"My sheep, saith Christ, hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. O, most worthy Scriptures! which ought to
compel us to have a faithful remembrance, and to note the tenor thereof; which
is, the sheep of Christ shall never perish.
"Doth Christ mean part of his
elect, or all, think you? I do hold, and affirm, and also faithfully believe,
that he meant all his elect, and not part, as some do full ungodly affirm. I
confess and believe assuredly, that there shall never any of them perish: for I
have good authority so to say; be- cause Christ is my author, and saith, if it
were possible, the very elect should be deceived. Ergo, it is not possible that
they can be so deceived, that they shall ever finally perish, or be damned:
wherefore, whosoever doth affirm that there may be any (i.e. any of the elect)
lost, doth affirm that Christ hath a torn body."1
The above valuable letter of
recantation is thus inscribed: "A Letter to the Congregation of
Free-willers, by One that had been of that Persuasion, but come off, and now a
Prisoner for Religion:" which superscription will hereafter, in its due
place, supply us with a remark of more than slight importance.
To occupy the place of argument, it
has been alleged that "Mr. Wesley is an old man;" and the Church of
Rome is still older than he. Is that any reason why the enormities, either of
the mother or the son, should pass unchastised?
It has also been suggested, that
"Mr. Wesley is a very laborious man:" not more laborious, I presume,
than a certain active being, who is said to go to and fro in the earth, and
walk up and down in it:2 nor yet more laborious, I should imagine, than certain
ancient Sectarians, concerning whom it was long ago said, "Woe unto you
Scribes, hypocrites; for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte:"3
nor, by any means, so usefully laborious, as a certain diligent member of the
community, respecting whose variety of occupations the public have lately
received the following intelligence: "The truth of the following instance
of industry may be depended on: a poor man with a large family, now cries milk,
every morning, in Lothbury, and the neighbourhood of the Royal Exchange; at
eleven, he wheels about a barrow of potatoes; at one, he cleans shoes at the
Change; after dinner, cries milk again; in the evening, sells sprats; and at
night, finishes the measure of his labour as a watchman."4
Mr. Sellon, moreover, reminds me (p.
128.) that, "while the shepherds are quarrelling, the wolf gets into the
sheep fold;" not impossible: but it so happens, that the present quarrel
is not among "the shepherds," but with the "wolf" himself;
which "quarrel" is warranted by every maxim of pastoral meekness and
fidelity.
I am further told, that, while I am
"berating the Arminians, Rome and the devil laugh in their sleeves."
Admitting that Mr. Sellon might derive this anecdote from the fountain head,
the parties themselves, yet, as neither they nor he are very conspicuous for
veracity, I construe the intelligence by the rule of reverse, though
authenticated by the deposition of their right trusty and well-beloved cousin
and counsellor.
Once more: I am charged with
"excessive superciliousness, and majesty of pride:" and why not
charged with having seven heads and ten horns, and a tail as long as a
bell-rope? After all, what has my pride, or my humility, to do with the
argument in hand? Whether I am haughty, or meek, is of no more consequence
either to that, or to the public, than whether I am tall or short: however, I
am, at this very time, giving one proof, that my "majesty of pride"
can stoop; that even to ventilate the impertinences of Mr. Sellon.
But, however frivolous his cavils,
the principles for which he contends are of the most pernicious nature and
tendency. I must repeat, what already seems to have given him so much offence,
that Arminianism "came from Rome, and leads thither again." Julian,
bishop of Eclana a contemporary and disciple of Pelagius, was one of those who
endeavoured, with much art, to gild the doctrines of that heresiarch, in order to
render them more sightly and palatable. The Pelagian system, thus varnished and
paliated, soon began to acquire the softer name of Semipelagianism. Let us take
a view of it, as drawn to our hands by the celebrated Mr. Bower, who himself,
in the main, a professed Pelagian, and therefore less likely to present us with
an unfavourable portrait of the system he generally approved. Among the
principles of that sect, this learned writer enumerates the following:
"The notion of election and
reprobation, independent on our merits or demerits, is maintaining a fatal
necessity, is the bane of all virtue, and serves only to render good men remiss
in working out their salvation, and to drive sinners to despair.
"The decrees of election and
reprobation are posterior to, and in consequence of, our good or evil works, as
foreseen by God from all eternity."5
Is not this too the very language of
modern Arminianism? Do not the partizans of that scheme argue on the same
identical terms? Should it be said, "True, this proves that Arminianism is
Pelagianism revived; but it does not prove, that the doctrines of Arminianism
are originally Popish:" a moment's cool attention will make it plain that
they are. Let us again hear Mr. Bower, who, after the passage just quoted,
immediately adds, "on these two last propositions, the Jesuits found their
whole system of grace and free-will; agreeing therein with the Semipelagians,
against the Jansenists and St. Augustine."6 The Jesuits were moulded into
a regular body, towards the middle of the sixteenth century: toward the close
of the same century, Arminius began to infest the Protestant churches. It needs
therefore no great penetration, to discern from what source he drew his poison.
His journey to Rome (though Monsicur Bayle affects to make light of the
inferences which were at that very time deduced from it) was not for nothing.
