SECTION VIII.
The Judgment of some eminent Christians, who flourished before the Reformation, concerning the Doctrines in Debate.
Even in the worst and darkest of times, God has never left himself entirely without witness, nor permitted the truths of his gospel to be totally exterminated. They have, sometimes, laid, to all outward appearance, in very few hands : but they have constantly subsisted somewhere. The prophet Elijah once imagined that himself was the only person who was kept faithful to God, amidst that torrent of idolatry which then overwhelmed the land of Israel. But what said the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then, at this present time also, there is, and at every time there has been and shall be, a remnant, according to the election of grace.1 However discouraging appearances may be, in seasons either of persecution, idolatry, or general profaneness, there are many known instances of divine preservation; and many others, unknown by us, but noticed by him who knoweth them that are his.2
"Ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee," and they will testify of his unfailing faithfulness, not only in enduing his people with faith and love to the truth; but also in raising up some of them, to he witnesses for Christ. Even within the circle of my contracted reading, I have met with accounts of many. A select number of the most distinguished shall, without farther ceremony, be introduced to Mr. Sellon: and I heartily wish he may profit by their acquaintance.
I. Among those who may, with the strictest justice, be styled the morning stars of the Reformation, were the ancient and famous Churches of the Albigenses and Waldenses: so denominated from Alby, a city of Languedoc in France, where they abounded in great numbers: and afterwards about the year 1170, from Peter Valdo,3 an opulent citizen of Lyons, by whom these excellent people were much countenanced and assisted. Though some suppose them to have acquired the name of Waldenses, quasi Vallenses, from their being extremely numerous in the valleys of Piedmont. Others, from the German4 word Waldt, which signifies a wood: woods being their frequent refuge from persecution.
Dr. Alix, in his remarks on the Ecclesiastical History of these Churches, is, in general, prodigiously careful not to drop the least hint concerning (what has been since called) the Calvinism of those Christians. But the present learned bishop of Bristol has been more just and candid. His Lordship tells us, from Mezeray, "they had almost the same opinions as those who are now called Calvinists."5 It will, I apprehend, be easily made appear, that their opinions were not only almost, but altogether the same. Nor did they soon deviate from the evangelical system of their forefathers: for, so low down as the era of the Reformation, I find that "they sent to Zuinglius for teachers, and afterwards to Calvin: of whose sentiments," add the compilers of the work I quote, "the remainder of them, called the Vaudois, continue to be."6
Their first rise was of very considerable antiquity. The Romish Council, assembled, by order of pope Alexander III. at Tours, in May 1163, prohibited all persons, under pain of excommunication, from having any intercourse with these people; who are described as teaching and professing "a damnable heresy, long since sprung up in the territory of Toulouse."7 Van Maestricht assures us, that they wrote against the errors and superstitions of the Church of Rome, in the year 1100.8 According to Pilichdorffius,9 the Waldenses themselves carried up the date of their commencement as a body, as high as three hundred years after Constantine, i.e. to about the year 637. For my own part, I believe their antiquity to have been higher still. I agree with some of our oldest and best Protestant divines, in considering the Albigenses, or Waldenses (for they were, in fact, one and the same,) to have been a branch of that visible Church, against which the gates of hell could never totally prevail, and that the uninterrupted succession of Apostolical doctrine continued with them, from the primitive times, quite down to the Reformation: soon after which period, they seem to have been melted into the common mass of Protestants. Neither does this conjecture limit the extent of the visible Church in former ages to so narrow a compass, as may at first be imagined. For they were, says Poplinerius,10 "Diffused, not only throughout all France, in the year 1100, but through almost every country in Europe. "And," says he; "to this very day, they have their stubborn partizans in France, Spain, England, Scotland, Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Saxony, Poland, Lithuania, and other nations."
