who do not acknowledge the New Testament The Ceremonial Parts of the Mosaical Law which comprehends all both the Negative and the Positive Precepts were enjoined the Iews either with relation to the Worship of God and Service at the Temple or to their Persons and course of Life That which is not Moral of its own nature or that had no relation to Civil Society was commanded them to separate them not only from the Idolatrous and Magical Practices of other Nations but to distinguish them so entirely as to all their Customs even in the Rules of Eating and of Cleanness that they might have no familiar Commerce with other Nations but live within and among themselves since that was very likely to corrupt them of which they had very large experience Some of those Rituals were perhaps given them as Punishments for their frequent Revolts and were as a Yoke upon them who were so prone to Idolatry They were as Rudiments and Remembrances to them They were as it were subdued by a great variety of Precepts which were matter both of much Charge and great Trouble to them By these they were also amused for it seems they did naturally love a Pompous Exterior in Religion They were also by all that Train of Performances which were laid on them kept in mind both of the great Blessings of God to them and of the Obligations that lay on them towards God and many of those particularly their Sacrifices and Washings were Typical All this was proper and necessary to restrain and govern them while they were the only People of the World that renounced Idolatry and worshipped the true God And therefore so soon as that of which they had anEmblem in the Structure of theirTemple of a Court of the Gentiles separated with a middle Wall of Partition from the place in which the Israelites worshipped was to be removed and that the House of God was to become a House of Prayer to all Nations then all those distinctions were to be laid aside and all that Service was to determine and come to an end The Apostles did declare that the Gentiles were not to be brought under that heavy Yoke which their Fathers were not able to bear yet the Apostles themselves as born Iews and while they lived among the Iews did continue in the Observance of their Rites as long as God seemed to be waiting for the Remnant of that Nation that was to be saved before his Wrath came upon the rest to the uttermost They went to the Temple they purified themselves and in a word to the Iews they became Iews and in this compliance the first Converts of the Iewish Nation continued till the destruction of Ierusalem after which it became impossible to observe the greatest part of their most important Rituals even all those that were tied to the Temple But that Nation losing its Genealogies and all the other Characters that they formerly had of a Nation under the Favour and Protection of God could no more know after a few Ages whether they were the Seed of Abraham or not or whether there were any left among them of the Tribe of Levi or of the Family of Aaron So that now all those Ceremonies are at an end many of them are become impossible and the rest useless as the whole was abrogated by the Authority of the Apostles who being sent of God and proving their Mission by Miracles as well as Moses had done his they might well have loosed and dissolved those Precepts upon Earth upon which according to our Saviour's words they are to be esteemed as loosed in Heaven The Judiciary Parts of the Law were those that related to them as they were a Society of Men to whom God by a special Command gave Authority to drive out and destroy a wicked Race of People and to possess their Land which God appointed to be divided equally among them and that every Portion should be as a Perpetuity to a Family so that though it might be mortaged out for a number of Years yet it was afterwards to revert to the Family Upon this bottom they were at first set and they were still to be preserved upon it so that many Laws were given them as they were a Civil Society which cannot belong to any other Society And therefore their whole Judiciary Law except where any parts of it are founded on Moral Equity was a complicated thing and can belong to no other Nation that is not in its first and essential Constitution made and framed as they were For instance The Prohibition of taking Use for Money being a Mean to preserve that Equality which was among them and to keep any of them from becoming excessively rich or others from becoming miserably poor this is by no means to be applied to other Constitutions where men are left to their Industry and neither have their Inheritance by a Grant from Heaven nor are put by any special Appointment of God all upon a level So that it is certain and can bear no debate That the Mosaical Dispensation as to all the parts of it that are not of their own nature Moral is determined and abrogated by the Gospel The Descisions which the Apostles made in this matter are so clear and for the Proof of them the whole Tenor of the Epistles to the Galatians and the Hebrews is so full that no doubt can rest concerning this with any man who reads them The last Branch of the Article that remains to be considered is concerning the Moral Law by which the Ten Commandments are meant together with all such Precepts as do belong to them or are Corollaries arising out of them By Moral Law is to be understood in opposition to Positive a Law which has an antecedent Foundation in the nature of things that arises from Eternal Reason is suitable to the Frame and Powers of our Souls and is necessary for maintaining Human Society All such Laws are commanded because they are in themselves good and suitable to the staâ—e in which God has put us here The two Sources out of which all the Notions of Morality flow are first the considerations of our selves as we are single Individuals and that with relation both to Soul and Body and next the consideration of Human Society what is necessary for the Peace and Order the Safety and Happiness of Mankind There are two Orders of Moral Precepts some relate to things that of their own nature are inflexibly good or evil such as Truth and Falshood whereas other things by a variety of Circumstances may so change their nature that they may be either morally good or evil A merciful or generous Temper is always a good Moral Quality and yet it may run to excesses There may be many things that are not unalterably Moral in themselves which yet may be fit Subjects of perpetual Laws about them For instance in the Degrees of Kindred with relation to Marriage there are no degrees but direct Ascendents
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-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
Magistratibus REgia Majesâ—as in hoc Angliae regno ac caeteris ejus dominiis summam habet potestatem ad quam omnium statuum hujus regni sive illi Ecclesiastici sint sive civiles in omnibus causis suprema gubernatio pertinet nulli externae jurisdictioni est subjecta nec esse debet Cum Regiae Majestati summam gubernationem tribuimus quibus titulis intelligimus animos quorundam calumniatorum offendi non damus Regibus nostris aut verbi Dei aut Sacramentorum administrationem quod etiam Injunctiones ab Elizabetha Regina nostra nuper editae apertissime testantur Sed eam tantum praerogativam quam in sacris Scripturis a Deo ipso omnibus piis Principibus videmus semper fuisse attributam hoc est ut omnes status atque ordines fidei suae a Deo commissos sive illi Ecclesiastici sint sive civiles in officio contineant conâ—umaces ac delinquentes gladio civili coerceant Romanus pontifex nullam habet jurisdictionem in hoc regno Angliae Leges Regni possunt Christianos propter capitalia gravia crimina morte punire Christianis licet ex mandato Magisâ—ratus arma portare justa bella administrare De illicita bonorum communicatione FAcultates bona Christianorum non sunt communia quoad jus possessionem ut quidam Anabaptisâ—ae falso jactant debet tamen quisque de his quae possidet pro facultatum ratione pauperibus eleemosynas benigne distribuere De jure jurando QUemadmodum juramentum vanum temerarium a Domino nostro Jesu Christo Apostolo ejus Jacobo Christianis hominibus interdictum esse faâ—emur 〈◊〉 â—hrisâ—ianorum Religionem minime prohibere censemus quin jubente magistratu in causa fidei charitatis jurare liceat modo id fiat juxta Prophetae doctrinam in justitia in judicio veritate Confirmatio Articulorum HIC liber antedictorum Articulorum jam denuo approbatus est per assensum consensum Serenissimae Reginae Elizabethae Dominae nostrae Dei gratia Angliae â—raâ—ciae Hiberniae Reginae defensoris fidel c. retinendus per totum Regnum Angliae exequendus Qui Articuli lecti sunt denuo confirmati subscriptione D. Archiepiscopi Episcoporum superioris domus totius Cleri inferioris domus in Convocatione Anno Domini 1571. THE TABLE of the Contents INâ—roduction Page 1 Hâ—resies gave the Rise to larger Articles Ibid. A Form of Doctrine settled by the Apostles 2 Bâ—shops sent râ—und them a Declaration of their Faith Ibid. These were afterwards enlarged 3 This dâ—ne at the Council of Nice Ibid. Mâ—ny wild Sects at the beginning of the Reformation 4 And many complying-Papists put them on framing this Collection Ibid. The Articles set out at first by the King's Authority 5 A Question whether they are only Articles of Peace or of Dâ—ctrine 6 They bind the Consciences of the Clergy Ibid. The Laity only bound to Peace by them 7 The Subscription to them imports an Assent to them and not only an acquiescing in them 8 But the Articles may have different Senses and if the Words will bear them there is no Prevâ—rication in subscribing them so Ibid. This illustrated in the Third Article 9 The various Readings of the Articles collated with the MSS. Ibid. An Account of those various Readings 16 ARTICLE I. 17 THat there is a God proved by the Consent of Mankind Ibid. Oâ—j 1. Some Nations do not believe a Deity This is answered 18 Obj. 2. It is not the same Belief among them alâ— This is answered Ibid. The Visible World proves a Deity 19 Time nor Number cannot be Eternal nor Infinite Ibid. Moral Arguments to prove that the World had a Beginning 20 Such a Regular Frame could not be fortuitâ—us Ibid. Objection from the Production of Insects answered 21 Argument from Miracles well attested 22 Argument from the Idea of God examined Ibid. God is Eternal and necâ—ssarily exists 23 The Vnity of the Deity Ibid. God is without Body 24 Outward Manifâ—stations only to declare his Presence and Authority 25 No successive Acts in God 26 Question concerning God's immanent Acts Ibid. God has no Pâ—ssions 27 Phrases in Scripture of these explained Ibid. Some Thoughts concerning the Power and Wisdom of God 28 True Ideas of the Goodness of God Ibid. Of Creation and Annihilation 30 Of the Providence of God 31 Objections against it answered 32 Whether God does immediately produce all things 33 Thought and Liberty not proper to Matter 34 Whether Beasts think or are only Machines Ibid. How Bodies and Spirits are united 35 The Doctrine of the Trinity 36 Whether revealed in the Old Testament or not 37 The Doctrine stated Ibid. Argument from the Form of Baptism 38 Other Arguments for it 39 This was received in the First Ages of Christianity 40 Some Attempt to the stating true Ideas of God 41 ARTICLE II. 43 CHrist how the Son of God Ibid. Argument from the Beginning of St. John's Gospel 44 Reflections on the state of the World at that time 45 Arguments from the Epistle to the Philippians Ibid. Other Arguments complicated 46 Argument from Adoration due to him 47 The Silence of the Jews proves this was not then thought to be Idolatry by them 49 Argument from the Epistle to the Hebrews 50 God and Man in Christ made one Person 51 An Account of Nestorius's Doctrine 52 The Truth of Christ's Resurrection Ibid. Christ was to us an Expiatory Sacrifice 53 An Account of Expiatory Sacrifiâ—eâ— 54 The Agonies of Christ explained 55 ARTICLE III. 56 RUffin first published this in the Creed Ibid. Several Senses put on this Article 57 A Local Descent into Hell Ibid. What may be the true sense of the Article 58 ARTICLE IV. 59 THE Proof of Christ's Resurrection Ibid. The Jews in that Time did not disprove it 60 Several Proofs of the Incredibility of a Forgery in this matter 61 The Nature and Proof of a Miracle 62 What must be ascribed to good or evil Spirits 63 The Apostles could not be imposed on Ibid. Nor could they have imposed on the World 64 Of Christ's Ascension 65 Curiosity in these matters taxed Ibid. The Authority with which Christ is now vested 66 ARTICLE V. 68 THE senses of the word Holy Ghost Ibid. It stands oft for a Person 69 Curiosities to be avoided about Procession Ibid. The Holy Ghost is truly God 70 ARTICLE VI. 71 THE Controversy about Oral Tradition 72 That was soon corrupted Ibid. Guarded against by Revelation 73 Tradition corrupted among the Jews 74 The Scripture appealed to by Christ and the Apostles 75 What is well proved from Scripture 76 Objections from the darkness of Scripture answered 77 No sure guard against Error nor against Sin 78 The Proof of the Canon of the Scripture 79 Particularly of the New Testament 80 These Books were early received 81 The Canon of the Old Testament proved 82 Concerning the Pentateuch 83 Objections against the Old
