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ARTICLES

AGREED UPON BY

THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF BOTH PROVINCES,

AND THE WHOLE CLERGY,

In the Convocation holden at London in the Year 1562, for the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and for the establishing of consent touching true religion: Reprinted by His Majesty's commandment, with his Royal Declaration prefixed thereunto.

BE

HIS MAJESTY'S DECLARATION.

EING, by God's ordinance, according to Our just title, Defender of the Faith, and Supreme Governor of the Church, within these Our Dominions, We hold it most agreeable to this Our Kingly Office, and Our own religious zeal, to conserve and maintain the Church committed to Our charge, in unity of true religion, and in the bond of peace; and not to suffer unnecessary disputations, altercations, or questions, to be raised, which may nourish Faction both in the Church and Commonwealth. We have, therefore, upon mature deliberation, and with the advice of so many of our Bishops as might conveniently be called together, thought fit to make this Declaration following:

That the Articles of the Church of England (which have been allowed and authorized heretofore, and which our Clergy generally have subscribed unto) do contain the true doctrine of the Church of England agreeable to God's Word: which We do, therefore, ratify and confirm; requiring all Our loving subjects to continue in the uniform profession thereof, and prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles; which, to that end, We command to be new printed, and this our Declaration to be published therewith.

That We are Supreme Governor of the Church of England: And that if any difference arise about the external policy, concerning the Injunctions, Canons, and other Constitutions whatsoever thereto belonging, the Clergy in their Convocation is to order and settle them, having first obtained leave under Our Broad Seal so to do: and We approving their said Ordinances and Constitutions; providing that none be made contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Land.

That out of Our princely care that the Churchmen may do the work which is proper unto them, the Bishops and Clergy, from time

Of both Provinces.]—England is divided, ecclesiastically, into two Provinces, under the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. These provinces are subdivided into dioceses, or bishoprics.

His Majesty's Declaration.]—This Declaration has always been printed without the name of the King :-it was made by Charles the First A.D. 1628.

to time in convocation, upon their humble desire, shall have licence under Our Broad Seal to deliberate of, and to do all such things as, being made plain by them, and assented unto by Us, shall concern the settled continuance of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England now established; from which We will not endure any varying or departing, in the least degree.

That, for the present, though some differences have been ill raised, yet We take comfort in this, that all Clergymen within Our Realm have always most willingly subscribed to the Articles established; which is an argument to Us, that they all agree in the true, usual, literal, meaning of the said Articles; and that even in those curious points, in which the present differences lie, men of all sorts take the Articles of the Church of England to be for them; which is an argument again, that none of them intend any desertion of the Articles established.

That, therefore, in these both curious and unhappy differences, which have for so many hundred years, in different times and places, exercised the Church of Christ, We will that all further curious search be laid aside, and these disputes shut up in God's promises, as they be generally set forth to us in the holy Scriptures, and the general meaning of the Articles of the Church of England according to them. And that no man hereafter shall either print, or preach, to draw the Article aside any way, but shall submit to it in the plain and full meaning thereof and shall not put his own sense or comment to be the meaning of the Article, but shall take it in the literal and grammatical

sense.

That if any public Reader in either of Our Universities, or any Head, or Master, of a College, or any other person, respectively in either of them, shall affix any new sense to any Article, or shall publicly read, determine, or hold, any public disputation, or suffer any such to be held either way, in either the Universities or Colleges respectively; or if any Divine in the Universities shall preach, or print, any thing either way, other than is already established in Convocation with Our Royal assent; he, or they, the Offenders, shall be liable to Our displeasure, and the Church's censure in Our Commission Ecclesiastical, as well as any other: And We will see there shall be due execution upon them.

ARTICLES OF RELIGION.

I. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity.

is true

HERE is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

II. Of the Word or Son of God, which was made very Man.

HE Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlast

Ting Seth Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance

with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed virgin, of her substance; so that two whole and perfect Natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God, and very Man; who truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but, also, for actual sins of men.

As

III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell.

S Christ died for us, and was buried, so, also, is it to be believed, that he went down into Hell.

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IV. Of the Resurrection of Christ.

HRIST did truly rise again from death, and took again his body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature; wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth, until he return to judge all men at the last day.

V. Of the Holy Ghost.

Tsubstance, majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son, very

HE Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one

and eternal God.

VI. Of the Sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for Salvation.

How for tend therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not

OLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that

to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite, or necessary, to salvation. In the name of the holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.

Articles of Religion.]-By this term is meant, those fundamental points of our religion, a belief in which is requisite on the part of those who are admitted into the fellowship of the Christian Religion, as professed and practised by the Church of England ;—and a subscription to which is required from all those who seek the priestly office.

That he went down into Hell.]-Not the place of the damned, but Hades, the place for departed souls ;-the meaning is, that his soul quitted the body, and sojourned where the souls of righteous men sojourn, until the last trumpet shall sound. See Acts ii. 27 and 31. Those Canonical Books.]-Those Books received as part of the holy Scriptures from the earliest period of the Church; and respecting the authenticity of which, there is no doubt in the minds of any professing Christianity.

Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books.

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And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life, and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:

The Third Book of Esdras,

The Fourth Book of Esdras,
The Book of Tobias,

The Book of Judith,

The rest of the Book of Esther,

The Book of Wisdom,

Jesus the Son of Sirach,

Baruch the Prophet,

The Song of the Three Children.

The Story of Susanna,

Of Bel and the Dragon,

The Prayer of Manasses,

The First Book of Maccabees,

The Second Book of Maccabees.

All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them Canonical.

The First Book of Esdras.-The Second Book of Esdras.]-No books, bearing these titles, are to be found in our present Bibles; but they are the same with those now severally called Ezra and Nehemiah. By the Vulgate, they are called "The First and Second Books of Nehemiah."

And the other Books.]-The books contained in the Second list are called Apocryphal ; meaning, doubtful-or, unauthenticated, Books.

The Third Book of Esdras.-The Fourth Book of Esdras.]-Those are the First and Second Books of Esdras, as they appear in our present Apocrypha.

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VII. Of the Old Testament.

Tand New Testament, everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ,

THE Old Testament is not contrary to the New: for, both in the Old

who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and man. Wherefore, they are not to be heard, which feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the Law given from God by Moses, as touching ceremonies and rites, do not bind Christian men, nor the civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth; yet, notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. VIII. Of the Three Creeds.

THE

HE Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius's Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed; for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.

IX. Of Original, or Birth, sin.

RIGINAL Sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk ;) but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is, of his own nature, inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and, therefore, in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated; whereby the lust of the flesh, called in the Greek, phronema sarkos, which some do expound, the wisdom,-some, sensuality, some, the affection,some, the desire,-of the flesh, is not subject to the law of God. And, although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the Apostle doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath, of itself, the nature of sin.

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X. Of Free-Will.

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HE condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore, we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God, by Christ, preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.

WE

XI. Of the Justification of Man.

7E are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings; wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

XII. Of Good Works.

LBEIT that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith, and follow

Without the grace of God, by Christ, preventing us.]-The two-fold meaning of the word prevent, rendering it liable to misconstruction, we repeat here the substance of a former note;-that, to prevent not only means to hinder, but also to go before; and the meaning of the word in this place is, "without the grace of God, by Christ, going before, or leading us.

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