Courts and Councils about their Gates by the Gates of Hell may be understood the Designs and Contrivances of the Powers of Darkness which should never prevail over the Church to root it out and destroy it for the Word rendred prevail does signify an intire Victory This only imports That the Church should be still preserved against all the Attempts of Hell but does not intimate that no Error was ever to get into it Mat. 3.2 Mat. 4.17 By the words Kingdom of Heaven generally through the whole Gospel the Dispensation of the Messias is understood This appears evidently from the words with which both St. Iohn Baptist and our Saviour begun their Preaching Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And the many Parables and Comparisons that Christ gave of the Kingdom of Heaven can only be understood of the Preaching of the Gospel This being then agreed to the most natural and the least forced Exposition of those words must be that St. Peter was to open the Dispensation of the Gospel The proper use of a Key is to open a Door And as this agrees with these words He that hath the Key of the House of David that openeth and no man shutteth Rev. 3.7 Luk. 11.51 and shutteth and no man openeth and with the Phrase of the Key of Knowledge by which the Lawyers are described for they had a Key with Writing-Tables given them as the Badges of their Profession So it agrees with the accomplishment of this promise in St. Peter who first opened the Gospel to the Iews after the wonderful Effusion of the Holy Ghost And more eminently when he first opened the Door to the Gentiles preaching to Cornelius and Baptizing him and his Houshold to which the Phrase of the Kingdom of Heaven seems to have a more particular relation This Dispensation was committed to St. Peter and seems to be claimed by him as his peculiar Privilege in the Council at Ierusalem This is a clear and plain sense of these words For those who would carry them further and understand by the Kingdom of Heaven our Eternal Happiness must use many distinctions otherwise if they Expound them literally they will ascribe to St. Peter that which certainly could only belong to our Saviour himsâ—lf Though at the same time it is not to be denied but that under the figure of Keys the power of Discipline and the Conduct and Management of Christians may be understood But as to this all the Pastors of the Church have their share in it nor can it be appropriated to any one Person As for that of binding and loosing and the confirming in Heaven what he should do in Earth whatever it may signify it is no special Grant to St. Peter For the same words are spoken by our Saviour elsewhere to all the Apostles So this is given equally to them all The words binding and loosing are used by the Iewish Writers in the sense of affirming or denying the Obligation of any Precept of the Law that might be in dispute So according to this common Form of Speech and the sense formerly given to the words Kingdom of Heaven the meaning of these words must be That Christ committed to the Apostles the Dispensing his Gospel to the World by which he Authorized them to dissolve the Obligation of the Mosaical Laws and to give other Laws to the Christian Church which they should do under such visible Characters of a Divine Authority impowering and conducting them in it that it should be very evident that what they did on Earth was also ratifyed in Heaven These words thus understood carry in them a clear sense which agrees with the whole Design of the Gospel But whatsoever their sense may be it is plain that there was nothing given peculiarly to St. Peter by them which was not likewise given to the rest of the Apostles Nor do these words of our Saviour to St. Peter import any thing of a Successive Infallibility that was to be derived from him with any distinction beyond the other Apostles Unless 〈◊〉 were a Priority of Order and Dignity and whatever that was there is 〈◊〉 so much as a hint given that it was to descend from him to any See or Succession of Bishops As for our Saviour's praying that St. Peter's Faith might not fail And his restoring him to his Apostolical Function by a thrice repeated charge Feed my sheep feed my lambs that has such a visible Relation to his fall Luk. 22.31 John 21.15 16 17. and to his denying him that it does not seem necessary to enlarge further on the making it out or on shewing that these words are capable of no other Signification and cannot be carried further The Importance of this Argument rather than the Difficulty of it has made it necessary to dwell fully upon it So much depends upon it and the Missionaries of the Church of Rome are so well Instructed in it that it ought to be well considered for how little strength soever there may be in the Arguments brought to prove this Infallibility yet the colours are specious and they are commonly managed both with much Art and with great Confidence ARTICLE XX. Of the Authority of the Church The Church hath Power to decree Rights or Ceremonies and Authority in Matters of Faith And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's 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 Keeper of Holy Writ yet as it ought not to decree any thing against the same so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation THIS Article consists of Two parts The first asserts a Power in the Church both to decree Rites and Ceremonies and to judge in matters of Faith The second limits this Power over matters of Faith to the Scriptures so that it must neither contradict them nor add any Articles as necessary to Salvation to those contained in them This is suitable to some Words that were once in the Fifth Article but were afterwards left out instead of which the first words of this Article were put in this place according to the Printed Editions tho they are not in the Original of the Articles signed by both Houses of Convocation that are yet extant As to the first part of the Article concerning the Power of the Church either with relation to Ceremonies or Points of Faith the dispute lies only with those who deny all church-Church-Power and think that Churches ought to be in all things limited by the Rules set in Scripture and that where the Scriptures are silent there ought to be no Rules made but that all Men should be left to their Liberty And in particular That the appointing new Ceremonies looks like a reproaching of the Apostles as if their Constitutions had been so defective that those defects
