Papists agree to the first Part of this Article But as to the latter Part whereas the Church of England and Presbyterians do declare the Passion of Christ to have been a sufficient Sacrifice both for Original and Actual Sins They on the Contrary First by their Doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass Prayers unto Saints Popes Pardons and Purgatory do make void the Passion of our Blessed Saviour or that it puts away but Original Sin only See for this Article 31. Secondly They Teach Although our Saviour have Suffered for all Men in general yet both each man must suffer for himself in particular Rhem. Annotations on Rom. 8. 17. and that the Works of one Man may satisfie the Wrath of God for another Same Annotations on Coloss 2. 24. The third Article of the Church of England Of the going down of Christ into Hell AS Christ dyed for us and was Buried So also is it to be believed That he went down into Hell The Presbyterians Although by the Writings of the Ancients it appears That this Clause in the Creed was not so usual of Old Time in the Churches yet in delivering a Summary of Doctrine it is necessary As that which contains an useful and not to be slighted Mystery And so he proceeds to explain it of the Anguish and Internal Sufferings of Christ under a Sense of the Wrath of God for the Sins of Mankind when the Chastisement of our Peace as the Prophet speaks was upon him And Doctor Fulk on the Rhem. Testament Matth. 27. Sect. 3. expresly clears Calvin in this point The Assembly in their larger Catechism thus express their Sense Christs Humiliation after his Death consisted in his being Buried and continuing in the State of the Dead and under the power of Death till the Third Day which hath been otherwise expressed in these Words He descended into Hell So that the Article is agreed both by them and Calvin nor hath the Church of England thought fit particularly to explain it but left it free to be understood in any such sound Sense as is not contrary to Scripture or the Analogy of Faith Indeed there hath been great Diversity of Opinions between Men both Good and Learned about it Many there are that by Hell here understand the Grave and I think none will deny but the Word is capable of such a Sense but then the Sense must run thus He was Crucified Dead and Buried and Descended into the Grave which is a vain Repetition for if he were Buried he must be in a Grave And such a Tautology is not to be supposed in so brief a Summary of Faith But in my private Thoughts I have happen'd upon a Notion which avoids that Absurdity and that is this When our Blessed Lord was Crucified and Dead and his Body Buried his Humane Soul return'd to God in which Sense he saith to the Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise and afterwards when it came to re-enliven and be united to the Body in the Grave at his Resurrection why may not that be the Descent here intended And so the Sense be thus He was Crucified Dead and Buried He that is his Humane Soul at the time appointed descended into Hell that is the Grave and then the Third day he rose again c. Nor do I perceive that this Interpretation how new soever it may seem does in any kind Contradict the Analogy of Faith However I submit it to the Censure of the Learned Pious Reader But The Papists Teach a quite contrary Doctrine to all this viz. That the Souls of the Patriarchs and Holy Men that departed this Life before our Saviours Crucifixion were kept as in Prison but without pain in a certain Apartment of Hell which they call Limbus Patrum And that Christ that is the Soul of Christ did really go down into the Local Hell and deliver'd the said Captive Souls out of this Confinement and at his Ascension they accompanied him to Heaven Bellarm. de Christo li. 4. cap. 11 12 and 13. The Bosom of Abraham is the resting place of all them that died in perfect State of Grace before Christs time Heaven before being shut from Men. It is called in Zachary a Lake without Water and sometimes a Prison but most commonly of Divines Limbus Patrum for that it is thought to have been the Higher part or Brim of Hell the places of Punishment being far lower than the same which therefore be called Infernum Inferius the lower Hell Where this Mansion of the Fathers stood or whether it be any part of Hell St. Augustin doubteth but that there was such a place he nor no Catholick man ever doubted And the Fathers make it most certain That our Saviour descending into Hell went thither specially and deliver'd the said Fathers