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
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
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