for the belly as all men doe confesse We therefore disallow that Canon in the Popes decrees Ego Berengarius de consecrat Distinct 2. For neither did godly antiquitie beleeve neither yet doe we beleeve that the body of Christ can be eaten corporally and essentially with a bodily mouth There is also a spirituall eating of Christs body not such a one whereby it may be thought that the very meate is changed into the spirit but wherby the Lords body blood remaining in their owne essence and proprietie those things are spiritually communicated unto us not after a corporall but after a spirituall manner through the holy Ghost who doth apply and bestow upon us those things to wit remission of sinnes deliverance and life everlasting which are prepared for us by the flesh and bloud of our Lord which were given for us so as Christ doth now live in us and we live in him and doth cause us to apprehend him by a true faith to this end that he may become unto us such a spirituall meat and drinke that is to say our life For even as corporall meat and drinke doe not onely refresh and strengthen our bodies but also doe keep them in life even so the flesh of Christ delivered and his bloud shed for us doe not onely refresh and strengthen our soules but also doe preserve them alive not because they be corporally eaten and drunken but for that they are * Looke the 1. observat upon this confession communicated unto us spiritually by the Spirit of God the Lord saying The bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of this world also my flesh to wit corporally eaten profiteth nothing it is the Spirit which giveth life And the words which I speake to you are spirit and life And as we must by eating receive the meat into our bodies to the end that it may worke in us and shew his force in our bodies because while it is without us it profiteth us not at all even so it is necessarie that we receive Christ by faith that he may be made ours and that hee may live in us and we in him For he saith I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall not hunger and he that beleeveth in me shall not thirst any more And also He that eateth me shall live through me and he abideth in me and I in him By all which it appeareth manifestly that by spirituall meat we meane not an Imaginarie but the very body of our Lord Iesus given to us which yet is received of the faithfull not corporally but spiritually by faith in which point we doe wholly follow the doctrine of our Lord and Saviour Christ in the sixth of John And this eating of the flesh and drinking of the bloud of the Lord is so necessary to salvation that without it no man can be saved This spirituall eating and drinking is also without the Supper of the Lord even so often as and wheresoever a man doth beleeve in Christ To which purpose that sentence of Saint Austin doth happily belong Why dost thou prepare thy teeth and belly Beleeve and thou hast eaten Besides that former spirituall eating there is a sacramentall eating of the body of the Lord whereby the faithfull man is partaker not onely spiritually and internally of the true body and blood of the Lord but also outwardly by comming to the table of the Lord doth receive the visible Sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord. True it is that a faithfull man by beleeving did before receive the food that giveth life and still receiveth the same but yet when he receiveth the Sacrament he receiveth something more For he goeth on in continuall communication of the body and blood of the Lord and his faith is daily more and more kindled more strengthened and refreshed by the spirituall nourishment For while we live faith hath continuall encreasings and he that outwardly doth receive the Sacraments with a true faith the same doth receive not the signe onely but also doth enjoy as we have said the thing it selfe Moreover the same man doth obey the Lords institution and commandement and with a joyfull minde giveth thanks for his and the redemption of all mankinde and maketh a faithfull remembrance of the Lords death and doth witnesse the same before the Church of which body he is a member This also is sealed up to those which receive the Sacraments that the body of the Lord was given and his blood shed not onely for men in generall but particularly for every faithfull communicant whose meat and drinke he is to life everlasting But as for him that without faith commeth to this holy table of the Lord he is made partaker of the Sacrament only but the matter of the Sacrament from whence commeth life and salvation he receiveth not at all And such men doe unworthily eate of the Lords table Now they which doe unworthily eate of the Lords bread and drinke of the Lords cup they are guiltie of the body and blood of the Lord and they eate and drinke it to their Iudgement For when as they doe not approach with true faith they reproach and despite the death of Christ and therefore eate and drinke condemnation to themselves We doe not then so joyne the body of the Lord and his blood with the bread and wine as though we thought that the bread is the body of Christ more then after a sacramentall manner or that the body of Christ doth lye hid corporally under the bread so as it ought to be worshipped under the formes of bread or yet that he which receiveth the signe receiveth the thing it selfe The body of Christ is in the heavens at the right hand of his Father And therefore our hearts are to be lifted upon high and not to be fixed on the bread neither is the Lord to be worshipped in the bread though notwithstanding the Lord is not absent from his Church when as they celebrate the Supper The Sun being absent from us in the heavens is yet notwithstanding present amongst us effectually How much more Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse though in body he be absent from us in the heavens yet is present amongst us not corporally but spiritually by his lively operation and so he himselfe hath promised in his last Supper to be present amongst us Joh. 14. 15. and 16. Whereupon it followeth that we have not the Supper without Christ and yet have an unbloody and mysticall Supper even as all antiquitie called it Moreover we are admonished in the celebration of the Supper of the Lord to be mindefull of the body whereof we are made members and that therefore we be at concord with all our brethren that we may live holily and not pollute our selves with wickednesse and strange religions but persevering in the true faith to the end of our life give diligence to excell in holinesse of life It
with mad gasings and foolish gaudies in the selfe same matter wherein the death of Christ ought diligently to be beaten into our hearts and wherein also the mysteries of our Redemption ought with all holinesse and reverence to be executed Besides where they say and sometime do perswade fooles that they are able by their Masses to distribute and apply unto mens commoditie all the merits of Christs death yea although many times the parties thinke nothing of the matter and understand full little what is done this is a mockerie a heathenish phansie and a very toie For it is our faith that applieth the death and crosse of Christ to our benefit and not the act of the Massing Priest Faith had in the Sacraments saith Augustine doth justifie and not the Sacraments And Origen saith Christ Ad Rom. cap 3. lib. 3. is the Priest the Propitiation and Sacrifice which propitiation cometh to every one by meane of faith And so by this reckoning we say that the sacraments of Christ without faith do not once profit those that be alive a great deale lesse doe they profit those that be dead Out of the Confession of BELGIA VVE beleeve and confesse that Iesus Christ our Lord Artic. 35. and Saviour hath instituted the holy Sacrament of his Supper that in it he might nourish and sustaine those whom he hath regenerated and engrafted into his family which is the Church But those which are regenerate have in them a double life the one carnall and temporall which they brought with them from their first nativitie the which is common unto all the other spirituall and heavenly bestowed upon them in their second nativitie which is wrought in them by the word of the Gospel in the union of the body of Christ the which is peculiar to the elect alone And as God hath appointed earthly and materiall bread fit and convenient for the preservation of this carnall life which even as the life it selfe is common unto all so for the conservation of that spirituall and heavenly life which is proper to the faithfull God hath sent lively bread which came downe from heaven even Iesus Christ who nourisheth and sustaineth the spirituall life of the faithfull if he be eaten that is applied and received by faith through the Spirit But to the intent that Christ might figurate and represent unto us this spirituall and heavenly bread he hath ordained visible and earthly bread and wine for the Sacrament of his body and blood whereby he testifieth that as truly as we doe receive and hold in our hands this signe eating the same with our mouthes whereby afterwards this our life is sustained so truly we doe by faith which is in stead of our soule hand and mouth receive the very body and true bloud of Christ our onely Saviour in our selves unto the conservation and cherishing of a spirituall life within us And it is most certaine that Christ not without good cause doth so carefully commend unto us this his Sacrament as one that doth indeed work that within us whatsoever he representeth unto us by these his holy signes although the manner it selfe beeing far above the reach of our capacitie cannot be comprehended of any because that all * Looke the 1. Observation upon this confession the operations of the holy Ghost are hidden and incomprehensible Neither shall we erre in saying that * Looke the 2. observation upon this confession that which is eaten is the very naturall body of Christ and that which is drunke is the very blood of Christ yet the instrument or meanes whereby we doe eate and drinke them is not a corporall mouth but even our soule and spirit and that by faith Christ therefore sitteth alwaies at the right hand of his Father in heaven and yet for all that doth not any thing the lesse communicate himselfe unto us by faith Furthermore this Supper is the spirituall table wherein Christ doth offer himselfe to us with all his benefits to be participated of us and bringeth to passe that in it we are partakers as well of himself as of the merit of his death and passion For he himselfe * Looke the 3. observat upon this confession by the eating of his flesh doth nourish strengthen and comfort our miserable afflicted and comfortlesse soule and in like manner by the drinking of his blood doth refresh and sustaine the same Moreover * Looke the 4. Observat although the signes be coupled with the things signified yet both of them are not received of all For an evill man verily receiveth the Sacrament unto his owne condemnation but the thing or truth of the Sacrament he receiveth not As for example Judas and Simon Magus doth of them did receive the Sacramentall signe but as for Christ himselfe signified thereby they received him not For Christ is communicated to the faithfull only Last of all we with great humilitie and reverence doe communicate the holy Sacrament in that assembly of Gods people celebrating the memoriall of our Saviour Christs death with thankesgiving and making there a publike confession of Christian faith and religion No man therefore ought to present himselfe at this holy Supper which hath not first examined himselfe lest that eating this bread and drinking of this cup he doe not eate and drinke his owne damnation Moreover by the use of this Sacrament a most ardent love is kindled within us both towards God himselfe and also towards our neighbour Therefore here we doe worthily reject as a meere prophanation all the toies and damnable devises of men which they have presumed to adde and mingle with the Sacraments affirming that all the godly are content with that onely order and rite which Christ and his Apostles have delivered unto us and that they ought to speake of these mysteries after the same manner as the Apostles have spoken before Out of the Confession of AUSPURGE The second Article out of the Edition of Wirtemberge Anno. 1531. TOuching the Supper of the Lord they teach that the body and blood of Christ are there present * Looke the 1. observation upon this confession indeed and are distributed to those that eate of the Lords Supper and they condemne those that teach otherwise The same tenth Article in the Edition newly corrected Anno. 1540. is thus set down TOuching the Supper of the Lord they teach that together with the bread and the wine the body and blood of Christ are truly exhibited to them that eate of the Lords Supper Hitherto also pertaineth the first Article of the abuses which are changed in the outward rites and ceremonies This Article is of the Masse OVr Churches are wrongfully accused to have abolished the Masse For the * Looke the 2. Observat Masse is retained still among us and celebrated with great reverence Yea and almost all the ceremonies that are in use saving that with the songs in Latine we mingle certaine Psalmes in Dutch here
any thing remaine till the next day let them not be kept but with feare and trembling by the diligence of the Clearkes let them be consumed We are not ignorant how they use to delude these words of Clemens by feigning a difference betwixt the worke of those that are ready to die and those that be ready to consecrate But it is evident that the bread which useth to be carried about and to be laid up to be adored is not reserved for those that be weake but in the end is received of them that doe consecrate Cyrill or as others thinke Origen upon the seventh Chapter of Levit. saith For the Lord concerning that bread which he gave to his Disciples said unto them Take it and eate it c. He did not differ it neither did he command it to be reserved till the next day Peradventure there is this mysterie also contained therein that he doth not command the bread to be carried in the high way that thou maist alwaies bring forth the fresh loaves of the word of God which thou carriest within thee c. Out of the Confession of SUEVELAND Of the Eucharist CHAP. 18. AS touching this reverent Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ all those things which the Evangelists Paul and the holy Fathers have left in writing thereof our men doe sincerely teach commend and inculcate and thence they doe with a singular indeavour alwaies publish this goodnesse of Christ towards his whereby he doth no lesse at this day then he did in that his last Supper vouchsafe to give by the Sacraments his true bodie and his true blood to be eaten and to be drunke indeed as the meate and drinke of their soules whereby they may be nourished unto life eternall he giveth it I say to all those who from their hearts have their names to be reckoned among his disciples when as they doe receive this Supper according to his institution so that now he may live and abide in them and they in him and be raised up by him in the last day to a new and immortall life according to those words of eternall truth Take and eate This is my body c. Drinke ye all of this This cup is my blood c. Now our Preachers doe most diligently withdraw the mindes of the people both from all contention and also from all superfluous and curious inquirie unto that which onely is profitable and whereunto onely Christ our Saviour had respect to wit that being fed with him we may live in him and through him and leade such a life as is acceptable to God holy and therefore everlasting and blessed and withall that we among our selves may be one bread and one body which are partakers of one bread in that holy Supper Whereby it cometh to passe that we doe very religiously and with a singular reverence both administer and receive the Divine Sacraments that is the holy Supper of Christ By these things which are thus indeed as we have set them downe your sacred Majestie O most gracious Emperour doth know how falsely our adversaries doe boast that our men doe change the words of Christ and teare them in peeces by humane glosses and that in our Suppers nothing is administred but meere bread and meere wine and also that among us the Supper of the Lord is contemned and rejected For our men doe very carefully teach and exhort that every man doe in a simple faith imbrace these words of the Lord rejecting all devises of men and false glosses and removing away all kinde of wavering doe wholly addict their minde to the true meaning thereof and to conclude doe oftentimes with as great reverence as they may receive the Sacraments to be the lively food of their soules and to stirre up in them a gratefull remembrance of so great a benefit the which thing also useth now to be done among us much more often and reverently then heretofore was used Moreover our Preachers have alwaies hitherto and at this day doe offer themselves with all modestie and truth to render a reason of their faith and doctrine touching all those things which they beleeve and teach as well about the Sacrament as about other things and that not onely to your Sacred Majestie but also to every one that shall demand it Of the Masse CHAP. 19. FVrthermore seeing that after this manner Christ hath instituted his Supper which afterward began to be called the Masse to wit that therein the faithfull being fed with his body and blood unto life eternall should shew forth his death whereby they are redeemed our Preachers by this mean giving thanks and also cōmending this salvation unto others could not chuse but condemne it that these things were every where neglected And on the other side they which do celebrate the Masses do presume to offer up Christ unto his Father for the quicke and the dead and they make the Masse to be such a worke as that by it alone almost the favour of God and salvation is obtained howsoever they doe either beleeve or live Whereupon that most shamefull and twise and thrise impious sale of this Sacrament hath crept in and thereby it is come to passe that nothing at this day is more gainefull then the Masse Therefore they rejected private Masses because the Lord did commend this Sacrament to his Disciples to be used in common Whereupon Paul commandeth the Corinthians when they are to celebrate the holy Supper to stay 1. Cor. 11. one for another and denieth that they doe celebrate the Lords Supper when as every man taketh his own Supper whilest they be eating Moreover whereas they boast that they doe offer up Christ instead of a sacrifice they are therefore condemned of our men because that the Epistle to the Hebrews doth plainly witnesse that as men doe once die so Christ was once offered that he Heb. 5. might take away the sinnes of many and that he can no more be offered againe then he may die againe and therefore having offered one sacrifice for sinnes he sitteth for ever at the right hand of God waiting for that which remaineth to wit that his enemies as it Heb. 10. were a footstoole may be trodden under his feet For with one oblation hath he consecrated for ever them that are sanctified And whereas they have made the Masse to be a good worke whereby any thing may be obtained at Gods hands our Preachers have taught that it is repugnant to that which the Scripture doth teach in every place that we are justified and receive the favour of God by the spirit of Christ and by faith for which matter we alledged before many testimonies out of the Scriptures So in that the death of the Lord is not commended to the people in the Masse our Preachers have shewed that it is contrary to that that Christ commanded to receive these Sacraments in remembrance of himselfe and Paul that we might shew forth the death of
to us in the word of God Wherefore we mislike the rash speeches of such as say that if by the providence of God all things are governed then all our studies and endevours are unprofitable It shall be sufficient if we leave or permit all things to be governed by the providence of God and we shall not need hereafter to be carefull or to be taught in any matter For though Paul did confesse that he did saile by the providence of God who had said to him Thou must testifie of me also Acts 23. 11. at Rome who moreover promised and said There shall not so much as one soule perish Neither shall an haire fall from your heads Yet the mariners devising how they might finde a way to escape the same Paul saith to the Centurion and to the souldiers Vnlesse Acts 27. 34. these remaine in the ship ye can not be safe For God who hath appointed every thing his end he also hath ordained the beginning and the meanes by which we must attaine unto the end The heathens ascribe things to blinde fortune and uncertaine chance but Saint James would not have us say To day or tomorrow we will Iames 4. goe into such acitie and there buy and sell but he addeth for that which you should say if the Lord will and if we live we will doe this or that And Augustine saith All those things which seeme to vaine men to be done unadvisedly in the world they doe but accomplish his word because they are not done but by his commandement And in his exposition on the 148. Psal It seemed to be done by chance that Saul seeking his fathers Asses should light on the Prophet Samuel but the Lord had before said to the Prophet to morrow I will send unto thee a man of the Tribe of Benjamin c. Of the Creation of all things of the Angels the Devill and Man CHAP. 7. THis good and Almighty God created all things both visible and invisible by his eternall word and preserveth the same also by his eternall spirit as David witnesseth saying By the word Psal 33. 6. of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth And as the Scripture saith All things that the Lord created were very good and made for the use and profit of man Now we say that all those things doe proceede from one beginning and therefore we detest the Maniches and Marcionites who did wickedly imagine two substances and natures the one of good the other of evill and also two beginnings and two Gods one contrary to the other a good and an evill Amongst all the creatures the Angels and men are most excellent Touching Angels the holy Scripture saith Who maketh Psal 10 4. 4. Heb. 5. 14. his Angels spirits and his Ministers a flame of fore Also Are they not ministring spirits sent forth to minister for their sakes which shall bee the heires of salvation And the Lord Iesus himselfe testifieth of the Devill saying He hath beene a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the Father thereof We teach therefore that some Angels persisted in obedience and were appointed unto the faithfull service of God and men and that other some fell of their owne accord and ranne headlong into destruction and so became enemies to all good and to all the faithfull c. Now touching man the Spirit saith that in the beginning he was created good according to the image and likenesse of God that God placed him in Paradise and made all things subject unto him which David doth most nobly set forth in the 8. Psal Moreover God gave unto him a wife and blessed them We say also that man doth consist of two and those divers substances in one person of a soule immortall as that which being separated from his body doth neither sleepe nor die and a body mortall which notwithstanding at the last judgement shall be raised againe from the dead that from thenceforth the whole man may continue for ever in life or in death We condemne all those which mock at or by subtill disputations call into doubt the immortalitie of the soule or say that the soule sleepeth or that it is a part of God To be short we condemne all opinions of all men whatsoever which thinke otherwise of the creation of Angels Devils and Men then is delivered unto us by the Scriptures in the Apostolike Church of Christ Out of the Confession of BASILL VVE also beleeve that God made all things by his everlasting Artic. 2. word that is by his onely begotten Sonne and and that he upholdeth and worketh all things by his Spirit that is by his owne power And therefore that God as he hath created so he foreseeth and governeth all things And albeit man by the Artic. 3. same fall became subject to damnation and so was made an enemy to God yet that God never laid aside the care of mankinde The Patriarks the promises before and after the Flood likewise the Law of God given by Moses and the holy Prophets doe witnesse this thing Out of the FRENCH Confession THis one onely God hath revealed himselfe unto men first Artic. 2. both in the Creation and also in the Preservation and government of his workes c. Looke the rest in the first Section of the Scripture and the second Section of God We beleeve that God the three persons working together by Artic. 7. his vertue wisedome and incomprehensible goodnesse hath made all things that is not onely heaven and earth and all things therein contained but also the invisible spirits of which some fell headlong into destruction and some continued in obedience Therefore we say that they as they are through their owne malice corrupted are perpetuall enemies to all good and therefore to the whole Church but that these preserved by the meere grace of God are ministers for his glory and for the salvation of the Elect. We beleeve that God hath not onely made all things but also Artic. 8. ruleth and governeth them as he who according to his will disposeth and ordereth whatsoever happeneth in the world Yet we deny that he is the author of evill or that any blame of things done amisse can be laid upon him seeing his will is the soveraigne and most certaine rule of all righteousnesse but he hath wonderfull rather then explicable meanes by which he so useth all the devils and sinnefull men as instruments that whatsoever they doe evilly that he as he hath justly ordained so he also turneth it to good Therefore while we confesse that nothing at all is to be done but by the meanes of his providence and appointment we doe in all humility adore his secrets that are hid from us neither doe we search into those things
