Puritans on Pascal

Blaise Pascal was a Jansenist, and as such, had a quarrel with Reformed Calvinist Protestants, with whom he was lumped by his Catholic enemies. He took care to disassociate himself from Calvinism, but his particular mutual enmity was with the Jesuits, with whom he shared the umbrella of the Roman Papacy. Recognized by all as a sincere man, and a genius, his writings against the Jesuits gave him much currency with the Puritans of his day, and the Reformed ever-after. It would seem that the Reformed have valued his writings more than he valued theirs. Jonathan Edwards included in the catalogue of his books, the life of Pascal written by his sister. The elder Thomas M'Crie is one of several who have translated Pascal's Provincial Letters into English, and his introductory essay provides a thorough overview as to the value of the man and his work, as well as his faults. It is interesting to consider that Pascal's devastating attack on Jesuit casuistry was so thorough and overwhelming that it gave all casuistry a bad name for centuries after to the detriment of Biblical casuistry.

Carl Trueman, John Owen: Reformed Catholic, Renaissance Man, pp. 25-26:

It would be wrong, of course, to see Jansenism as a form of quasi-Protestantism within the fold of the Roman Catholic church. In addition to being anti-Pelagian in its view of grace, Jansenism was highly sacramental in terms of its soteriology, and thoroughly orthodox in its view of the Mass; it also exhibited a much stronger interest in miracles than was typical of Reformed Protestantism; and, of course, its adherents were also careful to emphasize that there was no point of contact between their doctrine and that of the heretical Calvinists.72 Nevertheless, their interest in anti-Pelagian notions of grace, and the struggles they engaged in with the Jesuits, appear to have endeared them to John Owen....More significant is the fact that he wrote a preface to Theophilus Gales' The True Idea of Jansenisme, a Protestant treatise expounding the history and tenets of the movement in a sympathetic manner; furthermore, he also claimed at one point that he has read all of the literature on the Jansenist-Jesuit controversy and intended to write a theological history of the same -- a project which never appears to have been realized.74

72 For example, the comments of Blaise Pascal on Calvinists views in his 'Treatise on Grace': 'That is the appalling opinion of these heretics, injurious to God and unbearable for men. These are the shameless blasphemies by which they establish in God an absolute will without foreseen merit or sin to damn or save his creatures.' Pensees and Other Writings, trans. Honor Levi (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 216. French Catholic iconography was not so sensitive to the distinction, frequently juxtaposing Jansenists and Calvinists in propaganda cartoons and engravings.

74 Works 12, 560.

John Owen, Biblical Theology, p. 277:

Let the reader simply compare the testimony of Plato, on the one hand, with Pascal's extracts from the Jesuit manuals on the other, and he will see at once that the maxims of the fortunetellers and of the Jesuits are as like as two eggs!

Richard Baxter, A Key for Catholics to Open the Juggling of the Jesuits, p. 392:

And to equivocate or reserve one half of your answer to yourselves, say the Jesuits, is not lying, nor unlawful, in case a man's interest requires him to do it. See the words of their own casuists cited for this by Montaltus the Jansenist [Louis de Montalte, pseudonym of the author of the Provincial Letters, Blaise Pascal].*

Matthew Poole, A Dialogue Between a Priest and Protestant (Northampton Press, 2010), p. viii:

Thousands of your priests and learned doctors charge the Jesuits with poisoning the souls of the people with pestilent and damnable errors such as these:

• That a man may venture his soul upon any probable opinion, and that an opinion is probable if but one of their learned doctors affirms it.
• That a private man may kill his enemy to maintain his honor, though not by way of revenge.
• That a priest may absolve even old and inveterate sinners, and such as he believes to be incorrigible.
• That affliction, or sorrow for sin, arising merely from fear of punishment is sufficient for salvation, and that the affection of loving God is not absolutely necessary to salvation.
  

All these, and many more, are clearly proved out of their own words and writings in the Provincial Letters, otherwise called The Mystery of Jesuitism.

Matthew Barker, Poole's Annotations on 2 Thess. 2.7:

The mystery ushering in the man of sin is a mystery of iniquity. It is not open sin and wickedness, but dissembled piety, specious errors, wickedness under a form of godliness cunningly managed, that is here meant: see the book called The Mystery of Jesuitism, or the Provincial Letters.

