Ecclesiastical History of England, Volume 4—The Church of the Restoration [part 2]Stoughton, John
History
Ecclesiastical History of England, Volume 4—The Church of the Restoration [part 2]
Stoughton, John
Great Britain -- Church history
Next to Cosin let us take Morley. Morley lived to a great age, and
had a high reputation for theological learning before the Civil Wars,
as well as after the re-establishment of Episcopacy, being well
versed in the logic of the schools, and proving himself a formidable
controversialist. That he was a Calvinist is distinctly stated by
Wood and Burnet; but I cannot find that he published anything upon
the subject. Besides his controversy with Baxter, which turns upon
political and ecclesiastical questions, we possess certain treatises
written by him before and since the Restoration, in which he undertakes
fully to make known his judgment concerning the Church of Rome, and
most of those doctrines which fall into controversy betwixt her and
the Church of England. The reader is disappointed to find, that
these Treatises consist only of _A short Conference with a Jesuit
at Brussels_; An Argument against Transubstantiation; A Sermon
preached at Whitehall; Correspondence with Father Cressey; A Letter
to the Duchess of York; and two Latin Epistles, relating to Prayers
for the Dead, and the Invocation of Saints. Three points alone in the
Romanist controversy are discussed. The treatment of these, however,
indicate deep learning and great skill. Morley plies with much success
the argument against Transubstantiation, “drawn from the evidence and
certainty of sense,”--maintaining his convincing argument with the
dexterity of a practised logician, so as to parry most successfully all
the objections of Roman Catholic antagonists. He decidedly opposes the
Popish doctrine of purgatory,--but he vindicates prayers for the dead,
in the way in which they were offered in the early Church, and as by
modern Anglicans they are still encouraged to be offered; that is, for
the rest of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and the plenitude
of redemption at the last day.[419] Whatever may be the propriety of
praying for the dead in such a qualified sense as this, Morley contends
that there is no ground on which to rest the doctrine of the Invocation
of Saints. That doctrine he overthrows by an appeal to Scripture; and
then he proceeds, after the Anglican method, to examine the writings of
the Fathers, and to show that they do not justify the Popish dogma and
its associated practices.
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