Preacher Canticles or Song of Solomon 4. Prophets the greater 12. Prophets the lesse And the other bookes Hierome saith the Church doth reade for example of life and instruction of manners but yet doth it not apply to stablish any doctrine such are these following The 3. Booke of Esdras The 4. Booke of Esdras The Booke of Tobias The Booke of Iudith The rest of the Book of Hester The Booke of Wisdome Iesus the Sonne of Sirach Baruch the Prophet Song of the 3. Children The Story of Susanna Of Bel and the Dragon The Prayer of Manasses The 1. Booke of Maccabees The 2. Booke of Maccabees 4 All the Bookes of the new Testament as they are commonly received we doe receive and accompt them for Canonicall The Proposition 1. The sacred Scripture containeth all things necessary to be knowne and beleeved for the salvation of man 2. All the bookes in the volume of the Bible are not Canonicall but some and namely those here specified are 3 The third and fourth Bookes of Esdras the Booke of Tobias c. are Apocryphal 4. Of the New Testament all the Bookes are Canonicall 1. Proposition The sacred Scripture containeth all things necessary to be knowne and beleeved for the salvation of man The proofe from Gods Word THe holy Scriptures to be sufficient to instruct us in all things necessary to be knowne and beleeved for mans salvation the Word of God teacheth Ye shall put nothing unto the Word which I command you saith the Lord neither shall ye take ought there from Whatsoever I command you take heed you doe it thou shalt put nothing thereto nor take ought therefrom Thou shalt not turne away from it to the right hand not to the left that thou maiest prosper whithersoever thou goest c Jos 1.7 Every Word of God is pure c. Put nothing unto his words lest he reproove thee and thou be found a lyer d Prov. 30.5 6. These things are written that ye might beleeve c. and that in beleeving ye might have life through his Name e Joh. 20.31 The whole Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach to improove to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute being made perfect unto all good workes f 2 Tim. 3.16 17. If any man shall adde unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this booke and if any man shall diminish of the words of this booke God shall take away his part out of the booke of life and out of the holy Citie and from those things which are written in this booke g Rev. 22.18 Hereunto Gods people both alwayes have and at this present doe subscribe h Confes Helv. 1 ar l 4. 20. 1. Basil ar 10. Boke c. 1 Gal. ar 2. 4 5. Bel. ar 7. Saxon. ar â— Wittemb c. 30. Suev ar 1. The Errors and adversaries â—â—â—o this truth Therefore adversaries be we to all adversaries to this truth especially To such as scorne and contemptuously reject the booke of God as both did the Circumcellians which defaced and burnt the holy Scriptures a Aug. contra Pâ—â—â—ll 1. c. 27. and Pope Leo the tenth who tearmed the holy Gospel a fable of Christ b Apol. Steph. fol 3. 58. and doe the prophane Atheists c Nâ—sh in Christ his teares p. 39. a. Also to such as debase the credit and estimation of the holy Scriptures as David George did d Hist Davidis Georg. and both doe the Papists who have an opinion that the Scriptures of God are not sufficient to instruct mankinde unto salvation e Lâ—â—â—a l. 1. c. 1. and the Anabaptists which deeme not the holy Bible to be the Word of God f Buâ—â—in cont Catabap l. 1. with the Family of Love in whose bookes nothing is more frequent then the tearming of Gods reverend ministers and preachers Scripture-learned Also to them which with Gods Word do equall their own doctrine Injunctions Precepts and Traditions as doe the Papists For of their doctrin say the Rhemists Whatsoever the lawfull Apostles Pastors or Priests of Gods Church preach in the unitie of the same Church meaning the new Church of Rome is to be taken for Gods own word g Test Rhem. anâ— 1 Thes 2 12. To the same purpose but more blasphemously Stapleton As the Iews were to beleeve Christ so are we simply and in every thing to beleeve the Church of Rome whether it teacheth truth or errors h Stapl. antid Evang in Luc. 10.16 p. 528. Whatsoever by the authoritie of the Church is commanded ought of all men to be esteemed as the very Gospel saith Abbat Trithemius i Tract de propriet Monach. c. 4. of Popish precepts and our English Rhemists k Test Rhem. an 1. Thes 4.8 He that despiseth the Churches or her lawfull Pastors precepts And of their Traditions He that refuseth Ecclesiasticall traditions deserveth to be throwne out of the Church among the heathen as well as he which refuseth the Gospel saith Didacus Stella l Stella in Luc. 10 fol. 20. and the Councell of Trent with like affection of godlinesse and reverence embrace we and worship the bookes of the Old and New Testament and Ecclesiasticall Traditions saith the Councell m Concil Trid. sess 4. The like opinion have the Moscovites of Traditions n Ruff. Com. c. 23. To them finally are we adversaries which above the Scriptures doe preferre their owne 1 inventions as did the Philosophers whereof one said of Moses That good man maketh a trim discourse but prooveth nothing and the Grecians to whom the Gospel is foolishnesse o 1 Cor. 1.23 2 and imaginations as did the Manichies p Epiphan David George q Hist Da. Geo. and doe the Turkes r Pol. of the Tur. em c. 3.23 and Family of Love Å¿ Display A. 6. 