BX 5330 .F33 1938 BX5330 .F33 1938 Faber, Frederick William, 1814-1863. Reformation and the duty of keeping to its principles . THE REFORMATION, DUTY OF KEEPING TO ITS PRINCIPLES. BY THE REV. FREDERIC W. FABER, B. A. FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. ulit have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil e God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Rom. xvi. 10, 20. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL. 1838. [Price Threepence.^ London: gilbert and rivington, printers, st. john's square. THE REFORMATION. History is the record of God's providence getting Himself honour out of man's sin. It is so in little things as well as great, though we do not see it so plainly. We never get to see quite clearly in spiritual matters. We judge things by their outward seeming. But we know that, if by any means the scales could fall from our eyes, we should behold a scene no less wonderful and cheering than that which was revealed to the servant of Elisha. We see the host of the enemy and are afraid ; and, because we cannot see, we scarcely will believe of the horses and chariots of fire, wherewith the mountain is full, the host of heaven which encampeth round about the righteous. The way of the world and its history are very perplexing ; and we get confused when we look for any length of time upon it. It a 2 4 The Reformation. seems to be travelling its own reckless way with fearful swiftness; and our eyes cannot see in what all this will end. But we know that in its most furious tides, its most capricious changings, there is a Hand keeping it under all the while, that it is compelled against its own will and against its own thought to accomplish day by day in all its wild workings His purposes of mercy and of judgment, and that whatever and when- ever the end of all shall be, it must of necessity work together for good to them that love God, and wait for His appearing. We see this every now and then when great providences happen amongst us, and startle us for a moment into religion. It is then that God puts forth His hand visibly, as it were, from underneath the veil of the holy place, and we fall back to worship. Thus there are certain great events and critical seasons in history, on which we see that a great deal depends. We find their consequences run- ning out in all directions, and still in activity hundreds of years afterwards. The Reformation is one of these mighty events. We may go along the course of English history calm and unmoved, getting, so dull are we, very often little or no religion out of it. But when we The Reformation. 5 come to the Reformation, it is like the burning bush in the wilderness : the most thoughtless are constrained to turn out of their way to see this great thing. It is true men may look upon it merely as a mighty political movement, or a wonderful sera in literature, or a shock which drew out and formed our national character. Worldly men of all sorts will of course look at it in one or more of these lights. It would be uninteresting to them in any other. But it is not so with the Churchman. To him it is full of religion. He looks back, not always with any clear views, to the Reformers as his fathers in the faith, with reverence and love. He sees them living lives of toil and suffering, full of undaunted zeal for the faith, all of them witnessing a good, confession, and not a few resisting unto blood. He sees the Church, which under God they purified, with her endless succession of priests and her ceaseless sacrifice of prayer and praise and sacraments. " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel ! as the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the rivers' side, as trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters." And he looks upon the Reformers as those who were the instruments of all this. a 3 The Reformation. To this natural feeling we may add, as another thing which makes the Reformation so important in men's eyes, that they hear all sides constantly assailing it as a work of schism, or blaming it as not having gone far enough and carried its own principles out consistently, or, lastly, refer- ring to it as an authority for any particular views or opinions. All this makes it very necessary that we should have some tolerably clear notions on two points : what the principles of the Refor- mation were, and how far it should be a matter of conscience with us to adhere to them. 1. The principles of the Reformation. What these principles were we shall best discover by ascertaining the exact position which the Church of England holds ; for it is only of the Church of England that I speak. No reference of any kind is made to the Reformation abroad, or to its influence, good or evil, upon ourselves. The foreign Reformation was very different from the English Reformation ; and we have nothing to do with it here, either in the way of praise or blame. Our Church then was like Jerusalem in its re- building. " Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded." We The Reformation. 