by a close sinner For so long as the overthwartnesse of such wicked hypocrites is not as yet publikely knowne neither punished more gently or severely by the Ecclesiasticall Discipline neither they which have behaved themselves more stubbornly have beene excommunicated those Sacraments which thâ—â— doe administer may be received of them if so be that they doe administer them according to the will minde and institution of Christ the which thing also the constitutions of the ancient Church doe confirme For the vertue and efficacie of the Sacraments doth neither consist in him nor depend on him who doth either administer them whosoever he be or doth receive them but it consisteth in the institution and in the commandement that was most absolute and mightie in authoritie and in the word of the authour of the Sacraments to wit of our Lord Iesus Christ on which one thing they they doe relye and have from thence whatsoever they are able to doe Neverthelesse the Ministers must throughly looke to it and take good heed lest whilest by their labour they be serviceable to others They themselves become 1 Cor. 9. reprobates or worthy to be rejected and also lest they give holy things to dogs or cast pearles before swine Also the people must endevour Matth. 7. by all means to take heed that they doe not in any case receive the Sacraments with the offence of the Church and the proper danger of the salvation of their souls that is to their own fault and judgement whereof we made mention before Out of the FRENCH Confession VVE beleeve that there be Sacraments adjoyned to the Artic. 34. word for the more ample confirmation thereof to wit that they may be pledges and tokens of the grace of God whereby our weake and rude faith may be helped For we confesse that these outward signes be such that God by the power of his holy Spirit doth worke by them that nothing may there be represented to us in vaine yet we thinke that the whole substance and truth of them is in Christ Iesus from whom if they be separated they be nothing else but vaine shadows and smoakes Also Artic. 35. We acknowledge that there be onely two Sacraments common to the whole Church c. That which followeth pertaineth to the 13. Sect. Out of the ENGLISH Confession MOreover we allow the Sacraments of the Church that is to say certaine holy signes and Ceremonies which Christ Artic. 10. would we should use that by them he might set before our eyes the Mysteries of our salvation and might more strongly confirme the Faith which we have in his blood and might seale his grace in our hearts And these Sacraments together with Tertullian Origen Ambrose Augustine Hierome Chrysostome Basill Dionysius and other Catholique Fathers we doe call Figures Signes Marks Badges Prints Copies Formes Seales Signets Similitudes Patternes Representations Remembrances and Memories and we make no doubt together with the same Doctors to say that these be certaine visible words Seales of Righteousnesse and Tokens of Grace And we doe expressely pronounce that in the Lords Supper there is truely given unto the Beleeving the body and blood of our Lord the Flesh of the Son of God which quickeneth our soules the meate that commeth from above the food of Immortalitie of Grace Truth and Life and that the same Supper is the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ by the partaking whereof we be revived strengthned and fed unto Immortalitie and whereby we are joyned united and incorporated unto Christ that we may abide in him and he in us Besides this we acknowledge that there be two Sacraments which we judge properly Artic. 11. ought to be called by this name that is to say Baptisme and the Sacrament of thankesgiving For thus many we see were delivered and sanctified by Christ and well allowed of the old Fathers Ambrose and Augustine and such others Out of the Confession of BELGIA VVE beleeve that God having regard to our dulnesse and Artic. 33. infirmitie did institute Sacraments for us that by them his promises might be sealed to us and that they might be most certaine pledges of his heavenly love towards us and of his gifts bestowed upon us for the cherishing and sustaining of our faith These Sacraments he added to the word of the Gospel that he might more lively set before our externall senses both those things which he declareth unto us in his word and those also which he worketh inwardly in our hearts and to confirme more and more in us that salvation which he vouchsafeth to communicate unto us For the Sacraments are signes and visible tokens of internall invisible things by the which as by certaine means God himself worketh within us by the power of the holy Ghost Therefore they be not vaine or idle signes neither yet ordained of God to deceive or frustrate us of our hope For the truth of our Sacraments is Iesus Christ without whom they are of no value Moreover that number of Sacraments sufficeth us which Christ himselfe our true and onely Doctor hath instituted and those are onely two to wit the Sacrament of Baptisme and the Sacrament of the holy Supper of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Out of the Confession of AUSPURGH SEeing that in this life many evill ones and hypocrites are Artic. 8. mingled with the Church and have fellowship with it in the outward signes and pledges the Sacraments administred by such as are evill may lawfully be used according to the saying of Christ The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chaire c. For the Sacraments and the word of God are effectuall by reason of the institution and commandement of Christ though they be delivered by wicked and evill men They condemne the Donatists and such like who said it was not lawfull for the people to use the ministery of evill men in the Church and held opinion that the ministerie of evill men was quite without fruit and effect The beginning of this eighth Article is elsewhere thus set downe THough the Church to speake properly be a Congregation of Saints and true beleevers yet seeing that in this life many hypocrites and evill men bee mingled with it it is a lawfull thing to use the Sacraments ministred by the hands of evill men c. Touching the use of the Sacraments they teach that they were instituted not so much to be notes of profession amongst men as to be signes and pledges of Gods good will towards us set before the eyes to stirre up and confirme faith in them which use them Therefore we must use Sacraments so as wee must joyne faith with them which may beleeve the promises that are offered and declared unto us by the Sacraments By this faith we receive both the grace promised which is represented by the Sacraments and also the holy Ghost Therefore they condemne that Pharisaicall opinion of the Papists which suppresseth the doctrine of faith
is therefore very requisite that purposing to come to the Supper of the Lord we doe trie our selves according to the commandement of the Apostle first with what faith we are indued whether we beleeve that Christ is come to save sinners and to call them to repentance and whether each man beleeve that he is in the number of them that being delivered by Christ are saved and whether he have purposed to change his wicked life to live holily and persevere through Gods assistance in true religion and in concord with his brethren and to give worthy thanks to God for his delivery c. We thinke that rite manner or forme of the Supper to be the most simple and excellent which commeth neerest to the first institution of the Lord and to the Apostles doctrine Which doth consist in declaring the word of God in godly prayers the action it selfe that the Lord used and the repeating of it the eating of the Lords body and drinking of his blood the wholesome remembrance of the Lords death and faithfull giving of thanks and in an holy fellowship in the union of the body of the Church We therefore disallow them which have taken from the faithfull one part of the Sacrament to wit the Lords cup. For these doe very grievously offend against the institution of the Lord who saith drinke you all of this which he did not so plainly say of the bread What manner of Masse it was that the Fathers used whether it were tollerable or intollerable we doe not now dispute But this we say freely that the Masse which is now used throughout the Romish Church for many and most just causes is quite abolished out of our Churches which particularly we will not now recite for brevities sake Truly we could not like of it because that of a most wholesome action they have made a vaine spectacle also because it is made a meritorious matter and is said for money likewise because that in it the Priest is said to make the very body of the Lord and to offer the same really even for the remission of the sins of the quicke and the dead Adde this also that they doe it for the honour worship and reverence of the Saints in heaven c. Out of the former Confession of HELVETIA Of the Lords Supper VVE say that the Supper is a mysticall thing wherein the Artic. 22. Lord doth indeed offer unto those that are his his body and blood that is himself to this end that he may more and more live in them and they in him not that the body and blood of the Lord are either naturally united to bread and wine or be locally here inclosed or be placed here by any carnall presence but that bread and wine by the institution of the Lord are signes whereby the true communication of his body and blood is exhibited of the Lord himselfe by the ministerie of the Church not to be meate for the belly which doth perish but to be nourishment unto eternall life We doe therefore use this holy meat oftentimes because that being admonished hereby we doe with the eyes of faith behold the death and blood of Christ crucified and meditating upon our salvation not without a taste of heavenly life and a true sense of life eternall we are refreshed with this spirituall lively inward food with an unspeakable sweetnes and we do rejoyce with a joy that cannot be expressed in words for that life which we have found and we do wholly with all our strength powre out thankesgiving for so wonderfull a benefit of Christ bestowed upon us Therefore we are most unworthily charged of some who thinke that we doe attribute very little to these holy signs For these things * Looke the 1. Observation upon this confession be holy to be reverenced as those which were instituted and received of our high Priest Christ exhibiting unto us after their manner as we have said the things signified giving witnes of the things done representing very difficult things us and by a certain wonderfull Analogie of things signified bringing light to those most evident mysteries Moreover they minister aide and helpe even to faith it selfe and to conclude they doo serve in stead of an oath to binde him that is entered into the profession of Christianitie Thus holily doo we thinke of the sacred signes But we doo alwaies attribute the force and vertue of quickning and sanctifying to him who is life it selfe to whom be praise for ever Amen Out of the declaration of the same confession Of the holy Supper of the Lord. THE Supper of the Lord is a Sacrament to wit the holy institution of the Lord whereby he doth renue and witnesse unto us his bountifulnesse to wit the communion of his body and blood and that by a visible signe For by bread and wine he doth declare unto us what he giveth namely himselfe to be the nourishment of our life for he by his body and blood doth feed us to life eternall Therefore the very gift of God that is the body and blood of the Lord to wit the body of the Lord delivered unto death for us and his blood shed for the remission of sinnes is the chiefest part of this Sacrament For the body and blood of Christ is thus made or prepared to be the lively meat of our soules The Son of God doth die in the flesh for us that he might quicken us he poureth out his blood that he might cleanse us from our sins To conclude he raiseth up his body from the dead that our bodies may receive hope and strength to rise againe Thus therefore doth the Lord offer himselfe to be eaten and possessed of us and not a certaine false imagination of a man or an idle picture in his stead For beside him there is nothing in heaven or in earth that may feed and satiate our soules Now we doe indeed eate the bodie and we doe indeed drinke the blood of our Lord but not so rawly as the Papists have hitherto taught to wit the bread being changed into naturall flesh substantially that is corporally or carnally or the body being included in the bread but spiritually that is after a spirituall manner and with a faithfull minde The Lord is eaten indeed and with fruit by faith that now he may live whole in his and his in him Moreover these holy gifts of God which are not given of any other then of the Lord himselfe according to the institution of the Lord are represented unto us by visible signes to wit bread and wine and offered to our senses not that we should rest in them but that our weaknesse may be helped and we may lift up our hearts unto the Lord knowing that here we must thinke upon greater things to wit not of eating bread or drinking wine but of receiving the Lord himselfe with all his gifts by a faithfull minde Therefore when the guests see the bread on the board
they set their mindes upon the body of Christ when they see the cup they set their mindes upon the blood of Christ when they see the bread broken and the wine poured out they consider how that the body of Christ was tormented and his blood poured out for their sakes as by bread the bodies are nourished and strengthened as by wine the mindes are made merry so the godly doe beleeve that by the body of the Lord delivered unto death for them they are fed to everlasting life also that by his blood poured out upon the crosse their consciences are renewed to conclude they doe feele the quickning power of Christ which doth confirme them In this sort is the Supper of the Lord accomplished spiritually thus are the bread and wine a Sacrament unto us and not bare and naked signes Hereupon now ariseth a very great rejoycing and thanksgiving for so great benefits also a praising and confessing of the name of God here those works which the Lord once finished are renued and represented but especially the death of the Lord is repeated which although it once hapned and now is past yet unto the faithfull it is as yet fresh and present For the remembrance of the death of Christ which we make in the Supper is farre more noble and holy then theirs who in some prophane banquet are mindfull of their companion when they drinke the wine that he gave them For among these he that is absent worketh nothing but in this holy Supper of the faithfull the Lord is present and doth worke effectually by the spirit in the hearts of them as he who according to his promises is in the middest of them By these things it is most evident that in the holy Supper we doe not take away our Lord Christ from his Church not deny that his body and blood is there received to be our nourishment unto life eternall but we together with our predecessours and the chiefe Prelates of our Religion did and as yet to this day doe deny that the very body of Christ is eaten carnally or that it is present every where corporally and after a naturall manner For we doe openly confesse according to the Scriptures and with all the holy Fathers that Iesus Christ our Lord left this world and went to his Father and that he now sitteth at the right hand of his Father in heavenly glory from whence he shall never descend or be drawne downe into this earthly and transitory world For the true presence of Christ in the Supper is heavenly not earthly or carnall Also we denie that the bread is turned into the body of Christ miraculously so that the bread should become the very body of Christ naturally and substantially yet after a spirituall manner To conclude we denie that the body of Christ is united with the signes by any other then a mysticall meane whereof we have spoken sufficiently in the generall consideration of a Sacrament Seeing therefore we have expressely said and written with the holy Fathers Tertullian Hâ—erome Ambrose and Augustine that the bread is a figure token and signe of the body of Christ and also that by bread and wine the body and blood of the Lord are signified This is it which we would make manifest to wit that the bread is not the very body of the Lord but a token or a Sacrament of his body And yet we do not therefore speake these things as though we did simply deny all kinde of the presence of Christ in the Supper for that kinde of presence which now we have confessed doth remaine true without any prejudice to these kinde of speeches Moreover the word This in this sentence This is my body doth not onely shew bread unto our corporall eyes but therewith also it she weth the very body of Christ unto the eyes of our minde Also we confesse that this use of the Supper is so holy and profitable that whosoever shall worthily that is with a true faith eate of this bread and drinke of this Cup of the Lord he doth receive heavenly gifts from the Lord but Whosoever shall eate of this bread and drinke of this cup unworthily that is without faith by which alone we are made partakers of the Lord and of salvation He doth eate and drinke iudgement unto himselfe as Paul wrote to the Corinthians Wherefore we doe often put this diligently into the heads of our people that they take heed that none of them abuse the Lords table but that every one examine himselfe and then eate of that bread and drinke of that cup. Also the Lords Supper is a badge unto us for as one loafe and one wine are made of many graines and grapes so we being the whole multitude of the faithfull are gathered together to be one bread and one body By this we testifie in an outward profession that we are redeemed by the blood of Christ and made the members of Christ to whom we give thanks in whom we are confederates and doe promise to performe mutuall duties one toward another Out of the Confession of BASILL Of the Supper of the Lord. VVE confesse that the Lord Iesus did institute his holy Supper Artic. 6. that his holy passion might be remembred with thanksgiving his death declared and Christian charitie and unitie with true faith testified And as in Baptisme wherein the washing away of our sins is offered by the Minister of the Church and yet is wrought onely by the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost true water remaineth so also in the Supper of the Lord wherein together with the bread and wine of the Lord the true body and the true blood of Christ is offered by the Minister of the Church bread and wine remaineth Moreover we doe firmely beleeve that Christ himselfe is the meat of faithfull soules unto life eternall and that our soules by faith in Christ crucified are fed and moistned with the flesh blood of Christ so that we being Joh. 11. Eph. 1. 4. 5. Col. 1. members of his body as of our onely head doe live in him and he in us wherein at the last day through him and in him we shall rise againe to eternall joy and blessednesse And in the marginall note upon these words Our soules For it is a spirituall meate and therefore it is received of a faithfull soule that is the soules are made full strong mightie peaceable quiet merrie and lively to all things as the body is by the corporall meate Also upon those words The members of the head And so man is made a spirituall member of the spirituall bodie of Christ And in the margent upon these words To be present to wit Sacramentally and by a remembrance of faith which lifteth up a mans minde to heaven and doth not pull down Christ according to his humanitie from the right hand of God Now we doe not include into the bread and drinke of the Lord the naturall true and substantiall body
Ministers of Christ Iesus yea this is more horrible they suffer women whom the holy Ghost will not suffer to teach in the Congregation to baptize and secondly because they have so adulterated both the one Sacrament and the other with their owne inventions that no part of Christs action abideth in the originall puritie For oyle sait spattle and such like in baptisme are but mens inventions adoration veneration bearing through streets and townes and keeping of bread in boxes or boists are prophanation of Christs Sacraments and no use of the same For Christ sesus said Take eat c. Do you this in remembrance of me By which words charge he sanctified bread and wine to be the Sacrment of his holy body and blood to the end that the one should be eaten and that all should drink of the other and not that they should be kept to be worshipped and honoured as God as the Papists have done heretofore who also have committed sacriledge stealing from the people the one part of the Sacrament to wit the blessed cup. Moreover that the Sacraments be rightly used it is required that the end and cause for which Sacraments were instituted be understanded and observed as well of the Minister as by the receivers For if the opinion be changed in the receiver the right use ceaseth which is most evident by the rejection of the sacrifices as also if the teacher plainly teach false doctrine which were odious and abominable before God albeit they were his owne ordinance because the wicked men use them to another end then God hath ordained The same we affirme of the Sacraments in the Papisticall Church in which we affirme the whole action of the Lord Iesus to be adultered as well in the external forme as in the end and opinion What Christ Iesus did and commanded to be done is evident by the Evangelists and by Saint Paul what the Priest doth at his Altar we need not to rehearse The end and cause of Christs institution and why the selfe same should be used is expressed in these words Doe ye this in remembrance of me As oft as ye shall eate this bread and drinke of this cup you shall shew forth that is extoll preach magnifie and praise the Lords death till he come But to what end and in what opinion the Priests say their Masse let the words of the their own Doctors and writings witnesse to wit that they as Mediatours betwixt Christ and his Church doe offer unto God the Father a sacrifice propitiatory for the sinnes of the quick and the dead which doctrine is blasphemous to Christ Iesus and making derogation to the sufficiencie of his onely sacrifice once offered for purgation of all those that shall be sanctified we utterly abhorte detest and renounce To whom Sacraments appertaine VVE confesse and acknowledge that Paptisme appertaineth as well to the insants of the faithfull as unto them that be of age and discretion And so we damne the errour of the Anabaptists who deny Baptisme to appertaine to children before they have faith and understanding But the Supper of the Lord we confesse to appertain to such onely as be of the houshold of faith and can trie and examine themselves as well in their faith as in their duty towards their neighbours Such as eate and drink at that holy Table without faith or being at dissention with their brethren do eate unworthily and therefore it is that in our Church our Ministers take publique and particular examination of the knowledge and conversation of such as are be admitted to the Table of the Lord Iesus Of the civill Magistrates VVE confesse and acknowledge Empires kingdomes domininions and cities to be distincted or ordained by God the powers and authoritie in the same be it of Emperours in their Empires of Kings in their Realmes Dukes and Princes in their dominions and of other Magistrates in their cities to be Gods holy ordinance ordained for manifestation of his own glory and for the singular profit and commoditie of mankinde so that whosoever goeth about to take away or to confound the whole state of civill pollicies