them In another place we shall speak of these two Witnesses when we shall shew when it was that these poor people were driven out of their Country and when and how it was that they were re-established by the Duke of Savoy their Soveraign Prince The Vaudois in the second Article of their faith hold the Holy Scripture for their rule of faith and so do teach that nothing is to be believed as an Article of Faith that they do not prove by clear proofs of Scripture and so in the tenth and eleventh Articles they reject all humane traditions as abominations and they acknowledge only two Sacraments viz. Baptism and the Eucharist In the thirteenth Article they give us a scantling of their doctrine where they say thus The Sacraments according to St. Augustine in his City of God is an invisible grace represented by a visible thing and they say there is aâ—… great deal of difference between the sign and the thing signified The first Sacrament is called Baptism viz. a washing or sprinkling of Water which must be administred in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Behold here also that which is found in the Book of Antichrist relating to Baptism This Book was made in the year 1120 as we have said before Those things which are not necessary in the administration of Baptism are exorcisms insufflations the sign of the Cross upon the Head and Breast of the Infant Salt which is put in the Childs mouth Spittle into the Ears and Nose the Crysmatical unction upon the Head and all such like things consecrated by the Bishops They likewise say it's unnecessary to put a lighted Torch in the Childs hand and after Baptism to put on it a white garment or to bless the Water or to dip it thrice or to have Godfathers and Godmothers All these things done in the administration of the Sacraments they say are not of the substance of Baptism and by consequence unnecessary Behold likewise here what they say of the Supper of our Lord in the same Book of Antichrist as Baptism which is taken visibly and visibly administred is as it were an enrolling one in the company of the Faithful and obliges them to follow Jesus Christ and observe his Commandments and to live up to the rules of the Gospel so likewise the Holy Supper and the Holy Communion of our Saviour the breaking of Bread and the giving of thanks is a visible Communion performed by the members of Jesus Christ For those that take and break the same bread are one body and are members one of another planted in him to whom they protest and promise to persevere in his service even to the end without leaving the Faith of the Gospel or the Union that they have all promised to God through and by Jesus Christ. And in the same Book of Antichrist The eating of the Sacramental Bread is the eating of the Body of Christ in figure only as often as you shall do this do it in remembrance of me for if it were not a Spiritual Eating Christ would be obliged to be eaten continually and he in truth eats Christ who believes in him and Christ says That to eat him is to dwell in him From whence it follows that the Vaudois did not believe Transubstantiation nor the Oral and Corporal Eating of the Body of Christ but that the signs in the Supper of our Lord remained as they were before in substance before they were employed to this holy use and that as often as they received these visible signs by their mouth they received by faith the vertue and efficacy of the Body of Jesus Christ broke upon the Cross signified by the breaking of Bread and of his Blood that was spilt signified and represented by the pouring of the Wine into the Cup and that by this action they celebrated the memory of the death of Christ and obeyed his Commandment Do this in remembrance of me Words that St. Paul explains in this manner As often as you shall eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup you declare and commemorate the death of the Lord till he come If the Vaudois have conserved the purity of the Christian Religion from the time of the Apostles till the beginning of the Eleventh Age as we have shewn by their Confession of Faith which they made at the beginning of that Age they have not kept it less pure from that time till our days as we shall prove by another Confession of Faith which they made in the year 1655. After the Massacre which all Christendom has heard spoken of with horror and detestation and of which we shall speak hereafter A short Confession of the Faith of the Churches of Piemont published with their Manifesto after the dreadful Massacres of the Year 1655. ARTICLES We believe first That there is but one only God who is a Spiritual Essence Eternal Infinite all Mercy all Wisdom all Justice in a word every way perfect and that in this Infinite and Pure Essence there are three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost II. That this God has manifested himself to men by his glorious works as well by his Creation as his continual Providence and by his Word revealed at first by his Oracles in divers manners afterwards reduced by writing into Books which we call the Holy Scripture III. That these Holy Scriptures ought to be received as we receive them for Divine and Canonical viz. for the rule of our Faith and the direction of our Life as they are contained in the books of the old and new Testament and that in the old Testament there are only these books following to be received as of divine revelation and which God only approved of and consigned to the Church of the Jews viz. The five Books of Moses Joshua Judges Ruth the 1 and 2 of Samuel the 1 and 