particular or National Church hath Authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies or Rights of the Church ordained only by mens Authority so that all things be done to edifying THIS Article consists of two Branches The first is That the Church hath Power to appoint such Rites and Ceremonies as are not contrary to the Word of God and that private Persons are bound to conform themselves to their Orders The second is That it is not necessary that the whole Church should meet to determine such maters the Power of doing that being in every National Church which is fully empowr'd to take care of it self and no Rule made in such matters is to be held unalterable but may be changed upon occasion As to the first it hath been already considered when the first words of the Twentieth Article were explained There the Authority of the Church in matters indifferent was stated and proved It remains now only to prove That private Persons are bound to conform themselves to such Ceremonies especially when they are also enacted by the Civil Authority It is to be considered That the Christian Religion was chiefly designed to raise and purify the Nature of man and to make Human Society perfect now Brotherly Love and Charity does this more than any one Virtue whatsoever It raises a man to the Likeness of God it gives him a Divine and Heavenly Temper within himself and creates the tenderest Union and firmest Happiness possible among all the Societies of Men. Our Saviour has so enlarged the Obligation to it as to make it by the Extent he has given it a great and new Commandment by which all the World may be able to know and distinguish his Followers from the rest of Mankind And as all the Apostles insist much upon this in every one of their Epistles not excepting the shortest of them so St. Iohn who writ last of them has dwelt more fully upon it than upon any other Duty whatsoever Our Saviour did particularly intend that his Followers should be associated into one Body and join together in order to their keeping up and inflaming their mutual Love and therefore he delivered his Prayer to them all in the Plural to shew that he intended that they should use it in a Body He appointed Baptism as the way of receiving men into this Body and the Eucharist as a joint Memorial that the Body was to keep up of his Death For this end he appointed Pastors to teach and keep his Followers in a Body And in his last and longest Prayer to the Father he repeats this That they might be one That they might be kept in one Body and made perfect in one in five several Expressions Joh. 17.11 21 22 23. which shews both how necessary a part of his Religion he meant this should be and likewise intimates to us the danger that he foresaw of his Followers departing from it which made him intercede so earnestly for it One Expression that he has of this Union shews how entire and tender he intended that it should be for he prayed that the Union might be such as that between the Father and himself was The Apostles use the Figure of a Body frequently to express this Union than which nothing can be imagined that is more firmly knit together and in which all the parts do more tenderly sympathize with one another Upon all these considerations we may certainly gather That the dissolving this Union the dislocating this Body and the doing any thing that may extinguish the Love and Charity by which Christians are to be made so happy in themselves and so useful to one another and by which the Body of Christians grows much the firmer and stronger and shines more in the World that I say the doing this upon slight grounds must be a Sin of a very high nature Nothing can be a just Reason either to carry men to it or justify them in it but the imposing on them unlawful Terms of Communion for in that case it is certain that we must obey God rather than man that we must seek Truth and Peace together Acts 24.16 and that the rule of keeping a good Conscience in all things is laid thus To do it first towards God and then towards man So that a Schism that is occasioned by any Church's imposing unlawful Terms of Communion lies at their door who impose them and the Guilt is wholly theirs But without such a necessity it is certainly both in its own nature and in its consequences one of the greatest of Sins to create needless Disturbances in a Church and to give occasion to all that alienation of Mind all those rash Censures and unjust Judgments that do arise from such Divisions This receives a very great Aggravation if the Civil Authority has concurred by a Law to enjoyn the Observance of such indifferent things for to all their lawful Commands we owe an Obedience not only for fear but for conscience sake since the Authority of the Magistrate is chiefly to be imployed in such matters Rom. 13.3 As to things that are either commanded or forbidden of God the Magistrate has only the