Archbishop Usher, whose enquiries were never superficial, and whose conclusions are never precipitate, lays great stress on a remarkable passage in Reinerius, a Popish inquisitor, who died about the year 1259. The passage is this: "Of all the sects which as yet exist, or ever have existed, none is more detrimental to the Church," i.e. to the Romish Church, "than the sect of the Waldenses. And this on three accounts: 1. Because it is a much more ancient sect than any other. For, some say, that it has continued ever since the Popedom of Silvester:11 others, that it has subsisted from the time of the Apostles. 2. It is a more extensive sect than any other: for there is almost no country, in which this sect has not a footing. 3. This sect has a mighty appearance of piety: inasmuch as they live justly before men, and believe all things rightly concerning God, and all the articles contained in the Creed. They only blaspheme the Roman Church and Clergy."12
I have premised enough, concerning the people. Let us now enquire into the particulars of their faith.
There is extant, a short Waldensian Confession, written in the year 1120, and consisting of of XIV. Articles. The 1st Article professes their agreement with, what is usually termed, The Apostles Creed. The 2nd acknowledges Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to be the one God. The 3d recapitulates the canonical books of the Old and New Testament, just as they now stand in the Protestant Bibles; and excepts against the Apocrypha, as uninspired. The 4th asserts, that, "By the disobedience of Adam, sin entered into the world, and we are made sinners in Adam, and by Adam." The 5th runs thus: "Christ was promised to our forefathers; who received the law, to the end that, knowing their sin by the law, and their unrighteousness and insufficiency, they might desire the coming of Christ, to satisfy for their sins, and, by himself, to accomplish the law." The 6th affirms, that "Christ was born at the time appointed by God his Father." The 7th, "Christ is our life and truth, and peace and righteousness, and advocate, and master, and priest: who died for the salvation of all those who believe, and is raised again for our justification."13 Six of the remaining articles are levelled at the superstitions of Popery: and the last testifies their due subjection to the civil powers.
Almost 400 years afterwards, the descendants of those ancient and evangelical Churches gave proof, that they were, in no respect whatever, degenerated from the purity and simplicity of the gospel. For, in the beginning of the year 1508, I find them presenting a large account of their faith, in three separate papers addressed to Uladislaus, king of Hungary. "We believe," say they, "and confess, that Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three in person, but one in the essence of Deity, is the producer of faith and the giver of salvation."14 They say, speaking of Christ, "By whose merit the alone Father accomplishes our salvation, according to the purpose of his own election."15 They affirm, that "he intercedes for those who shall possess the inheritance of glory:"16 and that "he forsaketh not his Church, for which he offered up himself unto death;" but is ever present with her, "in a way of grace, efficacy, and help, which are his free gift."17 They define the holy, universal Church to be "the aggregate of all the elect, from the beginning of the world to the end of it: - whose names and number he alone can tell, who hath inscribed them in the Book of Life."18 To these persons, grace is given: "The first and principal ministry of the universal Church is the gospel of Christ, wherein are revealed the grace and truth which he hath painfully purchased for us by the torture of the cross; which grace is given to the elect, who are called by the Holy Ghost and God the Father unto salvation, with the gift of faith."19 Under the article, entitled Communio Sanctorum, they come, if possible, more roundly to the point. Nothing can be clearer than their meaning; though the persons who drew up the confession were far from commanding a good style in Latin. "It is manifest," say they, "that such only as are elected to glory become partakers of true faith, grace, righteousness in the merit of Christ, [and] eternal salvation."20
What they deliver concerning the doctrine of purgatory, though rather uncouthly expressed, deserves to be laid before the reader. "There is no other chief place of determinate purgatory, but the Lord Christ; of whom it was truly said by the angel, he shall save his people from their sins. And so saith St. Paul: having made a purgation of sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Every one, therefore, who shall be saved, must draw from this full fountain of righteousness and goodness. By grace alone, through the gift of faith, whosoever is to be saved cometh to the purgation by Christ Jesus; as saith St. Paul: a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; and we believe in Christ Jesus, that we maybe justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. And Christ himself saith, he that believeth on me hath eternal life."21
I take leave of this confession, with one citation more. "St Paul says, Christ loved his Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, &c. It is not said that he might prepare her for hell; but for heaven and for repose, after her present toils. For it is certain, that only the elect of God are blessed; and God leadeth them into that righteousness which we have already treated of. Concerning them, the apostle saith, He hath elected us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. And again, he saith; whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified."22
Archbishop Usher presents us with another concise profession of faith, transmitted by these good people to Francis I. of France, in the year 1544: which, though subsequent to the opening of the Reformation, is too excellent to be wholly unnoticed in this place. A single extract, however, shall suffice. "We believe, that there is but one God; who is a spirit, the maker of all things, the parent of all men; who is over all, through all, and in us all, and is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, whom alone we hope for; the distributor of life, food, and raiment; the distributor also of health and sickness, of conveniences and inconveniences. Him we love, as the author of all goodness: him we dread, as the inspector of hearts.