now long established we affirme the same men not onely to be enemies to mankinde but also wickedly to fight against Gods expressed will We farther confesse and acknowledge that such persons as are placed in authoritie are to be beloved honoured feared and holden in most reverent estimation because they are the Lievetenants of God in whose seats God himselfe doth sit and Iudge yea even the Iudges and Princes themselves to whom by God is given the sword to the praise and defence of good men and to revenge and punish all malefactours Moreover to Kings Princes Rulers and Magistrates we affirme that chiefly and most principally the conservation and purgation of the Religion appertaineth so that not onely they are appointed for civill pollicie but also for maintenance of the true Religion and for suppressing of idolatry and superstition whatsoever As in David Iosaphat Ezechias Iosias and others highly commended for their zeale in that case may be espied And therefore we confesse and avow that such as resist the supreame power doing that thing which appertaineth to his charge do resist Gods ordinance and therefore cannot be guiltlesse And farther we affirme that whosoever deny unto them their aide counsell and comfort whilest the Princes and Rulers vigilantly travell in execution of their office that the same men deny their helpe support and counsell to God who by the presence of his Lieutenant doth crave it of them The gifts freely given to the Church ALbeit that the word of God truly preached and the Sacraments rightly ministred and discipline executed according to the word of God be the certaine and infallible signes of the true Church yet we meane not that every particular person joyned with such company is an elect member of Christ Iesus For we acknowledge and confesse that darnell cockell and chaffe may be sown grow and in great aboundance lye in the middest of the wheat that is the reprobate may be joyned in the societie of the elect and may externally use with them the benefits of the Word and Sacraments But such being but temporall professors in mouth and not in heart doe fall backe and continue not to the end And therefore they have no fruit of Christs death resurrection nor ascension but such as with heart unfainedly beleeve and with mouth boldly confesse the Lord Iesus as before we have said shall most assuredly receive these gifts First in this life the remission of sins and that by onely faith in Christs blood In so much that albeit sin remaine and continually abide in these our mortall bodies yet it is not imputed unto us but is remitted and covered with Christs justice Secondly in the generall judgement there shall be given to every man and woman resurrection of the flesh For the sea shall give her dead the earth those that therein be inclosed yea the eternall God shall stretch out his hand on the dust and the dead shall arise uncorruptible and that in the substance of the same flesh that every man now beareth to receive according to their works glory or punishment For such as now delight in vanitie crueltie filthinesse superstition or idolatry shall be adjudged to the fire unquenchable in which they shall be tormented for ever as well in their own bodies as in their souls which now they give to serve the devill in all abhomination But such as continue in well doing to the end boldly professing the Lord Iesus we constantly beleeve that they shall receive glory honour and immortalitie to raigne for ever in life everlasting with Christ Iesus to whose glorified body all his elect shall be made like when he shall appeare againe in judgement and shall render up the kingdome to God his Father who then shall be and ever shall remaine all in all things God blessed for ever to whom with the Sonne and with the holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and ever So be it The Kings Majesties charge to all Commissioners and Ministers within his Realm SEeing that We and Our houshold have subscribed and given this publique Confession of our Faith to the good example of Our Subjects We command and charge all Commissioners and Ministers to crave the same confession of their Parishioners and proceed against the refusers according to Our laws and order of the Church delivering their names and lawfull processe to the Ministers of Our house with all haste and diligence under the pain of 40. pound to be taken from their stipend that We with the advise of Our Counsell may take order with such proud contemners of God and Our laws Subscribed with Our hand At Holyrudhous 1581. the 2. day of March the 14. yeere of Our Reign Now unto the King everlasting immortall invisible unto God only wise be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen
or vaine unmooveable rotten and dead pictures of all men whatsoever of which the Prophet spake truly They have eyes and see not c. Psal 115. Therefore we approove the judgement of Lactantius an ancient writer who saith Vndoubtedly there is no religion wheresoever there is a picture And we affirme that the blessed Bishop Epiphanius did well who finding on the Church doores a vaile that had painted in it the picture as it might be of Christ or of some other Saint he cut and tooke it away For that contrary to the authoritie of the Scriptures he had seene the picture of a man to hang in the Church of Christ and therefore he charged that from thence forth nosuch vailes which were contrary to our religion should be hanged up in the Church of Christ but that rather such scruple should be taken away which was unworthy the Church of Christ and all faithfull people Moreover we approove this sentence of S. Augustine Cap. 55. de ver a relig Let not the worship of mesn works be a religion unto us For the workmen themselves that make such things are better whom yet we ought not to worship Of the adoring worshipping and invocating of God through the onely Mediatour Jesus Christ CHAP. V. VVE teach men to adore and worship the true God alone this honour we impart to none according to the commandement of the Lord thou shalt adore the Lord thy God and Matth. 4. him alone shalt thou worship or him onely shalt thou serve Surely all the Prophets inveighed earnestly against the people of Israel whensoever they did adore and worship strange gods and not the one onely true God But we teach that God is to be adored and worshipped as himselfe hath taught us to worship him to weete in spirit and truth not with any superstition but with sinceritie Iohn 5. Isa 66. Ier. 7. Acts 17. according to his word lest at any time he also say unto us who hath required these things at your hands For Paul also saith God is not worshiped with mans hands as though he needed any thing c. We in all dangers and casualties of our life call on him alone and that by the mediation of the onely Mediatour and our intercessour Iesus Christ For it is expresly commanded us Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal 50. Moreover the Lord hath made a most large promise saying whatsoever ye shall aske of my Father he shall give it you And againe Iohn 16. Matth. 11. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavie laden and I will refresh you And seeing it is written How shall they call upon him in Rom. 10. whom they have not beleeved and we doe beleeve in God alone therefore we call upon him onely and that through Christ For there is one God saith the Apostle and one Mediatour betweene 1 Tim. 2. 1 Iohn 2. God and men Christ Iesus Againe If any man sinne we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous c. Therefore we doe neither adore worship nor pray unto the Saints in heaven or to other Gods neither doe we acknowledge them for our intercessours or Mediatours before the Father in heaven For God and the Mediatour Christ doe suffice us neither doe we impart unto others the honour due to God alone and to his Sonne because he hath plainly said I will not give my glory to another and Isa 42. Acts 4. because Peter hath said There is no other name given unto men whereby they must be saved but the name of Christ In which doubtlesse they that rest by faith doe not seeke any thing without Christ Yet for all that we doe neither despise the Saints nor thinke basely of them For we acknowledge them to be the lively members of Christ the friends of God who have gloriously overcome the flesh and the world We therefore love them as brethren and honour them also yet not with any worship but with an honourable opinion of them and to conclude with their just praises We also doe imitate them For we desire with most earnest affections and prayers to be followers of their faith and vertues to be partakers also with them of everlasting salvation to dwell together with them everlastingly with God and to rejoyce with them in Christ And in this point we approve that saying of Saint Augustine in his booke De verarelig Let not the worship of men departed be any religion unto us For if they have lived holily they are not so to be esteemed as that they seeke such honours but they will have us to worship him by whose illumination they reioyce that we are fellow servants as touching the reward They are therefore to be honoured for imitation not to be worshipped for religions sake c. And we much lesse beleeve that the reliques of Saints are to be adored or worshipped Those ancient holy men seemed sufficiently to have honoured their dead if they had honestly committed their bodies to the earth after that the soule was gone up into heaven and they thought that the most noble reliques of their ancestours were their vertues doctrine and faith which as they commended with the praise of the dead so they did endevour to expresse the same so long as they lived upon earth Those ancient men did not sweare by the name of the onely Iehova as it is commanded by the Law of God Therefore as we are forbidden To sweare by the name of strange Gods so we doe not sweare by Deut. 10. Exod. 23. Saints although we be requested thereunto We therefore in all these things doe reject that doctrine which giveth too much unto the Saints in heaven Out of the former Confession of HELVETIA VVE thus thinke of God that he is one in substance three in Artic. 6. persons and almightie Who as he hath by the word that is his Sonne made all things of nothing so by his spirit and providence he doth justly truely and most wisely governe preserve and cherish all things Who as he is the onely Mediatour intercessour and sacrifice Artic. 11. also our high Priest Lord and King so we acknowledge and with the whole heart beleeve that he alone is our attonement redemption satisfaction expiation wisedome protection and deliverance simply rejecting herein all meanes of life and salvation besides this Christ alone Out of the Confession of BASILL VVE beleeve in God the Father in God the Sonne in God Artic. 1. the holy Ghost the holy divine Trinitie three Persons and one eternall Almightie God in essence and substance and not three Gods And in the marginall note is added This is proved Artic. 10. by many places of the whole Scripture of the old and new Testament Therefore we mislike the worship and invocation of dead men the worshipping of Saints and setting up of Images with such like things And in
De fide Of faith that it affirmeth it to be a needlesse thing to dispute of predestination in the doctrine of iustification by faith Which in what sort it may be said we have declared in the 6. Observation in this Confession sect 9. where these words of the Confession are rehearsed Also the SAXON CONFESSION Doth in the same sense by the way make mention of Predestination and Election about the end of the third Article where it treateth of faith which part we have therefore placed in the 9. Section THE SIXTH SECTION OF THE REPAIRING OR Deliverance of Man from his Fall by Iesus Christ alone and of his Pesron Natures Office and the workes of REDEMPTION The former Confession of HELVETIA Of Jesus Christ being true God and man and the onely Saviour of the World CHAP. II. MOreover we beleeve and teach that the Sonne of God our Lord Iesus Christ was from all eternitie predestinated and fore-ordained of the Father to be the Saviour of the world And we beleeve that he was begotten not onely then when he tooke flesh of the Virgin Mary nor yet a little before the foundations of the world were laid but before all eternitie and that of the Father after an unspeakable manner For Isaiah saith Who can tell Isa 35. Mich 5. 2 Ioh. 1. 1. Phil. 2. 6 his generation And Micheah saith Whose egresse hath beene from everlasting For John saith In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and God was the word c. Therefore the Sonne is coequall and consubstantiall with the Father as touching his divinitie true God not by name onely or by adoption or by speciall favour but in substance and nature Even as the Apostle 1 Iohn 5. 18. saith elsewhere This is the true God and life everlasting Paul also saith He hath made his Sonne the heire of all things by whom also he Heb. 12. made the world The same is the brightnesse of his glory and the ingraved forme of his person bearing up all things by his mightie word Likewise in the Gospel the Lord himselfe saith Father glorifie Iohn 17. 5. thou me with thy selfe with the glory which I had with thee before Iohn 5. 18. the world was Also elsewhere it is written in the Gospel The Iewes sought how to kill Iesus because he said that God was his Father making himself equall with God We therefore do abhor the blasphemous doctrine of Arrius and all the Arrians uttered against the Son of God And especially the blasphemies of Michael Servetus the Spaniard and of his complices which Satan by them hath as it were drawne out of hell and most boldly and impiously spread abroad throughout the world against the Son of God We teach also and beleeve that the eternall Sonne of the eternall Matth. 1. God was made the Sonne of man of the seed of Abraham and David not by the meane of any man as Hebion affirmed but that he was most purely conceived by the holy Ghost and was borne of Mary who was alwaies a Virgin even as the history of the Gospell doth declare And Paul saith He tooke in no sort the Heb. 2. 16. Angels but the seed of Abraham And Iohn the Apostle saith He that beleeveth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God The flesh of Christ therefore was neither flesh in shew onely nor yet flesh brought from heaven as Valentine and Marcion dreamed Moreover our Lord Iesus Christ had not a soule without sense and reason as Apollinaris thought nor flesh without a soule as Eunomius did teach but a soule with it reason and flesh with it senses by which senses he felt true griefes in the time of his passion even as he himselfe witnesseth when he said My soule is heavie Matth. 26. Iohn 12. even to death And My soule is troubled c. We acknowledge therefore that there be in one and the same Iesus Christ our Lord two natures the divine and the humane nature and we say that these two are so conjoyned or united that they are not swallowed up confounded or mingled together but rather united or joyned together in one person the proprieties of each nature being safe and remaining still so that we do worship one Christ our Lord and not two I say one true God and man as touching his divine nature of the same substance with the Father as touching his humane nature of the same substance with us Like unto us in all things sin onely excepted As therefore we detest the heresie of Nestorius which maketh two Christs of one dissolveth the union of the Person so doe we curse the madnesse of Eutiches and of the Monophelites or Monophysicks who overthrow the proprietie of the humane nature Therefore we doe not teach that the divine nature in Christ did suffer or that Christ according to his humane nature is yet in the world and even in every place For we doe neither thinke nor teach that the body of Christ ceased to be a true body after his glorifying or that it was deified and so deified that it put off it properties as touching body and soule and became altogether a divine nature and began to be one substance alone And therefore we doe not allow or receive the unwittie subtilties and the intricate obscure and inconstant disputations of Schucnkfeildius and such other vaine janglers about this matter Neither are we Schuenkfeildians Moreover we beleeve that our Lord Iesus Christ did truely suffer and die for us in the flesh as Peter saith We abhorre the most horrible madnesse 1 Pet. 4. 1. of the Iacobites and the Turkes which abandon the passion of our Lord. Yet we denie not but that the Lord of glory according to the saying of Paul was crucified for us For we doe reverently 1 Cor. 2. 8. and religiously receive and use the communication of proprieties drawne from the Scriptures and used of all antiquitie in expounding and reconciling places of Scripture which at the first sight seeme to disagree one from another We beleeve and teach that the same Lord Iesus Christ in that true flesh in which he was crucified and died rose againe from the dead and that he did not raise up another flesh in stead of that which was buried nor tooke a spirit in stead of flesh but retained a true body Therefore whilest that his disciples thought that they did see the spirit of their Lord Christ he shewed them his hands and feete which were marked with the prints of the nailes and wounds saying Behold my hands and my feete for I am he indeed Luke 24. 39. Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have We beleeve that our Lord Iesus Christ in the same his flesh did ascend above all the visible heavens into the very highest heaven that is to say the seate of God and of the blessed spirits unto the
and happinesse Moreover we confesse that God did then at the length fulfill his Artic. 18. promise made unto the Fathers by the mouth of his holy Prephets when in his appointed time he sent his onely and eternâ—â— Son into the world who took upon him the forme of a servant being made like unto men and did truly take unto him the nature of man with all infirmities belonging thereunto sin onely excepted when he was conceived in the wombe of the blessed Virgin Mary by the power of the holy Ghost without any means of man The which nature of man he put upon him not onely in respect of the body but also in respect of the soule for he had also a true soule to the intent he might be true and perfect man For seeing that as well the soule as the body of man was subject to condemnation it was necessary that Christ should take upon him as well the soule as the body that he might save them both together Therefore contrary to the heresie of the Anabaptists which deny that Christ did take upon him the flesh of man we confesse that Christ was partaker of flesh and blood as the rest of his brethren were that he came from the loynes of David according to the flesh I say that he was made of the seed of David according to the same flesh and that he is a fruit of the Virgins wombe borne of a woman the branch of David a flower of the root of Iesse comming of the tribe of Iuda and of the Iews themselves according to the flesh and to conclude the true seed of Abraham and David the which seed of Abraham he tooke upon him being made in all things like unto his brethren sin onely excepted as hath been said before so that he is indeed our true Emmanuel that is God with us We beleeve also that the person of the Son was by this conception Artic. 19. inseparably united and coupled with the humane nature yet so that there be not two Sons of God nor two persons but two natures joyned together in one person both which natures doe still retaine their owne proprieties So that as the divine nature hath remained alwayes uncreated without the beginning of dayes and tearme of life filling both heaven and earth so the humane nature hath not lost his proprieties but hath remained still a creature having both beginning of dayes and a finite nature For whatsoever doth agree unto a true body that it still retaineth and although Christ by his resurrection hath bestowed immortalitie upon it yet notwithstanding he hath neither taken away the trueth of the humane nature nor altered it For both our salvation and also our resurrection dependeth upon the trueth of Christs bodie Yet these two natures are so united and coupled in one person that they could not no not in his death be separated the one from the other Wherefore that which in his death he commended unto his Father was indeed a humane spirit departing out of his body but in the meane season the divine nature did alwaies remaine joyned to the humane even then when he lay in the grave so that his Deitie was no lesse in him at that time then when as yet he was an infant although for a small season it did not shew forth it selfe Wherefore we confesse that he is true God and true man true God that by his power he might overcome death and true man that in the infirmitie of his flesh he might die for us We beleeve that God which is both perfectly mercifull and Artic. 20. perfectly just did send his Son to take upon him that nature which through disobedience had offended that in the selfe same nature he might satisfie for sinne and by his bitter death and passion pay the punishment that was due unto sinne God therefore hath declared and manifested his justice in his owne Sonne being loaden with our iniquities but hath most mercifully powred forth and declared his gracious goodnesse unto us guiltie wretches and worthie of condemnation whilest that in his incomprehensible love towards us he delivered up his Sonne unto death for our sins and raised him up againe from death for our justification that by him we might obtaine immortalitie and life everlasting We beleeve that Iesus Christ is that high Priest appointed to Artic. 21. that office eternally by the oath of his Father according to the order of Melchisedech which offered himselfe in our name before his Father with a full satisfaction for the pacifying of his wrath laying himselfe upon the altar of the crosse and hath shed his blood for the cleansing of our sins as the Prophets had foretold For it is written that the chastisement of our peace was laid upon the Sonne of God and by his wounds we are healed Also that he was carried as a sheepe unto the slaughter reputed amongst sinners and unjust and condemned of Pontius Pilate as a malefactour though before he had pronounced him guiltlesse Therfore he payed that which he had not taken and being just suffered in soul and body for the unjust in such sort that feeling the horror of those punishments that were due unto our sins he did sweat water and blood and at length cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All which he suffered for the remission of our sins Wherefore we do not without just cause professe w th Paul that we know nothing out Iesus Christ and him crucified and that we doe account all things as dung in respect of the excellent knowledge of Iesus Christ our Lord finding in his wounds and stripes all manner of comfort that can be deserved Wherefore there is no need that either we should wish for any other meanes or devise any of our owne braines whereby we might be reconciled unto God besides this one oblation once offered by the which all the faithfull which are sanctified are consecrated or perfected for ever And this is the cause why he was called the Angel Jesus that is to say a Saviour because he shall save his people from their sinnes Last of all we doe beleeve out of the word of God that out Artic. 37. Lord Iesus Christ when the time appointed by God but unto all creatures unknowne shall come and the number of the elect shall be accomplished shall come againe from heaven and that after a corporall and visible manner as heretofore he hath ascended being adorned with great glory and majestie that he may appeare as Iudge of the quicke and the dead the old world being kindled with fire and flame and purified by it Then * Looke the second observat upon this confession all creatures and as well men as women and children as many as have beene from the beginning and shall be to the end of the world shall appeare before this high Iudge being summoned thither by the voyce of Archangels and the trumpet of God For all that have been dead
