Word of God The Presbyterians By the Decree of God for the manifestation of his own Glory some Men and Angels were predestinated unto everlasting Life and others fore-ordained to everlasting Death These Angels and Men predestinated and fore-ordain'd are particularly and unchangeably designed and their number so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished Those of Mankind that are predestinated unto Life God before the Foundation of the World was laid according to his Eternal and Immutable purpose and the secret Counsel and good pleasure of his Will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting Glory out of his meer free Grace and Love without any foresight of Faith or Good Works or perseverance in either of them or any other thing in the Creature as Conditions and Causes moving him thereunto and all to the praise of his Glorious Grace As God hath appointed the Elect unto Glory so hath he by the Eternal and most free purpose of his Will fore-ordain'd all the means thereunto Wherefore they who are Elected being fallen in Adam are redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto Faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season are Justified Adopted Sanctified and kept by his Power through Faith unto Salvation Neither are any other Redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only The Doctrine of this high Mystery of Predestination is to be handled with special Prudence and Care that Men attending the Will of God revealed in his Word and yielding Obedience thereunto may from the certainty of their effectual Vocation be assured of their Eternal Election so shall this Doctrine afford matter of Praise Reverence and Admiration of God and of Humility Diligence and abundant Consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel The Papists Though they own the Word Predestination sometimes yet they teach That the Cause thereof is not the meer good pleasure of God but that a Man doth make himself Eligible by his own good Works and Merits Thus they say The Kingdom of Heaven is prepared for them that are worthy of it and deserve it by their well doing Although from Gods Eternal Predestination Glory floweth to the Elect yet for all that it springeth not but from their own good Works Stella on Luke cap. 10. fol. 35. True Faith and Righteousness may be lost and the Faithful utterly fall from the Faith Bellarm. de Just l. 3. cap. 4. which is the same thing as if we should say That the Elect may become Reprobates and Election not to be immutable If any shall say That the Grace of Justification happens not to any but such as are Predestinate but that all the rest who are call'd are indeed call'd but receive not Grace as being by Divine Power Predestinated to Evil Let him be Accursed If any one shall say a Man Regenerated and Justified is bound to believe that he is certainly of the number of the Elect Let him be Anathema The eighteenth Article of the Church of England Of obtaining Eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ THEY also are to be had Accursed that presume to say That every Man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ whereby Men must be saved The Presbyterians Persons not Elected although they may be call'd by the Ministry of the Word and may have some common Operations of the Spirit yet they never truly come unto Christ and therefore cannot be saved Much less can men not professing the Christian Religion be saved in any other way whatsoever be they never so diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light of Nature and the Law of that Religion they profess And to assert that they may is very pernicious and detestable The Papists Own the Words of this Article but in effect deny the latter part thereof by trusting in the Mediation and Intercession of the Virgin Mary and other Saints and Angels and praying unto and worshipping them c. The nineteenth Article of the Church of England Of the Church THE Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithful Men in the which the pure Word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly ministred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same As the Church of Hierusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred not only in their Living and manner of Ceremonies but also in matters of Faith The Presbyterians Wherever we see the Word of God sincerely Preach'd and Heard and the Sacraments administred according to Christs Institution there is a Church of God For these two we assign as Marks whereby the Church may be known The Visible Church which is also Catholick or Vniversal under the Gospel not confin'd to one Nation as before under the Law consists of all those throughout the World that profess the true Religion and particular Churches which are Members thereof are more or less pure according as the Doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embrac'd Ordinances administred and publick Worship perform'd more or less pure in them The purest Churches under Heaven are subject both to mixture and error and some have so degenerated as to become no Churches of Christ but Synagogues of Satan Nevertheless there shall always be a Church on Earth to worship God according to his Will The Pope of Rome cannot in any sense be Head of the Church but is that Antichrist that Man of Sin and Son of Perdition that exalts himself in the Church against Christ and all that is called God The Papists As to the first part of the Article they deny the Preaching the Word and due Administration of the Sacraments to be the marks of Christs Visible Church See Bellarm. de notis Ecclesiae cap. 1. And instead thereof assign others which by the same Cardinal are there reckoned to be the fifteen following 1. The Name of the Catholick Church and Christians 2. Antiquity 3. Duration 4. Multitude 5. Succession of Bishops and Ordination 6. Agreement with the ancient Church 7. Vnion of the Members together amongst themselves and with their Head 8. Holiness of Doctrine 9. Efficacy of Doctrine 10. Holiness of Life 11. Miracles 12. Prophesies 13. Confession of Adversaries 14. The unhappy ends of those that have oppos'd it 15. The Temporal felicity of those that have desended it And as to the latter part of the Artiticle they with all Confidence assert the clean contrary other Churches have erred but the Church of Rome cannot Id Constanter Negamus we constantly deny saith Costerus the Jesuit that Christs Vicar Peters Successors the Bishops of Rome have either taught Heresies or propounded Errors God preserveth the Truth of Christian Religion in the Apostolick See of Rome
Councils be retained in the Church and accurseth those who either avouch them to be unprofitable or deny that there is any power in the Church to grant them Let them teach that the Images of Christ the Virgin-Mother of God and other Saints are chiefly in Churches to be had and retained and that due Honour and Worship is to be given to them They who deny That the Saints enjoying Eternal happiness in Heaven are to be called upon or who affirm either that they pray not for us Men or that Invocation of them to pray for us is Idolatry or contrary to the Word of God and repugnant to the Honour of the only Mediatour between God and Men Jesus Christ or that it is folly either by Word and Thought to make supplications to them that reign in Heaven are of an impious Opinion The three and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of Ministring in the Congregation IT is not lawful for any Man to take upon him the Offfce of publick Preaching or Ministring the Sacraments in the Congregation before he be lawfully called and sent to execute the same And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent which be chosen and called to this work by Men who have publick Authority given unto them in the Congregation to call and send Ministers into the Lords Vineyard The Presbyterians No Man ought to thrust himself to teach or govern in the Church unless he be carefully called thereunto The Papists Whoever shall say That those which are not rightly Ordain'd by Ecclesiastical and Canonical Power but come from elsewhere are lawful Ministers of the Word and Sacraments Let him be Accursed The four and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of speaking in the Congregation in such a Tongue as the People understandeth IT is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God and the Custom of the Primitive Church to have publick Prayers in the Church or to Minister the Sacraments in a Tongue not understood of the People The Presbyterians Publick Prayers are to be made in the Vulgar Tongue not in Latin amongst the French and English but so as they may be understood by the whole Assembly forasmuch as it ought to be done to the Edification of the whole Church unto whom by a sound not understood no profit can in any fort Redound Prayer with Thansgiving being one special part of Religious Worship is by God required of all Men and that it may be accepted it is to be made in the name of the Son by the help of his Spirit according to his Will with Understanding Reverence Humility Fervency Faith Love and Perseverance and if Vocal in a known Tongue The Papists Although the Mass contain great Instruction of Faithful People yet it seem'd not expedient to the Fathers that it should every where be said in the Vulgar Tongue If any one shall say That the Rite of the Church of Rome by which part of the Canon and words of Consecration are pronounced with a lower voice is to be Condemned or that the Mass ought to be Celebrated only in the Vulgar Tongue Let him be Accursed It is not necessary that we understand our Prayers Prayers not understood of the People are acceptable to God The Five and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Sacraments SAcraments Ordained of Christ be not only Badges or Tokens of Christian-mens profession but rather they be certain Witnesses and effectual Signs of Grace and Gods good Will towards us