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
no longer they may remain in an Implicite Faith but read Consider and with understanding embrace what they before out of Compliance or Custom rather than Judgment seem'd to own and adhere to 2. There are many too That in words detest Popery yet not being throughly grounded in the Doctrines of the Church of England nor acquainted with those of the Church of Rome may be in danger of mistaking the one for the other and by Jacob's voice be deluded into Esau's hands and imbibe Poison unawares unless fortified against it by some such discriminating Antithesis 3. Hereby will appear the malice and falshood of these suggestions That the Dissenters stand at as great a distance from and are as much opposite to the legally Established Church of England as the Papists a mischievous conceit promoted by the Jesuites and other Factors for the See of Rome on purpose to divide and weaken us and consequently thereby to accomplish at last their own ends which are utterly to subvert and destroy all the Professors of the Reformed Religion whether Episcopal Presbyterial or under what ever other Denomination 4. I know not what could better tend to uniting us at least in affection amongst our selves than this demonstration That in the main and all essential Doctrinal points we are already agreed and since the other matters in Controversie are acknowledged to be indifferent what occasion is there for all this heat and violence unless the lesser our differences are the greater still must be our Animosities and Contentions about them 5. I do not despair but this small Treatise may be profitable to weak Capacities for instructing them in Fundamentals of Christian Religion since it contains a general Systeme of Faith rendered the more intelligible by the variety of Expressions though concurrent Sense of the Church-men and Protestant-Dissenters on the one side and the apparent Contradictions of the Papists on the other For Contraria juxta se posita magis Elucescunt contraries aptly compared illustrate each other Thus much for the End and general Intention of this Work As to the manner how it is perform'd I could indeed have wisht it might have come from some abler Hand whose Skill might have rendered it more useful and his Name more acceptable to the publick But rather a Mite than no Offering at all for the Churches Peace I have done what my small Reading and interrupted Leisure would permit and need only Advertise the Reader that here he shall find 1. The Nine and Thirty Articles of the Church of England agreed upon and Establisht Anno 1562. and never since altered but required by Law to be subscribed unto by all Ministers of our Church faithfully recited Verbatim and Printed in a different Letter 2. The Doctrines of those commonly called Presbyterians comprehending the Body of our Dissenters produc'd from the Confession of Faith agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines in the late Times and their Catechism and the Institutions of Mr. John Calvin 3. The Tenets of the Church of Rome delivered either in the Words of the Council of Trent or those of their great Champion Cardinal Bellarmine and the Annotations of their Colledge of Rhemes on the New Testament Other of their Authors sometimes but sparingly are Cited and never any but what are allowed by them and known to speak according to the common Dictates of that Church I knew not where to seek more Authentick Testimonies of each Parties Sentiments and can without Injury to Truth aver That I have not wilfully baulk'd added to detracted from or in any kind perverted the Sense of either side but fairly stated their Doctrines in their own words And generally without Reflections or Animadversions unless only where the matter is such that it could not justly be omitted Some may expect to have had added in a Fourth Comparison certain Notions advanc'd of late years by some Divines amongst us that seem to thwart these Articles of their Mother-Church which at their Ordination they solemnly subscribed But as the same have in part been already noted by others so my desire is rather to bring Balm than Vinegar to the too gaping wounds of the Church and without giving any such Exasperation shall hope That those Gentlemen will see and repent of such their Mistakes At least since Rectum est Index sui Obliqui A streight Line is the measure both of it self and of that too which is crooked I cannot despair but when once People are brought throughly to understand the Doctrines of the Church of England grounded on the Holy Scriptures without or contrary to which no Church in the World has any power to impose any Articles of Faith They will easily be able to discover such Aberrations and refuse them with a just Abhorrence though never so speciously obtruded But because there is such a noise raised and such heaps of Durt continually thrown on the memory of poor Mr. Calvin and those called