2 of Kings the 1 and 2 of Chronicles the 1 of Esdras Nehemiah Esther Job the Psalms the Proverbs of Solomon Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs the 4 greater Prophets and the 12 lesser The Books of the new Testament are The 4 Gospels the Acts of the Apostles the Epistles of St. Paul to the Romans 2 Epistles to the Corinthians 1 to the Galatians 1 to the Ephesians 1 to the Philippians 1 to the Colossians 2 to the Thessalonians 2 to Timothy 1 to to Timothy 1 to Titus 1 to Philemon 1 to the Hebrews 1 of St. James 1 of St. Peter 3 of St. John 1 of St. Jude the Apocalypse or the Revelations of St. John IV. That we acknowledge the Divinity of these sacred books not only by the Testimony of the Church but principally by the eternal and indubitable truth of the Doctrine contained in them and for the excellent and divine Majesty of them and by the operation of the holy Ghost which makes us receive with Reverence the Testimony which the Church gives on them which opens our Eyes to discover
defended them If God had not given them a most singular Courage and had not confounded their Enemies and struck them with a pannick fear but that which is the fullest of miracles and the greatest cause of Astonishment is that neither so many wars raised by their Enemies during the space of 200 years nor so many Battels they have fought during those long and bloody wars nor the cruel Persecutions they have endured nor the diabolical artifices of the Emissaries of Antichrist have been able to destroy or to dissipate these poor Churches till the year 1686. when Perfidiousness and Treachery triumphed over their Innocence If the subsistence of the Vaudois in thâ—…sâ—… Valleys during so long a space of time and among so many obstacles be full of wonders their return and re-establishment is not less miraculous The King of France and the Duke of Savoy who were leagued together to destroy them and drive them out of the Valleys joyned together to oppose their return and re-establishment Nine hundred Vaudois and some Refugees of France pass the Lake of Geneva enter into Savoy cross an Enemies Country of 14 or 15 days journey force many difficult passes and defiles guarded with a Force far greater than theirs and in spight of all those rubs they repossessed themselves of their Country and while that these two Princes who are the bitterest and cruelest Enemies of the Vaudois and breathed nothing but their extirpation and ruine were joining their arms to execute their project God blasts their designs and reduces all into Smoak he sows a great division betwixt those two great Friends they become great Enemies and turn their arms one against the other In conclusion in despight of their intrigues God established the Vaudois in their own Country even by order of their Prince who excused himself to them for intreating them so ill and imputed the cause of it to the King of France and of those the Duke designed for destruction he has made his principal Rampart against France The surprising wonders that God has done for them and the surprising changes and chances that have hapned to them are in short and truly represented in this Book in which we speak first of all of their Original Secondly Of their Religion which they have preserved pure from the time of the Apostles even to our times Thirdly Of the great calm they enjoyed during many Ages even to the 15th Age. Fourthly Of the Croisade made by Innocent the 8th for to destroy them in the year 1488. Fifthly Of the wars of the Dukes of Savoy and the Princes of Piemont from Philip the 8th to Charles Emmanuel the 2d. Sixthly Of the Massacre which was made of them by surprize in our days and were not averred by eyâ—… witnesses of indubitable credit They are called Vaudois not that they are descended of Peter Valdo of Lyons as some Historians have thought but because they are original Inhabitants of the Valleys For the word Vaudois or Valdenses comes from the word Val which signifies a Valley So we see the Protestants of Bohemia were at first called Picards because they came out of Picardy the place of their ancient habitation The Taborites were likewise so called from the City Tabor the place of their ordinary residence and the Albigenses were so called because they inhabited the City of Albi which was full of Protestants against which the Pope declared as they most impiously phrased it a holy War to destroy them From the Vaudois of Piemont are descended the Vaudois of Province which is near Piemont Where some of them took up their habitation and sow'd their doctrine and from Province they spread themselves into Languedoc where they made a wonderful progress This shows that the Vandois of Piemont did not derive themselves from Peter Waldo for after that Valdo or Waldo was driven out of Lyons by the Archbishop according to the order he had received from the Pope he did not retire into Piemont but into Flanders where he sow'd the doctrine of the Gospel which spread it self into Picardy which joyns to Flanders These poor People being persecuted by the King of France retire into Bohemia and for that reason were called Picards because they came out of Picardy this we learn from D' Aubigni in his universal History where he says that those of the remnant of Waldo who fled into Picardy did so increase and multiply that to root them out or at least to weaken them Philip Augustus King of France quite destroyed three hundred Gentlemens houses And what is more and makes the thing evident beyond any doubt it 's proved by authentical Records and Acts that the Vaudois of Piemont had protested against the errors of the Church of Rome seventy Years bofore Waldo appeared in the world For Waldo did not begin to preach against the Roman Church till the Year 1175 but the Vaudois in their own Language produce divers acts and monuments of affairs relating to the Reformation done in the Year 1100 and others in the Year 1120. 