By the which he works invisibly in us and doth not only quicken but strengthen and confirm our Faith in him There are two Sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel that is to say Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Those five commonly called Sacraments that is to say Confirmation Pennance Orders Matrimony extream Unction are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel being such as have grown partly of the Corrupt following of the Apostles partly as states of Life allowed in the Scripture but yet have not like Nature of Sacraments with Baptism and the Lords Supper for that they have not any visible Sign or Ceremony ordained of God The Sacraments were not ordained of God to be gazed upon or to be carried about but that we should duly use them And in such only as worthily receive the same they have a wholesom Effect or Operation but they that receive them unworthility purchase unto themselves Damnation as St. Paul saith The Presbyterians There be only two Sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord Baptism and the Lords Supper neither of which can be dispensed by any but by a Minister of the Word lawfully Ordained Private Masses or receiving the Sacrament by a Priest or any other alone as likewise the denial of the Cup to the People worshipping the Elements the lifting them up or carrying them about for Adoration and the reserving them for any pretended Religious use are all contrary to the Nature of this Sacrament and to the Institution of Christ The Papists If any one shall say That the Sacraments of the new Law were not all substituted by Christ or that they are more or fewer than seven viz. Baptism Confirmation Eucharist Pennance Extream Unction Holy Orders and Matrimony or that any of these is not truly and properly a Sacrament Let him be Accursed If any one shall say That'tis not lawful to reserve the Holy Eucharist but that the same is presently to be distributed or that it is not to be Ador'd even with the outward Worship or that it ought not solemnly to be carried about in Processions or shewn publickly to be adored to the People or that it is not lawful to hear it Honourably to the Sick Let him be Accursed If any one shall say That by the Sacraments themselves of the New Testament ex opere operato meerly by the thing done Grace is not conferred but that the Faith of the Divine Promise suffices to obtain Grace Let him be Accursed If any one shall say That in Ministers whilst they make and confer the Sacraments there is not required an Intention at least of doing that which the Church does Let him be Accursed The six and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the unworthiness of the Ministers which hinder not the Effect of the Sacraments ALthough in the visible Church the Evil be ever mingled with the Good and sometime the Evil have chief Authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own Name but Christs and do Minister by his Commission and Authority we may use their Ministry both in hearing of the Word of God and in the receiving the of Sacraments neither is the effect of Christs Ordinance taken away by their Wickedness nor the Grace of Gods Gifts diminished from such as by Faith and rightly do receive the Sacraments Ministred unto them
Utrum Horum OR THE Nine and Thirty Articles OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND At large recited And compared with the DOCTRINES of those commonly called PRESBYTERIANS On the one side And the Tenets of the Church of Rome On the other Both faithfully quoted from their own most approved Authors By Hen. Care Rituum varietas Ecclesâ—e unitatem non tollit Modò Fideles secundum candem Doctrinae Regulam ambulent D. Elis. in Libro cui Titulus Defensio Fidei p. 130. LONDON Printed for R. Janeway in Queens-Head-Alley in Paternoster-Row 1682. TO THE READER 'T IS obvious That the Popish Interest hath of late years regain'd much Ground and is not a little enlarg'd and strengthen'd in the World as well by the Indefatigable Industry of their Priests and Jesuits the unnecessary feuds amongst the Reform'd and the unhappy Wars between Protestant Princes and States as more especially by the growing greatness of the French Monarch who now at last would colour his Insatiate aims at Glory and Empire by pretentions of propagating the Roman Religion and hopes thereby not only to engage all the Pontificial Clergy in favour of his Designs but also to Atone for all the Blood and Desolation wherin he hath involv'd Christendom If the extirpation of what they call HERESIE may but be one of the Consequents attending the Success of his Arms In particular 't is no less notorious That these Kingdoms of Great Brittain and Ireland labour at present under a Popish Conspiracy which by Supreme Authority has more than once and sure not inconsiderately or in Jest been declar'd HORRID and DAMNABLE a main Branch and Master-wheel of which has been sufficiently prov'd to be a Design of dividing and embroiling us amongst our selves To effect which observing that the Body of the people of England though generally agreeing in all necessary points of Christian Doctrine do yet consist in another respect of two Sorts 1. Those that have a Veneration for the Ecclesiastical Rites and Ceremonies retain'd by our first Reformers rather perhaps for prudential Reasons suitable to that Juncture than for any Apprehensions they had that the same were always obliging as the Apostles in the first and possibly only unerring Council that ever was held thought fit to caution their new Converts for avoiding of scandal to the Jews and hindrance of propagating the Gospel to abstain from Blood and things strangled which yet few Christians at this day or for many hundred years past have thought necessary to observe 2. Those that commending and blessing God for the happy Labours of those our pious Ancestours who in their day went so far do yet in this Age of Light and when Compliances with Ceremonies that may but seem suspicious or unwarrantable are neither advantageous nor Convenient for advancing the great Ends of Christianity but rather the contrary decline to join therein and cannot as they alledge with a safe Conscience embrace them especially when imposed as Necessaries to Church Communion The crafty Romish Incendiaries hence take an opportunity to heat the one of these against the other that with greater ease they may destroy them both And so far prevail That some Church-Men instead of abating any thing do rather seek to screw up their Ceremonies higher and appropriating to themselves the Title of The Church of England do not only exclude all others that cannot keep pace with them though otherwise Orthodox in Faith pious towards God Loyal to the King and peaceable with their Neighbours but likewise Brand them with the odious Titles of Whigs Fanaticks Enemies to the Church Disloyal to His Majesty Disturbers of the Government Factious and in a word represent them in such hideous Characters as if they were altogether insufferable a People that ought to be utterly extirpated as being no less Opposite to our Religion and as dangerous as Papists even the worst of them the Jusuites themselves and therefore do both seek to turn the edge of those Penal Laws originally intended against Popish Recusants on these Non-Ceremony-Conforming Protestants but also are not ashamed to own they have more kindness for the former than the latter and a greater aversion to Presbyterians than to Papists or if they do not say so in Words yet the same is too apparent from their deportment For how many are there who call themselves of the Church of England That upon the Discovery of the Popish Plot though the KING and several Parliaments had declared it were yet mighty unwilling to believe it and ready to disesteem the Evidence and excuse the Persons accused or at least to lay it only on the Jesuites and shift off the Odium from the rest of the Papists c. Whereas on the contrary the very same Men on the first Buz of a Presbyterian Plot though no such thing has to this minute been prov'd but on the contrary several wicked Forgeries and Shammings of pretended Plots upon them wonderfully detected shew themselves not only most ready and willing to credit it and busie to spread the Rumour but triumph and are tickled with any Story though never so false and foolish that looks that way and in their drunken Confusions and horrid Curses load all Dissenters in general with the Guilt of this imaginary Conspiracy Now is it not plain to every Considerate man That all this tends to nothing more than to embroil us in uncharitable implacable and endless Animosities at Home and dis joint us from all affectionate Alliances with and assistance towards the Reformed Churches abroad They being generally of the same Stamp as to Discipline the great matter in Controversie with our Dissenters What remains then in such a Juncture but that we should truly inform our selves of the real differences between the Establish'd Doctrines of the Church of England and the Opinions of these Protestant-Dissenters so much clamoured against on the one side and the Tenets of the Church of Rome on the other That so we may upon an Impartial Survey judge which is most opposite and at greatest distance and accordingly Treat them with more or less Condescention and Affection And if upon a just scrutiny we shall find that there is none or very little Essential difference between our Church and those called Presbyterians or Calvinists either at home or abroad That then we may lay by our Fury and Rancour and embrace one another as Brethren and cordially Join against the common Enemy To facilitate this happy and desired Union if this small Work may be of any use I shall think my pains in collecting it abundantly rewarded However there were several Reasons which to me seem'd important that swayed me thereunto As 1. I had observ'd That abundance of People who account themselves of and talk loudest about the Church of England never seriously perused nay have not so much as read or seen her Articles of Faith publisht by Authority Now I conceive it may be no unuseful Service to such Persons to recommend to them those Articles That