If, however, any are disposed to believe, that Arminius imbibed his doctrines
from the Socinians in Poland, with whom, it is certain, he was on terms of intimate
friendship, I have no objection to splitting the difference: he might import
some of his tenets from the Racovian brethren, and yet be indebted, for others,
to the disciples of Loyola.
Certain it is, that Arminius himself
was sensible, how greatly the doctrine of predestination widens the distance
between Protestantism and Popery. "There is no point of doctrines (says
he) which the Papists, the Anabaptists, and the (new) Lutherans more fiercely
oppose, nor by means of which they heap more discredit on the reformed
churches, and bring the reformed system itself into more odium; for they (i.e.
the Papists, & etc.) assert, that no fouler blasphemy against God can be
thought or expressed, than is contained in the doctrine of predestination."7
For which reason, he advises the reformed world to discard predestination from
their creed, in order that they may live on more brotherly terms with the
Papists, the Anabaptists, and such like.
The Arminian writers make no scruple
to seize and retail each other's arguments, as common property. Hence, Samuel
Hoord copies from Van Harmin the self same observation which I have now cited.
"Predestination (says Samuel) is an opinion odious to the Papists, opening
their foul mouths, against our Church and religion:"8 consequently, our
adopting the opposite doctrines of universal grace and freewill, would, by
bringing us so many degrees nearer to the Papists, conduce to shut their
mouths, and make them regard us, so far at least, as their own orthodox and
dearly beloved brethren: whence it follows, that, as Arminianism came from
Rome, so "it leads thither again."
If the joint verdict of Arminius
himself, and of his English proselyte Hoord, will not turn the scale, let us add
the testimony of a professed Jesuit, by way of making up full weight. When
archbishop Laud's papers were exam- ined, a letter was found among them, thus
endorsed with that prelate's own hand: "March,
The "Sovereign drug,
Arminianism," which said the Jesuit, "we (i.e. we Papists) have
planted" in England, did indeed bid fair "to purge our Protestant
Church effectually. How merrily Popery and Arminianism, at that time, danced
hand in hand, may be learned from Tindal: "The churches were adorned with
paintings, images, altar-pieces, & etc. and, instead of communion tables,
alters were set up, and bowings to them and the sacramental elements enjoined.
The predestinarian doctrines were forbid, not only to be preached, but to be
printed; and the Arminian sense of the Articles was encouraged and
propagated."10 The Jesuit, therefore, did not exult without cause. The
"sovereign drug," so lately "planted," did indeed take deep
root downward, and bring forth fruit upward, under the cherishing auspices of
Charles and Laud. Heylyn, too, acknowledges, that the state of things was truly
described by another Jesuit of that age, who wrote: "Protestantism waxeth
weary of itself. The doctrine (by the Arminians, who then sat at the helm) is
altered in many things, for which their progenitors forsook the Church of Rome:
as limbus patrum; prayer for the dead, and possibility of keeping God's com-
mandments; and the accounting of Calvinism to be heresy at least, if not
treason."11
The maintaining of these positions,
by the Court divines, was an "alteration" indeed; which the abandoned
Heylyn ascribes to "the ingenuity and moderation found in some professors
of our religion." If we sum up the evidence that has been given, we shall
find its amount to be, that Arminianism came from the Church of Rome, and leads
back again to the pit whence it was digged.
For further study: Christopher Ness,
An Antidote Against Arminianism; J. Warne, Arminianism: The Back Door to Popery;
John Knox, On Predestination in Works vol. 5; John Owen, A Display of
Arminianism; Pink, The Sovereignty of God; Martin Luther, The Bondage of the
Will; C. Van Til, The Defense of the Faith; Gary North, 75 Bible Questions Your
Instructors Pray You Won't Ask; W. MacLean, Arminianism Another Gospel; and
Spurgeon's Sovereign Grace Sermons. This newsletter is an ex- cerpt from The
Complete Works of Augustus Toplady (Sprinkle Publ., [1794] 1987, pp. 54-55).
Subtitles in the body of this newsletter and all emphases have been added by
the editor, Reg Barrow.
REFORMATION HISTORY NOTES is
published periodically by Still Waters Revival Books (4710-37A Ave. Edmonton,
AB. Canada T6L 3T5) and there is no copyright on this material, so please copy
and distribute it freely, copiously and with great zeal! This is issue number
1, released in August of 1993. ALSO,
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Endnotes:
1. Strype, u.s. 2. Job 1:7 with 1 Peter 5:8. 3. Matt. 23:15. 4. Bath Chronicle,
for Feb. 6, 1772. 5. Bower's Hist. of the Popes, vol. 1, p. 350. 6. Bower ibid.
7. Arminius, in Oper. P.115. Ludg. 1629. (See book for Latin.) 8. Hoord, In
Bishop Davenant's Animadversions, Camb. 1641. 9. Hidden works of darkness, p.
89, 90. Edit. 1645. 10. Tindal's Contin. of Rapin, vol. 3 octavo, 1758. 11.
Life of Laud, p. 238.
An Antidote Against Arminianism (1700)
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A Display of Arminianism:Being A Discovery of the Old
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