commanded in the law which they call the workes of supererrogation it is contrary to the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles and it is repugnant to the judgement of the true Catholike Church For the law was not given to this end to signifie that man might perfectly fulfill the Commandements thereof in this life but to shew to man his imperfection and to testifie of the unrighteousnesse of man and of the wrath of God against all men and to stirre them up to seeke remission of their sinnes righteousnesse and salvation by faith in the onely Sonne of God our Lord Iesus Christ Rom. 3. By the law cometh the knowledge of sinne And Rom. 7. The law is spirituall but I am carnall sold under sin And Rom. 8. The wisedome of the flesh is enmitie against God For it is not subiect to the law of God neither indeed can be And Gal. 3. Cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to doe them Augustine saith This De Spiritu litera cap. 36. first commandement of iustice wherein we are commanded to love the Lord with all our heart with all our soule and with all our mind whereupon followeth that other commandement of loving our neighbour we shalt fulfill in that Life where we shall see him face to face But therefore it is even now also commanded unto us that we might be admonished what is behoveth us to riquire by faith whither to send our hope before hand and by forgetting those things which are behinde what fore things we should stretch our selves unto And hereby so farre as I can iudge he hath profited much in this life in that righteousnesse which is to be perfited who by profiting doth know how farre he is from the perfection of righteousnesse And againe Charitie is a vertue whereby that is loved which is to be beloved This is in some greater in others lesser and in some none at August Icronim Epist 29. all But the most absolute love which now cannot be increased so long as a man liveth here is not to be found in any man For so long as it may be increased that which is lesse then it ought to be cometh of our corruption by reason of which corruption there is not a iust man in the earth that doth good and sinneth not by reason of which corruption no flesh living shall be iustified in the sight of God for which corruptions sake If we say that we have no sinne we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us for the which also though we profit never so much yet it is necessary for us to say Forgive us on debts although all our words deeds and thoughts are already forgiven us in baptisme And againe All the Commandements of God Lib. 1. Retract cap. 19. are counted as done when as whatsoever is not done is notwithstanding pardoned And Jerome saith This is onely perfection unto men if they know that they are perfect This is the true wisedome of man to know that he is imperfect and that I may so speake the perfection of all iust men in the flesh is imperfect Of the Gospel of Christ CHAP. 8. ALthough many precepts of the law of God be conteined in the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles and Christ himselfe doth teach that we must not render evill for evill nor lock upon a woman want only and such like yet we must not thinke that the Gospel of Christ is a new law whereby as the fathers in times past were saved under the Old Testament by the old law so men now under the New Testament should be saved by a new law For except a man take the name of the law generally for doctrine as the Prophets now and then doe use the name of the law certainly the Gospel of Christ is not properly a law as Paul doth commonly use the name of the law but it is a good and joyfull message touching the sionne of God our Lord Iesus Christ that he onely is the purger of our sinnes the appeaser of the wrath of God and our Redeemer and Saviour Neither are the commandements of the law which are contained in the Apostles writings any new law but they are an interpretation of the old law according to the judgement of the holy Ghost which also were to be seene before and that not obscurely in the writings of the Prophets But they are repeated in the preaching of the Gospel of Christ that the severitie of the law of God and the corruption of our nature being declared we might be stirred up to seeke and embrace Christ revealed in his Gospel and that we may know after what rule we are to frame our life through faith in Christ Wherefore if we will speak properly of the law of God and Gospel of Christ as of Christ we are not to make a new lawgiver seeing that he neither hath made a new law nor instituted a new politike kingdome in this earth so must we not make a new law of the Gospel which by more hard and severe commandements doth bring eternall salvation to the doers thereof But we thinke it to be most certaine that the naturall or morall law of the old and new Testament is one and the same and that neither the men which lived under the old Testament nor those which lived under the new Testament doe obtaine eternall salvation for the merit of the workes of the law but onely for the merit of our Lord Iesus Christ through faith Christ out of Isaiah doth recite his office for the which he was sent into the earth The Spirit of the Lord saith he is upon me bâ—cause Luke 4. he hath annointed me he hath sent me to preach the Gospel to the poore c. Here Christ teacheth that his proper office is not to make a new law which should terrifie and kill miserable sinners but to preach the Gospel which might comfort and quicken sinners Gal. 4. When the fulnesse of time was come God sent his Son made of a woman and made under the law that he might redeeme them which were under the law and that we by adoption might receive the right of sonnes And Acts 15. it is said Why tempt yee God to lay an yoke on the Disciples neckes which neither our fathers nor we were able to beare but we beleeve through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to be saved even as they c. And Augustine saith That people which received the old Testament was Contra Adimantum Manichaei discipulum cap. 3 held under certaine shadowes and figures of things before the coming of the Lord according to the wonderfull and most orderly division of times Yet therein was so great preaching and foretelling of the new Testament that in the Evangelicall and Apostolike discipline though it be painefull and divine no commandements or promises can be found which are wanting even in those old boookes
except a * Looke the 2. Observation upon this confess Priest be ordained in the Church to the ministerie of teaching he cannot rightly take unto him neither the name of a Priest nor the name of a Bishop Out of the Confession of SUEVELAND Of the Office dignitie and power of Ecclesiasticall Persons TOuching the ministery and dignitie of the Ecclesiasticall Order Artic. 13. we doe thus teach First that there is no power in the Church but that which tendeth to edifying 2 Cor. 10. Secondly that we must not thinke otherwise of any man in this state then Paul would have men to esteeme either of himselfe or of Peter and Apollo and others As of the servants of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God in whom this is chiefly required that they be faithfull For these be they which have the keies of the kingdome of God and the power to binde and loose and to remit or retaine sinnes yet that power is so limited that they be neverthelesse the ministers of Christ to whom alone the right and authoritie to open heaven and forgive sinnes doth properly pertaine For neither he which planteth nor he that watereth is any thing but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3. Neither is any man of himselfe fit to thinke any of those things as of himselfe but if any man be found fit thereunto he hath it all of God Who giveth to whom it pleaseth him to be the ministers and preachers of the New Testament to wit so farre forth as he giveth them a mind faithfully to preach the meaning and understanding of the Gospel and useth them hereunto that men may be brought by a true faith to his new covenant of grace Furthermore these be they which doe minister unto us the dead letter that is such a doctrine of truth as pearceth no further then to humane reason but the spirit which quickneth and doth so pearce into our spirit and soule that it doth throughly perswade our heart of the truth These are the true fellow-labourers of the Lord 1 Cor. 3. opeaing indeed heaven and forgiving sinnes to those to whom they declare the doctrine of faith by meanes of the grace and spirit of God Whereupon Christ sending out his Apostles to exercise this dutie he breathed upon them saying Take ye the holy Ghost And furthermore he addeth whose sins ye remit c. Hereof it is manifest that the true and fit Ministers of the Church such as be Bishops Seniors annointed and consecrated can doe nothing but in respect of this that they be sent of God For how shall they preach saith Paul except they be sent That is except they receive of God both a minde and power to preach the holy Gospel aright and with fruite and to feed the flocke of Christ And also except they receive the holy Ghost who may worke together with them and perswade mens hearts Other vertues where with these men must be endued are rehearsed 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 1. Therefore they which are in this sort sent annointed consecrated and qualified they have an earnest care for the flocke of Christ and doe labour faithfully in the word and doctrine that they may feede the people more fruitfully and these are acknowledged and accounted of our preachers for such Bishops as the Scripture every where speaketh of and every Christian ought to obey their commandements But they which give themselves to other things they place themselves in other mens seats and doe worthily take unto themselves other names Yet notwithstanding the life of any man is not so much to be blamed as that therefore a Christian should refuse to heare him if peradventure he teach something out of the chaire of Moses or Christ that is either out of the Law of God or out of the holy Gospel that may serve for edification They which bring a divers or a strange voice whatsoever they be they are in no account or estimation with the sheepe of Christ Iohn 10. * Looke before the third Observation upon the August confession Also after sect 17. 3. observat upon the same confession of August Yet they which have a secular power and soveraigntie they have it of God himselfe howsoever they be called therefore he should resist the ordinance of God whosoever should oppose himselfe to that temporall government These things doe our Preachers teach touching the authoritie of Ecclesiasticall persons so that they have great injurie offered to them in that they are blamed as though they sought to bring the authoritie of Ecclesiasticall Prelats to nothing whereas they never forbad them that worldly government and authority which they have But they have often wished that they would come neerer to the Ecclesiasticall commandements and that either they themselves would instruct and faithfully feed the consciences of Christians out of the holy Gospel or that at the least-wise they would admit others hereunto and ordain such as were more fit for this purpose This is it I say that our Preachers have oftentimes requested of the Prelates themselves so farre they have beene from opposing themselves at any time to their spirituall authoritie But whereas we could not either beare any longer the doctrine of certaine Preachers but being driven thereunto by necessitie we have placed others in their roome or else have retained those also which have renounced that Ecclesiasticall superioritie We did it not for any others cause but for that these did plainely and faithfully declare the voyce of our Lord Iesus Christ the other did mingle therewith all mans inventions For so often as the question is concerning the holy Gospel and the doctrine of truth Christians must wholly turne themselves to the Bishop of their soules the Lord Iesus Christ and not admit the voyce of any stranger by any meanes wherein notwithstanding neither we nor they doe offer violence to any man for Paul saith All things are yours whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death whether they be things present or things to come even all are yours and ye Christs and Christ Gods Therefore seeing that Peter and Paul are ours and we are not theirs but Christs and that after the same manner that Christ himselfe is his Fathers to wit that in all things which we are or may be we might live to him alone Furthermore seeing to this end we have power to use all things yea even men themselves of what sort soever they be as though they were our owne and are not to suffer that any man or any thing should hinder us therein no Ecclesiasticall person may justly complaine of us or object to us that we are not sufficient by obedient to them or that we doe derogate any thing from their authoritie seeing that the thing it selfe doth witnesse that we have attempted and done all those things according to the will of God which we have attempted against the will of Ecclesiasticall persons These therefore be those things
and doth not teach that faith which beleeveth that grace is freely given us for Christs sake is necessarie in the use of the Sacraments but imagineth that men are just for the very use of the Sacraments even by the worke done and that without any good affection of him that useth it This Article we finde thus in another Edition COncerning the use of the Sacraments they teach that they were ordained not so much to be markes and badges of profession amongst men as that they should be signes or testimonies of the will of God towards us set forth unto us to stirre up and confirme faith in such as use them Whereupon they condemne those that teach that the Sacraments do justifie by the worke done and doe not teach that faith to beleeve remission of sinnes is requisite in the use of Sacraments Out of the Confession of SAXONIE Of the Sacraments THe Church also is discerned from other Gentiles by certaine Artic. 12. rites and ceremonies instituted of God and usually called Sacraments as are Baptisme and the Lords Supper which notwithstanding are not onely signes of a profession but much more as the ancient Fathers said signes of grace that is they be ceremonies added to the promise of the Gospel touching grace that is touching the free remission of sinnes and touching reconciliation and the whole benefit of our redemption the which are so instituted that every man may use them because they be pledges and testimonies which declare that the benefits promised in the Gospel doe appertaine to every one For the voice of the Gospel is generall this use doth beare witnesse that this voyce doth appertaine to every one which useth the Sacraments Out of the Confession of WIRTEMBERGE Of the Sacraments THe word Sacrament as also the word Mysterie which interpreters Artic. 9. doe expound Sacrament is very large But because some have thought it good to restraine it to the number of seven Sacraments we will briefly runne over every one that we may shew what we finde wanting in the doctrine that some have broached and what may seeme to be repugnant to the meaning of that Church which is indeed Catholique or Orthodoxe Out of the Confession of SUEVELAND Of the Sacraments SEeing that the Church of Christ doth live here in the flesh Artic. 16. howbeit not according to the flesh it pleased the Lord also to teach admonish and exhort it by the outward word And that this might be done the more commodiously he would also have his to make much of an externall societie among themselves For which cause he gave unto them holy signes among which these are the chiefest Baptisme and the Lords Supper the which we doe not onely thinke therefore to have had the name of Sacraments among the Fathers because they are visible signes of invisible grace as Saint Augustine doth define them but also for that purpose because that by them we doe consecrate our selves unto Christ and doe binde our selves as it were by the oath or Sacrament of faith THE THIRTEENTH SECTION OF THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISME The latter Confession of HELVETIA Of holy Baptisme CHAP. 20. BAptisme was instituted and consecrated by God and the first that baptized was John who dipped Christ in the water in Jorden From him it came to the Apostles who also did baptize with water The Lord in plaine words commanded them To Matth. 28. preach the Gospel and to baptize in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost And Peter also when divers demanded of him what they ought to doe said to them in the Acts Act. 8. Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sinnes and you shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost Whereupon Baptisme is called of some a signe of initiation of Gods people as that whereby the elected of God are consecrated unto God There is but one Baptisme in the Church of God for it is sufficient to be once baptized or consecrated unto God For baptisme once received doth continue all a mans life and is a perpetuall fealing of our adoption unto us For to be baptized in the name of Christ is to be enrolled entered and received into the covenant and family and so into the inheritance of the sonnes of God yea and in this life to be called after the name of God that is to say to be called the sonne of God to be purged also from the flchinesse of sinnes and to be indued with the manifold grace of God for to leade a new and innocent life Baptisme therefore doth call to minde and keepe in remembrance the great benefit of God performed to mankinde for we are all borne in the pollution of sinne and are the sonnes of wrath But God who is rich in mercy doth freely purge us from our sinnes by the bloud of his Sonne and in him doth adopt us to be his sonnes and by an holy covenant doth joyne us to himselfe and doth inrich us with divers gifts that we might live a new life All these things are sealed up unto us in Baptisme For inwardly we are regenerated purified and renewed of God through the holy Spirit and outwardly we receive the sealing of most notable gifts by the water by which also those great benefits are represented and as it were set before our eyes to be looked upon And therefore are we baptized that is washed and sprinckled with visible water For the water maketh cleane that which is filthy refresheth things that faile and faint and cooleth the bodies And the grace of God dealeth in like manner with the soule and that invisibly and spiritually Moreover by the Sacrament of Baptisme God doth separate us from all other Religions of people and doth consecrate us a peculiar people to himselfe We therefore by being baptized doe confesse our faith and are bound to give unto God obedience mortification of the flesh and newnesse of life yea and we are billed souldiers for the holy warfare of Christ that all our life long wee should fight against the world Satan and our owne flesh Moreover we are baptized into one body of the Church that we might well agree with all the members of the Church in the same religion and mutuall duties We beleeve that * Looke the 1. observation upon this confession that of all other is the most perfect manner of baptisme where in Christ was baptised and which the rest of the Apostles did use in baptisme Those things therefore which by mans device were added afterwards and used in the Church * 2. Observation we thinke them nothing necessary to the perfection of Baptisme Of which kind is exorcisme and the use of lights oyle salt spattle and such other things as namely that baptisme is twise every yeer consecrated with divers ceremonies For we beleeve that the baptisme of the Church which is but one was sanctified in Gods first institution of it
and is consecrated by the word and is now of full force by and for the first blessing of God upon it Wee teach that Baptisme should not be ministred in the Church by women or midwives For Paul secludeth women from Ecclesiasticall callings but Baptisme belongeth to Ecclesiasticall offices We condemne the Anabaptists who deny that young infants borne of faithfull parents are to be baptized For according to the doctrine of the Gospel theirs is the kingdome of God And they are written in the covenant of God And why then should not the signe of the covenant be given to them Why should they not be consecrated by holy baptisme who are Gods peculiar people and in the Church of God We condemne also the Anabaptists in the rest of their opinions which they peculiarly doe hold against the word of God We therefore are not Anabaptists neither doe we agree with them in any point that is theirs Out of the former Confession of HELVETEA Of Baptisme BAptisme according to the institution of the Lord is the font Artis 21. of Regeneration the which the Lord doth give to his chosen in a visible signe by the ministery of the Church in such sort as we have declared before In which holy font we doe therefore dippe our infants because that it is not lawfull for us to reject them from the company of the people of God which are borne of us who are the people of God so long as they be not pointed out by the voyce of God especially seeing that we ought godly to presume of their election Out of the Declaration of the same Confession sent unto Luther Of Baptisme BAptisme is a Sacrament wherein the Lord by a visible signe doth testifie his grace unto us whereby he doth regenerate us and cleanse us from our sinnes and also receive us to be his people that we may live to Christ die to the old Adam and be partakers of the good things of Christ For we all are borne sinners whereupon we have need of regeneration and the purging of our sinnes which cometh to passe by the free mercy of God whereby also we are received into the covenant that being buried into his death we may rise againe in newnesse of life the which thing is taught more at large in the Apostls writings But the goodnesse of God doth in deed give unto us these heavenly gifts and also useth a signe hereunto that it may declare these things unto us and by pouring them into our senses might allure us to more excellent things that so the whole glory might be proper to God and yet the holy institution of the signe might not be made frustrate For it is most truly said Baptisme doth save us but it is added of Peter Not that which washeth away the filth of the body And the Baptist saith I indeed doe baptise you with water but he that is Christ shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire Whereunto the holy Councel of Nice having respect did say Our Baptisme is to be considered not with sensible eyes but with the eyes of the minde Also Baptisme is a badge for it serveth to our confession For this we do plainly confesse in the Church that we together with our children and all our family doe professe the Christian religion that the members of that body whereof Christ is the Head to whom we have given our names are received of him into the number of those souldiers who by the good guiding of Christ do through all their life exercise a warfare against the world Satan and the flesh Hitherto also appertaineth the 5. Art ss 2. of the confession of Basill which before was placed in the 12. Sect. Out of the Confession of BOHEMIA Of holy Baptisme CHAP. 12. TOuching holy Baptisme it is taught that men must beleeve and professe that this is a Sacrament or wholesome ministerie of the New Testament instituted of Christ the Lord concerning which the faithfull Ministers have in charge that by the administration hereof they benefit the holy Church This Sacrament consisteth of an outward washing that is done with water with calling on the name of the holy Trinity that of the element and word may arise and be joyntly withall made a Sacrament August he in Ioan. cap. 13. and that washing is used both to signifie and to witnesse a spirituall washing and inward cleansing of the holy Ghost from the disease of hereditarie sinne and from other sinnes the guilt of which is here forgiven and taken away and to the attaining of a new manner of birth or regeneration whereupon it is called the Sacrament of the new birth that is of regeneration or a washing with water in the word of life For we beleeve that whatsoever Act. 2. and 22. by Baptisme as by a Sacrament added to the word of the Gospel is in the outward ceremonie signified and witnessed all that doth the Lord God work and performe inwardly that is that he washeth Iohn 3. Tit. 3. Ephes 5. Galat. 3. Rom. 6. 1 Pet. 3. away sinne begetteth a man againe and bestoweth salvation upon him and through the washing of water cleanseth by the word the societie of his Church cloatheth and apparelleth it with his Son burieth and taketh away sin and giveth testimonie to and sealeth the peace of a good conscience For Baptisme is not a washing away of the outward filth of the flesh but the stipulation or promise that a good conscience maketh unto God For the bestowing of these excellent fruits was holy Baptisme given and granted to the Church which the faithfull shepheards of soules ought to administer and which the faithfull people of Christ touching the receiving thereof ought to use lawfully but once only yet in deed and truth throughout their whole life And although Baptisme in the Primitive Church was for the most part ministred to such as were well grown and of discretion after a confession of faith made by them according to Christs commandement yet this is taught that young children also who are reckoned in the number of Gods people in like sort are by this ministerie to be benefited toward the attaining of salvation that they likewise may be consecrated and dedicated to Christ according to this commandement when he saith Suffer ye the Matth. 16. little ones to come to me and forbid them not because unto such belongeth the kingdome of God Therefore according to the word of the Lord and many other testimonies and other promises made to this beloved age of children especially when as also there is extant an example of that ancient ministerie ordained of God to Gen. 17. wit Circumcision which by reason of the covenant belonged not onely to those of discretion but therewithall also to young children For these causes doe our Ministers without any doubt and boldly baptize children in the name of the holy Trinitie applying unto them a signe of most effectual vertue and a most sure witnesbearing
