Church of Rome, as the true Catholick Faith, "out of which none can be faved, (as it is there "expreffed) why this Profeffion of Faith (I fay) "fhould not every Article of it be made at "the time of Baptifm Indeed the Matter "feems very plainly to fpeak for it felf, that. "great Numbers of learned Men, of the Roman "Communion know very well, that the latter "Part of Pope Pius's Profeffion of Faith, "which we reject, was no part of the Faith of "the antient Church, and therefore the Go"vernours of your Church, dare not make it a "Part of the Baptifmal Profeffion, left by fuch "an Innovation, they should give Occafion for "a Schifmi amongst your felves, which every "Man may fee would foon be the Confequence ".of the Introduction of fuch a Practice."

There are many Reafons, My Lord, why an Infant by his Sureties, or a Perfon of Age for himself, fhould at his Baptifm make Profeffion of fome other Articles of Faith (tho' not of all of them) befide this of the Catholick Church.

Firft, because Antient Forms are sacred things, of which the Catholick Church is very tenacious, and therefore will not alter them. Secondly, because there are fome Articles of Faith, which, as your Grace knows very well, are de Neceffitate Medij, that is, the exprefs Profef fion, of which is neceffary for Salvation. (fave only Cafes of Neceffity) And of thofe, fome muft be profeffed publickly before Baptifm, according to the different Capacities of the Perfons to be Baptized, or the Exigencies of their Circumftances; fo as that none ought to be Baptized except he firft makes publick Profeffion of one or more of the chief Articles of the Chrifti

CA

an

an Faith, either by himself, or his Sureties. This is fo true, that, as we read Acts, Chap: 8. V.V. 36, 37. Philip would not Baptize the Eunuch of the Queen of Candace, till he had first made Profeffion that Jefus Chrift was the Son of God: See here is Water (faith the Eunuch) what doth binder me to be Baptized? And Philip faid, if thou believeft with all thy Heart thou mayft. And he anfwered and faid, I believe that Jefus Chrift is the Son of God.

Here, it is to be obferved, that when Philip faid: If thou believeft with all thine Heart, he did not mean that the Eunuch fhould not be oblig'd to believe any more of the Doctrine of the Gospel, than that fingle Article: I believe that Jefus Chrift is the Son of God. And yet we don't find, that he required of him in Order to be baptized to make open Profeffion of any other Article. Laftly, because it would be too tedious and irkfome to the Sureties and Affiftants at Baptifm, to exprefs and recite all the Articles and Points of Faith and even unneceffary, fince fcarce any are now baptized but Infants of whom Care is taken, and Teachers provided, as they grow in Years, to inftruct them, not only in their Faith, but also in moral Duties. In: the primitive Times indeed, when the Pagans were coming very thick into the Church, there was a great deal of Pains taken to inftruct their Adulti, or Perfons of Age, whom they call'd Catechumens, not only in the Articles contain'd in our Rituals, but alfo in all other Points of Faith and Morals, and particularly in what they were to believe, and hold concerning the bleffed Sacrament, of which I find no Mention in any batifmal Ritual that ever I read. It is not

there

therefore neceffary we fhould require of Infants or their Sureties, nor of Perfons of Age to make at Baptism a diftinct Profeffion of all the Articles and Points of the Catholick Faith; fince by profeffing the principal and chiefeft Articles, namely, believing in God, in Jefus Chrift, in the Holy Ghoft, believing the Catholick Church, they profefs to believe all the Doctrine which the Catholick Church fhall teach them. Nor is it enough to profefs at Baptifm, that only Article. I believe the Catholick Church: Since as it is above said, it is neceffary, Neceffitate Medij (bating Cafes of Neceffity) to profefs fome more or lefs, of the chiefeft Articles of the Chriftian Faith.

:

As to what your Grace fays in the Close of this Paragraph, that the Reason why the latter Part of the Profeffion of Faith publifh'd by Pope Pius the 4th. is not made at the time of Baptifm, "is, because great Numbers of learned "Men of the Roman Communion know very well, that it was no Part of the Faith of the "antient Chriftian Church;" I must beg leave to differ in Opinion with your Grace For I never read nor heard that any Man learned or unlearned of the Roman Communion did ever fay, that it was no Part of the Faith of the antient Chriftian Catholick Church. But the Reafon why Pope Pius the 4th. joyn'd that latter Part to the Former, was, that it might be a Test of the fincerity of thofe, who either come over to the Catholick Church from Heresy, or who are prefer'd to the Care of Souls, or to other Dignities in the Church. And pray, My Lord, is not the self fame Thing practic'd in your own Church? You have your Thirty-nine Articles,

and

and feveral other Canons and Conftitutions, confented unto, and decree'd in your National and Provincial Councils, and to the ftrict Belief and Practice of all the Articles in them contained, your Arch-Bifhops, Bishops, Priefts and Deacons are required to Swear and Subscribe. It may not be amifs to fubjoin the Words of the Oath.

I

A. B. Do Swear, That I do approve the Doctrine and Difcipline or Government eftablished in the Church of England, as containing all things neceffary to Salvation: And that I will not endeavour by my felf or any other, directly or indirectly, to bring in any Popish Doctrine, contrary to that which is fo eftablished: Nor will I ever give my Confent to alter the Government of this Church, by Arch-Bishops, BiJhops, Deans, and Arch-Deacons, &c. As it ftands now established, and as by right it ought to ftand, nar yet ever to Subject it to the Ufurpations of the See of Rome. And all thefe things I do plainly and fincerely acknowledge and fwear, according to the plain and common Senfe and Understanding of the fame_Words, without any Equivocation, or mental Evafion, or fecret Refervation whatsoever. And this ĺ do beartily, willingly, and truly, upon the Faith of a Chriftian. So help me God in Jefus Chrift.

How then, can your Grace, juftly reproach Pope Pius, for requiring Arch-Bithops, Bifhops, Prieft, Deacons, and Converts, to Swear and Subscribe to Articles confented unto and decreed by, not a Provincial or National, but

by

by feveral general Councils, where the Reprefentatives of the whole Church of Chrift were affembled. In a Word, Pope Pius added only twelve to the twelve Articles of the Creed, and your Grace's Church added 25. to the fame twelve Articles of the Creed.

Your

CHAP. V.

Of the Authority of the Church.

Our Grace's tenth Paragraph, recites the Converfation you had with diverfe Perfons of our Perfwafion concerning the Authority of the Church, which we fay is an Infallible Guide, that cannot err in Matters of Faith, where your Grace is pleas'd to add that not one of all those you happen'd to meet with, has given you that Account of the Church, which is fet down, in our own Catechifm, commonly call'd the Roman Catechifm, publifh'd by the Pope's Authority, in pursuance of a Decree of the Council of Trent.

In the 11th. Paragraph your Grace tells us, that fome of thofe with whom you difcours'd have argued after this Manner: "As we believe "in God the Father, in God the Son, and in "God the Holy Ghoft, fo we believe in the Ho"ly Catholick Church.' And to fhew that this is falfe Reafoning, you Quote the very Words of the faid Catechifm, firft in Latin, and then in English: Unam igitur Ecclefiam San&tam, & Catholicam effe neceffarió credendum eft. Tres enim Trinitatis Perfonas Patrem, Filium, & Spiritum San&tum, ita credimus, ut in eis Fidem noftram

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