These, sister, are the doctrines which have been received and practised
by the best men of every age, from the beginning of the Christian
religion to this day, and it is upon this I ground my faith and hopes of
salvation, not doubting but, if my life and practice have been answerable
to them, that I shall be quickly translated out of this kingdom of
darkness, out of this world of sorrow, vexation and confusion, into that
blessed kingdom, where I shall cease to grieve and to suffer, and shall
be happy to all eternity.
As to my principles in religion, to be as brief as I can, I declare
myself to be a member of Christ's church, which I take to be a universal
society of all Christian people, distributed under lawful governors and
pastors into particular churches, holding communion with each other in
all the essentials of the Christian faith, worship, and discipline; and
among these I look upon the Church of England to be the chief and best
constituted.
The Church of England is doubtless the great bulwark of the ancient
Catholic or Apostolic faith all over the world; a church that has all the
spiritual advantages that the nature of a church is capable of. From the
doctrine and principles of the Church of England, we are taught loyalty
to our prince, fidelity to our country, and justice to all mankind; and
therefore, as I look upon this to be one of the most excellent branches
of the Church Universal, and stands, as it were, between superstition and
hypocrisy, I therefore declare, for the satisfaction of you and your
friends, as I have always lived so I now die, a true and sincere, though
a most unworthy member of it.
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