Saviour's words Ibid. The discourse Joh. 6. explained 312 It can only be understood spiritually 313 Bold Figures much used in the East Ibid. A plain thing needs no great proof 314 Of unworthy Receivers and the effect of that sin 315 Of the effects of worthy receiving Ibid. Of Foederal Symbols 316 Of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ Ibid. Of the like Phrases in Scripture 317 Of our Sense of the Phrase Real Presence Ib. Transubstantiation explained 318 Of the words of Consecration 319 Of the Consequences of Transubstantiation Ibid. The grounds upon which it was believed 320 This is contrary to the Testimony of all our Faculties both Sense and Reason Ibid. We can be sure of nothing if our Senses do deceive us 321 The Objection from believing Mysteries answered 322 The end of all Miracles considered Ibid. Our Doctrine of a Mystical Presence is confessed by those of the Church of Rome 323 St. Austin's Rule about Figures Ibid. Presumptions concerning the belief of the Ancients in this matter 324 They had not that Philosophy which this Doctrine has forced on the Church of Rome 325 This was not objected by Heathens 326 No Heresies or Disputes arose upon this as they did on all other Points 327 Many new Rituals unknown to them have sprung out of this Doctrine Ibid. In particular the adoring the Sacrament 328 Prayers in the Masses of the Saints inconsistent with it Ibid. They believed the Elements were Bread and Wine after Consecration Ibid. Many Authorities brought for this 329 Eutychians said Christ's Humanity was swallowed of his Divinity 330 The Fathers argue against this from the Doctrine of the Eucharist Ibid. The Force of that Argument explained 331 The Fathers say our Bodies are nourished by the Sacrament Ibid. They call it the Type Sign and Figure of the Body and Blood of Christ 332 The Prayer of Consecration calls it so 333 That compared with the Prayer in the Missal Ibid. The progress of the Doctrine of the Corporal Presence 334 Reflection on the Ages in which it grew 335 The occasion on which it was advanced in the Eastern Church 336 Paschase Radbert taught it first 337 But many wrote against him Ibid. Afterwards Berengarius opposed it 338 The Schoolmen descanted on it Ibid. Philosophy was corrupted to support it 339 Concerning Consubstantiation Ibid. It is an Opinion that may be born with 340 The Adoration of the Eucharist is Idolatry Ibid. The Plea against that considered Ibid. Christ is not to be worshipped though present 341 Concerning reserving the Sacrament Ibid. Concerning the Elevation of it 342 ARTICLE XXIX 343 THE wicked do not receive Christ Ibid. The Doctrine of the Fathers in this Point Ibid. More particularly St. Austin's 344 ARTICLE XXX 345 THE Chalice was given to all Ibid. Not to the Disciples as Priests Ibid. The breaking of Bread explained 346 Sacraments must be given according to the Institution Ibid. Nâ— Arguments from ill consequences to be admitted unless in cases of necessity 347 Concomitance a new Notion Ibid. Vniversal practice for giving the Chalice Ibid. The case of the Agrarii 348 The first beginning of taking away the Cup Ibid. The Decree of the Council of Constance 349 ARTICLE XXXI 350 THE term Sacrifice of a large signification Ibid. The Primitive Christians denied that they had any Sacrifices Ibid. The Eucharist has no virtue but as it is a Communion 351 Strictly speaking there is only one Priest and one Sacrifice in the Christian Religion 352 The Fathers did not think the Eucharist was a Propitiatory Sacrifice 353 But call it a Sacrafice in a larger sense Ibid. Mâ—sses without a Communion not known then 354 None might be at Mass who did not communicate Ibid. The Importance of the Controversies concerning the Eucharist 355 ARTICLE XXXII 356 NO Divine Law against a Married Clergy Ibid. Neither in the Old or New Testament but the contrary 357 The Church has not Power to make a perpetual Law against it Ibid. The ill consequences of such a Law 358 No such Law in the first Ages Ibid. When the Laws for the Celibate began 359 The practice of the Church not uniform in it Ibid. The progress of these Laws in England 360 The good and the bad of Celibate balanced Ibid. It is not lawful to make Vows in this matter 361 Nor do they bind when made Ibid. Oaths ill made are worse to be kept 362 ARTICLE XXXIII 363 A Temper to be observed in Church Discipline Ibid. The necessity of keeping it up Ibid. Extremes in this to be avoided 364 Concerning the delivering any to Satan Ibid. The Importance of an Anathemea 365 Of the effect of Church-Censures Ibid. What it is when they are wrong applied 366 The causless jealousy of Church-Power Ibid. How the Laity was once taken into the exercise of it 367 The Pastors of the Church have Authority Ibid. Defects in this no just cause of Separation 368 All these brought in by Popery Ibid. A Correction of them intended at the Reformation 369 ARTICLE XXXIV 370 THE Obligation to obey Canons and Laws Ibid. The great Sin of Schism and Disobedience 371 The true Notion of Scandal Ibid. The fear of giving Scandal no warrant to break established Laws 372 Human Laws are not unalterable Ibid. The Respect due to Ancient Canons 373 The Corruptions of the Canon Law Ibid. Great Varieties in Rituals Ibid. Every Church is a compleat Body 374 ARTICLE XXXV 375 THE occasion of compiling the Homilies Ibid. We are not bound to every thing in them Ibid. But only to the Doctrine 376 This illustrated in the Charge of Idolatry Ib. What is meant by their being necessary for those times Ibid. ARTICLE XXXVI 377 THE occasion of this Article Ibid. An Explanation of the words Receive ye the Holy Ghost 378 ARTICLE XXXVII 379 QVeen Elizabeth's Injunction concerning the Supremacy Ibid. The Popes Vniversal Iurisdiction not warranted by any of the Laws of Christ 380 Nor acknowledged in the first Ages 381 Begun on the occasion of the Arian Controversy Ibid. Contested in many places 382 The Progress that it made Ibid. The Patriarchal Authority founded on the division of the Roman Empire sunk with it 383 The Power exercised by the Kings of Judah in Religious Matters Ibid. That is founded on Scriptures 384 Practised in all Ages Ibid. And particularly in England 385 Methods used by Popish Princes to keep the Ecclesiastical Authority under the Civil Ibid. The Temporal Power is over all persons 386 And in all causes Ibid. The Importance of the Term Head 387 The Necâ—ssity of Capital Punishments Ibid. The measure of these 388 The Lawfulness of War Ibid. Our Saviour's words explained Ibid. In what cases War is juâ—t 389 Warranted by the Laws of God 390 How a Subject may serve in an unlawful War Ibid. ARTICLE XXXVIII 391 COncerning Property and Charity Ibid. The Proportion of Charity to the Poor 392 ARTICLE XXXIX 393 THE Lawfulness of Oaths proved Ibid. From Natural Religion and
some of every sort of men Yet they declared openly against the other and said that if men were Circumcised or were willing to come under such a Yoke Christ profited them nothing and upon that supposition he had died in vain From this plain Precedent we see what a difference we ought to make between the holding Errors in Doctrinal Matters 5. Gal. 3. 2. Gal. 21. and the Imposing them as Articles of Faith We may live in Communion with those who hold Errors of the one sort but must not with those of the other This also shews the Tyranny of that Church which has imposed the belief of every one of her Doctrines on the Consciences of her Votaries under the highest pains of Anathema's and as Articles of Faith But whatever those at Trent did This Church very carefully avoided the laying that weight upon even those Doctrines which she received as true and therefore though she drew up a large Form of Doctrine yet to all her Lay-Sons this is only a Standard of what she teaches and the Articles are to them only Articles of Church-Communion The Citations that are brought from those two great Primates Laud and Bramhall go no further than this They do not seem to relate to the Clergy that subscribe them but to the Laity and Body of the People The People who do only join in Communion with us may well continue to do so though they may not be fully satisfied with every Proposition in them Unless they should think that they struck against any of the Articles or Foundations of Faith and as those Great men truly observe there is a great difference to be observed in this particular between the Imperious Spirit of the Church of Rome and the modest freedom which ours allows But I come in the next place to consider what the Clergy is bound to by their Subscriptions The meaning of every Subscription is to be taken from the design of the Imposer and from the words of the Subscription it self The Title of the Articles bears That they were agreed upon in Convocation For the avoiding of diversities of Opinions and for the stablishing consent touching true Religion Where it is evident that a Consent in Opinion is designed If we in the next place consider the Declaration that the Church has made in the Canons we shall find that though by the Fifth Canon which relates to the whole Body of the People such are only declared to be Excommunicated ipso facto who shall affirm any of the Articles to be Erroneous or such as he may not with a good Conscience Subscribe to yet the 36 th Canon is express for the Clergy requiring them to Subscribe willingly and ex animo and acknowledge all and every Article to be agreeable to the word of God Upon which Canon it is that the Form of the Subscription runs in these words which seem expresly to declare a man's own Opinion and not a bare consent to an Article of Peace or an Engagement to silence and submission The Statute of the 13 th of Queen Elizabeth cap. 12. which gives the Legal Authority to our requiring Subscriptions in order to a man's being capable of a Benefice requires that every Clergyman should read the Articles in the Church where he is to serve with a Declaration of his Unfeigned Assent to them These things make it very plain that the Subscriptions of the Clergy must be considered as a Declaration of their own Opinion and not as a bare Obligation to silence There arose in K. Iames the First 's Reign great and warm Disputes concerning the Decrees of God and those other Points that were setled in Holland by the Synod of Dort against the Remonstrants Divines of both sides among us appealed to the Articles and pretended they were favourable to them For though the first appearance of them seems to favour the Doctrine of Absolute Decrees and the Irresistibility of Grace yet there are many expressions that have another face and so those of the other Persuasion pleaded for themselves from these Upon this a Royal Declarations was set forth in which after that mention is made of those Disputes and that the men of all sides did take the Articles to be for them order is given for stopping those Disputes for the future and for shutting them in God's promises as they be generally set forth in the Holy Scriptures and the general meaning of the Articles of the Church of England according to them and that no man thereafter should put his own Sense or Comment to be the meaning of the Article but should take it in the Literal and Grammatical Sense In this there has been such a general acquiescing that the fierceness of these Disputes has gone off while men have been left to Subscribe the Articles