Spiritual Reformers in the 16th & 17th Centuries Part 28

[57] Thomas Gataker's _G.o.d's Eye on His Israel_ (1645), Preface.

[58] _Journal of Commons_, August 9, 1644, pp. 584-585.

[59] _Gangraena_ (1646), part iii. p. 25.

[60] _A Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist_ (1647), chap. xi. p. 143.

[61] _A Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist_, chap. lxxvi. pp. 162-163.

[62] _A Brief Discovery_, etc. (1645), pp. 1-5.

[63] Contemporary writers held that the Giles Randall who preached in "the Spital" was the translator. Robert Baillie, Princ.i.p.al of Glasgow University, in his work on _Anabaptisme_, pp. 102-103, speaks of Randall who preached in "the Spital," and refers to his increasing temerity as shown by the fact that "he hath lately printed two very dangerous books and set his Preface before each of them, composed as he professes long ago by Popish Priests, the one by a Dutch Frier and the other by an English Capuchine." Baillie further refers to the "deadly poison" of these books as shown in Benjamin Bourne's _Description and Confutation of Mysticall Antichrist, the Familists_ (1646), where "the dangerous books" are named, as _Theologia Germanica, the Bright Star, Divinity and Philosophy Dissected_. Edward's _Gangraena_ also identifies Randall the preacher with the translator of "Popish Books written by Priests and Friers," citing as an example "The Vision of G.o.d by Cardinall Cusa.n.u.s," _op. cit._ (1646), part iii.

[64] Preface.

[65] Bourne's _Description and Confutation_ and Baillie's _Anabaptisme_. It seems likely that there was an earlier edition of the Theologia than this of 1648, as the chapters and pages quoted by Bourne do not correspond with those of the 1648 edition, whose t.i.tle-page has this clause: "Also a Treatise of the Soul and other additions not _before_ printed."

[66] _Gangraena_, part iii.

[67] Goodwin's _Cretensis_ (1646). The book, ent.i.tled _Divinity and Philosophy Dissected_, and attributed by implication to Randall, was published in Amsterdam in 1644, with the following t.i.tle-page:

"Divinity & Philosophy Dissected, & set forth by a mad man.

"The first Book divided into 3 Chapters.

"Chap. I. The description of the World in man's heart with the Articles of the Christian Faith.

"Chap. II. A description of one Spirit acting in all, which some affirme is G.o.d.

"Chap. III. A description of the Scripture according to the history and mystery thereof.

"Amsterdam, 1644."

[68] _Survey_, etc., part ii. chap. xlvii. p. 53.

[69] The only copy of Randall's _Bright Starre_ which I have been able to locate is in the Lambeth Palace Library. A copy of it formerly belonged to the learned Quaker, Benjamin Furly, and was sold with his remarkable collection of books in 1714.

[70] This term, "Children of the Light," was the name by which Friends, or Quakers, first called themselves. It was plainly a term current at the time for a Christian who put the emphasis on inward life and personal experience.

[71] Preface to _Theologia_.

[72] Preface to _The Vision of G.o.d_.

[73] _Ibid._

[74] Nicholas' Preface to _De visione Dei_.

[75] _The Vision of G.o.d_, p. 11.

[76] _Ibid._ p. 13.

[77] _Ibid._ p. 19. Compare this pa.s.sage with Pascal's saying: "Thou wouldst not seek me if thou hadst not already found me."

[78] _Ibid._ p. 37.

[79] _Ibid._ p. 130.

[80] _Ibid._ p. 138.

[81] _Ibid._ pp. 151-152.

[82] _Ibid._ pp. 170-176.

[83] There is no author's name or initial in the book, only the statement that it is "put forth" by a "mad man," who "desires to be in my wits and right minde to G.o.d, although a fool and madman to the world."

[84] _Divinity and Philosophy Dissected_, pp. 39-40.

[85] _Divinity and Philosophy Dissected_, p. 17.

[86] _Ibid._ p. 62.

[87] _A Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist_, chap. xiv. p. 163.

[88] _Life and Light_, p. 3.

[89] _Ibid._ pp. 99 and 101 quoted freely.

[90] _Ibid._ p. 19. It should be noted that this use of "First-day"

for Sunday antedates the Quaker practice.

[91] _Ibid._ pp. 26-27.

[92] _Ibid._ p. 35.

[93] See _ibid._ p. 36.

[94] _Life and Light_, p. 11.

[95] _Ibid._ p. 38.

[96] _Ibid._ p. 34.

{266}

CHAPTER XIV

SPIRITUAL RELIGION IN HIGH PLACES--ROUS, VANE, AND STERRY

The spiritual struggles which culminated in the great upheaval of the English Commonwealth were the normal fruit of the Reformation spirit, when once it had penetrated the life of the English _people_ and kindled the fire of personal conviction in their hearts. Beginning as it did with the simple subst.i.tution of royal for papal authority in the government of the Church, the English Reformation lacked at its inception the inward depth, the prophetic vision, the creative power, the vigorous articulation of newly awakened personal conscience, which formed such a commanding feature of the Reformation movement on the Continent. It took another hundred years in England to cultivate individual conscience, to ripen religious experience, to produce the body of dynamic _ideas_, and to create the necessary prophetic vision before an intense and popular spirit of Reform could find its voice and marching power. The contact of English exiles and chance visitors with the stream of thought in Germany, in Switzerland, and in Holland, and the filtering in of literature from the Continent, together with the occasional coming of living exponents, sowed the seeds that slowly ripened into that strange and interesting variety of religious thought and practice which forms the inner life of the Commonwealth. The policy of the throne had always opposed this steadily increasing tide of thought which refused to run in the well-worn channels, but, as usual, the opposition and hindrances only served to {267} deepen personal conviction, to sharpen the edge of conscience, to nourish great and daring spirits, to formulate the battle-ideas and to win popular support. The inner life and the varied tendencies of the Commonwealth are too rich and complicated to be adequately treated here.[1] The purpose of this chapter is to show how the type of inward and spiritual religion, which the Reformation in its kindling power everywhere produced, finds expression in the writings of three men who came to large public prominence in the period of the Commonwealth, Francis Rous, Sir Harry Vane, and Peter Sterry.