Nice Creed Athanasius Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought throughly to be Received and Believed for they may be proved by most certain Warrants of Holy Scripture The Presbyterians Say the very same thing For in the Confession of Faith of the French Reformed Church who are well known to be Calvinists Article the Fifth these are the Words Suivant Cela nous Advouans les Trois Symboles Ossavoir des Apostres de Nice d'Athanase pource qu'ils sont Conformes a la Parole de Dieu We avow the three Symbols viz. That of the Apostles that of Nice and that of Athanasius because they are agreeable to the Word of God The Papists Profess likewise to Believe these three Creeds but not upon the same Grounds which the Church of England and the Presbyterians do For they Believe and Embrace those Summaries of Faith because they are agreeable to and may be proved by Holy Scripture Whereas the Papists Believe them for the Authority of Tradition or of those Councils that made or Confirmed them And touching that called The Apostles Creed They tell this Story The Apostles before they departed one from another the time whereof is not certainly known all Twelve Assembled together and full of the Holy Ghost each laying down his Sentence agreed upon 12 principal Articles of the Christian Faith and appointed them for a Rule to all Believers which is therefore called and is The Apostles Creed not written in Paper as the Scripture but from the Apostles delivered by Tradition The ninth Article of the Church of England Of Original Sin ORiginal Sin standeth not in the following of Adam as the Pelagians do vainly talk but it is the Fault and Corruption of the Nature of every Man that naturally is Ingendred of the Off-spring of Adam whereby Man is very far gone from Original Righteousness and is of his own Nature inclined to Evil so that the Flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit and therefore in every Person born into this World it deserveth Gods Wrath and Damnation and this Infection of Nature doth Remain yea in them that are Regenerated whereby the Lusts of the Flesh called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some do expound the Wisdom some the Sensuality some the Affection some the desire of the Flesh is not subject to the Law of God And although there is no Condemnation for them that Believe and are Baptized yet the Apostle doth Confess that Concupiscence and Lust hath of it self the Nature of Sin The Presbyterians Our first Parents being seduced by the Subtilty and Temptation of Satan sinned in eating the forbidden Fruit This their Sin God was pleas'd according to his Wife and Holy Counsel to permit having purpose to order his own Glory By this Sin they fell from their Orignal Righteousness and Communion with God and so became dead in Sin and wholly defiled in all their Duties Faculties and Parts of Soul and Body They being the root of all Mankind the Guilt of this Sin was imputed and the same death in Sin and Corrupted Nature conveyed to all their Posterity descended from them by ordinary Generation From this Original Corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed disabled and made opposite to all Good and wholly inclined to all Evil do proceed all Actual Transgressions This Corruption of Nature during this Life doth Remain in those that are Regenerated and although it be through Christ Pardoned and Mortified yet both it self and all the Motions thereof are truly and properly Sin The Papists If any one shall deny that the Guilt of Crignial Sin is remitted by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is Conferred in Baptism or shall Assert That the whole thereof which has any true and proper Nature of Sin is not thereby taken away but shall say That the same is only Pruned or weakned or not Imputed Let him be Accursed Yet this Holy Synod Consesses and Believes That even after Baptism Concupiscence radix peccati the Root of Corruption does remain but it being left for Tryal or Exercise does not any way hurt those that Consent not thereunto This Concupiscence the Apostle sometimes calls Sin Rom. 6. 6. and 7. 5. But this Holy Synod does declare That the Catholick Church never understood it to be called Sin because it is truly and properly Sin in the Regenerate but because ex peccato est It is of Sin and inclines to Sin And whoever shall think otherwise Let him be Anathema So that once more the Church of England nay the Apostle too himself is not only Diametrically contradicted but expresly Cursed The tenth Article of the Church of England Of Free Will THE Condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own Natural Strength and good Works to Faith and calling upon God Wherefore we have no power to do good Works pleasant and acceptable to God without the Grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will The Presbyterians Man in his state of Innocency had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God but yet mutably so that he might fall from it Man by his fall into a state of Sin hath wholly lost all Ability of Will to any Spiritual Good accompanying Salvation So as a natural Man being altogether averse from that good and dead in Sin is not able by his own strength to Convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto When God converts a Sinner and translates him into the state of Grace he freeth him from his natural bondage under Sin and by his Grace alone inables him