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A57847 The Tridentine-gospel, or, papal creed made at Trent, and promulgated at Rome, by Pope Pius IV : exhibited and demonstrated to be new, heterodox, and antichristian : in a sermon / by William Ramsay ... ; hereto is added, Pope Pius his Bull in Latine and English, necessary to be seen by all that would know the present faith of Rome, especially in these our nations where they conceal it. Ramsay, William, B.D.; Catholic Church. Pope (1559-1565 : Pius IV). Professio fidei Tridentina. English & Latin. 1672 (1672) Wing R221; ESTC R14528 21,776 35

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Faith to justification and salvation have no sin as the Romists attribute to their Priestly absolutions and Papal indulgences No For if we say we have no sin the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1.8 How then do we keep the Commandments it follows immediately v. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins to wit if we have an unfeigned Faith in his name which will certainly through love work a sorrow to offend him who is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2.2 Thus it appears that to believe unfeignedly in Jesus Christ and to keep the Commandments are two things inseparable Wherefore whensoever we hear eternal life and salvation promised to the one the other must be understood included as a necessary part of that Repentance to which Christ hath promised his Kingdom The mutual relation of these parts being thus observed we are to consider them distinctly by themselves And first The Holy Scripture every where proclaims That To believe Jesus to be the Son of God is an absolute sum of all necessary Faith yea I dare say This is the way of Salvation the Repentance to which the Kingdom is promised and the whole Primitive Gospel of Christ in the strict sense and propriety of that word as we explicated before And Jesus Christ himself is my Warrant Author and Argument Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent And lest we might interpret this in too narrow a sense Christ would be his own Interpreter v. 40. This is the will of him that sent me that every one which believeth on the Son may have everlasting life and I will raise him up a● the last day And lest yet we might think with the Papists that he instructed us by halfs he adds not to his words to do which was both easie and necessary if his doctrine were not already perfect he adds not I say to his words but repeats the same words with more brevity and a double asseveration v. 47. Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me hath everlasting life What could be more plainly more peremptorily more authoritatively declared than this What reasonable man after this plain and earnest declaration of Christ himself the author and finisher of our faith Hebr. 12.2 can think it needful to run after Pope Apostle o● Angel to learn if this faith be sufficient of which Christ hath already given sentence He that believeth hath everlasting life Must not that needs be the Gospel of the Kingdom to which the King Jesus declaratively promiseth the Kingdom Must not that needs be the way of everlasting life which so solemnly is shewn commended and commanded unto us by him that is the way the truth and the life Let us therefore with all confidence relie on the most warrantable Word of Christs own oral promise which is so far from needing the confirmation of a Papal Bull that Apostles or Angels preaching any other Gospel are declared accursed Yet It will not be amiss to see how consonant the Proclamation of the Apostles is to the Archetypal Word of their Master to the Primitive and Oral Law of their Lord. The most beloved Disciple of Jesus John is an irrefragable Recorder chap. 20.31 He bears record that the Gospels were written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have life through his name His Epistles are decretal in this point 1 Jo. 5.3 he formally professeth his design saying I write to that end that ye may know that ye have eternal life if ye believe in the name of the Son of God Farther the practice of the Apostles as appears in the Book of their Acts was to baptize in the name of Jesus Christ that is to make members of the Church such as had no farther knowledge of Faith than to believe Jesus to be the Christ Wherefore let no man add to the word of Faith but rather consent with Paul Rom. 10.8 This is the word of faith which we preach If thou confessest with thy mouth our Lord Jesus and in thy heart believest thou shalt be saved This Faith in Christ includes or infers as we said Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law to do to others even as we would they should do to us