§ 81. The Interpretation of the Articles.
The theological interpretation of the Articles by English writers has been mostly conducted in a controversial rather than an historical spirit, and accommodated to a particular school or party. Moderate High-Churchmen and Arminians, who dislike Calvinism, represent them as purely Lutheran; [1186] Anglo-Catholics and Tractarians, who abhor both Lutheranism and Calvinism, endeavor to conform them as much as possible to the contemporary decrees of the Council of Trent; [1187] Calvinistic and evangelical Low-Churchmen find in them substantially their own creed. [1188] 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. [1189]
The Articles must be understood in their natural grammatical and historical sense, from the stand-point and genius of the Reformation, the public and private writings of their compilers and earliest expounders. In doubtful cases we may consult the Homilies, the Catechism, the several revisions of the Prayer-book, the Canons, and other contemporary documents bearing on the reformation of doctrine and discipline in the Church of England.
In a preceding section we have endeavored to give the historical key for the understanding of the doctrinal character of the English Articles. A closer examination will lead us to the following conclusions:
1. The Articles are Catholic in the oecumenical doctrines of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation, like all the Protestant Confessions of the Reformation period; and they state those doctrines partly in the very words of two Lutheran documents, viz., the Augsburg Confession and the Würtemberg Confession.
2. They are Augustinian in the anthropological and soteriological doctrines of free-will, sin, and grace: herein likewise agreeing with the Continental Reformers, especially the Lutheran.
3. They are Protestant and evangelical in rejecting the peculiar errors and abuses of Rome, and in teaching those doctrines of Scripture and tradition, justification by faith, faith and good works, the Church, and the number of sacraments, which Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin held in common.
4. They are Reformed or moderately Calvinistic in the two doctrines of Predestination and the Lord's Supper, in which the Lutheran and Reformed Churches differed; although the chief Reformed Confessions were framed after the Articles.
5. They are Erastian in the political sections, teaching the closest union of Church and State, and the royal supremacy in matters ecclesiastical as well as civil; with the difference, however, that the Elizabethan revision dropped the title of the king as 'supreme head in earth,' and excluded the ministry of the Word and Sacraments from the 'chief government' of the English Church claimed by the crown. [1190] All the Reformation Churches were more or less intolerant, and enforced uniformity of belief as far as they had the power; but the Calvinists and Puritans were more careful of the rights of the Church over against the State than the Lutherans.
6. Art. XXXV., referring to the Prayer-book and the consecration of archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, is purely Anglican and Episcopalian, and excited the opposition of the Puritans.
We have now to furnish the proof as far as the doctrinal articles are concerned.
THE ARTICLES AND THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION.
The Edwardine Articles were based in part, as already observed, upon a previous draft of Thirteen Articles, which was the joint product of German and English divines, and based upon the doctrinal Articles of the Augsburg Confession. Some passages were transferred verbatim from the Lutheran document to the Thirteen Articles, and from these to the Forty-two (1553), and were retained in the Elizabethan revision (1563 and 1571). This will appear from the following comparison. The corresponding words are printed in italics.
