the Phrases would grow old and sound harshly A few Alterations once in an Age will set this matter right besides that the use of such Forms does fix a Language at least as to those Phrases that are used in it which grow to be so familiar to our Ears by constant use that they do not so easily wear out It is above Eighty Years since the present Translation of the Bible was made and above One hundred and forty since our Liturgy was compiled and yet we perceive no uncouthness in the Phrases The simplicity in which such Forms must be drawn makes them not so subject to Alteration as other Composures of Rhetorick or Poetry but can it be thought any inconveniency now and then to alter a little the Words or Phrases of our Service Much less can that be thought of weight enough to balance the vaster prejudice of keeping whole Nations in Ignorance and of extinguishing Devotion by entertaining it with a Form of Worship that is not understood Nor can this be avoided by saying that the People are furnished with Forms in their own Language into which the greatest part of the Publick Offices are translated For as this is not done but since the Reformation began and in those Nations only where the Scandal that is given by an Unknown Language might have as they apprehend ill effects so it is only an Artifice to keep those still in their Communion whom such a gross Practice if not thus disguised might otherwise drive from them But still the Publick Worship has no Edification in it nor can those who do not understand it say Amen according to St. Paul Finally they urge the Communion of Saints in order to which they think it is necessary that Priests wheresoever they go may be able to officiate which they cannot do if every Nation Worships God in its own Language And this was indeed very necessary in those Ages in which the See of Rome did by Provisions and the other Inventions of the Canonists dispose of the best Benefices to their own Creatures and Servants That Trade would have been spoiled if Strangers might not have been admitted till they had learned the Language of the Country And thus instead of taking care of the People that ought to be edified by the Publick Worship Provision was made at their cost for such Vagrant Priests as have been in all Ages the Scandals of the Church and the Reproaches of Religion ARTICLE XXV Of the Sacraments Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only Badges or Tokens of Christian Mens Profession but rather they be certain sure Witnesses and effectual Signs of Grace and God's Will towards us by the which he doth work invisibly in us and doth not only quicken but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in him There are Two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel that is to say Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Those five commonly called Sacraments that is to say Confirmation Penance Orders Matrimony and Extream Unction are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel being such as have grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles partly are States of Life allowed in the Scriptures but yet have not like Nature of Sacraments with Baptism and the Lord's Supper for that they have not any visible Sign or Ceremony ordained of God The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon or to be carried about but that we should duly use them And in such only as worthily receive the same they have a wholsome Effect or Operation but they that receive them unworthily purchase to themselves Damnation as St. Paul saith THERE is a great Diversity between the Form of this Article as it is now settled and that published by King Edward which begun in these Words Our Lord Iesus Christ gathered his People into a Society by Sacraments very few in number most easily to be kept and of most excellent Signification that is to say Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. There is nothing in that Edition instead of the Paragraph concerning the other five pretended Sacraments Next comes the Paragraph which is here the last only with the Addition of these Words after Operation Not as some say ex opere operato which Terms as they are strange and utterly unknown to the Holy Scripture so do they yield a Sense which savoureth of little Piety but of much Superstition And in conclusion the Paragraph comes with which the Article does now begin so that in all this Diversity there is no real difference For the Virtue of the Sacraments being put in the worthy receiving excludes the Doctrine of Opus operatum as formally as if it had expresly been condemned and the naming the Two Sacraments instituted by Christ is upon the Matter the rejecting of all the rest It was most natural to begin this Article with a Description of Sacraments in General This difference is to be put between Sacraments and other Ritual Actions that whereas other Rites are Badges and Distinctions by which the Christians are known a Sacrament is more than a bare matter of Form and as in the Old Testament Circumcision and Propitiatory Sacrifices were things of a different Nature and Order from all the other Ritual Precepts concerning their Cleansings the Distinctions of Days Places and Meats These were indeed Precepts given them of God but they were not federal Acts of renewing the Covenant or reconciling themselves to God By Circumcision they received the Seal of the Covenant and were brought under the Obligation of the whole Law they were by it made Debtors to it and when by their Sins they had provoked God's Wrath they were reconciled to him by their Sacrifices with which Atonement was made and so their Sins were forgiven them The Nature and End of those was to be federal Acts in the offering of which the Iews kept to their part of the Covenant and in the accepting of which God maintained it on his part so we see a plain difference between these and a meer Rite which though commanded yet must pass only for the Badge of a Profession as the doing of it is an Act of Obedience to a Divine Law Now in the new Dispensation though our Saviour has eased us of that Law of Ordinances that grievous Yoke and those beggarly Elements which were laid upon the Iews yet since we are still in the Body subject to our Senses and to sensible things he has appointed some federal Actions to be both the visible Stipulations and Professions of our Christianity and the conveyances to us of the Blessings of the Gospel There are two Extremes to be avoided in this Matter The one is of the Church of Rome that teaches That as some Sacraments imprint a Character upon the Soul which they define to be a Physical Quality that is Supernatural and Spiritual so they do all carry along with them such a Divine Virtue that by the very receiving them the
all impure Desires being enjoined as indispensably necessary for without holiness no man can see the Lord. And thus every thing relating to this Article is considered and I hope both explained and proved ARTICLE VIII Of the Three Creeds The Three Creeds Nice Creed Athanasius Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought throughly to be received and believed for they may be proved by most certain Warrants of Holy Scripture ALthough no doubt seems to be here made of the Names or Designations given to those Creeds except of that which is ascribed to the Apostles yet none of them are named with any exactness Since the Article of the Procession of the Holy Ghost and all that follows it is not in the Nicene Creed but was used in the Church as a part of it for so it is in Epiphanius In Anchoreto before the Second General Council at Constantinople and it was confirmed and established in that Council Only the Article of the Holy Ghost's proceeding from the Son was afterwards added first in Spain Anno 447. which spread it self over all the West So that the Creed here called the Nice Creed is indeed the Constantinopolitan Creed together with the Addition of Filioque made by the Western Church That which is called Athanasius's Creed is not his neither â—or as it is not among his Works so that great Article of the Christian Religion having been settled at Nice and he and all the rest of the Orthodox referring themselves always to the Creed made by that Council there is no reason to imagine that he would have made a Creed of his own besides that not only the Macedonian but both the Nestorian and the Eutychian Heresies are expresly condemned by this Creed and yet those Authorities never being urged in those Disputes it is clear from thence that no such Creed was then known in the World as indeed it was never heard of before the Eighth Century and then it was given out as the Creed of Athanasius or as a Representation of his Doctrine and so it grew to be received by the Western Church perhaps the more early because it went under so great a Name in Ages that were not Critical enough to judge of what was genuine and what was spurious There is one great difficulty that arises out of several Expressions in this Câ—â—ed in which it is said That whosover will be saved must believe it That the Belief of it is necessary to Salvation and that such as do not hold it pure and undefiled shall without doubt perish everlastingly Where many Explanations of a Mystery hard to be understood are made indispensably necessary to Salvation and it is affirmed That all such as do not so believe must perish everlastingly To this two Answers are made 1. That it is only the Christian Faith in general that is hereby meant and not every Period and Article of this Creed so that all those severe Expressions are thought to import only the necessity of believing the Christian Religion But this seems forced for the words that follow And the Catholick Faith is do so plainly determine the sâ—gnification of that word to the Explanation that comes after that the word Catholick Faith in the first Verse can be no other than the same word as it is defined in the third and following Verses so that this Answer seems not natural 2. The common Answer in which the most Eminent Men of this Church as far as the Memory of all such as I have known could go up have agreed is this That these Condemnatory Expressions are only to be understood to relate to those who having the Means of Instruction offered to them have rejected them and have stifled their own Convictions holding the Truth in Unrighteousness and chusing darkness rather than light Upon such as do thus reject this great Article of the Christian Doctrine concerning One God and Three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost and that other concerning the Incarnation of Christ by which God and Man were so united as to