of later age 2. Secondly by descending into Hell no more is to be understood than that Christ descended into the state of the Dead and was continued under the power of Death for the space of three daies which is more generally received of the later Writers What is meant by this article I believe the Holy Catholic Church To believe the Holy Catholic Church is to believe that among all the Tribes and Nations of the World God hath some chosen Servants and a peculiar people whom he hath tâ—ken out for his name sanctified with his Spirit called unto the state of grace and ordained unto eternal glory What do you understand in the same article by the Communion of Saints To believe the Communion of Saints is to believe that the Saints and Servants of God are knit by an invisible tye of faith and love to Christ their Head and unto each other by common participation and mutual communication of all good things both spiritual and temporal as if they were but one Body and were acted by one soul and the same spirit What do you understand by this article I believe the forgiveness of sins We believe that God doth freely pardon sin to penitent sinners through faith in Christ without any other merit or satisfaction and pronounce this pardon in his name upon just and lawfull occasions Are there not some other Creeds besides that of the Apostles Yea the Nicen Creed and that of Athanasius yet these are but Paraphrases and Explanations of the Apostolical Creed upon occasion of Heresies that sprung up in the Church in those times especially touching the Trinity and the Incarnation of Christ but they contain nothing material or substantial that is not couched in the short symbol of the Apostles What is the use of that little Hymn called Gloria patri It is as it were a little Creed and an Abbridgment of the Apostolical brought into the Church about the time that Arrianism prevailed for to be a badge to distinguish the Orthodox Believers from the Heterodox or mis-believers For by giving glory to God in this form they confessed the Trinity in Unity which the Arrians opposed OF THE COMMANDMENTS WHich is the second general part of Christian Religion The Commandments which are a Breviate of the Moral Law and of all the practical duties of humane life the Rule of our obedience the Tree of knowledge of good and evil shewing what is good and what is bad what is to be followed and what to be eschewed Did not Christ abolish these Commandments No for this is a Law founded in Nature and natural equity and therefore is unmovable and unchangable It is the eternal Rule of Justice to all persons to the end of World The Gospel doth not exempt any persons from natural and moral obligations at any time But it is said that we are not under the Law but under Grace therefore we are freed from the Law Indeed Christ hath wholly freed us from the Ritual or Ceremonial Law which was grown to be unsupportable but he hath not discharged us from the law of good mannerâ— promulgated on Mount Sinai yet he hath freed us in part from this Law freed us from the rigor and severity of it filed the teeth of it as it were he hath freed us from the curse annexed to the breach of it when he was made himself a curse by suffering an accursed death for our sins Was this Law a perfect Rule of obedience and such as needed no amendment Yea it was a holy and a perfect Law having a Spiritual as well as a literal sense being made to regulate the whole man both outwardly in his members and inwardly for the thoughts and intentions of the heart Christ did fullfil this Law by doing it not by filling up the vacuities of it for there was no defect or imperfection in it Are not the duties of man very numerous in this life Yea sâ—â—e but God in his wisdom hath summed them all up in Ten general precepts or Ten words as Moses calls them Our Saviour Christ reduced these 10. into two Mat. 22.40 and St. Paul into one Rom. 13 10. namely Love Love is the fullfilling of the Law the end and complement of it that is Love towards God and Love towards our neighbour This is the total sum of the Moral Law Is it possible for any to perform or fullfil this Law Though it be so nice and exact in it self that we cannot perform it so fully as we ought or as it requires nevertheless we may Gods grace assisting us perform it so far as to find a gracious acceptance with him through Christ The doing the uttermost of what we can and the bewailing of what we cannot do is all that the merciful God requires at our hands in this point What do the precepts of the first Table contain They do contain the duty of man towards God being given to direct him in the service of his Maker and in performing the internal and external worship that is due unto him â—or he that made both soul and body expects the service of both and to be glorifiâ—d in both What do the precepts