Christian Creeds

Date: 1560
Author: John Knox et. al.

Outline

The Preface

Of God
Of the Creation of Man
Of Original Sin
Of the Revelation of the Promise
Of the Continuance, Increase, and Preservation of the Church
Of the Incarnation of Christ Jesus
Why it behoved the Mediator to be very God and very Man
Of Election
Of Christ’s Death, Passion, and Burial
Of His Resurrection
Of His Ascension
Of Faith in the Holy Ghost
Of the Cause of Good Works
What Works Are Reputed Good before God
Of the Perfection of the Law, and the Imperfection of Man
Of the Church
Of the Immortality of Souls
Of the Notes, by Which the True Church Is Discerned from the False; and Who Shall Be Judge of the Doctrine
Of the Authority of the Scriptures
Of General Councils, Of Their Power, Authority, and Cause of Their Convention
Of the Sacraments
Of the Right Administration of the Sacraments
To Whom Sacraments Appertain
Of the Civil Magistrate
Of the Gifts Freely Given to the Church

The Confession of the Faith and Doctrine, Believed and Professed by the Protestants of Scotland[1]. Exhibited to the Estates of the Same in Parliament, and by their public votes authorized, as a doctrine grounded upon the infallible word of God, August 1560. And afterwards established and publicly confirmed be sundry Acts of Parliaments, and of lawful General Assemblies.

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11 †).  And these glad tidings of the kingdom shall be preached through the whole world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come (Matt 24:14 ).

The Preface
The Estates of Scotland, with the inhabitants of the same, professing Christ Jesus, his holy evangel [or, gospel], to their natural countrymen and unto [or to] all other realms [and nations] professing the same Lord Jesus with them, wish grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Spirit of righteous judgment, for salvation.

Long have we thirsted, dear brethren, to have notified to [or, unto] the world the sum of that doctrine which we profess, and for which we have sustained infamy and danger. Both such has been the rage of Satan against us and against Christ Jesus his eternal verity [or, truth], lately now again born among us, that to this day no time has been granted unto us to clear our consciences, as most gladly we would have done. For how we have been tossed heretofore, the most part of Europe, as we suppose, does understand.

But seeing that of the infinite goodness of our God (who never suffers his afflicted utterly to be confounded) above expectation, we have obtained some rest and liberty, we could not but set forth this brief and plain confession of such doctrine as is propounded unto us, and as we believe and profess, partly for satisfaction of our brethren, whose hearts we nothing doubt [or we doubt not] have been and yet are wounded by the despiteful railing of such as yet have not learned to speak well: and partly for stopping the mouths of impudent blasphemers, which boldly damn that which they have neither heard nor yet understood.

Not that we judge that the cankered malice of such is able to be cured by this our simple confession. No, we know that the sweet savor of the evangel [or, gospel] is and shall be death unto [or, to] the sons of perdition (2 Cor 2:15-16 ‡). But we have chief respect to our weak and infirm brethren, to whom we would communicate the bottom of our hearts, lest [that] they be troubled or carried away by diversity of rumors, which Satan spreads against us to the defeating [or, defacing] of this our most godly enterprise. Protesting that if any man will note in this our confession any article or sentence repugnant to God’s Holy Word, that it would please him, of his gentleness and for Christian charity’s sake, to admonish us of the same in writing. And we upon [or, on] our honor and fidelity, by God’s grace do promise unto him satisfaction from the mouth of God, that is, from his Holy Scriptures, or else reformation of that which he shall prove to be amiss. For God we take to record in our consciences, that from our hearts we abhor all sects of heresy and all teachers of erroneous doctrine, and that with all humility we embrace the purity of Christ’s gospel, which is the only food of our souls, and therefore so precious unto us, that we are determined to suffer the extremity of worldly danger, rather than that we will suffer ourselves to be defrauded of the same. For hereof we are most certainly persuaded, that whosoever denies Christ Jesus, or is ashamed of him in the presence of men, shall be denied before the Father, and before his holy angels (Matt 10:33 ‡; Luke 12:9 ‡). And therefore by the assistance of the mighty Spirit of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, we firmly purpose to abide to the end in the confession of this our faith, as by following articles.

Article 1: Of God[2]
We confess and acknowledge one only God, to whom only we must cleave, whom only we must serve, whom only we must worship, and in whom only we must put our trust (Deut 6:4 Isa 44:5-6 Deut 4:35 1 Cor 8:6 †). Who is eternal, infinite unmeasurable, incomprehensible, omnipotent, invisible (1 Tim 1:17 †; 1 Kgs 8:27 †; 2 Chr 6:18†; Ps 139:7-8 †; Gen 17:1 †; 1 Tim 6:15-16 †; Exod 3:14-15 †), one in substance, and yet distinct in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Matt 28:19 1 Jhn 5:7 † [TR]). By whom we confess and believe all things in heaven and earth, as well visible as invisible, to have been created, to be retained in their being, and to be ruled and guided by his inscrutable Providence to such end, as his eternal wisdom, goodness, and justice, hath appointed them, to the manifestation of his glory (Gen 1:1-3 Acts 17:28 †; Prov 16:4 ).

Article 2: Of the Creation of Man
We confess and acknowledge this our God to have created man, to wit, our first father Adam, to his own image and similitude; to whom he gave wisdom, lordship, justice, free-will, and clear knowledge of himself’ so that in the whole nature of man there could be noted no imperfection (Gen 1:26-28 2:7-8; Col 3:10 †; Eph 4:24 †). From which honour and perfection, man and woman did both fall; the woman being deceived by the serpent, and man obeying the voice of the woman; both conspiring against the sovereign majesty of God, who in express words had before threatened death, if they presumed to eat of the forbidden tree (Gen 3:6 2:17†).

Article 3: Of Original Sin
By which transgression, commonly called original sin, was the image of God utterly defaced in man; and he, and his posterity of nature, became enemies to God, slaves to Satan, and servants to sin (Ps 51:5 †; Rom 5:10 7:5†; 2 Tim 2:26 †; Eph 2:1-3 ). Insomuch that death everlasting hath had, and shall have, power and dominion over all, that have not been, are not, or shall not be regenerate from above: which regeneration is wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost, working in the hearts of the elect of God an assured faith in the promise of God, revealed to us in his word; by which faith we apprehend Christ Jesus, with the graces and benefits promised in him (John 3:5 Rom 2:1 f.† [?]; 5:1, 14, 21; 6:3–4, 23; 8†; Phil 1:29 †).

Article 4: Of the Revelation of the Promise
For this we constantly believe, that God, after the fearful and horrible defection of man from his obedience, did seek Adam again, call upon him, rebuke his sin, convict him of the same, and, in the end made unto him a most joyful promise; to wit, that the seed of the woman should break down the serpent’s head (Gen 3:9 , 15), that is, he should destroy the works of the devil: which promise, as it was repeated, and made more clear from time to time, so was it embraced with joy, and most constantly received of all the faithful from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to David, and so forth to the incarnation of Christ Jesus; all (we mean the faithful fathers under the law) did see the joyful day of Christ Jesus and did rejoice (Gen 4:7 †; 12:3; 15:5–6; 2 Sam 7:14 †; Isa 7:14 8:10; 9:6†; Hag 2:7 , 9†; John 8:56 †).

Article 5: Of the Continuance, Increase, and Preservation of the Church
We most constantly believe that God preserved, instructed, multiplied, honoured, decored, and from death called to life his Church in all ages, from Adam (Gen 5:1 f.†) till the coming of Christ in the flesh (Ezek 16:6-14 ). For Abraham he called from his father’s country; him he instructed, his seed he multiplied (Gen 12:1-3 ); the same he marvelously preserved, and more marvelously delivered from the bondage and tyranny of Pharaoh (Exod 1-2 13): to them he gave his laws, constitutions, and ceremonies (Exod 20:1-21 ); them he possessed in the land of Canaan (Josh 1:3 Josh 23:4 †); to them, after Judges (Judges 1 †; 1 Sam 1:23 † [?]), and after Saul (1 Sam 10 †), he gave David to be King (1 Sam 16:13 ); to whom he made promise, that of the fruit of his loins should One sit for ever upon his regal seat (2 Sam 7:12 †). To this same people, from time to time, he sent Prophets, to reduce them to the right way of their God (2 Kgs 17:13 ); from the which oftentimes they declined by idolatry (2 Kgs 17:14-15 ). And albeit that for the stubborn contempt of justice, he was compelled to give them into the hands of their enemies (2 Kgs 24:3-4 ); as before was threatened by the mouth of Moses (Deut 28:36 , 48), insomuch that the holy city was destroyed, the temple burned with fire (2 Kgs 25 ), and the whole land left desolate the space of seventy years (Dan 9:2 †; Jer 25:11-12 †; 29:10†); yet of mercy did he reduce them again to Jerusalem, where the city and temple were reedified, and they against all temptations and assaults of Satan, did abide till the Messias came, according to the promise (Jer 30 †; 39:8–14; Ezr 1 Hag 1:14 2:7-9; Zech 3:1-2 , 8).

Article 6: Of the Incarnation of Christ Jesus
When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son (Gal 4:4 ), his eternal wisdom, the substance of his own glory, into the world, who took the nature of manhood, of the substance of a woman, to wit, of a virgin, and that by the operation of the Holy Ghost (Luke 1-2 Matt 1:18 †; 2:1†): and so was born, the just seed of David (Rom 1:3 †), the Angel of the great council of God (Isa 9:6 † [LXX]), the very Messiah promised; whom we acknowledge and confess Emmanuel (Isa 7:14 Matt 1:23 †), very God and very Man, two perfect natures united and joined in one person (John 1:45 †; 1 Tim 2:5 †).

By which our confession, we condemn the damnable and pestilent heresies of Arius, Marcion, Eutiches, Nestorius, and such others, as either did deny the eternity of his Godhead, or the verity of his human nature, or confounded them, or yet divided them.

Article 7: Why it behoved the Mediator to be very God and very Man
We acknowledge and confess, that this most wondrous conjunction betwixt the Godhead and the manhood in Christ Jesus, did proceed from the eternal and immutable decree of God, whence also our salvation springeth and dependeth (Eph 1:3-6 †).

Article 8: Of Election
For that same eternal God and Father, who of mere grace elected us in Christ Jesus his Son, before the foundation of the world was laid (Eph 1:4 John 1 †; Matt 25:34 †), appointed him to be our head (Eph 1:22-23 †), our brother (Heb 2:7-8 , 11-12), our Pastor, and great Bishop of souls (John 10 Heb 13:20 †; 1 Pet 2:25 †; 5:4†). But because that the enmity betwixt the justice of God and our sins was such, that no flesh by itself could, or might, have attained unto God (Ps 130:3 †; Ps 143:2 †): it behoved that the Son of God should descend unto us, and take himself a body of our body, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones, and so become the perfect Mediator betwixt God and man (1 Tim 2:5 †); giving power to so many as believe in him, to be the sons of God (John 1:12 ); as he himself doth witness, “I pass up to my Father, and unto your God” (John 20:17 ). By which most holy fraternity, whatsoever we have lost in Adam, is restored to us again (Rom 5:17-19 †). And for this cause are we not afraid to call God our Father (Rom 8:15 †; Gal 4:5-6 †), not so much because he hath created us, (which we have common with the reprobate [Acts 17:26 †]), as for that he hath given to us his only Son to be our brother (Heb 2:11-12 †), and given unto us grace to acknowledge and embrace him for our Mediator, as before is said. It behoved further the Messiah and Redeemer to be very God, and very man; because he was to bear the punishment due for our transgressions, and to present himself in the presence of his Father’s judgment, as in our person, to suffer for our transgression and disobedience (1 Pet 3:18 †; Isa 53:5 , 8), by death to overcome him that was author of death (Heb 2:14 †). But because only Godhead could not suffer death (Acts 2:24 †), neither yet could the only manhood overcome the same, he joined both together in one person, that the imbecility of the one should suffer, and be subject to death (which we had deserved), and the infinite and invincible power of the other, to wit, of the Godhead, should triumph and purchase to us life, liberty, and perpetual victory (1 Jhn 1:2 †; Acts 20:28 †; 1 Tim 3:16 †; John 3:16 †). And so we confess, and most undoubtedly believe.

Article 9: Of Christ’s Death, Passion, and Burial
That our Lord Jesus offered himself a voluntary sacrifice unto his Father for us (Isa 53:10 , 12†; Heb 7:27 †; 9:26†; 10:4–12), that he suffered contradiction of sinners, that he was wounded and plagued for our transgressions (Heb 12:3 †; Isa 53:5 ), that he, being the clean innocent Lamb of God (John 1:29 †), was condemned in the presence of an earthly judge (Matt 27:11 , 26†; Mark 15 †; Luke 23 †), that we should be absolved before the tribunal-seat of our God (Rom 14:10 †; 2 Cor 5:10 †); that he suffered not only the cruel death of the cross, (which was accursed by the sentence of God [Deut 21:23 Gal 3:13 ]), but also that he suffered for a season the wrath of his Father (Matt 26:38-39 †), which sinners had deserved. But yet we avow that he remained the only well-beloved and blessed Son of the Father, even in the midst of his anguish and torment, which he suffered in body and soul, to make the full satisfaction for the sins of the people (2 Cor 5:21 †). After the which we confess and avow, that there remaineth no other sacrifice for sin (Heb 9:12 , 28†; 10:14); which if any affirm, we nothing doubt to avow, that they are blasphemous against Christ’s death, and the everlasting purgation and satisfaction purchased to us by the same.

Article 10: Of His Resurrection
We undoubtedly believe that, insomuch as it was impossible that the dolours of death should retain in bondage the Author of life (Acts 2:24 3:15), that our Lord Jesus, crucified, dead, and buried, who descended into hell, did rise again for our justification (Rom 6:5 , 9; Rom 4:25 †), and, destroying of him who was the author of death, brought life again to us that were subject to death, and to the bondage of the same (Heb 2:14-15 †). We know that his resurrection was confirmed by the testimony of his very enemies (Matt 28:4 ), by the resurrection of the dead, whose sepulchers did open, and they did arise, and appeared to many, within the city of Jerusalem (Matt 27:52-53 28:11-15). It was also confirmed by the testimony of his angels (Matt 28:5-6 ), and by the senses and judgments of his apostles and others, who had conversation, and did eat and drink with him after his resurrection (John 20:27 21:7, 12-13; Luke 24:41-43 †).

Article 11: Of His Ascension
We nothing doubt but the self-same body, which was born of the virgin, was crucified, dead, and buried; that it did rise again, and ascend into the heavens, for the accomplishment of all things (Luke 24:51 †; Acts 1:9 ); where, in our names, and for our comfort, he hath received all power in heaven and earth (Matt 28:18 ); where he sitteth at the right hand of the Father, crowned in his kingdom, Advocate, and only Mediator for us (1 Jhn 2:1 1 Tim 2:5 ). Which glory, honour, and prerogative he alone amongst the brethren shall possess, till that all his enemies be made his footstool (Ps 110:1 Matt 22:44 †; Luke 20:42-43 †). As that we undoubtedly believe there shall be a final judgment, to the execution whereof we certainly believe that the same our Lord Jesus shall visibly return, even as he was seen to ascend (2 Thess 1:7-10 †; Acts 1:11 John 19:37 ). And then we firmly believe, that the time of refreshing and restitution of all things shall come (Acts 3:20-21 ): insomuch that those that from the beginning have suffered violence, injury, and wrong, for righteousness’ sake, shall inherit that blessed immortality, promised from the beginning (Matt 25:34 †; 2 Thess 1:4 †): but contrariwise, the stubborn, inobedient, cruel oppresors, filthy persons, idolaters, and all sorts of unfaithful, shall be cast into the dungeon of utter darkness, where their worm shall not die, neither yet the fire shall be extinguished (Rev 20:15 21:27†; Isa 66:24 Matt 25:41 †; Mark 11:44 , 46, 48† [TR]; Matt 22:13 †). The remembrance of which day, and of the judgment to be executed in the same, is not only to us a bridle, whereby our carnal lusts are refrained (Isa 1:4 †), but also such inestimable comfort, that neither may the threatening of worldly princes, neither yet the fear of temporal death and present danger, move us to renounce and forsake the blessed society which we the members have with our head and only Mediator Christ Jesus (2 Pet 3:11 †; 2 Cor 5:9-11 †; Luke 21:27-28 †; John 14:1 †). Whom we confess and avow to be the Messiah promised (Isa 7:14 ), the only head of his Church (Eph 1:22 †; Col 1:18 ), our just Law-giver (Jas 4:12 †), our only High Priest (Heb 6:20 9:11, 15; 10:21), Advocate, and Mediator (1 Jhn 2:1 †; 1 Tim 2:5 †). In which honours and office if man or angel presume to intrude themselves, we utterly detest and abhor them, as blasphemous to our Sovereign and Supreme Governor, Christ Jesus.

Article 12: Of Faith in the Holy Ghost
This faith, and the assurance of the same, proceedeth not from flesh and blood; that is to say, from no natural powers within us; but is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost (Matt 16:17 John 14:26 15:26; John 16:13 ); whom we confess God, equal with the Father and with the Son (Acts 5:3-4 †); who sanctifieth us, and bringeth us into all verity by his own operation; without whom we should remain for ever enemies to God, and ignorant of his Son Christ Jesus. For of nature we are so dead, so blind, and so perverse, that neither can we feel when we are pricked, see the light when it shineth, nor assent to the will of God when it is revealed, unless the Spirit of the Lord quicken that which is dead, remove the darkness from our minds, and bow our stubborn hearts to the obedience of his blessed will (Col 2:13 †; Eph 2:1 †; John 9:39 †; Rev 3:17 †; Matt 17:17 †; Mark 9:19 †; Luke 11:41 †; John 6:63 †; Mic 7:8 †; 1 Kgs 8:57-58 †). And so, as we confess that God the Father created us, when we were not (Ps 100:3 †); as his Son our Lord Jesus redeemed us, when we were enemies to him (Rom 5:10 ); so also do we confess, that the Holy Ghost doth sanctify and regenerate us, without all respect of any merit proceeding from us, be it before, or be it after our regeneration (John 3:5 †; Tit 3:5 †; Rom 5:8 †). To speak this one thing yet in more plain words: as we willingly spoil ourselves of all honour and glory of our own creation and redemption (2 Cor 3:5 Phil 3:9 †), so do we also of our regeneration and sanctification; for of ourselves we are not sufficient to think one good thought; but he who hath begun the work in us, is only he that continueth in us the same (Phil 1:6 †), to the praise and glory of his underserved grace (Eph 1:6 †).

Article 13: Of the Cause of Good Works
So that the cause of good works we confess to be, not our free will, but the Spirit of our Lord Jesus (John 3:5 †; 15:5; Rom 8:9 †); who, dwelling in our hearts by true faith, bringeth forth such good works, as God hath prepared for us to walk in (Eph 2:10 Phil 2:13 †). And therefore we fear not to affirm, that murderers, oppressors, cruel persecutors, adulterers, whoremongers, filthy persons, idolaters, drunkards, thieves, and all workers of iniquity, have neither true faith, neither any portion of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, so long as obstinately they continue in their wickedness. For how soon soever the Spirit of the Lord Jesus (which God’s elect children receive by true faith) taketh possession in the heart of any man, so soon doth he regenerate and renew the same man; so that he beginneth to hate that which before he loved, and beginneth to love that which before he hated. And from thence cometh that continual battle which is betwixt the flesh and the Spirit in God’s children: so that the flesh and natural man, according to their own corruption, lusteth for things pleasing and delectable unto itself; grudgeth in adversity, is lifted up in prosperity, and at every moment is prone and ready to offend the majesty of God (Rom 7:15-19 , 21-25†; Gal 5:17 ). But the Spirit of God, which giveth witnessing to our spirit that we are the sons of God (Rom 8:16 ), maketh us to resist filthy pleasures, and to groan in God’s presence for deliverance from this bondage of corruption (Rom 7:24 †; 8:22†); and finally, so triumpheth over sin, that it reigneth not in our mortal bodies (Rom 6:12 †). This battle have not carnal men, being destitute of God’s Spirit; but do follow and obey sin with greediness, and without repentance, even as the devil and their corrupt lusts do provoke them (Eph 4:17 †). But the sons of God, as before is said, do fight against sin, do sob and mourn, when they perceive themselves tempted to iniquity; and if they fall, they rise again with unfeigned repentance (2 Tim 2:26 †): and these things they do, not by their own power, but by the power of the Lord Jesus, without whom they were able to do nothing (John 15:5 ).

Article 14: What Works Are Reputed Good before God
We confess and acknowledge, that God hath given to man his holy law, in which not only are forbidden all such works as displease and offend his Godly Majesty, but also are commanded all such as please him, and as he hath promised to reward (Exod 20:1-21 Deut 4:8 5:1-21). And these works be of two sorts. The one are done to the honour of God, the other to the profit of our neighbours. And both have the revealed will of God for their assurance. To have one God, to worship and honour him, to call upon him in all our troubles, to reverence his holy name, to hear his word, to believe the same, to communicate with his holy Sacraments (Luke 1:74-75 † [?]; Mic 6:8 †), are the works of the First Table. To honour father, mother (Eph 6:1-3 ), princes, rulers, and superior powers; to love them, to support them, yea, to obey their charges, (not repugning the commandments of God [Rom 13:1-7 1 Tim 2:1-3 6:1-2]); to save the lives of innocents, to repress tyranny, to defend the oppressed (Ezek 22:1-31 Jer 22:3 Isa 58:6-7 ), to keep our bodies clean and holy (1 Cor 6:19-20 †; 1 Thess 4:3-7 ), to live in soberness and temperance, to deal justly with all men, both in word and deed (Luke 2:52 ); and finally, to repress all appetite of our neighbour’s hurt, are the good works of the Second Table; which are most pleasing and acceptable to God, as those works that are commanded by himself (Eph 6:1-7 †). The contrary whereof is sin most odious, which always displeaseth him and provoketh him to anger (Eph 5:6 ): as, not to call upon him alone, when we have need; not to hear his word with reverence; to contemn and despise it; to have or to worship idols; to maintain and defend idolatry; lightly to esteem the reverend name of God; to profane, abuse, or contemn the Sacraments of Christ Jesus; to disobey or resist any that God hath placed in authority, (whilst they pass not over the bounds of their office [1 Thess 4:6 †; Rom 13:2 ]); to murder, or to consent thereto; to bear hatred, or to suffer innocent blood to be shed, if we may withstand it (Ezek 22:13 Jer 22:3-5 †; Isa 50:1 †); and finally, the transgression of any other commandment in the First or Second Table, we confess or affirm to be sin (1 Jhn 3:4 †); by which God’s anger and displeasure is kindled against the proud and unthankful world. So that good works we affirm to be those only, that done in faith (Rom 14:23 †; Heb 11:6 †), and at God’s commandment (1 Sam 15:22 †; 1 Cor 10:31 †); who in his law hath expressed what the things be that please him. And evil works we affirm not only those that expressly are done against God’s commandment (1 Jhn 3:4 †); but those also that, in matters of religion, and in worshipping of God, have no other assurance but the invention and opinion of man: which God from the beginning hath ever rejected, as by the Prophet Isaiah we are taught (Isa 29:13 ); and but our Master Christ Jesus, in these words, “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the precepts of men” (Matt 15:9 Mark 7:7 †).

Article 15: Of the Perfection of the Law, and the Imperfection of Man
The law of God we confess and acknowledge most just, most equal, most holy, and most perfect; commanding those things, which, being wrought in perfection, were able to give light, and able to bring man to eternal felicity (Lev 18:5 †; Gal 3:12 †; 1 Tim 1:8 †; Rom 7:12 10:5†; Ps 19:7-9 , 11). But our nature is so corrupt, so weak, and so imperfect, that we are never able to fulfil the works of the law in perfection (Deut 5:29 Rom 10:3 Gal 3:11 †). Yea, “if we say we have no sin,” even after we are regenerated, “we deceive ourselves, and the verity of God is not in us” (1 Kgs 8:46 †; 2 Chr 6:36†; Prov 20:9 †; Eccl 7:22 †; 1 Jhn 1:8 ). And therefore it behoveth us to apprehend Christ Jesus, with his justice and satisfaction; who is the end and accomplishment of the law; by whom we are set at this liberty, that the curse and malediction of God fall not upon us, albeit we fulfil not the same in all points (Rom 10:4 Gal 3:13 Deut 27:26 ). For God the Father, beholding us in the body of his Son Christ Jesus, accepteth our imperfect obedience, as it were perfect (Phil 2:15 †), and covereth our works, which are defiled with many spots (Isa 64:6 †; Eph 1:4 Rom 4:25 ), with the justice of his Son. We do not mean, that we are so set at liberty, that we owe no obedience to the law; for that before we have plainly confessed); but this we affirm, that no man in earth (Christ Jesus only excepted) hath given, giveth, or shall give in work that obedience to the law which the law requireth (Luke 10:25-28 ); but when we have done all things, we must fall down, and unfeignedly confess that we are unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10 ). And therefore, whosoever boast themselves of the merits of their own works, or put their trust in the works of supererogation, boast themselves of that which is naught, and put their trust in damnable idolatry.

Article 16: Of the Church
As we believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; so do we most constantly believe that from the beginning there hath been, and now is, and to the end of the world shall be, one Church: that is to say, a company and multitude of men chosen of God, who rightly worship and embrace him by true faith in Christ Jesus (Matt 3:9 †; 28:19–20; Eph 1:4 , 22); who is the only Head of the same Church; which also is the body and spouse of Christ Jesus. Which Church is Catholic, that is, universal; because it containeth the elect of all ages, of all realms, nations, and tongues, be they of the Jews, or be they of the Gentiles, who have communion and society with God the Father, and with his Son Christ Jesus, through the sanctification of his Holy Spirit (Col 1:18 Eph 5:23-32 Rev 7:9 ); and therefore it is called the Communion, not of profane persons, but of Saints; who, as citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem (Eph 2:19 ), have the fruition of the most inestimable benefits, to wit, of one God, one Lord Jesus, one faith, and one baptism (Eph 4:4-6 †): out of the which Church, there is neither life nor eternal felicity. And therefore we utterly abhor the blasphemy of those that affirm, that men which live according to equity and justice, shall be saved, what religion soever they have professed. For as without Christ Jesus there is neither life nor salvation (John 3:36 †), so shall there none be participant thereof, but such as the Father hath given unto his Son Christ Jesus, and those that in time come unto him, avow his doctrine, and believe in him (John 5:22-24 6:37, 39, 65; 17:6†): (we comprehend the children with the faithful parents [Acts 2:39 †]). This Church is invisible, known only to God, who alone knoweth whom he hath chosen (2 Tim 2:19 †; John 13:18 †), and comprehendeth as well (as is said) the elect that be departed, commonly called the Church Triumphant, as those that yet live and fight against sin and Satan, and shall live hereafter (Eph 1:10 †; Col 1:20 †; Heb 12:4 †).

Article 17: Of the Immortality of Souls[3]
The elect departed are in peace and rest from their labors (Rev 14:13 ); not that they sleep, and come to a certain oblivion, as some fantastics do affirm; but that they are delivered from all fear and torment, and all temptation, to which we and all God’s elect are subject in this life (Isa 25:8 †; Rev 7:14-17 21:4†), and therefore do bear the name of Church [or Kirk] Militant. As contrariwise, the reprobated and unfaithful departed have anguish, torment, and pain, that cannot be expressed (Rev 16:10-11 †; Isa 66:24 †; Mark 9:44 , 46, 48†). So that neither are the one nor the other in such sleep that they feel no joy or torment, as the Parable of Christ Jesus in Luke 16 (Luke 16:23-25 ), his words to the thief (Luke 23:43 †), and the words of the souls crying under the altar (Rev 6:9-10 ), “O Lord, thou that art righteous and just, how long shall thou not revenge our blood upon those that dwell in the earth?” do testify.