make one Person together with the other Doctrines that follow these are those Anathâ—maes denounced Not so as if it were hereby meant that every man who does not believe this in every tittle must certainly perish unless he has been furnished with sufficient means of conviction and that he has rejected them and hardned himself against them The Wrath of God is revealed against all sin and the wages of sin is Death So that every Sinner has the Wrath of God abiding on him and is in a state of Damnation yet a sincere Repentance delivers him out of it even though he lives and dies in some sins of Ignorance which though they may make him liable to damnation so that nothing but true Repentance can deliver him from it yet a general Repentance when it is also special for all known sins does certainly deliver a man from the guilt of unknown sins and from the Wrath of God due to them God only knows our hearts the degrees of our knowledge and the measure of our obstinacy and how far our Ignorance is affected or invincible and therefore he will deal with every man according to what he has received So that we may believe that some Doctrines are necessary to Salvation as well as that there are some Commandments necessary for Practice and we may also believe that some Errors as well as some Sins are exclusive of Salvation all which imports no more than that we believe such things are sufficiently revealed and that they are necessary Conditions of Salvation but by this we do not limit the Mercies of God towards those who are under such darkness as not to be able to see through it and to discern and acknowledge these Truths It were indeed to be wished that some express Declaration to this purpose were made by those who have Authority to do it But in the mean while this being the Sense in which the Words of this Creed are universally taken and it agreeing with the Phraseology of the Scripture upon the like occasions this is that which may be rested upon And allowing this large Explanation of these severe words the rest of this Creed imports no more than the Belief of the Doctrine of the Trinity which has been already proved in treating of the former Articles As for the Creed called the Apostles Creed there is good reason for speaking so doubtfully of it as the Article does since it does not appear that any determinate Creed was made by them None of the first Writers agree in delivering their Faith in a certain Form of Words every one of them gives an Abstract of his Faith in Words that differ both from one another and from this Form From thence it is clear that there was no common Form delivered to all the Churches And if there had been any Tradition after the Times of the Council of Nice of such a Creed composed by the Apostles the Arians
the Ancients as the only Viaticum of Christians in their last Passage With them we give that and no more Thus it appears upon what Reason we reject those Five Sacraments though we allow both of Confirmation and Orders as Holy Functions derived to us down from the Apostles and because there is a visible Action in these though in strictness that cannot be called a Sacrament yet so the thing be rightly understood we will not dispute about the Extent of a Word that is not used in Scripture Marriage is in no respect to be called a Sacrament of the Christian Religion tho' it being a State of such Importance to Mankind we hold it very proper both for the Solemnity of it and for Imploring the Blessing of God upon it that it be done with Prayers and other Acts of Religious Worship But a great difference is to be made between a pious Custom begun and continued by publick Authority and a Sacrament appointed by Christ. We acknowledge true Repentance to be One of the great Conditions of the New Covenant but we see nothing of the Nature of a Sacrament in it And for Extreme Unction we do not pretend to have the Gift of Healing among us and therefore we will not deceive the World by an Office that shall offer at that which we acknowledge we cannot do Nor will we make a Sacrament for the Good of the Soul out of that which is mentioned in Scripture only as a Rite that accompanied the curing the Diseases of the Body The last Part of this Article concerning the Use of the Sacraments consists of Two Parts the First is Negative that they are not ordained to be gazed on or to be carried about but to be used And this is so Express in the Scripture that little Question can be made about it The Institution of Baptism is go preach and baptize And the Institution of the Eucharist is take eat and drink ye all of it Which Words being set down before those in which the Consecrating them is believed to be made This is my body And this is my blood and the Consecratory Words being delivered as the Reason of the Command take eat and drink nothing can be more clearly exprest than this that the Eucharist is consecrated only that it may be used that it may be eat and drunk The Second Part of this Period is that the Effect of the Sacraments comes only upon the Worthy receiving of them of this so much was already said upon the first Paragraph of this Article that it is not necessary to add any more here The pretending that Sacraments have their Effect any other way is the bringing in the Doctrine and Practice of Charms into the Christian Religion And it tends to dissolve all Obligations to Piety and Devotion to a Holiness of Life or a Purity of Temper When the being in a Passive and perhaps Insensible State while the Sacraments are applied is thought a Disposition sufficient to give them their Vertue Sacraments are federal Acts and those visible Actions are intended to quicken us so that in the use of them we may raise our inward Acts to the highest Degrees possible but not to supply their Defects or Imperfections Our Opinion in this Point represents them as means to raise our Minds and to kindle our Devotion whereas the Doctrine of the Church of Rome represents them as so many Charms which may heighten indeed the Authority of him that Administers them but do extinguish and deaden all true Piety when such helps are offered by which the worst Men living and dying in a bad State may by a few faint Acts and perhaps by none at all of their own be well enough taken care of and secured But as we have not so learned Christ so neither dare we corrupt his Doctrine in its most vital and essential Parts ARTICLE XXVI Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers which hinder not the Effect of the Sacraments Altho in the Uisible Church the Evil be ever mingled with the Good and sometime the Evil have chief Authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments yet for as much as they do not the same in their own Name but in Christ's and do Minister by his Commission and Authority we may use their Ministry both in hearing the Word of God and in receiving the Sacraments Neither is the Effect of Christ's Ordinance taken away by their Wickedness Nor the Grace of God's Gifts diminished from such as by Faith and rightly do receive the Sacraments ministred unto them which be Effectual because of Christ's Institution and Promise although they be ministred by Evil Men. Nevertheless it appertaineth 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 Iudgment to be deposed THE occasion that was given to this Article was the heat of some in the beginnings of the Reformation who being much offended at the publick Scandal which was given by the enormous Vices that were without any Disguise practised by the Roman Clergy of all Ranks did from thence revive the conceit of the Donatists who thought that not only Heresy and Schism did invalidate Sacred Functions but that personal Sins did also make them void It cannot be denied but that there are many Passages in St. Cyprian that look this Way and which seem to make the Sacraments depend as much on the good State that he was in who administred them as the Answer of their other Prayers did In the Progress of the Controversy with the Donatists they carried this Matter very far and considered the Effect of the Sacraments as the Answer of Prayers So since the Prayers of a wicked Man are Abomination to God they thought the Vertue of these Actions depended wholly on him that officiated Against this St. Augustin set himself very zealously He answered all that was brought from Cyprian in such a manner that by it he has set us a Pattern how we ought to separate the just Respect that we pay the Fathers from an Implicite receiving of all their Notions If this Conceit were allowed of it must go to the secret Thoughts and inward State in which he is who officiates for if the Sacraments are to be considered only as Prayers offered up by him then a Man can never be sure that he receives them Since it is impossible to see into the Hearts or know the Secrets of Men. Sacraments therefore are to be considered as the publick Acts of the Church and though the Effect of them as to him that receives them depends upon his Temper his Preparation and Application yet it cannot be imagined that the Vertue of those federal Acts to which Christians are admitted in them the Validity of them or the Blessings that follow them can depend on the secret State or Temper of him that Officiates Even in the case of publick Scandals though
