the Lord and Giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son is together Worshipped and Glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe One Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church the Communion of Saints One Baptism for Remission of Sins and Remission of Sins after Baptism by the Discipline of the Church duly executed the Resurrection of the Dead and Life Everlasting in the World to come Moreover I believe That the Article of the Belief of the Holy Catholick Church was put into the Ancient Creeds and placed immediately after those of the Holy Trinity for special Reasons and as a Matter of the next greatest * Note It is the Kingdom of Christ in this World tho' not of this World a great Favour deign'd to Mankind a great Obligation to Unity Unanimity and Charity for all Schismaticks are Mutiniers and Rebels and all in a State of Schism in a State of Rebellion and the Sin of Schism in the Church is a greater Sin than the Sin of Rebellion in a Civil State tho' both may much vary according to several Circumstances Importance to be believed confessed and observed in Order to the rest 2. That this Holy Catholick Church is a Sacred Society formed into One Body by the Ministery of the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ according to a General Commission and Special Instructions received from Him under the Conduct of his Spirit and Special Providence who promised to be with them alway even to the end of the World that is with them and their Successours regularly Succeeding in their Seats the Churches founded by them and others constituted by their Successours and that the Gates of Hell should never prevail against it 3. That the Form and Government of this Great Body the Holy Catholick Church by Presbyters Bishops Arch-Bishops or Metropolitans Primates and Patriarchs was not any Humane Project or Invention or Casual thing but what was designed by the Wisdom of God as necessary for the Constitution Preservation and Government of it in and as One Intire Body and was so formed by the Apostles and their Successors by the Special Instructions and Directions of our Saviour and under the Conduct of the Spirit and Special Providence of God who had prepared the Roman Empire for a kind of Mould to form it in and wherein it received its compleat Formation by degrees in a very Natural manner 4. That there was some * This is granted by Dr. Barrow upon Conviction of Scripture divers Reasons and Authority of Fathers who generally seem to countenance it Tr. of Supr Lond. 1680. p. 46 48. Special Privilege at least of a Primacy partly given to St. Peter and which he held under our Saviour among the rest of the Apostles in our Saviour's Life-time and partly designed for him afterwards as is very observable in various Instances in the Histories of the Gospel and in divers Speeches and Actions many of them Mystical of our Saviour and was commonly believed by the Ancient Christians And that the like Priviledge as that which he held among the Apostles was by the Design and Order of Almighty God to continue in his Successors in the Church †Note Those glorious Predictions concerning the Church of Christ viz. Conversion of Nations and Subjection of Secular Powers have in no part of the Catholic Church been so eminently and even literally fulfilled as in the particular Church of Rome of Rome among the rest of the Bishops that Place being ordered by the Divine Wisdom as most fit for the Chief Seat in our Saviour's Kingdom the Church which had been occupied by the Enemy as the chief Seat in the Empire who was then to be cast out and Possession to be taken for our Saviour by his two chief Apostles as his Deputies And that such Privilege of the chief Seat hath been acknowledged by the Ancient Christians and in all after-Ages and was never denied or questioned but upon Claim or Usurpation of more than due 5. That this Sacred Society being of Special Divine Institution the Government thereof is much more the Ordinance of God than any Civil Authority in the World whatever and Disobedience thereunto a greater Sin and the Coercive Power of the Church by Excommunication duly exercised a greater Punishment than any the Civil Authority can inflict 6. That tho' both the Sacred and the Civil Power be the Ordinance of God yet the Sacred is the more Excellent in respect of the Author of its Constitution and Specification of it s more immediate relation to Him who is the Supream Being of its End of the Subject being a Sacred Society and of the Amplitude of the Society being Catholick diffused over all the World and in respect of the Extent of its Coercive Power to exclude out of the Kingdom of Christ and from the Privileges thereof And that all civil Authority ought to be Subject and Subservient to it both being very consistent and each having Means proper and sufficient to maintain its own Rights but they both ought to be mutually assistent to the Service of the Supream Lord of all and to each other in order thereunto 7. That if any Civil Authority presume to