The Atonement: Christ as the Second Adam

Christ acting as the second Adam, or according to a covenant with the Father, in the whole of His atoning work.

This idea must be carried with us, whether we consider the fundamental presuppositions of the atonement, as stated in some of the first sections, or discuss the special reference and extent of the atonement, as exhibited in section xli. (p. 312). The doctrine of the atonement cannot be understood without the idea of a conjunction between Christ and His people, whether or not it is called a covenant (pactum salutis), and whether or not we use the terms of the federal theology. The whole scheme of thought relating to the covenant occupied at one time an important. place in the Reformed Church, and in some portions of the Lutheran Church, though it never became general in the latter.

Of various elements which may be said to have concurred, if not to originate, at least to turn attention to this scheme of thought, the two following may be particularly named: the cavils of Socinus, and the subsequent rise of the Arminian controversy. As to the first of these concurring forces, I may mention that one of the objections against the satisfaction on which Socinus laid stress, was, that there ought to be at least some conjunction between the guilty and him that is punished; and he would not admit that there was any such conjunction or bond between Christ and us. This drove the defenders of the truth to assert the affirmative, and to define it. They main tained that Christ was united to us, not only as a partaker of our humanity by becoming one of us, our brother and friend, but also as He entered into a still closer conjunction as the Bridegroom, Head, Shepherd, Lord, King, and Surety of His people. Grotius, in his treatise, De Satisfactione, chap, iv., is particularly emphatic in asserting this close conjunction, on which the possibility of an atonement depends. Thus, in op position to Socinus, Grotius says, "It might be said here that man is not without relation to man, that there is a natural kindred and consanguinity between men, and between our flesh assumed by Christ. But another much greater conjunction between Christ and us was decreed by God, for He was ap pointed by God to be the Head of the body of which we are members. And here it must be observed, that Socinus erroneously confined to the flesh alone that conjunction which is sufficient for laying punishment upon one for another's sins, since here the mystical conjunction has no less power. This appears principally in the example of a king and a people. We cited above the history of the Israelites punished for the sin of David." A little afterwards, Grotius adds that this con junction lays the foundation for vicarious punishment: "There fore the sacred writings do not at all favour Socinus, declaring, as they do, that God did the very thing which he undeservedly accuses of injustice; but neither has he any greater defence from right reason, which it is wonderful that he so often boasts of, but nowhere shows. But that all this error may be re moved, it must be observed that it is essential to punishment that it be inflicted for sin, but that it is not likewise essential to it that it be inflicted on him who sinned; and that is manifest from the similitude of reward, favour, and revenge, — for reward is often wont to be conferred upon the children or relations of a well-deserving person, and favour on the kinsman of him who conferred the benefit, and revenge upon the friends of him that offended. Neither do they, on that account, cease to be what they are — reward, favour, and revenge. Add to this, that if it were against the nature of punishment, then this very thing would not be called unjust, but impossible. But God forbids a son to be punished by men for the father's fault; but impossible things are not forbidden. Moreover, injustice does not properly happen to a relation (such as punishment is), but to the action itself, such as the matter of punishment is. And here the true distinction must be inquired into, why it is not equally free to all to punish one for another's sin, and to bestow a favour or reward for another's merit or benefit; for an act which contains in it a reward or favour is a benevolent act, which, in its own nature, is permitted to all; but an act which has in it punishment, is a hurtful act, which is neither allowed to all, nor against all. Wherefore, that a punishment may be just, it is requisite that the penal act itself should be in the power of the punisher, which happens in a threefold way: either by the antecedent right of the punisher himself, or by the legitimate and valid consent of him about whose punishment the question is; or by the crime of the same person. When the act has become lawful by these modes, nothing prevents its being appointed for the punishment of another's sin, provided there be some conjunction between him that sinned and the party to be punished. And this conjunction is either natural, as between a father and a son; or mystical, as between king and people; or voluntary, as between the guilty person and the surety. Socinus appeals to the judgment of all nations; but as to God, the philosophers doubted not that the sins of parents were punished by Him in the children." I shall not quote further from this memorable chapter of Grotius, in which he overwhelms his opponent by the testimony of all classical antiquity. I have adduced this discussion, only to show how men came during the course of it to adopt and maintain a certain necessary conjunction between the Redeemer and the redeemed, which involved something more than a mere community of the same nature, and, in a word, the elements of a covenant.

But another cause concurred with the former. When the Arminian debates arose, and the five points were debated, many were led, during the course of this discussion, more and more to the conclusion that there was a given party in whose behalf all the provisions of redemption were contrived and carried into effect. Thus, Amesius, Coronis, p. 112, expresses himself: "Addam etiam insuper, si nullo modo versabatur ecclesia in mente divina, quum unctus et sanctificatus fuit Christus ad officium suum, turn caput constitutus fuit sine corpore, ac rex sine subditis ullis in praesentia notis, vel omniscio ipsi Deo: quod quam indignum sit thesauris illis divinae sapientiae qui in hoc mysterio absconditi fuerunt, non opus est ut ego dicam. Hoc unum perpendat cordatus Lector satisfactionem illam Christi pro nobis nocentibus susceptam valere non potuisse, nisi aliqua antecedente inter nos et Christum, conjunctione; tali scilicet qua designatus est a Deo ut caput esset corporis, cujus nos sumus membra; ut Vir cl. Hugo Grotius, relictis remonstrantibus, quos alibi defendit ingenue concedit. — Defensionis fidei Catholicae, pagina 66."

Hence the doctrine of the covenant was the concentrated essence of Calvinism, and appeared especially in a formed and jointed system, after the Synod of Dort. Cloppenburg maintained it just after that Synod. Thus these two elements above named led many of the greatest divines of the Reformed Church to bring out, and" to lay stress upon, a pactum salutis, or foedus, as necessary to a full understanding of the atonement. This doctrine has fallen out of the prominence it at one time occupied in theology. But whatever view may be held as to that scheme of thought, there is no room for two opinions as to the scriptural character of the doctrine, that there must be a certain conjunction between Christ and the redeemed.

It is due to the federal theology to state, that it was only meant to ground and to establish the undoubtedly scriptural doctrine of the two Adams (Rom. v. 12-20; 1 Cor. xv. 47). These are by no means to be regarded as two different lines of thought, or as two mutually exclusive modes of representing truth. They proceed on the same principle, and they come to precisely the same result, — the one from the view-point of humanity, the other from the counsels of the Trinity. No one can doubt, who examines the federal theology, that the design of those who brought that scheme of thought into general reception in the Reformed Church for two centuries, was principally to ground, and to put on a sure basis, the idea of the two Adams; that is, to show that there were, in reality, only two men in history, and only two great facts on which the fortunes of the race hinged. The leading federalists were Cloppenburg, Dick son the Scottish divine (who developed it so early as 1625 — see Life of Robert Blair, in the Wodrow publications — several years before the work of Cocceius, De Foedere, appeared in 1648), Cocceius, Burmann, Witsius, Strong, Owen, etc. etc. It became a magnificent scheme of theological thought in the hands of these men, and of others who took it up with ardour. That foreign thoughts afterwards came to be introduced into it, and that it became complicated by many additional elements, brought in to give it completeness, but which only lent it an air of human ingenuity and artificial construction, cannot be denied. But as to the point already referred to, there is no doubt that they intended to establish, by this mode of representation, that Christ and His people were to be regarded as one person in the eye of law; and that, properly speaking, there were only two heads of families, and only two great facts in history — the fall and the atonement.

Against this whole scheme of thought, a reaction set in a century ago. Nor can this be wondered at, when we remember that it was overdone at that time, and that a reaction was only the effort of the human mind to regain its equilibrium — as is always the case when anything is carried too far. It was over done, and now it is neglected.