Article 18: Of the Notes, by Which the True Church Is Discerned from the False; and Who Shall Be Judge of the Doctrine
Because that Satan from the beginning hath laboured to deck his pestilent Synagogue with the title of the Church of God, and hath inflamed the hearts of cruel murderers, to persecute, trouble, and molest the true Church, and members thereof; as Cain did Abel (Gen 4:8 ), Ishmael Isaac (Gen 21:9 ), Esau Jacob (Gen 27:41 ), and the whole priesthood of the Jews, Christ Jesus himself, and his Apostles after him (Matt 23:34-36 John 11:47 , 53; 15:18-20, 24†; Acts 3:15 4:1-3†; 5:17–18): it is a thing most requisite, that the true Church be discerned from the filthy Synagogues by clear and perfect notes, lest we, being deceived, receive and embrace to our condemnation the one for the other. The notes, signs, and assured tokens, whereby the immaculate spouse of Christ Jesus is known from the horrible harlot, the Church malignant, we affirm are neither antiquity, title usurped, lineal descent, place appointed, nor multitude of men approving an error. For Cain in age and title was preferred to Abel and Seth (Gen 4 †); Jerusalem had prerogative above all places of the earth (Ps 98:2-3 †; Matt 5:35 †), where also were the Priests, lineally descended from Aaron; and greater number followed the Scribes, Pharisees, and Priests, than unfeignedly believed and approved Christ Jesus and his doctrine (John 12:42 †). And yet, as we suppose, no man sound judgment will grant, that any of the forenamed were the Church of God. The notes, therefore, of the true Church of God, we believe, confess, and avow to be, first, the true preaching of the word of God, in the which God hath revealed himself unto us, as the writings of the Prophets and Apostles do declare (John 1:18 3:34†; 5:39†; 10:15, 30; 16:15†; 18:37†; 1 Cor 1:23-24 †; 1 Cor 3:10-11 †; Eph 2:20 †): secondly, the right administration of the Sacraments of Christ Jesus, which must be annexed unto the word and promise of God, to seal and confirm the same in our hearts (Rom 4:11 Acts 2:42 †; Matt 28:19-20 †; Mark 16:15-16 † [TR]; 1 Cor 11:23-26 †): lastly, Ecclesiastical discipline, uprightly ministered, as God’s word prescribeth, whereby vice is repressed, and virtue nourished (Matt 18:15-18 †; 1 Cor 5:4-5 ). Wheresoever, then, these former notes are seen and of any time continue, (be the numbert never so few, about two or three), there, without all doubt, is the true Church of Christ; who, according to his promise, is in the midst of them (Matt 18:19-20 †): not in the universal, of which we have before spoken; but particular, such as was in Corinth (1 Cor 1:2 †; 2 Cor 1:1 †), Galatia (Gal 1:2 †), Ephesus (Acts 20:17 †), and other places, in which the ministry was planted by Paul (Acts 16:1 f.; 18:1f.), and which were of himself named the Churches of God (1 Cor 1:2 Acts 20:28 ): and such Churches we, the inhabitants of the realm of Scotland, professors of Christ Jesus, profess ourselves to have in our cities, towns, and places reformed. For the doctrine taught in our Churches is contained in the written word of God, to wit, in the books of the Old and New Testaments; in those books we mean, which of the ancients have been reputed Canonical. In the which we affirm that all things necessary to be believed for the salvation of mankind, are sufficiently expressed (John 20:31 †; 21:24–25; 2 Tim 3:16-17 †). The interpretation whereof, we confess, neither appertaineth to private nor public person; neither yet to any Church, for any pre-eminence, or prerogative, personal or local, which one hath above another; but appertaineth to the Spirit of God, by whom also the Scripture was Written (2 Pet 1:20-21 †). When controversy, then, happeneth for the right understanding of any place or sentence of Scripture, or for the reformation of any abuse within the Church of God, we ought not so much to look what men before us have said or done, as unto that which the Holy Ghost uniformly speaketh within the body of the Scriptures, and unto that which Christ Jesus himself did, and commanded to be done (John 5:39 †; 1 Cor 11:23 ). For this is one thing universally granted, that the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of unity, is nothing contrary to himself (1 Cor 2:10-11 †; 12:4–6†; Eph 4:3-4 †). If, then, the interpretation, determination, or sentence of any Doctor, Church, or Council, repugn to the plain word of God, written in any other place of the Scripture, it is a thing most certain that there is not the true understanding and meaning of the Holy Ghost; although that Councils, Realms, and Nations have approved and received the same. For we dare not receive or admit any interpretation, which repugneth to any principal point of our faith, or to any other plain text of Scripture, or yet unto the rule of charity.

Article 19: Of the Authority of the Scriptures
As we believe and confess the Scriptures of God sufficient to instruct and make the man of God perfect (2 Tim 3:16-17 1 Tim 2 † [?]); so do we affirm and avow the authority of the same to be of God, and neither to depend on men nor angels. We affirm, therefore, that such as allege the Scripture to have no other authority but that which it hath received from the Church, are blasphemous against God, and injurious to the true church; which always heareth and obeyeth the voice of her own Spouse and Pastor (John 10:27 ), but taketh not upon her to be mistress over the same.

Article 20: Of General Councils, Of Their Power, Authority, and Cause of Their Convention[4]
As we do not rashly condemn that which godly men, assembled together in General Council lawfully gathered, have proponed unto us; so without just examination we do not receive whatsoever is obtruded unto men under the name of a General Council: for plain it is, as they were men, so have some of them manifestly erred, and that in matters of great weight and importance (Gal 2:11-14 †). So far then as the Council proveth the determination and commandment that it giveth by the plain word of God, so soon do we reverence and embrace the same. But if men, under the name of a Council, pretend to forge unto us new articles of our faith, or to make constitutions repugnant to the word of God, then utterly we must refuse the same, as the doctrine of devils, which draweth our souls from the voice of our only God, to follow the doctrine and constitutions of men (1 Tim 4:1-3 ). The cause, then, why that General Councils came together, was neither to make any perpetual law which God before had not made, neither yet to forge new articles of our belief, neither to give the word of God authority; much less to make that to be his word, or yet the true interpretation of the same, which was not before his holy will expressed in his word (Col 2:16 , 18-22†). But the cause of Councils (we mean, of such as merit the name of Councils) was partly for confutation of heresies (Acts 15 †), for giving public confession of their faith to the posterity following; which both they did, by the authority of God’s written word, and not by any opinion of prerogative, that they could not err, by reason of their general assembly. And this we judge to have been the chief cause of General Councils. The other was, for good policy and order to be constitute and observed in the church; wherein (as in the house of God [1 Tim 3:15 †; Heb 3:2 †]) it becometh “all things to be done decently, and in order” (1 Cor 14:40 ). Not that we think that one policy and one order in ceremonies can be appointed for all ages, times, and places; for as ceremonies, such as men have devised, are but temporal, so may and ought they to be changed, when they rather suffer superstition, than edify the Church using the same.

Article 21: Of the Sacraments
As the fathers under the law, besides the verity of the sacrifices, had two chief Sacraments, to wit, Circumcision, and the Passover; (the despisers and contemners whereof were not reputed for God’s people [Gen 17:9-14 Exod 12:1-28 †; Num 9:13 †;1 Cor 10:2-4 †]); so we acknowledge and confess, that we, now in the time of the Gospel, have two chief Sacraments only, instituted by the Lord Jesus, and commanded to be used of all those that will be reputed members of his body; to wit, Baptism, and the Supper, or Table, of the Lord Jesus, called the Communion of his body and his blood (Matt 26:26-28 28:19; Mark 14:22-24 †; 16:15–16† [TR]; Luke 22:19-20 †; 1 Cor 11:23-26 †). And these Sacraments, as well of the Old, as of the New Testament, now instituted of God, not only do make a visible difference betwixt his people and those that were without his league, but also do exercise the faith of his children (1 Cor 10:16-17 †), and, by participation of the same Sacraments, do seal in their hearts the assurance of his promise (Rom 4:11 ), and of that most blessed conjunction, union, and society, which the elect have with their head Christ Jesus. And thus we utterly condemn the vanity of those, that affirm Sacraments to be nothing else but naked and bare signs. No; we assuredly believe, that by Baptism we are ingrafted into Christ Jesus, to be made partakers of his justice, by which our sins are covered, and remitted (Rom 6:3-5 Gal 3:27 †; Tit 3:5-7 †): and also that in the Supper, rightly used, Christ Jesus is so joined with us (1 Cor 10:16 ), that he becometh the very nourishment and food or our souls (John 6:55 1 Cor 11:23-26 †). Not that we imagine any transubstantiation of bread into Christ’s natural body, and of wine into his natural blood, as the Papists have perniciously taught, and damnably believed: but this union and conjunction, which we have with the body and blood of Christ Jesus in the right use of the Sacrament, is wrought by the operation of the Holy Ghost, who, by true faith, carrieth us above all things that are visible, carnal, and earthly, and maketh us to feed upon the body and blood of Christ Jesus, which was once broken and shed for us, which now is in heaven, and appeareth in the presence of his Father for us (Mark 16:19 † [TR]; Luke 24:51 †; Acts 1:11 †; 3:21†; Heb 6:20 10:12). And notwithstanding the far distance of place, which is betwixt his body now glorified in heaven, and us now mortal on this earth; yet we must assuredly believe, that the bread which we break is the communion of Christ’s body, and the cup which we bless is the communion of his blood (1 Cor 10:16 ). So that we confess, and undoubtedly believe, that the faithful, in the right use of the Lord’s Table, do so eat the body and drink the blood of the Lord Jesus, that he remaineth in them, and they in him (John 6:56 ). Yea, they are so made flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones (Eph 5:30 ), that, as the Eternal Godhead giveth to the flesh of Christ Jesus (which of its own condition and nature was mortal and corruptible [Matt 27:50 †; Mark 15:37 †; Luke 23:46 †; John 19:30 †]) life and immortatlity; so doth Christ Jesus his flesh and blood, eaten and drunken by us, give unto us the same prerogatives (John 6:51 ). Which albeit we confess are neither given unto us at this time only, neither yet by the proper power and virtue of the Sacrament only; yet we affirm, that the faithful, in the right use of the Lord’s Table, have such conjunction with Christ Jesus, as the natural man cannot apprehend: yea, and further we affirm, that albeit the faithful, oppressed by negligence and manly infirmity, do not profit so much as they would, in the very instant action of the Supper; yet shall it after bring fruit forth, as lively seed sown in good ground: for the Holy Spirit, which can never be divided from the right institution of the Lord Jesus, will not frustrate the faithful of the fruit of that mystical action. But all this we say cometh of true faith, which apprehendeth Christ Jesus, who only maketh his Sacraments effectual unto us. And therefore whosoever slandereth us, as that we affirm or believe Sacraments to be only naked and bare signs, doth injury unto us, and speaketh against the manifest truth. But this liberally and frankly we confess, that we make distinction betwixt Christ Jesus in his eternal substance, and betwixt the elements in the sacramental signs. So that we will neither worship the sign, in place of that which is signified by them, neither yet do we despise, and interpret them as unprofitable and vain; but do use them with all reverence, examining ourselves diligently before that so we do: because we are assured by the mouth of the Apostle, that “such as eat of the bread, and drink of that cup unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of Christ Jesus” (1 Cor 11:28-29 ).

Article 22: Of the Right Administration of the Sacraments
That Sacraments be rightly ministered, we judge two things requisite: the one, that they be ministered by lawful Ministers, whom we affirm to be only they, that are appointed to the preaching of the word, into whose mouths God hath put some Sermon of exhortation, they being men lawfully chosen thereto by some Church: the other, that they be ministered in such elements, and in such sort, as God hath appointed: else we affirm that they cease to be right Sacraments of Christ Jesus. And therefore it is that we fly the society of the Papistical Church, in the participation of their Sacraments; first, because their Ministers are no Ministers of Christ Jesus (1 Tim 6:3-5 ), (yea, this is more horrible, they suffer women, whom the Holy Ghost will not suffer to teach in the Congregation [1 Tim 2:12 †], to baptize); and secondly, because they have so adulterated both the one Sacrament and the other with their own inventions, that no part of Christ’s action abideth in the original purity. For oil, salt, and spittle, and such like in Baptism, are but men’s inventions; adoration, veneration, bearing through streets and towns, and keeping of bread in boxes or boists, are profanation of Christ’s Sacraments, and no use of the same. For Christ Jesus said, “Take eat, &c. Do ye this in remembrance of me” (Matt 26:26 Mark 14:22 †; Luke 22:19 †; 1 Cor 11:24 †). By which words and charge, he sanctified bread and wine to be the Sacrament of his holy body and blood, to the end that the one should be eaten, and that all should drink of the other, and not that they should be kept, to be worshipped and honoured as God, as the Papists have done heretofore: who also have committed sacrilege, stealing from the people the one part of the Sacrament, to wit, the blessed cup.

Moreover, that the Sacraments be rightly used, it is required that the end and cause for which Sacraments were instituted, be understanded and observed, as well of the Minister, as by the receivers. For if the opinion be changed in the receiver, the right use ceaseth; which is most evident, by the rejection of the sacrifices (Isa 1:11-13 Ps 50:7-8 †): as also, if the teacher plainly teach false doctrine, which were odious and abominable before God, (albeit they were his own ordinances), because that wicked men use them to another end than God hath ordained (Jer 7:21-26 Isa 66:1-4 ). The same we affirm of the Sacraments in the Papistical Church; in which we affirm the whole action of the Lord Jesus to be adulterated, as well in the external form, as in the end and opinion. What Christ Jesus did, and commanded to be done, is evident, by the Evangelists and by St. Paul (Matt 26:26-28 1 Cor 11:23-26 ): what the Priest doth at his altar, we need not to rehearse. The end and cause of Christ’s institution, and why the self-same should be used, is expressed in these words: “Do ye this in remembrance of me; as oft as ye shall eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, ye shall shew forth,” that is extol, preach, magnify, and praise, “the Lord’s death, till he come.” But to what end, and in what opinion, the Priests say their Mass, let the words of the same, their own doctors and writings, witness: to wit, that they, as Mediators betwixt Christ and his Church, do offer unto God the Father a sacrifice propitiatory for the sins of the quick and the dead: which doctrines, blasphemous to Christ Jesus, and making derogation of all those that shall be sanctified (Heb 9:27-28 †; 10:14†), we utterly abhor, detest, and renounce.

Article 23: To Whom Sacraments Appertain
We confess and acknowledge, that Baptism appertaineth as well to the infants of the faithful, as unto them that be of age and discretion. And so we condemn the error of the Anabaptists, who deny Baptism to appertain to children before they have faith and understanding (Col 2:11-12 †; Rom 4:11 †; Gen 17:10 †; Matt 28:19 †). But the Supper of the Lord we confess to appertain to such only, as be of the household of faith, and can try and examine themselves as well in their faith, as in their duty towards their neighbours. Such as eat and drink at the holy Table without faith, or being at dissensionwith their brethren, do eat unworthily (1 Cor 11:28-29 †): and therefore it is, that, in our Church, our Ministers take public and particular examination of the knowledge and conversation of such as are to be admitted to the Table of the Lord Jesus.

Article 24: Of the Civil Magistrate
We confess and acknowledge empires, kingdoms, dominions, and cities, to be distincted or ordained by God (Dan 1:1-2 2:21, 37f.; Ezr 1:2 ); the powers and authority in the same, be it of emperors in their empires, of kings in their realms, dukes and princes in their dominions, and of other magistrates in their cities, to be God’s holy ordinance, ordained for manifestation of His own glory, and for the singular profit and commodity of mankind (Rom 13:1 Tit 3:1 †; 1 Pet 2:13-14 †): so that whosoever goeth about to take away, or to confound, the whole state of civil policies, now long established, we affirm the same men not only to be enemies to mankind, but also wickedly to fight against God’s expressed will (Rom 13:2 †). We farther confess and acknowledge, that such persons as are placed in authority, are to be beloved, honoured, feared, and holden in most reverend estimation (Rom 13:7 1 Pet 2:17 ): because they are the lieutenants of God, in whose seats God himself doth sit and judge (Ps 8:1 ); yea, even the judges and princes themselves, to whom by God is given the sword, to the praise and defence of good men, and to revenge and punish all malefactors (1 Pet 2:14 †). Moreover, to kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates, we affirm that chiefly and most principally the conservation and purgation of the religion appertaineth; so that not only they are appointed for civil policy, but also for maintenance of the true religion, and for suppressing of idolatry and superstition whatsoever: as in David (1 Chr 22-26 †), Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 17:6†; 2 Chr 19:8†), Hezekiah (2 Chr 29-31†), Josiah[5] (2 Chr 34-35†), and other highly commended for their zeal in that case, may be espied. And therefore we confess and avow, that such as resist the supreme power doing that thing which appertaineth to his charge, do resist God’s ordinance (Rom 13:2 ), and therefore cannot be guiltless. And farther we affirm, that whosoever deny unto them their aid, counsel, and comfort, whist the princes and rulers vigilantly travail in execution of their office, the same men deny their help, support, and counsel to God, who, by the presence of his lieutenant, doth crave it of them.

Article 25: Of the Gifts Freely Given to the Church
Albeit that the word of God truly preached, and the Sacraments rightly ministered, and discipline executed according to the word of God, be the certain and infallible signs of the true Church; yet we mean not that every particular person, joined with such company, is an elect member of Christ Jesus. For we acknowledge and confess that darnel, cockle, and chaff may be sown, grow, and in great abundance lie in the midst of the wheat (Matt 3:12 13:24-30): that is, the reprobate may be joined in the society of the elect, and may externally use with them the benefits of the word and Sacraments. But such, being but temporal professors in mouth, and not in heart, do fall back, and continue not to the end (Matt 13:20-21 †); and therefore they have no fruit of Christ’s death, resurrection, nor ascension. But such as with heart unfeignedly believe, and with mouth boldly confess the Lord Jesus, as before we have said, shall most assuredly receive these gifts (Rom 10:9 , 13): first, in this life, the remission of sins, and that by only faith in Christ’s blood (John 3:16-18 ); insomuch that, albeit sin remain and continually abide in these our mortal bodies, yet it is not imputed unto us, but is remitted and covered with Christ’s justice (Rom 3:23-24 4:5-8; 5:8-11; 8:1, 31-34; 2 Cor 5:21 †): secondly, in the General Judgment (Isa 66:14-17 ), there shall be given to every man and woman resurrection of the flesh (Dan 12:2 John 5:28-29 †; Job 19:25-27 ). For the sea shall give her dead; the earth those that therein be inclosed: yea, the eternal God shall stretch out his hand on the dust, and the dead shall arise uncorruptible (Rev 20:13 †; 1 Cor 15:52-54 ), and that in the substance of the same flesh that every man now beareth, to receive, according to their works, glory or punishment (Matt 25:31-46 †; Rom 2:5-10 ). For such as now delight in vanity, cruelty, filthiness, superstition, or idolatry, shall be adjudged to the fire unquenchable (Rev 14:10 †; 20:15; 21:8): in which they shall be tormented for ever, as well in their own bodies, as in their souls, which now they give to serve the Devil in all abomination. But such as continue in well-doing to the end, boldly professing the Lord Jesus, we constantly believe that they shall receive glory, honour, and immortality (Rom 2:6-10 †), to reign for ever in life everlasting with Christ Jesus (Phil 3:21 †); to whose glorified body all his elect shall be made like (1 Jhn 3:2 ), when he shall appear again in judgment, and shall render up the kingdom to God his Father (1 Cor 15:24 , 28); who then shall be, and ever shall remain, in all things, God blessed for ever: to whom, with the Son, and with the Holy Ghost, and with the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, now and ever. So be it.

Arise, O Lord, and let thine enemies be confounded; let them flee from thy presence that hate thy godly Name (cf. Num 10:35 ‡; Ps 68:1 ‡). Give thy servants strength to speak thy word in boldness (Acts 4:29 ‡), and let all nations cleave to thy true knowledge (cf. Matt 24:14 ‡). Amen.

These acts and articles were read in the face of Parliament, and ratified by the three Estates, at Edinburgh the 17 day of August, the year of God, 1560 years.[6]

1 The title and the preface are taken from the following edition with modernized spelling, Philip Schaff and David S. Schaff, eds., The Creeds of Christendom (1931; repr., Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 437–39. This text is in the public domain.

2 The text of most of the confession is taken from Peter Hall, ed. The Harmony of Protestant Confessions (London: John F. Shaw, 1844), 31–32 (Article 1), 55 (Article 2), 68 (Article 3), 98–99 (Article 4), 224–25 (Article 5), 88 (Article 6), 99 (Article 7), 83–84 (Article 8), 99–100 (Article 9), 100 (Article 10), 100–101 (Article 11), 129–30 (Article 12), 165–66 (Article 13), 166–67 (Article 14), 114 (Article 15), 225–26 (Article 16), 226–27 (Article 18), 9 (Article 19), 10 (Article 20), 295–96, 334–35 (Article 21), 296–97 (Article 22), 297–98 (Article 23), 482 (Article 24), 227–28 (Article 25). This version is in the public domain

3 This article is not found in Hall, we use here the text from Schaff with a slightly modernized spelling. See Philip Schaff and David S. Schaff, eds, The Creeds of Christendom, 3:459–60.

4 Ed. note: only the first three words of the title are found in Hall’s edition; the rest of the title, however, is found in most other editions.

5 Ed. note: not “Joshua” as in Hall’s text.

6 The last two short paragraphs are taken from Schaff with the spelling being modernized. See Philip Schaff and David S. Schaff, eds., The Creeds of Christendom, 3:478–79.

† This symbol indicates references added in later editions of a confession or catechism

‡ This symbol indicates references added by editors of the RSB project

Date: 1566
Author: Heinrich Bullinger

Outline

Preface

Of the Holy Scripture Being the True Word of God
Of Interpreting the Holy Scriptures; And of Fathers, Councils, and Traditions
Of God; The Unity and the Trinity
Of Idols; Or of Images of God, of Christ, and of the Saints
Of the Adoration, Worship and Invocation of God Through the Only Mediator Jesus Christ (Rom 12:1 )
Of the Providence of God
Of the Creation of All Things; Of Angels, the Devil, and Man
Of Man’s Fall; Sin, and the Cause of Sin
Of Free-Will, and So of Man’s Power and Ability
Of the Predestination of God and the Election of the Saints
Of Jesus Christ, Being True God and Man, and the Only Saviour of the World
Of the Law of God
Of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Also of Promises; Of the Spirit and of the Letter
Of Repentance, and the Conversion of Man
Of the True Justification of the Faithful
Of Faith and Good Works; Of Their Reward, and of Man’s Merit
Of the Catholic and Holy Church of God, and of the One Only Head of the Church
Of the Ministers of the Church, Their Institution and Offices
Of the Sacraments of the Church of Christ
Of Holy Baptism
Of the Holy Supper of the Lord
Of Holy and Ecclesiastical Meetings
Of the Prayers of the Church, of Singing, and of Canonical Hours
Of Holydays, Fasts, and Choice of Meats
Of Catechising, of Comforting and Visiting the Sick
Of the Burial of the Faithful, and of the Care Which Is to Be Had for Such as Are Dead; Of Purgatory, and the Appearing of Spirits
Of Rites, Ceremonies, and Things Indifferent
Of the Goods of the Church, and the Right Use of Them
Of Single Life, Wedlock, and Household Government
Of the Magistracy

The Confession and Pure Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, and of All the Doctrines of the Sincere and Veritable Christian Religion, Cordially and unanimously agreed upon by the ministers of the Church of Christ, which are in Switzerland, Zurich, Berna, Schaphusium, Sangallum, and by the High Court Court of Parliament of Germany, &c., and amongst our allies, also, the Mylhusians, and the inhabitants of Bienna, to whom also the ministers of the Church of Geneva have united themselves, set forth in this book, that they might testify to all the faithful, that they persevere and continue firm in the unity of the true and ancient Church of Christ; neither do they spread any new or erroneous doctrines, and that, on this account, they no fellowship with anti-scriptural teachers, or heresies: published at this time, in order that all the pious faithful might form a judgment thereof.

With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10 ).[1]

Preface[2]
To all the Faithful servants of Christ throughout Germany, and also throughout other foreign nations, the ministers of the united churches of Switzerland pray that grace and peace may be imparted by God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1. Hitherto many and various confessions and expositions of the faith have been written, and proclaimed amongst the public, particularly at this time, throughout kingdoms, nations, and states, in which confessions and expositions in this last age, on account of the unhappy increase of pernicious heresies which have sprung up everywhere, they teach and testify that they in their churches do recognise, perceive, believe, and teach that which is orthodox, scriptural, true and pure in every respect concerning all and each of the doctrines of the Christian faith, and of our religion; and finally, that they have separated from the communion of antiscriptural teachers. We therefore, (although we have set forth these things before in our writings, which have been printed and proclaimed amongst the public, yet because these may perhaps have been forgotten, and because, in various places, they explain these things also too prolixly, so as to render them less edifying to those who investigate and read these things,) being instigated by the bright example of other faithful men, do endeavour to comprise and embrace in this brief exposition, and set forth and to propose to all the faithful servants of Christ, the doctrine and discipline of our churches, which now for many years, and through various conflicting circumstances, from the beginning of the Reformation even until this day, they have taught with the greatest unanimity, and do also now guard with one consent. In this same confession we testify to all, our unanimity and agreement which the Lord hath given to us, as, in our churches (1 Cor 1:10 †), in which the Lord hath willed that we should minister, we all speak the same thing: nor are there amongst us any divisions, but we are one entire body, of the same mind, and of the same judgment. We testify, also, that we by no means propagate such doctrines in our churches as some of our adversaries, chiefly amongst those unto whom our writings do not reach, and who are ignorant of our doctrine, do endeavour falsely and underservedly to attribute to, and to obtrude upon us.

2. Wherefore, impartial readers will most clearly see by these our writings that we have no fellowship with antiscriptural teachers and their heresies, of which, in this exposition we have made mention of each in relation to the points explained here; and whilst glancing at them, have rejected them. So that careful readers will discover that we have not separated and broken off by wicked schism from the holy Churches of Christ in Germany, France, England, and other nations in the Christian world; inasmuch as we truly agree with them all and each, in this confessed Christ verity, and do embrace these Churches with sincere love.

3. But although in different Churches some degree of variety is perceptible as it respects rites and ceremonies, yet as the same were established with due consideration for the benefit and edification of the Churches, that variety has never been seen to furnish cause for dissensions and schisms in the Churches at any time. For in this thing, the Churches of Christ have always used this liberty. Because this was esteemed lawful according to ecclesiastical history. To pious antiquity, mutual agreement in the principal doctrines of the faith, and in the orthodox explanation, and in brotherly love, was reckoned quite sufficient.

4. Wherefore, we hope that the Churches of Christ, when they have seen and clearly comprehended that we agree with them in all things, in the doctrine of the holy and eternal God, also in the orthodox explanation, and in brotherly love, but especially with the ancient apostolical Church, that they also will readily and joyfully agree with us also in the unity of the faith and doctrine, and in the orthodox explanation, and in fraternal love. Seeing also we have published this confession at this time especially, to this end, that we might seek the peace and concord of the Churches of Germany with mutual love, and that we may all agree and unite together in the true faith, and that other foreign Churches may be of the same mind and judgment with us, and retain amity. Wherefore, we are verily persuaded that those very Churches themselves are endued with that love, sincerity, and integrity towards us; that if, peradventure, any point in relation to our affairs may not hitherto have been rightly understood, the least by some, this our sincere confession being read and heard, they will in no wise enumerate us amongst heretics, nor condemn as impious, our Churches, which are the true Churches of Christ.

5. But we declare before all, that we are always most readily and most willingly prepared, if any one should require it, to explain more copiously all and each of the things set forth here by us: finally, to those who can teach better things out of the Word God, thankfully both to yield and to follow in the Lord, to whom be praise and glory.

March 1, in the year 1566.

All the ministers of the Churches of Christ in Switzerland, those which are at Zurich, the ministers of Berna, the Schaffusians, the Sangalli, the High Court of Parliament of Germany, and amongst our allies on this side of, and beyond the Alps, the Mylhusians, and the inhabitants of Bienna, have subscribed unto this confession, to whom the ministers of the Church which is at Geneva have united themselves.

