WHOSOEVER WILL BE SAVED, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord, So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved is must think thus of the Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of his Mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his manhood; Who, although he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God; One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he will come to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
June 3, 2012
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Bishop Beveridge on the Church as Interpreter of Scripture
That the Church hath authority in controversies is a truth which, should it not be granted, it would be impossible for any controversies ever to be ended. I know the Scripture is the Rule of Faith and supreme judge of all controversies whatsoever, so that there is no controversy of faith ought to be determined but from the Scriptures.
But I also know that as all controversies of the Faith re to be determined by the Scriptures, so there are no controversies of the Faith but such as grounded on the Scriptures…there is scarce no article of our Christian religion but that hath been sometimes controverted, and no controversy that hath ever arose but both parties pretended to Scripture. For Example, that great controversy betwixt Arius and Athanasius, whether Christ was very God, of the same substance with the Father.
…in such cases the question is how the case must be decided, whether Scripture is for the one side or the other. The Scripture itself cannot decide the controversy, for the controversy is concerning itself: the parties engaged in the controversy cannot decide it, for either thinks his opinion to be grounded in Scripture. Now how can this question be decided better than by the whole Church’s exposition of the Scripture? That it is lawful for the Church thus to expound the Scripture is plain…whatsoever exposition of the Scripture is made by the Church in general, is binding.”—William Beveridge, Bishop of St Asaph , from Ecclesia Anglicana Ecclesia Catholica, 1691
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Bishop Lancelot Andrewes on the Sacrifice of the Eucharist
We believe that the Eucharist was instituted by the Lord for a memorial of Himself and of His sacrifice, and that being a commemorative sacrifice; not only a Sacrament for spiritual nourishment. These uses (thus instituted by the Lord together) cannot be divided from the other. The sacrifice is Eucharistic, of which sacrifice the law is that he who offers it is to partake of it, and that he partake by receiving and eating, as the Savior ordered. For to ‘partake by sharing in the prayer’, that indeed is a fresh and novel way of partaking, much more even than the private Mass itself. … Do you take away from the Mass your transubstantiation; and there will not long be any strife with us about the sacrifice. Willingly we say that a sacrifice is made there.—Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, from A Response to Cardinal Bellarmine, 1609
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Bishop Hall on the Union between the Saints in Heaven and God’s People on Earth
As there is a perfect union betwixt the glorious Saints in Heaven, and an union, though imperfect, with those of us here on earth, so there is an union, partly perfect and partly imperfect, between the Saints in Heaven and we below upon earth; perfect in respect of those glorified Saints above, imperfect in respect of the weak returns we have with those above.
Let no man think that because those blessed souls are out of sight far distant in another world, and we are here toiling in a vale of tears, that we have therefore lost all mutual regard to each other. No. There is, and ever shall be, an unfailing correspondence between Heaven and earth. The present happinesses of those heavenly citizens cannot be abated…they who are now in glory cannot but retain notice of the sad condition of us poor travelers here below, panting together towards our rest together with them and pray for the happy consummation of this our weary pilgrimage in their heavenly glory…we are all fellow members of the same Mystical Body and long for a perfect glorification of the whole.—Joseph Hall, sometime Bishop of Exeter and Norwich (ejected by the Puritans under the Lord Protector Cromwell), from his Treatise on Christ’s Mystical Body, the Blessed Union of Christ with His Members, 1641
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The Fear of Hell
I thank God, and with joy I mention it, I was never afraid of hell, nor grew pale at the description of that place. I have fixed my contemplation on Heaven, and am rather afraid to lose the joys of one than endure the misery of the other. To be deprived of the joy of Heaven is perfect hell, and nothing else is needed, methinks, to complete our afflictions. The terribleness of hell hath never kept me from sin, nor my good acts done out of fear of that place. I fear God, and yet I am not afraid; His mercies make me ashamed of my sins. It is therefore His mercy, not His wrath, that moves my soul. I can hardly think that any man ever was scared into Heaven. –Sir Thomas Brown, from Religio Medici, 1642
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Praying and Offering the Eucharist for the Dead
