the Church of England Of Homilies THE Second Book of Homilies the several Titles whereof we have joined under this Article doth contain a godly and wholesom Doctrine and necessary for these times as doth the former Book of Homilies which were set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth and therefore we judge to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly as they may be understood by the People Of the Names of the Homilies Of the right use of the Church Against peril of Idolatry c. The Presbyterians Do generally own the Truth of these Homilies nor do utterly disallow their being read in publick Assemblies provided it tend not to occasion Sloath and neglect of Gifts and the Divine assistance in Ministers nor hinder the greater Edification which the People might reap by the Word Preached unto them The Papists Do utterly Condemn a very great part of the Doctrine contained in these Homilies too tedious here to enumerate But the same will appear to any one that reads them and is at all acquainted with Popish Tenets The six and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers THE Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops and ordering of Priests aud Deacons lately set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth and confirmed at the same time by Authority of Parliament doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and ordering neither hath it any thing that of it self is Superstitious and Ungodly And therefore whoever are Consecrated or Ordered according to the Rites of that Book since the second year of the afore-named King Edward unto this time or hereafter shall be Consecrated or Ordered according to the same Rites we Decree all such to be rightly lawfully and orderly Consecrated and Ordered The Presbyterians Do not deny the Ordination of the Church of England to be in it self lawful so as to esteem all those so Ordained not to be lawful Ministers of Christ The Papists Whoever taketh upon him to Preach to Administer the Sacraments c. and is not ordered by a true Catholick Bishop to be a Curate of Souls Parson Bishop c. is a Thief and Murderer of Souls Rhem. Annot. on John 10. 1. 1. Protestant Ministers and Preachers have no due mission For all their mission from the beginning of their Reformation was either the Inspiration of a Spirit they know not what or the Commission of a Child Edward the Sixth whom they called Supream Head of the Church and from whose Kingly Power all Jurisdiction as well Ecclesiastical as Civil they affirm'd did flow See Fox Tom. 2. anno 1546 in King Edward the Sixth Or the Letters Patents of a Woman Queen Elizabeth to whom they were pleas'd to Attribute the like Superiority and Power See Statut. anno primo Elizab. cap. 1. or the Illicite and Invalid ordination or mission of or by one Story an Apostate Monk who Ordained their first Bishops at the Nags-head in Cheapside in Q. Eliz. time See Christopherus de Sacro Bosco if they have any better let them prove it in the mean time let them know we value not a Straw Masons old new Records produc'd in the year 1613 which was a matter of 50 years after the thing now mentioned was Sacrilegiously and Invalidly done and most disgracefully and shamefully cryed down but those could not give them any Spiritual Authority Power or right to Preach For according to that received Maxim of the Law no Man can give more Right than he himself hath Cook l. 1. Therefore c. 2. Moreover a Bishop is to be Ordained by two or three Bishops Counc Apostol Can. 1. And a Priest and likewise a Deacon and the rest of the Clergy by a Bishop Ibid. Can. 2. Conc. Trid. Sess 23. Can. 7. But this Apostolical and needful manner of ordination or mission they never yet had For they rejected it quite and brought in an Heretical fashion in its stead in Edward the Sixths time Neither if they were willing could they have For as I said before their Bishops from the beginning of their Reformation had no other Ordination Consecration or Mission than the Commission of the King or Queens Pleasure For the Sacrilegious Illicite and invalid Ordination of or by Story which was the first pretended Holy mission of Protestants in England and from whence they hitherto derive their orders it was not worth a straw witness the fore mentioned Canons of the Apostolica Council c. And consequently their pretended Holy Orders thence derived are not worth a Pins Head Therefore they are not true Preachers what are they then Forsooth Intruders Wolves and Murderers Sons of Belial false Prophets and Priests of Baal which is their Heresie Rebellion and Stubbornness against the Church Thus that railing Rabshekah but the falsity of all such clamours was long since demonstrated by the Learned Mason in his Treatise of the Ordination of Bishops and Priests in the Church of England The seven and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of the Civil Magistrate THE Kings Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other his Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Civil or Ecclesiastical in all Causes doth appertain nor is not nor ought to be Subject to any Forreign Jurisdiction where we attribute to the Kings Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some dangerous Folks to be offended He give not to our Princes the Ministring of Gods Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the In junctions also lately set forth by Eliz. our Queen do most plainly testifie But that only Prerogative which we les to have been goven always to all Godly Princes in Holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their Charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and Evil doers The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Laws of the Realm may punish Christian Men with Death for hainous and grievous Offences It is lawful for Christian Men at the Commandement of the Magistrate to wear Weapons and serve in the Wars The Presbyterians God the Supream Lord and King of all the World hath Ordained Civil Magistrates to be under him over the People for his own Glory and the publick good and to this end hath armed them with the power of the Sword for the defence and incouragement of them that are good and for the punishment of Evil doers The Civil Magistrate may not assume to himself the Administration of the Word and Sacraments or the power of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven yet he hath Authority and it is his duty to take order that Unity and Peace be preserv'd in the Church and that the Truth of God be kept pure and intire that all Blasphemies and
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
Councils be retained in the Church and accurseth those who either avouch them to be unprofitable or deny that there is any power in the Church to grant them Let them teach that the Images of Christ the Virgin-Mother of God and other Saints are chiefly in Churches to be had and retained and that due Honour and Worship is to be given to them They who deny That the Saints enjoying Eternal happiness in Heaven are to be called upon or who affirm either that they pray not for us Men or that Invocation of them to pray for us is Idolatry or contrary to the Word of God and repugnant to the Honour of the only Mediatour between God and Men Jesus Christ or that it is folly either by Word and Thought to make supplications to them that reign in Heaven are of an impious Opinion The three and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of Ministring in the Congregation IT is not lawful for any Man to take upon him the Offfce of publick Preaching or Ministring the Sacraments in the Congregation before he be lawfully called and sent to execute the same And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent which be chosen and called to this work by Men who have publick Authority given unto them in the Congregation to call and send Ministers into the Lords Vineyard The Presbyterians No Man ought to thrust himself to teach or govern in the Church unless he be carefully called thereunto The Papists Whoever shall say That those which are not rightly Ordain'd by Ecclesiastical and Canonical Power but come from elsewhere are lawful Ministers of the Word and Sacraments Let him be Accursed The four and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of speaking in the Congregation in such a Tongue as the People understandeth IT is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God and the Custom of the Primitive Church to have publick Prayers in the Church or to Minister the Sacraments in a Tongue not understood of the People The Presbyterians Publick Prayers are to be made in the Vulgar Tongue not in Latin amongst the French and English but so as they may be understood by the whole Assembly forasmuch as it ought to be done to the Edification of the whole Church unto whom by a sound not understood no profit can in any fort Redound Prayer with Thansgiving being one special part of Religious Worship is by God required of all Men and that it may be accepted it is to be made in the name of the Son by the help of his Spirit according to his Will with Understanding Reverence Humility Fervency Faith Love and Perseverance and if Vocal in a known Tongue The Papists Although the Mass contain great Instruction of Faithful People yet it seem'd not expedient to the Fathers that it should every where be said in the Vulgar Tongue If any one shall say That the Rite of the Church of Rome by which part of the Canon and words of Consecration are pronounced with a lower voice is to be Condemned or that the Mass ought to be Celebrated only in the Vulgar Tongue Let him be Accursed It is not necessary that we understand our Prayers Prayers not understood of the People are acceptable to God The Five and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Sacraments SAcraments Ordained of Christ be not only Badges or Tokens of Christian-mens profession but rather they be certain Witnesses and effectual Signs of Grace and Gods good Will