The Imperial Decree[3]
to declare who are to be considered catholic or heretic, taken out of the Justinian Code [1.1.1.] and the Tripartite History, bk. IX, chap. 7. [cf. Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History 7.4]

The [noble] emperors, Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, to the people of the city of Constantinople. We will all people, whom the royal authority of our clemency doth rule, to be of that religion, which the religion brought in by (Peter) himself doth at this time declare that St. Peter the apostle did teach to the Romans, and which it is evident that bishop Damasus, and Peter the bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolical holiness, do follow: that is, that according to the discipline of the apostles and doctrine of the evangelists, in the equality of the majesty and in the holy Trinity we believe that there is (but) one Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Those which keep this law, we command to have the name catholic Christians: but for the other, whom we judge to be mad and out of their wits, (we will) that they, sustaining the infamy of heretical doctrine [or, that they bear the despicable title of heretic, and that their conventicles bear not the name of church], be punished first by God’s vengeance, and after that by punishment according to the motion of our minds, which we, by the will of God, shall think best of. Given the twenty-third of February at Thessalonica, under the consulate of Gratian the Fifth and of Valentinian and of Theodosius, Augustes.
Moreover, the evangelical history and that of the apostles, together with the two epistles of Saint Peter, teach us what religion the Apostle Saint Peter has taught to all the churches in the East and in the West, not speak about the one in Rome. And concerning the faith and the doctrine of the Pontiff Damasus, it can be discovered in his symbol.

The Creed of the [Blessed] Damasus, [Bishop of Rome] Taken out of the Second Tome of Saint Hierome His Works[4]

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, and in one Jesus Christ our Lord the Son of God, and in the Holy Ghost. We worship and confess God, not three Gods, but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God: one God, not as though he were alone, nor as one which is himself Father to himself, and Son himself also; but him to be the Father which begot, and (him) to be the Son which was begotten; but the Holy Ghost to be neither begotten, nor created, nor made, but proceeding from the Father and the Son, co-eternal, co-equal, and working together with the Father and the Son: because it is written, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established” (Ps 33:6 †), that is, by the Son of God, “and by the breath of his mouth all the powers thereof”; and in another place, “Send forth thy breath, and they shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth” (Ps 104:30 †). And therefore under the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we confess one God, which is the name of the power, and not of the property. The proper name of the Father is the Father: and the proper name of the Son is the Son: and the proper name of the Holy Ghost is Holy Ghost. In this Trinity of persons we worship one God (in substance), because that which is of one father is of one nature with the father, of one substance, and one power. The Father begat the son, not by will or necessity, but by nature.
The Son in the last time came down from the Father to save us and to fulfil the scriptures, who (nevertheless) never ceased to be with the Father. And he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin: he took upon him flesh, and soul, and sense; that is, he took on him very man, neither lost he what he was, but began to be what he was not; so yet that, in respect of his own properties, he is perfect God; and in respect of ours, he is very man. For he which was God is born man; and he which is born man, doth work miracles as God; and he that worketh miracles as God, doth die as a man; and he that dieth as man, doth rise again as God: who in the same flesh, wherein he was born and suffered and died and rose again, did ascend to the Father, and sitteth at his right hand in the glory which he always had, and yet still hath. By whose death and blood we believe that we are cleansed; and that at the latter day we shall be raised up again by him in this flesh wherein we now live. And we hope that we shall obtain a reward for our good deeds; or else the pain of everlasting punishment for our sins. Read this, believe this, hold this, submit thy soul to this faith, and thou shalt obtain life and reward at Christ’s hand.
Saint Peter, bishop of Alexandria, taught and believed the very same with the blessed Athanasius and Damasus, as it may be gathered out of the thirty-seventh chapter of the seventh book of the Tripartite history [and the fourteenth chapter of the eighth book].

Now as we all hold to this faith and this religion, we hope that all Christians will consider us not as heretics, but as Catholic Christians.[5]

Chapter I: Of the Holy Scripture Being the True Word of God [cf. CA V][6]
1. [1.] Canonical Scripture. We believe and confess the Canonical Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles of both Testaments to be the true Word of God, and to have sufficient authority of themselves, not of men. For God himself spake to the fathers, prophets, apostles (Heb 1:1-2 ‡), and still speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures.

2. [2.] And in this Holy Scripture, the universal Church of Christ has all things fully expounded which belong to a saving faith, and also to the framing of a life acceptable to God; and in this respect it is expressly commanded by God that nothing be either added to or taken from the same (Deut 4:2 †; Rev 22:18-19 †).

3. [3.] Scripture Teaches Fully All Godliness. We judge, therefore, that from these Scriptures are to be taken true wisdom and godliness, the reformation and government of churches; as also instruction in all duties of piety; and, to be short, the confirmation of doctrines, and the confutation of all errors, with all exhortations; according to that word of the apostle, “All scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,” etc. (2 Tim 3:16-17 ). Again, “These things write I to thee,” says the Apostle to Timothy, “that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,” etc. (1 Tim 3:14-15 ). Scripture Is the Word of God. Again, the self-same Apostle to the Thessalonians: “When,” says he, “Ye received the word of us, ye received not the word of men, but as it was indeed, the Word of God,” etc. (1 Thess 2:13 ). For the Lord himself has said in the Gospel, “It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of my Father speaketh in you”; therefore “he that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me” (Matt 10:20 Luke 10:16 John 13:20 ).

4. [4.] The Preaching of the Word of God Is the Word of God. Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is preached, and received of the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be feigned, nor to be expected from heaven (Gal 1:8 ‡ [?]): and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; who, although he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God abides true and good.

5. [5.] Neither do we think that therefore the outward preaching is to be thought as fruitless because the instruction in true religion depends on the inward illumination of the Spirit, or because it is written “No man shall teach his neighbor; for all men shall know me” (Jer 31:34 Heb 8:11 †), and “He that watereth, or he that planteth, is nothing, but God that giveth the increase” (1 Cor 3:7 ). For albeit “No man can come to Christ, unless he be drawn by the Heavenly Father” (John 6:44 ), and be inwardly lightened by the Holy Spirit, yet we know undoubtedly that it is the will of God that his word should be preached even outwardly. God could indeed, by his Holy Spirit, or by the ministry of an angel, without the ministry of St. Peter, have taught Cornelius in Acts; but, nevertheless, he refers him to Peter, of whom the angel speaking says, “He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do” (Acts 10:6 † [TR]).

6. Inward Illumination Does Not Eliminate External Preaching. For he that illuminates inwardly by giving men the Holy Spirit, the self-same, by way of commandment, said unto his disciples, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the every creature” (Matt 28:19-20 †; Mark 16:15 ). And so Paul preached the Word outwardly to Lydia, a purple-seller among the Philippians; but the Lord inwardly opened the woman’s heart (Acts 16:10 , 14). And the same Paul, upon an elegant gradation fitly placed in the tenth chapter to the Romans, at last infers, “Therefore faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom 10:14-17 ).

7. We know, in the mean time, that God can illuminate whom and when he will, even without the external ministry, which is a thing appertaining to his power; but we speak of the usual way of instructing men, delivered unto us from God, both by commandment and examples.

8. [6.] Heresies. We therefore detest all the heresies of Artemon, the Manichaeans, the Valentinians, of Cerdon, and the Marcionites, who denied that the Scriptures proceeded from the Holy Spirit; or else received not, or interpolated and corrupted, some of them.

9. [7.] Apocrypha. And yet we do not deny that certain books of the Old Testament were by the ancient authors called Apocryphal, and by others Ecclesiastical; to wit, such as they would have to be read in the churches, but not alleged to avouch or confirm the authority of faith by them. As also Augustine, in his De Civitate Dei, book xviii., chapter 28, make mention that “in the books of the Kings (1 and 2 Kgs‡), the names and books of certain prophets are reckoned”; but he adds that “they are not in the canon,” and that “those books which we have suffice unto godliness.”

Chapter II: Of Interpreting the Holy Scriptures; And of Fathers, Councils, and Traditions
1. [1.] The True Interpretation of Scripture. The Apostle Peter has said that “the Holy Scriptures are not of any private interpretation” (2 Pet 1:20 ). Therefore we do not allow all kinds of exposition. Whereupon we do not acknowledge that which they call the meaning of the Church of Rome for the true and natural interpretation of the Scriptures; which, forsooth, the defenders of the Romish Church do strive to force all men simply to receive; but we acknowledge only that interpretation of Scriptures for orthodox and genuine which, being taken from the Scriptures themselves (that is, from the spirit of that tongue in which they were written, they being also weighed according to the circumstances and expounded according to the proportion of places, either of like or of unlike, also of more and plainer), accords with the rule of faith and charity (2 Tim 1:13 ‡), and makes notably for God’s glory and man’s salvation.

2. [2.] Interpretations of the Holy Fathers. Wherefore we do not despise the interpretations of the holy Greek and Latin fathers, nor reject their disputations and treatises as far as they agree with the Scriptures; but we do modestly dissent from them when they are found to set down things differing from, or altogether contrary to, the Scriptures. Neither do we thing that we do them any wrong in this matter; seeing that they all, with one consent, will not have their writings matched with the Canonical Scriptures, but bid us allow of them so far forth as they either agree with them or disagree.

3. Councils. And in the same order we also place the decrees and canons of councils.

4. [3.] Wherefore we suffer not ourselves, in controversies about religion or matters of faith, to be pressed with the bare testimonies of fathers or decrees of councils; much less with received customs, or with the multitude of men being of one judgment, or with prescription of long time. Who Is the Judge? Therefore, in controversies of religion or matters of faith, we can not admit any other judge than God himself, pronouncing by the Holy Scriptures what is true, what is false, what is to be followed, or what to be avoided. So we do not rest but in the judgment of spiritual men, drawn from the Word of God. Certainly Jeremiah and other prophets did vehemently condemn the assemblies of priests gathered against the law of God (Jer.?); and diligently forewarned us that we should not hear the fathers, or tread in their path who, walking in their own inventions, swerved from the law of God (Ezek 20:18 †).

5. [4.] Traditions of Men. We do likewise reject human traditions, which, although they be set out with goodly titles, as though they were divine and apostolical, delivered to the Church by the living voice of the apostles, and, as it were, through the hands of apostolical men by means of bishops succeeding in their room, yet, being compared with the Scriptures, disagree with them; and that by their disagreement betray themselves in not wise to be apostolical. For as the apostles did not disagree among themselves in doctrine, so the apostles’ scholars did not set forth things contrary to the apostles. Nay, it were blasphemous to avouch that the apostles, by a lively voice, delivered things contrary to their writings.

6. Paul affirms expressly that he taught the same things in all churches (1 Cor 4:17 ). And, again, “We,” says he, “write none other things unto you than what ye read or acknowledge” (2 Cor 1:13 ). Also, in another place, he witnesses that he and his disciples—to wit, apostolic men—walked in the same way, and jointly by the same Spirit did all things (2 Cor 12:18 ). The Jews also, in time past, had their traditions of elders; but these traditions were severely confuted by the Lord, showing that the keeping of them hinders God’s law, and that God is in vain worshiped of such (Matt 15:8-9 Mark 7: 6–7).

Chapter III: Of God; The Unity and the Trinity [cf. CA I]
1. [1.] God Is One. We believe and teach that God is one in essence or nature, subsisting in himself, all-sufficient in himself, invisible, without a body, infinite, eternal, the Creator of all things both visible and invisible, the chief good, living, quickening and preserving all things, almighty and supremely wise, gentle and merciful, just and true.

2. [2.] And we detest the multitude of gods, because it is expressly written: “The Lord thy God is one God” (Deut 6:4 ). “I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no strange gods before my face” (Exod 20:2-3 ). “I am the Lord, and there is none other; beside me there is no God. Am not I the Lord, and there is none other beside me alone? a just God, and a Saviour; there is none beside me” (Isa 45:5 , 21; Isa 44:8 †). “I the Lord, Jehovah, the merciful God, gracious and long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,” etc. (Exod 34:6 ).

3. [3.] God Is Three. We nevertheless believe and teach that the same infinite, one, and indivisible God is in person inseparably and without confusion distinguished into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: so, as the Father has begotten the Son from eternity, the Son is begotten in an unspeakable manner; and the Holy Spirit proceeds from them both, and that from eternity, and is to be worshiped with them both. So that there are not three Gods, but three persons, consubstantial, coeternal, and coequal; distinct, as touching their persons; and, in order, one going before another, yet without any inequality. For, as touching their nature or essence, they are so joined together that they are but one God; and the divine essence is common to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

4. For Scripture has delivered to us a manifest distinction of persons; the angel, among other things, saying thus to the Blessed Virgin, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; and that holy thing which shall be born shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35 ). And, also in the baptism of Christ, a voice was heard from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son” (Matt 3:17 ). The Holy Spirit also appeared in the likeness of a dove (John 1:32 ). And when the Lord himself commanded to baptize, he commanded to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19 ). In like manner, elsewhere in the Gospel he said, “The Father will send the Holy Spirit in my name” (John 14:26 ). Again he says, “When the Comforter shall come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me,” etc. (John 15:26 ). In short, we receive the Apostles’ Creed, because it delivers to us the true faith.

5. [4.] Heresies. We therefore condemn the Jews and the Mohammedans, and all those who blaspheme that sacred and adorable Trinity. We also condemn all heresies and heretics who teach that the Son and the Holy Spirit are God only in name; also, that there is in the Trinity something created, and that serves and ministers unto another; finally, that there is in it something unequal, greater or less, corporeal or corporeally fashioned, in manners or in will diverse, either confounded or sole by itself: as if the Son and Holy Spirit were the affections and proprieties of one God the Father—as the Monarchists, the Novatians, Praxeas, the Patripassians, Sabellius, Somosatenus, AËtius, Macedonius, the Anthropomorphites, Arius, and such like, have thought.

Chapter IV: Of Idols; Or of Images of God, of Christ, and of the Saints
1. [1.] Images of God. And because God is an invisible Spirit, and an incomprehensible Essence, he can not, therefore, by any art or image be expressed. For which cause we fear not, with the Scripture, to term the images of God mere lies (Acts 17:29 †; Hab 2:18 †; Zech 10:2 †).

2. We do therefore reject not only the idols of the Gentiles, but also the images of Christians. Images of Christ. For although Christ took upon him man’s nature, yet he did not therefore take it that he might set forth a pattern for carvers and painters. He denied that he came “to destroy the law and the prophets” (Matt 5:17 ), but images are forbidden in the law and the prophets (Deut 4:15-16 , 23; Isa 40:18-28 44:9†; Rom 1:23 †). He denied that his bodily presence would profit for the Church, but promised that he would by his Spirit be present with us forever (John 16:7 2 Cor 5:5 , 16).

3. Who would, then, believe that the shadow or picture of his body doth any whit benefit the godly? And seeing that he abideth in us by the Spirit, “we are therefore the temples of God” (1 Cor 3:16 ); but “what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” (2 Cor 6:16 ). Images of Saints. And seeing that the blessed spirits and saints in heaven, while they lived here, abhorred all worship done unto themselves (Acts 3:12 14:15; 17:16ff.†; Rev. 14:7 19:10†; 22:9; Col 2:22-23 †), and spake against images, who can think it likely that the saints in heaven, and the angels, are delighted with their own images, whereunto men do bow their knees, uncover their heads, and give such other like honor?

4. [2.] But that men be instructed in religion, and put in mind of heavenly things and of their own salvation, the Lord commanded to preach the Gospel (Mark 16:15 [TR])—not to paint and instruct the laity by pictures; he also instituted sacraments, but he nowhere appointed images.

5. The Scriptures of the Laity. Furthermore, in every place which way soever we turn our eyes, we may see the lively and true creatures of God, which if they be marked, as is meet, they do much more effectually move the beholder than all the images or vain, unmovable, rotten, and dead pictures of all men whatsoever; of which the prophet spake truly, “They have eyes, and see not,” etc. (Ps 115:4-7).

6. [3.] Lactantius. Therefore we approve the judgment of Lactantius, an ancient writer who says, “Undoubtedly there is no religion where there is a picture.” Epiphanius and Jerome. And we affirm that the blessed bishop Epiphanius did well, who, finding on the church-doors a veil, that had painted on it the picture, as it might be, of Christ or some saint or other, he cut and took it away; for that, contrary to the authority of the Scriptures, he had seen the picture of a man to hang in the Church of Christ: and therefore he charged that from henceforth no such veils, which were contrary to religion, should be hung up in the Church of Christ, but that rather such scruple should be taken away which was unworthy of the Church of Christ and all faithful people. Moreover, we approve this sentence of St. Augustine, “Let not the worship of men’s works be a religion unto us; for the workmen themselves that make such things are better, whom yet we ought not to worship” (De vera religione 55.108).

Chapter V: Of the Adoration, Worship (Rom 12:1 †), and Invocation of God Through the Only Mediator Jesus Christ [cf. CA XXI]
1. [1.] God Alone Is to Be Adored and Worshipped. We teach to adore and worship the true God alone. This honor we impart to none, according to the commandment of the Lord, “Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou worship,’ or “him only shalt thou serve” (Matt 4:10 ). Surely all the prophets inveighed earnestly against the people of Israel whensoever they did adore and worship strange gods, and not the only true God.

2. [2.] But we teach that “God is to be adored and worshiped,” as he himself has taught us to worship him—to wit, “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24 ); not with any superstition, but with sincerity, according to his word, lest at any time he also say unto us, “Who hath required these things at your hands?" (Isa 66:1-3 1:12†; Jer 6:20 †; 7:22). For Paul also says, “God is not worshiped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing,” etc. (Acts 17:25 ).

3. [3.] God Alone Is to Be Invoked Through the Mediation of Christ Alone. We, in all dangers and casualties of life, call on him alone, and that by the mediation of the only Mediator, and our Intercessor, Jesus Christ. For it is expressly commanded us, “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (Ps 50:15 ). Moreover, the Lord has made a most large promise, saying, “Whatsoever ye shall ask of my Father, he shall give it to you” (John 16:23 ); and again, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28 ). And seeing it is written, “How shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed?” (Rom 10:14 ), and we do believe in God alone; therefore we call upon him only, and that through Christ. For “there is one God,” says the apostle, “and one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus?” (1 Tim 2:5 ). Again, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,” etc. (1 Jhn 2:1 ).

4. [4] The Saints Are Not to Be Adored, Worshipped or Invoked. Therefore we do neither adore, worship, nor pray unto the saints in heaven, or to other gods; neither do we acknowledge them for our intercessors or mediators before the Father in heaven. For God and the mediator Christ do suffice us; neither do we impart unto others the honor due to God alone and to his Son, because he has plainly said, “I will not give my glory to another” (Isa 42:8 ); and because Peter has said, “There is no other name given unto men, whereby they we must be saved, but the name of Christ” (Acts 4:12 ). Those, doubtless, who rest in him by faith do not seek any thing without Christ.

5. [5.] The Due Honor to Be Rendered to the Saints. Yet, for all that, we do neither despise the saints nor think basely of them; for we acknowledge them to be the lively members of Christ, the friends of God, who have gloriously overcome the flesh and the world. We therefore love them as brethren, and honor them also; yet not with any worship, but with an honorable opinion of them, and with just praises of them. We also do imitate the saints, for we desire, with the most earnest affections and prayers, to be followers of their faith and virtues; to be partakers, also, with them of everlasting salvation; to dwell together with them everlastingly with God, and to rejoice with them in Christ. And in this point we approve that saying of St. Augustine, in his book De vera religione, “Let not the worship of men departed be any religion unto us; for, if they have lived holily, they are not so to be esteemed as that they seek such honors, but they will have us to worship Him by whose illumination they rejoice that we are fellow-servants as touching the reward. They are therefore to be honored for imitation, not to be worshiped for religion’s sake,” etc. (De vera religione 4).

6. [6.] Relics of the Saints. And we much less believe that the relics of saints are to be adored and worshiped. Those ancient holy men seemed sufficiently to have honored their dead if they had honestly committed their bodies to the earth after the soul was gone up into heaven; and they thought that the most noble relics of their ancestors were their virtues, doctrine, and faith; which as they commended with the praise of the dead, so they did endeavor to express the same so long as they lived upon earth.

7. [7.] Swearing by God’s Name Alone. Those ancient men did not swear but by the name of the only Jehovah, as it is commanded by the law of God. Therefore, as we are forbidden to “swear by the name of strange gods” (Deut 10:20 Exod 23:13 Josh 23:7 †), so we do not swear by saints, although we be requested there unto. We therefore in all these things do reject that doctrine which gives too much honor unto the saints in heaven.

Chapter VI: Of the Providence of God
1. [1.] All Things Are Governed by the Providence of God. We believe that all things in heaven and in earth and in all creatures, are sustained and governed by the providence of this wise, eternal, and omnipotent God. For David witnesses and says, “The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord, who dwelleth on high, and yet humbleth himself to behold things that are in heaven and earth?” (Ps 113:4-6 ). Again, he says, “Thou hast forseen all my ways; for there is not a word in my tongue which thou knowest not wholly, O Lord,” etc. (Ps 139:3-4 ). Paul also witnesses and says, “By him we live, move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28 ); and “of him, and through him, and from him are all things” (Rom 11:36 ).

2. Therefore Augustine both truly and according to the Scripture said, in his book De agone christiano, chap. 8, “The Lord said, ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without the will of your Father’ (Matt 10:29 ). By speaking thus he would give us to understand whatsoever men count most vile, that also is governed by the almighty power of God. For the truth, which said that all the hairs of our head are numbered, says also that the birds of the air are fed by him, and the lilies of the field are clothed by him (Matt. 6:26-29 10:30†; Rom 12 [?])” (De agone christiano 8).

3. [2.] The Epicureans. We therefore condemn the Epicureans, who deny the providence of God (cf. Cicero, De natura deorum 1.2.3; 1.19.51), and all those who blasphemously affirm that God is occupied about the poles of heaven, and that he neither sees nor regards us or our affairs. The princely prophet David also condemned these men when he said, “O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? They say the Lord doth not see, neither doth the God of Jacob regard it. Understand, ye unwise among the people; and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? and he that hath formed the eye, shall he not see?” (Ps 94:3 , 7-9).

4. [3.] Means Not to Be Despised. Notwithstanding, we do not condemn the means whereby the providence of God works as though they were unprofitable; but we teach that we must apply ourselves unto them, so far as they are commended unto us in the Word of God. Wherefore we dislike the rash speeches of such as say that if all things are governed by the providence of God, then all our duties and endeavors are unprofitable; it shall be sufficient if we leave or permit all things to be governed by the providence of God; and we shall not need hereafter to behave or act with carefulness in any matter. For though Paul did confess that he did sail by the providence of God, who had said to him, “Thou must testify of me also at Rome” (Acts 23:11 ); who, moreover, promised and said, “There shall not so much as one soul perish, neither shall a hair fall from your heads” (Acts 27:22 , 34); yet, the mariners devising how they might find a way to escape, the same Paul says to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these remain in the ship, ye can not be safe” (Acts 27:31 ). For God, who has appointed every thing his end, he has ordained the beginning and the means by which we must attain unto the end.

[4.] The heathen ascribe things to blind fortune and uncertain chance; but St. James would not have us to say, “Today or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and there buy and sell;" but he adds, “For that which ye should say, If the Lord will, and if we live, we will do this or that” (James 4:13 , 15). And Augustine says, in his exposition of the 148th Psalm (Enarrationes in Psalmos), “All those things which seem to vain men to be done advisedly in the world, they do but accomplish his word because they are not done by his commandment.” And it seemed to be done by chance that Saul, seeking his father’s asses, should light on the prophet Samuel; but the Lord had before said to the prophet, “To-morrow I will send unto thee a man of the tribe of Benjamin,” etc. (1 Sam 9:16 ).

Chapter VII: Of the Creation of All Things; Of Angels, the Devil, and Man
1. [1.] God Created All Things. This good and almighty God created all things, both visible and invisible, by his eternal Word (John 1:1-3 †), and preserves the same also by his eternal Spirit: as David witnesses, saying, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth” (Ps 33:6 ); [2.] and, as the Scripture says, “All things that the Lord created were very good” (Gen 1:31 †), and made for the use and profit of man.

2. Now, we say, that all those things do proceed from one beginning (Gen 1:1 ‡; cf. John 1:1 Gen 1:31 ): Manichaeans and Marcionites. and therefore we detest the Manichees and the Marcionites, who did wickedly imagine two substances and natures, the one of good, the other of evil; and also two beginnings and two gods, one contrary to the other—a good and an evil.

3. [3.] Of Angels and the Devil. Among all the creatures, the angels and men are most excellent. Touching angels, the Holy Scripture says, “Who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire” (Ps 104:4 ); also, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb 1:14 ).

And the Lord Jesus himself testifies of the Devil, saying, “He that hath been a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 ).

4. We teach, therefore, that some angels persisted in obedience, and were appointed unto faithful service to God and men; and that others fell of their own accord, and ran headlong into destruction, and so became enemies to all good, and to all the faithful, etc. (2 Pet 2:4 †).

5. [4.] Of Man. Now, touching man, the Spirit [or Scripture] says that in the beginning he was “created according to the image and likeness of God” (Gen 1:27 ); that God placed him in paradise, and made all thing subject unto him (Gen 2:7-8 5:1†); which David doth most nobly sets forth in the 8th Psalm (Ps 8:5-8 ). Moreover, God gave him a wife, and blessed them (Gen 2:22 ff.†).

6. [5.] We say, also, that man doth consist of two, and those divers substances in one person; of a soul immortal (as that which being separated from his body doth neither sleep nor die), and a body mortal, which, notwithstanding, at the last judgment shall be raised again from the dead, that from henceforth the whole man may continue forever in life or in death.

7. [6.] The sects.We condemn all those who mock at, or by subtle disputations call into doubt, the immortality of the soul, or say that the soul sleeps, or that it is a part of God. To be short, we condemn all opinions of all men whatsoever who think otherwise of the creation of angels, devils, and men than is delivered unto us by the Scriptures in the Apostolic Church of Christ.

Chapter VIII: Of Man’s Fall; Sin, and the Cause of Sin [cf. CA XIX]
1. [1.] The Fall of Man. Man was from the beginning created of God after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, good and upright (Eph 4:24 †); but by the instigation of the serpent and his own fault (Gen 3:1-5 ‡), falling from the goodness and uprightness (Gen 1:31 ‡; Eccl 7:29 ‡), he became subject to sin death, and divers calamities; and such a one as he became by his fall, such are all his offspring, even subject to sin, death, and sundry calamities (cf. Rom 5:12 ‡).

2. [2.] Sin. And we take sin to be that natural corruption of man, derived or spread from our first parents unto us all, through which we, being drowned in evil concupiscence, and clean turned away from God, but prone to all evil, full of all wickedness, distrust, contempt and hatred of God, can do no good of ourselves (2 Cor 3:5 †)—no, not so much as thing any.

3. And, what is more, even as we do grow older in years, so by wicked thoughts, words, and deeds, committed against God’s law, we bring forth corrupt fruits, worthy of an evil tree (Matt 12:33-35 ): in which respect we, through our own desert, being subject to the wrath of God, are in danger of just punishment; so that we had all been cast away from God, had not Christ, the Deliverer, brought us back again.

4. [3.] Death. By death, therefore, we understand not only bodily death, which is once to be suffered of us all for our sins, but also everlasting punishment due to our corruption and to our sins. For the Apostle says, “We were dead in trespasses and sins, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others; but God, who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ” (Eph 2:1-5 ). Again, “As by one man entered into the world, and by sin, death, and so death passed upon all men, forasmuch as all men have sinned,” etc. (Rom 5:12 ).

5. [4.] Original Sin. We therefore acknowledge that original sin is in all men. Actual Sins. We acknowledge that all other sins which spring therefrom are called and are indeed sins, by what name soever they may be termed, whether mortal or venial, or also that which is called sin against the Holy Spirit, which is never forgiven (Mark 3:29 †; 1 Jhn 5:16 †).

6. [5.] We also confess that sins are not equal, although they spring from the same fountain of corruption and unbelief, but that some are more grievous than others (Mark 3:28-29 1 Jhn 5:16-17 ); even as the Lord has said, “It shall be easier for Sodom” than for the city that despises the word of the Gospel (Matt 10:15 11:20-24).

7. [6.] The Sects. We therefore condemn all those that have taught things contrary to these; but especially Pelagius, and all the Pelagians, together with the Jovinianists, who, with the Stoics, count all sins equal. We in this matter agree fully with St. Augustine, who produced and maintained his sayings out of the Holy Scriptures.

