secution deserve to be recorded. "Heresies ought to be resisted not with fire or sword, but with the word of God. If this does not remove them, in vain will violence be resorted to. The earth may be deluged with blood; but heresy, being an error of the mind, can be destroyed neither by fire nor by water; nay, it is increased by every sort of resistance, except by the Scripture. The tongue may be restrained, men may be forced to be silent, to dissemble, or to lie; but heresy, residing in the heart, can be expelled only by the influence of the word of God, enlightening the understanding, and persuading the judgment."* The light of reformation had dawned on the British isle as early as the middle of the 14th century, when Wickliffe stood forth as the champion of divine truth and spiritual liberty, against the errors and tyranny of Rome; and though it became gradually obscured, and was almost entirely extinguished when the 8th Henry ascended the throne, many individuals throughout the country were waiting for the consolation of Israel. The clergy had never obtained the same influence and respect which they enjoyed, previous to Wickliffe's appearance, and the people were ready to embrace a change of religion, whenever it should be presented. The astonishing revolution of sentiments which was so rapidly pervading the provinces of Germany, accordingly made a deep impression in England; and led multitudes to imbibe the doctrines which Luther had elicited from the darkness ..... • Seckend. § 127, p. 212. in which they had for ages been involved. But Henry, having early imbibed the principles of Popery, and viewing Luther as the enemy of all who supported these principles, determined not only to exert all his influence to check the progress of his opinions, but to refute them with all the acuteness which he possessed. He accordingly wrote a Latin treatise in defence of the seven sacraments, against Luther's work, On the Babylonish Captivity of the Church; "a performance," says Hume," which, if allowance be made for the subject and the age, does no discredit to his capacity. He sent a copy of it to Leo, who received so magnificent a present with great testimony of regard, and conferred on him the title of Defender of the Faith." Though Luther believed this to be the work of Edward Lee, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, he replied as if it had been Henry's own composition, and treated him with such indignity, and used respecting him so many opprobrious and contemptuous expressions, as to shock even his best friends. Nor was this the effect of a momentary burst of passion; for, in his correspondence at this period, he justified his conduct in the inost expressive terms. Nay, in the answer itself, he vindicated the extraordinary severity of his language, by saying, " If, for the sake of Christ, I have trampled under foot that Idol of Romish abomination, which had usurped the place of God, and tyrannized over kings and the whole world; who is this Henry a new Thomist, or at least a disciple of that trifling monster, that I should pay homage to his virulent blasphemies? He may be a defender of the church, but it is of a church, the mother of harlots, of drunken ness and fornication. I having an equal abhorrence of the church and her defender, will attack them with the same weapons. My doctrines will stand, but the Pope will fall, though the gates of hell, and the powers of air and earth and sea were against me. They provoked me to war, and they shall have it; they despised peace when offered them, and they shall not now obtain it. God shall see whether the Pope or Luther will be the first to yield." George Duke of Saxony, irritated at this treatise, solicited the Elector to have Luther immediately punished; but this prince declined interfering, and proposed the convocation of a free council. tion of the papal court. He therefore resolved to reform these abuses, expecting that their removal would bring back the people to the bosom of that church whence they had been driven by the vices of its governors. He accordingly repealed the order which had been issued for the preaching of indulgences to defray the expense of completing the Vatican; but, at the same time, gave authority, by a new bull, to the doctrine of the church concerning that nefarious traffic. His sentiments on many points differed essentially from those of his cardinals, who warned him so strongly of the danger with which his proposed reformation would be followed, that he was heard to say, that "the condition of a Pope is the most unhappy that can be conceived, because he is not at liberty to do what is right, though he has the inclination, and can find the means." He then imagined that his presence and authority might have the effect of quieting the commotions of Ger many; and to prepare the minds of the disputants for his visit, he wrote to Frederic, then attending the diet of the Empire met at Nuremberg, exhorting him,in general