3 or Traditions as doe the Papists who more cruelly doe punish the violaters of their own Traditions and ordinances then they doe the breakers of Gods Commandements 4 or Statutes Edicts Iudgements Proclamations c. proceeding from the braine of man as Machiavell doth and his Schollers 2. Proposition All the Bookes in the volume of the Bible are not Canonicall but some are That some bookes and namely those above mentioned are Canonicall it hath bin granted by the best learned and most godly of long time And as all reformed Churches in the world are of the same judgement with us so in their publike Confessions some have so accounted and judged of them as we do a Confess Gal. ar 9. Belg. ar 4 Adversaries to this truth Therefore to speake first of the Canonicall bookes of the old Testament much have they offended which either rejected all or allowed but some of the bookes of the old Testament of the former sort were the Severians a Trit â—ur de eccles scrip Basilides b
Scripture k Conf. Cath. de Eccles and Lindau The Scriptures would be of no validitie neither had continued till this day but for traditions l Lâ—nd l. 1. c. 4 5. 7. Proposition The Church may not enforce any thing to be beleeved as necessary unto salvation that is either contrary or besides the Word of God The proofe from Gods Word YEe shall put nothing unto the Word which I command you neither shall yee take ought there-from a Deut 4.2 Put nothing unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a lyer b Prov. 30.6 Though it be but a mans covenant when it is confirmed yet no man doth abrogate it or addeth any thing thereto c Gal. 3.15 If any man shall adde unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this book And if any man shall diminish of the words of the booke of this prophecie God shall take away his part out of the booke of life and out of the holy Citie and from those things which are written in this booke d Rev. 22.18 19. And so witnesse with us the Churches reformed e Conf. Helv. 1. ar 4. 2. c. 2. Basil ar 10. Bohem. cap 1. Gal. ar 5 Belg. ar 7. Saxon. ar 1. Wittemb c. 30.33 Sucvica ar 1. Whatsoever also is grounded upon Gods written Word though not by our common and vulgar tearmes to be read therein we doe reverently embrace which maketh us for doctrine to embrace the Consubstantialitie of our Saviour with the Father and the holy Ghost which the Arrians would not a Trinitie of persons in the Godhead which the Sabellians would never doe the justification by faith onely which the Papists will not the Baptisme of Infants and young children which the Anabaptists dare not and for discipline not to refuse of Church officers the names Archbishops Patriarches Primates Metropolitanes Suffragans Parsons Vicars c. of Ecclesiasticall censures the tearmes Suspension Excommunication of Ceremonies none at all which tend either unto order comelinesse or edification But from the heart we abhorre in matters both of doctrine and discipline whatsoever either agreeth not with the Canon of the Scripture or is not grounded thereupon Errors and adversaries of this truth Hence detest we both all the old heretikes and their fancies with the new prophets of Basilides the manifestation of Marcion the mysteries of the Manichies the Iobelaea of the Scythians the Symbonia of the Achontikes the Cabasa of the Iewes the Alcaron of the Turkes and also all new heretikes and Schismatikes with all their cursed opinions as first the Anabaptists and namely the Libertines and Davigeorgians and Family of Love and all the codeified Elders thereof as Henry Nicholas Eliad Fidelitas Christopher Vitell Theophilus the Exile and the rest Next the Papists whereof Some have commanded that all the Popes Decrees should be taken as confirmed by the mouth of God himselfe so did Pope Agatho the first a Gra. d. â— 16. Sic. Some write as Busgradus that if the Pope beleeve there is no life to come as some Popes have done we must beleeve it as an Article of our faith Some say if the Pope carry innumerable soules with him unto Hell yet he may not be judged so did the Pope Boniface the eighth b Decr. lib 3. cit 2. Crantz lib. 8. c. 36. Some as Bellarmine conclude that it is a point of faith to hold that the Bishop of Rome hath succeeded Peter in the universall regiment of the Church c Bellarm. de Pontif Rom. l. 2. c. 12. Others as the Iesuites perswade their Catholikes that the King of Spain their Catholike faith are so linked together as it is become a point of necessitie in the Catholike faith to put all Europe into the hands of the said King otherwise the Catholike religion will be utterly extinguished and perish d Spaâ— dis of the Eng. Ies d. 7. Others of them have published a new Gospel called Evangelium aeternum Spiritus Sancti which they say doth so far excell the Gospel of Christ as the kernell surpasseth the shell the Sunne the Moone and light darknesse The author whereof was one Cyrillus a Carmelite And lastly the Puritanes and all the speculations of Brown Barrow Greene Penry Marprelate T.C.E.G.R.H.A.C.I.B. with the new Sabbatarians and their fancies 21. Article Of the authority of generall Councels Generall Councels 1 may