But it is by no means to be repudiated, or put among the mere antiquities of Christian effort. This, or something like it, whether we adopt the federal nomenclature or not, must occur to every one who will follow out the revealed thoughts uttered by Christ Himself to their legitimate consequences. The only objection of any plausibility is, that the notion of a covenant presupposes a twofold will in God. To meet this objection, springing from an exclusive regard to the unity of the Godhead, it may be remarked, that the supposition of a council or covenant, having man's redemption for its object, has no more difficulty than the doctrine of a Trinity. Each person wills, knows, loves, and exercises acts to one another and to us; and as they are personally distinct in the numerical- unity of the divine essence, so, according to the order of subsistence, they each will, though not apart and isolated. Accordingly, Dr. Owen remarks against Biddle, in his Vindiciae: "Because of the distinct acting of the will of the Father, and of the will of the Son, with regard to each other, it is more than a decree, and hath the proper nature of a covenant or compact."

Whatever view may be taken, however, of that scheme of thought, the one important matter on which no doubt can be entertained by any scriptural divine, is, that as Adam was a public person, the representative of all his family, according to the constitution given to the human race, as contradistinguished from that of other orders of being, so Christ, the Restorer, stands in the same position to His family or seed. The world could be redeemed on no other principle than that on which it was at first constituted. Augustin's formula, ilk unus homo nos omnes fuimus, as applied to the first man, is perhaps the very best that has ever been given; and the same formula may be applied with equal warrant to the second man, the Lord from heaven. As applied to the atonement, this principle of a covenant, or of a conjunction between Christ and His seed, is simple and easily apprehended. The conditions being fulfilled by the second man, His people enter into the reward.

Thus Christ was commissioned to do a work for a people who were to reap the reward. The Father laid on Him the conditions given to Adam, with the additional one derived from guilt, and claimed satisfaction from the Son undertaking to act for a seed given to Him. Man could be redeemed only on the principle or constitution on which God placed him at first, and not on one altogether different; and the one aim of the federal theology was meant to base and to ground this biblical truth.

George Smeaton, The Doctrine of the Atonement as Taught by Christ Himself, Appendix on Sec. X.

Sermon of Nicholas Orem (Part 2)

The third sign and token of tribulation approaching near to the church, may well be taken of the too much unequal proportion seen this day in the church; where one is hungry and starveth, another is drunk. By reason of which so great inequality, it cannot be that the state of the church, as it is now, can long endure; like as in good harmony, to make the music perfect, is required a moderate and proportionate inequality of voices, which if it do much exceed, it taketh away all the sweet melody; so, according to the sentence of the philosopher, by too much immoderate inequality or disparity of citizens, the commonwealth falleth to ruin. On the contrary, where mediocrity, that is, where a mean inequality with some proportion is kept, that policy standeth firm and more sure to continue. Now, among all the politic regiments of the Gentiles, I think none more is to be found in histories, wherein is to be seen so great and exceeding odds, as in the policy of priests; of whom some be so high, that they exceed all princes of the earth; some again be so base, that they are under all rascals, so that such a policy or commonwealth may well be called Oligarchia.

This may we plainly see and learn in the body of man, to the which Plutarch, writing to Thracinius, doth semblably compare the commonwealth. In the the which body, if the sustenance received should all run to one member, so that that member should be too much exceedingly pampered, and all the other parts rest be too much pined, that body could not long continue; so in the body of the wealth ecclesiastical, if some who be the heads be so enormously overgrown in riches and dignity, that the weaker members of the body be scantly able to bear them up, there is a great token of dissolution and ruin shortly. Whereupon cometh well in place the saying of the prophet Isaiah: "Every head is sick, every heart is full of sorrow;" of the which heads it is also spoken in the prophet Amos [chap, vi.], "Woe be to the secure, proud, and wealthy in Sion, and to such as think themselves so sure upon the mount of Samaria, taking themselves as heads and rulers over others,” &c. And, moreover, in the said prophet Isaiah it followeth, "From the top of the head to the sole of the foot there is no whole part in all the body," to wit, in the inferiors, because they are not able to live for poverty; in the superiors, because for their excessive riches they are let from doing good. And it followeth in the same place, "But all are wounds, and botches, and stripes." Behold here the danger coming, the wounds of discord and division, the botch or sore of rancour and envy, the swelling stripe of rebellion and mischief.

The fourth sign is the pride of prelates. Some there have been who fondly have disputed of the poverty of Christ, and have inveighed against the prelates, because they live not in the poverty of the saints. But this fantasy cometh of the ignorance of moral philosophy and divinity, and of the defect of natural prudence; for that in all nations, and by common laws, priests have had, and ought to have, wherewith to sustain themselves more honestly than the vulgar sort, and prelates more honestly than the subjects. But yet hereby is not permitted to them their great horses, their troops of horsemen, the superfluous pomp of their waiting-men and great families, which scarcely can be maintained without pride, neither can be sustained with safe justice, and, many, not without fighting and injuries inconvenient; not much unlike to that which Justin the historian writeth of the Carthaginians, "The family," saith he, ''of so great emperors, was intolerable to such a free city." In semblable wise, this great pride in the church of God, especially in these days, doth move not so few to due reverence, as many to indignation; and yet more, to those things aforesaid: who think no less but to do sacrifice to God, if they may rob and spoil certain fat priests and persons, namely, such as neither have nobility or blood, and less learning to bear themselves upon, but are liars, servile and fraudulent, to whom the Lord speaketh by his prophet Amos [chap, iv.], "Hear you fat-fed kine of Samaria, ye that do poor men wrong, and oppress the needy, the day shall come upon you," &c.

The fifth sign is, the tyranny of the prelates and presidents, which as it is a violent thing, so it cannot be long lasting. For as Solomon saith [chap, xvi.], "For it was requisite that, without any excuse, destruction should come upon those which exercised tyranny." The property of a tyrant is not to seek the commodity of his subjects, but only his will and profit. Such were the pastors late fed not the Lord's flock, but fed themselves; of whom and to whom noted. speaketh the prophet Ezekiel [chap, xxxiv.], "Woe be unto those pastors of Israel that feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" with many other threatenings against them in the same chapter. "Woe be unto them who rejoice at the transgressions of those whom it lieth in their power to condemn, neither do they seek what he is able to pay;" to whom crieth Micah the prophet [chap, iii.], "Ye hate the good and love the evil; ye pluck off men's skins, and the flesh from the bones; ye eat the flesh of my people, and flay off their skin; ye break their bones; ye chop them in pieces, as it were into a cauldron, and as flesh into the pot, ' &c. And, therefore, the aforesaid Ezekjel [chap, xxxiv.] pronounceth, "Behold, I will myself come upon the shepherds and require my sheep from their hands, and make them cease from feeding my sheep, yea the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver my sheep out of their mouths, so that they shall not devour them anymore."

The sixth sign is the promoting of the unworthy, and neglecting them that be worthy. This, as Aristotle saith, is a great cause many times of the dissolution of commonweals. And oftentimes it so happeneth in the wars of princes, that unworthy the contempt and small regarding of the valiant, and the exalting of others that be less worthy, engender divers kinds and kindlings of sedition. For partly by reason of the same, partly of the other causes above recited, we have read not only in books, but have seen with our eyes, divers flourishing cities well nigh subverted; whereas good men be not made of, but are vexed with sorrow and grief by the evil: the contention at length bursteth out upon the prince, as Haymo reciteth out of Origen. This always hath been the perverse incredulity of man's hard heart, and that not only in hearing, but also in seeing: yet will they not believe that others have perished, unless they also perish themselves.

The seventh sign is, the tribulation of outward policy and commotions of the people, which in a great part has now happened already. And therefore, forasmuch as Seneca saith, "Men do complain commonly that evils only come so fast;" it is to be feared lest also the ecclesiastical policy be afflicted not only outwardly, but also in itself; and so that be fulfilled in us, which in Jeremy is prophesied [chap, iv.], "Murder is cried upon murder, and the whole land shall perish, and suddenly my tabernacles were destroyed, and my tents very quickly." And Ezekiel [chap, vii.], "Wherefore I will bring cruel tyrants from among the heathen, to take their houses in possession; I will make the pomp of the proud to cease, and their sanctuaries shall be taken. One mischief and sorrow shall follow another, and one rumour shall come after another: then shall they seek visions in vain at their prophets; the law shall be gone from their priests, and wisdom from their elders," &c.