Mat. 7.12 The whole law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Gal. 5.14 If we love one another God abideth in us and the love of God is perfected in us 1 Joh. 4.12 This Belief and Love combined in one most amply express that Repentance which Christ and his Apostles preached to which they promised the Kingdom So we find them jointly exprest 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his Commandment that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another This is his Commandment both Old and New 1 Joh. 2.7 We therefore briefly and clearly conclude our first Resolve to wit that the Gospel which Christ and his Apostles preached as the only and immutable way of eternal truth and happiness consists in the Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus that is to believe Jesus to be the Son of God and to keep his Commandments and is essentially neither more nor less For as the whole law is fulfilled in one word Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Gal. 5.14 So the whole faith is preached in one word Confess with thy mouth and believe in thy heart the Lord Jesus Rom. ●0 8 From this our first Resolve the second is with ease and evidence deduced to wit That the present Church of England professeth and maintaineth that Primitive Gospel For it is manifest that the said Church imposeth upon no man as necessary to salvation more than what the written Word of Christ imposeth Article 6. of the 39. and the written Word is demonstrated to impose what we have said and no more It remains only to exhort the happy members of this Church as Paul did 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus But the glory of the Church of England will appear more illustrious after a view taken of the Church of Rome which follows in this third Resolve wherein I will shew that the Church of Rome imposeth a Gospel contrary to the Primitive Gospel of Christ For the days have already appeared wherein according to the Spirits prediction 2 Tim. 4.3 Men were not content with plain sound and wholsom doctrine of Faith and Love in Christ Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the swelling lust and pride of their hearts bred an itch in their ears which gave them no rest till heaps of Masters had rubbed them into such a temper of madness and absurdity that they turned Apostates from the
Supremacy which was not from the beginning but laid by man is to be raised by man The holy Spirit buildeth the faithful on the first foundation by hope in the grace and merits of Jesus Christ The Pope builds his credulous children on his own foundation by hope in the grace and merits of his Pardons and Indulgences The charity of Jesus Christ which is to love one another as he loved us is the furniture and perfection of the first building but slavery and bondage to Papal jurisdiction is the top and consummation of the Roman Edifice Recitâsse confutâsse est The bare rehearsal of such a Creed is a full conviction of its heterodox absurdity Yet that its novelty may more appear we will set before it three illustrious Opposites of Evangelical Light to wit Primitive Creeds Primitive Councils and Primary Texts of Scripture As for Primitive Creeds The whole Christian World ever held yea the present Church of Rome in word though not in effect holdeth that the Apostles Creed was by them in the H. Ghost designed as a sum of all Christian belief necessary to salvation wherefore the primitive Church never presumed to add but only to declare it in more open exp●essions of the same thing as appetrs in the Creeds of Athanasius of Nice o● Constantinople But this Creed of Trent is a palpable piece of Creation for it's totally new both in matter and in form And to deny its novel● were as gross an absurdity in point of understanding as to deny the rising of the Sun were an absurdity in sense yea greater as its difference from the Primitive Creed is as manifest as the identity of the rising and setting Sun is certain For its Articles are of an impertinent and opposit● import to the Primitive more in number greater in bulk stranger to sense harder to Reason burdensom to Conscience contemptible to Religion The Primitive Creeds may justly glory in the foundation of Christ to wit his written Word in which they a●e found contained The Creed of Trent hath nothing to glory in greater than the Romish Schools Papal Decrees Canons Customs Constitutions and Senses of Men. The Primitive Creeds have the Testimony of the whole World Christian and Antichristian The Creed of Trent besides repugnance with Christian Principles is reprobated by the most learned and sober part of Christendom to wit Protestant Churches and Nations The Primitive Creeds sound nothing but Gods