of the second Table concern They do concern and contain the duty of man towards his Neighbour obliging him to love him as himself and that as his fellow-creature hewn out of the same rock made by the same hand and bearing the same â—â—amp image and super scription with him evâ—n the image of him that made both the one and the other The Commandments are but few in number and short in words have they not sâ—me farther latitude in sense than in words Yea surely and there are certain Rules to shew what latitude they bear that is how far they may be amplified and extended as First where any virtue is commanded all virtues of the same kinde are under that name commanded and where any vice is forbidden all vices of that kind or race are forbidden likewise What other Rules have you to measure the latitude of these Commandments Take these two more where any virtue is commanded there the opposite vice is forbidden and where any vice is forbidden there the opposite virtue is commanded by the Rule of Contraries As where stealing is forbidden there honest labour industry and frugality is commanded that men need not be forced to steal What is the other Rule Where any duty is commanded there all lawfull meanâ— conducing to that duty are tacitly commanded And where any vice is forbidden there all the means and occasions as also the allurements and provocations that do any way tend or induce thereunto are likewise forbidden OF THE LORDS PRAYER WHat is the use of prayer Since there is no man in the world so full and self-sufficient but doth want something and must seek out of himself for a supply of that want Nature dictates and suggests that prayer and supplication is an effectual means to obtain this supply and that humble address must
and that I have a share and interest in them The Catholic Church here mentioned is not visible for it is an object of our faith not of our sight and faith is of things not seen Heb. 11.1 This Holy-Guild society Fraternity of the Rosie-Cross as I may not unfitly term it is invisible for it is Caetus praedestinatorum a company of men predestin'd to Salvation whose names are written in the book of life enroll'd in that sacred Register among the Candidates of eternity Now who those are and whose names are there registred we are not allowed to know that such there are we know and firmly believe but who they are we know not having no certain {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or infallible indication to know them by for they do not carry the marks of their election in their foreheads God alone knoweth them that are his We have not the gift of knowing men and discerning spirits by inspection we may know their persons but for their eternal state and condition we may probably guess at but not make a sure and infallible judgement There is Indaeus in occulto Judaeus in propatulo we may know the one but do not know the other to know the reins and the heart is the prerogative of him that made and moulded both As this Church is not visible so it is not topical or confined to one place but is Catholic or universal both for times places and persons They robb Christ of his inheritance that confine his Kingdom or Church within one Nation Canton or Conventicle as Donatus did arrogantly affirm That God had no Church in the world but in that part of Africa where he and his party swayed none was within the Ark of Gods Church but who had entered into his Cock-boat God gave his Son the Heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession of his Kingdom there is no end no limits of duration or extension They are therefore injurious to him that would retrench his inheritance and robb him of any part of his purchased possession by denying a Catholic Church Hear the expostulation of Optatus with the old Donatists upon this point Si sic pro voluntate vestrâ in angustam coarctatis Ecclesiam si universas subducitis gentes ubi erit illud quod silius dei meruit quod libenter largitus est ei pater dicens Dabo tibi gentes haereditatem tuam ut quid tale infringitis promissum ut a vobis mittatur quasi in carcerem latitudo regnorum APHOR. 