freely to will and to do that which is Spiritually good yet so as that by reason of his remaining Corruption he doth not perfectly nor only will that which is Good but doth also that which is evil The Will of Man is made perfectly and immediately free to Good alone in the state of Glory The Papists If any one shall say That the Free Will of Man moved and excited by God does not Co-operate by assenting to God exciting and calling whereby it prepares and disposes it self to obtain the Grace of Justification Let him be Accursed The eleventh Article of the Church of England Of the Justification of Man WE are accounted Righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith not for our own works and deservings Wherefore that we are justified by Faith only is a most wholesom Doctrine and very full of Comfort as more largely is expressed in the Homtly of Justification The Presbyterians Those whom God effectually Calleth he also freely Justifieth not by insusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins and by accounting and accepting their Persons as Righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them
all his Goods rated at the highest not making three hundred Guilders as he was wont to say of himself if Men doubt of my Poverty my Death shall perswade them The twenty seventh of May at Even this Sun set upon our Horizon presently the Rumour filled the City with Lamentation in wanting the wisest Citizen the Church a most faithful Pastour the College a most Learned Doctor all under God a common Father and Comforter Much a do to keep People from him after his Death they could not be satisfied with the sight of him nor scarce pulled away Very Strangers that had come far and near to see and hear him were most importunate to have but a sight of him amongst the rest the English Ambassadour till at length to avoid Superstition and the Tongues of Papists it was denied so he was Buried without any great outward pomp for so was his Will as aforesaid but with the most Lamentation Tears and Affection accompanied with all the Professours Ministers Senatours and even the whole City Thus far Doctor Hoyl wherewith agreeth the before recited Doctor Hakewell in his Answer to Carier p. 164 who also Witnesses That his Works were so well esteemed That his Catechism being written by himself in Latin and French was afterwards at the request of Strangers Translated into High Dutch Low Dutch English Spanish and by Immanuel Tremelius into Hebrew and by Henry Stephnes into Greek and touching his Institutions that Dystick is well known Preter Apostolicas post Christi Tempora Chartas Huic peperere Libro saecula nulla parem Except th' Apostles Writings since Christs days No Age a Book of equal worth did raise To which I may add That Epitaph bestowed on him by the Learned and Ingenious Beza which he was as able as upon that sad Occasion unwilling to afford and the other out of his Deserts as worthy as out of his Modesty the Crown of all his other Vertues unwilling to receive Romae ruentis Terror ille Maximus Quem mortuum Lugent Boni Horrescunt Mali Ipsa a quo potuit virtutem discere virtus Cur adeo Exiguo Ignoâ—oque in Cespite Clausus Calvinus lateat Rogas Calvinum assidue Comitata Modestia vivum Hoc Tumulo manibus Condidit Ipsa suis O te Beatum Cespitem tanto Hospite Cui invidere cuncta possint Marmora Which I shall endeavour thus to spoil into English If any ask why Reverend Calvin whom We justly style the dread of falling Rome Whose Death each good man did with Tears bewail And who even dead makes envious Foes look pale In whose fair Life no blot you could discern But Vertue her self might thence more Vertue learn Lies Buried in so mean and poor a Grave Whilst wretched Sinners Glorious Tomb-stones have Know ye That Modesty which was Ally'd Always to Calvin living when he dy'd With her own Hands this Mansion did provide O happy Turf enrich'd with such a Guest As proudest Marbles envy not possess This dear Country-Men is that very Calvin and such esteem the Reverend Fathers of our Church of England as well as other Learned Protestants beyond the Seas had of him heretofore whom yet too many pert little raw Sermon-Readers now a-days can scarce mention without Contempt and stinking Flowers of railing Rhetorick endeavouring as far as the short Talent of their Pedantick wit can reach to expose him as if he had been one of the most errand Hereticks and vilest of Men. Whilst in the mean time The wily Jesuite laughs and Triumphs in our needless heats which himself first kindled and still foments claps in with the most thriving party and exasperates what he can and at the same Instant secretly insinuates a favourable Opinion of the Church of Rome as less dissonant from and dangerous to the Church of England and the Civil Government and as more at Unity c. To Obviate which Romish designs and Reconcile in Affection all True-hearted Protestants by shewing them both the near Allyance they are already at if they would but have the patience to see it amongst themselves and the extream and destructive Opposition of the Church of Rome to us all is the Design of this poor Treatise and shall ever be both the Endeavours and the Prayers of The unworthy Compiler Henry Care Old Bayly Febr. 6th 1681 2. The ARTICLES of the Church of England compared with the Doctrines of the Presbyterians and Papists c. The first Article of the Church of England Of Faith in the Holy Trinity THERE is