honour and worship through Jesus Christ This of Trent sounds nothing but Lucre through a form of godliness denying the power thereof with popular Superstition vendible Devotion and tyrannical exaction of Faith and Obedience The Primitive Councils are four of Nice of Constantinople of Ephesus and of Chalcedon In these the whole Christian World on which as yet the dew of the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles stood fresh and fair unanimously made a Catholick united and most solemn attestation of the Faith of Christ Which the Council of Nice first did Ann. 325. not by defining new Articles or creating new matter or producing new form of Faith but by declaring and defending the Old contained in the Apostles Creed Which as a just measure of Faith instituted by the Holy Ghost that great Council presumed not to transgress The same was observed by the Council of Constantinople Ann. 381. which repeated confirmed and ratified the Symbol of Nice defending the Article of the Holy Ghost by a clear expression of his p●oceeding from the Son The Council of Ephesus Ann. 431. presumed no addition of Articles but confirming the Apostolical number defended that of Christs divine and unique personality against Nestorius The Council of Chalcedon 451. confi●med the method of the former Councils defending and declaring the two distinct Natures of Christ against Eutiches Thus these four Catholick Councils had no other product of Faith than is formally contained in the four Catholick Gospels In fine The work of the Holy Spirit in the Primitive Councils was nothing more or less than to establish that Faith which he inspired the four Evangelists to write in the Gospel and the Apostles to preach in their Creed But in these last days non Sanctus Spiritus sed sanctissimus Pater not the Holy Spirit but the most Holy Father for so he loveth to be entituled who superlatively exalts himself above whatsoever is God in Heaven or is called God on Earth hath wrought a new work est mirabile in oculis nostris a New Gospel of Apostolical and Ecclesiastical that is Roman Traditions Customs and Constitutions grounded on the Cathedral word of a Pope not as the old Creed a sum of the work of the Scriptures written by the instinct and confirmed by the wonderful works of the Holy Spirit but a sum of the work on Earth to wit of the Canon law of Rome written by the instinct and confirmed by the most mighty Bulls of the most Holy Fathers the Bishops of Rome Which sum his said Most Holy Paternity defines to be the true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved which Definition whosoever infringeth he shall not only incur his Holiness displeasure but the indignation also imperet ei Deus God rebuke him of Almighty God And the rebuke will quickly follow if you please to consider four Primary Texts of Scripture Joh. 20.31 These things of which the Apostolical Symbol is a Sum are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life by his name Why then were not these other things of which this Papal Symbol is a Sum written if as his Holiness defines there is no life no salvation without them Acts 15.28 It is approved of the Holy Ghost and us say the Apostles at Jerusalem not to impose on you a greater burthen than these necessary things Hath the Holy Ghost in length of years disapproved in Trent what he approved in Jerusalem to double the burden of belief and obedience It 's far more just and reasonable to judge that he who glorieth in the Vicairship of Christ and Succession to Peter is heir and possessor of that spirit of Roboam 1 King 12.20 Speaking hard things to the people of Christ making his least finger grosser than the back and shoulders of Jesus making his sweet yoke uneasie and scourging with Scorpions the flock of Christ for which the good Pastor was scourged with whips The Apostle Jude in his Catholick Epistle v. 3. thinks it necessary to exhort us to contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints But Pope Pius commands us to fight for the Faith now of late inspired into the holy Fathers of the Council of Trent initio Bullae But let us obey the holy Apostle who like a Messenger of God exhorts us with a salutation of Mercy Peace and Charity But let us avoid the Papal Spirit as of a contrary Satanical mission for more Impious indeed than Pius by name he usurps a threat of the