Presbyterians whereby they would inflame us both to hardships towards dissenting Protestants at home and set us at odds with most of the Reformed Churches abroad I shall for the Information of the Vulgar Reader give a brief account here what esteem our Ancestors of the Church of England heretofore had both of John Calvin and those Neighbouring Churches and the Testimonies I shall avouch shall be of undoubted Authority both for Dignity and Learning The Reverend and Pious Dr. George Carleton Bishop of Chichester in a Book Intituled An Examination of those things wherein the Author of the late APPEAL holdeth the Doctrines of the Pelagians and Arminians to be the Doctrines of the Church of England Printed anno 1626 and Dedicated to King Charles the First p. 217 hath these Words Though the Church of England be the best Reformed Church yet it is not the only Reformed Church and it might seem no good Providence in us to stand so by our selves as to reject and disdain the Consent of other Churches though they do not agree with us in Discipline It is observed by Eusebius That Polycrates and Irenaeus did both reprove Victor because for matters of Ceremonies he was too much offended with other Churches which otherwise agreed with him in Doctrine Irenaeus doth admonish him That the ancient Bishops of Rome before Victor did keep Unity and Consent with the Eastern Bishops though in Ceremonies there was difference between them Omnes isti cum in Observantia vararierent inter semetipsos nobiscum semper pacifici fuerant Euseb l. 5. cap. 24. All those that varied in Observances yet were always peaceable both amongst themselves and with us He saith there also That the Dissonance in Ceremonies need not break the Consonance in Faith with those Churches which do not agree with us in Ceremonies if we seek the peace of the Churches that profess the same Doctrine or strugling as more like one sleeping than dying leaving with that noble Roman Aemilius Poverty with Honour to his Friends his Library and
are deputed to Evangelize the Word of God by how much it is more dangerous to suffer them to remain uncorrected since those Errors are not easily to be blotted out which by such publick Preaching are more spreadingly and daranably imprinted in the Hearts of Men. Whereas the Holy Roman Church does publickly and solemnly Celebrate the Festival of the Conception of the unspotted Mary always a Virgin and hath ordain'd a proper Office for the same There are yet as we hear some Preachers of several Orders that in their Sermons to the People publickly in several Cities and Countries have not blush'd to affirm and yet cease not daily to Preach That all those that hold or assert the said Glorious and Immaculate Mother of God to have been conceiv'd without any spot of Original Sin do mortally sin or that those are Hereticks who Celebrate the Office of her Immaculate Conception And that those sin grievously who frequent their Sermons who affirm her to be conceiv'd without Sin And not content with such Preachings they have also publisht Books to that purpose whereby no small scandals are risen in the minds of the Faithful and greater are every day feared We therefore willing as much as is granted us from on high to obviate such rash boldness and perverse and scandalous Assertions which may thence arise in the Church of God by our own motion and not at the instance of any but of our meer deliberation and certain Science do by Apostolical Authority and by the Tenour of these presents Reprobate and Damn as false erroneous and altogether void of Truth the said such Assertions of Preachers and all others who presume to affirm That those that Believe or hold the said Mother of God to have been preserv'd in her Conception from the stain of Original Sin are thereby polluted with any Heresie or that thereby they Sin or that those that Celebrate the said Office of her Conception or hear the Sermons of those of that Opinion do thereby incur any guilt of Sin And all Books containing any such Assertions And we do Command and Ordain That the Preachers or others of whatever State Degree Order or Condition soever that shall henceforwards presume in Sermons or in any other way to maintain That the Assertions by Vs so Condemned are true or read any of these Books shall ipso facto incur the sentence of Excommunication from which they shall not be Absolved by any but the Bishop of Rome except at the point of Death And by the like Authority we do likewise subject to the same Censure and Penalty all that shall assert the contrary Opinion viz. That those that assert That the Glorious Virgin Mary was conceiv'd with Original Sin do thereby incur the Crime of Heresie or mortal Sin since the same is not yet decided by the Roman Church and Apostolical See Let it therefore not be lawful to any to infringe or act contrary to this our Act of Reprobation Damnation Statute Ordinance Will and Decree If any one shall presume so to do Let him