according to their Literal and Grammatical Sense From which two Things are to be inferred The one is that the Subscription does import an Assent to the Article and the other is that an Article being conceived in such general words that it can admit of different Literal and Grammatical Senses even when the Senses given are plainly contrary one to another both sides may Subscribe the Article with a good Conscience and without any Equivocation To make this more sensible I shall give an instance of it in an Article concerning which there is no Dispute at present The Third Article concerning Christ's descent into Hell is capable of Three different Senses and all the Three are both Literal and Grammatical The First is that Christ descended locally into Hell and preached to the Spirits there in prison and this has one great advantage on its side that those who first prepared the Articles in K. Edward's Time were of this Opinion for they made it a part of it by adding in the Article those words of St. Peter as the Proof or Explanation of it Now though that period was left out in Q. Elizabeth's Time yet no Declaration was made against it so that this Sense was once in possession and was never expresly rejected Besides that it has great support from the Authority of many Fathers who understood the descent into Hell according to this Explanation A Second Sense of which that Article is capable is That by Hell is meant the Grave according to the Signification of the Original Word in the Hebrew and this is supported by the words of Christ's descending into the lower parts of the Earth as also by this That several Creeds that have this Article have not that or Christ's being buried and some that mention his Burial have not this of his Descent into Hell A Third Sense is That by Hell according to the Signification of the Greek Word is to be meant the Place or Region of Spirits separated from their Bodies So that by Christ's descent into Hell is only to be meant that his Soul was really and entirely disunited from his Body not lying dead in it as in an Apoplectical Fit nor
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
of rest and quiet so that Motion must be put in them by some Impulse or other Matter after it has pass'd through the highest Refinings and Rectifyings possible becomes only more capable of Motion than it was before but still it is a Passive Principle and must be put in Motion by some other Being This has appeared so necessary even to those who have tried their utmost Force to make God as little needful as is possible in the Structure of the Universe that they have yet been forced to own That there must have been once a vast Motion given to Matter by the Supreme Mind A Third Argument for the Being of a God is That upon some great Occasions and before a vast Number of Witnesses some Persons have wrought Miracles That is they have put Nature out of its Course by some Words or Signs that of themselves could not produce those extraordinary Effects And therefore such Persons were assisted by a Power superior to the Course of Nature and by consequence there is such a Being and That is God To this the Atheists do First say That we do not know the secret Virtues that are in Nature The Loadstone and Opium produce wonderful Effects therefore unless we knew the whole Extent of Nature we cannot define what is Supernatural and Miraculous and what is not so But though we cannot tell how far Nature may go yet of some things we may without hesitation say they are beyond Natural Powers Such were the Wonders that Moses wrought in Egypt and in the Wilderness by the speaking a few Words or the stretching out of a Rod. We are sure these could not by any Natural Efficiency produce those Wonders And the like is to be said of the Miracles of Christ particularly of his raising the Dead to life again and of his own Resurrection These we are sure did not arise out of Natural Causes The next thing Atheists say to this is to dispute the Truth of the Facts But of that I shall treat in another place when the Authority of Revealed Religion comes to be proved from those Facts All that is necessary to be added here is That if Facts that are plainly Supernatural are proved to have been really done then here is another clear and full Argument to prove a Being superior to Nature that can dispose of it at pleasure And that Being must either be God or some other Invisible Being that has a Strength superior to the setled Course of Nature And if Invisible Beings superior to Nature whether good or bad are once acknowledged a great Step is made to the Proof of the Supreme Being There is another famed Argument taken from the Idea of God which is laid thus That because one frames a Notion of Infinite Perfection therefore there must be such a Being from whom that Notion is conveyed to us This Argument is also managed by other Methods to give us a Demonstration of the Being of a God I am unwilling to say any thing to derogate from any Argument that is brought to prove this Conclusion but when he who insists on this lays all other Arguments aside or at least slights them as not strong enough to prove the Point this naturally gives Jealousy when all those Reasons that had for so many Ages been considered as solid Proofs are neglected as if this only could amount to a Demonstration But besides this is an Argument that cannot be offered by any to another Person for his Conviction since if he denies that he has any such Idea he is without the reach of the Argument And if a man will say that any such Idea which he may raise in himself is only an Aggregate that he makes of all those Perfections of which he can form a Thought which he lays together separating from them every Imperfection that he observes to be often mixed with some of those Perfections If I say a Man will affirm this I do not see that the Inference from any such Thought that he has formed within himself can have any great force to persuade him that there is any such Being Upon the whole it seems to be fully proved That there is a Being that is Superior to Matter and that gave both Being and Order to it and to all other things This may serve to prove the Being of a God It is fit in the next place to consider with all humble Modesty what Thoughts we can or ought to have of the Deity That Supreme Being must have its Essence of it self necessarily and Eternally for it is impossible that any thing can give it self Being so it must be Eternal And though Eternity in a Succession of Determinate Durations was proved to be impossible yet it is certain that something must be Eternal either Matter or a Being superior to it that has not a Duration defined by Succession but is a simple Essence and Eternally was is and shall be the same There is nothing contradictory to it self in this Notion It is indeed above our Capacity to form a clear Thought of it but it is plain it must be so and that this is only a defect in our Nature and Capacity that we cannot distinctly apprehend that which is so far above us Such a Being must have also necessary Existence in its Notion for whatsoever is infinitely perfect must necessarily exist since we plainly perceive that necessary Existence is a Perfection and that contingent Existence is an Imperfection which supposes a Being that is produced by another and that depends upon it And as this Superior Being did exist from all Eternity so it is impossible it should cease to be since nothing that once has actually a Being can ever cease to be but by an Act of a Superior Being annihilating it But there being nothing superior to the Deity it is impossible that it should ever cease to be What was self-existent from all Eternity must also be so to all Eternity and it is as impossible that a simple Essence can annihilate it self as that it can make it self So much concerning the First and Capital Article of all Religion The Existence and Being of a God which ought not to be proved by any Authorities from Scripture unless from the Recitals that are given in it concerning Miracles as was already hinted at But as to the Authority of such Passages in Scripture which affirm That there is a God it is to be considered that before we can be bound to submit to them we must believe Three Propositions antecedent to that 1. That there is a God 2. That all his Words are true 3. That these are his Words What therefore must be believed before we acknowledge the Scriptures cannot be proved out of them It is then a strange Assertion to say That the Being of a God cannot be proved by the Light of Nature but must be proved by the Scriptures since our being assured That there is a God is the First Principle upon which the Authority
Messiah did come and was cut off during the continuance of Ierusalem and the Temple but that it hapned within a Period of Time designed in that Vision Time was then computed more certainly than it had been for many Ages before Two great Measures were fixed one at Babylon by Nabonassor and another in Greece in the Olympiads Here a Prediction is given almost Five hundred Years before the Accomplishment with many very nice Reckonings in it I will not now enter upon the Chronology of this matter on which some Great Men have bestowed their Labours very happily Archbishop Usher has stated this matter so that the Interval of Time is clearly Four hundred eighty six Years The Covenant was to be confirmed with many for one Week in the midst of which God was to cause the Sacrifice and Oblation for Sin to cease which seems to be a Mystical way of describing the Death of Christ that was to put an end to the Virtue of the Iudaical Sacrifices so Sixty nine Weeks and a half make just Four hundred eighty six Years and a half But without going further into this Calculation it is evident That during the Second Temple the Messias was to come and to be cut off and that soon after that a Prince was to send an Army to destroy both City and Sanctuary The Iews do not so much as pretend that during that Temple the Messias thus set forth did come or was cut off so either the Prediction fail'd in the Event or the Messiah did come within that Period And thus a Thread of the Prophecies of the Messias being carried down through the whole Old Testament it seems to be fully made out That he was to be of the Seed of Abraham and of the Posterity of David That the Tribe of Iudah was to be a distinct Policy till he should come That he should work many Miracles That he was to be Meek and Lowly That his Function was to consist in Preaching to the Afflicted and in comforting them That he was to call the Gentiles and even the remote Islands to the knowledge of God That he was to be born of a Virgin and at Bethlehem That he was to be a New Lawgiver as Moses had been That he was to settle his Followers upon a New Covenant different from that made by Moses That he was to come during the Second Temple That he was to make a mean but a joyful Entrance to Ierusalem That he was to be cut off That the Iniquities of us all were to be laid on him and that his Life was to be made an Offering for Sin but that God was to give him a glorious Reward for these his Sufferings and that his Doctrine was to be internal accompanied with a free Offer of Pardon and of Inward Assistances and that after his Death the Iews were to fall under a terrible Curse and an utter Extirpation When this is all summed up together when it appears That there was never any other Person to whom those Characters did agree but that they did all meet in our Saviour we see what Light the Old Testament has given us in this matter Here a Nation that hates us and our Religion who are scattered up and down the World who have been for many Ages without their Temple and without their Sacrifices without Priests and without their Genealogies who yet hold these Books amongthem in adue Veneration which furnish us with so full aproof that the Messiah whom they still look for is the Lord Jesus whom we worship We do now proceed to other matters The Iews pretend That it is a great Argument against the Authority of the New Testament because it acknowledges the Old to be from God and yet repeals the far greater part of the Laws Enacted in it though those Laws are often said to be Laws for ever and throughout all Generations Now they seem to argue with some advantage who say That what God does declare