but upon what they publicly and collectively taught ; it may, notwithstanding, be satisfactory to know, that, as far as we are enabled to judge from their writings, they maintained nothing which invalidates, but rather much which confirms, what has been advanced.*

"In this petition (deliver us from evil) we must learn both wisdom and patience: wisdom to beware of sin, when it provoketh us, and in no wise to follow the same; and patience to suffer willingly the cross, and such afflictions as God shall send unto us, and to pray God with fervent desire, that he suffer us not to perish in the same; but mercifully defend us, until such time as it shall please him clearly to deliver us, which shall be, when we shall die..... At that hour we be in the most danger of all evils and temptations. Wherefore

it is most necessary for us, even from our tender age, to pray to our Lord, that at that last hour he will be good and gracious to us, delivering us from all manner of evil.”. Catechism, p. 210.

* The individual opinions of Cranmer upon the subject of predestination, probably because little known, have been seldom adduced. That he thought very differently from Calvin respecting universal redemption, the extracts which I have given from his writings will perhaps be admitted as complete evidence, even by those who may not esteem them fully satisfactory upon the collateral question, for the illustration of which they are there quoted. Neither is it difficult to show, not only that he further differed from the reformer of Geneva on the point of final perseverance, but that he held the same doctrine of regeneration, and an election in Christ through baptism, which is so conspicuous in the offices of our Church. In his Catechism his sentiments are thus delivered: -" And we Christian men, although by baptism we be made the children of God, and receive the Holy Ghost," &c. p. 192." Here we mean a second birth, which is spiritual, whereby our inward

One of them, indeed, who was the most copious and explicit upon the subject, has been given up by the Calvinists (if the anachronism be allowable) as a

man and mind is renewed of the Holy Ghost, so that our hearts and minds receive new desires, which they had not of their first birth or nativity. And the second birth is by the water of baptism, which Paul calleth the laver of regeneration, because our sins be forgiven us in baptism, and the Holy Ghost is poured into us, as into God's beloved children, so that by the power and working of the Holy Ghost we are born again spiritually, and made new creatures. And so by baptism we enter into the kingdom of God, and shall be saved for ever, if we continue to our lives' end in the faith of Christ," p. 214.When speaking of adults, he observes, "All these benefits we receive by faith, in the which whosoever continueth unto the end of his life shall be saved; the which God grant to us all," p. 121. Take this for a sure conclusion, and doubt nothing thereof, that the Holy Ghost, as he hath begun these things in us, so he will finish the same, if we obey him, and continue in faith unto the end of our lives. For he that continueth unto the end shall be saved," p. 143. Such were his ideas when our Liturgy was first compiled; and that they were not afterwards changed, when he became a Zuinglian on the point of the sacramental presence, we may conclude from the last of his productions, his Answer to Gardiner, in which he says, "For this cause Christ ordained baptism in water, that, as surely as we feel and touch the water, so assuredly ought we to believe, when we are baptized, that Christ is verily present with us, and that by him we be newly born again spiritually, and washed from our sins, and grafted in the stock of Christ's own body, and be appareled, clothed, and harnessed with him in such wise, that as the devil hath no power against Christ, so hath he * none against us, so long as we remain grafted in that stock, and be clothed with that apparel, and be harnessed with that armour,"

complete Arminian. But this concession proves more than was perhaps intended by those who made

it; it proves that Arminianism and Lutheranism are

p. 38.

"The Holy Ghost doth not only come to us in baptism, and Christ doth there clothe us, but they do the same to us continually, so long as we dwell in Christ," p. 71.