Magistratibus REgia Majesâ—as in hoc Angliae regno ac caeteris ejus dominiis summam habet potestatem ad quam omnium statuum hujus regni sive illi Ecclesiastici sint sive civiles in omnibus causis suprema gubernatio pertinet nulli externae jurisdictioni est subjecta nec esse debet Cum Regiae Majestati summam gubernationem tribuimus quibus titulis intelligimus animos quorundam calumniatorum offendi non damus Regibus nostris aut verbi Dei aut Sacramentorum administrationem quod etiam Injunctiones ab Elizabetha Regina nostra nuper editae apertissime testantur Sed eam tantum praerogativam quam in sacris Scripturis a Deo ipso omnibus piis Principibus videmus semper fuisse attributam hoc est ut omnes status atque ordines fidei suae a Deo commissos sive illi Ecclesiastici sint sive civiles in officio contineant conâ—umaces ac delinquentes gladio civili coerceant Romanus pontifex nullam habet jurisdictionem in hoc regno Angliae Leges Regni possunt Christianos propter capitalia gravia crimina morte punire Christianis licet ex mandato Magisâ—ratus arma portare justa bella administrare De illicita bonorum communicatione FAcultates bona Christianorum non sunt communia quoad jus possessionem ut quidam Anabaptisâ—ae falso jactant debet tamen quisque de his quae possidet pro facultatum ratione pauperibus eleemosynas benigne distribuere De jure jurando QUemadmodum juramentum vanum temerarium a Domino nostro Jesu Christo Apostolo ejus Jacobo Christianis hominibus interdictum esse faâ—emur 〈◊〉 â—hrisâ—ianorum Religionem minime prohibere censemus quin jubente magistratu in causa fidei charitatis jurare liceat modo id fiat juxta Prophetae doctrinam in justitia in judicio veritate Confirmatio Articulorum HIC liber antedictorum Articulorum jam denuo approbatus est per assensum consensum Serenissimae Reginae Elizabethae Dominae nostrae Dei gratia Angliae â—raâ—ciae Hiberniae Reginae defensoris fidel c. retinendus per totum Regnum Angliae exequendus Qui Articuli lecti sunt denuo confirmati subscriptione D. Archiepiscopi Episcoporum superioris domus totius Cleri inferioris domus in Convocatione Anno Domini 1571. THE TABLE of the Contents INâ—roduction Page 1 Hâ—resies gave the Rise to larger Articles Ibid. A Form of Doctrine settled by the Apostles 2 Bâ—shops sent râ—und them a Declaration of their Faith Ibid. These were afterwards enlarged 3 This dâ—ne at the Council of Nice Ibid. Mâ—ny wild Sects at the beginning of the Reformation 4 And many complying-Papists put them on framing this Collection Ibid. The Articles set out at first by the King's Authority 5 A Question whether they are only Articles of Peace or of Dâ—ctrine 6 They bind the Consciences of the Clergy Ibid. The Laity only bound to Peace by them 7 The Subscription to them imports an Assent to them and not only an acquiescing in them 8 But the Articles may have different Senses and if the Words will bear them there is no Prevâ—rication in subscribing them so Ibid. This illustrated in the Third Article 9 The various Readings of the Articles collated with the MSS. Ibid. An Account of those various Readings 16 ARTICLE I. 17 THat there is a God proved by the Consent of Mankind Ibid. Oâ—j 1. Some Nations do not believe a Deity This is answered 18 Obj. 2. It is not the same Belief among them alâ— This is answered Ibid. The Visible World proves a Deity 19 Time nor Number cannot be Eternal nor Infinite Ibid. Moral Arguments to prove that the World had a Beginning 20 Such a Regular Frame could not be fortuitâ—us Ibid. Objection from the Production of Insects answered 21 Argument from Miracles well attested 22 Argument from the Idea of God examined Ibid. God is Eternal and necâ—ssarily exists 23 The Vnity of the Deity Ibid. God is without Body 24 Outward Manifâ—stations only to declare his Presence and Authority 25 No successive Acts in God 26 Question concerning God's immanent Acts Ibid. God has no Pâ—ssions 27 Phrases in Scripture of these explained Ibid. Some Thoughts concerning the Power and Wisdom of God 28 True Ideas of the Goodness of God Ibid. Of Creation and Annihilation 30 Of the Providence of God 31 Objections against it answered 32 Whether God does immediately produce all things 33 Thought and Liberty not proper to Matter 34 Whether Beasts think or are only Machines Ibid. How Bodies and Spirits are united 35 The Doctrine of the Trinity 36 Whether revealed in the Old Testament or not 37 The Doctrine stated Ibid. Argument from the Form of Baptism 38 Other Arguments for it 39 This was received in the First Ages of Christianity 40 Some Attempt to the stating true Ideas of God 41 ARTICLE II. 43 CHrist how the Son of God Ibid. Argument from the Beginning of St. John's Gospel 44 Reflections on the state of the World at that time 45 Arguments from the Epistle to the Philippians Ibid. Other Arguments complicated 46 Argument from Adoration due to him 47 The Silence of the Jews proves this was not then thought to be Idolatry by them 49 Argument from the Epistle to the Hebrews 50 God and Man in Christ made one Person 51 An Account of Nestorius's Doctrine 52 The Truth of Christ's Resurrection Ibid. Christ was to us an Expiatory Sacrifice 53 An Account of Expiatory Sacrifiâ—eâ— 54 The Agonies of Christ explained 55 ARTICLE III. 56 RUffin first published this in the Creed Ibid. Several Senses put on this Article 57 A Local Descent into Hell Ibid. What may be the true sense of the Article 58 ARTICLE IV. 59 THE Proof of Christ's Resurrection Ibid. The Jews in that Time did not disprove it 60 Several Proofs of the Incredibility of a Forgery in this matter 61 The Nature and Proof of a Miracle 62 What must be ascribed to good or evil Spirits 63 The Apostles could not be imposed on Ibid. Nor could they have imposed on the World 64 Of Christ's Ascension 65 Curiosity in these matters taxed Ibid. The Authority with which Christ is now vested 66 ARTICLE V. 68 THE senses of the word Holy Ghost Ibid. It stands oft for a Person 69 Curiosities to be avoided about Procession Ibid. The Holy Ghost is truly God 70 ARTICLE VI. 71 THE Controversy about Oral Tradition 72 That was soon corrupted Ibid. Guarded against by Revelation 73 Tradition corrupted among the Jews 74 The Scripture appealed to by Christ and the Apostles 75 What is well proved from Scripture 76 Objections from the darkness of Scripture answered 77 No sure guard against Error nor against Sin 78 The Proof of the Canon of the Scripture 79 Particularly of the New Testament 80 These Books were early received 81 The Canon of the Old Testament proved 82 Concerning the Pentateuch 83 Objections against the Old
taken from the Power of Evil Spirits is sometimes to be made use of when extraordinary things are well attested and urged in proof of that which upon other Reasons we are assured is false It is certain That as we have a great power over vast quantities of gross and heavy Matter which by the motion of a very subtile Body our Animal Spirits we can master and manage So Angels Good or Bad may by virtue of subtile Bodies in which they may dwell or which upon occasion they may assume do many things vastly above either our Force to do or our Imagination to apprehend how it is done by them Therefore an Action that exceeds all the known Powers in Nature may yet be done by an Evil Spirit that is in Rebellion against its Maker and that designs to impose upon us by such a mighty performance But then the measure by which we must judge of this is by considering what is the End or Design driven at in such a wonderful Work If it is a good one if it tends to reform the Manners of Men to bring them off from Magick Idolatry and Superstition to the Worship of one Pure and Eternal Mind And if it tends to Reform their Actions as well as their Speculations and their Worship to turn them from Immorality Falsehood and Malice to a Pure a Sincere and a Mild Temper if it tends to Regulate Society as well as to Perfect the Nature and Faculties of every single man Then we may well conclude That no evil Spirit can so far depart from its own Nature as to join its Forces and co-operate in such a Design Mat. 12 25 26. For then the Kingdom of Satan could not stand if he were thus divided against himself according to what our Saviour said when this was Objected against the Miracles that he wrought These are all the General Considerations that concur to prove the Truth of the History of the Gospel of which the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are the Two main Articles for they being well proved give Authority to all the rest As to the Resurrection in particular it is certain the Apostles could not be deceived in that matter They saw Christ frequently after he Rose from the Dead they met him once with a great Company of Five hundred with them They heard him Talk and Argue with them he opened the Scriptures to them with so peculiar an Energy that they felt their Hearts set on fire even when they did not yet perceive that it was He himself They did not at first either look for his Resurrection nor believe those who reported him risen They made all due Enquiry and some of them went beyond all reasonable bounds in their doubting So far were they from an easy and scon-imposed-on Credulity His Sufferings and their own Fears had so amazed them that they were contriving how to separate and disperse themselves when he at first appeared to them Men so full of Fear and so far from all Hope are not apt to be easy in believing So it must be concluded That either the account which the Apostles gave the World of Christ's Resurrection is true or they were gross Impostors since it is clear That the Circumstances and Numbers mentioned in that History shew there could be no deception in it And it is as little possible to conceive that there could be any Imposture in it For not to repeat again what has been already said That they were under no Temptations to set about any such Deceit but very much to the contrary and that there is no reason to think they were either bad enough to enter upon such a design or capable and skilful enough to manage it they being many of 'em illiterate Fishermen of Galilee who had no Acquaintance at Ierusalem to furnish them with that which might be necessary for executing such a contrivance The Circumstanâ—es of that Transaction are to be well examined and then it will appear that no Number of bold and dextrous men furnished with all Advantages whatsoever could have effected this matter Great Numbers had been engaged in the procuring our Saviour to be Crucified The whole Sanhedrim besides Multitudes of the People who upon all occasions are easily drawn in to engage in Tumultuary Commotions All these were concerned to examine the Event of this matter He was Buried in a New Sepulchre lately hewed out of a Rock so that there was no coming at it by any secret ways A Watch was set and all this at a time in which the Full-Moon gave a great Light all the Night long And Ierusalem being very full of People who were then there in great Numbers to keep the Passover that being the second Night of so vast a Rendevouz it is reasonable to think That great Numbers were walking in the Fields or at least might be so some later and some earlier Now if an Imposture was to be set about the Guard was to be frighted or mastered which could not be done without giving the Alarm and that must have quickly brought a Multitude upon them Christ's Body must have been disposed of Some other Tomb was to be lookt for to lodge it in The Wounds that were in it would have made it to be soon known if found Here a bold Attempt was to be undertaken by a company of poor irresolute Men who must trust one another intirely otherways they knew all might be soon discovered One of their Number had betrayed Christ a few days before Another had forsworn him and all had forsaken him And yet these men are supposed all of the sudden so firm in themselves and so sure of one another as to venture on the most daring thing that was ever undertaken by men when not a Circumstance could ever be found out to fix upon them the least suspicion The Priests and the Pharisees must be thought a strange stupid fort of Creatures if they did not examine where the Apostles were all that Night Besides many other particulars which might have been a thread to lead them into strict Inquiries unless it was because they believed the Report that the Watch had brought them of Christ's Rising again When they had this certain reason to believe it and yet resolved to oppose it the only thing they could do was to seem to neglect the Matter and only to decry it in general as an Imposture without going into Particulars which certainly they would not have done if they themselves had not been but too sure of the Truth of it When all this is laid together it is the most unreasonable thing imaginable to think that there was an Imposture in this Matter when no Colour nor shadow of it ever appeared and when all the Circumstances and not only probabilities but even Moral possibilities are so full to the contrary The Ascension of Christ has not indeed so full a proof Nor is it capable of it neither does it need it for the Resurrection well proved makes
