answers according to the command of the synod, they replied, that their consciences forbad their so doing. Warned of the danger Mliich would attend their persevering in this course, they still gave the same answer, and were then told. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 409 that unless they changed their conduct they would expose themselves to the punishment of contumacy. On the following day* the remonstrants were again interrogated to the same purpose, and with the same threats. Episcopius then answered, in the name of the body which he represented, that unless full liberty were allowed them to propose, explain and defend their cause, they felt bound in conscience to refuse obedience. The severity with which the assembly received these decla- rations, and the renewal of the threat, that the punish- ment due to contumacy would certainly follow them, produced no change in the feelings of the remonstrants. In a full and clear stati ment of their sentiments on the occasion, they spoke as men who only needed to be heard to justify both their proceedings and their opi- nions. " As great," said the3% " as was the pleasure and dolio'ht with which we reg-arded our citation to this national S3mod, and in which we understood the oppor- tunity \vould be afforded us of delivering our sentiments on the five articles, so great is our grief at finding that we are to be confined within the limits which it seems good to tlie assembly itself to impose. This, neither the justice of the thing itself, nor the cause of truth, nor our own conscience, to the dictates of which, as to their cynosure, the faithful servants of Jesus Christ and the incorrupt assertors of truth must ever turn, will allow us to sufier."f When the paper which contained this bold expression had been read to the synod, it was inquired, whether it seemed good to the assembly to grant the remonstrants further liberty in their defence. Not a voice was heard, it is said, on the part of either the foreign or provincial theologians, to favour their claims. A fresh statement of the determination of the synod was drawn up, and read to the remonstrants. The threats before uttered were repeated in a more angry tono. It was again and again asked, whether they would submit simply and entirely to the rules of the assembly ; and, as if each party gathered force from the violence of the other, the question was answered with a doggedness of temper • Ses. xl., Dec. 29 ; Acta Synodi, p. 152. f lb., p. 156. 410 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. which plainly proved that hope of accommodation would be looked for in vain.* " If," said they, " the synod will allow of nothing but a categorical answer to the questions proposed, we adhere to our former resolution. But if our request be granted, we will unfold fully and plainly our doctrine on each article ; and first on elec- tion, and next on reprobation ; and we will defend that doctrine, and afterwards refute the opposite opinion of the contra-remonstrants, and of those called orthodox, on each of the articles. And if any thing shall seem wanting in our answers, we will reply to the questions of the president, either in writing or viva voce, as shall be deemed most fitting. And lest the liberty which we demand should seem without limit, we solemnly promise to keep our statements within due bounds, and to re- frain from every thing that might savour of license or petulance." The remonstrants had spoken, as we see from the above, of confuting the notions of the contra-remon- strants and the orthodox. Great offence was created by this expression. They were asked to whom they alluded, and whose opinion it was which they purposed to con- fute. The Arminians coldly answered, that they would let it be known when the time arrived for the discussion. Some well-known writers were then named by the pre- sident, and it was asked whether they were the persons intended. To this the remonstrants gave no answer at all. It was now plainly understood by the synod that its powers were exhausted, and that if the contumacy of the remonstrants received its due measure of punish- ment, an appeal must be made to the authority of go- vernment, 'ihis was accordingly determined on, and the remonstrants were commanded not to leave the city, and on no account to preach or hold meetings in the neiglibouring villages. On the 3d of January, the directions received from the Ordincs Generales were read in the synod, and the remonstrants found them- selves at once exposed to the danger of incurring po- litical as well as ecclesiastical penalties. It was added * Acta Synodi, p. 162. CENT. XVI.- XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 411 at the conclusion of the instrument which commanded their submission, tliat if they persevered in despising the authority of the synod, their published works and ordinary explications of doctrine must be carefully examined, and that their opinions so deduced would be then judged of according to the Word of God. Thev were, moreover, ordered to confine themselves strictly within the boundaries of the city, and to answer, cate- gorically, as often as they might be questioned, sin- cerely, plainly, and without any excuse or tergiversation. It was accordingly asked, whether they w^ere ready to obey the injunctions of the supreme authority in the state, or persevered in their former course ? Episcopius immediately replied, that being fully resolved to do all things in the fear of the Lord, and having earnestly sought help of heaven, he could not depart from his original resolution, or give any other answer than that which he had now so frequently returned. His com- panions declared their perfect agreement in these sen- timents, and Henry Hollinger added, with energy, that he foresaw that, did they yield, their weakness would tend not only to the overthrow of their own cause, but, still worse, to the subversion and oppression of truth itself; that it would wound men's consciences, offend God, bring scandal on the Church, and on innumerable pious worshippers of Christ, and excite the anger of God against themselves. " I will, therefore," said he, " imi- tate the example of Christ. I will be silent, and leave the event to him who will come to judge the quick and the dead." Not satisfied with this, the president made another experiment on the firmness of the remonstrants, and demanded, whether they considered the decree con- cerning the salvation of the faithful, who persevere, to be the only decree concerning predestination to sal- vation, and tliat there is no other predestination to life revealed in the gospel. Episcopius replied, calmly and briefly, " I persist in my answer ;" and he was followed without hesitation by his companions ; Poppius adding, " Since no regard is shown for my conscience, I cannot 412 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. expect from tlje s^-nod a fair and true inqiiiiT; and I am, therefore, under no obligation to reply." The president continuing his questions, the same answers \vei'e ao-ain and ajiain returned. A lono; and carefully drawn up paper was submitted to the synod, containing the reasons on which the remonstrants founded their right thus to oppose its demands. This document having been examined by the assembl}^ it ^vas stated, in reply, that its arguments rested on three assertions. The first, that not sufficient room was given for the explanation of the doctrines referred to ; and to this it was answered, that a greater latitude was plainly conceded to them by the decree of the synod when they should appear to answer the interrogatories put to them ; and that it was not only permitted them in so doing to state their objections to contrary doctrines, but that they were commanded to do it. The second of the assertions spoken of respected the nature of the synod, and its authority was rejected because said to arise from a hostile party. But this, it is stated, was wholly refuted by the dear and powerful testimony of the foreign divines. In the third place, it was objected, that the decrees both of the synod and of the illustrious orders M^ere in direct opposition to the consciences of those whom they were intended to govern. To this the an- swer was, that the remonstrants made too much of their consciences, and that by speaking as they did it was almost made to appear that those by whom the}' were sununoned had no conscience at all. In the next place the president inquired, what they understood by ohe- dience, when they said in their theses, that God had elected with respect to an antecedent obedience. Episco- pius replied, " I see no reason to depart from my former statement. If I did not fear God, I should not act as I do." Poppius observed, " Nowhere have I read that it is permitted to pastors, whether separately or together, to enter into judgment with their fellow ministers." The president replied, that power was given to pastors, in the Word of God, to inquire into the doctrines of their fellow pastors ; and that there ought to be inspectors in CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 413 the Church of God, authorized to judge concerning* the opinions and motives of its doctors. He then asked him, whether lie wished to deprive the Church of that dis- ciphne which Christ and the apostles liad instituted. Poppius answered, that the man whose conscience was his law could submit to no command till his conscience was satisfied. *= The president replied, that this obser- vation savoured of superciliousness; for that while the remonstrants passed their judg-mcnt freely on the course pursued by the synod, they refused to submit their own conduct to a fair and open trial. Liberty was allowed them, he added, as far as was consistent with the nature of the inquiry ; but the synod itself was circumscribed in its powers, and nothing could be more deserving of censure than the attempt which they were making to set up their own notions as a rule, instead of submitting to the decree of the supreme authority of the state. But notwithstanding these renewed efforts on the part of the synod, and aided as it now was b}- the de- clared sentiments of the government, the controversy remained precisely in the same state as at first. Ques- tions put in every possible form received the same la- conic reply: "Allow us to speak as we choose, and we will answer your interrogatories : if not, we remain silent." " It is not our wish," said Episco[)ius, " to lay down rules for the synod, but neither will we allow it to impose laws on us. We employ no subterfuges, for we have nothing to conceal. We are not ashamed of our doctrine. It involves no sopliistries, no ambiguities, nothing respecting whicli we do not court inquiry. Un- like the system of the contra-remonstrants, it inculcates no principles which can be regarded as injurious to the divine glory, or as opposed to piety, and the truth of the gospel; let us, therefore, unfold and defend our views ill the manner we think best, and we will answer six hundred or six thousand questions. f But if this be not * Acta Svnodi, p. 201. •j- lb., p. 200. Episcopius and his colleagues were ordered to put the substance of their speeches into writing. This was done, and tlie paper fonnally presented to the synod. It was frerpiently referred to in after pro- ceedings of the assembly, as containing a decided \)rofession of willingness to declare wliatcver pertained to the disputed doctrine. Quinimo uti hactenus 414 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. conceded, we see no retison why we sliould change our resohition, or answer the questions of the synod." To other remarks of a simihir kind the president replied, that they were striving to obtain the liberty of not only defending themselves, but of disturbing the minds of others. This aroused the anger of the remonstrants, and they protested that such a desire had never been either named or felt by their party. One of them then declaring that he could not in his conscience submit to be directed by those whom he knew to be his enemies, the president replied, that he deserved praise for his candour, for that he had stated truly tlie real cause of the present disputes, and shown that the remonstrants only refused to answer, lest they might seem to ac- knowledge the right of the synod to pass sentence on their opinions. A lingering hope was still entertained by some of the foreign theologians, that it niigiit yet be possible to accom- modate the dispute.* The resolution with which Episco- pius and his associates acted secured them respect; and there was every reason to fear that, whatever course the synod pursued, a party would be formed which might sooner or later possess sufficient j)ower to shake the foundation of the Belgic churches. It is evident, from the length of time employed in conferring with the remonstrants, that the principal members of the synod eagerly desired to discover some reason for not pro- ceeding hastily against them. Bogcrmann was untiring in his endeavours to silence their objections, and induce them to state their opinions in the manner desired by the assembly. " The synod,'' he said, " at all times spoke semper, ita impreseiitiarum apertc iterum atquo ingenue profitemnr, tantum abcsse lit sententiam nostrani oceultatam ciipianiiis, ant ulla subterfugia qufe- ramns, lit contra ideo no])is plenariani potestatcni concedi petamus, expli- candi ct defendeiidi sententiam nostram quantum possumus, et necessariuni judicamus, ne quis([uam deinde sit qui jure aliquid ultra a nobis desiderare possit, quod ad cxactam totius caiisse cognitioneni facere ulla ratione vi- deatur. * This feeling in their favour, expressed by the foreign theologians, was highly ap])lau(l('d by the remonstrants, though they were soon after taught to believe that the milder sentiments of the foreigners originated in error. There was also a clergyman of Groninghen who said publicly, " that he was not of the mind of his colleagues in this business, but agreed with the foreign divines." — Acta Synodi Brandt., Hist, of Reform., vol. iii., b. xxxvi., p. 146. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 415 plainly and distinctly, but they obscurely : the synod de- clared that it was ready to give them all the liberty which either divine or human laws would justify its granting: there was no need, therefore, of those subterfuges under which they concealed their real intentions, and sought to impose laws upon the synod which it neither ought nor Avas able to admit." At the conclusion of the conference,* in which these observations were made, the remonstrants v/ere ordered to depart the assembly; and on the afternoon of the same day, it was determined, that the remonstrants should be left to themselves till an examination of their puhlished opinions should enable the synod to proceed against them according to the authority given it by the Church. This determination was made known to the accused in a formal statement which they were summoned to hear read; and three days after they were again called before the synod, and thus addressed by the president: "The moderation of the foreigners, which you so much extolled, proceeded out of their error, which to-day having under- stood, they have pronounced concerning you another sentence. Upon Friday last, when you seemed to dis- claim an unlimited liberty, and gave hope of some con- formity, they dealt with the synod in your favour; but, to-day, understanding you to abuse the synod, and fly back to your former claim, the}' all, with one consent, think you indignos esse quibuscum diutius res agatur. One amongst them there is who hath taken the pains to map out your behaviour since your first appearance in the synod. Pretend you what you will, the true cause of this your indisposition is, that you take the synod ])ut as the adverse part, and account yourselves in equal place with it. This conceit hath manifested itself in all your actions. Theses upon the question in controversy you gave up; but so confused, so nothing to the purpose, that no use can be made of them. The decrees of the synod you have openly contemned. The interrogatories put you, you have refused to answer. Your citatory letters, notwithstanding the sense thereof was expounded by those W'ho gave them, and therefore best knew it, you * Sess. liv., Iv,, nth January.— Acta Synodi, p. 21G. 416 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. have interpreted as you list, and professed that you will proceed according to yonr own judgment, and not according- to the judgment of the synod. At length, on Friday last, you seemed to resign your claim to unlimited liberty, and gave hope of some conformit}^ : but all this, in your M'riting now exhibited,* you have retracted. The synod hath dealt mildly, gently, and favourabl}^ with vou ; but, sinceritati, leniiati, mansuetud'ini synodi,fravdcs, artes, et mendavia opposuistis. I will dismis you with no other elogy than one of the foreigners gave you : Quo cwpistis pede, eodem cedite. Witli a lie you made your entrance into the synod ; with a lie you take your leave of it, in den3^ing lately that ever you protested j^ourselves provided to give answer on the articles, or to have had any such writing ready, which all the synod knows to be false. Your actions all have been full of fraud, equivo- cations and deceit. That, therefore, the synod may at length piously and peaceably proceed to the perfecting of that business for which it is come together, you are dismissed. But assure you, the synod shall make known your pertinacy to all the Christian world ; and know that the Belgic churches want not arma spiritiialia with which in time convenient they will proceed against \ on. Quamohrem vos delegatorum et synodi nomine d'miitto . Exite!" As these words were pronounced, the remonstrants rose, and left the assembly, Episcopius exclaiming, as he went out, "We make no answer to these accusations, but keep silence with our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who will one day determine respecting these our lies and deceits." Another of the party said, "We appeal to the judgment of God, at which they who now sit as judges will appear to be judged. '*f Anxious as were most of the members of the synod to see its authority asserted, and to oblige the remon- strants to render an explicit statement of their doctrines, there were still many who deeply regretted that the president spoke with so little regard to Christian charity, * Acta Synodi, p. 220. + lb., p. 204. Iliilo's Letters from tlic Synod of Dovt to the Right Hon. Sir D. Carlton, lord ambassador, p. 70. CENT. XVI. -XVII. J FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 417 or the dignity of the assembly. " Since the dismission of the remonstrants," says Hales, * " there hath not been any public session, and, as I conjecture, for awhile will not be. They are altogether in consultation concerning their order of proceeding, and in gathering materials out of the remonstrants' books, whence they may frame their theses and propositions, which must be the subject of their disputation. This they purpose, as I conceive, to do throughout all the five articles, before they come to the open discussion of any one, for they are past from the first and gone on to the second. So that, till this consultation be ended, there will not be any great oc- casion of news. Against Mr. Preeses' so rough handling the remonstrants at their dismission, there are some exceptions taken by the deputies themselves. The fo- reio'ners think themselves a little indirectlv dealt withal, in that, it being proposed to the whole synod to pass their judgment concerning the behaviour of the remonstrant'?, the provincials were not at all required to speak, and by these means the envy of the whole business was derived upon the foreigners. Whereas, on the contrary, when the like question was proposed formerly, and the fo- reigners had spoken very favourably in the remon- strants' behalf, the provincials struck in, and established a rigid sentence against the foreigners' liking. So that there is little regard given to the judgment of the foreigners, except they speak as the provincials would have them.'''' Again ; " upon the Tuesday session, in the morning, there being a repetition made, according to the custom of the late synodical acts, when they came to the act of the remonstrants' dismission, Lud. Crosius of Breme signified that he perceived that I\Ir. Preeses in that business had been paulo commotior, and had let slip verba qucedam acerba, which might well have been spared ; that in so great an act as that was, a little more advice and con- sideration might have been used. The synod ought to have been consulted with, and a form of dismission conceived, and approved of, by all, which should in the name of the synod have been pronounced and registered ; whereas, now, the synod stands indicted of all that unne- * Letters tVojn the Synod of Dort, p. 78. VOL. in. E E 418 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VH. cessary roughness which then was practised. It had stood better w^ith the honour of the synod to have hekl a more peaceable and passionless order. The praeses replied, that for dismissing the remonstrants without a synodical form, it was from the secular lords, who willed liim immediately to proceed. What his apology was for his passionate speeches, I know not." In another letter sent a few days after the above, he says, " The errors of public actions, if they be not very gross, are with less inconvenience toleratedthan amended. For the danger of alteration, of disgracing and disabling authority, makes that the fortune of such proceedings admits no regress, but being one howsoever well or ill done, they must for ever after be upheld.* The most partial spectator of our synodical acts cannot but confess, that in tlie late dismission of the remonstrants with so much choler and heat, there was a great oversight committed, and that wdietJier we respect our common profession of Christianity, qucB nil nisi justum suadct et lene, or the quality of this people apt to mutine by reason of long liberty, and not having learnt to be im- periously commanded, in which argument the clergy above all men ought to have read their first lesson. The synod, therefore, to wdiom it is not now in integro to look back, and rectify what is amiss without dispa- ragement, must now go forward, and leave events to God, and for the countenance of their action do the best they may. For tliis purpose have they lately, by deputies appointed for that end, made a dechiration of all their proceedings unto the states general, from whom they have procured a decree for confirmation of them, which decree was publicly, first in Dutch, then in Latin, read at the synod in the evening. The particulars I shall not need to relate The decree being pronounced, f Heinsius first signified that it had been before in private made known to the remonstrants, and then in the name * Letters from tlic Synod of Dort, p. 78. The dean of Worcester (Bishop Hall) took his do])arture at this time. His health is said to have ohliged him to leave Holland; but the stronger motive was probably furnished bj"- the proceedings of the synod, so contrary in character and spirit to the feel- ings of that admirable man. Fie was succeeded by Thomas Goad. t Acta Synodi, p. 220. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 419 of the delegates warned the commissioners of the synod, nt quam maturime et celerrlme cle istis controvcrsiis sta- iuant, ut possiut tandem afflictis ecclesns Belgicis subven/re. I was very glad to hear that admonition, and it gives me hope that our synod shall have end not long after Easter, at the farthest. After this did Tysiiis, another of the professors, discuss three other of the remonstrants' argu- ments, taken out of the Hague conference, according to the same form as Sibrandus and Gomarns had done before. This being done, the prseses required Polyander and Wallagus to provide to do the like upon Thursday next, in the evening, for before that time there is to be no public session.*" The present object of tlie synod was to obtain from its most distinguished members such a full and clear de- monstration of opinion on the points in question, that a confession might be drawn up with little hazard of weakness or inconsistency. For this purpose private discussions were commenced ; and at several of the meetings the most difficult parts of the controversy were examined with a force and acuteness which would have done credit to the most famous of the schoolmen. No par- ticular account is given of these discussions in the Acta Synodi ; but the omission is supplied by the temperate and observant Hales. " Upon Tuesday," he says, " of this present, t in the evening, for the debating of certain particular points of controversy, the synod came together in private. It hath been lately questioned, how Christ is said to be fundamentam electlonis. The doctrine ge- nerally received by the contra-remonstrants in this point is, that God first of all resolved upon tlie salvation of some singular persons ; and, in the second place, upon Christ, as a mean to bring this decree to pass. So that, with them, God the Father alone is the author of our election, and Christ only the executioner. Others, on * Letters from the Synod of Dort, p. 84. \ Jan. 22. Institutafuit, (ju'Ci'itiI'^iQi super quest ionibus, qua aclariss. d.d. pi'ofessoribus pertractataj fucrant, atque in priniis ilia, quomodo intelligenda sit phrasis lisec, cum scriptura dicit, Eph., i. 4. Nos esse electos in Christo : atque etiam, Quomodo Christus fundameutum electiouis dici posset. — Acta Synodi, p. 228. E E 2 420 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [chap. VII. tlie contrary, teacli that Christ is so to be he\d, funda- mentum electionis, as that he is not only the executioner of" election, but tlie author and procurer of it. For proof of wliich they bring the words of the apostle to the Ephesians, the first chapter, JElegit nos in Christo, ante jacta mundifundamenta. Tlie exposition of this text was the especial thing discussed at this meeting, and some taught that Christ was fimdamentum electionis, because he was primus electormn ; or because he is fimdamentum henejiciorum which descend upon us. Otliers brooked none of those restraints. Gomarus stands for the former sentence, and in defence of it had said many things on Friday. This nigiit Martinius of Breme, being required to speak his mind, signified to the synod, that he made some scruple concerning the doctrine passant about the manner of Christ's being fundamentum electionis; and that he thought Christ not only the eflfector of our election, but also the author and procurer thereof. Go- marus, who owes the synod a shrewd turn, and then, I fear me, began to come out of debt, presently, as soon as Martinius had spoken, starts up, and tells the synod, Ego hanc rem in me recipio, and therewithal casts his glove, and challenges Martinius, with this proverb, J^cce Hhodum, ecce saltum; and requires the synod togrant them a duel, adding, that he knew Martinius could say nothing in refutation of that doctrine. Martinius who goes in 83quipace with Gomarus in learning, and a little before him for his discretion, easily digested this aflTront, and after some few words of course, by the wisdom of the prseses matters seemed to be a little pacified, and so, according to the custom, the synod with pra^'er con- cluded. Zeal and devotion had not so well allayed Gomarus's choler, but immediately after piayers he renewed his challenge, and required combat with Mar- tinius again, but they parted for that night without blows. Martinius, as it seems, is somewhat favourable to some tenets of the remonstrants concerning repro- bation, the latitude of Christ's merits, the salvation of infants, Sec. ; and, to bring him to some conformity, was there a private meeting of the foreign divines, upon Wed- CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 421 nesday morning', in my lord bishop's lodging, in which thus much was obtained, that though he would not have his conclusions, yet he }3romised moderation and temper, in such manner, that there should be no dissension in the synod by reason of any opinion of his. Upon Thursday, 24th, the synod being met in the evening, Polyander and Wallaeus undertook the defence of some places of scrip- ture brought by the contra-remonstrants against the exceptions of the remonstrants. The places of scripture were, Luke, x. 20. Gaudete^ quia nomina vestra scripla sunt in cos/is. ApocaL, xxi. 27. Insci^ipti in libro vitcu. Rom., ix. 11. Ut propositimi Dei secundum electioueiu maneret ; and xi. 5. Reservatio secundum electionem; and Rom., viii. 13. Quos predestinavit ut conformcs fant imagini Filii sui, eos etiam vocavit. Acts, xiii. 48. Cre- diderunt quotquot erant ordinati ad vitam CBternam. Upon these places these two spake almost three hours. It was expected that as the rest of the professors hitherto have done, so Dr. Davenant, the next professor, should speak in public. It is said that he shall do it this day in a private session, for there is no public till Monday, and what will then be done, I know not. What the meaning is of this audience only in private, I know not,"* * It was aljout this time that the remonstrants sent m '•' a Large paper, in the form of a scaled letter, to the synod, which came indeed to the hands of the president, and was considered by him in company of a few of the members, but never communicated to the synod, to whom it was directed. To prevent this disappointment, the remonstrants had forhorn on purpose to direct it to the president, having superscribed it, ' To the most, worthy, pious and learned the doctors, professors, and the rest of the clergy assem- bled in the national synod at Dort/ Alluding to their dismissal, they say, ' At that time wc made but little reply, but followed the advice of the preacher. Strive not with those who are in wrath.' Having described the treatment they had received, they further affirm that there never was any design of allowing them such liberty as was necessary for the defence of , their cause : that the synod had twice endeavoured to make Episcopius a liar : that, in general, they had been treated with great partiality and injus- tice, especially, when they were dismissed the synod with such a severe valedictory speech, and when the president dwelt so long upon the lies wherewith he so unjustly charged the aforementioned professor. ' If,' they added, ' the synodical acts, as drawn up by our adversaries, testify other- wise, our own account of those acts, you may be ^^ure, shall set matters in a true light. Our testimony will meet with as much credit from our friends as that of the whole synod from theirs. For, God be praised, we have hitherto lived after such a numner through his grace, that our fidelity and our whole conversation has been as satisfactory to the people as our doctrine, and even though we had l)een guilty of any mistakes, for we are but men, we ought not immediately to have been treated like villains.' " — Bi'andt, EE 3 422 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. A few days after another letter was sent, in which we read, " At tlie evening session, the point of Reprobation was scholastically and k'arnedly discussed by Altingius, one of tlie palatine professors.* His discourse was the most sufficient of any that yet I heard. He began from the definition, and proceeded to how far God had a hand in it, and how far man is the author of liis own destruction ; and, lastly, answered the remonstrants' ar- guments. He spake about an hour and a half. I would willingly have given an account of his speech, but it was in the evening, and the auditory are allowed no candles, so that I could not use my tables. And thus have the}'' discussed the first article ; though I could have wished that the question of reprobation had been yet farther opened and stood upon, it being a point of large extent, and especially insisted on by the remonstrants. As for synodical resolution in this first article, that we must 3'et expect, till all the rest be examined as this hath been. There is no open session till Friday next, after dinner ; and then is it their purpose to enter upon the second article oi Universal Grace, at which time Mr. Bal- eanqual and Cruciger of Hassia are appointed to speak, according as the rest have done before, to this question. Whether the death of Christ were intended indifferently for all, or only for the elect? Upon Wednesday, the 30th of January, in the evening, was there a private session, wherein, belike for the making of better speed, they consulted whether they should go on to examine the rest of the articles after the same manner they had done the first, or else bethink them of some more speedy order. After a long disputation, even so long that Polyander put the prseses in mind of the exceeding sharpness of the weather, they at length concluded History of the Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. iii., b. xxxvii., p. 206. '• Letters from the Synod of Dort. p. 1)0. Clarissimus D. Doctor H. Altingiiis j)u1)lice doctrinani de reprol)atione, atqnc imprimis reformatae Ec'('lesia» de eadem scntentiam et causam ostcnditj addiditque explieationem trium hypothesinm : 1. QikuI per lianc doctrinam. Dens non statuatur autor ]icceati. 2. Quod peccata, etsi statuantur repro))ationis conseqiientia, tamen ex natura liomiuis eorru]ita, lit nnica eorum causa, promanent. o. Quod induratio et excfpcatio justa sint Dei judicia, atque hac ratione Deo attribui po.'jsint. — Acta Synodic p. 237. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 423 that they would go on in the same course they had begun." In the account of another similar meeting it is said, " As the provincial professors had done, so was Davenant, who is the first professor of the foreigners, enjoined by the prseses to do. The intent of his discourse, at that time, was to overthrow certain distinctions framed by the remonstrants for the maintenance of their positions, and evasion from the contra-remonstrants' arguments. The remonstrants usually distinguish upon election, and divide it into dejimtam et indcfontam, revocahilem et irre- vocabilem, peremptoriam et non peremptoriam, vnitahikm et immutahilem, and the like. For the refutation of which distinctions, he first set down the definition of election brought by the contra-remonstrant, and at large con- firmed it. Secondly, he brought the definition of elec- tion agreed on by the remonstrant, and argued against it. And, thirdly, he directly oppugned these fore-cited distinctions, all which he did learnedly and fully. When Dr. Davenant had spoken, the auditory was commanded to depart. For, having a purpose that others should speak at the same time, and fearing that some diversity of opinion might rise and occasion some dissension, it was thought fit that tilings should be transacted as pri- vately as might be. Many more of the foreigners delivered themselves that night; and amongst the rest, Martinius of Breme proposed again his former doubts unto the synod concerniug the sense in which Christ is said to be fundamentum electio)iis, and requested to be resolved. But Gomarus at this time was somewhat better advised, and thought it best to hold his peace. This day will there be a private meeting, wherein every com- pany will give up their judgments, in writing, upon the first article ; and to-morrow, I understand, they will go on unto the second, and proceed in it accordingly, as they have in the former. As for any decisive sentence, they will give none, till they have thus gone through all the five. This, I suppose, they do very discreetly. For since the articles are mutually linked together, it is most convenient they should first go through them all, since a predetermination in tlie former might bind them to E E 4 424 HISTORY OF TllR CHURCH [CHAP. VII. some inconvenience in the latter, there being no place left to look back, but stand they must to what they have once concluded. For avoiding- of this, it is thought best to determine of all at once.' * In a short letter written soon after the aliove, it is stated, tiiat Scultetus spake at large, de cci'titudine gratue et scdiftls, and that he argued that it was necessary for every man to be assured of his salva- tion. " But the manner of his discourse was oratorial, the same that he uses in his sermons ; not scholastical, and according to that fashion of disputation and schools. For this cause tlie question was neither deeply searched into, nor strongly proved. Two or three days after, Balcanqual and Cruciger of Hassia entered upon the discussion of the second article. The former, it is said, spoke for above an hour, ingeniously and eloquently. ' When they had done,' it is added, ' the prseses enjoined Steinius of Hassia, npon Tuesday next, in the evening (at which time w ill be the next open session), to speak of the fourtli article (for of the third there is no question), and to sound, whether the grace of God converthig us be resistdjle, as the remonstrants would have it. This haste that is made in the sudden passing from one article to another is much marvelled at by our English divines : for the colleges 3'et have not all given up their opinion npon the first ; and besides, that the remonstrants npon AYednesday last were willed to give in their arguments npon the first article. For, notwithstanding they be excluded from personal appearance in the synod, yet are they commanded to exhibit to the synod whatsoever they shall })lease to command.' " Hales' last and most important letter is dated Febru- ary the 7th. '(" In this he says, " Our synod goes on like a watch, the main wheels upon which the whole business turns are least in sight. For all things of moment are acted in private session; what is done in public is onlv for show and entertainment." Certain matters of inferior moment having been settled, " They entered into consultation concerning certain books and vritings, to be conceived, partly for declaration of the synod's nu>.aning in the doctrine of the five articles, " Ixttcr.s from the Svuod of ])ovt, p. 1)1. f lb., p. 94. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 425 partly in apology for it. And first it was proposed that there should be scriptum didacticum, a plain and fami- liar writing drawn, wherein the doctrine of the five articles, according to the intent and meaning of the synod, should be perspicuously expressed, for the capa- city of the common sort, and that in Dutch and Latin. The apological writings were of two sorts, first, scriptum elenchicum, wherein there were to be refuted such errors as had been lately broached in prejudice of the received doctrine. Secondly, scriptum historicum, which was to consist of two parts ; first, a narration of the synod's proceedings with the remonstrant, from the day of his first appearance till the Lime of his ejection ; for the refutation of many bitter invectives which lately had been written against the synod in that behalf: secondly, a relation de causis turharum, who were the authors of the late stirs in time of the separation ; for answer of Episcopius's orations, and other writings of the remon- strants, in which the whole misorder is turned upon the contra-remonstrant. For the scriptum didacticum the English were altogether against it, and so was Vosber- gius. Their reason was, because it seemed incongruous that any writing concerning the doctrine of the articles should be set forth before the synod had given sentence. And, indeed, I must confess, I see no great congruity in the proposal. Whilst matters are in controversy, judges walk suspensely, and are indifferent for either party ; and whatsoever their intent be, yet they make no over- ture of it till time of sentence come. AH this business of citing, inquiring, examining, must needs seem only as acting on a stage, if the synod intempestively before- hand bewray a resolution. But, notwithstanding any reason alledgable against it, the thing is concluded, and Walleeus, Udemannus, and Triglandius are deputed to write a discourse to tliat purpose, with the inspection and supervision of my lord bishop, Scultetus, Brittengerus, and Deodatus. For the scriptum historicum, in the first part, concerning the proceeding of the synod with the remonstrant, there is required the pains of Scultetus and Triglandius; in the second part, de causis turharam, Latins must bestow his labour with the help of Festus 426 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. Hommius, of the South Hollanders and North Holland- ers, who, hest of any, know the whole carriage of that matter. To the composing; of the scriptum e/enchicum there are deputed four of tlie provincial professors, Polyander, Luhbertus, Gomarus and Thysius, to whom are adjoined, as helpers and supervisors, Davenant, Altino'ius and Martinius." It is evident, from many intimations given in these letters, that the members of the synod were far from being of one opinion on the points proposed for their decision. Thus it is said, in respect to the writing spoken of above, that " the business of this writing passed not without some opposition : Deodatus altogether misliked it : Polyander requested that his pains might be spared. * Nov% saitli he, ' cpmm sit mihi curta supelle.v.' But above all, Gomarus was most offended at the proposal : ^ Bella miJii video ^bellaparantur,' he saith ; and therefore, cpiite refusing to consent to any polemical writing, he advised that the scriptmn didactlcitm should abstain, a non neces- sa)iis et privatis, and contain only necessary points, such as pass by common consent. That they should expect, till the remonstrant had set forth some adverse writing, and then would be a fitter time to think of somewhat in this kind." There was wisdom, it appears, in this resolution of the great antagonist of Arminius and his doctrine. " I blame not Gomarus," says Hales, " if he a little recoil. For, being of the supralapsarii, as they term them, of those who bring the decree of God's election from before the fall, and seeing the synod not willing to move that way, but to subside in a lower sphere, he is to be par- doned if he deny his hand to that writing, wliicli he supposes cannot be so warily indicted, but he must be forced with his own pen to let fall somewhat prejudicial to his own opinion." The anxiety felt at this particular juncture to pre- serve appearances was ill concealed. " It was not his desire," observed the president, " to force the synod against their minds to set out the book in question, but only to take hold of the present occasion whilst the foreign divines were there ; and to have such a book in CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 427 readiness, for use hereafter, tliongli it were not now set forth." It is also said, " He farther advised, that those who were to undertake this should have an eye to the inclination of the synod, and beware, as much as might be, that they touched not there where any man was sore." Our good chaplain remarks on this, " What- soever the pretence is, the mentioning of these books, before the determination of the synod be formally set down, must needs be very unseasonable. It ivill make the luorld think they came resolved what to do, which though perchance they did, yet it is no wisdom to confess it" Many doubts, moreover, were still entertained by some, in opposition to the genei'al views of the synod on Universal Grace. Martini us and Dr. Ward were the chief agitators on this subject. Hence, we are told, " For composing the doubts of both these, that they break not out to any public inconvenience, there hath been of late many private meetings in my lord bishop's lodging, where, upon Wednesday morning, were drawn certain theses in very suspence and wary terms. To what end, whether to give content to all parties, or to exhibit to the synod, or what else, I know not."* From the correspondence which was continued with the English ambassador after the departure of Hales, by Walter Balcanqual, we gather still further important in- timations respecting the real state of feeling in the synod. The greatest anxiety prevailed as to the second of the five articles. " This day," says Balcanqual, " the president sent to our particular college some particular strange points which he had drawn out of their late explication of the second article, and in very patlietical terms did by his letter entreat us to have a care of condemning them in our judgment of the same article. Concerning this second article, I beseech your lordship, give me leave to express my grief. As there is difference touching it in the synod, so there is much difference about it in our own college. Will your lordship be pleased to give me leave to say something of it, but no ways as from me? The question amongst us is, whether the words of the * Lcttcr.i from the Synod of Dort^ p. 94. 428 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. scripture, wliich are likewise the words of our confession {Christ us ohlatiis est aut mortuus pro toto Jiumano genere, sen pro peccatis totiusmundi)* be to be understood of all particular men, or only of the elect, who consist of all sorts of men. Dr. Davenant and Dr. Ward are of Mar- tinius of Breme's mind, that it is to be understood of all particular men. The other three take the other exposi- tion, which is of the writers of the reformed churches, and, namely, of my late lord of Salisbury. Both sides think they are right, and therefore cannot yield one unto another with a safe conscience." f Nothing can better illustrate the importance attached to the decisions of the synod than the earnestness with which the writer of the abov^e proceeds to impress upon the ambassador's mind the necessity of care and vigi- lance. That the matter referred to should be made an object of diplomatic interference affords no favourable view of the circumstances under which the synod had assembled, or under which it was now carrying on its discussions. " It is, my lord," says Dr. I3alcanqual, *' a matter of great consequence for us to set down the exposition of one article of our church confession. Will your lordship therefore be pleased to think of this pro- position, since our judgment of none of the five articles is to be known till we have done with them all ? What if we should desire the president to take no notice, but to let us go on to the rest of the articles, and in mean- time we should send into England the true state of our controvers}'^, and have advice there, from some of the chief of the Church, what exposition they would have to be given of that article of their confession, which we may safely follow, for it is no matter of salvation in which we differ ? Before we have done with the rest of the articles we may easily have one answer from England. If your lordsliip like this motion, or any other, your lordship should do well by your letters to us to desire it : if not, I beseech your lordship pardon my error, * John, iii., 1G, 17- f Dr. lialca]u|u;irs Letters from the Synod of Port, p. 101. The letter quoti'd is (latt'd Fchruar}^ 9th; hut little information is given in the Acta Si/noili of the proceedings at this time, the most important of which, as Hales says, took place in i)rivate. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 429 which proceedeth only from my fear of destruction among ourselves, and from my obedience to his majesty's charge, who commanded me in all such cases to have recourse to your lordship for counsel." The ambassador readily availed himself of Dr. Bal- canqual's suggestions ; and his letters to the synod, though received with some expressions of surprise and anger, were not disregarded in any of its subsequent discussions ; but the main cause of uneasiness still con- tinued. " Since my last letters," says Balcanqual, " we have agreed upon some propositions which are, without question, true ; but they were such as did no ways decide the question controverted in the synod. We retained the words of scripture, and our own confessions, but all the difference is in the interpretation of these words. When the canons of the second article come to be made, it will be determined ivhether Christ did really persolvere pj-etium redemptionis pro omnibus ac singidis hominibus, an pro soils ekctis." Having renewed his entreaties that the ambassador would again exercise his influence to the quietino- of the disputes in the synod, he mentions the book which the remonstrants had sent in as containing a full account of their sentiments. This manuscript consisted of two hundred folio pages, and, " in good faith," he says, " I was ashamed to think that men of judgment could imagine that the synod could have time to peruse it; for it is a little Book of Martyrs." But the volume was produced at the next meeting, and the president stated that " he had casta general glance over it all, and did find that a few of the first leaves did contain a con- firmation of their opinion of the first article, but all the rest did contain nothing but a confutation of the contra- remonstrants' opinion, and an exagitation of their per- sons." Then comes the following extraordinary state- ment: *'We desired some of it to be read. I must needs say the remonstrants had no favour; for I will assure your lordship that the president picked out the worst part of it. There were some five leaves read, which contained nothing but a bitter satire against Calvin, 430 IIISTOIIY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. Beza, Paraens, Piscator,Whittaker, Perkins, Bogermann, Festiis, and twenty more. But in trutli, though unhappily., yctjuicli/ penned, metliought it was Ejnscopias's tongue. About the takino- notice of this book, the sufFrao-es of the synod did vary much ; yet most voices were, that it should be committed to some deputed by the synod, who should diligently peruse it, and relate unto the sjaiod if the}'^ found any new thing in it whicli was not contained in their former writings, but yet so that any member of the synod that would, might be present with the perusers. The delegates gave this mediatory sen- tence, because they had observed, that both the parts of it were desired by many. They desired there might be a forenoon session or two kept for the nonce ; in whicli that small part of the book, which contained the con- firmation of their opinion, might be read, and every man take with his pen what he should think fit ; the rest to be put over to perusers, who should make rela- tion to the synod of any thing they found new or fit. And therefore, the assessors, and Dammannusthe scribe, were entreated to run over the book, and make choice of what things they thought fit to be read in the synod." * The propriety of leaving the assessors and scribe to make such extracts as it might suit their judgment to select would probably be questioned by most impartial observers. But if the passages were chosen with any degree of fairness, the cause of the remonstrants must have rested on far weaker grounds than the genius and learning of many of its defenders would have led us to expect. " There were read publicly," says Balcanqual, " forty-seven pages of the remonstrants' book, all which did contain only one answer to the first four places pro- duced by the contra-remonstrants in Collatione Hag., whereby they prove that velle Dcum solos fidelcs salvos facere, et wjideles in ira reUnqiiere is not totum et inte- f/rum prcBdesthiationis decretum. The like tedious pro- lixity, sometimes racking of scripture, sometimes paring and chipping of it, hatli not been heard. There was * BalcaiKiu ill's Letters from the Synod of Dort, p. 10.3. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 431 nothing in it which did not ratlier make men out of love with their cause than affect it."* But in the same letter we read of quarrels between the members of the synod, " very much against the dignity of such an assembly." Martinius, it seems, was distin- guished throughout for great mildness of spirit ; and his earnest endeavours to moderate the angry zeal with which the majority of the synod sought to precij3itate measures against the remonstrants, were generally admired by the English and other foreign divines. Gomarus and his party neglected no opportunity of show- ing their hostility to this amiable man, who was sound, it is said, in all the five articles, except the second, as any man in the synod ; " notwithstanding," it is added, " of ail this, because he doth mislike many of the contra- remonstrants' broad speeches in many points, wliicli I think every learned and godly man will do, they use him with so much discourtesy, tliat he liath been very near leaving the synod, and liis colleagues were half purposed to go with him. What a blow this would give to the credit of the synod, any man may easily perceive. Tlie provincials in this take not the right course. Thougli one be against the remonstrants in all the five articles, in substance, yet if he differ from them but in manner of speaking, they hold him as not sound." f The intimations which are thus given of the feeling which prevailed among the ruling members of this famous synod, are invaluable to those who desire to form a correct estimate of the rank which ought to be assigned to it as a judge of controversy. It is not of the doctrines debated that opinions more or less favour- able can be established by any thing which took place in such an assembly. But the memory of men like Arminius depends for its character on that which is known of their opponents ; and when we hear at one time that Gomarus " delivered a speech which none but a madman would have uttered," and at another, that his * Ilac sessione scriptnm remonstraiitium ad defcnsionem primi et explica- tionem sccundi articiili, pi-plectum fuit, is all that is said in the Acta : so aj^ain, Praelectuiu fuit scriptum remonstraiitium, ad declarationem tertii et quarti articuli, synodo exhibitum. — Acta Synodi, p. 233. t Balcanfpial's Letters from the Synod of Dort, p. 109. 432 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. colleague Scultetus " delivered his mind in exceeding bitter and disgraceful words, and repeated his bitterest sentences twice over," it is impossible not to conclude that the opinions of Arminius ought never to be judged of through the representations of his cotemporaries.* Scenes, it is evident, took place in the synod which men of temper could only behold with disgust or ridicule. Thus Gomarus, it is said, delivered his speeches " with such sparkling of his eyes and fierceness of pronuncia- tion, that every man wondered the president did not cut him off. At last he cut himself off, I think, for want of breath ; and the president giveth celcberrimo Docton Gomaro many thanks for that his learned, grave and accurate speech. The ejicri wondered at it ! " To an English prelate, naturally sedate, and accus- tomed to the dignified manner in which ecclesiastical proceedings were conducted in his own country, the violence of Gomarus and others must have appeared destructive of every good object contemplated in the calling of the synod. Nothing, indeed, but necessity, and the command of his sovereign, can be imagined as sufficient to keep a faithful and learned bishop in an assembly so constituted and conducted. He could not, however, altogether suppress the expression of his sor- row at what he beheld. " At last," it is said, " my lord of Landaff, in good faith, in a very grave, short, sweet speech, spake to the president to this purpose, that this synodical disquisition was instituted for edification, not for any men to show stuclium contentionis ; and, there- fore, did desire him to look that the knot of unity were not broken." The bishop was careful not to name any one, but " the last word was hardly out of my lord s lips, when furious * In a later letter we find : " If the synod had wanted but two men which arc of it, we had wanted a great deal of contention, which I perceive will not forsake tlie synod so long as they are in it, — I mean Sibrandus and Gomarus. They kce^) their tits of madness by course. The last tit ])efore this came to Gomarus turn ; and this day Sibrandus ilew out, but with such raving and fierceness of countenance, such unheard of bitterness against our college, as I desire no other revenge on him than the very speaking of the words For Sibrandus, I blame liim and Ciomarus no n"iore for their extasics than I do a stone for going downwards, since it is the natural constitution of both "— Letters, p. I-IO. CENT. XVI -XVII. ] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 433 Gomarus, knowing himself guilty,, delivereth this wise speech : ' Most reverend president, we must act in the synod as governed not by authority, but by reason.' The bishop made no reply, but the president ' told my lord that celeberrimus dominus Gomarus had said nothing against men's persons, but their opinions, and therefore that he had said nothing worthy of reprehension.'" " This," it is observed, " gave every man just occasion to think the president was in the plot. Martinius said nothing, but that he was sorry that he should have this reward for his far journey." Fears were properly entertained, that the unjust treat- ment of Martinius, and the affront to which the bishop of Landaff had been subjected, would tend to the speedy breaking up of the assembly. *' We, the English," says Balcanqual, "are purposed, but I know not whether that purpose shall hold, to desire the delegates to take notice of the wrong offered by Gomarus to my lord of Landaff. All I will say is this, there are two men in the synod, Sibrandus, but especially Gomarus, who are able to set it on fire, unless they be looked to. I think there is no man will say, but that Gomarus hath wronged the Bremenses infinitely, hath wronged exceed- ingly my lord of Landaff, and in him all the English college."* Apprehensions being generally entertained that se- rious consequences would attend any further violence, the discussions in the synod began to assume a more tranquil character. In the report of what took place in the lOGth session, held on the 8th of March, it is stated, that the judgment of all the foreign theologians concern- ing the first article had now been read ; and, that " no- thing was to be seen among them but full and ortho- doxical consent;" for which, says Balcanqual, "the president told us God was to be praised, and he prayed God that the like harmony might be found among the provincials." To this is added the important observa- tion, that none of the colleges had failed to oppose the opinion of Gomarus on the subject of predestination ; all of them expressly taking for granted, that not homo * Balcanqual's Letters from the Synod of Dert, p. 114. VOL. III. F F 434 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VII. creabilis, man still to be created, but homo lapsus, was the subject both of election and reprobation. Among tlie Belgic professors themselves, difference of opinion prevailed to an alarming extent. Their com- pany, or college, as it was called, consisted of but five members ; and when they gave in their papers, they were found to contain three separate judgments on the one point urged with so much warmth and pertinacity by Gomarus. The latter readily acknowledged, that he approved of their sentiments in every respect, with the single exception of what was said to show that lioniinera lapsum is the object of predestination. But he ventured to add, in defence of his own notion, that the question had not been determined in either the Belgic, French or Enolish churches. This assertion was well calcu- lated to excite the displeasure of the divines belonging to the churches last named. Accordingly, in the after- noon, the bishop of LandafF requested leave to address the synod. He tlien said, "Dr. Gomarus, in the fore- noon, delivered, that this question, whether Jiomo lapsus be suhjectum pr oddest inaliojiis, had not been determined by the confession of the Cliurch of France, and, as I and my colleagues conceived, he delivered the like for the confession of the Church of England. And, therefore, I do entreat Dr. Gomarus, in my ov^'n name, and in the name of my colleagues, to declare before the synod, whether he did say so or not. Dr. Gomarus, with good modesty answered, that indeed he did say so ; but he protested it was not out of any evil meaning, but only to shew that, as otlier churches, so the Church of England had left that undetermined, since the words of the con- fession determined no farther of the subject than, quos- dam ex hiimano gcnere. The bishop replied, that he himself, and his colleagues, could not choose but tliink themselves by that speech ' touched for temerity or ignorance. For, since they in their judgment had deli- vered the contrary for homo lapsus, it was as much as to say, that they had delivered that in the synod which was not according to the judgment of the Church of Eng- land ; but to let the synod know that they had said nothing iu their judgment which was not the jiulgment CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 435 of their Church, they desired the synod to hear the words of their confession,' So Dr. Goad read puhlicly the seventeenth article of the confession, where the words are, quosdam ex liumano genere,in exiiio et maledicto, wliich last words Goraarus had left out. Gomarus answered, that if he had understood the words of the confession amiss, he would submit himself to the judg- ment of the synod. The president told Gomarus roundly enough, ' that it was free for every member of the synod to deliver his own judgment concerning any point or question; but that men ought to be very careful that they do not rashly meddle with the judgments of other churches.' The bishop then observed, that ' since all the foreign divines, without exception, and likewise all the Belgic professors, except Gomarus, had already de- livered their judgments for homo lapsus, and that he doubted not but the provincials would determine the same, it were very fit that the synod should likewise determine so of it. Neither was it any reason, that for the particular opinion of one professor, who in this did disassent from the judgment of all the reformed churches, the synod should abstain from determination of the question. Gomarus answered, that the University of Leyden had never yet determined for hojno lapsus; and that both Dr. Wliittaker and Mr. Perkins had deter- mined the contrary, whom he took to be such men as would not disassent from the confession of the Church of England ; tliat the matter ought first to be discussed with argument on both sides, before any thing should be determined.' To these observations the president replied,.' that after the judgments of all the colleges were rearl, the synod would decree of that question what they shall think best. After the canon is conceived, it shall be read ;' and then, he added, ' If you can shew that any thing contained in that canon is against the Word of God, the synod shall, with all dutiful pa- tience, hear what you can say.' " The divisions which were apparent in the present state of the synod, could hardly fail to encourage the hopes of the remonstrants, that they might still be able to support themselves against its powerful attacks. F F 2 436 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. Having spoken of another huge manuscript volume which they had compiled on the third, fourth and fifth articles of their confession, Balcanqual says, " Heinsius dined with us yesterday, and I asked him when they had given in this book. He told me, that morning; but with such impudence as is almost incredible ; for when one of the delegates told them that he wondered why they would give in so much paper as was impos- sible it should ever be read in the synod, Episcopius answered, they had nothing to do with the synod ; they ofl'ered it to the delegates only. The former delegate replied, that the delegates were not to judge of their opinions, but the synod ; and that in their letters cita- tory they were warned to come and give an account to the synod of the doctrine which they had delivered in their schools and pulpits. Episcopius most impudently answered thus briefly : ' We here delivered to you, the delegates, this book, and to none else. If you be pleased to take it from us, we will leave it with you ; if not, we pray you give it us again, and we will keep it.' One of the delegates commanded Heinsius to write down that, their peremptory and saucy answer. Episcopius very bravely told Heinsius, that they would save him that labour, for they had set down the same words already in their preface ; and pointed out to him the place where he might find them. So that, my lord, they were never since the beginning of the synod so lusty as now ; so as none can choose but think that they yet have some secret and sure hopes." * By the 21st of March no fewer than one hundred and twenty-six sessions had been held. The opinions, hoW'Cver, of all the colleges on the five articles were now collected, and they presented, it is said, " an incredible harmony, far greater than almost could be hoped for in so great an assembly of so many learned men." But many apprehensions were entertained, that the framing of the canons would be attended with new difficulties. The president was suspected of a desire to secure to himself the entire management of this important business. To the foreign, and especially the English, divines this * Baleanfiuars Letters from the Synod of Durt^ p. 13G. CENT. XVI.-XVir.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 437 presented a reasonable cause for interference. " I think," says Balcanqual, to the ambassador, " our pre- sident hath need of your lordship's good counsel for carrying himself in making the canons. I find every man murmuring already that he would make them, and doth but only dictate them to the rest."* In another letter he says, " These three things I may say in this troublesome business : First, that the presi- dent would take upon him more than ever any president did, to make canons, and pass them hy placet or non placet. And then he hath so many of the provincials at com- mand to pass what he will, I cannot, I confess, yet see how it can consist with the dignity of any, much more of some, of the members of the synod, that the president should dictate canons, and the rest, especially a bishop, write after him ; so that he maketh the canons, and the whole synod are called non ad concilium, sed tintum consensiwi." Again : " If your lordship's care do not now most of all shew itself for procuring of good coun- sel to be sent hither for the constitution of the canons, we are like to make the synod a thing to be laughed at in after ages. The president and his provincials have no care of the credit of strangers, nor of that account which we must yield at our return unto all men that shall be pleased to call for it. Their canons they would have so full charged with catechetical speculations, that they will be ready to burst. And I perceive plainly that there is not a contra-remonstrant minister in the synod that hath delivered any doctrine which hath been ex- cepted against by the remonstrants, but they would have it in by head and shoulders in some canon, that so they might have something to shew for that which they have said." The English divines saw the absolute necessity of their interference when some of the canons began to be put into form. This was especially the case in respect to the second article, in which it was stated, that " un- believers will be damned, not only on account of their unbelief, but also for all their other sins, as well original as actual." The English theologians immediately ob- • Letters from the Synod of Dort, p. 139. F F 3 438 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. jectecl, " that it might be inferred, from this position, that original sin was not done away by baptism ; which doctrine had been condemned by more than one council as heretical." So earnestly was this objection nrged, that the synod yielded, and the passage was expunged. On the IGth of April, at the opening of the 129tli session, the president congratulated the assembly that its labours were now drawing to a close. " The present session," he added, " is holden to the end that the states' commissioners may be witnesses of our unanimity. For which purpose all the members are intreated diligently to attend to the reading of every article ; and to commu- nicate their minds, in case they think there is any thing which requires to be altered or amended ; and not to take it ill, if, perhaps, they should find here a.nd there a word differing from the copies which each of them have signed, since no alteration whatsoever has been made in the sense." The canons on the first of the five points having been read, each member of the synod was separately asked, whetlier he agreed thereto. Nothing could be more satisfactory than the readiness with which ansv/ers were given in the affimative, till it came to the turn of the English to reply, when they expressed their vmwilling- ness to subscribe any of the papers till the canons were fairly copied.* The same reserve was exhibited in * Biilcanriual's Latin Notes, p. 148. The folLnving is given as the most important of the canons ; that, namei}', on the fast of the five articles : — I. Cnm omnes homines in AcUimo peccaverint, et rei sint facti maledic- tionis et mortis seteina\ Deus nemini fecisset injuriam, si universum genus humanum in peccato et maledictione relinquerc, ac propter peccatuni damnare voluisset, juxta ilki Apostoli. — Rom., iii. lit ; et Rom., vi. 23. II. Verum in hoc manifestata e^t charitas Dei, quod Filium suum uni- genitum in mundum misit, ut oninis qui credit in eum, non pereat, sed habeat vitam Beternani. — 1 Johan., iv. 0. ; Johan., iii. 16. III. Ut autem liomines ad iidem adducantur, Deus clcmenter l8etissimi Imjus nuntii priecones mittit, ad quos vult et quando vult, quorum minis- terio homines ad resipiscentiani, et lidem in Christum crucifixum vocantur. — Rom., X. 14, 1.5. IV. Qui huic evangelio non credunt, super eos manet ira Dei. Qui vero illud recii)iunt, et servatorem Jesum vera ac viva fide amplectuntur, illi per ipsum all ira Dei et iiiteritu liberantur, ac vita jeterna donantur. V. Incredulitatis istius, ut et omnium aliontm peccatorum, causa seu culj)a neutitjuam est in Deo, sed in homine Fides autem in Jesum Christum, et sohis per ipsum, est gratuitum Dei donum, sicut scriptum est. — Ephcs. ii., 0. Item, Phil., i. 29. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 439 regard to (he articles on the second canon, and the ques- tion, whether God could have made use of any other propitiation or reconciliation than that of Christ, was VI. Quod autem aliqui in tempore fide a Deo donantur, alicjui non donan- tur, id ab seterno ijjsius decreto proveuit ; Act., xv. 18; Ephes., i. 11. Secundum quod decrctum clectorum corda, quantumvis dura^ gratiose emollit, et ad credendum inflectit, non-electos autem justo judicio suae malitiae et duritiiE relinqviit. Atque hie potissimum sese nobis aperit pro- funda, misericors pariter et justa, liominum tcqualitcr perditorum discretio ; sive decretum illud electionis et reprobationis in verbo Dei revelatum. Quod ut perversi, impuri, et parum stabiles in suum detorquent exitium, ita Sanctis et religiosis animabus ineffabile i)raestat solatium. VII. Est autem electio immutabile Dei propositum, quo ante jacta mundi fundimenta e universe genere humane, ex prinneva integritate in peccatum et exitium sua culpa prolapso, secundum liborrimum voluntatis sute bene- placitum, ex mera gratia, certani qnorumdam hominum multitudinem, aliia nee meliorum, nee digniorunij sed in communi miscria cum aliis jacentium, ad salutem elegit in Christo, quem etiam ab ajterno mediatorem et omnium electonim caput salutisque fundamentuni constituit, atque ita eos ipsi salvaudos dare et ad ejus communioneui per verbum et Spiritum suum effi- cacitcr vocare ac trahere, seu vera in ipsum fide donare, justificare, sanctifi- care, et potenter in Filii sui communione custoditos tandem glorificare decrevit, ad demonstrationem suaj misericordiae, ct laudcm divitiarum glo- riosse susegratise; sicut scriptum est. — Ephcs.j i. 4, 5, G. Et alibi, Rom., viii. .30. VIII. Hsec electio non est multiplex, sed una et eadem omnium salvan- dorum in Vetere et Novo Testamento, quando-quidem scriptura unicuni prsedicat Ijeneplacitum, propositum et consilium voluntatis Dei, quo nos ab seterno, elegit et ad gratiam, et ad gloriam, et ad salutem, et ad viam salutis, quam prspai'avit, ut in ea ambulcmus. IX. Eadem hajc electio facta est non est prsevisafide, fideique obedientia, sanctitate, aut alia aliqua bona qualitate et dispositione, tanquam causa seu conditione in homine eligendo prserequisita, sed ad fidem, fideicpic obedien- tiam, sanctitatem, &c. Ac proinde electio est fons omnis salutaris boni ; inide fides, sanctitas et reliqua dona salvifica ; ipsa dcnique vita seterna^ ut fructus et effectus ejus profiuunt, secundum illud Apostoli. Ephes., i. 4. X. Causa vero hujus gratuity electionis, est solum Dei beneplacitum, non in eo consistens, quod certas qualitates, seu actiones humanas, ex omni- bus possibilibus, in salutis conditionem elegit ; sed in eo, quod certas quas- dam personas ex communi peccatorum multitudine sibi in peculium adscivit, sicut scriptum est. Rom., ix. 11, 12, 13 ; et Act., xiii. 48. XI. Atque; ut Deus ipse est sapientissimu^, immutabilis, omnisciens et omnipotens ; ita electio ab ipso facta, nee interrumpi, ncc mutari, revocari, aut aljrumpi, nee electi abjici, nee numerus eorum minui potest. XII. De hac a^terna et immutabili sui ad salutem electione, electi suo tempore, variis licet gradibus ct dispari mensura certiores redduntur, non quidem arcana et profunditates Dei curiose scrutando, sed fructus electionis infallibiles, in verbo Dei designates, ut sunt vera in Christum fides, filialis Dei timor, dolor de peccatis secundum Deum, esurics et sitis justitise, &c. in sese cum spirituali gaudio et sancta voluptate observando. XIII. Ex hujus electionis sensu et certitudine, Filii Dei majorem indies sese coram Deo humiliandi, abyssum misericordiarum ejus adorandi, seipsos pui-ificandi, et eum, qui ipsos prior tantoperc dilexit, vicissim ardentcr dili- gendi, matcriam desumunt : tantum abest, ut hac electionis doclrina atque ejus meditatione in mandatorum divinorum observatione segniores, aut car- naliter securi, reddantur. Quod iis justo Dei judicio solet accidcre, qui de F F 4 440 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VII. said to have been then heard for the first time, and to be better fitted for the speculation of the schools than the inquiry of the synod. Another occasion was given for the exercise of vigi- lance and acuteness on the side of the English theolo- gians, when that part of the second canon was read, in which they were condemned who held " that the con- formity of nature in Christ was not necessary to the sufficiency of the price of our redemption." The English electionis gratia, vel temere praesumcntes, vel otiose et proterve fabulante?, in viis clectornm ambulare nolunt. XIV. Ut antem haec de divina elcctione doctrina, sjipientissimo Dei con- silio, per prophetas, Christum ipsum, atqiie apostolos, sub Veteri seque atque sub Novo Testamento, est prsedicata, et sacrarum deinde literarum monu- mentis commendata; ita et hodie in Ecclesia Dei, cui ea peculiariter est destinata, cum spiritu discretionis, religiose et sancte, sue loco et tempore, missa omni curiosa viariim altissimi scrutatione, est proponenda, idque ad sanctissimi nomiiiis divini gloriam, et vividum populi ipsius solatium. XV. Cseterum setcrnam et gratuitam banc electionis nostri gratiam eo vel niaxime illustrat, nobisque commcndat Scriptura Sacra quod pon-o tes- tatur, non omncs homines esse elcctos, sed quosdam non electos, sive in seterna Dei electione praeteritos ; quos, scilicet, Deiis ex liberrimo, jus- tissimo, irreprehensibQi, et immutabili, beneplacito decrevit in communi miseria, in quam se sua culpa prsecipitanmt, relinquere, nee salvifica fide et conversionis gratia donare, sed in viis suis et sub justo judicio, relictos, tandem non tantum propter infidelitatem ; sed etiam caetera omnia peccata, ad declarationem justitiae suae damnare et seternum punire atque hoc est decretum reprobatloni-i, quod Deum neutiquam peccati authorem (quod cogitatu blasphemum est), sed tremendum, irreprehensibilem, et justum judicem ac vindicem constituit, XVI. Qui viv^am in Christum fidem, seu certam cordis fiduciam, pacem conscientiai, studium filialis obediential, gloriationem in Deo per Christum, in se nondum efficaciter sentiunt, mediis tamen, per quae Deus ista se in nobis operaturum promisit, utuntur^ ii ad reprobationis mentionem non consternari, ncc se reprobis acccnserc, sed in usu mediorum diligenter pergere, ac horam uberioris gratiae ardcnter desiderare, et revercnter humi- literque expectare debent. IVIulto antem minus doctrina de reprobatione terreri debent ii, qui cum serio ad Dcum convetti, ei unice placere, et e corpore mortis eripi desidcrant, in via tamen pictatis et fidis. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 455 stratum, the supporting or connecting principle, is human. Independent, then, of those doctrines which it embodies, as a necessary portion of Christian theology, Arminianism has ever had a character of its own sufficiently bold and striking to make many converts, and to impress them with the broader lines of its character. During its pro- gress from one country to another it has become con- nected with a variety of systems ; and, like Calvinism, it has often been regarded as the source of opinions as old as any of the representations made by the first commen- tators on Christian doctrine. The church in this country was early a sufferer from the notion that its rulers had embraced it in 0})position to the rival system. It has not been free from disturbance in later times from a similar cause ; nor can there be any security against such evils, while the minds of men are more anxious about mys- teries that stimulate speculation, than disposed to rest in awe, thankfulness an d love, where faith has placed them. G G 4 456 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VIII. CHAP. VIII. JANSENISM — PORT ROYAL AND ITS SUPPORTERS— THEIR STRUGGLES PROGRESS AND ISSUE OF THE CONTRO- VERSY. 1 tIE controversy which we have just been reviewing brought into full light almost all that lay concealed in men's thoughts on the subject of divine decrees. In this respect its results were equally remarkable and important. Another development of deep convictions, of convictions which the state of the world and of churches Ions: hindered from findins: their fit channel of expression, is exhibited in the history of Jansenism. The name of this peculiar form of religious sentiment was derived from Cornelius Jansenius, or Jansen, born in a village near Leerdam, in Holland, in the year 1585.* After receiving the early part of his education at Utrecht, he proceeded to Louvain, where he commenced the study of Augustine under Jacob Janson, and imbibed those feelings which gave so striking a character to all his future labours. At Louvain, also, he formed an intimacy with John du Veruer de Hauranne, afterwards the celebrated abbot of St. Cyran, and soon acquired a general reputation for great powers of mind and devoted piety. During the early period of his resi- dence in the university, he was placed under the Jesuit teachers, then the most powerful body in Louvain. It is said that he applied to be admitted as a member of the order, but was rejected, and that thence arose his strong and settled enmity to the society. However this may be, the instructions of Janson, and his learned associate, iVlichael Bajus, in the system of Augustine, took complete possession of his mind. He entered with * The village of Accoy. It was connnonly stated that he was born in Leerdam. — Synopsis Vitie; Leydckkeri Hist. Janscuismi, p. 12. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 457 inconceivable delight into the several accounts given of the father, and then sought in the writings of Augus- tine himself for a verification of the noble sentiments which the mere outline of his system had suggested. Having gone through the usual course at Louvain, and finding his health failing, Jansenius took up his residence in Paris. St. Cyran was still his constant com- panion ; and through his acquaintance with many of the higher classes in the capital, Jansenius became known among those who had ample means of promoting his fortunes. After spending some time in Paris, he ob- tained, through the influence of St. Cyran, an appoint- ment in the college at Bayonne. Here they both applied themselves with greater earnestness than ever to the study of the fathers ; and Jansenius was in the habit of saying, that till this period he had read the precious records of the Church but with blind eyes. St. Cyran in the meantime was promoted to the abbey whence he derived his name, and Jansenius, distressed at the loss of his companion, returned to Holland. Louvain again became his home ; and at the head of a small college he began the teaching of philosophy. With this, however, he soon grew disgusted, and he finally devoted himself to the study of theology. In this facult}'' he took the degree of doctor in 1617, and was sub- sequently appointed professor to the university, with the express understanding that he should employ a large portion of his time in the explanation of scripture. It was now that the peculiarities of his system began to exhibit themselves. The scholastic rules of interpre- tation had hitherto confined even the most active and devout minds to a cold repetition of niceties. By such a mode of study the gospel might be measured in breadth and length, but never in depth and height. Jansenius felt that he had an infinitely better guide in Augustine than in the whole of the schoolmen.* He * Statimque advcrtit, ut fatebatur, plurimos scholasticos in materia ilia cajiitali tie gratia et libero arbitrio, longfe abire a sanctissimi doctoris mente Patn-s caeteros utiles esse, sed Augiistinum noccssarium, inio unum pro omni materia theologica sufficere aiebat. Ubertatein cniin ejus et faecuiulum illud pectus cum stupore admirabatur, et unde ei, statim ctiam a coiiversione ante studium theologicum, abnndantia ilia rerum divinamm, 458 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VIH. began also to discover that many of the worst errors of his age, both religious and literary, might be traced to a want of that wisdom with which he was daily nourished in the study of evangelical truth. St. Cyran, to his great joy, visited him at this time, and their correspondence thenceforth contributed greatly to hasten the development of their common system. An agree- ment was entered into between them, whereby Jansenius pledged himself to write a work on the doctrine of the Church, while St. Cyran should compose one on its con- stitution. Tliis design was formed under trying instances. Though few of the doctors of Louvain, or any otlier ca- tholic university, would have ventured to speak slight- ingly of the authority of Augustine, the spiritual tone of his language had long ceased to find an echo in the hearts of either students or ti achers. But there was a more fruitful source of danger to Jansenius and St. Cyran in the suspicions which attended every approximation to the doctrines of the reformed or Lutheran churches. The theology which had of late been prevalent in the schools with which they were conversant, owned but as an inferior element, the powerful, vitalizing influ- ence of divine grace. Merit, whether original or de- rived, whether traced to the child of God himself, or contemplated as imputed to him in the wa3^s ojf mysterious mercy, refuses to take its place in the same rank with the humble and self-abasing virtues which, though peculiarly belonging to the heart, will own no one good but God. The sentiments which Jansenius and his friend cherished have been described as a species of catholic puritanism.*' That thc}^ even savoured of the divinity of the reformed churches was suflicient to render them odious in the eyes of Jesuits and iheir as- sociates. This, it is worthy of observation, caused many of the distresses which wise and pious men in the Church of Rome had especially at this period to endure. They were not adverse to truth, but they turned with abhorrence from schism and sectaries. It was not a quae in primos ejus libros manavcnint. .... Breviter, post Deum et Sacram Scripturam, omnia ei crat Augustinus. — Synopsis Vitse. • llcuchlin. Goschichto von Port Royal, b. i., s. 320. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 459 doctrine of the gospel which they refused to acknow- ledge, but a demand made upon their attention by bold opponents of their church. Jansenius and his friend pursued their labours with constantly increasing fervour. The former complained that the days were too short to allow of his accomplish- ing half that he had in view.* "Would that I could follow the cranes,"' he used to say, " and migrate to lands where the days are nineteen or twenty hours long ; or that I had livt d in the times of Joshua !" But there were ob- stacles to his success worse than those arising from want of time. The state of the court of Rome prevented him from cherishing any hope of immediate success ; and his only consolation was, that, as he believed he was labouring in the cause of God, his exertions could not be finally or altogether lost. During a journey to Madrid, which some alfairs connected with the univei'sity obliged him to make, he became more and more con- vinced of the suspicion which was likely to attend the publication of his sentiments. Even from the little then known of his views, he incurred the dano-er of beins: carried before the Inquisition ,f and on his return to Lou vain, the account of what had occurred made it evident to his associates, that it was only by Ihe closest and most earnest union of their forces they could sup- port themselves against their adversaries. The fathers of the Oratorium were, through the patronage and in- fluence of St. Cyran, become closely leagued with them in the prosecution of their designs. Political convul- sions created an opportunity for Jansenius to show his ability and zeal in favour of the Spanish government. His work, entitled. Mars Gallicus, \ was regarded by * He always began his studies at four in the morning, sometimes earlier, preparing himself l)y meditation against all temptations. These he repeated in the evening, and, indeed, the whole day was spent in the study of divine things. — Synopsis Vitte. -f- They write to me from Spain, that the Inquisition has been set on against a doctor of Louvain, who had been in that kingdom, and that they have applied themselves to a doctor of Salamanca, in whose house he lodged, who is tlie first doctor of that university, called Basil de Leon, to take information against him as an Hollander, and consequently an heretic ; but he answered them so much to the advantage of this doctor, as to put them out of countenance. — Bayle, Art. Jansenius. ^ It was published under the following title : "^ Alexandri Patricii Arma- 460 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VIII. Spain as rendering important assistance to its cause ; and so strongly did this sentiment continue to be en- couraged, that Jansenius was appointed to fill the vacant bishopric of Ypres. A new sphere of exertion was thus opened to him, and he lost no time in commencing such reforms as he deemed necessary to the well-being of his diocese. In the midst of his numerous labours his strength began to decline, and in the month of May 1638 he breathed his last. The life of this remarkable man had been devoted to the study and diffusion of the doctrine of grace, as exhibited in the writino-s of St. Auo:ustine. Voluminous as are the works of that father, Jansenius was accustomed to boast that he had read them through ten times, and those portions of them Avhich treat of the errors of pelagian- ism, thirty times.* In his lectures and sermons he taught, that it was not by acuteness of intellect that the sense of scripture could be discovered, but through the power of love, which enlightens and spiritualizes the whole man. His great work, entitled, Augustine, occu- pied him during the best twenty years of his life. Pelagianism was with him not an old and bygone error, but the still rampant hei-esy of more than half the Church. The fathers, though known and read, did not furnish the necessary remedy for this disease, because studied in a wrong temper. When he first perused his favourite author, the meaning which he attached to those pages, so full as he afterwards found of wisdom and beauty, was low and worldly. At the second reading cani Thoologi, Mars (Jallicus;, sou de justitia armoriiin of foedoruin Regis GallitE, libri duo." It contains, saj's Bayle, the most malicious and odious outcries against the continual services Avhich France did to tlie protestants of Holland and Germany, to the great prejudice of the catholic religion. In a work ascribed to Father Annat, or Vavasseur, Jansenius is taxed witli ingratitude towards France, which had by its pure and good air restored liim to health, which he could not obtain from the gross and thick air of his own country ; wliich had in his necessity given a livelUiood to him, both as a domestic precejttor in Paris, and a master of a pul)lic school at Bayonne, which by an ac(inaintaiice with illustrious and learned men had formed his mind to great(-r tilings, and added strength to his hiterest. Nay, in France, which nu doubt he regarded as a ])enefit, he got a large quantity of Calvi- nistical books, from which fountains he drew his interpretation of St. Augustine, and found men not averse to the doctrine of Calvin, with whom he had more free conferences concerning grace. — Art. Jansenius. * S^niopsis Vitae. CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 461 new light sprung from them ; and as he continued his labours, the conviction strengthened, that if ever the Church was brought back to the state in which pious minds would wish to see it, the cold and scholastic theo- logy hitherto cultivated must 3aeld entirely to the nobler teaching of the Spirit.* Jansenius begins his work with a long account of pelagianism. It has been observed, however, that the materials for this account were, most of them, drawn from the writings of Augustine and Prosper, the de- clared enemies of Pelagius, and that the vi'ork, there- fore, has little pretension to the character of critical or impartial. In his second book the author treats " con- cerning reason and authority in theology, of the limits of human reason in that study, and of the autho- rity of Augustine on the mystery of predestination and grace." According to the views exhibited under these heads, the understanding can take no part in such in- quiries. It is to philosophy that the guilt pertains of having made heavenly grace obedient to the summons of human freedom. Thus, philosophy is the mother of heresy. The understanding may minister to her com- mands ; but tlieology must be served by memory alone ; that is, it must rest contented with what is taught by * It is interesting to trace, hj the letters of Jansenius, tlie progress of these convictions. " I have much to say to you," he observes, in a letter to St. Cyran, in October 1620, " on certain subjects belonging to our profes- sion, and which are of no slight importance, particularly on St. Augustine, whom I seem to liave read without eyes, and to have heard without ears. If the principles be true which are now opened to me, and as I believe they arc to this hour in which I am reperusing St. Augustine, they will, by-and- by, astonish all the world." Letters, p. 27. In another, sent the next day, he says, " I employ the time which remains after my lecture on Scripture in the study of St. Augustine, whom I love entirely, for it seems to me that tin re is nothing, whether among the antients or the moderns, that can approach him within a hundred leagues, and the more I read him, the more glorious docs he a])pear." p. 29. Again, about six months after- wards, he writes, " I continue to pursue my labours, l)egun a year and a half, or two yi ars ago, on St. Augustine, whom I read witli a strange desire, and, as I believe, advantage. I have come to the seventh volume, ancl have read the more imjjortant parts two or three times. I have, however, made no marks, it licing my intention to read and re-read him all my life long. It is impossible to describe how my opinions have changed, and what a dilferent judgment I now pass on him and others to what I formerly did. I am astonislied more and more tvery day at the height and deptli of his mind, and that his doctrine should have been so little known among the learned, not only of this age, bur past centuries." Lettres de M. Jansenius, ed. par F. du Vivicr, p. 31. 