THE RELIGION OF THE Church of England c. IN A PRIVATE LETTER SIR SInce I have known you so long I am sorry I knew you no better I assure you I intended to treat you as an entire Friend but you wrest my words to a harsh construction For Mr. S he was so far from giving any partial account that he did not so much as positively say you had left our Communion I confess upon a vehement suspicion for which we had other grounds I took the freedom to tell you what would fall under every ordinary apprehension that your departure would unavoidably expose you unto censure That some would impute it to a hot head others to a weak Judgment and a third sort perhaps to discontent that you were not gratified according to your great merits Herein Sir I only plaid the part of a Rehearsal For my own part in imputing what I had heard of you to a fit of the Spleen I gave an evidence of my Charity in regard you had formerly complain'd of such a fit as had unhing'd your faculties and stifled your Pen into a long silence and sure I could never reckon that for a fault in you which I knew to be your infelicity and affliction Hitherto therefore my carriage was very innocent And when I long'd so much to hear from you if I were a little impatient at the disappointment yet a little ingenuity would have given it a better interpretation than the want of common prudence and a fast Friend would have taken it for an argument of a sincere affection However I must lament my own loss that what you intended for my information was by such an unfortunate misadventure cast into the common lot of waste Paper But whatever the conception was which those Letters miscarried with these give me an intimation of your present change And to question whether this were Mutatio dextrae Altissimi a change wrought by the right hand of the Most High were no doubt in your Judgment to make a breach upon Charity and Prudence both together Yet seeing you applaud your self as all such Proselytes use to do that you have changed Opinion into Faith and Doubtfulness into Infallibility give me leave for once to enquire into the real advantage you flatter your self to have purchased by your Separation from us In order hereto I pray resolve me where the Infallibility is lodged which you so much boast of I presume you will not say you have it in your own bosom for that would smell a little too rank of arrogance if you say 't is lodged in the person of the Pope that is rendred very improbable because it was not long since one of them professed that he was no Theologue and consequently not fit to determine a point of Faith and if we may believe some of the Roman Writers besides Schism Heresy Infidelity and Atheism have been found amongst them And this Doctrine is so false and scandalous that Mr. White makes it more criminal and damnable than deflouring of holy Virgins upon the Holy Altar †Vide Tabulae Suffragiales 2. If you place your Infallibility in the diffusive body of the Clergy or of Christians in general That will be of no more advantage to the determination of Controversies than the private Spirit that is utterly unprofitable and useless for why may we not find it then in Bishop Andrews as well as in Bellarmine in Bishop Sanderson as well as in Cajetan and in Dr. Hammond as well as in Stapleton 3. If you lodge it in General Councils there we are ready to joyn issue with you For those which are truly such we have the greater veneration for And I will give you one instance in matter of Faith that shall make it evident beyond contradiction for matter of Jurisdiction afterward In the Third general Council held at Ephesus Decrevit Sancta Synodus Concil 3. Generale Ephes habit Can. 7. Justell Codex Canon Eccles Univers Can. 177. non licere cuiquam aliam fidem afferre vel scribere vel componere praeter eam quae à Sanctis Patribus Nicaeae Congregatis in Sancto Spiritu definita est c. The Holy Synod hath decreed That it shall not be lawful for any one to bring in or alledge to write or compose any other Faith besides that which is defined by the Holy Fathers assembled at Nice with the assistance of the Holy Ghost This Canon which the Church of England observes inviolable the Church of Rome doth egregiously prevaricate witness the Faith composed after the Council of Trent by Pope Pius the Fourth which is solemnly sworn by all the Clergy in the Church of Rome at this day If you say this was not another Faith nor any addition to the Ancient Creed but only an explication of it the very letter of that Symbol will evince the contrary and to use your own expression that defence dwindles into more Evasion Let the Reader judge by the matter of Fact and the Observations following The Confession of Faith by Pope Pius according to the Council of Trent set forth 1564. I A. B. do stedfastly believe and profess all and singular the Contents of that Symbol of Faith which the holy Roman Church useth That is to say I believe in one God the Father Almighty maker 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 the Father before all worlds God of God light of light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by The Council of Nice consisted of 318 Bishops from all parts of the World East and West and was held in the year 325. And of Constantine M. the Tenth The Council of Trent was not held till the year 1545. and ended not till 1563. wherein were in all with Legates Cardinals Abbots and Proctors but 255. and most of them Italians the Popes Creatures Lud. Bail Sum. Cōcil Tom 1. p. 600. B. 1. Edit Paris 1659. whom all things were made who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father and he shall come again with Glory to judge both the quick and the dead whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins and I look for the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the World to come Amen