but one Living and True God Everlasting without Body Parts or Passions of Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness the Maker and Preserver of all things both Visible and Invisible And in Vnity of this Godhead there be three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity the Father the Son and Holy Ghost Touching this Article there is no Dispute The Presbyterians Believe it And the Papists Profess to do so too yet Austin Steuchus a famous Popish Doctor in his Cosmopaeia on the beginning of Genesis hath written That the Imperial Heaven is Co-eternal with God and if so there must be two Gods For whatsoever hath no Beginning is God Nor have their Expurgatory Indexes which have been so busie to deface many sound Godly Opinions Corrected him for this Blasphemous Heresy The second Article of the Church of England Of the Word or Son of God which was made very Man THE Son which is the Word of the Father Begotten from Everlasting of the Father the Very and Eternal God of one Substance with the Father took Mans Nature in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin of her Substance so that two whole and perfect Natures that is to say The God-head and Man-hood were joined together in one Person never to be divided whereof is one Christ Very God and Very Man who truly Suffered was Crucified Dead and Buried to Reconcile his Father to us and to be a Sacrifice not only for Original Guilt but also for Actual Sins of Men. The Presbyterians The Son of God the Second Person in the Trinity being Very and Eternal God of one Substance and equal with the Father did when the fulness of time was come take upon him Mans Nature with all the Essential Properties and Common Infirmities thereof yet without Sin being Conceiv'd by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary of her Substance so that two whole perfect and distinct Natures the God-head and Man-hood were inseparably joined together in one Person without Conversion Composition or Confusion which Person is Very God and Very Man yet one Christ the only Mediator between God and Man The Lord Jesus by his perfect Obedience and Sacrifice of himself which he through the Eternal Spirit once offered up unto God hath fully satisfied the Justice of his Father and purchased not only Reconciliation but an Everlasting Inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven for all those whom the Father hath given unto him The Papists The
but for Christ's sake alone not by imputing Faith it self the Act of Believing or any Evangelical Obedience to them as their Righteousness but by imputing the Obedience and Satisfaction of Christ unto them they receiving and resting on him and his Righteousness by Faith which Faith they have not of themselves it is the Gift of God Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his Righteousness is the alone Instrument of Justification and yet it is not alone in the Person justified but is ever accompanied with all other saving Graces and is no dead Faith but worketh by Love Christ by his Obedience and Death did fully discharge the Debt of all those who are thus justified and did make a proper real and full satisfaction to his Fathers Justice in their behalf yet inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead and both freely not for any thing in them their Justification is only of free Grace that both the exact Justice and rich Grace of God might be glorified in the Justification of Sinners The Papists Whosoever shall say That the wicked are justified by Faith only understanding that nothing else is required to co-operate for the obtaining the Grace of Justification or that it is not necessary for a Man to be prepared and disposed by the motion of his Will Let him be Anathema Whosoever shall say That a Man is justified either by the only imputation of the Righteousness of Christ or by the only Remission of Sins or That the Grace whereby we are justified is the only Favour of God Let him be Accursed The twelfth Article of the Church of England Of Good Works ALbeit Good Works which are the Fruits of Faith and follow after Justification cannot put away our Sins and endure the severity of Gods Judgments yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God and Christ and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a Tree discerned by the Fruit. The Presbyterians Good Works are only such as God hath commanded in his Holy Word and not such as without the Warrant thereof are devised by Men out of Blind Zeal or upon any pretence of good Intentions These Good Works done in Obedience to Gods Commandments are the Fruits and Evidences of a true and lively Faith and thereby Believers manifest their Thankfulness strengthen their Assurance edify their Brethren adorn the Profession of the Gospel stop the Mouths of Adversaries and Glorifie God whose Workmanship they are created in Christ Jesus thereunto that having their Fruit unto Holiness they may have the end Eternal Life Their Ability to do good Works is not at all of themselves but wholly from the Spirit of Christ And that they may be inabled thereunto besides the Graces they have already received there is required an Actual influence of the same Holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent as if they were not bound to perform any Duty unless upon a special Motion of the Spirit but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the Grace of God that is in them Yet