Editorial:
Mystery or Contradiction?Afraid to Sin?
An Apology
Some Reformation
Theologians:
Thomas Cranmer
Books
In one of his books, R.C.Sproul discusses the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. In the course of his discussion, he states that this relationship is a mystery but not a contradiction. That is, it is a mystery to us but not a contradiction in itself.
This is bound to be so; for God Himself is a mystery to us and we are a mystery to ourselves. Being incomprehensible, God simply cannot be grasped by our finite, fallen minds. “Canst thou by searching find out God?” (Job 11.7) As for ourselves, we must accept the conclusion of Herman Bavinck, that “man is an enigma whose solution can be found only in God.” “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart.” (Jer 17.9-10) We should not be surprised, therefore, if the relationship between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man remains a mystery to us. Yet it is not a contradiction. As Sproul says: “A contradiction is inherently unintelligible. It is not understood because it cannot be understood.” Truth cannot be error, and right cannot be wrong. To try and make them so is to attempt the impossible, for they are contradictions.
Now because we cannot understand either mystery or contradiction, we tend to confuse the two, and to claim the presence of contradiction when in fact we are in the presence of mystery. This is both sinful and dangerous, for it makes God irrational and His Spirit the Author of confusion. Contradiction falsifies the claims of truth, but mystery does not.
Take, for example, six of the main mysteries of our most holy Faith:
1. Scripture is wholly the work of God and wholly the work of man.
2. God is Tri-une; that is, He is three Persons in one Godhead.
3. Christ has two natures (human and divine) in His one Person.
4. When Christ died, He conquered death, so that John Owen could brilliantly title his work on the atonement The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.
5. In the New Birth, the Spirit makes the elect willing to believe and repent, yet they believe and repent freely, without the least co-ercion or violation of their wills.
6. God providentially controls His entire creation, yet His creatures live and act freely.
All these things are mysteries. But they are not contradictions.
So it is with divine sovereignty and human responsibility. “The Lord reigneth.” (Psa 97.1) There is divine sovereignty. “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Rom 14.12) There is human responsibility. Therefore, when God mercifully calls us all to repent and believe, let us not answer back with the impudent excuse: “We cannot! We are dead in trespasses and sins!” This is John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan’s “Can’t-help-myself-ism.” Rather, let us seek grace to believe and repent. Let us obey God’s call, depending on His grace and trusting in His mercy. Let us go to Christ at His bidding, without asking how we may reconcile the two. And let us be about His business, trusting God to work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Whoever does His will shall know the doctrine that both divine sovereignty and human responsibility are truths of God, without wishing to discover how they can be reconciled.
Introduction
Biblical, God-fearing theologians divide sin into two branches, original and actual. These two branches are further subdivided. Original sin consists of imputed guilt and inherent pollution, while actual sin comprises sins of thought, word and deed.
In a sermon based on the apostle Peter’s words to Simon Magus: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought on thine heart may be forgiven thee” (Acts 8.20-22), Jonathan Edwards propounds the thesis that a man may be lost for ever for one sinful thought. Let us consider this solemn suggestion.
The Reasons for Edwards’s Thesis
Edwards offers two reasons to support his thesis:
1. Simon offered the apostles money if they would bestow on him the extra-ordinary power of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8.18-19)
2. In his response to this offer, Peter blames Simon for one wicked thought; namely, that the gift of God might be bought with money. The vile blasphemy in this thought lies in the Sorcerer imagining that in exchange for his money he could have at his disposal the Third Person of the Godhead!
Edwards’s inferences are perfectly legitimate:
1. Simon was nothing but a natural man, whose “heart was not right in the sight of God.”
2. This sin exposed him to eternal loss: “thy money perish with thee.”
3. Though the apostle exhorts him to repent of his wickedness, he holds out no more than a possibility of forgiveness: “pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.”
It is from this chain of reasoning that Edwards derives his awe-some conclusion, that a man may be lost for ever on account of one sinful thought.
The Thesis Expounded
Edwards launches into the exposition of his thesis by a direct route: since one sinful act exposes us to eternal condemnation, one sinful thought may do so too. A whole array of relevant texts is adduced to support his contention: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek 18.20), “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6.23), “in the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2.14), “he that offends in one point is guilty of all” (James 2.10), “cursed is every one that continueth not in all things found written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal 3.10), “the thought of foolishness is sin” (Prov 24.9), “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt 5.28) and “whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” (Matt 5.22)
A digression on the different ways in which God deals with those who commit such a sin as Simon Magus’s next follows. It contains a pointed reference to the fallen angels, who were “eternally forsaken of God as soon as they had committed one sin,” and a solemn reminder that any particular sin may be the last we commit before God leaves us for ever. Such a sin both “ends God’s patience” and gives the sinning soul “the finishing stab.” Sooner or later, God casts that soul into hell.
Because there is no reference to Simon Magus’s repentance, Edwards concludes that his wicked thought “was probably the finishing stroke towards provoking God finally to leave him and give him up.” Church history, he adds, lends support to this probability, since Simon Magus subsequently became “a most notorious ringleader in wickedness” and was responsible for “most of those vile heresies that infested the primitive church.”
In any single case, adds Edwards, we can never know what this last sin is, for “God is sovereign in determining” when He will withdraw from a soul for ever. Yet what we should be most concerned to learn is that “that sin by which God is especially provoked to leave a person eternally to perish may be only a thought of the heart.” Certainly, Simon Magus himself never regarded his offer of money in this light. Nor may we or the thousands of ‘clergymen’ who have obtained lucrative ‘livings’ by simony. Yet some such thought could be our last before God gives us up. Edwards’s Application therefore presses home this single point in ways that should make each one of us afraid to sin.
The Thesis Applied
In applying Simon Magus’s case to his hearers, Edwards warns us all how great God’s punishment of wicked men will be. For if “one wicked thought” is sufficient to condemn a man eternally, what “great misery will all the wickedness that wicked men are guilty of bring upon them.”