“The practice of the Church in interceding for the departed at the celebration of the Eucharist is general and ancient…the Church therefore, believing in the resurrection of the dead, believes in no perfect happiness of the soul before…In the meantime, then, what hinders them to receive comfort and refreshment, rest and peace and light (by the visitation of God, by the consolation of His Spirit, by His good angels), to sustain them in the expectation of their trial, and the anxieties they are to pass through during their time of it?...because their condition is uncertain and where there is hope of the better there is fear of the worse, therefore the Church hath always assisted them with the prayers of the living, both for their speedy trial (which all blessed souls desire), and for their easy absolution and discharge with glory before God, together with the accomplishments of their happiness…”—Herbert Thorndike, Prebendary of Westminster, from Just Weights and Measures, 1663
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Bishop Hackett on "Recalling Our Baptisms"
God put into us a good mind to reform this great fault: that our Baptism being passed a great while ago, we cast it from our memory and meditate but little on the benefits and comforts it brought us. We got into the Church of God by it, and yet do forget how we got in. The whole life of every Christian man and woman is built on that sacred foundation; in Baptism we entered into the covenant of Christ. We are by virtue of it “to believe in Him, to serve Him, to forsake the devil, the vanities of this world, and all the sinful desires of the flesh.” So often recall that sanctified water, to see what Christ hath done for you, and what you are engaged to do for Christ. There is no heart so black and melancholy, but will recover its ardor and freshness if it do but think on these things.—by John Hackett, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, from Christian Consolations, 1671
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Bishop Overall on "The Apostolic Succession"
“…it is most apparent by the testimonies of all Antiquity, Fathers and Ecclesiastical Histories, that all the Churches in Christendom that were planted and governed by the Apostles, and such as those to whom the Apostles fully communicated their apostolical authority…did think that after the death, either of the Apostles or that of any other the said Bishops ordained by them, that the same order and form should continue in the Church forever. And therefore upon the death of any of them, either Apostles or Bishops, they (the said Churches) did always supply their places with others the most worthy and eminent persons amongst them, who, with the like power and authority that their predecessors had, did ever succeed them. Insomuch that in every city and episcopal see, where there were diverse Priests and Ministers of the Word and Sacraments, there was ever but one Bishop only. The catalogues of the names, not of their Priests but of their Bishops only, were very carefully kept from time to time, together with the names of the Apostles or Apostolical persons—the Bishops their predecessors—from whom they derived their succession. Of which succession of Bishops, whilst the succession of truth continued with it, the ancient Fathers made great account when any false teacher did broach new doctrine, choking them with this: that they were not able to show any Apostolical Church that taught their new teaching…” –by John Overall, sometime Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, Bishop of Norwich, from Bishop Overall’s Convocation Book Concerning the Government of God’s Catholic Church, 1618
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Archbishop Wake "On the Holiness of the Blessed Virgin Mary"
We believe her to have been a most pure, and holy, and virtuous creature—that her virgin mind was clean and spotless, as her body chaste and immaculate. And she was, on account of both, the most fit of any of our race or her sex for the Holy Ghost to overshadow, and for the Son of the Most Highest to inhabit. When we consider the firmness of her faith, the fervor of her devotion, the excellency of her humility, we cannot but acknowledge a grace extraordinary in her, working all these eminent and divine qualities.” -from The Collected Sermons 0f William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, p 309; published 1729.
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Bishop Pearson on the Honor Due to the Virgin Mother of God
“In respect of our Lady St Mary, it is necessary that we perpetually preserve an esteem of her person proportionate to so high a dignity. The words, ‘From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed’ were hers, but the obligation is ours to call and esteem her so. If St Elizabeth cried out with a loud voice ‘Blessed art thou among women,’ when Christ was but newly-conceived in the Virgin’s womb, what expressions of honor and admiration can we think sufficient, now that Christ is in Heaven and His Mother with Him? Far be it from any Christian to derogate from that special privilege granted her, which is incommunicable to any other. We cannot bear to reverend a regard for the Mother of our Lord, so long as we give her not that worship which is due unto the Lord Himself…”—John Pearson, sometime Bishop of Chester, An Exposition of the Creed, 1659
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On Bowing the Head "when in the time of Divine Service, the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned..."