notwithstanding the Persons of Believers being accepted through Christ their Good Works also are accepted in him not as though they were in this Life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in Gods sight but that he looking upon them in his Son is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere although accompanied with many Weaknesses and Imperfections The Papists We are to Believe That nothing is wanting to them that are justified but are to think they have fully by these Works which are done in God and according to the state of this Life satisfied the Law of God and truly to have deserved Eternal Life in due time to be obtained provided they depart hence in Grace No Man can know by the certainty of Faith under which there can be no falshood that he hath obtain'd the Grace of God The thirteenth Article of the Church of England Of Works before Justification WOrks done before the Grace of Christ and the Inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of Faith in Jesus Christ neither do they make Men meet to receive Grace or as the School-Authors say deserve Grace of Congruity Yea rather for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done we doubt not but they have the Nature of Sin The Presbyterians Works done by Unregenerate Men although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands and of good use both to themselves and others yet because they proceed not from an Heart purified by Faith nor are done in a right manner according to the Word nor to a right End the Glory of God they are therefore sinful and cannot please God or make a Man meet to receive Grace from God and yet their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing to God They have found out I know not what Moral good Works whereby Men are made acceptable to God before they are ingrafted into Christ As if the Scripture lyed when it said They are all in Death who have not the Son If they be in Death how can they beget matter of Life As if it were of no force Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin as if evil Trees could bring forth good Fruit. The Papists Whosoever shall say That all Works done before Justification howsoever they be done are truly Sins or deserve the hatred of God Let him be Anathema The fourteenth Article of the Church of England Of Works of Supererogation UOluntary works besides over and above Gods Commandments which they call Works of Supererogation cannot be taught without Arogancy and Impiety for by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required whereas Christ saith plainly When you have done all that are commanded to you say you are unprofitable Servants The Presbyterians They who in their Obedience attain to the greatest height which is possible in this Life are so far from being able to Supererogate and do more than God requires as that they fall short of much which in Duty they are bound to do We cannot by our best Works merrit pardon of Sin or Eternal Life at the hand of God by reason of the great disproportion that is between them and the Glory to come and the infinite distance that is between us and God whom by them we can neither profit nor satisfie for the debt of our former sins but when we have done all we can we have done but our Duty and are unprofitable Servants And because as they are good they proceed from his Spirit and as they
Word of God The Presbyterians By the Decree of God for the manifestation of his own Glory some Men and Angels were predestinated unto everlasting Life and others fore-ordained to everlasting Death These Angels and Men predestinated and fore-ordain'd are particularly and unchangeably designed and their number so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished Those of Mankind that are predestinated unto Life God before the Foundation of the World was laid according to his Eternal and Immutable purpose and the secret Counsel and good pleasure of his Will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting Glory out of his meer free Grace and Love without any foresight of Faith or Good Works or perseverance in either of them or any other thing in the Creature as Conditions and Causes moving him thereunto and all to the praise of his Glorious Grace As God hath appointed the Elect unto Glory so hath he by the Eternal and most free purpose of his Will fore-ordain'd all the means thereunto Wherefore they who are Elected being fallen in Adam are redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto Faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season are Justified Adopted Sanctified and kept by his Power through Faith unto Salvation Neither are any other Redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only The Doctrine of this high Mystery of Predestination is to be handled with special Prudence and Care that Men attending the Will of God revealed in his Word and yielding Obedience thereunto may from the certainty of their effectual Vocation be assured of their Eternal Election so shall this Doctrine afford matter of Praise Reverence and Admiration of God and of Humility Diligence and abundant Consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel The Papists Though they own the Word Predestination sometimes yet they teach That the Cause thereof is not the meer good pleasure of God but that a Man doth make himself Eligible by his own good Works and Merits Thus they say The Kingdom of Heaven is prepared for them