8. [7.] Moreover, we condemn Florinus and Blastus (against whom also Irenaeus wrote), and all those who make God the author of sin; [God Is Not the Author of Sin, and How Far He Is Said to Harden.] seeing it is expressly written, “Thou art not a God that loveth wickedness; thou hatest all them that work iniquity, and wilt destroy all that speak leasing” (Ps 5:4-6 ). And, again, “When the devil speaketh a lie, he speaketh of to his own; because he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44 ). Yea, there are even in ourselves sin and corruption enough, so that there is no need that God should infuse into us either a new or a greater measure of wickedness.

9. Therefore, when God is said in the Scripture to harden (Exod 7:13 †), to blind (John 12:40 †), and to deliver us up into a reprobate sense (Rom 1:28 †), it is to be understood that God does it by just judgment, as a just judge and revenger. To conclude, as often as God in Scripture is said and seems to do some evil, it is not thereby meant that man does not commit evil, but that God suffer it to be done, and does not hinder it; and that by his just judgment, who could hinder it if he would: or because he makes good use of the evil of man, as he did in the case of the sin of Joseph’s brethren (Gen 50:20 ‡ [cf. Rom 8:28 ‡]): or because himself rules sins, that they break not out and rage more violently than is meet. St. Augustine, in his Enchiridion, says, “After a wonderful and unspeakable manner, that is not done beside his will which is done contrary to his will; because it could not be done if he should not suffer it to be done; and yet he doth not suffer it to be done unwillingly; neither would he, being God [or good], suffer any evil to be done, unless, being also almighty, he could make good of evil” (Enchiridion 100). Thus far Augustine.

10. [8.] Curious Questions. Other questions, as whether God would have Adam fall, or whether he forced him to fall, or why he did not hinder his fall, and such like, we account curious questions (unless perchance the forwardness of heretics, or of men otherwise importunate, do compel us to open these points also out of the Word of God, as the godly doctors of the Church have oftentimes done); knowing that the Lord did forbid that man should eat of the forbidden fruit, and punished his transgression (Gen 2:17 †; 3:17–19‡); and also that the things done are not evil in respect of the providence, will, and power of God, but in respect of Satan, and our will resisting the will of God.

Chapter IX: Of Free-Will, and So of Man’s Power and Ability [cf. CA XVIII]
1. [1.] We teach in this matter, which at all times has been the cause of many conflicts in the Church, that there is a triple condition or estate of man to be considered. What Man Was Before the Fall. First, what man was before his fall—to wit, upright and free, who might both continue in goodness and decline to evil; but he declined to evil, and has wrapped both himself and all mankind in sin and death, as has been shown before.

2. [2.] What Man Was After the Fall. Secondly, we are to consider what man was after his fall. His understanding, indeed, was not taken from him, neither was he deprived of his will, and altogether changed into a stone or stock. Nevertheless, these things are so altered in man that they are not able to do that now which they could do before his fall. For his understanding is darkened, and his will, which before was free, is now become servile will; for it serveth sin, not nilling, but willing 3.—for it called a will, and not a nill. Man Does Evil by His Own Free Will. Therefore as touching evil or sin, man does evil, not compelled either by God or the devil, but of his own accord; and in this respect he has a most free will.

[3.] But whereas we see that oftentimes the most evil deeds and counsels of man are hindered by God, that they can not attain their end, this does not take from man liberty in evil, but God by his power does prevent that which man otherwise purposed freely: as Joseph’s brethren did freely purpose to slay Joseph; but they were not able to do it, because it seemed otherwise good to God in his secret counsel (Gen 37:18 ff.‡ [cf. Gen 45:5 , 7‡; 50:20‡]).

4. [4.] Man Is Not Capable of Good Per Se. But, as touching goodness and virtues, man’s understanding does not of itself judge aright of heavenly things. For the evangelical and apostolical Scripture requires regeneration of every one of us that will be saved. Wherefore our first birth from Adam doth nothing profit us to salvation. Paul says, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit,” etc. (1 Cor 2:14 ). The same Paul elsewhere denies that we are “sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves” (2 Cor 3:5 Cf. Rom 7:18 †)

5. Now, it is evident that the mind or understanding is the guide of the will; and, seeing the guide is blind, it is easy to be seen how far the will can reach. Therefore man, not as yet regenerate, has no free-will to good, no strength to perform that which is good. The Lord says in the Gospel, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commiteth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34 ). And Paul the Apostle says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom 8:7 ).

6. [5.] Furthermore, there is some understanding of earthly things remaining in man after his fall. Understanding of the Arts. For God has of mercy left him wit, though much differing from that which was in him before his fall. God commands us to garnish our wit, and therewithal he gives gifts and also the increase thereof. And it is a clear case that we can profit very little in all arts without the blessing of God. The Scripture, no doubt, refers all arts to God; yea, and the Gentiles also ascribe the beginnings of arts to the gods, as the authors thereof.

7. [6.] Of What Kind Are the Powers of the Regenerate, and in What Way Their Wills Are Free. Lastly, we are to consider whether the regenerate have free-will, and how far they have it. In regeneration the understanding is illuminated by the Holy Spirit, that it may understand both the mysteries and will of God. And the will itself is not only changed by the Spirit, but it is also endued with faculties, that, of its own accord, it may both will and do good (Rom 8:4 ). Unless we grant this, we shall deny Christian liberty, and bring in the bondage of the law. Besides, the prophet brings in God speaking thus: “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts” (Jer 31:33 Ezek 36:26-27 ). The Lord also says in the Gospel, “If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36 ). Paul also to the Philippians, “Unto you is given for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Phil 1:29 John 15:5 †). And, again, “I am persuaded that he that began this good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6 †). Also, “It is God that worketh in you the will and the deed” (Phil 2:13 ).

8. [7.] The Regenerate Work Not Only Passively but Actively. Where, nevertheless, we teach that there are two things to be observed—first, that the regenerate, in the choice and working of that which is good, do not only work passively, but actively; for they moved of God that themselves may do that which they do (Phil 2:12 †). And Augustine does truly allege that saying that “God is said to be our helper (Ps 27:9 †); but no man can be helped but he that does somewhat” (Augustine, Sermones 13.3; 156.11). The Manichaeans did bereave man of all action, and made him like a stone and a block.

9. The Free Will Is Weak in the Regenerate. Secondly, that in the regenerate there remains infirmity. For, seeing that sin dwells in us, and that the flesh in the regenerate strives against the Spirit, even to our lives’ end, they do not readily perform in every point that which they had purposed. These things are confirmed by the apostle (Rom 7:13-25 Gal 5:17 ).

10. Therefore, all free-will is weak by reason of the relics of the old Adam remaining in us so long as we live, and of the human corruption which so nearly cleaves to us. In the meanwhile, because the strength of the flesh and the relics of the old man are not of such great force that they can wholly quench the work of the Spirit, therefore the faithful are called free, yet so that they do acknowledge their infirmity, and glory no whit at all in their free-will. For that which St. Augustine does repeat so often out of the apostle ought always to be kept in mind by the faithful: “What hast thou that thou didst not receive? and if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not receive it?” (1 Cor 4:7 †; cf. Augustine, Contra duas epistulas Pelagionorum ad Bonifatium 4.9.25; Sermones 13.3) Hitherto may be added that that comes not straightway to pass which we have purposed, for the events of things are in the hand of God. For which the cause Paul besought the Lord that he would prosper his journey (Rom 1:10 ). Wherefore, in this respect also, free-will is very weak.

11. [8.] In External Things There Is Liberty. But in outward things no man denies but that both the regenerate and the unregenerate have their free-will; for man hath this constitution common with other creatures (to whom he is not inferior) to will some things and to nill other things. So he may speak or keep silence, go out of his house or abide within. Although herein also God’s power is evermore to be marked, which brought to pass that Balaam could not go so far as he would (Num 24:13 ), and that Zacharias, coming out of the Temple, could not speak as he would have done (Luke 1:22 ).

12. [9.] Heresies. In this matter we condemn the Manichaeans, who deny that the beginning of evil unto man, being good, came from his free-will. We condemn also, the Pelagians, who affirm that an evil man has a free-will sufficiently to perform a good precept. Both these are confuted by the Scripture, which says to the former, “God made man upright” (Eccl 7:29 †); and to the latter, “If the Son make you free, then ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36 †).

Chapter X: Of the Predestination of God and the Election of the Saints
1. [1.] God Has Elected Us Out of Grace. God has from the beginning freely, and of his mere grace, without any respect to men, predestinated or elected the saints, whom he will save in Christ, according to the saying of the apostle, “And he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4 ); and again, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and the grace, which was given unto us, through Jesus Christ, before the world was, but is now made manifest by the appearance of our Saviour Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 1:9-10 ).

2. [2.] We Are Elected or Predestinated in Christ. Therefore, though not for any merit of ours, yet not without a means, but in Christ, and for Christ, did God choose us; and they who are now ingrafted into Christ by faith, the same also were elected. But such as are without Christ were rejected, according to the saying of the apostle, “Prove yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. Know ye not your own selves, how that that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobate?” (2 Cor 13:5 ).

3. [3.] We Are Elected for a Definite Purpose. To conclude, the saints are chosen in Christ by God unto a sure end, which end the apostle declares when he says, “He hath chosen us in him, that we should be holy and without blame before him through love; who has predestinated us to be adopted through Jesus Christ unto himself, for the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph 1:4-6 ).

4. [4.] We Are to Have a Good Hope for All. And although God knows who are his, and now and then mention is made of the small number of the elect, yet we must hope well of all, and not rashly judge any man to be a reprobate: for Paul says to the Philippians, “I thank my God for you all” (now he speaks of the whole Church of the Philippians), “that ye are come into the fellowship of the Gospel; and I am persuaded that he that hath begun this work in you will perform it as becometh me to judge of you all” (Phil 1:3-7 ).

5. Whether Few Are Elect. And when the Lord was asked whether there were few that should be saved, he does not answer and tell them that few or many should be saved or damned, but rather he exhorts every man to “strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:23-24 ): as if he should say, It is not for you rashly to inquire of these matters, but rather to endeavor that you may enter into heaven by the strait way.

6. [5.] What in This Matter Is to Be Condemned. Wherefore we do not allow of the wicked speeches of some who say, Few are chosen, and seeing I know not whether I am in the number of these few, I will defraud my nature of her desires. Others there are who say, If I be predestinated and chosen of God, nothing can hinder me from salvation, which is already certainly appointed for me, whatsoever I do at any time; but if I be in the number of the reprobate, no faith or repentance will help me, seeing the decree of God can not be changed: therefore all teachings and admonitions are to no purpose. Now, against these men the saying of the apostle makes much, “The servants of God must be apt to teach, instructing those that are contrary-minded, proving if God at any time will give them repentance, that they may come to amendment out of the snare of the devil, which are taken of him at his pleasure” (2 Tim 2:24-26 ).

7. Admonitions Are Not in Vain Because Salvation Proceeds from Election. Besides, Augustine also teaches, that both the grace of free election and predestination, and also wholesome admonitions and doctrines, are to be preached (De dono perseverantiae 14ff.).

[6.] Whether We Are Elected. We therefore condemn those who seek otherwhere than in Christ whether they be chosen from all eternity, and what God has decreed of them before all beginning.

8. For men must hear the Gospel preached, and believed it. If thou believest, and are in Christ, thou mayest undoubtedly hold that thou are elected. For the Father has revealed unto us in Christ the eternal sentence of his predestination, as we have even now showed out of the apostle, in 2 Tim 1:9-10 .

[7.] This is therefore above all to be taught and well weighed, what great love of the Father toward us in Christ is revealed. We must hear what the Lord does daily preaches unto us in his Gospel: how he calls and says: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you” (Matt 11:28 ); and, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 ); also, “It is not the will of your Father that any of these little ones should perish” (Matt 18:14 ).

9. Let Christ, therefore, be our looking-glass, in whom we may behold our predestination. We shall have a most evident and sure testimony that we are written in the Book of Life if we communicate with Christ, and he be ours, and we be his, by a true faith (Rev 13:8 ‡; cf. Rev 21:27 ‡).

[8.] Temptation in Regard to Predestination. Let this comfort us in the temptation touching predestination, than which there is none more dangerous: that the promises of God are general to the faithful; in that he says, “Ask, and ye shall receive; every one that asketh receiveth” (Luke 11:9-10 Matt 7:7-8 †).

10. And, to conclude, we pray, with the whole Church of God, “Our Father which art in heaven” (Matt 6:9 †): and in baptism, we are ingrafted into the body of Christ, and we are fed in his Church, oftentimes, with his flesh and blood, unto everlasting life (John 6:53-56 ‡). Thereby, being strengthened, we are commanded to “work out our salvation with fear trembling,” according to that precept of Paul (Phil 2:12 †).

Chapter XI: Of Jesus Christ, Being True God and Man, and the Only Saviour of the World [cf. CA III]
1. [1.] Christ Is True God. Moreover, we believe and teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was from all eternity predestinated and foreordained of the Father to be the Saviour of the world. And we believe that he was begotten, not only then, when he took flesh of the Virgin Mary, nor yet a little before the foundations of the world were laid; but before all eternity, and that of the Father after an unspeakable manner. For Isaiah says, “Who can tell his generation?” (Isa 53:8 ). And Micah says: “Whose egress hath been hath been from everlasting” (Mic 5:2 ). And John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” etc. (John 1:1 ).

2. Therefore the Son is coequal and consubstantial with the Father, as touching his divinity: true God, not by name only, or by adoption, or by special favor, but in substance and nature (Phil 2:6 ). Even as the apostle [John] says elsewhere, “This is the true God, and life everlasting” (1 Jhn 5:20 ). Paul also says, “He hath made his Son the heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; the same is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, bearing up all things by his mighty word” (Heb 1:2-3 ). Likewise, in the Gospel, the Lord himself says, “Father, glorify thou me with thyself, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5 ). Also elsewhere it is written in the Gospel, “The Jews sought how to kill Jesus, because he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18 ).

3. [2.] The Sects. We therefore do abhor the blasphemous doctrine of Arius, and all the Arians, uttered against the Son of God; and especially the blasphemies of Michael Servetus, the Spaniard, and of his complices, which Satan through them has, as it were, drawn out of hell, and most boldly and impiously spread abroad throughout the world against the Son of God.

4. [3.] Christ Is True Man, Having Real Flesh. We also teach and believe that the eternal Son of the eternal God was made the Son of man, of the seed of Abraham and David (Matt 1:25 ); not by the means of a man, as Ebion affirmed, but that he was most purely conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of Mary, who was always a virgin (Luke 2:7 †), even as the evangelical history of the Gospel does declare. And Paul says, “He took not on him the nature of angels, but of the seed of Abraham” (Heb 2:16 †). Also the apostle John says, “He that believeth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God” (1 Jhn 4:3 †). The flesh of Christ, therefore, was neither flesh in show only, nor yet flesh brought from heaven, as Valentinus and Marcion dreamed.

5. A Rational Soul in Christ. Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ had not a soul without sense and reason, as Apollinaris thought; nor flesh without a soul, as Eunomius did teach; but a soul with its reason, and flesh with its senses, by which senses he felt true griefs in the time of his passion, even as he himself witnessed when he said, “My soul is heavy, even to death” (Matt 26:38 ); and, “My soul is troubled,” etc. (John 12:27 ).

6. [4.] Two Natures in Christ. We acknowledge, therefore, that there be in one and the same Jesus Christ our Lord two natures—the divine and the human nature (Heb 2 4:14†); and we say that these two are so conjoined or united that they are not swallowed up, confounded, or mingled together; but rather united or joined together in one person (the properties of each nature being safe and remaining still), [Not Two but One Christ.] so that we do worship one Christ the Lord, and not two. I say one, true God and man, as touching his divine nature, [of the same substance with the Father, and as touching the human nature,] of the same substance with us, and “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15 ).

7. The Sects. As, therefore, we detest the heresy of Nestorius, which makes two Christs of one and dissolves the union of the person, so do we abominate the madness of Eutyches and of the Monothelites and Monophysites, who overthrow the propriety of the human nature.

8. [5.] The Divine Nature of Christ Is Not Passible, and the Human Nature Is Not Everywhere. Therefore we do not teach that the divine nature in Christ did suffer, or that Christ, according to his human nature, is yet in the world, and so in every place. For we do neither think nor teach that the body of Christ ceased to be a true body after his glorifying, or that it was deified and so deified that it put off its properties, as touching body and soul, and became altogether a divine nature and began to be one substance alone.

9. The Sects. Therefore we do not allow or receive the unwitty subtleties, and the intricate, obscure, and inconstant disputations of Schwenkfeldt, and such other vain janglers, about this matter; neither are we Schwenkfeldians.

10. [6.] Our Lord Truly Suffered. Moreover, we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did suffer and die for us in the flesh, as Peter says (1 Pet 4:1 ). We abhor the most impious madness of the Jacobites, and all the Turks, who execrate the passion of our Lord. Yet we deny not that ‘the Lord of glory,’ according to the saying of Paul, was crucified for us (1 Cor 2:8 ); [Impartation of Properties.] for we do reverently and religiously receive and use the communication of properties drawn from the Scripture (Acts 20:28 ‡), and used of all antiquity in expounding and reconciling places of Scripture which at first sight seem to disagree one from another. [Cf. Bullinger, Decades 4:268]

11. [7.] Christ Is Truly Risen from the Dead. We believe and teach that the same Lord Jesus Christ, in that true flesh in which he was crucified and died, rose again from the dead; and that he did rise up another flesh, but retained a true body. Therefore, while his disciples thought they saw the spirit of the Lord Christ, he showed them his hands and feet, which were marked with the prints of the nails and wounds, saying, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39 ).

12. [8.] Christ Is Truly Ascended Into Heaven. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same flesh, did ascended above all visible heavens into the very highest heaven, that is to say, the seat of God and of the blessed spirits, unto the right hand of God the Father. Although it do signify an equal participation in glory and majesty, yet it is also taken for a certain place; of which the Lord, speaking in the Gospel, says, “He will go and prepare a place for his” (John 14:2 ). Also the apostle Peter says, “The heavens must contain Christ until the time of restoring all things” (Acts 3:21 ).

13. [9.] [Cf. CA XVII] And out of heaven the same Christ will return unto judgment, even then when wickedness shall chiefly reign in the world, and when Antichrist, having corrupted true religion, shall fill all things with superstition and impiety, and shall most cruelly waste the Church with fire and bloodshed (Dan 11 2 Thess 2:1-11 †; Rev 11:1-13 †; 13:1–10†). Now Christ shall return to redeem his, and to abolish Antichrist by his coming, and to judge the quick and the dead (Acts 17:31 2 Thess 2:8 †; Acts 10:42 †).

[10.] For the dead shall arise (1 Thess 4:14 ff.), and those that shall be found alive on that day (which is unknown unto all creatures [Mark 13:32 ]) “shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor 15:51-52 ). And all the faithful shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess 4:17 †); that thenceforth they may enter with him into heaven, there to live forever (2 Tim 2:11 †); but the unbelievers, or ungodly, shall descend with the devils into hell, there to burn forever, and never to be delivered out of torments (Matt 25:41 , 46; Isa 66:24 †).

14. [11.] The Sects. We therefore condemn all those who deny the true resurrection of the flesh (2 Tim 2:18 ), and those who think amiss of the glorified bodies, as did Joannes Hierosolymitanus, against whom Jerome wrote (cf. Jerome, Jo. Hier. 28ff.). We also condemn those who have thought that the devils and all the wicked shall at length be saved and have an end of their torments; for the Lord himself has absolutely set it down that “Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44 ).

Moreover, we condemn Jewish dreams, that before the day of judgment there shall be a golden age in the earth, and that the godly shall possess the kingdoms of the world, their wicked enemies being trodden under foot; for evangelical truth (Matt 24-25 Luke 21 ), and the apostolic doctrine (2 Thess 2:1-13 and in 2 Tim 3-4 ) are found to teach far otherwise.

15. [12.] The Fruit of Christ’s Death and Resurrection. Furthermore, by his passion or death (Rom 4:25 a†), and by all those things which he did and suffered for our sakes from the time of his coming in the flesh, our Lord reconciled his heavenly Father unto all the faithful (Rom 5:10 †); purged their sins (Heb 1:3 †); spoiled death, broke in sunder condemnation and hell; and by his resurrection from the dead brought again and restored life and immortality (Rom 4:25 b; 1 Cor 15:17 †; 2 Tim 1:10 †). For he is our righteousness (Rom 10:4 ), life and resurrection (1 Cor 1:30 John 6:44 11:25-26); and, to be short, the fullness and perfection, the salvation and most abundant sufficiency, of all the faithful. For the apostle says, “So it pleaseth the Father that all fullness should dwell in him” (Col 1:19 ), and “In him ye are complete” (Col 2:10 ).

16. [13.] Jesus Christ Is the Only Savior of the World, and the True Awaited Messiah. For we teach and believe that this Jesus Christ our Lord is the only and eternal Saviour of mankind, yea, and of the whole world, in whom all are saved before the law, under the law, and in the time of the Gospel, and so many as shall yet be saved to the end of the world. For the Lord himself, in the Gospel, says, “He that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth the other way, he is a thief and a robber”; “I am the door of the sheep” (John 10:1 , 7). And also in another place of the same Gospel he says, “Abraham saw my day, and rejoiced” (John 8:56 ). And the Apostle Peter says, “ Neither is there salvation in any other, but in Christ; for among men there is given no other name under heaven whereby they we might be saved” (Acts 4:12 10:43; 15:11). We believe, therefore, that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, as our fathers were. For Paul says, that “All our fathers did eat the same spiritual meat, and drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:3-4 ). And therefore we read that John said, that “Christ was the Lamb which was slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8 ); and John the Baptist witnesseth, that Christ is that “Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29 ).

17. [14.] Wherefore we do plainly and openly profess and preach, that Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer and Saviour of the world, the King and High Priest, the true and looked-for Messiah, that holy and blessed one (I say) whom all the shadows of the law, and the prophecies of the prophets, did prefigure and promise; and that God did supply and send him unto us, so that now we are not to look for any other. And now there remains nothing, but that we all should give all glory to him, believe in him, and rest in him only, contemning and rejecting all other aids of our life. For they are fallen from the grace of God and make Christ of no value unto themselves, whosoever they may be that seek salvation in any other things besides Christ alone (Gal 5:4 ).

18. [15.] The Creeds of Four Councils Received. And, to speak many things in a few words, with a sincere heart we believe, and with liberty of speech we freely profess, whatsoever things are defined out of the Holy Scriptures, and comprehended in the creeds, and in the decrees of those four first and most excellent councils—held at Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon—together with blessed Athanasius’s creed and all other creeds like to these, touching the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; and we condemn all things contrary to the same.

The Sects. And thus we retain the Christian, sound, and Catholic faith, whole and inviolable, knowing that nothing is contained in the aforesaid creeds which is not agreeable to the Word of God, and makes wholly for the sincere declaration of the faith.

Chapter XII: Of the Law of God
1. [1.] The Will of God Is Explained for Us in the Law of God. We teach that the will of God is set down unto us in the law of God; to wit, what he would have us do, or not do, what is good and just, or what is evil and unjust. We therefore confess that, “The law is good and holy” (Rom 7:12 †). The Law of Nature. And that this law is, by the finger of God, either “written in the hearts of men” (Rom 2:15 ), and so is called the law of nature, [The Law of Moses is in two Tables.] or engraven in two tables of stone, and more largely expounded in the books of Moses (Exod 20:1-17 Deut 5:22 ; 9:10‡). For plainness’ sake we divide it into the moral law, which is contained in the commandments, or the two tables expounded in the books of Moses; into the ceremonial, which does appoint ceremonies and the worship of God; and into the judicial law, which is occupied about political and domestic affairs.

2. [2.] The Law Is Complete and Perfect. We believe that the whole will of God, and all necessary precepts, for every part of this life, are fully delivered in this law. For otherwise the Lord would not have forbidden that “any thing should be either added to or taken away from this law” (Deut 4:2 12:32); neither would he have commanded us to go straight forward in this, and “not to decline out of the way, either to the right hand or to the left” (Josh 1:7 †; Isa 30:21 †).

3. [3.] Why the Law Was Given. We teach that this law was not given to men, that we should be justified by keeping it; but that, by the knowledge thereof, we might know rather acknowledge our infirmity, sin, and condemnation; and so, despairing of our strength, might turn unto Christ by faith. For the apostle says plainly, “The law worketh wrath” (Rom 4:15 ); and “by the law cometh the knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:20 ); and, “If there had been a law given which could have justified and given us life, surely righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture (to wit, of the law) has concluded all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ should be given to them which believe.” “Therefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Gal 3:21-22 , 24). The Flesh Does Not Fulfil the Law. For neither could there ever, neither at this day can any flesh satisfy the law of God, and fulfill it, by reason of the weakness in our flesh, which remains and sticks fast in us, even to our last breath. For the apostle says again, “That which the law could note perform, inasmuch as it was weak through the flesh, that did God perform, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Rom 8:3 ). Therefore, Christ is the perfecting of the law, and our fulfilling of it (Rom 10:4 ); who, as he took away the curse of the law, when he was made a curse for us (Gal 3:13 ), so does he communicate unto us by faith his fulfilling thereof, and his righteousness and obedience are imputed unto us.

4. [4.] How Far the Law Is Abrogated. The law of God, therefore, is thus far abrogated; that is, it does not henceforth condemn us, neither work wrath in us; “for we are under grace, and not under the law” (Rom 6:14 †). Moreover, Christ did fulfill all the figures of the law; wherefore the shadow ceased when the body came, so that, in Christ, we have now all truth and all fullness (Col 2:17 ‡; Heb 10:1 , 5‡). Yet we do not therefore disdain or reject the law. We remember the words of the Lord, saying, “I came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them” (Matt 5:17 ). We know that in the law are described unto us the kinds of virtues and vices. We know that the Scripture of the law, if it be expounded by the Gospel, is very profitable to the Church, and that therefore the reading of it is not to be banished out of the Church. For although the countenance of Moses was covered with a veil, yet the apostle affirms that “the veil is taken away and abolished by Christ” (2 Cor 3:14 †).

The Sects. We condemn all things which the old or new heretics have taught against the law of God.

Chapter XIII: Of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Also of Promises; Of the Spirit and of the Letter
1. [1.] The Ancients Had Evangelical Promises. The Gospel, indeed, is opposed to the law: for the law works wrath, and does announce a curse; but the Gospel does preach grace and blessing. John also says, “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17 ). Yet, notwithstanding, it is most certain that they who were before the law, and under the law, were not altogether destitute of the Gospel. For they had notable evangelical promises, such as these: “The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head” (Gen 3:15 ). “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen 22:18 ). “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, until he comes” (Gen 49:10 ). “The Lord shall raise up a Prophet from among his own brethren,” etc. (Deut 18:15 Acts 3:22 7:37†).

2. [2.] The Promises Twofold. And we do acknowledge that the fathers had two kinds of promises revealed unto them, even as we have. For some of them were of present and transitory things: such as were the promises of land of Canaan, and of victories; and such as are nowadays concerning our daily bread. Other promises there were then, and are now, of heavenly and everlasting things; as God’s favor, remission of sins, and life everlasting, through faith in Jesus Christ. The Fathers Also Had Not Only Carnal but Spiritual Promises. Now, the fathers had not only outward or earthly, but spiritual and heavenly promises in Christ. For the Apostle Peter says that ‘the prophets, which prophesied of the grace that should come to us, have searched and inquired of this salvation’ (1 Pet 1:10 ). Whereupon the Apostle Paul also says, that ‘the Gospel of God was promised before by the prophets of God in the Holy Scriptures’ (Rom 1:2 Col 1:5 †). Hereby, then, it appears evidently that the fathers were not altogether destitute of all the Gospel.