The eighth is, the refusing of correction, neither will they hear their faults told them, so that it happened to the princes and rulers of the church, as it is written in the prophet Zechariah, [chap, vii.] "They stopped their ears that they would not hear, yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and words which the Lord of hosts sent in his Holy Spirit by the prophets aforetime." Also Isaiah, witnessing after the same effect [chap. xxx.], saith, "For it is an obstinate people, lying children, and unfaithful children, that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the prophets, Meddle with nothing, and tell us nothing, that is true and right, but speak friendly words to us," &c. All this shall be verified when the prelates begin to hate them that tell them truth, and have knowledge; like unto such of whom Amos speaketh [chap, v.], "They bear him evil will, that reproveth them openly, and whoso telleth them the plain truth, they abhor him.' And therefore saith the Lord, by Hosea, to the church of Jerusalem [chap, iv.], "Seeing thou hast refused understanding, I have refused thee also, that thou shalt no more be my priest. And forasmuch as thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children, and change their honour into shame. And so shall it be, like priest, like people," &c.; and many other sayings there be in the prophets, speaking of the dejecting and casting down of the priestly honour.

Besides these aforesaid signs and tokens hitherto recited, there be also divers others; as the backsliding from righteousness, the lack of discreet and learned priests, promoting of children into the church, with others such. But these being already well noted and marked, you may easily judge and understand whether these times now present of ours be safe and clear from tribulation to be looked for, and whether the word of the Lord be true according to my theme, "My righteousness is near at hand to be revealed," &c. And thus much of the second part.

Now to the third part or member of my subdivision, which is concerning the false and perilous opinions of some, upon this word of my theme, "Ut veniat," &c.; which opinions principally be four, all repugning against the truth of the canonical scripture.

The first opinion is of such men, who, having too much confidence in themselves, do think and persuade with themselves, that the prelates be the church which the Lord will always keep and never forsake, as he hath promised in the persons of the apostles, saying, in Matthew [chap, xxviii.], "And I will be with you to the end of the world," &c. But this is to be understood of faith, whereof Christ speaketh in Luke [chap, xxi.], "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith shall not fail." Whereof we read in Ecclesiastes [chap, xl.], "Faith shall stand forever," &c. And albeit charity wax never so cold, yet faith, notwithstanding, shall remain in a few, and in all distresses of the world; of the which distresses, our Saviour doth prophesy, in many places, to come. And lest, peradventure, some should think themselves to be safe from tribulation, because they be of the church; this opinion the Lord himself doth contradict in Jeremiah [chap, vii.], "Trust not," saith he, "in false lying words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord." And a little after, "But you trust in words and lying counsels which deceive you, and do you no good."

The second opinion is of them who defer time; for this they will grant, that the church shall abide trouble, but not so shortly; thinking thus with themselves, that all these causes and tokens afore recited, have been before, at other times as well, in the church. For both by Gregory and Bernard, holy doctors, in time past, the prelates have been in like sort reprehended, both for their bribings, for their pomp and pride, for the promoting of children, and persons unfit unto ecclesiastical functions, and other vices more, which have reigned before this in the church of God more than now, and yet by God's grace the church hath prospered and stands. Do ye not see, that if a house have stood and continued ruinous a long season, it is never the more near the fall thereby, but rather to be trusted the better? Moreover, many times it cometh so to pass, in realms and kingdoms, that the posterity is punished for the sins of their predecessors. Whereof speaketh the book of Lamentations [chap, v.], "Our fathers have sinned and are now gone, and we must bear their wickedness," &c. Against this cogitation or opinion, well doth the Lord answer by the prophet Ezekiel [chap, xii.], saying, "Behold, thou Son of Man, the house of Israel saith in this manner, Tush, as for the vision that he hath seen, it will be many a day ere it come to pass; it is far off yet, the thing that he prophesieth; Therefore say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, The words that I have spoken shall be deferred no longer, look, what I have said shall come to pass, saith the Lord," &c. We have seen in our days things to happen, which seemed before incredible. And the like hath been seen in other times also, as we read written in the book of Lamentations [chap, iv.], "The kings of the earth, nor all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed, that the enemy and adversary should have come in at the gates of the city, for the sins of her priests and for the wickedness of her elders, that have shed innocent blood within her," &c. By Jerusalem, as is said, is meant the church.

The third opinion or error is very perilous and perverse, of all such as say "veniat," let come that will come; let us conform ourselves to this world, and take our time with those temporizers who say in the book of Wisdom [chap, ii.], "Come, let us enjoy our goods and pleasures that be present, and let us use the creature as in youth quickly," &c. Such as these be, are in a dangerous case, and be greatly prejudicial to good men in the church. And, if the heads and rulers of the church were so vile to have any such detestable cogitation in them, there were no place in hell too deep for them. This church, founded by the apostles in Christ, consecrated with the blood of so many martyrs, enlarged and increased with the virtues and merits of so many saints, and endued so richly with the devotion of so many secular princes, and so long prospered hitherto; if it now should come into the hands of such persons, it should fall in great danger of ruin, and they, for their negligence and wickedness, would well deserve of God to be cursed; yea here, also, in this present world, to incur temporal tribulation and destruction, which they fear more; by the sentence of the Lord, saying to them in the book of Proverbs [chap, i.], "All my counsels ye have despised, and set my correction at nought; therefore shall I also laugh in your destruction, when tribulation and anguish shall fall upon you."

Fourthly, another opinion or error is, of such as being unfaithful, believe not that any such thing will come. And this error seemeth to have no remedy, but that as other things and other kingdoms have their ends and limits set unto them, which they cannot overpass; so it must needs be, that such a domination and government of the church have an end, by reason of the demerits and obstinacies of the governors provoking and requiring the same; like as we read in the prophet Jeremy [chap, viii.], "There is no man that taketh repentance for his sin, that will so much as say, Wherefore have I done this? But every man runneth forth still like a wild horse in battle." And the same prophet, in chapter xiii. of his prophecy, "Like as the man of Inde may change his skin, and the cat-of-mountain her spots, so may ye, that be exercised in evil, do good." Whereunto also accordeth that which is written of the same prophet [chap, xvii.], speaking of Judah, signifying the church, "The sin of Judah," saith ne, "is written in the table of your hearts, and graven so upon the edges of your altars with a pen of iron, and with an adamant claw;" which is as much to say, it is indelible, or which cannot be rased out; as also Ezekiel, speaking of the punishment [chap, xxi.], saith, "I the Lord have drawn my sword out of the sheath, and it cannot he revoked." Notwithstanding, all these signify no impossibility, but difficulty, because that wicked men are hardly converted; for, otherwise, the Scripture importeth no such inflexibility with God, but if conversion come, he will forgive. So we read in the prophet Jonas [chap, iii.], "Who can tell? God may turn and repent, and cease from his fierce wrath that we perish not." And to the like effect saith the same Lord in Jeremy [chap, xxvi.], "Look thou keep not one word back, if peradventure they will hearken and turn every man from his wicked way, that I also may repent of the plague which I have determined to bring upon them, because of their wicked inventions," &c. For the further proof whereof, Nineveh we see was converted, and remained undestroyed, &c. Likewise the Lord also had revealed destruction unto Constantinople by sundry signs and tokens, as Augustine in a certain sermon doth declare. And thus for the third part or member of my division.