oppress any part of this Sacred Society by Persecution Usurpation or any Restraint or Impediment of the Free Exercise of the Right or Authority belonging to it or Duty incumbent upon it all such Presumption is Sacrilege and Impiety against God and just Cause for any other civil Authority to ingage for the Relief of it And upon Complaint to the Metropolitan Primate or Patriarch as Occasion may be He with a competent Number of others upon * What Qu. Eliz. did by Advice of her Privy Council in assisting the Scotch French and Dutch against their respective Soveraigns may much more be done by any others upon so Solemn Sacred Consultation and Resolution by open War on behalf of the Oppressed Consultation in Synod or by Letters may proceed to Sentence against the Offender and that justly and solemnly declared and signified to other Metropolitants and Bishops they may either leave it so to the Judgment of Almighty God or admonish other civil Authorities of it as may be judged most proper or necessary according to the Circumstances of the Case 8. That because nothing is more destructive to certain Right than Misuse †Such is that Doctrine which Dr. Barrow saith he contests against p. 30. §. 13 14. But in the next §. he saith there are great store of Divines of the Roman Communion who contract that Power into a narrower compass So that tho' he strains as much as he can the Reader is deceived who thinks he hath confuted or opposeth all Supremacy in the Pope Claim of more than is due or by a wrong Title and false or insufficient Proofs possibly ill Use and ill Defence may have so obscured the Lustre of this Right in the Church that
have been falsly charged and wronged in divers things Effects a Form of Godliness but little of the Power much Talk of Religion but little of the tâ—ue Works much in the Head but little in the Heart some Beginnings some little Progress but rarely any thing brought to Perfection or more compleat than the Chickens which are said to be hatched in some artificial Stoves which tho' otherwise brought to Maturity are all maimed in one part or other and generally Decays of Piety and Virtue even from the beginning such as made Luther complain That since the Gospel was preached in its Purity as he called it People were grown worse than under the Papacy And certainly if we come to Comparison as to the Fruits one Disciple of Ignatius Loyola since Luther Francis Xavier a Missioner of the Pope produced more true Evangelical Fruits in the compass of Ten Years or little more in Conversion of Infidels and more illustrious Evidences of a Divine Power with him than all the Reformers put together ever since Luther began to this day which is a great Divine Attestation both to his Order and to the Authority by which he was sent and the more considerable in respect of the Time the very time of the pretended Reformation as if ordered on purpose by the Divine Providence for an Evidence of the Difference of the Spirits by which the two Works were promoted And if we consider the Effects in respect of the Church of Rome I believe they will not upon a just Examination appear to have been better in those who on pretence of Reformation have made the Separation than in the Church they have gone out of and that there wants nothing but a more compleat Reformation of the Churches of the Roman Communion for a final Demonstration by an end of this pretended Reformation that it was no other than a temporary Judgment for Correction of what was amiss in the Church 30. That among all the pretended Reformations it may be a question Whether any was introduced with greater Wickedness or settled at last with greater Faults than this of the Church of England how much soever magnified by such as have or expect Preferments in it But to pass by the wicked Practices first to hector and terrifie with false Accusations and Pretences Wolsey out of his Life then the rest of the Clergy into a Recognition of an Antichristian Supremacy and Subjection of the Rights of the Church to the Will of a wicked Tyrant then the Superiors of the Religious Houses to surrender all their Goods and Estates and then by like Practices to get all confirmed by Act of Parliament partly hectoring and partly bribing and ingaging the Nobility and Gentry with the Spoils into a Compliance with the most horrible Sacrilege and Devastation of the Goods and Estates of the Religious of which ten Thousand at a time were turned out and put to shift for themselves with Forty Shillings and a Gown a piece besides all this the Guilt of which may still remain there are these Monstrous Faults the Effects of that Wickedness still remaining in the Constitution of this Reformed Church 1. As to the Government a Sacrilegious Usurpation upon the Rights of the Church in the Nomination of Bishops Deans Prebends c. with a prophane Mockery or Abuse of a Mock Election of Persons imposed upon them and in holding Synods and making and executing Canons and Constitutions all continued in the Power of the Prince by Act of Parliament and given up by the