know that he shall incur the Indignation of Almighty God and of the Blessed Peter and Paul his Apostles Given at Rome at St. Peters in the Year of our Lords Incarnation 1483 and of our Popedom the 13th Pridie Nonas Septembris Now who would have thought but the Pope who pretends or at least this Council whom all Papists boast to have power to determine infallibly all Controversies would rather have put an end to this dispute than thus to continue the quarrel and leave it still doubtful But here lies the mystery The Trent Fathers resolv'd not to part with this Figment of the Schoolmen which could not be casheir'd without reflecting upon Pope Sixtus that thus ordain'd a Feast in memory of it And yet in this Age of Light were asham'd to define a thing so palpably contrary to Scripture and the apprehension of all Antiquity to be receiv'd as an Article of Faith and so politickly left it undetermined yet shew us which way they incline by continuing the Celebration of that Festival to this day The sixteenth Article of the Church of England Of Sin after Baptism NOT every deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism is Sin against the Holy Ghost and unpardonable wherefore the grant of Repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into Sin after Baptism After we have receiv'd the Holy Ghost we may depart from Grace given and fall into Sin and by the Grace of God we may arise again and amend our Lives And therefore they are to be Condemned which say they can no more Sin as long as they live here to deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly Repent St. Augustine in his Book de Heresibus cap. 38. tells us of Hereticks call'd Cathari or Novatiani that made every Sin after Baptism to be unpardonable and deny'd to receive any upon Repentance And cap. 82. he mentions certain Hereticks call'd Jovinianists from their first Author Jovinianus a Monk who held That after Baptism a man could not Sin This Article seems principally intended against these Errors and both Presbyterians and Papists agree it The seventeenth Article of the Church of England Of Predestination and Election PRedestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the Foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of Mankind and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation as Vessels made to Honour wherefore they that be indued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to Gods purpose by his Spirit working in due season They through grace obey the calling they be justified freely they be made Sons of God by Adoption they be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ they walk Religiously in good Works and at length by Gods mercy they attain to everlasting Felicity As the Godly Consideration of Predestination our Election in Christ is full of sweet pleasant unspeakable comfort to Godly Persons such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ mortifying the works of the Flesh and their Earthly Members and drawing up their minds to high and heavenly things as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their Faith of Eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ as because it doth frequently kindle their love towards God so for curious and carnal Persons lacking the Spirit of Christ to have continually before their Eyes the Sentence of Gods Predestination is a most dangerous downfal whereby the Devil doth thrust them into Desperation or into Wretchlesness of most unclean living no less perillous than Desperation Furthermore we must receive Gods Promises in such wise as they be generally set forth in Holy Scripture and in our doings that Will of God is to be followed which we have expresly declared unto us in the
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
Body should be in a Mouses Belly or in a Privy But most of their Followers count them too precise And Vasques in 3. q. 77. a. 8. disp 195. cap. 5. concludes Vera Constans opinio sit c. The true and constant Opinion is That Christ is so long under the Species in any place whatsoever though never so base and filthy as the outward forms would conserve the nature of Bread if it were there Nor matters it saith he that by this means we must grant that Christs Body may descend into a filthy and unclean place nor ought Godly Catholicks thereat be scandalized Now since Christs Sacred Body may be in the Body of any Beast or Vermine and that it is to be Worshipped and Adored with no less than divine Honour wherever it be a Question ariseth Whether he be to be Worshipped for Example in the Belly of a Sow pardon Christian Reader the Instance for 't is the Papists own For Biel on the Canon of the Mass lect 84. starting the same question returns this Answer Ubicunque five in ventre SUIS sive in ore viri vel mulieris ibi esse venerandum adorandum intus in Anima licet non exterius in opere Wherever he is believed to be either in the Belly of a SOW or in the Mouth