Fourthly and lastly, remaineth to declare, some wholesome concluding, now upon the causes preceding: that is, if by these causes and signs, heretofore declared, tribulation be prepared to fall upon the church, then let us humble our minds mildly and wisely. And if we so return with heart and in deed unto God, verily he will rescue and help after an inestimable wise, and will surcease from scourging us, as he promiseth by his prophet Jeremiah [chap, xviii.], "If that people against whom I have thus devised, convert from their wickedness, immediately I will repent of the plague that I devised to bring upon them:" speaking here after the manner of men, &c. Now therefore, forasmuch as tribulation and affliction is so near coming toward us, yea lieth upon us already, let us be the more diligent to call upon God for mercy. For I think, verily, these many years, there have not been so many and so despiteful haters evil-willers, stout, and of such a rebellious heart against the church of God, as be now-a-days; neither be they lacking, that would work all that they can against it, and lovers of new- fangleness; whose hearts the Lord haply will turn, that they shall not hate his people, and work deceit against his servants, I mean against priests, whom they have now in little or no reputation at all, albeit many yet there be, through God's grace, good and godly; but yet the fury of the Lord is not turned away, but still his hand is stretched out. And unless ye be converted, he shaketh his sword; he hath bent his bow, and prepared it ready. Yet the Lord standeth waiting, that he may have mercy upon you [Isaiah xxx.] And therefore, as the greatness of fear ought to incite us, so hope of salvation may allure us to pray and call upon the Lord, especially now, toward this holy and sacred time and solemnity of Christ's nativity: for that holy and continual prayer without intermission is profitable, and the instant devotion and vigilant deprecation of the just man is of great force. And if terrene kings, in the day of celebration of their nativity, be wont to show themselves more liberal and bounteous, how much more ought we to hope well, that the heavenly King, of nature most benign, now at his natal and birth-day, will not deny pardon and remission to such as rightly call unto him.

And now, therefore, as it is written in Joshua [chap, vii.], "Be ye sanctified against to-morrow," &c. And say unto him, as it is written in the first book of Samuel [chap, xxv], "Now let thy servants I pray thee find favour in thy sight, for we come to thee in a good season." Moreover, ye may find what ye ask, if ye ask that which he brought, in the day of his nativity, that is, the peace of the church, not spiritual only, but also temporal; which the angelical noise did sound, and experience the same time did prove, testified by Livy, Pliny, and other heathen story-writers, who all marvelled thereat, saying that such an universal peace as that could not come on earth, but by the gift of God. For so God did forepromise in the prophet Isaiah [chap, lxvi.], "Behold, I will let peace into Jerusalem like a waterflood," &c.; and in Psalm lxxi., "In his time righteousness shall flourish, yea, and abundance of peace," &c.

Therefore now, O reverend fathers in the Lord! and you, here in this present assembly! behold, I say, the day of life and salvation; now is the opportune time to pray unto God, that the same thing, which he brought into the world at his birth, he will now grant in these days to his church, that is, his peace. And, like as Nineveh was subverted, and overturned, not in members but in manners, so the same words of my theme, "Juxta est justitia mea ut reveletur," may be verified in us, not of the primitive justice, but of our sanctification by grace; so that, as to-morrow is celebrated the nativity of our Saviour, our righteousness may rise together with him, and his blessing may be upon us, which God hath promised, saying, "My saving health is near at hand to come," &c.; whereof speaketh Isaiah the prophet [chap.li.], "My saving health shall endure forever," &c. This health grant unto us, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen.

Sermon of Nicholas Orem (Part 1)

The Lord has never left Himself without witnesses. Although we typicl think of the Middle Ages as an era of spiritual darkness, the Lord, in fact, raised up many witnesses to His truth. Nicholas Ore was one such witness. The sermon posted below was preached by Nicholas Orem, on the 4th Sunday of Advent in the year 1363 - before Pope Urban V. The courage involved in such an act is astounding.

A Copy of a Sermon made before Pope Urban V., the fourth Sunday in Advent, a.d. 1363, by Nicholas Orem. (From Book V of John Foxe's Acts and Monuments.)

"Juxta est salus mea, ut veniat, ct justitia," &c. That is, "My saving is near at hand to come, and my righteousness to be revealed," [Isa. lvi.] After the sentence cf St. Paul, Rom. ii. and in divers other places, before the nativity of Christ the whole world was divided into two sorts of men, sorts of the Jews and Gentiles — the Jews, who waited for the opening of the door paradise by the blood of the Saviour to come: the Gentiles, who yet sitting in darkness were to be called to light, and to be justified by faith, as it is written in Romans, chap. 5

This salvation, pertaining both to the Jew and Gentile, God promised before time to the fathers by the prophets, to stir up the desire thereof in their hearts the more, and to increase their firm hope and faith in the same. As first, in Micah vi., the voice of the Lord crieth, "Health and salvation shall be to all men which fear my name." And Isaiah xlvi., "I will give in Sion salvation, and in Jerusalem my glory," &c, with divers other such places. And forasmuch as hope which is deferred many times, doth afflict the soul, and conceiveth weariness of long deferring; he, therefore, prophesying of the nearness of the coming thereof, saith moreover [Isa. xiv.], "His time is near at hand to come." Also [Hab. ii.], " He will come, and will not tarry." With many such other places more. So then the holy fathers being in Limbo, looked and hoped that he should bring out them that sat bound, and which in the house of prison sat in darkness, as we read in Isaiah xli. Then the time drew on, in which came the fulness of the Gentiles, and in which the Lord would declare the riches of this mystery hidden from the world, and from generations. [Col. i.] Wherefore the Lord, in this text, doth both certify our fathers of the coming of our Saviour, and doth comfort them touching the nearness thereof, and also teacheth the justification of the Gentiles by faith, approaching now near at hand, according to the words of my text, "my salvation is near." Which words were fulfilled then, what time the Lord did manifest his salvation, and did reveal his righteousness in the sight of all the Gentiles. And it is divided into three parts; of which the first speaketh of the nearness of his coming, where it is said, " my salvation is near." The second concerneth the mystery of the advent of Christ and his incarnation, where he saith, " ut veniat," &c. Thirdly, is considered the severity of God, his terrible revenging judgment to be revealed, where he saith, "ut reveletur," &c, which is to be expounded of his primitive justice, whereof speaketh Amos [chap, v.], saying, " And judgment shall be revealed like a flood, and righteousness like a strong stream." Wherefore, for our contemplation of tlie solemnity of the most holy vigil, let us receive with joy the word of God the Father, "My Salvation is nigh," that is, Christ To whom he saith [Isa. xlix.], " I have given thee to be a light to the Gentiles, and to be my salvation throughout the ends of the world:" and again [Isa. xlvi.], " My salvation shall not slack," &c.

As touching the nearness thereof, it is in these days opened to us by the gospel, where we read in St. Matthew, When the virgin Mary was espoused unto Joseph, before they did come together, she was found with child by the Holy Ghost. By this it was evident to understand, that our Saviour ought shortly to proceed out of the chaste womb of the virgin, according as the prophet did foretel, saying, "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son," &c. For as the grape, when it waxeth great and full, is near to the making of wine; and as the flower, when it shooteth abroad, hasteth to the fruit; so the salvation of the world, in the swelling and growing of the virgin's womb, began to draw nigh to mankind. For then appeared the grace and benignity of our Saviour, whom his mother was found to have in her womb by the Holy Ghost, as is declared in that which followeth by the angel, saying, " For that which is born of her is of the Holy Ghost."

Touching the second part of that which is said, "ut veniat:" this may be applied to the contemplation of the mystery of Christ coming in the flesh; whereof speaketh Haggai the prophet [chap, ii.], "He shall come who is desired and looked for of all nations," &c. Albeit the same also may be applied to the second advent, spoken of in Isaiah [chap, in.], " The Lord shall come to judgment," &c.; in memorial whereof the fourth Sunday was dedicated in the old time, of the fathers. And of this day of judgment it is written in the prophet Zeph. [chap, ii.], "The day of the Lord is near, great and mighty, it is approaching at hand, and wondrous short," &c. And albeit not in itself, yet it may be expounded in tribulations that go before, as preambles unto the same; as Gregory saith, "The last tribulation is prevented with many and sundry tribulations going before, although the end of all be not yet."

Wherefore now coming to the third part of my sermon or theme, let us see, of those tribulations that go before the last coming of Christ, if there be any such tribulation approaching nigh at hand, whereof this last part of my theme may be verified, where he said, "Ut reveletur," that my righteousness shall be revealed; to wit, the righteousness primitive, that righteousness may be brought, and the prophecy of Daniel fulfilled [Dan. ix.], concerning which matter four things here come in order to be declared.