of that thing which by Christs owne words is assigned to this age and is imparted unto it For so Christ in generall and without exception giveth in charge not touching some but touching all Teach ye all nations and baptize them in the name Matth. 28. Act. 4. of the Father the Son and the holy Ghost And so over children this most holy name is called upon in which alone there is salvation This is further also taught that they who are once lawfully and truely baptized when they come to yeeres ought to do their endeavour that they may learn to acknowledge and know what holy Baptisme is and therewithall the Catholike and Christian faith without which Baptisme availeth nothing to the end that afterward when they doe desire to be partakers of the Lord his Supper they may with their owne mouthes and of their owne accord make profession of their faith and may renew their sanctification by which they were consecrated to the Lord. And such that is which are thus instructed our ministers receive unto this covenant of holy baptisme and * Looke the 1. Observation upon this confession by the laying on of hands do testifie to them that grace is conteined in baptisme to strengthen them to the warfare of faith and so after a convenient and godly manner with use of pure ceremonies and such as are profitable to edifying they bring them to the sacrament of the L. Supper without any reiteration of baptisme as there are evident tokens and examples to be seen of this matter in the Primitive Church which is the true and best maistresse of the posteritie and going before leadeth us the way For if so be that a man should even after a true manner enjoy the Baptisme of Christ and should by meanes here of be buried with Christ into his death to newnesse of life if afterward his life being prolonged he should not according to the doctrine of the holy Gospel shew forth a true and lively faith in Iesus Christ brotherly love towards all those that are consecrated to the Lord and so should leade a life unworthy his place or calling and unworthy of God and his neighbour and should not in baptisme conceive a lively hope of life everlasting such a one should assuredly give certain testimonie of himselfe that he had in vaine received grace in holy Baptisme wherein the name of the holy Trinity was called on over him the which thing God the Lord as his word declareth suffereth Exod. 20. by no meanes to escape unrevenged or unpunished Out of the FRENCH Confession VVE acknowledge that there be two onely Sacraments Artic. 35. common to the whole Church whereof the first is Baptisme the which is given to us to testifie our adoption because that therein we are ingrafted into Christs body that being washed in his blood we may also be renued to holinesse of life by his Spirit This also we say Although we are baptized but once yet the fruit of baptisme doth pertaine to the whole course of our life that this promise to wit that Christ will be alwaies unto us sanctification and justification may be sealed up in us with a sure and firme seale Furthermore although Baptisme be a Sacrament of faith and repentance yet seeing that God doth together with the Parents account their posteritie also to be of the Church we affirme that infants being borne of holy parents are by the authoritie of Christ to be baptized We say therefore that the element of water be it never so Artic. 38. fraile doth notwithstanding truely witnesse or confirme unto us the inward washing of our soules in the blood of Iesus Christ by the vertue and efficacie of the holy Ghost Out of the ENGLISH Confession VVE say that Baptisme is a Sacrament of the remission of Artic. 12. sinnes and of that washing which we have in the blood of Christ and that no person which will professe Christs name ought to be restrained or keept backe therefrom no not the very babes of Christians forsomuch as they be borne in sinne and pertaine unto the people of God Out of the Confession of BELGIA VVE beleeve and confesse that Iesus Christ which is the end of the law hath by his owne bloud sheading made an end of all other propitiatorie sacrifice for sinnes Also that Circumcision which was done by blood being abolished he hath instituted Baptisme in the place thereof whereby we are received into the Church of God and separated from all other nations and all kinde of strange religions being consecrated unto him alone whose badge and cognisance we weare Finally Baptisme is a token unto us that he will be our God for ever who also is our gracious Father Therefore the Lord hath commanded all his to be baptized with pure water In the name of the Father the Sonue and the holy Ghost To signifie that the blood of Christ doth internally through the operation of the Spirit performe and effect that in the soule which water doth externally worke in the bodies For as water being poured upon us and appearing in the body of him that is baptized moistning the same doth wash away the filthines of the body so the blood of Christ washing the soule doth cleanse it from sinne and doth make us the sonnes of God which before were the children of wrath Not that this materiall water doth these things but the sprinckling of the precious blood of the Son of God which is unto us as the red sea wherethrough we must passe that we may depart from the tyranny of Pharaih that is the Devill and enter into the spirituall land of Canaan Therefore the ministers verily doe deliver unto us the Sacraments and the visible thing but it is the Lord himselfe that giveth it unto us that is represented by the Sacrament namely the gifts and invisible graces washing purifying and cleansing our soules from all spots and iniquities renuing in like manner and filling our hearts with all comfort and to conclude giving unto us a certain perswasion of his Fatherly goodnesse cloathing us with the new man and putting off the old man with all his deeds For these causes we do beleeve that every one that desireth to obtaine eternall life ought to be baptized with one baptisme and that once alone which never afterwards is to be itcrated seeing that we cannot be borne twise Neither doth this Baptisme profit us onely at that moment when the water resteth upon us and when we are sprinckled with it but it is available throughout the whole time of our life Therefore here we doe detest the errour of the Anabaptists who are not onely content with one onely Baptisme and that once received but doe also condemne the Baptisme of infants yea of those that be borne of faithfull parents but we by the same reason doe beleeve that they ought to be baptized and sealed with the signe of the covenant for the which in times past the infants amongst
pleasure he doth manifestly and malapertly against our Lord who instituted this Sacrament and committeth a thing cleane contrary to his holy Testament and last will which was declared in his owne words and that expressely Also this Sacrament ought to be received and administred without adoration and without that worship which is due to God alone yet with a due kinde of religion and reverence and chiefly with that which is the chiefest of all namely with faith and examination of himself which in this action is most acceptable to Christ our Lord and most profitable for men which also St. Paul taught the first Church and exhorted it hereunto saying 1 Cor. 11. Let every man trie or examine himselfe and so let him eate of that bread and drinke of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily doth eate and drinke his owne iudgement or condemnation because he discerneth not the Lords body And in another place Prove your selves whether ye are in the faith examine your selves 2 Cor. 13. know ye not your owne selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates Now I pray unto God that ye doe no evill If so be that any man approach to this table without such a tryall and not making himselfe worthy who hath not first examined himselfe what manner of faith he hath with what purpose he came to this Sacrament or how he had prepared himselfe hereunto I say such a man should greatly prophane and reproach this Sacrament yea the whole institution hereof appointed by Christ For which cause the Ministers of our Churches doe admit none to this Sacrament neither give it unto any but to such as are noted to come unto it seriously and doe so much as in them lyeth prepare themselves hereunto after such a manner as becometh Christian godlinesse Now when the Congregation doth come together to celebrate the use of the Lords Supper and be partakers thereof then according to the example of the Primitive Church our Ministers doe teach in their holy Sermons concerning Christ and concerning the grace which through him and in him is given to sinners and especially concerning his death the sheading of his blood and the redemption and salvation purchased thereby After that the whole Church doth joyne together in faithfull prayers unto God to obtaine this that they may indeed use this Sacrament worthily * Looke the 3. Observat Moreover in the next place absolution from sinnes is lawfully administred the words of the institution are rehearsed and the people by exhortation is stirred up to a reverent consideration of this mysterie and to a cheereful and serious contemplation of the benefits of God the Sacrament is reverently with all godlinesse distributed and the people of the faithfull * Looke the 4. Observat most commonly falling downe on their knees doe receive this Sacrament with thankesgiving with gladnesse with singing of hymnes or holy songs and they shew forth the death of the Lord and admonish themselves of all his benefits to the confirmation of their faith in a true communion with Christ and his bodie And all this we doe according to the meaning of those things which are commanded in the holy Scripture especially according to the saying of Christ Doe this in remembrance Luc. 22. 1 Cor. 11. of me and Paul saith So often as ye shall eat of this bread and drinke of this cup ye shall shew forth the death of the Lord till he come Out of the FRENCH Confession VVE affirme that the holy Supper of the Lord to wit the Artic. 36. other Sacrament is a witnesse to us of our uniting with our Lord Iesus Christ because that he is not onely once dead and raised up againe from the dead for us but also he doth indeed feed us and nourish us with his flesh and bloud that we being made one with him may have our life common with him For although he be now in heaven and shall remaine there till he come to judge the world yet we beleeve that by the secret and incomprehensible vertue of his Spirit he doth nourish * Looke the 1. observation upon this confession and quicken us with the substance of his body and blood being apprehended by faith But we say that this is done spiritually not that we may counterfeit an imagination or thought instead of the efficacie and truth but rather because this mysterie of our union with Christ is so high a thing that it surmounteth all our senses yea and the whole order of nature to conclude because that it being divine and heavenly cannot be perceived nor apprehended but by faith We beleeve as was said before that as well in the Supper as Artic. 37. in Baptisme God doth in deed that is truly and effectually give whatsoever he doth there sacramentally represent and therefore with the signes we joyne the true profession and fruition of that thing which is there offered unto us Therefore we affirme that they which doe bring pure faith as it were a certaine vessell unto the holy Supper of the Lord doe indeed receive that which there the signes doe witnesse namely that the body and bloud of Iesus Christ are no lesse the meate and drinke of the soule then bread and wine are the meate of the body Also out of the 38. Art a little after the beginning And also that that bread and wine which is given us in the Supper is indeed made unto us spirituall nourishment in as much as they doe offer unto our eies to behold that the flesh of Christ is our meate and that his bloud is our drinke Therefore we reject all those phantasticall heads which doe refuse these fignes and tokens seeing that Christ our Lord hath said This is my body and This cup is my bloud Out of the ENGLISH Confession VVE say that Eucharistia that is to say the Supper of the Artic. 12. Lord is a Sacrament that is an evident Representation of the body and blood of Christ wherein is set as it were before our eyes the death of Christ and his Resurrection and whatsoever he did whilest he was in his mortall body to the end we may give him thankes for his death and for our deliverance and that by the often receiving of this Sacrament we may daily renue the remembrance thereof to the intent we being fed with the body and blood of Christ may be brought into the hope of the Resurrection and of everlasting life and may most assuredly beleeve that as our bodies be fed with bread and wine so our soules be fed with the body and blood of Christ To this Chrysost ad Eph. sâ—rm 3. cap. 1. Banquet we thinke the people of God ought to be earnestly bidden that they may all communicate among themselves and openly declare and testifie both the godly society which is among them and also the hope which they have in Christ Jesus For this cause if there had been
any which would be but a looker De consecr Dist 1. cap. omnes on and abstaine from the holy Communion him did the old Fathers and Bishops of Rome in the Primitive Church before private Masse came up excommunicate as a wicked person and as a Pagane Neither was there any Christian at that time which did communicate alone whiles other looked on For so did Calixtus Distinct 2. cap. seculares in times past decree That after the Consecration was finished all should communicate except they had rather stand without the Church doores For thus saith he did the Apostles appoint De conscer Dist 2 cap. Peract and the same the holy Church of Rome keepeth still Moreover when the people cometh to the holy Communion the Sacrament ought to be given them in both kindes for so both Christ hath commanded and the Apostles in every place have ordained and all the ancient Fathers and Catholique Bishops have followed the same And who so doth contrary to this he as Gelasius saith committeth Sacrilege And therefore we say that our adversaries De cons dist 2. cap. comperimus at this day who having violently thrust out and quite forbidden the holy Communion doe without the word of God without the authoritie of any ancient Councel without any Catholique Father without any example of the Primitive Church yea and without reason also defend and maintaine their Private Masses and the mangling of the Sacraments and doe this not onely against the plaine expresse commandement of Christ but also against all antiquitie doe wickedly therein and are very Churchrobbers We affirme that the bread and wine are the holy and heavenly mysteries of the body and blood of Christ and that by them Christ himselfe being the true bread of eternall life is so presently given unto us as that by faith we verily receive his body and blood Yet say we not this so as though we thought that the nature and substance of the bread and wine is clearely changed and goeth to nothing as many have dreamed in these latter times and yet could never agree among themselves upon their owne dreames For that was not Christs meaning that the wheaten bread should lay apart his owne nature and receive a certain new Divinitie but that he might rather change us and to use Theophilacts words might transforme us into his body For what In Ioa cap. 6. can be said more plainly then that which Ambrose saith Bread and Wine remaine still the same they were before and yet are changed De sacra lib. 4. cap. 4. into another thing Or that which Gelasius saith The substance of the bread or the nature of the wine ceaseth not to be Or that which Theodoretus saith After the consecration the mysticall In Dialogis 1. 2. signes doe not cast off their owne proper nature for they remain still in their former substance forme or kinde Or that which Augustine In serm ad Infantes De cons dist 2. cap Qui ma' dâ—casti In Matth 15. saith That which ye see is the Bread and Cup and so our eies doe tell us but that which your faith requireth to be taught is this The bread is the body of Christ and the cup is his blood Or that which Origen saith The bread which is sanctified by the word of God as touching the materiall substance thereof goeth into the belly and is cast out into the privie Or that which Christ himselfe said not only after the blessing of the cup but also after he had ministred the communion I will drink no more of this fruit of the Vine It is well known that the fruit of the Vine is wine and not blood Luc. 22. And in speaking thus we mean not to abase the Lords Supper or to teach that it is but a cold ceremonie onely and nothing to be wrought therein as many falsly slander us we teach For we affirme that Christ doth truely and presently give himselfe wholly in his sacraments In Baptisme that we may put him on and in his Supper that we may eate him by Faith and Spirit and may have everlasting life by his Crosse and blood And we say not this is done slightly or coldly but effectually and truly For although we doe not touch the body of Christ with teeth and mouth yet we hold him fast and eate him by faith by understanding and by Spirit And it is no vaine faith that comprehendeth Christ neither is it received with cold devotion that is received with understanding Faith and the Spirit For Christ himselfe altogether is so offered and given us in these mysteries that we may certainly know we be flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones and that Christ continueth in us and we in him And therefore in celebrating these mysteries the people are to good purpose exhorted before they come to receive the holy communion to lift up their hearts and to direct their minds to heaven De coâ—s dist 1. cap. Quaedo wards because he is there by whom we must be fed and live Cyrillus saith when we come to receive these mysteries all grosse Imaginations must quite be banished The Councel of Nice as it is alledged by some in Greeke plainly forbiddeth us to bee basely affectioned or bent toward the Bread and Wine which are set before us And as Chrysostome very aptly writeth we say That the bodie of Christ is the dead carkasse and we our selves must be the Eagles meaning thereby that we must flie on high if we will come to the body of Christ For this Table as Chrysostome saith is a Table of Eagles and not of Jaies Cyprian also This bread saith he is the food of the soule and not the meat of the De caena Domins belly And Saint Augustine saith How shall I hold him being absent How shall I reach my hand up to heaven to lay hold upon him sitting there He answereth Reach thither thy faith and then In Ioan. tract 50. thou hast laid hold on him Neither can we away in our Churches with these shews and sales and markets of Masses nor with the carrying about and worshipping of the bread nor with such other Idolatrous and Blasphemous fondnesse which none of them can prove that Christ or his Apostles ever ordained or left unto us And we justly blame the Bishops of Rome who without the word of God without the authoritie of the holy Fathers without any example of antiquitie after a new guise doe not onely set before the people the sacramentall bread to be worshipped as God but doe also carry the same about upon an ambling Palfraie whither soever themselves journey in such sort as in old times the Persians fire and the Reliques of the Goddesse Isis were solemnly carried about in Procession and have brought the Sacraments of Christ to be used now as a Stage Play and a solemne sight to the end that mens eyes should be fedde with nothing else but
the sects and opinions of other nations Iohn assembled his flock at Ephesus and taught the Gospel and by the use of the Sacraments the whole companie did declare that they imbraced this doctrine and did invocate this God who delivered the Gospel and that they were separated from the worshippers of Diana Iupiter and other Idols For God will bee seene and have his Church heard in the world and have it distinguished by many publique signes from other nations So no doubt the first Fathers Adam Seth Enoch Noe Sem Abraham had their meetings and afterward the civill government of Israel had many rites that their separation from the Gentiles might be more evident Also God gave a peculiar promise to his congregation Matth. 18. Wheresoever two or three be gathered together in my name I will be in the middest of them Also Whatsoever they agreeing together shall desire it shall be done to them And in the 149. Psalme His praise is in the Church of the Saints And the promises wherein God doth affirme that he will preserve his Church are so much the sweeter because we know that he doth preserve and restore the publique ministerie in well ordered meetings as also in the very words of the Supper this promise is included where he commandeth that The death of the Lord should be shewed forth and this Supper distributed till he come c. Hitherto also pertaineth the last part of the 12. Article of this Confession where these things are found touching the revenues of Monastories IN many places the Churches want Pastours or else Pastours want living These men ought chiefly to be relieved out of the revenues of rich Monasteries then the studies of those which be poore must thereby be furthered and in some places Schooles may be erected especially seeing that it is necessary that the Church should discharge the expences of many poore that they might learne that so out of that number Pastours and Ministers may be chosen to teach the Churches Also hospitals are thence to be relieved wherein it is necessary that the poore which have beene sick a long time should be nourished A great part of the revenues in these countries is by the goodnesse of God transferred to such uses which are indeed godly to wit to nourish Pastours the poore and Schollers to erect Schooles and to relieve Hospitals that which remaineth is bestowed in every Monasterie upon the guiding and ordering of things pertaining to their houses and to think that this is not very sumptuous it is but foolishnesse As for the richer Abbots in these dayes upon what uses they lavish out the revenues the examples of many doe declare whom we could name who do both hate learning Religion and vertue and do waste these almes ravenously and either set no Pastours over their Churches or if they have any they suffer them to starve Out of the Confession of WIETEMBERGE Hitherto pertaineth first the 11. Article Of this Confession VVE think that it is most profitable that children and young men be examined in the Catechisme by the Pastors of their Church and that they be commended if they be godly and well instructed and that they be amended if they be ill instructed The rest is to be seene in the 14. Sect. where the confirmation used in Papisticall Baptisme is handled Hitherto also pertaineth the 16 Art ss 2. Of Prayer BY Prayer God is invocated and true invocation is a worke of faith and cannot be done without faith Now faith doth behold Christ and relie upon his merits onely Wherefore except thou shalt apply unto thy selfe the merit of Christ by faith prayer will stand thee in no stead before God Now prayer is necessarily required for this purpose that by a due consideration of the promises of God faith may be stirred up and kindled in us Therefore it is not absurdly said that sins are cleane taken away by prayer yet must it not so be understood as though the very worke of prayer of it own merit were a satisfaction for sins before God but that by prayer faith is stirred up and kindled in us by which faith we are made partakers of the merit of Christ and have our sinnes forgiven us onely for Christ his sake For before that we doe by prayer invocate God it shall be necessarie to have the merit of Christ applied to us and received by faith Therefore it cannot be that prayer should be such a worke as that for the merit thereof we might obtaine remission of our sins before God Psalme 108. Let his prayer be turned into sinne But it is not possible that prayer should be turned into sinne if of it selfe it were so worthy a worke as that sinne thereby should be purged Isa 1. When you shall stretch out your hands I will turne my eyes from you and when you shall multiply your prayers I will not heare you But God would not turne away his eyes from prayer if of it owne worthinesse it were a satisfaction for our sins Augustine upon the 108. Psal saith That prayer which is not made through Christ doth not onely not take away sinne but also it selfe is made sin Bernard de Quadrages Ser. 5. saith But some peradventure doe seeke eternall life not in humilitie but as it were in confidence of their own merits Neither doe I say this let grace received give a man confidence to pray but no man ought to put his confidence in his prayer as though for his prayer he should obtaine that which he desireth The gifts which are promised doe onely give this unto us that we may hope to obtain even greater things of that mercie which giveth these Therefore let that prayer which is made for temporall things be restrained in these wants onely also let that prayer which is made for the vertues of the soul be free from all filthy and uncleane behaviour and let that prayer which is made for life eternall be occupied about the onely good pleasure of God and that in all humilitie presuming as is requisite of the onely mercie of God Of Almes CHAP. 18. VVE do diligently commend almes and exhort the Church that every man help his neighbour by every dutie that he may and testifie his love But whereas it is said in a certaine place That almes doe take away sinne as water doth quench fire we must understand it according to the analogie of faith For what need was there to the taking away of our sins of Christ his passion and death if sins might be taken away by the merit of almes And what use were there of the ministerie of the Gospell if almes were appointed of God for an instrument whereby the death of Christ might be applied to us Therefore that Christ his honour may not be violated and the ministerie of the Gospell may retaine it lawfull use we teach that almes doth thus take away sinne not that of it selfe it is a worthy worke whereby sinne may either be purged or the