MHCC 31: Matthew Henry, Law Student

Before Matthew Henry was ordained to the ministry in 1687, he studied law at Gray's Inn from April 1685 to June 1686. It was a formative period in his life.

Charles Chapman, Matthew Henry: His Life and Times - A Memorial and a Tribute, pp. 49-50:

But at that time, when Noncomformists were persecuted so bitterly, and when special danger would attend a young man's piety, [Philip Henry] wisely decided not to send Matthew to Oxford, but allowed him, after leaving Mr. [Thomas] Doolittle, to pursue his studies at Gray's Inn, London, where many have laid the foundation of their legal greatness. Although Matthew pursued his studies with diligence and care, it appears that he never seriously thought of the law as a profession. His heart's desire was to preach the Gospel. However, by studying there he had opportunities of forming acquaintance with men of some consideration, of hearing the most eminent Episcopalian and Nonconformist divines, and of variously filling up his time with profit until he could see his way clear to the Christian ministry. The influence his legal studies is seen in many parts of his writings. Very often there will be found in his Commentary, Latin and English quotations which do not come in the usual course of classical or theological reading, and there is often a use of terms which only a lawyer would think of employing.

Henry on Gen. 8.15-29:

Noah was able to give a very good account of his charge; for of all that were given to him he had lost none, but was faithful to him that appointed him, pro hac vice—on this occasion, high steward of his household.

Num. 31.1-6:

Though [Phinehas] was not yet the high priest, yet he might be delegated pro hac vice—for this particular occasion, to bear the urim and thummim, as 1 Sa. 23:6.

Num. 30.3-16:

Non est distinguendum, ubi lex non distinguit—We are not allowed to make distinctions which the law does not....Qui tacet, consentire videtur—Silence gives consent.

Num. 35.9-34:

But if the homicide was not voluntary, nor done designedly, if it was without enmity, or lying in wait (v. 22), not seeing the person or not seeking his harm (v. 23), which our law calls chance-medley, or homicide per infortunium—through misfortune, in this case there were cities of refuge appointed for the manslayer to flee to. By our law this incurs a forfeiture of goods, but a pardon is granted of course upon the special matter found.

These are but a few instances of the legal background which permeates Henry's writing. Like many Reformers and Puritans before him -- including John Calvin, Theodore Beza, Philip Melanchthon, Johannes Œcolampadius, François Hotman, Philippe de Mornay, Nathaniel Ward, John Winthrop (also studied at Gray's Inn), Johannes Althusius, and Andrew Melville, to name a few -- Henry brought an interest and justice and precision to bear upon his interest in theology, the queen of sciences. As twin ordinance of God, both magistracy and ministry intersect on so many points of morality, ethics and Biblical jurisprudence, that it is not surprising that the study of law and the study of ministry have influenced one another. One thinks of the profound effects of the Reformation not only upon the church, but upon civil jurisprudence. Christopher Goodman's How superior Powers ought to be obeyed of their subjects, and wherein they may lawfully be by God's word disobeyed and resisted; Samuel Rutherford's Lex Rex; Nathaniel Ward's Body of Liberties; and so many more like treatises grounded in the word of God concerning the duties of magistrates and citizens have left their mark on society. Freedom in Christ, brought by the gospel, has always engendered both respect for the law, as well as a desire to promote the common welfare, and to resist tyranny and oppression. And students of law, like Matthew Henry, have often seen their way, by the grace of God, to become students of our great Lawgiver, and Advocate, Christ.

Thomas M'Crie, Life of Andrew Melville, pp. 22-23:

Every person versant in its literary history must have been particularly struck with the union of the study of theology and law. Law, when properly viewed, is a noble, and in some sense a divine science. When, instead of being made to rest on the arbitrary dictates of mere will, whether exerted by individuals or communities, on the prescriptions of custom, or on the uncertain deductions of indeterminable expediency, the Law of Nations is founded, as it always ought to be, on the Law of Nature, and the eternal principles of equity and justice sanctioned by the Supreme Legislator, the study of it is closely allied to that of theology. And to represent them as discordant, or as incapable of affording aid to each other, is to injure both, and is as absurd as it would be to divorce and dissever the great ends which they respectively aim at,—the promoting of the temporal and spiritual welfare of mankind. We meet with few of the writers of this period who excelled in one of these branches without being also well acquainted with the other. As religion is the common concern of all men, and as the public mind was then deeply interested in the controversies relating to it, we are not greatly surprised at the accounts which are given of the extensive acquaintance with the Scriptures, and with ecclesiastical history, which was possessed by many distinguished civilians and statesmen—by such men as Hottoman, and Godefroy, and Grotius, Languet, and Mornay, and St Aldegonde. But we are not equally prepared to admit the statement, although well authenticated, that the chief divines of the Reformed Church were intimately acquainted with the principles of jurisprudence, and qualified, by the course of study which they had pursued, to give their advice on questions relating to government and the administration of laws. Not to mention Calvin, Beza, and other foreign theologians, it would be easy to establish the fact by referring to not a few in our own country, as Row, Craig, Pont, Arbuthnot, and Adamson. This may be ascribed partly to the passion which those who addicted themselves to learning at that period felt to "intermeddle with all knowledge;" and partly to the superior gratification which this manly study yielded, in comparison with the dry and disgusting logic which had so long been exclusively cultivated in the schools. But it is chiefly to be traced to a new feeling, which recent events had produced, and which had for its direct object the promotion of the public good. This was the effect of the late reformation of religion; and at the same time one of the moral forces by which that mighty revolution exerted its influence upon the sentiments of mankind in favour of civil liberty and the amelioration of government. It is a favourite maxim with many in the present day, that the benefits which we owe to the Reformation are to be regarded as the ulterior and remote results of that event, rather than effects contemplated and intended by the reformers. It would be absurd to give an absolute negative to this proposition; but there is much less truth in it than those who announce it with such oracular importance imagine. Many of those actions which we are apt to impute to turbulence, or to clerical ambition and officiousness, and which we are prone to stigmatise as the offspring of bigotry and intolerance, we would, if better acquainted with the principles of the actors, and more attentive to the circumstances in which they were placed, see reason to ascribe to more enlightened and patriotic views.

Live to Die, and Die to Live Again

In 1542 or thereabouts, an anonymous tract was published in Italy called Tratto utilissimo del beneficio de Giesu Christo (On the Benefit of Christ's Death). One of the most important literary productions of the Italian Reformation, it was so popular at the time that within the space of six years, about 40,000 copies had been sold. However, it landed on the Index of Prohibited Books, and the Inquisition was largely successful in rounding up and destroying almost all extant copies. Authorship of the book has been debated for centuries with 19th century scholars ascribing it to the Italian Reformer and martyr Aonio Paleario (1500-1570) and 20th century scholars attributing it to the joint work of poet Marcantonio Flaminio (c. 1497-1550) and the Benedictine monk Benedetto da Mantova. The Inquisitors were so successful in proscribing the book that by the early nineteenth century, when Thomas M'Crie the Elder wrote his history of the Reformation in Italy, he was unable to obtain a copy of this book. His research though did lead to the discovery that the work had been translated into English. After M'Crie's death, around 1840, copies of this work finally came to light, one of which was a manuscript of a 1548 English translation by Edward Courtenay bearing handwritten notes by King Edward VI himself, to whom the translation was evidently loaned by his aunt, Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset. One of those notes, written on a leaf near the end of the manuscript, reads as follows: "Live to die, and die to live again." These words speak to the good news of the great benefit of Christ's death, that our Great Shepherd having laid down his life for his sheep, and thereby conquered death itself, we might, by trusting in him, pass from death unto life, and so die to ourselves and live to him; for us "to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil. 1.21).

As the author of The Benefit of Christ's Death writes:

And therefore St. Paul saith that the obligation which was against us is cancelled by Jesus Christ, and discharged upon the tree of the cross, insomuch as he hath set us free from the subjection of the law, and consequently from the tyranny of sin and death, which can no more hereafter hold us oppressed, because it is overcome by Jesus Christ in his resurrection, and so consequently by us, which are his members; in such manner that we may say with St. Paul [1 Cor. 15.55-57], and with the prophet Hosea [Hos. 13.14], "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Happy Reunion of the Divided Church Promised By God's Word

Thoms M'Crie, The Unity of the Church, pp. 57-62:

Discourse 2 - On the Removal of Church Divisions and Application of the Doctrine

"They shall be one in mine hand" Ezekiel 37:19

Having taken a view of the scriptural unity of the Church, and of the nature and causes of those divisions by which it is broken, let us now turn our eye to a more agreeable and cheering prospect.