6. Of the Nicen and Athanasian Creeds THe Nicen Creed which is extant in our Liturgy was fram'd by the Fathers of the first general Council that was held at Nice a City of Bythinia and was conven'd by the renowned Emperour Constantine in the year 325. where 318. Bishopâ— were assembled whence St. Hierom calls this Creed fidem 318. patrum the faith of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers or Bishops In this Council the Heresie of Arrius a Presbyter of Alexandria who denied the Divinity of Christ and thereby did much disturb the peace of the Church was arraign'd and condemn'd It is reported by Sozomen that the Arrians held another Council at Nice in Thrace in opposition to the former in the year 359. Here was Nice against Nice but the truth did at last {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} prevail and overcome and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} canere trumph over Error and Heresie Athanasius was in those daies a stout opposer of the Arrians and stood up single in defence of the truth when all the world was almost turn'd Arrian as Hierom complains whereby he got a fame suitable to his name He was by their means four times banished and oft times brought into jeopardy of his life so violent was this storm in the Church so that Vincentius Lirinensis rightly terms the Arrian Heresie a Bellona and a Fury for the bitternss of i. During his banishment at Rome this good man composed the Creed that bears his name and presented it to Pope Iulius and afterwards to the Emperour Iovinian when he was elected Emperour and when he himself after all troubles was advanced to the Patriarchal dignity of Alexandria So that these Creeds were made not as supplements but explanations of the Apostolical Creed occasioned by the turbulency of some Spirits who out of some vain glory or discontented singularity raised those sad tragedies in the Church which continued long and sharp for we read of 120 Bishopt banished at one time into the I le of Sardinia by Thrasimundus an Arrian King of the Gothes The 3. Creeds the Nicen Athanasian and Apostolical Creeds ought throughly to believed and received because they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture so the 8th Article of the Church of England which is also received among the Articles of Ireland in terminis APHOR. 7. Gloria patri a little Creed AS the Apostles Creed was called Symbolum that is a badge or token or mark of difference quod fideles perfidos secerneret to distinguish believers from unbelievers or a certain watch-word as they have in the Wars to know a friend from a foe So this little Hymn of glory which is symbolum parvum a little Creed was brought in as a Shibboleth a privy mark or token to make discovery of dissembling professors and Covert Arrians who desir'd to live in the bosom of the Church though they were enemies to the faith and peace of it It was not as the great symbol to distinguish believers from unbelievers but true believers from mis-believers or such as believed amiss touching the article of the holy Trinity It was brought in use about the time of the Nicen Council or as some say before For long before this period we read that Polycarpus that blessed Martyr in the very place and at the hour of his martyrdom had a kind of Doxology very neer and much like to this who concluded his prayer and his lifâ—â—n these words Therefore in all things I praise thee I bless thee I glorifie thee O Father Almighty through the eternal Priest of our profession Jesus Christ thy beloved Son To whom with thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and for evermore Amen As we have received saith St. Basil so we baptize As we baptize so we believe and as we believe so we give glory His meaning is that as we believe in three persons and one God so we baptize into the names of these three And as we baptize into their names so we give glory unto them joyntly and severally So that in the most solemn Offices of the Church as Confessing Baptizing and giving Praise the holy individual Trinity is professed and acknowledged This was the use and purport
Articles that are contained in the Apostles Creed Which Creed is the Key to all other doctrinal points of Religion VI THe Patriarchs and Servants of God in old time were saved by the faith contained in this Creed every Article thereof being revealed unto them and to be sound dispersedly in the writings of Moses (a) and the Prophets For as there was but one (b) Church from the beginning of the World so there was but one (c) faith which is common to us and them and to all that shall come after us VII OF those twelve Articles some do concern God the Father as the first Article some concern God the Son as the six Articles immediately following and some do concern God the Holy Ghost as the eighth Article The four last do set forth the state of the Church both in this World and in the nexâ— VIII THe Article of Christ's descent into Hell may safely be understood and believed either of these two waies 1. That the soul of Christ descended locally among the Infernal Spirits not to suffer but to manifest the power of his Godhead which is the interpretation of the Fathers and divers eminent Writers * of later age 2. By descending into Hell no more is to be understood than that Christ descended into the state of the Dead and was there continued for the space of three daies which is more generally received of the later Writers IX TO believe the Holy Catholick Church is to believe that among all the Tribes (a) and Nations of the World