Fresh out break of the Quinquarticular disputes in England. suggest, moreover, that of those things which are established on the sure foundation of the Word of God, there are some, which ought not to be promiscuously inculcated upon all, but touched in the proper time and place with tenderness and judgment. One of them is the sublime mystery of Predestination, sweet indeed and most full of comfort, but to them who are rooted in the faith, and exercised in holy living; for to such alone should it commend itself as an unfailing bulwark in the grievous struggles of the conscience. But whenever the imprudence of certain preachers exposes this profound inquiry to men who have not learned as they ought the first principles of religion, and whose mind is still rioting in carnal affections, it follows as a necessary consequence that while they wrangle about the mysteries of predestination, they abandon the life-giving Gospel, while they dream of nothing else but their predestination unto life, they enter not upon the way eternal as marked out for the predestined. Still greater need of caution is there in approaching the mystery of reprobation, not only that it may be handled sparingly and prudently, but also that in the expounding of it the horrible and unscriptural opinions be avoided which lead rather to desperation than to the edification of the people, and which are now one of the most grievous scandals in some of the reformed Churches. Finally, let us so think of the most precious merit of Christ's death that we spurn not the opinions of the Early Church, nor the Confessions of the Reformed Communions, and what is of the highest moment, that we never weaken the promises of the Gospel universally propounded in the Church1.' It had been well for our own country, as for others, if the controversialists had hearkened to these sober counsels, and instead of inculcating their one-sided speculations on the nature of Divine decrees, had laboured to unfold the practical aspect of religion and its bearing upon human conduct. The return, however, of the deputies from Dort became the signal for still deeper agitation of the topics there discussed. 1 Suffragium Collegiale Synodo Dordrecht. pp. 103, 104, Lond. 1626. 'Already do we see the sky blacken,' was the language of Bishop Hall1, (himself one of the few mediators); 'we hear the winds whistle hollow afar off, and feel all the presages of a tempest, which the late example of our neighbours bids us fear.' One active school of English theologians eagerly espoused the tenets of Arminius, and gave vent to their unmeasured condemnation of the synod where those tenets were proscribed; another grew more clamorous in their advocacy of the wildest Calvinism; and though restrained from deeds of bloodshed which accompanied the suppression of the Dutch Remonstrants, it is scarcely possible to overstate the violence which they were breathing in all quarters. Every pulpit of the rural parishes, as well as of the towns, was now converted into an arena for extending perturbations which had hitherto been chiefly felt in Universities and schools. Some one or other of the 'Five Points' was chosen as the favourite text of the polemic preacher; and as often as he held the Calvinistic theory, which was frequently the case, he roused the strongest passions of his audience by associating the theological system of Arminius with the hated Babylonish harlot2; while the press, conspiring with the pulpit, inundated the whole country with a class of publications, which for coarseness, rancour and injustice have few equals even in the sickening pages of the Quinquarticular disputations. James 1. to The intemperance, not to say the frenzy, which pre- Attempt of dominated everywhere in the discussion of these questions, repress them. was enough to satisfy the King that his cooperation at 1 Dedication of the Via Media. 2 The House of Commons, who made their religious discontent a plea for political agitations, were manifesting the same spirit. The following specimen occurs in their remonstrance against the Duke of Buckingham: 'And as our fear concerning change of subversion of religion is grounded upon the daily increase of papists...so are the hearts of your good subjects no less perplexed, when with sorrow they be hold a daily growth and spreading Similar attempt of Charles I. the synod of Dort, had been the means of calling up a spirit of contention and disorder, which, if not allayed, might speedily embody itself in a political agitation, and might even shake him from his throne. Accordingly his next endeavour was to place a curb on the contending parties, and with this intention he despatched a letter to archbishop Abbot (August 4, 1622), deploring the abuses and extravagances of the pulpit, and charging him to circulate a series of Directions concerning Preachers' among the clergy of the southern province. One of these, which may be taken as a sample of the whole, was couched in the following terms: That no preacher of what title soever, under