Consider three points, he continues:
1. How vast is the number of sins that the ungodly commit.
2. What torments they all deserve.
3. How strictly will God punish them according to their deserts.
A further array of Biblical texts is marshalled to confirm these points:
“And if ye for all this will not hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins” (Lev 26.18); “Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations” (Ezek 7.3); “And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face” (Hos 7.2); “Now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins” (Hos 8.13); “Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing” (Matt 5.26); “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matt 12.36-37); “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due to him” (Matt 18.34); “And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes” (Luke 12.47) and “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Rom 2.5).
“Let those that are yet in an unconverted state and condition consider these things,” he urges. “Consider seriously how dreadful your punishment must and will be if you don’t get an interest in Christ.” Since we can neither answer for a thousand of our sins, let alone one, nor bear the punishment due to them, for it will “sink” and “crush” us, let us consider that “the damned in hell would be ready to give worlds, if they could, to have the number of their sins to have been by one less - to have one idle word or sinful thought forgotten and blotted out, and to be released from the punishment of it.” These considerations should stir us up to improve the time we have left “out of hell, to fly from the wrath to come, and to obtain the pardon of all” our sins through Christ.
Furthermore, if we are exposed to eternal ruin by one sinful thought, to what dreadful punishment does a whole life of repeated sinning expose us - obstinately disobeying God’s commands, recklessly abusing the riches of His goodness, negligently restraining prayer before Him, and hardening our hearts against His mercy? If we continue to live like this, we “not only stand, but dance upon the very edge of the pit of hell.” Indeed, we run and leap over that pit “upon nothing but a thin, rotten shell,” where we are “every moment in danger of dropping through.”
The plea that God has recently poured out His Spirit on the district [the sermon was preached in 1736, soon after revival] avails no-one. God’s extra-ordinary mercies are not our rules of duty. Besides, Christ’s threats to Capernaum (Matt 11.23) and Israel’s dying in the desert (Num 14.21-23) only heighten our danger. Simon Magus’s sin was committed during a time of great blessing to Samaria.
By contrast, let those who have their sins forgiven realize “how wonderful and infinitely great God’s mercy has been to them.” How many sinful thoughts have they committed! What punishment do they deserve at God’s hands! “But God of His sovereign and distinguishing grace and mercy has delivered you from that ruin you deserved.” All those sins have been disposed of for ever. “They are effectually blotted out. God has done with ’em; Christ’s blood has made an end of ’em; and God has buried them in the depths of His mercy.”
Secondly, let those who are seeking salvation be convinced that “they are entirely in the hands of God.” How often have they sinned themselves “into the hands of justice” and done enough to provoke God to cast them off for ever and deny them His saving grace. However carefully and diligently they desire and seek salvation, therefore, Edwards reminds them, “God is under no kind of tie” or obligation “to do anything for you.”
Lastly, let us all “avoid all sin.” If we can destroy ourselves for eternity with a thought, “then surely” we should “dread the commission of any sin.” “Keep this in mind,” he counsels, “and think often what need you have to watch your thoughts, and your words, and all your actions, that they may not be displeasing to God or contrary to His holy commandments.” So, we must “beware of committing known sin” or “willful acts of sin” and “deliberate acts of sin” and acts of sin “against great warnings.”
Especially we must beware of sinning directly “against the Spirit of God.” Simon Magus’s sin was “a sin against the Spirit of God.” That is, it was committed when he was “under strivings of the Spirit,” when he had had “convictions of the Spirit” and after a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit.
Most of all, urges Edwards, “beware of wicked thoughts.” We must not allow “any wicked thought,” whether lust, or malice, or revenge, or envy, or hatred. “Such wickedness of heart,” he re-iterates, “may eternally undo you.” Among them, dishonouring, blasphemous thoughts of God are the most dangerous. The thought by which Simon Magus was “probably eternally undone, was a dishonourable, blasphemous thought of God.” And so Edwards concludes: “This instance should make every one dread such things, as they would dread the devil himself.” Dear friends, are we afraid to sin?
We apologize for the inadvertent change from the Authorized Version to a more modern version in our printing of Jeremy Brooks’s address in our last issue. Mr Brooks used the A.V. when delivering his address, and while our remit is the doctrines of grace, and not a particular version of the Bible, your Editor always uses and prints the A.V.
Introduction
Variously described as Henry VIII’s scholar diplomat, the skilful sailor who survived court storms and England’s chief pastor, Thomas Cranmer is best remembered as a noble martyr and the leading architect of England’s Reformation. In this article we include a sketch of his life and an edited version of Dr David Samuel’s fine study The Challenge of Cranmer’s Heritage, which we print by permission.
His Life
Born in the rural village of Aslockton, Nottinghamshire, six years after Martin Luther, Cranmer received a traditional grounding in logic, philosophy and the classics at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1511. Further studies in music and mathematics led to a Master’s degree four years later. Soon afterwards he began to study theology, the ‘queen of the sciences,’ now given priority over canon law as a post-graduate discipline.
The 1520s saw Cranmer as a don in ‘holy orders,’ approved as a university preacher and divinity examiner. His biblical studies were helped by Erasmus’s philology but hindered by his approval of Fisher’s Confutatio against Luther. (1523) At this time he was no more than a “secular priest and academic of a conventionally traditional, if humanist, cast of mind.” (MacCulloch)
The next phase of Cranmer’s career witnessed a slow but real advance in his theological outlook, evidently preparing him for his momentous role in the transformation of the English Church. However, it also found him lured out of a regular academic routine into the fragile web of Tudor court life. From 1527 he was increasingly drawn into the king’s ‘Great Matter’ (the divorce of Catherine of Aragon in favour of Anne Boleyn), working away as “an advocate of the royal case.” (MacCulloch)
A trip to Europe in 1530 gave Cranmer the opportunity to hear of continental reform and seek university support for the king; but his mission to Rome was thwarted when Pope Clement VII forbade Henry to take a new queen. Yet slowly, through the study of Scripture, the ‘Church Fathers’ and canon law, Cranmer began to distance himself from Roman doctrine.