no longer they may remain in an Implicite Faith but read Consider and with understanding embrace what they before out of Compliance or Custom rather than Judgment seem'd to own and adhere to 2. There are many too That in words detest Popery yet not being throughly grounded in the Doctrines of the Church of England nor acquainted with those of the Church of Rome may be in danger of mistaking the one for the other and by Jacob's voice be deluded into Esau's hands and imbibe Poison unawares unless fortified against it by some such discriminating Antithesis 3. Hereby will appear the malice and falshood of these suggestions That the Dissenters stand at as great a distance from and are as much opposite to the legally Established Church of England as the Papists a mischievous conceit promoted by the Jesuites and other Factors for the See of Rome on purpose to divide and weaken us and consequently thereby to accomplish at last their own ends which are utterly to subvert and destroy all the Professors of the Reformed Religion whether Episcopal Presbyterial or under what ever other Denomination 4. I know not what could better tend to uniting us at least in affection amongst our selves than this demonstration That in the main and all essential Doctrinal points we are already agreed and since the other matters in Controversie are acknowledged to be indifferent what occasion is there for all this heat and violence unless the lesser our differences are the greater still must be our Animosities and Contentions about them 5. I do not despair but this small Treatise may be profitable to weak Capacities for instructing them in Fundamentals of Christian Religion since it contains a general Systeme of Faith rendered the more intelligible by the variety of Expressions though concurrent Sense of the Church-men and Protestant-Dissenters on the one side and the apparent Contradictions of the Papists on the other For Contraria juxta se posita magis Elucescunt contraries aptly compared illustrate each other Thus much for the End and general Intention of this Work As to the manner how it is perform'd I could indeed have wisht it might have come from some abler Hand whose Skill might have rendered it more useful and his Name more acceptable to the publick But rather a Mite than no Offering at all for the Churches Peace I have done what my small Reading and interrupted Leisure would permit and need only Advertise the Reader that here he shall find 1. The Nine and Thirty Articles of the Church of England agreed upon and Establisht Anno 1562. and never since altered but required by Law to be subscribed unto by all Ministers of our Church faithfully recited Verbatim and Printed in a different Letter 2. The Doctrines of those commonly called Presbyterians comprehending the Body of our Dissenters produc'd from the Confession of Faith agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines in the late Times and their Catechism and the Institutions of Mr. John Calvin 3. The Tenets of the Church of Rome delivered either in the Words of the Council of Trent or those of their great Champion Cardinal Bellarmine and the Annotations of their Colledge of Rhemes on the New Testament Other of their Authors sometimes but sparingly are Cited and never any but what are allowed by them and known to speak according to the common Dictates of that Church I knew not where to seek more Authentick Testimonies of each Parties Sentiments and can without Injury to Truth aver That I have not wilfully baulk'd added to detracted from or in any kind perverted the Sense of either side but fairly stated their Doctrines in their own words And generally without Reflections or Animadversions unless only where the matter is such that it could not justly be omitted Some may expect to have had added in a Fourth Comparison certain Notions advanc'd of late years by some Divines amongst us that seem to thwart these Articles of their Mother-Church which at their Ordination they solemnly subscribed But as the same have in part been already noted by others so my desire is rather to bring Balm than Vinegar to the too gaping wounds of the Church and without giving any such Exasperation shall hope That those Gentlemen will see and repent of such their Mistakes At least since Rectum est Index sui Obliqui A streight Line is the measure both of it self and of that too which is crooked I cannot despair but when once People are brought throughly to understand the Doctrines of the Church of England grounded on the Holy Scriptures without or contrary to which no Church in the World has any power to impose any Articles of Faith They will easily be able to discover such Aberrations and refuse them with a just Abhorrence though never so speciously obtruded But because there is such a noise raised and such heaps of Durt continually thrown on the memory of poor Mr. Calvin and those called Presbyterians whereby they would inflame us both to hardships towards dissenting Protestants at home and set us at odds with most of the Reformed Churches abroad I shall for the Information of the Vulgar Reader give a brief account here what esteem our Ancestors of the Church of England heretofore had both of John Calvin and those Neighbouring Churches and the Testimonies I shall avouch shall be of undoubted Authority both for Dignity and Learning The Reverend and Pious Dr. George Carleton Bishop of Chichester in a Book Intituled An Examination of those things wherein the Author of the late APPEAL holdeth the Doctrines of the Pelagians and Arminians to be the Doctrines of the Church of England Printed anno 1626 and Dedicated to King Charles the First p. 217 hath these Words Though the Church of England be the best Reformed Church yet it is not the only Reformed Church and it might seem no good Providence in us to stand so by our selves as to reject and disdain the Consent of other Churches though they do not agree with us in Discipline It is observed by Eusebius That Polycrates and Irenaeus did both reprove Victor because for matters of Ceremonies he was too much offended with other Churches which otherwise agreed with him in Doctrine Irenaeus doth admonish him That the ancient Bishops of Rome before Victor did keep Unity and Consent with the Eastern Bishops though in Ceremonies there was difference between them Omnes isti cum in Observantia vararierent inter semetipsos nobiscum semper pacifici fuerant Euseb l. 5. cap. 24. All those that varied in Observances yet were always peaceable both amongst themselves and with us He saith there also That the Dissonance in Ceremonies need not break the Consonance in Faith with those Churches which do not agree with us in Ceremonies if we seek the peace of the Churches that profess the same Doctrine or strugling as more like one sleeping than dying leaving with that noble Roman Aemilius Poverty with Honour to his Friends his Library and
all his Goods rated at the highest not making three hundred Guilders as he was wont to say of himself if Men doubt of my Poverty my Death shall perswade them The twenty seventh of May at Even this Sun set upon our Horizon presently the Rumour filled the City with Lamentation in wanting the wisest Citizen the Church a most faithful Pastour the College a most Learned Doctor all under God a common Father and Comforter Much a do to keep People from him after his Death they could not be satisfied with the sight of him nor scarce pulled away Very Strangers that had come far and near to see and hear him were most importunate to have but a sight of him amongst the rest the English Ambassadour till at length to avoid Superstition and the Tongues of Papists it was denied so he was Buried without any great outward pomp for so was his Will as aforesaid but with the most Lamentation Tears and Affection accompanied with all the Professours Ministers Senatours and even the whole City Thus far Doctor Hoyl wherewith agreeth the before recited Doctor Hakewell in his Answer to Carier p. 164 who also Witnesses That his Works were so well esteemed That his Catechism being written by himself in Latin and French was afterwards at the request of Strangers Translated into High Dutch Low Dutch English Spanish and by Immanuel Tremelius into Hebrew and by Henry Stephnes into Greek and touching his Institutions that Dystick is well known Preter Apostolicas post Christi Tempora Chartas Huic peperere Libro saecula nulla parem Except th' Apostles Writings since Christs days No Age a Book of equal worth did raise To which I may add That Epitaph bestowed on him by the Learned and Ingenious Beza which he was as able as upon that sad Occasion unwilling to afford and the other out of his Deserts as worthy as out of his Modesty the Crown of all his other Vertues unwilling to receive Romae ruentis Terror ille Maximus Quem mortuum Lugent Boni Horrescunt Mali Ipsa a quo potuit virtutem discere virtus Cur adeo Exiguo Ignoâ—oque in Cespite Clausus Calvinus lateat Rogas Calvinum assidue Comitata Modestia vivum Hoc Tumulo manibus Condidit Ipsa suis O te Beatum Cespitem tanto Hospite Cui invidere cuncta possint Marmora Which I shall endeavour thus to spoil into English If any ask why Reverend Calvin whom We justly style the dread of falling Rome Whose Death each good man did with Tears bewail And who even dead makes envious Foes look pale In whose fair Life no blot you could discern But Vertue her self might thence more Vertue learn Lies Buried in so mean and poor a Grave Whilst wretched Sinners Glorious Tomb-stones have Know ye That Modesty which was Ally'd Always to Calvin living when he dy'd With her own Hands this Mansion did provide O happy Turf enrich'd with such a Guest As proudest Marbles envy not possess This dear Country-Men is that very Calvin and such esteem the