fall there fro, by oure owne free wyll and « consentyng unto synne, and folowyng the de

, *** sires thereof. For albeit the hous of our con" science be ones made clene, and the foull spi. “ rite be expelled from us in baptisme, or pe

naunce: yet if we wax ydle and take not “ hede, he will returne with seven worse spirites, and possesse us agayn. And although

be illuminat, and have tasted the heavenly “ gyft, and be made partakers of the holy goste:

yet may we fall and displease God. Wherfore as saint Paul sayeth, He that standeth, let him take hede that he fall not.”

we

" And here all phantastical imagination, cu" rious reasonyng, and vain trust of predesti

, pation, is to be laid apart. And according '" to the plain manner of speaking and teach

yng of scripture in innumerable places, we ought evermore to be in dread of our owne

fraielty, and natural pronity to fall to synne, " and not to assure ourselfe, that we be * elect“ed any otherwise, than by felying of spiritual

* Cranmer here expresses much the same, that the second paragraph of the 17th Article does, which evinces the truth of archbishop Bancroft's observation at the Hampton-court conference, that concerning our election in Christ, we are not to argue descendendo but ascendendo.-In these quota, tions from the necessary doctrine, we have plain traces of our X, XVI, and XXXI. Articles,

“ motions

motions in our hart, and by, the tokens of "good and vertuous livyng, in following the CC grace of God, and perseverying in the same "to the ende." And again, ib.

"And whereas in certain places of scripture our justification is ascribed to fayth, without any further addition or mention of an other "vertue or gift of God: it is to be understand "of fayth in the second acceptation, as before "is declared in the article of faith, wherein the "feare of God, repentaunce, hope, and charitie "be included and comprised, all which must "be joyned togither in our justification: so "that no fayth is sufficient to justification or "salvation, but suche a fayth, as worketh by "charity, as is plainly expressed by saint Paul " in his epistle to the Galatians."

These were CRANMER'S doctrines in the year 1343. How opposite to the rigid ones of Calvin I need not observe. That he continued in the same to the last will appear from the following quotations, wherein he asserts universal redemption through Christ; a doctrine, which pursued in its just consequence, will overthrow the whole of Calvin's system on these points.

"Christ was suche an hygh byshop, that

he

"he ones offeryng himself, was sufficient by ones "effusion of his bloud, to abolyshe synne unto "the worldes end. He was so perfect a priest, "that by one oblation he purged an infinite

heape of synnes leavyng an easy and redy re

medy for al synners, that his one sacryfice "shoulde suffise for many yeares unto all men "that wolde not shewe theimselves unwoorthye, "And he toke unto hymself not onely their "sinnes that many yeres before were dead, and

put theyr trust in hym, but also the synnes of "those, that untyl his comyng agayn, shuld "truly beleve in his gospell. So that nowe we

may loke for none other priest nor sacrifice, "to take away our synnes, but only hym and "his sacrifice. And as he dying ones was offered "for all, so as muche as pertayned to hym, hee "toke all mens synnes unto himself."--Cranmer on the Sacrament. Lond 1550. p. 106. b. 107. a.

Speaking before in his Preface to the same, of the reason of Christ's coming into the world, he says," and to preach and give pardon and a " full remission of synne to all his elected, and to perform the same, he made a sacrifice and ❝ oblation upon the crosse, which was a full re"demption and propitiation for the synnes of "the whole world." Again in his prayer at the stake.

"O God

"O God the Son, thou wast not made man, "this great mystery was not wrought, for few

" or small offences, nor thou didst not give thy "Son unto death, O God the Father, for our "little and small synnes only, but for all the "greatest synnes of the world: so that the sinner "return unto thee with a penitent heart.”—

If we add the words of bishop Ridley, in the Preface to his Disputation at Oxford, a little before his martyrdom, we shall have reason to conclude from what quarter our XXXI Article and these words in the communion-service came"Who made there (upon the cross) by his one "oblation of himself once offered, a full, per"fect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and sa"tisfaction for the sins of the whole world."

The bishop's words are these-" Ex epistola " ad Hebræos patet unicam esse oblationem et "unicum verè vivificum sacrificium, oblatum "in ara Crucis, qui fuit, est et erit in perpetuum " propitiatio pro peccatis totius mundi."

It appears that CRANMER and MELANCTHON had a high veneration for each other. Their correspondence began as early, at least, as 1535.

* V. Melancthonis Epist: ubi supra, p. 522.

MELANC

MELANCTHON recommended several foreigners, to the archbishop's patronage, whom he cordially embraced. CRANMER gave King Edward so high an opinion of him, that, as was before observed, he invited him over into England. He [CRANMER] Consulted him upon the most important occasions, paid the highest regard in drawing up our Articles, to the AUGUSTAN CONFESSION, compiled by MELANCTHON, and seems to have inserted our XVIIth Article against the rigid doctrine of Predestination, in consequence of his admonition to him in the letter quoted above,

Let us now consider how matters stood with CALVIN, in respect to these two great men. We have mentioned before that CRANMER had written to CALVIN in 1548, as he did to others in the foreign Protestant churches, upon his design of a general confession; the nature of the thing requiring that he should do so. About the same time CALVIN, understanding EDWARD's design of prosecuting the Reformation here, wrote to CRANMER, offering his assistance; but the. * archbishop knew the man, says Heylin, and refused the offer. In the year 1549 he wrote a long † letter to the Lord Protector SOMERSET, wherein he canvasses the English liturgy;

Heylin's History of the Reformation, p. 65. ₺ lb.-p, 80,

and