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Christ Church is a "confessional" church. That means
we "confess" to believe an historic doctrinal statement
called a "confession" that many other churches have
subscribed to for hundreds of years. Our confession of faith
is the Westminster 1646, which we hold to with a few exceptions.
Because we live in a postmodern age where truth is thought to
be malleable and definitions elastic, we have further taken
certain positions, along with our denomination, which are called
"memorials."
These memorials are intended to make our position known on contemporary
hot topics like education, creation, the interrelationship between
government and the church, as well as others. |
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- Although the light of nature, and the works of creation
and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom,
and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they
not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his
will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased
the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal
himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church; and
afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of
the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort
of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the
malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly
unto writing; which makes the holy Scripture to be most
necessary; those former ways of God's revealing his will
unto his people being now ceased
- Under the name of holy Scripture, or the Word of God written,
are now contained all the Books of the Old and New Testament,
which are these:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Joshua,
Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles,
Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel; Hosea,
Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah,
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
The Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the
Acts of the Apostles, Letter of Paul to the Romans; 1 and
2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
1 and 2 Thessalonians; 1 and 2 Timothy; Titus, Philemon,
Epistle to the Hebrews, James; 1and 2 Peter, 1,2,3 John,
Jude, and the Revelation of the apostle John.
All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule
of faith and life.
- The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine
inspiration, are no part of the Canon of Scripture; and
therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor
to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other
human writings.
- The authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought
to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony
of any man or Church, but wholly upon God (who is truth
itself), the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received,
because it is the Word of God.
- We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church
to an high and reverent esteem of the holy Scripture; and
the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine,
the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts,
the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God),
the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation,
the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire
perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it both abundantly
evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, notwithstanding,
our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth
and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of
the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in
our hearts.
- The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary
for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is
either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary
consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing
at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of
the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless we acknowledge
the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary
for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed
in the Word; and that there are some circumstances concerning
the worship of God, and the government of the Church, common
to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered
by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according
to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be
observed.
- All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves,
nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary
to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are
so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture
or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned,
in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient
understanding of them.
- The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language
of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek
(which at the time of the writing of it was most generally
known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God,
and by his singular care and providence kept pure in all
ages, are therefore authentical; so as in all controversies
of religion the Church is finally to appeal unto them. But
because these original tongues are not known to all the
people of God who have right unto, and interest in, the
Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read
and search them, therefore they are to be translated into
the language of every people unto which they come, that
the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship
him in an acceptable manner, and, through patience and comfort
of the Scriptures, may have hope.
- The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture, is
the Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a question
about the true and full sense of any scripture (which is
not manifold, but one), it may be searched and known by
other places that speak more clearly.
- The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion
are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions
of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits,
are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest,
can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.
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- There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite
in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible,
without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal,
incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free,
most absolute, working all things according to the counsel
of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his won
glory, most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering,
abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression,
and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him;
and withal most just and terrible in his judgments; hating
all sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty.
- God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and
of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient,
not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made,
nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his
own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; he is the alone foundation
of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all
things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do
by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever himself pleaseth.
In his sight all things are open and manifest; his knowledge
is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature;
so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain. He is most
holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his
commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other
creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is
pleased to require of them.
- In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of
one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none,
neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternal begotten
of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from
the Father and the Son.
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- God from all eternity did by the most and holy counsel
of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever
comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author
of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures,
nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken
away, but rather established.
- Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass,
upon all supposed conditions; yet hath he not decreed any
thing because he foresaw it as future, as that which would
come to pass, upon such conditions.
- By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory,
some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life,
and others foreordained to everlasting death.
- These angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained,
are particularly and unchangeably designed; and their number
is so certain and definite that it can not be either increased
or diminished.
- Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God,
before the foundation of the world was laid, according to
his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel
and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ, unto
everlasting glory, out of his free grace and love alone,
without any foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance
in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as
conditions, or causes moving him thereunto; and all to the
praise of his glorious grace.
- As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath he,
by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained
all the means thereunto. Wherefore they who are elected
being fallen in Adam are redeemed by Christ, are effectually
called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due
season; are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by
his power through faith unto salvation. Neither are any
other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified,
adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.
- The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the
unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth
or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his
sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain
them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise
of his glorious justice.
- The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is
to be handled with special prudence and care, that men attending
to the will og God revealed in his Word, and yielding obedience
thereunto, may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation,
be assured of their eternal election. So shall this doctrine
afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God;
and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to
all that sincerely obey the gospel.
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- It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the
manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom,
and goodness, in the beginning, to create or make of nothing
the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible,
in the space of six days, and all very good.