Execution of these in his hands so that in those his Laws are only the Sanctions and Penalties of the Laws of God The Subject-matter of his Authority is about things which are of their own nature indifferent but that may be made fit and proper means for the maintaining of Order Union and Decency in the Society And therefore such Laws as are made by him in those things do certainly bind the Conscience and oblige the Subjects to Obedience Disobedience does also give Scandal to the weak Scandal is a Block or Trap laid in the way of another by which he is made to stumble and fall So this Figure of giving Scandal or the laying a stumbling-block in our Brother's way is applied to our doing of such Actions as may prove the occasions of Sin to others Every man according to the influence that his Example or Authority may have over others who do too easily and implicitely follow him becomes thereby the more capable of giving them Scandal that is of drawing them after him to commit many Sins And since men are under Fetters according to the Persuasions that they have of things he who thinks a thing sinful does sin if he does it as long as he is under that apprehension because he deliberately ventures on that which he thinks offends God even while he doubts of it or makes a distinction between Meats for the word rendered doubts Rom. 14.23 signifies also the making a difference he is damned that is self-condemned as acting against his own sense of things if he does it Another ma n that has larger Thoughts and clearer Ideas may see that there is no sin in an Action about which others may be still in doubt and so upon his own account he may certainly do it But if he has reason to believe that his
hovering about it but that it was translated into the Seats of departed Souls All these Three Senses differ very much from one another and yet they are all Senses that are Literal and Grammatical so that in which of these soever a man conceives the Article he may Subscribe it and he does no way prevaricate in so doing If men would therefore understand all the other Articles in the same largeness and with the same equity there would not be that occasion given for unjust Censure that there has been Where then the Articles are conceived in large and general words and have not more special and restrained terms in them we ought to take that for a sure Indication that the Church does not intend to tie men up too severely to particular Opinions but that she leaves all to such a liberty as is agreeable with the Purity of the Faith And this seems sufficient to explain the Title of the Articles and the Subscriptions that are required of the Clergy to them The last thing to be setled is the true Reading of the Articles for there being some small diversity between the Printed Editions and the Manuscripts that were signed by both Houses of Convocation I have desired the assistance both of Dr. Green the present Worthy Master of Corpus Christi College in Cambridge and of some of the Learned Fellows of that Body That they would give themselves the trouble to collate the Printed Editions and their Manuscripts with such a scrupulous exactness as becomes a Matter of this Importance which they were pleased to do very minutely I will set down Both the Collations as they were transmitted to me beginning with that which I had from the Fellows four Years ago These words said to be left out are found in the Original Articles Sign'd by the Chief Clergy of Both Provinces now extant in the Manuscript Libraries of C.C.C.C. in the Book call'd Synodalia but distinguish'd from the rest with Lines of Minium which Lines plainly appear to have been done afterwards because the Leaves and Lines of the Original are exactly numbred at the end which number without these Lines were manifestly false In the Original these words only are found Testamentum vetus novo contrarium non est quandoquidem c. The Latin of the Original is Et quanquam renatis credentibus nulla propter Christum est condemnatio This Article is not found in this Original This is not found This is not found This Article agrees with the Original but these words The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith suppos'd to begin the Article are not found in any part thereof In the fourteenth Line of this Article immediately after these words But yet have not like nature with Baptism and the Lord's Supper follows quomodo nec penitentia which being mark'd underneath with Minium is left out in the Translation This Article agrees with the Original as far as these words and â—ath given occasion to many Superstitions where follows Christus in coelum ascendens corpori suo immortalitatem dedit naturam non abstulit humanae enim naturae veritatem juxta Scripturas perpetuo retinet quam uno definito loco esse non in multa vel omnia simul loca diffundi oportet quum igitur Christus in coelum sublatus ibi usque ad finem faeculi sit permansurus atque inde non aliunde ut loquitur Augustinus venturus sit ad judicandum vivos mortuos non debet quisquam fidelium carnis ejus sanguinis realem corporalem ut loquuntur praesentiam in Eucharistia vel credere vel profiteri These words are mark'd and scrawl'd over with Minium and the words immediately following Corpus tamen Christi datur accipitur manducatur in coena tantum coelesti spirituali ratione are inserted in a different Hand just before them in a line and half left void which plainly appears to be done afterwards by reason the same Hand has alter'd the first number of Lines and for Viginti quatuor made quatuordecem The Three last Articles Viz. The 39th Of the Resurrection of the Dead the 40th That the Souls of men do neither perish with their Bodies