Removal of Divisions in the Church

III. Of the removal of the divisions of the Church, and the restoration of her violated unity.

1. A happy reunion of the divided Church is promised in the Word of God. It is implied in those promises which secure to the Church the enjoyment of a high degree of prosperity in the latter days - in which God engages to arise and have mercy on Zion, to be favorable to his people, pardon their iniquity and hear their prayers, cause their reproach to cease, and make them a praise, a glory, and a rejoicing, in all the earth; in a word, in which he promises to pour out his Holy Spirit and revive his work. God cannot be duly glorified, religion cannot triumph in the world, the Church cannot be prosperous and happy, until her internal dissensions are abated, and her children come to act in greater unison and concert. But when her God vouchsafes to make the light of his countenance to shine upon her, and sheds down the enlightening, reviving, restorative and sanctifying influences of his Spirit, the long delayed, long wished-for, day will not be far distant. It will have already dawned.

But there are, in the Bible, promises that bear directly on this part of the Church's felicity, and pledge the divine faithfulness for the restoration of her lost peace and violated unity. Some of these I shall lay before you as grounds of your faith, and encouragements to your hopes and endeavors.

I begin with the declaration of the evangelical prophet, which has been often reechoed in the prayers of the friends of Zion, and which deserves your particular attention from its occupying a place in the midst of promises referring immediately to the times of the New Testament: "Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion" (Isa. 52:8). The divisions and distractions of the Church have, in every age, been greatly owing to the conduct of her overseers and guardians. If they "follow their own spirit, and see a lying divination," how can it be expected that they shall "go up into the gaps, to make up the hedge, or stand in the battle in the day of the Lord?" (Ezek. 13:3-6). If in giving forth instructions respecting sin and duty, danger and safety, their voices be dissonant and contradictory, must they not cause great distress and perplexity to their people, and prove, instead of messengers of peace, "the snare of a fowler in all their ways, and hatred in the house of their God?" (cf. Hos. 9:8; Micah 7:4). How cheering, then, the assurance that they "shall see eye to eye" in the matters of God, and lift up their united voice in "publishing salvation, and saying to Zion, 'Thy God reigneth!' " (Isa. 52:7-8).

To this may be added another passage from the same prophecy which bears an equally undoubted reference to the latter days, although clothed in Old Testament language: "He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the enmity[1] of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim" (Isa. 11:12-13). Then, instead of waging an unnatural war, and forming ungodly alliances to enable them the more effectually to harass one another, they shall, with united strength, assail the avowed enemies of religion: "They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them" (Isa. 11:14).

The remark made as to the period referred to in the above predictions may be applied to the following, although some parts of the description relate more immediately to the deliverance from the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities: " 'At the same time,' saith the Lord, 'will I be the God of ALL the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.' " (Jer. 31:1, 6). "For there shall be a day that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, 'Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.' " "Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first" (Jer. 33:6-7).

Suffice it to add these two evangelical promises: "Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent" (Zeph. 3:9). "It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord: I will go also.' Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord" (Zech. 8:20-22). "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be ONE Lord, and his name ONE" (Zeph. 14:9).

These, brethren, are "exceeding great and precious promises" (2 Pet. 1:4); and do they not amply secure the attainment, in due time, of the blessing to which they all so evidently refer? Yes, "these are the true sayings of God" (Rev. 19:9) - of Him who cannot lie nor change nor call back his words. They are the sayings of him "that frustrateth the tokens of liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers" (Isa. 44:25-26). They are "written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord" (Ps. 102:18) for the fulfillment of them. Give him glory by placing your hope and confidence in his promises; and let the cheering prospect which they hold forth console and animate your hearts, amidst all the distress which you feel in contemplating the present disordered and divided state of the Church. Are you still disposed to say, "How can these things be?" Do you find it difficult "against hope to believe in hope?" (cf. Rom. 4:18). Consider what I have farther to say. [Continue reading here.]