that are worthy of it and deserve it by their well doing Although from Gods Eternal Predestination Glory floweth to the Elect yet for all that it springeth not but from their own good Works Stella on Luke cap. 10. fol. 35. True Faith and Righteousness may be lost and the Faithful utterly fall from the Faith Bellarm. de Just l. 3. cap. 4. which is the same thing as if we should say That the Elect may become Reprobates and Election not to be immutable If any shall say That the Grace of Justification happens not to any but such as are Predestinate but that all the rest who are call'd are indeed call'd but receive not Grace as being by Divine Power Predestinated to Evil Let him be Accursed If any one shall say a Man Regenerated and Justified is bound to believe that he is certainly of the number of the Elect Let him be Anathema The eighteenth Article of the Church of England Of obtaining Eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ THEY also are to be had Accursed that presume to say That every Man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ whereby Men must be saved The Presbyterians Persons not Elected although they may be call'd by the Ministry of the Word and may have some common Operations of the Spirit yet they never truly come unto Christ and therefore cannot be saved Much less can men not professing the Christian Religion be saved in any other way whatsoever be they never so diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light of Nature and the Law of that Religion they profess And to assert that they may is very pernicious and detestable The Papists Own the Words of this Article but in effect deny the latter part thereof by trusting in the Mediation and Intercession of the Virgin Mary and other Saints and Angels and praying unto and worshipping them c. The nineteenth Article of the Church of England Of the Church THE Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithful Men in the which the pure Word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly ministred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same As the Church of Hierusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred not only in their Living and manner of Ceremonies but also in matters of Faith The Presbyterians Wherever we see the Word of God sincerely Preach'd and Heard and the Sacraments administred according to Christs Institution there is a Church of God For these two we assign as Marks whereby the Church may be known The Visible Church which is also Catholick or Vniversal under the Gospel not confin'd to one Nation as before under the Law consists of all those throughout the World that profess the true Religion and particular Churches which are Members thereof are more or less pure according as the Doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embrac'd Ordinances administred and publick Worship perform'd more or less pure in them The purest Churches under Heaven are subject both to mixture and error and some have so degenerated as to become no Churches of Christ but Synagogues of Satan Nevertheless there shall always be a Church on Earth to worship God according to his Will The Pope of Rome cannot in any sense be Head of the Church but is that Antichrist that Man of Sin and Son of Perdition that exalts himself in the Church against Christ and all that is called God The Papists As to the first part of the Article they deny the Preaching the Word and due Administration of the Sacraments to be the marks of Christs Visible Church See Bellarm. de notis Ecclesiae cap. 1. And instead thereof assign others which by the same Cardinal are there reckoned to be the fifteen following 1. The Name of the Catholick Church and Christians 2. Antiquity 3. Duration 4. Multitude 5. Succession of Bishops and Ordination 6. Agreement with the ancient Church 7. Vnion of the Members together amongst themselves and with their Head 8. Holiness of Doctrine 9. Efficacy of Doctrine 10. Holiness of Life 11. Miracles 12. Prophesies 13. Confession of Adversaries 14. The unhappy ends of those that have oppos'd it 15. The Temporal felicity of those that have desended it And as to the latter part of the Artiticle they with all Confidence assert the clean contrary other Churches have erred but the Church of Rome cannot Id Constanter Negamus we constantly deny saith Costerus the Jesuit that Christs Vicar Peters Successors the Bishops of Rome have either taught Heresies or propounded Errors God preserveth the Truth of Christian Religion in the Apostolick See of Rome
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 most part of Godfathers are appointed they especially that are Rich at the time of Baptism take hold of the Rope and as the Suffragan sings before as is wont to be done in Baptizing of Children they all make the Responses and after name the Bell which as Christians use to be is then dressed in new Garments And after they have a sumptuous Feast and the Suffragan is rewarded liberally This is sure something more than a Metaphorical Baptism I shall only add one more strange Doctrine of the Church of Rome touching Baptism and that is That a Child may be Baptized in its Mothers Womb by a Pipe This I find Asserted in a Treatise Intituled Compendium Dianae The Words pag. 201 are these Pueri si moriantur in utero matris nihil obstat quo minus possint Baptizari si Actio Ministri possit ad ipsum puerumetiam in utero matris existentem pervenire ut