Further European service, on an embassy to the court of Emperor Charles V (1532), found him earnestly conferring with a Lutheran pastor, Andreas Osiander, on “Christian faith and true religion.” That summer, he boldly flouted canon law by marrying Osiander’s wife’s niece. Clearly, Cranmer was now openly placing Biblical authority above that of canon law and rejecting clerical celibacy.
With the death of Archbishop Warham, Cranmer became his successor (1533) and began to plan his reforms of the English Church. Though his progress through the 1530s is difficult to chart, one momentous change is observable. At his consecration to the See of Canterbury, Cranmer renounced all papal authority in favour of that of his monarch. Further constitutional changes reduced all popes to the rank of bishops of Rome and placed the nation under the king in parliament according to God’s law.
By 1537 Cranmer had read everything written by Oecolampadius and Zwingli, plus many of the “ancient doctors and first writers in the Church of Christ.” The same year he placed Christ’s two sacraments above the traditional Roman seven. Meanwhile his chaplains spent many hours for him copying quotations or ‘commonplaces’ from the banned books sent over by his wife’s uncle, Osiander. Soon his Protestant leanings reached a new level of certainty. Using the apostle Paul and Augustine as his sources, he definitely adopted two of the great Reformation solas - sola gratia and sola fide - as central to his grasp of justification, the pivotal issue for salvation. “More surprisingly,” writes A.G.Dickens, with Thomas Cromwell he succeeded in persuading Henry “to disseminate the English Bible in translations by his exiled Protestant subjects, Tyndale and Coverdale.” “From this point,” observes Dickens, “no European people was more profoundly influenced by the vernacular Scriptures.”
Cranmer’s Preface to the second impression of the Great Bible of 1540 indicates his “commitment to reformation with all possible clarity.” (Peter Brooks) “This book,” he says nobly, “is the Word of God, the most precious jewel and most holy relic that remaineth upon earth.” On its publication he told Cromwell that this event gave him “more pleasure” than if he had given him “a thousand pound.” This conviction marks the final stage in Cranmer’s theological development. From now on, his whole energies were devoted to Anglican reform in doctrine, liturgy and pastoral care.
Inevitably, under Henry’s violent and whimsical regime, Cranmer had to proceed with great caution. Yet with every encouragement from Henry’s son, Edward VI, “the English Josiah,” a Book of Common Prayer was prescribed for the English people, and reformation proceeded apace. One of the Prayer Book’s chief glories was its affirmation of the unique perfection and efficacy of our Saviour’s atoning death on Calvary. Cranmer followed up with a learned Defence of the true Biblical doctrine of the “holy Supper” and twelve Homilies intended for the use of non-preaching ‘clergy.’ Under his supervision, church ornaments, such as rood lofts, images of patron saints, stone altars and the like were then removed, and wall paintings were replaced by Bible texts. The English people were now able to worship God in their own language.
Bent on implementing “God’s word and will” as much as possible, Cranmer sought counsel from continental Reformers in Strasburg, Basle and Zurich, and even succeeded in persuading Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr Vermigli to leave Strasburg in favour of Cambridge and Oxford respectively. Entire congregations of continental Protestant refugees were encouraged to establish themselves in London and other cities. “Cranmer and the Edwardian government threw England open to Protestant influence in the most decisive possible way.” (Robert Kingdon)
All this changed with the death of Edward and the succession of his sister ‘Bloody Mary.’ (1553) Fanatically obsessed with the desire to stamp out God’s truth, which she viewed as heresy, Mary ordered the burning of almost three hundred Protestants, as “obstinate, false, detestable” heretics, including the godly John Bradford and bishops Hooper, Ridley and Latimer. The circumstances of Cranmer’s imprisonment and execution are well documented. Following six recantations of his Biblical faith through fear of death, he astonished his audience by bravely renouncing his recantations, re-affirming his rejection of the pope as “Christ’s enemy and Antichrist” and suffering martyrdom with extra-ordinary patience. As J.B.Mullinger says: “his vacillation in the prison was forgotten in his heroism at the stake.” Indeed, like that of Samson, “his dying did even more for his cause than his living had done.” (J.I.Packer)
The Challenge of Cranmer’s Heritage
Cranmer gave to the Church of England a Bible in English, the Book of Common Prayer and a Confession of Faith in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. He also established a tradition of Biblical preaching through the Book of Homilies. This is his heritage to the English Church. The hallmark of this heritage is catholicity, by which he meant being faithful to the teaching of Scripture and the apostolic tradition within Scripture, in communion with other parts of the Catholic Church that had likewise been purified of papal corruptions. As the papists held “their councils at Trent for the establishment of their errors,” he urged Calvin, Melanchthon, Bullinger and other Reformers to convene a council of Reformed churches to agree on the main heads of Biblical and Catholic truth. “The concern of the archbishop was not merely that this or that abuse should be remedied... It went a good deal deeper. It was a concern that the mediaeval system as a whole should give way to a reformed and...truly catholic system.” (G.Bromiley) Let us examine the different elements of this heritage and see how it is imperilled today by elements within the church.
The Supremacy of Holy Scripture
The cornerstone of a truly reformed and catholic system such as Cranmer sought to establish must be the supremacy of Holy Scripture. In his early days at Cambridge, “he spent three whole years reading over the books of holy Scriptures” and as an examiner in divinity he would not pass any candidate “unless they were substantially seen in the story of the Bible.” (Foxe) He adopted the same approach to the king’s ‘Great Matter,’ expressly appealing to the “authority of the Word of God... There is but one truth in it [the divorce question] which the Scripture will soon declare.” Only a year before his martyrdom, he told Queen Mary that the pope has no power to dispense “against Peter, against Paul, against the Old and New Testament.”
True, he attached great weight to the teachings of the early fathers of the Church. But he does not appeal to them as an independent authority apart from Scripture. In contending for the reforming doctrines, he could demonstrate that he was not maintaining new truths, but those that were both apostolic and catholic. The innovations were all on the side of Rome. As James Packer has put it: “It was a conscious attempt to restore to the church of the West the catholicity it had so long lost.... Cranmer judged that for three or four centuries before his time, due to papal absolutism, priestcraft, the theology of the mass and neglect of the Bible, the church in England, as throughout Europe, had lapsed grievously from the catholic norm, and his over-riding concern...was to see this deviation corrected.”