- After God had made all other creatures, he created man,
male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued
with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness after his
own image, having the law of God written in their hearts,
and power to fulfill it; and yet under a possibility of
transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will,
which was subject unto change. Besides this law written
in their hearts, they received a command not to eat of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil; which while they
kept were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion
over the creatures.
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- God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct
dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,
from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and
holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge,
and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the
praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness,
and mercy.
- Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of
God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably
and infallibly, yet, by the same providence, he ordereth
them to fall out according to the nature of second causes,
either necessarily, freely, or contingently.
- God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of means,
yet is free to work without, above, and against them, at
his pleasure.
- The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite
goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence,
that it extendeth itself even to the first Fall, and all
other sins of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission,
but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful
bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing of them,
in a manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends; yet so,
as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature,
and not from God; who being most holy and righteous, neither
is nor can be the author or approver of sin.
- The most wise, righteous, and gracious God, doth oftentimes
leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations
and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them
for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden
strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts,
that they may be humbled; and to raise them to a more close
and constant dependence for their support upon himself,
and to make them more watchful against all future occasions
of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.
- As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous
judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden; from them
he not only withholdeth his grace, whereby they might have
been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon
their hearts; but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which
they had; and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption
makes occasion of sin; and withal, gives them over to their
own lusts, the temptatoins of the world, and the power of
Satan; whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves,
even under those means which God useth for the softening
of others.
- As the providence of God doth, in general, reach to all
creatures, so, after a most special manner, it taketh care
of his Church, and disposeth all things to the good thereof.
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- Our first parents, begin seduced by the subtilty and temptations
of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This their
sin God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel,
to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory.
- By this sin they fell from their original righteousness
and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly
defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.
- They being the root of mankind, the guilt of this sin
was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature
conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by
original generation.
- From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly
indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and
wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.
- This corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain
in those that are regenerated; and although it be through
Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself, and all
the motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.
- Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression
of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth,
in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby
he is bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law,
and so made subject to death, with all miseries spiritual,
temporal, and eternal.
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- The distance between God and the creature is so great,
that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto
him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition
of him, as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary
condescencion on God's part, which he hath been pleased
to express by way of covenant.
- The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works,
wherein life was promised to Adam, and in him to his posterity,
upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.
- Man by his fall having made himself incapable of life
by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second,
commonly called the covenant of grace: wherein he freely
offered unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ,
requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved,
and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto
life, his Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to
believe.
- This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in the
Scripture by the name of a testament, in reference to the
death of Jesus Christ, the testator, and to the everlasting
inheritance, with all things belonging to it, therein bequeathed.
- This covenant was differently administered in the time
of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law
it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices,
circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances
delivered to the people of the Jews, all fore-signifying
Christ to come, which were for that time sufficient and
efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct
and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah,
by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation,
and is called the Old Testament.
- Under the gospel, when Christ the substance was exhibited,
the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed, are
the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the
sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; which, though
fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity and
less outward glory, yet in them it is held forth in more
fulness, evidence, and spiritual efficacy, to all nations,
both Jews and Gentiles; and is called the New Testament.
There are not, therefore, two covenants of grace differing
in substance, but one and the same under various dispensations.
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- It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and
ordain the Lord Jesus, his only-begotten Son, to be the
Mediator between God and men, the prophet, priest, and king;
the head and Savior of the Church, the heir or all things,
and judge of the world; unto whom he did, from all eternity,
give a people to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed,
called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.
- The Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity, being
very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the
Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon
him man's nature, with all the essential properties and
common infirmities thereof; yet without sin: being conceived
by he power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin
Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and
distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably
joined together in one person, without conversion, composition,
or confusion. Which person is very God and very man, yet
one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.
- The Lord Jesus in his human nature thus united to the
divine, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit
above measure; having in him all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge, in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness
should dwell: to the end that being holy, harmless, undefiled,
and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished
to execute the office of a Mediator and Surety. Which office
he took not unto himself, but was thereunto called by his
Father; who put all power and judgment into his hand, and
gave him commandment to execute the same.
- This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake,
which, that he might discharge, he was made under the law,
and did perfectly fulfill it; endured most grievous torments
immediately in his soul, and most painful sufferings in
his body; was crucified and died; was buried, and remained
under the power of death, yet saw no corruption. On the
third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in
which he suffered; with which also he ascended into heaven,
and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father, making
intercession; and shall return to judge men and angels,
at the end of the world.
- The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice
of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered
up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father;
and purchased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting
inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom
the Father hath given unto him.
- Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought
by Christ till after his incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy,
and benefits thereof were communicated into the elect, in
all ages successively from the beginning of the world, in
and by those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein he
was revealed, and signified to be the seed of the woman,
which should bruise the serpant's head, and the Lamb slain
from the beginning of the world, being yesterday and today
the same and for ever.
- Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth according to
both natures; by each nature doing that which is proper
to itself; yet by reason of the unity of the person, that
which is proper to one nature is sometimes, in Scripture,
attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.
- To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption,
he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate
the same; making intercession for them, and revealing unto
them, in and by the Word, the mysteries of salvation; effectually
persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey; and governing
their hearts by his Word and Spirit; overcoming all their
enemies by his almighty power and wisdon, in such manner
and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable
dispensation.
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- God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty,
that is neither forced, nor by any absolute necessity of
nature determined to good or evil.
- Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power
to will and to do that which is good and well-pleasing to
God; but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it.
- Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost
all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation;
so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good,
and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert
himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
- When God converts a sinner and translates him into the
state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under
sin, and, by his grace alone, enables him freely to will
and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so as that,
by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly,
nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that
which is evil.
- The will of man is made perfectly and immutable free to
good alone, in the state of glory only.
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- All those whom God hath predestinated
unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed
and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and
Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they
are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ: enlightening
their minds, spiritually and savingly, to understand the
things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving
unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by
his almighty power determining them to that which is good;
and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as
they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.
- This effectual call is of God's free
and special grace alone, not from any thing at all foreseen
in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being
quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby
enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered
and conveyed in it.
- Elect infants, dying in infance, are
regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who
worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth. So also are
all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly
called by the ministry of the Word.
- Others, not elected, although they may
be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some
common operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come
to Christ, and therefore can not be saved: much less can
men, not professing the Christian religion, be saved in
any other way whatsoever, be they never so diligent to frame
their lives according to the light of nature, and the law
of that religion they do profess; and to assert and maintain
that they may is without warrant of the Word of God.
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- Those whom God effectually calleth, he
also freely justifieth: not by infusing righteousness into
them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and
accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing
wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake
alons; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing,
or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness;
but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ
unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness
by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is
the gift of God.
- Faith, thus receiving and resting on
Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of
justification; yet is it not alone in the person justified,
but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and
is no dead faith, but worketh by love.
- Christ, by his obedience and death, did
fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified,
and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction o his
Father's justice in their behalf. Yet inasmuch as he was
given by the Father for them, and his obedience and satisfaction
accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for any thing
in them, their justification is only of free grace, that
both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified
in the justification of sinners.
- God did, from all eternity, decree to
justify the elect; and Christ did, in the fullness of time,
die for their sins and rise again for their justification;
nevertheless they are not justified until the Holy Spirit
doth, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.
- God doth continue to forgive the sins
of those that are justified; and although they can never
fall from the state of justification, yet they may by their
sins fall under God's Fatherly displeasure, and not have
the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they
humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew
their faith and repentance.
- The justification of believers under
the Old Testament was, in all these respect, one and the
same with the justification of believers under the New Testament.
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- All those that are justified, God vouchsafeth, in and
for his only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the
grace of adoption: by which they are taken into the number,
and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of
God; have his name put upon them; receive the Spirit of
adoption; have access to the throne of grace with boldness;
are enabled to cry, Abba, Father; are pitied, protected,
provided for, and chastened by his as by a father; yet never
cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption, and inherit
the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation.
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- They who are effectually called and regenerated, having
a new heart and a new spirit created in them, are further
sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of
Christ's death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit
dwelling in them; the dominion of the whole body of sin
is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and
more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened
and strengthened, in all saving graces, to the practice
of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
- This sanctification is throughout in the whole man, yet
imperfect in this life: there abideth still some remnants
of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual
and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh.
- In which war, although the remaining corruption for a
time may much prevail, yet, through the continual supply
of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate
part doth overcome: and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God.
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- The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe
to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit
of Christ in their hearts; and is ordinarily wrought by
the ministry of the Word: by which also, and by the administration
of the sacraments, and prayer, it is increased and strengthened.
- By this faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatesoever
is revealed in the Word, for the authority of god himself
speaking therein; and acteth differently, upon that which
each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience
to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing
the promises of God for this life, and that which is to
come. But the principle acts of saving faith are, accepting,
receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification,
sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant
of grace.
- This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong; may
be often and many ways assailed and weakened, but gets the
victory; growing up in many to the attainment of a full
assurance through Christ, who is both the author and finisher
of our faith.
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- Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace, the doctrine
whereof is to be preached by every minister of the gospel,
as well as that of faith in Christ.
- By it a sinner, out of the sight and sense, not only of
the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of
his sins, as contrary to the holy nature and righteous law
of God, and upon the apprehension of his mercy in Christ
to such as are penitent, so grieves for, and hates his sins,
as to turn from them all unto God, purposing and endeavoring
to walk with him in all the ways of his commandments.