"In the time of Divine Service, and of every part thereof, all due reverence is to be used; for it is according to the Apostle's rule, Let all things be done decently and according to order; answerably to which decency and order, we judge these our directions following: No man shall cover his head in the Church or Chapel in the time of Divine Service, except he have some infirmity ; in which case let him wear a night-cap or coif. All manner of persons then present shall reverently kneel upon their knees, when the general Confession, Litany, and other prayers are read; and shall stand up at the saying of the Belief, according to the rules in that behalf prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer: and likewise when in time of Divine Service the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned, due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it hath been accustomed; testifying, by these outward ceremonies and gestures, their inward humility, Christian resolution, and due acknowledgment that the Lord Jesus Christ, the true and eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world, in whom alone all the mercies, graces, and promises of God to mankind, for this life, and the life to come, are fully and wholly comprised..." from Canon 18 of the Canons of the Church of England, 1604 "A Reverence and Attention to be used within the Church in time of Divine Service"
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“Bishops and Other Ministers…”
“At the Savoy Conference of 1661, the presbyterians' 11th ‘Exception’ to the Prayer Book was to the effect that as the word “Minister" was used in the rubric before the Absolution, and not “Priest," and therefore it should be used instead of those words throughout the book. To this it was replied by the Church of England Commissioners that it would be unreasonable to use the word Minister alone, for “since some parts of the Liturgy may be performed by a Deacon, others by none under the order of a Priest, viz., Absolution, Consecration, it is fit that some such word as Priest should be used for those officers, and not Minister, which signifies at large every one that ministers in that holy office, of what Order soever he be."
The word “Minister" had formerly been used as identical with “Priest," as may be seen by the 32nd Canon, which forbids Bishops to “make any person, of what qualities or gifts soever, a Deacon and a Minister both together in one day." This distinctive meaning had now passed away, and “Ministers" was colloquially the name for Dissenting preachers, and for Clergymen of every Order. By the insertion of the new word, therefore, the whole Rubric was intended to enjoin, not only that the congregation are not to repeat the Absolution, as they have repeated the Confession, but also that it must not be said by a Deacon. If a Deacon says Morning or Evening Prayer, in the presence of a Priest, the latter should say the Absolution, and if no Priest is present, the Deacon should make a pause, to give opportunity for the offering up of a short secret prayer by himself and the congregation…”—from The Annotated History of the Book of Common Prayer, by John Henry Blunt, 1866
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Sins Both Great and Small
“The Church of England holdeth not Confession and Absolution made unto and received from a Priest to be absolutely necessary, so without it there can be no remission of sins, yet it is manifest what she teacheth concerning the virtue and force of this sacred action. Her absolution is the same that the ancient Church and the present Church of Rome useth…Venial sins that separate us not from the grace of God need not so much trouble a man’s conscience; if he hath committed any mortal sin, then we require Confession of it to a Priest, who may give him, upon his true contrition and repentance, the benefit of Absolution…in the Priest’s absolution there is the true power and virtue of forgiveness, which will most certainly take effect as in baptism.”—from Notes and Collections on the Book of Common Prayer by John Cosin, Bishop of Durham, 1657
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Christ's Presence and Sacrifice in the Eucharist
“…we who most firmly believe that the Body and Blood of Christ are really and actually present and taken in the Eucharist, hold this to be in a way which the human mind cannot understand and is much beyond the power of man to express; known to God alone, we leave this to His omnipotence.
In the Supper by the power of the Holy Ghost, we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, of which we are made recipients in no other wise than we visibly eat and drink His Body and Blood.
…great is the error of those rigid protestants who deny that Christ is to be adored in the Eucharist: they contend that He is not to be thus worshipped with any outward rite, such as kneeling; these errors stem from wrong views about the presence of Christ the Lord in the Sacrament, Who is present in a wonderful but real manner.