Cranmer’s Confutation of Unwritten Verities is a prime example of this... In the first chapter he cites the self-witness of the Bible to its own fundamental authority. In the second he quotes the fathers to show that they accepted the binding and exclusive authority of Scripture. In the next five chapters he argues on Scriptural and patristic grounds against extra-biblical revelations, by angelic oracles, apparitions, miracles and custom... The final two chapters are important as here Cranmer...contends that the work of the Holy Spirit today has reference only to the teaching which Christ himself has already given. That teaching has been given permanent record by the power of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. The subsequent work of the Spirit is subjective in sealing the truth of this teaching upon the hearts and minds of believers.
This positive doctrine of the supremacy of Scripture had its negative side in respect of the pope and the Church of Rome... There is no Biblical evidence for the papal headship, nor for the doctrines that the papacy maintains. The papacy is not therefore merely not catholic, but it is anti-catholic as long as it maintains that position in enmity to the Biblical doctrines of the Reformation.
This fundamental teaching of the supremacy of Scripture...is threatened from different directions at the present time.
1. First, by the ordination of women.
In 1992 the General Synod of the Church of England voted for the ordination of women to the presbyterate. In the preceding debate the conservatives argued that Scripture did not permit this... However, pragmatic arguments were advanced by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Carey, to the effect that the church...would lose all credibility in the eyes of the world if it did not proceed to ordain women... Despite a warning from the bishop of Sheffield of the danger of setting aside the plain meaning of Scripture...the Synod, by voting as it did in favour of women presbyters, showed that it...effectively denied the revelation of God’s truth in Scripture. This is to overthrow the position Cranmer sought to establish...when he affirmed that neither pope nor council had power to dispense with the teaching of Scripture. We have now come full circle. The principle of catholicity resting on Scripture...has been breached. The seeds of apostasy have been sown, which only need time and opportunity to become rampant.
2. Second, by the ascendancy of liberalism within the church.
In 1987 the Doctrine Commission published its report We Believe in God, which sought to establish a parallel between science and theology. It argued that theological knowledge is built up in the same way as scientific knowledge...through experience, by adding, testing and discarding what is unsatisfactory...until we are left with a “well-winnowed and highly-reliable core.” ...According to this theory, Holy Scripture is itself incomplete, provisional and subject to correction... The report argues that we who stand at the end of this process (so far) see more and farther than those who have gone before us. This astonishing assertion puts the church over Scripture, not under it. By contrast, Cranmer maintained that the church is not the mistress of Scripture, but merely its keeper (Article XX)...and that she has no power to “put to, or take away anything from the first original writings.” (Parker Soc. II. 59.)
3. Third, by confusion about the nature of authority within the church.
There is a great deal of loose talk nowadays about the threefold cord of Scripture, Tradition and Reason, as if they were all on an equal footing... This, it is claimed, is the Anglican position. It needs to be said emphatically that it is not... Archbishop Sandys declared: “It hath been the practice of all defenders of the truth since the beginnings to rely their faith only upon the Scripture and written Word.” (Works 12.) And A.J.Tait stated: “There is no co-ordinate authority with Scripture... Scripture alone has ultimate authority.” (Lecture Outlines on the Thirty Nine Articles. 61.) The tendency in theological discussions between Roman Catholics and Anglicans, such as ARCIC, has been to regard Tradition as an authority co-ordinate with that of Scripture... [On such a basis] the very notion of dialogue with the Papacy would have been impossible for Cranmer...[since] the existence of the Papacy...is a denial of the supreme authority of Scripture...
At this point it is imperative that we heed Cranmer’s warning. The Visible Church, he says, is only the Church of Christ insofar as it adheres to Scripture. But “if the church proceed further to make any new articles of faith, besides the Scripture, or contrary to the Scripture...then it is not the pillar of truth, nor the church of Christ, but the synagogue of Satan, and the temple of antichrist...” (Parker Society I. 377.) He adds: “If we be uncertain of God’s Word, the devil might bring in among us a new word, a new doctrine, a new faith, a new church, a new god, yea, himself to be god, as he hath already done in the popish kingdom.” (Of Unwritten Verities. 52.)
Such is the perilous condition of a church which is no longer sure of the authority of God’s Word...and which destroys the foundation by overthrowing the supremacy of Scripture.
The Book of Common Prayer
There can be little doubt that the past cohesion of the Anglican communion owed much to the Book of Common Prayer, of which Cranmer was the architect. The present centrifugal tendency in Anglicanism has much to do with the almost universal abandonment of that agreed liturgy. Nothing offered as a replacement is so effective, enduring or capable of commanding the allegiance of all Anglicans. A.F.Pollard wrote: “To [The Book of Common Prayer] the Anglican Church owes the hold she retains on the English people... The Book of Common Prayer is unique... Amid the fierce contentions of the churches it gave the Church of England unity, strength and a way to the hearts of men such as no other church could boast.” (Thomas Cranmer. 222-3.)...
It is important to recognize the doctrinal character of the Book of Common Prayer as well as its fine English, for beauty of language alone is not sufficient to sustain religious belief... Throughout it we have the doctrine of the Thirty-Nine Articles cast in the form of prayer and worship. It is this doctrinal unity that gives the Prayer Book its durability and power. As J.I.Packer has said: “Nothing so quickly reveals a theologian’s calibre as his sacramental teaching, for this is, so to speak, the roof of his theological house; it rests squarely upon his beliefs about God, man, creation, redemption, the church, the ministry, the work of Christ and the work of the Spirit, and its shape provides an immediate clue to the structure and adequacy of the theological edifice which it crowns.”
