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‘All the Best Bishoprics and Deaneries’: The Enigma of Arminian Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Carl Bangs
Carl Bangs
Affiliation:
Professor of historical theology in the Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri, delivered this Presidential Address at a dinner meeting of The American Society of Church History in New Orleans on December 29, 1972
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Extract

There are two old Arminian jokes: one can be recounted here, the other later. In the late seventeenth century, when English Arminianism was riding high, so the story goes, Bishop George Morley was asked: “What do the Arminians hold?” He replied: “All the best bishoprics and deaneries.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , March 1973 , pp. 5 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1973

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References

1. Morley (1597–1684), Restoration bishop of Worcester and Winchester, was more Calvinistic than his High Church friends. Hence his wry remark.

2. “Political” is used here in a broad sense as including both the theory of government of church and of state and involvement in partisan activities.

3. For the acts of the Hague Synod, see Rutgers, F. L., ed., Acta van de Nederlandsche Synoden der Zestiende Eeuw (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1889), pp. 481–643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4. See Knappert, L., Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk gedurende de 16é en 17e Eeuw (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff & Co., 1911), pp. 66–69Google Scholar. A letter of Arminius to J. Uitenbogaert concerning this assignment is printed in Rogge, H. C., ed., Brieven en Onuitgegeven Stukken van Johannes Wtenbogaert (Utrecht: Kemink en Zoon, 1868-1873), 1, pp. 8–9.Google Scholar

5. See Brandt, G., Historie der Reformatie, en andre Kerkelyke Geschiedenissen, in en ontrent de Nederlanden (Amsterdam, 1617-1704), 1, p. 366Google Scholar; also Rogge, H. C., Caspar Janssoon Coolhaes, de Voorlooper van Arminius en der Remonstranten (Amsterdam: Y. Rogge, 1865), 1, pp. 24–29.Google Scholar

6. See Bangs, Carl, Arminius: A Study in the Dutch Reformation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971), pp. 123–24Google Scholar. For an account of two speeches on toleration by the Amsterdam burgomaster C. P. Hooft, see Ibid., pp. 161–65.

7. On Duifhuis, see G. Brandt, op. cit., 1, pp. 613–621.

8. Included here would be the cases of Gerard Blokhoven and Tako Sybrannts in Urecht, Cornelis Wiggerts in Hoorn and Alkmaar, Gellius Snccanus in Leeuwarden, Hermannus Herberts in Gouda, Jan Ysbrandts in Rotterdam and Adolphus Venator in Alkmaar.

9. In the case of Leiden, the part of Coolhaes has been told in H. C. Rogge, Coolhaes. For a modern study of the part played by Daneau, with the inclusion of hitherto unpublished source materials, see Fatio, Olivier, Nihil pulchris ordine: Contribution à l'Étude de l'Éstablissement de la Discipline Ecclésiastique aux Pays-Bas ou Lambert Daneau aux Pays-Bas (1581–1583) (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971).Google Scholar

10. The rectoral oration, “On Reconciling Religious Dissensions among Christians,” can be found in the Latin text in Arminius' Opera theologica. 2nd ed. (Frankfurt, 1531), pp. 58–73Google Scholar, and in English translation in Nichols, J., ed. & trans., The Works of James Arminius, D. D. (London, 1825), pp. 339–369Google Scholar, and in the American editions of the same (Auburn and Buffalo: 1853; and Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1956), 1, pp. 146–192.

11. I am indebted to a student of mine, Mr. Franklin H. Messenger, for his exploration of possible connections between Erastus and Arminius.

12. The basis for this and later references to the library of Arminius is the auction catalogue issued in Leiden in 1610 by Thomas Basson, Catalogus librorum clarissimi viri D. D. Iacobi Arminii.

13. Quoted in Fremantle, W. H., The World as the Subject of Redemption (New York: Longmans & Green, 1895), p. 191.Google Scholar

14. Private disputation “On the Power of the Church in Administering Justice, or on Ecclesiastical Discipline,” in Works of Arminius (American editions), 2, p. 141.Google Scholar

15. Ibid., p. 144.

16. Nor is a wife freed from obligation to her husband, nor children from parents, in contrast to some of the Mennonite practices of shunning; also in contrast to current doctrines of women' and children's liberation, see Ibid., p. 143.

17. See Arminius', “Certain Articles,” Works (American editions), 2, p. 508.Google Scholar

18. Ibid.

19. Arminius argues that the magistrate's “private advantage is entirely unconnected with the [ecclesiastical] issue” (im his rectoral oration, Works, 1, p. 183)Google Scholar. This position was scarcely substantiated by the actions of either Oldenbarneveldt or Maurice in the decade after Arminius' death.

20. Public disputation “On Magistracy,” Works, 1, p. 669.

21. Public disputation “On the Roman Pontiff, and the Principal Titles which are Attributed to Him,” Works, 1, p. 614.

22. There were limits to Arminius' tolerance, as when he says: “The prevention of the public assemblies of the Roman Catholics, and the compelling of them by pecuniary mulct or fines to hear the sermons of the reformed, may be managed in such manner as will enable the latter to prove these to be offices of true charity.” Public disputation on “The Case of all the Protestant or Reformed Churches, with Respect to their Alleged Secession,” Works, 1, p. 631. 23 (1969), pp. 350–53.Google Scholar

23. G. Brandt, op. cit., 1, p. 808.

24. Ibid., p. 809.

25. On the Preparatory Convention, see Bangs, op. cit., pp. 289–93, and G. J. Hoenderdaal, “De Kerkordelijke Kant van de Dordtse Synode,” Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift,