some who for the kingdome of heaven doe abstaine from marriage And holy Paul saith He that giveth not his virgin to be married doth the better For which cause it is taught that all they who of their owne accord doe take and chuse unto themselves this kinde of life ought carefully to have regard hereunto that in such a life they may with a singular and earnest endevour exercise godlinesse and be holy as Paul commandeth as well in body as in spirit and give more light then others by the honesty of their actions by the labours of such trades as beseem a Christian profession by doing all that they can for the benefit of the Church and by yeelding their service to the sick and to other needy members This gift and purpose of such which doe thus in this matter consecrate themselves to God and such an exercise of their godlinesse is commended of our men and they doe faithfully perswade men hereunto but they doe perswade as we said and not compell the which thing Paul also doth who writeth thus Concerning Virgins I have no commandement of the Lord but I deliver 1 Cor 7. my iudgement which have received this mercy of the Lord that I may be faithfull I thinke it good for a man to be such a one and he concludeth after this sort He is more happy in my iudgement if he remaine such a one that is unmarried then if he marry and I thinke that I have the spirit of God In like sort in comparison of others there be bountifull and peculiar promises and singular rewards offered unto those that keep themselves single to wit that their worthy works shall be recompensed with a great reward and Matâ—h 17 that no man shall in vain for sake any thing as house father brother so also his wife c. as the Apostles did for the Lords cause Furthermore it is taught that they which have received this gift of God and being throughly proved and tried in this behalfe doe of their own accord serve the Lord and the Church they are taught I say together with other gifts to make great account of this gift and to keep it diligently lest that by any evill lusts or by any allurements of occasions they doe loose it Yet notwithstanding if any good faithfull and diligent man chance to be assaulted with such a tentation as to feare in himselfe the heat and wicked fact of lust then there is no snare laid for such a one neither is there any danger of entrapping his conscience but he that is in this case let him be put over * Looke the 4. Observat to take counsell of the Elders and governours of the Church who have the spirit of God that all may be done in the Church in order decently with honesty of the example and with the using of all due consideration Then verily if upon these things thus done he doth lawfully change his kinde of life he doth not sinne seeing that he obeyeth the counsell of the holy Ghost and the holy Church ought not for this cause to contemne him nor to make any thing the lesse account of his ministerie Notwithstanding if for this cause he should be contemned which the Church cannot do without sinne it were certainly better for him by this means to preserve his soule although he should be one of the common sort of Christians onely then by persisting in his ministerie with sinne to loose and condemne it But although it seemeth to come neerer to the example of the Primitive Church that worthy and honest married men may be chosen to take the charge of souls in the Church then to give them leave to change their kinde of life who before being unmarried did labour diligently in the ministery of the Lord yet notwithstanding our men doe not ground the worthinesse holinesse and vertue of the Ecclesiastical ministery no more then they do of Christian salvation upon either of these kinds ro wit neither upon the state of single life nor of wedlocke neither is there any other thing sought or looked for as it is before declared more then that onely profit and opportunitie which falleth into a single life and is commended of the holy Ghost After these things they doe thus consequently teach touching wedlocke that such a condition of life though it have many difficulties punishments and curses joyned with it where with after the fall of man both mankinde and this order is oppressed yet that it is in this wise holy and acceptable unto God because that God himselfe did in the beginning ordaine it and afterward Christ our Lord did consecrate it and doth daily consecrate it in those that are his and that in such sort that their children also be holy and that moreover God hath offered unto it peculiarly singular promises and blessings which are contained in the Scriptures Thence therefore must all true Christians know that whosoever doe chuse this kinde of life so as it becometh them and with an upright purpose doe both give themselves thereunto and be conversant therein they doe not onely not sinne but they doe and accomplish that which God would have them to doe and that they leade such a kinde of life as God doth peculiarly call some unto and that they doe serve the selfe same Lord whom the unmarried men doe serve The FRENCH Confession doth condemne Monasticall vowes and the forbidding of Marriage Artic. 24. which we have inserted in the 16. Section  Out of the ENGLISH Confession VVE say that Matrimonie is holy and honourable in all sorts and states of persons as in the Patriarchs in the Prophets in the Apostles in the holy Martyrs in the Ministers of the Church and in Bishops and that it is an honest and lawfull thing as Chrysostome saith for a man living in Matrimonie to take upon In Tit. 1. Hom. 11. Theo. ad Tit. 10. Euseb lib. 10. cap. 5. him therewith the dignitie of a Bishop And as Sozomenus saith of Spiridon and as Nazianzene saith of his owne Father we say that a good and dâ—ligent Bishop doth serve in the Ministery never the worse for that â—e is married but rather the better and with more ablenesse to do good Further we say that the same law which is by constraint taketh away this liberty from men and compelleth them against their wils to live single is the doctrine of devils as Paul saith and that ever since the time of this law a wonderfull uncleannesse of life and manners in Gods Ministers and sundry horrible enormities have followed as the Bishop of Augusta as Faber as Abbas Panormitanus as Latomus as the Tripartite Worke which is annexed to the second Tome of the Councels and some other Champions of the Popes band yea and as the matter it selfe and all Histories doe confesse For it was rightly said by Pius the second Bishop of Rome that he saw many causes why wives should be taken away from Priests but that
men Therefore he hath armed the Magistrates with the sword that they may punish the wicked and defend the good Moreover it is their dutie not onely to be carefull to preserve the civill government but also to endeavour that the ministerie may be preserved that all Idolatry and counterfeit worship of God may be cleane abolished that the kingdome of Antichrist may be overthrowne and that the kingdome of Christ may be enlarged To conclude it is their dutie to bring to passe that the holy word of the Gospell may be preached every where that all men may serve and worship God purely and freely according to the prescript rule of his word Moreover all men of what dignitie condition or state soever they be ought to be subject to their lawfull Magistrates and pay unto them subsidies and tributes and obey them in all things which are not repugnant to the word of God Also they must poure out their prayers for them that God would vouchsafe to direct them in all their actions and that we may leade a peaceable and quiet life under them with all godlinesse and honesty Wherfore wee condemne the Anabaptists and all those troublesone spirits which doe reject higher powers and Magistrates overthrow all laws and judgements make all goods common and to conclude doe abolish and confound all those orders and degrees which God hath appointed among men for honesties sake Out of the Confession of AUSPURGE COncerning civill affaires they teach that such civill ordinances Artic. 16. as be lawfull are the good works and ordinances of God As Paul witnesseth The powers which are be ordained of God They teach therefore that it is lawfull for Christians to beare offices to sit in judgement and to determine of matters by the Princes laws or by the laws of the Common-wealth to appoint punishments according to law to make lawfull warres to goe to warre to deale in bargains and contracts by laws to hold his own to take an oath at the request of the Magistrates to contract lawfull marriage and to follow such crafts and sciences as are approved by law They condemne the Anabaptists which forbid Christians these civill offices They likewise condemne them which have placed perfection under the Gospell in the renouncing of civill offices whereas it is spirituall that is it consisteth in the motions of the heart in the feare faith love and obedience of God For the Gospel speaketh of a certaine eternall righteousnesse of the heart yet doth it not take away civill or domesticall government but requireth most of all to have them preserved in this bodily life as the ordinances of God and that we should exercise love and charitie in such ordinances Wherefore Christians must of necessitie obey the Magistrates laws that now are save onely where they command and set forth any sinne For in such case they must obey God rather then men Act. 4. These things are thus found in another Edition COncerning civill things they teach that such civill ordinances Artic. 16. as are lawfull are the good works of God that Christians may lawfully beare office sit in judgements determine matters by the Princes or countrey laws lawfully appoint punishments lawfully make warre be souldiers make bargains and contracts by law hold their owne take an oath when the Magistrates require it marry a wife or be given in marriage They condemne the Anabaptists which forbid Christians to meddle with civill offices as also those that place the perfection of the Gospell not in the feare of God and faith but in forsaking civill offices For the Gospel teacheth an everlasting righteousnesse of the heart In the meane time it doth not disallow order and government of Common-wealths or families but requireth especially the preservation and maintenance thereof as of Gods own ordinance and that in such ordinances we should exercise love and charitie Christians therefore must in any wise obey their Magistrates and laws save onely then when they command any sinne For then they must rather obey God then men We condemne the Anabaptists which doe spread Iewish opinions afresh They imagine that the godly before the resurrection shall possesse the kingdomes of the world and the wicked and ungodly in all places be destroyed and brought under For we are sure that seeing the godly must obey the Magistrates that be over them they must not wring their rule and authoritie out of their hands nor overthrow governments by sedition forasmuch as Paul willeth every soule to be subject to the Magistrates We know also that the Church in this life is subject to the crosse and that it shall not be glorified till after this life as Saint Paul saith We must be made like to the image of the Sonne of God And therefore we do condemne and detest the folly and devillish madnesse of the Anabaptists The Conclusion THese are the principall articles that seeme to have any doubt or controversie in them For though we might have spoken of many more abuses yet to avoid tediousnesse we have onely set downe the chiefest by which it is easie to judge of the rest There have been great complaints of Indulgences and Pilgrimages and of the abuse of excommunication Parishes have been divers wayes molested by Catchpoles there have been many brawles and bickerings betweene Parish Priests and Monks about this who had greater right to the Parish and about commissions burials and extraordinary Sermons and other such innumerable things such like matters we have permitted that such as are the principal in this cause being shortly set down might the better be understood Neither have we here spoken or written any thing to any mans reproach Onely we have rehearsed such things as seemed necessary to be spoken to the end that it might be seene that nothing is received among us in doctrine or ceremonies contrary to the Scripture or the Catholike Church For it is evident that we have most diligently taken heed that no new or wicked opinions should creepe into the Church These articles above written we thought good to exhibit according to the Emperours his highnesse Edict wherein our confession might be extant and the summe of that doctrine which our Teachers do deliver among us might be seene and knowne If any thing be wanting in this confession we are ready if God permit to yeeld a more full information thereof according to the Scriptures Another Edition hath it thus VVE have set downe the summe of the doctrine of the Gospell that is needfull for the Churches And we are out of doubt that this our judgement in these points is in deed the doctrine set forth in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles and whereunto the universall Church of Christ doth agree and consent and whereto the best learned Writers of the Church doe give testimonie in many places And we offer our selves to make a more large and ample explication of these things when need shall require Now we beseech God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ
importance may be knowne diligently weighed and discussed as the honour which we doe chiefely owe to God in whose chiefe matter it behoovethus to be conversant with feare and trembling doth require Secondly it is a thing worthy of your sacred Majestie which is so much commended for the name of religion and clemencie To conclude the very meane to attaine to that certain and sound peace which your sacred Majestie goeth about doth require it which peace seeing that we doe varie about Faith and Religion can no other waies be obtained then when as before all other things the mindes be plainly instructed concerning the truth But peradventure it might seeme needlesse that we in these matters should use so many words seeing that the most famous Prince Elector of Saxony and others have very largely and soundly declared unto your sacred Majestie those things which at this day are in controversie in our holy Religion But because that your sacred Majestie hath desired that all they who have any interest in this businesse should declare unto you their judgement concerning Religion we also thought it our dutie to confesse those things unto your sacred Majestie which are taught among us Howbeit this matter is so large and comprehendeth so many things that even those things which we have declared on both sides are as yet fewer and more briefly declared then that we may hope presently to have some certaintie determined in the controversies and that such as may be approved not of all but at the least of a good part of Christian people So few is the number of those that doe subscribe to the truth Therefore seeing that this matter is so weightie so divers and manifold and cannot fruitfully be decided except it be well knowne and sifted of many we beseech your sacred Majestie and most humbly request you by God and our Saviour whose glory without doubt you doe chiefly seek that you would procure as speedily as may be that a generall free and a Christian Councel in deed may be summoned which hitherto hath seemed so necessary a thing both to your sacred Majesty and also to other Princes of the sacred Empire for the setting of Ecclesiasticall affaires at a stay that almost in all assemblies throughout the Empire which have been gathered together since the beginning of this variance about Religion both your sacred Majesties commissioners and other Princes of the Empire have openly witnessed that there was no other way in these matters to bring that to passe which might be wholesome Whereupon in the last assembly held at Spire your sacred Majestie gave occasion to hope that the Bishop of Rome would not withstand it but that such a Councel might with speed be summoned But if so be that in time we may not have opportunitie for a a generall Councell yet at the least your sacred Majestie may appoint a Provinciall assemblie as they call it of the learned men of every degree and state whereunto all for whom it is expedient to be present may freely safely resort every man may be heard and all things may be weighed and judged by such men whom it is certain as being indued with the feare of God to make the chiefest account of the glory of God For it is not unknown how gravely and diligently in times past both Emperors and Bishops behaved themselves in the deciding the controversies of Faith which notwithstanding were oftentimes of much lesse moment then those which doe presently trouble Germanie so that they thought it not an unworthy thing for them to examine the selfe same things the second the third time Now he that shall consider how things stand at this present he can not doubt but that at this day there is greater need then ever was heretofore of greater faithfulnesse gravitie meeknesse and dexteritie to this end that the Religion of Christ may be restored into her place For if so be that we have the truth as we doe undoubtedly beleeve how much time and labour I pray you is requsite that they may know the truth without whose consent or patience at the least sound peace cannot be obtained But if we doe erre from the which we doe not doubt but we be farre againe the matter will not require slothfull diligence nor a short time that so many thousand men may be called into the way againe This diligence and time it shall not be so unseemely for your Majestie to bestow as it is meet that you should expresse his minde toward us in whose stead you doe governe over us to wit the minde of Iesus Christ the Saviour of us all who seeing that he came with this minde to seeke and to save that which was perished so that he vouchsafed also to die that he might redeeme them which were lost there is no cause why your sacred Majestie should thinke much although you should undoubtedly beleeve that we are fallen from the truth to leave the nintie nine sheepe in the wildernesse and to seeke for the hundreth and to bring it back into the sheepfold of Christ that is to preferre this businesse before all other things that the meaning of Christ in every of these things which at this present are in controversie may out of the Scriptures be plainely and certainely laid open unto us though we be but a few in number and of the meaner sort and we for our parts will shew our selves willing to be taught onely let all obstinacie be removed so that it may be lawfull to heare the voyce of our Shepheard Iesus Christ and let all things stay and rest upon the Scriptures which teach whatsoever is good whereunto we shall be called For if it should so fall out that the care of teaching us being rejected there should compendious formes of Edicts be sought which we do nothing feare whilest the matter is in the hand of your sacred Majestie it cannot be said into what straights innumerable thousands of men should be brought to wit of those whom as being perswaded that God is chiefly to be heard and then that those things which follow as opinions must stay upon the undoubted oracles of God these sayings of our Saviour doe alwaies appale Feare not them which kill the bodie He that shall loose his soule shall finde it He that shall not hate father and mother c. yea even his owne soule he cannot be my Disciple He that shall be ashamed of me before this froward and adulterous nation of him will I be ashamed before my Father and his Angels And such like Many men being moved with these thundering speeches have resolved with themselves to suffer all extremity and many for feare of death doe rather seek delayes but yet waiting for a fit opportunitie if they should be dealt withall in this matter by authoritie before they be dealt withall by doctrine and by force before their errour should be made known unto them For of what force a sound perswasion of Religion is and how