- Although repentance be not to be rested in as any satisfaction
for sin, or any cause of the pardon thereof, which is the
act of God's free grace in Christ; yet is it of such necessity
to all sinners, that none may expect pardon without it.
- As there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation;
so there is no sin so great that it can bring damnation
upon those who truly repent.
- Men ought not to content themselves with a general repentance,
but it is every man's duty to endeavor to repent of his
particular sins, particularly.
- As every man is bound to make private confession of his
sins to God, praying for the pardon thereof, upon which,
and the forsaking of them, he shall find mercy: so he that
scandelizeth his brother, or the Church of Christ, ought
to be willing, by a private or public confession and sorrow
for his sin, to declare his repentance to those that are
offended; who are thereupon to be reconciled to him, and
in love to receive him.
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- Good works are only such as God hath
commanded in his holy Word, and not such as, without the
warrant thereof, are devised by men out of blind zeal, or
upon any pretense of good intention.
- These good works, done in obedience to
God's commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true
and lively faith: and by them believers manifest their thankfulness,
strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn
the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries,
and glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in
Christ Jesus thereunto, that, having their fruit unto holiness,
they may have the end, eternal life.
- Their ability to do good works is not
at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ.
And that they may be enabled thereunto, besides the graces
they have already received, there is required an actual
influence of the same Holy Spirit to work in them to will
and to do of his good pleasure; yet are they not hereupon
to grow negligent, as if they were not bound to perform
any duty unless upon a special motion of the Spirit; but
they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God
that is in them.
- They, who in their obedience, attain
to the greatest height which is possible in this life, are
so far from being able to supererogate and to do more than
God requires, that they fall short of much which in duty
they are bound to do.
- We can not, by our best works, merit
pardon of sin, or eternal life, at the hand of God, because
of the great disproportion that is between them and the
glory to come, and the infinite distance that is between
us and God, whom by them we can neither profit, nor satisfy
for the debt of our former sins; but when we have done all
we can, we have done but our duty, and are unprofitable
servants: and because, as they are good, they proceed from
his Spirit; and as they are wrought by us, they are defiled
and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they
can not endure the severity of God's judgment.
- Yet notwithstanding, the persons of believers
being accepted through Christ, their good works also are
accepted in him, not as though they were in this life wholly
unblamable and unreprovable in God's sight; but that he,
looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward
that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses
and imperfections.
- Works done by unregenerate men, although
for the matter of them they may be things which God commands,
and of good use both to themselves and others; yet, because
they proceed not from a heart purified by faith; nor are
done in a right manner, according to the Word; nor to a
right end, the glory of God; they are therefore sinful and
can not please God, or make a man meet to receive grace
from God. And yet their neglect of them is more sinful,
and displeasing unto God.
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- They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved,
effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither
totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but
shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally
saved.
- This perseverance of the saints depends,
not upon their own free-will, but upon the immutability
of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable
love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and
intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit
and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the
covenant of grace; from all which ariseth also the certainty
and infallibility thereof.
- Nevertheless they may, through the temptations
of Satan and of the world, the prevelancy of corruption
remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their
perseverance, fall into grievous sins; ad for a time continue
therein: whereby they incur God's displeasure, and grieve
his Holy Spirit; come to be deprived of some measure of
their graces and comforts; have their hearts hardened, and
their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and
bring temporal judgments upon theselves.
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- Although hypocrites, and other unregenerate
men, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and
carnal presumptions: of being in the favor of God and estate
of salvation; which hope of theirs shall perish: yet such
as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity,
endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may
in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state
of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God:
which hope shall never make them ashamed.
- This certainty is not a bare conjectural
and probably persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope;
but an infallible assurance of faith, founded upon the divine
truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence
of those graces unto which these promises are made, the
testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our
spirits that we are the children of God; which Spirit is
the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to
the day of redemption.
- This infallible assurance doth not so
belong to the essence of faith but that a true believer
may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before
he be partaker of it: yet, being enabled by the Spirit to
know the things which are freely given him of God, he may,
without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary
means, attain thereunto. And therefore it is the duty of
everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election
sure; that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God,
and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience,
the proper fruits of this assurance: so far is it from inclining
men to looseness.
- True believers may have the assurance
of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted;
as, by negligence in preserving of it; by falling into some
special sin, which woundeth the conscience, and grievth
the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation; by God's
withdrawing the light of his countenance and suffering even
such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light:
yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God,
and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren,
that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, out of which,
by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due
time be revived, and by the which, in the meantime, they
are supported from utter despair.
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- God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant
of works, by which he bound him and all his posterity to
personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience; promised
life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the
breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep
it.
