ARTICLE XIX.

b

OF THE CHURCH.

a

с

THE Church is a select and orderly Assembly of "faithful men," visible and known; "in which the pure word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly administered according to the Ordinance of Christ."

d

"The visible Church" is indeed liable to err, not only in respect to its living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith."

The Churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, are here mentioned, because they were

a 2 Tim. ii. 20.

z Is. i. 21.

Rev. ii. 26.-iii. 5. John vi. 70.-xiii. 11.

Homily, on Whit-sunday.

Præscrip. c. 20. Nowel's Catechism. Hooker's Eccl. Pol. 1. 3. c. 1.

Pearson, on the Creed, Art. 9. Hall's

Dissuasive from Popery.

the most distinguished, which were founded by the Apostles, and which had, in aftertimes, fallen into great errors.

This Article is the twentieth of 1552.

ARTICLE XX.

66

OF THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH.

f

THE Church has power to decree," not any part of that worship, with which we are commanded to adore God" in Spirit and in Truth," but such "rites and ceremonies," such external circumstances of time and place and order, as it may judge most suitable to a decent and becoming performance of Divine Worship. It has "authority in controversies of Faith;" but not "to ordain any thing contrary to the written Law of

XV.

Acts

f Esther ix. 27, 28. John x. 22, 23. 1 Cor. xiv. 26. 40. Hooker's Eccl. Pol. 1. 3, and 8. Potter, on Church Govern

ment, c. 5. § 2.7. Field, on the Church, lib. 4. c. 18.

Ecclesiis, p. 465, 466. Euseb. Hist. 1. 5. c. 24.

1 Tim. i. 3. Tit. iii. 10. 1 Thess. v. 21. Jude 3.

Cyprian. Ep. 63.

h Matt. xv. 13.-xxviii. 20.

Irenæus de

God;" i nor "so to expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another." Although "the Church bek a Witness" and Preserver1 of the Holy Scriptures, to transmit them to posterity, m it is not "to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation." The practice of publicly reading the Scriptures in the Church, has been the means of preserving them from interpolations and corruptions; all its doctrines are to be derived from them, and, upon them, all its decrees, relative to Faith, are to be founded. Nothing is to be added to them, nothing is to be diminished from them." They contain all things necessary to Salvation.

This Article is the twenty-first of those published in 1552. It began, " It is not lawful, &c." the preceding part of the sentence was added in 1562.

ARTICLE XXI.

OF THE AUTHORITY OF GENERAL COUNCILS.

GENERAL Councils may not be assembled without "the command and will of Princes;" because to meet and deliberate and determine upon alterations in an established Church, without the concurrence of the protector of such establishment, would tend to confusion. There were no 66 General Councils" in the time of the Apostles, because there were then no Christian Princes to protect their Religion. They are however liable to err, and their determinations may be erroneous. They have, indeed, “erred in things pertaining to God." Therefore "things ordained by them,

P

。 Rom. xiii. 1. Jewel's Apol. Def. p. 6. c. 12. Div. 2. Hooker's Eccl. Pol. 8. Field, on the Church, l. 5. c. 22.

1

P John iv. 22.-xii. 42. Matt. xxvi. 3, 4. Prideaux Fasc. Contr. c. iv. Q. 4. Jewel, p. 4. c. 22. Div. 3, 4. Ignatius Epist. ad Trall. q The second Nicene Council ordained the worship of Images. Cornelius, Bishop of Bitonto, pronounced before the Council of Trent, "I would, that, with one concent, we had not altogether declined from Religion unto Superstition; from Faith unto Infidelity; from Christ unto Anti-Christ; from God unto Epicurus." - Jewel's Apol. Def. 1.

as necessary to Salvation," have no authority, "unless they be taken out of the Holy Scriptures."

This Article is the same as the twenty-second

of 1552.

ARTICLE XXII.

OF PURGATORY.

WE read of no state after this life in the Scriptures, but of everlasting happiness and everlasting misery. The doctrine of "Purgatory" is, therefore, not warranted by the Scriptures."

The

r Deut. xii. 32.

Ezek. xx. 18, 19. Gal. i. 8, 9.

1 John i. 7. Col. ii. 10. Rom. viii. 33. 2 Cor. v. 8. Mark xvi. 16. John iii. 36. v. 29.

Heb. xii. 23.

Rev. xiv. 13.

Patrick's An

Jewel, p. 2. c. 16. Div. 1. Clem.

Homily of Prayer, p. 3. Stillingfleet's Idol. p. 180 swer to the Touchstone, § 47.

Alex. Quis. Div. Salv. c. 42. p. 140. Cyprian. Ep. 55.