The theological disputes of the 1590s

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THE OPENING SHOTS On 29 April 1595 William Barrett, a fellow of Caius College, preached a sermon to the university from the pulpit of Great St Mary's. His sermon concerned the nature and extent of Christian assurance. He denied, in short, that such assurance was either possible or desirable for the ordinary believer. No one, in this uncertain world, he argued, could aspire to believe in the certainty of his own salvation, at least not with the certainty of faith, unless he had been vouchsafed a personal revelation from God concerning his own spiritual state. As for Christ's prayer that man's faith should not fail, which was often cited in support of the extreme view of assurance, Barrett restricted its application to the Apostle Peter alone. He concluded that to be thus certain and secure concerning one's own perseverance (something by its very nature dependant on contingent circumstances and events) was to be guilty of very great pride and impiety. While the remission of sins was to be accepted as an article of faith, that did not extend to its application to individuals. Men neither could nor should believe with complete faith or certainty that their own sins were forgiven and remitted. For Barrett faith was unitary. There was no distinction to be drawn between different types of faith, merely between different types of believer. Applying such ideas to the doctrine of predestination he asserted that ‘sin was the proper and first cause of reprobation’.

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