Father Yes We have the Nicene Creed made by the Fathers of the Nicene Councel the Creed of Athanasius and that which is commonly call'd the Apostles Creed which ought throughly to be believed for they may be proved by most certain Warrants of holy Scripture as our Church declares Art 8. Child But do these Creeds contain the true Christian Catholick Faith Father Yes They contain all necessary points in Religion to be believ'd and have therefore been call'd the Key and Rule of Faith and the Church never knew any other Creed or confession of Faith for many hundred years Child Is this the Faith which I must profess and seal with my Blood if I be called to it Father Yes Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 1.13 Hence Athanasius thus concludes This is the Catholick Faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved Child But do not the Papists own these three Creeds as well as we Father They do own them as part of the Christian Faith though they little regard them but not as the whole Christian Faith Child Have they any other Creed or Profession of the Faith Father Yes The decrees of their Popes and the Canons of their late Popish Councels they hold to be Articles of Faith but especially they own and maintain the new Creed made by the Councel of Trent and confirmed by Pope Pius the fourth in the year 1564. Child Is it lawful Sir to make a new Creed Father No in no wise Though we saith St. Paul or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 Child I perceive by what you have spoken that notwithstanding the Papists talk of the old Religion they have made a new Creed and brought in a new Religion and that we are call'd Protestants because we protest against it Father You conclude very well and that you may be confirmed and strengthened in the true Faith I will shew you the Trent Creed and give you some short Observations upon it First I most firmly receive and embrace the Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions and all other Customs and Constitutions of the same Church Child What be those Traditions and Customs of the Church Father Truly Child I know not neither do they themselves neither will they tell us what they be but when they can make no proof for a Doctrine out of the Word of God they say 't is a Tradition and yet this Christ condemns in the Jews Mark 7.7 9. In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men full well ye reject the Commandments of God that you may keep your own Traditions Child If this be the first Article of their new Creed they begin well for as far as I can understand the real Sense and Import thereof is I believe in the Pope for whatsoever he says is a Tradition must be believ'd I pray Sir what is the second Father The second Article is I admit the holy Scripture in that sense which the holy Mother-Church hath held and holdeth to whom it belongs to judge of the true Sense and Interpretation of the holy Scriptures nor will I ever receive or interpret them but according to the unanimous Consent of the Fathers Child Here is a form of receiving the Scriptures but I perceive it must be in such Tenor and Sense as the Fathers admit that is I suppose the Pope and his Council But do they suffer the People to read the Scriptures Father No Child they dare not do it they know that would destroy Popery Root and Branch and yet Christ says Search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal Life and they are they which testifie of me John 5.39 And the Bereans are commended and said to be nobler than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all Readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so Acts 17.11 12. Child But since they keep the power of Interpretation methinks they might suffer People to read the Scriptures with their Glosses upon it Father No Child they dare not for they would quickly find their Glosses to be false the Scripture is so plain teaching us that no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation for the Prophecy came not in old time by the Will of Man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.20 Child But are all things necessary to Salvation plainly to be found in Scripture Father Yes The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple Psal 19.8 9. Thy word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light unto my Path. Psal 119.108 From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 Child You have said enough to this I pray God set it home to my Heart I pray Sir proceed to the third Article Father The third Article is I profess also that there are 7 true and proper Sacraments of the new Law instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord for the Salvation of Mankind although all are not necessary to each one to wit Order Baptism Confirmation Eucharist Pennance extream Unction Matrimony and those all give Grace and of these Baptism Confirmation and Order cannot be reiterated without Sacriledge Child Did Jesus Christ appoint these Seven Sacraments Father No some of them had their being before and some after Christ's time only Baptism and the Eucharist or Lords Supper were instituted immediately by Christ received their Forms from him and flowed out of his wounded side whence it cometh that Water is the matter of Baptism and Bread and Wine of the Lords Supper Child I observe that they make Matrimony a Sacrament and say it gives Grace and yet I have heard that they will not suffer their Priests to marry Is that true Father Yes 'T is true they do so but 't is contrary to the word of God for we read 1 Tim. 3.2 A Bishop must be blameless the Husband of one Wife having his Children in Subjection Child I pray Sir what is the fourth Article Father I also receive and admit all received and approved Rights of the Catholick Church in the solemn Administrations of all the abovesaid Sacraments Child I pray Sir what are those approved Rights Father The vain Superstitions and idolatrous Rites of the Church of Rome in the Administration of the Sacraments are so many that they cannot easily be numbred However some of the Principal that are in my mind I shall discover to you In Baptism they conjure the Devil out of the Child they use many Crossings and besides Water they use Chrisme or Cream Salt and the Priests Spittle In the Eucharist after the words of Consecration they elevate the Hoast as they call it that is the consecrated Wafer