Clergy So that if we have Bishops as they are called they are neither Canonically chosen nor are permitted or dare to exercise any Authority of a National Church And should we have a Deist Infidel or one ill affected to Christianity what a Church might here be expected in a few Years 2. It is a mutinous Body actually separated from the great Body of the Kingdom of Christ the Catholick Church and hath no actual Communion with any Church which is not broken off from that Body or which is regularly and orderly by Succession of Presbyters descended from the Apostles 3. As to the Worship the Publick Liturgy has been so curtelled and disordered by Cranmer and a secret Faction in the principal part that they have abolished not only the Commemoration of the Saints and Prayers for the Dead but even the Prayer at the Consecration for the Descent of the Holy Spirit and whatever might import any thing of Oblation of the Commemorative Sacrifice of our Saviour's Passion which hath always been reputed the Principal most Solemn and Peculiar part of the Christian Worship throughout the whole Catholick Church 4. As for the Discipline if we have Bishops they are so awed by the Civil Authority on the one side with Prohibitions and hampered by their Chancellours on the other that there is little left for them to exercise of the proper Authority of a Diocesian Church but they bear the blame of those Scandals they cannot remedy 5. But after all it may be a Question Whether we have Bishops that is true Christian Bishops at all or only a sort of State Bishops without any true Spiritual and Apostolical Authority or other than what was derived from the King and dependent â—pon him These things being so I thought it my Duty to make this Profession of Faith and Declaration That I Disclaim Renounce and Detest that Horrible Sacrilege of the Dissolution of the Monasteries that greater Sacrilege of Vsurpation by the Civil Authority of the Rights of the Church instituted by Divine Authority the Sacrilegious Corruptions of the Liturgy the Erastian Heresie of Cranmer the Condemnation and Execution of the Right-Reverend Bishop Fisher Sir Thomas More and the rest who suffered in Person and the Condemnation and Deprivation of the Clergy who suffered in their Rights and Estates for Denying Contradicting or Refusing to Swear to the pretended Supremacy of the Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Matters and all Laws Statutes c. which restrain the free Exercise of the Christian Discipline or any Rites of the Church or were intended to establish confirm or authorize any of the Sacrileges Usurpations Corruptions or Condemnations aforesaid as wicked unjust and Schismatical and contrary to the Law of God and to one of the chief Fundamental Principles of the Laws of this Land and that I do sincerely and heartily desire an actual Communion as there may be occasion with all Churches under the Government of a regular Succession of Bishops and Presbyters from the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and in actual Communion with the Catholick Church and desire it particularly with the Church of France being the next so qualified and in order thereunto do hereby for my part humbly make a Publick Tender thereof FINIS
A Profession of FAITH COMPRIZING The Ancient FORMS OF THE CATHOLICK CHURCH With other Articles relating to The Terms of Communion WITH THE Present Church of ROME By E. S. an English Catholick LONDON Printed Anno Dom. 1700. THE PREFACE SINCE our Saviour hath so affectionately expressed and so admirably demonstrated his Love to his Church and hath so effectually recommended and injoined to all his Disciples the Members of it Mutual Charity one to another and his Blessed Apostle hath so earnestly and obligingly both dehorted from all Divisions and Dissentions and exhorted all to Unity and Unanimity And since such terrible Judgment is denounced both against such as cause Scandal and Offences and against such as resist the Ordinance of God in the Powers that be in Church or State It is not to be questioned but this Great Schism which after many Complaints of Pious and Judicious Persons and divers Warnings by the poor Waldenses the Albigenses by Wicliff by John Huss and Hierome of Prague was at last begun by Martin Luther about 180 Years since and is continued with much Unchristian Hatred and Abhorrence of one another to this day in the principal part of his Church is greatly displeasing to our Saviour who hath done and suffered so much for it and very pernicious to his Church and upon both Considerations just matter of Grief and Trouble to all sincere considerate Christians and such as is not only an effectual Motive but a strict Obligation to avoid all Participation in either the Scandals of the one side or other Miscarriages on the other or the Animosities between both and to be ready to contribute what may be toward a good Accommodation upon true Christian and Catholick Terms This is certainly the Duty of all but few are sensible of it The greatest part are so affected to the