out of that Mansion which Truth though of all the Ancient Writers Confessed and Proved by Scripture yet the Adversaries they mean Protestants deny it as they doe Purgatory most Impudently The fourth Article of the Church of England Of the Resurrection of Christ CHRIST did truly Rise again from Death and took again his Body with Flesh Bones and all things appertaining to the perfection of Mans Nature wherewith he Ascended into Heaven and there sitteth until he Return to Judge all Men at the last Day The Presbyterians On the Third Day he Arose from the Dead with the same Body in which he Suffered with which also he Ascended into Heaven and there sitteth at the Right Hand of his Father making Intercession and shall return to Judge Men and Angels at the end of the World The Papists Seem in Words to own this Article but really deny it or Contradict themselves for they hold That the true Carnal Body of Christ is every day wherein Masses are said on Earth and at a thousand places at once Now if it be thus daily here how does it remain in Heaven and sit there till he return to Judge all Men at the last Day And if it be thus at so many places at an Instant must it not be a Fantastick Body And consequently do they not deny the Truth of Christs Resurrection or that he hath the same Body now which was Crucified Dead and Buried The fifth Article of the Church of England THE Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son is of one Substance Majesty and Glory with the Father and the Son Very and Eternal God Touching this Article there is no Dispute on either side The sixth Article of the Church of England Of the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation HOLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein or may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man That it should be Believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation In the name of the Holy Scripture we understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament
the Living but also for those that are departed in Christ who are not yet fully purged Whoever saith That by the Sacrifice of the Mass the most Holy Sacrifice of Christ finished on the Cross is Blasphemed or that it derogateth from it Let him be Anathema The two and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of the Marriage of Priests BIshops Priests Deacons are not commanded by Gods Law either to vow the Estate of single life or to abstain from Marriage Therefore it is Lawful for them also as for all other Christian Men to Marry at their own discretion as they shall judge the same to serve better to Godliness The Presbyterians Certainly the forbidding Marriage to Priests is an ungodly Tyranny not only against Gods Word but also against all Equity If an impossible Vow be the certain destruction of the Soul which God would have to be Saved not lost it follows That we are not to persist therein but the Vow of Continency to those who have not a special Gift is impossible The Papists Whosoever shall say That Clerks entred into Holy Orders or Regulars that is Monks Friers and Nuns having solemnly professed Chastity may contract Matrimony or that being contracted it is good any Law Ecclesiastick or Vow notwithstanding or that all who feel not that they have the Gift of Chastity may although they have vowed it Marry Let him be Anathema The three and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of Excommunicated Persons how they are to be avoided THat Person which by open Denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the Vnity of the Church and Excommunicated ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the Faithful as an Heathen and Publican until he be openly reconciled by Pennance and received into the Church by a Judge that hath Authority thereunto The Presbyterians Church Censures are necessary for the reclaiming and gaining of offending Brethren for the deterring of others from the like offences for the purging out of that Leaven which might infect the whole lump for vindicating the Honour of Christ and the Holy profession of the Gospel and for preventing the wrath of God which might justly fall upon the Church if they should suffer his Covenant and the Seals thereof to be profan'd by notorious and obstinate offenders For the better obtaining of these ends the Officers of the Church are to proceed by Admonition Suspension from the Sacrament of the Lords Supper for a season and by Excommunication from the Church according to the nature of the Crime