First, Concerning the revealing of tribulation, according to that part of my theme, "Ut reveletur," &c.

Secondly, Concerning the nearness of the tribulation coming, according to '— that part of my theme, " Quia juxta est," &c. £°"4r.5ub"

Thirdly, Of the false opinions of some upon this part of my theme, " Ut veniat," &c.

Fourthly, What means and consultation we ought to take, "

Ut juxta est" As for the first, it is so notorious and so common in the Scriptures that the church should suffer and abide tribulation, that I need not here to stand in alleging anything touching either the causes to be weighed, or the term to be conjectured thereof. As concerning which causes I will give two rules to be noted before, for the better opening of that which is to follow: The first rule is, that by the two kingdoms of the nation of the Hebrews which were in the old time, to wit, by the kingdom of Israel, whose head was Samaria, is signified in the prophets the erroneous synagogue; and by the second kingdom of Judah, of whose stock came Christ, whose head metropolitan was Jerusalem, is signified the true church. And this rule is not mine, but is the gloss of St. Jerome, and also is the rule of Origen in the last homily upon the Old Testament, and is approved by the church.

The second rule is, that by the brothel-house and fornication mentioned in Judah the prophets, are signified simony, and abused dispensations, and promotions of persons unworthy, for lucre's sake, or else for any other partial favour, who, by unlawful ways, by all laws of the world, come to office and honour. "Merx dicitur namque a merendo;" that is, because gain or price is derived of gaining; for the which gain or price, that is sold, which by nature ought not to be sold. Therefore, to give anything for respect of gain or lure, which ought to be given freely for virtue's sake, is a kind of spiritual corruption, and as a man would say, a whorish thing; whereof the prophet [Isaiah, chap, i.] complaineth, speaking of Jerusalem, and saying, "The city which once was faithful and full of judgment, how is it now become a whorish city? " And in like manner Hosea also, the prophet [chap, ix.], "Jerusalem, thou hast fornicated and gone a whoring from thy God. Thou hast loved like a harlot to get gain in every barn of com." And in many other places of Scripture, where fornication cannot be otherwise expounded.

These two rules thus premised, now let us mark the Scriptures, and, according to the same, judge of the whole state of the church, both what is past, and what is to come: First, treating of the causes of tribulation to come: Secondly, of the vicinity of time of the said tribulation to come.

And first, concerning the state of the church, and of causes of tribulation, thus saith the Lord in the prophet Ezekiel [chap, xvi.], speaking to the church states of under the name of Jerusalem: "In the day of thy birth I came by thee, and saw thee trodden down in thine own blood," &c. Here he speaketh of the described, time of the martyrdom of the church. Then it followeth, "After this thou wast cleansed from thy blood, thou wast grown up, and waxen great; then i.xhe washed I thee with water, I purged thy blood from thee" (speaking of ceasing of persecution), "I anointed thee with oil, I gave thee change of raiment, I girded thee with white silk, I decked thee with costly apparel, I put rings upon church, thy fingers, a chain about thy neck, spangles upon thy forehead, and ear-rings upon thine ears. Thus wast thou decked with silver and gold, and a beautiful crown set upon thine head. Marvellous goodly wast thou and beautiful, even church, a very queen wast thou: for thou wast excellent in my beauty, which I put upon thee, saith the Lord God," &c. This prophecy, or rather history, speaketh of, and declareth, the prosperity of the church. And now hear the corruption and transgression of the church, for so it followeth: "But thou hast put confidence in thine own beauty, and played the harlot, when thou hadst gotten thee a name. Thou hast committed whoredom with all that went by thee, and hast fulfilled their desires; yea, thou hast taken thy garments of divers colours and decked thine altars therewith, whereupon thou mightest fulfil thy whoredom of such a fashion as never was done, nor shall be." Which whoredom can in no wise be expounded for carnal, but spiritual whoredom. And therefore, see how lively he hath painted out the corruption and falling of the church.

And therefore followeth now the correction and punishment of the church followeth, "Behold I stretch out my hand over thee, and will diminish thy store of food, and deliver thee over unto the wills of the Philistines, and of such as hate thee: and they shall break down thy stews, and destroy thy brothel-houses (that is, the place wherein thou didst exercise this wickedness) "they shall strip thee out of thy clothes: all thy fair beautiful jewels shall they take from thee, and so let thee sit naked and bare," &c. [Ezek. xvi.] Here is plainly to be seen what shall happen to the church, and more followeth in the said chapter: "Thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters upon thy left hand: but the youngest sister that dwelleth on thy right hand is Sodoma with her daughters, whose sins were these: pride, fulness of meat, abundance, and idleness, neither reached they their hand to the poor. And yet, neither Sodoma thy sister, with her daughters, hath done so evil as thou and thy daughters: neither hath Samaria" (that is, the synagogue) "done half of thy sins; yea, thou hast exceeded them in wickedness. Take therefore and bear thine own confusion," &c. Again in Ezek. [chap, xxiii.], after the prophet had described at large the wickedness, corruption, and punishment of the synagogue, turning to the church, he saith, "And when her sister saw this, she raged and was mad with lust more than before; she was mad, that is, with fleshly lust, love of riches, and following voluptuousness. Her fornication and whoredom she committed with princes and great lords, clothed with all manner of gorgeous apparel; so that her paps were bruised, and her breasts were marred." And then speaking of her punishment, he saith, "Then my heart forsook her, like as my heart was gone from her sister also." And more over, repeating again the cause thereof, he addeth, "Thy wickedness and thy fornication hath wrought thee all this," &c.

The like we find also in Isaiah, Jeremy, Ezekiel, and in all the other prophets, who, prophesying all together in one meaning, and almost in one manner of words, do conclude with a full agreement and prophecy to come, that the church shall fall, and then be punished for her great excesses, and be utterly spoiled, except she repent of all her abominations. Whereof speaketh Hosea [chap, ii.], "Let her put away her whoredom out of her sight, and her adultery from her breasts, lest I strip her naked, and set her even as she came naked into the world," (that is, in her primitive poverty). So if she do it not, it shall follow of her as in the prophet Nahum [chap, hi.], " For the multitude of the fornication of the fair and beautiful harlot, which is a master of witchcraft, yea and selleth the people through her whoredom, and the nations through her witchcraft." And it followeth upon the same, "Behold I come upon thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and will pull thy clothes over thy head, that they nakedness shall appear among the heathen, and thy shame amongst the There- kingdoms" &C. Wherefore by these it is to be understood that upon this church the primitive justice of God is to be revealed hereafter. And thus church, much of the first of the four members above touched.

Now to the second member of my theme, "Juxta est; " concerning the nearness of time. Although it is not for us to know the moments and articles of time; yet, by certain notes and signs, peradventure, it may be collected and that the gathered, that which I have here to say. For the tractation whereof, first I ground myself upon the saying of the apostle Paul [2Thes. ii.], where he writeth, "That unless there "come a defection first," &c. By the which defection, Jerorne gathereth ond expoundeth allegorically, the desolation of the monarchy of Rome: between which desolation, and the persecution of the church by Antichrist, he putteth no mean space. And now, what is the state of that commonwealth, if it be compared to the majesty of that it hath been, judge yourselves. Another gloss there is that saith, how by that defection is meant, defection that from the church of Rome shall come a departing of some other churches.

