Meet The Puritans

Bet Your Life on It?

Posted on 23. Jan, 2012 by Lee Gatiss in Misc.

I have been reading a bit of Peter Martyr Vermigli. He’s not as well known as other 16th century Reformers, but he is certainly amongst the most important. In particular, he had quite an impact on the English Reformation in various ways, not least in his work on the Book of Common Prayer (the 1662 version of which is celebrating its 350th birthday this year). I like him because he’s not only a solid theologian but also a rigorous and careful exegete (the two should of course go together, but sadly this is not always the case).

I know he’s probably not technically a Puritan (though it dependson your definition!), but I wanted to share this great quote from the preface to Vermigli’s commentary on 1 Corinthians, because it has great modern relevance too.

“Thus holy men are made sure concerning the truthfulness of the Scriptures, so that they are not afraid to die a horrible death for their sake. Rarely or never has it happened regarding physics or mathematics that the dogmas of those sciences are confirmed by blood or loss of life.”

I especially like that this comes from a man who is known by the name Peter MARTYR… It would make an interesting conversation starter with an atheistic scientist, wouldn’t it? How many people who believe as you believe would be willing to stake their lives on it? And if it is not many (how many can you name who would happily shed their blood for their favourite scientific theory?), then is it really all that important?

Tags: Vermigli