…the Sacrifice which is offered in the Supper is profitable to very many, not only of the living but also of the departed.” –from Christ, the Mediator of the Eucharist, by William Forbes, sometime Bishop of Edinburgh , 1634
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The "Bishopping of Children"
The Sacrament of confirmation was ever called confirmatio episcopalis, et impositio manuum episcoparum, which our English word well expresses, and perfectly retains the use; we know it by the common name of “bishopping of children.” I shall only observe…that the Bishop is ever the only appointed Ordinary minister of Confirmation…to pretend otherwise is to endanger the destruction of the whole Sacred Order of the Ministry…and makes men supreme controllers of the Orders of God. For by the economy of the Spirit of God, as there can be no Minister of any divine ordinance but he that is of Divine appointment, there can be none but the Ordinary Minister.
I do not say that God is tied to this way. He cannot be tied but by Himself; and therefore God gave a special commission to Ananias to baptize and to confirm St Paul, and He gave the Spirit to Cornelius even before he was baptized, and He ordained St Paul without the ministry of man. But this I say, though God can make Ministers Extraordinary, yet man cannot…a person of a lower Order could never be deputed Minister to actions appropriate to the higher. Such is the case of Confirmation, by the practice and tradition of the Apostles, and by the universal practice and doctrine of the primitive Catholic church, by which Bishops only, the successors of the Apostles, were alone the Ministers of Confirmation…if any man else usurp it, let them answer it; they do but hurt indeed to themselves, but do no benefit to others, to whom they minister shadows, instead of substances.—from A Discourse on Confirmation: Bishops Always the Only Ministers, by Jeremy Taylor, sometime Bishop of Down and Connor, 1663
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The Place of the Conscience
It is a true word of the Apostle, “God is greater than our conscience.” None but He, however. Under that great God, the supreme power on earth is the conscience. Every man is a little world within himself; and in this little world, there is a court of justice erected wherein, next under God, the conscience sits as the supreme judge from whom there is no appeal. This judge passeth sentence upon us: upon all our actions and all our intentions; upon our absolving one person and condemning another; for all things wherein we allow ourselves one thing and forbid ourselves another. If our conscience condemn us, in vain shall all the world beside acquit us: and if it clear us, the condemnation which the world passeth upon us is frivolous and ineffectual.
I grant this judge is sometimes corrupted with the bribes of hope and with the weak fears of loss, with undue respect of persons, with false witnesses and forged evidences, to pass a wrong sentence…and for these things shall be answerable unto Him that is higher than the highest. And yet, though facing the judgment of Heaven, still is the conscience obligatory on earth. If I mislead my conscience, still, am I obliged to follow. How much need, therefore, have I of Thee, O my God, that Thou wouldest guide my conscience aright, and keep this great judge in my bosom free from corruption and error!
What great need hath this inner arbiter of mine to take special care that he may avoid all that may mislead his judgments; and that all base and unworthy suggestions of advantage or loss may not deprave his determinations! And O Thou, That only art greater than my conscience, keep me from offending against him…--from Holy Conferences of the Devout Soul by Joseph Hall, sometime Bishop of Norwich, 1651
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The Precepts of the Church
1. To observe the Festivals and Holy Days appointed.
2. To keep the Fasting Days with devotion and abstinence.
3. To observe the Ecclesiastical Customs and Ceremonies established, and that without frowardness or contradiction.
4. To repair unto the public service of the Church for Matins and Evensong, with her other offices at times appointed, unless there be a just and unfeigned cause to the contrary.
5. To receive the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ with frequent devotion, and three times a year at least, of which times Easter to be always one. And for better preparation thereunto, as occasion is, to disburthen and quit our consciences of those sins which may grieve us, or scruples that may trouble us, to a learned and discrete Priest, and from him to receive advice, and the benefit of Absolution.-from A Collection of Private Devotions, by John Cosin, sometime Bishop of Durham, published 1627.
