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A33984 Utrum horum, or, The nine and thirty articles of the Church of England, at large recited, and compared with the doctrines of those commonly called Presbyterians on the one side, and the tenets of the Church of Rome on the other both faithfully quoted from their own most approved authors / by Hen. Care. Care, Henry, 1646-1688. 1682 (1682) Wing C535; ESTC R2383 50,749 167

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and it is not possible that Church can err or hath erred at any time in any point Rhem. Annot. on Mat. 23. 2. The twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Authority of the Church THE Church hath Power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to Gods Word written neither may it so expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another wherefore although the Church be a Witness and a Keeper of Holy Writ yet as it ought not to decree any thing against the same so besides the same ought it not to inforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation The Presbyterians The Church has no Power to make any new Articles of Faith but ought simply to adhere to the Doctrine to which God has subjected all without exception It belongeth to Synods and Councils Ministerially to determine Controversies of Faith and Cases of Conscience to set down Rules and Directions for the better ordering of the publick Worship of God and Government of his Church To Receive complaints in Cases of male administration and Authoritatively to determine the same which Decrees and Determinations if consonant to the Word of God are to be receiv'd with Reverence and Submission not only for their Agreement with the Word but also for the power wherewith they are made as being an Ordinance of God appointed thereunto in his Word The Papists Hold that the Church hath Power to change the Sacraments ordain'd even by Christ himself as appears by this Decree of the Council of Trent This Holy Synod declares That the Church hath always had Power in dispensing the Sacraments their Substance being safe to appoint or change according to the variety of times and places such things as may most tend to the profit of the Receivers and greater Veneration of the Sacraments themselves and therefore though from the beginning of the Christian Religion the use of the receiving the Sacrament in both kinds was not unfrequent yet for certain grave and just Causes has approved the receiving only in one kind and decreed the same to be a Law The Church is to judge the Scriptures and not the Scriptures the Church The one and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Authority of general Councils GEneral Councils ought not to be gathered together without the Commandement and Will of Princes and when they be gathered together forasmuch as they be an Assembly of Men where of all be not governed with the Spirit Word of God they may err sometime have erred even in things pertaining to God wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to Salvation have neither Strength nor Authority unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture The Presbyterians For the better Government and further Edification of the Church there ought to be such Assemblies as are commonly call'd Synods or Councils As Magistrates may lawfully call a Synod of Ministers and other fit Persons to consult and advise with about matters of Religion so if Magistrates be open Enemies to the Church the Ministers of Christ of themselves by vertue of their Office or they with other fit Persons upon Delegation from their Churches may meet together in such Assemblies All Synods or Councils since the Apostles times whether general or particular may err and many have erred Therefore they are not to be made the Rule of Faith or Practice but to be used as an help in both Synods and Councils are to handle or conclude nothing but that which is Ecclesiastical and are not to intermeddle with Civil Affairs which concern the Common-Wealth unless by way of humble Petition in cases extraordinary or by way of advice for satisfaction of Conscience if they be thereunto required by the Civil Magistrate The Papists To the Popes it belongs to Appoint and direct general Councils Bulla Julii 3. Resumptionis Conc. Trid. A Diocesan Council is to be called by the Bishop a Provincial by the Archbishop a National one by a Patriarch or Primate but a general one the Pope can only call not the Emperour or any without the Popes Consent and approbation The Popes of Rome and not Christian Princes have the Authority and Power of making Laws Ecclesiastical and of calling Councils General Councils confirm'd by the Pope cannot err The two and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of Purgatory THE Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory Pardons Worshipping and Adoration as well of Images as of Reliques and also Invocation of Saints is a fond thing vainly invented and grounded upon no warrantry of Scripture but rather Repugnant to the Word of God The Presbyterians Purgatory is a mischievous Invention of Satan making void the Cross of Christ intollerably contumelious unto the Mercy of God and which shaketh and overthroweth our Faith The Bodies of Men after Death return to Dust and see Corruption but their Souls which neither dye nor sleep having an immortal subsistance return to God immediately who gave them the Souls of the Righteous being then made perfect in Holiness are received into the highest Heavens where they behold the Face of God in Light and Glory waiting for the full Redemption of their Bodies and the Souls of the Wicked are cast into Hell where they remain in Torments and utter Darkness reserv'd for the Judgment of the last day Besides these two places for Souls separated from their Bodies the Scripture acknowledgeth none The Papists Whereas the Catholick Church guided by the Holy Ghost out of the Holy Scriptures the ancient Tradition of the Fathers and lately in this Vniversal Synod hath taught that there is a Purgatory and the Souls there detained are help'd by the Suffrages of the Faithful especially by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar Therefore this Synod commands Bishops that they diligently study and use their endeavours that the sound Doctrine of Purgatory delivered from the Holy Fathers and Sacred Councils be believ'd and heard of the Faithful of Christ and every where Taught and Preached And that the Suffrages of the Faithful living viz. Sacrifices of the Mass Prayers Alms and other works of Piety which are wont to be made by the Faithful for other Faithful People Deceased be piously and devoutly performed according to the Institution of the Church And that what is due for the same by any Persons Wills or otherwise shall not perfunctorily but diligently and accurately be paid and performed by the Priests and Ministers of the Church who are bound to do the same Seeing the power of bestowing Indulgences is by Christ bestowed on the Church and she even in the most ancient times hath used such Power given to her of God The most Holy Synod teacheth and commandeth that the use of Indulgences so wholesom for Christian People and approved by the Authority of Sacred