si fistula possit pertingere ad ipsum Infantis Corpusculum vel propter Matris Cicatricem aspersio aquae possit ad illum pertingere hoc etiam si acceleretur matris mors dummodo sit certo moritura tunc enim etiam ipsa mater tenetur permittere ut proles Baptizetur Res 12. In English thus If Children dye in their Mothers Womb nothing hinders but that they may nevertheless be Baptized if the action of the Minister may extend to the Child it self although remaining in its Mothers Belly as if a Pipe may reach the Infants Body or by or through the Cicatrix of the Mother I must leave the Reader here to guess at his meaning the sprinkling of the Water may reach thereunto And this although thereby the Death of the Mother be hastned provided she must certainly dye for then even the Mother her self is bound to permit that her Child be Baptized But I suppose the Reader as well as my self is nauseated with such fulsome Poposh Divinity Le ts therefore hasten to another Article The eight and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Lords Supper THE Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the Love that Christians ought to have amongst themselves one to another but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christs Death Insomuch that to such as rightly worthily and with Faith receive the same the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ aud likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain Words of Scripture overthroweth the Nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions The Body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the Supper of the Lord only after an Heavenly and Spiritual manner And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith The Sacrament of the Lords Supper was not by Christs ordinance reserved carried about lifted up and worshipped The Presbyterians That Doctrine which maintains a Change of the substance of the Bread and Wine into the substance of Christs Body and Blood commonly called Transubstantiation by Consecration of a Priest or by any other way is repugnant not to Scripture alone but even to common Sense and Reason overthroweth the Nature of the Sacrament and hath been and is the cause of manifold Superstitions yea of gross Idolatries In this Sacrament Christ is not offered up to his Father nor any real Sacrifice made at all for Remission of Sins of the quick or dead but only a Commemoration of that one offering up of himself by himself upon the Cross once for all And a Spiritual Oblation of all possible Praise unto God for the same So that the Popish Sacrifice of the Mass as they call it is most abominably injurious to Christs one only Sacrifice the alone propitiation for all the Sins of the Elect. The Papists If any one shall deny That in the Sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist is contained truly really and substantially the Body and Blood together of our Lord and so whole Christ but shall say That he is in it only as in a Sign or Figure or by his Vertue or shall say that the substance of Bread and Wine remains or shall deny that wonderful and singular Conversion of the whole substance of the Bread into the Body and of the whole substance of the Wine into the Blood the species only of Bread and Wine remaining which Conversion the Catholick Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation Let him be Anathema If any one shall say That Christ exhibited in the Eucharist is eaten only Spiritually Let him be Accursed The nine and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the use of the Lords Supper THE Wicked and such as be void of a lively Faith although they do carnally and visibly press with the Teeth as S. Augustin saith the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ but rather to their Condemnation do eat and drink the Sign and Sacrament of so great a thing The Presbyterians Although ignorant and wicked Men receive the outward Elements in this Sacrament yet they receive not the thing signified thereby but by their unworthy coming thereunto are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord to their own Damnation The Papists All Communicants do eat the Very and Natural Body of Christ Jesus If an Infidel receive the Sacramental Species he eats Christs Body under the Sacrament Thom. Aquinas p. 3. A. 3. ad 2. The Body of Christ saith Claudius de Sainctes Repet 2. cap. 6. is as truly and really received of Vnworthy as of Godly Communicants And Bonaventure in 4. d. 9. A. 2. q. 1. calls it the common Opinion of the Doctors Certitudinaliter verum a most certain Truth Nor is this all but they hold That the very Body of Christ may be received by Beasts and Vermine If a Dog or a Mouse saith Aquinas in the place just now cited ad Tertium eat the Sanctified Host the substance of Christs Body ceaseth not to be there as long as the Species do remain Nay Durandus adds That the Devil himself may eat Christ His Words are these Competit Bruto Angelo cuicunque vel Bono vel MALO species Sacramentales sumere A Brute or any Angel Good or BAD may receive the Sacrament Durand in 4. dist 9. q. 3. num 6. ad primum 'T is true some of their ancient Schoolmen were not arrived to such irreverent conceits Peter Lombard l. 4. d. 13. A. puts the Question What does the Mouse eat when she gets part of a Consecrated Host And Answers modestly Deus novit God knows And Bonaventure in 4. d. 13. a. 2. q. 1. could not endure to hear That Christs