to be a Law that shall be perpetual by any one Prophet cannot be abrogated or reversed by another since that other can have no more Authority than the former Prophet had And if both are of God it seems the one cannot make void that which was formerly declared by the other in the Name of God But it is to be considered That by the Phrases of a Statute for ever or throughout all Generations can only be meant that such Laws were not transient Laws such as were only to be observed whilst they marched through the Wilderness or upon particular occasions whereas such Laws which were constantly and generally to be observed were to them perpetual But that does not Import that the Lawgiver himself had parted with all the Authority that naturally belongs to him over his own Laws It only says That the People had no power over such Laws to repeal or change them They were to bind them always but that puts no limitation on the Lawgiver himself so that he might not alter his own Constitutions Positive Precepts which have no real value in themselves are of their own nature alterable And as in human Laws the words of Enacting a Law for all future times do only make that to be a perpetual Law for the Subjects but do not at all limit the Legislative power which is as much at liberty to abrogate or alter it as if no such words had been in the Law There are also many hints in the Old Testament which shew that the Precepts of the Mosaical Law were to be altered Many plain Intimations are given of a time and state in which the knowledge of God was to be spread over all the Earth And that God was every where to be worshipped Now this was impossible to be done without a Change in their Law and Rituals It being impossible that all the World should go up thrice a Year to worship at Ierusalem or could be served by Priests of the Aaronical Family Circumcision was a distinction of one particular Race which needed not to be continued after all were brought under one denomination and within the same common Privileges These things hitherto mentioned belong naturally to this part of the Article yet in the intention of those who framed it these words relate to an extravagant sort of Enthusiasts that lived in those days who abusing some ill-understood Phrases concerning Justification by Christ without the works of the Law came to set up very wild Notions which were bad in themselves but much more pernicious in their Consequences They therefore fancied that a Christian was tied by no Law as a Rule or Yoke all these being taken away by Christ They said indeed That a Christian by his renovation became a Law to himself he obeyed not any written Rule or Law but a new inward Nature And thus as it is said that Sadocus mistook his Master Antigonus who taught his Disciples to serve God not for the hope of a Reward but without any expectations as if he by
himself in good methods and good circumstances he can Pray and do many Acts of Devotion which though they are all very imperfect yet none of them will be lost in the sight of God who certainly will never be wanting to those who are doing what in them lies to make themselves the proper Objects of his Mercy and fit Subjects for his Grace to work upon Therefore this Article is not to be made use of to discourage Mens Endeavours but only to encrease their Humility to teach them not to think of themselves above measure but soberly to depend always on the mercy of God and ever to fly to it ARTICLE XIV Of Works of Supererogation Uoluntary Works besides over and above God's Commandments which they call Works of Supererogation cannot be taught without Arrogancy and Impiety For by them men do declare That they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do but that they do more for his sake than of bounden Duty is required Whereas Christ saith plainly when ye have done all that are commanded to you say We are unprofitable Servants THERE are Two Points that arise out of this Article to be considered 1 st Whether there are in the New Testament Counsels of Perfection given that is to say such Rules which do not oblige all Men to follow them under the pain of Sin Luke 17.10 but yet are useful to carry them on to a sublimer Degree of Perfection than is necessary in order to their Salvation 2 d. Whether men by following these do not more than they are bound to do and by consequence Whether they have not there by a Stock of Merit to communicate to others The First of these leads to the Second for if there are no such Counsels then the Foundation of Supererogoation fails We deny both upon this Ground That the great Obligations of loving God with all our Heart Soul Strength and Mind and our Neighbour as our selves which are reckoned by our Saviour Matth. 22.36 to 40. the two great Commandments on which hang all the Law and the Prophets are of that extent that it seems not possible to imagine How any thing can be acceptable to God that does not fall within them Since if it is acceptable to God then that Obligation to love God so entirely must bind us to it for if it is a Sin not to love God up to this pitch then it is a Sin not to do every thing that we imagine will please him And by consequence if there is a Degree of pleasing God whether Precept or Counsel that we do not study to attain to we do not love him in a manner suitable to that It seems a great many in the Church of Rome are aware of this consequence and therefore they have taken much pains to convince the World that we are not bound to love God at all or as others more cautiously word it that we are only bound to value him above all things but not to have a love of such a vast intension for him This is a proposition that after all their softning it gives so much horror to every Christian that I need not be at any pains to confute it We are further required in the New Testament to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God And to reckon our selves his and not our own 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Cor. 6.20 and that we are bought with a price and that therefore we ought to glorify him both in our Bodies and in our Spirits which are his These and many more like Expressions are plainly Precepts of general Obligation for nothing can be set forth in more positive words than these are And it is not easie to imagine How any thing can go beyond them for if we are Christ's Property purchased by him then we ought to apply our selves to every thing in which his honour or the honour of his Religion can be concerned or which will be pleasing to him Our Saviour having charged the Pharisees so often for adding so many of their Ordinances to the Laws of God Coloss. 2. teaching his fear by the Precepts of men and the Apostles condemning a shew of Will-worship and voluntary humility seem to belong to this matter and to be designed on purpose to repress the Pride and Singularities affected Hypocrites Our Saviour said to him that asked Matth. 19.16 17. What he should do that he might have eternal life keep the Commandments These words I do the rather cite because they are followed with a passage that of all others in the New Testament seems to look the likest a Counsel of Perfection for when he who made the Question replied upon our Saviour's Answer That he had kept all these from his youth up and added what lack I yet To that our Saviour Answered If thou wilt be perfect V. 20 21. go sell all that thou hast and give to the Poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me And by the words that follow of the difficulty of a rich Man's entring into the Kingdom of Heaven this is more fully Explained The meaning of all that whole passage is this Christ called that person to abandon all and come and follow him in such a manner as he had called his Apostles So that here is no Counsel but a positive Command given to that particular person upon this occasion By Perfect is only to be meant compleat in order to that to which he pretended which was Eternal Life And that also explains the word in that period Treasures in Heaven another Expression for Eternal Life to compensate the loss which he would have made by the Sale of his Possessions So that here is no Counsel but a Special Command given to this person in order to his own attaining Eternal Life Nor is it to be inferred from hence That this is proposed to others in the way of a Counsel for as in Cases either of a Famine or Persecution it may come to be to some a command to sell all in order to the relief of others as it was in the first beginnings of Christianity so in ordinary cases to do it might be rather a tempting of Providence than a trusting to it for then a Man should part with the means of his Subsistence which God has provided for him without a necessay and pressing occasion Therefore our Saviour's words Luke 12.33 Sell that ye have and give Alms as they are delivered in the strain and peremptoriness of a Command so they must be understood to bind as positive Commands do Not so constantly as a Negative Command does since in every minute of our Life that binds but there is a Rule and Order in our obeying positive Commands We must not rest on the Sabbath-day if a Work of Necessity or Charity calls us to put to our hands We must not obey our Parents in disobeying
other Church has them equally with her or beyond her If all these must be discussed before we can settle this Question Which is the true Infallible Church A Man must stay long e're he can come to a point in it Therefore there can be no other way taken here but to examine first What makes a particular Church And then since the Catholick Church is an united Body of all particular Churches when the true Notion of a particular Church is fixed it will be easy from that to form a Notion of the Catholick Church It would seem reasonable by the Method of all Creeds in particular of that called the Apostles Creed that we ought first to settle our Faith as to the great Points of the Christian Religion and from thence go to settle the Notion of a true Church And that we ought not to begin with the Notion of a Church and from thence go to the Doctrine The Doctrine of Christianity must be first stated and from this we are to take our measures of all Churches and that chiefly with respect to that Doctrine which every Christian is bound to believe Here a distinction is to be made between those Capital and Fundamental Articles without which a Man cannot be esteemed a true Christian nor a Church a true Church And other Truths which being delivered in Scripture all Men are indeed obliged to believe them yet they are not of that nature that the Ignorance of them or an Error in them can exclude from Salvation To make this sensible It is a Proposition of another sort That Christ died for Sinners than this That he died at the Third or at the Sixth Hour And yet if the Second Proposition is expresly revealed in Scripture we are bound to believe it Since God has said it though it is not of the same nature with the other Here a Controversie does naturally arise that wise People are unwilling to meddle with What Articles are Fundamental and what are not The defining of Fundamental Articles seems on the one hand to deny Salvation to such as do not receive them all which Men are not willing to do And on the other hand it may seem a leaving Men at liberty as to all other particulars that are not reckoned up among the Fundamentals But after all the Covenant of Grace the Terms of Salvation and the Grounds on which we expect it seem to be things of another nature than all other truths which though revealed are not of themselves the Means or Conditions of Salvation Wheresoever true Baptism is there it seems the Essentials of this Covenant are preserved For if we look on Baptism as a Foederal admission into Christianity there can be no Baptism where the Essence of Christianity is not preserved As far then as we believe that any Society has preserved that so far we are bound to receive her Baptism and no further For unless we consider Baptism as a sort of a Charm that such words joined with a washing with Water make one a Christian which seems to be expresly contrary to what St. Peter says of it 1 Pet. â— 21 That it is not the washing away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God that saves us We must conclude That Baptism is a Foederal thing in which after that