above all the Presence of God which appeared in the Cloud of Glory and in those Answers that were given by the Urim and Thummim all which must be confessed to be advantages on the side of Tradition vastly beyond any that can be pretended to have been in the Christian Church Yet notwithstanding all these God commanded Moses to write all their Law as the Ten Commandments were by the Immediate Power or Finger of God writ on Tables of Stone When all this is laid together and well considered it will appear That God by a particular Oeconomy intended then to secure Revealed Religion from the doubtfulness and uncertainties of Oral Tradition It is much more reasonable to believe That the Christian Religion which was to be spread to many remote Regions among whom there could be little Communication should have been fixed in its first beginnings by putting it in Writing and not left to the looseness of Reports and Stories We do plainly see That though the methods of knowing and communicating Truth are now furer and better fixed than they have been in most of the Ages which have passed since the beginnings of this Religion yet in every Matter of Fact such additions are daily made as it happens to be Reported and every Point of Doctrine is so variously stated that if Religion had not a more assured bottom than Tradition it could not have that Credit paid to it that it ought to have If we had no greater certainty for Religion than Report we could not believe it very firmly nor venture upon it So in order to the giving this Doctrine such Authority as is necessary for attaining the great ends proposed in it the conveyance of it must be clear and unquestionable otherwise as it would grow to be much mixed with Fable so it would come to be looked on as all a Fable Since then Oral Tradition when it had the utmost Advantages possible of its side failed so much in the conveyance both of Natural Religion and of the Mosaical we see that it cannot be relied on as a certain method of preserving the Truths of Revealed Religion In our Saviour's Time Tradition was set up on many occasions against him but he never submitted to it On the contrary he reproached the Iews with this That they had made the Laws of God of no effect by their Traditions Mat. 15.3 6 9. Joh. 5.39 and he told them That they worshipped God in vain when they taught for Doctrines the Commandments of men In all his Disputes with the Pharisees he appealed to Moses and the Prophets he bade them search the scriptures for in them said he ye think ye have eternal life and they testify of me Ye think is by the Phraseology of that time a word that does not refer to any particular Conceit of theirs but imports That as they thought so in them they had Eternal Life Our Saviour justifies himself and his Doctrine often by words of Scripture but never once by Tradition We see plainly That in our Saviour's Time the Tradition of the Resurrection was so doubtful among the Iews that the Sadducees a formed Party among them did openly deny it The Authority of Tradition had likewise imposed two very mischievous Errors upon the strictest Sect of the Iews that adhered the most firmly to it The one was That they understood the Prophecies concerning the Messias sitting on the Throne of David literally They thought that in imitation of David he was not only to free his own Country from a Foreign Yoke but that he was to subdue as David had done all the Neighbouring Nations This was to them a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offence so their adhering to their Traditions proved their ruin in all Respects The other Error to which the Authority of Tradition led them was their preferring the Rituals of their Religion to the Moral Precepts that it contained This not only corrupted their own Manners while they thought that an Exactness of Performing and a Zeal in Asserting not only the Ritual Precepts that Moses gave their Fathers but those Additions to them which they had from Tradition that were accounted hedges about the Law That this I say might well excuse or atone for the most heinous Violations of the Rules of Justice and Mercy But this had yet another worse effect upon them while it possessed them with such prejudices against our Saviour and his Apostles when they came to see that they set no value on those practices that were recommended by Tradition and that they preferred pure and sublime Morals even to Mosaical Ceremonies themselves and set the Gentiles at liberty from those observances So that the ruin of the Iews their rejecting the Messias and their persecuting his followers arose chiefly from this Principle that had got in among them of believing Tradition and of being guided by it The Apostles in all their Disputes with the Iews make their Appeals constantly to the Scriptures they set a high Character on those of Berea for examining them and comparing the Doctrine that they preached Act. 17.11 with them In the Epistles to the Romans Galatians and Hebrews in which they pursue a thread of Argument with relation to the Prejudices that the Iews had taken up against Christianity they never once argue â—rom Tradition but always from the Scriptures They do not pretend only to disparage Modern Tradition and to set up that which was more Ancient They make no such distinction but hold close to the Scriptures When St. Paul sets out the Advantages that Timothy had by a Religious Education he mentions this That of a Child he had known the holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3 15 16. which were able to make him wise unto Salvation through Faith which was in Christ Iesus That is the Belief of the Christian Religion was a Key to give him a right understanding of the Old Testament and upon this occasion St. Paul adds All Scripture that is the whole Old Testament is given by Divine Inspiration or as others render the words All the divinely Inspired Scripture is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works The New Testament was writ on the same design with the Old that as St. Luke expresses it We might know the certainty of those things wherein we have been instructed â—uk 1.4 John 20 31. These things were written saith St. Iohn that ye might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name When St. Peter knew by a special Revelation that he was near his End he writ his Second Epistle 2 Pet. 1 15. that they might have that as a mean of keeping those things always in remembrance after his death Nor do the Apostles give us any hints of their having left any thing with the Church to be conveyed down by
an Oral Tradition which they themselves had not put in writing They do sometimes refer themselves to such things as they had delivered to particular Churches but by Tradition in the Apostles days and for some Ages after it is very clear that they meant only the conveyance of the Faith and not any unwritten Doctrines They reckoned the Faith was a sacred depositum which was committed to them and that was to be preserved pure among them But it were very easy to shew in the continued Succession of all the first Christian Writers That they still Appealed to the Scriptures That they Argued from them That they Condemned all Doctrines that were not contained in them and when at any time they brought human Authorities to justify their Opinions or Expressions they contented themselves with a very few and those very late Authorities So that their design in vouching them seems to be rather to clear themselves from the Imputation of having innovated any thing in the Doctrine or in the ways of expressing it than that they thought those Authorities were necessary to prove them by For in that case they must have taken a great deal more pains than they did to have followed up and proved the Tradition much higher than they went We do also plainly see that such Traditions as were not founded on Scripture were easily corrupted and on that account were laid aside by the succeeding Ages Such were the Opinion of Christ's Reign on Earth for a Thousand years The Saints not seeing God till the Resurrection The necessity of giving Infants the Eucharist The Divine Inspiration of the 70 Interpreters besides some more important Matters which in respect to those Times are not to be too much descanted upon It is also plain That the Gnosticks the Valentinians and other Hereticks began very early to set up a Pretension to a Tradition delivered by the Apostles to some particular persons as a Key for understanding the secret meanings that might be in Scripture in opposition to which both Irenaeus Tertullian and others Iren. I. 3. c. 1 2 3 4 5. Tertul. de presc Cap. 20 21 25 27 28. make use of Two sorts of Arguments The one is the Authority of the Scripture it self by which they confuted their Errors The other is a Point of Fact That there was no such Tradition In asserting this they appeal to those Churches which had been founded by the Apostles and in which a Succession of Bishops had been continued down They say in these we must search for Apostolical Tradition This was not said by them as if they had designed to establish Tradition as an Authority distinct from or equal to the Scriptures But only to shew the falshood of that pretence of the Hereticks and that there was no such Tradition for their Heresies as they gave out When this whole Matter is considered in all its parts such as 1 st That nothing is to be believed as an Article of Faith unless it appears to have been Revealed by God 2 dly That Oral Tradition appâ—ars both from the Nature of Man and the Experience of former Times to be an