7 stand now at this present day bearing a double wit- ness, against two very opposite parties — Roman Dissenters on the one side and Protestant Dis- senters on the other : and we are called upon to vindicate and clear the Reformation from the attacks of both. The Roman Dissenters say that schism is a deadly sin, which is true, and that we were guilty of it at the Reformation, which is not true. Protestant Dissenters again either deny their separation to be schism, or make light, which is the most common way, of schism altogether : and the Reformation is called upon in behalf of both these grounds. We say that both the grounds are utterly false, and that the Reformation condemns them both as false. Now to answer both these parties will be the shortest and simplest way of showing what the principles of the Reformation really were. It was not schismatical. We did not separate from Rome, but Rome separated from us. They denied us Church communion. We never de- nied it to them. On the contrary, they com- municated with us for several years in Queen Elizabeth's reign, till the Pope by a bull ordered them to separate from us, and at the same time passed a sentence of excommunication against us, which he had no authority from the uni- a 4 8 The Reformatio?!. versal Church to do, and of course we paid no attention to it. All this is very simple, and it is pure matter of history. But persons will say that this is not the whole account of the matter, We had a connection with Rome before the Re- formation, which we had not afterwards. By what right did we put an end to it, and how did we escape the grievous guilt of schism ? The answer is very plain. We do not believe that our Lord gave St. Peter any power or juris- diction, which He did not give equally to all the other Apostles when He repeated the same words to them afterwards. The primitive Church did not believe it. It was a novelty of later times, an opinion which grew up out of the circumstances in which the Roman Church was placed. We say therefore that, although we doubtless owe a great debt of gratitude to Rome for what she did for us in barbarous times, she had no right to bring us under her power, seeing we had been, as we had been, a free British Church for a long while before. This however she did very cruelly, just as a strong man may tyrannize over a weak one. No length of time or custom can make that right which is in itself wrong. But we were very feeble, and could not help ourselves ; so were content to The Reformation. 9 groan under her oppression, till the (Lays came when we were strong enough to throw her off and make ourselves free, as free as God intended all particular Churches to be. This was the main thing done at the Reformation — throwing off the Papal dominion. But, whilst we were under her power, and could make no resistance, Rome had forced upon us many rites and ceremonies which were highly superstitious, and some doctrines for which there was no warrant in Holy Scripture or the early Church. These likewise were novelties — traditions of men, not commandments of God. These also we rejected, as soon as we were our own masters. We did nothing more than settle our faith, and order our own ceremonies ; and this we had a perfect right to do. Moreover, in doing it we never departed from the Canonical Scriptures, or interpreted those Scriptures other- wise than as they were interpreted in the first pure ages of the Catholic and Apostolic Church. This was our Rule of Faith. Thus we read in the 20th Article, that " the Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in controversies of Faith :" and again, one of the Canons of 1571 bids preachers " be careful to teach nothing in a sermon, except that which is a5 The Reformation. agreeable to the doctrine of the Old and New Testament ; and which the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops have collected from the same doctrine." Thus, in opposition to Roman Dis- senters, we say that we never did separate from the universal Church ; neither did we reject and despise, but did most highly venerate, her teach- ing and her judgment, which they do not do. Neither can Protestant Dissenters find any thing in the principles of the Reformation to justify their separation from us. All changes were made by rightful ecclesiastical authority — by the Bishops and Convocation of the whole British Church lawfully summoned by the King. The words of the 34th Article are plain : " Who- soever through his private judgment, willingly and purposely, doth openly break the traditions and ceremonies of the Church, which be not re- pugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly (that others may fear to do the like), as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church, and hurteth the authority of the magistrate, and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren." Thus clearly does the Reformation look upon all dissent as direct schism, as the parent of political discontent and The Reformation. 