Reverend Fathers of our Church of England as well as other Learned Protestants beyond the Seas had of him heretofore whom yet too many pert little raw Sermon-Readers now a-days can scarce mention without Contempt and stinking Flowers of railing Rhetorick endeavouring as far as the short Talent of their Pedantick wit can reach to expose him as if he had been one of the most errand Hereticks and vilest of Men. Whilst in the mean time The wily Jesuite laughs and Triumphs in our needless heats which himself first kindled and still foments claps in with the most thriving party and exasperates what he can and at the same Instant secretly insinuates a favourable Opinion of the Church of Rome as less dissonant from and dangerous to the Church of England and the Civil Government and as more at Unity c. To Obviate which Romish designs and Reconcile in Affection all True-hearted Protestants by shewing them both the near Allyance they are already at if they would but have the patience to see it amongst themselves and the extream and destructive Opposition of the Church of Rome to us all is the Design of this poor Treatise and shall ever be both the Endeavours and the Prayers of The unworthy Compiler Henry Care Old Bayly Febr. 6th 1681 2. The ARTICLES of the Church of England compared with the Doctrines of the Presbyterians and Papists c. The first Article of the Church of England Of Faith in the Holy Trinity THERE is but one Living and True God Everlasting without Body Parts or Passions of Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness the Maker and Preserver of all things both Visible and Invisible And in Vnity of this Godhead there be three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity the Father the Son and Holy Ghost Touching this Article there is no Dispute The Presbyterians Believe it And the Papists Profess to do so too yet Austin Steuchus a famous Popish Doctor in his Cosmopaeia on the beginning of Genesis hath written That the Imperial Heaven is Co-eternal with God and if so there must be two Gods For whatsoever hath no Beginning is God Nor have their Expurgatory Indexes which have been so busie to deface many sound Godly Opinions Corrected him for this Blasphemous Heresy The second Article of the Church of England Of the Word or Son of God which was made very Man THE Son which is the Word of the Father Begotten from Everlasting of the Father the Very and Eternal God of one Substance with the Father took Mans Nature in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin of her Substance so that two whole and perfect Natures that is to say The God-head and Man-hood were joined together in one Person never to be divided whereof is one Christ Very God and Very Man who truly Suffered was Crucified Dead and Buried to Reconcile his Father to us and to be a Sacrifice not only for Original Guilt but also for Actual Sins of Men. The Presbyterians The Son of God the Second Person in the Trinity being Very and Eternal God of one Substance and equal with the Father did when the fulness of time was come take upon him Mans Nature with all the Essential Properties and Common Infirmities thereof yet without Sin being Conceiv'd by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary of her Substance so that two whole perfect and distinct Natures the God-head and Man-hood were inseparably joined together in one Person without Conversion Composition or Confusion which Person is Very God and Very Man yet one Christ the only Mediator between God and Man The Lord Jesus by his perfect Obedience and Sacrifice of himself which he through the Eternal Spirit once offered up unto God hath fully satisfied the Justice of his Father and purchased not only Reconciliation but an Everlasting Inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven for all those whom the Father hath given unto him The Papists The
of whose Authority was never any doubt in the Church viz. Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalmes Proverbs Ecclesiastes Solomons Song Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi And the other Books as Hierom saith the Church doth Read for Example of Life and Instruction of Manners All the Books of the New Testament as they are commonly Received we do Receive and Account them Canonical The Presbyterians Under the Name of Holy Scripture or the Word of God Written are now Contain'd all the Books of the Old and New Testament which are these Genesis c. just as the Church of England reckons them All which are given by Inspiration to be the Rule of Faith and Life The Books commonly called Apocrypha not being of Divine Inspiration are no part of the Canon of the Scripture and therefore are of no Authority in the Church of God nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other Humane Writings The Authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be Believ'd and Obey'd dependeth not upon the Testimony of any Man or Church but wholly upon God who is Truth it self the Author thereof and therefore it is to be Receiv'd because it is the Word of God We may be mov'd and induc'd by the Testimony of the Church to an High and Reverend esteem of the Holy Scriptures And the Heavenliness of the Matter the Efficacy of the Doctrine the Majesty of the Stile the Consent of all the Parts the Scope of the whole which is to give all Glory to God the full Discovery it makes of the only way of Mans Salvation the many other incomparable Excellencies and the entire Perfection thereof are Arguments whereby it doth abundantly Evidence it to be the Word of God yet notwithstanding our full Perswasion and Assurance of the Infallible Truth and Divine Authority thereof is from the Inward Work of the Holy Spirit bearing Witness by and with the Word in our Hearts The whole Council of God concerning all things necessary for his own Glory Mans Salvation Faith and Life is either expresly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary Consequence may be deduc'd from Scripture unto which nothing at any time is to be added whether by New Revelations of the Spirit or Tradition of Men nevertheless we do acknowledge the Inward Illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are Revealed in the Word and that there are some Circumstances concerning the Worship of God and Government of the Church Common to Humane Actions and Societies which are to be ordered by the Light of Nature and Christian prudence according to the general Rules of the Word which are always to be observed The Old Testament in Hebrew which was the Native Language of the People of God of old and the New Testament in Greek which at the time of the Writing of it was most generally known to the Nations being immediately inspir'd by God and by his singular Care and Providence kept pure in all Ages are therefore Authentical so as in all Controversies of Religion the Church is finally to Appeal to Them But because these Original Tongues are not known to all the People of God who have Right unto and Interest in the Scriptures and are Commanded in the Fear of God to Read and Search them Therefore they are to be Translated into the Vulgar Language of every Nation unto which they come that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all they may Worship him in an acceptable manner and through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures may have hope The Infallible Rule of the Interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture it self and therefore when there is a question about the true and full Sense of any Scripture which is manifold but one it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly The Supream Judge by which all Controversies of Religion are to be Determined and all Decrees of Councils Opinions of Ancient Writers Doctrines of Men and Private Spirits are to be examined and in whose Sentence we are to rest can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture The Papists The Decree of the Council of Trent touching the Canonical Scriptures Session the Fourth The Holy Oecumenical and General Tridentine Council lawfully Congregated in the Holy Spirit the three Legats of the Apostolick See presiding therein considering That the Purity of the Gospel as to Truth and Discipline is contained in Books Written and in Traditions not Written which received by the Apostles from the Mouth of Christ himself or by the Apostles by the Dictates of the Holy Ghost delivered as from Hand to Hand have come down even unto us following the Example of the Fathers does with an equal Affection of Piety and like Reverence receive and regard as well all the Books of the Old and New Testament since one God is Author of both as such Traditions pertaining either to Faith or Manners the same being dictated either Orally by Christ or by the Holy Spirit and Conserv'd by a continual Succession in the Catholick Church and as touching the Books of Holy Scripture that none may doubt which they are which by this Sacred Synod are received an Index of them is annexed and they are as follows Of the Old Testament five Books of Moses that is Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth Four Books of Kings under that name they include the two Books of Samuel two of Chronicles the first of Esdras and the Second which is called Nehemias Tobias Judith Esther Job David's Psalter of 150 Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Canticles Wisdom Ecclesiasticus Isaiah Jeremiah with Baruch Ezekiel Daniel Twelve lesser Prophets viz. Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonas Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechary and Malachi and the First and Second of the Maccabees Of the New Testament the Four Evangelists Matthew Mark c. as we reckon them And if any Person shall not receive all the said whole Books with all their Parts as they have wont to be read in the Catholick Church and as they are in the old Vulgar Latin Edition for Sacred and Canonical or knowingly shall contemn the aforesaid Traditions Let him be Anathema or Accursed And the said Sacred Council does also Appoint and Declare That the said old Vulgar Latin Edition which hath by the long use of so many Ages been approved of in the Church shall in all publick Readings Disputations Preachings and Expositions be esteemed Authentick And that none on any pretence whatsoever shall dare or presume to Reject the same And for the restraining of wanton Wits does likewise Decree That no one Person leaning on his own Prudence shall in matters of Faith and Manners pertaining to