water baptizing of Bels Conjuring of spirits Crossing Sauing Anointing Conjuring Hallowing of Gods good creatures with the superstitious opinion joyned therewith his worldly Monarchy and wicked Hierarchy his three solemned vows with all his shavelings of sundry sorts his erronious bloody decrees made at Trent with all the subscribers and approvers of that cruell and bloody band conjured against the Church of God And finally we detest all his vain allegories rites signes and traditions brought in the Church without or against the word of God and doctrin of this true reformed Church to the which we joyne our selves willingly in doctrin faith religion discipline and use of the holy Sacraments as lively members of the same in Christ our head promising and swearing by the great name of the Lord our God that we shall continue in the obedience of the doctrine and discipline of this Church and shall defend the same according to our vocation and power all the daies of our lives under the pains contained in the law and danger both of body and soule in the day of Gods fearefull judgement And seeing that many are stirred up by Satan and that Romane Antichrist to promise sweare subscribe and for a time use the holy Sacraments in the Church deceitfully against their own conscience minding hereby first under the externall cloake of Religion to corrupt and subvert secretly Gods true Religion within the Church and afterward when time may serve to become open enemies and persecuters of the same under vain hope of the Popes dispensation devised against the word of God to his greater confusion and their double condemnation in the day of the Lord Iesus We therefore willing to take away all suspition of hypocrisie and of such double dealing with God and his Church protest and call the searcher of all hearts for witnesse that our mindes and hearts do fully agree with this our confession promise oath and subscription So that we are not moved for any worldly respect but are perswaded onely in our conscience through the knowledge and love of Gods true Religion printed in our hearts by the holy Spirit as we shall answer to him in the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed And because we perceive that the quietnesse and stabilitie of our Religion and Church doth depend upon the safetie and good behaviour of the Kings Majestie as upon a comfortable Instrument of Gods mercie granted to this Countrey for the maintaining of his Church and ministration of Iustice amongst us we protest and promise with our hearts under the same oath hand writ and pains that we shall defend his person and authoritie with our goods bodies and lives in the defence of Christs Evangell Libertie of our countrey ministration of justice and punishment of iniquitie against all enemies within this Realme or without as we desire our God to be a strong and mercifull defender to us in the day of our death and comming of our Lord Iesus Christ To whom with the Father and the holy Spirit be all honour and glory eternally Amen THE ESTATES OF SCOTLAND WITH THE INHABITANTS OF the same professing Christ Jesus and his holy Gospell To their naturall countrey-men and to all other Realmes and Nations professing the same Christ Jesus with them wish grace mercy and peace from God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ with the spirit of righteous judgement of salvation LOng have we thirsted deare brethren to have notified unto the world the summe of that doctrine which we professe and for the which we have sustained infamie and danger But such hath been the rage of Sathan against us and against Christ Iesus his eternall veritie lately borne amongst us that to this day no time hath been granted unto us to cleare our consciences as most gladly we would have done For how we have been tossed at times heretofore the most part of Europe as we suppose doth understand But seeing that of the infinite goodnesse of our God who never suffereth his afflicted utterly to be confounded above expectation we have obtained some rest and libertie we would not but set forth this briefe and plaine confession of such doctrine as is proponed unto us and as we beleeve and professe partly for satisfaction of our brethren whose hearts we doubt not have been and yet are wounded by the despitefull railing of such as yet have not learned to speake well and partly for stopping of the mouthes of the impudent blasphemers who boldly damne that which they have neither heard nor yet understood Not that we judge that the cankred malice of such is able to be cured by this our simple confession No we know the sweet savour of the Gospell is and shall be death to the sonnes of perdition but we have chief respect to our weake and infirme brethren to whom we would communicate the bottome of our hearts lest that they be troubled or carried away by diversitie of rumours which Satan spreads abroad against us to the defacing of this our most godly enterprise protesting that if any man shall note in this our confession any article or sentence repugning to Gods holy word and doe admonish us of the same in writing we by Gods grace doe promise unto him satisfaction from the mouth of God that is from his holy Scriptures or else reformation of that which he shall prove to be amisse For God we take to record in our consciences that from our hearts we abhorre all sects of heresie and all teachers of erronious doctrine and that with all humilitie we imbrace the puritie of Christs Gospell which is the onely food of our souls and therefore so precious unto us that we are determined to suffer the extremitie of worldly danger rather then that we will suffer our selves to be defrauded of the same for hereof we are most certainly perswaded that whosoever denieth Christ Iesus or is ashamed of him in the presence of men shall be denied before the Father and before his holy angels And therefore by the assistance of the Almightie the same our Lord Iesus we firmly purpose to abide to the end in the confession of this our faith as by articles followeth Of God VVE confesse and acknowledge one onely God to whom Deut. 6. Isa 44. Deut. 4. onely we must cleave whom onely we must serve whom onely we must worship and in whom onely we must put our trust who is eternall infinite unmeasurable incomprehensible omnipotent invisible one in substance and yet distinct in three Matth. 28. Gen. 1. persons the Father the Son and the holy Ghost By whom we confesse and beleeve all things in heaven and earth as well visible as invisible to have been created to be retained in their being and to be ruled and guided by his inscrutable providence to such end as his eternall wisdome goodnesse and justice hath appointed Prov. 16. them to the manifestation of his glory Of the creation of Man VVE confesse and knowledge this
suffered contradiction of sinners that he was wounded and plagued for our transgressions that he being the cleane innocent Lambe of God was damned in the Deut. 21. Gal. 3. presence of an earthly Iudge that we should be absolved before the tribunall seat of our God that he suffered not onely the cruell death of the Crosse which was accursed by the sentence of God but also that he suffered for a season the wrath of his Father which sinners had deserved But yet we avow that he remained the onely welbeloved and blessed Sonne of the Father even in Heb. 10. 1. the midst of his anguish and torment which he suffered in body and soule to make the full satisfaction for the sins of the people After the which we confesse and avow that there remaineth no other sacrifice for sinne which if any affirme we nothing doubt to avow that they are blasphemous against Christs death and the everlasting purgation and satisfaction purchased to us by the same Resurrection VVE undoubtedly beleeve that insomuch as it was impossible that the dolours of death should retaine in bondage Acts 2. 3. Rom. 6. the Author of life that our Lord Iesus crucified dead and buried who descended into hell did rise againe for our justification and destroying of him who was the author of death brought life againe to us that were subject to death and to the bondage of Matth. 28. Matth. 27. Ioh. 20. â—1 same we know that his resurrection was confirmed by the testimonie of his very enemies by the resurrection of the dead whose sepulchers did open and they did arise and appeared to many within the Citie of Ierusalem It was also confirmed by the testimonie of his Angels and by the senses and judgements of his Apostles and others who had conversation and did eate and drink with him after his resurrection Ascension VVE nothing doubt but the selfe same body which was born Acts 1. Matth. 1â— of the virgin was crucified dead and buried that it did rise againe and ascend into the heavens for the accomplishment of all things where in our names and for our comfort he hath received all power in heaven and earth where he sitteth at the right hand of the Father crowned in his kingdome Advocate 1 Iohn 2. 1 Tim. 2. Psal 110. and onely Mediatour for us Which glory honour and prerogative he alone amongst the brethren shall possesse till that all his enemies be made his footstoole As that we undoubtedly beleeve there shall be a finall judgement to the execution whereof we certainly beleeve that the same our Lord Iesus shall visibly returne even as he was seene to ascend And then we firmly beleeve that the time of refreshing and restitution of all things shall come in so much that those that from the beginning have suffered violence injury and wrong for righteousnesse sake shall inherite that blessed immortalitie promised Apoc. 20. Esa 66. from the beginning but contrariwise the stubborne inobedient cruell oppressors filthy persons Idolaters and all sorts of unfaithfull shall be cast into the dungeon of utter darknesse where their worme shall not die neither yet the fire shall be extinguished The remembrance of which day and of the judgement to be executed in the same is not onely to us a bridle wherby our carnall lusts are refrained but also such inestimable comfort that neither may the threatning of worldly Princes neither yet the feare of temporall death and present danger move us to renounce and forsake the blessed societie which we the members have with our head and onely Mediatour Christ Iesus Whom Esa 1. Col. 1. Heb. 9. 10. we confesse and avow to be the Messias promised the onely head of his Church our just Law-giver our onely high Priest Advocate and Mediatour In which honours and office if man or Angel presume to intrude themselves we utterly detest and abhorre them as blasphemous to our Soveraign and supreame governour Christ Iesus Faith in the holy Ghost THis faith and the assurance of the same proceedeth not Matth. 16. Iohn 14. 15. 19. from flesh and blood that is to say from no naturall powers within us but in the inspiration of the holy Ghost whom we confesse God equall with the Father and with the Sonne who sanctifieth us and bringeth us into all veritie by his own operation without whom we should remain for ever enemies to God and ignorant of his Sonne Christ Iesus For of nature we are so dead so blinde and so perverse that neither can we feele when we are pricked see the light when it shineth nor assent to the will of God when it is revealed unlesse the spirit of the Lord quicken that which is dead remove the darknes from our minds and bow our stubborne hearts to the obedience of his blessed wil. And so as we confesse that God the Father created us when we were not as his Sonne our Lord Iesus redeemed us when we were enemies to him so also do we confesse that the holy Ghost doth sanctifie and regenerate us without all respect of any merit proceeding from us be it before or be it after our regeneration To speake this one thing yet in more plain words as we willingly Rom. 5. spoile our selves of all honour and glory of our owne creation and redemption so doe we also of our regeneration and sanctification for of our selves we are not sufficient to thinke one good thought but he who hath begunne the worke in us is onely he that continueth in us the same to the praise and glory of his undeserved grace 2. Cor. 3. The cause of good workes SO that the cause of good workes we confesse to be not our Iohn 13. Ephes 2. free will but the spirit of our Lord Iesus who dwelling in our hearts by true faith bringeth forth such good workes as God hath prepared for us to walke in For this we most boldly affirme that it is blasphemie to say that Christ abideth in the hearts of such as in whom there is no spirit of sanctification And therefore we feare not to affirme that murderers oppressors cruell persecutors adulterers whoremongers filthy persons Idolaters drunkards theeves and all workers of iniquitie have neither true faith neither any portion of the spirit of the Lord Iesus so long as obstinately they continue in their wickednesse For how soone that ever the spirit of the Lord Iesus which Gods elect children receive by true faith taketh possession in the heart of every man so soone doth he regenerate and renue the same man so that he beginneth to hate that which before he loved and beginneth to love that which before he hated And from thence cometh that continuall battell which is betwixt the flesh and the spirit in Gods children so that the flesh and naturall man according to Gal. 5. the owne corruption lusteth for things pleasing and delectable unto it selfe grudgeth in adversitie is lifted up in prosperitie and at every
sake And Phil. 1. Phil 2. again I am perswaded that he that began this good worke in you will perform it untill the day of the Lord Iesus Also It is God that worketh in you the will and the deed Where neverthelesse we teach that there are two things to be observed First that the regenerate in the choice and working of that which is good do not onely work passively but actively For they are mooved of God that themselves may do that which they do And Augustine doth truly alleadge that saying that God is said to be our helper For no man can be helped but he that doth somewhat The Manichees did bereeve man of all action and made him like a stone and a block Secondly that in the regenerate there remaineth infirmitie For seeing that sind welleth in us and that flesh in the regenerate striveth against the spirit even to our lives end they do not readily performe in every point that which they had purposed These things are confirmed by the Apostle Rom. 7. Gal. 5. Therefore our free-will is weake by reason of the reliques of the old Adam remaining in us so long as we live and of the humane corruption which so neerely cleaveth to them In the meane while because that the strength of the flesh and reliques of the old man are not of such great force that they can wholly quench the work of the spirit therefore the faithfull are called free yet so that they doe acknowledge their infirmitie and glory no whit at all of their free-will For that which S. Augustine doth repeat so often out of the Apostle ought alwaies to be kept in minde by the faithfull What hast thou that thou hast not received and if thou hast received it why doest thou boast as though thou hadst not received it Hitherto may be added that that commeth not straight way to passe which we have purposed For the events of things are in the hand of God For which cause Paul Besought the Lord that he would prosper Rom. 1. 19. his iourney Wherefore in this respect also free-will is very weak But in outward things no man denieth but that both the regenerate and unregenerate have their free-wil For man hath this constitution common with other creatures to whom he is not inferiour to will some things and to nill other things So he may speake or keep silence go out of his house or abide within Although herein also Gods power is evermore to be marked Numb 24. Luke 1. which brought to passe that Balaam could not go so farre as he would and that Zacharias coming out of the Temple could not speak as he would have done In this matter we condemn the Manichees who deny that the beginning of evill unto man being good came from his free-will We condemn also the Pelagians who affirme that an evill man hath free-will sufficiently to performe a good precept Both these are confuted by the Scripture which saith to the former God made man upright and to the latter If the Son make you free then are you free indeed Out of the former Confession of HELVETIA MAN being the most perfect Image of God in earth and having the Chiesdome of all visible creatures consisting of soul and body whereof this is mortall that immortall after he was made holy of the Lord he by his owne fault falling into sin drew whole mankinde with him into the same fall and made him subject to the same calamitie And this infection which men tearme Originall hath so invaded Artic. 8. the whole stocke that the childe of wrath and the enemie of God can by none other then by the divine help of Christ be cured For if there be any sparke of good fruit remaining here it being weakned daily by our sins declineth to the worse For the force of evill doth get the upper hand neither doth it suffer reason to beare the sway nor the most divine facultie of the minde to have the preheminence Whereupon we do so attribute free-will to man as that knowing Artic. 9. and having a will to do good and evill we finde notwithstanding by experience that of our own accord we may do evill but Gen. 1. we can neither imbrace nor follow any good thing except being illuminated by the grace of Christ we be stirred up and effectually mooved thereunto For God is he which worketh in us both to will Eph. 4. and to bring to passe according to his good will And Salvation is of the Lord destruction of our selves Out of the Confession of BASILL Artic. 2. Of man Gen. 3. and 5. Rom. 5. 1 Cor. 15. Eph. 2. Gen. 6. and 8. Ioh. 3. Rom. 3. VVE confesse that in the beginning man was made of God in righteousnesse and true holinesse after the true Image of God but he fell into sin of his own accord by the which fall whole mankinde is made corrupt and subject unto damnation Hence it is that our nature is defiled and become so prone unto sin that except it be renued by the holy Ghost man of himself can Psal 143. Ephes 2. neither do nor will any good Out of the Confession of BOHEMIA or the WALDENSES Of the knowledge of a mans self Also of sin the causes and fruits thereof and of the promise of God CHAP. 4 FOurthly touching the knowledge of himself man is taught and that after two sorts First the knowledge of his estate yet being in his innocencie or voyd of all fault that is of his nature being perfect from whence he fell Secondly the knowledge of Gen. 1. his sin and mortalitie into which he fell The estate and condition of his innocencie and righteousnesse consisteth in these points that the Lord in the beginning made man after his own Image and likenesse and adorned him with the gifts of his grace or bountie that he engraffed in him righteousnesse and his spirit a soul and a body together with all the faculties and powers thereof and so made him holy just wise immortall and a most pleasant temple for his heavenly spirit in the mind will memory and judgement and bestowed upon him cleare light of understanding integritie and a very ordinate or lawfull love towards God and all his creatures also a full and absolute obedience or habilitie to obey God the true feare of God and a sincere Eccles â—7 Ephes 1. heart and nature that man might be his own possession and his proper and peculiar workmanship created unto the praise of his glorious grace Man being placed in this estate had left unto him free-will so that if he would he was able to fulfill that commandement which God gave him and thereby to retaine righteousnesse both for himselfe and for all his posteritie after him and every way to enjoy a spirit soule body and an estate most Eccles 15. blessed and further also to make a way unto a farre more excellent glory by considering that fire and water
life and death were set before him which if he would not consider nor doe his endeavour therein by choosing of evill he might loose all those good gifts The second part of the knowledge of a mans selfe namely before justification standeth in this that a man acknowledge a right the state of this fall sin and mortalitie For that free liberty of choice which God permitted to the will of man he abused and kept not the law of his justice but swerved therefrom and therein transgressed the commandement of God insomuch as he obeyed the devill and those lying speeches of his and gave credit unto them and performed to the devill such faith and obedience as was due to God alone whereby he stripped and bereaved himselfe and his posteritie of the state of perfection and goodnesse of nature and the grace of God and those good gifts of justice and the Image of God which in his creation were engraffed in him he partly lost them and partly corrupted and defiled them as if with horrible poyson one should corrupt pure wine and by this meanes he cast headlong both himselfe and all his off-spring into sinne death and all kinde of miseries in this life and into punishments eternall after this life Wherefore the spring and principall author of all evill is that cruell and detestable devill the tempter lyer and manslayer and next the free will of man which notwithstanding being converted to evill through lust and naughtie desires and by perverse concupiscence chooseth that which is evill Hereby sinnes according to these degrees and after this order may be considered and judged of The first and weightiest or most grievous sinne of all was without doubt after that sinne of Adam which the Apostle calleth Disobedience for the which death reigneth Rom. 5. over all even over those also which have not sinned with like transgression as did Adam A second kind is originall sin naturally ingendred in us and hereditarie wherein we are all conceived and borne into this world Behold saith David I was borne in iniquitie Psal 51. Ephes 2. and in sinne hath my mother conceived me And Paul We are by nature the children of wrath Let the force of this hereditarie destruction be acknowledged judged of by the guilt and fault by our pronenesse and declination by our evill nature and by the punishment which is laid upon it The third kinde of sinnes are those which are called Actuall which are the fruits of Originall sinne and doe burst out within without privily and openly by the powers of man that is by all that ever man is able to doe and by his members transgressing all those things which God commandeth and forbiddeth and also running into blindnesse and errours worthy to be punished with all kinde of damnation This doctrine of the true knowledge of sinne is of our men diligently handled and urged and to this end were the first and second Tables of the Law delivered to Moses of God that men especially might know themselves that they are conceived and borne in sin and that forthwith even from their birth and by nature they are sinners full of lusts and evill inclinations For hereof it commeth that straight even from the beginning of our age and so forth in the whole course of our life being stained and overcome with many sins men doe in heart thoughts and evill deeds breake and transgresse the commandements of God as it is written The Lord looked down from heaven to behold the children Psal 14. Rom. 3. of men to see if there were any that would understand and seeke God all are gone out of the way they have been made altogether unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one And againe When the Lord saw that the wickednesse of man was great in the Gen. 6. earth and all the cogitations of his heart were onely evill continually And againe The Lord said the imagination of mans heart is evill Gen. 8. even from his youth And Saint Paul saith We were by nature the children of wrath as well as others Ephes 2. Here withall this is also taught that by reason of that corruption and depravation common to all mankinde and for the the sinne transgressions and injustice which ensued thereof all men ought to acknowledge according to the holy Scripture their own just condemnation and the horrible and severe vengeance of God and consequently the most deserved punishment of death and eternall torments in hell whereof Paul teacheth us when he saith The wages of sin is death And our Lord Christ They which have Rom. 6. John 5. done evill shall goe into the resurrection of condemnation that is into pains eternall Where shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth They teach also that we must acknowledge * Looke the first observat upon this confession our weaknesse and that great miserie which is ingendered in us as also those difficulties from which no man can ever deliver or rid himselfe by any meanes or justifie himselfe that is procure or get righteousnesse to himselfe by any kinde of works deeds or exercises seeme they never so glorious For that will of man which before was free is now so corrupted troubled and weakened that now from henceforth of it selfe and without the grace of God it cannot chuse judge or wish fully nay it hath no desire nor inclination much lesse any abilitie to chuse that good wherewith God is pleased For albeit it fell willingly and of it owne accord yet by it selfe and by it owne strength it could not * Looke the second observat upon this confession rise againe or recover that fall neither to this day without the mercifull help of God is it able to doe any thing at all And a little after Neither can he which is man onely and hath nothing above the reach of this our nature helpe an other in this point For since that originall sin proceeding by inheritance possesseth the whole nature and doth furiously rage therein and seeing that all men are sinners and doe want the grace and justice Rom. 3. of God therefore saith God by the mouth of the Prophet Esaias Put me in remembrance Let us be judged together count thou if Esa 43. thou have any thing that thou mayest be iustified thy first father hath sinned and thy interpreters that is they which teach thee justice have transgressed against me and a little before speaking of works in the service of God after the invention of man he saith Thou hast not offered unto me the Ram of the burnt offerings neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices I have not caused thee to serve with an offering nor wearied thee with incense And unto the Hebrews it is written Sacrifice and offering and Heb 10. burnt offerings and sinne offerings thou wouldest not have Neither did dest thou approove those things which were offered according to the Law This also must we know
