of whose Authority was never any doubt in the Church viz. Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalmes Proverbs Ecclesiastes Solomons Song Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi And the other Books as Hierom saith the Church doth Read for Example of Life and Instruction of Manners All the Books of the New Testament as they are commonly Received we do Receive and Account them Canonical The Presbyterians Under the Name of Holy Scripture or the Word of God Written are now Contain'd all the Books of the Old and New Testament which are these Genesis c. just as the Church of England reckons them All which are given by Inspiration to be the Rule of Faith and Life The Books commonly called Apocrypha not being of Divine Inspiration are no part of the Canon of the Scripture and therefore are of no Authority in the Church of God nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other Humane Writings The Authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be Believ'd and Obey'd dependeth not upon the Testimony of any Man or Church but wholly upon God who is Truth it self the Author thereof and therefore it is to be Receiv'd because it is the Word of God We may be mov'd and induc'd by the Testimony of the Church to an High and Reverend esteem of the Holy Scriptures And the Heavenliness of the Matter the Efficacy of the Doctrine the Majesty of the Stile the Consent of all the Parts the Scope of the whole which is to give all Glory to God the full Discovery it makes of the only way of Mans Salvation the many other incomparable Excellencies and the entire Perfection thereof are Arguments whereby it doth abundantly Evidence it to be the Word of God yet notwithstanding our full Perswasion and Assurance of the Infallible Truth and Divine Authority thereof is from the Inward Work of the Holy Spirit bearing Witness by and with the Word in our Hearts The whole Council of God concerning all things necessary for his own Glory Mans Salvation Faith and Life is either expresly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary Consequence may be deduc'd from Scripture unto which nothing at any time is to be added whether by New Revelations of the Spirit or Tradition of Men nevertheless we do acknowledge the Inward Illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are Revealed in the Word and that there are some Circumstances concerning the Worship of God and Government of the Church Common to Humane Actions and Societies which are to be ordered by the Light of Nature and Christian prudence according to the general Rules of the Word which are always to be observed The Old Testament in Hebrew which was the Native Language of the People of God of old and the New Testament in Greek which at the time of the Writing of it was most generally known to the Nations being immediately inspir'd by God and by his singular Care and Providence kept pure in all Ages are therefore Authentical so as in all Controversies of Religion the Church is finally to Appeal to Them But because these Original Tongues are not known to all the People of God who have Right unto and Interest in the Scriptures and are Commanded in the Fear of God to Read and Search them Therefore they are to be Translated into the Vulgar Language of every Nation unto which they come that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all they may Worship him in an acceptable manner and through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures may have hope The Infallible Rule of the Interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture it self and therefore when there is a question about the true and full Sense of any Scripture which is manifold but one it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly The Supream Judge by which all Controversies of Religion are to be Determined and all Decrees of Councils Opinions of Ancient Writers Doctrines of Men and Private Spirits are to be examined and in whose Sentence we are to rest can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture The Papists The Decree of the Council of Trent touching the Canonical Scriptures Session the Fourth The Holy Oecumenical and General Tridentine Council lawfully Congregated in the Holy Spirit the three Legats of the Apostolick See presiding therein considering That the Purity of the Gospel as to Truth and Discipline is contained in Books Written and in Traditions not Written which received by the Apostles from the Mouth of Christ himself or by the Apostles by the Dictates of the Holy Ghost delivered as from Hand to Hand have come down even unto us following the Example of the Fathers does with an equal Affection of Piety and like Reverence receive and regard as well all the Books of the Old and New Testament since one God is Author of both as such Traditions pertaining either to Faith or Manners the same being dictated either Orally by Christ or by the Holy Spirit and Conserv'd by a continual Succession in the Catholick Church and as touching the Books of Holy Scripture that none may doubt which they are which by this Sacred Synod are received an Index of them is annexed and they are as follows Of the Old Testament five Books of Moses that is Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth Four Books of Kings under that name they include the two Books of Samuel two of Chronicles the first of Esdras and the Second which is called Nehemias Tobias Judith Esther Job David's Psalter of 150 Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Canticles Wisdom Ecclesiasticus Isaiah Jeremiah with Baruch Ezekiel Daniel Twelve lesser Prophets viz. Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonas Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechary and Malachi and the First and Second of the Maccabees Of the New Testament the Four Evangelists Matthew Mark c. as we reckon them And if any Person shall not receive all the said whole Books with all their Parts as they have wont to be read in the Catholick Church and as they are in the old Vulgar Latin Edition for Sacred and Canonical or knowingly shall contemn the aforesaid Traditions Let him be Anathema or Accursed And the said Sacred Council does also Appoint and Declare That the said old Vulgar Latin Edition which hath by the long use of so many Ages been approved of in the Church shall in all publick Readings Disputations Preachings and Expositions be esteemed Authentick And that none on any pretence whatsoever shall dare or presume to Reject the same And for the restraining of wanton Wits does likewise Decree That no one Person leaning on his own Prudence shall in matters of Faith and Manners pertaining to
Papists agree to the first Part of this Article But as to the latter Part whereas the Church of England and Presbyterians do declare the Passion of Christ to have been a sufficient Sacrifice both for Original and Actual Sins They on the Contrary First by their Doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass Prayers unto Saints Popes Pardons and Purgatory do make void the Passion of our Blessed Saviour or that it puts away but Original Sin only See for this Article 31. Secondly They Teach Although our Saviour have Suffered for all Men in general yet both each man must suffer for himself in particular Rhem. Annotations on Rom. 8. 17. and that the Works of one Man may satisfie the Wrath of God for another Same Annotations on Coloss 2. 24. The third Article of the Church of England Of the going down of Christ into Hell AS Christ dyed for us and was Buried So also is it to be believed That he went down into Hell The Presbyterians Although by the Writings of the Ancients it appears That this Clause in the Creed was not so usual of Old Time in the Churches yet in delivering a Summary of Doctrine it is necessary As that which contains an useful and not to be slighted Mystery And so he proceeds to explain it of the Anguish and Internal Sufferings of Christ under a Sense of the Wrath of God for the Sins of Mankind when the Chastisement of our Peace as the Prophet speaks was upon him And Doctor Fulk on the Rhem. Testament Matth. 27. Sect. 3. expresly clears Calvin in this point The Assembly in their larger Catechism thus express their Sense Christs Humiliation after his Death consisted in his being Buried and continuing in the State of the Dead and under the power of Death till the Third Day which hath been otherwise expressed in these Words He descended into Hell So that the Article is agreed both by them and Calvin nor hath the Church of England thought fit particularly to explain it but left it free to be understood in any such sound Sense as is not contrary to Scripture or the Analogy of Faith Indeed there hath been great Diversity of Opinions between Men both Good and Learned about it Many there are that by Hell here understand the Grave and I think none will deny but the Word is capable of such a Sense but then the Sense must run thus He was Crucified Dead and Buried and Descended into the Grave which is a vain Repetition for if he were Buried he must be in a Grave And such a Tautology is not to be supposed in so brief a Summary of Faith But in my private Thoughts I have happen'd upon a Notion which avoids that Absurdity and that is this When our Blessed Lord was Crucified and Dead and his Body Buried his Humane Soul return'd to God in which Sense he saith to the Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise and afterwards when it came to re-enliven and be united to the Body in the Grave at his Resurrection why may not that be the Descent here intended And so the Sense be thus He was Crucified Dead and Buried He that is his Humane Soul at the time appointed descended into Hell that is the Grave and then the Third day he rose again c. Nor do I perceive that this Interpretation how new soever it may seem does in any kind Contradict the Analogy of Faith However I submit it to the Censure of the Learned Pious Reader But The Papists Teach a quite contrary Doctrine to all this viz. That the Souls of the Patriarchs and Holy Men that departed this Life before our Saviours Crucifixion were kept as in Prison but without pain in a certain Apartment of Hell which they call Limbus Patrum And that Christ that is the Soul of Christ did really go down into the Local Hell and deliver'd the said Captive Souls out of this Confinement and at his Ascension they accompanied him to Heaven Bellarm. de Christo li. 4. cap. 11 12 and 13. The Bosom of Abraham is the resting place of all them that died in perfect State of Grace before Christs time Heaven before being shut from Men. It is called in Zachary a Lake without Water and sometimes a Prison