"We believe Jesus Christ to be the Son and image of the Father, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead; by whom we come to the knowledge of the Father, and who is our mediator and advocate: neither is there any other name under Heaven, given unto men, whereby to be saved.
"We believe that we possess the Holy Ghost, the comforter, proceeding from the Father and the Son; by whose inspiration, we are enabled to pray; and by whose efficacy we are born again. He it is who worketh all good works in us; and by him are we led into all truth.
"We believe that there is one Holy Church, viz. The congregation of all God's elect, from the beginning to the end of the world, whose head is our Lord Jesus Christ. Which Church is governed by the word, and led by the Spirit of God.
"We believe, that the pious, and those who fear God, will approve themselves unto him, by being studious of good works, which God hath prepared before hand, that they should walk in them: such are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, honesty; modesty, temperance, and what other works we find applauded in Scripture."23 It would, perhaps, be difficult to meet with so much genuine gospel, comprised within so small a compass, in any writings, except the inspired. If the reader be desirous to know the horrid and almost unparalled persecutions, which the Albingenses suffered at the hands of the Romish Church, from age to age (after the more open apostacy of that Church from the original faith of the gospel,) even to the extinction of no fewer than ten hundred thousand lives; he may, among others, consult that excellent work, entitled, The24 History of Popery, a book which it is pity that any Protestant should be without, and Mr. Samuel Clark's General25 Martyrology. That most excellent prince, Lewis XII. of France, was actuated by a better spirit. When incited to persecute the Waldenses, he returned this truly great reply: God forbid that I should persecute any for being more religious than myself.
From whole Churches, let us, for the present, pass to particular persons.
Gotteschalcus, sometime a Benedictine monk in the monastery of Orbez, and diocese of Soissons, flourished about A. D. 840. He is thought to have obtained the sirname of Fulgentius, or the shining, on account of his uncommon attainments in literature;26 though, perhaps, his agreement in doctrine with the famous Fulgentius (bishop of Ruspae, in Africa, who was counted the St. Austin of his age, and died in the year 533) might have given the first occasion to call him by that name.
Archbishop Usher has written the history27 of this worthy and learned person, and of the controversies concerning predestination and free-will, which his (i.e. Gotteschalcus's) writings and sufferings were the means of reviving in the ninth century. To this elaborate performance of the great prelate, I stand indebted for most of the particulars which I am now going to lay before the reader.
It seems uncertain, whether Gotteschalcus was a native of Germany, or of France. His name appears to indicate the former.28
His deep acquaintance with the writings of St. Austin brought him into love with the doctrines of grace; and he determined to avow them, at all events. In such a Church as the Roman, and in a period of such religious darkness as the ninth age, it was no wonder that his ardent espousal of the evangelical system, and the unyielding firmness with which he openly maintained it, should involve him in a series of persecution, which, at length, sunk him to his grave.