70. or 75. Years before Waldo These Acts were saved from the Flames and lamentable Massacre committed upon these poor people in the Year 1655. and the originals were put in the hands of Mr Moreland the English Ambassador and after sent to be kept in the University of Cambridge One may find Copies of them in the general History of the Churches of the Vaudois written by J. Leger Minister of the Vallies printed at Lcyden 1669 and it 's not to be doubted but that the Vaudois of Piemont had more ancient Acts and Records of their doctrine which were buried in the ruines of their Churches by their Enemies In this Book we will only speak of the Vaudois of Piemont and not of the descendants of Peter Waldo CHAP. I. Of the Religion of the Vaudois of Piemont THE Vaudois or the Inhabitants of the Vallies of Piemont received the Doctrine of the Gospel in the time of the Apostles either from the Apostles themselves or by those who immediately succeeded them St. Paul being carried Prisoner to Rome in the Reign of Nero sojourned there two Years during which space he had the Liberty to go round the City from house to house dragging a Chain after him which was the Badge of a criminal Prisoner and there in the capital City Mistress of the world he preached the Gospel of Christ and laid the Foundation of a flourishing Church to which he writ from Corinth after his departure that excellent Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans during his Imprisonment he writ many other learned Epistles to Galatians Ephesians Philippians and Colossians His fame and doctrine sounded high in the Court of the Emperor as it 's clear from the Epistle that he then wrote from Rome to the Philippians where he says Phil. 1. 12. 13. that what hapned to him there proved the great advancement of the Gospel so that his Bonds in Christ were become famous through all the
confirm the authority of Ecclesiastical Doctrine The Apocryphal Books are as follow The third of Esdras the fourth of Esdras Tobie Judith Wisdome Ecclesiasticus Baruc with the Epistle of Jeremiah Esther from the tenth Chapter to the end the History of Susanna the History of the Dragon the first of Maccabees the second of Maccabees The Books of the New Testament The Gospel of St. Matthew of St. Mark St. Luke and St. John The Acts of the Apostles The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans the first to the Corinthians the second to the Corinthians to the Galatians to the Ephesians to the Philippians to the Colossians the 1 to the Thessalonians the 2 to the Thessalonians the 1 to Timothy the 2 to Timothy to Titus to Philemon to the Hebrews the first Epistle of St. Peter the second Epistle of St. Peter the first Epistle of St. John the second Epistle of St. John the third Epistle of St. John the Epistle of St. Jude the Revelations of St. John IV. The foresaid Books teach this That there is one God Almighty all wisdom and goodness and who by his power has created all things who made Adam according to his own Image but by the malice of the Devil and the disobedience of Adam Sin entred into the World and that we are Sinners in Adam and by Adam V. That it was promised to the Fathers who received the Law that by the Law knowing their sins and their own defect of Iustice and their inability of keeping it that they should desire the coming of Christ to satisfie for their sins and to accomplish the Law in his own person VI. That Christ was born at the time ordained by the father viz. when all iniquity abounded and not for the good works of any for all were sinners VII That Christ is truth life justice peace our pastor advocate oblation sacrificer that he is dead for the salvation of all believers and that he rose for their justification VIII Likewise we firmly believe that there is no other advocate or mediator for us sinners to the Father but Iesus Christ and that the blessed Virgin was holy humble full of grace and the same we believe of all other Saints and that they expect in heaven the resurrection of the body at the dayf Iudgment IX Item We believe that after this life that there are but two places one for those that are saved which we call Paradice and another for those that ae damned which we call Hell totally renouncing the doctrine of Purgatory invented by Antichrist and his Ministers X. Item We have always believed that it was an abomination of which we ought not to speak in the presence of God and invented by men viz. the doctrine of Feasts and Vigils of Saints of Holy Water of abstinence from flesh and other meats upon certain days and above all the doctrine of the Mass. XI We have in abomination humane traditions as being Antichristian and of great prejudice to the liberty of the Spirit XII We believe that the Sacraments are the signs or visible forms of holy things believing that from time to time the faithful should make use of those holy signs or visible forms if they can but nevertheless we believe that the faithful may be saved if they never received the foresaid signs or visible forms when they could not have an opportunity of receiving them XIII We never knew of any other Sacraments than Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. XIV We owe honour