day it troubles them not and they look upon it as a certain Cure therefore in their Carnavals they give themselves all liberty and licence to do the vilest things because they are to be so soon eased of their Crimes by Confession and the never-failing hand of the Priest Child But I have heard some say that they are enjoyn'd Penance Is not that troublesome to them Father Alas Child their Penances and Satisfactions as they are handled are nothing but words and ineffective sounds for if some Confessors happen to be severe they may go to a gentler or they may have them commuted to Money or they may get some body else to do them for them or they may get all supplied by an Indulgence of which there are such store in the Lateran at Rome that as P. Boniface said no man is able to number them In the Church of Sancta Maria de populo there are for every day in the year 2800 years of Pardon In the Church of St. Vitus and Modestus there are for every day in the year 7000 years of Pardon and a third part of all our sins besides and the price of all this is but praying before an Altar in that Church In a Book of theirs called The Hours of the most Blessed Virgin Mary according to the use of Sarum for the saying three short Prayers are promised 90000 years of Pardon of deadly sin If this should be neglected a little Alms to a Priest a Pilgrimage to the Image or Relicks of a Saint wearing St. Francis cord saying over the Beads with an hallowed Appendant praying at a priviledged Altar leaving a Legacy for a Soul Mass and twenty other Devices will secure the Sinner from suffering Punishment here or hereafter And if a man fail in all these things 't is but going to the Tax of the Apostolick Chamber where there is a price set down for his Absolution that hath kill'd his Father or his Mother Brother Sister or Wife or that hath lain with his Sister or Mother or committed such sins as are not fit to be named These Observations I hope Child are sufficient to keep you and every well-meaning Christian from running into or abiding in such temptations Child I beartily thank you for the Advice you have given me hoping in the Lord that I shall be stedfast and immoveable alwayes abounding in the Work of the Lord. I shall detain you no longer but only intreat you to give me the sum of what you have said in few words that I may the better remember it Father I shall readily comply with your Desires The Religion of a Christian consists in Faith and Hope Repentance and Charity Divine Worship and celebration of the Sacraments and finally in keeping the Commandments of God Now in all these both in Doctrines and Practices the Church of Rome does dangerously err and teach men so to do They do Injury to Faith by creating new Articles and enjoyning them as of Necessity to Salvation they spoil their Hope by placing it upon Creatures and devices of their own they greatly sin against Charity by damning all that are not of their Opinions in things false or uncertain right or wrong they break in pieces the salutary doctrine of Repentance making it to be consistent with a wicked Life and little or no Amendment They worship they know not what and pray to them that hear them not they not only eat what they worship but adore those things with divine Worship which are not God And as for the Commandments they leave one of them out of their Catechisms and add six new ones of their own and while they contend for the possibility of keeping them all they do not insist upon the necessity of keeping any till the danger or Article of their Death And concerning the Sacraments they take one half of the principal away from the Laity and they institute little Sacraments of their own and annex spiritual Graces to them without a Divine warrant or Institution if these things can consist with the Duty of Christians certainly we have lost the true measures of Christianity Let all therefore that desire to be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus give no heed to their seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils teaching Lies in Hypocrisie having their Conscience seared with a hot Iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with Thansgivings 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3 4. And let them give God Praise that they were born and bred up in the Church of England where the word of God is constantly read and preached in the Vulgar Tongue and the Sacraments duely and fully administred according to Christ's Institution where Repentance is preached according to the Measures of the Gospel Faith in Christ propounded according to the Rule of the Apostles the Commandments expounded with just Severity Holiness of Life urged upon all men as indespensibly necessary to Salvation and every thing practised therein which is useful to the saving of our Souls Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things 2 Tim. 2.7 FINIS