Hincmar was made archbishop of Rheims, A. D. 845, and soon distinguished himself as Gotteschalcus's inexorable oppressor. This prelate had a mind unsoftened with any one of the humane feelings:29 and, for his religion, it was Christianity reversed. Mean, sanginuary, and imperious; by nature; he had, moreover, imbibed some of the grossest dregs of Pelagianism:30 which lie obtruded on others with an enthusiastic vehemence, bordering on madness; and with a fierceness nothing short of brutal. From a metropolitan, thus disposed and thus principled; armed, too, with that extent of authority which ecclesiastics of his rank then possessed; Gotteschalcus had nothing to look for, but that unrelenting hatred and severity, which superior merit [especially, when it ventures to deviate from the beaten path] seldom fails to experience, at the hands of those, in whom ignorance and bigotry are united with the powers of mischief.
Among the articles which Hincmar charged this holy man with maintaining, were the three following.31
1. That, "As God hath predestinated certain persons to life eternal; so hath he, likewise, pre-ordained other certain persons to eternal death.
2. "It is not the will of God, that every one of mankind should be saved: he willeth the salvation of those only who [eventually] are saved. All are saved, whom God wills to save: consequently, whoever perish, it was not the divine pleasure to save them. For, if all those are not saved whom God willeth to be so; it would follow, that God does not act according to his own will: and, if he wills more than he is able to perform, he is no longer omnipotent, but impotent; but the scripture affirms that he is omnipotent; for he doth whatsoever he pleased to do. All things that the Lord would, hath he done in heaven, and in earth, in the sea, and in all deep places, Psalm cxxxv. 6. Again; O Lord, the King Almighty, the whole world is in thy power; and, if thou hast appointed to save Israel, there is no man that can gainsay thee. Thou art Lord of all things, and there is no man that can resist thee who art the Lord. Esther xiii. 9. 11.
3. "Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was not crucified and put to death for the redemption of the entire world, i.e. not for the ransom and salvation of the whole of mankind; but only for such as are saved."
To these were afterwards added, as doctrines of Gotteschalcus:
"They who are predestinated to destruction cannot be saved; and they who are predestinated to the kingdom cannot perish.
"Ever since the first man fell by his freewill, none of us are able to use their free-wills unto good, but only to evil."32
Gotteschalcus's opinions were, undoubtedly, stated by Hincmar in the most rigorous and exceptionable terms. For this reason, let us hear the judicious and learned martyr speak for himself. This he continues to do, in two separate confessions of his faith penned by his own hand, and which are. happily, still preserved."33
"I believe," says he, "and acknowledge, that the Almighty and unchangeable God gratuitously foreknew and predestinated the holy angels, and elect men, unto life eternal." - St. Austin asks, "wherefore, said our Lord to the Jews, ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep? Because (saith Austin) "our Lord perceived that they were predestinated to everlasting, destruction, and were not purchased with the price of his blood. What mischief, then, can the wolf do? What hurt can the thief and robber do? They can destroy those only who are predestinated thereunto." The same St. Austin, speaking of the two worlds, expresses himself thus: 'The Church is a34 whole world, and there is also a whole world which hateth the Church. The world [of the reprobate] hateth the world [of the elect]: the world of those who are at enmity with God hateth that world which is reconciled to him; the world of the condemned hateth the world of the saved; the world of the impure hateth the world of the holy.' Austin saith again: 'There is a world, of which the apostle says, That we should not be condemned with the world, 1 Cor. ii. 32. For this world, our Lord doth not pray.' So also speaketh St. Isidore;35 "There is a double predestination: of the elect, unto happiness; and of the reprobate unto death."36
The above extract is from Gotteschalcus's smaller confession. His larger one runs in the form of a most pious and solemn address to Almighty God. It were needless to cite any parts of it, after what has been already produced. Whoever pleases, may see it, at full length, in Usher's History, referred to below.