to all superiour powers in paying them subjection obedience and tribute with alacrity It 's now 570 years since this confession of Faith was made by the Churches of Piemont at which time all other Churches were corrupted by the mixture of humane doctrine and Pagan Ceremonies the world at that time being overspread with an Aegyptian darkness and so the Authors of both Religions agree in calling that age the dark age This confession of Faith being drawn from the writings of the holy Apostles and in every respect conformable to their Doctrine it follows by a necessary consequence that the Religion of the Vaudois is the true and pure Religion of the Apostles and that they have always kept it pure from the first receiving of it till the beginning of the eleventh age and from thence till these times since they now profess the same Faith and teach the same Doctrine that was contained in that famous confession All other Churches both of the East and West being infected with divers Heresies Satan for to hinder the advancement of the Reign of Jesus Christ has from time to time stirred up false Teachers who have sown their cursed Seed in the field of our Lord and by their false Doctrine varnished over with a seeming Piety have corrupted the doctrine of the Gospel This is what our Saviour foretold saying to his Disciples that false Christs and false Prophets would arise and would do signs and wonders to deceive if it were possible the elect c. St. Peter 2 Ep. C. 2. 1 2 3. prophesied the same thing there has been false Prophets among the people as likewise there will be among you false Teachers who shall privately introduce Sects of perdition and shall deny the Lord who hath redeemed them bringing upon them sudden perdition and many shall follow them by which the ways of Truth shall be blasphemed But O the wonderful works of God! who has conserved by his wise Providence the purity of his Religion in the Valleys of Piemont from the time of the Apostles to our time by a singular effect of his Goodness towards these poor people of the Vallys and has hindered that Satan by his false Doctors and Teachers could not sow the Cockle of their poysonous Doctrine in the mystical field of his Church Notwithstanding all their crafty endeavours God in spight of the Devil and all his works has kept among these Mountains and Deserts the bright light of his Gospel and has never suffered the candle to be extinguished and the great wonders that God has done from time to time to keep his bright Lamp always shining clear to these happy countries makes it evident that this is the place which God Apoc. 12 has prepared to keep and defend his Church in against the furious Attaques of the infernal Dragon who gave his power and throne to the Beast to make war against the Saints and to vanquish them For this is the true Desart where the woman Apoc. 12. 6. cloathed with the Sun with the Moon under her feet crowned with twelve Stars made her retreat where God had prepared her a place where she might be nourished 1260 prophetical days which make 1260 years where God Almighty has kept her safe against all the storms raised by Satan without any effect till the year 1686 the term of the Prophecy of the eleventh Chapter of the Revelations was accomplished it was then that the Beast which rose out of the deeps vanquished them and killed
things that are conformable to the Word of God who is the King of kings and Lord of lords XXXIII That we must receive the Creed of the Apostles the Lords Prayer the Ten Commandements as Fundamental Parts of our belief and of our Devotions We can likewise make it appear even by evidence drawn out of the Books of the Adversaries of the Vaudois that their Doctrine is the same as it 's represented in this confession and that it has always been so those that have a mind to see those Testimonies may find them in the General History written by Iohn Leger The Vaudois having conserved from Father to Son the purity of the Doctrine of the Apostles from the time they received it down to our days and made a constant profession publickly of this Celestial Doctrine they are by consequence the true Successors of the Apostles CHAP. III. Of the Ecclesiastical Government of the Churches of the Vaudois of Piemont and the Manners of the Vaudois BUT if they have succeeded the Apostles as to their Doctrine they likewise succeeded it as to the Order and Government of the Church In the Primitive Church Acts 20. The Apostles established for the government of it Elders Ephes. 4. 11. and Deacons as we may learn as well from the book of the Acts of the Apostles as from their Epistles Tit. 1. 5 6. the Pastors are likewise called Bishops and Elders 1 Tim. 3. they are called Pastors because they are to feed the Flock of Christ which are his Sheep with the good Word of God they are called Bishops which signifies Inspectors or Watchers because they are to watch and take care of the Flock which is committed to their charge they are called Elders because they ought to be Sage and Prudent and edifie those that are committed to them by their good life and conduct and so there were two sorts of Elders in the Primitive Church the one laboured in the Government of the Church only and the other besides the care they had of the affairs of the Church took also pains in Preaching and Explaining the Word 1 Tim. 5. 