the degree of a bishop, or dean at least, do from henceforth presume to preach in any popular auditory the deep points of predestination, election, reprobation, or the universality, efficacy, resistibility or irresistibility of God's grace; but leave those themes to be handled by learned men, and that moderately and modestly, by way of use and application, rather than by way of positive doctrine, as being fitter for the schools and Universities than for simple auditories'.' But notwithstanding the fresh vigilance of the ecclesiastical authorities, who grew from day to day as weary as the King himself of fruitless agitations, and were scandalized by the indecent railing of their clergy,' royal orders and episcopal charges were alike inoperative; they were immediately forgotten, or deliberately ignored. When Charles I. succeeded to the throne in 1625, he found the Church of England groaning under evils which had been accumulating in the previous reigns, diverted from her mission by unedifying contests, and exhausted by the factions which had been engendered in her by the virulence 1 Wilkins, IV. 465. In the January following, Gabriel Bridges of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was prosecuted under this order for preaching against the theory of irrespective predestination. Heylin, Histor. Quinqu-Art. Part III. ch. XXII. § 10. 2 Almost the only fruit of it was visible in defections from the Church to Popery, Anabaptism, or other points of separation in some parts of this kingdom:' see 'Abbot's Letter explaining the above doctrines,' in Wilkins, IV. 466. He there Proclamation of party-spirit. Fully conscious of these evils, Charles of 1626: obeyed. In the Universities as well as in the principal towns imperfectly where copies of this edict were immediately distributed, it seems to have produced a great effect in silencing the hot and boisterous polemics; but a multitude of others in remoter parts of England, ready almost to identify the 'Institutio' of Calvin with the revelations of the Sacred Volume, instantly perceived that by such measures their own craft was seriously endangered, and their hopes of further reformation in the Church defeated or destroyed. The mutters of dissatisfaction were not long in reaching the ears of Laud; and it was obviously to check the ebullition of this temper, and oppose new barriers to the growth of a commotion which was soon to be the agent for precipitating the whole Church into the miseries of the Great Rebellion3, that 1 Their object might be in some measure to deliver Montague from his numberless assailants, among the rest from the House of Commons, who had established a Committee of Religion and undertaken the censorship of the theological press. See Le Bas, Life of Laud, pp. 87, 88. 2 Rushworth, I. 412. Many divines at that period were beginning to foresee the tendency of the Genevan teaching. In a letter to the Duke of Buckingham in 1625 from three of the bishops, it is affirmed that they cannot conceive what use there can be of civil government in the commonwealth, New edition of the Articles with the De fixed, 1628. pre King Charles was now advised to order a reprint of the Thirty-nine Articles, and in a preface to insist with greater stringency upon the execution of his recent edict. The advertisement or preface, which appears to have claration been settled at a conference with the bishops1, and has ever since retained its place in front of our Articles, under the title of 'His Majesty's Declaration,' was made public in 1628. Its general nature. After reminding the English people that he was the supreme Governor of the Church, and therefore was desirous of repressing all unnecessary disputations, he proceeds, with the advice of the bishops, to declare that the Articles of Religion contain true doctrine, and confirms them by his royal approbation. He then states, in the two following clauses, that differences respecting the external polity of the Church are to be settled by the clergy assembled from time to time in Convocation, and that from decisions of this body he will not endure any varying or departing in the least degree. On approaching the dissensions which had been ill raised' among the clergy, he or of preaching and external minis- 1 Prynne, in his Canterburie's counsels' and an earnest desire for peace is demonstrated by his private correspondence. Le Bas, Life, pp. 128, 129. 2 This clause aroused the special indignation of the puritan, Sir John Elliot: 'And now to the particular in the Declaration, we see what is said of Popery and Arminianism; our faith and religion is in danger by it, for like an inundation it doth break in at once upon us. It is said, If there be any difference of opinion concerning the seasonable interpretation of the Thirty-nine Articles, the bishops and clergy in the convocation have power to dispute it, and to order which way they please, and for aught I know, Popery and Arminianism may be introduced by them, and then it must be received by all: Rushworth, I. 649. |