general usefulness of these distinguished men, also shews, that our Reformers did not intend to yield the modelling of the forms, or the adjustment of the tenets of our Church, to the peculiar opinions of either.

It is true that the Liturgy, which had been compiled before Bucer's arrival, was submitted to his inspection,(h) after having been translated for the purpose-this was wise; it was a just tribute to his skill, their own prudence, and the immense importance of the work; and they had the satisfaction to know that it received his approbation, though it was so much excepted against afterwards by Calvin, and the English Puritans of his school. But though the Liturgy, and with great propriety, was submitted to Bucer's review, yet nothing could be farther from the mind of Cranmer than to be directed by the foreign divines, as we learn incidentally from a letter addressed by Martyr to Bucer; in it he writes, "that the Archbishop had acquainted him that some alterations were agreed on, but that he durst not presume to ask him what they were."(i) It was therefore with good reason that, Whitgift affirmed, "As for our Faith and Church, they depended neither upon Mr. Beza, nor any other man." [Foreigner.] (k)

The adepts of no foreign system-the disciples of no master-the Patriarchs of our Reformation had no other ambition, than that of ascending to

(h) The Liturgy was first compiled, A. D. 1548. Burnet's Hist. Ref. Part ii. Book i. Bucer and Fagius left Germany, April, 1549. Appendix, Vol. iii. p. 313.-The Liturgy was translated by Aleffe for Bucer's use, and Bucer having given his opinion, the Review was made 1550, 1551.-Refor. ibid. p. 155.

(i) Appendix to Sparrow's Rationale, p. cxci. London, 2d Ed. 1722. Collier's Church History, Vlo. ii. p. 310. (k) Strype's Whitgift, c. vi. p. 38.

the genuine faith of the primitive ages, and of rendering our national Church contemporaneous in effect with those purer times, by rolling aside the corruptions of the intervening periods. The standard which they sought was not a speculative perfectibility; their object was practical, it was attainable, and they succeeded.

On that object they steadily fixed an undeviating eye. From the commencement of their labours under the protection of Henry VIII. till their consummation under Edward VI. the same reverence for antiquity runs, in uniform tenor, through the discussion which preceded the reception of a doctrine, and the private writings of those, to whose sentiments the received doctrine was most conformable. (1) If their approximation towards the purity of the ancient Churches was gradual, it was a natural phænomenon. It is an indication of ingenuous candour, which invites us to repose on the just grounds of their settled renunciation of the errors they abandoned; it is an internal evidence of a progress independent of foreign aid, keeping pace with a strength of conviction, at length surmounting the deep-rooted prejudices of early education. The merit of monks, together with all the trumpery of that order, papal indulgences, pilgrimages, processions to shrines, &c. were, after the supremacy of the Pope, the first objects which they assailed, because these overthrew the very pillars of Christianity, which rests upon the undivided merits of the Redeemer's atoning sacrifice.

(1) The same method of discussion was continued under Edward VI. Burnet. Collection of Records, Part ii. Book i. No. 25.

Justification by Faith alone was therefore stated from the beginning, and with so great clearness, that no improvement was made afterward in the perspicuity or precision with which it was expressed. (m) But other errors, which were not so obviously opposed to the word of God, nor to the sentiments of antiquity, were but slowly recognized. Latimer, and he was not singular, considered images to be the books of the people, and hence, while he denounced the worship of them, he did not object to their being retained, as helps as helps to memory, in the Churches.(n) Ridley was not the only advocate for the benefit of auricular confession.(0) Redmayn, an able promoter of the Reformation, was once of opinion, that the doctrine of the Seven Sacraments should be taught, and, so far from diminishing the number, that the Lotio Pedum should be added, as an eighth. (p) Cranmer, with christian frankness, confesses of himself, "that not long before I wrot the sayd Catechisme, I was in that error of the Real Presence, as I was in many years past in divers other errors, as of Transubstantiation, of the Sacrifice, &c. But after it had pleased God to shew unto me, by his holy word, a more perfect knowledge of his Sonne Jesus Christ, from tyme to

(m) History of the Reformation, Part i. Book iii. p. 288. (n) Bishop Latimer's Life, Wordsworth's Eccles. Biog. Vol. iii. P. 44.

(o) "Sodayne changes wythout substantial and necessary cause, and the heady setting forth of extremities, I did never love. Confession unto the Minister, which is able to instruct, &c. indede I ever thought might do much good in Christ's congregation."-Letters of Martyrs, Ridley to West, London, Day, 1564.

(p) Burnet's Hist. Refor. Part i. Book iii. Records, p. 209.

tyme, as I grew in knowledge of him, by little and. little, I put away my former ignorance; and as God of his mercy gave me light, so through his grace I opened myne eyes to receive it, and did not wilfully repugne unto God, and remayne in darknesse."(q)

These preliminary remarks, to which it has been thought expedient to call the reader's observation, before we submit to him the following testimonies, lead us to suggest; First, that the general consent of the ancient Fathers, in an ambiguous case, is a good expositor of the sentiments of our Reformers; and, Secondly, that the admission of some erroneous opinions into their earlier productions, which were afterwards detected and renounced, affords no argument against their continuing to hold the truth of those contained in the same production which they never disclaimed.

The promised testimonies we shall now no longer withhold.

The first that we shall cite is that of Dr. John Redmayn.

Redmayn is characterized by Burnet, as being "esteemed the most learned and judicious divine of that time;"(r) a reputation to which Cranmer must have considered him fully entitled, when he commanded him to write a Treatise on Justification, which should vindicate the Reformers from the charge of maintaining Faith without Works; because they insisted, that Faith, separate from Works, is solely respected in our Justification.-His execution of the work committed to him is said to be such as will sufficiently justify any

(q) Answer to Smith's Preface, subjoined to his Answer to Gardiner, p. 402. Edit. 1580. Wordsworth's Eccles. Biog. &c. Fathers of the English Church.

(r) History of the Reformation, Part i. B. iii. p. 287.

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advantageous character that can be given of the Author."(s) Afterwards we find his name in the list of "the Committee of selected Bishops and Divines, who, in the reign of Edward VI. A. D. 1548, were appointed to examine all the Offices of the Church, and to consider how far any of them needed amendment."(t) He was subsequently nominated to the Mastership of Trinity College, Cambridge, and in that situation continued to act a conspicuous part among the most eminent characters of the Reformed Party.(u)— In that Treatise of Justification, mentioned above, he thus speaks of Predestination:

"God, of his sole goodness and ineffable mercy, freely predestinates, calls, justifies, glorifies all those who shall come to eternal salvation and happiness. For all things are to be ascribed to grace, and to the Holy Spirit, and to the love and mercy of our heavenly Father, who hath reconciled us to himself in Christ, and hath adopted us into sonship."(v)

Here we see that it was not in the reign of Edward VI. for the first time, no: in the seventeenth Article, that Predestination was recognized by our Reformers.-In the reign of Henry VIII. and at the very dawning of the Reformation, we have essentially the prototype of the first and second members of the seventeenth Article, pub

(s) History of the Reformation, Part i. B. iii. p. 287. (t) Ibid. Part ii. B. i p. 61.

(u) Ibid. p. 164.

(v) "Deus ex sola bonitate et misericordia ineffabili omnes qui ad æternam Salutem et beatitudinem perventuri sint, gratis prædestinat, vocat, justificat, glorificat. Sunt enim Gratiæ omnia et Spiritui sancto ascribenda, et Charitati ac misericordiæ Patris cœlestis qui nos sibi in Christo reconcilavit atque in filios adoptavit." Redmayn de Justificatione opus. Antwerp, 1555.