peculiar Principles of their own Party that they are more concerned for them and their particular Interest than for the Common Interest of Christianity Some in Simplicity in fact supposing if not expressly asserting an Infallibility in their own Party and others no less byassed by temporal Interest and amongst those of most Vnderstanding and Candor rarely any so clear and free from all Secret Partiality but they are apt to vindicate their own Party in matters in difference beyond due regard to so desirable an Accommodation and deceive themselves with Pretences of Obedience Peace and Charity in so doing tho' thereby â—hey make themselves more specially accessory to the continuance of the Schism which is contrary to both Peace and Charity without which their pretended Obedience may be only a sinful Compliance Of all this I have been long sensible and therefore tho' in the Church to which I thought my self first and principally obliged I saw divers things amiss yet I thought them not sufficient to justifie my Separation from it and besides I saw so much every where else amiss that I knew not whither to go for the better I was for Universal Charity to all Men Catholick Communion with all Christians unless where I saw special Cause for the contrary and for Perfect Obedience to all Superiors according to their Authority and consistent with Duties of Prior and Superior Obligation And then while I lived in a Civil State I acted in all things with good Satisfaction But when I was beyond my Expectation suddenly engaged in Holy Orders for a special Service unto which I had been long much affected and devoted and was then led by a secret surprizing Conduct of Divine Providence I soon discovered what I had not sufficiently considered before in the most Solemn and Peculiar part of the Christian Worship of God which I was to perform such a Departure from the Practice of the Holy Catholick Church that I could not perform the Obedience I would to this Particular Church without Disrespect to that and Participation therein with notorious Sectaries and Schismaticks who had shamefully abused and imposed upon this For this Sore I had prepared an effectual Plaster to have healed it without exposing the Shame might it have been applied But when I saw nothing could prevail I thought it time to withdraw and when I could not help others to look to my self and more particularly that I live not in Schism while I seek to avoid it For which purpose I could think of no better Expedient for my Security than according to Ancient Practice to send a Profession of my Faith to such Persons as I thought most proper both at Home and Abroad In the Church of Rome and all the Churches in Communion with it I acknowledge a true Apostolical Authority and so far I do heartily imbrace it and submit to it If they abuse it they must answer for it not I I must pity them deplore the Abuses pray for them and as a dutiful Child do what I can for them without partaking in or incouraging any thing amiss But in those who pretend to be Reformed and particularly here in England I can discover no such Authority neither in the Root nor in the Fruit but they seem to me like Branches separated from the Body deprived of the true Sap and nourished only by the common Air and a peculiar Juice of another kind according to the different Soils they are planted in Yet do I not think fit to remit any thing of my Charity and Good Will to any of them or readiness to serve them Nor do I know how better to express it than by such plain dealing as I have here used It is but the effect of that Fidelity which I owe to God and to his Church and to themselves also Even in that very Respect with which I treat the Authority of Christ in the Church of Rome tho' it may appear to them like Partiality at the first I do intend a Kindness to them in an exemplary Admonition to distinguish between the Authority of Christ committed to Man and the Faults of Men intrusted with it and not to desire the Destruction of the Field of our Lord because the Enemy hath sowed Tares in it And that they may perceive if they observe and consider well what Care I take not to betray any Truth of God which I believe to be such by any false Colours or unfit Compliance For I have not written any thing but what I believe to be true yet if I be mistaken in any thing shall be glad to be better inform'd and tho' I think I cannot better approve my Respect to our Saviour than by much Concern for his Church yet I think I cannot better demonstrate the Sincerity of my Affection to it than by not complying with such things as I fear will provoke farther Displeasure of our Lord against it if the Warnings and Admonitions of more gentle Corrections be not answered as they ought with a due Humiliation giving Glory to God and Amendment For as whole Societies of Men are apt to fall into as great Sins as particular Persons and