Edification of the Christian Doctrine wresting the Scripture to his own Senses dare to interpret the Holy Scripture contrary to the Sense which Holy Mother Church whose Right it is to Judge of the true Sense of Sacred Scriptures hath held or doth hold or against the unanimous Consent of the Fathers though even such Interpretations be never intended to be Publisht Thus the very Words of that pretended Council wherewith agrees Bellarmine de Verbo Dei lib. 1. cap. 7 8 and 9. whereby it plainly appears That the Church of Rome not only Adds to Gods Word Six whole Books besides several parts of Books As the Epistle of Jeremiah the 13 and 14 Chapters of Daniel The Song of the three Children added to the 3d. of Daniel and an Appendix to the Third Chapter of Hester beginning v. 10. all which are in the Vulgar Latin more than the Church of England receives and holds her Accursed for not receiving them but also prefers the Vulgar Latin Edition the most Corrupt and Imperfect Edition extant before the original Texts in Hebrew and Greek And binds up all Christians to interpret Scripture in her own Sense and according to her Pleasure Nor is it any wonder That they should thus treat these Sacred Oracles if we Consider what Esteem they have of them This very Council you see accounts them Imperfect and not a sufficient Rule of Faith and Manners without Traditions and equals Traditions with them declaring They are to be received pari pietatis affectu reverentiâ with the very same Reverence and Pious Affection But the Council was subtlely modest For their Doctors cannot forbear to load the Word of God with Reproaches Scripturae sunt muti judices sunt veluti nasus quidam Cereus The Scriptures are dumb Judges and but like a Nose of Wax says Pighius de Ecclesia pag. 89 90. And Eccius calls them a Black Gospel and Inky Divinity Nor is Cardinal Bellarmine less hold For he maintains Scripturas sine Traditionibus nec simpliciter necessarias nec sufficienter Finem proprium praecipuum non fuisse ut esset Regula Fidei De Verbo Dei l. 4. cap. 4. and 12. That the Scriptures are not simply necessary nor sufficient without Traditions and that their proper and chief end was not That they should be a Rule of Faith And Eccius in his Enchiridion is very positive That the Scripture is not Authentick but by the Authority of the Church wherewith agrees Azorius Instit Mor. Part 2. l. 5. cap. 24. Scriptura Canonica non Agnoscitur aut habetur nisi Ecclesiae Authoritate probetur The Scripture is not own'd or esteem'd Canonical unless it be approved by the Authority of the Church In a Word nothing is more Common in the Works of Popish Authors than such Titles as these Of the Insufficiency of the Obscurity and of the Vncertainty of the Scripture c. Nor have their Practices been unsuitable For in the Bohemian Persecutions between the Years 1620 and 1630 the Papists were wont to say The Scriptures were the Fountain of Heresy and thereupon Nick-nam'd the Bible Wiblia which in the Bohemian Language signifies Vomit A thousand Bibles they burnt and destroyed some at the Market place as was done at Fulneck others brought them in Carts without the Walls as was done at Zalicum and Frutnovia others brought them in heaps to the Gallows as at Hadritium and so in great heaps burnt them The like was done in the Irish Massacre in 41. A plague on 't that damn'd Book has done all the Mischief said some of those Bloody Tories Nor do our English Papists want any thing but an Opportunity to Act the like Villanies For their Principle and Malice is the same as appears by one of their English Pamphlets Intituled The Reconciler of Religions Printed Anno 1663 and Dedicated to one Mr. Lawrence Dibusty Merchant of London in p. 26. we have these Words The Protestants and Sectaries saith he you see he makes no differencen the Case between the Church of England and Dissenters dash out for Apocrypha whole Books as Tobias Judith Ecclesiasticus Wisdom Maccabees Baruch c. whole Chapters as the 13 and 14 of Daniel from the 10 to the 16 of Esther Whole Histories as that of Susanna and the Elders of Bell and the Dragon c. All which the Vniversal Church of God receiveth for Authentical Holy and Canonical And thereupon p. 41. he concludes thus As the Protestant Bible is 't is no more the Word of God than is the Alchoran or Aesops Fables yea it is worse than Aesops Fables it 's a Diabolical Invention and an Heretical Labour and a Sacrilegious Instrument to Deceive and Damn all such poor Souls as Believe it and therefore worthy to be burnt with Fire in the middle of the Market at Noon and let all the People say Amen So be it I give you exactly his Words wherein you have the true Spirit of Popery others may politickly mince the Matter but this is their general Sentiment and accordingly they practice beyond the Seas where to have a Bible in the Vulgar Tongue is Capital And where is now the Man that hath the least Spark of Grace or Modesty that would rather be a Papist than a Presbyterian The seventh Article of the Church of England Of the Old Testament THE Old Testament is not contrary to the New For both in the Old and New Testament Everlasting Life is offered to Mankind by Christ who is the only Mediatour between God and Man being both God and Man wherefore they are not to be heard which feign that the Old Fathers did look only for Transitory Promises Although the Law given from God by Moses as touching Ceremonies and Kites do not bind Christian Men nor the Civil precepts thereof ought for necessity to be received in any Common-Wealth yet notwithstanding no Christian Man whatsoever is free from the Obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral The Presbyterians The Substance of this Article is Asserted and at large Explained and Proved by Calvin in the Second Book of his Institutions cap. 7. 9 10 and 11. too tedious here to Recite The Papists Two Clauses of this Article are Contradicted by the Papists First That of Christs being the only Mediatour between God and Man For they Assign Angels and Saints to be also Mediators and especially the Virgin Mary and pray to them accordingly But of this see more Article the 18 and 31. Secondly Whereas 't is said no Christian Man is free from the Obedience of the Commandements which are called Moral we know the Pope pretends he can dispense with the Moral-Law c. For we find in his Canon-Law Caus 15. q. 6. cap. 2. Auctoritatum in the Glosse are these Words Contra jus Naturale potest dispensare contra Apostolum The Pope can dispense against the Law of Nature and against the Apostles The eighth Article of the Church of England Of the three Creeds THE three Creeds
Nice Creed Athanasius Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought throughly to be Received and Believed for they may be proved by most certain Warrants of Holy Scripture The Presbyterians Say the very same thing For in the Confession of Faith of the French Reformed Church who are well known to be Calvinists Article the Fifth these are the Words Suivant Cela nous Advouans les Trois Symboles Ossavoir des Apostres de Nice d'Athanase pource qu'ils sont Conformes a la Parole de Dieu We avow the three Symbols viz. That of the Apostles that of Nice and that of Athanasius because they are agreeable to the Word of God The Papists Profess likewise to Believe these three Creeds but not upon the same Grounds which the Church of England and the Presbyterians do For they Believe and Embrace those Summaries of Faith because they are agreeable to and may be proved by Holy Scripture Whereas the Papists Believe them for the Authority of Tradition or of those Councils that made or Confirmed them And touching that called The Apostles Creed They tell this Story The Apostles before they departed one from another the time whereof is not certainly known all Twelve Assembled together and full of the Holy Ghost each laying down his Sentence agreed upon 12 principal Articles of the Christian Faith and appointed them for a Rule to all Believers which is therefore called and is The Apostles Creed not written in Paper as the Scripture but from the Apostles delivered by Tradition The ninth Article of the Church of England Of Original Sin ORiginal Sin standeth not in the following of Adam as the Pelagians do vainly talk but it is the Fault and Corruption of the Nature of every Man that naturally is Ingendred of the Off-spring of Adam whereby Man is very far gone from Original Righteousness and is of his own Nature inclined to Evil so that the Flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit and therefore in every Person born into this World it deserveth Gods Wrath and Damnation and this Infection of Nature doth Remain yea in them that are Regenerated whereby the Lusts of the Flesh called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some do expound the Wisdom some the Sensuality some the Affection some the desire of the Flesh is not subject to the Law of God And although there is no Condemnation for them that Believe and are Baptized yet the Apostle doth Confess that Concupiscence and Lust hath of it self the Nature of Sin The Presbyterians Our first Parents being seduced by the Subtilty and Temptation of Satan sinned in eating the forbidden Fruit This their Sin God was pleas'd according to his Wife and Holy Counsel to permit having purpose to order his own Glory By this Sin they fell from their Orignal Righteousness and Communion with God and so became dead in Sin and wholly defiled in all their Duties Faculties and Parts of Soul and Body They being the root of all Mankind the Guilt of this Sin was imputed and the same death in Sin and Corrupted Nature conveyed to all their Posterity descended from them by ordinary Generation From this Original Corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed disabled and made opposite to all Good and wholly inclined to all Evil do proceed all Actual Transgressions This Corruption of Nature during this Life doth Remain in those that are Regenerated and although it be through Christ Pardoned and Mortified yet both it self and all the Motions thereof are truly and properly Sin The Papists If any one shall deny that the Guilt of Crignial Sin is remitted by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is Conferred in Baptism or shall Assert That the whole thereof which has any true and proper Nature of Sin is not thereby taken away but shall say That the same is only Pruned or weakned or not Imputed Let him be Accursed Yet this Holy Synod Consesses and Believes That even after Baptism Concupiscence radix peccati the Root of Corruption does remain but it being left for Tryal or Exercise does not any way hurt those that Consent not thereunto This Concupiscence the Apostle sometimes calls Sin Rom. 6. 