not be gathered together without the commandement and will of Princes And 2 when they be gathered together forasmuch as they be an assembly of men whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and Word of God they may erre and 3 sometimes have erred even in things pertaining unto God whorefore 4 things ordained by them as necessary unto salvation have neither strength nor authority unlesse it may be declared that they be taken out of holy Scriptures The Propositions 1. Generall Councels may not be gathered together but by the commandement and will of Princes 2. Generall Councels may erre 3. Generall Councels have erred even in things pertaining unto God 4. The things ordained by generall Councels are so farre to be embraced and beleeved as they are consonant to Gods holy Word 1. Proposition Generall Councels may not be gathered together but by the commandement of Princes The proofe from Gods Word GReat is the power and authoritie of Kings and Princes by the Word of God For as the defence of Religion is committed unto them so must they see that all men doe their duties That these things the better may be performed they are as just occasion is offered not as men under the power of others to summon but as supreme governours within their own territories and dominions to command all sorts of men to meete together and that either to the implanting of the truth where it is not or to the suppression of sin errors idolatry and superstition where or in whomsoever it doth arise or is rooted Such Councels were holden both in the time of the Mosaicall government by the commandement of the most godly Kings David a 1 Cor. 3.1 2. Salomon b 1 King 8.1 Asa c 2 Chr. 15.9 Ezechiah d 2 Chr. 29.4 and Iosiah e 1 Chr. 34.29 and since the Gospel hath bin received into Kingdomes and Common-weales by Christian Princes Kings and Emperors who gathered Councels both Generall as the Nicene was by Constantine the Great f Ruffi l. 10.1 1. Eus de vita Const l. 3. c 9. The Councell of Constantinople by Theodosius the elder g Theo. l 5 c. 6. the Councell of Ephesus by Theodosius the younger h Euang. l 1. c. 2 the Councell of Calcedon by Marcian i Leo ep 43.53 and Nationall and Provinciall so the Councell at Franckford Rhemes Turon Arelot and Moguntia by the will and commandement of Charles the Great k Aventin Carrâ—â—zâ— summa Conc. Carion lib. 3. at Marison by Gunthranus
and grosse contempt of the necessary and laudable orders of our Church By the latter they haue introduced a new and more then either Iewish or Popish superstition into the land to no small blemish of our Christian profession and scandall of the true seruants of God and therewith doctrine most erroneous dangerous and Antichristian The summe of the Sabbath doctrine broached by the Brethren 22. Their doctrine summarily may be reduced vnto these two heads whereof the one is that the Lords day euen as the old Sabbath was of the Iewes must necessarily be kept and solemnized of all and euery Christian vnder the paine of eternall condemnation both of body and soule The other that vnder the same penalty it must be kept from the highest to the lowest both of King and people in sort and manner as these Brethren among themselues haue deuised decreed and prescribed The former of these is like that of the false apostles which came from Iudea vnto Antioch and taught the Brethren that vnlesse they were circumcised after the manner of Moses they could not be saved Whom the Apostles Paul and Barnabas first and afterwards Peter Iames and the rest at Ierusalem both zealously did resist and in their Synod or Conuocation powerfully suppresse The latter as bad as that hath bin the mother of many hereticall assertions and horrible conclusions I haue read and many there be aliue which will iustifie it how it was preached in a Market towne in Oxfordshire that to doe any seruile worke or businesse on the Lords day is as great a sinne as to kill a man or to commit adultery It was preached in Somerset-shire that to throw a bowle on the Sabbath day is as great a sinne as to kill a man It was preached in Norfolke that to make a Feast or wedding dinner on the Lords day is as great a sin as for a Father to take a knife and cut his childs throate It was preached in Suffolke I can name the man and I was present when he was convented before his Ordinary for preaching the same that to ring more Bels then one upon the Lords day to call the people unto Church is as great a sinne as to commit murder When these things I read and heard mine heart was strucken with an horror and so is it still when I doe but think of them and calling into mind the Sabbath doctrine at London Printed for I. Porter and T. Man An. 95. which I had read before wherein very many things are to this effect I presently smelt both whose disciples all those preachers are and that the said doctrine had taken deep impression in mens hearts and was dispersed while our watchmen were otherwise busied if not asleepe over the whole Kingdome The Br. Doctrine of the Sa bath called in by authoritie and forbidden any more to be printed 23. It is a comfort unto my soule and will be till my dying houre that I have beene the man and the meanes that the Sabbatarian errors and impieties are brought into light and knowledge of the State whereby whatsoever else sure I am this good hath ensued namely that the said bookes of the Sabbath comprehending the above mentioned and many moe such fearefull and haereticall assertions hath been both called in and forbidden any more to be printed and made common Your Graces predecessor Archb. Whitgift by his letters and Officers at Synods and Visitations An. 99. did the one Ann. 1559. 