such as provoke as great Judgments tho' longer before they come to the height so ought the like Means of Humiliation Self-Condemnation giving Glory to God and Amendment be used by them to prevent greater Severities of his Judgments If the true State and Dignity of that Church amongst all the Churches according to the Ordinance of God was better considered on all sides it would soon make all more sensible of their Duties and of their Transgressions of it for which they have much to answer For as that Church is the Principal in the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth and hath always been so esteemed so ought all true and considerate Christians to have a special concern for so eminent a part of the Body of Christ and to pray for and seek the Peace and Prosperity of this our Hierusalem even to the last after the great Example of our Saviour And on the other side they who hold so eminent a place in the Kingdom of Christ ought not like Men of the World to think too highly of themselves for the Dignity of the Place but like true Christians be humbled in themselves through a due sense of the Importance of the Duty and a proportionable Concern for the faithful Discharge of it according to the special Caution of one of their Founders to themselves Rom. 11.18 20 21 22. and the necessary Admonition of the other 1 Pet. 5.2 3 4. as he himself had been admonished by his Master Jo. 21.15 16 17. and according to the most excellent Instructions Directions Admonitions and Example of that great and most excellent Master of all to all who treated all with all the Mildness Gentleness Condescention and Tenderness that could be instructing and speaking unto them as they were able to hear it Mark 4.33 and forbearing many things till his Disciples could bear them Jo. 16.12 and forbad the forbidding of such as of good Will promoted his Service and were not against them tho' not yet in their Company Mar. 9.38 39 40. and of such as brought but little Children unto him Mar. 10.14 and was amongst his own not as a Lord but as one that serveth Luk. 22.24 27. But all ought to consider well the Nature of this Kingdom and what is the true Interest of it that it is a Spiritual Kingdom not imaginary but real and most powerful and to know whence and how that Power is to be attained and how to be retained and used and to consider well and understand not only the general Rules and Instructions given at first by our Lord but the special Notices of his Pleasure signified in the several Acts of his Providential Discipline and what all this doth require of them in their respective Stations and wisely apply themselves to the Performance of it This would soon detect and rectifie all that is amiss But it is not for me nor for this place to proceed farther in discourse of these things Some are offended or think it strange that I should offer to communicate with the Church of France where such terrible Persecutions are executed against Protestants I confess I pity them as Sufferers and more as Sufferers for Conscience tho' perhaps mistaken Conscience in many things but I do not think ever the better of them for being Protestants Nor do I know that the Church of France is concerned in it but believe it proceeds from Reasons of State and very good reason I am well satisfied there is that the King should desire and use all just and reasonable means that his Subjects may all agree in the same Religion The Disturbances in that Kingdom heretofore by bringing in Foreigners and the Indignities that have been done by some of the principal of their Ministers with the Approbation and Applause of too many others to the Primitive Christians and the Catholick Church and in them to Christianity it self are things which I think deserve a sharp Penance But I wish on each side it was well considered what is necessary to make their own Cause good in the sight of God and Man for I am sure then there would soon be an end of their Differences The People ought to consider that divers points heretofore as confidently asserted by their Leaders as any have since been detected by learned Men amongst themselves to have been much mistaken and that may reasonably make them less to presume upon any of the rest and because Obedience to Civil Magistrates in omnibâ—â— licitis honestis is a certain Duty they ought to go as far in Obedience as they can without any Exception but such as they can assure themselves will be allowed by Almighty God and if it may be by all moderate and judicious Christians Such a Tender as this I should hope might move the King's Clemency to consider of his Terms of Conformity that there may be nothing in them but what is truly Catholick as to Matters of Religion and such as he can assuredly expect the Approbation of God and his Blessing in his Proceedings upon them and to remove all Scandals out of the way which I think as Glorious a Work as any thing he can undertake For those unhappy Divisions are undoubtedly a Judgment of God and Scandals a special Cause of it Of how great Concern it is to this Nation that these matters of Religion be taken into better Consideration I have lately already in the Preface to my Discourse Of Prayers for the Dead said as much as