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
the Church of England Of Homilies THE Second Book of Homilies the several Titles whereof we have joined under this Article doth contain a godly and wholesom Doctrine and necessary for these times as doth the former Book of Homilies which were set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth and therefore we judge to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly as they may be understood by the People Of the Names of the Homilies Of the right use of the Church Against peril of Idolatry c. The Presbyterians Do generally own the Truth of these Homilies nor do utterly disallow their being read in publick Assemblies provided it tend not to occasion Sloath and neglect of Gifts and the Divine assistance in Ministers nor hinder the greater Edification which the People might reap by the Word Preached unto them The Papists Do utterly Condemn a very great part of the Doctrine contained in these Homilies too tedious here to enumerate But the same will appear to any one that reads them and is at all acquainted with Popish Tenets The six and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers THE Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops and ordering of Priests aud Deacons lately set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth and confirmed at the same time by Authority of Parliament doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and ordering neither hath it any thing that of it self is Superstitious and Ungodly And therefore whoever are Consecrated or Ordered according to the Rites of that Book since the second year of the afore-named King Edward unto this time or hereafter shall be Consecrated or Ordered according to the same Rites we Decree all such to be rightly lawfully and orderly Consecrated and Ordered The Presbyterians Do not deny the Ordination of the Church of England to be in it self lawful so as to esteem all those so Ordained not to be lawful Ministers of Christ The Papists Whoever taketh upon him to Preach to Administer the Sacraments c. and is not ordered by a true Catholick Bishop to be a Curate of Souls Parson Bishop c. is a Thief and Murderer of Souls Rhem. Annot. on John 10. 1. 1. Protestant Ministers and Preachers have no due mission For all their mission from the beginning of their Reformation was either the Inspiration of a Spirit they know not what or the Commission of a Child Edward the Sixth whom they called Supream Head of the Church and from whose Kingly Power all Jurisdiction as well Ecclesiastical as Civil they affirm'd did flow See Fox Tom. 2. anno 1546 in King Edward the Sixth Or the Letters Patents of a Woman Queen Elizabeth to whom they were pleas'd to Attribute the like Superiority and Power See Statut. anno primo Elizab. cap. 1. or the Illicite and Invalid ordination or mission of or by one Story an Apostate Monk who Ordained their first Bishops at the Nags-head in Cheapside in Q. Eliz. time See Christopherus de Sacro Bosco if they have any better let them prove it in the mean time let them know we value not a Straw Masons old new Records produc'd in the year 1613 which was a matter of 50 years after the thing now mentioned was Sacrilegiously and Invalidly done and most disgracefully and shamefully cryed down but those could not give them any Spiritual Authority Power or right to Preach For according to that received Maxim of the Law no Man can give more Right than he himself hath Cook l. 1. Therefore c. 2. Moreover a Bishop is to be Ordained by two or three Bishops Counc Apostol Can. 1. And a Priest and likewise a Deacon and the rest of the Clergy by a Bishop Ibid. Can. 2. Conc. Trid. Sess 23. Can. 7. But this Apostolical and needful manner of ordination or mission they never yet had For they rejected it quite and brought in an Heretical fashion in its stead in Edward the Sixths time Neither if they were willing could they have For as I said before their Bishops from the beginning of their Reformation had no other Ordination Consecration or Mission than the Commission of the King or Queens Pleasure For the Sacrilegious Illicite and invalid Ordination of or by Story which was the first pretended Holy mission of Protestants in England and from whence they hitherto derive their orders it was not worth a straw witness the fore mentioned Canons of the Apostolica Council c. And consequently their pretended Holy Orders thence derived are not worth a Pins Head Therefore they are not true Preachers what are they then Forsooth Intruders Wolves and Murderers Sons of Belial false Prophets and Priests of Baal which is their Heresie Rebellion and Stubbornness against the Church Thus that railing Rabshekah but the falsity of all such clamours was long since demonstrated by the Learned Mason in his Treatise of the Ordination of Bishops and Priests in the Church of England The seven and thirtieth Article of the Church of England Of the Civil Magistrate THE Kings Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other his Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Civil or Ecclesiastical in all Causes doth appertain nor is not nor ought to be Subject to any Forreign Jurisdiction where we attribute to the Kings Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some dangerous Folks to be offended He give not to our Princes the Ministring of Gods Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the In junctions also lately set forth by Eliz. our Queen do most plainly testifie But that only Prerogative which we les to have been goven always to all Godly Princes in Holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their Charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and Evil doers The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Laws of the Realm may punish Christian Men with Death for hainous and grievous Offences It is lawful for Christian Men at the Commandement of the Magistrate to wear Weapons and serve in the Wars The Presbyterians God the Supream Lord and King of all the World hath Ordained Civil Magistrates to be under him over the People for his own Glory and the publick good and to this end hath armed them with the power of the Sword for the defence and incouragement of them that are good and for the punishment of Evil doers The Civil Magistrate may not assume to himself the Administration of the Word and Sacraments or the power of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven yet he hath Authority and it is his duty to take order that Unity and Peace be preserv'd in the Church and that the Truth of God be kept pure and intire that all Blasphemies and
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
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
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