the Sponsions are made the Seal of Regeneration is added From hence it will follow That all who have a true Baptism that makes Men Believers and Christians must also have the true Faith as to the Essentials of Christianity The Fundamentals of Christirnity seems to be all that is necessary to make Baptism True and Valid And upon this a distinction is to be made that will discover and destroy a Sophism that is often used on this occasion A True Church is in one sense a Society that preserves the Essentials and Fundamentals of Christianity In another sense it stands for a Society all whose Doctrines are true that has corrupted no part of this Religion nor mixed any Errors with it A true Man is one who has a Soul and a Body that are the Essential Constituents of a Man Whereas in another sense a Man of Sincerity and Candor is called a true Man Truth in the one Sense imports the Essential Constitution and in the other it imports only a Quality that is accidental to it So when we acknowledge that any Society is a true Church we ought to be supposed to mean no other than that the Covenant of Grace in its Essential Constituent parts is preserved entire in that Body and not that it is true in all its Doctrines and Decisions The Second thing to be considered in a Church is their Association together in the use of the Sacraments For these are given by Christ to the Society as the Rites and Badges of that Body That which makes particular Men Believers is their receiving the Fundamentals of Christianity so that which constitutes the Body of the Church is the Profession of that Faith and the use of those Sacraments which are the Rites and Distinctions of those who profess it In this likewise a distinction is to be made between what is Essential to a Sacrament and what is the exact observance of it according to the Institution Additions to the Sacraments do not annul them though they corrupt them with that adulterate mixture Therefore where the Sponsions are made and washing with Water is used with the words of Christ there we own that there is a true Baptism Though there may be a large Addition of other Rites which we reject as Superstitious though we do not pretend that they null the Baptism But if any part of the Institution is cut off there we do not own the Sacrament to be true Because it being an Institution of Christ's it can no more be esteemed a true Sacrament than as it retains all that which by the Institution appears to be the main and essential parts of the Action Upon this account it is That since Christ appointed Bread and Wine fo his other Sacrament and that he not only blessed both but distributed both with words appropriated to each kind we do not esteem that to be a true Sacrament in which either the one or the other of these kinds is w ithdrawn But in the next place there may be many things necessary in the way of Precept and Order both with relation to the Sacraments and to the other publick Acts of Worship in which tho' Additions or Defects are Erroneous and Faulty yet they do not annul the Sacraments We think none ought to Baptize but Men dedicated to the Service of God and Ordained according to that Constitution that was settled in the Church by the Apostles and yet Baptism by Laicks or by Women such as is most commonly practiced in the Roman Church is not esteemed null by us nor is it repeated Because we make a difference between what is Essential to a Sacrament and what is
inducement for us to believe That whensoever God by his Providence brings Christians under a visible necessity of being either without all Order and joint Worship or of joining in an unlawful and defiled Worship or finally of breaking through Rules and Methods in order to the being United in Worship and Government that of these Three of which one must be chosen the last is the least Evil and has the fewest Inconveniences hanging upon it and that therefore it may be chosen Our Reformers had also in view two famous Instances in Church-History of Lay-men that had Preached and Converted Nations to the Faith It is true they came as they ought to have done to be regularly Ordained and were sent to such as had Authority so to do So Frumentius preached to the Indians and was afterwards made a Priest and a Bishop by Athanasius The King of the Iberians before he was Baptised himself did Convert his Subjects and as says the Historian he became the Apostle of his Country before he himself was Initiated It is indeed added that he sent an Embassy to Constantine the Emperor desiring him that he would send Priests for the further establishment of the Faith there These were regular practices but if it should happen that Princes or States should take up such a jealousy of their own Authority and should apprehend that the suffering their Subjects to go elsewhere for Regular Ordinations might bring them under some dependance on those that had Ordained them and give them such influence over them that the Prince of such a Neighbouring and Regular Church should by such Ordinations have so many Creatures Spies or Instruments in their own Dominions and if upon other Political reasons they had just cause of being jealous of that and should thereupon hinder any such thing in that case neither our Reformers nor their Successors for near Eighty Years after those Articles were published did ever question the Constitution of such Churches We have reason to believe that none ought to Baptise but Persons Lawfully Ordained yet since there has been a practice so universally spread over the Christian Church of allowing the Baptism not only of Laicks but of Women to be Lawful though we think that this is directly contrary to the Rules given by the Apostles yet since this has been in fact so generally received and practised we do not Annul such Baptisms nor Rebaptise Persons so Baptised though we know that the original of this bad practice was from an Opinion of the indispensable necessity of Baptism to Salvation Yet since it has been so generally received we have that regard to such a common practice as not to Annul it though we Condemn it And thus what Thoughts soever private Men as they are Divines may have of those Irregular steps the Article of the Church is conceived in such large and general Words that no Man by Subscribing it is bound up from freer and more comprehensive Thoughts ARTICLE XXIV 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 Prayer in the Church or to Minister the Sacraments in a Tongue not understanded of the People This Article though upon the Matter very near the same yet was worded much less positively in those at first set forth by King Edward It is most fit and most agreeable to the Word of God that nothing be read or rehearsed in the Congregation in a Tongue not known unto the People which St. Paul hath forbidden to be done unless some be present to Interpret In King Edward's Articles they took in Preaching with Prayer but in the present Article this is restrained to Prayer The former only affirms the use of a known Tongue to be most fit and agreeable to the Word of God the later denies the Worship in an Unknown Tongue to be lawful and affirms it to be repugnant to the Word of God to which it adds and the Custom of the Primitive Church THIS Article seems to be founded on the Law of Nature The Worship of God is a Chain of Acts by which we acknowledge God's Attributes rejoyce in his Goodness and lay claim to his Mercies In all which the more we raise our thoughts the more Seriousness Earnestness and Affection that animates our Mind so much the more acceptably do we serve God who is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth John 4.23 24. All the Words used in Devotion are intended to raise in us the thoughts that naturally belong to such words And the various Acts which are as it were the Breaks in the Service are intended as Rests to our Minds to keep us the longer without weariness and wandring in those Exercises One great end of continuance in Worship is that by the frequent repeating and often going over of the same things they may come to be deeply rooted in our Thoughts The chief Effect that the Worship of God has by its own Efficiency is the infixing those things about which the Branches of it are imployed the deeper on our Minds upon which God gives his Blessing as we grow to be prepared for it or capable of it Now all this is lost if the Worship of God is a Thread of such sounds as makes the Person who officiates a Barbarian to the rest They have nothing but noise and shew to amuse them which how much soever they may strike upon and entertain the Senses yet they cannot affect the Heart nor excite the Mind So that the natural effect of such a way of Worship is to make Religion a Pageantry and the Publick Service of God an Opera If from plain Sense and the natural Consequences of things we carry on this Argument to the Scriptures we find the whole practice of the Old Testament was to Worship God not only in a Tongue that was understood for it may be said there was no occasion then to use any other but that the Expressions used in the Prayers and Psalms that we find in the Old Testament shew they were intended to affect those who were to use them and if that is acknowledged then it will clearly follow that all ought to understand them for who can be affected with that which he does not understand So this shews that the end of Publick Devotion is the exciting and inflaming those who bare a share in it Neh. 8.8 Neh. 9.5 When Ezra and Nehemiah were instructing the People out of the Law they took care to have it read distinctly one giving the Sense of it After they were long in Captivity though it had not worn out quite the knowledge of the Hebrew yet the Chaldee was more familiar to them so a Paraphrase was made of the Hebrew into that Language though it was rather a different Dialect than another Language and by the Forms of their Prayers we see that one cried with a loud
and the full Evidence of an Object that is before us and that is clearly apprehended by us So there is a great difference to be made between our Reasonings upon Difficulties that we can neither understand nor resolve and our Reasonings upon clear Principles The one may be false and the other must be true We are sure that a Thing cannot be one and three in the same respect our Reason assures us of this and we do and must believe it but we know that in different respects the same thing may be one and three And since we cannot know all the possibilities of those different respects we must believe upon the Authority of God revealing it that the same thing is both one and three tho' if a Revelation should affirm that the same thing were one and three in the same respect we should not and indeed could not believe it This Argument deserves to be fully opened for we are sure either it is true or we cannot be sure that any thing else whatsoever is true In confirmation of this we ought also to consider the nature and ends of Miracles They put Nature out of its channel and reverse its fixed Laws and Motions and the end of God's giving Men a power to work them is that by them the World may be convinced that such Persons are Commissionated by him to deliver his Pleasure to them in some Particulars And as it could not become the Infinite Wisdom of the Great Creator to change the Order of Nature which is his own Workmanship upon slight Grounds so we cannot suppose that he should work a Chain of Extraordinary Miracles to no purpose It is not to give credit to a Revelation that he is making for the Senses do not perceive it on the contrary they do reject and contradict it and the Revelation instead of getting credit from it is loaded by it as introducing that which destroys all credit and certainty In other Miracles our Senses are appealed to but here they must be appealed from nor is there any Spiritual end served in working this Miracle for it is acknowledged that the effects of this Sacrament are given upon our due coming to it independent upon the Corporal Presence So that the Grace of the Sacrament does not always accompany it since unworthy Receivers tho' according to the Romish Doctrine they receive the true Body of Christ yet they do not receive Grace with it And the Grace that is given in it to the worthy Receivers stays with them after that by the destruction of the Species of the