1. See Bishop Lowth's note on the passage.

It's a Small Reformed World After All

Within Reformed and Presbyterian circles, family ties and ecclesiastical connections are often frequent and intertwined. The following are not household names to most, although they constitute some of the brightest lights among the universe of Christian minds and hearts, and certainly among the galaxy of 19th century Reformed and Presbyterian divines from Scotland.

William Henry Goold (1815-1897) was a minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland (RPCS) until, as the moderator of the majority RPCS Synod, he helped to effect union between that group (which had divided with the smaller branch of the RPCS over the issue of voting and the oath of allegiance) and the Free Church of Scotland (FCS) in 1876 and became moderator of the FCS in 1877. He is most famous for editing the Works of John Owen. He served on a 'Council of Publication,' along with James Begg, Thomas Smith and others, which edited and republished Puritan works, include those of Richard Sibbes and Thomas Goodwin, William Gouge's Commentary on Hebrews, Samuel Smith on Psalm 1, Richard Gilpin's Treatise of Satan's Temptations, etc. Goold also edited some British editions of works by A.A. Hodge and served as editor of The Reformed Presbyterian Magazine, as well as professor of divinity in the RPCS. His father was William Goold (1776-1844), also an RPCS minister. His sister was Janet Helen Goold.

In 1840, the elder William Goold performed the wedding ceremony for his daughter Janet who married George Smeaton (1814-1889), who started his ministerial career in the Church of Scotland but became one of the "Disruption Worthies" who founded the FCS, as well as a highly regarded professor of exegetical theology at New College in Edinburgh, and author of notable works on the Holy Spirit (The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, 1882); the Atonement (The Doctrine of the Atonement as Taught by Christ Himself, 1868, and The Doctrine of the Atonement as Taught by the Apostles, 1870) and the Establishment Principle (National Christianity and Scriptural Union, 1871; The Scottish Theory of Ecclesiastical Establishments, 1875; and the preface to 1871 edition of Thomas M'Crie the Elder's Statement of the Difference). George Smeaton was reckoned by James MacGregor "to possess 'the best constituted theological intellect in Christendom'" (Ian Hamilton in Nigel M. de S. Cameron, ed., Dictionary of Scottish Church History & Theology, p. 779) and W.J. Grier describes him as "the most eminent scholar of the set of young men who with [Robert Murray] McCheyne and the Bonars [Horatius and Andrew] sat at the feet of [Thomas] Chalmers."

In 1846, the younger (William H.) Goold married Margaret Spiers Symington, daughter of William Symington (1795-1862), also an RPCS minister and author of On the Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ (1834) and Messiah the Prince (1839), perhaps the most famous treatise written on the Mediatorial Kingship of Jesus Christ, as well as a biographical sketch of Stephen Charnock. The William H. Goold family had nine children altogether, one of whom was named George Smeaton Goold (1854-1940).

William H. Goold, George Smeaton (Goold's brother-in-law), William Symington (Goold's father-in-law) and Andrew Symington (1785-1853, brother of William Symington and an RPCS minister as well as the professor of divinity whose seat was succeeded by William H. Goold) are all pictured together in the famous portrait of the 1843 Disruption Assembly created by David Octavius Hill, who pioneered the newly-invented art of photography by taking pictures of all the ministers present at the 1843 signing of the Act of Separation and using them to create a composite portrait which was completed in 1866. Goold and the Symingtons were present as RPCS representatives to witness the historic event.

William H. Goold, William Symington and Andrew Symington also each contributed to the 1841 Lectures on the Principles of the Second Reformation (Goold on Patronage; WS on Public Vows and the British Covenants; AS on the Headship of Christ over the Nations, as well as the Introduction).

All in all, the Goold-Smeaton-Symington connections constitute a notable example of "It's a small, Reformed world after all."

First Scottish Covenant

According to Thomas M'Crie the Elder, Life of John Knox in his Works, Vol. 1, p. 88 (1855 ed.), the first Scottish covenant was a bond, or solemn engagement, entered to in 1556 by John Knox, John Erksine of Dun (for whom this covenant derived its name) and other gentlemen from The Mearns, in which they covenanted to shun Popish idolatry and seek after the pure preaching of the gospel. Although the document that was signed is not extant (John Knox is the primary historical source of information about it), the 1556 Dun Covenant preceded the more well-known Edinburgh covenant of December 3, 1557 by one year.