3. [3.] What Is the Gospel Properly Speaking? And although, after this manner, our fathers had the Gospel in the writings of the prophets, by which they attained salvation in Christ through faith, yet the Gospel is properly called “glad and happy tidings”; wherein, first by John Baptist, then by Christ the Lord himself, and afterwards by the apostles and their successors, is preached to us in the world, that God has now performed that which he promised from the beginning of the world, and has sent, yea, and even given unto us, his only Son, and, in him, reconciliation with the Father, remission of sins, all fullness, and everlasting life. The history, therefore, set down by the four evangelists, declaring how these things were done or fulfilled in Christ, and what he taught and did, and that they who believe in him have all fullness—this, I say, is truly called the Gospel. The preaching, also, and Scripture of the apostles, in which they expound unto us how the Son was given us of the Father, and, in him, all things pertaining to life and salvation, is truly called the doctrine of the Gospel; so as even at this day it loses not that worthy name, if it be sincere.

4. [4.] Of the Spirit and the Letter. That same preaching of the Gospel is by the apostle termed the Spirit, and “the ministry of the Spirit”: because it lives and works through faith in the ears, yea, in the hearts, of the faithful, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. For the letter, which is opposed unto the Spirit, does signify every outward thing, but more especially the doctrine of the law, which, without the Spirit and faith, works wrath, and stirs up sin in the minds of them that do not truly believe. For which cause it is called by the apostle “the ministry of death”; for hitherto pertains that saying of the apostle, “the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life” (2 Cor 3:6-8 ). The false apostles preached the Gospel, corrupted by mingling of the law therewith; as though Christ could not save without the law. The Sects. Such, also, were the Ebionites said to be, who came of Ebion the heretic; and the Nazarites, who beforetime were called Mineans. All whom we do condemn, sincerely preaching the word, and teaching that believers are justified through the Spirit (or Christ) only, and not through the law (Acts 15:1 ‡; 20:21‡; cf. Romans‡; Galatians‡). But of this matter there shall follow a fuller exposition, under the title of justification.

5. [5.] The Teaching of the Gospel Is Not New, but Most Ancient Doctrine. And although the doctrine of the Gospel, compared with the Pharisees’ doctrine of the law, might seem (when it was first preached by Christ) to be a new doctrine (which thing also Jeremiah prophesied of the New Testament [Jer 31:31-33 †]); yet, indeed, it not only was, and as yet (though the papists call it new, in regard of popish doctrine, which has of long time been received), an ancient doctrine, but also the most ancient in the world.

6. For God from all eternity foreordained to save the world by Christ, and this his predestination and eternal counsel has he opened to the world by the Gospel (2 Tim 1:9-10 ). Whereby it is appears that the evangelical doctrine and religion was the most ancient of all that ever were or are; 7. wherefore we say, that all they [the papists] err foully, and speak things unworthy of the eternal counsel of God, who term the evangelical doctrine and religion a newly concocted faith, scarce thirty years old: to whom that saying of Isaiah does very well agree—“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isa 5:20 ).

Chapter XIV: Of Repentance, and the Conversion of Man [cf. CA XI–XII]
1. [1.] The Gospel has the doctrine of repentance joined with it; for so said the Lord in the Gospel, “In my name must repentance and remission of sins be preached among all nations” (Luke 24:47 ).

2. What Is Repentance? By repentance we understand the change of the mind in a sinful man stirred up by the preaching of the Gospel through the Holy Spirit, and received by a true faith: by which a sinful man does acknowledge his natural corruption, and all his sins, seeing them convinced by the Word of God, and is heartily grieved for them; and does not only bewail and freely confess them before God with shame, but also loathe and abhor them with indignation, thinking seriously of present amendment, and of a continual care of innocency and virtue, wherein to exercise himself holily all the rest of his life.

3. True Repentance Is Conversion to God. And surely this is true repentance—namely, an unfeigned turning unto God and to all goodness, and a serious return from the devil and from all evil. [2.] 1. Repentance is a gift of God. Now we expressly say, that this repentance is a mere gift of God, and not the work of our own strength. For the apostle directs the faithful minister diligently to “instruct those who oppose the truth, if so at any time the Lord may give them repentance, that they may acknowledge the truth” (2 Tim 2:25 ).

4. [3.] 2. Laments sins committed. Also, the sinful woman in the Gospel, who washed Christ’s feet with her tears (Luke 7:38 ); and Peter, who bitterly wept and bewailed his denial of his Master (Luke 22:62 )—do manifestly show what mind the penitent man should have, to wit, very earnestly lamenting his sins committed.

5. 3. Confesses sins to God. Moreover, the prodigal son and the publican in the Gospel, that is compared with the Pharisee, do set forth unto us a most fit pattern of confessing our sins to God. The prodigal son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and against thee: I am not worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants” (Luke 15:18-19 ). The publican, also, not daring to lift up his eyes to heaven, but smiting his breast, cried, “God be merciful unto me a sinner” (Luke 18:13 ). And we doubt not but the Lord received them to mercy. For John the apostle says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and purge us from all iniquity. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 Jhn 1:9-10 ).

6. [4.] Sacerdotal Confession and Absolution. We believe that this sincere confession, which is made to God alone, either privately between God and the sinner, or openly in the church, where that general confession of sins is rehearsed, is sufficient; and that it is not necessary for the obtaining of remission of sins that any man should confess his sins unto a priest, whispering them into his ears, that, the priest laying his hands on his head, he might receive absolution (cf. Eugenius IV, Bull “Exultate Deo” [Denzinger 699]; Council of Trent XIV, chaps. 5–6 [Denzinger 899–902]); because we find no commandment nor example thereof in the Holy Scripture. David protests and says, “I made my fault known to thee, and my unrighteousness did I not hide from thee. I said, I will confess my wickedness to the Lord against myself, and thou hast forgiven the heinousness of my sin” (Ps 32:5 ). Yea, and the Lord, teaching us to pray, and also to confess our sins, said, “So shall ye pray: Our Father which art in heaven, forgive us our debts, even as we forgive our debtors” (Matt 6:9 , 12). 7. It is requisite, therefore, that we should confess our sins unto God, and be reconciled with our neighbor, if we have offended him. And the Apostle James, speaking generally of confession, says, “Confess each of you your sins to one another” (Jas 5:16 ). If so be that any man, being overwhelmed with the burden of his sins, and troublesome temptations, will privately ask counsel, instruction, or comfort, either of a minister of the Church, or any other brother that is learned in the law of God, we do not mislike it. Like as also we do fully allow that general and public confession which is wont to be rehearsed in the church, and in holy meetings (whereof we spake before), being, as it is, agreeable with the Scripture.

8. [5.] Of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. As concerning the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which the Lord committed to his apostles, they [the papists] prate many strange things; and of these keys they make swords, spears, scepters, and crowns, and full power over mighty kingdoms, yea, and over men’s souls and bodies. But we judging uprightly, according to the Word of God, do say that all ministers, truly called, have and exercise the keys, or the use of them, when they preach the Gospel; that is to say, when they teach, exhort, reprove, and keep in order the people committed to their charge. Opening and Shutting (the Kingdom). For they do open the kingdom of Go to the obedient, and shut it against the disobedient. These keys did the Lord promise to the apostles, in Matt 16:19 and delivered them, in John 20:23 Mark 16:15-16 Luke 24:47 , when he sent forth his disciples, and commanded them to preach the Gospel in all the world, and to remit sins. The Ministry of Reconciliation. The apostle, in the epistle to the Corinthians, says that the Lord “gave to his ministers the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18-20 ). And what this was he straightway makes plain and says, “The word or doctrine of reconciliation.” And yet more plainly expounding his words, he adds, that the ministers of Christ do, as it were, go an ambassage in Christ’s name, as if God himself should by his ministers exhort the people to be reconciled to God; to wit, by faithful obedience. They use the keys, therefore, when they persuade to faith and repentance. Thus do they reconcile men to God. Ministers Remit Sins. Thus they forgive sins; thus they open the kingdom of heaven and bring in the believers; much differing herein from those of whom the Lord spake in the Gospel, “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye have not entered yourselves, and those that would have entered ye forbade” (Luke 11:52 †; Matt 23:13 †).

9. How Ministers Absolve. Rightly, therefore, and effectually do ministers absolve, when they preach the Gospel of Christ, and thereby remission of sins; which is promised to every one that believes, even as every one is baptized; and to testify of it that it does particularly appertain to all. Neither do we imagine that this absolution is made any whit more effectual for that which is mumbled into some priest’s ear, or upon some man’s head particularly; yet we judge that men must be taught diligently to seek remission of sins in the blood of Christ, and that every one is to be put in mind that forgiveness of sins does belong unto him.

10. [6.] 4. Diligence in the Renewal of Life. But how diligent and careful the penitent man ought to be in the endeavor of a new life, and in slaying the old man and raising up the new man, the examples in the Gospel do teach us. For the Lord said to him whom he had healed of palsy, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:14 ). Likewise to the woman taken in adultery he said, “Go thy way, and sin no more” (John 8:11 [TR]). By which words he did [not] mean that any man could be free from sin while he lived in this flesh; but he does commend unto us diligence and an earnest care, that we (I say) should endeavor by all means, and beg of God by prayers, that we fall not again into sins, out of which we are risen after the manner, and that we may not be overcome of the flesh, the world, or the devil. Zacchaeus, the publican, being received into favor by the Lord, cried out, in the Gospel, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken from any man any thing by false accusation, I restore him fourfold” (Luke 19:8 ). After the same manner we preach that restitution and mercy, yea, and giving of alms, are necessary for them who truly repent. And, generally, out of the apostle’s words we exhort men, saying, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it through the lusts thereof. Neither give ye your members as weapons of unrighteousness to sin; but give yourselves unto God” (Rom 6:12-13 ).

11. [7.] Errors. Wherefore we condemn all the ungodly speeches of those who abuse the preaching of the Gospel, and say, To return unto God is very easy, for Christ has purged for all our sins. Forgiveness of sins is easily obtained; what, therefore, will it hurt to sin? And, We need not take any great care for repentance, etc. Notwithstanding, we always teach that an entrance unto God is open to all sinners, and that this God does forgive all sins of the faithful, only that one sin excepted which is committed against the Holy Ghost (Mark 3:28-29 ).

12. The Sects. And, therefore, we condemn the old and new Novatians and Catharists; [Papal Indulgences.] and especially condemn the Pope’s painful doctrine of penance. And against his simony and his simoniacal indulgences we use that sentence of Simon Peter, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God might be bought with money. Thou hast no part or fellowship in this matter: for thy heart is not upright before God” (Acts 8:20-21 ).

13. Satisfactions. We also disallow those who think that themselves, by their own satisfactions, can make recompense for their sins (cf. Leo X, Bull “Cum postquam” [Denzinger 740a]; Council of Trent XIV, chap. 8 [Denzinger 904–905]). For we teach that Christ alone, by his death and passion, is the satisfaction, propitiation, or purging of all sins (Isa 53:4 1 Cor 1:30 1 Jhn 2:2 †). Nevertheless, we cease not to urge, as was before said, the mortification of the flesh; and yet we add further, that it must not be proudly thrust upon God for a satisfaction for our sins (1 Cor 8:8 †); but must humbly, as it becomes the sons of God, be performed, as a new obedience, to show thankful minds for the deliverance and full satisfaction obtained by the death and satisfaction of the Son of God.

Chapter XV: Of the True Justification of the Faithful [cf. CA IV]
1. [1.] What Is Justification? To justify, in the apostle’s disputation touching justification, does signify to remit sins, to absolve from the fault and the punishment thereof, to receive into favor, to pronounce a man just. For the apostle says to the Romans, “God is he that justifieth. Who is he that can condemn?” (Rom 8:33-34 ). Here to justify and to condemn are opposed. And in the Acts of the Apostles the apostle says, “Through Christ is preached unto you forgiveness of sins: and from all things (from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses) by him every one that believes is justified” (Acts 13:38-39 ). For in the law, also, and in the prophets, we read, that “If a controversy were risen among any, and they came to judgment, the judge should judge them; that is, justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked” (Deut 25:1 ). And in Isa 5:22-23 , “Woe to them which justify the wicked for a reward.”

2. [2.] We Are Justified on Account of Christ. Now, it is most certain that we are all by nature sinners, and before the judgment-seat God convicted of ungodliness, and guilty of death. But we are justified—that is, acquitted from sin and death— by God the Judge, through the grace of Christ alone, and not by any respect or merit of ours. For what is more plain than that which Paul says?— “All have sinned, and are destitute of the glory of God, and are justified freely by grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:23-24 ).

3. [3.] Imputed Righteousness. For Christ took upon himself and bare the sins of the world, and did satisfy the justice of God. God, therefore, is merciful unto our sins for Christ alone, that suffered and rose again, and does not impute them unto us. But imputes the justice of Christ unto us for our own; so that now we are not only cleansed from sin, and purged, and holy, but also endued with the righteousness of Christ; yea, and aquitted from sin, death and condemnation (2 Cor 5:19-21 ); finally, we are righteous and heirs of eternal life (cf. Rom 5 ‡; Rom 8:17 ‡). To speak properly, then, it is God alone justifieth us, and that only for Christ, by not imputing unto us our sins, but imputing Christ’s righteousness unto us (Rom 4:23-25 ).

4. [4.] We Are Justified by Faith Alone. But because we do receive this justification, not by any works, but by faith in the mercy of God and in Chris; therefore, we teach and believe, with the apostle, that sinful man is justified only by faith in Christ, not by the law or any works. For the apostle says, “We conclude that man is justified by faith, without the works of law” (Rom 3:28 ). “If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to boast; but not with God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness; but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom 4:2-3 , 5; Gen 15:6 ). And again, “Ye re saved by grace, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not by works, lest any might have cause to boast,” etc. (Eph 2:8-9 ). Therefore, because faith does apprehend Christ our righteousness, and does attribute all the praise of God in Christ; in this respect justification is attributed to faith, chiefly because of Christ, whom it receives, and not because it is a work of ours; for it is the gift of God. [5.] We Receive Christ by Faith. Now, that we do receive Christ by faith the Lord shows at large (John 6:27 , 33, 35, 48-58), where he puts eating for believing, and believing for eating. For as by eating we receive meat, so by believing we are made partakers of Christ.

5. [6.] Justification Is Not Attributed Partly to Christ or to Faith, Partly to Us. Therefore, we do not divide the benefit of justification, giving part to the grace of God or to Christ, and part to ourselves, our charity, works, or merit; but we do attribute it wholly to the praise of God in Christ, and that through faith. Moreover, our charity and our works can not please God if they be done of such as are not just; wherefore, we must first be just before we can love or do any just works. We are made just (as we have said) through faith in Christ, by the mere grace of God, who does not impute unto us our sins, but imputes unto us the righteousness of Christ; yea, and our faith in Christ he imputes for righteousness unto us. Moreover, the apostle does plainly derive love from faith, saying, “The end of the commandment is love, proceeding from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned” (1 Tim 1:5 )

6. [7.] James Compared with Paul. Wherefore, in this matter we speak not of a feign, vain, or dead faith, but of a lively and quickening faith: which, for Christ (who is life, and gives live), whom it apprehends, both is indeed, and is so called, a lively faith, and does prove itself to be lively by lively works. And, therefore, James does speak nothing contrary to this doctrine; for he speaks of a vain and dead faith, which certain bragged of, but had not Christ living within them by faith (Jas 2:14-26 ). And James also says that works do justify, yet he is not contrary to Paul (for then he were to be rejected); but he shows that Abraham did declare his lively and justifying faith by works. And so do all the godly, who yet trust in Christ alone, not to their own works. For the apostle said again, “I live no longer myself, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live through the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness be by the law, then Christ died without cause” (Gal 2:20-21 ).

Chapter XVI: Of Faith and Good Works; Of Their Reward, and of Man’s Merit [cf. CA VI, XX]
1. [1.] What Is Faith? Christian faith is not an opinion or human persuasion, but a sure trust, and an evident and steadfast assent of the mind; it is a most sure comprehension of the truth of God, set forth in the Scriptures and in the Apostles’ Creed; yea, and of God himself, the chief blessedness; and especially of God’s promise, and of Christ, who is the consummation of all the promises.

2. [2.] Faith Is the Gift of God. And this faith is a mere gift of God (Eph 2:8 ‡), because God alone of his power does give it to his elect, according to measure; and that when, to whom, and how much he will; and that by his Holy Spirit, through the means of preaching the Gospel and of faithful prayer. The Increase of Faith. This faith has also its measures of increase; which, unless they were likewise given of God, the apostles would never have said, “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5 ).

3. [3.] Now, all these things which we have hitherto said of faith, the apostles taught them before us, even as we set them down. For Paul says, “Faith is the ground,” or sure subsistence, “of things hoped for, and the evidence,” or clear and certain comprehension, “of things which are not see” (Heb 11:1 ). And again he says that “all the promises of God in Christ are yea, and in Christ are amen” (2 Cor 1:20 ). And the same apostle says to the Philippians that “it was given them to believe in Christ” (Phil 1:29 ). And also, “God doth distribute unto every man a measure of faith” (Rom 12:3 ). And again, “All men have not faith” (2 Thess 3:2 ); and, “All do not obey the Gospel” (Rom 10:16 2 Thess 1:8 †). Besides, Luke witnesses and says, “As many as were ordained to life, believed” (Acts 13:48 ). And therefore Paul also calls faith “the faith of God’s elect” (Tit 1:1 ). And again, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17 ). And in other places he oftentimes wills men to pray for faith.

4. [4.] Faith Efficatious and Active. And the same also called faith powerful, and showeth itself by love (Gal 5:6 ). This faith pacifies the conscience, and opens to us a free access unto God; that with confidence we may come unto him, and may obtain at his hands whatsoever is profitable and necessary. The same faith keeps us in our duty which we owe to God and to our neighbor, and fortifies our patience in adversity; it frames and makes a true confession, and (in a word) it brings forth good fruit of all sorts; and good works (Gal 5:22 ff.†).

5. [5.] Concerning Good Works. For we teach that genuine good works proceed from a lively faith by the Holy Spirit, and are done of the faithful according to the will or rule of God’s word. For Peter the Apostle says, “Therefore, giving all diligence thereunto add, moreover, to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance,” etc. (2 Pet 1:5-6 ).

It was said before that the law of God, which is the will God, did prescribe unto us the pattern of good works. And the apostle says, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from all uncleanness, and that no man oppress or deceive his brother in any matter” (1 Thess 4:3 , 6). Works of Human Choice. But as for such works and worships of God as are taken up upon our liking, which St. Paul calls “will-worship” (Col 2:18 , 23), they are not allowed of liked of God. Of such the Lord says in the Gospel, “They worship me in vain, teaching for doctrine the precepts of men” (Matt 15:9 ).

6. We therefore disallow all such manner of works, and we approve and urge men unto such as are according to the will and commandment of God. [6.] The End of Good Works. Yea, and these same works that are agreeable to God’s will must be done, not to the end to merit eternal life by them; for “life everlasting,” as the apostle says, “is the gift of God” (Rom 6:23 †), nor for ostentation’s sake, which the Lord does reject (Matt 6:1 , 5, 16), nor for lucre, which he also mislikes (Matt 23:23 ), but to the glory of God, to commend and set forth our calling, and to yield thankfulness unto God, and also for the profit of the neighbors. For the Lord says again in the Gospel, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt 5:16 ). Likewise the Apostle Paul says, “Walk worthy of your calling” (Eph 4:1 ). Also, “Whatsoever ye do,” says he, “either in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him” (Col 3:17 ). “Let no man seek his own, but every man his brother’s” (Phil 2:4 ). And, “Let ours also learn to show forth good works for necessary uses, that they be not unprofitable” (Tit 3:14 ).

7. [7.] Good Works Not Rejected. Notwithstanding, therefore, that we teach with the apostle that a man is justified by faith in Christ, and not by any good works (Rom 3:28 †), yet we do not lightly esteem or condemn good works; because we know that a man is not created or regenerated through faith that he should be idle, but rather that without ceasing he should do those things which are good and profitable. For in the Gospel the Lord says, “A good tree bringeth forth good fruit” (Matt 12:33 ); and, again, “Whosoever abideth in me, bringeth forth much fruit” (John 15:5 ). And, lastly, the apostle says, “For we are the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God hath prepared, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10 ). And again, “Who gave himself for us, that he might deliver us from all iniquity, and to purge us to be a peculiar a people to himself, zealous of good works” (Tit 2:14 ).

8. We therefore condemn all those who contemn good works, and do babble that they are needless and not to be regarded. [8.] We Are Not Saved by Good Works. Nevertheless, as was said before, we do not think that we are saved by good works, or that they are so necessary to salvation that no man was ever saved without them (Luke 23:40-43 ‡). For we are saved by grace and the benefit of Christ alone. Works do necessarily proceed from faith; but salvation is improperly attributed to them, which is most properly ascribed to grace. That sentence of the apostle is very notable, “If by grace, then not of works; for then grace were no more grace; but if of works, then is it not of grace; for then works were no more works” (Rom 11:6 ).

9. [9.] Good Works Please God. Now the works which we do are accepted and allowed of God through faith; because they who do them please God by faith in Christ, and also the works themselves are done by the grace of God through his Holy Spirit. For St. Peter says that “of every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:35 ). And Paul also, “We ceased not to pray for you, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, and in all things please him, being fruitful in every good work” (Col 1:9-10 ). [10] We Teach True, Not False and Philosophical Virtues. Here, therefore, we diligently teach, not false and philosophical, but true virtues, true good works, and the true duties of a Christian man. And this we do with all the diligence and earnestness that we can inculcate and beat into men’s minds; sharply reproving the slothfulness and hypocrisy of all those who with their mouths praise and profess the Gospel, and yet with their shameful life do dishonor the same; setting before their eyes, in this case, God’s horrible threatenings, large promises, and bountiful rewards, and that by exhorting, comforting, and rebuking.

10. [11.] God Gives a Reward for Good Works. For we teach that God does bestow great rewards on them that do good, according to that saying of the prophet, “Refrain thy voice from weeping, because thy works shall have a reward” (Jer 31:16 Isa 4 ). In the Gospel also the Lord said, “Rejoice, and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven” (Matt 5:12 ). And, “He that shall give to one of these little ones a cup of cold water, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward” (Matt 10:42 ). Yet we do not attribute this reward, which God gives, to the merit of the man that receives it, but to the goodness, or liberality, and truth of God, which promises and gives it; who, although he owe nothing to any, yet he has promised to give a reward to those that faithfully worship him, notwithstanding that he do also give them grace to worship him. Besides, there are many things unworthy the majesty of God, and many imperfect thing are found in the works even of the saints; and yet because God does receive into favor and embrace those who work them for Christ’s sake, therefore he performs unto them the promised reward. For otherwise our righteousness is compared to a menstruous cloth wrap (Isa 64:6 ); yea, and the Lord in the Gospel says, “When ye have done all things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10 ).

11. [12.] There Are No Merits of Men. So that though we teach that God does give a reward to our good deeds, yet withal we teach, with Augustine, that “God doth crown in us, not our deserts, but his own gifts” (cf. Enchiridion 107). And, therefore, whatsoever reward we receive, we say that it is a grace, and rather a grace than a reward: because those good things which we do, we do them rather by God than by ourselves; and because Paul says, “What hast thou that thou hast not received? but if thou hast received it, why dost thou boast, as though thou hadst not received it?” (1 Cor 4:7 ). Which thing the blessed martyr Cyprian does gather out of this place, that “we must not boast of anything, seeing nothing is our own” (Ad Quirinum testimonia adversus unitate 3–4). We therefore condemn those who defend the merits of men, that they may make frustrate the grace of God.

Chapter XVII: Of the Catholic and Holy Church of God, and of the One Only Head of the Church [cf. CA VII–VIII]
1. [1.] The Church Has Always Existed and It Will Always Exist. Forasmuch as God from the beginning would have men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4 †), therefore it is necessary that there always should have been, and should be at this day, and to the end of the world, a Church—[What Is the Church?] that is, a company of the faithful called and gathered out of the world; a communion (I say) of all saints, that is, of them who truly know and rightly worship and serve the true God, in Jesus Christ the Saviour, by the word of the Holy Spirit, and who by faith are partakers of al those good graces which are freely offered through Christ. Citizens of One Commonwealth. These are all citizens of one and the same city, living under one Lord, under the same laws, and in the same fellowship of all good things; for the apostle calls them “fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph 2:19 ); terming the faithful upon earth saints (1 Cor 6:11 ), who are sanctified by the blood of the Son of God. Of these is that article of our Creed wholly to be understood, “I believe in the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints.”

2. [2.] Only One Church for All Times. And, seeing that there is always but “one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ” (1 Tim 2:5 †); also, one Shepherd of the whole flock (Ezek 34:22-23 ‡; John 10:16 ‡), one Head of this body (Col 1:24 ‡), and, to conclude, one Spirit, one salvation, one faith, one Testament, or covenant,— it follows necessarily that there is but one Church, [The Catholic Church.] which we therefore call Catholic because it is universal, spread abroad through all the parts and quarters of the world, and reaches unto all times, and is not limited within the compass either of time or place. Here, therefore, we must condemn the Donatists, who pinned up the Church within the corners of Africa; neither do we assent to the Roman clergy, who vaunt that the Church of Rome alone is in a manner Catholic.

3. [3.] Parts or Forms of the Church. The Church is divided by some into divers parts or sorts; not that it is rent and divided from itself, but rather distinguished in respect of the diversity of the members that are in it. Militant and Triumphant. One part thereof they make to be the Church Militant, the other the Church Triumphant. The Militant wars still on earth, and fights against the flesh, the world, and the prince of the world, the devil; against sin and against death. The other, being already set at liberty, is now in heaven, and triumphs over all those things overcome, and continually rejoices before the Lord. Yet these two churches have, notwithstanding, a communion and fellowship between themselves.

4. The Particular Church. Moreover, the Church Militant upon the earth has evermore had many particular churches, which must all, notwithstanding, be referred to the unity of the Catholic Church. [4.] This Militant Church was otherwise ordered and governed before the Law, among the patriarchs; otherwise under Moses, by the Law; and otherwise of Christ, by the Gospel. The Two Peoples. There are but two sorts of people, for the most part, mentioned: to wit, the Israelites and the Gentiles; or they who, of the Jews and Gentiles, were gathered to make a Church. There are also two Testaments, the Old and the New. The Same Church for the Old and the New People. Yet both these sorts of people have had, and still have, one fellowship, one salvation, in one and the same Messiah; in whom, as members of one body, they are all joined together under one head, and by one faith are all partakers of one and the same spiritual meat and drink. Yet here we do acknowledge a diversity of times, and a diversity in the pledges and signs of Christ promised and exhibited; and that now, the ceremonies being abolished, the light shines unto us more clearly, our gifts and graces are more abundant, and our liberty is more full and ample.

5. [5.] The Church the Temple of the Living God. This holy Church of God is called “the house of the living God” (2 Cor 6:16 †; 1 Tim 3:15 †), “builded of living and spiritual stones” (1 Pet 2:5 †), “founded upon a rock” (Mat 16:18†), “which can not be moved” (Heb 12:28 †), “upon a foundation besides which none can be laid” (1 Cor 3:11 †). Whereupon it is called “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15 †), [The Church Does Not Err.] that does not err, so long as it relies upon the rock Christ (1 Cor 10:4 ‡), and upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles (Eph 2:20 ‡). And no marvel if it do err, so often as it forsakes Him who is the alone truth. The Church as Bride and Virgin. This Church is also called “a virgin” (2 Cor 11:2 ), and “the spouse of Christ” (Song 4:8 †), and “his only beloved” (Song 5:16 †). For the apostle says, “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2 †). The Church as a Flock of Sheep. The Church is called “a flock of sheep under one shepherd,” even Christ (Ezek 34:22-23 ‡; John 10:16 ‡); [The Church as the Body.] also, “the body of Christ” (Col 1:24 †), because the faithful are the lively members of Christ, having him for their head. [Cf. Bullinger, Decades 5:80–83]

6. [6.] Christ the Sole Head of the Church. It is the head which has the pre-eminence in the body, and from whence the whole body receives life; by whose spirit it is governed in all things; of whom, also, it receives increase, that it may grow up. Also, there is but one head to the body, which has agreement with the body; and therefore the Church can not have any other head besides Christ. For as the Church is a spiritual body, so must it needs have a spiritual head like unto itself. Neither can it be governed by any other spirit than by the Spirit of Christ. Wherefore Paul says, “And he is the head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence” (Col 1:18 ). And in another place, “Christ,” saith he, “is the head of the Church: and he is the Saviour of the body” (Eph 5:23 ). And again, “Who is the head of the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph 1:22-23 ). Again, “Let us grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ; by whom all the body being knit together, receiveth increase” (Eph 4:15-16 ).

