of whose Authority was never any doubt in the Church viz. Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalmes Proverbs Ecclesiastes Solomons Song Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi And the other Books as Hierom saith the Church doth Read for Example of Life and Instruction of Manners All the Books of the New Testament as they are commonly Received we do Receive and Account them Canonical The Presbyterians Under the Name of Holy Scripture or the Word of God Written are now Contain'd all the Books of the Old and New Testament which are these Genesis c. just as the Church of England reckons them All which are given by Inspiration to be the Rule of Faith and Life The Books commonly called Apocrypha not being of Divine Inspiration are no part of the Canon of the Scripture and therefore are of no Authority in the Church of God nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other Humane Writings The Authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be Believ'd and Obey'd dependeth not upon the Testimony of any Man or Church but wholly upon God who is Truth it self the Author thereof and therefore it is to be Receiv'd because it is the Word of God We may be mov'd and induc'd by the Testimony of the Church to an High and Reverend esteem of the Holy Scriptures And the Heavenliness of the Matter the Efficacy of the Doctrine the Majesty of the Stile the Consent of all the Parts the Scope of the whole which is to give all Glory to God the full Discovery it makes of the only way of Mans Salvation the many other incomparable Excellencies and the entire Perfection thereof are Arguments whereby it doth abundantly Evidence it to be the Word of God yet notwithstanding our full Perswasion and Assurance of the Infallible Truth and Divine Authority thereof is from the Inward Work of the Holy Spirit bearing Witness by and with the Word in our Hearts The whole Council of God concerning all things necessary for his own Glory Mans Salvation Faith and Life is either expresly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary Consequence may be deduc'd from Scripture unto which nothing at any time is to be added whether by New Revelations of the Spirit or Tradition of Men nevertheless we do acknowledge the Inward Illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are Revealed in the Word and that there are some Circumstances concerning the Worship of God and Government of the Church Common to Humane Actions and Societies which are to be ordered by the Light of Nature and Christian prudence according to the general Rules of the Word which are always to be observed The Old Testament in Hebrew which was the Native Language of the People of God of old and the New Testament in Greek which at the time of the Writing of it was most generally known to the Nations being immediately inspir'd by God and by his singular Care and Providence kept pure in all Ages are therefore Authentical so as in all Controversies of Religion the Church is finally to Appeal to Them But because these Original Tongues are not known to all the People of God who have Right unto and Interest in the Scriptures and are Commanded in the Fear of God to Read and Search them Therefore they are to be Translated into the Vulgar Language of every Nation unto which they come that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all they may Worship him in an acceptable manner and through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures may have hope The Infallible Rule of the Interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture it self and therefore when there is a question about the true and full Sense of any Scripture which is manifold but one it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly The Supream Judge by which all Controversies of Religion are to be Determined and all Decrees of Councils Opinions of Ancient Writers Doctrines of Men and Private Spirits are to be examined and in whose Sentence we are to rest can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture The Papists The Decree of the Council of Trent touching the Canonical Scriptures Session the Fourth The Holy Oecumenical and General Tridentine Council lawfully Congregated in the Holy Spirit the three Legats of the Apostolick See presiding therein considering That the Purity of the Gospel as to Truth and Discipline is contained in Books Written and in Traditions not Written which received by the Apostles from the Mouth of Christ himself or by the Apostles by the Dictates of the Holy Ghost delivered as from Hand to Hand have come down even unto us following the Example of the Fathers does with an equal Affection of Piety and like Reverence receive and regard as well all the Books of the Old and New Testament since one God is Author of both as such Traditions pertaining either to Faith or Manners the same being dictated either Orally by Christ or by the Holy Spirit and Conserv'd by a continual Succession in the Catholick Church and as touching the Books of Holy Scripture that none may doubt which they are which by this Sacred Synod are received an Index of them is annexed and they are as follows Of the Old Testament five Books of Moses that is Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth Four Books of Kings under that name they include the two Books of Samuel two of Chronicles the first of Esdras and the Second which is called Nehemias Tobias Judith Esther Job David's Psalter of 150 Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Canticles Wisdom Ecclesiasticus Isaiah Jeremiah with Baruch Ezekiel Daniel Twelve lesser Prophets viz. Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonas Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechary and Malachi and the First and Second of the Maccabees Of the New Testament the Four Evangelists Matthew Mark c. as we reckon them And if any Person shall not receive all the said whole Books with all their Parts as they have wont to be read in the Catholick Church and as they are in the old Vulgar Latin Edition for Sacred and Canonical or knowingly shall contemn the aforesaid Traditions Let him be Anathema or Accursed And the said Sacred Council does also Appoint and Declare That the said old Vulgar Latin Edition which hath by the long use of so many Ages been approved of in the Church shall in all publick Readings Disputations Preachings and Expositions be esteemed Authentick And that none on any pretence whatsoever shall dare or presume to Reject the same And for the restraining of wanton Wits does likewise Decree That no one Person leaning on his own Prudence shall in matters of Faith and Manners pertaining to
no longer they may remain in an Implicite Faith but read Consider and with understanding embrace what they before out of Compliance or Custom rather than Judgment seem'd to own and adhere to 2. There are many too That in words detest Popery yet not being throughly grounded in the Doctrines of the Church of England nor acquainted with those of the Church of Rome may be in danger of mistaking the one for the other and by Jacob's voice be deluded into Esau's hands and imbibe Poison unawares unless fortified against it by some such discriminating Antithesis 3. Hereby will appear the malice and falshood of these suggestions That the Dissenters stand at as great a distance from and are as much opposite to the legally Established Church of England as the Papists a mischievous conceit promoted by the Jesuites and other Factors for the See of Rome on purpose to divide and weaken us and consequently thereby to accomplish at last their own ends which are utterly to subvert and destroy all the Professors of the Reformed Religion whether Episcopal Presbyterial or under what ever other Denomination 4. I know not what could better tend to uniting us at least in affection amongst our selves than this demonstration That in the main and all essential Doctrinal points we are already agreed and since the other matters in Controversie are acknowledged to be indifferent what occasion is there for all this heat and violence unless the lesser our differences are the greater still must be our Animosities and Contentions about them 5. I do not despair but this small Treatise may be profitable to weak Capacities for instructing them in Fundamentals of Christian Religion since it contains a general Systeme of Faith rendered the more intelligible by the variety of Expressions though concurrent Sense of the Church-men and Protestant-Dissenters on the one side and the apparent Contradictions of the Papists on the other For Contraria juxta se posita magis Elucescunt contraries aptly compared illustrate each other Thus much for the End and general Intention of this Work As to the manner how it is perform'd I could indeed have wisht it might have come from some abler Hand whose Skill might have rendered it more useful and his Name more acceptable to the publick But rather a Mite than no Offering at all for the Churches Peace I have done what my small Reading and interrupted Leisure would permit and need only Advertise the Reader that here he shall find 1. The Nine and Thirty Articles of the Church of England agreed upon and Establisht Anno 1562. and never since altered but required by Law to be subscribed unto by all Ministers of our Church faithfully recited Verbatim and Printed in a different Letter 2. The Doctrines of those commonly called Presbyterians comprehending the Body of our Dissenters produc'd from the Confession of Faith agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines in the late Times and their Catechism and the Institutions of Mr. John Calvin 3. The Tenets of the Church of Rome delivered either in the Words of the Council of Trent or those of their great Champion Cardinal Bellarmine and the Annotations of their Colledge of Rhemes on the New Testament Other of their Authors sometimes but sparingly are Cited and never any but what are allowed by them and known to speak according to the common Dictates of that Church I knew not where to seek more Authentick Testimonies of each Parties Sentiments and can without Injury to Truth aver That I have not wilfully baulk'd added to detracted from or in any kind perverted the Sense of either side but fairly stated their Doctrines in their own words And generally without Reflections or Animadversions unless only where the matter is such that it could not justly be omitted Some may expect to have had added in a Fourth Comparison certain Notions advanc'd of late years by some Divines amongst us that seem to thwart these Articles of their Mother-Church which at their Ordination they solemnly subscribed But as the same have in part been already noted by others so my desire is rather to bring Balm than Vinegar to the too gaping wounds of the Church and without giving any such Exasperation shall hope That those Gentlemen will see and repent of such their Mistakes At least since Rectum est Index sui Obliqui A streight Line is the measure both of it self and of that too which is crooked I cannot despair but when once People are brought throughly to understand the Doctrines of the Church of England grounded on the Holy Scriptures without or contrary