462 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VIII. Christ and liis apostles. Christianity is not to be de- duced from principles in the way of philosophical argu- ment, but must simply be impressed upon the heart. It is perilous in divine mysteries to work through the understanding; love only is properly engaged in such a study. To the neglect of this consideration are traced the numerous errors which disfigure the writings of the schoolmen ; and the Aristotelian philosophy is broadly charged with the whole guilt of introducing pelagian- ism and scmi-pelagianism into the Church. Augus- tine, on the other hand, established four main truths in opposition to so many of the most grievous errors. These important principles are, the oneness of the head of the Church, that is, Christ; the oneness of his body, that is, the Church ; the oneness of the sacrament of incorporation, that is, baptism ; and the oneness and truth of the life or grace procured through the cross of Christ. Jansenius represents Augustine as treating the last-mentioned subject in the manner of St. Paul, as only second to him, as unanswerable, angelical, seraphic. In the next section, the author speaks of human na- ture in its pure and sinless state, or of the grace enjoyed b}^ the first man, and by angels. This is followed by reflections on the state of fallen nature, on original sin, on its conflicts, and on the degree of strength enjoyed by free-will after the fall. To this succeeds an explana- tion of the doctrine of Augustine on the medicinal or healing grace of Christ, and on the predestination of men and angels. This is considered to be the most laboured part of the work. Not only are the opinions of Augustine exhibited with a fulness and caution pro- portionable to their value, but the objections urged against them, whether in antient or modern times, are submitted to an examination, calling forth all the powers of the autlior's mind. St. Paul and Augnstine are to him, " the matrix and fountain, whence all conclusions concerning grace are to be deduced." For, in the ways of providence, he argues, "whatsoever b}'. the measures of places and times is evolved and unfolded in corporeal things; CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 463 whatsoever in spiritual things is collected by argumenta- tion, was originally gathered up, and concentrated in certain general principles. Thus the seed contains the whole tree which is subsequently expanded in branches and foliage. So the Lord Christ originally embraced in a certain glorious unity whatsoever graces he has poured forth into the body of the Universal Church. Thus the apostle Paul, snatched up into the third heaven, contained in himself, as an abyss and source of fountains, all that lias been since furnished on the subject of grace and pre- destination by the disputations and inquiries of doctors, and did present the results of the whole in certain brief statements of his epistles. But because it is a work of no slight difficulty, or genius, to unfold and exhibit to the understanding- those heavenly mysteries involved in some few characters, what can we think but that the divine and stupendous genius of Augustine, so exalted in splendour, so lowly in humility, was divinely elected, in order that, like a new beginning and perennial foun- tain, it might pour forth richly the intelligence of the profoundest mystery ; that it might educe whatever was laid up in St. Paul concerning the corruption of human nature, divine grace, predestination, and that in the way of first principles ; that whatever is impervious to us it might penetrate ; and lastly, that, by an emi- nent perfection of doctrine, it might comprehend what- ever is fitted to satisfy men's thirst for knowledge ; to resolve their doubts ; to answer their questionings ; and to beat down the' arguments of the adversary."* Jansenius neither denied the difficulty of the subject upon which he was engaged, nor attempted to conceal the fact that Augustine occasionally presents an appear- ance of inconsistency. " It does not unfrequently occur," he says, " that things separated from the immutable principles on which they depend involve a seeming absurdity ; but brought back to the hidden springs whence they arise, the truth irradiating them from above, they become evidently worthy of all acceptation." Speaking of the character of him who may hope to enter into the profound excellencies of Augustine, he * Aiigustinu?, t. II., c. xxvii., p. 59. Lovan. 1640. 464 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VIII. says that no one, without a miracle, could understand him at a single reading ; and that much less can they enter into his meaning who read only extracts from his works, or consult the works themselves for no other purpose than that of discovering passages which may support their own opinions ; but farthest of all from comprehending his doctrine are they supposed to be who approach the study with minds pre-occupied by the Aristotelian philosophy, or the notions of the later schoolmen. It is at the conclusion of this prooemial book that he enters upon that mode of reasoning which so soon ren- dered his system odious in the eyes of Home. " Will it be answered me," he says, " that the opinions of the schoolmen, which here seem to be reprobated by Au- gustine, have now been common for the last five hun- dred years to almost the whole Church, vi'hich, if they be wrong, is thereby proved to be itself in error ?* I reply, that if it be a question of time, the opinions of Augustine and his disciples were acknowledged and approved by the Church, and the common consent of Christians, many hundred years before the notions of the schoolmen were introduced. If, therefore, it should be feared that the Church might be accused of error in re- ceiving opinions afterwards disproved, by how much more perniciously would it be said to have erred if it should abolish the doctrine of Augustine, received and approved through so many ages ?" He next shows that the members of the Church might have adopted many ■ opinions not strictly correct, without injuring the ortho- doxy of the Church itself. " It is one thing," he says, " to believe witli a catholic faith, another to think according to human opinion. The schoolmen, who held notions opposed to Augustine, did few or none of them hand them down as part of the catholic faith, but simply as notions of their own, and which the}'' were willing to resign or correct should they ever be pronounced here- tical by the testimony of the scriptures, by councils, or the Roman pontiff. Whence we conclude that neither ' wns the Church universal debased by error, nor any * Augustinus, t. u,, c. xxx., p. 65. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 465 part of it diverted from the faitli.'' But again, " If not a little, but the greater part of the Church should be ignorant of, or hesitate as to, the true opinion on some obscure question, or should form a wrong conjecture, and on the truth being discovered should change its language, supposing that the faith is preserved by which we become Christians, it would be debased b}' no crime of heresy." These were dangerous speculations, and would speedily have led any one who adopted them into serious diffi- culties with the advocates of papal infallibility. Jan- senius himself had long foreseen with what hostility his reasoning would be regarded by the most powerful of his brethren. " I dare not," he says in one of his letters, *' tell any one what I think, according to the princi- ples of St. Augustine, of a great part of the opinions of these times, and particularly of those respecting grace and predestination, lest that, before things are properly matured, they should do for me at Rome what they have done in the case of others."* But in the last chapter of the third book, " De Statu puraj Naturae," he ventures on the difficult task of reconciling the differences existing between a bull issued on the authority of two pontifts,f and the doctrines said to have been held by the Church under a long succession of its wisest and holiest rulers. During that period the arguments of Augustine against Pelagius were received as of the highest authority, and were so adopted by the apostolic see, that when any were found fluctuating in their minds as to the faith of the Church, it was accustomed to send them to the writings of Augustine, that they might learn therefrom what to accept and believe. | That Jansenius did not err on this point was notorious to those who recollected the controversy between the Dominicans and Jesuits, and what had taken place in the Congregation de Auxiliis. But it was not possible that a mode of reasoning so little calculated to support the * Letters, p. 32. -j- Pius V. and Gregory XIII., in their proceedings against Bajus, the early preceptor of" Jansenius, in the Augustine theology. X Augustinus, t. ii., lib. iii., c. xxii., p. O?-"). VOL. III. II II 460 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VIII. higher pretensions and prerogatives of the papacy should remain unopposed. The " Augustinus " was scarcely published when the Jesuits began to assail it with all the ingenuity of which they were masters. Nothing was left unsaid that could tend to convince the pope* that his own dignity, the glory of the Churcli, and the purity of its creed, were endangered by the doctrines of Jansenius. Pressed on all sides to take some step in the matter, he was at length induced to submit the book to the judgment of the Inquisition. Sentence was speedily passed upon it, and the clergy of France and he Netherlands received injunctions neither to read the book, nor to take part in the controversy against it. These orders, however, were openly resisted, and the heads of the University of Louvain boldly replied, that it was a fundamental law of their institution to publish no papal ordinance except by royal command. Another bull was issued the following year, but with as little success. Formal representations were made to Rome that the bull was guilty of condemning doctrines set forth in the very words of Augustine himself. Things continued in this state till the Archduke of Austria re- ceived the government of the Netherlands. Aided by his powerful support, the Jesuits succeeded so far as to oblige their opponents to acknowledge the ordinance of the pope. But this obedience was rendered with ill- concealed indignation. Weight}'^ conditions were in- sisted upon before it was obtained, and the pope had little reason to rejoice in a triumph acquired at the ex- pense of some of his own authority. It was evident to all parties that more must be done before the struggle could really be brought to an issue. Innocent X. found himself involved in numberless diffi- culties, the offspring of the prevalent disputes. The questions urged by the doctors of Louvain were far from calculated to lessen his anxieties. Is it, said they, the work of Jansenius, or the doctrine of St. Augustine, that the bull condemns ? Habert, a theologian of Paris, and distinguished for his early opposition to Jansenius, gathered out of the "Augustinus" eight propositions, ex- * Urban VIII. CENT. XVI.-XVri.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 467 hibiting, as he represented, the main and most objec- tionable principles of the author. These were, in sub- stance, first, that nothing is more clearly established by the doctrine of Augustine than this, that there are some commandments of God which even believers, according to their present degree of strength, and even with the readiest will, cannot obey, and that grace is wanting to render such obedience possible. Secondly, that an ignorance, which is not wilful, and is, therefore, uncon- querable, may notwithstanding be sinful. Thirdly, that fallen man has received from God a sufficient aid in the understanding both to will and to do. It is ever active ; and the notion of an understanding which gives man the power if he will, not the will as to what he can, is the grace of pelagianism. Fourthly, that an intelligent nature cannot preserve its being without the gift of supernatural grace. Fifthly, that unbelievers have no true virtue, and can do nothing without sin. Sixthly, that the character of the Old Testament is figurative and prophetical. It conveyed to the Jews no necessary grace, but rather presented obstacles. Seventhly, that it is as a vast drama, and nothing more. And, lastly, that, according to the doctrine of antiquity, Christ neither died, nor poured out his blood, for all men. These propositions formed the subject of frequent dis- cussions among the clergy of France. Nicholas Cornet, syndic of the Sorbonne, insisted strongly on the neces- sity of their being submitted to a formal examination. No fewer than seventy doctors in theology protested against such a proceeding. Their opposition was grounded on the fact, that no autkor of the propositions was named ; that they were capable of a double inter- pretation ; and that it was expressly forbidden, since the Congregation de Auxiliis, to hold discussions on the doctrines of grace.* But this opinion was disregarded ; and, though the Parliament prohibited the publication of any conclusions which the theologians might arrive at, they forwarded their appeal to Rome, and besought the pope to instruct them as to the sense in which the first five of the disputed articles ought to be understood. * Leydocker, lib. ii., p. .31.'). H H 2 468 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VIII. Innocent did not refuse the request ; but he had no sooner resolved to examine the questions proposed to him, than an address arrived from eleven French bi- shops, entreating him to pause before he entered on an inquiry fraught with so many difficulties. After prov- ing by his hesitation how thoroughly convinced he was of the danger which attended the proceeding, he yielded to the urgent desires of his courtiers and the Jesuits. The discussion was commenced, and five propositions were gathered from the writings of Jansenius, by the condemnation of which his system itself was branded as false and heretical. The first of these celebrated dos;- mas is the same as the first of those already stated. The second describes internal grace as never resisted, even by those who are fallen. The third represents Jansenius as affirming, that to have merit or demerit in a fallen state, it is not essential that we should be free from necessity, but only from compulsion. In the fourth we read, the semi-pelagians admitted the necessity of an internal preventing grace for every action, even to the beginning of faith. But they were heretics in this ; that they represented grace as that which the human will might either resist or obey. Lastly, it is semi- pelagianism to say, that Christ died, or shed his blood for all men.* But evident as was the intention of the Roman court in the condemnation of these propositions, the Jansenists immediately took advantage of the cir- cumstance that the author of their system was not once named in the sentence. Hence arose the celebrated dispute of the Question of Fact, as it was called. Men like Pascal, Nicole and Quesnel, now brought all their strength to the controversy. It grew in importance as * Lcydecker : V^ita Jansenii, lib. ii., p. 12G. 1. Ali(|ua Dei prseccpta homi- nibus justis volentibus et conantibus, secundum praesentes, quas habeut, vires, sunt impossibilia: deest quoque illis gratia, qua possibilia fiant. 2. luteriori gratise in statu naturae lapsse nunquam resistitur. 3. Ad merendum (per bona opera) et demerendum (per peccata) in statu naturaa lapsiE, non rcquiritur in homiue libertas a necessitate, sed sufficit libertas a coactione. 4. Semi-pclagiani admittebant prtevenientis gratise interioris neccssitatem ad singulos actus, etiam ad initium fidei : ct in hoc erant haei'etici, quod vcllcnt earn gratiam taleni esse, cui posset humana voluntas rcsistcre, vel obtemperare. 5. Scmi-pelagianum est dicere, Christum pro omnibus omnino hominibus mortuum esse, aut sanguinem fudisse. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 469 genius and learning employed their treasures to pur- chase a decision on the side of truth and holiness. But in proportion to the value attached to such a decision was the anxiety of the Roman court increased to secure it in favour of its own party. Alexander VII. at once put an end to the question whether the condemned articles were the constituents of Jansenism. By a bull issued in 1665 they were definitely declared to be so ; and shortly after another ordinance was published, which obliged the clergy to confess that they were to be found in the work of the bishop of Ypres as condemned by the bull. Tiie King of France favoured the proceed- ings of the pontiff; and the prelates of that country were most of them induced to take the same part. A formulary was drawn up in addition to the constitution set forth by the pope, and every thing seemed prepared for the complete subjugation of the French divines to the power of the Jesuits. It was in vain that the Jansenists argued against the intolerance of obliging men to own that as a fact which they did not believe to be so ; that they proved the absurdity of representing the pope as infallible in such a case ; and insisted with equal piety and eloquence, and even devotion to tlie Church of Rome itself, on the injury which religion must sufl^er from condemning as heretical the pure and evangelical doctrine of the blessed Augustine. Controversy, as is commonly the case, when one side is much stronger than the other, soon gave birth to persecution ; and the ad- mirers of Jansenius were no sooner a party formed by community of principles than they found themselves bound yet closer by common dangers and sufferings. It was not, however, in the circumstances attending this dispute concerning grace and free-will that the spirit of the age began originally to employ its strength. In this, as in other periods of religious excitement, we find one effort at development succeeding another, one force for a long time always in advance of another, but the latter, at length, reaching it in the race, and then making with it one great and effectual struggle for victory. Many years before the publication of the Augus- H H 3 470 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP, VIII. tiniis, a party had beoi growing up M'liich, had Jan- senius never been known, would have led to a consi- derable modification of theological science. The mo- nastic system in France had, as in other countries, become infamous for its corruptions. A reformer arose in the person of a young and enthusiastic woman. This was the celebrated Jacqueline Arnauld, La Mere Ange- lique, who having been appointed, at the age of eight years, abbess of the monastery of Port-Royal, com- menced at seventeen the work of reformation, with a zeal as persevering as it was pure and noble. Her sister, Agnes, was only six years old when she became abbess of St. Cyr ; nor did she, at a subsequent period, exhibit less readiness than her loftier-minded sister in obeying the call of holiness. Both these extra- ordinary women were indebted for their early elevation to the interest of their maternal grandfather, M. Marion, Avocat-General. Their father was M. Arnauld, Avocat du Parlement, a man distinguished for great powers of mind and skill in public afl'airs. La Mere Angelique, as the youthful abbess of Port-Royal was called, became possessed of the full authority belonging to her station on the death of the former abbess. This happened about two years after her first introduction to the monastery; but it was not till her seventeenth year that she experienced those strong religious emotions which gave so remarkable a character to her future career. She was accustomed to trace her conversion to the preaching of a Capuchin friar.* Father Basil, in the course of his wanderings, arrived at the monas- tery one evening just as they were lighting the torches for complins. He oflPered to preach, but was told by the abbess that it was too late. She at last, however, consented, and in his discourse the friar treated so powerfully of the incarnation, and of the humiliation and sufierings, of Christ, that La Mere Angelique yielded up her heart entirely to the sentiment of divine love. From this moment her conduct was wholly changed. * Mciiioiios pour servir a I'llistoire de Port-Koyal, t. i., pt. i., p. 24. llistoiie Abrc'gce clc rort-Royal, t. i., p. 0. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 471 She no longer felt that the rules of her order were a restraint, or that a sense of propriety only was the power, which kept her in the line of duty. Henceforward her performance of the customary services, her temper and conversation, exhibited in the most striking manner the revolution which had taken place in her feelings. The nuns who had hitherto only admired the sweetness of her natural disposition, and felt themselves under no restraint from her presence among them, now began to discover that her rule was not likely to be any longer merely nominal. She commenced the reform of dis- cipline with a loving but determined mind. The first hardship suffered, the first sacrifice made, was on her own part. Hitherto so little seclusion had been prac- tised in the monastery, that the several members of her family had visited her with as much freedom as if the sacred retreat had been her own private mansion. A thousand abuses were the consequence of sucli a state of things. The change that had taken place in the sentiments of the youthful abbess convinced her that something must be done, at however great an expense. As the day approached for the customary visit of her relatives, she prepared her heart for the trial. The carriage arrived at the gate of the monastery. It had been fast locked by her orders. The loud and violent summons of her impatient father alarmed the nuns, and they surrounded her, weeping and imploring her to relax, at least this time, from her determination to exclude visitors of every kind. But she was inflexible, and, leaving them to indulge their regrets, she pro- ceeded alone to the gate, and there resolutely, but with an almost breaking heart, told her parents of the con- victions of duty which had newly awakened her, and of the determination she had formed to begin the work of reform by resigning her own comforts and privileges. This announcement tended in no wise to pacify either her parents or her brother. They hastened to leave the convent, when the entreaties of the abbess induced her father to enter the only apartment in which it was law- ful for her to receive visitors. There the feelings of H H 4 472 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. VHI. parent and child found free vent in sobs and tears. The l)iety of the abbess at length conquered every other sentiment. M. Arnanld took a last farewell, only suf- ficiently recovering himself to implore his beloved daughter to refrain from austerities which might destroy her health. He then hastened from the apartment, leaving La Mere Angelique fainting in the arms of her attendants. On returning to the carriage, he described the scene which had taken place. His heart was melted with mingled love and grief. As yet, only anger pre- vailed in the mind of the mother. She took a passionate and hasty oath that nothing should induce her again to approach the convent. This vow she kept strictly for a year, when she heard a sermon at Paris on the subject of rash oaths, which the preacher proved could not law- fully be kept. Full of joy at the liberty which her con- science hereby gained, she hastened the same afternoon to Port-Royal, fell, transported with delight, into the arms of her astonished daughter, and became, first, a noble benefactor of the convent, and, in her widowhood, one of its most devoted and valuable inmates.