- This law, after his Fall, continued to
be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such, was delivered
by God upon mount Sinai in ten commandments, and written
in two tables; the first four commandments containing our
duty toward God, and the other six our duty to man.
- Besides this law, commonly called moral,
God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a Church
under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances,
partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions,
sufferings, and benefits; and partly holding forth divers
instructions of moral duties. All which ceremonial laws
are now abrogated under the New Testament.
- To them also, as a body politic, he gave
sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state
of that people, not obliging any other, now, further than
the general equity thereof may require.
- The moral law doth forever bind all,
as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof;
and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it,
but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator
who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel any way dissolve,
but much strengthen, this obligation.
- Although true believers be not under
the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified
or condemned; yet is it of great use to them, as well as
to others; in that, as a rule of life, informing them of
the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them
to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollutions
of their nature, hearts, and lives; so as, examining themselves
thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation
for, and hatred against sin; together with a clearer sight
of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection of his
obedience. It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain
their corruptions, in that it forbids sin, and the threatenings
of it serve to show what even their sins deserve, and what
afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although
freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law. The
promises of it, in like manner, show them God's approbation
of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the
performance thereof; although not as due to them by the
law as a covenant of works: so as a man's doing good, and
refraining from evil, because the law encourageth to the
one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his
being under the law, and not under grace.
- Neither are the forementioned uses of
the law contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly
comply with it: the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling
the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully, which
the will of God, revealed in the law, requireth to be done.
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- The liberty which Christ hath purchased
for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom
from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the
curse of the moral law; and in their being delivered from
thos present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion
of sin, from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death,
the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation; as
also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience
unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love,
and a willing mind. All which were common also to believers
under the law; but under the New Testament the liberty of
Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the
yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish Church was
subjected; and in greater boldness of access to the throne
of grace, and in fuller communications of the free Spirit
of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake
of.
- God alone is Lord of the conscience,
and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments
of men which are in any thing contrary to his Word, or beside
it in matters of faith on worship. So that to believe such
doctrines, or to obey such commandments out of conscience,
is ts betray true liberty of conscience; and the requiring
an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience,
is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also.
- They who, upon pretense of Christian
liberty, do practice any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby
destroy the end of Christian liberty; which is, that, being
delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve
the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before
him, all the days of our life.
- And because the powers which God hath
ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are
not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and
preserve one another; they who, upon pretense of Christian
liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise
of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the
ordinance of God. And for their publishing of such opinions,
or maintaining of such practices, as are contrary to the
light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity,
whether concerning faith, worship, or conversation; or to
the power of godliness; or such erroneous opinions or practices
as, either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing
or maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace
and order which Christ hath established in the Church: they
may be lawfully called to account, and proceeded against
by the censures of the Church, and by the power of the Civil
Magistrate.
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- The light of nature showeth that there
is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is
good, and doeth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared,
loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served with
all the hearth, and with all the soul, and with all the
might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God
is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed
will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations
and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any
visible representation or any other way not prescribed in
the holy Scripture.
- Religious worship is to be given to God,
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to him alone: not to
angels, saints, or any other creature: and since the Fall,
not without a Mediator; nor in the mediation of any other
but of Christ alone.
- Prayer with thanksgiving, being one special
part of religious worship, is by God required of all men;
and that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name
of the Son, by the help of his Holy Spirit, according to
his will, with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency,
faith, love, and perseverance; and, if vocal, in a known
tongue.
- Prayer is to be made for things lawful,
and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter;
but not for the dead, nor for those of whom it may be known
that they have sinned the sin unto death.
- The reading of the Scriptures with godly
fear; the sound preaching, and conscionable hearing of the
Word, in obedience unto God with understanding, faith, and
reverence; singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as,
also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the
sacraments instituted by Christ; are all parts of the ordinary
religious worship of God: besides religious oaths, and vows,
solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon special occasion;
which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used
in an holy and religious manner.
- Neither prayer, nor any other part of
religious worship, is now, under the gospel, either tied
unto, or made more acceptable to, any place in which it
is performed, or towards which it is directed: but God is
to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth; as in
private families daily, and in secret each one by himself,
so more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not
carelessly or willfully to be neglected or forsaken, when
God, by his Word or providence, calleth thereunto.
- As it is of the law of nature, that,
in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the
worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral, and
perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath
particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to
be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the
world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of
the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed
into the first day of the week, which in Scripture is called
the Lord's Day, and is to be continued to the end of the
world as the Christian Sabbath.
- This Sabbath is to be kept holy unto
the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts,
and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not
only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works,
words, and thoughts about their wordly employments and recreations;
but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private
exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity
and mercy.