This sacramental theology, which Cranmer worked out painstakingly on Scriptural and truly catholic lines, finds its expression supremely in the Holy Communion Service of the Prayer Book. “As a piece of liturgical craftsmanship it is in the first rank... It is not a disordered attempt at a catholic rite, but the only effective attempt ever made to give liturgical expression to the doctrine of ‘justification by faith alone.’” (G.Dix: The Shape of the Liturgy. 1945. 672.) Cranmer would have maintained that it is more catholic than the mediaeval mass that it replaced, because it returned to Scripture and the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper that prevailed before the introduction of papal corruptions. Cranmer himself offered to concede to papists if they could bring one ancient author to confirm their doctrine, whereas he took his from “many old authors, both Greeks and Latins”, who taught the true Biblical doctrine for over a thousand years after Christ.
Cranmer moved to this “true and catholic doctrine” of the Lord’s Supper slowly, but once he had arrived at it he remained immovable. His first essay in replacing the mediaeval mass with a Communion Service was in the First Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549). Further progress towards Scriptural principles came with his 1552 Prayer Book. A.F.Pollard summarizes the changes, which now left no room for misinterpretation: “The service was so arranged as to exclude the ideas of sacrifice and corporal presence . . . The word ‘altar’ was expunged; the Kyrie Eleison...was changed into an ordinary prayer for grace to keep the Ten Commandments... Ordinary instead of unleavened bread was to be used; the wearing of the alb, chasuble and cope [priestly garments] was expressly prohibited, and the ‘communion table’ [no longer to be seen as an altar] was to be placed in the body of the church and not at the east end.” (Thomas Cranmer. 273.)
All these points (except the word ‘altar’, which is now in common use anyway) were restored in the Alternative Service Book of 1980, while ambiguous words which allow a doctrine of the real presence and mass sacrifice came back. Consequently the Church Union is fully justified in calling the ASB service a mass; besides which, the new Canons (1968), which permit the wearing of mass vestments, heighten this effect.
At the time these changes were in train, those who sought them maintained that no doctrinal change was implied, only an updating of language. But in 1985 the Archbishop of York complained that the church had not faced up to “the major shift in doctrinal emphasis in the new services.”
In short, if the 1549 Prayer Book was a halfway house on the road to full Reformation under Scripture, the 1980 Service Book is a halfway house leading us back in the opposite direction to an unReformed position. Those who welcomed the ASB admitted that it was now more akin to the services of the Church of Rome. The ARCIC document on the Eucharist has itself explicitly revived the doctrines of a substantial presence and mass sacrifice which Cranmer sought to throw down. Cranmer’s heritage is being dissipated. The Church of England is being systematically de-Protestantized. Yet Protestantism is essential to true catholicism. It affirms Scriptural doctrine over the accretions and corruptions of the papal system. In short, the Church of England is being deliberately manoeuvred into a position where she will forfeit her claim to catholicity and apostolicity bequeathed her by Cranmer, in order to become acceptable to Rome.
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
The third part of Cranmer’s heritage is the confession of faith, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Relgion. Cranmer declared in 1536 that he had “these many years...daily prayed unto God that I might see the power of Rome destroyed”, and he thanked God that he had now seen it happen in this realm. But it was just as much his desire to see the corrupt Roman system replaced by a godly system. He ardently sought a body of pure doctrine that could be embraced not only by the Church of England but by other churches too that were prepared to embark on the path of Reformation. . . He wrote to leading theologians of the Reformed churches on the continent suggesting a council to draw up main articles of faith, but such a meeting was never convened. Instead, he produced the Forty-two Articles of 1553, which are essentially the same as the Thirty-nine Articles we now possess. The identity and catholicity of the Church of England is defined in these articles.
In recent times attempts have been made to escape from this identity. Newman sought to subvert the articles by forcing on them an interpretation in terms of the Council of Trent, but this was a failure, and he seceded to Rome. More recently still, others have argued that the Church of England is meant to be a cockpit of discussion and debate between three traditions - Catholic, Liberal and Evangelical. But this is a rationalization of history. The Church of England was never meant to be pluralistic in the modern sense of containing contradictory creeds, as Philip Schaff pointed out: “Continental historians, both Protestant and Catholic, rank the Church of England among the Reformed churches as distinct from the Lutheran, and her articles are found in every collection of Reformed Confessions.” (History of the Creeds of Christendom. 1877. 622.)
The truth is (at least on paper) that the Church of England is a Reformed church. Those who pretend that Cranmer’s Confession is meaningless, or that the Church of England has no theology, really mean that they do not like the theology she has. There is also at present to make the articles defer to what is called ‘the Catholic Faith.’ ...Incumbents were once asked to signify their assent to the Thirty-nine Articles. Now they are asked to affirm ‘the Catholic Faith.’ This is to suggest that the ancient creeds are universal but the Thirty-nine Articles are merely local. There is no justification whatever for this... Article VIII ‘Of the Three Creeds’ clearly shows that these ancient creeds are part of the Church’s confession. Cranmer saw no such distinction between the creeds and the articles. Indeed, it was to define the Catholic Faith that he formulated the Articles.
Cranmer has been grossly underestimated as a theologian. Yet Peter Martyr Vermigli wrote to Martin Bucer: “The palm [in the First Prayer Book debate] rests with our friends, but especially with the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom they till now were wont to traduce as a man ignorant of theology and as being conversant only with matters of government; but now, believe me, he has shown himself so mighty a theologian against them as they would rather not have proof of, and they are compelled against their inclination to acknowledge his learning and power and dexterity in debate.” (A.F.Pollard - Thomas Cranmer. 217-8.)
An example of his clear and careful exposition is seen in his treatment of the doctrine of Justification by Faith. [See Article XI ‘Of Justification’ and the Homily on Salvation.] ...Cranmer’s trumpet on this central doctrine does not give an uncertain sound: because all men are sinners “every man of necessity is constrained to seek for another righteousness or justification, to be received at God’s own hands.” The mercy of God has set forth His Son, Jesus Christ, to fulfil the law for us, and to make sacrifice and satisfaction for our sins. Justification is therefore free to all who believe. This had to be if men are to be saved at all, since they could never have paid the price themselves. But it was costly to the Son of God, “who, besides his ransom, fulfilled the law for us perfectly... Therefore St. Paul declareth...nothing on the behalf of man concerning his justification but only a true and lively faith, which nevertheless is the gift of God, and not man’s only work without God.” (Homily. Parker Society II. 129.)
