yet another authority to alledge. The great and famous Dr. John Edwards, who flourished in the reigns of king William and queen Anne, and was both a member of the university of Cambridge, and one of its brightest ornaments, informs us, that there is a manufcript, preferved in the library of Trinity-college, Cambridge, which puts the certainty of Barrett's recantation beyond all doubt. The doctor's words are; "More of this nature, relating to Mr. Barrett's cafe, may be feen in that valuable manufcript, which is kept in Trinitycollege library, which MS. Mr. Strype, in his Life of Whitgift, very often appeals to. And" [adds the doctor] "from this excellent collection, may be confuted that groundlefs fuggeftion and conceit of Heylin, in Quinqu. Hift. that Barrett did not recant for here it is recorded at length; and several copies of his own" [i. e. Barrett's] "Letters, do exprefsly own as much." Veritas Redux, p. 535. For my own part, I cannot fay, that I approve the method of obliging any perfon to make a forced, pretended recantation of what he really believes to be true. It is a very high fpecies of perfecution; and calculated, not to work conviction, but to make men hypocrites. Befides, as a writer, of the first abilities, obferves, "The arbitrary impofition of opinions naturally creates a reluctance to the reception of them and as in the collifion of bodies, fo of minds, the repelling force is equal to that which impels." But ftill, the fact proves the univerfity to have been Calvinifts in judgment: otherwife, they would never have inflicted cenfures on one of their own body, purely for broaching Arminian doctrines, Part of the very letter, which you yourfelf quote (written, on this occafion, by the Cambridge divines, to archbishop Whitgift), renders my affertion indubitable: wherein the univerfity obferve to that prelate, that Barrett had advanced untruths Against the religion of our Church, publicly re 44 E 4 ceived, 1 ceived, and always held in her majefty's reign, and maintained in all fermons, difputations, and lectures *."-I own, fir, it must be peculiarly grating to you, to be confronted with fuch an academical act as this; but, I fuppofe, you comfort yourself with Tempora mutantur, nos & mutamur in illis. Yet remember, that, though men and fashions may vary, truth does not and what was Church of England doctrine, in queen Elizabeth's reign, is fo ftill. You need not be informed who it is that fays, Veritati nemo præfcribere poteft: non fpatia temporum; non patrocinia perfonarum; non privilegium regionum." Next come the celebrated Lambeth articles. These you labour, with all your might, to depreciate and good reason why; because the teftimony, they bear, to the avowed Calvinifm of the prelates, and other eminent clergymen, who agreed upon them, is too glaring and full to the point. I fhall give fome account of thefe famous articles, in the words of an hiftorian already referred to, whose fignal opportunities of information, and, above all, whofe transparent integrity, entitle him to the efteem of all parties. "Now alfo began fome opinions about predeftination, free-will, perfeverance, &c. much to trouble both the fchools and pulpit:" [i. e. in the year 1595.] "whereupon, archbishop Whitgift, out of his Chriftian care to propagate the truth, and fupprefs the oppofite errors, caufed a folemn meeting of many grave and learned divines, at Lambeth: where, befides the archbishop, Richard Bancroft, bishop of London; Richard Vaughan, bifhop elect of Bangor; Humphrey Tindal, dean of Ely; doctor Whitaker, queen's profeffor in Cambridge, and others, were affembled. Thefe, after See alfo, Strype, p. 446. a ferious 2 ferious debate, and mature deliberation, refolved, at laft, on the now following articles: "1. Deus, ab æterno prædeflinavit quofdam ad vitam: quofdam reprobavit ad mortem. God, from eternity, hath predeftinated certain men unto life: certain men he hath reprobated unto death. "2. Caufa movens, aut efficiens, prædeftinationis ad vitam,non eft prævifio fidei, perfeverantiæ, aut bonorum operum; aut ullius rei, quæ infit in perfonis prædeflinatis: fed fola voluntas beneplaciti Dei. The moving, or efficient caufe of predeftination unto life, is not the forefight of faith, or of perseverance, or of good works, or of any thing that is in the perfons predeftinated: but only the good will and pleasure of God. "3. Prædeftinatorum præfinitus et certus eft numerus; qui nec augeri, nec minui poteft. There is pre-determined a certain number of the predeftinate, which can neither be augmented, nor diminished. 