Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies): A Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the Most Eminent Scots WorthiesHowie, John
History
Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies): A Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the Most Eminent Scots Worthies
Howie, John
Church of Scotland -- Biography; Scotland -- Biography
The next day after his imprisonment, he was brought before the
arch-bishop and his convention, and there charged with maintaining and
propagating sundry heretical opinions; and though articles of the utmost
importance had been debated betwixt him and them, they restricted their
charge to such trifles as _pilgrimage_, _purgatory_, _praying to
saints_, and _for the dead_; perhaps because these were the grand
pillars upon which Antichrist built his empire, being the most lucrative
doctrines ever invented by men. We must, however, take notice that
Spotswood afterwards arch-bishop of that see, assigns the following
grounds for his suffering, 1. That the corruption of sin remains in
children after their baptism. 2. That no man by the power of his
free-will can do any good. 3. That no man is without sin so long as he
liveth. 4. That every true Christian may know himself to be in a state
of grace. 5. That a man is not justified by works but by faith only. 6.
That good works make not a man good, but that a good man doth good
works, and that an ill man doth ill works, yet the same ill works, truly
repented of, make not an ill man. 7. That faith, hope and charity are so
linked together, that he who hath one of them hath all, and he that
lacketh one lacketh all. 8. That God is the cause of sin, in this sense,
that he withdraweth his grace from man; and grace withdrawn, he cannot
but sin. These articles with the following make up the whole charge,
(1.) That auricular confession is not necessary to salvation. (2.) That
actual penance cannot purchase the remission of sin. (3.) That there is
no purgatory, and that the holy patriarchs were in heaven before
Christ's passion. (4.) That the pope is Antichrist, and that every
priest hath as much power as he.----For these articles, and because he
refused to abjure them, he was condemned as an obstinate heretic, and
delivered to the secular power by the arch-bishops of St. Andrews and
Glasgow, three bishops, and fourteen underlings, who all set their hands
to the sentence, which, that it might have the greater authority, was
likewise subscribed by every person of note in the university, among
whom the earl of Cassils was one, then not exceeding thirteen years of
age. The sentence follows as given by Mr. Fox, in his acts and
monuments, vol. II. p. 1108.
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