I thought necessary and therefore forbear to say any more of it here A Profession of Faith Comprizing the Ancient Forms of the Catholick Church With other Articles relating to The Terms of Communion With the present CHURCH OF ROME By E. S. an English Catholick I Believe in One GOD the Father Almighty Creatour of Heaven and Earth and of all things Visible and Invisible And in One LORD Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of his Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made consubstantial with the Father by whom all things were made who for us Men and for our Salvation descended from Heaven and was conceived and incarnate by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary and made Man and also suffered for us under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried descended into * Tho we have no word of an adequate signification with this yet must this here signifie more than Dead for that 's a tautology not fit for a Summary Hades and the third day rose again from the Dead according to the Scriptures and having forty days frequently conversed with his Apostles speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God the Church and given them Commands special secret Instructions ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right Hand of God the Father Almighty and from thence shall come again with Glory to judge both the Living and the Dead Whose Kingdom shall have no End And in the Holy Ghost
Ignorance and Error may be some Excuse for divers actual Vsurpations of the Civil Authority yet is all such Usurpation in it self more or less Sacrilegious and Impious and what may provoke some Secret Curse upon the Guilty tho' through Ignorance or Error especially if continued after Notice And for the Clergy to comply with it is to betray the Rights of the Church and of Christ himself But for any one to assert and maintain any such as Lawful or the Right of the Magistrate Heresie and a Betraying both of Church and State the one to Oppression the other into Sin and Divine Vengeance the Punishment thereof 9. That the Christian Religion was instituted and the Word of God taught and delivered to the World by our Saviour and by his Apostles by his express Command by Preaching and Teaching viva voce and Orders settled in the Church by the Apostles by Word and Deed and continued by Observation in Fact without Writing And whatever hath equal Evidence of Apostolical Authority is of Equal Authority whether Written as the Holy Scriptures or Unwritten the Writing adding nothing of Authority but only of Evidence as St. Paul himself exhorting the Thessalonians to stand fast and hold the Traditions which ye have learned whether by Word or by our Epistle makes no difference unless it be in preferring the Word before the Epistle And therefore since the Wisdom of God hath provided a double Evidence of things concerning the Christian Religion it is not true Piety but Impiety The Faith which Christians are eatnestly to contend for is that which was once delivered to the Saints Jud. 3 whether by Word or Writing v. 1 Cor. 11.2 23 15.3 2 Pet. 2.21 to reject either or set them one against the other and the common Practice of all Hereticks and Schismaticks even from the Apostles times as appears by Irenaeus and in all after-Ages to oppose the one and then pervert the other to their own purpose 10. That in Matters of common Faith and Manners and necessary Orders and Observances wherein the Churches founded by the several Apostles were by them ordinarily instructed and ordered viva voce and not by Instructions and Orders in Writing it is unreasonable to interpret the Scriptures contrary to the Sense and Practice of the Catholick Church and the approved Rule of Vincensius Lirinensis And in such extraordinary Matters as were not commonlâ— taught or ordered by the Apostles after the common Faith Tit. 1.4 or Matters of lesser moment to raise or maintain any Contention in the Church especially against the Authority is immodest uncharitable and unchristian The most questioned is Matrimony which being of so much Importance to Mankind instituted by God celebrated Solemnly in the Church with Imposition of Hands and Benediction of the Priest often by St. Augustin expresaly call'd a Sacrament might reasonably be allowed that Title at least by those who contend so much for Enjoyments of it contrary to the Custom of the Apostles and of the Churches of God v. 1 Cor. 11.16 11. That tho' there be no Catholick Tradition for any Difinite Number of Sacraments yet since by the Latin Churches it has been declared that there are Seven which are properly so called and it cannot be denied that they are all Means used with visible Signs or Significant Actions by Divine Authority to confer or obtain some special Grace it is great Insolence Uncharitableness and Indecency unbecoming the Profession of Christianity to raise or maintain a Contention against such Authority about the Number which may be differently computed to be either more or fewer by reason that Imposition of