For thus believing, the great and good man was degraded from the order of priesthood, and imprisoned in the monastery of Hault-Villier. He was, moreover, sentenced to undergo the punishment of scourging: which inhuman discipline was continually repeated, with the most merciless severity, 'till, by mere dint of torture, they had compelled him to commit one of his own books to the flames, which he had written, in favour of predestination, against Rabon, archbishop of Mentz. His sufferings might, at any time, have been exchanged for liberty and ease, had he but dissembled his judgment, and ceased to avow his faith. But he was enabled to continue steadfast, to the very last. No torments could induce him to deny, with his mouth, the grace which he loved in his heart. In him was eminently realized that saying ascribed to Ignatius: Stand firm as a beaten anvil. It is the part of a magnanimous combatant, to be torn to pieces, and yet to overcome.37
I have termed Gotteschalcus a martyr. And such, in fact, he was. I grant his execution was more tedious and lingering than that of those who are usually crowned with that venerable name. His sufferings did not terminate with the pain of an hour, but were extended through a long series of years: and nothing, inferior to the Almighty power of God, could have kept him faithful unto death. Exhausted, at length, by an uninterrupted succession of hardships, he breathed out his soul into the hands of Christ, A. D. 870, in about the one and twentieth year of his imprisonment. Hincmar, to whose restless persecutions this man of God stood indebted for most of his calamities, did not always ride triumphant on the wheel of prosperity. About twelve years after the death of Gotteschalcus, the Nordmans, swarming from the North of Europe, made irruptions into France; on which, the prelate of Rheims thought proper to consult his personal safety, by deserting his flock. Abdicating, therefore, the see, which he had so unworthily filled, he retreated (Barbarus a Barbaris) to a more solitary and secure part of the kingdom: in which melancholy retirement, surrounded with woods and morasses, he died (probably of a broken heart) A.D. 882.
III. Remigius, archbishop of Lyons, and Gotteschalcus's cotemporary, deserves to be mentioned here, as an eminent assertor of the doctrines of grace.
Hincmar of Rheims had written a letter of complaint against Gotteschalcus, addressed to the Church of Lyons. This was replied to by Remigius; part of whose answer ran thus. "The blessed fathers of the Church do, with one consent, with one voice, and as it were with one spirit, display and celebrate that immoveable truth of God's prescience and predestination, respecting both its parts, viz. concerning the elect, and reprobate: to wit, [the predestination] of the elect, unto glory; and of the reprobate, not unto sin, but unto punishment. And in these particulars, they [i.e. the fathers] openly affirm that the unchangeable series of God's disposals is demonstrated to us; which divine disposals are not temporal, neither did they commence in any period of time, but are strictly eternal. Nor is it possible for any one elect person to perish: or that any of the reprobate should be saved, because of their hardness and impenitency of heart. This both the verity of the sacred writings, and the authority of the holy and orthodox fathers, harmoniously declare, and inculcate on us as a point to he believed and held by us without the least doubt or scruple. Pursuant to the foregoing account of the universal faith, Almighty God did, from the beginning, prior to the formation of the world, and before he had made any thing, predestinate (for certain just, and intmutable reasons of his eternal counsel) some certain persons to glory, of his own gratuitous favour: of which certain persons, not one shall perish, through his mercy protecting them. Other certain persons he hath predestinated to perdition, by his just judgment, for the evil desert of their ungodliness, which he foreknew: and, of these, none can be saved. Not because of any compulsive violence offered them by the divine power, but becanse of the stubborn and persevering naughtiness of their own iniquity."38 Remigius expresses himself with a prudential guardedness, which reflects no little honour on his judgment. He acknowledged, as the present Calvinists also do, 1. That there most certainly are a two-fold prescience and predestination, terminating on two sorts of persons, the elect and reprobate. 2. That God's disposals, or decrees, are strictly eternal: and, 3. That they are unchangeable. 4. That, consequently, not one elect person can perish; nor, 5. any reprobate be saved. 6. That the election of the former was absolutely gratuitous and unmerited: 7. That the punishment of the latter (observe: not their reprobation itself, but their perdition, or actual damnation) is owing to their foreseen ungodliness. Which foreseen ungodliness results, 8. not from any compulsive force offered to them, or put upon them by God himself; but from that "stubborn and persevering naughtiness of their own iniquity," which God is, indeed, able to remove, but under the power and guilt of which it is his inscrutable will to leave them.