Bread and Wine the Body of Christ is withdrawn So that it is acknowledged that the Spiritual effect of the Sacrament does not depend upon the Corporal Presence Here then it is supposed that God is every day working a great many Miracles in a vast number of different Places and that of so extraordinary a nature that it must be confessed they are far beyond all the other Wonders even of Omnipotence and yet all this is to no end that we can apprehend neither to any sensible and visible end nor to any Internal and Spiritual one This must needs seem an amazing thing that God should work such a Miracle on our behalf and yet should not acquaint us with any end for which he should work it To conclude this whole Argument We have one great advantage in this matter that our Doctrine concerning the Sacrament of a Mystical Presence of Christ in the Symbols and of the effects of it on the worthy and unworthy Receivers is all acknowledged by the Church of Rome but they have added to this the Wonder of the Corporal Presence So that we need bring no Proofs to them at least for that which we teach concerning it since it is all confessed by them But as to that which they have added it is not necessary for us to give Proofs against it it is enough for us if we shew that all the Proofs that they bring for it are weak and unconcluding They must be very demonstrative if it is expected that upon the authority and evidence of them we should be bound to believe a thing which they themselves confess to be contrary both to our Sense and Reasons We cannot by the Laws of Reasoning be bound to give Arguments against it it is enough if we can shew that neither the words of the Institution nor the Discourse in the sixth of St. Iohn do necessarily infer it and if we shew that those Passages can well bear another sense which is agreeable both to the words themselves and to the style of the Scriptures and more particularly to the Phraseology to which the Iews were accustomed upon the occasion on which this was Instituted and if the words can well bear the Sense that we give them then the other advantages that are in it of its being simple and natural of its being suitable to the design of a Sacrament and of its having no hard consequences of any sort depending upon it then I say by all the Rules of expounding Scripture we do justly infer that our Sense of those words ought to be preferred This is according to a Rule that St. Augustin gives to judge what Expressions in Scripture are Figurative and what not Lib. 3. de Doct. Chris. c. 16. If any place seems to command a Crime or horrid Action it is Figurative And for an Instance of this he cites those Words Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man you have no life in you Which seems to command a Crime and an horrid Action and therefore it is a Figure commanding us to communicate in the Passion of our Lord and to lay up in our Memory with delight and profit that his Flesh was crucified and wounded for us And this was given for a Rule by the great Doctor of the Latin Church so the same Maxim had been delivered almost two Ages before him Hom. 7. in Levit. by the great Doctor of the Greek Church Origen who says that the understanding our Saviour's words of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood according to the Letter is a Letter that kills These Passages I cite by an Anticipation before I enter upon the enquiry into the Sense of the ancient Church concerning this Matter because they belong to the words of the Institution at least to the Discourse in St. Iohn Now if the Sense that we give to these Words is made good we need be at no more pains to prove that they are capable of no other Sense Since this must prove that to be the only true Sense of them So that for all the Arguments that have been brought by us against this Doctrine arising out of the Fruitfulness of the Matter we were not bound to use them For our Doctrine being confessed by them it wants no Proof and we cannot be bound to prove a Negative Therefore though the Copiousness of this Matter has afforded us many
in that time From the Institution and Command which are express and positive we go next to consider the nature of Sacramental Actions They have no virtue in them as Charms tyed either to Elements or to words they are only good because commanded A different state of things may indeed justifie an alteration as to Circumstances The danger of dipping in cold Climates may be a very good reason for changing the Form of Baptism to Sprinkling and if Climates were inhabited by Christians to which Wine could not be brought we should not doubt but that whensoever God makes a real necessity of departing from any Institution of his he does thereby allow of such a change as that necessity must draw after it So we do not condemn the License that is said to have been granted by Pope Innocent the Eighth to celebrate without Wine in Norway nor should we deny a Man the Sacrament who had a natural and unconquerable aversion to Wine or that Communicated being near his last Agonies and that should have the like aversion to either of the Elements When those things are real and not pretended Mercy is better then Sacrifice The punctual observance of a Sacramental Institution does only oblige us to the essential parts of it and in ordinary Cases The pretence of what may be done or has been done upon extraordinary occasions can never justifie the deliberate and unnecessary alteration of an essential part of the Sacrament The whole Institution shews very plainly that our Saviour meant that the Cup should be considered every whit as essential as Bread and therefore we cannot but conclude from the nature of things that since the Sacraments have only their effects from their Institution therefore so total a change of this Sacrament does plainly evacuate the Institution and by consequence destroy the effect of it All reasoning upon this Head is an arguing against the Institution as if Christ and his Apostles had not well enough considered it but that 1200 years after them a Consequence should be observed that till then had not been thought of which made it reasonable to alter the manner of it The Concomitance is the great thing that is here urged since it is believed that Christ is intirely under each of the Elements and therefore it is not necessary that both should be received because Christ is fully received in any one But this subsists on the Doctrine of Transubstantiation so if that is false then here upon a controverted opinion an uncontroverted piece of the Institution is altered And if Concomitance is a certain consequence of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation then it is a very strong Argument against the Antiquity of that Doctrine that the World was so long without the notion of Concomitance and therefore if Transubstantiation had been sooner received the Concomitance would have been more early observed The Institution of the Sacrament seems to be so laid down as rather to make us consider the Body and Blood as in a state of Separation than of Concomitance the Body being represented apart and the Blood apart and the Body as broken and the Blood as shed Therefore we consider the design of the Sacrament is to represent Christ to us as dead and in his Crucified but not in his Glorified state And if the opinion be true that the Glorified Bodies are of another Texture than that of flesh and Blood which seems to be very plainly asserted by St. Paul in a Discourse intended to describe the nature of the Glorified Bodies then this Theory of Concomitance will fail upon that account But whatsoever may be in that an Institution of Christ's must not be altered or violated upon the account of an Inference that is drawn to conclude it needless He who instituted it knew best what was most fitting and most reasonable and we must choose rather to acquiesce in his Commands than in our own reasonings If next to the Institution and the Theory that arises from the nature of a Sacrament we consider the practice of the Christian Church in all Ages there is not any one point in which the Tradition of the Church is more express and more universal than in this particular for above a thousand years after Christ. All the accounts that we have of the Antient Rituals both in Iustin Martyr Cyril of Ierusalem the Constitutions Apol. 2. Catech. Mist. 4ta Const. Apost l. 2. c. 57. Eccles. Hiera c. 3. and the pretended Areopagite do expresly mention both kinds as given separately in the Sacrament All the Antient Liturgies as well these that go under the Names of the Apostles as those which are ascribed to St. Basil and St. Chrysostom do mention this very expresly all the Offices of the Western Church both Roman and others the Missals of the latter Ages I mean down to the Twelfth Century even the Ordo Romanus believed by some to be a work of the Ninth and by others of the Eleventh Century are express in mentioning the distribution of both kinds All the Fathers without excepting one do speak of it very clearly as the universal practice of their Time They do not so much as give a hint of any difference about it So that from Ignatius down to Thomas Aquinas Aquin. Com. in 6. Johan v. 53. In Summa par 9. quast 80. art 12. there is not any one Writer that differs from the rest in this point and even Aquinas speaks of the taking away the Chalice as the practice only of some Churches other Writers of his time had not heard of any of these Churches for they speak of both kinds as the Universal practice But besides this general concurrence there are some Specialties in this matter in St. Cyprian's time some thought it was not necessary to use Wine in the Sacrament they therefore used Water only and were from thence called Aquarii It seems they found that their Morning Assemblies were smelt out by the Wine used in the Sacrament and Christians might be known by the smell of Wine that was still about them they therefore intended to avoid this and so they had no Wine among them which was a much weightier reason than that of the Wine sticking upon the Beards of the Laity Yet St. Cyprian condemned this very severely Cyp. Ep. 63. ad Cecil in a long Epistle writ upon that occasion He makes this the main Argument and goes over it frequently and that we ought to follow â—hrist and do what he did And he has those memorable words If it be not lawful to loose any one of the least Commands of Christ how much more is it unlawful to break so great and so weighty a one that does so very nearly relate to the Sacrament of our Lord's Passion and of our Redemption or by any Human Institution to change it into that which is quite different from the Divine Institution This is so full that we cannot express our selves more plainly Among the other Profanations of the Manicheans
