Lambeth Articles

The Lambeth Articles were a series of nine doctrinal statements drawn up by Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift in 1595, in order to define Calvinist doctrine with regard to predestination and justification.

The Articles were designed to settle a controversy that had arisen at Cambridge University regarding whether God predestines men to eternal life and eternal damnation. To clarify the situation, Whitgift drew up a list to define clearly the doctrines of Calvinism, which adhered to a predestinarian view.

The Lambeth Articles (also known as the Nine Articles) were drafted by Dr. William Whitaker, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, who, along with Humphrey Tyndal, Dean of Ely, had been sent to Whitgift by the heads of Cambridge University to settle the controversy. Originally drafted by Whitaker and modified later by Bishops to make them more acceptable to anti-Calvinists, the Articles were signed by: Archbishop Whitgift, Dr. Richard Fletcher, Bishop of London, Dr. Richard Vaughan, Bishop elect of Bangor, and others.

The Articles

1. Some are elected to eternal life whereas others are reprobated to death
2. The cause resulting in predestination to eternal life is only the pleasure of God, not the foreknowledge of faith and good works.
3. The number of elect (those predestined to eternal life) is unalterably fixed.
4. Those not predestined to life shall be damned for their sins necessarily.
5. The elect never fail finally in their true faith.
6. A true believer - one that has justifying faith (for men are saved by faith alone, sola fide) - has full certainty and assurance of everlasting salvation in Christ.
7. Saving grace is not communicated to all men.
8. No one can come to the Father unless there are drawn there by Him, and not all men are drawn to Him.
9. It is not in all men's power or will to be saved.^[1]

The Articles were written on 20 November 1595 and sent to Cambridge University on 24 November. They were not intended as new laws, but as an explanation of the existing laws of the realm. However, they had not received the Queen's sanction, and although Whitgift maintained that he had Elizabeth's approval, her later actions seem to suggest the contrary. Whitgift said that the Articles should be used privately, with discretion.

Queen's reaction

When Queen Elizabeth I discovered that the Articles had been submitted and discussed at a synod without her permission or authority, she was very angry and ordered that the Archbishop recall and suppress the Articles immediately. This was partly due to her unfavourable attitude towards Calvinism in general - she preferred a milder, more compromising approach in her Religious Settlement of 1559 and wished to keep it that way - and partly because Whitgift, although one of her favourites, had acted on a matter of religion without her knowledge or consent, which she wanted to discourage. This reluctance to change her Settlement or increase the influence of radical Protestantism or Puritanism can be seen in her treatment of William Strickland when he introduced a reform bill to Parliament in 1571.

Later reactions

The Lambeth Articles were accepted at the 1615 Convocation of Dublin and consequently engrafted on the Irish Articles (written by James Ussher).^[2] One can find the basis of the Five Points of Calvinism, contained in the Canons of Dort (1618-19) in the Lambeth Articles.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Peter Baro

References

1. ^ References to "men" above implies both men and women. The former phrase has been used to adhere closer to the actual wording of the Articles as they were written.
2. ^ Creeds of the Evangelical Protestant Churches. | Christian Classics Ethereal Library

Further reading

McMahon, Dr. C. Matthew (1998), A Puritans Mind: The Lambeth Articles, http://www.apuritansmind.com/Creeds/LambethArticles.htm, retrieved 2007-03-16 

Schaff, Phillip (1984), Creeds of Christendom, 1 (Revised ed.), England: Baker Books, ISBN 0801082323 

(^{[dead link]} – ^{Scholar search}) Church Confessions: Lambeth Articles, Saturday, 25 November 2006, http://martyrologist.lifewithchrist.org/permalink/28380.html, retrieved 2007-03-16 

New Catholic Dictionary Online, http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/ncd04608.htm, retrieved 2007-03-16