The second note and mark is this, when the church shall be worse in manners than was the synagogue; as appeareth by the ordinary gloss upon the third of Jeremiah, where it is written, "The backslider Israel may seem just and righteous in comparison of sinful Judah;" that is, the synagogue in comparison of the church of God. Whereof writeth Origen saying, Think that to be spoken of us what the Lord saith in Ezekiel [chap, xvi.], "Thou hast exceeded thy sister in thine iniquities." Wherefore now, to compare the one with the other: First, ye know how Christ rebuked the Pharisees, who, as Jerome witnesseth, were then the clergy of the Jews, of covetousness, for that they suffered doves to be sold in the temple of God: Secondly, for that they did honour God with their lips, and not with their heart; and because they said, and but did not: Thirdly, he rebuked them, for that they were hypocrites. To church the first then, let us see whether it be worse to sell both church and sacraments together than to suffer doves to be sold in the temple, or not. Secondly, whereas the Pharisees were rebuked for honouring God with their lips, and not with their heart, there be some who neither honour God with heart, nor yet with lips, and who neither do well, nor yet say well; neither do they preach any word at all, but be dumb dogs, not able to bark, impudent and shameless dogs, that never have enough; such pastors as have no understanding, declining and straying all in their own way, every one given to covetousness from the highest to the lowest And thirdly, as for hypocrisy, there be also some whose intolerable pride and malice are so manifest and notorious, kindled up like a fire, that no cloak or shadow of hypocrisy can cover it, but they are so past all shame, that it may be well verified of them, which the prophet speaks, "Thou hast gotten thee the face of a harlot; thou wouldst not blush," &c. 

Archbishop Fitz Ralph of Armagh – A Precursor of the Reformation

The following article was written by Charles Scott for the September 1880 issue of The Churchman.

Just as the drops come before the shower, so we find that there were many isolated attempts at Reformation long before the great movement of the sixteenth century. Even before Wickliffe, both in England and Ireland, there were some protestants against the errors and enormities favoured by the Roman See in the name of religion. Amongst these, one of the most remarkable, yet least known at the present day, is Richard Fitz Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh. By his piety and reforming zeal the name Armachanus was as well known in his time, throughout the whole Christian world, as it was two centuries later by the learning of Archbishop Ussher. Of the six great primates of Armagh—Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, Malachy, the friend of Bernard, Fitz Ralph, Ussher, Boulter, Beresford—he is by no means the least worthy of notice. With Malachy he may well be compared: both were reformers, but in different directions. He will be seen to have well earned the character given of him by John Foxe:—“He was a man worthy, for his Christian zeal, of immortal commendation.”1 

Fitz Ralph lived in the reign of King Edward III. This reign, extending over exactly half a century (1327-1377), was one of the most brilliant epochs of our national history. The importance of the political affairs of the time has no doubt obscured the view of ecclesiastical events and leaders, and to a great extent caused the suppression of many important details. Whether Fitz Ralph was born in Devonshire or at Dundalk in Ireland is a matter of dispute. He was brought up at the University of Oxford, under the tuition of the celebrated Bakenthorpe, commonly called, in the schools, the “Resolute Doctor.” He made such advances in his studies that he was commended to Edward III., by whose favour he was rapidly promoted. He became Chancellor or Commissary of the University in 1333, Chancellor of Lincoln in the next year, Archdeacon of Chester in 1336, and the year after Dean of Lichfield. We know little more concerning the earlier portion of his life. Henry de Burghersh, Bishop of Lincoln, sometime Lord Treasurer and Lord Chancellor of England, one of the most eminent prelates of that century, was his diocesan during the time that he was Chancellor or Commissary of Oxford. With another eminent prelate he was intimately connected. He made one of a company of learned men who met together in the house of Richard Aungerville, or De Bury, Bishop of Durham, the friend and correspondent of Petrarch, one of the most remarkable characters of the day. We are told of him [De Bury] that he was—

A man so singularly learned, and so devoted to literature, that he kept transcribers,  binders, and illuminators in his palaces; and expended the whole of his ample income in purchasing scarce and curious manuscripts, for which purpose he employed agents, not only in England, but in Italy, France, and Germany. Besides the fixed libraries which he had formed in his several palaces, the floor of his common apartment was so covered with books, that those who entered were in danger of trampling on them. 

By the favour of Edward III. he gained access to the libraries of the principal monasteries, where he shook off the dust from various volumes (all MSS. as must necessarily be the case at that period), preserved in chests and presses, which had not been opened for many ages; and while Chancellor (Sept. 28, 1335) and Treasurer (1337) of England, instead of the usual presents or new year’s gift appendant to his office, he chose to receive those perquisites in books. Though the bishop was actively engaged in political affairs, being ambassador to France and to the Low Countries, and away as long as nine years at a time, he never lost his love for books and bookish men. Old John Stow says that he so delighted in books that he had more, as was thought, than all the bishops of England besides. I cannot refrain from quoting the exact words in which Stow describes the eminent men whom De Bury had gathered around him:—

He greatly delighted in the company of clearkes, and hadde alwayes many of them in his family, among whom were Thomas Bradwardine, afterwards archbishoppe of Canterbury, Richard Fitz Ralph, archbishoppe of Armacham, Walter Burley, John Manditt, Robert Holcot, Richard Kilwington, all of them doctors of divinitie, Richard Wentworth or Beniworth, byshoppe of London, and Walter Segrave, byshoppe of Chichester. Every day at his table he was accustomed to have some reading; and after dinner daily he would have some disputation with his private clearkes, and other of his house, except some urgent cause hadde let him. At other times hee was occupied, either in service of God, or at his books.

This eminent prelate was the most determined bookworm of the good old times, and he seems to have infused into his friend Fitz Ralph his own love of books. His opinion of books well deserves to be borne in mind: “These are teachers who instruct without rod or ferula, without severe expressions, or anger, without food or money. When we come to them, they are not asleep; when we enquire for them they do not secrete themselves; “when we mistake them, they do not complain; if we are ignorant, they do not despise us.” He died in 1345, at his palace at Auckland, two years before Fitz Ralph was appointed to Armagh. We can well suppose that Richard must have been a man much appreciated for his learning when he was able to gain the friendship and companionship of such a person as Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham.

Walter Burley or Burleigh, known as the “Perspicuous Doctor,” the great pupil and opponent of the celebrated Duns Scotus, also deserves some notice. His mind was engaged upon all the then known branches of knowledge, but metaphysics and theology seem to have occupied the chief place in his attention, and with him, no doubt, Fitz Ralph must often have delighted to engage in the abstruse but useless disputations of the schools, before “the Lord taught him, and brought him out of the profound vanities of Aristotle’s subtilty, to the study of the Scriptures of God.”
 

Theology, too, was well represented in that learned company in the person of Thomas Bradwardine, called the “Profound Doctor,” afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, but only for one short week. He was a student and expounder of the doctrines of Augustine, and his great work, “De Causa Dei,” advanced notions which would in modern times be called extreme Calvinism. He was a man “whose firmness of character was only surpassed by his unpretending modesty,” and “who, though his name does not appear in the calendar, was in very truth a saint.”
 

If we cannot easily get a full and distinct view of Fitz Ralph himself, we can at least see him reflected in the character and tastes of his chosen companions. Books, metaphysics and theology, represented by De Bury, Burleigh, and Bradwardine, seem from the few notices that we have of him, all and equally to have occupied his attention; and, no doubt, had his lot in after-life been favourable to such studies, he would have been as eminent in all as these were in each. His love of books never forsook him, and when in remote Armagh he had his chaplains at Oxford searching for books.

It is little wonder that just at this period we should have but little notices of ecclesiastical affairs. On the 26th of August, 1346, the French were defeated at Crecy, and on the 12th of October the Scots were repulsed at Neville’s Cross. In the following year Fitz Ralph was advanced by Clement VI. to the See of Armagh, and was consecrated at Exeter by John de Grandison, Bishop of Exeter, and others, on the 8th of July, just about three weeks before the surrender of Calais. Amidst these stirring events Fitz Ralph began his primacy.

At Armagh he found himself in the midst of a long-standing controversy with the See of Dublin as to the primacy of the kingdom. Armagh was admittedly the more ancient See, and in Celtic times had unquestioned supremacy, as being the chair of St. Patrick; but in consequence of the English invasion, the See of Dublin became at once a position of great importance. Always filled by able English politicians, who had great influence with the rulers of the Pale, it soon surpassed in power the older See, venerated by those who came now to be termed the “mere Irish.” In 1337 an attempt was made to gain the formal primacy, for when David, Archbishop of Armagh, was summoned to attend a Parliament, and when “he made procession in St. Mary’s near Dublin, he was hindered by the Archbishop of Dublin and clergy, because he would have the cross carried before him, which they would not permit.” Thus there was the same dispute as to precedence, De jaculatione crucis, in Ireland, that existed years before in England between York and Canterbury. In 1348, after the appointment of Fitz Ralph, the King took the part of Dublin, and wrote to Cardinal Andomar urging that Dublin should be exempted from any subjection to Armagh.