Violence of Wicked men We owe to Human Society and to the Safety and Order of the World our Endeavours to put a stop to the Wickedness of Men which a good man may do with great inward Tenderness to the Souls of those whom he prosecutes It is highly probable that as nothing besides such a Method could stop the Progress of Injustice and Wickedness so nothing is so likely a Mean to bring the Criminal to repent of his sins and to fit him to dye as a Christian as to condemn him to dye for his Crimes If any thing can awaken his Conscience and strike Terror in him that will do it Therefore as Capital Punishments are necessary to Human Society so they are often real Blessings to those on whom they fall And it may be affirmed very positively That a man who can harden himself against the Terrors of Death when they come upon him so solemnly so slowly and so certainly he being in full Health and well able to reflect on the Consequences of it is not like to be wrought on by a longer continuance of Life or by the Methods of a Natural Death It is not possible to fix Rules to which Capital Punishments ought to be proportioned It is certain that in a full Equality Life only can be set against Life But there may be many other Crimes that must end in the Ruin of Society and in the Dissolution of all Order and all the Commerce that ought to be among men if they go unpunished In this all Princes and States must judge according to the real Exigencies and Necessities that appear to them Nor can any general Rules be made save only this That since Man was made after the Image of God and that the Life of Man is precious and when once extinguished it ceases for evermore therefore all due Care and Tenderness ought to be had in preserving it and since the End of Government is the Preservation of Mankind therefore the Lives of Men ought not to be too lightly taken except as it appears to be necessary for the Preservation and Safety of the Society Under the Gospel as well as under the Law the Magistrate is the Minister of God and has the Sword put in his hand which he beareth not in vain Rom. 13.4 for he is appointed to be a revenger to execute wrath on him that doth evil The natural signification of his carrying the Sword is That he has an Authority for punishing Capitally since it is upon those occasions only that he can be said to use the Sword as a Revenger Nor can Christian Charity oblige a man whom the Law has made to be the Avenger of Blood or of other Crimes to refuse to comply with that obligation which is laid upon him by the Constitution under which he is born He can only forgive that of which he is the Master but the other is a Debt which he owes the Society and his private forgiving of the wrong done himself does not reach to that other obligation which is not in his own power to give away The last Paragraph in this Article is concerning the Lawfulness of Wars Some have thought all Wars to be contrary to Christian Charity to be inhuman and barbarous and that therefore men ought according to the Rule set us by our Saviour Not to resist evil But when one Injury is done not only to bear it Matth. 5.39 but to shew a readiness rather to receive new ones turning the other cheek to him that smites us on the one going two miles with him that shall compel us to go one with him And giving our Cloak to him that shall take away our Coat 40. It seems just that by a parity of reason Societies should be under the same Obligations to bear from other Societies that single Persons are under to other single Persons This must be acknowledged to be a very great difficulty for as on the one hand the words of our Saviour seem to be very express and full so on the other hand if they are to be understood literally they must cast the World loose and expose it to the Injustice justice and Insolence of wicked persons who would not fail to take advantages from such a compliance and submission Therefore these words must be considered first as addressed to private persons then as relating to smaller Injuries which can more easily be born and finally as Phrases and Forms of Speech that are not to be carried to the utmost extent but to be construed with that softning that is to be allowed to the use of a Phrase So that the meaning of that Section of our Saviours Sermon is to be taken thus That private Persons ought to be so far from pursuing Injuries to the equal Retaliation of an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth that they ought in many cases to bear Injuries without either resisting them or making returns of evil for evil shewing a Patience to bear even repeated Injuries when the matter is small and the wrong tolerable Under all this secret conditions are to be understood such as when by such our Patience we may hope to overcome evil with good or at least to shew to the World the Power that Religion has over us to check and subdue our Resentments In this case certainly we ought to sacrifice our just Rights either of defence or of seeking reparation to the Honour of Religion and to the gaining of men by such an Heroical Instance of Virtue But it cannot be supposed that our Saviour meant that good men should deliver themselves up to be a Prey to be devoured by bad men or to oblige his Followers to renounce their Claims to the Protection and Reparations of Law and Justice In this St. Paul gives us a clear Commentary on our Saviour's words He reproves the Corinthians for going to Law with one another and that before unbelievers 1 Cor. 6.6 7. when it was so great a Scandal to the Christian Religion in its first Infancy He says Why do not ye take wrong why do not ye suffer your selves to be defrauded Yet he does not deny but that they might claim their Rights and seek for redress therefore he proposes their doing it by Arbitration among themselves and only urges the Scandal of suing before Heathen Magistrates so that his Reproof did not fall on their suing one another but on the scandalous manner of doing it Therefore men are not bound up by the Gospel from seeking Relief before a Christian Judge and by consequence those words of our Saviour's are not to be urged in the utmost extent of which they are capable If private persons may seek Reparation of one another they may also seek Reparations of the Wrongs that are done by those who are under another Obedience and every Prince owes a Protection to his People in such cases for he beareth not the Sword in vain He is their Avenger He may demand Reparation by
the Philistines put the People under a Curse if they should eat any Food till Night and this was thought to be so obligatory that the Violation of it was Capital and Ionathan was put in hazard of his Life upon it Thus the High-Priest put our Saviour under the Oath of Cursing Matth. 26.63 64. when he required him to tell Whether he was the Messias or not Upon which our Saviour was according to that Law upon his Oath and though he had continued silent till then as long as it was free to him to speak or not at his pleasure yet then he was bound to speak and so he did speak and owned himself to be what he truly was This was the Form of that Constitution but if by practice it were found that mens pronouncing the words of the Oath themselves when required by a Person in Authority to do it and that such Actions as their lifting up their Hand to Heaven or their laying it on a Bible as importing their Sense of the Terrors contained in that Book were like to make a deeper Impression on them than barely the Judges charging them with the Oath or Curse it seems to be within the compass of Human Authority to change the Rites and Manner of this Oath and to put it in such a Method as might probably work most on the minds of those who were to take it The Institution in general is plain and the making of such Alterations seems to be clearly in the Power of any State or Society of men In the New Testament we find St. Paul prosecuting a Discourse concerning the Oath which God sware to Abraham Heb. 6.13 14 15. who not having a greater to swear by swore by himself and to enforce the Importance of that it is added An oath for confirmation that is Ver. 16. for the affirming or assuring of any thing is the end of all controversy Which plainly shews us what Notion the Author of that Epistle had of an Oath He did not consider it as an Impiety or Prophanation of the Name of God Rev. 10.6 In St. Iohn's Visions an Angel is represented as lifting up his hand and swearing by him that liveth for ever and ever And the Apostles even in their Epistles Rom. 1.9 Gal. 1.20 that are acknowledged to be writ by Divine Inspiration do frequently appeal to God in these words God is witness which contain the whole Essence of an Oath Once St. Paul carries the Expression to a Form of Imprecation 2 Cor. 1.23 when he calls God to a record upon or against his soul. These seem to be Authorities beyond exception justifying the use of an Oath upon a great occasion or before a competent Authority according to that Prophecy quoted in the Article which is thought to relate to the Times of the Messias And thou shalt swear The Lord liveth in truth in judgment and in righteousness and the nations shall bless themselves in him Jer. 4.2 and in him shall they glory These last words seem evidently to relate to the days of the Messiah So here an Oath religiously taken is represented as a part of that Worship which all Nations shall offer up to God under the New Dispensation Against all this the great Objection is That when Christ is correcting the Glosses that the Pharisees put upon the Law whereas they only taught that men should not forswear themselves but perform their oaths unto the Lord our Saviour says Swear not at all neither by the Heaven nor the earth Matth. 5.34 35 36 37. James 5.12 nor by Ierusalem nor by the head but let your communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil And St. Iames speaking of the enduring Afflictions and of the Patience of Iob adds But above all things my brethren swear not neither by the heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation It must be confessed that these words seem to be so express and positive that great regard is to be had to a Scruple that is founded on an Authority that seems to be so full But according to what was formerly observed of the manner of the Judiciary Oaths among the Iews these words cannot belong to them Those Oaths were bound upon the Party by the Authority of the Judg in which he was passive and so could not help his being put under an Oath Whereas our Saviour's words relate only to those Oaths which a man took voluntarily on himself but not to those under which he was bound according to the Law of God If our Saviour had intended to have forbidden all Judiciary Oaths he must have annulled that part of the Authority of Magistrates and Parents and have forbid them to put others under Oaths The word Communication that comes afterwards seems to be a Key to our Saviour's words to shew that they ought only to be applied to their Communication or Commerce to those Discourses that pass among men in which it is but too customary to give Oaths a very large share Or since the words that went before concerning the performing of Vows seem to limit the Discourse to them the meaning of Swear not at all may be this Be not ready as the Iews were to make Vows on all occasions to devote themselves or others Instead of those he requires them to use a greater Simplicity in their Communication And St. Iames's words may be also very fitly applied to this since men in their Afflictions are apt to make very indiscreet Vows without considering whether they either can or probably will pay them as if they would pretend by such profuse Vows to overcome or corrupt God This Sense will well agree both to our Saviour's words and to St. Iames's and it seems most reasonable to believe that this is their true Sense for it agrees with every thing else whereas if we understand theâ— in that strict Sense of condemning all Oaths we cannot tell what to make of those Oaths which occur in several Passages of St. Paul's Epistles and least of all what to say to our Saviour's own answering upon Oath when adjured Therefore all rash and vain swearing all swearing in the Communication or Intercourse of Mankind is certainly condemned as well as all Imprecatory Vows But since we have so great Authorities from the Scriptures in both Testaments for other Oaths and since that agrees so evidently with the Principles of Natural Religion we may conclude with the Article That a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth it It is added in a Cause of Faith and Charity for certainly in trifling matters such Reverence is due to the Holy Name of God that swearing ought to be avoided But when it is necessary it ought to be set about with those regards that are due to the Great God who is appealed to A Gravity of Deportment and an Exactness of weighing the truth of what we say are highly necessary here Certainly our Words ought to be few and our Hearts full of the Apprehensions of the Majesty of that God with whom we have to do before whom we stand and to whom we appeal who knows all things and will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil FINIS