of a Man or Woman there he is to be Worshipped inwardly in the Soul though not externally in Work Another scruple likewise they have since the outward forms may happen especially by the Sick to be Vomited up again what must be done in the Case To which Albertus in his Compend Theol. verit l. 6. cap. 19. answers Si Infirmus Corpus domini Rejiciat suscipiatur c. If the Sick Spew up Christs Body he must take it again as well as he can or if he be not able himself the Priest must do it for him or some discreet or cleanly Boy And Biel in the place late cited gives this Counsel Si Ejiciatur per Vomitum c. If Christs Body be cast up by Vomit so that you can but yet discern the outward signs and appearance of Bread from the other Garbage and your Stomach will serve you to do it without loathsomness and danger of re-spuing you must take it again but if the Party be nauseous then it must be laid up honourably with the other Reliques But others say it must be burnt and the Ashes reverently laid up by the Altar And Paladanus in 4. d. 9. q. 1. a. 3. moving the Question what was to be done if a Beast should eat the Sacrament says he 't was to be killed and the Host to be taken out of the Maw and if a Man had so much zeal as to endure to eat it he were much to be commended provided he do it fasting And thereupon tells a Story out of Hugo Cluniacensis how one Goderane took a parcel of the Eucharist which had been vomitted up by a Leper The same Author advises That the Sacrament be not given to those that have a Scowring or the Flux lest the Body of Christ should pass away through his Belly into the Draught c. I have recited these Horrid Blasphemies in their own Words That my Countreymen may detest a Religion Compos'd of such impious Phrensies and I beg the Readers excuse for ossending his Ears with such stuff For Popish impudence has this advantage they write such things as Christian Doctrine which a modest Man can scarce endure to Rehearse The thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of both kinds THE Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Lay-people For both the parts of the Lords Sacrament by Christs Ordinance and Commandment ought to be Ministred to all Christian men alike The Presbyterians They speaking of the Papists have stoln or snatcht away one half of the Lords Supper from the greater part of the People of God and only allow the Cup to a small parcel of shaveling Priests The Ministers are to take and Break the Bread to take the Cup and to give both to the Communicants Private Masses or receiving this Sacrament by a Priest or any other alone as likewise the denial of the Cup to the People are contrary to the Nature of this Sacrament and to the Institution of Christ The Papists This Holy Synod Declares and Teacheth That Laicks and Clerks not Consecrated are by no Divine precept bound to receive the Sacrament under both kinds and that it may in no sort be doubted without prejudice to Faith but that the Communion of one kind is sufficient to Salvation If any one shall say That by Gods Command all the Faithful of Christ ought to receive in both kinds or shall deny That the Church was moved with just Causes and Reasons to order the Laity to Communicate but in one kind or shall say she erred therein Let him be Accursed The one and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross THE Offering of Christ once made is that perfect Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction for all the Sins of the whole World both Original and Actual and there is none other Satisfaction for Sin but that alone Wherefore the Sacrifices of Masses in the which it was commonly said that the Priest did offer Christ for the Quick and the Dead to have Remission of pain or guilt were Blasphemous Fables dangerous Deceits The Presbyterians In this Sacrament Christ is not offered up to his Father nor any real Sacrifice made at all for Remission of the 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 In this Divine Sacrifice of the Mass the same Christ is contained and unbloodily Sacrificed who once offered himself bloodily on the Altar of the Cross This Holy Synod therefore Teacheth That this Sacrifice is truly Propitiatory And that thereby if with a true Heart and right Faith in Fear and Reverence we being contrite come to God we do obtain Mercy and find Grace in a seasonable help For by the oblation hereof God being pacified granting the Grace and Gift of Pennance does forgive Crimes and Sins even the greatest and most heinous It is one and the same Host Christ who then offered himself on the Cross now offering the same by the Ministry of the Priests the manner of offering being only different The Fruits of which Oblation viz. The Bloody one are most plentifully received and conveyed by this so far is That from being any ways derogated from by This for which reason it is offered not only for the Sins Punnishments Satisfactions and other Necessities of