The new Archbishop, however, was not the man to be easily imposed upon without some attempt to assert his rights, and he showed the same fearlessness and independence in this as he afterwards did in matters of much greater weight. Having probably gained over the King, he next year (1349) triumphantly entered Dublin with his cross borne erect before him. The Lord Justice, fearing that the public assertion of his rights would lead to a breach of the peace, hastily sent him back to Drogheda. The King now issued his commands, no doubt for the sake of peace, that he should not raise his cross in the Province of Dublin; and again urged Cardinal Andomar to use his influence with the Pope to have the question set at rest, and to have the claims of the prelates finally adjusted. This, however, was not decided until after Fitz Ralph’s death, in the time of Innocent VI., when it was determined that “each of them should be a primate; but for distinction of style the Primate of Armagh should entitle himself Primate of all Ireland; and the Metropolitan of Dublin should inscribe himself Primate of Ireland: like Canterbury and York in England, the first of which writes himself Primate of all England, the other Primate of England.” Thus the old Celtic See retained its pre-eminence; one solitary and nominal success in the long struggle between the native and the invader, between Celtic and Latin Christianity.

We have but few notices of Fitz Ralph’s work in the Irish records. In 1351 he is noticed as having preached a sermon in English at Coleraine, the only entry of the kind in the Irish annals. About this time he obtained a license from the king to buy up livings in the hands of aliens; and, in pursuance of this authority, he purchased from a French monastery the patronage of Donaghadee and Derryaghy, two well-known parishes in the diocese of Down and Connor, which continued from that time until the passing of the Irish Church Act in the presentation of the Archbishops of Armagh. These are the only local notices we have of him, but they are characteristic. We see special notice of his preaching, and we see, too, how he exercised his care that parishes should not be supplied by foreigners, but be in the hands of the native bishops.

Soon, however, matters of much more importance engaged the attention of the sturdy Primate. A dispute with the Prior of the Convent of St. Peter and St. Paul at Armagh involved him in the great controversy then going on, throughout the whole Western Church, between the parochial clergy and the Mendicant Friars.

The four orders of Franciscans (Grey Friars), Dominicans (Black Friars), Carmelites (White Friars), and Augustins (Austin Friars), were called Begging Friars. They claimed the right of entering any diocese or parish, and, under special license of the Pope, hearing confession, selling indulgences, begging for their convents, and administering the sacraments. It will be seen at once that such claims were greatly to the prejudice of the rights of the bishops and parochial clergy, as well as a very serious injury to the cause of religion and morals; because the people were thus drawn from the care of the parochial clergy by the specious promises and claims of the friars, and, worst of all, those who by crime and wicked courses were under the ban of the parish clergy were readily received by the friars and obtained absolution from them. In the pages of Chaucer, who about this time was coming into note, we have pictures, living sketches, of the parson and the friar. In the prologue to the “Canterbury Tales” he draws the friar, he who—

  

Knew well the taverns in every town. 

He was the beste beggar in all his house. 

For though a widow hadde but a shoe, 

Yet would he have a farthing e’er he went. 

For there was he not like a cloisterer,  
With threadbare cope, as is a poor scholar, 
But he was like a master or a pope, 
Of double worsted was his semi-cope.

See, too, how he draws the pardoner, that is, the friar with license from the Pope to sell indulgences—the same that roused the spirit of Luther:—
 

His wallet lay before him in his lap,
Brimful of pardon come from Rome, all hot.
He had a cross of laton full of stones,
And in a glass he hadde pigges bones.
And with these relics, whenne that he found
A poore parson dwelling up inland,
Upon a day he gat him more monaie
Than that the parson got in monthes twaie.
And thus with feigned flattering and japes,
He made the parson and the people his apes.

Very different is the picture Chaucer draws of the parochial clergy: witness his description of the parson:—
 

Rich he was of holy thought and work.
He was also a learned man, a clerk,
That Christes gospel truely would he preach.
His parishens devoutly would he teach.
Wide was his parish, and houses far asunder,
But he ne left naught for no rain or thunder.
This noble ensample to his sheep he gave
That first he wraught, and then he taught.
—Christes lore, and his apostles twelve
He taught, but first he follow’d it himselve.

There seems to have been at this time a growing dissatisfaction at the teaching and practices of the Mendicant Orders. This feeling appears to have been general, and by no means confined to the secular clergy. There is strong evidence of it in the work called “Piers Ploughman’s Vision,” written probably in the year 1352, a work which does not appear to have had its origin in an ecclesiastical source:

I found there friars
All the four orders,
Preaching the people
For profit of themselve
Glossed the Gospel
As them good liked,
There preached a pardoner,
As he a priest were;
Brought forth a bull
With many bishops’ seals,
And said he himself might
Assoilen them all,
Of falsehood, of fasting,
Of avowes y-broken.
Lewed men loved it well,
And liked his words;
Comen up kneeling
To kissen his bulls.

It would indeed appear that the same vigour and independence of the national mind so strikingly displayed in the political world was being manifested also in religious matters. The attitude of King Edward with regard to the ecclesiastical scandals of the day was, no doubt, a consequence of as well as an encouragement of the popular feeling. The Pope claimed the right not only of appointing to vacant benefices, but of appointing before the vacancy occurred, and meanwhile taking a portion of the income for his nominee. In 1343, the King wrote protesting against such appointments, and in 1350 the Statute of Provisors was passed to put an end to this scandal. Such a course could not fail to encourage others to speak out boldly against the abuses of the Church of Rome.
 

Fitz Ralph took the part of the parochial clergy, and, no doubt encouraged by the general feeling, attacked the friars with great vigour and severity. He was led to denounce the whole system as unscriptural, and as opposed to the mind of Christ. Having come to this conclusion, he maintained it fearlessly before people and Pope. Being in London on business, in 1357, he found certain doctors disputing about the begging of our Saviour Christ. By special request he preached seven or eight sermons to the people at Paul’s Cross, and maintained certain propositions, amongst them the following:—

That our Lord Jesus Christ in his human conversation was always poor, not that that He loved poverty, or did covet to be poor; That He did never beg; that He did never teach to beg; That, on the contrary, He held that men ought to be without necessity to beg,and that there was neither wisdom nor holiness for any man to become a mendicant.

For these propositions he was cited by the friars to appear before the Pope, and appeals were laid against him to the number of sixteen. He was supported in the struggle by the bishops and clergy of England, and they subscribed money to forward the cause. He went to Avignon; four cardinals were appointed to hear the appeal. On the 13th of November, 1357, he addressed the Pope and cardinals. He was admittedly successful in his vindication of himself and his propositions; but, as the unknown monk who wrote the “Chronicon Angliæ,” published by the Master of the Rolls, says, “Proh dolor, alas! the English clergy backed out of their promises” of money; and, the friars having plenty of money, the cause was decided against him. It is well known that at the Papal Court of those days the longest purse had the best case. Many things he suffered at the hands of the friars: attempts were made to apprehend him; coasts were watched for him; he fell, too, into the hands of thieves, and lost  his money, but it was wonderfully restored to him. These things he recounts in a prayer, the beginning of which is given by Foxe:—
 

To Thee be praise, and glory, and thanksgiving, O Jesu, most holy, most powerful, most amiable, who hast said, I am the way, the truth, and the life;—a way without deviation—truth without cloud, and life without end. Thou hast shown me the way; Thou hast taught me the truth; and Thou hast promised me the life. Thou wast my way in exile; Thou was my truth in counsel; and Thou wilt be my life in reward.

We see in these words a beautiful and simple faith, expressed in the elaborate and scholastic manner of the time.
 