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- A lawful oath is a part of religious
worship, wherein upon just occasion, the person swearing
solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth;
and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of
what he sweareth.
- The name of God only is that by which
men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all
holy fear and reverence; therefore to swear vainly or rashly
by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by
any other thing, is sinful, and to be abhorred. Yet, as,
in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by
the Word of God, under the New Testament, as well as under
the Old, so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority,
in such matters ought to be taken.
- Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to
consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein
to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the
truth. Neither may any man bind himself by oath to any thing
but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be,
and what he is able and resolved to perform. Yet it is a
sin to refuse an oath touching any thing that is good and
just, being imposed by lawful authority.
- An oath is to be taken in the plain and
common sense of the words, without equivocation or mental
reservation. It can not oblige to sin; but in any thing
not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although
to a man's own hurt: nor is it to be violated, although
made to heretics or infidels.
- A vow is of the like nature with a promissory
oath, and ought to be made with the like religious care,
and to be performed with the like faithfulness.
- It is not to be made to any creature,
but to God alone: and that it may be accepted, it is to
be made voluntarily, out of faith and conscience of duty,
in way of thankfulness for mercy received, or for obtaining
of what we want; whereby we more strictly bind ourselves
to necessary duties, or to other things, so far and so long
as they may fitly conduce thereunto.
- No man may vow to do any thing forbidden
in the Word of God, or what would hinder any duty therein
commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the
performance of which he hath no promise or ability from
God. In which respects, monastical vows of perpetual single
life, professed poverty, and regular obedience, are so far
from being degrees of higher perfection, that they are superstitious
and sinful snares, in which no Christian may entangle himself.
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- God, the Supreme Lord and King of all
the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him
over the people, for his own glory and the public good;
and to this end, hath armed them with the power of the sword,
for the defense and encouragement of them that are good,
and for the punishment of evil-doers.
- It is lawful for Christians to accept
and execute the office of a magistrate when called thereunto;
in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain
piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws
of each commonwealth, so, for that end, they may lawfully,
now under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary
occasions.
- Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves
the administration of the Word and Sacraments; or the power
of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; or, in the least,
interfere in matters of faith. Yet, as nursing fathers,
it is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the Church
of our common Lord, without giving the preference to any
denomination of Christians above the rest, in such a manner
that all ecclesiastical persons whatever shall enjoy the
full, free, and unquestioned liberty of discharging every
aprt of their sacred functions, without violence or danger.
And, as Jesus Christ hath appointed a regular government
and discipline in his Church, no law of any commonwealth
should interfere with, let, or hinder, the due exercise
thereof, among the voluntary members of any denomination
of Christians, according to their own profession of belief.
It is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the person
and good name of all their people, in such an effectual
manner as that no person be suffered, either upon pretense
of religion or infidelity, to offer any indignity, violence,
abuse, or injury to any other person whatsoever: and to
take order, that all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies
be held without molestation or disturbance.
- It is the duty of the people to pray
for magistrates, to honor their persons, to pay them tribute
and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be
subject to their authority, for conscience' sake. Infidelity,
or difference in religion, doth not make boid the magistrate's
just and legal authority, nor free the people from their
obedience to him: from which ecclesiastical persons are
not exempted; much less hath the Pope any power or jurisdiction
over them in their dominions, or over any of their people;
and least of all to deprive them of their dominions or lives,
if he shall judge them to be heretics, or upon any other
pretense whatsoever.
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- Marriage is to be between one man and
one woman: neither is it lawful for any man to have more
than one wife, nor for any woman to have more than one husband
at the same time.
- Marriage was ordained for the mutual
help of husband and wife; for the increase of mankind with
a legitimate issue, and of the Church with an holy seed;
and for preventing of uncleanness.
- It is lawful for all sorts of people
to marry who are able with judgment to give their consent.
Yet it is the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord.
And, therefore, such as profess the true reformed religion
should not marry with infidels, Papists, or other idolaters:
neither should such as are godly be unequally yoked, by
marrying with such as are notoriously wicked in their life,
or maintain damnable heresies.
- Marriage ought not to be within the degrees
of consanguinity or affinity forbidden in the Word; nor
can such incestuous marriages ever be made lawful by any
law of man, or consent of parties, so as those persons may
live together, as man and wife. The man may not marry any
of his wife's kindred nearer in blood than he may of his
own, nor the woman of her husband's kindred nearer in blood
than of her own.
- Adultery or fornication, committed after
a contract, being detected before marriage, giveth just
occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract.
In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for
the innocent party to sue out a divorce, and after the divorce
to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.