Hands and Vnction two very considerable Signs and of Divine Institution may be and are used for divers purposes But because there is no Evidence either of Holy Scripture or of Catholick Tradition that they were all particularly instituted by our Saviour I cannot believe that I could with a good Conscience and safely either swear or profess that they were or that such an Article can be made one of the Terms of Communion with any Church without exposing the Authority of that Church obstructing the Increase of the Kingdom of Christ and administring Occasion of Dissentions among his Subjects and incurring his Displeasure by an Act so unfuitable to his Example and Directions 12. That it is great Presumption and Impiety to reject or censure the received and approved Ceremonies of the Catholick Church used in the Administration of the Sacraments tho' they may not be generally understood For as Origen rightly observes In the Observations of the Church there are some of such sort that it is necessary that all observe them tho' the Reason of them be not apparent to all And God injoined the Observation of such Ceremonies even to Moses in doing of Miracles as few know the Reason of to this Day and yet had he not observed them undoubtedly the Effect had not followed Also that ordinarily all Rites Ceremonies Observations and Constitutions not only of the Catholick Church but of National Provincial and particular Diocesian Churches not disallowed by superior Authority ought reverently and religiously to be observed till they be regularly altered But special Care ought to be taken that the Divine Institutions which only are Essential and absolutely necessary be not confounded eclipsed or obscured by Multiplicity or Formality of any Additions of Humane Invention tho' it be very probable that in the Institution of them in so great Simplicity and the Records of them with so much Brevity there might be a Divine Design to leave Circumstantials and Matters of Indifference to the Ordering of the Church both to express her Devotion and to exercise her Authority and the Peoples Humility Submission and Obedience Graces very necessary to qualifie Souls for the Coelestial State and not so naturally improved as by Exercise under Creatures of the same Rank and Order 13. That the Word Missa in English The Mass was in the Latin Churches in the times of St. Augustin and St. Ambrose and before commonly used for what in the Greek Churches was called Liturgia that the Canon of the Mass which is the principal part is the most Ancient Form for the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist that is known to have been used in any of the Latin Churches more ancient than the times aforesaid and in common use in all or in most of the Latin Churches without any considerable Variations in all Ages since tho' there were divers Variations in other parts And that in the due Celebration of the Blessed Eucharist there is not only a Sacrament but also a * In this have with me besides the Authority of the Catholic Church in all Ages which Mr. Jos Mede hath sufficiently produced to my hand the concurrent Judgment of the most learned English Clergy ever since the first English Liturgy was composed Sacrifice commemorative of our Saviour's Passion and Sacrifice of Himself upon the Cross as effectual to all Intents and Purposes
justifiable where by Prohibition or Injunction but rather scandalous as if designed to conceal an ill Cause however seems to savour more of Worldly and Humane Wisdom than of the true Christian and Divine to be a great Occasion of Dissentions a great Obstacle of Re-union and Disservice to the Kingdom of Christ 20. That Prayers to Saints departed hath no Apostolick or true Catholick Authority or Warrant according to the approved Rule before-mentioned yet if there be nothing equivalent against it since it hath * Near 1300 Years long since been a received Practice of the whole Catholick Church in all Parts of the World and of many Persons greatly honoured by God with extraordinary Graces Divine Communications and very great Blessings and Success in his Service and since special Honor to the Memories of Martyrs hath the Authority of a true Catholick Practice and of Divine Approbation by Miracles attested by most credible and eminent Persons in the Church such as S. Ambrose S. Augustin S. Basil S. Chrysostom c. it seems great Presumption to censure it as many do But it is very likely that divers and great Abuses may have been and are committed in the Practice which by the Permission of God hath raised such a Storm of Reformation through the Malice of the Devil against it Which Abuses if they be not already ought carefully to be reformed and repressed and especially in the Use of Pictures and Images by reason of the Scandal and Offence by them given both to Jews and Mahometans and to many Christians whereof an Account will undoubtedly be required v. Lu. 17.1 2. 