^ From this period the career of La Mere Angelique was one of alternate distress and triumph, the efforts which she made to accomplish reform being attended with difficulties sufficient to appal any but minds of the purest kind. The same labours undertaken by different cha- racters produce a very different amount of suffering ; for, in the one case, a present reform only may be sought; in the other, the development and establishment of a principle. With the young abbess of Port-Royal the desire of reformation soon became rooted as a bright, glowing idea. To it she wedded her most ardent affec- tions. Its realization became her fondest hope ; and she could more easily have parted with existence itself than have yielded her determination to restore female * On the removal of the society to Paris she purchased a house for its reception at the expense of 24,000 livres. After a noviciate of three years she took tlie veil, and continued to employ herself through the remainder of her life in the humblest ctticcs of the convent. She superintended the laundry, took part in the work of the kitchen, and always insisted upon giving place to those who had professed at an earlier period than herself. She lived to see six daughters take the veil, and exhibit similar dispositions. Vies Choisies des Keligieuses de I'ort-Royal, p. 30. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 473 asceticism to its antient and better condition. It is this which gives so deep and enduring an interest to the history of Port- Royal ; and though the details with which it becomes connected at a later period greatly modify its original character, it will ever continue to be contemplated as furnishing some of the most remarkable exemplifications of personal religion and devotedness. La Mere Angelique demanded of Marie de Medicis, as a signal instance of favour, that she would make the dignity of abbess in Port-Royal elective. The favour was granted, with some expression of astonishment at such a proof of disinterestedness. By vacating her lucrative and honourable office, Angelique remained free to perform any duty to which she might be called. The bishop of Langres shortly after proposed to institute an order of nuns devoted to the worship of the sacrament. La Mere Angelique was earnestly pressed to become the superintendent of the new society. She consented, and her career was very soon inseparably connected with that of St. Cyran and the Jansenists. La Mere Agnes had composed a little devotional paper on the subject of the sacrament. A copy of the prayer was found in the cell of a Carmelite nun, to whom it had been given by Agnes at her earnest entreaty. The bishop of Langres was delighted wdth the composition, and sent it to the bishop of Sens, to whom also it at first aj^peared worthy of admiration, as the ardent breathings of a most holy love. After some little time, however, he began either to doubt its ortliodoxy, or to suspect the propriety of allowing such formularies to be circulated ^vithout autho- rity. His sentiments were communicated to other pre- lates ; a commotion was soon raised ; and thus a new difficulty existed to the restoration of tranquillity. An appeal was at length made to Rome. The pope refused to condemn tlic pious breathings of La Mere Agnes ; but he silenced the loudest voices in the controversy by ordering that her writing should be suppressed.* St. (Jyran, in the meantime, continued to support what he believed to be the highest interests of religion. On the appearance of his celebrated work, Petrus Au- * Momoiics, t. I., \)t. VI., \>. 4-38. 474 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. VIII. rclius, the excitement occasioned by his previous v\rrit- iiigs was yet further increased. The Jesuits viewed him as their worst enemy ; and, by their machinations, Cardinal Richelieu was persuaded to order his com- mittal to the castle of Vincennes, where he was not liberated till after a confinement of near five years, and only eight months before his death. This happened at a time when the aid of his powerful talents seemed most required for the defence of his associates. La Mere Angelique had long felt a desire to restore the old mo- nastery of Port-Royal in the country. It was now al- most a ruin, and its situation was confessedly unhealthy. But there were a thousand associations connected with it that could never cease to inspire her with pleasing and elevating thoughts. Many of her friends shared in these feelings. A little society of devoted persons was soon formed to commence the restoration of Port-Royal des Champs.* One priest only had been left there. He was now joined by several men who were not less distin- guished for genius and learning than for piety. They built themselves rude dwellings in the immediale neighbourhood of the monastery ; and though, as a part of their discipline, they gave a large portion of time to the roughest work of the field, and spent a life of extreme mortification, they speedily rendered them- selves conspicuous, in every country of the world, by the works which they composed, and their singular success in the work of education. But they were known to have adopted the system of Jansenius entire. Dr. Anton Arnauld, the brother of La Mere Angelique, had rendered his name celebrated by a work on the Eucharist, and which, at its publication, received the formal approval of twenty-four doctors of the Sorbonne, and seventeen bishops. But this book, originally so highly sanctioned, was made the subject of a fierce debate on the part of the Jesuits. Its author was, in the end, expelled the Sorbonne. The persecutions to which he was subjected were shared by his friends of Port-Royal and its neighbourhood. When theological hatred had done its worst, political influences were * Memoircs, t. i., p. 599. CENT. XVr.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 475 made to bear upon the controversy. Neither the ami- able sisters of the monastery itself, nor the remarkable men who had devoted themselves to a life of charity and holiness in their vicinity, could be induced to sign the formulary wliich condemned Jansenius and Au- gustine. Years of distress and suffering followed. Port- Koyal was denounced, and consigned to ruin. The principal Jansenists found a refuge in Holland, and there established a Church, Romish and Episcopal, and yet in opposition to the papacy and Jesuitism. In the case of Jansenius, St. Cyran, and the high- minded, amiable recluses of Port-Royal, there would be much to excite both sympathy and admiration, though the history which records their proceedings ended with themselves. But they belonged to a class, or, still more, the interests for which they contended were those of the human heart awakened to a sense of its num- berless necessities, and taught to believe that they can be supplied only by the wondrous gifts and workings of divine grace. For men of deep feeling there was but a single step to be taken to pass from Jansenism to quietism. The step was taken; and a new scene, so far as circumstances are concerned, presents itself to our regard. We have Molinos, Fenelon,* Madame Guyon, instead of St. Cyran and La Mere Angelique ; but the least theoretical of minds can at once discern that the same principles are still in progress of de- velopment ; and that even when we arrive at the period when quakerism, and other such forms of belief, began to show themselves, there is still but the working of the same power and convictions ; the same mighty effort being made by the inner man of man to render itself independent and absolute, pure and free from accidental oppression, and, according to its nature, omnipotent over the world and its corruptions. That * Fenelon's work iii defence of Madame Guyon, and against Bossuet, was entitled Explication des Maxims des Saints sur la Vie Interieure, and appeared in IfiOZ. Molinos died in prison at Home, in 169G. The ruling principle, and the most offensive in each case, was this, that man's happiness and dignity depend more upon what he is in himself, than upon what he is in, or can gain from, the world. Fenelon's book was formally condemned by Innocent XII., in 1699. 476 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IX. errors were committed in the choice of means for tlie accomplishment of this object does not alter the fact, that an end, great and noble in itself, was long and fer- vently sought. It was in most cases missed ; but it was not the less loved because lost ; and it is surely a zeal wanting in charity which strives to persuade us that, when more prosperous in our own struggles, we are free to look scornfully on the mistaken and disappointed labours of our brethren. CHAP. IX. SUMMARY OF EVENTS. — CONCLUDING REMARKS. VVe devote the space which remains to a cursory view of the most important circumstances connected v^^ith the progress of opinion, as before described. In the Roman Catholic Church, the struggles between the popes and the temporal power intervened perpetually to retard the operation of any useful or healthy principle tending to reform. Even in the remotest sphere of missionary labours, the evil was felt as strongly as in Rome itself. The Jesuits had devoted themselves to the defence of tlie papacy in all its forms and relations. They claimed, in return, the homage of every other order. Their movements were directed by rules essentially political ; and it seems evident, by the common tenor of their history, that whenever one duty appeared to clash with another, the habits in which they had been educated taught them to sacrifice every thing to the rights of the papacy. This was, doubtless, done in most cases from the intermingling of melancholy error with early con- victions. No personal interests were dependent upon CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 477 the decision to which they commonly arrived ; and, had they been left free to support their faith, or even their Church, as such, rarely, it is probable, would they have fallen under the temptations to which they yielded M^ith so desperate a disregard of Christian integrity and truth. The unhappy dissensions existing among the pro- testant, or reformed churches, gave a mighty preponder- ance to Romanism throughout the greater part of the seventeenth century. On the breaking out of the tliirty years* war, whatever of religious principle or feeling could exhibit itself in a visible form appeared impatient to take part in the conflict. Victory after victory crowned the plans of the Roman pontiffs. Spain, France, Austria, the Netherlands, and the most conspicuous of the German states, presented the front of a proud con- federacy ready to re-assert the supreme and dazzling grandeur of their common Church. In the midst of the successes which attended the arms of the catholic powers, the most strenuous efforts were made on the part of the clergy to effect the conversion of Lutherans and Calvinists. Their labours were not un- fruitful. In France, large numbers of persons forsook the reformed Church. The same took place, even to a greater degree, in the Netherlands ; and we have seen that in England itself a strong disposition was manifested on the side of many to silence the customary expres- sions of hostility to Rome. A sudden check was given to the political triumphs of the catholic party by the valour of Gustavus Adolphus, From this time the re- formed Churches began again to breathe with hope, and the rallying of their forces enabled them to con- sider how they might best, in future times, guard against danger and revolution. But in France, tlie life of the reformed community was too far gone to be revived, ex- cept under the most favourable circumstances. This was readily discovered by the hostile party ; and after some little preparation the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, exposed the few that continued faithful to their profession to all the miseries which tyranny, 478 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IX. both political and ecclesiastical, might desire to inflict.* Yet singular it is, that shortly before these attacks were made on Protestants, Louis XIV. was himself assailing the pretensions of the papacy with equal hardihood and vigour. The kings of France had long claimed the pri- vilege of exercising supreme authority in any see which might fall vacant in their dominions. Innocent XI. resolved, if possible, to destroy this claim. An angry contest took place. Tlie king convened an assembly of bishops and priests ; and in this convocation certain pro- positions were agreed to which left no doubt of the inde- * '' A thousand dreadful blows," says Mr. Saurin, " were struck at our afflicted churches before that which destroyed tliem ; for our enemies, if I may use such an expression, not content with seeing our ruin, endeavoured to taste it. One while, edicts were published against those who, foreseeing the calamities that threatened our churches, and not having power to pre- vent them, desired only the sad consolation of not being spectators of their ruin. Another while, against those who, through their weakness, had de- nied their religion, and who, not being able to bear the remorse of their consciences, desired to return to their first profession. One while, our pastors were forbidden to exercise their discipline on those of their flocks who had abjured the truth. Another while, children of seven years of age were allowed to embrace doctrines which the Church of Rome says are not level to the capacities of adults. Now a college was suppi'esscd, and then a church shut up. Sometimes we were forbidden to convert infidels, and sometimes to confirm those in the truth whom we had instructed from their infancy ; and our pastors were forbidden to exercise their pastoral office any longer in one place than three years. Sometimes the printing of our books was prohibited, and sometimes those which we had printed were taken away. One while, we were not suffered to preach in a church ; and another while, we were punished for preaching on its ruins, and at length we were forbidden to worship God in public at all. Now we were banished ; then we were forbidden to quit the kingdom on pain of death. Here we saw the glorious rewards of those who betrayed their religion ; and there we beheld those who had the courage to confess it haled to a dungeon, a scaffold or a galley. Here we saw our persecutors drawing on a sledge the dead bodies of those who had expired on the rack. There we beheld a false friar tor- menting a dying man, who was terrified on the one hand with the fear of hell if he should apostatize, and on the other with the fear of leaving his children without bread if he should continue in the faith : yonder they were tearing children from their parents, while the tender parents were shedding more tears for the loss of their souls than for that of their bodies or lives." Again ; " They cast some," says Mr. Claude, " into large fires, and took them out when they were half roasted. They hanged others with large ropes under their armpits, and plunged them several times into wells, till they promised to renounce their religion. They tied them like criminals on the rack, and poured wine with a funnel into their mouths, till, being intoxicated, they declared that they consented to turn Catholics. Some they slashed and cut with penknives, some they took by the nose with red- hot tongs, and led them up and down the roonis till tricy promised to turn Catholics." — Memoirs of the Reformation in France, p. So. CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 479 pendence of the Church of France. By the first of these decrees it is affirmed, that neither St. Peter, nor his successors, were endowed by heaven with any right to interfere, either directly or indirectly, with the tem- poral government of states ; and that kings cannot be justly deposed by any bull from Rome. Secondly, that the Gallican Church acknowledges the validity of the canon established by the Council of Constance, declaring that in spiritual things the authority of oecumenical councils is superior to that of the pope. Thirdly, that the laws and institutions of the Church of France are inviolable. And, lastly, that the decisions of the pope, when unsupported by the voice of the Church, are not infallible. But the activity and power of Rome was in nothing shown so strikingly as in the provision which it made for extensive and distant missions. Gregory XV. had seen, with regret, that much of the good which might have been looked for from the labours of pious men had been lost, through the want of some watchful and directing power. By the advice, therefore, of his chief counsellor, Narni, he determined on instituting a society which should have for its great object the propagation of the faith. Hence the famous congregation, " De Fide Catholica propaganda," which began its operations in 1622, but did not assume its proper form till the papacy of Urban VIII., who in 1627 erected the " Collegium de propaganda Fide," and had the satisfaction of seeing it immediately endowed by the wealthy prelate, Bap- tista Vives, with revenues proportionable to the gran- deur of the plan. The work performed by this insti- tution can never be contemplated without astonishment. Its wonderful provisions for every branch of missionary labour, the variety of ability, the extent of learning brought to bear upon the design, demand the respect of every mind that is capable of separating, in its thoughts, the main features of a magnificent system of machinery from the injury which its operations may cause to some particular interests. While the " Collegium de propaganda Fide " was preparing itself for undertakings that demanded inex- 480 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IX. Iiaiistible activity, the Benedictine monks of St. Maur, availing' themselves of all the advantages resulting from the reformation of their order, began to lay the most extensive plans for the tranquil pursuit of literature. To the venerable fathers of this society every student of theology owes a large debt of gratitude. Their labours have preserved, in the correctest form, the most precious remains of Christian antiquity ; and, whether we con- sider the prodigious industry which they employed, their admirable judgment and critical knowledge, or the piety which gave life to their exertions, it is our duty to regard them as among the first and noblest contributors to the literary treasures of the Church catholic. But clearly as these circumstances were demonstra- tive of the existence of power and energy in various provinces of the Church of Rome, they were evidently confined to matters strictly ecclesiastical. At the very time when the riches and influence of the hierarchy were being employed to promote theological learning, the more general branches of knowledge lay prostrate beneath the darkest influence. 7'here had long been signs of a new life discernible by those who were dwell- ing perpetually on the mysteries of science. In Eng- land, happily, the philosopher was free to proclaim aloud what chang-es he discovered, what new worlds of truth were dawning upon him as he stood upon his watch-tower. But wherever Rome could exert unlimited sway, he heard himself warned to repress the ardour of his search, or the joy of his new acquisitions. When the friendly intimation was not taken, excommunication from the Church, and the horrors of a dungeon, were the immediate fruits of his genius and temerity.* Gas- * Galileo was in his TOtli year summoned before the Inquisition at Rome, and finally oliliged to purchase his liberty at the expense of truth. Bacon says, " It is tnie that divers great learned men have been heretical whilst they have souglit to fly up to the secrets of the Deity by the waxen wings of the senses ; and as for the conceit that too much knowledge should incline a man to atheism, and that the ignorance of second causes should make a more devout de])endcnce upon God, who is the first cause, fii'st, it is good to ask the ((uestion which Job asked of his friends, ' \^^ill you lie for God, as one man will do for another, to gratify him V For certain it is that God worketh nothing in nature but by second' causes ; and if they would have it CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 481 sendi and Des Cartes lived under better auspices, and though they laboured at the develo{3ment of two sys- tems, beginning from opposite points, their powerful intellects gave a common impulse to high and free in- quiry. Neither could properly be considered the friend of absolutism in theology or the Church. Gassendi referred for his principles to the knowledge which the senses and positive observation may confer. His great rival, on the other hand, started witli the assertion tliat, at first, we can believe in nothing. However these elements of the two systems might be reconciled to religion by clear and strong-sighted men of piety, with those of inferior capacity, with the popular mind at large, they could only appear in the most hostile form, and did doubtless draw off a vast multitude of men, of every rank and degree, from the service of the Church. England felt at this time, as much as any country, the dangerous influence of learning and philosophy, ill digested or understood. Hobbes concentrated with- in himself most of the literary energies as well as notions of his age. Bacon had taught him to inquire and reason ; but he had imbibed none of the grandeur, none of the amenities of that great man's spirit. His system tended to deprive mankind of whatever blessings they may derive on earth from just views of temporal government, and of every good which they may look for in heaven as beings spiritual and immortal. The most remarkable feature in Bacon's system, in so far as it had any bearing upon the state of religious feeling or opinion, was its declared hostility to mere traditionary belief.* A visible change in men's habits of thinking otherwise believed, it is mere imposture, as it were in favour towards God, and nothing else but to offer to the author of truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie." — Advancement of Learning, book i. It was the forgetfulness or con- tempt of this truth which led to the persecution of the Tuscan sage. * Rursus vcro homines a progressu in scientiis detinuit, etfere incantavit reverentia antiquitatis, et virorum, qui in philosophia magni habiti sunt, auctoritas, atque deinde consensus. De antiquitate autem opinio, quam homines de ipsa fovent, ncgligens omnino est, et vix verbo ipsi congrua. Mundi enim senium et gi-andaevitas pro antiquitate vcre habenda sunt ; quae temporibus nostris tribui debcnt, non juniori tetati mundi, qualis apud antiquos fuit. Ilia enim aetas, respectu nostri, antiqua et major; respectu mundi ipsius, nova et minor fuit. Atque rcvera quemadmodum majorem VOL. III. I I 482 HISTORY OF THi: CHURCH [cHAP. IX. followed its establishment. Those who wisely confined their application of his rules to the objects for which they were designed, advanced rapidly in the paths of true philosophy ; but others who felt that they had acquired new power and independence of thought, and who yielded to all the proud temptations which thence arose within them, soon lost sight of the real intentions of their master ; and most of the second-rate minds which gave themselves up to study soon became more con- spicuous for their bold or ingenious arguments on the side of infidelity, than for any success in the cultivation of science or sound literature. Hence England set the most conspicuous example of the association of men of letters with unbelief and irreligion. Toland, Rochester, Shaftesbury, and others, drew away with them hosts of those efi'eminate minds which the mingled corruptions of revolution, and of the court of a monarch without wis- dom or principle, had prepared for every thing that is base. But ever highly favoured by heaven, continually de- livered by the goodness of God from impending ruin, England soon after gave birth to many of the noblest champions that religion and genuine philosophy have at any time know^n. Locke and Boyle were bound by no ecclesiastical interests to advocate the cause of piety, but they employed the best strength of their minds in its sup- port. In the course of a short time a galaxy of the bright- est spirits that ever engaged in such a controversy shone forth on the side of the gospel. But the necessity of defending it against literary men and philosophers tended to give a peculiar character to English theolo- gians. In an age of strife it is dangerous to jneld to impulse, or to allow the heart to pour out its thoughts without arrangement, or as the fruit of convictions merely experimental and personal. Yet it is the free- renim liumanai-um notitiam, et matui-his judiciiuii, ab homiiie sene expec- tamus, quam a jiivcne, propter cxpericiitiain, ct rerum, quasvidit, et audivit, et cogitavit, varietatcm ct copiam ; eodem modo et a nostra aetate (si vires suas nossetj et cxpcriri et iiitcndere vellet) majora multo quam a priscis temporibus expectari par est : utpote setate muiidi grandiore, et infiuitia experimentis et observationibus aucta et cumulata. — Novum Organura, lib. I., sec. Ixxxiv. CENT. XVI.