6. and 7. 5. But this Holy Synod does declare That the Catholick Church never understood it to be called Sin because it is truly and properly Sin in the Regenerate but because ex peccato est It is of Sin and inclines to Sin And whoever shall think otherwise Let him be Anathema So that once more the Church of England nay the Apostle too himself is not only Diametrically contradicted but expresly Cursed The tenth Article of the Church of England 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 The Presbyterians Man in his state of Innocency had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God but yet mutably so that he might fall from it Man by his fall into a state of Sin hath wholly lost all Ability of Will to any Spiritual Good accompanying Salvation So as a natural Man being altogether averse from that good and dead in Sin is not able by his own strength to Convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto When God converts a Sinner and translates him into the state of Grace he freeth him from his natural bondage under Sin and by his Grace alone inables him freely to will and to do that which is Spiritually good yet so as that by reason of his remaining Corruption he doth not perfectly nor only will that which is Good but doth also that which is evil The Will of Man is made perfectly and immediately free to Good alone in the state of Glory The Papists If any one shall say That the Free Will of Man moved and excited by God does not Co-operate by assenting to God exciting and calling whereby it prepares and disposes it self to obtain the Grace of Justification Let him be Accursed The eleventh Article of the Church of England Of the Justification of Man WE are accounted Righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith not for our own works and deservings Wherefore that we are justified by Faith only is a most wholesom Doctrine and very full of Comfort as more largely is expressed in the Homtly of Justification The Presbyterians Those whom God effectually Calleth he also freely Justifieth not by insusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins and by accounting and accepting their Persons as Righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them
and it is not possible that Church can err or hath erred at any time in any point Rhem. Annot. on Mat. 23. 2. The twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Authority of the Church THE Church hath Power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to Gods Word written neither may it so expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another wherefore although the Church be a Witness and a Keeper of Holy Writ yet as it ought not to decree any thing against the same so besides the same ought it not to inforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation The Presbyterians The Church has no Power to make any new Articles of Faith but ought simply to adhere to the Doctrine to which God has subjected all without exception It belongeth to Synods and Councils Ministerially to determine Controversies of Faith and Cases of Conscience to set down Rules and Directions for the better ordering of the publick Worship of God and Government of his Church To Receive complaints in Cases of male administration and Authoritatively to determine the same which Decrees and Determinations if consonant to the Word of God are to be receiv'd with Reverence and Submission not only for their Agreement with the Word but also for the power wherewith they are made as being an Ordinance of God appointed thereunto in his Word The Papists Hold that the Church hath Power to change the Sacraments ordain'd even by Christ himself as appears by this Decree of the Council of Trent This Holy Synod declares That the Church hath always had Power in dispensing the Sacraments their Substance being safe to appoint or change according to the variety of times and places such things as may most tend to the profit of the Receivers and greater Veneration of the Sacraments themselves and therefore though from the beginning of the Christian Religion the use of the receiving the Sacrament in both kinds was not unfrequent yet for certain grave and just Causes has approved the receiving only in one kind and decreed the same to be a Law The Church is to judge the Scriptures and not the Scriptures the Church The one and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Authority of general Councils GEneral Councils ought not to be gathered together without the Commandement and Will of Princes and when they be gathered together forasmuch as they be an Assembly of Men where of all be not governed with the Spirit Word of God they may err sometime have erred even in things pertaining to God wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to Salvation have neither Strength nor Authority unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture The Presbyterians For the better Government and further Edification of the Church there ought to be such Assemblies as are commonly call'd Synods or Councils As Magistrates may lawfully call a Synod of Ministers and other fit Persons to consult and advise with about matters of Religion so if Magistrates be open Enemies to the Church the Ministers of Christ of themselves by vertue of their Office or they with other fit Persons upon Delegation from their Churches may meet together in such Assemblies All Synods or Councils since the Apostles times whether general or particular may err and many have erred Therefore they are not to be made the Rule of Faith or Practice but to be used as an help in both Synods and Councils are to handle or conclude nothing but that which is Ecclesiastical and are not to intermeddle with Civil Affairs which concern the Common-Wealth unless by way of humble Petition in cases extraordinary or by way of advice for satisfaction of Conscience if they be thereunto required by the Civil Magistrate The Papists To the Popes it belongs to Appoint and direct general Councils Bulla Julii 3. Resumptionis Conc. Trid. A Diocesan Council is to be called by the Bishop a Provincial by the Archbishop a National one by a Patriarch or Primate but a general one the Pope can only call not the Emperour or any without the Popes Consent and approbation The Popes of Rome and not Christian Princes have the Authority and Power of making Laws Ecclesiastical and of calling Councils General Councils confirm'd by the Pope cannot err The two and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of Purgatory THE Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory Pardons Worshipping and Adoration as well of Images as of Reliques and also Invocation of Saints is a fond thing vainly invented and grounded upon no warrantry of Scripture but rather Repugnant to the Word of God The Presbyterians Purgatory is a mischievous Invention of Satan making void the Cross of Christ intollerably contumelious unto the Mercy of God and which shaketh and overthroweth our Faith The Bodies of Men after Death return to Dust and see Corruption but their Souls which neither dye nor sleep having an immortal subsistance return to God immediately who gave them the Souls of the Righteous being then made perfect in Holiness are received into the highest Heavens where they behold the Face of God in Light and Glory waiting for the full Redemption of their Bodies and the Souls of the Wicked are cast into Hell where they remain in Torments and utter Darkness reserv'd for the Judgment of the last day Besides these two places for Souls separated from their Bodies the Scripture acknowledgeth none The Papists Whereas the Catholick Church guided by the Holy Ghost out of the Holy Scriptures the ancient Tradition of the Fathers and lately in this Vniversal Synod hath taught that there is a Purgatory and the Souls there detained are help'd by the Suffrages of the Faithful especially by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar Therefore this Synod commands Bishops that they diligently study and use their endeavours that the sound Doctrine of Purgatory delivered from the Holy Fathers and Sacred Councils be believ'd and heard of the Faithful of Christ and every where Taught and Preached And that the Suffrages of the Faithful living viz. Sacrifices of the Mass Prayers Alms and other works of Piety which are wont to be made by the Faithful for other Faithful People Deceased be piously and devoutly performed according to the Institution of the Church And that what is due for the same by any Persons Wills or otherwise shall not perfunctorily but diligently and accurately be paid and performed by the Priests and Ministers of the Church who are bound to do the same Seeing the power of bestowing Indulgences is by Christ bestowed on the Church and she even in the most ancient times hath used such Power given to her of God The most Holy Synod teacheth and commandeth that the use of Indulgences so wholesom for Christian People and approved by the Authority of Sacred