God hath some chosen servants a peculiar people whom he hath taken (b) out for his name sanctified with his Spirit (c) called unto the state of grace (d) and ordained unto eternal Glory X. TO believe the Communion of Saints is to believe that the Saints and Servants of God are knit by an invisible tye of faith and love to Christ their head (a) and to each other by common participation and mutual communication of all good things both spiritual and temporal as if they were but one body and were acted by one soul and spirit (b) XI TO believe forgiveness of sins is to believe that God doth freely pardon sin to penitent (a) sinners thtough faith in Christ (b) without any other merit or satisfaction And that he hath given power to his Church (d) to declare and prâ—nounce this pardon in his name upon just and lawfull occasions XII THe Nicene Creed and the Creed of Athanasius are but Paraphrases and Explanations of the Apostles Creed upon occasion of Heresies that sprung up in the Church about those times touching the holy Trinâ—ty and the Incarnation of Christ But they contain nothing material or substantial that is not couched in the short symbol of the Apostles XIII THat little Hymn of glory called Gloria Patri c. is as it were a little Creed and an Abridgement of the Apostolical brought into the Church about the time that Arrianism prevailed for to be a badge to distinguish the Orthodox Believers from the Heterodox or mis-believers For by giving glory to God in this form they confessed the Trinity in Unity which the Arrians opposed A PRAYER BLessed be thy holy name O Lord for all the holy Scripture which thou hast given us for a light unto our feet (a) and a lantern unto our paths And particularly for that part of it which thy holy Apostles have delivered for a Summary of Faith and a Rule of right belief to teach us to know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ (b) whom thou hast sent Lord strengthen and confirm this faith in us more and more that we being built upon the Rock (c) and the firm foundation of the Prophets (d) and Apostles may stand up stedfast unshaken and unmovable against all the temptations of Satan both against the strong blasts of persecution when any shall arise and against the breath of seducers which do daily lie in wait to deceive and to beguile unstable souls That so holding fast this (f) pledge which was once delivered unto the Saints we may at last obtain the end (g) of our faith even the salvation of our souls through him who is the Author (h) and finisher of our faith Jesus Christ the Righteous Vnto whom with the Father and the blessed Spirit all glory be rendred by all the Church as in the beginning so now and to all ages of the World Amen OF THE COMMANDMENTS I. THe second general Hâ—ad of Christian Religion are the Commandments which are the Breviate of the Law Moral and of all the practical duties of humane life It is the Rule of our obediencâ— the Tree (a) of knowledge of good and evil shewing what is good (b) and what is bad what is to be followed and (c) what to be eschewed II. OUr Saviour Christ did not abolish the Ten Commandments for it is a law founded in Nature (a) and natural equity and therefore is unmovable and unchangable It is the eternal Rule of Justice to all persons to the end of the World for the Gospel doth not exempt any persons from natural or moral obligations at any time III. CHrist freed us from the Ceremonial Law which was grown to be (a) unsupportable but not from the law of good manners (b) which was promulgated upon Mount Sinai He hath freed us also from the rigor and punctuality of this Law but not from the regiment of it And lastly he hath freed us from the curse (c) of this law or the curse annexed to the breach of it when he was himself made â— curse by suffering an accursed death for our sins (d) IV. THis Law called Moral is a holy (a) and perfect (b) Law having a spiritual (c) as well as a literal sense being made to regulate the whole man both outwardly in his members and inwardly for the thoughts and intentions of the heart (d) Christ did fullfill this Law by doing it not by filling up the vacuities of it for there was no defect or imperfection in it (e) V. GOd summed all moral duties in ten general Precepts or Ten (a) Words as Moses calls them Our Saviour Christ reduced these ten into two and St. Paul into one even Love Love (c) is the fullfilling of the Law and the end and complement (d) of it (b) that is Love towards God and Love towards our Neighbour this is the total sum of the Moral Law VI THough the Law be so nice and exact (a) in it self that we cannot perform it so fully as we ought or as it requires (b) nevertheless we may Gods grace assisting us perform it so far as to find a gracious acceptance with him through Christ (c) The doing the uttermost of what we can (d)