-XVII.J FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 483 dom of doing this that has in every age constituted the chief happiness of minds equally great and religious. They have ever delighted, and been ready, to speak their first thoughts, to describe their deepest impressions, because it was in them that they experienced most powerfully the presence and w^orkings of the heavenly Spirit. Hence the charm of style, of thought and feeling, in so many of the older divines; hence the almost ini- mitable simplicity of their profoundest expressions, lead- ing so readily to the conviction, that they were indeed speaking not only truly of, but really in, the kingdom of heaven. All this can be but imperfectly seen in v/riters who, though full of grace themselves, are perpetually surrounded by declared enemies of the faith. True it is, that even among those whom necessity has driven into long and bitter controversy, some will be found whose few hours of quiet and retired devotion were sufficient to show how ardent a spirit of love reigned within, an{l prompted the best expi'ession of their thoughts. But, looking at the more striking features of English theology during the period alluded to, it is evident that contro- versy had a large share in giving them that peculiar and decided character, that sharpness and exactness of outline, for which they are remarkable. Considering the state of the Church and country, not only at the time spoken of, but through subsequent ages, it is a cause of thankfuless that the learning and genius of theolo- gians were subjected to so stern an influence. By the discipline with which they thence became familiar, they were prepared for every species of encounter; and infi- delity learnt to tremble at the forces with which the English Church could, at any moment, come forth and repel its attacks. The sacrifice of those graces which belong to periods in which the devout mind may pour out its treasures unopposed, was great and painful. But it was demanded by the character and peculiar dan- gers of the century ; and though we still, perhaps, suffer somewhat from the necessity tlius engendered, and feel that the suspicion of peril, perhaps imaginar}'^, often deprives us of the better fruits of genius and erudition, there are many very obvious reasons why we should I I 2 484 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IX, rejoice in the staid and circumspect character which still pertains to the more conspicuous divisions of our national theology. Political changes had throughout the seventeenth cen- tury a powerful influence on the state of religious insti- tutions. France and Germany, and Italy itself, aftbrded ample proofs of this. But in no country was it more evident than in England. The Revolution of 1688, while it delivered both Church and State from immeasurable and untold ills, was necessarily attended with some cir- cumstances not a little distressing to men of high feel- ing and eminent piety. There were those who could abhor the duplicity of James, who felt no less anxious than others to preserve the Church from the invasions and corruptions of Romanism, but who found it impos- sible to persuade themselves that the Revolution had freed them from their oath of allegiance to the banished monarch. At the head of these stood Archbishop San- croft, who, together with the saint-like Kenn, and six other prelates, preferred the surrender of power and dignity to the violation of a supposed duty. A party formed in the strength of such convictions and sacrifices could not but exercise for a time considerable influence. The non-juring clergy had a claim upon the sympathy and respect of their strongest opponents, and it is only to the merciful providence of God that we can ascribe the preservation of the Church from the evils of permanent schism. The Savoy Conference, in 1661, and the passing of the Act of Unifonnity, had inspired dissenters from the Church with feelings of hostility, which it was in vain to hope that time or custom could suppress. William III, gladly availed himself of the power of conciliating so large a body of his subjects. The Act of Toleration, passed soon after his accession, set them free from the oppression against which they had such just cause to complain. But though thus much was done on the side of government to restore tranquillity, it had but partial success. Sects and parties strove against each other with undiminished zeal. Melancholy instances were daily aflbrded of the horrible fanaticism of antinomian CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 485 teachers, of the daring- pretensions of others to new lights, and of the weakness and folly of multitudes who allowed themselves to be deluded by their aj3peals.* But neither was the Church itself exempt from the agitation of controversy. There were many among the clergy who had been brought up among Presbyterians, and who, however faithful to their profession, could not be induced to regard those who were orthodox in their creed as enemies of religion, or as deserving of the violent censures frequently heaped upon them. These tolerant sentiments were not concealed, and their ex- pression led to disputes, in the course of which some of the latitudinarians doubtless adopted a line of argument which justified their opponents in describing them by so suspicious a title. The existence of two parties in the Church, the one professing Calvinistic and the other Arminian doctrines, has often been spoken of in a tone of surprise. But how little reason there is for astonish- ment tliat such should be the case, appears at once from a review of the events which have influenced the state and character of the Church since its reformation. It * Among those who preserved, amid all the temptations of the day, a pure and earnest morality, the Quakers are eminently consincuous. They oflFered, even when under the tyranny of fanatical feelings, an example of clear- sightedness, in respect to common duties and virtues, which might have shamed the most calm and prudent of other n-ligious hodies. Their views were visionary on almost every point. The following is the account given by them of baptism and the communion : "As there is one Lord and one faith, so there is one baptism, which is not the puttmg away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience before God, hy the resur- rection of Jesus Christ. And this baptism is a pure and spiritual thing, to wit, the baptism of the spirit and fire, by which we are buried with him, that, being washed and purged fi-om our sins, we may walk in newness of life, of which the baptism of John was a figure, which was commanded for a time, and not to continue for ever. As to the baptism of infants, it is a mere human tradition, for which no precept or practice is to be found in scripture." Again, concerning the communion : " Tlie communion of the body and blood of Christ is inward and spiritual, which is the partici- pation of his flesh and blood, by which the in\\-ard man is daily nourished in the hearts of those in whom Christ dwells ; of which things the break- ing of bread by Christ with his disciples was a figure, which they even used in the Ciiurch for a time who had received the substance, for the cause of the weak, even as abstaining from things strangled, and from blood ; the washing one another's feet, and the anointing of the sick with oil ; all which are commanded with no less authority and solemnity than the fonner ; yet seeing they tare but the shadows of better things, they cease in such as have obtained the substance.'' George Fox began his work in 1647. In 1685 they had the protection of the com-t, and were led and taught by the admirable WUliam Penn. I I 3 4 86 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IX. is scarcely conceivable, that, while a vast number of its clergy were from age to age in constant intercourse with the divines of foreign churches, professedly Cal- vinistic, they should themselves have remained altogether anti-Calvinistic. Equally difficult M'ould it be to under- stand how their views and sentiments should, even when most predominant, have destroyed the liberty of the rest of the clergy to form their own views of a subject which the Church itself had left in the indefi- niteness of its proper mystery. The controversy in which Hoadly, at a somewhat later period, took so remarkable a part, was but the result of notions that had long been fostered among certain members of the Church. With men who had possessed no scholarship, or whose minds had wanted the balance which inter- course with the world gives even to fanaticism, the views of the bishop of Bangor would have assumed a very different form, and led to events of a more deplor- able character. The state of religion on the Continent exhibited most of the features, though less distinctly formed, which distinguished the principal parties in England. In the Lutheran Church the coldness which so often succeeds to extraordinary fervour and activity had prevailed from the beginniug of the century. Arndt and Spener re- infused new life into its theology. Then followed the mystic Gottfried Arnold, and other men of the same class, who in due time yielded their place to speculatists of another kind, — to those whose wish it was not to find how deep the waters of divine mysteries are, but how shallow ; not how mighty a support revelation may be made to carry the human soul in its flight towards heaven, but how revelation itself may be brought to a level with whatever is common, palpable and earthly. The conflicts between the Lutheran and reformed churches were beheld with grief by moderate men in every country. Meetings were held from time to time, under the auspices of princes anxious to employ their interest and authority for the restoration of peace. The name of Durseus, like tijose of Calixtus and Matthiee, will ever remain dear to the lovers of peace. But efforts CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 487 both public and private, were alike made in vain ; and a striking instance was added to many others, of the fact, that the only safe way of creating the difficulties attend- ing controversy is to prove to the disputants, not that they are wrong in doctrine, but that they are responsible for all those interests of Christ'sChurch and people, which depend upon the cultivation of a peaceful and loving spirit. When the symbolical books were allowed to be treated with disregard, no barrier continued to exist against that flood of novelties, and infidel imaginations, which so soon after rushed down upon tlie German churches. Those of Switzerland, far from preserving the character originally impressed upon them, were not tardy in yielding to the bad influence of the age. The disputes which originated witli Amyraut and De la Place, on the subject of original and imputed sin, first shook the faith of man}'- of the Swiss communion in the infal- libility of their early doctors. Thus the way was opened for a new mode of treating theological questions. They were no longer referred immediately to some few acknowledged and well-defined principles. Argument, even on the side of truth, will often prove the parent of doubt. The Swiss churches gradually declined in severity of character ; and though the opinions of the innovators were formally condemned, they continued to gain ground, and at last left Geneva with but few and faint traces that Calvin or Beza had ever been. Connected in profession with Geneva were the churches of the Vaudois. Instead of being tried like so many other religious communities, at this time, by the dangers of prosperity, the inhabitants of the valleys were subjected to the worst terrors of persecution. The duke of Savoy allowed himself to be made the instru- ment of Rome for the destruction of his subjects. In the year 1655, an order was issued which expelled numerous f^imilies from their poor but peaceful homes, and that in the midst of the severity of winter. After various renewals of this attack upon them, another great persecution broke out in the year 1685. From this and subsequent attempts at their destruction, they sought refuge in Switzerland. But the Swiss saw reason to • I I 4 488 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IX. fear that, by giving shelter to the subjects of the duke of Savoy, they might involve themselves in endless wars. The unfortunate Waldenses were therefore obliged to seek another home ; and, after encountering numerous hardships, obtained at length permission to settle themselves in the states of Wurtenburg. It M as during the seventeenth century that the science of biblical criticism becfan to be understood and valued at its duo price. Buxtorf published his Rabbinical Bible in 1 619, and in the following year his Tiberias. The dis- covery of the Samaritan Pentateuch gave a powerful impulse to the growing taste for this species of learning. Ludovicus Capellus, Erpenius and Morinus entered the field together, and the examination of the Hebrew text became the chief occupation of some of the greatest men of the day. The celebrated Critica Sacra of Capellus was published in 1G50. It assailed in the strongest manner Buxtorf's belief in the Integrity of the received text. An answer was made to this work by the younger Buxtorf, but in too bold a style to be free from considerable errors. These were clearly shown by Walton in his learned Prolegomena ; and the way was thus prepared for those noble triumphs in biblical criticism of which the Church at large has ever since continued to reap the benefit.* Greater efforts were made at an earlier period towards multiplying correct copies of the New Testament. But so little was really understood of the methods to be adopted for this purpose, that even the imperfect Elze- vir edition did not appear before the year 1 624. Wal- ton's Polyglot was published in 1657.t About twenty * Van (Icr Hoooht's Bible was published in 170.5 at Amsterdam, Houbi- pant's at Paris in 1753, and the first volume of Dr. Kennicott's at Oxford in 1776. t Walton began his work in the midst of the troubles to which the civil wars exposed him and his brethren. Cum igitur munere publico mihi inter Ecclesiaj filios minimo, ut antea fungi non licerct, diu mecum anxieque cogitavi quomodo in tanta animorum contentione partiumque studiis scissie et laceratse Ecclesiae ita inservire possem ut doctis et piis omnibus gratum, illorum vero censuris qui nobis invitis hac otia fecerunt hand obnoxium alicjuid pra>ferrem, quod adversariorum calumnias abstergere qui nomina nostra ut iinjiroba ejecerunt, ct opprobrium ab Israele tollere posset; cum- que oninilius incumbat quos ad sacram militiaui cvocavit Dominus, ut contra terrse filios et tenebrarum potentiam sacrum oraculorum snorum dcpositum CENT. XVl.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 489 years later appeared an edition of the Greek Testament, by Dr. Fell, bishop of Oxford. This presented a num- ber of improvements on every former edition ; and the pious editor had sufficient zeal to propose, immediately after, the preparation of another, which sliould be still more acceptal3le to the learned. This task he commit- ted to Dr. Mill, from whose time churchmen of every country have become daily more convinced of the in- estimable benefit conferred upon them by these early labourers in the field of criticism. In the interval between the period described in this volume, and that in which we are now living, events have taken place exhibiting by turns the value and the weakness, the comparative security and danger, of the best established principles, and the most powerful insti- tutions. But during the greater part of this interval, churches and sects were contented to enjoy the position they had gained. Whatever of inward life existed in the few, who loved to brood upon the grander objects and purposes of their faith, the generality of men sought no higher meaning in religion, and seemed to take no greater interest in its concerns, than such as might be suggested to their minds by the bare performance of duty, or rendered necessary as a collateral protection of their rights and liberties. So long as an order of.men exists, whose peculiar function it is to minister about holy things, the page of ecclesiastical history will never want materials. But the nature of those materials is vastly different in different periods ; and, while in some instances the loss of the record of a day would be felt as a misfortune, in others the annals of half a century can scarcely be regarded as adding in anywise to the treasures of experience. The revival of strong religious sentiments, the re- awakening of slumbering convictions, is generally at- sai-tum tectum pro virili tueantiir, niliil magis opportunum vidcbatur quam ad Dei honorem et Ecclesiae commodum in Sacrorum Codicum textibus authenticis una cum versioiiibus antiquis ub Ecclesiii approbatis cdendis quantum fieri possit puris ct incorniptis operam collocare ; pra?scrtim cum non desint qui Vei'bum Divinum ilectuut, torquent, et pro arbitrio corrum- punt, vel in totum rejiciunt, blaspliemant, et ut litteram mortuam explo- dunt impostores nequissimi. — Excerpta e Preefatioue. 490 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IX. tended with circumstances calculated to excite suspicion, and render inquiry more than usually necessary. A friend returning after many years of absence may, at first, apjDcar so changed in countenance as to awaken a moment's doubt of his identity. Dispute is therefore almost unavoidably the accompaniment of a new and sudden attention to any long-neglected class of duties. The present age is singularly characterized as making a bold effort, not to introduce systems of its own, or the necessity of which it has itself first perceived, but to try how far it can bow the proud spirit of the world to what it has long been taught, but forgotten, or despised. The connection between many of the events described in these volumes and the movement of our own days may readily be traced. Some of the principles wrought into the very texture of our institutions will now by many be for the first time recognized. Trees are not planted for the planter but for his posterity. So also may we understand how much is ordered to be done in all things which concern the Church, not for their sakes who do them, but for very distant times. To examine carefully into the ex- tent and nature of our inheritance is an obvious duty. Every age, probably, loses much by its omissions in this respect. The CImrch of Christ violates its very faith by such neglect. One generation has, at no period, been allowed to labour for itself alone ; nor can any generation therefore depend safely upon what it can effect by its own advantages or ability. Yet is there danger in all these things. We are as likely to ascribe too much as too little to the operations and authority of the past. It depends upon the mood of our age whether we incline to the one side or the other. In either case the great corrective must be an appeal to independent truth, and the clear analogies of Christian faith ; and private in- terpretation, however earnest and fascinating, must be submitted to the judgment that is essentially and evidently catholic. The controversies of different periods have an impor- tance, varying in degree, not merely according to the nature of the subjects disputed, but according to the CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 491 State of the community in the midst of which the con- troversy has arisen. There are times in which ques- tions of highest interest may be started, and excite little attention among the people, and when, conse- quently, a good deal of bold reasoning may be indulged in, and the combatants on each side may pursue their lines of thought into perilous regions of speculation, without exciting alarm, or, in reality, endangering any thing whatever that depends upon a sober and settled tone of public feeling. But there are seasons when con- troversy will be dangerous, not simply on account of the delicate nature of the matters discussed, but from the readiness of the popular mind to seize upon every point suggested as furnishing motives for interference with the most sacred mysteries. Periods characterized as enlightened, periods when knowledge, whether superficial or otherwise, is widely diffused, are eminently those when men of thought and piety will be especially careful not to provoke disputes on sacred themes, lest unhallowed lips should speak of heavenly things. But great controversies, as they are not the offspring of individual conceit, so neither are they under the control of private will or discretion. When once awakened, all that good men can do is to throw into the turbid stream the tranquillizing and sweetening elements of their own earnestness and pure love of truth. The origin of the religious movement, which at pre- sent excites so great an alarm, has been fairly and ex- plicitly stated.* Bat we must go farther if we would explain how it is that the controversy, commenced by the publication of a few tracts, has assumed a character which renders it by far the most important that this country has witnessed since the dawn of the Reformation. In order to do this, we must consider the state of things, the new order of feeling, commencing near the period at which this history closes. We shall then see that the people were gradually allowed to become unconscious of the existence of an ecclesiastical government, and that the clergy, while apparently ignorant of their functions, * Sec Mr. Pcrciyal's Collccti<;)n of Papers. 