11 sedition, and as utterly destitute of the very chief of the Christian graces. Nor is it too much to say that English History since that period has been little more than a witness to the truth of that judgment. It changed nothing for the sake of changing, ?wr in a hurry. It is very important to remark this in the present day : and it is as much mat- ter of history as what I have said before. The Prayer-Book was more than once altered. The Articles went through sundry changes before they stood as at present. Various formularies of faith were put forward in many points differ- ing from each other. Every thing that belonged to the novelties of Rome was not thrown aside all at once. On the contrary, every thing was preserved, unless some good reason were brought why it should be disused. We parted, first with one thing, then with another, always slowly and reluctantly. Assemblies of learned men framed our confessions of faith, and translated the Scrip- tures : and this more than once. Doubtful and uncertain points were argued in the Universities ; and innumerable books were published, in which nothing was left unexamined, as well by ene- mies as friends. Nothing was yielded to popu- lar outcry, as in the case of the surplice and a 6 12 The Reformation. kneeling at the Communion and the Cross in Baptism ; all which the Puritans clamoured against very loudly. The Reformers made them- selves quite sure that they saw all the meanings and uses of a thing, and that more was to be said against it than for it, before they did away with it. The Reformation occupied great part of two reigns ; and, when all had been unsettled again in Queen Mary's time, the Bishops of Elizabeth's days did not strive to bring things violently back, but went to work very carefully, and under a deep sense of the importance of the business in which they were engaged. So much for their way of changing matters. Then, as to the principle by which they were guided, they were just as much at variance with those who would introduce changes now. They carried before them a model in the ancient Church, to which they considered themselves bound to adhere most strictly. They none of them had any theories of their own to try, no untempered mortar to spread upon the sacred walls. No one among them did enough in it to have it considered as his own work. Scarcely any who began it lived to finish it. And what has the consequence of all this been ? That their work has stood the test of several genera- The Reformation. 13 tions. Men of learning and acuteness have dili- gently examined every part, and the progress of knowledge has only enabled us to see more clearly the wisdom and depth of our ancestors, to understand the extraordinary difficulties they had to meet, and from all this to be fully sure that they were, in many ways, guided by the Holy Spirit. This is the reason why we have been attacked more fiercely than any others. Our evangelical purity exasperates the Romanist, and our strict adherence to antiquity and Church authority provokes the Protestant Dissenter. Tnere are in other lands various Christian con- gregations, who would fain have many things w hhh we possess, which they in the first heat of Reformation threw away, and cannot now re- cover. Thus, as the former principle which I notided teaches us to look with abhorrence on the 9in of schism, and what answer to give to Dissenters, so the present teaches us in what light to regard all plans for changing the govern- ment of the Church, or reforming, as it is called, her Liturgy. It teaches obedience to spiritual rulers. This is a duty which we have so very much lost sight of now, that it sounds quite strange to us when it is stated. We think that all the passages in 14 The Reformation. the New Testament, which teach it, only belong to the Apostles. We have ceased to look upon our ministers as their successors. Thus many a man is constantly praising the Re- formation, and boasting of the liberty it gave us, who, if he looked more closely into its principles, would perhaps think very differ- ently, or express his admiration of it some- what more reservedly. Yet how was the Re- formation brought about ? Entirely by the clergy # The people never were consulted in the matter. No popular assembly was held. Nothing was put to the vote. Their consent was never asked. In all probability it would not have been given ; for the great bulk of the people were too igno- rant to understand it, and naturally disinclined to change their opinions. So also in the Cate- chism she teaches her children to obey their spiritual pastors and masters. Thus we see what judgment the Reformation would have passed upon congregations censuring the teaching of their pastors from their own private opinions. Still more do we see what it would think of those rude and indecent criticisms passed by persons wholly unqualified to judge, upon the Prayer- Book, its Creeds, and Articles, the length of its services, and the language of its doctrinal state- The Reformation. 