But the rest (yea, although we be baptized and born again in Christ) yet we offend in many things, and if we say we have no'sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

15. Of Sin against the Holy Ghost.

Every deadly sin willingly committed after baptism, is not sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable: wherefore the place for penitents is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after baptism. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin; and by the grace of God (we may) rise again, and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned, which say they can no more sin as long as they live here, or deny the place for penitents to such as truly repent and amend their lives.

16. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.

Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, is when a man of malice and stubbornness of mind doth rail upon the truth of God's word manifestly perceived, and being enemy thereunto persecuteth that same; and because such be guilty of God's curse, they entangle themselves with a most grievous and heinous crime; whereupon this kind of sin is called and affirmed, of the Lord, unpardonable.

17. Of Predestination and Election.

Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his own judgment, secret from us, to deliver from turse and damnation those whom he hath chosen out of mankind, and to bring them to everlasting salvation by Christ, as vessels made to honour: whereupon such as have so excellent a benefit of God given unto them, be called according to God's purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sans by adoption: they be made like the image of God's only begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.

As the godly consideration of predestination and our election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation, to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: so for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's predestination, is a most dangerous downful, whereby the devil may thrust them

either into desperation, or into retchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.

Furthermore, although the decrees of predestination are unknown to us, yet we must receive God's promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture and in our doings that will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the word of God.

18. We must trust to obtain eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ.

They also are to be had accursed and abhorred that presume to say that every man shall be saved by the law or sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that law, and the light of nature. For holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.

19. All Men are bound to keep the moral Commandments of the Law.

The Law which was given of God by Moses, although it bind not Christian men as concerning the ceremonies and rites of the same, neither is it required that the civil precepts and orders of it should, of necessity, be received in any commonwealth; yet no man, be he never so perfect a Christian, is exempt and loose from the obedience of those commandments which are called moral wherefore they are not to be hearkened unto, who affirm, that holy Scripture is given only to the weak, and do boast themselves continually of the Spirit, of whom they say they have learned such things as they teach, although the same be most eminently repugnant to the holy Scripture,

20. Of the Church.

The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those. things that of necessity are requisite to the same.

As the church of Jerusalem, of Alexandria, and of Antioch, hath erred: so also the church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living, but also in matters of faith.

21. Of the Authority of the Church.

It is not lawful for the church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another: wherefore, although the church be a witness and keeper of Holy Writ, yet as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so beside the same

ought not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of salvation.

22. Of the Authority of General Councils.

General councils may not be gathered together without the commandment and will of princes. And when they be gathered (forasmuch as they be an assembly of men, whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and word of God), they may err, and sometimes have erred, not only in worldly matters, but also in things pertaining unto God. Wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to salvation, have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of the holy Scripture.

23. Of Purgatory.

The doctrine of school authors concerning purgatory, pardons, worshipping, and adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing, vainly feigned, and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the word of God.

24. No Man may minister in the Congregation except he

be called.

It is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching, or ministering the sacraments in the congregation, before he be lawfully called, and sent to execute the same. And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men, who have public authority given unto them in the congregation, to call and send ministers in the Lord's vineyard.

25. Men must speak in the Congregation in such a Tongue as the People understandeth.

It is most seemly and most agreeable to the word of God, that in the congregation nothing be openly read, spoken in a tongue unknown to the people; the which thing St. Paul did forbid, except some were present that should declare the same.

26. Of the Sacraments.

Our Lord Jesus Christ hath knit together a company of new people, with sacraments most few in number, most easy to be kept, most excellent in signification, as is baptism and the Lord's

supper.

The sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should rightly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same, they have a wholesome effect and operation, and yet not that of the work wrought, as

some men speak; which word, as it is strange and unknown to holy Scripture, so it engendereth no godly, but a very superstitious sense; but they that receive the sacraments unworthily, purchase to themselves damnation, as St. Paul saith.

Sacraments ordained by the word of God, be not only badges and tokens of Christian men's profession: but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace and God's good will toward us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in him.

27. The Wickedness of the Ministers doth not take away the effectual Operation of God's Ordinances.

Although in the visible church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometime the evil have chief authority in the ministration of the word and sacraments: yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but do minister by Christ's commission and authority, we may use their ministry, both in hearing the word of God, and in the receiving the sacraments. Neither is the effect of God's ordinances taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God's gifts diminished from such, as by faith rightly receive the sacraments ministered unto them, which be effectual, because of Christ's institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.

Nevertheless, it appertaineth to the discipline of the church, that inquiry be made of such, and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences; and finally being found guilty by just judgment be deposed.

28. Of Baptism.

Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened but it is also a sign and seal of our new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive baptism rightly are grafted into the church: the promises of forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God, are visibly signed and sealed, faith is confirmed, and grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God. The custom of the church to christen young children, is to be commended, and in any wise to be retained in the church.

29. Of the Lord's Supper.

The supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another; but rather it is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death. Insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the bread which we break is a communion of the body of

Christ; likewise the cup of blessing is a communion of the lood of Christ.

Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood, cannot be proved by Holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.

Forasmuch as the truth of man's nature requireta that the boy of one and the self-same man cannot be at one time in divers places, but must needs be in some one certain place, therefore the body of Christ cannot be present at one time, in many and divers places and because, as holy Scripture doth teach, Christ was taken up into heaven, and there shall continue unto the end of the world a faithful man ought not cither to believe, or openly confess the real and bodily presence, as they term it, of Christ's Hesh and blood in the sacrament of the Lord's supper.

The sacrament of the Lord's supper was not commanded by Christ's ordinance to be kept, carried about, lifted up, nor worshipped.

30. Of the perfect Oblation of Chrisi made upon the Cross.

The offering of Christ made once for ever, is the perfect redemption, the pacifying of God's displeasure, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world both original and actual, and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which it was commonly said, that the priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or sin, were forged fables and dangerous deceits. 31. The State of single Life is commanded to no Man by the Word of God.

Bishops, priests, and deacons, are not commanded to vow the state of single life without marriage; neither by God's law are they compelled to abstain from matrimony.

32. Excommunicate Persons are to be avoided.

That person which by open denunciation of the church is rightly eat off from the unity of the church, and excommunicate, ought to be taken, of the whole multitude of the faithful, as an heathen and publican, until he be openly reconciled by penance, and received into the church by a judge that hath authority

thereto.

33. Traditions of the Church.

It is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies be in all places one, or utterly like, for at all times they have been divers, and may be change according to the diversity of countries, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against God's word.