7. [7.] And therefore we do not allow of the doctrine of the Roman prelates, who would make the Pope the general pastor and supreme head of the Church Militant here on earth, and the very vicar of Jesus Christ, who has (as they say) all fullness of power and sovereign authority in the Church (cf. Council of Lyons II [Denzinger 466]).

8. Christ the Only Pastor of the Church. For we hold and teach that Christ our Lord is, and remains still, the only universal pastor (Ezek 34:22-23 John 10:16 ), and highest bishop, before God his Father; and that in the Church he performs all the duties of a pastor or bishop, even to the world’s end; [Vicar] and therefore stands not in need of any other to supply his room. For he is said to have a substitute, who is absent; but Christ is present with his Church, and is the head that gives life thereunto. No Primacy in the Church. He did straitly forbid his apostles and their successors all superiority or dominion in the Church. They, therefore, that by gainsaying set themselves against so manifest a truth, and bring another kind of government into the Church, who sees not that they are to be counted in the number of them the apostles of Christ prophesied? as in Peter (2 Pet 2:1 ), and Paul (Acts 20:29 2 Cor 11:13 2 Thess 2:8-9 ), and in many other places.

9. [8.] No Disorder in the Church. Now, by taking away the Romish head we do not bring any confusion or disorder into the Church (1 Cor 14:40 ‡). For we teach that the government of the Church which the apostles set down is sufficient to keep the Church in due order; which, from the beginning, while as yet it wanted such a Romish head as is now pretended to keep it in order was not disordered or full of confusion. The Romish head doth maintain indeed his tyranny and corruption which have been brought into the Church; but in the mean time he hinders, resists, and, with all the might he can make, cuts off the right and lawful reformation of the Church.

10. [9.] Dissensions and Strife in the Church. They object against us that there have been great strifes and dissensions in our churches since they did sever themselves from the Church of Rome; and therefore can not be true churches. As though there were never in the Church of Rome any sects, any contentions and quarrels; and that, in matters of religion, maintained not so much in the schools as in the holy Chairs, even in the audience of the people. We know that the apostle said, “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (1 Cor 14:33 ), and, “Seeing there is among you emulation and contention, are ye not carnal?” (1 Cor 3:3 †). Yet may we not deny that God was in that Church planted by the apostle; and that the Apostolic Church was a true Church, howsoever there were strifes and dissensions in it. The apostle Paul reprehended Peter, an apostle (Gal 2:11 ), and Barnabas fell at variance with Paul (Acts 15:39 †). Great contention arose in the Church of Antioch between them that preached one and the same Christ, as Luke records in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 15:2 ). And there have at all times been great contentions in the Church, and the most excellent doctors of the Church have, about no small matters, differed in opinion; yet so as, in the mean time, the Church ceased not to be the Church for all these contentions. For thus it pleases God to use the dissensions that arise in the Church, to the glory of his name, to the setting forth of the truth, and to the end that such as are not approved might be manifest (1 Cor 11:19 †).

11. [10] Of the Notes or Signs of the True Church. Now, as we acknowledge no other head of the Church than Christ, so we do not acknowledge every church to be the true Church which vaunts herself so to be; but we teach that to be the true Church indeed in which the marks and tokens of the true Church are to be found. Firstly and chiefly, the lawful and sincere preaching of the word of God as it is left unto us in the writings of the prophets and the apostles, which do all seem to lead us unto Christ, who in the Gospel has said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life. A stranger they do not hear, because they know not his voice” (John 10:5 , 27-28).

12. And they that are such in the Church of God have all but one faith and one spirit; and therefore they worship but one God, and him alone they serve in spirit and in truth, loving him with all their hearts and with all their strength, praying unto him alone through Jesus Christ, the only Mediator and Intercessor; and they seek not life or justice outside but only in Christ, and by faith in him; because they do acknowledge Christ the only head and foundation of his Church (1 Cor 3:11 ‡), and, being surely founded on him, do daily repair themselves by repentance, and do with patience bear the cross laid upon them; and, besides, by unfeigned love joining themselves to all the members of Christ, do thereby declare themselves to be the disciples of Christ, by continuing in the bond of peace and holy unity. They do withal communicate in the sacraments ordained by Christ, and delivered unto us by his apostles, using them in no other way than as they received them from the Lord himself. That saying of the Apostle Paul is well known to all, “I received from the Lord that which I delivered unto you” (1 Cor 11:23 ). For which cause we condemn all such churches, as strangers from the true Church of Christ, which are not such as we have heard they ought to be, howsoever, in the mean time, they brag of the succession of bishops, of unity, and of antiquity. Moreover, we have a charge from the apostles of Christ “to shun the worship of idols” (1 Cor 10:14 1 Jhn 5:21 ), and “to come out of Babylon,” and to have no fellowship with her, unless we mean to be partakers with her of all God’s plagues laid upon her (Rev 18:4 1 Cor 6:9 †; 2 Cor 6:17 ).

13. [11.] Outside the Church of God There Is No Salvation. But as for communicating with the true Church of Christ, we so highly esteem it that we say plainly that none can live before God who do not communicate with the true Church of God, but separate themselves from the same. For as without the ark of Noah there was no escaping when the world perished in the flood (Heb 11:7 ‡; 1 Pet 3:20 ‡); even so do we believe that without Christ, who in the Church offers himself to be enjoyed of the elect, there can be no certain salvation: and therefore we teach that such as would be saved must in no wise separate themselves from the true Church of Christ [cf. 1 Pet 2:5 †; 2HC XVII.5.(5.)].[7]

14. [12.] The Church Is Not Bound to Its Signs. But as yet we do not so strictly shut up the Church within those marks before mentioned, as thereby to exclude those out of the Church who either do not participate of the sacraments (not willingly, nor upon contempt; but who, being constrained by necessity, do against their will abstain from them, or else do want them), or in whom faith does sometimes fail, though not quite decay, nor altogether die: or in whom some slips and errors of infirmity may be found. For we know that God had some friends in the world that were not of the commonwealth of Israel (Gen 14:17-24 Matt 2:1-12 †). We know what befell the people of God in the captivity of Babylon, where they were without their sacrifices seventy years. We know what happened to St. Peter, who denied his Master, and what is wont daily to happen among the faithful and chosen of God who go astray and are full of infirmities. We know, moreover, what manner of churches the churches in Galatia and Corinth were in the apostles’ time: in which St. Paul condemns many and heinous crimes; yet he calls them holy churches of Christ (1 Cor 1:2 †; Gal 1:2 †).

15. [13.] The Church Appears at Times to Be Extinct. Yes, and it happens sometimes that God in his just judgment suffers the truth of his Word, and the Catholic faith, and his own true worship, to be so obscured and defaced that the Church seems almost quite razed out, and not so much as a face of a Church to remain; as we see fell out in the days of Elijah (1 Kgs 19:10 , 14), and at other times. And yet, in the mean time, the Lord has in this world, even in this darkness, his true worshippers, and those not a few, but even seven thousand and more (1 Kgs 19:18 †; Rev 7:3-4 , 9). For the apostle cries, “The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, and hath this seal, The Lord knoweth who are his,” etc. (2 Tim 2:19 ). Whereupon the Church of God may be termed invisible; not that the men whereof it consists are invisible, but because, being hidden from our sight, and known only unto God, it cannot be discerned by the judgment of man.

16. [14.] Not All Who Are in the Church Are of the Church. Again, not all that are reckoned in the number of the Church are saints, and lively and true members of the Church. For there are many hypocrites, who outwardly do hear the word of God, and publicly receive the sacraments, and do seem to pray unto God alone through Christ, to confess Christ to be their only righteousness, and to worship God, and to exercise the duties of charity to the brethren, and for a while through patience to endure in troubles and calamities. And yet they are altogether destitute of the inward illumination of the Spirit of God, of faith and sincerity of heart, and of perseverance or continuance to the end. And these men are, for the most part, at length laid open in their true character. For the Apostle John says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us” (1 Jhn 2:19 ). Yet these men, while they do pretend religion, are accounted to be in the Church. Even as traitors in a commonwealth, before they be detected, are accounted in the number of good citizens; and as the cockle and darnel and chaff are found among the wheat; and as wens and swellings are in a perfect body, when they are rather diseases and deformities than true members of the body. And therefore the Church is very well compared to a drag-net, which draws up fishes of all sorts; and to a field, wherein is found both darnel and good corn (Matt 13:47-50 and Matt 13:24-30 ). [15] We Must Not Judge Rashly or Prematurely. Hence we must be very careful not to judge rashly before the time, nor to exclude, and cast off or cut away, those whom the Lord would not have excluded nor cut off, or whom, without some damage to the Church, we can not separate from it. Again, we must be very vigilant lest the godly, falling fast asleep, the wicked grow stronger, and do some mischief in the Church.

17. [16.] The Unity of the Church Is Not External Rites. Furthermore, we teach that it is carefully to be marked, wherein especially the truth and unity of the Church consists, lest that we either rashly breed or nourish schisms in the Church. It consists not in outward rites and ceremonies, but rather in the truth and unity of the Catholic faith. The Catholic faith is not taught us by the ordinances or laws of men, but by the holy Scriptures, a compendious and short sum whereof is the Apostles’ Creed. And, therefore, we read in the ancient writers that there were manifold diversities of ceremonies, but that those were always free; neither did any man think that the unity of the Church was thereby broken or dissolved. We say, then, that the true unity of the Church does consist in several points of doctrines, in the true and uniform preaching of the Gospel, and in such rites as the Lord himself expressly set down. And here we urge that saying of the apostle very earnestly, “Let us, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing” (Phil 3:15-16 [TR]).

Chapter XVIII: Of the Ministers of the Church, Their Institution and Offices [cf. CA XIV]
1. [1.] God Uses Ministers in the Building of the Church. God has always used his ministers for the gathering or erecting of a Church to himself, and for the governing and preservation of the same; and still he does, and always will, use so long as the Church remains on earth. Therefore, the first beginning, institution, and office of the ministers is a most ancient ordinance of God himself, not a new device appointed by men. Institution and Origin of Ministers. True it is that God can, by his power, without any means, take unto himself a Church from among men; but he had rather deal with men by the ministry of men. Therefore ministers are to be considered, not as ministers by themselves alone, but as the ministers of God, by whose means God does work the salvation of mankind. [2.] The Ministry Is Not to Be Despised. For which cause we give counsel to beware that we do not so attribute the things appertaining to our conversion and instruction unto the secret virtue of the Holy Spirit as to make void the ecclesiastical ministry. For it behooves us always to have in mind the words of the apostle, “How shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? Therefore faith is by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:14 , 17). And that also which the Lord says, in the Gospel, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth him whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” (John 13:20 ). Likewise what a man of Macedonia, appearing in a vision to Paul, being then in Asia, said unto him, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us” (Acts 16:9 ). And in another place the same apostle says, “We are laborers together with God; ye are God's husbandry, ye are God’s building” (1 Cor 3:9 ).

2. [3.] Yet, on the other side, we must take heed that we do not attribute too much to the ministers and ministry: herein remembering also the words of the Lord in the Gospel, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draws him” (John 6:44 ), and the words of the apostle, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? So then neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth increase” (1 Cor 3:5 , 7). God Moves the Hearts of Men. Therefore let us believe that God does teach us by his word, outwardly through his ministers, and does inwardly move and persuade the hearts of his elect unto belief by his Holy Spirit (Prov 21:1 ‡); and that therefore we ought to render all the glory of this whole benefit unto God. But we have spoken of this matter in the First Chapter of this our Declaration.

3. [4.] Who the Ministers Are and of What Sort God Has Given to the World. God has used for his ministers, even from the beginning of the world, the best and most eminent men in the world (for, although some of them were inexperienced in worldly wisdom or philosophy, yet surely in true divinity they were most excellent)—namely, the patriarchs, to whom he spake very often by his angels. For the patriarchs were the prophets or teachers of their age, whom God, for this purpose, would have to live many years, that they might be, as it were, fathers and lights of the world. They were followed by Moses and the prophets renowned throughout all the world.

4. Christ the Teacher. Then, after all these, our heavenly Father sent his only-begotten Son, the most perfect teacher of the world; in whom is hidden the wisdom of God (Col 2:3 †), and from whom we derive that most holy, perfect, and pure doctrine of the Gospel. For he chose unto himself disciples, whom he made apostles; and they, going out into the whole world, gathered together churches in all places by the preaching of the Gospel. And afterward they ordained pastors and teachers in all churches, by the commandment of Christ; who, by such as succeeded them, has taught and governed the Church unto this day. Therefore, as God gave unto his ancient people the patriarchs, together with Moses and the prophets, so also to his people under the new covenant he sent his only-begotten Son, and, with him, the apostles and teachers of this Church.

5. [5.] Ministers of the New Testament. Furthermore, the ministers of the new covenant are termed by divers names; for they are called apostles, prophets, evangelists, bishops, elders, pastors, and teachers (1 Cor 12:28 Eph 4:11 ). The Apostles. The apostles remained in no certain place, but gathered together divers church throughout the whole world: which churches, when they were once established, there ceased to be any more apostles, and in their places were particular pastors appointed in every Church. Prophets. The prophets, in old time, did foresee and foretell things to come; and, besides, did interpret the Scripture; and such are found some among us at this day. Evangelists. They were called evangelists, who were the penmen of the history of the Gospel, and were also preachers of the Gospel of Christ; as the Apostle Paul gives in charge unto Timothy, “to fulfill the work of an Evangelist” (2 Tim 4:5 †). Bishops. Bishops are the overseers and watchmen of the Church, who distribute food and other necessities to the Church. Presbyters. The elders are the ancients and, as it were, the senators and fathers of the Church, governing it with wholesome counsel. Pastors. The pastors both keep the Lord’s flock, and also provide things necessary for it. Teachers. The teachers do instruct, and teach the true faith and godliness. Therefore the Church ministers that now are may be called bishops, elders, pastors, and teachers.

6. [6.] Papal Orders. But in process of time there were many more names of ministers brought into the Church. For some were created patriarchs, others archbishops, other suffragans; also, metropolitans, archdeacons, deacons, subdeacons, acolytes, exorcists, choristers, porters, and I know not what others, as cardinals, provosts, and priors; abbots, greater and lesser; order, higher and lower. But touching all these, we little heed what they have been in times, past, or what they are now; it is sufficient for us that, so much as concerns ministers, we have the doctrine of the apostles.

7. [7.] Concerning Monks [cf. CA XXVII]. We, therefore, knowing certainly that monks, and the orders or sects of them, are instituted neither by Christ nor by his apostles, we teach that they are so far from being profitable that they are pernicious and hurtful to the Church of God. For, although in former times they were tolerable (when they lived solitarily, getting their livings with their own hands, and were burdensome to none, but did in all places obey their pastors, even as laymen), yet what kind of men they be now all the whole world sees and perceives. They pretend I know not what vows; but they lead a life altogether disagreeing from their vows: so that the very best of them may justly be numbered among those of whom the apostle speaks, “We hear that there are some among you which walk inordinately, working not at all, but are busybodies,” etc. (2 Thess 3:11 ). Therefore, we have no such in our churches; and, besides, we teach that they should not be suffered to rout in the churches of Christ.

8. [8.] Ministers Are to Be Called and Elected. Furthermore, no man ought to usurp the honor of the ecclesiastical ministry; that is to say, greedily to pluck it to himself by bribes, or any evil shifts, or of his own accord. But let the ministers of the Church be called and chosen by a lawful and ecclesiastical election and vocation; that is to say, let them be chosen religiously by the Church, and that in due order, without any tulmult, seditions, or contention. But we must have an eye to this, that not every one that will should be elected, but such men as are fit and have sufficient learning, especially in the Scriptures, and godly eloquence, and wise simplicity; to conclude, such men are of good report for moderation and an honesty of life, according to that apostolic rule which St. Paul gives in 1 Tim 3:2-7 and Tit 1:7-9 . Ordination. And those who are chosen let them be ordained by the elders with public prayer, and laying on of hands. We do here, therefore, condemn all those who run of their own accord, being neither chosen, sent, nor ordained (Jer 23:32 ). We do also utterly disallow unfit ministers, and such as are not furnished with gifts requisite for a pastor.

9. In the mean time we are not ignorant that the innocent simplicity of certain pastors in the primitive Church did sometimes more profit the Church than the manifold, exquisite, and nice learning of some others that were over-lofty and high-minded. And for this cause we also, at this day, do not reject the honest simplicity of certain men, who yet are not destitute of all knowledge and learning.

10. [9.] Priesthood of All Believers. The apostles of Christ do term all those who believe in Christ ‘priests;’ not in regard to their ministry, but because that all the faithful, being made kings and priests, may, through Christ, offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God (Exod 19:6 1 Pet 2:5 , 9; Rev 1:6 ). The ministry, then and the priesthood are things far different one from the other. For the priesthood, as we have said even now, is common to all Christians; not so is the ministry. And we have not taken away the ministry of the Church because we have thrust the popish priesthood out of the Church of Christ.

11. [10.] Priests and Priesthood. For surely in the new covenant of Christ there is no longer any such priesthood as was in the ancient Church of the Jews; which had an external anointing, holy garments, and very many ceremonies which were figures and types of Christ, who, by his coming, fulfilled and abolished them (Heb 9:10-11 †; 4:14–16). And he himself remains the only priest forever (Heb 5:6 †; 6:20†; 7†); and we do not communicate the name of priest to any of the ministers, lest we should detract any thing from Christ. For the Lord himself has not appointed in the Church any priests of the New Testament, who, having received authority from the suffragan, may offer up the host every day, that is, the very flesh, and the very blood of our Saviour, for the quick and the dead (Council of Trent XXII, chaps. 1, 4 [Denzinger 957, 960]); but ministers, who may teach and administer the sacraments [cf. Bullinger, Decades 3:285]. [11.] The Nature of the Ministers of the New Testament. Paul declares plainly and shortly what we are to think of the ministers of the New Testament, or of the Church of Christ, and what we must attribute unto them: “ Let a man,” says he, “so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1 ). So that the apostle wants us to esteem ministers as ministers. Now the apostle calls them u(phre/taj, as it were under-rowers, who have an eye only to their pilot; that is to say, men that live not unto themselves, nor according to their own will, but for others—to wit, their masters, at whose commandment wholly, and in all parts of his duty, not to please himself, but to execute that only which he has received in commandment from his Lord. And in this place it expressly declared who is the Master, even Christ; to whom the ministers are in subjection in all the functions of their ministry.

12. Ministers as Stewards of the Mysteries of God. He adds further that the ministers of the Church are “stewards, and dispensers of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor 4:1 †). Now the mysteries of God Paul in many places, especially in Eph 3:4 , does call “the Gospel of Christ.” And the sacraments of Christ are also called mysteries by the ancient writers. Therefore for this purpose are the ministers called—namely, to preach the Gospel of Christ unto the faithful, and to administer the sacraments. We read, also, in another place in the Gospel, of “the faithful and wise steward,” whom “his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season” (Luke 12:42 ). Again, in another place of the Gospel, a man goes into a strange country, and, leaving his house, gives unto his servants authority therein, commits to them his substance, and appoints every man his work (Matt 25:14-30 †; Luke 19:12-13 †).

13. [12.] The Power of Ministers of the Church [cf. CA XXVIII]. This is now a fit place to speak somewhat also of the power and office of the ministers of the Church. And concerning their power some have disputed over busily, and would bring all things, even the very greatest, under their jurisdiction; and that against the commandment of God, who forbade unto his disciples all dominion, and highly commended humility (Luke 22:26 Matt 18:3-4 20:26). Indeed, there is one kind of power which is mere and absolute power, called the power of right. According to this power all things in the whole world are subject to Christ, who is Lord of all: even as he himself witnesses, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt 28:18 ), and again, “I am the first and the last, and behold I live forever, and I have the keys of hell and death” (Rev 1:17-18 †); also, “He hath the key of David, which openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Rev 3:7 ).

14. The Lord Reserves True Power for Himself. This power the Lord reserves to himself, and does not transfer it to any other, that he might sit idly by, and look on his ministers while they wrought. For Isaiah says, “I will put the key of the house of David upon his shoulder” (Isa 22:22 ), and again, “Whose government shall be upon his shoulders” (Isa 9:6 ). For he does not lay the government on other men’s shoulders, but does still keep and use his own power, thereby governing all things. The Power of the Office and of the Minister. Furthermore, there is another power, that of office, or ministerial power, limited by him who has full and absolute power and authority. And this is more like a service than a dominion. The Keys. For we see that a master does give unto the steward of his house authority and power over his house, and for that cause delivers him the keys, that he may admit or exclude such as his master will have admitted or excluded. According to this power does the minister, by his office, that which the Lord has commanded him to do; and the Lord does ratify and confirm that which he does, and will have the deeds of his ministers to be acknowledged and esteemed by his own deeds.

15. Unto which end are those speeches in the Gospel: “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever you bindest or loosest in earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven” (Matt 16:19 ). Again, “Whose sins soever ye remit, they shall be remitted; and whose sins soever ye retain, they shall be retained” (John 20:23 ). But if the minister deal not in all things as the Lord has commanded him, but pass the limits and bounds of faith, then the Lord does make void that which he does. Wherefore the ecclesiastical power of the ministers of the Church is that function whereby they do indeed govern the Church of God, but yet so do all things in the Church as he has prescribed in his Word: which thing being so done, the faithful do esteem them as done of the Lord himself. But touching the keys we have spoken somewhat before.

16. [13.] The Power of Ministers Is One and the Same, and Equal. Now the power, or function, that is given to the ministers of the Church is the same and alike in all. Certainly, in the beginning, the bishops or elders did, with a common consent and labor, govern the Church; no man lifted up himself above another, none usurped greater power or authority over his fellow-bishops. For they remembered the words of the Lord, “He that is chief among you, let him be as he that doth serve” (Luke 22:26 Matt 20:27 †); they kept themselves by humility, and did mutually aid one another in the government and preservation of the Church. Order to Be Preserved. Notwithstanding, for order’s sake, some one of the ministers called the assembly together, propounded unto the assembly the matters to be consulted of, gathered together the voices or sentences of the rest, and, to be brief, as much as lay in him, provided that there might arise no confusion.

17. So did St. Pete, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 6 †; 11:4–18†; 15:7†) who yet for all that neither was above the rest, not had greater authority thant the rest. Very true, therefore, is that saying of Cyprian the martyr, in his book De Simplicitate Clericorum: “The same doubtless were the rest of the apostles that Peter was, having an equal fellowship with him both in honor and power: but the beginning hereof proceedeth from unity, to signify unto us that there is but one Church” (De catholicae ecclesiae unitate 4). [14.] When and How One Was Placed Before the Others. St. Jerome also, in his commentary upon the Epistle of Paul to Titus (Comm. Tit. 1:5), has a saying not much unlike this: “Before that, by the instinct of the devil, there arose parties in religion, the churches were governed by the common advice of the elders; but after that every one thought that whom he had baptized were his own, and not Christ’s, it was decreed that one of the elders should be chosen, and set over the rest, who should have the care of the whole Church laid upon him, and by whose means all schisms should be removed.” Yet Jerome does not avouch this as an order set down of God; for straightway he adds, “Even as the elders knew, by the continual custom of the Church, that they were subject to him that is set over them, so the bishops must know that they are above the elders rather by custom than by the prescript rule of God’s truth, and that they ought to have the government of the Church in common with them.” Thus far, Jerome. Now, therefore, no man can forbid by any right that we may return to the old appointment of God, and rather receive that than the custom devised by men.

18. [15.] The Duties of Ministers. The offices of the ministers are divers; yet, notwithstanding, most men do restrain them to two, in which all the rest are comprehended: to the teaching of the Gospel of Christ, and to the lawful administration of the sacraments. For it is the duty of the ministers to gather together a holy assembly, therein to expound the Word of God, and also to apply the general doctrine to the state and use of the Church; to the end that the doctrine which they teach may profit the hearers, and may build up the faithful. The minister’s duty, I say, is to teach the unlearned, and to exhort (1 Thess 5:12 †); yea, and to urge them to go forward in the way of the Lord who do stand still, or linger and go slowly on: moreover, to comfort and to strengthen those which are faint-hearted, and to arm them against the manifold temptations of Satan; to rebuke offenders; to bring them home that go astray; to raise them that are fallen; to convince the gainsayers (Tit 1:9 †); to chase away the wolf from the Lord’s flock; to rebuke wickedness and wicked men wisely and severely; not to wink at nor to pass over great wickedness. And, besides, to administer the sacraments, and to commend the right use of them, and to prepare all men by wholesome doctrine to receive them; to keep together all the faithful in a holy unity; and to encounter schisms. To conclude, to catechise the ignorant, commend the necessity of the poor to the Church, to visit and instruct those that are sick, or entangled with divers temptations, and so keep them in the way of life. Besides all this, to provide diligently that there be public prayers and supplications made in time of necessity, together with fastings, that is, a holy abstinency, and most carefully to look to those things which belong to the tranguillity, peace, and safety of the Church.

19. And to the end that the minister may perform all these things the better, and with more ease, it is required of him that he be one that fears God, prays diligently, gives himself much to the reading of the Scripture, and, in all things, and at all times, is watchful, and does show forth a good example unto all men of holiness of life.

20. [16.] Discipline. And seeing that there must be discipline in the Church, and that, among the ancient Fathers, excommunication was in used, and there were ecclesiastical judgments among the people of God, wherein this discipline was exercised by godly men; it belongs also to minister’s duty, for the edifying of the Church, to moderate this discipline, according to the condition of the time and public estate, and according to necessity. Wherein this rules is always to be holden, that “all things ought to be done to edification, decently, and in order” (1 Cor 14:26 , 40†) without any oppression or tumult. For the apostle witnesses, that “power was given to him of God, to edify and not to destroy” (2 Cor 10:8 ). And the Lord himself forbade the cockle to be plucked up in the Lord’s field, because there would be danger lest the wheat also be plucked up with it (Matt 13:29 ).

21. [17.] Even Evil Ministers Are to Be Heard. But as for the error of the Donatists, we do here utterly detest it; who esteem the doctrine and administration of the sacraments to be either effectual or not effectual, according to the good or evil life of the ministers. For we know that the voice of Christ is to be heard, though it be out of the mouths of evil ministers; foreasmuch as the Lord himself said, “Observe and do whatsoever they bid you observe, but do ye not after their works” (Matt 23:3 ). We know that the sacraments are sanctified by the institution, and through the word of Christ; and that they are effectual to the godly, although they be administered by ungodly ministers. Of which matter Augustine, that blessed servant of God, did reason diversely out of the Scriptures against the Donatists.

22. [18.] Synods. Yet, notwithstanding there ought to be a discipline among the ministers—for there should be intelligent inquiry in the synods toughing the life and doctrine of the ministers—those that offend should be rebuked of the elders, and be brought into the way, if they be not past recovery; or else be deposed, and, as wolves, be driven from the Lord’s flock by the true pastors if they be incurable. For, if they be false teachers, they are in no wise to be tolerated. Neither do we disallow of general councils, if that they be taken up according to the example of the apostles, to the salvation of the Church, and not to the destruction thereof.

23. [19.] The Worker Is Worthy of His Reward. The faithful ministers also are worthy (as good workmen) of their reward; neither do they offend when they receive a stipend, and all things that be necessary for themselves and their family. For the apostle shows that these things are for just cause given by the Church, and received by the ministers, in 1 Cor 9:14 , and in 1 Tim 5:17-18 , and in other places also.

The Anabaptists likewise are confuted by this apostolical doctrine, who condemn and rail upon those ministers who live from the ministry.