21. That the Use of the Sign of the Cross hath that Authority from the known Practice of the Ancient Christians and that Evidence of Divine Approbation in the Conversion and Victories of Constantine that tho' it is probable that the Abuses of it which have been committed and permitted in the Church may have provoked the Displeasure of God yet the furioâ—s Opposition and Indignation which hath been shewed against it looks very like the Effect of the Malice and Revenge of the Powers of Darkness let loose which had been so affronted terrified and exposed by it instigating a contrary Superstition and abused Zeal in the People Which therefore requires that special Care be taken that Christianity be not exposed and the poor People abused into false Confidences by things which tho' innocent and useful in themselves may notwithstanding be subject to much Abuse 22. That the Discipline of the Church is a Matter of very great Importance for the Maintenance and Preservation of the Honour and Power of Religion so Powerful a Means that if exercised as it ought it would soon make all the World to know who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the greatest Kings and Emperors to submit their Crowns and Scepters to his Empire But the Imprudence and Unfaithfulness of his Ministers in deserting their true and proper Strength and applying to the Arm of Flesh made it necessary for him to withdraw his Glorious Presence and leave them to experiment the Insufficiency and Deceitfulness of the Supports they had chosen till at last finding nothing but an empty Shell they were willing to make the best they could of it Tho' it be very true that the Power of Indulgencies was given and left by Christ to his Church and the Use of them is very beneficial and necessary for his Church and People yet was that Power tho' promised first to St. Peter when actually given given alike to all the Apostles and their Successors in all Parts of the Catholick Church but that which since the Twelfth Age hath been exercised as a Prerogative and is the only thing now commonly understood by * V. Morin de Paenitentia lib. 10. cap. 16 20 21. It is not true Humility but Stupidity Unfaithfulness to God and his Church not to be moved at so great an Indignity to God Abuse of his People Scandal to Religion and Danger of greater Judgment upon themselves by so considerable a part of his Church especially if after all the Practice be still continued Indulgencies is a mere Abuse of the Christian Discipline an Abuse of the Credulity of the People a Scandalous Abuse And to cover such an Abuse under pretence of that Sacred Authority and after such a Judgment as it hath brought upon the Church instead of Confession Humiliation and Amendment and to make the Belief of it one of the Terms of Communion too is another complicated Abuse too gross to be imposed upon any Mortal of competent Understanding and too bold a Presumption to be unconcernedly born by any one of an unprejudiced Christian Spirit or to be Believ'd will escape a more severe Judgment of God if not timely prevented by a requisite Humiliation and such a Restitution of the true Christian Discipline as may in some sort countervail the Mischief of that Abuse 23. That Souls not perfectly purified in this Life do after Death pass through a Sâ—ate of Purgation I do believe as a probable Opinion but that they may receive Benefit by the Prayers and divers Good Works of the Faithful Surviving I do believe upon good Evidence of Apostolical Authority besides other considerable Motives 24. That tho' the Church of Rome be the First or Chief Seat and the Bishop of Rome the Chief Pastor in the whole Catholick Church and by the Ordination of God so constituted by the two Câ—â—ef Apostles as a Matter of great Importance in the Body of the Catholick Church and ought therefore to be so acknowledged by all Christians V. Bar. Anno 912. Genebr l. 4. § 10. To oppose plain Matter of Fact with Promises and Predictions in a strict sense is to give Scandal instead of Conviction And to defend or palliate what is amiss instead of giving Glory to God and Amending and under remarkable Judgments is not consistent with Piety Prudence or Honesty yet I cannot call or think it the Mother of all Churches for that Jerusalem certainly was nor the Mistress neither for I neither think that her Right nor well-pleasing to her Lord that she should assume it but that as it is certain that tho' our Saviour conferred divers Favours and some special Privilege upon St. Peter above the rest and prayed specially for him when Satan desired them to sift them as Wheat that his Faith might not fail yet he did fall foully even in his Master's Presence and again after his Ascension did warp a little and yield to the Tentation for which he was reproved by St. Paul so his Successors in that Church whatever Privileges or Promises they may or can pretend have in like manner fallen as perhaps was Mystically signified in that Fall of their Founder for some time very foully partly by Claiming Vsurping and Exercising more than their due which hath caused much Disturbance in the World and at last what is really their Right or their Due and Duty