CHAPTER
I. - Of the Holy
Scripture.
1. 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 they are 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 manner, 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 maketh the Holy Scripture to be most
necessary; those former ways of God's revealing His will unto His
people being now ceased.
2. Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God
written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New
Testaments, which are these,
The Old Testament
Genesis, Exodous, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua,
Judges, Ruth, 1Samuel, 2Samuel, 1Kings, 2Kings, 1Chronicles,
2Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
The New Testament
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1Corinthians,
2Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians,
1Thessalonians, 2Thessalonians, 1Timothy, 2Timothy, Titus,
Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1Peter, 2Peter, 1John, 2John, 3John,
Jude, Revelation,
All which are given by inspiration of God to be the rule of
faith and life.
3. The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine
inspiration, are no part of the canon of the 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.
4. 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.
5. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church
to an high and reverend 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 doth 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.
6. 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 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.
7. 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.
8. 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 vulgar language of every nation 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.
9. 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 must be searched and known by other places that
speak more clearly.
10. 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.
CHAPTER
II. - Of God, and
of the Holy Trinity.
1. 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 own 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.
2. 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 fountain 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 worhsip, service,
or obedience He is pleased to require of them.
3. 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, not
proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy
Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.
CHAPTER
III. - Of God's
Eternal Decree.
1. God from all eternity, did, by the most wise 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.
2. 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, or as that which would come to
pass upon such conditions.
3. 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.
4. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained,
are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so
certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or
diminished.
5. 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 mere free grace and love, 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. 6. As
God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath He, by the
eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the
mans 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.
7. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the
unsearchable counsel of His own will, whereby He extendeth or
witholdeth mercy, as He pleaseth, for the glory of His sovereign
power over His creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to
dishonour and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious
justice.
8. The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to
be handled with special prudence and care, that men, attending
the will of 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.
CHAPTER
IV. - Of Creation.
1. 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.
2. 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
fulfil it: and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being
left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject unto
change. Beside 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, they were happy in their communion
with God,and had dominion over the creatures.
CHAP
V. - Of Providence.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. God, in His ordinary providence, maketh use of means, yet
is free to work without, above, and against them, at His
pleasure.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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 in
their hearts; but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they
had, and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption make
occasion of sin; and, withal, gives them over to their own lusts,
the temptations 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.
7. 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.
CHAPTER
VI. - Of the Fall
of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment thereof.
1. Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and
temptation 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.
2. 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 parts and faculties of soul and body.
3. They being the root of all 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 ordinary
generation.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
CHAPTER
VII. - Of God's
Covenant with Man.
1. 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 condescension on
God's part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of
covenant. 2. 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.
3. 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 offereth 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 eternal life His Holy Spirit, to
make them willing, and able to believe.
4. This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in 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.
5. 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 foresignifying 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.
6. 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 fullness,
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.
CHAPTER
VIII. - Of Christ
the Mediator.
1. 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 man, the Prophet, Priest, and King the Head and
Saviour of His Church, the Heir of 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.
2. 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 fulness 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 the 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.
3. 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 fulness 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.
4. 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. 5. 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.
6. Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by
Christ till after His incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and
benefits thereof were communicated unto 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
serpent's head; and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the
world; being yesterday and to-day the same, and for ever.
7. Christ, in the work of mediation, acts 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.
8. 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; effectively 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 wisdom, in such manner, and ways, as are most consonant
to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.
CHAPTER
IX. - Of Free-Will.
1. God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty,
that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of
nature, determined to good, or evil.
2. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom, and power to
will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God; but
yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it.
3. 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.
4. 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, 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.
5. The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to do
good alone in the state of glory only.
CHAPTER
X. - Of Effectual
Calling.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Elect infants, dying in infancy, 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
uncapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
4. 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 unto Christ, and therefore
cannot 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 laws of that religion they do profess. And to assert and
maintain that they may, is very pernicious, and to be detested.
CHAPTER XI. - Of Justification.
1. 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 alone; nor 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 to His Father's justice in their
behalf. Yet, in as much 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.
4. God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the
elect, and Christ did, in the fulness of time, die for their
sins, and rise for their justification: nevertheless, they are
not justified, until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time, actually
apply Christ unto them.
5. 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.
6. The justification of believers under the old testament was,
in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of
believers under the new testament.
CHAPTER
XII. - Of Adoption.
1. 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 Him as by a
Father: yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption;
and inherit the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation.
CHAPTER
XIII. - Of
Sanctification.
1. They, who are once 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.
2. This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man; yet
imperfect in this life, there abiding 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.
3. 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.
CHAPTER
XIV. - Of Saving
Faith.
1. 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.
2. By this faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever
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
principal 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.
3. 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.
CHAPTER
XV. - Of Repentance
unto Life.
1. 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.
2. 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 endeavouring to walk with Him in all the ways
of His commandments.
3. 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 it is of such
necessity to all sinners, that none may expect pardon without it.
4. 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.
5. Men ought not to content themselves with a general
repentance, but it is every man's duty to endeavour to repent of
his particular sins, particularly.
6. 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 scandalizeth
his brother, or the Church of Christ, ought to be willing, by a
private or publick 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.
CHAPTER
XVI. - Of Good
Works.
1. 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 pretence of good
intention.
2. 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.
3. 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, beside 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.
4. 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, as that they fall
short of much which in duty they are bound to do.
5. We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin, or eternal
life at the hand of God, by reason 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 cannot endure the severity of God's judgment.
6. 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 unblameable and
unreproveable 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.
7. 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 an
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 cannot 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.