terms, to exert all his influence to preserve the safety, tranquillity, and holy faith of the church, without so much as mentioning Luther's name or heresy. the brief which he sent to the diet by a nuncio, amply compensated for this political neglect, and made such an impression on the bishops, that they almost unanimously exclaimed that Lu ther must perish. The secular princes, however, discovered greater moderation, and were soon imitated by many of the P Leo X. died in the beginning of Dec. 1521, and was succeeded by Adrian VI., originally of an obscure family of Utrecht, a man of scholastic erudition, and unpolished manners, but of a mild temper, and irreproachable morals. When he arrived at Rome, from Spain, where he was at the time of his election, he immediately applied himself to establish the peace of the church. But the measures which he adopted, though salutary in themselves, ultimately defeated the end pro posed by them. Luther's opin ions appeared to him so extrava gant, that he could not persuade himself but they were occasioned by the abuses and extor .... Contra Henric. Reg. Angliac, apud. init. Luth. Oper. tom. ii. Seckend. Sect. 46, 47. §§ 112, 114. Vol. II. No. 3. But clergy, who felt enraged at the insinuations, which were thrown out against them in the letter of instructions from the Pope, read by the nuncio next day. While he called on the assembly to put the edict of Worms in execution against Luther, he accused the prelates and the priests of occasioning the heresies of that reformer, by their negligence, voluptuousness and profligacy. Though, therefore, the Elector of Brandenburg and the greater number of prelates wished to assure the Pope that they would execute the edict of Worms, the other princes and the rest of the clergy opposed it as dangerous not only to Rome, but to the interests of the Empire. They accordingly informed the nuncio that the state of Germany would not allow of the step which the Pope recommended to be taken; praised the Pontiff for the interest which he took in their welfare, and besought him to continue his plans for the reformation of flagrant abuses. Though the nuncio was highly displeased at the tenor of their reply, the princes persisted in the sentiments which they had avowed; and to justify their conduct drew up a memorial of grievances, amounting to a hundred articles of specific charges against the corruptions of the church, which they earnestly entreated might be speedily redressed. The nuncio, unwilling to receive such an insult as to be charged with this memorial, left the diet suddenly without taking leave of the princes. This step gave them the highest offence, and convinced them that it was in vain to expect redress from Rome. It also contributed to the vigorous protest which they entered against determining on the merits of the Lutheran controversy, till the meeting of a general council. The diet was dissolved on the 6th of March, 1523.* The event of this assembly was thus most favourable to the cause of the reformation. Preachers were permitted to declare the truth, without molestation, and magistrates to protect them without criminality. Priests and monks, though married, continued in their offices; and the people who had seen the scandalous effects of their celibacy, were edified by witnessing the regularity and purity of their conduct. The suspension of the edict of Worms, made its injustice be discerned; and the reference of the controversy to the decision of a council, showed that the diet were not convinced that Luther was altogether in the wrong, and that his greatest heresy, was his attack on the authority of the Pope. In fine, the acknowledgment which Adrian made of the dreadful corruptions of the clergy and court of Rome, justified much of Luther's invectives against them, and gained him many new adherents, who could not but admire his courage and his zeal.t .... Beausobre, tom. ii. p. 273.-320 Seckend. 140-147. † Beausob. ib. p. 322. (To be continued.) Religious Communications. DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING THE PERSEVERANCE. Gentlemen, To the Editors. Christianity indicates. But is not this explanation inconsistent with what follows? "Abide in me," saith our Saviour, verse 4," and I will abide in you. As the branch PRESUMING that it is not less cannot bear fruit of itself, except congenial with your inclinations, it abide in the vine, no more can than consistent with the design ye,except ye abide in me." Is not of your publication, to offer every the whole complexion of this assistance in your power to those, passage such as would naturally who meet with obstacles in their lead one to suppose, that the unsearch after truth, I take the lib- ion, here intended, was that spirerty to lay before you a number itual, vital union, of which true of difficulties, with respect to the faith, and holiness form the only doctrine of the saints' persever- cement? Let us suppose that a ance, resulting from what I sup- mere