incompetent conveâ—er of Truth 3 dly That some Books were written for the conveyance of those Matters which have been in all Ages carefully preserved and esteemed sacred 4 thly That the Writers of the First Ages do always Argue from and Appeal to these Books And 5 thly That what they have said without Authority from them has been rejected in succeeding Ages the Truth of this Branch of our Article is fully made out If what is contain'd in theScripture in express words is theObject of our Faith then it will follow That whatsoever may be proved from thence by a just and lawful consequence is also to be believed Men may indeed Err in framing these Consequences and Deductions they may mistake or stretch them too far but though there is much Sophistry in the World yet there is also true Logick and a certain Thread of Reasoning And the sense of every Proposition being the same whether expressed always in the same or in different words then whatsoever appears to be clearly the sense of any place of Scripture is an Object of Faith tho it should be otherwise expressed than as it is in Scripture and every just Inference from it must be as true as the Proposition it self is Therefore it is a vain cavil to ask express words of Scripture for every Article That was the Method of all the Anciâ—nt Hereticks Christ and his Apostles Argued from the words and passages in the Old Testament to prove such things as agreed with the true sense of them and so did all the Fathers and therefore so may we do The great Objection to this is That the Scriptures are dark That the same place is capable of different Senses the Literal and the Mystical And therefore since we cannot understand the true Sense of the Scripture we must not Arguefrom it but seek for an Interpreterofit on whom we may depend All Sects Argue from thence and fancy that they find their Tenets in it And therefore this can be no sure way of finding out sacred Truth since so many do err that follow it In Answer to this it is to be considered That the Old Testament was delivered to the whole Nation of the Iews that Moses was read in the Synagogue in the hearing of the Women and Children that whole Nation was to take their Doctrine and Rules from it All Appeals wâ—re made to the Law and to the Prophets among them And though the Propâ—â—cies of the Old Testament were in their Stile and whole Contexture dark and hard to be understood yet when so great a Question as this Who was the true Messias came to be examined the proofs urged for it were Passages in the Old Testament Now the Question was How these were to be understood No Appeal was here made to Tradition or to Church-Authority but only by the Enemies of our Saviour Whereas he and his Disciples urge these passages in their true sense and in the consequences that arose out of them They did in that Appeal to the rational Faculties of those to whom they spoke The Christian Religion was at first delivered to poor and simple Multitudes who were both illiterate and weak the Epistles which are by much the hardest to be understood of the whole New Testament were Addressed to the whole Churches to all the Faithful or Saints that is to all the Christians in those Churches These were afterwards read in all thâ—ir Assemblies Upon this it may reasonably be asked Were these Writings clear in that Age or were they not If they were not it is unaccountable why they were addressed to the whole Body and how they came to be received and entertained as they were It is the End of Speech and Writing to make things to be understood and it is not supposable That Men Inspired by the Holy Ghost either could not or would
there must be a living speaking Judge always ready to guide the Church and to decide Controversies they say this cannot be in the diffusive Body of Christians for these cannot meet to judge Nor can it â—e in a General Council the meeting of which depends upon so many accidents and on the consent of so many Princes that the Infallibility will lie dormant for some Ages if the General Council is the Seat of it Therefore they conclude That since it is certainly in the Church and can be no where else but in the Pope therefore it is lodged in the See of Rome Whereas we on the other hand think this is a strong Argument against the Infallibility in general That it does not appear in whom it is vested And we think that every side does so effectually Confute the other that we believe them all as to that and think they argue much stronger when they prove where it cannot be than when they pretend to prove where it must be This in the Point now in hand concerning the Pope seems as evident 〈◊〉 thing can possibly be It not appearing That after the words of Christ 〈…〉 the other Apostles thought the Point was thereby decided Who 〈…〉 should be the greatest For that Debâ—â—e was still on foot and was 〈◊〉 among them in the very Night in which our Saviour was betrayâ—d Nor does it appear That after the Effusion of the Holy Ghost which certainly Inspired them with the full understanding of Christ's words that thâ—y thought there was any thing peculiarly given to S. Peter beyond the â—â—st He was questioned upon his Baptizing Cornelius He was not singly appealed to in the great Question of Subjecting the Gentiles to the Yoke of the Mosaical Law he delivered his Opinion as one of the Apostles After which St. Iames summed up the Matter and setled the Decision of it He was charged by St. Paul as guilty of dissimulation in that matter for which St. Paul withstood him to his Face And he justifies that in an Epistle confessed to be writ by Divine Inspiration St. Paul does also in the same Epistle plainly assert the equality of his own Authority with his And that he received no Authority from him and owed him no Dependance Nor was he ever Appealed to in any of the Points that appear to have been Disputed in the times that the Epistles were written So that we see no Characters of any special Infallibility that was in him besides that which was the effect of the Inspiration that was in the other Apostles as well as in him Nor is there a Tittle in the Scripture not so much as by a remote Intimation that he was to derive that Authority whatsoever it was to any Successor or to lodge it in any particular City or See The Silence of the Scripture in this Point seems to be a full proof that no such thing was intended by God Otherwise we have all reason to believe that it would have been clearly expressed St. Peter himself ought to have declared this And since both Alexandria and Antioch as well as Rome pretend to derive from him and that the Succession to those Sees began in him this makes a decision in this Point so much the more necessary When St. Peter writ his 2d Epistle in which he mentions a Revelation that he had from Christ of his approaching dissolution though that was a very proper occasion for declaring such an important Matter 2 Pet. 1 1â— he says nothing that relates to it but gives only a new Attestation of the truth of Christ's Divine Mission and of what he himself had been a witness to in the Mount when he saw the excellent glory and heard the voice out of it He leaves a Provision in Writing for the following Ages but says nothing of any Succession or See So that here the greatest of all Privileges is pretâ—nded to be lodged in a Succession of Bishops without any one Passage in Scripture importing it Another set of difficulties arise concerning the Persons who have a right to chuse these Popes in whom this Right is Vested and what number is necessary for a Canonical Election How far Simony voids it and who is the competent Judge of that or who shall judge in the Case of two different Elections which has often happened We must also have a certain Rule to know when the Popes judge as private Persons and when they judge Infallibly With whom they must consult and what Solemnities are necessary to make them speak ex Cathedra or Infallibly For if this Infallibility comes as a Privilege from a Grant made by Christ we ought to expect that all those necessary Circumstances to direct us in order to the receiving and submitting to it should be fixed by the same Authority that made the Grant Here then are very great difficulties Let us now see what is offered to make out this great and important Claim The chief Proof is brought from these Words of our Saviour when upon St. Peter's confessing That he was the Christ the Son of the living God Mat. 16. 16 17 18 19. He said to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven This begins with an Allusion to his Name and Discourses built upon such Allusions are not to be understood strictly or Grammatically By the Rock upon which Christ promises to build his Church many of the Fathers have understood the Person of Christ others have understood the Confession of him or Faith in him which indeed is but a different way of expressing the same thing And it is certain that strictly speaking the Church can only be said to be founded upon Christ and upon his Doctrine But in a Secondary sense it may be said to be founded upon the Apostles and upon St. Peter as the first in order which is not to be Disputed Now though this is a Sense which was not put on these Words for many Ages yet when it should be allowed to be their true sense it will not prove any thing to have been granted to St. Peter but what was common to the other Apostles who are all called the Foundations upon which the Church is built That which follows of the gates of hell not being able to prevail against the Church may be either understood of Death Eph. 2.20 Rev. 21.2 14. which is often called the gate to the grave Which is the sense of the Word that is rendred Hell And then the meaning of these Words will be That the Church which Christ was to raise should never be extinguished nor die or come to a period as the Iewish Religion then did Or according to the Custom of the Iews of holding their