Indignation of God and as if that were not enough to fill his blasphemous throat he adds a double one of St. Peter and Paul implying his own as the root of his bitterness In fine Our Text casts an imperative reiterated Curse upon whomsoever in Heaven or Earth Apostle or Angel that preacheth any thing as Gospel besides what was already preached even at the first preaching of which the Creed is a Catholick Sum. How monstrous then is the Papal presumption To retort this Curse upon the Spirit of God to wit upon all that in obedience to that Spirit admits not the Gospel he preacheth which is not only besides what was first preacht but evidently new ●nd repugnant A Symbol of Papal definitions elevated by Papal Decree above the prerogative of the written Law and Gospel of Christ amplified without limit numero pondere mensurâ in number weight and measure Not we therefore whom God hath commanded to bless them that curse us But God the Father of all Mercies as well as the Avenger of the Impious will decide yea hath decided in his holy Word this day declared in your ears the Cause of his holy Gospel Let us not fear the terrour of Man but submit to the power of Christ Jesus subscribing to his holy written Testament on Earth that our Names may be written in the Book of Life in Heaven Let us fight a good fight of constant Faith in the true Catholick and Apostolick Church of Christ militant on Earth which Name is no way due to the Romish Synagogue For she denies the Catholick doctrine of the Gospel and the Apostolical legacie of the Creed seeking to establish a Gospel and Creed of her own on Papal authority and Romish tradition whence her name is Papal or Roman and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Church consisting of Members called and chosen by the calling of Christ and the Word of his Spirit but rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City or Synagogue convened and driven together by political stratagems and powerful coaction But as the Scriptures are certainly the Catholick Testament of Christ and the Creed an Apostolical Legacy of Faith So whatsoever Church maintains these as at this day Our Church of England is truly Catholick and Apostolical Now rejoyce thou Spouse of Christ Prosper and flourish gloriously thou House of God thou Church of England The Heavens reap perpetual harvest of Joy and Glory in the Saints that ascend to the Tabernacles of Immortality from the Tents of thy Militia The Angels ever protect and guard thee that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against thee The Queens also of the Earth that is thy Sisters the other Reformed Churches of Christ admire praise and honour thee but to speak thy happiness in a word God loveth thee for Thou art that Philadelphia that beloved Sister of Christ to which the Spirit speaks Rev. 3.9 I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the Earth Behold I come quickly hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy Crown That is You Pastors and People of the Church of England hold fast the form of sound words which you have in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the Primitive Gospel of the Kingdom which consisteth in Faith unfeigned in Jesus Christ and in such Love one to another as Christ loved us withal That no man take thy Crown Not only Men by humane Traditions and politick inventions will rob thy temporal Crown usurping Supremacy but even thy right to the Crown of eternity will as soon leave thee as thou shalt leave thy first Faith and Charity To conclude Take a short Corollary or Recapitulation of all that hath been said First it hath on one side been manifestly evidenced from the Word of God that the Gospel of the Kingdom that is the Repentance to which Christ promised his Kingdom is to believe and love to believe in the Saviour Jesus and to keep his Commandments Secondly on the other side it hath been manifestly evidenced from the solemn profession of Faith in the present Church of Rome canonized by Pope Pius Quartus that she imposeth as necessary to salvation a far heavier burden than that Gospel of Christ to wit the Creed or Gospel of Trent Thirdly it is evident in our Text that it is not in the power of Apostle or Angel much less of a Pope to impose another Gospel than that of Christ And then in fine Fourthly it must needs be evident that whosoever is so much a Christian as to believe the Scriptures and so much a reasonable Man as to distinguish between one Gospel and another must needs acknowledge the Church of Rome to preach another Gospel than that of Christ and consequently if he loves and hopes eternal life will desert that Church which leaves the paths of the Gospel of life and seek to be Member of such a Christian body as adheres to its head Jesus Christ by a sincere adhesion to his saving Gospel Such is the Evangelical Apostolical and Catholick Church of England in which God maintain and increase the Faith and Love which is in his Son Christ Jesus through his Holy Spirit Amen BULLA Sanctissimi Domini nostri DOMINI PII Divina Providentia PAPAE Quarti Super formâ Juramenti