The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio…

16. St. Paul, that he might reform the Abuses of the Lords Supper, which the Corinthians began even then to corrupt, proposed to them the Institution of it by Christ to follow. That (saith he) have I delivered to you which I received of the Lord. And Christ, that he might refute the Errors of the Pharisees in another case, sends them up to the beginning. In the beginning (saith he) it was not so. And that he might show the Sordidness and Avarice of the Priests. This, saith he, in the beginning, was a House of ⟨p. 127⟩Prayer, that Men might in it pray to God Religiously and Purely; and so you ought still to have kept it, for it was not built to be a Den of Thieves. So all religious and approved Princes in Scripture, are especially honoured with this Commendation, that they walked in the ways of David their Father; that is, that they returned to the Original and Fountain, and restored Religion to its first Integrity. And so we seeing all things perverted by them, and that there was nothing left in the Church of God but miserable Ruins, thought it was but reasonable to set before us those Churches for our Example, which we were sure had not erred, and had neither private Masses, nor unintelligible and barbarous Prayers, nor that Corruption of the Holy Rites, or other Fooleries. And desiring to restore the Church of God to its first Integrity [and Purity] we would not seek any other Foundation to build upon, than what was laid by the Apostles, that is, by our Saviour Jesus Christ.

16. St. Paul, that he might reform the Abuses of the Lords Supper, which the Corinthians began even then to corrupt, proposed to them the Institution of it by Christ to follow. That (saith he) have I delivered to you which I received of the Lord. And Christ, that he might refute the Errors of the Pharisees in another case, sends them up to the beginning. In the beginning (saith he) it was not so. And that he might shew the Sordidness and Avarice of the Priests. This, saith he, in the beginning, was a House of ⟨p. 127⟩Prayer, that Men might in it pray to God Religiously and Purely; and so you ought still to have kept it, for it was not built to be a Den of Thieves. So all religious and approved Princes in Scripture, are especially honoured with this Commendation, that they walked in the ways of David their Father; that is, that they returned to the Original and Fountain, and restored Religion to its first Integrity. And so we seeing all things perverted by them, and that there was nothing left in the Church of God but miserable Ruines, thought it was but reasonable to set before us those Churches for our Example, which we were sure had not erred, and had neither private Masses, nor unintelligible and barbarous Prayers, nor that Corruption of the Holy Rites, or other Fooleries. And desiring to restore the Church of God to its first Integrity [and Purity] we would not seek any other Foundation to build upon, than what was laid by the Apostles, that is, by our Saviour Jesus Christ.