which be effectual because of Christs Institution and Promise although they be Ministred by Evil Men. Nevertheless it appeartaineth to the Discipline of the Church that enquiry be made of Evil Ministers and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences and finally being found guilty by just Judgment be deposed The Presbyterians The Grace which is exhibited in or by the Sacraments rightly used is not conferr'd by any Power in them neither doth the Efficacy of a Sacrament depend upon the Piety or Intention of him that doth Administer it but upon the work of the Spirit and the Word of Institution which contains together with a Precept authorizing the use thereof a Promise of benefit to worthy Receivers The Papists The Sermons of Hereticks so they term all Protestant Ministers must not be hear'd though they Preach the Truth Their Prayers and Sacraments are not acceptable to God but are the howlings of Wolves The seven and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of Baptism BAptism is not only a sign of Profession and mark of difference whereby Christian-Men are discerned from others that be not Christned but it is also a sign of Regeneration or new Birth whereby as by an Instrument they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church the promise of the forgiveness of Sins of our Adoption to be the Sons of God by the Holy Ghost are vtsibly signed and sealed Faith is confirmed and Grace increased by vertue of Prayer unto God The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church as most agreeable with the Institution of Christ The Presbyterians Baptism is a Sacrament of the New Testament ordained by Jesus Christ not only for the solemn Admission of the party Baptized into the visible Church but also to be unto him a Sign and Seal of the Covenant of Grace of his ingrafting into Christ of Regeneration of Remission of Sins and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to walk in newness of Life which Sacrament is by Christs appointment to be continued in his Church until the end of the World Not only those that do Actually pro fess Faith in and obedience unto Christ but also the Infants of one or both believing Parents are to be Baptized The Papists Maintain 1. As to the Effects of Baptism That it takes away all Sin The Sacrament of Baptism doth it self wash away Sins and therefore doth not only signifie as the Hereticks affirm That our Sins be forgiven before or otherwise by Faith only remitted whereby the Churches Doctrine is proved to be fully agreeable to the Scriptures That the Sacraments give Grace ex opere operato that is by the force and Vertue of the Work and Word done and said in the Sacrament Not only is all Sin so taken away by Baptism as not to be imputed but it leaves no Sin Inherent nothing that can be imputed as a Sin to those Baptized 2. That Children dying without it are Damn'd The Church hath always Believed that Children perish if they depart this Life without Baptism As no Man can enter into this World nor have his Life and being in the same except he be born of his Carnal Parents no more can a man enter into the Life and State of Grace which is in Christ or attain to Life Everlasting unless he be born and Baptized of Water and the Holy Ghost whereby we see First This Sacrament to be called our Regeneration or second Birth in respect of our Natural and Carnal which was before Secondly That this Sacrament consisteth of an external Element of Water and internal vertue of the Holy Spirit wherein it excelleth John's Baptism which had the external Element but not the Spiritual Grace Thirdly That no Man can enter into the Kingdom of God nor into the Fellowship of Holy Church without it whereby the Pelagians and Calvinists be Condemned that promise Life everlasting to young Children that die without Baptism 3. As to the Minister of Baptism any Person may do it Therefore in case of necessity any Person Man or Woman may Baptize lawfully one may do it be he Jew or Pagan let but the matter and form be right with a due Intention 4. They add and practise several Ceremonies besides the Institution in and about Baptism As That the Priest must Exorcise or conjure the Devil out of the Party to be Baptized and Exsufflation as they call it that is a puffing hard upon the Party to le Baptized in token of outing the Evil Spirit and breathing in the Good in the room thereof putting Holy Salt into his Mouth annointing his Ears and Nostrils and pronouncing the word Epheta thatis be opened Anointing him upon the Crown with Holy Crism of the Bishops own making putting a lighted Taper into the Childs hand and a white Garment on its back to shew that he is translated out of Darkness into Light and denote the purity of his Soul with Several other the like Ceremonies to the Number of one or two and twenty reckon'd up by Bellarmine particularly in his First Book of Baptism Can. 25 26 and 27. All which though they have not the leastWarrant from Scripture they require to be punctually and necessarily observ'd For so their Council of Trent Sess 7. Can. 13. does Decree If any one shall say That the received and approved Rites used in the solemn Administration of the Sacraments may be contemn'd or at pleasure omitted by the Administrators without Sin or chang'd into any new ones by any Pastor of the Churches Let him be Anathema 5. Not yet herewith content They further have prophan'd this Ordinance by applying it to Bells which they Baptize thereby giving them as they imagine a vertue of cleansing the Air from Devils preventing the mischiefs of Lightning and saving from other Calamities that arise from Tempests of which Holy Christening Pope John the 14th hath the Honour of being first Author Sec Centuriatores Magdeburgenses Cent. 10. Cap. 6. 'T is true Bellarmine de Rom. Pontiff l. 4. cap. 12. being half ashamed of this Practice and no way able to find any colour to defend it would shuffle it off by alledging That not the Popes but common People apply the name of Baptism Metaphorically to the Benediction of the Bells with Holy naming of them and Prayers also all which he does acknowledge still in use But that there is or at least formerly was more in the Case appears by the hundred grievances of the Germans exhibited to the Popes Legate no longer ago than since Luthers time by the Princes of Germany at the Dyet of Norimberg where the one and fiftieth grievance is this That the Suffragans have invented that only themselves and none other Priest shall Baptize Bells for the Laity and the ruder People do believe by the Affirmation of the Suffragans that Bells so Baptized will drive away Devils and Tempests Wherefore Multitudes for
the most part of Godfathers are appointed they especially that are Rich at the time of Baptism take hold of the Rope and as the Suffragan sings before as is wont to be done in Baptizing of Children they all make the Responses and after name the Bell which as Christians use to be is then dressed in new Garments And after they have a sumptuous Feast and the Suffragan is rewarded liberally This is sure something more than a Metaphorical Baptism I shall only add one more strange Doctrine of the Church of Rome touching Baptism and that is That a Child may be Baptized in its Mothers Womb by a Pipe This I find Asserted in a Treatise Intituled Compendium Dianae The Words pag. 201 are these Pueri si moriantur in utero matris nihil obstat quo minus possint Baptizari si Actio Ministri possit ad ipsum puerumetiam in utero matris existentem pervenire ut si fistula possit pertingere ad ipsum Infantis Corpusculum vel propter Matris Cicatricem aspersio aquae possit ad illum pertingere hoc etiam si acceleretur matris mors dummodo sit certo moritura tunc enim etiam ipsa mater tenetur permittere ut proles Baptizetur Res 12. In English thus If Children dye in their Mothers Womb nothing hinders but that they may nevertheless be Baptized if the action of the Minister may extend to the Child it self although remaining in its Mothers Belly as if a Pipe may reach the Infants Body or by or through the Cicatrix of the Mother I must leave the Reader here to guess at his meaning the sprinkling of the Water may reach thereunto And this although thereby the Death of the Mother be hastned provided she must certainly dye for then even the Mother her self is bound to permit that her Child be Baptized But I suppose the Reader as well as my self is nauseated with such fulsome Poposh Divinity Le ts therefore hasten to another Article The eight and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Lords Supper THE Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the Love that Christians ought to have amongst themselves one to another but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christs Death Insomuch that to such as rightly worthily and with Faith receive the same the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ aud likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain Words of Scripture overthroweth the Nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions The Body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the Supper of the Lord only after an Heavenly and Spiritual manner And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith The Sacrament of the Lords Supper was not by Christs ordinance reserved carried about lifted up and worshipped The Presbyterians That Doctrine which maintains a Change of the substance of the Bread and Wine into the substance of Christs Body and Blood commonly called Transubstantiation by Consecration of a Priest or by any other way is repugnant not to Scripture alone but even to common Sense and Reason overthroweth the Nature