1600. and Sir Iohn Popham L. chiefe Iustice of England at Bury S. Edmons in Suff. An. 1600. did the other And both these most reverend sage and honourable Personages by their censures have declared if men will take admonition that the Sabbath doctrine of the Brethren agreeth neither with the doctrine of our Church nor with the lawes and orders of this Kingdome disturbeth the peace both of the Common-weale and Church and tendeth unto Schisme in the one and Sedition in the other and therefore neither to be backt nor bolstred by any good Subiect whether he be Church or Common-weale man 24. Thus haue errors and noysome doctrines like byles Purity of doctrine all Qu. Elizabeths raigne maintained in England and Botches euer and anon risen vp to the ouerthrow of our Churches health and safety if it might be but yet such hath beene the Physicke of our discipline as what by launcing purging and other good means vsed the Body still hath heene vpholden and preserued from time to time And well may errors like grosse humors and tumors continue among vs as neuer Church was or will be quite without them while it is militant heere vpon earth yet are they not of the substance at all of our Religion or any part of our Churches Doctrine no more then ill humors which be in are of the Body or dregs in a Vessell of wine be any part either of the Vessell or Wine which remaineth as at the first most sound and vncorrupted and so continued euen vntill the dying day of that most illustrious and religious Princesse Queene Elizabeth The very Brethren themselves doe write that In regard of the common grounds of Religion and of the Ministery We are all one We are all of one Faith one Baptisme one Body one Spirit haue all one Father one Lord Ann. 1601. and be all of one Heart against al wickednes superstition idolatry heresie and we seeke with one Christian desire the aduancement of the pure Religion worship and Honor of God We are Ministers of the Word by one order we administer Prayers and Sacraments by one forme we Preach one Faith and substance of doctrine And we Praise God heartily that the true Faith by which we may be saued and the true doctrine of the Sacraments and the pure Worship of God is truely taught and that by publike authority and retained in the booke of Articles Hitherto the said Brethren And this was their verdict of our Churches doctrine in the last yeere saue one of Q. Elizabeths raigne then which nothing was euer more truely said or written And this Vnity and purity of doctrine she left with vs when she departed this world K. Iames. After Elizabeth raigned King Iames. VVHo found this our Church as all the world knoweth in respect of the grounds of true Religion at Vnitie Anno 1603. and that Vnitie in Veritie and that Veritie confirmed by publike and regall approbation These Ecclesiasticall Ministers therefore though a thousand for number who at his Majesties first comming into this Kingdome either complained unto his Highnesse of I know not what errors King James abused troubled with false informations and petitions of the Brethren and imperfections in our Church even in points of doctrine as if shee erred in matters of Faith or desired that an Vniformitie of doctrine might be prescribed as if the same had not already beene done to his hands or as weary belike of the old by Queene Elizabeth countenanced and continued
profitable many wayes of as tender consciences euery way as any of these Brethren combined according both to their bounden duties and as they are perswaded to the very purport and true intent of the said Statute have alwayes both with their mouthes acknowledged and with their pennes approued the 39. Articles of our religion for truthes not to be doubted of and godly Yea and the Brethren too themselues which now so scrupulously when they are orderly called thereunto doe hold backe their hands and will subscribe but choisely vnto some of them euen they with their mouthes which is equiualent and all one have that according to the Statute or else their liuings be void vpon the first entrance into all and singular their ecclesiasticall benefices openly both read and testified their consent vnto the said Articles for number euen nine and thirty acknowledging them I say all of them to be agreeable to Gods word whereof the people in their seuerall charges be ready witnesses to testifie so much before God and the world 34. Againe of these Brethren that will subscribe but vnto which they please of these Articles there be some who faine would beate into mens heads if they could tell how to make it credible that the Doctrine of our Church is altred from that it was in the raigne of Q. Eli. But this assertion being too grosse egregiously vntrue A late deuice of the Br. to shunne subscription no waies iustifiable they secondly give out and report so industrious be they to inuent new shifts to cloak their