His argument against the friars, addressed to the Pope, has been several times published. It is entitled, Defensorium Curatorum; or, Defence of the Parochial Clergy. In it he supports his charges at length, and gives some curious examples, drawn from his own experience, of the injury done by the friars. He says—
 

In mine own diocese of Armagh I have as good as two thousand under me, who, by the censure of excommunication every year denounced against wilful murderers, common thieves, burners of men’s houses, and such like malefactors, stand accursed; of all which number, notwithstanding, scarcely fourteen there be who come to me, or to any about me, for their absolution. And yet all they receive the sacrament as others do, and all because they feign themselves to be absolved, by none other than the friars.

He alleges against the friars that, on account of the privileges granted to them by the Popes, “divers young men as well in universities as in their fathers’ houses, are craftily allured by the friars, their confessors, to enter their orders; from whence also they cannot get out when they would, to the great grief of their parents and the no less repentance of the young men themselves.” He tells of “a certain substantial Englishman being with him at his inn in Rome, who, having a son at the University of Oxford who was enticed by the friars to enter into their order, could by no means afterwards release him; but when his father and his mother would come unto him, they could not be suffered to speak with him but under the friars’ custody; whereas the Scripture plainly commandeth that whoso stealeth any man and selleth him (Exod. xxi.) shall be put to death; and, for the same cause, the father was compelled to come
up to Rome to seek remedy for his son. And thus may it appear what damage and detriments come by these friars unto the common people.”
 

He next shows the injury done to the universities.
 

Laymen, seeing their children thus stolen from them in the universities by the friars, do refuse therefore to send them to their studies; rather willing to keep them at home to their occupation, or to follow the plough, than so to be circumvented and defeated of their sons at the university “as by daily experience,” he saith, “doth manifestly appear.” For whereas in my time there were in the University of Oxford thirty thousand students, now are there not to be found six thousand; the occasion of which so great decay is to be ascribed to no other cause but to this circumvention only of the friars aforementioned.

Fitz Ralph, no doubt disappointed and disheartened by the success of the friars at the Papal Court, was about making his way back to Ireland when he died at Avignon on the 16th of November, 1360; not without grave suspicion that he died of poison administered by his enemies, the friars.
 

It would seem that his death put an end to the strife between the secular clergy as a body and the Mendicants. Henry of Marlboro’ in his “Chronicle” says, “Richard Archbishop of Armagh dyed at this time at the Pope’s Court, and Richard Kilminton dyed in England, therefore the controversie ceased between the clergie and the orders of Begging Friars. Others helped in the good work. We find that John de Trevisa, Vicar of Berkeley and Canon of Westbury, the church of which Wickliffe was also a canon, published in English “A Translation of a Latin Sermon of Radulf or Fitz Rauf, Archbishop of Armagh, Nov. 8th, 1357, against Mendicant Friars.” Fitz Ralph is said to have written eighteen distinct treatises on theological and other subjects.
 

As might be expected, very different opinions have been held with regard to Fitz Ralph and his work. A certain cardinal, when he heard of his death, exclaimed that the same day a mighty pillar of Christ’s Church had fallen. Cardinal Bellarmine, on the other hand, ranks him among heretics, or bordering on them. “He was thought to have offended by the exuberance of his knowledge.” Capgrave, in his “Chronicle,” says of him:—“In Oxenforth he held straunge opiniones, which Wiclef meyntened aftirward more venemously.” No wonder his opinions seemed “straunge,” for the same writer speaks of Wickliffe as “the orgon of the devel, the enmy of the cherch, the confusion of men, the ydol of heresie.” Wickliffe says of him in his “Trialogue:”—“Armachanus boldly published his conclusions at Avignon before Innocent and his assembly of Cardinals, and defended them by word and pen even to the death.”2
 

About ten years after his decease his bones were brought over to Dundalk by Stephen de Valle, Bishop of Meath. There he was long venerated under the name of St. Richard of Dundalk. In a Synod held in Drogheda on the 20th of June, 1545, it was ordained that the festival of St. Richard, Archbishop of Armagh, should be celebrated with nine lessons in crastino Johannis et Pauli. The proceedings were begun for his canonization, but were never concluded. No doubt it was found upon inquiry that he was a “sore saint” for the Pope. He was, however, indeed canonized in the grateful memory of his people. In Dundalk there was a fountain dedicated to him, to which all the neighbourhood flocked, thinking that whoever drank of its waters should be free from fever. There was preserved his shrine, and also his ring, endowed, as it was supposed, with many virtues. His day was celebrated with great devotion. A couplet has been preserved which lets us see how the common people regarded
him—
 

Many a man I see, and many a mile I walk,
But never saw I holier man than Richard of Dundalk.

At the year 1377, it is noted by the old chronicler of St. Albans before mentioned, that by many miracles and wonders at his tomb, God vindicated Master Fitz Ralf, “at which the friars, it is said, are badly content.”

Wickliffe and Trevisa are both celebrated for the part they took in furnishing the people of England with the Holy Scriptures in their own mother tongue. It would appear that Fitz Ralph attempted to do the same for the native Irish. It is said that he possessed a copy of the New Testament in Irish, and that it was made by himself. According to the information of Bale, quoted by Archbishop Ussher, this copy was concealed by him in a certain wall of his church, with the following note: “When this book is found, truth will be revealed to the world or Christ shortly appear.” The book was found when the church of Armagh was being repaired in the year 1530. Foxe tells us he credibly heard of certain old Irish Bibles translated long since into the Irish tongue, which, if it be true, it is not other like but to be the doing of this Armachanus; and he adds that the fact was testified by “certain Englishmen which are yet alive and have seen it.”

Whether Archbishop Fitz Ralph translated the New Testament into Irish or not, there can be no doubt as to the estimation in which he held the Holy Scriptures. Nothing is more remarkable than the use he makes of his Bible in the “Defensorium Curatorum.” On every point his great appeal is “to the law and to the testimony,” to the teaching and practice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of him it is well said by the St. Albans chronicler, Constat veraciter, quod erat probatissimus scriba in regno coelorum, “A right well-approved scribe in the kingdom of heaven.”

Richard Fitz Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, has no monument: his burial-place is almost forgotten; but whilst his “Defensorium Curatorum” exists, he will be venerated as a bishop, a Christian, and a man: as a bishop, for the watchful care of his flock against friar and Pope; as a Christian, for his simple faith and excellent knowledge of the Scriptures; and as a man, not merely for his learning, but because in an age of heroes he was remarkable for his stubborn independence, undaunted courage, and constancy even unto the death—a man indeed “worthy of his Christian zeal of immortal commendation.”
 

CHARLES SCOTT
 

Endnotes:
1) The following list of authorities, which refer to this obscure period and are quoted above, may be useful to the inquirer:—Rymer’s Foedera; Foxe’s Acts and Monuments, Cattley’s ed.; Defensorium Curatorum in Brown’s Fasciculus; Capgrave’s Chronicle and Chronicon Angliae in Rolls Series; Reeves’ Down and Connor; Mant’s Church of Ireland; Townsend’s Biblical Literature; Cave’s Historia Literaria; Stuart’s Armagh; Monck Mason’s Religion of the Ancient Irish Saints; and the indispensable Notes and Queries. 

2) The opinion expressed above by Capgrave as to the similarity of the views held by Fitz Ralph and Wickliffe, has been that held by every writer until very recently. It was constantly maintained that Wickliffe was animated by the example of Fitz Ralph, and continued the struggle in which he had been engaged. Since the appearance of Dr. Peter Lorimer’s translation of Lechler’s work, the latest and best on John Wickliffe, it is necessary, in deference to the opinions of the learned writer and editor, to modify any positive statements as to the connection between the work of Fitz Ralph and that of Wickliffe. I feel, however, that there is still something to be said for the uniform testimony of all early writers who have alluded to the subject, that Wickliffe continued the struggle begun by Fitz Ralph. It is at least certain that
Wickliffe was acquainted with Fitz Ralph’s labours and held him in high estimation.