neque otiosi dormiant is added in the Original And the 42d That all shall not be saved at last are found in the Original distinguish'd only with a Marginal Line of Minium But the 41st of the Millenarians is wholly left out The number of Articles does not exactly agree by reason some are inserted which are found only in King Edward's Articles but none are wanting that are found in the Original ARTICLE III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell· AS Christ Died for us and was Buried so also it is to be believ'd That he went down into Hell For his Body lay in the Grave till his Resurrection but his Soul being separate from his Body remain'd with the Spirits which were detainâ—d in Prison that is to say in Hell and there preached unto them ARTICLE VI. The Old Testament is not to be rejected as if it were contrary to the New but to be retained Forasmuch c. ARTICLE IX And although there is no Condemnation to them that believe and are Baptiz'd c. ARTICLE X. Of Grace The Grace of Christ or the Holy Ghost which is given by Him doth c. ARTICLE XVI Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost The Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is then committed when c. ARTICLE XIX All men are bound to keep the Precepts of the Moral Law although the Law given from God c. ARTICLE XX. Of the Authority of the Church It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's Words written c. ARTICLE XXVI Of the Sacraments Sacraments Ordain'd of Christ c. ARTICLE XXIX Of the Lord's Supper The Supper of the Lord's is not only a Sign of c. Corpus Christi Col. Feb. 4 th 1695 6. UPON Examination we judge these to be all the material differences that are unobserv'd between the Original Manuscripts and the B. of Salisbury's Printed Copy Witness our Hands Io. Iaggard Fellow of the said College Roh Mosse Fellow of the said College Will. Lunn Fellow of the said College After I had procured this I was desirous likewise to have the Printed Editions Collated with the Second Publication of the Articles in the Year 1571. in which the Convocation reviewed those of 1562. and made some small Alterations And these were very lately procured for me by my Reverend Friend Dr. Green which I will set down as he was pleased to communicate them to me Note MS. stands for Manuscript and Pr. for Print Art 1. MS. and true God and he is everlasting without Body  Pr. and true God everlasting without Body Art 2. MS. but also for all actual sins of men  Pr. but also for actual sins of men Art 3. MS. so also it
is to be believed  Pr. so also is it to be believed Art 4. MS. Christ did truly arise again  Pr. Christ did truly rise again  MS. until he return to judge all men at the last day  Pr. until he return to judge men at the last day Art 6. MS. to be believed as an Article of the Faith  Pr. to be believed as an Article of Faith  MS. requisite as necessary to Salvation  Pr. requisite or necessary to Salvation  MS. In the name of holy Scripture  Pr. In the name of the holy Scripture  MS. but yet doth it not apply  Pr. but yet doth not apply  MS. Baruch  Pr. Baruch the Prophet  MS. and account them for Canonical  Pr. and account them Canonical Art 8. MS. by most certain warranties of Holy Scripture  Pr. by most certain warrant of Holy Scripture Art 9. MS. but it is the fault  Pr. but is the fault  MS. whereby man is very far gone from his original righteousness  Pr. whereby man is far gone from original righteousness  MS. in them that be regenerated  Pr. in them that are regenerated Art De Gratia non habetur in MS. Art 10. MS. a good will and working in us  Pr. a good will and working with us Art 14. MS. cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety  Pr. cannot be taught without arrogancy and iniquity  MS. we be unprofitable Servants  Pr. we are unprofitable Servants Art 15. MS. sin only except  Pr. sin only excepted MS. to be the Lamb without spot  Pr. to be a Lamb without spot  MS. but we the rest although baptized and born again in Christ yet we all offend  Pr. but all we the rest although baptized and if born in Christ yet offend Art De Blasphemia in Sp. Sanct. non est in MS. Art 16. MS. wherefore the place for Penitence  Pr. wherefore the grant of Repentance Art 17. MS. so excellent a benefit of God given unto them be called according  Pr. so excellent a benefit of God be called according  MS. as because it doth fervently kindle their love  Pr. as because it doth frequently kindle their love Art Omnes Obligantur c. non est in MS. Art 18. MS. to frame his life according to the Law and the light of Nature  Pr. to frame his life according to that Law and the light of Nature Art 19. MS. congregation of faithful men in the which the pure Word  Pr. congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word Art 20. MS. The Church hath Power to decree rites or ceremonies and authority in controversies of Faith And yet   These words are not in the Original MS.  MS. ought it not to enforce any thing  Pr. it ought not to enforce any thing Art 21. MS. and when they be gathered together forasmuch  Pr. and when they be gathered forasmuch Art 22. MS. is a fond thing vainly invented  Pr. is a fond thing vainly feigned Art 24. MS. in a Tongue not understanded of the People  Pr. in a Tongue not understood of the People Art 25. MS. and effectual signs of grace and God's good will towards us  Pr. and effectual signs of grace and God's will towards us  MS. and extream annoyling  Pr. and extream unction Art 26. MS. in their own name but do minister by Christ's Commission and authority  Pr. in their own name but in Christ's and do minister by his Commission and authority  MS. and in the receiving of the Sacraments  Pr. and in the receiving the Sacraments MS. and rightly receive the Sacraments  Pr. and rightly do receive the Sacraments Art 27. MS. from others that be not christned but is also a sign  Pr. from others that be not christned but it is also a sign  MS. forgiveness of sin and of our adoption  Pr. forgiveness of sin of our adoption Art 28. MS. to have amongst themselves  Pr. to have among themselves  MS. the bread which we break is a partaking Communion of the body of Christ.  Pr. the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Thrist  MS. and likewise the Cup of blessing is a partaking Communion of the blood of Christ.  Pr. and likewise the Cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ.  MS. or the change of the Substance of bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood cannot be proved by holy Writ but is repugnant  Pr. 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  MS. but the mean whereby the body of Christ is received  Pr. and the mean whereby the body of Christ is received  MS. lifted up or worshipped  Pr. lifted up and worshipped Art 31. MS. is the perfect redemption  Pr. is that perfect redemption  MS. to have remission of pain or guilt were forged Fables  Pr. to have remission of pain and guilt were blasphemous Fables Art 33. MS. that hath authority thereto  Pr. that hath authority thereunto Art 34. MS. diversity of countries times and mens manners  Pr. diversity of countries and mens manners  MS. and be ordained and appointed by common autority  Pr. and be ordained and approved by common authority  MS. the consciences of the weak brethren  Pr. the consciences of weak brethren Art 35. MS. of Homilies the Titles whereof we have joined under this Article do contain  Pr. of Homilies the several Titles whereof we have joined under this Article doth contain  MS. wholesome Doctrine and necessary for this time as doth the former book which was set forth  Pr. wholesome Doctrine necessary for these times as doth the former book of Homilies which were set forth MS. and therefore are to be read in our Churches by the Ministers diligently plainly and distinctly that they may be understanded of the people  Pr. and therefore we judge them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the people  MS. ministred in a tongue known  Pr. ministred in a known tongue Art De Libro Precationum c. non est in MS. Art 36. MS. in the time of the most noble K. Edward the Sixth  Pr. in the time of Edward the Sixth  MS. superstitious or ungodly  Pr. superstitious and ungodly Art 37. MS. whether they be Ecclesiastical or not  Pr. whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil  MS. the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended  Pr. the minds of some dangerous folks to be offended  MS. we give not to our Princes  Pr. we give not our Princes  MS. or of Sacraments  Pr. or of the
Sacraments  MS. the Injunctions also lately set forth  Pr. the Injunctions also set forth  MS. and serve in the Wars  Pr. and serve in lawful Wars Art 38. MS. every man oughteth of such things  Pr. every man ought of such things Art 39. Edw. 6. qui sequuntur non sunt in MS. WE Th' archbishops and Bishops of either Province of this Realm of England lawfully gathered together in this Provincial Synod holden at London with Continuations and Prorogations of the same do receive profess and acknowledge the xxxviii Articles before written in xix Pages going before to contain true and sound doctrine and do approve and ratify the same by the subscription of our hands the xi â—h day of May in the year of our Lord 1571. and in the year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth by the Grace of God of England France and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith c. the thirteenth Matthue Cantuar. Rob. Winton Jo. Heref. Richarde Ely Nic. Wigorn. Jo. Sarisburien Edm. Roffen N. Bangor Ri. Cicestren Thom. Lincoln Willhelmus Exon. From these Diversities a great difficulty will naturally arise about this whole Matter The Manuscripts of Corpus Christi are without doubt Originals The hands of the Subscribers are well known they belonged to Archbishop Parker and were left by him to that College and they are Signed with a particular care for at the end of them there is not only a Sum of the number of the Pages but of the Lines in every Page And though this was the Work only of the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury yet the Archbishop of York with the Bishops of Duresme and Chester Subscribed them likewise and they were also Subscribed by the whole Lower House But we are not sure that the like care was used in the Convocation Anno 1571. for the Articles are only Subscribed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Ten Bishops of his Province nor does the Subscription of the Lower House appear These Articles were first Printed in the Year 1563. conform to the present Impressions which are still in use among us So the Alterations were then made while the thing was fresh and well known therefore no Fraud nor Artifice is to be suspected since some Objections would have been then made especially by the great Party of the Complying Papists who then continued in the Church They would not have failed to have made much use of this and to have taken great advantages from it if there had been any occasion or colour for it and yet nothing of this kind was then done One Alteration of more Importance was made in the Year 1571. Those words of the 20 th Article The Church hath power to Decree Rites or Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith were left out both in the Manuscripts and in the Printed Editions but were afterwards restored according