and demerit of the Person The Papists Do not in Terms contradict this Article but are guilty of many Errors and vile Superstitions about Excommunication As 1. In the form of it For thus Gratian in the Decrees Caus 11. q. 3. cap. 106. debent reports the manner of it in that Church Twelve Priests ought to stand round about the Bishop with lighted Tapers in their hands which at the end of the Curse or Excommunication they ought to throw upon the ground and tread upon with their Feet and then a Letter is to be sent throughout the Parishes with the Names of those Excommunicated and the Causes of it Others relate the Ceremony more largely thus That it is done with three Candles or Tapers and that they Curse the Parties Soul and Body to the Devil and say Let us quench their Souls in Hell Fire if they be Dead as this Candle is put out and therewith one of the lights is presently extinguisht If they be alive Let us pray that their Eyes may be put out at this Candle and so out goes the Second And that all their Senses may fail them as this Candle loseth its light and so the Third is gone All which is performed with ringing of a Bell as the Magdeburgenses Cent. 13. cap. 6. relate whence arises our Proverb of Cursing With Bell Book and Candle 2. In the Causes of it gross Sins escape For their ungodly Law saith He that hath not a Wife but instead of a Wife a Concubine Let him not be debarred from the Communion They are the very Words of Gratian decret dist 34. cap. 4. Is qui non habet Uxorem pro Uxore Concubinam a Communione non repellatur and yet they Trifle with this Tremendous Censure in most trivial Cases The Arch Bishop of Canterbury in King Henry the 4ths time laid an Interdict on the Churches of London for not Ringing their Bells when he went through the City D'Auroult himself a Jesuite in his Book Intituled Flores Exemplorum Tom. 1. Tit. 63. ex 9. Licensed by the Provincial of that Order not 70 years ago complains thus We are fallen now saith he into such times That if a Person hath but lost his Rakes or Mattocks or his Fork he thinks he cannot find them by any more convenient means than by the Sentence of Excommunication viz. upon the Stealers if they do not Restore them 'T is true the Council of Trent Sess 25. cap. 3. inter Decret Reform Ordains That no Excommunications for discovery as they are called of lost or stollen Goods should pass by any other Person than the Bishop himself and then with great Circumspection Which shews that such abuses had been commonly practis'd and that they held the same not unlawful Provided the Bishop granted the Sentence 3. In the Subjects They extend it to the Dead Their grand Council of Constance Cursed Wickliffe more than forty Years after he was Dead And D'Auroult in his Book last cited Tom. 1. Tit. 62. Ex. 1. gravely gives the Reason of it Although saith he the Dead cannot properly be Excommunicated or Absolv'd yet in as much as they are in respect of their Bodies either in the Bowels of the Earth or upon it the Church for terrors sake Excommunicateth and Absolveth some Nay they thunder it out against Insects and Inanimate things For St. Bernerd they tell us Excommunicated the Flies that troubled him when he went about to Consecrate an Oratory at Fusniack and in the Morning they were all found dead if you will believe the Life of that Saint l. 1. cap. 12. Sparrows us'd to foul St. Vincents Church The Bishop of the Place Excommunicated them and they never came there more nay if any caught a Sparrow and thrust it into the Church 't would presently dye de Tempore Serm. 69. A Priest saying Mass to the Young Men they would be running out to gather Fruit in an adjoining Orchard and he Excommunicated it and it ever after was barren Promptuar Serm. dist Exempl 41. To conclude the Devil himself hath not escaped them A Woman was six years plagued with an Incubus Devil soliciting her to naughtiness she complains to St. Bernard he Excommunicates the Devil and Interdicts his Access to her or any other St. Antonines Chronicle part 2. tir 17. cap. 5. Sect. 9. What a graceless Religion is this to tell such ridiculous lyes and sport thus with an Institution