Professionis Fidei PIUS Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei ad perpetuam Rei Memoriam INjunctim nobis Apostolicae servitutis officium requirit ut ea quae Dominus omnipotens ad providam Ecclesiae suae directionem Sanctis Patribus in nomine suo congregatis divinitus inspirare dignatus est ad ejus laudem gloriam incunctantur exequi properemus Cum itaque juxta Concilii Tridentini dispositionem omnes quos deinceps Cathedralibus superioribus Ecclestis praefici vel quibus de illarum dignitatibus canonicatibus aliis quibuscunque beneficiis Ecclesiasticis curam animarum habentibus provideri continget publicam orthodoxae fidei professionem facere séque in Romanae Ecclesiae obedientiâ permansuros spondere jurare teneantur Nos volentes etiam per quoscunque quibus de Monasteriis Conventibus Donibus aliis quibuseunque locis Regularibus quorumcunque Ordinum etiam Militiarum quocunque nomine vel titulo providebitur idem serva●● ad hoc ut unius ejusdem fidei professio uniformiter ab omnibus exhibeatur unicáque certa illius forma cunctis innotescat nostrae sollicitudinis partes in hoc alicui minimè desiderari formam ipsam praesentibus annotatam publica●i ubique gentium per eos ad quos ex decretis ipsius Concilii alios praedictos spectat recipi observari ac sub●enis per
whatsoever to infringe the page of this our Will and Commandment or with daring rashness to contradict it But if any one be so presumptuous as to attempt that let him know that he shall incur the indignation of Almighty God and of the B. Peter and Paul his Apostles * 14 Given at Rome at S. Peters Ann. Chr. 1564. the Ides of Nov. in the fifth Year of our Pontificate Fed. Cardinalis Caesius Cae. Glorierius The Letters above-written were read and published at Rome in the Apostolical Chancel Ann. 1564. on Saturday the 9. of Decemb. in the fifth year of the Pontificate of the Most Holy Father and Lord in Christ our Lord Pope Pius the fourth A. Lomelinus Custos The little Stars inserted in this Romish Symbol are to lead the Reader to the following Notes which discover the Sophistry of Mysterious Iniquity hid therein Notes upon this BULL THis Profession of Faith is truly that form of Godliness of which the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. 3.5 which the Papal Church professeth yet really denieth the power thereof as these following Stars make clearly appear For first * 1 Here is a solemn celebrity of a form of Profession of the Orthodox Faith of Jesus Christ Yet weigh the matter contained and it proves nothing else in fine but a vow of unlimited obedience to the Pope and of a Faith totally captivated to his Councils Canons and Decrees as most specially appears in the 12. 13. and 14. Articles of the New Creeed * 2 Here is a form of the most Christian Humility imaginable where the Bishop of Bishops terms himself the Servant of the Servants of God but consider a Satanical pride or a greater if possible wherewith he exalts himself above all that is called God glorying in the title of the Most Holy Lord which he prints above in Capital Letters and maintains in trampling on the heads of Kings and Emperours by usurpt supremacy * 3 Here is an extern form of Divine Doctrine which is pretended to be inspired by God into the Holy Fathers congregated in his name But the real truth is that these Fathers were Schoolmen more famous for knowledge in the Canon-law of Rome than for holy life in the law of God inspired with the Spirit of Aquinas and Scotus and other School-Evangelists more than with the Spirit of their Master Christ as appears in their long New Creed drawn from their Schools and not from the Gospel Congregated not in the name of the Lord for then his Law would have been their Rule but in the name of the Pope whose Kingdom they have sought for as most faithful Vassals * 4 Here is an illustrious form of Catholick and Apostolical Belief to wit a solemn Profession of the Primitive Creed of the Apostles illustrated by the Council of Nice and of Constantinople as a just sum of the Faith of Christ But this same Faith is mysteriously subverted by a New Creed of Traditions immediately added exceeding the former in number of Articles in weight of difficulty and in measure unlimited of School-Assertions * 5 Under the form of these words Apostolical Ecclesiastical Catholick Holy Church Mother c. lies always hid the adulterate matter of the Romish Synagogue * 6 Here is a form of receiving the Scripture but in truth they receive it only in such tenour and sense as the Fathers admit that is the School-men approved by the Pope For although this Article craftily seems to mean the ancient Fathers of the Primitive Church yet truly they are admitted no more than the Pope and his