Upon the same points, the universality and defectibility of grace, points utterly incompatible with the Calvinistical theory, Latimer seems to have spoken no less decidedly than Cranmer. On the first head, he adopted the following unambiguous mode of expression: -"The promises of Christ our Saviour are general; they pertain to all mankind. He made a general proclamation, saying, Whosoever believeth in me hath everlasting life!' Likewise St. Paul saith—The grace and mercies of God exceed far our sins.' Therefore let us ever think and believe, that the grace of God, his mercy and goodness, exceedeth our sins. Also consider, what Christ saith with his own mouth, Come to me, all ye that labour and are laden, and I will ease you.' Mark here, he saith, Come all ye;' wherefore then should any man despair, to shut out himself from these promises of Christ, which be general, and pertain to the whole world?" Sermons, p. 182. ed. 1584.. "Now seeing that the Gospel is universal, it appeareth that he would have all mankind saved, and that the fault is not in him if we be damned. For it is written thus: God would have all men to be saved.' His salvation is sufficient to save all mankind; but we are so wicked of ourselves, that we refuse the same, and we will not take it, when it is offered unto us; and therefore he saith, Few are chosen,'' p. 327. Is it possible for any man at all conversant with the writings of Luther and Melancthon on one side, and with those of Calvin on the other, to hesitate in determining from which the preceding language was derived? Nor was he deficient in precision upon the second head. On this he remarked, "I do not

precisely the same thing; for it is remarkable, that some of the passages, usually quoted from the works of Bishop Hooper, for the purpose under consideration, were literally translated from the Loci Theologici of Melancthon. *

They had

If

put you in comfort that if you have once the Spirit, ye cannot lose it. There be new spirits started up now of late, that say, after we have received the Spirit, we cannot sin. I will make but one argument. St. Paul had brought the Galatians to the profession of the faith, and left them in that state. received the Spirit once, and they sinned again. this be true, we may lose the Spirit that we have once possessed. It is a fond thing, I will not tarry in it," p. 84. -"Whosoever purposely sinneth, contra conscientiam, against his conscience, he hath lost the Holy Ghost, the remission of sins, and finally Christ himself,” p. 170.- "As there be many of us,

which, when we fall willingly into sin against conscience, we lose the favour of God, our salvation, and, finally, the Holy Ghost," p. 226. That man or woman that committeth such an act loseth the Holy Ghost, and the remission of sins, and so becometh the child of the devil, being before the child of God. Now he that is led so with sin, he is in the state of damnation, and sinneth damnably," p. 227.- -"We may one time be in the book, and another time come out again, as it appeareth by David, which was written in the book of life. But when he sinned, he at that same time was out of the book of the favour of God, until he had repented, and was sorry for his faults. So we may be in the book at one time, and afterward, when we forget God and his word, and do wickedly, we come out of the book, that is, out of Christ, who is the book,” p. 312.

* An eminent Calvinistical controversialist of the present day makes the following concession, respecting the opinion of Hooper upon predestination: - "Your next quotation is from

After having completed the illustration which I proposed, it only remains for me to restate, in few words, the various topics which have been discussed. In adverting, however slightly, to each, we immediately perceive, that the leading object of our reformers in every instance was to christianise the speculations of the schools; to point out, as I have had frequent occasion to observe, the necessity and efficacy of redemption. According to the perverted theology of their opponents, by whom the oracles of divine truth were little studied, and less regarded, the corruption of our nature, as far at least as it relates to the mental faculties, was deemed wholly ideal; by congruous merit we were thought com

Bishop Hooper, and in this single point it is clearly on your side of the question."— Goliath Slain, p. 103.

The quotations from the writings of Hooper have been generally taken from the preface to his Declaration of the Ten Commandments, which seems to have been composed, like the 17th Article of our Church, not to encourage, but repress, all vain speculation upon what he terms "the disputation of God's providence," which he censures as "a curiosity, and no religion; a presumption, and no faith; a let of virtue, and a furtherance of vice," p. 89. In this preface the subsequent passages, which define the causes of election and reprobation (the leading points of the controversy), are verbally translated from Melancthon. "The cause of reprobation or damnation is sin in man, which will not hear, neither receive the promise of the Gospel. . . . This sentence is true, howsoever man may judge of predestination. God is not the cause of sin, nor would have man to sin. Thou art not the God that willeth sin,' Psalm v. 4.

And

it is said,Thy perdition, O Israel, is of thyself, and thy succour only of me.' Hos. xiii. 9," &c.