the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I wondred with great Admiration Child Doth this concern the Pope and Church of Rome Father Yes So the Angel interprets v. 9.18 The seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth and the Woman which thou sawest is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth Child If this be the Pope and Church of Rome the Lord give me Grace to avoid Communion with them Father You say well for we have a command to that purpose Rev. 18.4 5. I heard a Voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her Sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues for her sins have reached unto Heaven and God hath remembred her Iniquities Child Is this the last Article of the Trent Creed Father No they have two more The thirteenth Article is also all and whatsoever other thing delivered by way of Tradition defined and declared by the holy Canons and the general Councils and chiefly by the sacred and holy Synod of Trent I undoubtedly receive and profess and together all contrary things and whatsoever Heresies damned rejected and accursed I also damn reject and accurse Child You have spoken something already of Tradition is there any thing more to be known Father Yes They make their unwritten Traditions and the Canons of their Councels equal to the word of God and necessary to Salvation Nay they make the Councel of Trent the only measure and rule of Faith in the Church of Rome Whereas on the contrary St. Paul instructs the Churches of Galathia Gal. 1.8 To measure their Faith by that Gospel only which from the Beginning they had receiv'd and was by himself preached unto them Child I pray Sir what is the last Article Father This true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved which at this present I freely profess and truly hold I do promise vow and swear most constantly God assisting to retain and confess entire and inviolate to the very last gaspe of Life and to procure as much as shall lie in me that the same be held taught and preached by all my Inferiours and by those that are committed to my care and charge So God help me and those holy Gospels of God Child By this I perceive what is the Catholick Faith of the Church of Rome in the new Trent Creed or Gospel made 1500 years and more after the Death of Christ and imposed by the Pope upon his Subjects to be professed vowed sworn and maintained under Pain of eternal Damnation But can no man be saved without believing in this Creed Father So says the Pope he curses all that will not receive it But St. Paul declares him accursed Gal. 1.8 who preaches any other Gospel than that which he had preach'd unto them The Curse therefore will fall upon the Pope and his Priests except they can find a Priviledge greater than given to Apostles or Angels to make new Creeds and to preach new Gospels at Pleasure Child Do they baptize into this Creed Father No. All the Christian World have ever been baptized into the Faith of the old Creed never any that I heard of into the Faith of this new Creed If this were as needful to Salvation as the old they do men Wrong in Baptizing them but into one half of the Christian Faith therefore we are resolved to adhere to that Faith which hath been professed always every where and by all persons and particularly both by them and us at our Baptisms without Addition or Diminution This was their Faith formerly and is ours still The Result of all is this As the Sum of the Primitive Creed and Gospel is to believe in God so the sum of the Romish Creed is to believe in the Pope and as the rule of the Primitive Faith is the Word of God the holy Scriptures so the Rule of the Romish Faith is the word of man papal Definitions and as the end of the Primitive Faith is the charity of GOd to keep his commandments so the end of the Romish Faith is Slavery to man to uphold his Tyranny and maintain his Supremacy Remember therefore what the Lord Christ says to his Disciples Matt. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves ye shall know them by their Fruits Math. 7.15 And that of the Apostle I know this that after my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the Flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one Night and Day with Tears Act. 20.29 30 31. Child The Lord write your Words in my Heart and give me Grace to avoid these ravening Wolves that lie lurking in every Corner But I pray Sir having so well stablished strengthned and settled me in the Faith be pleased also to open to me the Rule of Life viz. the moral Law that I may not be insnared by the corrupt Glosses which I hear the Papists have put upon the holy Law of God And first I pray Sir what do they teach of the Law in general Father The Law as it is expounded by Christ Mat. 5. they say is a new Law far more perfect than the Law of Moses they say also that Christ delivereth new Divine Counsel to his Disciples which was not given in the Law or in the Prophets though Christ says Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fullfil Mat. 5.17 and Mat. 7.12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do you even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets Child What else do they teach concerning the Law Father They teach that 't is possible for a man to keep the whole Law of God and yet Solomon says Who can say I have made my Heart clean I am pure from my Sin Prov. 20.9 They have also a distinction of Venial and Mortal Sins some Sins they say are venial in their own Nature which if they were all together could not equal one mortal Sin nor destroy Charity And yet Jesus Christ says that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment Mat. 12.36 Child I pray Sir what Sins do they call Venial Sins Father Lying ordinary swearing by St. Mary or by the Mass and simple Fornication and such like and yet St. John says speaking of Heaven There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh Abomination or maketh a Lie Revel 21.27 Child I have heard indeed that they are very loose in their Morals and I perceive this distinction of venial and mortal Sins was invented for this Purpose But I