Cranmer contrasts faith with ‘dead’ faith (mere barren orthodoxy), which is not real faith at all. True faith is not only to believe all that is written in Holy Scripture, but to trust in the mercy of God and to lean on Christ’s merits for acceptance with God. Such faith does not stand alone: it is accompanied in the Christian by repentance, hope, love, godly fear and so on. The purpose for saying that faith alone justifies is to exclude everything else from the work of justifying. Even faith itself does not justify us: it simply unites us to Christ who does... How careful Cranmer is to exclude any ground whatever within us as the ground of our acceptance with God... “Although we hear God’s Word and believe it; although we have faith, hope, charity, repentance, dread and fear of God within us, and do never so many good works...yet we must renounce the merit of all our said virtues...as things that be far too weak and insufficient and unperfect to deserve remission of our sins, and our justification; and therefore we must trust only in God’s mercy, and in that sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus, the Son of God, once offered for us upon the cross.” (Parker Society II. 132.)
The agreed statement put out by ARCIC II in 1987 cuts right across this teaching by Cranmer. In a number of subtle ways it argues that the ground of our justification is within as well as without us. This destroys the whole force of the doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone.
Secondly, it maintains that Justification is only a part of salvation, an approach that contrasts sharply with that of Cranmer, who (following Scripture itself) makes Salvation and Justification synonymous.
So here again we see how modern Anglicanism sets aside Cranmer’s confessional heritage. . . His doctrine of Justification, as set forth in Article XI and the Homily on Salvation, is negated by the ARCIC II statement ‘Salvation and the Church.’ But let Cranmer have the last word: “This [Justification by Faith] is the strong rock and foundation of Christian religion...this doctrine advanceth and setteth forth the true glory of Christ, and beateth down the vain-glory of man; this whosever denieth is not to be counted for a true Christian man, nor a setter forth of Christ’s glory, but for an adversary of Christ and his Gospel.” (Parker Society. II. 131.) It is very clear where Cranmer drew the line, and those who fall away from the doctrine of justification by faith alone...apostatize from the Catholic Faith.
Conclusion
We have spoken of Cranmer’s heritage in Scripture, Liturgy and Creed. The word ‘heritage’ implies a precious legacy - to be conserved, valued and handed on. I do not think this is how the church generally thinks of the principles of the English Reformation. On the contrary, they are more often regarded as uncomfortable facts in our history, an embarrassment best discarded and forgotten. I do not say that there is the intention deliberately to destroy them...[but]...the aim is to let them fade away as an anachronism and an irrelevancy, much as an old disused chair is put away in the attic. So Cranmer’s heritage is put away in the lumber room of history. That leaves the Church of England free to do more or less as it likes without reference to it. The church is refashioned according to the latest progressive and ecumenical trends. We believe, however, that the old chair is a good deal better and stronger than the spindly furniture we now see around the house. We believe that the principles and doctrines laid down by Cranmer are not of merely temporal significance, limited in their application to the 16th century. They are of enduring and abiding importance precisely because they are Scriptural and Catholic (ie universal)... Cranmer knew that what he was doing in concert with the other Reformers was of that nature...for Cranmer was dealing with eternal truths, with the everlasting Gospel. Today, the church is seeking to build again those things that the Word and Spirit of God destroyed at the Reformation. But what does God say? “Yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” (Heb 12.26-27)
This is the challenge of Cranmer’s heritage to the contemporary church: Will it own the catholicity of the foundation Cranmer laid, or is it determined to take its final leave of it? We who believe in the great principles of the English Reformation have this confidence: they cannot be shaken. Cranmer saw that the Visible Church may err if it departs from the Word of God. But he saw too the Church of God’s elect, that can never wholly err: “for ever in most darkness God shineth unto his elect, and in the midst of all iniquity he governeth them so with his holy word and Spirit, that the gates of hell prevail not against them . . . and the holy church of Christ is but a small herd or flock, in comparison to them that follow Satan and antichrist.” (Parker Society. I. 377.)
The prospects for the Visible Church are not encouraging at present. But that does not mean that God has forsaken His people; nor is He neglectful of His cause or slack concerning His promise. The prospect for us cannot be more forbidding that it was for Cranmer when he came to the end of his life and saw his work being undone. Yet he wrote these words from prison to Peter Martyr, and with them I conclude: “I have learned by experience...that God never shines forth more brightly, and pours out the beams of his mercy and consolation, or of strength and firmness of spirit, more clearly or impressively upon the minds of his people, than when they are under the most extreme pain and distress, both of mind and body, that he may the more especially show himself to be the God of his people, when he seems altogether to have forsaken them; then raising them up when they think he is bringing them down and laying them low; then glorifying them when he is thought to be confounding them; then quickening them when he is thought to be destroying them. So that we may say with Paul: ‘When I am weak, then am I strong; and if I must needs glory, I will glory in my infirmities, in prisons, in revilings, in distresses, in persecutions, in sufferings for Christ.’” (Parker Society. II. 458.)
Created for Worship - Noel Due. 238pp + 72pp Bibliography & Notes. Pbk. £10.99. ISBN 1-84550-0261.
This book explores the theme of worship throughout the Bible. It is a scholarly work, suitable for pastors and ministerial students who wish to pursue the subject at some depth. The author’s high view of Scripture is apparent on every page. He shows a profound understanding of the relationship between one passage of Scripture and another, and succeeds in exalting the Lord Jesus Christ as the supreme object of the church’s worship. There is a fine section on ‘Worship in the Book of Revelation.’ John Manton.
Godly Jealousy:A Theology of Intolerant Love - K. Erik Thiennes. 297pp. Pbk. £10.99. ISBN 1-84550-027-X.
Do we know God as One jealous for His own glory and His people’s covenant faithfulness? This is the challenge set for us by this new scholarly study. Just as B.B.Warfield’s essay ‘The Emotional Life of our Lord’ filled a gap in our knowledge of our Saviour’s perfect humanity, so Professor Thiennes’s book does the same for the neglected divine attribute of jealousy. Dismissing all anthropopathic views, even Calvin’s, the author focuses on a few major passages and people from both testaments to demonstrate that our God is justly jealous of the uncompromising devotion He demands from us. Concluding with several practical lessons, including the need to be jealous for God in our scholarship and daily living, the book is calculated to shake conventional views of God as either unemotional or only loving and to energize us with fresh views of His greatness. JMB.
Grace Abounding: The Life, Books and Influence of John Bunyan - David B. Calhoun. 223pp. Pbk. £8.99. ISBN 1-84550-031-8.
This book is a gem. The fruit of long and affectionate familiarity with Bunyan, it draws not only on the author’s true understanding of Bunyan’s theology and experience, but also on the findings of other Bunyan lovers, such as C.S.Lewis, Milo Kaufman, N.H.Keeble, Alexander Whyte, Henri Talon, Richard Greaves and John Kelman, to bring us a thoroughly delightful literary journey through his works. Cordially recommended. JMB.
The Wages of Spin - Carl R. Trueman. 190pp. Pbk. £10.99. ISBN 1-85792-994-2.
These critical essays on historic and contemporary evangelicalism are both thought-provoking and provocative. With such chapter-headings as ‘What can miserable Christians sing?’, ‘The Marcions have landed’, ‘Boring Ourselves to Life’ and ‘Theology and the Church: Divorce or Re-marriage?’ how could they be otherwise? Yet their trenchant exposure of much current evangelical apathy and woolliness is absolutely necessary if we are to keep our focus on the big issues. It is so refreshing to see Bible critics criticized, evangelicals who view their local church as the centre of the universe rebuked, and fence-sitting members of the Scholars’ Club reminded that there is such a thing as absolute truth. The sharpness of the criticisms only enhances their validity. Perhaps one particular sentence encapsulates the gifted author’s aims: “think biblically, with Christ at the centre.” If his sallies goad us to do this, they will not have been written in vain. JMB.
Stress: Sources and Solutions - Gaius Davies. 304pp. Pbk. £8.99. ISBN 1-84550-028-8.
This reprint of a 1988 title, commending the wise use of psychiatric counselling, aims to help those afflicted by various stressful disorders. Its highly-qualified author calmly and clearly demonstrates how the right use of medication in the context of total care is perfectly consistent with trust in Christ as the Great Physician of souls. Drawing on years of experience and many case histories, Dr Davies steers a middle path between the ‘super-spiritual’ rejection of all medical help and the secular worship of psychiatry that excludes all spiritual factors. One pervasive theme is the reminder that Christians are not immune to the stresses inherent in a fallen world. Informed references to the cases of William Cowper, Martin Luther, C.H.Spurgeon, John Bunyan and others help the reader to identify his own condition. Realistic, compassionate and sane to a degree, this study could benefit all pastors, doctors, teachers, parents and carers. JMB.
A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards - ed John Piper and Justin Taylor. 287pp Pbk £17.99. ISBN 1-58134-563-1.
This symposium, containing essays by such reliable students of Edwards as John Piper, Stephen Nichols and James Packer, is the fruit of a conference held at Minneapolis in 2003 to celebrate Edwards’s 300th birthday. Its three sections handle aspects of his Life and Legacy, Life and Thought, and Major Theological Works [excluding his History of Redemption, Charity and Its Fruits and The End for which God created the World.] Each chapter highlights a different facet of Edwards’s view of God as wisely combining concern for His own glory with His people’s happiness. The sheer magnificence of this view shines through at every point, as much in the winsome details of Edwards’s home life as in the expositions of such masterpieces as Original Sin, The Freedom of the Will (still unanswered) and The Religious Affections. Packer’s essay on The Glory of God and the Reviving of Religion is superb. O when will professedly Reformed Christians stop wasting their God-given energies on divisive petty squabbles and sordid exercises in self-vindication to devote themselves exclusively to what really matters in this life, even our glorifying and enjoying God? JMB.
The Salvation of Souls: Nine Previously Unpublished Sermons on the Call of Ministry and the Gospel - Jonathan Edwards. Ed Bailey and Wills. 190pp. Hdbk. £19.99. ISBN 1-58134-563-1.
All credit to the editors for painstakingly reproducing these superb sermons. Faithful to the Word of God, solemn, searching, even exhilarating (especially Sermon 4), devastating to carnal confidence, these comparatively short addresses enrich our spiritual armoury beyond all proportion to their size. How much do today’s ministers need to be reminded that their chief work is the salvation of souls, rather than upholding their favourite shibboleths! JMB.
Defence of the Truth - Michael Haykin. 160pp. Pbk. £7.95. ISBN 0-85234-554-2.
In this untechnical, brief and lucid study, Prof. Haykin informs believers - by considering six ‘apologists’ from the early church - how to use Scripture, sound reasoning, creedal statements and prayer in facing enemies of God’s truth today. Their method happily combines refuting their enemies’ arguments while seeking to win them for Christ. From the anonymous ‘Epistle to Diognetus’ to Patrick of Ireland, many valuable lessons are drawn, while short Further Reading lists are appended to each chapter. A four-page Appendix refutes the error of Modalism [more accurately, Patripassianism] by answering the question: “And did the Father die?” For all who need help in giving a reason for the hope that is in us, this is a useful guide. JMB.
2000 Years of Christ’s Power. Vol 3: Renaissance and Reformation - N.R.Needham. 624pp. Pbk. £13.95.
The third volume of a projected five, this is a fine work of church history. It begins with an excellent chapter on the Renaissance, a movement that changed the intellectual life of Europe, the significance of which is often missed in works on the Reformation. The bulk of the book is devoted to various Reformation movements, bringing clarity to the differences between the Lutheran, Magisterial and Radical Reformations. It is full of lively portraits of leading and lesser-known reformers. Needham is very strong in portraying Protestantism as a positive, pro-active movement presenting doctrinal truths, rather than being a mere re-action to mediaeval Catholic abuses. We are rarely told how Reformation ideas reached a largely illiterate public, despite the publication of much recent work in this field. This criticism apart, the book is a good overview of the period with much detail on the big issues. It deserves a wide readership. Malcolm Lowrie.