visible relation is intended, pose to be the meaning of certain and see what sort of notions the passages of Scripture. I shall words will convey. Ye are pure enter no farther into the argu through the word, which I have ments, which may be drawn spoken unto you. Continue in from the several texts, than is your visible union with me, and I necessary in order to present a will continue to dwell in you. full view of the difficulty, as it Would this promise have been appears to my own apprehension. made to such a perseverance? John xv. 2, our Saviour says, As the branch cannot bear fruit of "Every branch in me, that bear- itself, except it abide in the vine, eth not fruit, he," that is, my Fa- no more can ye, except ye continther, "taketh away." This text ue in your external relation to me. certainly seems, to my under- Does not such an interpretation standing, to convey this idea; enervate the figure, and diminish that branches engrafted into the exceedingly the propriety of its true vine, may become unfruitful; application? The relation beand thus render it necessary for tween the vine and the branches the Lord of the vineyard to is beautifully illustrative of the prune them off, and use them relation between Christ and befor fuel. If this explication be lievers; but not at all of that just, it only remains, in order to which subsists between Christ ascertain the sense of the pas- and those members of his visible sage, to determine the meaning church, who derive no spiritual of the phrase, in me, and discov- nourishment from him, and suser what sort of union it is design- tain no vital relation to him. Beed to express. It may be said, sides, it is expressly said, in the that it means nothing more than next verse, that he, that ABIDETH a visible relation, such as the in Christ, bringeth forth much external profession of fruit; which cannot be true, if a mere mere external union is intended. On the whole, I am compelled to believe, that being in Christ, means a vital union with him. The remaining question, therefore, and that which involves the difficulty, is, whether the text imply, that it is possible for such to fall away ? 2. St. Paul, 1 Cor. ix. 27, as signs, as the reason of his care and solicitude in subduing the vicious propensities of his body, that having preached to others, he might not himself prove a cast-away. But if the doctrine, we are considering, be true, does he not assign that as a reason, which could not be the true reason? We are not at liberty, I apprehend, to suppose, that St. Paul was uncertain whether he were the subject of gospel grace. But if he were certain of this, then, if the doctrine of perseverance be true, he was certain that he should not prove a cast-away. How then could he assign the fear of what, he certainly knew, would never take place, as the motive of his constant care and vigilance in the government of his appetites and passions? Be sides, it is intimated by the apos. tle, that his final salvation was suspended on the condition of his subduing his sinful inclinations, or bringing his body into subjection. Does not this weaken the conclusion of those who argue the final perseverance of saints from the nature of holiness; a single exercise of which, they say, gives an infallible title to everlasting salvation? But if final salvation is suspended on the condition mentioned above, this reasoning is inconclusive. It is not doubted that if a person die in the exercise of a holy tem per, his salvation is secure, though it were the first exercise of the kind he ever put forth. But the question is, whether a person possessed of such a temper, may not, in fact, be divested of it? and whether the language of St. Paul, in the place referred to, do not countenance such an opinion? 3. That text, Heb. x. 38, Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him, This I am altogether unable to under. stand in consistency with this doctrine. 4. Matt. xxiv. 12 and 13. Because iniquity shall abound,the love of many shall wax cold: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. How could their love be said to wax cold, who never had any? as most certainly none but renewed souls ever had, Besides, no distinction is intimated, as to its nature, between the love of the one class, and that of the other; but only in regard to its continuance. Does it not seem, therefore, that reference is here made to those, who were indeed the sincere disciples of Christ? If so, what is meant by the love of such being said to wax coli? Is it not something, the effect of which will be their loss of salva tion? For, in its effects, it is di rectly opposed to that enduring, to which salvation is promised. 5. Some passages occur, in Ezek. xviii. and xxiii. in which I meet with very formidable difficulties. These are so appar. ent to all, who peruse the contexts, that it is needless to point them out. 6. Heb. vi. 4-6. For it is im possible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the |