to which no Church in the World has any power to impose any Articles of Faith They will easily be able to discover such Aberrations and refuse them with a just Abhorrence though never so speciously obtruded But because there is such a noise raised and such heaps of Durt continually thrown on the memory of poor Mr. Calvin and those called Presbyterians whereby they would inflame us both to hardships towards dissenting Protestants at home and set us at odds with most of the Reformed Churches abroad I shall for the Information of the Vulgar Reader give a brief account here what esteem our Ancestors of the Church of England heretofore had both of John Calvin and those Neighbouring Churches and the Testimonies I shall avouch shall be of undoubted Authority both for Dignity and Learning The Reverend and Pious Dr. George Carleton Bishop of Chichester in a Book Intituled An Examination of those things wherein the Author of the late APPEAL holdeth the Doctrines of the Pelagians and Arminians to be the Doctrines of the Church of England Printed anno 1626 and Dedicated to King Charles the First p. 217 hath these Words Though the Church of England be the best Reformed Church yet it is not the only Reformed Church and it might seem no good Providence in us to stand so by our selves as to reject and disdain the Consent of other Churches though they do not agree with us in Discipline It is observed by Eusebius That Polycrates and Irenaeus did both reprove Victor because for matters of Ceremonies he was too much offended with other Churches which otherwise agreed with him in Doctrine Irenaeus doth admonish him That the ancient Bishops of Rome before Victor did keep Unity and Consent with the Eastern Bishops though in Ceremonies there was difference between them Omnes isti cum in Observantia vararierent inter semetipsos nobiscum semper pacifici fuerant Euseb l. 5. cap. 24. All those that varied in Observances yet were always peaceable both amongst themselves and with us He saith there also That the Dissonance in Ceremonies need not break the Consonance in Faith with those Churches which do not agree with us in Ceremonies if we seek the peace of the Churches that profess the same Doctrine or strugling as more like one sleeping than dying leaving with that noble Roman Aemilius Poverty with Honour to his Friends his Library and
are wrought by us they are defiled and mixed with so much Weakness and Imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of Gods Judgment The Papists The Works which we do more than Precept be called works of Supererogation And ' t is evident against the Protestants that there be such Works A reward of Supererogation is given to them that of abundant Charity do more in the Service of God than they be commanded 'T is plain that the fastings and satisfactory deeds of one Man are available to others yea and that Holy Saints or other vertuous Persons may in measure and proportion of other Mens Necessities and Deservings allot unto them as well the Supererogation of their Spiritual Works as those that abound in Worldly Goods may give Alms of their Superfluities to them which are in necessity The fifteenth Article of the Church of England Of Christ alone without Sin CHrist in the Truth of our Nature was made like unto us in all things Sin only except from which he was clearly void both in his Flesh and in his Spirit He came to be a Lamb without Spot who by the Sacrifice of himfelf once made should take away the Sins of the World And Sin as St. John saith was not in him But all we the rest although Baptized and Born again in Christ yet offend in many things And if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us The Presbyterians Christ the Son of God became Man by taking to himself a true Body and reasonable Soul being Conceiv'd by the power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary of her substance and born of her yet without Sin The Covenant being made with Adam as a publick Person not for himself only but for his Posterity all Mankind descending from him by ordinary Generation sinned in him and fell with him in that first Transgression The Papists For the most part hold and maintain That not only our Lord Jesus but also that the Virgin Mary was without Sin both Original and Actual touching which the Council of Trent thus expresses it self This Holy Synod does declare That in this Decree wherein Original Sin is handled it does not intend to comprehend the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary the Mother of God but that the Constitutions of Pope Sixtus the Fourth of happy memory shall be observ'd under the Penalties therein express'd The better to understand this The Reader must know that about the year 1200 Peter Lombard the Schoolman being very much at leisure began to dispute whether when the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost conceiv'd Christ it might not come to pass that she her self might then be cleansed and freed from all Sin and even Original Corruption Observe now how dangerous 't is and into what Absurdities they run that without Scripture will with shew of good Intention advance their own Conceits This which Lombard only disputed some of his Successors in the Schools went further and in short time prest it as an Article of Faith to be believ'd of all Christians That the Virgin Mary was Conceiv'd without Sin And of this Opinion the Franciscans were stout Asserters which was so far countenanc'd by the Pope that by a Bull he caused a Feast to be Celebrated in Honour of such the Virgins Conception But the Dominicans no less vigorously