A Year with your Children in the Bible - Jim Cromarty. 724pp. Hdbk. £18.95.
These daily devotions for family worship build into a comprehensive overview of the Bible. Each day refers to a Bible reading with a key verse. The passage is explained, and a few questions follow. Parents should prepare for these. Lastly, there is a short, direct application, and a quote from a hero of the faith. Some of this is beyond the very young, but older children would benefit from the book. Miriam Lowrie.
Totally Committed to Christ - Brian Russell. 286 pp. Pbk. £8.00. ISBN 0-85234-570-4.
This latest addition to the ‘Guide’ series is only for those who are prepared to allow the spotlight of Scripture search out the hidden parts of their thinking and disturb their ‘well-ordered’ life. In asking how near total is our commitment, the author deals with our stewardship of body, mind, talents, time, faith, money and home. Starting with a hymn suited to the subject under review, and ending with questions, each chapter makes this book an ideal instrument for use in groups. Pastors might include it in their plans for group study. Readable and relevant, in questioning our commitment to the Saviour, it shows God’s desire by His Spirit to have dominion over every part of our lives. It may lead to a transformation in our lifestyle for our blessing and His glory. Your reviewer has no hesitation in commending this excellent book. Aubrey Ridge.
Preachers who made a difference - Peter Jeffery. 112pp. Pbk. £8.95. ISBN 0-85234-575-5.
Peter Jeffery writes: “It has been said that the most urgent need in the Christian church today is true preaching.” This book takes a brief look into the lives of nine influential preachers from the past, men who knew how to preach and pastor a flock, men from whom we could well learn. We may see from the life of each one how he preached Christ and saw lives changed. On the accompanying CD the author reads extracts from sermons by some of these men. Patrick Elliott.
1 Corinthians - Peter Naylor. 544pp. Hdbk. £16.95. ISBN 0-85234-567-4.
This commentary, which offers the author’s own slightly more literal than dynamic translation of the Greek text, is a very good exposition. It does not omit or skimp controversial passages (on divorce, re-marriage and head-covering) but deals with them pastorally. It also advocates a cessationist position regarding spiritual gifts. To every chapter exposition the author adds a brief introduction and closing application. This is a good all round commentary, containing many quotes from other Christian authors. Patrick Elliott.
Why does being a Christian have to be so hard? - Peter Golding. 144pp. Pbk. £6.95.
This is the kind of book to pass on to a Christian who is going through a difficult time. It is written simply, with real compassion, and with a firm grasp of what Scripture has to say concerning the trials of life. It seeks to bring out the message of Hebrews 12.1-13 and to explore its deep treasures. The text is divided into short sections - very suitable for those in distress (for whatever reason) who finds concentration difficult. Thoroughly recommended. John Manton.
Emily Gosse: A Life of Faith and Works - Robert Boyd. 251 pp. Hdbk. £8.95. ISBN 0-954-8283-05.
This summary of her life and witness (followed by 147 pages of her hymns, sacred poems and prose writings) brings Emily Gosse from the shadows cast by her eminent husband, Philip Henry, and her son, Sir Edmund, into the light where her remarkable talents can be appreciated. Emily’s poetic style varies considerably, always avoiding banality, yet offering exceedingly rich spiritual content. Various passages of Scripture, along with some Collects from the 1662 Prayer Book, are recast into verse form, while her own verse expresses her own inner struggles, making us eavesdroppers on her own private thoughts. This is an excellent volume at a moderate price. Aubrey Ridge.
The Gospel Offer IS Free - David Gay. £5.00. Post Free.
This book is a reply to George Ella’s book on the same subject. In searching for an answer to the question “What is the Free Offer?” the author reminds us that Scripture alone (according to Isaiah 8.20) should be our guide, not the views of John Gill or William Huntingdon. A galaxy of testimonies adhering to Scripture (including those of Owen, Candlish and Spurgeon) deals with ‘Duty Faith’, stressing the paradox that God desires to save all sinners but He has decreed to save only His elect. The book does not depend for its value on its reply to Ella, but stands in its own right as a reminder of the need to let Scripture ‘do the talking.’ Using economy of expression and abundant sweet reasoning from Scripture, this experienced author pleads for an acceptance of God’s Word against man’s interpretation, to lay before us the irrefutable truth: The Gospel Offer IS Free. At £5 the book is a treasure that cannot be bettered for value. Do buy it. Aubrey Ridge.
The Works of Thomas Halyburton. 4 vols. 358, 417, 440, 388 pp. Hdbk. £13.00 each. £45.00 the set. Postage included within UK.
This fine set is a complete re-setting of the early 19th century 1 volume edition of the works of a ‘minor John Owen.’ (John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan) It includes material recently brought to light.
Volume 1 - Faith and Justification - is a splendid study of regeneration and justification, exploring the nature of faith, of saving faith, and of faith in relation to reason. [Very necessary today in view of Rationalism and Post-modernism.] This is followed by ten excellent sermons handling such glorious subjects as Christ Crucified, The Triumph of Faith and The Eternal Daybreak.
Volume 2 - Faith and Salvation - deals calmly and judiciously with the three greatest questions we can ever ask: “What have I done? What must I do? What shall I render?” Other writers have grouped these momentous subjects as Guilt, Grace and Gratitude, or as Sin, Salvation and Service. This volume concerns us all.
Volume 3 - Faith and Revelation - handles the Deist Controversy with a lucidity second to none and with devastating Biblical logic.
Volume 4 - Faith and Experience - contains Halyburton’s Memoirs, regarded by John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan as one of the three greatest autobiographies of all time. These are followed by several sermons, two of them previously unpublished.
Altogether, while these volumes need prolonged study to extract the best from them, their contents are more precious than gold. J.M.B.
| Homepage | Joining | Details |
| Meetings | Publications |
| Other issues of Peace and Truth |