but most commonly of Divines Limbus Patrum for that it is thought to have been the Higher part or Brim of Hell the places of Punishment being far lower than the same which therefore be called Infernum Inferius the lower Hell Where this Mansion of the Fathers stood or whether it be any part of Hell St. Augustin doubteth but that there was such a place he nor no Catholick man ever doubted And the Fathers make it most certain That our Saviour descending into Hell went thither specially and deliver'd the said Fathers out of that Mansion which Truth though of all the Ancient Writers Confessed and Proved by Scripture yet the Adversaries they mean Protestants deny it as they doe Purgatory most Impudently The fourth Article of the Church of England Of the Resurrection of Christ CHRIST did truly Rise again from Death and took again his Body with Flesh Bones and all things appertaining to the perfection of Mans Nature wherewith he Ascended into Heaven and there sitteth until he Return to Judge all Men at the last Day The Presbyterians On the Third Day he Arose from the Dead with the same Body in which he Suffered with which also he Ascended into Heaven and there sitteth at the Right Hand of his Father making Intercession and shall return to Judge Men and Angels at the end of the World The Papists Seem in Words to own this Article but really deny it or Contradict themselves for they hold That the true Carnal Body of Christ is every day wherein Masses are said on Earth and at a thousand places at once Now if it be thus daily here how does it remain in Heaven and sit there till he return to Judge all Men at the last Day And if it be thus at so many places at an Instant must it not be a Fantastick Body And consequently do they not deny the Truth of Christs Resurrection or that he hath the same Body now which was Crucified Dead and Buried The fifth Article of the Church of England THE Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son is of one Substance Majesty and Glory with the Father and the Son Very and Eternal God Touching this Article there is no Dispute on either side The sixth Article of the Church of England Of the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation HOLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein or may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man That it should be Believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation In the name of the Holy Scripture we understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament
no longer they may remain in an Implicite Faith but read Consider and with understanding embrace what they before out of Compliance or Custom rather than Judgment seem'd to own and adhere to 2. There are many too That in words detest Popery yet not being throughly grounded in the Doctrines of the Church of England nor acquainted with those of the Church of Rome may be in danger of mistaking the one for the other and by Jacob's voice be deluded into Esau's hands and imbibe Poison unawares unless fortified against it by some such discriminating Antithesis 3. Hereby will appear the malice and falshood of these suggestions That the Dissenters stand at as great a distance from and are as much opposite to the legally Established Church of England as the Papists a mischievous conceit promoted by the Jesuites and other Factors for the See of Rome on purpose to divide and weaken us and consequently thereby to accomplish at last their own ends which are utterly to subvert and destroy all the Professors of the Reformed Religion whether Episcopal Presbyterial or under what ever other Denomination 4. I know not what could better tend to uniting us at least in affection amongst our selves than this demonstration That in the main and all essential Doctrinal points we are already agreed and since the other matters in Controversie are acknowledged to be indifferent what occasion is there for all this heat and violence unless the lesser our differences are the greater still must be our Animosities and Contentions about them 5. I do not despair but this small Treatise may be profitable to weak Capacities for instructing them in Fundamentals of Christian Religion since it contains a general Systeme of Faith rendered the more intelligible by the variety of Expressions though concurrent Sense of the Church-men and Protestant-Dissenters on the one side and the apparent Contradictions of the Papists on the other For Contraria juxta se posita magis Elucescunt contraries aptly compared illustrate each other Thus much for the End and general Intention of this Work As to the manner how it is perform'd I could indeed have wisht it might have come from some abler Hand whose Skill might have rendered it more useful and his Name more acceptable to the publick But rather a Mite than no Offering at all for the Churches Peace I have done what my small Reading and interrupted Leisure would permit and need only Advertise the Reader that here he shall find 1. The Nine and Thirty Articles of the Church of England agreed upon and Establisht Anno 1562. and never since altered but required by Law to be subscribed unto by all Ministers of our Church faithfully recited Verbatim and Printed in a different Letter 2. The Doctrines of those commonly called Presbyterians comprehending the Body of our Dissenters produc'd