towards us By the which he works invisibly in us and doth not only quicken but strengthen and confirm our Faith in him There are two Sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel that is to say Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Those five commonly called Sacraments that is to say Confirmation Pennance Orders Matrimony extream Unction are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel being such as have grown partly of the Corrupt following of the Apostles partly as states of Life allowed in the Scripture but yet have not like Nature of Sacraments with Baptism and the Lords Supper for that they have not any visible Sign or Ceremony ordained of God The Sacraments were not ordained of God to be gazed upon or to be carried about but that we should duly use them And in such only as worthily receive the same they have a wholesom Effect or Operation but they that receive them unworthility purchase unto themselves Damnation as St. Paul saith The Presbyterians There be only two Sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord Baptism and the Lords Supper neither of which can be dispensed by any but by a Minister of the Word lawfully Ordained Private Masses or receiving the Sacrament by a Priest or any other alone as likewise the denial of the Cup to the People worshipping the Elements the lifting them up or carrying them about for Adoration and the reserving them for any pretended Religious use are all contrary to the Nature of this Sacrament and to the Institution of Christ The Papists If any one shall say That the Sacraments of the new Law were not all substituted by Christ or that they are more or fewer than seven viz. Baptism Confirmation Eucharist Pennance Extream Unction Holy Orders and Matrimony or that any of these is not truly and properly a Sacrament Let him be Accursed If any one shall say That'tis not lawful to reserve the Holy Eucharist but that the same is presently to be distributed or that it is not to be Ador'd even with the outward Worship or that it ought not solemnly to be carried about in Processions or shewn publickly to be adored to the People or that it is not lawful to hear it Honourably to the Sick Let him be Accursed If any one shall say That by the Sacraments themselves of the New Testament ex opere operato meerly by the thing done Grace is not conferred but that the Faith of the Divine Promise suffices to obtain Grace Let him be Accursed If any one shall say That in Ministers whilst they make and confer the Sacraments there is not required an Intention at least of doing that which the Church does Let him be Accursed The six and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the unworthiness of the Ministers which hinder not the Effect of the Sacraments ALthough in the visible Church the Evil be ever mingled with the Good and sometime the Evil have chief Authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own Name but Christs and do Minister by his Commission and Authority we may use their Ministry both in hearing of the Word of God and in the receiving the of Sacraments neither is the effect of Christs Ordinance taken away by their Wickedness nor the Grace of Gods Gifts diminished from such as by Faith and rightly do receive the Sacraments Ministred unto them
Heresies be suppressed all Corruptions and Abuses in Worship and Discipline prevented or reformed and all the Ordinances of God duly settled administred and observed For the better effecting whereof he hath Power to call Synods to be present at them and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God It is the duty of People to pray for Magistrates to honour their Persons to pay them Tribute and other dues to obey their Lawful Commands and to be subject to their Authority for Conscience sake Infidelity or Indifference in Religion doth not make void the Magistrates Just and Legal Authority nor free the People from their due Obedience to him from which Ecclesiastical Persons are not exempted much less hath the Pope any Power or Jurisdiction over them in their Dominions or over any of their People and least of all to deprive them of their Dominions or Lives if he shall judge them to be Hereticks or upon any other pretence whatsoever If we look into the Word of God it enjoins us not only to be Subject to those Princes who rule Righteonsly and as they ought do discharge their Office towards us But also to all those in whom the Supream Power is vested Though they perform nothing less than that which truly is their Duty For as God has Establisht Magistracy as a principal gift of his Beneficence for the Commodity of Mankind and prescribes to Rulers their Duties so like wise he declares That whatsoever they are they still have their Dominion from him making those who Rule for the publick good true Examples of his Goodness and those who exercise their Authority unjustly and wickedly his Instruments to punish the Iniquities of his People but both of them still endowed with that Majesty wherewith