35050 TESTIMONIES AND AUTHORITIES, DIVINE AND OF THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES OF The Church of England: COMPILED AND ARRANGED FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS, BY THE REV. RICHARD BENTLEY PORSON KIDD, M.A., VICAR OF POTTER HEIGHAM, NORFOLK. "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good."-1 THESS. v. 21. CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTONS; 1848. TO THE COMPILER'S PUPILS, WHO HAVE BEEN ENTRUSTED TO HIS GUIDANCE FOR THE IMPORTANT PURPOSE OF BECOMING CANDIDATES FOR HOLY ORDERS, AS A TOKEN OF HIS SINCERE AND UNWEARIED AFFECTION, WITH HEARTY PRAYERS FOR THE DIVINE BLESSING UPON THEM AND THEIR LABOURS, HE DEDICATES THIS LITTLE WORK. "Incumbite igitur ad hanc tantam tam præclaram laudem, ut facitis, meque, si tanti videar, studiorum vestrorum vel ducem capite, vel adjutorem."-Ruhnk. Orat. İnaug. de Græc. Art. et Doctrin. invent. p. 34, Lugd. Bat. 1757. PREFACE. THOUGH the present generation may possess many valuable Expositions of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, yet it is an object of frequent complaint, among both teachers and students, that they are not furnished with a work sufficiently elementary, as well as free from the bias of individual opinions. It is a matter of urgent importance that the study of the Articles, which were "prepared at first by Protestant Reformers, and some of them Protestant Martyrs," should form an essential item in the education of all professing members of the Church, in order that the rising generation especially may be firmly established in its doctrines, preserved in communion with it, and furnished with weapons to repel the objections of gainsayers. Means then ought surely to be supplied and employed so thoroughly to inform the minds of young members concerning the subject-matter, composition, dates, and alterations of the Articles, and to attach their affections to its doctrines and discipline, that they may stand fast, and hold the things which they have been taught, not only because they respect the power and authority of the Church, but because they also find that these, and no other, are the ordinances and doctrines of Holy Writ. Equally necessary is it that candidates for Holy Orders should not depend solely upon expositions and commentaries, but endeavour for themselves to ascertain |