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A66902
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The religion of the Church of England, &c. in a private letter
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Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.
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1648
(1648)
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Wing W3349; ESTC R24582
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19,099
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27
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Thus far is the Faith of the Council of Nice to which the Pope adds these Articles following I do stedfastly admit and embrace Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions with the rest of the Observations and Constitutions of the same Church I admit also of the holy Scripture according to that sense which hath been held and is held by the holy Mother the Church whose office it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures Nor will I ever receive or interpret the same but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I profess also that there are seven Sacraments of the new Law truly and properly so called instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord and necessary to the Salvation of Mankind though all of them be not necessary for every man That is to say Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Penance Extreme Unction Orders and Matrimony and that they do confer Grace and amongst these that Baptism Confirmation and Orders cannot be repeated without Sacriledge I do also receive and admit all the received and approved Rites of the Catholick Church in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments I do receive and embrace all and singular the things which were defined by the holy Synod of Trent concerning Original Sin and Justification I profess likewise that in the Sacrifice of the Mass there is offer'd unto God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is verily really and substantially the Body and Bloud together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that there is made therein a change of the whole substance of the Bread into his body and of the whole substance of the Wine into his bloud which change the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation I do also confess that Christ whole and entire and the true Sacrament is received in either kind alone I do stedfastly hold that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls detained therein are relieved by the Suffrages of the Faithful Likewise also that the Saints reigning together with Christ are to be worshipped and prayed unto and that they do offer up prayers unto God for us And that their Reliques are to be had in veneration I do most stedfastly affirm that the Images of Christ of the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God and of other Saints are to be had and kept and a due honour and veneration to be given unto them Also that the power of Indulgences was left by Christ unto his Church and I affirm that the use of them is very salutary and beneficial to Christian people I acknowledge the holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches And I promise and swear true obedience to the Pope of Rome successor to B. Peter Prince of the Apostles and the Vicar of Christ I do also undoubtedly receive and profess all things else which are delivered defined and declared by the sacred Canons and general Councils and especially by the most holy Synod of Trent And I do likewise condemn reject and anathematize all things that are contrary and all Heresies whatsoever which are condemned rejected and anathematized by the Church This true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved which at this present I do freely profess and truly hold by Gods help I will most constantly to the very last breath of my life intirely and inviolably hold and confess the same and take care as much as in me lies that the same shall be held taught and preached by all my Subjects or all those under my care and charge in respect of my Function This I A. B. do promise vow and swear So God be my help and these his holy Gospels This is the Creed of Pope Pius according to the Council of Trent Now betwixt these Articles and those of the Church of England there is a vast difference both 1. In the matter and 2. In the imposition and 3. In the end of them 1. For the Matter of these Articles Those of the Church of England are not to be believed as Articles of Faith no further than they can approve themselves to be contained in the holy Scriptures for thus we are taught in the Sixth of these Articles Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby * Licet interdum à fidelibus ut pium conducibibile ad ordinem decorum admittatur In the Margin of that Article is not to be required of any man that it should be belived as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation But amongst the Articles of Faith enjoyned by Pope Pius some are quite beside the Holy Scripture some against it some are mere speculations of the Schools and others but probable and matters of doubtful disputation For instance 1 The multiplication of Advocates and Ghostly Patrons 2 The Sacrifice of the Mass 3 The Adoration of the Host 4 The power of Indulgences as they are maintained and practised in the Church of Rome These are at least besides the Holy Scripture 1 The Invocation of Saints and veneration of Images as practised generally by the Common people according to their Books 2 The publick Service of the Church in an unknown Tongue The administration of the Lords Supper ordinarily to the people but in ine kind And that the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches These are against Scripture 3 Transubstantiation whatsoever it signifies more than a Real presence and the benefits which flow from it with the unaccountable hypotheses which depend upon it And Purgatory as it is blown up into Climaerical flames by the Schoolmen with the means and manner of deliverance out of it are no better than Scholastical speculations And many of the rest valued but as probabilities or matters of doubtful disputation 2. For the imposition of these respective Articles the difference is vast For those of Pope Pius we have not only I receive admit and embrace this Faith not only I do affirm and aknowledge constantly hold and most stedfastly assert it not only I do with a stedfast Faith believe and profess it but under the high and solemn obligation I do promise vow and swear to hold teach and preach the same to the very last breath of my life and to procure all others under my charge to do the like But to the Articles of Religion in the Church of England subscription is only required without any obligation to teach profess or assert them further than they are contained in the Holy Scripture or may be proved thereby to be Articles of the Faith or admitted for discipline and good order And it is moreover to be observed That his Majesty in his Declaration before these Articles printed 1630 though he forbids the offering violence to the liberal and