17. The Deacons had the care of the Poor and Pastors Elders and Deacons altogether had the government of the Church This is the Discipline that the Churches of Piemont have always kept as one may see in their ancient Manuscripts translated out of their Language into French and treated of succinctly in the Cap. 31. of the First Part of the General History of the Churches of the Vaudois in which writing it 's said the Churches there have always had Pastors Elders and Deacons to govern them as they had till the year 1686. when they were dispersed The Pastors employed themselves to instruct and exhort the people to live well and holily and the Pastors Elders and Deacons altogether watched over their Flock to banish all vice and scandal It was requisite that the Governors of the Church should be of a good Life and holy Conversation for to edifie others by their good Example There were Schools kept to breed up Youth in piety There was likewise a particular School for to instruct those that aspired to the Ministry where was taught Divinity They made the young Scholars learn by heart all the Chapters of the Gospels according to St. Matthew and St. Iohn and all the Canonical Epistles and a good part of the Writings of Solomon David and the Prophets There came to this School young men out of Bohemia and other places where the people of God dwelt and retained the profession of the ancient verity to be instructed in the Ministry The Vaudois were not only pure as to their Doctrine but likewise as to their Manners even their Adversaries witness the same Reynerus Sacco who was one of the first Inquisitors imployed by Rome against those of the Valleys speaks thus of them in his Relation which he made of them to the Court of Rome After he had told that Court that the Sect of the Vaudois was the eldest that had ever been it beginning in the time of the Apostles or at least of Sylvester he adds touching their Manners that whereas all other Sects did strike the hearers with horror of their many Blasphemies against God that this of the Valleys made great demonstration of piety for they live justly before the face of the World and in Chap. 7. of his Book he says the Vaudois are chast The President Du Thou commonly called Tuaanus in Chap 27. of his History says that the Vaudois observe the Ten Commandments of the Law which gives the rule of living holily and piously they give no entertainment to any sort of Vices in their Assemblies they have in horror and detest all sorts of unlawful Oaths Perjuries Wicked Imprecations Quarrels Seditions Debauches Drunkenness Whoring Inchantments Sacrileges Thest Usury Witchcraft and the like And Claudis de Seissel Archbishop of Turin in the Book he wrote against the Vaudois in the year 1500. confesses in formal terms that as to their Life and Manners they live in the world without reproach observing with all their power the Commandments of God We could alledge many other authorities of the bitterest Enemies of the Vaudois which they give of their good life and conversation but the curious may find them in the General History of the Vaudois if they think these be not sufficient CHAP. IV. Of the great Calm the Vaudois Churches enjoyed many Ages WE cannot find in the Ecclesiastical Histories the Vaudois or Christians of the Valleys of Piemont were persecuted under the reigns of Nero Domitian or any other of the Pagan Emperors who so cruelly persecuted the Christians it 's therefore probable that during those cruel persecutions many faithful Christians retired unto these Valleys to escape persecution and to save themselves from the bloody hands of those cruel Butchers as we saw in France during the last persecution that many of the Reformed Religion fled into the Woods Mountains and hid themselves in Caverns and Rocks to save themselves from the hands of the cruel and pitiless Dragoons and to avoid by their flight the danger of renouncing their Religion So the Church which is represented by the Woman is at the same time Rev. 12. described flying into the Wilderness from the fury of the Dragon And is there a more dreadful Wilderness than the Mountains of the Alpes which are covered with Snow eight or nine months of the year amongst which are these Valleys It 's said that in the Desart the Woman had a place prepared of God for her where she might be nourished 1260 days The Valleys have they not been the place which God has prepared to keep his Church safe in since the true Church has been always conserved here from the time of the Apostles even to our days without any interruption or want of succession that while the whole world ran after the Beast only the Inhabitants of these Valleys followed Jesus Christ c. walked according to the
the rays of Celestial light which shone in these sacred Books which rectifies our Understanding to discern and rightly tast the divine things contained in them V. That God has made all things of nothing by his free will and by the infinite power of his word VI. That he guides and governs all things by his providence ordering all things that happen in the World without being the author or cause of Evil that the Creatures do so that he is wholly without blame and evil can in no manner be imputed to him VII That the Angels having been created pure and holy some of them fell into sin and irreparable perdition but others persevered by an effect of the Divine Goodness who assisted them and confirmed them in grace VIII That Man who was created Pure Holy after the Image of God deprived himself by his own fault of this happy state giving his assent to the captious discourse of the Devil IX That man has lost by his Transgression the Justice and Holiness he received incurring with the indignation of God death and captivity under the power of him who hath