to the Articles Printed Anno 1563. I cannot find out in what Year they were again put in the Printed Copies They appear in two several Impressions in Queen Elizabeth's Time which are in my hands It passes commonly that it was done by Archbishop Laud and his Enemies laid this upon him among other things That he had corrupted the Doctrine of this Church by this addition but he cleared himself of that as well he might and in a Speech in the Star-Chamber appealed to the Original and affirmed these words were in it The true account of this difficulty is this When the Articles were first setled they were Subscribed by Both Houses upon Paper but that being done they were afterward Ingrossed in Parchment and made up in Form to remain as Records Now in all such Bodies many Alterations are often made after a minute or first Draught is agreed on before the matter is brought to full Perfection so these Alterations as most of them are small and inconsiderable were made between the time that they were first Subscribed and the last Voting of them But the Original Records which if extant would have cleared the whole matter having been burnt in the Fire of London it is not possible to Appeal to them yet what has been proposed may serve I hope fully to clear the difficulty I now go to consider the Articles themselves ARTICLE I. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity There is but one living and true God everlasting without bodie parts or passions of infinite power wisdom and goodness the maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible and in the unity of this godhead there be three persons of one substance power and eternity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost THE Natural Order of Things required That the First of all Articles in Religion should be concerning the Being and Attributes of God For all other Doctrines arise out of this But the Title appropriates this to the Holy Trinity because that is the only part of the Article which peculiarly belongs to the Christian Religion since the rest is Founded on the Principles of Natural Religion There are Six Heads to be Treated of in order to the full opening of all that is contained in this Article 1. That there is a God 2. That there is but One God 3. Negatively That this God hath neither Body Parts nor Passions 4. Positively That he is of Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness 5. That he at first Created and does still Preserve all things not only what is Material and Visible but also what is Spiritual and Invisible 6. The Trinity is here Asserted These being all Points of the highest consequence it is very necessary to state them as clearly and to prove them as fully as may be The First is That there is a God This is a Proposition which in all Ages has been so universally received and believed some very few Instances being only assigned of such as either have denied or doubted of it that the very consent of so many Ages and Nations of such different Tempers and Languages so vastly remote from one another has been long esteemed a good Argument to prove that either there is somewhat in the Nature of Man that by a secret sort of Instinct does dictate this to him or that all Mankind has descended from one common Stock and that this belief has passed down from the first Man to all his Posterity If the more Polite Nations had only received this some might suggest that wise men had introduced it as a mean to govern human Society and to keep it in order Or if only the more barbarous had received this it might be thought to be the effeâ—t of their Fear and their Ignorance but since all Sorts as well as all Ages of men have received it this alone goes a great way to assure us of the Being of a God To this Two things are Objected 1 st That some Nations such as Sâ—ldania Formosa and some in America have been discovered in these last Ages that seem to acknowledge no
that imports the Designation of the Person so prayed over In the Greek Church there is indeed a different Form for though there are Prayers in their Office of Ordination Haberti pontif Graecum Morinus de Ordinat Sacâ—is yet the words that do accompany the Imposition of Hands are only Declaratory The Grace of God that perfects the feeble and heals the weak promotes this Man to be a Deacon a Priest or a Bishop let us therefore pray for him By which they pretend only to judge of a divine Vocation All the ancient Rituals and all those that treat of them for the first Seven Centuries speak of nothing as Essential to Orders but Prayer and Imposition of Hands It is true many Rites came to be added and many Prayers were used that went far beyond the first Simplicity But in the Tenth or Eleventh Century a new Form was brought in of delivering the Vessels in ordaining Priests and Words were joined with that giving them Power to offer Sacrifices to God and to celebrate Masses and then the Orders were believed to be given by this Rite The delivering of the Vessels look'd like a Matter and these Words were thought the Form of the Sacrament and the Prayer that was formerly used with the Imposition of Hands was indeed still used but only as a Part of the Office no Hands were laid on when it was used And tho' the Form of laying on of Hands was still continued the Bishop with other Priests laying their Hands on those they Ordained yet it is now a dumb Ceremony not a word of a Prayer being said while they lay on their Hands So that tho' both Prayer and Imposition of Hands are used in the Office yet they are not joined together In the conclusion of the Ofsice a new Benediction was added ever since the Twelfth Century The Bishop alone lays on his Hands