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The Creed of the Church
I am such a Catholic Christian as believeth the three Creeds, that of the Apostles, that of the Council of Nicaea, and that of Athanasius, the two latter being paraphrases of the former. And I believe them in that sense such as the ancient Fathers and Councils that made them did understand them, to which three Creeds all the Ministers of England do subscribe at their Ordinations. And I also acknowledge for Orthodox all those other forms of Creeds that either were devised by Councils, or particular Fathers against such particular heresies as most reigned in their times..”—from The Premonition to All Monarchs of Christendom by King James I, 1609
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The One Catholic Church
“To believe in the One Catholic Church…is to believe that there is a single body of Christians, in all quarters of the world, united under Christ their Lord as its Head, guided by the Holy Spirit, made His by Baptism, nourished by His Word and Holy Sacraments, continued under Bishops, Priests and Deacons, Pastors lawfully called to these offices, who succeed those Apostles upon whom the Holy Ghost came down, who have the power of the keys committed to them, who administer the doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church, to pray with and intercede for the People…” –from A Plaine but Full Exposition of the Catechism of the Church of England, by William Nicholson, sometime Bishop of Gloucester, 1655
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On Daily Mattins and Evensong
“…our own Church, which, as in all things else, so particularly in this, is exactly conformable to the Catholic and Apostolic Church. In the First Book of Common-Prayer, made by our Church at the beginning of the Reformation, there was a form composed both for Morning and Evening Prayer: the title of that for the Morning ran thus; An Order for Mattins daily through the year; and of that for the Evening, An Order for Even Song throughout the year: and accordingly there were Psalms and Chapters appointed both for the Morning and Evening of every day. About three or four years after, the same book was revised and put forth again. And then the Church taking notice that Daily Prayers had been in some places neglected, at the end of the Preface she added two new Rules, or, as we call them, Rubrics; which are still in force, as ye may see in the Common-Prayer Books which we now use.
The first is this:
And all Priests and Deacons are to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, or other urgent cause.
By this, every one that is admitted into Holy Orders, although he be neither Parson, Vicar, nor Curate of any particular place, yet he is bound to say both Morning and Evening Prayer every day, either in some Church or Chapel where he can get leave to do it, or else in the house where he dwells, except he be hindered by some such cause which the Ordinary of the place judges to be reasonable and urgent.
The other Order is this:
And the Curate that ministereth in every Parish Church or Chapel, being at home, and not being otherwise reasonably hindered, shall say the same in the Parish-Church or Chapel, where he ministereth, and shall cause a bell to be tolled thereunto, a convenient time before he begin, that people may come to hear God’s Word, and pray with him.
Here we have a plain and express command, that the Curate, whether he be the Incumbent himself, or another procured by him to do it; whosoever it is that ministereth GOD’S Holy Word and Sacraments in any Parish-Church or Chapel in England, shall say the same Morning and Evening Prayer daily in the Parish-Church or Chapel where he ministereth, and shall take care that a bell be tolled a convenient time before he begins, that people having notice of it, may come to GOD’S House to hear His Holy Word read, and join with the Minister in performing their public devotions to him. This every Minister or Curate in England is bound to do every day in the year, if he be at home, and be not otherwise reasonably hindered…” –from The Sermons of our Rt Reverend Father in God, William Beveridge, sometime Bishop of St Asaph, 1704
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On the Honour Due to the Holy Altar
“The Altar or Holy Table is, as St John Chrysostom saith, the ‘throne here on earth of the Body and blood of Christ.’ And if the Altars, and the Arke and the Temple in the Old Testament of Moses were Holy because they were God’s Memorialls, then by the same reason shall the Christian Altar be Holy of Holies, because it is Christ’s…We do believe that Christ is there really present in the Sacrament, there is the Body and Blood of Christ, which are, ‘verily, and indeed’ taken and received by His faithful people, as saith our Church in her Catechisme…” –Blessed Jeremy Taylor, Anglican Bishop of Down and Connor, Ireland, On the Reverence Due to the Altar,
