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CHAP. I. The true Church, and the Necessity of our Union with her, being the Mother of all the Pious.

CHAP. II. The True and False Church compared.

CHAP. III. The Teachers and Ministers of the Church, their Election and Office.

CHAP. IV. The State of the ancient Church and the Mode

of Government practised before the Papacy.

CHAP. V. The ancient Form of Government entirely subverted by the Papal Tyranny.

CHAP. VI. The Primacy of the Roman See.

CHAP. VII. The Rise and Progress of the Papal Power to its present Eminence attended with the Loss of Liberty to the Church and the Ruin of all Moderation.

CHAP. VIII. The Power of the Church respecting Articles of Faith, and its licentious Perversion under the Papacy, to the Corruption of all Purity of Doctrine.

CHAP. IX. Councils; their authority.

CHAP. X. The Power of Legislation, in which the Pope and his Adherents have most cruelly tyrannized over the Minds and tortured the Bodies of Men.

CHAP. XI. The Jurisdiction of the Church, and its Abuse under the Papacy.

CHAP. XII. The Discipline of the Church; its principal
Use in Censures and Excommunication.

CHAP. XIII. Vows; the Misery of rashly making them.
CHAP. XIV. The Sacraments.

CHAP. XV. Baptism.

CHAP. XVI. Pædobaptism perfectly consistent with the Institution of Christ, and the Nature of the Sign.

CHAP. XVII. The Lord's Supper, and its Advantages. CHAP. XVIII. The Papal Mass not only a sacrilegious Profanation of the Lord's Supper, but a total Annihilation of it.

CHAP. XIX. The Five other Ceremonies, falsely called Sacraments, proved not to be Sacraments: their true Nature explained.

CHAP. XX. On Civil Government.

BOOK IV.

On the external Means or Aids by which God calls us into Communion with Christ, and retains us in it.

ARGUMENT.

THREE parts of the Apostles' Creed, respecting God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, have been explained in the former books. This last book is an exposition of what remains, relating to the Holy Catholic Church, and the Communion of Saints. The chapters contained in it may be conveniently arranged in three grand divisions:

I. The Church.

II. The Sacraments.

III. Civil Government.

The First Division, extending to the end of the thirteenth chapter, contains many particulars, which, however, may all be referred to four principal heads.

I. The marks of the Church, or the criteria by which it may be distinguished, in order to our cultivation of union with itChap. 1. II.

II. The government of the church-Chap. III-VII.

1. The order of government in the church-Chap. III.

2. The form practised by the ancient Christians-Chap. IV.
3. The nature of the present ecclesiastical government under
the Papacy-Chap. V. The primacy of the Pope-Chap.
VI. And the degrees of his advancement to this tyrannical
power-Chap. VII.

III. The power of the church-Chap. VIII-XI.

1. Relating to articles of faith,-which resides either in the respective bishops-Chap. VIII.—or in the church at large, represented in councils-Chap. IX.

2. In making laws-Chap. X.

3. In ecclesiastical jurisdiction-Chap. XI.

IV. The discipline of the church-Chap. XII. XIII.

1. The principal use of it-Chap. XII.

2. The abuse of it-Chap. XIII.

The Second Division, relating to the Sacraments, contains three parts.

I. The sacraments in general-Chap. XIV.

II. Each sacrament in particular-Chap. XV.-XVIII.

1. Baptism-Chap. XV. Distinct discussion of PædobaptismChap. XVI.

2. The Lord's Supper-Chap. XVII.-and its profanation

Chap. XVIII.

III. The five other ceremonies, falsely called sacraments-Chap. XIX.

The Third Division regards civil government.

I. This government in general.

II. Its respective branches.

1. The magistrates.

2. The laws.

3. The people.