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.

HIS MAJESTY'S DECLARATION.

EING by God's Ordinance, according to Our Just Title, Defender of the Faith, and Supreme Governour 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 the 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 Governour 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 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 publick 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 publickly read, determine, or hold any publick 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.

III. Of the going down of Christ

into Hell.

A
believed, that he went down into
Hell.

buried, so also is it to be

S Christ died for us, and was

I. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. THE THERE 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 God-IV. head 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. THE Son, which is the Word

of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the 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 reconelle his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.

Of the Resurrection of Christ. CHRIST 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. THE Holy Ghost, proceeding

from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.

VI. Of the Sufficiency of the holy

Scriptures for salvation.

HOLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation:! so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, er de

by his own natural strength and
good works, to faith, and calling
upon God: Wherefore we have
no power to do good works plea-
sant and acceptable to God, with-
out 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.
XI. Of the Justification of Man.
E are accounted righteous
WE
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 whole-
some Doctrine, and very full of
comfort, as more largely is ex-
pressed in the Homily of Justi-
fication.

XII. Of Good Works.

ALBEIT
LBEIT that Good Works,
which are the fruits of Faith,
and follow after Justification,can-
not put away our sins, and en-
dure the severity of God's Judge-
ment; yet are they pleasing and
acceptable to God in Christ, and
do spring out necessarily of a true
and lively Faith; insomuch that
by them a lively Faith may be as
evidently known as a tree dis-
cerned by the fruit.

XIII. Of Works before Justifi

cation.

WORKS done before the grace

of Christ, and the Inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or (as the Schoolauthors say) deserve grace of congruity: yea rather, for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin.

XIV. Of Works of Supereroga

tion.

VOLUNTARY Works besides, over and above, God's Commandments, which they call Works of Supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety: for by them men do deelare, that they do not only ren

der unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake, than of bounden duty is required: whereas Christ saith plainly, When ye have done all that are commanded to you, say, We are unprofit able servants.

XV. Of Christ alone without Sin.

CHRIST in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only except, from which he was clearly void, both in his flesh, and in his spirit. He came to be the Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the world, and sin, as Saint John saith, was not in him. But all we the rest, although baptized, and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things; and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

XVI. Of Sin after Baptism.

NOT every deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism is sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may into sin, and by the grace of God depart from grace given, and fall we may arise 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 of
forgiveness to such as truly re-
pent.

XVII. Of Predestination and
Election.

PREDESTINATION to Life

is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foun dations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those

whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting sal vation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endu ed with so excellent a benefit of God 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 sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of his 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 downfal, whereby the Devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.

Furthermore, 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.

men, in the 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, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred; so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith.

XX. Of the Authority of the
Church.

THE Church hath power to
decree Rites or Ceremonies,
and authority in Controversies of
Faith: And yet it is not lawful
for the Church to ordain any thing
that is contrary to God's Word
written, neither may it so ex-
pound one place of Scripture,
that it be repugnant to another.
Wherefore, although the Church
be a witness and a keeper of holy
Writ, yet, as it ought not to de-
cree any thing against the same,
so besides the same ought it not
to enforce any thing to be be
lieved for necessity of Salvation.

XXI. 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 together, (forasmuch as whereof all be not governed with they be an assembly of men, the Spirit and Word of God,) they may err, and sometimes have Sal-erred, even 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 holy Scripture.

XVIII. Of obtaining eternal vation only by the Name of

Christ.

THEY also are to be had ac

cursed 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.

XXII. Of Purgatory.

HE Romish Doctrine conTH cerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Reliques, and also invocation of Saints, is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.