the Empire of Death viz. the Devil to that degree that his free will is become a Servant and Slave of Sin so that by nature all men as well Jews as Gentiles are the Children of wrath dead in their sins and by consequence uncapable of having any good motion towards their Salvation nor to frame a good thought without Grace all their imaginations and thoughts being always evil X. That all the posterity of Adam were made guilty by his disobedience infected with the same Corruption and fallen into the same Calamity even young Children from the Womb of their Mother from whence comes the name of Original Sin XI That God withdrew out of this Corruption and Condemnation the Persons that he has chosen by his mercy in Jesus Christ his Son leaving others by an irreproachable justice of his Liberty XII That Jesus Christ being ordained of God in his eternal decree to be the only Saviour and the only head of his body which is his Church he has redeemed it with his own blood in the fulness of time and communicates to it all his benefits and favours by the Gospel XIII That therâ—… are two Natures in Jesus the divine and humane truly in one Person without Confusion without Division without Separation without Change each Nature keeping its distinct property and thaâ—… Jesus Christ is true God and man XIV That God has so loved the world that he has given his only Son for to save us by his most perfect Obedience particularly by that he suffered the cursed Death of the Cross and by the victories he gained over the Devil Sin and Death XV. That Jesus Christ having made an intire expiation of our Sins by a most perfect Sacrifice of himself upon the Cross it cannot nor ought not to be reiterated upon any pretence whatsoever XVI That Jesus Christ having fully reconciled us to God by his blood-shed upon the Cross it 's by his only merit and not by our works that we are absolved and justified before him XVII That we have an Union with Jesus Christ and Communion of his Benefits by Faith which are promised us by his holy Gospel XVIII That this Faith comes from the gratious and efficacious operations of the holy Ghost which illuminates our Souls and carries them to rely upon the mercy of God to be applyed by the Merits of Jesus Christ. XIX That Jesus Christ is our only and true Mediator not only as to Redemption but also as to Intercession and that by his Merits and Mediation we have access to the Father for to invoke him with a holy Confidence to be heard without any need of having recourse to any other Intercessor than him XX. That as God doth promise us regeneration in Jesus Christ those that are united to him by a lively Faith should apply themselves with all their heart to do good works XXI That good works are so necessary to the faithful that they cannot come to the Kingdom of Heaven without doing of them so we must walk in the ways of Justice and Righteousness sly all Vices and exercise our selves in all Christian Vertues imploying Fasting and all other means that may conduce to so holy an end XXII That though we cannot merit any thing by our good Works our Saviour will notwithstanding recompence them with eternal Life by a merciful Continuation of his Grace and in Vertue of an immoveable Constancy of his Grace and Promises XXIII That those that possess eternal Life for their Faith and good Works must be considered as Saints and glorified and praised for their Vertues intimated in all their excellent Actions But not adored or invoked for no Address of Prayer must be made to any but God alone through Jesus Christ. XXIV That God has gathered together a Church in this world for the Salvation of mankind but she has but one Head and Foundation which is Jesus Christ. XXV That this Church is the company of the Faithful who being elected by God before the Foundation of the world and called by a holy Vocation are united together for to follow the word of God believing that which he teaches and living in his Fear XXVI That this Church cannot fail or be quite destroyed but that it will always remain XXVII That every body must be a Member of that Church and keep in her Communion XXVIII That God doth not only instruct us by his word but that besides he has instituted Sacraments to be joyned to his word as the means to unite us to Christ and to communicate to us his Benefits and that there are but two common to all the Members of the Church under the new Testament viz. Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. XXIX That he has instituted the Sacrament of Baptism for a Testimony of our Adoption and that we are washed from our Sins in the Blood of Jesus Christ and renewed in Sanctity of Life XXX That he has instituted that of the Eucharist or of his Holy Supper for the nourishment of our Souls to the end that by a true and lively saith by the incomprehensible vertue of the Holy Ghost eating effectively his Flesh and drinking his Blood and uniting us most inseparably to Christ in him and by him we may have Eternal Life XXXI That it 's necessary that the Church have Pastors well instructed and of good life instituted by them that have the right to do it as well to Preach the Word of God as to administer the Sacraments and watch over the Flock of Christ following the rules of a good and holy Discipline conjointly with the Elders and Deacons according to the practice of the Ancient Church XXXII That God has established Kings and Magistrates for the government of his People and the People ought to be subject and obedient to them in vertue of the said Order not only for Anger but for Conscience in all