from the Confession of Faith agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines in the late Times and their Catechism and the Institutions of Mr. John Calvin 3. The Tenets of the Church of Rome delivered either in the Words of the Council of Trent or those of their great Champion Cardinal Bellarmine and the Annotations of their Colledge of Rhemes on the New Testament Other of their Authors sometimes but sparingly are Cited and never any but what are allowed by them and known to speak according to the common Dictates of that Church I knew not where to seek more Authentick Testimonies of each Parties Sentiments and can without Injury to Truth aver That I have not wilfully baulk'd added to detracted from or in any kind perverted the Sense of either side but fairly stated their Doctrines in their own words And generally without Reflections or Animadversions unless only where the matter is such that it could not justly be omitted Some may expect to have had added in a Fourth Comparison certain Notions advanc'd of late years by some Divines amongst us that seem to thwart these Articles of their Mother-Church which at their Ordination they solemnly subscribed But as the same have in part been already noted by others so my desire is rather to bring Balm than Vinegar to the too gaping wounds of the Church and without giving any such Exasperation shall hope That those Gentlemen will see and repent of such their Mistakes At least since Rectum est Index sui Obliqui A streight Line is the measure both of it self and of that too which is crooked I cannot despair but when once People are brought throughly to understand the Doctrines of the Church of England grounded on the Holy Scriptures without or contrary to which no Church in the World has any power to impose any Articles of Faith They will easily be able to discover such Aberrations and refuse them with a just Abhorrence though never so speciously obtruded But because there is such a noise raised and such heaps of Durt continually thrown on the memory of poor Mr. Calvin and those called Presbyterians whereby they would inflame us both to hardships towards dissenting Protestants at home and set us at odds with most of the Reformed Churches abroad I shall for the Information of the Vulgar Reader give a brief account here what esteem our Ancestors of the Church of England heretofore had both of John Calvin and those Neighbouring Churches and the Testimonies I shall avouch shall be of undoubted Authority both for Dignity and Learning The Reverend and Pious Dr. George Carleton Bishop of Chichester in a Book Intituled An Examination of those things wherein the Author of the late APPEAL holdeth the Doctrines of the Pelagians and Arminians to be the Doctrines of the Church of England Printed anno 1626 and Dedicated to King Charles the First p. 217 hath these Words Though the Church of England be the best Reformed Church yet it is not the only Reformed Church and it might seem no good Providence in us to stand so by our selves as to reject and disdain the Consent of other Churches though they do not agree with us in Discipline It is observed by Eusebius That Polycrates and Irenaeus did both reprove Victor because for matters of Ceremonies he was too much offended with other Churches which otherwise agreed with him in Doctrine Irenaeus doth admonish him That the ancient Bishops of Rome before Victor did keep Unity and Consent with the Eastern Bishops though in Ceremonies there was difference between them Omnes isti cum in Observantia vararierent inter semetipsos nobiscum semper pacifici fuerant Euseb l. 5. cap. 24. All those that varied in Observances yet were always peaceable both amongst themselves and with us He saith there also That the Dissonance in Ceremonies need not break the Consonance in Faith with those Churches which do not agree with us in Ceremonies if we seek the peace of the Churches that profess the same Doctrine or strugling as more like one sleeping than dying leaving with that noble Roman Aemilius Poverty with Honour to his Friends his Library and
the Church of England Of Homilies THE Second Book of Homilies the several Titles whereof we have joined under this Article doth contain a godly and wholesom Doctrine and necessary for these times as doth the former Book of Homilies which were set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth and therefore we judge to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly as they may be understood by the People Of the Names of the Homilies Of the right use of the Church Against peril of Idolatry c. The Presbyterians Do generally own the Truth of these Homilies nor do utterly disallow their being read in publick Assemblies provided it tend not to occasion Sloath and neglect of Gifts and the Divine assistance in Ministers nor hinder the greater Edification which the People might reap by the Word Preached unto them The Papists Do utterly Condemn a very great part of the Doctrine contained in these Homilies too tedious here to enumerate But the same will appear to any one that reads them and is at all acquainted with Popish Tenets The six and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers THE Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops and ordering of Priests aud Deacons lately set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth and confirmed at the same time by Authority of Parliament doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and ordering neither hath it any thing that of it self is Superstitious and Ungodly And therefore whoever are Consecrated or Ordered according to the Rites of that Book since the second year of the afore-named King Edward unto this time or hereafter shall be Consecrated or Ordered according to the same Rites we Decree all such to be rightly lawfully and orderly Consecrated and Ordered The Presbyterians Do not deny the Ordination of the Church of England to be in it self lawful so as to esteem all those so Ordained not to be lawful Ministers of Christ The Papists Whoever taketh upon him to Preach to Administer the Sacraments c. and is not ordered by a true Catholick Bishop to be a Curate of Souls Parson Bishop c. is a Thief and Murderer of Souls Rhem. Annot. on John 10. 1. 1. Protestant Ministers and Preachers have no due mission For all their mission from the beginning of their Reformation was either the Inspiration of a Spirit they know not what or the Commission of a Child Edward the Sixth whom they called Supream Head of the Church and from whose Kingly Power all Jurisdiction as well Ecclesiastical as Civil they affirm'd did flow See Fox Tom. 2. anno 1546 in King Edward the Sixth Or the Letters Patents of a Woman Queen Elizabeth to whom they were pleas'd to Attribute the like Superiority and Power See Statut. anno primo Elizab. cap. 1. or the Illicite and Invalid ordination or mission of or by one Story an Apostate Monk who Ordained their first Bishops at the Nags-head in Cheapside in Q. Eliz. time See Christopherus de Sacro Bosco if they have any better let them prove it in the mean time let them know we value not a Straw Masons old new Records produc'd in the year 1613 which was a matter of 50 years after the thing now mentioned was Sacrilegiously and Invalidly done and most disgracefully and shamefully cryed down but those could not give them any Spiritual Authority Power or right to Preach For according to that received Maxim of the Law no Man can give more Right than he himself hath Cook l. 1. Therefore c. 2. Moreover a Bishop is to be Ordained by two or three Bishops Counc Apostol Can. 1. And a Priest and likewise a Deacon and the rest of the Clergy by a Bishop Ibid. Can. 2. Conc. Trid. Sess 23. Can. 7. But this Apostolical and needful manner of ordination or mission they never yet had For they rejected it quite and brought in an Heretical fashion in its stead in Edward the Sixths time Neither if they were willing could they have For as I said before their Bishops from the beginning of their Reformation had no other Ordination Consecration or Mission than the Commission of the King or Queens Pleasure For the Sacrilegious Illicite and invalid Ordination of or by Story which was the first pretended Holy mission of Protestants in England and from whence they hitherto derive their orders it was not worth a straw witness the fore mentioned Canons of the Apostolica Council c. And consequently their pretended Holy Orders thence derived are not worth a Pins Head Therefore they are not true Preachers what are they then Forsooth Intruders Wolves and Murderers Sons of Belial false Prophets and Priests of Baal which is their Heresie Rebellion and Stubbornness against the Church Thus that railing Rabshekah but the falsity of all such clamours was long since demonstrated by the Learned Mason in his Treatise of the Ordination of Bishops and Priests in the Church of England The seven and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of the Civil Magistrate THE Kings Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other his Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Civil or Ecclesiastical in all Causes doth appertain nor is not nor ought to be Subject to any Forreign Jurisdiction where we attribute to the Kings Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some dangerous Folks to be offended He give not to our Princes the Ministring of Gods Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the In junctions also lately set forth by Eliz. our Queen do most plainly testifie But that only Prerogative which we les to have been goven always to all Godly Princes in Holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their Charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and Evil doers The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Laws of the Realm may punish Christian Men with Death for hainous and grievous Offences It is lawful for Christian Men at the Commandement of the Magistrate to wear Weapons and serve in the Wars The Presbyterians God the Supream Lord and King of all the World hath Ordained Civil Magistrates to be under him over the People for his own Glory and the publick good and to this end hath armed them with the power of the Sword for the defence and incouragement of them that are good and for the punishment of Evil doers The Civil Magistrate may not assume to himself the Administration of the Word and Sacraments or the power of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven yet he hath Authority and it is his duty to take order that Unity and Peace be preserv'd in the Church and that the Truth of God be kept pure and intire that all Blasphemies and