Chapter XIX: Of the Sacraments of the Church of Christ [cf. CA XIII]
1. [1.] The Sacraments [Are] Added to the Word and What They Are. God even from the beginning added unto the preaching of the Word his sacraments, or sacramental signs, in his Church. And to this does the holy Scripture plainly testify. Sacraments are mystical symbols, or holy rites, or sacred actions, ordained by God himself, consisting of his Word, of outward signs, and of things signified: whereby he keeps in continual memory, and recalls to mind, in his Church, his great benefits bestowed upon man; and whereby he seals up his promises, and outwardly represents, and, as it were, offers unto our sight those things which inwardly he performs unto us, and therewithal strengthens and increases our faith through the working of God’s Spirit in our hearts; lastly, whereby he does separate us from all other people and religions, and consecrates and binds us wholly unto himself, and gives us to understand what he requires of us.

2. [2.] Some Are Sacraments of the Old, Others of the New, Testament. These sacraments are either of the Old Church or of the New. The sacraments of the Old were Circumcision, and the Paschal Lamb, which was offered up; under which name, reference is made to the sacrifices which were in use from the beginning of the world. The Number of Sacraments of the New People. The sacraments of the New Church are Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.

[3.] Some there are who reckon seven sacraments of the New Church. Of which number we grant that Repentance, Matrimony, and the Ordination of ministers (we mean not the popish, but the apostolical ordination) are very profitable, but no sacraments. As for confirmation and extreme unction, they are mere devices of men, which the Church may very well spare, without any damage or inconvenience at all; and, therefore, we have them not in our churches, because there are certain things in them which we can by no means allow of. As for that merchandise which the Romish prelates use in ministering their sacraments, we utterly abhor it.

3. The Author of the Sacraments. The author and institutor of all sacraments is not any man, but God alone: for man can by no means ordain sacraments; because they belong to the worship of God, and it is not for man to appoint and prescribe a service of God, but to embrace and retain that which is taught unto him by the Lord. Besides, the sacramental signs have God’s promises annexed to them, which necessarily require faith: now faith stays itself only upon the Word of God; and the Word of God is resembled to writings or letters, the sacraments to seals, which the Lord alone sets to his own letters. [4.] Christ Still Works in Sacraments. And as the Lord is the author of the sacraments, so he continually works in that Church where they are rightly used; so that the faithful, when they receive them from the ministers, do know that the Lord works in his own ordinance, and therefore they receive them as from the hand of God; and the minister’s faults (if there be any notorious in them) can not hurt them, seeing they do acknowledge the goodness of the sacraments to depend upon the ordinance of the Lord. The Author and the Ministers of the Sacraments to Be Distinguished. For which cause they put a difference, in the administration of the sacraments, between the Lord himself and his minister; confessing that the substance of the sacraments is given them by the Lord, and the outward signs by the ministers of the Lord.

4. [5.] The Substance or Chief Thing in the Sacraments. But the principal thing, which in all sacraments is offered by the Lord, and chiefly regarded by the godly of all ages (which some have called the substance and matter of the sacraments), is Christ our Savior—that only sacrifice (Heb 10:12 †); and that Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8 †); that rock, also, of which all our fathers drank (1 Cor 10:4 †), by whom all the elect are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, through the Holy Spirit (Col 2:11-12 †), and are washed from all their sins (Rev 1:5 †; 1 Cor 6:11 †), and are nourished with the very body and blood of Christ unto eternal life (John 6:54 †).

5. [6.] The Similarity and Difference in the Sacraments of Old and New Peoples. Now, in respect of that which is the chief thing, and the very matter and substance of the sacraments, the sacraments of both covenants are equal. For Christ, the only Mediator and Saviour of the faithful, is the chief thing and substance in them both: one and the same God is author of them both: they were given unto both churches as signs and seals of the grace and promises of God; which should call to mind and renew the memory of God’s great benefits to them, and should distinguish the faithful from all the religions in the world; lastly which should be received spiritually by faith, and should bind the receivers unto the Church, and admonish them of their duty. In these, I say and such like things, the sacraments of both churches are not unequal, although in the outward signs they are diverse.

6. [7.] And, indeed, we do yet put a greater difference between them; for ours are more firm and durable, as those which are not to be changed to the end of the world. Again, ours testify that the substance and promise is already fulfilled and performed in Christ, whereas the other did only signify that they should be fulfilled. And again, ours are more simple, and nothing so painful, nothing so sumptuous, nor so full of ceremonies. Moreover, they belong to greater people, that is dispersed through the face of the whole earth; and because they are more excellent, and do by the Spirit of God stir up in us a greater measure of faith, therefore a more plentiful measure of the spirit does follow them.

7. [8.] Our Sacraments Succeed the Old Which Are Abrogated. But now, since Christ the true Messiah is exhibited unto us, and the abundance of grace is poured forth upon the people of the New Testament, the sacraments of the Old Law are surely abrogated and have ceased; and in their stead the sacraments of the New Testament are placed—namely, for Circumcision, Baptism; and for the Paschal Lamb and sacrifices, the Supper of the Lord.

8. [9.] In What the Sacraments Consist. And as in the old Church the sacraments consisted of the word, the sign, and the thing signified; so even at this day they are composed, as it were, of the same parts. For the Word of God makes them sacraments, which before were none. The Consecration of the Sacraments. For they are consecrated by the Word and declared to be sanctified by him who first ordained them. To sanctify or consecrate a thing is to dedicate it unto God, and unto holy uses; that is, to take it from the common and ordinary use, and to appoint it to some holy use. As in Baptism, the outward sign is the element of water, and that visible washing which is done by the minister; but the thing signified is regeneration and the cleansing from sins. Likewise, in the Lord’s Supper, the outward sign is bread and wine, taken from things commonly used for meat and drink; but the thing signified is the body of Christ which was given, and his blood which was shed for us, or the communion of the body and blood of the Lord. Wherefore, the water, bread, and wine, considered in their own nature, and out of this holy use and institution of the Lord, are only that which they are called, and which we find them to be. But let the Word of God be added to them, together with invocation upon his holy name, and the renewing of their first institution and sanctification, and then these signs are consecrated, and declared to be sanctified by Christ. For Christ’s first institution and consecration of the sacraments stands yet in force in the Church of God, in such sort that they who celebrate the sacraments no otherwise than the Lord himself from the beginning has appointed, have still, even to this day, the use and benefit of that first and most excellent consecration. And for this cause, in the administration of the sacraments, the very words of Christ are repeated.

9. [10.] Signs Take Name of Things Signified. And as we learn out of the Word of God that these signs were appointed unto another end and use than the common one, therefore we teach that they now, in this their holy use, do take upon them the names of things signified, and are not still called bare water (John 3:3 , 5†), bread, or wine; but that the water is called “regeneration, and washing of the new birth” (Tit 3:5 †), and the bread and wine “the body of the Lord” (Matt 26:26-27 †; 1 Cor 10:16 †), or the pledges and sacraments of his body and blood. Not that the signs are turned into the things signified, or cease to be that which in their own nature they are (for then they could not be sacraments, which should consist only the thing signified, and have no signs); [The Sacramental Union.] but therefore do the signs bear the names of things, because they are mystical tokens of holy things, and because the signs and things signified are sacramentally joined together; joined together, I say, or united by a mystical signification, and by the purpose and will of him who first instituted them.

10. For the water, bread, and wine are not common, but holy signs. And he that instituted water in Baptism did not institute it with that mind and purpose that the faithful should only be dipped in the water of Baptism; and he which commanded the bread to be eaten and the wine to be drunk in the Supper did not mean that the faithful should only receive bread and wine without any further mystery, as they eat bread at home in their houses: but that they should spiritually be partakers of the things signified, and by faith be truly purged from their sins, and be partakers of Christ also.

11. [11.] The Sects. And, therefore, we can not allow of them who attribute the consecration of the sacraments to I know what syllables; to the rehearsal of certain words pronounced by him that is consecrated, and that has an intent of consecrating (cf. Council of Trent XIII, chaps. 3–4; can. 4; IV. can. 11 [Denzinger 876–77; 886; 854]); or to some accidental things which are not left unto us either by the word, or by the example, of Christ or his apostles. We do also mislike the doctrine of those that speak no otherwise of the sacraments than of common signs, not sanctified, nor effectual (cf. Zwingli, De vera et falsa religione commentarius). We condemn them also who, because of the invisible things, do despise the visible, and think the signs superfluous, because they do already enjoy the things themselves; such were the Messalians, as it is recorded. The Thing Signified Is Neither Included in or Bound to the Sacraments. We do disallow their doctrine also who teach that grace and the things signified are to be so tied to and included in the signs that whosoever do outwardly receive the signs must needs inwardly participate in the grace, and in the things signified, what manner of men soever they be (cf. Luther, The Large Catechism).

12. [12.] Notwithstanding, as we esteem not the goodness of the sacraments by the worthiness or unworthiness of the ministers, so likewise we do not weigh them by the condition of the receivers. For we know that the goodness of the sacraments does depend upon faithfulness, or truth, and the mere goodness of God. For even as the God’s Word remains the true Word of God; wherein not only bare words are uttered when it is preached, but therewithal the things signified by the words are offered of God, although the wicked and unbelievers hear and understand the words, yet enjoy not the things signified, because they receive them not by true faith; even so the sacraments, consisting of the Word, the signs, and the things signified, continue true and perfect sacraments, not only because they are holy things, but also because God offers the things signified, howsoever the unbelievers receive not the things which are offered. This comes to pass, not by any fault in God, the author and offerer of them, but by the fault of men, who do receive them without faith, and unlawfully: “whose unbelief can not make the truth of God of none effect” (Rom 3:3 ).

13. The Purpose for Which Sacraments Were Instituted. Now, forasmuch as in the beginning, where we showed what the sacraments were, we did also, by the way, set down to what end they were ordained, it will not be necessary to trouble ourselves with repeating any thing which has been already handled. Next, therefore, in order, it remains to speak severally of the sacraments of the Christian Church.

Chapter XX: Of Holy Baptism [cf. CA IX]
1. [1.] The Institution of Baptism. Baptism was instituted and consecrated by God; and the first that baptized was John, who dipped Christ in the water in Jordan. From him it came to the apostles, who also baptized with water. The Lord, in plain words, commanded them to preach the Gospel and to “baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19 ). And Peter also, when divers demanded of him what they ought to do, said to them, in Acts, “Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38 ). Hence baptism is called by some a sign of initiation for God’s people, whereby the elect of God are consecrated unto God.

2. [2.] One Baptism. There is but one baptism in the Church of God (Eph 4:5 †); for it is sufficient to be once baptized or consecrated unto God. For baptism once received does continue all a man’s life, and is a perpetual sealing of our adoption unto us. What It Means to Be Baptized. For to be baptized in the name of Christ is to be enrolled, entered, and received into the covenant and family, and so into the inheritance, of the sons of God; yea, and in this life to be called after the name of God; that is to say, to be called a son of God (Matt 28:19 †; cf. Matt 3:16-17 †; Gal 3:26-27 †); to be purged also from the filthiness of sins, and to be endued with the manifold grace of God, in order to lead a new and innocent life (Acts 22:16 †; Rom 6:5 †). [3.] Baptism, therefore, does call to mind and keep in remembrance the great benefit of God performed to mankind. 3. For we are all born in the pollution of sin and are the children of wrath (Eph 2:3 †). But God, who is rich in mercy, does freely purge us from our sins by the blood of his Son (Eph 2:4 †), and in him adopts us to be his sons (Eph 1:5 †), and by a holy covenant does join us to himself, and does enrich us with divers gifts, that we might live a new life (Eph 2:1-7 †). All these things are sealed up unto us in baptism. For inwardly we are regenerated, purified, and renewed of God through the Holy Spirit; and outwardly we receive the sealing of most notable gifts by the water, by which also those great benefits are represented, and, as it were, set before our eyes to be looked upon. We Are Baptized with Water. And therefore are we baptized, that is, washed or sprinkled with visible water. For the water makes clean that which is filthy, and refreshes and cools the bodies that fail and faint. And the grace of God deals in like manner with the soul; and that invisibly and spiritually.

4. [4.] The Obligation of Baptism. Moreover, by the sacrament of baptism God does separate us from all other religions and nations, and does consecrate us a peculiar people to himself, [as his heritage or treasure] (Ps 33:12 †). We, therefore, by being baptized, do confess our faith, and are bound to give unto God obedience, mortification of the flesh, and newness of life; yea, and we are soldiers enlisted for the holy warfare of Christ, that all our life long we should fight against the world, Satan, and our flesh. Moreover, we are baptized into one body of the Church, that we might well agree with all the members of the Church in the same religion and mutual duties (1 Cor 12:13 †).

5. [5.] The Form of Baptism. We believe that the most perfect form of baptism is that by which Christ was baptized, and which the apostles did use. Those things, therefore, which by man’s device were added afterwards and used in the Church we do not consider necessary to the perfection of baptism. Of this kind is exorcism, the use of lights, oil, spittle (cf. John 9:6 ‡), and such other things; as, namely, that baptism is twice every year consecrated with divers ceremonies. But we believe that the baptism of the Church, which is but one, was sanctified in God’s first institution of it, and is consecrated by the Word, and is now of full force, by the first blessing of God upon it.

6. [6.] The Minister of Baptism. We teach that baptism should not be ministered in the Church by women or midwives. For Paul secludes women from ecclesiastical callings (1 Cor 14:34-35 †); but baptism belongs to ecclesiastical offices (1 Tim 2:9-15 †).

[7.] Anabaptists. We condemn the Anabaptists, who deny that young infants, born of faithful parents, are to be baptized (cf. The Schleitheim Confession 1). For, according to the doctrine of the Gospel, “theirs is the kingdom of God” (Matt 19:14 †; Mark 10:14 †; Luke 18:16 †), and they are written in the covenant of God (Gen 17:7 †; Acts 2:39 †; 3:25†; 1 Cor 7:14 †). Why, then, should not the sign of the covenant of God be given to them? Why should they not be consecrated by holy baptism, who are God’s peculiar people and are in the Church of God? We condemn also the Anabaptists in the rest of those peculiar opinions which they hold against the Word of God. We therefore are not Anabaptists, neither do we agree with them in any point that is theirs.

Chapter XXI: Of the Holy Supper of the Lord [cf. CA X]
1. [1.] The Supper of the Lord. The Supper of the Lord (which is called the Lord’s Table [Mal 1:7 , 12‡ (?)], and the Eucharist, that is, a Thanksgiving [1 Cor 10:16 ‡ (variant); cf. Matt 26:27 ‡]) is, therefore, commonly called a supper, because it was instituted by Christ at his last supper, and does as yet represent the same, and because in it the faithful are spiritually fed and nourished. [2.] The Author and Consecrator of the Supper. For the author of the Supper of the Lord is not an angel or man, but the very Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did first of all consecrate it to his Church. And the same blessing and consecration does still remain among all those who celebrate no other but that very Supper, which the Lord did institute, and at that do recite the words of the Supper of the Lord, and in all things look unto the one Christ by a true faith; at whose hands, as it were, they do receive that which they do receive by the ministry of the ministers of the Church.

2. [3.] A Memorial of God’s Benefits. The Lord, by this sacred rite, would have that great benefit to be kept in fresh remembrance which he procured for mankind; to wit, that by giving up his body to death and shedding his blood he has forgiven us all our sins, and redeemed us from eternal death and the power of the devil, and now feeds us with his flesh, and gives us his blood to drink: which things, being apprehended spiritually by a true faith, do nourish us up to life everlasting. And this so great a benefit is renewed so oft as the Supper is celebrated. For the Lord said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19 †).

By this holy Supper also it is sealed unto us, that the very body of Christ was truly given up for us, and his blood shed for the remission of our sins, lest our faith might somewhat waver.

3. [4.] The Sign and Thing Signified. And this is outwardly represented unto us by the minister in the sacrament, after a visible manner, and, as it were, laid before our eyes to be seen, which is inwardly in the soul invisibly performed by the Holy Spirit. Outwardly, bread is offered by the minister, and the words of the Lord are heard: “Take, eat; this is may body”; and, “Drink ye all of it; this is my blood” (Matt 26:26-28 †; Luke 22:17-20 †). Therefore the faithful do receive that which is given by the ministers of the Lord, and do eat the bread of the Lord, and do drink of the Lord’s cup. And at the same time inwardly, by the working of Christ through the Holy Spirit, they receive also the flesh and blood of the Lord, and do feed on them unto life eternal. For the flesh and blood of Christ is true meat and drink unto life eternal (John 6:55-58 †): yea, Christ himself, in that he was delivered for us, and is our Saviour, is that special thing and substance of the Supper: and there we suffer nothing to be put in his place.

4. [5.] But that it may the better and more plainly be understood how the flesh and blood of Christ are the meat and drink of the faithful, and are received by the faithful unto life eternal, we will add, moreover, these few things:

Eating is of divers sorts. (1.) There is corporeal eating, whereby meat is taken into a mn’s mouth, chewed with the teeth, swallowed down, and digested. After this manner did the Capernaites in times past think that they should eat the flesh of the Lord; but they are confuted by him (John 6:30-63 ). For as the flesh of Christ could not be eaten bodily, without great wickedness and cruelty, so is it not food for the body, as all men do confess (cf. Augustine, De doctrina christiana 3.55). We therefore disallow that canon in the Pope’s decrees, Ego Berengarius (Gratian’s Decretum III [De Consecrat.] 2.42). For neither did godly antiquity believe, neither yet do we believe, that the body of Christ can be eaten corporeally and essentially, with a bodily mouth.

5. [6.] Spiritual Eating of the Lord. (2.) There is also a spiritual eating of Christ’s body; not such one whereby it may be thought that the very meat is changed into the spirit, but whereby (the Lord’s body and blood remaining in their own essence and property) those things are spiritually communicated unto us, not after a corporeal, but after a spiritual manner, through the Holy Spirit, who does apply and bestow upon us those things (to wit, remission of sins, deliverance, and life eternal) which are prepared for us by the flesh and blood of our Lord, sacrificed for us; so that Christ does now live in us, as we live in him; and does cause us to apprehend him by true faith to this end, that he may become unto us such a spiritual meat and drink, that is to say, our life.

6. [7.] Christ as Our Food Sustains Us in Life. For even as corporeal meat and drink do not only refresh and strengthen our bodies, but also keep them in life; even so the flesh of Christ delivered for us, and his blood shed for us, do not only refresh and strengthen our souls, but also do preserve them alive, not so far as they are corporeally eaten and drunken, but so far as they are communicated unto us spiritually by the Spirit of God, the Lord saying, “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51 †): also it is the spirit that gives life: “the flesh” (to wit, corporeally eaten) “profiteth nothing; the words which I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63 †). [8.] Christ Received by Faith. And as we must by eating receive the meat into our bodies, to the end that it may work in us, and show its efficacy in us (because, while it is without us, it profiteth us not at all); even so it is necessary that we receive Christ by faith, that he may be mad ours, and that he live in us, and we in him. For he says, “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in me shall not thirst any more” (John 6:35 †); and also, “He that eateth me, shall live through me; and he abideth in me, and I in him” (John 6:57 , 56†).

7. [9.] Spiritual Food. From all this it appears manifestly, that by spiritual meat we mean not any imaginary thing, but the very body of our Lord Jesus, given to us; which yet is received by the faithful not corporeally, but spiritually by faith: in which point we do wholly follow the doctrine of our Lord and Saviour Christ, in John 6 . [10.] Eating Necessary for Salvation. And this eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of the Lord is so necessary to salvation that without it no man can be saved. But this spiritual eating and drinking takes place also without the Supper of the Lord, even so often as, and wheresoever, a man does believe in Christ. To which purpose that sentence of St. Augustine does happily belong, “Why dost thou prepare thy teeth and belly? Believe, and thou hast eaten” (Augustine, In Evangelium Johannis tractatus 25.12).

8. [11.] Sacramental Eating of the Lord. (3.) Besides that former spiritual eating, there is a sacramental eating of the body of the Lord; whereby the believer not only is partaker, spiritually and internally, of the true body and blood of the Lord, but also, by coming to the Table of the Lord, does outwardly receive the visible sacraments of the body and blood of the Lord. True it is, that by faith the believer did before receive the food that gives life, and still receives the same; but yet, when he receives the sacrament, he receives something more. For he goes on in continual communication of the body and blood of the Lord, and his faith is daily more and more kindled, more strengthened and refreshed, by the spiritual nourishment. For while we live, faith has continual increasings; and he that outwardly does receive the sacrament with a true faith, the same does not only receive the sign, but also does enjoy (as we said) the thing itself. Moreover, the same does obey the Lord’s institution and commandment, and with a joyful mind give thanks for his redemption and that of all mankind, and makes a faithful remembrance of the Lord’s death, and does witness the same before the Church, of which body he is a member. This also is sealed to those who receive the sacrament, that the body of the Lord was given, and his blood shed, not only for men in general, but particularly for every faithful communicant, whose meat and drink he is, to life eternal.

9. [12.] Unbelievers Take the Sacrament to Their Judgment. But as for him that without faith comes to this Holy Table of the Lord, he he is made partaker of the outward sacrament only; but the matter of the sacrament, from whence comes life unto salvation, he receives not at all; and such men do unworthily eat of the Lord’s Table. “Now they who do unworthily eat of the Lord’s bread or drink of the Lord’s cup, they are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and they eat and drink it to their judgment” (1 Cor 11:27-29 †). For when they do not approach with true faith, they do despite unto the death of Christ, and therefore eat and drink condemnation to themselves.

10. [13.] The Presence of Christ in the Supper. We do not, therefore, so join the body of the Lord and his blood with the bread and wine, as though we thought that the bread is the body of Christ, more than after a sacramental manner; or that the body of Christ does lie hid corporeally under the bread, so that it ought to be worshiped under the form of bread; or yet that whosoever he be who receives the sign, receives also the thing itself. The body of Christ is in the heavens, at the right hand of the Father; and therefore our hearts are to be lifted up on high, and not to be fixed on the bread, neither is the Lord to be worshiped in the bread. Yet the Lord is not absent from his Church when she celebrates the Supper. The sun, being absent from us in the heavens, is yet, notwithstanding, present among us effectually: how much more Christ, the Sun of Righteousness (cf. Mal 4:2 ‡), though in body he be absent from us in the heavens, yet is present among us, not corporeally, but spiritually, by his lively operation, and so as he himself promised, in his Last Supper, to be present among us (John 14-16 esp. John 14:19 † and 15:1–5†). Whereupon it follows that we have not the Supper without Christ, and yet that we may have meanwhile an unbloody and mystical supper, even as all antiquity called it.

11. [14.] Other Purposes of the Lord’s Supper. Moreover, we are admonished, in the celebration of the Supper of the Lord, to be mindful of the body whereof we are members; and that, therefore, we should be at concord with our brethren, that we live holily, and not pollute ourselves with wickedness and strange religions; but, persevering in the true faith to the end of our live, give diligence to excel in holiness of life. [15.] Preparation for the Supper. It is therefore very requisite that, purposing to come to the Supper of the Lord, we do examine ourselves, according to the commandment of the apostle: first, with what faith we are indued, whether we believe that Christ is come to save sinners and to call them to repentance, and whether each man believes that he is in the number of them that are delivered by Christ and saved; and whether he has purposed to change this wicked life, to live holily, and to persevere through God’s assistance, in the true religion, and in concord with his brethren, and to give worthy thanks to God for his delivery.

12. [16.] The Observance of the Supper with Both Bread and Wine. We think that rite, manner, or form of the Supper to be the most simple and excellent which comes nearest to the first institution of the Lord and to the apostles’ doctrine: which does consist in declaring the Word of God, in godly prayers, in the action itself that the Lord used, and the repeating of it; in the eating of the Lord’s body and drinking of his blood; in the wholesome remembrance of the Lord’s death, and faithful giving of thanks; and in a holy fellowship in the union of the body of the Church.

[17.] We therefore disallow those who have taken from the faithful one part of the sacrament, to wit, the Lord’s cup (cf. Council of Constance XIII [Denzinger 626]). For these do very grievously offend against the institution of the Lord, who says, “Drink ye all of this” (Matt 26:27 †); which he did not so plainly say of the bread.

13. [18.] What manner of mass it was that the fathers used, whether it were tolerable or intolerable, we do not now dispute. But this we say freely, that the mass which is now used throughout the Roman Church is quite abolished out of our churches for many and just causes, which, for brevity’s sake, we will not now particularly recite. Truly we could not approve of it, because they have changed a most wholesome action into a vain spectacle; also because the mass is made a meritorious matter, and is said for money; likewise because in it the priest is said to make the very body of the Lord, and to offer the same really, even for the remission of the sins of the quick and the dead (cf. Council of Trent XXII, chap. 2, can. 3 [Denzinger 940, 950]). Add this also, that they do it for the honor, worship, and reverence of the saints in heaven (cf. Council of Trent XXII, chap. 3, can. 5 [Denzinger 941; 951]) (and for the relief of souls in purgatory), etc.

Chapter XXII: Of Holy and Ecclesiastical Meetings
1. [1.] What Ought to Be Done in Meetings for Worship. Although it be lawful for all men privately at home to read the Holy Scriptures, and by instruction to edify one another in the true religion, yet that the Word of God may be lawfully preached to the people, and prayers and supplication publicly made, also that the sacraments may be lawfully administered, and that collections may be made for the poor, and to defray all necessary charges, or to supply the wants of the Church, it is very needful that there should be holy meetings and ecclesiastical assemblies. For it is manifest that, in the apostolic and primitive Church, there were such assemblies, frequented of godly men.

2. [2.] Meetings for Worship Not to Be Neglected. So many, then, as do despise them, and separate themselves from them, they are contemners of true religion, and are to be urged by the pastors and godly magistrates to abstain from stubbornly absenting themselves from sacred assemblies. [3.] Meetings Are Public. Now, ecclesiastical assemblies must not be hidden and secret, but public and common; except persecution by the enemies of Christ and the Church will not suffer them to be public; for we know what manner of assemblies the primitive Church had formerly in secret corners, being under the tyranny of Roman emperors.

3. [4.] Decent Meeting Places. But let those places where the faithful meet together be descent, and in all respects fit for God’s Church. Therefore, let houses be chosen for that purpose, or churches, that are large and fair, so that they be purge from all such things as do not beseem the Church. And let all things be ordered as is most meet for comeliness, necessity, and godly decency, that nothing be wanting which is requisite for rites and orders, and the necessary uses of the Church.

4. [5.] Modesty and Humility to Be Observed in Meetings. And as we believe that God does not dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48 ‡; cf. Acts 17:24 ‡), so we know that by reason of the Word of God, and holy exercises therein celebrated, places dedicated to God and his worship are not profane, but holy; and that therefore such as are conversant in them ought to behave themselves reverently and modestly, as they who are in a sacred place, in the presence of God and his holy angels. [6.] The True Ornamentation of Sanctuaries. All excess of apparel, therefore, is to be abandoned in churches and places where Christians meet for prayer, together with all pride, and whatsoever else does not beseem Christian humility, discipline and modesty. For the true ornament of churches does not consist in ivory, gold, and precious stones; but in the sobriety, godliness, and virtues of those who are in the church. [7.] “Let all things be done decently and in order” in the church. To conclude, “Let things be done unto edifying” (1 Cor 14:26 , 40†). Therefore, let all strange tongues keep silence in the holy assemblies, and let all things be uttered in the vulgar tongue, which is understood of all men in the company.

Chapter XXIII: Of the Prayers of the Church, of Singing, and of Canonical Hours
1. [1.] Common Language. True it is that a man may lawfully privately in any tongue that he does understand; but public prayers ought, in the holy assemblies, to be made in the vulgar tongue, or such a language as is known to all (1 Cor 14 ‡). Prayer. Let all the prayers of the faithful be poured forth to God alone, through the mediation of Christ only, out of a true faith and pure love. As for invocation of saints, or using them as intercessors to entreat for, the priesthood of our Lord Christ and true religion will not permit us. Prayer must be made for the magistracy, for kings, and all that are placed in authority (1 Tim 2:1-4 †), for ministers of the Church, and for all necessities of churches; and especially in any calamity of the Church prayer must be made, both privately and publicly, without ceasing.

2. Free Prayer. Moreover, we must pray willingly, and not by constraint, nor for any reward (1 Pet 5:2 ‡); [2.] neither must we superstitiously tie prayer to any place, as though it were not lawful to pray but in the church. There is no necessity that public prayers should be in form and time the same or alike in all churches. Let all churches use their liberty. Socrates, in his History, says, “In any country or nation whatsoever, you shall not find two churches which do wholly agree in prayer” (Socrates, Ecclesiastical History 5.22, 57) “The authors of this difference, I think, were those who had the government of the churches in several ages” (5.22, 61). But if any do agree, it deserves great commendation, and is to be imitated by others [cf. Bullinger, Decades 5:183].