of the Sacrament and hath been and is the cause of manifold Superstitions yea of gross Idolatries In this Sacrament Christ is not offered up to his Father nor any real Sacrifice made at all for Remission of Sins of the quick or dead but only a Commemoration of that one offering up of himself by himself upon the Cross once for all And a Spiritual Oblation of all possible Praise unto God for the same So that the Popish Sacrifice of the Mass as they call it is most abominably injurious to Christs one only Sacrifice the alone propitiation for all the Sins of the Elect. The Papists If any one shall deny That in the Sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist is contained truly really and substantially the Body and Blood together of our Lord and so whole Christ but shall say That he is in it only as in a Sign or Figure or by his Vertue or shall say that the substance of Bread and Wine remains or shall deny that wonderful and singular Conversion of the whole substance of the Bread into the Body and of the whole substance of the Wine into the Blood the species only of Bread and Wine remaining which Conversion the Catholick Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation Let him be Anathema If any one shall say That Christ exhibited in the Eucharist is eaten only Spiritually Let him be Accursed The nine and twentieth Article of the Church of England Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the use of the Lords Supper THE Wicked and such as be void of a lively Faith although they do carnally and visibly press with the Teeth as S. Augustin saith the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ but rather to their Condemnation do eat and drink the Sign and Sacrament of so great a thing The Presbyterians Although ignorant and wicked Men receive the outward Elements in this Sacrament yet they receive not the thing signified thereby but by their unworthy coming thereunto are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord to their own Damnation The Papists All Communicants do eat the Very and Natural Body of Christ Jesus If an Infidel receive the Sacramental Species he eats Christs Body under the Sacrament Thom. Aquinas p. 3. A. 3. ad 2. The Body of Christ saith Claudius de Sainctes Repet 2. cap. 6. is as truly and really received of Vnworthy as of Godly Communicants And Bonaventure in 4. d. 9. A. 2. q. 1. calls it the common Opinion of the Doctors Certitudinaliter verum a most certain Truth Nor is this all but they hold That the very Body of Christ may be received by Beasts and Vermine If a Dog or a Mouse saith Aquinas in the place just now cited ad Tertium eat the Sanctified Host the substance of Christs Body ceaseth not to be there as long as the Species do remain Nay Durandus adds That the Devil himself may eat Christ His Words are these Competit Bruto Angelo cuicunque vel Bono vel MALO species Sacramentales sumere A Brute or any Angel Good or BAD may receive the Sacrament Durand in 4. dist 9. q. 3. num 6. ad primum 'T is true some of their ancient Schoolmen were not arrived to such irreverent conceits Peter Lombard l. 4. d. 13. A. puts the Question What does the Mouse eat when she gets part of a Consecrated Host And Answers modestly Deus novit God knows And Bonaventure in 4. d. 13. a. 2. q. 1. could not endure to hear That Christs
so full of Terror The four and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of the Traditions of the Church IT is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one or utterly like for at all times they have been diverse and may be changed according to the Diversity of Countries times and Mens manners so that nothing be ordained against Gods Word Whosoever through his private Judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained and approved by common Authority ought to be Rebuked openly that others may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church and hurteth the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren Every particular and National Church hath Authority to Ordain Change and Abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained only by Mans Authority so that all things be done to edifying The sense of this Article is explain'd by the Learned and Painful Mr. Rogers in his Comment on his 39 Articles Publisht in King James time and Attested in the Title-page to have been perused and by the Lawful Authority of the Church of England allowed to be Publick pag. 198. in the Words following Of Ceremonies and Traditions repugnant to the Word of God there be two sorts whereof some are of things meerly Impious and Wicked such was the Israelites Calf and Nebuchadnezzars Idol and be the Papistical Images Reliques Agnus Dei's and Crosses to which they give Divine Adoration These and such like be all flatly forbidden Others are of things by God in his Word neicommanded nor forbidden as of eating and not eating Flesh of wearing and not wearing some Apparel of keeping and not keeping some days Holy by abstinence from Bodily labour c. The which are not to be observed of any Christian when for sound Doctrine it is delivered that such Works do either merit Remission of Sins or be the acceptable Service of God or do more please than the observation of the Laws prescribed by God himself or necessarily to be done insomuch as they are damn'd who do them not We must therefore have always in mind that we are bought with a price and therefore may not be the Servants of Men and that no humane Constitution in the Church doth bind any Man to break the least Commandement of God The Presbyterians Use has obtain'd that those things be call'd Humane Traditions which are Establisht by Men for the Worship of God not grounded on any Warrant from his Word against these it is that we contend and not against Holy and Useful Constitutions of the Church which tend to preserve either Discipline or Honesty or Peace Our Lord has so faithfully comprehended and so plainly told the whole sum of true Righteousness and all the parts of his Worship that in those things he alone is to be heard but because he would not particularly prescribe every thing that we are to observe in external Discipline and Ceremonies since he foresaw the same would depend upon the condition of times nor did judge that one form would agree with all Ages we therefore ought to have recourse to the General Rules by him laid down that by the same all things which the necessity of the Church should require be exacted and therefore herein he did not expresly deliver any thing both because neither are those things necessary to Salvation and that they may variously be accommodated according to the manner of Nation and Age for the edification of the Church and as the profit of the Church requires We may as well change and abrogate those that have been used and institute new ones though we ought not frequently and on slight Causes recur to Innovation but what is prejudicial what is tending to Edification Charity will best judge which if in such Cases we suffer to be Moderatrix all will be safe And whatsoever things shall be instituted according to this Rule it is the Duty of Christian people with a Conscience still free and without superstition but yet with a pious and ready inclination to Obedience and Peace to observe not to contemn or with supine negligence omit much less ought they with Pride and Obstinacy openly to violate them Thus Calvin whose whole 10 Chapters on this Subject in the 4th Book of his Institutes whence these few sentences are briefly drawn is well worthy perusual and I conceive enough to satisfie any unprejudiced Reader That he intirely agrees with the true sense of the Church of England in this Article God alone is Lord of the Conscience and hath left it free from the Doctrines and Commandements of Men which are in any thing contrary to his Word or beside it in matters of Faith and Worship so that to believe such Doctrines or to obey such Commands out of Conscience is to betray true liberty of Conscience and the requiring of an implicite Faith and an absolute and blind obedience is to destroy Liberty of Conscience and Reason also They who upon pretence of Christian Liberty do practice any Sin or cherish any Lust do thereby destroy the end of Christian Liberty which is that being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies we may serve the Lord without Fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our Life And because the Power which God hath Ordained and the Liberty which Christ hath purchased are not intended by God to destroy but mutually to uphold and preserve one another They who upon pretence of Christian Liberty shall oppose any Lawful Power or the Lawful exercise of it whether it be Civil or Ecclesiastical resist the Ordinance of God and for their publishing such practices as are contrary to the light of Nature or to the known Principles of Christianity whether concerning Faith Worship or Conversation or to the power of Godliness or such erroneous Opinions or Practices as either in their own Nature or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them are destructive to the external Peace and Order which Christ hath Established in the Church they may lawfully be called to account and proceeded against by the Censures of the Church and by the Power of the Civil Magistrate The Papists If any one shall say That the received and approved Rites of the Church Catholick may be contemned or at pleasure omitted by the Ministers without Sin or that they may by any Pastour of Churches be chang'd into any new ones Let him be Accursed Now that the Church of Rome prescribes and observes a vast multitude of Rites and Ceremonies too tedious here to be specified not only besides but contrary to Gods Word and without any real profit to the Church of Christ is notorious yet Durandus Rationale Liber Ceremoniarum and such like Popish Authors expresly obtrude their Trumpery as both necessary and unalterable The five and thirtieth Article of