right hand of God the Father * Looke the 1. Observation on this Confession Iohn 14. Act. 3. which although it doe signifie an equall participation of glory and majestie yet it is also taken for a certaine place of which the Lord speaking in the Gospel saith That he will goe and prepare a place for his Also the Apostle Peter saith The heavens must containe Christ untill the time of restoring of all things And out of heaven the same Christ will returne unto judgement even then when wickednesse shall chiefly reigne in the world and when Antichrist having corrupted true religion shall fill all things with superstition and impietie and shall most cruelly destroy the Church with fire and bloodshed Now Christ shall returne to redeeme his and to abolish Antichrist by his coming and to judge the quicke and the dead For the dead shall arise and those which shall be found alive in that day Acts 17. which is unknowne unto all creatures shall be changed in the twinckling of an eye and all the faithfull shall be taken up to meete Christ in the ayre that thenceforth they may enter with him into heaven there to live for ever But the unbeleevers or ungodly 1 Cor. 15. Matth 25. 41. 2 Tim. 2. shall descend with the devils into hell there to burne for ever and never to be delivered out of torments We therefore condemne all those which deny the true resurrection of the flesh and those which thinke amisse of the glorified bodies as did Ioannes Hiercsolymitanus against whom Ierome wrote We also condemne those which thought both the devils and all the wicked shal at the length be saved and have an end of their torments For the Lord himselfe hath absolutely set it downe that Their fire is never Mar. 9. quenched and their worme never dyeth Moreover we condemne the Iewish dreames that before the day of Iudgement there shall be a golden world in the earth and that the godly shall possesse the kingdomes of the world their wicked enemies being troad under foote For the Evangelicall truth Matth. 24 and 25. and Luke 18. and the Apostolike doctrine in the 2 to the Thessalonians 2. and in the 2 to Tim. 3. and 4 are found to teach farre otherwise Furthermore by his passion or death and by all those things Rom. 14. 5. which he did and suffered for our sakes from the time of his comming in the flesh our Lord reconciled his heavenly Father unto all the faithfull purged their sinne spoiled death broke in sunder condemnation and hell and by his resurrection from the dead he brought againe and restored life and immortalitie For he is our righteousnesse life and resurrection and to be short he is the fulnesse and perfection the salvation and most abundant sufficiencie of all the faithfull For the Apostle saith So it pleaseth the Father that all fulnesse should dwell in him And In him ye are compleat Coloss 1. and 2. For we teach and beleeve that this Iesus Christ our Lord is the onely and eternall Saviour of * Looke the 1. Observation on this Confession mankinde yea and of the whole world in whom are saved by faith all that ever were saved before the Law under the Law and in the time of the Gospel and so many as shall yet be saved to the end of the world For the Lord himselfe in the Gospel saith He that entereth not in by the doore unto the sheepfold but climeth up an other way he Joh. 10. is a thiefe and a robber I am the doore of the sheepe And also in another place of the same Gospel he saith Abraham saw my daies John 8. Acts 4. and reioyced And the Apostle Peter saith Neither is there salvation in any other but in Christ for among men there is given no other name under heaven whereby they might be saved We beleeve therefore that through the grace of our Lord Christ we shall be saved even as our fathers were For Paul saith That all our fathers 1 Cor. 10. did eate the same spirituall meate and dranke the same spirituall drinke for they dranke of the sprituall rocke that followed them and that rocke was Christ And therefore we reade that John said That Christ was that Lambe which was slaine from the beginning Apoc. 15. John 1. of the world And that John Baptist witnesseth That Christ is that Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Wherefore we doe plainly and openly professe and preach that Iesus Christ is the only Redeemer and Saviour of the world the King and high Priest the true and looked for Messias that holy and blessed one I say whom all the shadows of the Law and the Prophesies of the Prophets did prefigure and promise and that God did performe and send him unto us so that now we are not to looke for any other And now there remaineth nothing but that we all should give all glory to him beleeve in him and rest in him onely contemning and rejecting all other aydes of our life For they are fallen from the grace of God and make Christ of no value unto themselves whosoever they be that seeke salvation in any other things besides Christ alone And to speake many things in few words with a sincere heart we beleeve and with libertie of speech we freely professe whatsoever things are defined out of the holy Scriptures and comprehended in the Creeds and in the Decrees of those foure first and most excellent Councels holden at Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon together with blessed Athanasius his Creed and all other Creeds like to these touching the mysterie of the Incarnation of our Lord Iesus Christ and we condemne all things contrary to the same And thus doe we retaine the Christian sound and Catholike faith wholly and inviolable knowing that nothing is contained in the foresaid Creeds which is not agreeable to the Word of God and maketh wholly for the sincere declaration of faith Out of the former Confession of HELVETIA The eternall Counsell of the restoring of man ANd though man by this fault was deputed to damnation Artic. 10. and had incurred most just wrath yet God the Father never ceased to have a care over him the which is manifest by the first promises by the whole Law which as it is holy and good teaching us the will of God righteousnesse and truth so doth it worke anger and stirre up not extinguish sins in us not through it own fault but by ours and by Christ ordained and exhibited for this purpose Iesus Christ and those benefits which we reap by him THis Christ the true Son of God being true God and true Artic. 11. man was made our brother when according tot the time appointed he had taken upon him whole man that is consisting of soule and body and in one indivisible person united two natures yet were not these natures confounded that he might restore us being dead to
life and make us fellow heires with himselfe He taking flesh of the most pure Virgin Mary the holy Ghost working together flesh I say being sacred by the union of the Godhead and like unto ours in all things sin onely excepted because it behooved our sacrifice to be unspotted gave the same flesh to death for the purgation of all sin The same Christ as he is to us a full and perfect hope and trust of our immortalitie so he placed his flesh being raised up from death into heaven at the right hand of his Almightie Father This Conquerour having triumphed over death sin and all the infernall devils sitting as our Captaine Head and chiefe high Priest doth defend and plead our cause continually till he doe reforme us to that Image after which we were created and bring us to the fruition of life everlasting we looke for him to come in the end of the world a true and upright Iudge and to give sentence upon all flesh being first raised up to that judgement and to advance the godly above the skie and to condemn the wicked both in soule and body to eternall destruction Who as he is the onely Mediatour Intercessor Sacrifice and also our high Priest Lord and King so we doe acknowledge and with the whole heart beleeve that he alone is our attonement redemption sanctification expiation wisdome protection and deliverance simply herein rejecting all meane of our life and salvation beside this Christ alone The laetter part of this Article we placed also in the second section which entreateth of the onely Mediatour Out of the Confession of BASILL Of Christ being true God and true man VVE beleeve and confesse constantly that Christ in the time hereunto appointed according to the promise of God was given to us of the Father and that so the eternall word of God was made flesh that is that this Son of God being united to our nature in one person was made our brother that we through him might be made partakers of the inheritance of God We beleeve that this Iesus Christ was conceived of the holy Ghost borne of the pure and undefiled Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate crucified and dead for our sins and so by the one oblation of himselfe he did satisfie God our heavenly Father for us and reconcile us to him and so by his death he did triumph and overcame the world death and hell Moreover according to the flesh he was buried descended into hell and the third day he rose againe from the dead These things being sufficiently approoved he in his soule and body ascended into heaven and sitteth there at the right hand that is in the glory of God the Father Almightie from thence he shall come to judge the quicke and the dead Moreover he sent to his disciples according to his promise the holy Ghost in whom we beleeve even as we doe beleeve in the Father and in the Sonne We beleeve that the last judgement shall be wherein our flesh shall rise againe and every man according as he hath done in this life shall receive of Christ Rom. 2. 2 Cor. 5. Joa 5. the Iudge to wit eternall life if he hath shewed forth the fruits of faith which are the works of righteousnesse by a true faith and unfeined love and eternall fire if he hath committed good or evill without faith or love Out of the Confession of BOHEMIA CHAP. 4. Towards the middle NEither hath any man of all things whatsoever any thing at all whereby he may deliver set free or redeeme himselfe from his sins and condemnation without Christ by whom alone John 15. they which truly beleeve are freed from sinne from the tyrannie and prison of the devill from the wrath of God and from death and everlasting torments And a little after towards the end of the said fourth Chapter Together with this point and after it considering that both the matter it selfe and order of teaching so requireth the Ministers of the Church teach us after our fall to acknowledge the promise of God the true word of grace and the holy Gospell brought to us from the privy counsell of the holy Trinitie concerning our Lord Christ and our whole salvation purchased by him Of these promises there be three principall wherein all the rest are contained The first was made in Paradise in these words I will put enmitie betweene thee and the woman and betweene thy seed Gen. 3. and her seed He shall breake thine head and thou shalt bruise his heele The second was made to Abraham which afterwards Iacob also and Moses did renew The third to David which the Prophets recited and expounded In these promises are described and painted forth those most excellent and principall works of 2 King 7. 23. Christ our Lord which are the very ground-worke whereon our salvation standeth by which he is our Mediatour and Saviour Psal 131. 89 namely his conception in the wombe of the Virgin Mary and his birth of her also for he was made the seed of the woman also Isa 9. 11. his afflictions his rising againe from death his sitting at the right hand of God where he hath obtained the dignitie of a Priest and King of which thing the whole life of David was a certaine type for which cause the Lord calleth himselfe another David Eph. 3. 4. and a Shepherd And this was the Gospell of those holy men before the Law was given and since And Chapter the 6. a little from the beginning For this is very certaine that after the fall of Adam no man was able to set himselfe at libertie out of the bondage of sin death and condemnation or come to be truly reconciled unto God but onely by that one Mediatour betweene God and man Christ Iesus through a lively faith in him who alone by his death and blood-shedding tooke from us that image of sinne and death and put upon us by faith the image of righteousnesse and life For he made unto us of God wisdome righteousnesse sanctification 1 Cor. 2. and redemption But first men are taught that these things are to be beleeved concerning Christ namely that he is eternall and of the nature of his heavenly Father the onely begotten Son begotten from everlasting and so together with the Father and the holy Ghost John 1. Heb. 1. Coloss 1. one true and indivisible God the eternall not created word the brightnesse and the Image or ingraven forme of the person of his Father by whom all things as well those things which may be seene as those which can not be seene and those things which are in heaven and those which are in the earth were made and created Moreover that he is also a true and naturall man our brother in very deed who hath a soule and a body that is true and perfect humane nature which by the power of the holy Ghost he tooke without all sin of Mary a pure Virgin
yea also a curse that he might make or consecrate us as holy unto God For to such men that they may be stirred up to the greater confidence that sure and precious promise is propounded and by preaching ought to be propounded whereby the Lord doth say Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and this Psal 50. they ought to doe as often as they have need and so long as they live Hereof the judgement of St. Augustine is extant Lib. 1. de Penitentia Cap. 1. No man can well meditate of repentance except he be perswaded of the mercie of God toward him or as he saith but he that shall hope for indulgence Now all men which doe truly repent them of their sins and in regard thereof are sorrowfull and mislike themselves ought to cease from the committing of evill and learne to doe that which is Isa 1. good for so writeth Esay in that place wherein he exhorteth to repentance And John Baptist in the like sort admonishing the people saith See that you bring forth or doe the fruits worthy of Luk. 3. Coloss 3. Ephes 4. repentance which doth chiefly consist in mortification or putting off the old man and in putting on the new man which after God is created righteousnesse c. as the Apostolike doctrine doth signifie Moreover the penitent are taught * Looke the first observat upon this confession to come to the Physicians of their souls and before them to confesse their sins to God yet no man is commanded or urged to tell and reckon up his sins but this thing is therefore used that by this means every one may declare their griefe wherewith they be troubled and how much they mislike themselves for their sinnes and may peculiarly desire and know that they obtaine of their God counsell and doctrine how they may hereafter avoyd them and get instruction and comfort for their troubled consciences and absolution by the power of the Keies and remission of sins by the ministerie of the Gospel instituted of Christ and when these things are performed to them of the Ministers they ought to receive them at their hands with confidence as a thing appointed of God to profit and to doe service unto them for their saving health and without doubting to enjoy the remission of their sinnes according to the word of the Lord whose sinnes you remit they are remitted And Joh. 20. they relying upon this undoubted faith ought to be certaine and of a resolute minde that through the ministerie of those Keies concerning the power of Christ and his word all their sinnes be forgiven them And therefore they which by this means and order obtaine a quiet and joyfull conscience ought to shew themselves thankfull for this heavenly bountifulnesse in Christ neither must they receive it in vain or returne againe to their sins according to that faithfull exhortation of Christ wherein he commandeth us to take heed Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest Joh. 5. Joh. 8. a worse thing happen unto the. And see that thou sinne no more Now the foundation whereon the whole vertue and efficacie of this saving repentance doth stay it selfe is the merit of the torments of the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour whereof he himselfe saith These things it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise againe the third day and that repentance and remission Luk. 24. of sins should be preached in his name to all people And againe Repent Mark 1. and beleeve the Gospel Also they teach that they whose sin is publike and therefore a publike offence ought to give an * Looke the second observat upon this confession externall testimonie of their repentance when God doth give them the spirit of repentance and that for this cause that it may be an argument and testimonie whereby it may be prooved or made evident that the sinners which have fallen and doe repent doe truely convert themselves Mark 5. and 18. 1 Tim. 5. also that it may be a token of their reconciliation with the Church and their neighbour and an example unto others which they may feare and reverence Last of all the whole matter is shut up with this or such like clause of admonition That every one shall be condemned whosoever he be which in this life doth not repent in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ according to that sentence pronounced by Christ Except ye repent ye shall all in like sort perish as they did who were slaine with the fall of the tower of Silo. Hither to also pertain th that part of the same confession which treateth Of the time of grace CHAP. 20. FVrthermore among all other things they teach concerning the time of grace and the fatherly visitation that men may learne to consider that all that time of age they lead in this life is given them of God to be a time of grace in the which they may seeke their Lord and God his grace and mercie and that they may be loved of him and by this means obtaine here their salvation in Christ whereof the Apostle also made mention in his Sermon which he preached at Athens saying God hath assigned unto man the times which were ordained before and the bands of their habitations Act. 17. that they should seeke the Lord if so be they might have groped after him and found him And by the Prophet Esay the Lord saith In an acceptable time have I heard thee and in the day of salvation Isa 49. 2 Cor 6. have I helped thee Behold now saith Saint Paul is the acceptable time now is the day of salvation Therefore at all times the people be admonished that whilest they live on the earth and are in good health and have in their hands and doe presently enjoy the time of grace offered by God they would truely repent and begin the amendment of their life and reconcile themselves to God that they would stirre up their conscience by faith in Christ and quiet it by the ministerie of the Gospel in the Church and herein confirme themselves that God is mercifull unto them and remitteth all their sins for Christ his sake Therefore when they are confirmed in this grace which is offered them to establish and confirme their calling and doe faithfully exercise themselves in good works then at the length they are also in an assured hope to looke for a comfortable end and they must certainly perswade themselves that they shall assuredly be carried by the Angels into heaven and eternall rest as was the soule of that godly Lazarus that they may be there where their Lord and redeemer Iesus Luk. 16. Joan. 12. and 14. and 17. Christ is and that afterward in the day of resurrection this soule shall be joyned againe with the body to take full possession of that joy and eternall glory which cannot be expressed in words For they shall not
come into condemnation but by making a way through Joan. 5. it they shall passe from death into life The Epistle to the Hebrews to stirre us up to use such exhortations saith Exhort your selves among your selves exhort ye one Heb. 4. another daily so long as it is said to day Let no man among you be hardned by the deceit of sin For we enter into the rest which have beleeved that is which have obeyed the voice of God while we had time given us On the other side we must also hold this most assuredly that if any man being polluted with sins and filthy deeds manifestly contrary to vertue doe in dying depart out of this world without true repentance and faith that his soule shall certainly goe into hell as did the soule of that rich man who wanted faith in the bottomlesse pit whereof there is no drop of grace and that in the day of judgement that most terrible voice of the Son of God sounding in his eares shall be heard wherein he shall say Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared Matth. 29. Joh. 5. for the Devill and his Angels for they which have done evill shall come forth to the resurrection of judgement Therefore in teaching they doe continually urge this that no man deferre repentance and turning unto God till he come to be old or till he lyeth sicke in his bed and in the meane time doe boldly practise his wantonnesse in sinnes and in the desires of the flesh and the world because it is written Doe not say The aboundant mercie of the Lord will purgo my sins for mercie and wrath do basten with him and his indignation shall lye upon the sinners Make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord put not off from day to day For suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord breaâ—e forth and in thy securitie thou shalt be destroyed and thou shalt perish in time of vengeance But that especially is a most dangerous thing if any man after he hath received the gift of the grace of God and that in the testimonie of a good conscience doth of set purpose and wantonly sinne and contemne and make no account of all those exhortations and allurements proceeding out of a loving heart and that to this end that he may in time think on that which is for his health and repent and moreover doth persist in a bold and blind perswasion of the mercie of God and trusting thereto doth sinne and doth confidently abuse it and goeth forward in that sort without repentance even unto the last pinch and then beginneth being forced thereunto by the terrours of death and the feare of infernall punishments so late to convert himselfe and to call for the mercie of the Lord as when the severe and intollerable anger of the Lord waxeth hot and punishments rush and breake forth as doth the great violence of floods which cannot be resisted Therefore of such a man which thing we speake with sorrow it is hard to beleeve that he can truly repent and therefore it is to be doubted lest that be fulfilled in him which the Lord doth threaten by the Prophet Micheas That instead of grace he shall feele the wrath of God and that it will come to passe that the wrath of God shall slay him For in a fearefull speech doth he say thus Then shall they cry unto the Lord but Mich. 3. he will not heare them but he will hide his face from them at that time because they have continually lived wickedly Yea the Lord himselfe saith Although they cry in mine eares with a loude Ezech. 8. Ier. 7. and 11. Isa 65. and 66. voyce yet will I not heare them seeing they would not heare my voyce when as all the day long I spread out my hands unto them and gave them large time and space for grace For the which cause the holy Ghost cryeth out and saith To day if ye will heare his Psal 95. Heb. 3. voyce harden not your hearts as in the grieving in the day of that tentation in the wildernesse Therefore according to all these things our men doe diligently and out of the grounds of the Scripture exhort that every man doe in time use and follow this faithfull counsell and necessary doctrine that so he may turne away the feare of this most heavie danger yea that he doe not betray the health of his own soule For undoubtedly this horrible danger is greatly to be feared lest whatsoever he be that doth rashly or stubbornly condemne or neglect this time of grace so lovingly granted of the Lord he doe receive and that worthily that reward of eternall punishment which is due thereunto even as Saint Ambrose also amongst many other things which he handleth diversly to this Lib 3. de poenit qui Augustini esse putatur purpose doth thus write and in these words If any man at the very point of death shall repent and be absolved fo this could not be denied unto him and so departing out of this life dieth I dare not say that he departeth hence in good case I doe not affirme it neither dare I affirme or promise it to any man because I would deceive no man seeing I have no certaintie of him Doe I therefore say that he shall be damned neither doe I say that he shall be delivered For what other thing I should say I know not Let him be commended to God Wilt thou then O brother be freed from doubting repent whiles thou art in health If thou wilt repent when thou canst not sin thy sins have left thee and not thou thy sins Yet that no man may despaire they teach this also that if any man in the last houre of his life shew our signs of true repentance which thing doth fall out very seldome for that is certainly true which is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews And this will we also doe so that God Heb. 6. give us leave to doe it that such a one is not to be deprived of instruction comfort absolution or remission of sins For the time of grace doth last so long as this life doth last wherefore so long as we live here it is meet that we should thinke of that Propheticall and Apostolicall sentence To day seeing ye have heard his Heb 3. voyce harden not your hearts Now herein doe our men labour and endeavour themselves most earnestly that all men may obey this loving commandement and counsell and that they speedily repent before the Sunne be darkened after a strange manner and the hils be overwhelmed with darknesse and that laying sinne aside they would turne themselves to God by flying unto him in true confidence and with a constant invocation from the bottome of the heart and that they doe their faithfull indeavour that they be not repelled from the glory of eternall life but that they may live with Christ and his Church in this life