These words in themselves and separated from all that went before seem to speak out this matter very fully But when the occasion of them and the matter that is treated of in them are considered nothing can be plainer than that our Saviour is speaking of such private Differences as may arise among Men and of the Practice of forgiving Injuries and composing their Differences If thy Brother sin against thee first private Endeavours were to be used then the Interposition of Friends was to be tried And finally the matter was to be referred to the Body or Assembly to which they belonged And those who could not be gained by such Methods were no more to be esteemed Brethren but were to be looked on as very bad Men like Heathens They might upon such refractoriness be Excommunicated and Prosecuted afterwards in Temporal Courts since they had by their Perversness forfeited all sort of right to that Tenderness and Charity that is due to true Christians This Exposition does so fully agree to the Occasion and Scope of these words that there is no colour of Reason to carry them further The Character given to the Church of Ephesus in St. Paul's Epistle to Timothy 1 Tim. 3. That it was the pillar and ground of Truth is a Figurative Expression And it is never safe to build upon Metaphors much less to lay much weight upon them The Iews described their Synagogues by such honourable Characters in which it is known how profuse all the Eastern Nations are These are by St. Paul applied to the Church of Ephesus For he there speaks of the Church where Timothy was then in which he instructs him to behave himself well It has visibly a relation to those Inscriptions that were made on Pillars which rested upon firm Pedestals But whatsoever the strict Importance of the Metaphor may be it is a Metaphor and therefore it can be no Argument Christ's promise of the Spirit to his Apostles Jâ—h 16.13 that should lead them into all truth relates visibly to that extraordinary Inspiration by which they were to be acted and that was to shew them things to come so that a Succession of Prophecy may be inferred from these words as well as of Infallibility Those words of our Saviour with which St. Matthew concludes his Gospel Matth. 28.20 Lo I am with you always even to the end of the World infer no Infallibility but only a promise of Assistance and Protection Which was a necessary encouragement to the Apostles when they were sent upon so laborious a Commission that was to involve them into so much danger God's being with any his walking with them his being in the midst of them his never leaving nor forsaking them are Expressions often used in the Scripture 2 Cor. 6.16 Heb. 13.5 which signifie no more but God's watchful Providence Guiding Supporting and Protecting his People All this is far from Infallibility The Last Objection to be proposed is that which seems to relate most to the Point in hand taken from the Decree made by a Council at Ierusalem Act 15.28 which begins It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us From which they infer That the Holy Ghost is present with Councils and that what seems good to them is also approved by the Holy Ghost But it will not be easie to prove that this was such a Council as to be a pattern to succeeding ones to copy after it We find Brethren are here joined with the Apostles themselves Now since these were no other than the Laity here an Inference will be made that will not go easily down If they fate and voted with the Apostles it will seem strange to deny them the same privilege among Bishops By Elders here it seems Presbyters are meant and this will give them an Entrance into a General Council out of which they cannot be well excluded if the Laity are admitted But here was no citation no time given to all Churches to send their Bishops or Proxies It was an Occasional Meeting of such of the Apostles as happened to be then at Ierusalem who called to them the Elders or Presbyters and other Christians at Ierusalem For the Holy Ghost was then poured out so plentifully on so many that no wonder if there was then about that truly Mother Church a great many of both sorts who were of such Eminence that the Apostles might desire them to meet and to joyn with them The Apostles were Divinely Assisted in the delivering that Commission which our Saviour gave them in charge To preach to every creature and so were Infallibly Assisted in the Executing of it Mark 16.15 yet when other Matters fell in which were no Parts of that Commission they no doubt did as St. Paul who sometimes writ by Permission 1 Cor. 7.6 12. as well as at other times by Commandment Of which he gives notice by saying It is I and not the Lord He suggested Advices which to him according to his Prudence and Experience seemed to be well founded and he offered them with great Sincerity for though he had some reason to think that what he proposed flowed from the Spirit of the Lord ver 40. from that Inspiration that was Acting him yet because that did not appear distinctly to him he speaks with Reserves and says ver 25. he gives his judgment as one that had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful So the Apostles here receiving no Inspiration to Direct them in this Case but observing well what St. Peter put them in mind of concerning God's sending him by a Special Vision to Preach to the Gentiles and that God had poured out the Holy Ghost on them even as he had done upon the Apostles who were Iews by Nature and that he did put no difference in that between Iews and Gentiles Acts 15.9 purifying the hearts of the Gentiles by Faith They upon this did by their Judgment conclude from thence That what God had done in the particular Instance of Cornelius was now to be extended to all the Gentiles So by this we see that those Words seemed good to the Holy Ghost relate to the Case of Cornelius and those Words seemed good to us import that they resolved to extend that to be a general Rule to all the Gentiles This gives the Words a clear and a distinct Sense which agrees with all that had gone before whereas it will otherwise look very strange to see them add their Authority to that of the Holy Ghost which is too Absurd to suppose Nor will it be easy to give any other consisting Sense to these Words Here is no Precedent of a Council much less of a General one but a Decision is made by Men that were in other things Divinely Inspired which can have no relation to the Judgment of other Councils And thus it appears that none of those Places which are brought to prove the Infallibility of Councils come up to the Point
it may be applied to the Persecution that was soon to break out in that day those who had true Notions generous Principles and suitable Practices would weather that Storm Whereas others that were entangled with weak and superstitious Conceits would then run a great risk though their firm believing that Jesus was the Messias would preserve them Yet the weakness and folly of those Teachers would appear their Opinions would involve them in such danger that their escaping would be difficult like one that gets out of a House that is all on fire round about him So that these words cannot possibly belong to Purgatory but must be meant of some signal discrimination that was to be made in some very dreadful appearances which would distinguish between the true and the false Apostles and that could be no other but either in the destruction of Ierusalem or in the persecution that was to come on the Church though the first is the more probable It were easy to pursue this Argument further and to shew that the Doctrine of Purgatory as it is now in the Roman Church was not known in the Church of God for the first six hundred Years that then it began to be doubtfully received But in an ignorant Age Visions Legends and bold Stories prevailed much yet the Greek Church never received it Some of the Fathers speak indeed of the last probatory Fire but though they did not think the Saints were in a state of consummate Blessedness enjoying the Vision of God yet they thought they were in a state of ease and quiet and that in Heaven St. Austin speaks in this whole matter very doubtfully he varies often from himself Aug. de Civit. Dâ—i l. 21. c. 18. ad 22. Enâ—â—â—r c. 67 68 69. Ad Dulcid 〈◊〉 primâ— he seems sometimes very positive only for two States at other times as he asserts the last probatory Fire so he seems to think that good Souls might suffer some grief in that sequestred state before the last Day upon the account of some of their past Sins and that by degrees they might arise up to their Consummation All these Contests were proposed very doubtfully before Gregory the Great 's days and even then some Doubts seem to have been made But the Legends were so copiously plaid upon all those Doubts that this Remnant of Paganism got at last into the Western Church Tertul. de Câ—r mil. c. â— de Ex. 〈◊〉 c. 13. â—â—prian 〈◊〉 34.37 〈…〉 75. l. 3. â—3 It was no wonder that the Opinions formerly mentioned which began to appear in the Second Age had preduced in the Third the practice of Praying for the Dead of which we find such full evidence in Tertullain and St. Cyprian's Writings that the matter of Fact is not to be denied This appears also in all the Antient Liturgies And Epiphanius charges Aerius with this of rejecting all Prayers for the Dead asking why were they prayed for The Opinions that they fell into concerning the State of departed Souls in the Interval between their Death and the Day of Judgment gave occasion enough for Prayer they thought they were capable of making a Progress and of having an early Resurrection They also had this Notion among them That it was the peculiar Priviledge of Jesus Christ to be above all our Prayers but that no Men not excepting the Apostles nor the Blessed Virgin were above the Prayers of the Church They thought this was an Act of Church-Communion that we were to hold even with the Saints in Heaven to pray for them Thus in the Apostolical Constitutions in the Books of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and in the Liturgies that are ascribed to St. Basil and St. Chrysostom Dion de Eccl. Hierar Cap. 7. they offer unto God these Prayers which they thought their reasonable Service for those who were at rest in the Faith their Forefathers Fathers Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles Preachers Evangelists Martyrs Confessors Religious Persons and for every Spirit pâ—rfected in the Faith especially for our most Holy Immaculate most Blessed Lady the Mother of God the ever Virgin Mary Particular Instances might also be given of this out of St. Cyprian St. Ambrose Nazianzen and St. Austin Aug. Conf. l. 9. c. 19. who in that famous and much cited Passage concerning his Mother Monica as he speaks nothing of any Temporal Pains that she suffered so he plainly intimates his belief that God had done all that he desired Thus it will appear to those who have examined all the Passages which are brought out of the Fathers concerning their Prayers for the Dead that they believed they were then in Heaven and at rest and by consequence though these Prayers for the Dead did very proâ—ably give the chief rise to the Doctrine of Purgatory yet as they then made them they were utterly inconsistent with that Opinion Tertullian who is the first that is cited for them says we make Oblations for the Dead Supra and we do it for that Second Nativity of