Among the illustrious partizans of grace, I must not omit to number,
IV. Floras, sirnamed Magister, a deacon of the Church of Lyons; who, about A.D. 852, published A Defence of Predestination, in opposition to a Semipelagian treatise on that subject, written by the famous scholastic, Duns Scotus. The drift of Florus's book (drawn up, it seems, in the name of the whole Church of Lyons) was, says Vossius, to prove, "That there is a double predestination: viz. of some, who are elected into life; and of others, who are destined to death. That men have, by nature, no free-will, except to what is evil. That the elect are compelled to good. But that the reprobate are not compelled to sin: they are only compelled to undergo the punishment which, by sin, they have merited."39 I am inclinable to doubt, whether Vossius (whose "Pelagian History" might, with more truth, be styled, An Apology for Pelagianism) has, in the above passage, stated the Theses of Florus with sufficient candour. I can hardly suppose a man of the judgment and learning, which Florus seems to have possessed, would ever assert, that "The elect are compelled to what is good." We may, perhaps, learn his sentiments on this subject, with greater certainty and precision, from his own words, largely cited by archbishop Usher.40
"Our Lord himself," says Florus, "plainly shews, that the very first commencement of what good we have is not of ourselves, but of him: Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. John xv. 16. Thus, likewise, the apostle speaks to believers: He who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it even unto the day of Christ. Phil. i. 6. And again; Unto you it is given, in Christ's behalf; not only to believe, but also to suffer for his sake. Phil. i. 29. The blessed apostle, St. John, affirms, Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John iv. 10. And again, a blessed apostle says, Let us run with patience, the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. Heb. xii. 2. If, therefore, we desire to be true members of the universal Church, let us faithfully put all to the account of grace. The Lord chuseth his saints; not they him. God himself both begins and accomplishes what is good, in his believers. He first loves his saints, in order that they may also love him. Man has not, of himself, a will to that which is good: neither has he, of himself, the power to perform a good work. Both one and the other are received from him, of whom the apostle saith, It is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do, of his own good pleasure. Through his mercy, he himself is beforehand with the will of man: as saith the Psalmist: My God will prevent me with his goodness. He himself inspires man with the grace of thinking rightly; according to that of the apostle: Not that we are, of ourselves, sufficient to think any thing, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. He is himself the cause of our having a good will. He is himself the cause of our desiring and accomplishing what is holy. And he not only worketh these things, at present, in his elect; but he hath also, before the formation of the world, predestinated them, by his grace, that they should be holy and blameless before him. Eph. i. 4. Whoever, then, does not believe that this grand and most efficacious cause" [viz. God's predestination and grace] "precedes our will, in order that we may will and do that which is right, doth manifestly oppose the truth, and stands convicted of Pelagianism."41 It is true, that, in these passages, Florus nervously asserts the efficacy of divine influence: but says nothing about forcible compulsion. And, indeed, there was no reason why he should. The operation of grace renders itself effectual, without offering the least violence to the human mind. Open a blind man's eyes to see the sun, and he will need no compulsion to make him admire it. Suppose there was a person, to whose ceaseless bounty you owed every comfort you enjoy, but of whom, notwithstanding, you never had so much as the sight. Should that person, in process of time, favour you with a visit; would you stand in need of compulsion, to make you speak to him? must you be dragged by the hair of your head, into his presence? No. You would, at once, fly to him, and bid him welcome. You would, freely, yet irresistibly (such is the sweetly captivating power of gratitude,) thank him, and give him your best accommodations, and wish your best were better for his sake. Similar is the free, though necessary, tendency of an enlightened soul to God and Christ. Calvinism disclaims all compulsion,42 properly so called. It pleads only for that victorious, conciliating efficacy, which is inseparable from the grace of divine attraction: and acknowledges no other energy but that to which the apostle sets his comprobatum est, where he says, The Love of Christ constraineth us.
Endnotes: