points in opinion against the beads and their resolu- tions. Another letter be si nl to the heads t hi nisei ves>, telling them that they had enjoined Parrel to affirm that which was contrary to the doctrine held and expressed by man} sound and learned divines in the
Church of England, and in other churches likewise men
PREDESTINATION
501
PREDESTINATION
of best account ; and that which for his own part he thought to be false and contrary to the Scriptures; for the .Scriptures are plain that God by his absolute will did not hate and reject any man. There might be im- piety in believing the one, there could be none in be- lieving the other ; neither was it contrary to any article of religion established by authority in this Church of England, but rather agreeable thereto. This testimony of the archbishop is very remarkable; and though he afterwards countenanced the Lambeth Articles, that is of little or no weight in the case. The question is not about any man's private opinion, but about the doctrine of the Church ; and supposing the archbishop to be a Calvinist, as he seems to have been at least in some points, this only adds the greater weight to his testi- mony, that the English Church has nowhere declared in favor of that scheme. The archbishop descended to the particulars charged against Barret, asking the heads what article of the Church was contradicted by this or that notion of his; and Whitaker in his reply does not appeal to one of the articles as against Barret, but forms his plea upon the doctrines which then generally ob- tained in pulpits. His words are, "We are fully per- suaded that Mr. Barret hath taught untruth, if not against the articles, yet against the religion of our Church, publicly received, and always held in her maj- esty's reign, and maintained in all sermons, disputa- tions, and lectures." But even this pretence of his, weak as it would have been though true, is utterly false, directly contrary, not only to what has been al- ready shown to be the facts of the case, but also to what the archbishop affirmed, and that too, as must be sup- posed, upon his own knowledge. As to Dr. Baroe, he met with many friends who espoused his cause. Mr. Strype particularly mentions four — Mr. Overal, Dr. Clayton, Mr. Harsnet, Dr, Andrews — all of them great and learned men, men of renown, and famous in their generation. How many more there were nobody can tell. The heads in their letter to lord Burleigh do not pretend that the preaching against Calvinism gave a general offence, but that it offended many — which im- plies that there were many others on the opposite side: and they expressly say there were divers in the anti- Calvinistic scheme, whom they represent as maintain- ing it with great boldness. But what put a stop to this prosecution against Baroe was a reprimand from their chancellor, the lord Burleigh, who wrote to the heads that as good and as ancient were of another judgment, and that they might punish him, but it woidd be for well-doing." But Dr. Whitaker, regius professor of di- vinity in Cambridge, could not endure the further prev- alence of the doctrines of general redemption in that university; he therefore, in 1595, drew up nine affirma- tions, elucidatory of his views of predestination, and ob- tained for them the sanction of several Calvinian heads of houses, with whom he repaired to archbishop Whit- gift. Having heard their ex parte statement, his grace summoned bishops Flecher and Vaughan, and Dr. Tyn- dal, dean of Ely, to meet Dr. Whitaker and the Cam- bridge deputation at his palace in Lambeth, on Nov. 10, 1595; where, after much polishing and altering, they produced Whitaker's affirmation, called the "Lambeth Articles" (q. v.). Dr. Whitaker died a few days after his return from Lambeth with the nine articles to which he had procured the patronage of the primate. After his demise, two competitors appeared for the vacant king's professorship — Dr. Wotton, of King's College, a professed Calvinist, and Dr. Overal of Trinity College, "almost as far," says Heylin, "from the Calvinian doc- trine in the main platform of predestination as Baroe, Harsnet, or Barret are conceived to be. But when it came to the vote of the university, the place was car- ried for Overal by the major part; which plainly shows that though the doctrines of Calvin were so hotly stickled here by most of the heads, yet the greater part of the learned body entertained them not." " The Lam- beth Articles," it is well observed, " are no part of the
doctrine of the Church of England, having never had any of the least sanction either from the parliament or the convocation. They were drawn up by Prof. Whit- aker; and though they were afterwards approved by archbishop Whitgift, and six or eight of the inferior clergy, in a meeting they had at Lambeth, yet this meeting was only in a private manner, and without any authority from the queen ; who was so far from approv- ing of their proceedings that she not only ordered the articles to be suppressed, but was resolutely bent for some time to bring the archbishop and his associates under a prcemunire, for presuming to make them with- out any warrant or legal authority." Such, in brief, was the origin and such the fate of the Lambeth Arti- cles, without the countenance of which the defenders of Calvinism in the Church of England could rind no semblance of support for their manifold affirmations on predestination and its kindred topics. At the census of 1851 two congregations calling themselves " Predes- tinarians" were returned.