saying Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained The number Seven was thought to sute the Sacraments best so Orders were made one of them and of these only Priesthood where the Vessels were declared to be the Matter and the Form was the delivering them with the words Take thou Authority to offer up Sacrifices to God and to Celebrate Masses both for the Living and the Dead In the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost The Schoolmen have taken a new way of explaining this whole matter borrowed from the Eucharist that is made up of Two parts the Consecration of the Bread and of the Wine both so necessary that without the one the other becomes void So they teach that a Priest has Two Powers of Consecrating and of Absolving and that he is Ordained to the one by the delivery of the Vessels and to the other by the Bishop's laying on of Hands with the words Receive the Holy Ghost and they make the Bishop and the Priest's laying on Hands jointly to be only their declaring as by a Suffrage that such a Person ought to be Ordained So totally have they departed from the Primitive Forms If this is a Sacrament and if the Sacrament consists in this Matter and Form by them assigned then since all the Rituals of the Latin Church for the sirst Ten Centuries had no such Form of Ordaining Priests this cannot be the Matter and Form of a Sacrament otherwise the Church had in a course of so many Ages no true Orders nor any Sacrament in them Nor will it serve in answer to this to say that Christ Instituted no special Matter nor Form here but has left the specifying those among the other Powers that he has given to his Church For a Sacrament being an Institution of applying a Matter designed by God by a particular Form likewise appointed to say that Christ appointed here neither Matter nor Form is plainly to confess that this is no Sacrament In the first Nine or Ten Ages there was no Matter at all used nothing but an Imposition of Hands with Prayer So that by this Doctrine the Church of God was all that while without true Orders since there was nothing used that can be called the Matter of a Sacrament Therefore though we continue this Institution of Christ as he â—nd his Apostles settled it in the Church yet we deny it to be a Sacrament we also deny all the inferior Orders to be Sacred below that of Deacon The other Orders we do not deny might be well and on good reasons appointed by the Church as steps through which Clerks might be made to pass in order to a stricter examination and trial of them like Degrees in Universities But the making them at least the Subdiaconate Sacred as it is reckoned by Pope Eugenius is we think beyond the Power of the Church for here a Degree of Orders is made a Sacrament and yet that Degree is not named in the Scripture nor in the first Ages It is true it came to be soon used with the other Inferior Orders but it cannot be pretended to be a Sacrament since no Divine Institution can be brought for it And we cannot but observe that in the definition that Eugenius has given of the Sacraments which is an Authentical piece in the Roman Church where he reckons Priests Deacons and Subdeacons as belonging to the Sacrament of Orders he does not Name Bishops though their being of Divine Institution is not questioned in that Church Perhaps the Spirit with which they acted at that time in Basil offended him so much that he was more set on depressing than on raising them In the Council of Trent in which so much Zeal appeared for recovering the Dignity of the Episcopal Order at that time so much eclipsed by the Papal Usurpations when the Sacrament of Orders was Treated of they reckoned Seven Degrees of them the highest of which is that of Priest So that though they Decreed that a Bishop was by the Divine Institution above a Priest yet they did not Decree that the Office was an Order or a Sacrament And the Schoolmen do generally explain Episcopate as being a higher Degree or Extension of Priesthood rather than a new Order or a Sacrament the main thing in their Thoughts being that which if true is the greatest of all Miracles the wonderful Conversion made in Transubstantion they seem to think that no Order can be above that which qualifies a Man for so great a Performance I say nothing in this place concerning the power of Offering Sacrifices pretended to be given in Orders for that belongs to another Article The Fourth Sacrament here rejected is Marriage which is reckoned the last by the Roman Account In the Point of Argument there is less to say here than in any of the other but there seems to be a very express warrant for calling it a Sacrament from the Translation of a passage in St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians Ephes. 5.32 in which he makes an allusion while he
otherwise too indiscreet a Rigor might have pulled down that which ought to have been built up If in a broken state of things a common Consent ought to be much endeavoured and staid for this is much more necessary in a regular and settled time with relation to the Civil Authority under whom the whole Society is put according to its Constitution But it can never be supposed that the Authority of the Pastors of the Church is no other than that of a Lawyer or a Physician to their Clients who are still at their liberty and are in no sort bound to follow their directions In particular Advices with relation to their private Concerns where no general Rules are agreed on an Authority is not pretended to and these may be compared to all other Advices only with this difference That the Pastors of the Church watch over the Souls of their people and must give an account of them But when things are grown