4. Qui non funt prædeftinati ad falutem, necessariò, propter peccata fua, damnabuntur. Thofe, who are not predeftinated to falvation, fhall neceffarily be damned for their fins. "5. Vera, viva, et juftificans fides, et fpiritus Dei juftificantis, non extinguitur, non excidit, non evanefcit, in electis, aut finalitèr, aut totalitèr. A true, living, and justifying faith, and the spirit of God juftifying, is not extinguished, falleth not away, vanifheth not away, in the elect, either finally or totally. "6. Homo verè fidelis, id eft, fide juftificante præditus, certus eft, plerophorid fidei, de remiffione peccatorum fuorum, et falute fempiterna fuá per Chriftum. A man truly faithful, that is, fuch an one who is endued with justifying faith, is certain, with the full affurance of faith, of the remiffion of his fins, and of his everlafting falvation by Christ. 7. Gratia " 7. 7. Gratia falutaris non tribuitur, non communicatur, non conceditur univerfis hominibus, quá fervari poffint fi velint. Saving grace is not given, is not communicated, is not granted to all men, by which they may be faved if they will. "8. Nemo poteft venire ad Chriftum, nifi datum ei fuerit, et nifi Pater eum traxerit: et omnes homines non trabuntur à Patre, ut veniant ad Filium. No man can come unto Chrift, except it shall be given unto him, and unless the Father shall draw him and all men are not drawn by the Father, that they may come to the Son. 66 9. Non eft pofitum in arbitrio, aut poteftate unius cujufque bominis fervari. It is not in the will or power of every one to be faved." Fuller's Church Hift. b. ix. p. 229. After which, our hiftorian gives us the letter, fent by Dr. Matthew Hutton, archbishop of York, to his brother of Canterbury, teftifying his concurrence with, and approbation of, the above articles. Your grand, fundamental objection, fir, to these articles, is, your hatred of the doctrines, they contain. This is the worm, that lies at the root of your exceptions. 1. You tell us (page 82.) that "They are no part of our faith." You fhould have faid, of your own faith. I am forry for it. I am fure they ought. 2. They were never "Eftablished by any legal authority." I anfwer, with Fuller, "That, as medals of gold and filver, though they will not pafs, in payment, for current coin, yet will go, with goldfmiths, for as much as they are in weight; fo, though thefe articles" are not, as that hiftorian obferves, Provincial acts, yet will they be readily received, of orthodox Chriftians, as far as their own purity bears conformity to God's word:and will be taken as witneffes beyond exception; whofe teftimony is an infallible evidence, what was the general and received doctrine of England, in that that age, about the fore-named controverfies." (Fuller, ib. p. 232.)—— 3. You add, "They are urged against us by the author of the Confeffional." What if they are? Does that in the leaft impair their value? I am only concerned, that any, who now call themselves members of our Church, fhould by deferting her principles, lay themselves open to the fcoffs of fuch authors. 66 4. They gave great offence, not only in the university, but at court." Offence they could not give, to the univerfity; except only to a few heterodox individuals, whofe innovating tenets were in danger of public fuppreffion, by counter decifions fo clear and peremptory.-Whether or no they gave any real offence at court, is queftionable. But, if they even did, it can be no matter of wonder, to thofe, who confider the character of queen Elizabeth, and how tenderly jealous she was of her own fupremacy in ecclefiaftical matters. The articles had been tranfmitted to Cambridge, without her leave: which alone had been enough to difplease a monarch of lefs haughtiness than Elizabeth; who was too much her father's own daughter, and too tenacious of her prerogative, to fmile on any measures that had not received the previous fanction of her approbation. For the fame reason, that archbishop Whitgift is faid to have refented the univerfity proceedings against Barrett (obferve he did not refent their condemnation of Barrett's tenets, for of thefe the archbithop openly avowed his deteftation, (fee Strype, p. 447.) as much as they; but their prefuming to proceed judicially against that innovator, by virtue of their own fole au * See Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 194. * + This gave occafion to that excellent letter of apology, fent to the archbishop from Cambridge: for which, fee Strype's Whitgift, P. 437. Barrett, had been beforehand with the univerfity, in writing to the archbishop; which artful expedient, did at first prejudice the prelate in his favour. See Strype, p. 438. Confcious, however, of the badneis of his caufe, he began to trim, and to eat up part of his affertions. See Strype's Appendix to Whitgift, p. 188. thority |