Augsburg Confession. 1530. Art. I. De Deo. Thirteen Articles. 1538. Art. I. De Unitate Dei et Trinitate Personarum. Thirty-nine Articles. 1563. Art. I. De Fide in Sacrosanctum Trinitatem. Ecclesiæ magno consensu apud nos docent, Decretum Nicænæ Synodi, de unitate essentiæ divinæ et de tribus personis, verum et sine ulla dubitatione credendum esse. Videlicet, quod sit una essentia divina, quæ et appellatur et est Deus, æternus, incorporeus impartibilis, immensa potentia, sapientia, bonitate, creator et conservator omnium rerum, visibilium et invisibilium; et tamen tres sint personæ, ejusdem essentiæ et potentiæ, et coæternæ, Pater, Filius et Spiritus Sanctus. Et nomine personæ utuntur ea significatione, qua usi sunt in hac causa scriptores ecclesiastici, ut significet non partem aut qualitatem in alio, sed quod proprie subsistit. De Unitate Essentiæ Divinæ et de Tribus Personis, censemus decretum Nicenæ Synodi verum, et sine ulla dubitatione credendum esse, videlicet, quod sit una Essentia Divina, quæ et appellatur et est Deus, æternus, incorporeus, impartibilis, immensa potentia, sapientia, bonitate, creator et conservator omnium rerum visibilium et invisibilium, et tamen tres sint personæ ejusdem essentiæ et potentiæ, et coæternæ, Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus; et nomine personæ utimur ea significatione qua usi sunt in hac causa scriptores ecclesiastici, ut significet non partem aut qualitatem in alio, sed quod proprie subsistit. Unus est vivus et verus Deus æternus, incorporeus impartibilis, impassibilis, immensæ potentiæ, sapientiæ ac bonitatis: creator et conservator omnium tum visibilium tum invisibilium. Et in unitate huius divinæ naturæ tres sunt Personæ ejusdem essentiæ, potentiæ, ac æternitatis, Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus. [1191] Damnant omnes hæreses, contra hunc articulum exortas, ut Manichæos, qui duo principia ponebant, Bonum et Malum; item Valentinianos, Arianos, Eunomianos, Mahometistas, Damnamus omnes hæreses contra hunc articulum exortas, ut Manichæos, qui duo principia ponebant, Bonum et Malum: item Valentinianos, Arianos, Eunomianos, Mahometistas,
et omnes horum similes. Damnant et Samosatenos, veteres et neotericos, qui, cum tantum unam personam esse contendant, de Verbo et de Spiritu Sancto astute et impie rhetoricantur, quod non sint personæ distinctæ, sed quod Verbum significet verbum vocale, et Spiritus motum in rebus creatum. et omnes horum similes. Damnamus et Samosatenos, veteres et neotericos, qui cum tantum unam personam esse contendant, de Verbo et Spiritu Sancto astute et impie rhetoricantur, quod non sint personæ distinctæ, sed quod Verbum significet verbum vocale, et Spiritus motum in rebus creatum.
Art. III. De Filio Dei. Art. III. De Duabus Christi Naturis. Art. II. Verbum Dei verum hominem esse factum. Item, docent, quod Verbum, hoc est, Filius Dei, assumpserit humanam naturam in utero beatæ Mariæ virginis, ut sint duæ naturæ, divina et humana, in unitate personæ inseparabiliter conjunctæ, unus Christus, vere Deus et vere homo, natus ex virgine Maria, vere passus, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, ut reconciliaret nobis Patrem, et hostia esset non tantum pro culpa originis, sed etiam pro omnibus actualibus hominum peccatis. Item docemus, quod Verbum, hoc est Filius Dei, assumpserit humanam naturam in utero beatæ Mariæ virginis, ut sint duæ naturæ, divina et humana, in unitate personæ inseparabiliter conjunctæ, unus Christus, vere Deus, et vere homo, natus ex virgine Maria, vere passus, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, ut reconciliaret nobis Patrem, et hostia esset non tantum pro culpa originis, sed etiam pro omnibus actualibus hominum peccatis. Filius, qui est Verbum Patris ab æterno a Patre genitus verus et æternus Deus, ac Patri consubstantialis, in utero Beatæ virginis ex illius substantia naturam humanam assumpsit: ita ut duæ naturæ, divina et humana integre atque perfecte in unitate personæ, fuerint inseparabiliter coniunctæ: ex quibus est unus Christus, verus Deus et verus homo: qui vere passus est, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, ut Patrem nobis reconciliaret, essetque hostia non tantum pro culpa originis, verum etiam pro omnibus actualibus hominum peccatis. Idem descendit ad inferos, et vere resurrexit tertia die, deinde ascendit ad coelos, ut sedeat ad dexteram Patris, et perpetuo regnet et dominetur omnibus creaturis, sanctificet credentes in ipsum, misso in corda eorum Spiritu Sancto, qui regat, consoletur ac vivificet eos, ac defendat adversus diabolum et vim peccati. Item descendit ad inferos, et vere resurrexit tertia die, deinde ascendit ad coelos, ut sedeat ad dexteram Patris et perpetuo regnet et dominetur omnibus creaturis, sanctificet credentes in ipsum, misso in corde eorum Spiritu Sancto, qui regat, consoletur, ac vivificet eos, ac defendat adversus diabolum et vim peccati.
Idem Christus palam est rediturus, ut judicet vivos et mortuos, etc., juxta Symbolum Apostolorum. Idem Christus palam est rediturus ut judicet vivos et mortuos, etc., juxta Symbolum Apostolorum.