- Although the corruption of man be such
as is apt to study arguments, unduly to put asunder those
whom God hath joined together in marriage; yet nothing but
adultery, or such willful desertion as can no way be remedied
by the Church or civil magistrate, is cause sufficient of
dissolving the bond of marriage; wherein a public and orderly
course of proceeding is to be observed; and the persons
concerned in it, not left to their own wills and discretion
in their own case.
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- The catholic or universal Church, which
is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect,
that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under
Christ the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the
fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
- The visible Church, which is also catholic
or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation
as before under the law), consists of all those throughout
the world that profess the true religion, together with
their children; and is the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ;
the house and family of God, through which men are ordinarily
saved and union with which is essential to their best growth
and service.
- Unto this catholic and visible Church,
Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances
of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints,
in this life, to the end of the world; and doth by his own
presence and Spirit, according to his promise, make them
effectual thereunto.
- This catholic Church hath been sometimes
more, sometimes less, visible. And particular Churches,
which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according
as the doctrine of the gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances
administered, and public worship performed more or less
purely in them.
- The purest Churches under heaven are
subject both to mixture and error: and some have so degenerated
as to become apparently no Churches of Christ. Nevertheless,
there shall be always a Church on earth, to worship God
according to his will.
- There is no other head of the Church
but the Lord Jesus Christ: nor can the Pope of Rome in any
sense be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man
of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the
Church against Christ, and all that is called God.
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- All saints that are united to Jesus Christ
their head, by his Spirit and by faith, have fellowship
with him in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection,
and glory: and, being united to one another in love, they
have communion in each other's gifts and graces, and are
obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private,
as to conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and
outward man.
- Saints by profession, are bound to maintain
an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God,
and in performing such other spiritual services as tend
to their mutual edification; as also in relieving each other
in outward things, according to their several abilities
and necessities. Which communion, as God offereth opportunity,
is to be extended unto all those who, in every place, call
upon the name of the Lord Jesus.
- This communion which the saints have
with Christ, doth not make them in any wise partakers of
the substance of the Godhead, or to be equal with Christ
in any respect: either of which to affirm, is impious and
blasphemous. Nor doth their communion one with another as
saints, take away or infringe the title or property which
each man hath in his goods and possessions.
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- Sacraments are holy signs and seals of
the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to
represent Christ and his benefits, and to confirm our interest
in him: as also to put a visible difference between those
that belong unto the Church, and the rest of thw world;
and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ,
according to his Word.
- There is in every sacrament a spiritual
relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the
thing signified; whence it comes to pass that the names
and effects of the one are attributed to the other.
- The grace which is exhibited in or by
the sacraments, rightly used, is not conferred by any power
in them; neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend
upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer
it, but upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution,
which conatins, together with a precept authorizing the
use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers.
- There be only two sacraments ordained
by Christ our Lord in the gospels, that is to say, Baptism
and the Supper of the Lord: neither or which may be dispensed
by any but a minister of the Word, lawfully ordained.
- The sacraments of the Old Testament,
in regard of the spiritual things thereby signified and
exhibited, were, for substance, the same with those of the
New.
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- Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament,
ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission
of the party baptized into the visible Church, but also
to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace,
or his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission
of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ,
to walk in newness of life: which sacrament is, by Christ's
own appointment, to be continued in his Churchy until the
end of the world.
- The outward element to be used in the
sacrament is water, wherewith the party is to be baptized
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, by a minister of the gospel, lawfully called thereunto.
- Dipping of the person into the water
is not necessary; but baptism is rightly administered by
pouring or sprinkling water upon the person.
- Not only those that do actually profess
faith in and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants
of one or both believing parents are to be baptized.
- Although it be a great sin to contemn
or neglect this ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not
so inseparably annexed unto it as that no person can be
regenerated or saved without it, or that all that are baptized
are undoubtedly regenerated.
- The efficacy of baptism is not tied to
that moment of time wherein it is administered; yet, notwithstanding,
by the right use of this ordinancy the grace promised is
not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by
the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or infants) as that
grace belongeth unto, according to the counsel of God's
own will, in his appointed time.
- The sacrament of Baptism is but once
to be administered to any person.
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- Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein
he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and
blood, called the Lord's Supper, to be observed in his Church
unto the end of the world; for the perpetual remembrance
of the sacrifice of himself in his death, the sealing all
benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment
and growth in him, their further engagement in and to all
duties which they owe unto him; and to be a bond and pledge
of their communion with him, and with each other, as members
of his mystical body.
- In this sacrament Christ is not offered
up to his Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all for
remission of sins of the quick or dead, but a commemoration
of that one offering up of himself, by himself, upon the
cross, once for all, and a spiritual oblation of all possible
praise unto God for the same; so that the Popish sacrifice
of the mass, as they call it, is most abominably injurious
to Christ's one only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for
all the sins of the elect.