into Method and general Rules are settled there the consideration of Edification and Unity and of maintaining Peace and Order are such sacred Obligations on every one that has a true regard to Religion that such as despise all this may be well look'd on as Heathens and Publicans and they are so much worse than they as a secret and well-disguised Traytor is much more dangerous than an open professed Enemy And though these Words of our Saviour of telling the Church may perhaps not be so strictly applicable to this matter in their primary sense Matt. 18.17 as our Saviour first spoke them yet the Nature of things and the Parity of Reason may well lead us to conclude That though those Words did immediately relate to the composing of private differences and of delating intractable persons to the Synagogues yet they may be well extended to all those publick Offences which are injuries to the whole Body and may be now applied to the Christian Church and to the Pastors and Guides of it though they related to the Synagogue when they were first spoken It is therefore highly congruous both to the whole Design of the Christian Religion and to many Passages in the New Testament that there should be Rules set for censuring Offenders that so they may be reclaimed or at least ashamed and that others may fear And as the final Sentence of every Authority whatsoever must be the cutting off from the Body all such as continue in a wilful disobedience to the Laws of the Society so if any who call themselves Christians will live so as to be a Reproach to that which they profess they must be cut off and cast out for if there is any sort of Power in the Church it must terminate in this This is the last and highest act of their Authority it is like Death or Banishment by the Civil Power which are not proceeded to but upon great occasions in which milder Censures will not prevail and where the general good of the Society requires it So casting out being the last Act of Church-Power like a Parent 's disinheriting a Child it ought to be proceeded in with that slowness and upon such considerations as may well justify the Rigor of it A wilful Contempt of Order and Authority carries virtually in it every other Irregularity because it dissolves the Union of the Body and destroys that Respect by which all the other ends of Religion are to be artained and when this is deliberate and fixed there is no other way of proceeding but by cutting off those who are so refractory and who set such an ill Example to others If the Execution of this should happen to fall under great Disorders so that many scandalous Persons are not censured and a promiscuous multitude is suffered to break in upon the most Sacred Performances this cannot justify private Persons who upon that do withdraw from the Communion of the Church For after all that has been said the Divine Peecept is to every man to try and examine himself and not to try and censure others All Order and Government are destroyed if private Persons take upon them to judg and censure others or to separate from any Body because there are Abuses in the use of this Authority Private Confession in the Church of Rome had quite destroyed the Government of the Church and superseded all the Antient Penitentiary Canons and the Tyranny of the Church of Rome had set many Ingenious Men on many subtle Contrivances either to evade the Force of those Canons to which some regard was still preserved or to maintain the Order of the Church in opposition to the Appeals that were made to Rome And while some pretended to subject all things to the Papal Authority others studied to keep up the Antient Rules The Encroachments that the Temporal and Spiritual Courts ware making upon one another occasioned many Disputes which being managed by such subtle men as the Civilians and Canonists were all this brought in a great variety of Cases and Rules into the Courts of the Church So that instead of the first Simplicity which was evident in the Constitution of the Church not only for the first Three Centuries but for a great many more that came afterwards there grew to be so much Practice and so many Subterfuges in the Rules and manner of proceeding of those Courts that the Church has long groaned under it and has wished to see that effected which was designed in the beginnings of the Reformation The Draught of a Reformation of those Courts is still extant that so instead of the Intricacies Delays and other Disorders that have arisen from the Canon Law we might have another short and plain Body of Rules which might be managed as antiently by Bishops with the Assistance of their Clergy But though this is not yet done and that by reason of it the Tares grow up with the Wheat we ought to let them grow together till the great Harvest comes or at least till a proper Harvest may be given the Church by the Providence of God in which the good may be distinguished and separated from the bad without endangering the Ruin of all which must certainly be the effect of Peoples falling indiscreetly to this before the time ARTICLE XXXIV Of the Traditions of the Church It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one or utterly like for at all times they have been diverse and may be changed according to the diversity of Countries and mens manners so that nothing be ordained against God's Word Whosoever through his private Iudgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained and approved by common Authority ought to be rebuked openly that others may fear to do the like as one that offendeth against the common Order of the Church and hurteth the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of weak Brethren Every