492 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IX. seemed to want almost every help and stimulant which a church, as such, could render for the encouragement of individual exertion. A political union affords its members a far stronger feeling of common strength, far deeper and more enlivening sentiments, arising from the oneness of the body of which they are parts, and its distinctness from the rest of the world, than did tlie Church during the sad period of its lassitude and inactivity. Thus the people finding themselves left to their own will to think and choose what, with every change of mood, they guessed might be right, and the clergy losing continually more and more of the holy sense of commu- nion, there was throughout the land a rampant spirit of sectarianism ; of sectarianism not confined to the open separation of those who dissented from the Church's doctrines or discipline, but, which was infinitely worse, exhibiting itself in the pride of the clergy, who prac- tically dared to boast of their independence not less tlian dissenters themselves, undertaking to determine what they would do and what they would not do, in the very face of the injunctions which they had solemnly promised to obey. To so fearful a degree had this feel- ing spread, that by far the larger proportion of the order had evidently forgotten for what they had been separated from tlie world, and according to what principle they were permitted to be partakers of the altar. Thus the clergy themselves became the worst sectarians this country has ever seen. That they upheld a system under which they were provided with a certain revenue ; that they readily signed and re-signed the articles, and were never heard to open their mouths against the liturgy ; that on all occasions vast numbers might be found pre- pared to speak largely of orthodoxy and high-church principles, lightens but little the gravamen of the charge. The priests of a false religion, knowing it to be false, would do just the same from liabit or interest. But if there be a communion of saints, and if there be one spirit only animating that blessed society, the guilt of sectarianism may evidently be incurred though there be no outward separation. And, again, if there be a church, which is the household of Christ, and the clergy CENT. XVI.-XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 493 be ministers of the same, and, therefore, intrusted as stewards with heavenly mysteries, and endowed not merely with authority, but also made partakers of espe- cial grace, and, notwithstanding all this, be found con- tinually in the world, and apart from the household ; the very livery of the great Master thrown off; the blessed sympathies of the family lost to their hearts ; the holy ties of God's house broken ; then are they the very worst of separatists ; nor can any species of sectarianism equal theirs in enormity. Nor can there be any fear of our falling into the error, when thus speaking, of charging this guilt on those who only fail in the want of a certain degree of fervour. The offence of the clergy was a visible and palpable one ; such a one as every man of common sense might understand without pretending to any acute- ness of spiritual vision. It was next to impossible that the absence of a common principle in the feelings and con- duct of the clergy, as so many brothers, should be hidden from the world ; and surely it was equally impossible that any man, accustomed to turn over the leaves of his prayer-book, should fail to discover, that these ministers of religion had set up their own opinions as to what was expedient, in the place of humbly submitting themselves to the teaching of the Church. It is quite conceivable that, in cases where the inter- pretation of a rule rests with the conscience, the appli- cation may be so difficult as to deter a benevolent mind from determining the case, lest charity might be injured in the judgment : but the principles and requirements of the Church are so well known, so plainly set forth in a variety of forms, that offences committed against them are not less definable than those of which men may be guilty against the design and laws of temporal institutions. Numberless proofs exist of this state of the clergy for many years preceding the movement of which we are speaking. The want of a literature springing from and fostered by the Church, is among others a striking illustration of the fact alluded to. There was no sub- jection of individual characters and tempers to one spirit and rule, and therefore no force, the result of 494 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IX. concentration. The Church, in its days of health, has ever been the nurse of thought, and has brought to perfection more of the products of mind than the world can do with its mightiest efforts, and at the expense of all its intellectual treasures. But what did the Church produce ? what minds did it foster ? what fruits of gracious inquiry could it show, during the period to which we allude ? Throughout almost the whole of that season it enjoyed extraordinary repose ; facilities for every species of exertion ; but what was done ? what was said, or written ? There were two societies then in existence, the one opening the way to those whose sym- pathies might animate them to missionary labours ; the other inviting to active exertion those who desired to imbue the minds of their own people with a holy love of knowledge. And what was effected ? Let the admirable men who are now working those two great engines of good answer. They are cautious, and charitable towards all of their order, and will not easily be persuaded to say what they think on the subject : but others know, and are not backward to declare, that in these instances as in so many others, there was a plain proof afforded of the want of union among the clergy ; of the ex- istence, that is, of a sectarian spirit in the body which, in its state of health, has been found to be capable of producing the noblest fruits of mind, as well as of holiness. In the midst of this age of languor and wretchedness, men arose, qualified in a remarkable manner for the work which they undertook. The people had fallen into the lowest stage of apathy. Their views of divine truth were without power or vitality ; and unless it be supposed that souls are saved, in whatever condition they actually remain, if they be but within reach of the Church's blessing, millions must at this period have been left, by the very negligence of the clergy, in a state of ruin. We have not here to discuss what were the errors of those good men whom God, we doubt not, sent forth with the everlasting gospel to deliver at this time both our Church and nation from impending destruction. That they were guilty of some grievous errors can CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 495 hardly be denied ; but who else that had seen what they saw, and felt what they felt, would have been guilty of so few ? A change, however, was produced which added another to the many dangers with which our Church had now to contend. That was supplied by eccentric means and channels which the people had for ages been looking for in vain from the Church itself. Nothing hardly could be more absurd than the hope that, by reiterating warnings of the danger of schism, the anxious hearers of the gospel could be brought back to those who had neither preached the gospel, nor shown their respect for the services which the Church itself had enjoined them to perform. There were some who had been hungering and thirsting after knowledge, and could obtain no nourishment, no counsel, no sym- pathy, no instruction in vital godliness ; there were others who wanted something to employ their affections, and give them religious enjoyment even before they could distinctly understand the clear truth itself. The Church in its happier state had well known how to supply all these several claimants on her parental love ; but when it failed to do so, and there was even an appearance of a supply from other sources, the common instincts of men's hearts drove them to seek it, and to persevere in their search, however often disappointed or deceived. It was not at once that the clergy profited by the lesson thus taught them. For a considerable time they proudly insisted on the sin of those who forsook them, but made no effort to correct the abuses which had crept into their system, or to prove their genuine ab- horrence of schism by a more spiritual and perfect union between themselves and the Church. This was not the plan to be pursued. It made things worse. The people began to think that the Church was a word, and nothing more. Instead of seeing the clergy, as a body, returning with humble and penitent zeal to their long-neglected duties, to a real conformity with the positive injunctions, and the spirit of the Church's institutions and provisions for the sanctifying of the 496 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IX. nation, they beheld them occupied almost solely in an anxious, fretful, business-like way about defending their temporal rights and privileges, appearing to be far more troubled at the prospect of what might take place in regard to the wealth of the Church than as to any thing which respected the good of the Church itself. By God's wonderful grace, it was not thus with all. The melancholy discovery that had been made of the decline of spiritual religion ; the startling warnings that had pealed from one end of the kingdom to another, rousing vast multitudes of men of every variety of cha- racter, wrought their full effect on the minds of some of the clergy. They wept, as worthy ministers of Christ could not fail to do, over the sins of their brethren. It was impossible to deny that the people had been left untaught ; that the sheep and lambs of Christ had been left unfed. And wliat was now to be done ? Was a quarrel to be taken up against those who were every- where convincing sinners that they were sinners ? Were they, who felt the infinite importance of awakening men to a consideration of the gospel, not to employ themselves to the same end ? Were they not to be zea- lous in securing the advantage, already truly gained, though gained by methods not strictly in accordance with many of their views? They had not forgotten the question, "Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" and seeing as they did that the life and substance of religion had been allowed to fall a prey to formalism, and to the deceitful notion that to a church reformed and national it could not be said, " I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art dead:" — Seeing this, they roused all their energies to the supplying of that which they believed to be more immediately required. They saw, that men, as members of the national church, were perishing for lack of the Word of God, faithfully and full}^ preached ; that thousands had forgotten whatever concerned them as members of Christ ; that the most awful ignorance or indifference prevailed respecting both redemption and sanctification ; and that if the living voices of con- fession, prayer and thanksgiving, were ever again to be CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 497 heard in the Church, the gospel must be first preached with a clearness and force that might prevail, as in earlier times, to arouse men to repentance and a con- viction of their peril. And this was the work which the preachers, called evangelical, nobly undertook, and as nobly persevered in executing. Far different were they in character and conduct from fanatics or mere pretenders to holiness. In their faithful obedience to the heavenly calling, they had to encounter every species of obloquy, and in many respects, the heavier inflictions of persecution. But, by God's grace, they succeeded in convincing the nation, that there were truths in the gospel, which, rightfully acknowledged, might speedily impart new warmth and vigour to theChurch; and thatwhile, in the first instance, the conversion of multitudes was effected, in the next, there might be looked for the revival of principles, which no wise or faithful minister of the Church, would willingly see reduced to a mere name or shadow. It is the common result of great efforts, made in alarming exigencies, that every thing is lost sight of but the single object of immediate interest. If ever this yielding to human infirmity was pardonable, it was so in the case of the evangelical clergy, towards the beginning of this century ; for the one object which they allowed to engross their attention, and blind them, for the moment, to other considerations, was of all others the sublimest and the most important. But, allowing this, we approach a period far from calculated to confirm the hopes that sanguine minds had formed. The deep, fervent spirit of devotion to the gospel remained confined to a few. It did not set on fire the hearts and souls of the clergy at large. There was no general revival. But, sad to say, there seems to have been the formation of a party to which many joined themselves who partook either in no degree, or in a very small one indeed, of the simple, honest, noble devotedness of the earlier evangelical clergy. In some cases it was mere temper ; in others, the opportunity of easily securing notoriety: in others, the possession of VOL. III. K K 408 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [CHAP. IX. ability to preach in a certain tone and manner, that led to the increase of the new school. And what could be expected from a party thus formed ? The leaders in the great religious movement, which liad roused men from their slumbers, might be excused for confining themselves to certain main truths. They had yielded, in doing so, to an apparent necessity. The consequences of injuring discipline could not, in their anxious minds, be weighed against those which had followed the long neglect of souls. But their suc- cessors were placed in a very different position. They had not the same difficulties to contend with, nor the same overpowering impulses and excitements. There was time given them to prove all things; to consider well what helps were required, besides their own preach- ing, to the edifying of the body of Christ; and how they might best fulfil their duty in respect both to the Church of which tliey were ministers, and to the Lord, the head of the Church catholic. Instead, however, of taking advantage of these their improved circumstances, they still continued to leave out of sight the important fact, that they were organs of a church whose functions are eminently ministerial ; and that whatever degree of vigour or power they pos- sessed, it was the peculiar property of the Church. The neglect of this consideration fostered, imperceptibly, a new feeling of independence ; permitted the notion of a separation of interests between different classes in the Church ; set a premium upon boldness of expression, upon an affected superiority to ordinances, and on what- ever could tend to make the clergy feel like separatists, except as they might please, according to their tastes and notions, to enter into new associations among them- selves. Many men of undoubted piety and ability were carried away by the fashions of thought and opinion thus created ; and the recognition of the Church and its ordinances, and of the importance of the communion, which is its synonyme, became fainter and fainter every day. At length, to such a fearful extent did error on this CENT. XVI. -XVII.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 499 matter begin to prevail, that the mention of the Church in a tone of submission, of affectionate reverence for its dictates, of ready accordance with its positive injunc- tions, as well as general principles, was regarded as a sign of the want of evangelical faith ; of spiritual-mind- edness ; of the love of Christ; of every thing, in short, which most obviously characterizes a true believer in the gospel. The sacraments shared the fate of the Church, and a felt and acknowledged trust in their efficacy was regarded as still stronger evidence of the absence of what belongs to true conversion. But the effect of this laxity of feeling respecting Church union, and obedience to its principles, did not cease here. It was natural for the people to conclude that they were at liberty to treat lightly what the clergy themselves but little regarded. The Church itself, therefore, being rarely spoken of; few efforts being- made to set forth its glories, its spiritual beauty; the wonderful value of its ordinances, and especially the sacraments, as channels of grace ; and still less any attempt to give rightful views of the ministerial func- tions, their origin and authoritative nature ; it was no wonder that the people began to think it of little con- sequence what teachers they heard, so that they did but feel interested and affected by their discourses. Hence the way to dissent was prepared by the clergy themselves. Some were satisfied with keeping silence on the many important themes proper for the instruc- tion of people in communion with the Church ; others made a show of their indifference to its claims, and almost intimated that they considered themselves and others increasing in spirituality according to their dis- regard of church government, church rules, clmrch principles, and church ordinances. It was thus almost forced upon the people, that they not only might but ought to leave the Church whenever they unhappily felt a distaste for the preaching of the clergy. There was so little difference, it seemed, between the Church and a sect, that even a very slight degree of superiority in the preaching of a dissenter over that of a church- K K 2 500 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IX. man was sufficient to turn the scale in favour of sepa- ration. But while such was the state of things in respect to the evangelical clergy, the views and conduct of those who composed tlie opposite party in the Church were no less favourable to schism. It is notorious that many of them did, in their preaching, mention, but rarely or coldly, the leading doctrines of the gospel ; that though they contended loudly for church supremacy, thc}^ acted as if at liberty to set at nought whatever interfered with their own ease or leisure ; and that however earnest they pretended to be for the Church's view of the sacra- ments, they neglected, in the grossest way, to instruct the people as to their real use and efficacy. Now, if there was grievous error in the conduct of the former party, there was sin of the worst kind in that of the latter. The terms " high church" and " low church" have something in them grossly absurd, when viewed in reference to the conduct of either of these parties. Both were at variance with the Church ; both violated their duty towards her ; the only diiference between them being, that vast numbers of those who professed most zeal for her interests added largely to their mea- sure of guilt, in respect to the Church, by sinning against the gospel itself. This was clearly perceived by those who felt strongly on religious subjects. They could not but shrink with abhorrence from men who, bearing the title of ministers of Christ, neither preached his doc- trines nor exhibited the graces of his Spirit. With persons thus feeling, it was an even chance whether they sought out some evangelical preacher in the Church, or, in their deep disgust, plunged at once into the vortex of dissent, rejoicing to get as far as possible from the control of men who seemed so dead to the interests of holiness and humanity. Unhappily for us, much of the evil has existed up to our own days, and has been kept up in a way, and by instruments, very similar to those seen in its earlier stages. We say, similar, because there has been a slight modification on both sides. The neglect of doctrine, on the one hand, did not continue to be of CENT. XVI.-XVIT.] FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 501 that reckless kind which it once was ; the Church, on the other, began occasionally to be mentioned with a tone of afl'ectionateness which gave momentary hopes that her maternal character was becoming better known. But was it to be supposed that men of thoughtful minds, skilled to observe, and inspired with a generous zeal, would patiently wait the slow growth of conviction in a few, while multitudes were left, and seemed destined to be left, to all the blighting influences of error and disorder? The hour, in fact, had at length arrived when the religious feelings, the learning and powerful sympathies which had been silently fostered among such men, were to burst forth, and find, according to circum- stances, what expression they could. To the infinite credit of the University of Oxford, theological studies had imbued most of its members with a sentiment of respect for sacred literature almost peculiar to them- selves. It was on this side, therefore, that if any move- ment should take place in favour of the Church it might be expected to commence. The expectation was natural, and events proved it well founded. An appeal reached the ears of the clergy which startled most of them, because, though founded on truths which ought to have been familiar to them as their mother-tongue, it had from long disuse a novel sound. The threatening aspect of the times, and the manifested indifference of those who ought to have most readily expressed their accord- ance and their gratitude, combined to provoke a feeling which mingled as a new element in the generous zeal at first awakened. The faithful warning, the brotherly exhortation, the simple exhibition of church principles, now became associated with speculation and controversy ; and more was insisted upon than, even in a very active and vigorous condition of the Church, could have been wisely urged without so much as time being given for the indifferent churchman to consider what he was about. Nor were the subjects thus hastily brought forward unmixed with matters which it is hardly conceivable that members of the English Church would, at any period, regard in a spirit of complacency. An attack 502 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [cHAP. IX. was, at least seemingly, made on points which it had long- been believed it was only necessary to guard against declared enemies. Tilings were spoken of slightingly to which belonged associations that it was painful to find despised ; and in some important respects there was a doubt cast upon views of doctrine which most sound, pious and zealous churchmen considered as exhibiting the real sense of the Church's faith. What then has been the consequence of all this ? A movement and a controversy pregnant with the most important results to the religious state of this country! There are many reasons urging even humble and re- tiring men to take part in the contest. But enough has been related in the preceding narrative to prove, how easily the most valuable endowments may be wasted in dispute, and how still more easily habits may be formed that tend immediately to the fostering of rivalry and schism. And this is more necessary to be observed in an age like ours than in many otiiers. The oppo- sition to the Church, which consists in neglecting or despising its ordinances, is at once discovered ; and ardent and ingenuous minds shrink from it as equally base and irreligious. But it is not so, when the ten- dency is to outstrip the Church in the development and exhibition of opinion. Then the highest class of intel- lects, the best and purest minds, readily yield to the temptation, and may be led into opposition, or actual sectarianism, in their very affection to the Church, or enthusiasm for its principles. THE END. London: Printed by James ift Liikc J. Hausard, near Lincoln's- Inn Fields.