15 ments. For example, what would one of our Reformers have thought of the shocking lan- guage which ignorant people often indulge them- selves in about the Athanasian Creed ? Hooker was one of the mildest of writers : yet when he has occasion to allude to some such language, his spirit is transported with righteous indigna- tion, and he calls those who used it " impious forsaken miscreants." This is not an unuseful lesson for present times. It teaches the importance of orthodox belief. It is not an uncommon opinion among many people, that it does not so much matter what a man's religious views are, so long as he leads a good, moral life, and is decent and respectable in his conduct. It is not uncommon for persons really to say this, and understand »vhat they mean when they do so. But there are many more, who do not distinctly believe this, though they act as if they did believe it. They see such a number of sects and parties all about, that it quite shocks them to think that one of those parties only is right, and all the rest wrong : though, if you press them, they believe that that is really the case. They accustom themselves, however, to look upon these religious differences as unavoidable, not to be condemned harshly; 16 The Reformation. and really, if only men are good men, that it is not, after all, of such very great importance to what form of doctrine they subscribe. Then there are others who scoff openly at a careful- ness to be sound in faith, and use the word " orthodox" as a term of reproach, and the sign of a narrow-minded man. Such men surely for- get the very solemn language of Holy Scripture on this subject ; how it bids us hold fast the form of sound words, wherein we have been instructed, jealously to guard the faith once delivered to the Saints, and with holy zeal to separate ourselves from those who bring another doctrine. Now all this is very wrong : and certainly the Reforma- tion gives no countenance to any such lax no- tions. The Reformers retained, wherever they could, the ancient language and definitions of the Church. Thus they kept the three Creeds in the Prayer-Book, and ordered them to be used continually. Wherever new errors had arisen, against which they were compelled to protest, as in many of the Articles, they were most cautious and guarded in the words they used. Nay, so important did this matter seem to them, that many suffered a cruel death rather than subscribe to documents, which seemed to differ only in words from their own. Surely we ought to pre- The Reformation. 17 serve, with much care and reverence, those creeds and forms of faith which they shed their blood in defending, for our sakes as well as their own. Such were the principles of the Reformation. I do not mean to say that this is by any means a full account of it. But, looking at it as a great change, brought about in the Church by God's Providence, it is enough to show that it gives no countenance to those who would wish to intro- duce any changes now, and very strongly con- demns the principles on which those changes are proposed to be made. 2. The duty of adhering to these principles seems to follow naturally from what has been said already. Their own goodness is or ought to be a sufficient recommendation of them. Yet it may be as well perhaps to dwell a little more on this, because people are inclined to think that, however right our ancestors' conduct was, we are not only not bound to keep to it, but inasmuch as it is old, that it would be as well to change it : forgetting that, if a thing has once answered its purpose, it is childishness and folly to alter it till some reason or other is given why it is likely not to answer its purpose any longer, or, that, the purpose itself being bad, it had better not be 18 The Reformation. answered at all. We say then that we ought to adhere to the principles of the Reformation for this among other reasons : — Because God has evidently blessed us hitherto. Of course it by no means follows that a principle is right because it is successful. But when we can in other ways prove that it is right, we are justified in looking upon success as a blessing on its rightness. Now this is what we have done in the present case. We have shown that the guilt of schism does not rest for one moment upon the Reformation. We have shown how faithfully the Reformers followed the judgment of the universal Church. Therefore, when his- tory tells us of the dangers which our Church has passed through, of the violent attacks which have been made against her and in vain, we naturally discern the blessing of God upon her. We should be most thankless if we did not. Since the Reformation the land has been thrown into confusion by a most fearful rebellion. A king has been murdered by his own people. The go- vernment has been changed for many years. The Church has been forcibly put down, so far as the hand of man and the power of law could put down the ordinance of God. Since then two kings have sat upon the throne of England, who The Reformation. 