oppos'd this new Doctrine and so all Christendom came into a slame about it each Party charging the other with Heresie To appease which not daring to disoblige either Party he did by another Bull leave it indifferent making either side that should brand the others Notion as Heretical to be liable to Excommunication Which two Orders are the Constitutions here referr'd unto and for the Readers satisfaction that he may see what kind of things they are that must be so observ'd we shall here insert so much of them as is material faithfully translated as follows Pope Sixtus's first Bull. WHen with the search of a devout Consideration we inquire into and revolve in the secrets of our Breast those high and lofty Titles of Merits wherewith the Queen of Heaven the glorious Virgin-Mother of God preferr'd above the Etherial Seats shines as the morning Star far more bright than any of the rest of the Celestial Constellations That she being the Way of Mercy the Mother of Grace and the Friend of Piety the Comfortress of Humane kind the diligent and watchful Oratress that with the King whom she brought forth continually intercedes for the Salvation of the Faithful who are oppress'd with the burden of Sins We cannot but think it fit nay our Duty That all the Faithful of Christ should give Thanks and Praises for the wonderful Conception of the said Immaculate Virgin to Almighty God whose Providence from Eternity regarding that Virgins Humility for the reconciling Mankind obnoxious to Death by the fall of their first Parent again to its Author constituted her by the preparation of the Holy Spirit the Habitation of his only begotten Son who of her assumed the Flesh of our Mortality for the Redemption of his People and yet she after her Delivery an Immaculate Virgin to invite them by Indulgences and Remission of Sins to say and to be present at the Masses and other Divine Services appointed in the Church of God That so by the Merits and Intercession of the said Virgin they may be rendred more apt and fit for Divine Grace wherefore induc'd by this Consideration confiding in the Authority of the same Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul We do by our Apostolical Authority and this our Constitution for ever to be in force Appoint and Ordain That all and singular Christians of either Sex who shall devoutly Celehrate or say Mass and the Office of the Conception of the said glorious Virgin according to the Pious Devout and laudable Form and Institution of our beloved Son Mr. Leonard de Nogarolis Clerk of Verona our Notary and which is publisht by our Authority or shall be present at the Canonical Hours on the day of the Feast of the said Virgin Maries Conception and its Octaves as often as they so do shall altogether obtain the very same Indulgence and Remission of Sins as those do who according to the Constitutions of Urban the 4th approv'd in the Council of Vienna and Martin the 5th and others our Predecessors Popes of Rome Celebrate the Mass and Canonical hours on the Feast of the Body and Blood of our Lord from the first Vespers and during its Octaves These Presents to be observed for ever Dated at St. Peters at Rome the third Calends of March in the year of our Lord 1476 and of our Popedom the 6th The second Constitution T IS always very grievous and troublesome to us when ill things are related to us of Persons Ecclesiastick But so much the more sensibly are we provok'd with the excesses committed in Preaching by those who
are deputed to Evangelize the Word of God by how much it is more dangerous to suffer them to remain uncorrected since those Errors are not easily to be blotted out which by such publick Preaching are more spreadingly and daranably imprinted in the Hearts of Men. Whereas the Holy Roman Church does publickly and solemnly Celebrate the Festival of the Conception of the unspotted Mary always a Virgin and hath ordain'd a proper Office for the same There are yet as we hear some Preachers of several Orders that in their Sermons to the People publickly in several Cities and Countries have not blush'd to affirm and yet cease not daily to Preach That all those that hold or assert the said Glorious and Immaculate Mother of God to have been conceiv'd without any spot of Original Sin do mortally sin or that those are Hereticks who Celebrate the Office of her Immaculate Conception And that those sin grievously who frequent their Sermons who affirm her to be conceiv'd without Sin And not content with such Preachings they have also publisht Books to that purpose whereby no small scandals are risen in the minds of the Faithful and greater are every day feared We therefore willing as much as is granted us from on high to obviate such rash boldness and perverse and scandalous Assertions which may thence arise in the Church of God by our own motion and not at the instance of any but of our meer deliberation and certain Science do by Apostolical Authority and by the Tenour of these presents Reprobate and Damn as false erroneous and altogether void of Truth the said such Assertions of Preachers and all others who presume to affirm That those that Believe or hold the said Mother of God to have been preserv'd in her Conception from the stain of Original Sin are thereby polluted with any Heresie or that thereby they Sin or that those that Celebrate the said Office of her Conception or hear the Sermons of those of that Opinion do thereby incur any guilt of Sin And all Books containing any such Assertions And we do Command and Ordain That the Preachers or others of whatever State Degree Order or Condition soever that shall