Christ as St. James calls it James 2. 1. we have St. Peters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Peter 3. 15. his Rationale of the Christian hope We have St. Paul's Depositum 1 Tim. 6. Quid est Depositū id est quod tibi creditum est non quod à te inventum Quod accepisti non quod excogitasti Rem non ingenii sed doctrinae Non usurpationis privatae sed publicae traditionis Rem ad te perductam non à te prolatam in qua non Author debes esse sed Custos non institutor sed sectator non ducens sed sequens Vincent Lirinensis 20. and form of sound words 2 Tim. 1. 13. And it is undoubtedly St. Judes Faith we contend for which as Beza very well notes upon the place was once and at once so delivered to the Saints that it ought never to be changed That Faith which the Fathers of the Council of Nice professed we do very heartily embrace we keep this Faith whole and undefiled But from receiving any other we are deterred by the Sentence of the Synod of Ephesus forementioned Qui aliam fidem audent componere c. Whosoever shall dare to compose alledge or introduce any other Faith if he be a Bishop or Clergy-man he shall be degraded if a Lay-man excommucated If the Faith thus delivered were sufficient for their salvation in genere fidei why not for ours And herein without all doubt we are no less Infallible than the Church of Rome And to the Ancient Fathers in the most Sacred Councils this was their †Lud. Bail Sum. Concil Tom. 1. in decreto de Symbolo Sess 3. m. pa. 522. Shield against all Heresies Quo solo c. Through whose attractive power alone they have in times past drawn unbelievers to the Faith resisted and rooted out Hereticks and confirm'd the Faithful as the Fathers of the Council of Trent do acknowledge If there be any other points of Faith needful to salvation our ignorance thereof after a long and diligent search is both involuntary and invincible and that will totally excuse us For that superfaetation of Articles by Pope Pius the Fourth we were never Baptized into them nor can we answer for them The truth is the Faith of the Church of England the Romanists can never justly reprehend being more pure more Primitive and more Catholick than their own and was professed intirely by all Christian Churches before some Articles of the present Church of Rome were ever known to have had a being And for part of this we have a pregnant acknowledgment in the Council of Trent where they set down this Symbolum fidei totidem verbis Lud. Bail ubi supra quibus in omnibus Ecclesiis legitur In the same words in which it is read in all Churches And this they set down as that principle wherein all that do profess the Faith of Christ do necessarily agree and as that firm and only foundation against which the gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail This Faith I say we do keep whole and undefiled but it seems it was a foundation too narrow to bear up the Popish superstructures of Hay and Stubble but yet being the only foundation as they consess and so firm that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against it we do stedfastly rest upon it building our selves thereon as St. Epist Jude v. 20 21. Jude directs us in expectation of the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to Eternal life Towards the accomplishment whereof our Charity is so much more Catholick than theirs that with some craft and sophistry though with little reason they take an Argument from thence to delude the weak and make them Proselytes to their party For our Agenda or matters of Practice we have a Liturgy that is full solemn and intelligible we have all Sacraments and Sacramentals that are generally necessary or of any efficacy to salvation And besides all publick Offices for private devotion and use we have Institutions and forms of Christian piety no part of the Christian Church better Our Priesthood and Government you cannot with any truth or reason deny to be Apostolical and if our Discipline be in some instances collapsed from the severity which it obtained in the practice of the Ancients that of the Church of Rome is so likewise And if we reflect upon the many disadvantages and perils which are in Their Communion they will warrant the security in ours to be far the greater Amongst the disadvantages on that side I reckon their half Sacraments against the express letter of our Saviours Institution * Mat. 26. 26. 1 Cor. 11. 23 c. and their Service in an unknown Tongue contrary to the express discourse of the Apostle †1 Cor. 14 Amongst the perils I must account 1 That of Idolatry in the adoration of the Host 2 The veneration of Images 3 And the invocation of Saints Secondly Such as arise from the abuses in the matter of Confession and Penances of Indulgence and Dispensation with many delusions under pretence of Revelations Thirdly Such as arise from several of their Doctrines viz. That the Sacrament does conferr Grace ex opere operato from the Act performed without any worthy or moral disposition in the Receiver That Attrition for fear of Hell is sufficient without Charity to obtain Grace and pardon in the Sacrament of Penance That in a case of Conscience I may follow a probable opinion which is more benign and gentle and reject that which is more safe if it be more severe and rigid That a man is not obliged to decline and avoid Proximam occasionem peccandi the immediate danger of sinning though he has had sad experience of his own frailty and recidivation That the precept of Repentance does not bind presently but only in the time of sickness or at the point of death These Doctrines are taught and practised without any the least check of his Infallible Holiness Nor is the danger small which ariseth from the perswasion of their Infallibility For from thence proceeds a belief that whatsoever they take upon them to define is as true as Gospel And what sad work this hath made in the Church of God we may observe from that single instance about the Sacrament In a Council at Rome under An. Dom. 1059. Nicholas the Second Berengarius was enjoyned a form of Recantation wherein he professed and swore That the Bread and Wine which are set upon the Altar after Consecration are not only a Sacrament but also the true Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ And that the said Body is not in Sacrament only but in truth N. B Sensualiter manibus Sacerdotum tractari frangi fidelium dentibus atteri i. e. sensually handled by the Priest broken and torn by the teeth of the Faithful Expressions so gross to unfold an inexplicable mystery that the Author of the Gloss upon Gratian gives his Reader