by lawful Anthority An Oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the Words without Equivocation and Mental Reservation It cannot oblige to Sin but in any thing not sinful being taken it binds to performance although to Mans hurt nor is it to be violated though made to Hereticks or Infidels No Man may vow to do any thing forbidden in the Word of God or what would hinder any Duty therein Commanded or which is not in his own Power and for the performance whereof he hath not promise of Ability from God in which respects Popish Monastical Vows of perpetual single Life professed Poverty and Regular Obedience are so far from being degrees of higher perfection that they are Superstitious and sinful Snares in which no Christian may intangle himself The Papists Do not in Terms deny this Article But First they maintain That the Pope hath a Power to dispence with or Absolve any Man from the Obligation of any lawful Oath And Secondly They allow the Doctrine of Equivocation so that a Man may lawfully take any Oath provided that by a secret Reservation in his mind he make or form to himself a tollerable lawful Sense Thirdly They teach that if any Prince become an Heretick all his Subjects are immediately Absolved from their Oaths of Subjection and Allegiance Fourthly They declare That no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks and this is a Vote even of one of their Councils to wit That of Constance who on that very score burnt John Hus though they before had given Letters of safe Conduct by all which They render all Oaths the highest Security mortal Creatures are able to give to each other either insignificant or but Shares to deceive the Credulous And in a word destroy as much as in them lies all Faith and Honesty Confidence and fair dealing amongst Humane Society FINIS * As Mr. Jenkins's Celeusma The 4th part of the Naked Truth c. a Ass Conf. Cap. 2. b Counc Trent Sess tho 3d. Ass Conf. Cap. 8. Sect. 2. Ibid. Sect. 5. Calv. Instit l. 2. cap. 16. Rhem. Annot on â—â—k 16. Sect. 7. Ass Câ—nf cap. 8. Sect. 4. Con. Trid. Sess 13. Can. 1. Ass Conf. ca. 1. Rhem. Test 1 Thess 4 8. History of the Bohemian Persecution p. 329 and 348. a I Believe in one God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things Visible and Invisible c. b Whoever will be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith c. c I Believe in God the Father Almighty maker â—â— Heaven and Earth c. Rhemish Annot. in the Argument of the Epistles Ass Conf. cap. 6. Coune Trent Sess 5. Decr. 5. Ass Conf. cap. 9. Counc Trent Sess 6. Can. 4. Ass Conf. cap. 11. Conc. Trid. Sess 6. cap. 9. Ibid. can 11. Ass Conf. cap. 16. Coune Trent Sess 6. cap. 10. Ibid cap. 9. Ass Conf. cap. 16. Sect. 7. Calv. Inst l. 27. cap. 1â— Sect. 1. Counc Trent Sess 6. Can. 7. Ass Conf. cap. 16. Sect. 4 5. Rhem. Annot on Luk. 10. Sect. 3. Ibid. 1 Cor. 9. Sect. 6. Ibid. 2 Cor. 8. Sect. 3. Ass larger Catech. Q. 37. Abid Q. 22. Coâ—â—â— Trent Sess 5. Ass Conf. cap. 3. Sect. 3 4 5 6. and 8. Rhem. Annot on Mat. 20. 23. Counc Trent Sess 6. can 17. Ibid. Can. 15. Ass Conf. cap. 10. Calv. Inst l 4. cap. 8 Sect. 9. Ass Conf. cap. 31. 3. Sect. Sess 1. cap. 2. Pighius in Controv. de Ecclesia * That is when the Princes where they are Assembled are Christians else this Article will condemn the First and most Holy Council that ever was in the World Acts 15. * Piz. Pagans Bellarm. de Conc. cap. 12. Rhem. Annot on Mat. 16. Rhem. Annot on John 16. 13. Calv. Inst l. 3. cap. 5. Sect. 6. Ass Conf. cap. 32. Sect. 1. Counc Trent Sess 25. Sess 9. Ibid. Calv. Inst l. 4. cap. 3. Sect. 10. Calv. Inst l. 3. cap. 20. Sect. 33. Ass Conf. cap. 21. Sect. 3. Conc. Trid. Sess 22. cap. 8. Ibid. Can. 9. Rhem. Annot p. 463. Rhem. Annot on Mat. 21. 6. Ass Cons cap. 27. Sect. 4. Conc. Trid. Sess 7. Can. 1 Conc. Trid. Sess 13. Can. 6 7. Conc. Trid. Sess 7. Can. 8. Ibid. C 〈…〉 Rhem. Annot on Tit. 3. 10 anÌ„d Mark 3. 13. Ass Consâ— cap. 28. Sect. 1. 4. Rhem. Annot on Acts 22. 17. Conc. Trid. Sess 5. decret 5â— Bellarm. de Baptism l. 1. cap. 13. Ibid. Can. 4. Rhem. Annot on John 3. Bellarm. Ibid. Can. 7. Ass Cons cap. 29. Sect. 6. Ibid. Sect. 2. Conc. Tridâ— Sess 1. 3. Can. 1. 2. Can. 8. Ass Conf. cap. 29. Sect. 8. Rhem. Annot on 1 Cor. 11. 27. Calv. Inst l. 4. cap. 17. Sect. 47. Ass Conf. cap. 19. Sect. 3. Ibid. Sect. 4. Con. Trid. Sess 21. cap. 2. Ibid. Can. 1. 2. Ass Conf. cap. 29. Sect. 2. Conc. Trâ—â— Sess 22. Can. â— Ibid. Can. 4. Calv. Inst l. 4. cap. 12. Sect. 23. Ibid. Can. 13. Sect. 21. Conc. Trid. Sess 24. Can. 9. Aâ—â— Cons cap. 30. Sect. 3 4. Calv. Inst l. 4. cap. 10. Sect. 1. Ibid. Sect. 30. Calv. Ibid. Ass Conf. cap. 20. Sect. 2 3 4. Conc. Trid. Sess 7. Can. 13. Reconciler of Religions p. 50. Ass Conf. cap. 23. Sect. 1. 3 and 4. Calv. Inst l. 4. cap. 20. Sect. 24. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31. Ass Cons cap. 26. Sect. 3. Ass Cons 22. Sect. 1 2. 3 4 7.