henceforwards presume in Sermons or in any other way to maintain That the Assertions by Vs so Condemned are true or read any of these Books shall ipso facto incur the sentence of Excommunication from which they shall not be Absolved by any but the Bishop of Rome except at the point of Death And by the like Authority we do likewise subject to the same Censure and Penalty all that shall assert the contrary Opinion viz. That those that assert That the Glorious Virgin Mary was conceiv'd with Original Sin do thereby incur the Crime of Heresie or mortal Sin since the same is not yet decided by the Roman Church and Apostolical See Let it therefore not be lawful to any to infringe or act contrary to this our Act of Reprobation Damnation Statute Ordinance Will and Decree If any one shall presume so to do Let him know that he shall incur the Indignation of Almighty God and of the Blessed Peter and Paul his Apostles Given at Rome at St. Peters in the Year of our Lords Incarnation 1483 and of our Popedom the 13th Pridie Nonas Septembris Now who would have thought but the Pope who pretends or at least this Council whom all Papists boast to have power to determine infallibly all Controversies would rather have put an end to this dispute than thus to continue the quarrel and leave it still doubtful But here lies the mystery The Trent Fathers resolv'd not to part with this Figment of the Schoolmen which could not be casheir'd without reflecting upon Pope Sixtus that thus ordain'd a Feast in memory of it And yet in this Age of Light were asham'd to define a thing so palpably contrary to Scripture and the apprehension of all Antiquity to be receiv'd as an Article of Faith and so politickly left it undetermined yet shew us which way they incline by continuing the Celebration of that Festival to this day The sixteenth Article of the Church of England Of Sin after Baptism NOT every deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism is Sin against the Holy Ghost and unpardonable wherefore the grant of Repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into Sin after Baptism After we have receiv'd the Holy Ghost we may depart from Grace given and fall into Sin and by the Grace of God we may arise again and amend our Lives And therefore they are to be Condemned which say they can no more Sin as long as they live here to deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly Repent St. Augustine in his Book de Heresibus cap. 38. tells us of Hereticks call'd Cathari or Novatiani that made every Sin after Baptism to be unpardonable and deny'd to receive any upon Repentance And cap. 82. he mentions certain Hereticks call'd Jovinianists from their first Author Jovinianus a Monk who held That after Baptism a man could not Sin This Article seems principally intended against these Errors and both Presbyterians and Papists agree it The seventeenth Article of the Church of England Of Predestination and Election PRedestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the Foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of Mankind and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation as Vessels made to Honour wherefore they that be indued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to Gods purpose by his Spirit working in due season They through grace obey the calling they be justified freely they be made Sons of God by Adoption they be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ they walk Religiously in good Works and at length by Gods mercy they attain to everlasting Felicity As the Godly Consideration of Predestination our Election in Christ is full of sweet pleasant unspeakable comfort to Godly Persons such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ mortifying the works of the Flesh and their Earthly Members and drawing up their minds to high and heavenly things as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their Faith of Eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ as because it doth frequently kindle their love towards God so for curious and carnal Persons lacking the Spirit of Christ to have continually before their Eyes the Sentence of Gods Predestination is a most dangerous downfal whereby the Devil doth thrust them into Desperation or into Wretchlesness of most unclean living no less perillous than Desperation Furthermore we must receive Gods Promises in such wise as they be generally set forth in Holy Scripture and in our doings that Will of God is to be followed which we have expresly declared unto us in the
Word of God The Presbyterians By the Decree of God for the manifestation of his own Glory some Men and Angels were predestinated unto everlasting Life and others fore-ordained to everlasting Death These Angels and Men predestinated and fore-ordain'd are particularly and unchangeably designed and their number so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished Those of Mankind that are predestinated unto Life God before the Foundation of the World was laid according to his Eternal and Immutable purpose and the secret Counsel and good pleasure of his Will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting Glory out of his meer free Grace and Love without any foresight of Faith or Good Works or perseverance in either of them or any other thing in the Creature as Conditions and Causes moving him thereunto and all to the praise of his Glorious Grace As God hath appointed the Elect unto Glory so hath he by the Eternal and most free purpose of his Will fore-ordain'd all the means thereunto Wherefore they who are Elected being fallen in Adam are redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto Faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season are Justified Adopted Sanctified and kept by his Power through Faith unto Salvation Neither are any other Redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only The Doctrine of this high Mystery of Predestination is to be handled with special Prudence and Care that Men attending the Will of God revealed in his Word and yielding Obedience thereunto may from the certainty of their effectual Vocation be assured of their Eternal Election so shall this Doctrine afford matter of Praise Reverence and Admiration of God and of Humility Diligence and abundant Consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel The Papists Though they own the Word Predestination sometimes yet they teach That the Cause thereof is not the meer good pleasure of God but that a Man doth make himself Eligible by his own good Works and Merits Thus they say The Kingdom of Heaven is prepared for them that are worthy of it and deserve it by their well doing Although from Gods Eternal Predestination Glory floweth to the Elect yet for all that it springeth not but from their own good Works Stella on Luke cap. 10. fol. 35. True Faith and Righteousness may be lost and the Faithful utterly fall from the Faith Bellarm. de Just l. 3. cap. 4. which is the same thing as if we should say That the Elect may become Reprobates and Election not to be immutable If any shall say That the Grace of Justification happens not to any but such as are Predestinate but that all the rest who are call'd are indeed call'd but receive not Grace as being by Divine Power Predestinated to Evil Let him be Accursed If any one shall say a Man Regenerated and Justified is bound to believe that he is certainly of the number of the Elect Let him be Anathema The eighteenth Article of the Church of England Of obtaining Eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ THEY also are to be had Accursed that presume to say That every Man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ whereby Men must be saved The Presbyterians Persons not Elected although they may be call'd by the Ministry of the Word and may have some common Operations of the Spirit yet they never truly come unto Christ and therefore cannot be saved Much less can men not professing the Christian Religion be saved in any other way whatsoever be they never so diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light of Nature and the Law of that Religion they profess And to assert that they may is very pernicious and detestable The Papists Own the Words of this Article but in effect deny the latter part thereof by trusting in the Mediation and Intercession of the Virgin Mary and other Saints and Angels and praying unto and worshipping them c. The nineteenth Article of the Church of England Of the Church THE Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithful Men in the which the pure Word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly ministred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same As the Church of Hierusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred not only in their Living and manner of Ceremonies but also in matters of Faith The Presbyterians Wherever we see the Word of God sincerely Preach'd and Heard and the Sacraments administred according to Christs Institution there is a Church of God For these two we assign as Marks whereby the Church may be known The Visible Church which is also Catholick or Vniversal under the Gospel not confin'd to one Nation as before under the Law consists of all those throughout the World that profess the true Religion and particular Churches which are Members thereof are more or less pure according as the Doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embrac'd Ordinances administred and publick Worship perform'd more or less pure in them The purest Churches under Heaven are subject both to mixture and error and some have so degenerated as to become no Churches of Christ but Synagogues of Satan Nevertheless there shall always be a Church on Earth to worship God according to his Will The Pope of Rome cannot in any sense be Head of the Church but is that Antichrist that Man of Sin and Son of Perdition that exalts himself in the Church against Christ and all that is called God The Papists As to the first part of the Article they deny the Preaching the Word and due Administration of the Sacraments to be the marks of Christs Visible Church See Bellarm. de notis Ecclesiae cap. 1. And instead thereof assign others which by the same Cardinal are there reckoned to be the fifteen following 1. The Name of the Catholick Church and Christians 2. Antiquity 3. Duration 4. Multitude 5. Succession of Bishops and Ordination 6. Agreement with the ancient Church 7. Vnion of the Members together amongst themselves and with their Head 8. Holiness of Doctrine 9. Efficacy of Doctrine 10. Holiness of Life 11. Miracles 12. Prophesies 13. Confession of Adversaries 14. The unhappy ends of those that have oppos'd it 15. The Temporal felicity of those that have desended it And as to the latter part of the Artiticle they with all Confidence assert the clean contrary other Churches have erred but the Church of Rome cannot Id Constanter Negamus we constantly deny saith Costerus the Jesuit that Christs Vicar Peters Successors the Bishops of Rome have either taught Heresies or propounded Errors God preserveth the Truth of Christian Religion in the Apostolick See of Rome
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