theirs Natalitia once a year The Signification of the word Natalitia as they used it was the Saint's Days of Death in which they reckoned he was born again to Heaven So though they judged them there yet they offered up Prayers for them And when Epiphanius brings in Aerius asking Why those Prayers were made for the Dead Though it had been very natural and indeed unavoidable if he had believed Purgatory to have answered that it was to deliver them from thence yet he makes no such answer but only asserts that it had been the Practice of the Church so to do The Greek Church retains that Custom though she has never admitted of Purgatory Here then an Objection may be made to our Constitution that in this of praying for the Dead we have departed from the practice of the Ancients We do not deny it both the Church of Rome and we in another Practice of equal Antiquity of giving the Eucharist to Infants have made changes and let that Custom fall The Curiosities in the Second Century seem to have given rise to those Prayers in the Third and they gave the rise to many other Disorders in the following Centuries Since therefore God has commanded us while we are on Earth to pray for one another and has made that a main Act of our Charity and Church-Communion but has no where directed us to pray for those that have finished their Course and since the only pretence that is brought from Scripture of St Paul's praying that Onesiphorus might find mercy in the day of the Lord cannot be wrought up into an Argument for it cannot be proved that he was then Dead and since the Fathers reckon this of praying for the Dead only as one of their Customs for which they vouch no other Warrant but Practice since also this has been grosly abused and has been applied to support a Doctrine totally different from theirs we think that we have as good a Plea
for not following them in this as we have for not giving Infants the Sacrament and therefore we think it no Imputation on our Church that we do not in this follow a groundless and a much abused Precedent though set us in Ages which we highly reverence The greatest Corruption of this whole matter comes in the last place to be considered which is the Methods proposed for redeeming Souls out of Purgatory If this Doctrine had rested in a Speculation we must still have considered it as derogatory to the Death of Christ and the Truth of the Gospel but it raises our Zeal a little more when we consider the use that was made of it and that Fears and Terrors being by this means infused into Mens minds new Methods were proposed to free them from these The chief of which was the saying of Masses for departed Souls It was pretended that this being the highest Act of the Communion of Christians and the most sublime Piece of Worship therefore God was so well pleased with the frequent Repetition of it with the Prayers that accompanied it and with those that made Provisions for Men who should be constantly imployed in it that this was a most acceptable Sacrifice to God Upon this followed all those vast Endowments for saying Masses for departed Souls Though in the Institution of that Sacrament and in all that is spoken of it in the Scripture there is not an hint given of this Sacraments are positive Precepts which are to be measured only by the Institution in which there is not room left for us to carry them further We are to take eat and drink and thereby shew forth the Lord's death till his second coming All which has no relation to the applying this to others who are gone off this Stage therefore if we can have any just Notions either of Superstition or of Will-worship they are applicable here Men will fancy that there is a virtue in an Action which we are sure it has not of it self and we cannot find that God has put in it and yet they without any Authority from God do set up a new piece of Worship and imagine that God will be pleased with them in every thing they do or ask only because they are perverting this piece of Worship clearly contrary to the Institution to be a Solitary Mass. In the Primitive Church where all the Service of the whole Assembly ended in a Communion there was a Roll read in which the Names of the more Eminent Saints of the Catholick Church and of the Holy Bishops Martyrs or Confessors of every particular Church were registred This was an honourable remembrance that was kept up of such as had died in the Lord. When the soundness of any Persons Faith was brought in suspicion his Name was not read till that Point was cleared and then either his Name continued to be read or it was quite dasht out This was thought an Honour due to the Memory of those who had died in the Faith And in St. Cyprian's time in the Infancy of this Practice Cypr. Epist. 1. Oâ—on ad â—leb Furer we see he counted the leaving a Man's Name out as a thing that only left a Blot upon him but not as a thing of any Consequence to his Soul for when a Priest had died who had by his Last Will named another Priest the Tutor or Guardian of his Children this seemed to him a thing of such ill Example to put those Secular Cares upon the Minds of the Clergy that he appointed that his Name should be no more read in the daily Sacrifice which plainly shews unless we will tax St. Cyprian with a very unreasonable Cruelty that he considered that only as a small Censure laid on his Memory but not as a Prejudice to his Soul This gives us a very plain View of the Sense that he had of this Matter After this Roll was read then the general Prayer followed as was formerly acknowledged for all their Souls and so they went on in the Communion-Service This has no relation to a Mass said by a single Priest to deliver a Soul out of Purgatory Here without going far in Tragical expressions we cannot hold saying what our Saviour said upon another occasion My house is a house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves Mark 11.17 A Trade was set up on this Foundation The World was made believe that by the Virtue of so many Masses which were to be purchased by great Endowments Souls were redeemed out of Purgatory and Scenes of Visions and Apparitions sometimes of the tormented and sometimes of the delivered Souls were published in all Places which had so wonderful an effect that in two or three Centuries Endowments increased to so vast a degree that if the Scandals of the Clergy on the one hand and the Statutes of Mortmain on the other had not restrained the Profuseness that the World was wrought up to upon this account it is not easy to imagine how far this might have gone perhaps to an entire subjecting of the Temporalty to the Spiritualty The Practices by which this was managed and the Effects that followed on it we can call by no other Name than downright Impostures worse than the making or venting false Coyn when the World was drawn in by such Aâ—â—s to plain Bargains to redeem their own Souls and the Souls of their Ancestors and Posterity so many Masses were to be said and Forfeitures were to follow upon their not being said Thus the Masses were really the Price of the Lands An Endowment to a Religious Use though mixed with Error or Superstition in the Rules of it ought to be held Sacred according to the Decision given concerning the Censures of those that were in the Rebellion of Corah Numb 16.38 So that we do not excuse the Violation of such from Sacriledge yet we cannot think so of Endowments where the only Consideration was a false Opinion first of Purgatory and then of Redemption out of it by Masses this being expressed in the very Deeds themselves By the same Reasons by which private Persons are obliged to restore what they have drawn from others by base Practices by false Deeds or counterfeit Coyn Bodies are also bound to restore what they have got into their Hands by such fraudulent Practices so that the States and Princes of Christendom were at full liberty upon the discovery of these Impostures to void all the Endowments that had followed upon them and either to apply them to better Uses or to restore them to the Families from which they had been drawn if that had been practicable or to convert them to any other use This was a crying Abuse which those who have observed the progress that this matter made from the Eighth Century to the Twelfth cannot reflect on without both Amazement and Indignation We are sensible enough that there are many political Reasons and Arguments for keeping up the Doctrine of Purgatory
among themselves one to another but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's Death Insomuch that to such as rightly worthily and with faith receive the same the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ. Transubstantiation or the change of the Substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be Proved by Holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions The Body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the Supper only after a Heavenly and Spiritual manner and the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's Ordinance reserved carried about lifted up and Worshipped In the Edition of these Articles in Edward the VIth's Reign there was another long Paragraph against Transubstantiation added in these words Forasmuch as the Truth of Man's Nature requireth that the Body of one and the self-same Man cannot be at one time in divers places but must needs be in one certain place therefore the Body of Christ cannot be present at one time in many and divers places And because as Holy Scripture doth teach Christ was taken up into Heaven and there shall continue unto the end of the World a Faithful Man ought not either to Believe or openly Confess the Real and Bodily Presence as they term it of Christ's Flesh and Blood in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper WHEN these Articles were at first prepared by the Convocation in Queen Elizabeth's Reign this Paragraph was made a part of them for the Original Subscription by both Houses of Convocation yet extant shews this But the design of the Government was at that time much turned to the drawing over the Body of the Nation to the Reformation in whom the old Leven had gone deep and no part of it deeper than the belief of the Corporeal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament therefore it was thought not expedient to offend them by so particular a Definition in this matter in which the very word Real Presence was rejected It might perhaps be also suggested that here a Definition was made that went too much upon the Principles of Natural Philosophy which how true soever they might not be the proper subject of an Article of Religion Therefore it was thought fit to suppress