the Living but also for those that are departed in Christ who are not yet fully purged Whoever saith That by the Sacrifice of the Mass the most Holy Sacrifice of Christ finished on the Cross is Blasphemed or that it derogateth from it Let him be Anathema The two and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of the Marriage of Priests BIshops Priests Deacons are not commanded by Gods Law either to vow the Estate of single life or to abstain from Marriage Therefore it is Lawful for them also as for all other Christian Men to Marry at their own discretion as they shall judge the same to serve better to Godliness The Presbyterians Certainly the forbidding Marriage to Priests is an ungodly Tyranny not only against Gods Word but also against all Equity If an impossible Vow be the certain destruction of the Soul which God would have to be Saved not lost it follows That we are not to persist therein but the Vow of Continency to those who have not a special Gift is impossible The Papists Whosoever shall say That Clerks entred into Holy Orders or Regulars that is Monks Friers and Nuns having solemnly professed Chastity may contract Matrimony or that being contracted it is good any Law Ecclesiastick or Vow notwithstanding or that all who feel not that they have the Gift of Chastity may although they have vowed it Marry Let him be Anathema The three and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of Excommunicated Persons how they are to be avoided THat Person which by open Denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the Vnity of the Church and Excommunicated ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the Faithful as an Heathen and Publican until he be openly reconciled by Pennance and received into the Church by a Judge that hath Authority thereunto The Presbyterians Church Censures are necessary for the reclaiming and gaining of offending Brethren for the deterring of others from the like offences for the purging out of that Leaven which might infect the whole lump for vindicating the Honour of Christ and the Holy profession of the Gospel and for preventing the wrath of God which might justly fall upon the Church if they should suffer his Covenant and the Seals thereof to be profan'd by notorious and obstinate offenders For the better obtaining of these ends the Officers of the Church are to proceed by Admonition Suspension from the Sacrament of the Lords Supper for a season and by Excommunication from the Church according to the nature of the Crime and demerit of the Person The Papists Do not in Terms contradict this Article but are guilty of many Errors and vile Superstitions about Excommunication As 1. In the form of it For thus Gratian in the Decrees Caus 11. q. 3. cap. 106. debent reports the manner of it in that Church Twelve Priests ought to stand round about the Bishop with lighted Tapers in their hands which at the end of the Curse or Excommunication they ought to throw upon the ground and tread upon with their Feet and then a Letter is to be sent throughout the Parishes with the Names of those Excommunicated and the Causes of it Others relate the Ceremony more largely thus That it is done with three Candles or Tapers and that they Curse the Parties Soul and Body to the Devil and say Let us quench their Souls in Hell Fire if they be Dead as this Candle is put out and therewith one of the lights is presently extinguisht If they be alive Let us pray that their Eyes may be put out at this Candle and so out goes the Second And that all their Senses may fail them as this Candle loseth its light and so the Third is gone All which is performed with ringing of a Bell as the Magdeburgenses Cent. 13. cap. 6. relate whence arises our Proverb of Cursing With Bell Book and Candle 2. In the Causes of it gross Sins escape For their ungodly Law saith He that hath not a Wife but instead of a Wife a Concubine Let him not be debarred from the Communion They are the very Words of Gratian decret dist 34. cap. 4. Is qui non habet Uxorem pro Uxore Concubinam a Communione non repellatur and yet they Trifle with this Tremendous Censure in most trivial Cases The Arch Bishop of Canterbury in King Henry the 4ths time laid an Interdict on the Churches of London for not Ringing their Bells when he went through the City D'Auroult himself a Jesuite in his Book Intituled Flores Exemplorum Tom. 1. Tit. 63. ex 9. Licensed by the Provincial of that Order not 70 years ago complains thus We are fallen now saith he into such times That if a Person hath but lost his Rakes or Mattocks or his Fork he thinks he cannot find them by any more convenient means than by the Sentence of Excommunication viz. upon the Stealers if they do not Restore them 'T is true the Council of Trent Sess 25. cap. 3. inter Decret Reform Ordains That no Excommunications for discovery as they are called of lost or stollen Goods should pass by any other Person than the Bishop himself and then with great Circumspection Which shews that such abuses had been commonly practis'd and that they held the same not unlawful Provided the Bishop granted the Sentence 3. In the Subjects They extend it to the Dead Their grand Council of Constance Cursed Wickliffe more than forty Years after he was Dead And D'Auroult in his Book last cited Tom. 1. Tit. 62. Ex. 1. gravely gives the Reason of it Although saith he the Dead cannot properly be Excommunicated or Absolv'd yet in as much as they are in respect of their Bodies either in the Bowels of the Earth or upon it the Church for terrors sake Excommunicateth and Absolveth some Nay they thunder it out against Insects and Inanimate things For St. Bernerd they tell us Excommunicated the Flies that troubled him when he went about to Consecrate an Oratory at Fusniack and in the Morning they were all found dead if you will believe the Life of that Saint l. 1. cap. 12. Sparrows us'd to foul St. Vincents Church The Bishop of the Place Excommunicated them and they never came there more nay if any caught a Sparrow and thrust it into the Church 't would presently dye de Tempore Serm. 69. A Priest saying Mass to the Young Men they would be running out to gather Fruit in an adjoining Orchard and he Excommunicated it and it ever after was barren Promptuar Serm. dist Exempl 41. To conclude the Devil himself hath not escaped them A Woman was six years plagued with an Incubus Devil soliciting her to naughtiness she complains to St. Bernard he Excommunicates the Devil and Interdicts his Access to her or any other St. Antonines Chronicle part 2. tir 17. cap. 5. Sect. 9. What a graceless Religion is this to tell such ridiculous lyes and sport thus with an Institution