- The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance,
appointed his ministers to declare his word of institution
to the people, to pray, and bless the elements of bread
and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to
an holy use; and to take and break the bread, to take the
cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both
to the communicants; but to none who are not then present
in the congregation.
- Private masses, or receiving this sacrament
by a priest, or any other, alone; as likewise the denial
of the cup to the people; worshipping the elements, the
lifting them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and
the reserving them for any pretended religious use, are
all contrary to the nature of this sacrament, and to the
institution of Christ.
- The outward elements in this sacrament,
duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such
relation to him crucified, as that truly, yet sacramentally
only, they are sometimes called by the name of the thigns
they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit,
in substance and nature, they still remain truly, and only,
bread and wine, as they were before.
- That doctrine which maintains a change
of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of
Christ's body and blood (commonly called transubstantiation)
by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant,
not to Scripture alone, but even to common-sense and reason;
overthroweth the nature of the sacrament; and hath been,
and is, the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross
idolatries.
- Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking
of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also
inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and
corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ
crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood
of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with,
or under the bread and wine; yet as really, but spiritually,
present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as
the elements themselves are to their outward senses.
- Although ignorant and wicked men receive
the outward elements in this sacrament, yet they receive
not the thing signified thereby; but by their unworthy coming
thereunto are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord,
to their own damnation. Wherefore all ignorant and ungodly
persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with him,
so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, and can not, without
great sin against Christ, while they remain such, partake
of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto.
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- The Lord Jesus, as king and head of his
Church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand
of Church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate.
- To these officers the keys of the Kingdom
of Heaven are committed, by virtue whereof they have power
respectively to retain and remit sins, to shut that kingdom
against the impenitent, both by the word and censures; and
to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the
gospel, and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall
require.
- Church censures are necessary for the
reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren; for deterring
of others from like offenses; for purging out of that leaven
which might infect the whole lump; for vindicating the honor
of Christ, and the holy profession of the gospel; and for
preventing the wrath of God, which might justly fall upon
the Church, if they should suffer his covenant, and the
seals thereof, to be profaned by notorious and obstinate
offenders.
- For the better attaining of these ends,
the officers of the Church are to proceed by admonition,
suspension from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper for a
season, and by excommunication from the Church, according
to the nature of the crime, and demerit of the person.
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- For the better government and further
edification of the Church, there ought to be such assemblies
as are commonly called synods or councils.
- As magistrates may lawfully call a synod
of ministers and other fit persons to consult and advise
with about matters of religion; so, if magistrates be open
enemies of the Church, the ministers of Christ, of themselves,
by virtue of their office, or they, with other fit persons,
upon delegation from their churches, may meet together in
such assemblies.
- It belongeth to synods and councils,
ministerially, to determine controversies of faith, and
cases of conscience; to set down rules and directions for
the better ordering of the public worship of God, and government
of his Church; to receive complaints in cases of maladministration,
and authoritatively to determine the same: which decrees
and determinations, if consonant to the Word of God, are
to be received with reverence and submission, not only for
their agreement with the Word, but also for the power whereby
they are made, as being an ordinance of God, appointed thereunto
in his Word.
- All synods or councils since the apostles'
times, whether general or particular, may err, and many
have erred; therefore they are not to be made the rule of
faith or practice, but to be used as a help in both.
- Synods and councils are to handle or
conclude nothing but that which is ecclesiastical: and are
not to intermeddle with civil affairs which concern the
commonwealth, unless by way of humble petition in cases
extraordinary; or by way of advice for satisfaction of conscience,
if they be thereunto required by the civil magistrate.
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- The bodies of men, after death, return
to dust, and see corruption; but their souls (which neither
die nor sleep), having an immortal subsistence, immediately
return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous,
being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the
highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light
and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies;
and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they
remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment
of the great day. Besides these two places for souls separated
from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.
- At the last day, such as are found alive
shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall be
raised up with the self-same bodies, and none other, although
with different qualities, which shall be united again to
their souls forever.
- The bodies of the unjust shall, by the
power of Christ, be raised to dishonor; the bodies of the
just, by his Spirit, unto honor, and be made conformable
to his own glorious body.
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- God hath appointed a day, wherein he
will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, to
whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which
day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged; but likewise
all persons, that have lived upon earth, shall appear before
the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts,
words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they
have done in the body, whether good or evil.
- The end of God's appointing this day,
is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy in the
eternal salvation of the elect; and of his justice in the
damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient.
For then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and
receive that fullness of joy and refreshing which shall
come from the presence of the Lord: but the wicked, who
know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall
be cast into eternal torments, and punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of his power.
- As Christ would have us to be certainly
persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to
deter all men from sin, and for the greater consolation
of the godly in their adversity: so will he have that day
unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security,
and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour
the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come,
Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.
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