Thus far is the Faith of the Council of Nice to which the Pope adds these Articles following I do stedfastly admit and embrace Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions with the rest of the Observations and Constitutions of the same Church I admit also of the holy Scripture according to that sense which hath been held and is held by the holy Mother the Church whose office it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures Nor will I ever receive or interpret the same but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I profess also that there are seven Sacraments of the new Law truly and properly so called instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord and necessary to the Salvation of Mankind though all of them be not necessary for every man That is to say Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Penance Extreme Unction Orders and Matrimony and that they do confer Grace and amongst these that Baptism Confirmation and Orders cannot be repeated without Sacriledge I do also receive and admit all the received and approved Rites of the Catholick Church in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments I do receive and embrace all and singular the things which were defined by the holy Synod of Trent concerning Original Sin and Justification I profess likewise that in the Sacrifice of the Mass there is offer'd unto God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is verily really and substantially the Body and Bloud together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that there is made therein a change of the whole substance of the Bread into his body and of the whole substance of the Wine into his bloud which change the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation I do also confess that Christ whole and entire and the true Sacrament is received in either kind alone I do stedfastly hold that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls detained therein are relieved by the Suffrages of the Faithful Likewise also that the Saints reigning together with Christ are to be worshipped and prayed unto and that they do offer up prayers unto God for us And that their Reliques are to be had in veneration I do most stedfastly affirm that the Images of Christ of the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God and of other Saints are to be had and kept and a due honour and veneration to be given unto them Also that the power of Indulgences was left by Christ unto his Church and I affirm that the use of them is very salutary and beneficial to Christian people I acknowledge the holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches And I promise and swear true obedience to the Pope of Rome successor to B. Peter Prince of the Apostles and the Vicar of Christ I do also undoubtedly receive and profess all things else which are delivered defined and declared by the sacred Canons and general Councils and especially by the most holy Synod of Trent And I do likewise condemn reject and anathematize all things that are contrary and all Heresies whatsoever which are condemned rejected and anathematized by the Church This true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved which at this present I do freely profess and truly hold by Gods help I will most constantly to the very last breath of my life intirely and inviolably hold and confess the same and take care as much as in me lies that the same shall be held taught and preached by all my Subjects or all those under my care and charge in respect of my Function This I A. B. do promise vow and swear So God be my help and these his holy Gospels This is the Creed of Pope Pius according to the Council of Trent Now betwixt these Articles and those of the Church of England there is a vast difference both 1. In the matter and 2. In the imposition and 3. In the end of them 1. For the Matter of these Articles Those of the Church of England are not to be believed as Articles of Faith no further than they can approve themselves to be contained in the holy Scriptures for thus we are taught in the Sixth of these Articles Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby * Licet interdum à fidelibus ut pium conducibibile ad ordinem decorum admittatur In the Margin of that Article is not to be required of any man that it should be belived as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation But amongst the Articles of Faith enjoyned by Pope Pius some are quite beside the Holy Scripture some against it some are mere speculations of the Schools and others but probable and matters of doubtful disputation For instance 1 The multiplication of Advocates and Ghostly Patrons 2 The Sacrifice of the Mass 3 The Adoration of the Host 4 The power of Indulgences as they are maintained and practised in the Church of Rome These are at least besides the Holy Scripture 1 The Invocation of Saints and veneration of Images as practised generally by the Common people according to their Books 2 The publick Service of the Church in an unknown Tongue The administration of the Lords Supper ordinarily to the people but in ine kind And that the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches These are against Scripture 3 Transubstantiation whatsoever it signifies more than a Real presence and the benefits which flow from it with the unaccountable hypotheses which depend upon it And Purgatory as it is blown up into Climaerical flames by the Schoolmen with the means and manner of deliverance out of it are no better than Scholastical speculations And many of the rest valued but as probabilities or matters of doubtful disputation 2. For the imposition of these respective Articles the difference is vast For those of Pope Pius we have not only I receive admit and embrace this Faith not only I do affirm and aknowledge constantly hold and most stedfastly assert it not only I do with a stedfast Faith believe and profess it but under the high and solemn obligation I do promise vow and swear to hold teach and preach the same to the very last breath of my life and to procure all others under my charge to do the like But to the Articles of Religion in the Church of England subscription is only required without any obligation to teach profess or assert them further than they are contained in the Holy Scripture or may be proved thereby to be Articles of the Faith or admitted for discipline and good order And it is moreover to be observed That his Majesty in his Declaration before these Articles printed 1630 though he forbids the offering violence to the liberal and