this Paragraph though it was a part of the Article that was Subscribed yet it was not published but the Paragraph that follows The Body of Christ c. was put in its stead and was received and published by the next Convocation which upon the matter was a full Explanation of the way of Christ's Presence in this Sacrament that he is present in a heavenly and spiritual Manner and that Faith is the mean by which he is received This seemed to be more Theological and it does indeed amount to the same thing But howsoever we see what was the Sense of the first Convocation in Queen Elizabeth's Reign it differed in nothing from that in King Edward's Time And therefore though this Paragraph is now no Part of our Articles yet we are certain that the Clergy at that time did not at all doubt of the Truth of it we are sure it was their Opinion Since they subscribed it though they did not think fit to publish it at first and though it was afterwards changed for another that was the same in Sense In the treating of this Article I shall first lay down the Doctrine of this Church with the Grounds of it and then I shall examine the Doctrine of the Church of Rome which must be done copiously For next to the Doctrine of Infallibility this is the most valued of all their other Tenets this is the most Important in it self since it is the main Part of their Worship and the chief Subject of all their Devotions There is not any one thing in which both Clergy and Laity are more concerned which is more generally studied and for which they pretend they have more plausible Colours both from Scripture and the Fathers and if Sense and Reason seem to press hard upon it they reckon that as they understand the Words of St. Paul every thought must be captivated into the obedience of Faith 2 Cor. 10.5 In order to the expounding our Doctrine we must consider the Occasion and the Institution of this Sacrament The Iews were required once a Year to meet at Ierusalem in remembrance of the deliverance of their Fathers out of Egypt Exod. 12.11 Moses appointed that every Family should kill a Lamb whose Blood was to be sprinkled on their Door-posts and Lintels and whose Flesh they were to eat at the sight of which Blood thus sprinkled the destroying Angel that was to be sent out to kill the First-born of every Family in Egypt was to pass over all the Houses that were so marked And from that passing by or over the Israelites the Lamb was called the Lord's passover as being then the Sacrifice and afterwards the Memorial of that Passover The People of Israel were required to keep up the Memorial of that Transaction by slaying a Lamb before the Place where God should set his Name and by eating it up that Night They were also to eat with it a Sallet of bitter Herbs and unleavened Bread and when they went to eat of the Lamb they repeated these Words of Moses That it was the Lord's Passover Now tho' the first Lamb that was killed in Egypt was indeed the Sacrifice upon which God promised to pass over their Houses yet the Lambs that were afterwards offered were only the Memorials of it though they still carried that Name which was given to the First And were called the Lord's Passover So that the Iews were in the Paschal-Supper accustomed to call the Memorial of a thing by the Name of that of which it was the Memorial And as the Deliverance out of Egypt was a Type and Representation of that greater Deliverance that we were to have by the Messias the first Lamb being the Sacrifice of that Deliverance 1 Cor. 5.7 John 1.29 Compare Matt. 26.26 Mark 14.22 and the succeeding Lambs the Memorials of it so in order to this new and greater Deliverance Christ himself was our Passover that was sacrificed for us He was the Lamb of God that was both to take away the Sins of the World and was to lead Captivity Captive To bring us out of the Bondage of Sin and Satan into the Obedience of his Gospel He therefore chose the time of the Passover that he might be then offered up for us And did Institute this Memorial of it while he was celebrating the Iewish Pascha with his Disciples who were so much accustomed to the Forms and Phrases of that Supper in which every Master of a
Marriage of most of the Reformers was urged as an ill Character both of them and of the Reformation as a Doctrine of Libertinism that made the Clergy look too like the rest of the World and involved them in the common Pleasures Concerns and Passions of Human Life The Appearances of an Austerity of Habit of a Severity of Life in watching and fasting and of avoiding the common Pleasures of Sense and the Delights of Life that was on the other side did strike the World and inclined many to think that what ill consequences soever Celibate produced yet that these were much more supportable and more easy to be reformed than the ill consequences of an unrestrained Permission of the Clergy to marry In treating this matter we must first consider Celibate with relation to the Laws of Christ and the Gospel and then with relation to the Laws of the Church It does not seem contrary to the Purity of the Worship of God or of Divine Performances that Married Persons should officiate in them since by the Law of Moses Priests not only might marry but the Priesthood was tied to descend as an Inheritance in a certain Family And even the High-Priest who was to perform the great Function of the Annual Atonement that was made for the Sins of the whole Iewish Nation was to marry and he derived to his Descendants that Sacred Office If there was so much as a remote unsutableness between a Married State and Sacerdotal Performances we cannot imagine that God would by a Law tie the Priesthood to a Family which by consequence laid an Obligation on the Priests to marry When Christ chose his Twelve Apostles some of them were married men we are sure at least that St. Peter was so that he made no distinction and gave no preference to the unmarried Our Saviour did no where charge them to forsake their Wives nor did he at all represent Celibate as necessary to the Kingdom of Heaven or the Dispensation of the Gospel He speaks indeed of some that brought themselves to the state of Eunuchs for the sake of the Gospel Matth. 19.10 11 12. but in that he lest all men at full liberty by saying Let him receive it that is able to receive it so that in this every man must judg of himself by what he finds himself to be That is equally recommended to all Ranks of men as they can bear it St. Paul does affirm That Marriage is honourable in all and to avoid Uncleanness he says It is better to marry than to burn and so gives it as a Rule Heb. 13.4 1 Cor. 7.9 That every man should have his own Wife Among all the Rules or Qualifications of Bishops or Priests that are given in the New Testament particularly in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus there is not a word of the Celibate of the Clergy but plain Intimations to the contrary 1 Tim. 3.2 4 5 12. That they were and might be married That of the Husband of one Wife is repeated in different places Mention is also made of the Wives and Children of the Clergy Rules being given concerning them and not a word is so much as insinuated importing that this was only tolerated in the beginnings of Christianity but that it was afterwards to cease On the contrary the forbidding to marry is given as a Character of the Apostacy of the later times 1 Tim. 4.3 1 Cor. 9.5 We find Aquila when he went about preaching the Gospel was not only married to Priscilla but that he carried her about with him Not to insist on that Privilege that St. Paul thought he might have claimed of carrying about with him a Sister and a Wife as well as the other Apostles And thus the first Point seems to be fully cleared That by no Law of God the Clergy are debarr'd from Marriage There is not one word in the whole Scriptures that does so much as hint at it whereas there is a great deal to the contrary Marriage being then one of the Rights of Human Nature to which so many reasons of different sorts may carry both a wise and a good man and there being no positive Precept in the Gospel that forbids it to the Clergy the next question is Whether it is in the Power of the Church to make a perpetual Law restraining the Clergy from Marriage It is certain that no Age of the Church can make a Law to bind succeeding Ages for whatsoever Power the Church has she is always in possession of it and every Age has as much Power as any of the former Ages had Therefore if any one Age should by a Law enjoin Celibate to the Clergy any succeeding Age may repeal and alter that Law For ever since the Inspiration that conducted the Apostles has ceased every Age of the Church may make or change Laws in all matters that are within their Authority So it seems very clear that the Church can make no perpetual Law upon this Subject In the next place it may be justly doubted Whether the Church can make a Law that shall restrain all the Clergy in any of those Natural Rights in which Christ has left them free The adding a Law upon this Head to the Laws of Christ seems to assume an Authority that he has not given the Church It looks like a pretending to a strain of Purity beyond the Rules set us in the Gospel and is plainly the laying a Yoke upon us which must be thought Tyrannical since the Author of this Religion who knew best what Human Nature is capable of and what it may well bear has not thought fit to lay it on those whom he sent upon a Commission that required a much greater Elevation of Soul and more Freedom from the Entanglements of Worldly or Domestick Concerns than can be pretended to be necessary for the standing and settled Offices in the Church Therefore we conclude That it were a great Abuse of Church-Power and a high Act of Tyranny for any Church or any Age of the Church to bar men from the Services in the Church because they either are married or intend to keep themselves free to marry or not as they please This does indeed bring the Body of the Clergy more into a Combination among themselves it does take them in a great measure off from having separated Interests of their own it takes them out of the Civil Society in which they have less concern when they give no Pledges to it And so in Ages in which the Papacy intended to engage the whole Priesthood into its Interests against the Civil Powers as the Immunity and Exemptions of the Clergy made them safe in their own Persons so it was necessary to free them from any such Incumbrances or Appendages by which they might be in the Power or at the Mercy of Secular Princes This joined with the belief of their making God with a few words by the virtue of their Character and of their forgiving