26. See Bangs, op. cit., pp. 326–28.

27. See G. Brandt, op. cit., 2, pp. 98–104, and Uitenbogaert, J., De Kerckelicke Historie. 2nd ed. (Rotterdam, 1647), part 3, pp. 191–94.Google Scholar

28. In his Examination of Perkins, Arminius cites Perkins' De pracdestinationis modo & ordine, & de amplitudine gratiae diuinae Christiana & perspicua disceptatio, which I take to be the Basel edition of 1599 rather than the first edition (Cambridge, 1598)Google Scholar, which bore a shorter title. Baro is mentioned by name neither by Perkins nor by Arminius, Baro, a pupil of Calvin, and Lady Margaret professor at Cambridge since 1574, had moved away from strict Calvinism from as early as 1579. It should be noted that a Calvinist predestination view had been challenged also by Samuel Harsnett (1561–1631), later Archbishop of York, in 1584, incurring the wrath of Archbishop Whitgift. See Breward, Ian, ed., The Work of William Perkins (Appleford, Abingdon, Berkshire, England: The Sutton Courtenay Press, 1970), pp. 84, 87–88.Google Scholar

29. Both Petrus Bertius and Franciscus Gomarus had lived in England. There were some four dozen British students in the University of Leiden during Arminius' tenure, about a fourth of whom were in theology, but no significant contacts with Britain are apparent. See Album Studiosorum Academiae Lugduno Batavae (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1875), pp. 57–98.Google Scholar

30. On Basson, see the excellent study by van Dorsten, J. A., Thomas Basson, 1555–1613, English Printer at Leiden (Leiden: Leiden University Press for the Thomas Browne Institute, 1961)Google Scholar. To van Dorsten's inventory of Basson's publications should be added the auction catalogue mentioned in footnote 12, a copy of which is in the library of the British Museum.

31. See Catalogus librorum… Arminii.

32. Cited in Harrison, A. W. [N.], The Beginnings of Arminianism to the Synod of Dort (London: University of London Press, 1926), p. 181Google Scholar, from James, I, His Maiesties Declaration concerning His Proceedings with the States generall of the United Provinces of the Low Countreys, In the cause of D. Conradus Vorstius (1612).Google Scholar

33. Theses Theologicae in Schola Geneuensi ab aliquot sacrarum literarium studiosis … sub D. D. Theodoro Beza et Antonio Fayo … propositae et disputatiae etc. (Geneva: E. Vignon, 1586)Google Scholar; Propositions and Principles of Diunitie propounded and disputed in the Vniuersitie of Geneva … (Edinburgh: Robert Waldegrave, 1591), 2nd ed., “newlie corrected with sundrie additions” (1595).Google Scholar

34. Theses theologioae de Natura Dei, …(Leiden: Jan Paedts, 1603).Google Scholar

35. Tractaet vam 't ampt ende author. cener hooghler Christ. overheydt im kerk. Saecken [Tractate on the office and authority of a higher Christian magistracy in ecclesiastical affairs] (The Hague, 1610).Google Scholar

36. Molhuysen, P. C., ed., Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis der Ledsche Universiteit (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1913-1924), 2, pp. 5–6.Google Scholar

37. Ibid., pp. 7–8.

38. Rogge, H. C., ed., Brieven van Wtenbogaert, 1, pp. 117–21. p. 536.Google Scholar

39. Triglandius, Jacobus, Kerckelycke Geschiedenissen (Leiden: Adriaen Wyngaerden, 1651),Google Scholar

40. Molhuysen op. cit., 2, pp. 13–16.

41. On the Vorstius affair, which follows, see A. W. Harrison, op. cit., pp. 165–189, and especially the recent study by Shriver, Frederick H., “Orthodoxy and Diplomacy: James I and the Vorstius Affair,” The English Historical Review, 85 (1970), pp. 449–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

42. F. H. Shriver, op. cit., p. 457.

43. Gomarus had resigned in 1611 and was replaced by the Calvinist J. Polyander. The curators and burgomasters followed a long-standing policy in balancing his appointment with that of an Arminian, Episcopius.

44. Petri Bertii Hymenaeus Desertor, sive De Sanctorum Apostasia Problemata duo … (Leiden: Jan Paedts, 1601 [sic, should be 1610]).Google Scholar

45. Reported in A. W. Harrison, op. cit., p. 181.

46. Archbishop George Abbot, in a letter of June 1, 1613, to Sir Ralph Winwood, reported that Andrewes, while “sitting still at the supper,” was “wondering what a Man he had there, who never being in the Place or Company before could overwhelm them so with talk for so long a time,” See Welsby, Paul A., Lancelot Andrewes, 1555–1626 (London: S. P. C. K., 1958), pp. 166–67.Google Scholar

47. There were six separate printings of works by Arminius in 1609, six in 1610, and only one in 1611. In 1612 and 1613, there were eight.

48. Yates, John, God's Arraignment of Hypocrites … (Cambridge, 1615), p. 90.Google Scholar

49. On The Weigh Scale [De Weegslchael], see G. Brandt, op. cit., 2, pp. 641–43, and Harrison, A. W., Arminianism (London: Duckworth 1937), pp. 74, 77.Google Scholar

50. Documentary evidence of Grotius' favor toward the Church of England is gathered in an appendix to his The Truth of the Christian Religion …, trans. John Clarke (Oxford, 1815), pp. 343–352.Google Scholar

51. The remark occurs in a dialogue in Cards on the Table, chap. 4.