School-men are pleased to approve and what is really here meant by the Mother-Church you may see plainly in Art 12. * 7 This seems a short Article in form but in matter it is greater than a just Creed for the things declared and defined by the Council of Trent concerning Original sin and Justification are many and weighty * 8 This and the following Articles of this New Creed are very fallacious by a diminutive form of expression which craftily hideth a matter of greater Moment As here the souls in Purgatory are only said to be holpen by the Suffrages of the Faithful Yet certain it is that the Pope lays claim to a greater power in that infernal Territory and boasteth to possess the Keys thereof and to open and shut at pleasure especially to such as are liberal in Alms. * 9 Here is also a diminution of words For indeed the Roman tenet is That the Saints are to be adored and worshiped for this cause chiefly to wit because Salvation and other divine benefits are obtained by their Merits and Grace as the Catechism of the Council of Trent plainly expresseth Part. 3. Num. XXIV Whence is manifest that the Roman Church makes the Saints fellow-Saviours with Christ for Christ is not a Saviour any other way than by procuring us salvation and other benefits by his merits and grace * 10 Here is also a diminutive expression For the Pope usurpeth Indulgences not only as conducing to salvation but truly as fully sufficient to save all those that receive them for to such he promiseth infallible forgiveness of all sin and pain due to sin especially if the Indulgence include a condition of giving Alms. * 11 This Twelfth Article is both diminutive in expression and captious in consequence For first it means that all the Churches and Nations of the World are subject to the Laws and Canons of Rome A thing which neither Scripture nor Reason nor any Christian Principle can sustain Secondly It would infer That the Pope as Vicar of Christ is Lord and Master of the Nations of the World and can dispose of Empires Crowns and Diadems when and how he shall at any time define * 12 By this appears that the Council of Trent is the only measure and rule of Faith in the Church of Rome Whereas on the contrary S. Paul instructeth the Churches of Galatia Gal. 1.8 to measure their Faith by that Gospel only which from the beginning they had received and was by himself preached unto them And indeed this long New Creed of Rome is not derived in the least from Canonical Scripture but in whole and in part from the Canons of Trent * 13 Without which no man can be saved This evidently sheweth That this Profession of Faith is not made as a means of uniformity only as are the Articles of the Church of England but as a New Creed Gospel or Rule of Essential belief and as such is here imposed by the Pope upon his Subjects to be professed vowed sworn and maintained under pain of eternal damnation * 14 By this direful Curse of the Pope so confidently cast on those that reject his New Creed and Trent-Gospel appears how contrary the Papal Spirit is to the Spirit that spake in Paul Gal. 1.8 where a Curse is declared to fall on those who shall preach a Gospel other than that which was already preached by Paul The Curse therefore except we manifestly deny the Holy Ghost in his great Apostle must fall on the Pope and and Papal Preachers except they can find a Priviledge greater than given to Apostles or Angels to preach and establish New Gospels at pleasure Wherefore no man so much a Christian as to believe the Scriptures can in Conscience make scruple to reject this Papal Symbol as Anathematized with its Author Otherwise as captive to accursed Doctors let such an one certainly expect to be led in darkness deprived of the Truth and Light of Christ In fine It appears That as the sum of the Primitive Creed and Gospel is to believe in God so the sum of the Romish Creed and Gospel is to believe in Man the Pope And as the Rule of the Primitive Faith is the Word of God the holy Scriptures so the Rule of the Romish Faith is the word of Man Papal definitions And as the end of the Primitive Faith is the Charity of God to keep his Commandments so the end of the Romish Faith is Slavery to Man to ma●●tain his Supremacy Thus alass Rome hath left the Fountain of livi● waters God for the broken Cisterns of the digging of man wh●●hold no water Jer. 2.12 FINIS A Discourse concerning the Idolatry practised in the Church of Ro●● and the hazard of Salvation in the communion of it In Answer● some Papers of a Revolted Protestant wherein a particular acco●● is given of the Fanaticism and Divisions of that Church By EDWARD STILLINGFLEET D.D. Sold at the Phoenix in St. Pauls Church-yard and at the White Har● in Westminster Hall 1672.