19 were aliens from our faith, members of the Church of Rome, our bitter and cruel enemy : and by the latter of them, King James, the Chinch was persecuted, her Bishops committed to prison because they opposed his unprincipled conduct, and no means, honest or dishonest, left untried to work her ruin. Then another violent change took place. The succession was altered, and the crown assumed by another branch of the family. William was a foreigner, and knew ab- solutely nothing of the English Church. Besides he was surrounded by worldly and irreligious men, and, being himself a latitudinarian, the Church cannot be said to have been fostered and encou- raged by him. Truly the movements of the world are very troublesome : yet we are the same. Our Cathedrals and Churches, our Sacraments and Prayers, our Government and Ministers still remain as of old, while every thing else around us has changed, and changed many times since then. The laws and constitution have never done chang- ing. Religious sects only live by change and false excitement. The very external face of the country is changed by the springing up of large and populous cities. The Church has not changed. She has indeed silently and gradually extended herself, so far as she had the means, 20 The Reformation. with the growing population. She has quietly raised her towers, and spires, and altars, among the new towns, and given the bread of life to her new sons. But to them she has brought the old laws and ministers and services. She stands among us as a type, and the only one, of that eternal and unchanging home, where she would fain bring us all at the last, and for which end she has been placed here by her Lord. We were never so violently attacked by our ene- mies as now. Here is another and very sufficient reason why we should adhere to the principles of the Reformation. We have, as I have said, been all along opposed to two classes of Dissenters — Roman and Protestant. But they attacked us in different ways. They hated each other more than they hated us. Their principles were di- rectly opposite. In learning and piety, and in the affections of her sons, in steadiness to her own principles and confidence in her own primi- tive belief, the Church has vanquished them. But now they have joined together in an unholy alliance against us. There has never been so complete a union before, though King James did all he could to bring it about. They court the world's favour that they may have the power to do us an injury. There is not a point in our The Reformation. 21 doctrine, discipline, government, education, or services, where an enemy is not lying in wait. If therefore it were really desirable, which it is not, to make any changes, this is not a safe time to do it in. It is wicked to attempt it, so wicked that no well-meaning views or policy will serve to excuse it. We are keeping a jealous guard, and the enemy is wakeful. If we relax one mo- ment, if we open one entrance however small, we cannot tell what evil may befall us. Conces- sion is as much a sign of weakness in times of difficulty, as it is of power in times of peace. Besides, what have we to concede ? and who are those to whom we should concede it ? Our trea- sures are not our own to give up : they are the gifts of the Church of God. We received them from our fathers : we must hand on the precious deposit to our children. This is a sacred duty. The world would fain be thought our friend ; and it is the world which advises us to concede. It bade the Reformers concede to Rome, and then to the Puritans. But they were wiser with an evangelical wisdom, and heeded not the admoni- tion. It is well for the world to concede. All it has is variable, and earthly, and it is its own. Temporal good, which is but a choice of evils at the best, is all it looks to. Therefore it is 22 The Reformation. not the Church's friend, and cannot be, for it does not understand her spiritual rules of action. Besides, the friendship of the world is enmity with God. There was a time when the Church and the world were visibly different bodies : and so long as it was so the Church did well. When they met it was ever in blood, the blood of the saints, and the Church was strengthened by it. But now they are mingled together, so far as ever they can mingle, and we have suffered from it. A sort of sleepiness has come over the world, as if it were growing old and waxing to its decay. Its activity has become restless, feverish, and in- termittent, like that of an aged man : and if love is to wax cold and faith to be rare in the earth, when the Son of Man shall come, may He not now be at hand ? It is not for us to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in His Own power ; but what we may discern in the signs of the times that we are bidden to discern. Therefore let each man be thoughtful, and pon- der all the strange things he is now seeing, and commune with his own heart, and be still. There shall no divination prosper against Israel. A Prayer. 23 A PRAYER FOR UNITY. FROM THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE TWENTIETH OF JUNE. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace, give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly union and concord : that, as there is but one body, and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may henceforth be all of one heart, and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. THE END. Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London, Lately published, BY THE SAME AUTHOR. I BELIEVE IN ONE CATHOLIC AND APO CHURCH. Price 3d. II. THE PRAYER-BOOK : A Safeguard against Religious Excitement. Price 3