he hath armed all Authority on which score it is that if the publick Power happen to fall into the hands of a Wicked Man and one that in himself appears altogether unworthy of Honour yet we must acknowledge the same Eminent and Divine Power to reside in him which the Lord hath conferr'd by his Word on the Ministers of his Justice and the same Reverence and Honour is to be paid him by his Subjects as to outward Obedience as they ought to pay to the best of Kings If they were so happy as to enjoy him And having proved this by several Instances from Holy Writ especially from that of Jeremy 27. He Concludes thus Let us therefore never entertain such Seditious Thoughts as these that a King ought to be treated according to his Personal Merits or Demerits or that we need not be obedient Subjects to a King that does not again justly discharge his Office towards us Wherefore if by a cruel Prince we are grievously afflicted if by a Covetous or luxurious one we are fleec'd to the Skin and abused If by a slothful voluptuous one the grand Interests of the publick be neglected Nay more if meerly for Righteousness sake by an Ungodly Sacrilegious Tyrant we are persecuted and slaughtered it ought first to put us in mind of our Sins which by such scourges of God are undoubtedly punished In the next place let Humility restrain our Impatience And in the last place Let us consider that it is not our part to Redress these Evils all that we can do is to implore the help of God in whose hands are the Hearts of Kings and the Revolutions of Empires Thus far Calvin And we appeal to Envy it self whether the Doctrine of Loyalty and Obedience can be more expresly or fully delivered by any The Papists Exempt all Clergy-Men from obeying the Laws or submitting to the Jndgments of Temporal Magistrates or to pay them Tribute The Canon Law hath utterly exempted them from it saith Bellarmine de Cler. cap. 1. That the Civil Magistrate hath no Cognizance over the Clergy is Decreed by several Councils as Conc. Later 3. cap. 14. and Conc. Later 2. Can. 15. Because some Lay-Men constrain Ecclesiasticks yea and Bishops themselves to appear before them and to stand to their Judgments Those that henceforth shall presume to do so we Decree That they shall be Excommunicated Pope Gregory the 7th in a Synod at Rome made this Decree We observing the Decrees of our Holy Predecessors by our Aposlolical Authority do Absolve these from their Oath who are bound by their Fealty and Oath to persons Excommunicated and we forbid them by all means That they yield them Obedience The Jurisdiction of the Pope is Vniversal even over the whole World Rhem. Annot. Him upon pain of Damnation all Christians are to obey Bonif. 8th in Extrav The eight and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of Christian Mens Goods which are not Common THE Riches and Goods of Christians are not Common as touching the Right Title and Profession of the same as certain Anabaptists do falsly boast Notwithstanding every Man ought of such as he possesseth liberally to give Alms to the Poor according to his Ability The Presbyterians The Communion which Christians have one with another as Saints doth not take away or infringe the Title or Propreity which each Man hath in his Goods and Possessions The Papists Do not deny this Article yet conceit their Monasticks who have all things in Common to be in a State of greater perfection than other Christians The nine and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of a Christian Mans Oath AS we confess That vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian Men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his Apostle so we Judge that Christian Religion doth not prohibite but that a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth in a cause of Faith and Charity so it be done according to the Prophets teaching in Justice Judgment and Truth The Presbyterians A Lawful Oaths is a part of Religious Worship wherein upon just occasion the Person swearing solemnly calleth God to Witness what he asserteth or promiseth and to judge him according to the Truth or Falshood of what he sweareth The name of God only is that by which Men ought to swear and therein is to be used with all Holy Fear and Reverence Therefore to swear vainly and rashly by that glorious and dreadful Name or by any other thing is sinful and to be abhorred Yet as in matters of weight and Moment an Oath is Warranted by the Word of God under the New Testament as well as under the Old so that a Lawful Oath being imposed by Lawful Authority in such matters ought to be taken Whosoever taketh an Oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an Act and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully perswaded is Truth Neither may any Man bind himself by Oath to any thing but what is good and Just and what he believeth so to be and what he is able and resolved to perform yet it is a Sin to refuse an Oath touching any thing that is Good and Just being impos'd