Edit Leodii 1668. p. 387 c. Quid magis ad mores c. What does more concern manners and the strictness of the Law of Nature than that the worship due to God be not bestowed upon a Creature and yet it is lawful many times out of a probable Opinion only to bestow Divine worship upon the Eucharist and to adore God when he is but probably latent there For there is no true certainty but only a Probability that this numerical Host is rightly consecrated First It is not certain that he who did consecrate was a Priest both because it is not certain that he was baptized as also because it is not certain that he was lawfully or validly Ordained by a true Bishop having an intention requisite to that effect c. Secondly It is nor certain that he did pronounce the words of Consecration If he did duly pronounce them yet Thirdly perhaps he had not a due intention If all these things were observed as they should be It is not certain in the Fourth place that a due matter was made use of for the Bread might not be made of Wheat Fifthly Although all these things proceeded well and rightly yet it is not indubitable that the Officer to whom the custody of the venerable Sacrament belongs did not expose an Host that was not consecrated instead of one that was truly consecrated to be adored All these are generals to which we may add the malice of mans heart which is too vigorous in some persons Upon these heads saith he we have known many Cheats too frequently practised in this matter and they know it much better who are employed as Judges upon the Tribunal of the Sacred Inquisition Thus far Father Terill Now if they of the Church of Rome have no certainty in their Sacraments no certainty in their Sacrifice of the Altar no certainty in their Priesthood no certainty but they may commit Idolatry every day if they cannot be certain but the malice of their Priests may frustrate all the sacred Ordinances of God to them and make them absolutely null though they be never so worthily disposed to receive the benefit of them And this is the Doctrine and Belief commonly maintained in the Church of Rome They should rather blush at such an Infallibility than boast of any great advantage to be reaped from it For grant further that that Infallibility were such as they would have it yet they can have no security in it for salvation 'T is such as a man may carry into Hell with him if it proves not a means to lead him thither where for ought I know the Devils have it as much as he And Gregory the Seventh was of the same mind Nam ut Jacobus frater Domini testatur fides sine operibus mortua est qualem Daemones habere fatetur Non Ergo minùs est resistendum pertinacibus authenticarum institutionum impugnatoribus quam Sacrae fidei violatoribus cùm Daemonibus assimilentur quicunque institutionem SS Patrum in fide tantum non etiam in conversatione pro viribus assectatur For as James the Brother of our Lord doth testifie Faith without Works is dead which kind of Faith he doth acknowledge to be in the Devils We ought therefore no less to resist such as are obstinate impugners of Authentick Institutions viz. of Piety than such as do violate the Sacred Faith seeing they that do earnestly follow the instruction of the Holy Fathers in matter of Faith only and not in a holy conversation are like unto the Devils For this Infallibility is restrained to matters of Faith and that Faith is but historical as they call it and not sufficient to salvation To the Essence of a Church right Doctrines in Practicals are as necessary as in Speculatives if mortal Sin excludes from salvation as well as an erroneous Faith †R. H. Disc of the Neeessity of Church Guides p. 82. as the Author of the Guide in Controversies does acknowledge And this is the Doctrine of the Council of Trent Sess 6. de Justificatione Si quis dixerit solâ fide justificari ita ut intelligat nihil aliud requiri quod ad Justificationis gratiam consequendam cooperetur nulla ex parte necesse esse eum suae voluntatis motu praeparari atque disponi Anathema sit Can. 9. If any man shall say that Faith alone does Justifie so that nothing else is required to cooperate towards the attainment of the Grace of Justification and that it is in no wise necessary that he should be prepared and disposed to it by any motion of his own will let him be accursed Et Can. 19. Si quis dixerit nihil praeceptum esse in Evangelio praeter fidem caetera esse indifferentia neque praecepta neque prohibita sed libera aut Decem Praecepta nihil pertinere ad Christianos Anathema sit If any man shall say there is nothing commanded in the Gospel but Faith that all other matters are indifferent neither commanded nor forbidden but left free or that the Ten Commandements do not concern Christians let him be accursed Et Can. 21. Si quis dixerit Christum Jesum à Deo hominibus datum fuisse ut Redemptorem cui fidant non etiam ut Legistatorem cui obediant Anathema sit that is If any man shall say that Christ Jesus was given unto man of God as a Redeemer in whom they should trust and not also as a Lawgiver whom they should obey let him be accursed Which Canons we can readily subscribe to From which it appears beyond exception that the Infallibility pretended by the Church of Rome is not to be relied on as sufficient for salvation The Creeds chiefly comprehending Speculatives there must be a great body of Articles also of necessary Faith relating to Practicals as R. H. maintains C. 1. §. 3. p 4. in his Discourse of the Necessity of Church Guides But doth this Infallibility extend to all matters of Practical belief as well as Speculative Yes saith R. H. Christ hath left an Infallible Guide for Manners as well as Faith †Id p. 176 and a little after God hath provided by the same Church Authority to preserve his Church in truth and to restrain it from sin giving an equal Commission to teach the ignorant and to correct the vicious And that since their Doctrine directs our Manners as well as Faith their Infallibility is as necessary for things of Practice as of Speculation But if there be such an Infallibility in the Guides of the Church not only in reference to points of Faith but to Doctrines of Practice also What meaneth then this bleating of the Sheep 1 Sam. 15. 14. in mine ears and this lowing of the Oxen which I hear Of the degeneracy of the Church in his time V. Bede writes thus Videt quisque non sine lachrymis c. Every one Apud Meisner de Ecclesia p. 681 682 684. sees not without