CHAPTER
XVII. - Of the
Perseverance of the Saints.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan
and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them,
and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into
grievous sins; and, 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 themselves.
CHAPTER
XVIII. - Of
Assurance of Grace and Salvation.
1. Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly
deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of
being in the favour 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, endeavouring to walk in all
good conscience before Him, may, in this life, be certainly
assured that they are in the state of grace, and may rejoice in
the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them
ashamed.
2. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable
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. 3. 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 every
one 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.
4. 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 grieveth 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 be the which, in the
mean time, they are supported from utter despair.
CHAPTER
XIX. - Of the Law
of God.
1. 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.
2. 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 towards God; and the other
six, our duty to man.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. The moral law doth for ever 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.
6. 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 shew 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, shew 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.
7. 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.
CHAPTER
XX. - Of Christian
Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience.
1. 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 this 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
child-like love and 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.
2. 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, if matters of faith,
or worship. So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such
commands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of
conscience: and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an
absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of
conscience, and reason also. 3. They who, upon pretence of
Christian liberty, do practise 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.
4. 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 pretence 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 lawfully be called to account.
CHAPTER XXI. - Of Religious Worship, and the
Sabbath Day.
1. The light of nature sheweth that there is a God, who hath
lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good unto
all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon,
trusted in, and served, with all the heart, 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 Spirit, according to His will, with understanding,
reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance;
and, if vocal, in a known tongue.
4. 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.
5. 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: beside religious
oaths, vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon special
occasions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be
used in an holy and religious manner.
6. Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is
now, under the Gospel, either tied unto, or made more acceptable
by any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is
directed: but God is to be worshipped everywhere, in spirit and
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.
7. As it is 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.
8. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men,
after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their
common affairs before-hand, do not only observe an holy rest all
the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their
worldly 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.
CHAPTER
XXII. - Of Lawful
Oaths and Vows.
1. A lawful oath is 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.
2. 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.
3. 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. 4. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense
of the words, without equivocation, or mental reservation. It
cannot 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.
5. 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.
6. 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 the 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.
7. 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 whereof he hath no
promise of ability from God. In which respects, popish 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.
CHAPTER
XXIII. - Of the
Civil Magistrate.
1. 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.
2. 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 occasion. 3. 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 the matter so 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 part 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
and 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 pretence of
religion or of 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.
4. It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honour
their persons, to pay them tribute or 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 void the magistrates' just and legal authority, nor free the
people from their due obedience to them: from which
ecclesiastical persons are not exempted, much less hath the Pope
any power and 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 pretence whatsoever.
CHAPTER
XXIV. - Of Marriage
and Divorce
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of
consanguinity or affinity forbidden by the Word. Nor can such
incestuous marriage ever be made by any law of man or consent of
parties, so as those persons may live together as man and wife.
5. 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.
6. 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.
CHAPTER
XXV. - Of the
Church.
1. 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.
2. 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; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which
there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. 3. Unto this
catholic 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.
4. 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.
5. The purest Churches under heaven are subject both to
mixture and error; and some have so degenerated as to become no
Churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there
shall be always a Church on earth to worship God according to His
will.
6. 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.
CHAPTER
XXVI. - Of the
Communion of Saints.
1. All saints, that are united to Jesus Christ their Head, by
His Spirit, and by faith, have fellowship with Him in His grace,
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 do conduce to their mutual good, both in
the inward and outward man.
2. 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.
3. This communion which the saints have with Christ, doth not
make them in any wise partakers of the substance of His 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
propriety which each man hath in his goods and possessions.
CHAPTER
XXVII. - Of the
Sacraments.
1. 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 the world; and solemnly to engage them to the service
of God in Christ, according to His Word.
2. 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.
3. 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 contains, together with a precept
authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy
receivers.
4. There be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in
the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord:
neither of which may be dispensed by any, but by a minister of
the Word lawfully ordained.
5. 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.
CHAPTER
XXVIII. - Of
Baptism.
1. 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, of 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
Church until the end of the world.
2. The outward element to be used in this 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.
3. Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but
Baptism is rightly administered by pouring, or sprinkling water
upon the person.
4. 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.
5. Although it be a great sin to condemn or neglect his
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.
6. The efficacy of Baptism is not tied to that moment of time
wherein it is administered; yet, notwithstanding, by the right
use of this ordinance, 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.
7. The sacrament of Baptism is but once to be administered
unto any person.
CHAPTER
XXIX. - Of the
Lord's Supper.
1. 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.
2. 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 only 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
only propitiation for all the sins of His elect.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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 things 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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 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 cannot, without great sin against Christ, while they
remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted
thereunto.
CHAPTER
XXX. - Of Church
Censures.
1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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 honour 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.
4. 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.
CHAPTER
XXXI. - Of Synods
and Councils.
1. For the better government, and further edification of the
Church, there ought to be such assemblies as are commonly called
Synods or Councils; and it belongeth to the overseers and other
rulers of the particular churches, by virtue of their office, and
the power which Christ hath given them for edification and not
for destruction, to appoint such assemblies; and to convene
together in them, as often as they shall judge it expedient for
the good of the church.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
CHAPTER
XXXII. - Of the
State of Men after Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead.
1. 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. Beside these two places, for souls
separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.
2. 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 for ever.
3. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be
raised to dishonour: the bodies of the just, by His Spirit, unto
honour; and be made conformable to His own glorious body.
CHAPTER
XXXIII. - Of the
Last Judgment.
1. 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.
2. 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 be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord, and from the glory of His power.
3. 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.