inueterate and rooted pertinacy how the purpose if not doctrine of our Church is of late altered from that it was And therefore though they can be well content to allow of the old doctrine and ancient intention yet vnto the old doctrine and new Intention of our Church they cannot subscribe might they either gaine much or lose whatsoeuer they have thereby Besides this new Intendement contrary to the old purpose if not doctrin of our Church is become now the maine and principall obstacle why they cannot subscribe vnto the booke of Common prayer and booke of Ordination as earst they some of them foure times have done when aswell Intention as Doctrine of our Church was pure holy Lastly they seeme not obscurely to intimate vnto the State that were they sure or might be assured that the purpose of our Church were the same which it was neither varied from the doctrine they would be prest and as ready euen foure if not forty times moe to subscribe vnto the forementioned bookes of Common prayer and of ordination as aforetimes they did when they were out of doubt the Intention of our Church was correspondent to her Doctrine that it was found and good I haue foure times subscribed saith a Brother to the booke of Common prayer with limitation and reference of all things therein contained not vnto the purpose onely or doctrine onely but unto the purpose and doctrine of the Church of England Yet cannot the same man with a good conscience so much as once more subscribe which formerly and that with a good conscience had subscribed foure times His reason is Because the purpose if not doctrine of our Church to which he referred his subscription appeareth to him by the late Canons booke of conference and some speeches of men in great place and others to be varied somewhat from that which he before not without reason took it to be The purpose and Doctrine of our Church continue the same 35. The purpose of our Church is best knowne by the doctrine which she doth professe the Doctrine by the 39. Articles established by Act of Parliament the Articles by the words whereby they are expressed and other purpose then the publike Doctrine doth minister and other Doctrine then in the said Articles is contained our Church neither hath nor holdeth and other sense they cannot yeeld then their words doe impart The words be the same and none other then earst and first they were And therefore the sense the same the Articles the same the Doctrine the same and the purpose and Intention of our Church still one and the same If then the purpose be knowne by her Doctrine and Articles and the true sense by their very words needs must the purppose of our Church be the same because her Doctrine and Articles for number words syllables and letters and every way be the very same And so our Churches intention in her publike Doctrine and Articles reuealed being good at the first it is so still For her purpose continuing one and the same cannot be ill at the last which was good and so beleeued and acknowledged even by the Brothers subscription at the first or good in good Queene Elizabeth and ill in illustrious King Iames his dayes 36. If the premisses sufficiently explane not the constancy of our Churches purpose in professing religion sincerely Neither the Doctrine nor purpose of our Church altered then cast we our eyes vpon the Propositions which she publikely maintaineth and if we find them the same which euer they have beene then need we not doubt the Brethren themselves being Iudges but the Articles againe their sence the Doctrine purpose and Intention nf the Church of England the Proposition interpreting as it were the said Articles is the very same it ever was Now that Propositions pregnantly and rightly gathered and arising from the articles be the same for substance vnaltered though vpon good considerations some few bee added to the former and all of them approued for true and Christian by the lawful publike allowance of our Church the Booke here ensuing plainely will declare and so demonstrate withall not the Doctrine onely but intention also of our Church to be the same and not changed and being vnchanged the books then of common prayer and of ordination too considered in the purpose and intention of the Church of England and reduced to the Propositions as the Brethren would haue them be well allowed and authentically approued and the said brethren with as good conscience now againe and afresh may subscribe vnto all the Articles euen concerning the Booke of common prayer and of ordination aswell as of the kings supremacy and of Religion as afore often and alwayes they did 37. For my selfe most reuerend Father in God what my thoughts be of the religion in this Realme at this instant professed and of all these Articles if the premisses doe not that which here followeth will sufficiently demonstrate Twenty yea 22 yeeres agoe voluntarily of mine owne accord altogether vnconstrained I published my subscription vnto them my Faith is not either shaken or altred but what it then was it still is yeeres have made those haires of mine gray which were not and time much reading and experience in Theologicall conflicts and combates have bettred a great deale but not altered one whit my judgement I thanke God Nothing have I denied nothing