many were made sinners As these words are positive and of great importance in themselves so all this is much the stronger by the opposition in which every one of them is put to the Effects and Benefits of Christ's Death particularly to our Justification through him in which there is an Imputation of the Merits and Effects of his Death that are thereby transferred to us so that that the whole Effect of this Discourse is taken away if the Imputation of Adam's Sin is denied And this Explication does certainly quadrate more entirely to the words of the Article as it is known that this was the Tenet of those who prepared the Articles it having been the generally-received Opinion from S. Austin's days downward But to many other Divines this seems a harsh and unconceivable Opinion it seems repugnant to the Justice and Goodness of God to reckon Men guily of a Sin which they never committed and to punish them in their Souls Eternally for that which was no Act of theirs And though we easily enough conceive how God in the Riches of his Grace may transfer Merit and Blessings from one Person to many this being only an Oeconomy of Mercy where all is free and such a method is taken as may best declare the Goodness of God But in the Imputation of Sin and Guilt which are Matters of strict Justice it is quite otherwise Upon that Head God is pleased often to Appeal to Men of the Justice of all his ways And therefore no such Doctrine ought to be admitted that carries in it an Idea of Cruelty Jer. 31.29 Ezek. 18.20 beyond what the blackest Tyrants have ever invented Besides that in the Scripture such a method as the punishing Children for their Fathers Sins is often disclaimed and it is positively affirmed that every man that sins is punished Now though in Articles relating to the Nature of God they acknowledge it is highly reasonable to believe That there may be Mysteries which exceed our Capacity yet in Moral Matters in God's foederal dealings with us it seems unreasonable and contrary to the Nature of God to believe that there may be a Mystery contrary to the clearest Notions of Justice and Goodness such as the condemning Mankind for the Sin of one Man in which the rest had no share and as contrary to our Ideas of God and upon that to set up another Mystery that shall take away the Truth and Fidelity of the promises of God Justice and Goodness being as inseparable from his Nature as Truth and Fidelity can be supposed to be This seems to expose the Christian Religion to the Scoffs of its Enemies and to Objections that are much sooner made than answered And since the foundation of this is a supposed Covenant with Adam as the Representative Head of Mankind it is strange that a thing of that great consequence should not have been more plainly Reported in the History of the Creation But that men should be put to fetch out the knowledge of so great and so extraordinary a thing only by some remote Consequences It is no small prejudice against this Opinion That it was so long before it first appeared in the Latin Church that it was never received in the Greek and that even the Western Church though perhaps for some Ignorant Ages it received it as it did every thing else very implicity yet has been very much divided both about this and many other Opinions related to it or a rising out of it As for those words of St. Paul's that are its chief if not its only Foundation they say many things upon them First it is a single Proof Now when we have not a variety of places proving any point in which one gives Light and leads us to a sure Exposition of another we cannot be so sure of the meaning of any one place as to raise a Theory or found a Doctrine upon it They say further That S. Paul seems to argue from that Opinion of our having sinned in Adam to prove that we are justified by Christ. Now it is a piece of Natural Logick not to prove a thing by another unless that other is more clear of it self or at least more clear by its being already received and believed This cannot be said to be more clear of it self for it is certainly less credible or conceivable than the Reconciliation by Christ. Nor was this clear from any special Revelation made of it in the Old Testament Therefore there is good reason to believe that it was then a Doctrine received among the Iews as there are odd things of this kind to be found among the Cabbalists as if all the Souls of all Mankind had been in Adam's Body Now when an Argument is brought in Scripture to prove another thing by though we are bound to acknowledge the Conclusion yet we are not always sure of the Premises for they are often founded upon received Opinions So that it is not certain that S. Paul meant to offer this Doctrine to our belief as true but only that he intended by it to prove our being reconciled to God through the Death of Christ and the Medium by which he proved it might be for ought that appears from the words themselves only an Opinion held true among those to whom he writes For he only supposes it but says nothing to prove it Which it might be expected he would have done if the Iews had made any doubt of it But further they say that when Comparisons or Oppositions such as this are made in Scripture we are not always to carry them on to an exact Equality We are required not only to be holy as God is holy but to be perfect as he is perfect 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Mat. 5.48 Where by the as is not to be meant a true Equality but some sort Resemblance and Conformity Therefore those who believe that there is nothing imputed to Adam's Posterity on the account of his Sin but this Temporary punishment of their being made liable to Death and to all those Miseries that the fear of it with our other concerns about it bring us under say that this is enough to justify the comparison that is there stated And that those who will carry it on to be an exact parallel make a stretch beyond the Phraseology of the Scripture and the use of Parables and of the many comparisons that go only to one or more points but ought not to be stretched to every thing These are the things that other great Divines among us have opposed to this Opinion As to its Consonancy to the Article those who oppose it do not deny but that it comes up fully to the highest sense that the words of the Article can Import Nor do they doubt but that those who prepared the Articles being of that Opinion themselves might perhaps have had that sense of the words in their Thoughts But they add That we are only bound to sign the Articles in a
Literal and Grammatical Sense Since therefore the words God's wrath and damnation which are the highest in the Article are capable of a lower sense Temporary Judgments being often so expressed in the Scriptures Ex. 32.10 and 〈◊〉 the whole Old Testâ—ment Mat. 3.7 1 Thess. 2.16 Luk. 23.40 1 Cor. 11.29 1 Pet. 4.17 Rom. 13.2 2 Câ—r 7.5 John 8.10 11. Rom. 14.13 therefore they believe the loss of the Favour of God the Sentence of Death the Troubles of Life and the Corruption of our Faculties may be well called God's wrath and damnation Besides they observe That the main point of the Imputation of Adam's Sin to his Posterity and its being considered by God as their own Act not being expresly taught in the Article here was that moderation observed which the Compilers of the Articles have shewed on many other occasions It is plain from hence that they did not intend to lay a Burthen one Mens Consciences or oblige them to profess a Doctrine that seems to be of hard digestion to a great many The last prejudice that they offer against that Opinion is That the softening the terms of God's wrath and damnation that was brought in by the followers of St. Austin's Doctrine to sâ—ch a moderate and harmless Notiâ—n as to be only a loss of Heaven with a sort of unactive Sâ—â—ep was â—n effect of their apprehending that the World could very ill bear an Opinion of so strange a sound as that all Mankind were to be Damned for the Sin of one Man And that therefore to make this pass the beâ—ter they mitigated Damnation far below the Representation that the Scriptures generally give of it which propose it as the being adjudged to a place of Torment and a state of Horror and Misery Thus I have set down the different Opinions in this point with that true Indifference that I intend to observe on such other occasions and which becomes one who undertakes to explain the Doctrines of the Church and not his own And who is obliged to purpose other Mens Opinions with all Sincerity and to shew what are the Senses that the Learned Men of different persuasions in these matters have put on the words of the Article In which one great and constant Rule to be observed is To represent mens Opinions candidly and to judge as favourably both of them and their Opinions as may be To bear with one another and not to disturb the Peace and Union of the Church by insisting too much and too peremptorily upon matters of such doubtful Disputaion but willingly to leave them to all that liberty to which the Church has left them and which she still allows them ARTICLE X. Of Free-Will The Condition of Man after the Fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to Faith and calling upon God Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the Grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will WE shall find the same Moderation observed in this Article that was taken notice of in the former where all disputes concerning the degrees of that feebleness and corruption under which we are fallen by the Sin of Adam are avoided and only the necessity of a preventing and a cooperating Grace is asserted against the Semipelagians and the Pelagians But before we enter upon that it is fitting first to state the true Notion of Free-Will in so far as it is necessary to all rational Agents to make their Actions morally good or bad since it is a Principle that seems to rise out of the Light of Nature That no man is accountable rewardable or punishable but for that in which he acts freely without force or compulsion and so far all are agreed Some imagine That Liberty must suppose a freedom to do or not to do and to act contrariwise at pleasure To others it seems not necessary that such a liberty should be carried to denominate Actions morally good or bad God certainly acts in the perfectest liberty yet he cannot sin Christ had the most exalted liberty in his Human Nature of which a Creature was capable and his Merit was the highest yet he could not sin Angels and glorified Saints though no more capable of Rewards are perfect Moral Agents and yet they cannot sin And the Devils with the damned though not capable of further Punishment yet are still Moral Agents and cannot but sin So this Indifferency to do or not to do cannot be the true Notion of Liberty A truer one seems to them to be this That a Rational Nature is not determined as mere Matter by the Impulse and Motion of other Bodies upon it but is capable of Thought and upon considering the Objects set before it makes Reflection and so chuses Liberty therefore seems to consist in this inward capacity of thinking and of acting and chusing upon Thought The clearer the Thought is and the more constantly that our choice is determined by it the more does a Man rise up to the highest Acts and sublimest Exercises of Liberty A question arises out of this Whether the Will is not always determined by the Understanding so that a Man does always chuse and determine himself upon the account of some Idea or other If this is granted then no liberty will be left to our Faculties We must apprehend things as they are proposed to our Understanding for if a thing appears true to us we must assent to it and if the Will is as blind to the Understanding as the Understanding is determined by the Light in which the Object appears to it then we seem to be concluded under a Fate or Necessity It is after all a vain attempt to argue against every man's experience We perceive in our selves a liberty of turning our Minds to some Ideas or from others we can think longer or shorter of these more exactly and steadily or more slightly and superficially as we please and in this radical freedom of directing or diverting our Thoughts a main part of our Freedom does consist Often Objects as they appear to our Thoughts do so affect or heat them that they do seem to conquer us and carry us after them some Thoughts seeming as it were to intoxicate and charm us Appetites and Passions when much fired by Objects apt to work upon them do agitate us strongly and on the other hand the Impressions of Religion come often in our Minds with such a secret force so much of Terror and such secret Joy mixing with them that they seem to master us yet in all this a Man Acts freely because he thinks and chuses for himself And though perhaps he does not feel himself so entirely balanced that he is indifferent to both sides yet he has still such a remote liberty that he can turn himself to other Objects and Thoughts so