Art. IV. De Justificatione. Art. IV. De Justificatione. Art. XI. De Hominis Iustificatione. Item docent, quod homines non possint justificari coram Deo propriis viribus, meritis aut operibus, sed gratis justificentur propter Christum per fidem, cum credunt se in gratiam recipi, et peccata remitti propter Christum, qui sua morte pro nostris peccatis satisfecit. Hanc fidem imputat Deus pro justitia coram ipso. Rom. III. et IV. [Art. IV. of the Augsburg Confession is enlarged, and Art. V. added. In this case the English Articles do not give the language, but the sense of the Lutheran symbols, with the unmistakeable 'sola fide,' which was Luther's watchword.] Tantum propter meritum Domini ac Servatoris nostri Iesu Christi, per fidem, non propter opera et merita nostra, iusti coram Deo reputamur. Quare sola fide nos iustificari, doctrina est saluberrima, ac consolationis plenissima: ut in Homilia de Iustificatione hominis fusius explicatur. Art. VII. De Ecclesia. Art. V. De Ecclesia. Art. XIX. De Ecclesia. Item docent, quod una Sancta Ecclesia pepetuo mansura sit. Est autem Ecclesia congregatio Sanctorum [Versammlung aller Gläubigen], in qua Evangelium recte [rein] docetur, et recte [laut des Evangelii] administrantur Sacramenta. Et ad veram unitatem Ecclesiæ satis est consentire de doctrina Evangelii et administratione Sacramentorum. Nec necesse est ubique esse similes traditiones humanas, seu ritus aut ceremonias, ab hominibus institutas. Sicut inquit Paulus (Eph. iv. 5, 6): Una fides, unum Baptisma, unus Deus et Pater omnium, etc. [This Article is much enlarged, and makes an important distinction between the Church as the 'congregatio omnium sanctorum et fidelium,' (the invisible Church), which is the mystical body of Christ, and the Church as the 'congregatio omnium hominum qui baptizati sunt' (the visible Church).] Ecclesia Christi visibilis, est coetus fidelium, in quo verbum Dei purum prædicatur, et sacromenta, quoad ea quæ necessario exiguntur, iuxta Christi institutum recte administrantur. [1192] Sicut erravit Ecclesia Hierosolymitana, Alexandrina et Antiochena: ita et erravit Ecclesia Romana, non solum quoad agenda et cæremoniarum ritus, verum in his etiam quæ credenda sunt. [Compare Art. XXXIII., which treats of ecclesiastical traditions, and corresponds in sentiment to the second clause in Art. VII. of the Augsburg Confession.] Art. XIII. De Usu Sacramentorum. Art. IX. De Sacramentorum Usu. Art. XXV. De Sacramentis. De usu Sacramentorum docent, quod Sacramenta instituta, sint, non modo ut Docemus, quod Sacramenta quæ per verbum Dei instituta sunt, non tantum Sacramenta a Christo instituta non tantum sunt notæ professionis Christianorum,
sint notæ professionis inter homines, sed magis ut sint signa et testimonia voluntatis Dei erga nos, ad excitandam et confirmandam fidem, in his, qui utuntur, proposita. Itaque utendum est Sacramentis ita, ut fides accedat, quæ credat promissionibus, quæ per Sacramenta exhibentur et ostenduntur. Damnant igitur illos, qui docent, quod Sacramenta ex opere operato justificent, nec docent fidem requiri in usu Sacramentorum, quæ credat remitti peccata. sint notæ professionis inter Christianos, sed magis certa quædam testimonia et efficacia signa gratiæ, et bonæ voluntatis Dei erga nos, per quæ Deus invisibiliter operatur in nobis, et suam gratiam in nos invisibiliter diffundit, siquidem ea rite susceperimus; quodque per ea excitatur et confirmatur fides in his qui eis utuntur. Porro docemus, quod ita utendum sit sacramentis, ut in adultis, præter veram contritionem, necessario etiam debeat accedere fides, quæ credat præsentibus promissionibus, quæ per sacramenta ostenduntur, exhibentur, et præstantur. Neque, etc. sed certa quædam potius testimonia, et efficacia signa gratiæ atque bonæ in nos voluntatis Dei, per quæ invisibiliter ipse in nobis operatur, nostramque fidem in se, non solum excitat, verum etiam confirmat.
Besides these passages, there is a close resemblance in thought, though not in language, in the statements of the doctrine of original sin, [1193] and of the possibility of falling after justification. [1194] Several of the Edwardine Articles, also, which were omitted in the Elizabethan revision, were suggested by Art XVII. of the Augsburg Confession, which is directed against the Anabaptists.