3. [3.] The Method to Be Employed in Public Prayers. Besides this, there must be a mean and measure, as in every other thing, so also in public prayers, that they be not over-long and tedious. Let, therefore, most time be given to the teaching of the Gospel in such holy assemblies; and let there be diligent heed taken that the people in the assemblies be not wearied with over-long prayers, so that, when the preaching of the gospel should be heard, they, through wearisomeness, either desire to go for the themselves or to have the assembly wholly dismissed. For unto such the sermons seem to be overlong which otherwise are brief enough. Yea, and the preachers ought to keep a mean.

4. [4.] Singing. Likewise the singing in sacred assemblies ought to be moderated where it is in use. That song which they call the Gregorian Chant has many gross things in it; wherefore it is upon good cause rejected by our Church, and most other Reformed churches. If there be any churches which have faithful prayer in good manner, without any singing, they are not therefore to be condemned, for all churches have not the advantage and opportunity of sacred music. And certain it is by testimonies of antiquity that, as the custom of singing is very ancient in the Eastern churches, so it was long ere it was received in the Western churches.

5. [5.] Canonical Hours. In ancient times there were no such things as canonical hours; that is, fixed prayers framed for certain hours in the day, and therein chanted or often repeated, as the Papists’ manner is: which may be proved by many of their lessons, appointed in their hours, and divers other arguments. Moreover, they have many absurd things (or which I say no more) that are well omitted by our churches and replaced by matters more wholesome for the universal Church of God.

Chapter XXIV: Of Holydays, Fasts, and Choice of Meats [cf. CA XXVI].
1. [1.] The Time Necessary for Worship. Although religion be not tied unto time, yet can it not be planted and exercised without a due dividing and allotting-out of time for public prayers, and for the preaching of the Gospel, and for the celebration of the sacraments; and it is not lawful for any one to overthrow this appointment of the Church at his own pleasure. For except some due time and leisure were allotted to the outward exercise of religion, without doubt men would be quite drawn from it by their own affairs.

2. The Lord’s Day. In regard hereof, we see that in the ancient churches there were not only certain set hours in the week appointed for meetings, but that also the Lord’s Day itself, ever since the apostles’ time, was consecrated to religious exercises and to a holy rest (cf. Rev 1:10 †; Acts 20:7 †; 1 Cor 16:1-2 †); which also is now very well observed by our churches, for the worship of God and the increase of charity. Superstition. Yet herein we give no place unto the Jewish observation of the day, or to any superstitions. For we do not account one day to be holier than another (Rom 14:5 ff.†; Col 2:16-17 †), nor think that mere rest is of itself acceptable to God. Besides, we do celebrate and keep the Lord’s Day, and not the Jewish Sabbath, and that with a free observation.

3. [2.] The Festivals of Christ and the Saints. Moreover, if the churches do religiously celebrate the memory of the Lord’s Nativity, Circumcision, Passion, Resurrection, and of his Ascension into heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, according to Christian liberty, we do very well approve of it. But as for festival days, ordained for men or saints departed, we can not allow of them. For, indeed, festival days must be referred to the first table of the law, and belong peculiarly unto God (cf. Exod 20:5 †). To conclude, those festival days which are appointed for saints, and abrogated by us, have in them many gross things, unprofitable and not to be tolerated. In the mean time, we confess that the remembrance of saints, in due time and place, may be to good use and profit commended unto the people in sermons, and the holy examples of holy men set before their eyes to be imitated by all.

4. [3.] Fasting. Now, the more sharply the Church of Christ does condemn surfeiting, drunkenness, and all kings of lusts and intemperance, so much the more earnestly does it commend unto us Christian fasting. For fasting is nothing else than the abstinence and temperance of the godly, and a watching and chastising of our flesh, taken up for present necessity, whereby we are humbled before God, and withdraw from the flesh those things with which it is cherished, to the end that it may the more willingly and easily obey the Spirit. Wherefore they do not fast at all that have no regard for those things, but imagine that they fast if they stuff their bellies once a day, and for a set or prescribed time do abstain from certain meats, thinking that by this very work wrought they please God and acquire merit. Fasting is a help of the prayers of the saints and all virtues; but the fasts wherein the Jews fasted from meat, and not from wickedness (Zach 7†), pleased God nothing at all (Isa 58 †), as we may see in the books of the Prophets.

5. [4.] Public and Private Fasting. Now, fasting is either public or private. In olden times they celebrated public fasts in troublesome times and in the afflictions of the Church; wherein they abstained altogether from meat till the evening, and bestowed all that time in holy prayers, the worship of God, and repentance. These differed little from mournings and lamentations; and of these there is often mention made in the Prophets, and especially in the 2nd chapter of Joel (Joel 1:14 †; Joel 2:12-17 cf. 1 Sam 7:6 †; 31:13†). Such a fast should be kept at this day, when the Church is in distress. Private fasts are used by every one of us, according as every one feels the spirit weakened in him; for so he withdraws that which might cherish and strengthen the flesh.

6. [5.] Characteristics of Fasting. All fasts ought to proceed from a free and willing spirit, and such a one as is truly humbled, and not framed to win applause and the liking of men, much less to the end that a man might merit righteousness by them. But let every one fast to this end, that he may deprive the flesh of that which would cherish it, and that he may the more zealously serve God (Matt 6:16-18 †; Luke 18:11-14 †).

7. [6.] Lent. The fast of Lent has testimony of antiquity, but none out of the apostles’ writings; and therefore ought not, nor can not, be imposed on the faithful. It is certain that in old time there were divers manners and uses of this fast; whereupon Irenaeus, a most ancient writer, says, “Some think that this fast should be observed one day only, others two days, but others more, and some forty days. This diversity in keeping this fast began not in our times, but long before us; by those, as I suppose, who, not simply holding that which was delivered them from the beginning, fell shortly after into another custom, either through negligence or ignorance” (Irenaeus, Framentum 3). Moreover, Socrates, the historian, says, “Because no ancient record is found concerning this matter, I think the apostles left this to every man’s own judgment, that every one might work that which is good, without fear or constraint” (Socrates, Ecclesiastical History 5.22, 40).

8. [7.] Choice of Food. Now, as concerning the choice of meats, we suppose that, in fasting, all things should be denied to the flesh whereby the flesh is made more lusty, wherein it does most immoderately delight, and whereby it is most of all pampered, whether they be fish, spices, dainties, or excellent wines. Otherwise we know that all the creatures of God were made for the use and service of men. All things which God made are good (Gen 1:31 †), and are to be used in the fear of God, and with due moderation, without putting any difference between them (Gen 2:15-17 ). For the apostle says, “To the pure all things are pure” (Tit 1:15 ), and also, “Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake” (1 Cor 10:25 ). The same apostle calls the doctrine of those who teach to abstain from meats “the doctrine of demons”; for that “God created meats to be received with thanksgiving by them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim 4:1 , 3-4). The same apostle, in the Epistle to the Colossians, reproves those who, by an overmuch abstinence, will get unto themselves an opinion of holiness (Col 2:20-23 ). Sects. Therefore we do altogether mislike the Tatians and the Encratites, and all the disciples of Eustathius (of Sebaste), against whom the Gangrian Synod was assembled.

Chapter XXV: Of Catechising, of Comforting and Visiting the Sick
1. [1.] Youth to Be Instructed in Godliness. The Lord enjoined his ancient people to take great care and diligence in instructing the youth well, even from their infancy (2 Tim 3:15 ‡); and, moreover, commanded expressly in his Law that they should teach them, and declare the mystery of the sacrament unto them (Exod 12:25-27 †; Exod 13:8-16 †; cf. Deut 6:7 ‡). Now, forasmuch as is evident by the writings of the evangelists and apostles, that God has no less care of the youth of his new people (seeing he says, “Suffer little children to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven” [Matt 19:14 †; Mark 10:14 ]), therefore the pastors do very wisely who do diligently and betimes catechise their youth, laying the first grounds of faith, and faithfully teaching the rudiments of our religion, by expounding the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the doctrine of the sacraments, with other like principles and chief heads of our religion. Here let the Church perform her faithfulness and diligence in bringing the children to be catechised, as being desirous and glad to have her children well instructed.

2. [2.] The Visitation of the Sick. Seeing that men do never lie open to more grievous temptations than when they are exercised with infirmities, or else are sick and brought low by diseases, it behooves the pastors of the churches to be never more vigilant and careful for the safety of the flock than in such diseases and infirmities. Therefore let them visit the sick betimes, and let them be quickly sent for by the sick, if the matter shall so require; let them comfort and confirm them in the true faith; finally, let them strengthen them against the dangerous suggestions of Satan. In like manner, let them pray with the sick person at home in his house (cf. Jas 5:14-15 ‡); and, if need be, let them make prayers for the sick in the public meeting; and let them be careful that they have a happy passage out of this life. As for Popish visiting with the extreme unction, we have said before that we do not like it, because it has many absurd things in it, and such as are not approved by the canonical Scriptures.

Chapter XXVI: Of the Burial of the Faithful, and of the Care Which Is to Be Had for Such as Are Dead; Of Purgatory, and the Appearing of Spirits
1. [2.] The Burial of Bodies. The Scripture directs that the bodies of the faithful, as being temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19 ‡; cf. John 2:21-22 ‡), which we truly believe shall rise against at the last day, should be honorably, without any superstition, committed to the earth; and, besides, that we should make honorable mention of those who died in the Lord (cf. Rev 14:13 ‡), and perform all duties of love to those they leave behind, as their widows and fatherless children. Other care for the dead we do not enjoin. Therefore, we do greatly mislike the Cynics, who neglected the bodies of the dead, or did carelessly and disdainfully cast them into the earth, never speaking so much as a good word of the deceased, nor any whit regarding those who they left behind them.

2. [2.] The Care for the Dead. Again, we disapprove of those who are too much and preposterously officious to the dead; who, like the heathen, do greatly lament and bewail their dead (although we do not censure that moderate mourning which the apostle does allow [1 Thess 4:13 ], since it is unnatural not to touched with sorrow); and who do sacrifice for the dead, and mumble certain prayers, not without their penny for their pains; thinking by these prayers to deliver their friends from torments, wherein, being wrapped by death, they suppose they may be rid of them again by such lamentable songs.

3. [3.] The State of the Soul Departed from the Body. For we believe that the faithful, after bodily death, do go directly unto Christ (1 Thess 4:16 ‡; cf. Luke 23:43 ‡; Phil 1:23 ‡), and, therefore, do not stand in need of helps or prayers for the dead, or any other such duty of them that are alive. In like manner, we believe that the unbelievers are cast headlong into hell from whence there is no return opened to the wicked by any offices of those who live (Luke 16:29-31 †).

4. [4.] Purgatory. But as touching that which some teach concerning the fire of purgatory (cf. Eugenius IV, Bull “Laetentur coeli” [Denzinger 693]; Council of Trent XXV, “Decree Concerning Purgatory” [Denzinger 983]), it is directly contrary to the Christian faith (“I believe in the forgiveness of sins, and the life everlasting” [the Apostles’ Creed]), and to the absolute purgation of sins made by Christ, and to these sayings of Christ our Lord: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24 ). Again, “He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean” (John 13:10 ).

5. [5.] The Apparition of Spirits. Now, that which is recorded of the spirits or souls of the dead sometimes appearing to them who are alive, and craving certain duties of them whereby they may be set free: we count those apparitions among the delusions, crafts, and deceits of the Devil, who, as he can transform himself into an angel of light, so he labors tooth and nail either to overthrow the true faith, or else to call it into doubt (2 Cor 11:14 †). The Lord, in the Old Testament, forbade us to inquire the truth of the dead, and to have any thing to do with spirits (Deut 18:10-11 ). And to the glutton, being bound in torments, as the truth of the Gospel does declare, is denied any return to his brethren on earth; as the oracle of God pronouncing and saying, “They have Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one arose from the dead” (Luke 16:29 , 31).

Chapter XXVII: Of Rites, Ceremonies, and Things Indifferent [cf. CA XV]
1. [1.] Ceremonies and Rites. Unto the ancient people were given in old time certain ceremonies, as a kind of schooling to those who were kept under the law, as under a schoolmaster or tutor (Gal 3-4 †). But Christ, the deliverer, being once come, and the law taken away, we who believe are no more under the law (Rom 6:14 ), and the ceremonies have vanished out of use. And the apostles were so far from retaining them, or to repairing them, in Church of Christ, that they witnessed plainly that they would not lay any burden upon the Church (Acts 15:28 ). Wherefore we should seem to bring in and set up Judaism if we should multiply ceremonies or rites in the Church according to the manner of the Jewish Church. And thus we are not of their judgment who would have the Church of Christ bound by many and divers rites, as it were by a certain schooling. For if the apostles would not thrust upon the Christian people the ceremonies and rites which were appointed by God, who is there, I pray you, that is well in his wits, that will thrust upon it the inventions devised by man? The greater the heap of ceremonies in the Church, so much the more is taken, not only from Christian liberty, but also from Christ, and from faith in him; while the people seek those things in ceremonies which they should seek in the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, through faith. Wherefore a few moderate and simple rites, that are not contrary to the Word of God, do suffice the godly.

2. [2.] Diversity of Rites. And in that there is found diversity of rites in the churches, let no man, say, therefore, that the churches do not agree. Socrates says, in his Ecclesiastical History, “It were not possible to set down in writing all the ceremonies of the churches which are observed throughout cities and countries” (5.22, 62). “No religion does keep every where the same ceremonies, although they admit and receive one and the self-same doctrine touching them; for even they who have one and the self-same faith do disagree among themselves about ceremonies” (5.22.30–31). Thus much says Socrates; and we, at this day, having diversities in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and in certain other things, in our churches, yet we do not disagree in doctrine and faith; neither is the unity and society of churches rent asunder. For the churches have always used their liberty in such rites, as being things indifferent’ which we also do at this day.

3. [3.] Things Indifferent. But yet, notwithstanding, we admonish men to take heed that they count not among things indifferent such as are not indeed indifferent; as some used to count the mass and the use of images in the Church for things indifferent. “That is indifferent,” (says Jerome to Augustine) “which is neither good nor evil; so that, whether you do it or do it not, you are never the more just or unjust thereby” (Jerome, Epist. 112.16). Therefore, when things indifferent are wrested to the confession of faith, they cease to be free; as Paul does show that it is lawful for a man to eat flesh if no man do admonish him that it was offered to idols (1 Cor 10:27-28 ); for then it is unlawful, because he that eats it does seem to approve idolatry by eating of it (1 Cor 8:10 ).

Chapter XXVIII: Of the Goods of the Church, and the Right Use of Them
1. [1.] The Possessions of the Church and Their Proper Use. The Church of Christ has riches through the bountifulness of princes and the liberality of the faithful, who have given their goods to the Church. For the Church has need of such good; and has had goods from ancient time for the maintenance of things necessary for the Church. [2.] Now, the true use of the ecclesiastical goods was, and now is, to maintain learning in schools and in holy assemblies, with all the service, rites, and buildings of the Church; finally, to maintain teachers, scholars, and ministers, with other necessary things, and chiefly for the succor and relief of the poor. Management. But for the lawful dispensing of these ecclesiastical goods let men be chosen that fear God: wise men, and such as are of good report in the government of their families.

3. [3.] The Misuse of the Church’s Possessions. But if the goods of the Church, by injury of the time, and the boldness, ignorance, or covetousness of some, be turned to any abuse, let them be restored again, by godly and wise men, unto their holy use; for they must not connive at so impious an abuse. Therefore, we teach that schools and colleges, whereinto corruption is crept in doctrine, in the service of God, and in manners, must be reformed; and that the provision should be made, piously, faithfully, and wisely, for the relief of the poor.

Chapter XXIX.–Of Single Life, Wedlock, and Household Government [cf. CA XXIII]
1. [1.] Single People. Such as have the gift of chastity given unto them from above, so that they can with the heart or whole mind be pure and continent, and not be grievously burned with lust, let them serve the Lord in that calling, as long as they shall feel themselves endued with that heavenly gift; and let them not lift up themselves above others, but let them serve the Lord daily in simplicity and humility (1 Cor 7:7 ff.). For such are more apt for attending to heavenly things than they who are distracted with the private affairs of a family. But if, again, the gift be taken away, and they feel a continual burning, let them call to mind the words of the apostle, “It is better to marry than to burn” (1 Cor 7:9 ).

2. [2.] Marriage. For wedlock (which is the medicine of incontinency, and continency itself) was ordained by the Lord God himself, who blessed it most bountifully, and willed man and woman to cleave one to the other inseparably, and to live together in great concord (Gen 1:27-28 †; 2:24; Matt 19:5-6 ). Whereupon we know the apostle said, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled” (Heb 13:4 ). And again, “If a virgin marry, she hath not sinned” (1 Cor 7:28 ). The Sects. We therefore condemn polygamy, and those who condemn second marriages. [3.] How Marriages Are to Be Contracted. We teach that marriages ought to be contracted lawfully, in the fear of the Lord and not against the laws which forbid certain degrees to join in matrimony, lest the marriages should be incestuous. Let marriages be made with consent of the parents, or such as are instead of parents; and for that end especially for which the Lord ordained marriages. And let them be confirmed publicly in the Church with prayer and blessing. Moreover, let them be kept holy, with peace, faithfulness, dutifulness, love, and purity of the persons coupled together. Therefore let them take heed of brawlings, debates, lusts, and adulteries. [4.] Matrimonial Forum. Let lawful judgments and holy judges be established in the Church, who may maintain marriages, and may repress all dishonesty and shamefulness, and before whom controversies in matrimony may be decided and ended.

3. [5.] The Rearing of Children. Let Children also be brought up by the parents in the fear of the Lord; and let parents provide for their children, remembering the saying of the apostle, “He that provideth not for his own, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Tim 5:8 ). But especially let them teach their children honest arts and occupations, whereby they may maintain themselves. Let them keep from idleness, and plant in them true a true confidence in God in all these things; lest they, through distrust, or overmuch careless security, or filthy covetousness, wax loose, and in the end come to no good.

4. Now, it is most certain that those works which parents do in true faith, by the duties of marriage, and government of their families, are, before God, holy and good works indeed, and do please God no less pleasing than prayers, fastings, and alms-deeds. For so the apostle has taught in his epistles, especially in those to Timothy and Titus. [6.] And with the same apostle we account the doctrine of such as forbid marriage (cf. Rom 8:8 †), or do openly dispraise or secretly discredit it as not holy or clean, among the “doctrine of demons” (1 Tim 4:1 ).

5. And we do detest unclean single life, licentious lusts, and fornications, both open and secret, and the continency of dissembling hypocrites, when they are, of all men, most incontinent. All these God will judge (Heb 13:4 †). We do not disallow riches, not contemn rich men, if they be godly and use their riches well; but we reprove the sect of the Apostolicals, etc.

Chapter XXX.–Of the Magistracy [cf. CA XVI].
1. [1.] The Magistracy Is from God. The magistracy, of what sort soever it be, is ordained of God himself, for the peace and quietness of mankind; and so that he should have the chief place in the world (Rom 13:1-7 ). If the magistrate be an adversary to the Church, he may hinder and disturb it very much; but if he be a friend and a member of the Church, he is a most useful and excellent member thereof; he may profit it very much, and finally may and further it very excellently.

2. [2.] The Duty of the Magistrate. The chief duty of the civil magistrate is to procure and maintain peace and public tranquility: which, doubtless, he shall never do more happily than when he shall be truly seasoned with the fear of God and true religion—namely, when he shall, after the example of the most holy kings and princes of the people of the Lord, advance the preaching of the truth, and the pure and sincere faith, and shall root out lies and all superstition, with all impiety and idolatry, and shall defend the Church of God. For indeed we teach that the care of religion does chiefly appertain to the holy magistrate (Deut 17:18-19 †).

3. Let him, therefore, hold the Word of God in his hands, and look that nothing be taught contrary thereunto (Josh 1:7-8 †). [3.] In like manner, let him govern the people, committed to him of God, with good laws, made according to the Word of God in his hands, and look that nothing be taught contrary thereunto. Let him hold them in discipline and in duty and in obedience. Let him exercise judgment by judging uprightly; let him not respect any man’s person, or receive bribes. Let him protect widows, fatherless children, and those that be afflicted, against wrong; let him repress, yea, and cut off, such as are unjust, whether in deceit or by violence. “For he hath not received the sword of God in vain” (Rom 13:4 ).Therefore let him draw forth this sword of God against all malefactors, seditious persons, thieves, murderers, oppressors, blasphemers, perjured persons, and all those whom God has commanded him to punish or even to execute. Let him suppress stubborn heretics (who are heretics indeed), who cease not to blaspheme the majesty of God, and to trouble the Church, yea, and finally to destroy it.

4. War. And if it be necessary to preserve the safety of the people by war, let him do it in the name of God; provided he have first sought peace by all means possible, and can save his subjects in no way but by war. And while the magistrate does these things in faith, he serves God with those works which are good, and shall receive a blessing from the Lord.

[4.] We condemn the Anabaptists, who, as they deny that a Christian should bear the office of a magistrate, deny also that any man can justly be put to death by the magistrate, or that the magistrate may wage war (cf. The Schleitheim Confession 6), or that oaths should be administered by the magistrate (cf. The Schleitheim Confession 7), and such like things.

5. [5.] The Duty of Subjects. For as God will work the safety of his people by the magistrate (1 Tim 2:2 †), whom it is given to be, as it were, a father of world, so all subjects are commanded to acknowledge this benefit of God in the magistrate. Therefore let them honor and reverence the magistrate as the minister of God (Rom 13:4 †); let them love him, favor him, and pray for him as their father (1 Tim 2:2 †); and let them obey all his just and equal commandments. Finally, let them pay all customs and tributes, and all other duties of the like sort, faithfully and willingly. And if the common safety of the country and justice require it, and the magistrate do of necessity make war, let them even lay down their life, and spend their blood for the common safety and defense of the magistrate; and that in the name of God, willingly, valiantly, and cheerfully. For he that opposes himself against the magistrate does provoke the wrath of God against him (Rom 13:2 †).

Sects and Seditions. We condemn, therefore, all contemners of magistrates, rebels, enemies of the commonwealth, seditious villains, and, in a word, all such as do either openly or closely refuse to perform those duties which they owe.

The Conclusion: We beseech God, our most merciful Father in heaven, that he will bless the rulers of the people, and us, and his whole people, through Jesus Christ, our only Lord and Saviour; to whom be praise and glory and thanksgiving, both now and forever. Amen.

1 The translation of this title page is taken from Owen Jones, The Church of the Living God: Also, the Swiss and Belgian Confessions and Expositions of the Faith (London: Caryl Book Society, 1865), 87. This translation is in the public domain.

2 The translation of the preface is from Jones, The Church of the Living God, 83–86.

3 Ed. note: this decree found in the Second Helvetic Confession is reproduced with slight modification from Henry Bullinger, The Decades of Henry Bullinger (1849; repr., Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2004), 34–35. This text is in the public domain.

4 Ed. note: The text of this symbol is taken with slight modifications from The Decades of Henry Bullinger, 32–34. The works of Jerome referred to here are, Jerome, Opp. (Paris, 1693–1706), 5:122.

5 Ed. note: this last paragraph is our own translation.

6 The following translation of the confession is taken from “Appendix. English Version of the Second Helvetic Confession, A.D. 1566,” in Philip Schaff and David S. Schaff, eds. The Creeds of Christendom (1931; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 3:831–909. The text is in the public domain. The division and subtitles are taken from the Latin version and are translation from Arthur C. Cochrane, ed., Reformed Confessions of the 16th Century (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1966), 224–301.

7 Ed. note: This passage is part of a quotation by Cyprian also used in the parallel passage in Bullinger, Decades 5:51–52.

† This symbol indicates references added in later editions of a confession or catechism

‡ This symbol indicates references added by editors of the RSB project

Date: 1563
Author: Thomas Cranmer et. al.

Outline

Of faith in the Holy Trinity
Of the Word or Son of God which was made very man
Of the Going Down of Christ into Hell
Of the Resurrection of Christ
Of the Holy Ghost
Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation
Of the Old Testament
Of the Three Creeds
Of Original or Birth-sin
Of Free-Will
Of the Justification of Man
Of Good Works
Of Works before Justification
Of Works of Supererogation
Of Christ Alone without Sin
Of Sin after Baptism
Of Predestination and Election
Of Obtaining Eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ
Of the Church
Of the Authority of the Church
Of the Authority of General Councils
Of Purgatory
Of Ministering in the Congregation
Of Speaking in the Congregation in such a Tongue as the People Understandeth
Of the Sacraments
Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which Hinders not the Effect of the Sacrament
Of Baptism
Of the Lord’s Supper
Of the Wicked which Eat not the Body of Christ in the Use of the Lord’s Supper
Of Both Kinds
Of the One Oblation of Christ Finished upon the Cross
Of the Marriage of Priests
Of Excommunicate Persons, How They Are to Be Avoided
Of the Traditions of the Church
Of the Homilies
Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers
Of the Civil Magistrates
Of Christian Men’s Goods, Which Are not Common
Of a Christian Man’s Oath

Articles of Religion[1]
Articles agreed upon by the Archbishops and bishops of both provinces and the whole clergy in the convocation holden at London in the year 1562 for the avoiding of diversities of opinions and for the establishing of consent touching true religion

I. Of faith in the Holy Trinity
There is but one[2] living and true God,[3] everlasting,[4] without body, parts,[5] or passions;[6] of infinite power,[7] wisdom,[8] and goodness;[9] the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible.[10] And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.[11]

II. Of the Word or Son of God which was made very man
The Son, which is the Word of the Father (John 1:1 , 14), begotten from everlasting of the Father,[12] the very[13] and eternal God,[14] and of one substance with the Father,[15] took Man’s nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance:[16] so that two whole and perfect Natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God, and very Man;[17] who truly suffered,[18] was crucified, dead, and buried,[19] to reconcile his Father to us (2 Cor 5:19 ),[20] and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for actual sins of men.[21]

III. Of the Going Down of Christ into Hell
As Christ died for us, and was buried, so also is it to be believed,[22] that he went down into Hell (Eph 4:9 ). [For the body lay in the sepulchre until the resurrection, but his Ghost departing from him, was with the ghosts that were in prison, or in Hell, and did preach to the same, as the place of St. Peter doth testify (1 Pet 3:18-20 ‡; 42, III).][23]

IV. Of the Resurrection of Christ
Christ did truly rise again from death,[24] and took again his body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of Man’s nature (Luke 24:39 John 20:20 , 27);[25] wherewith he ascended into Heaven, and there sitteth,[26] until he return to judge[27] all Men[28] at the last day (1 Cor 15:3-8 Matt 28:6 Luke 24:6 John 20 ).[29]

V. Of the Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son (Gal 4:6 Acts 16:7 Rom 8:9 John 15:26 ),[30] is of one substance,[31] majesty,[32] and glory,[33] with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.

VI. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation
Holy Scripture[34] containeth all things necessary to salvation:[35] so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.[36] In the name of the holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.

Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, The First Book of Samuel, The Second Book of Samuel, The First Book of Kings, The Second Book of Kings, The First Book of Chronicles, The Second Book of Chronicles, The First Book of Esdras, The Second Book of Esdras, The Book of Esther, The Book of Job, The Psalms, The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, or Preacher, Cantica, or Songs of Solomon, Four Prophets the greater, Twelve Prophets, the less.

And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:

The Third Book of Esdras, The Fourth Book of Esdras, The Book of Tobias, The Book of Judith, The rest of the Book of Esther, The Book of Wisdom, Jesus the Son of Sirach, Baruch the Prophet, The Song of the Three Children, The Story of Susanna, Of Bel and the Dragon, The Prayer of Manasses, The First Book of Maccabees, The Second Book of Maccabees.

All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them Canonical.

VII. Of the Old Testament
The Old Testament is not contrary to the New[37]: for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to Mankind by Christ,[38] who is the only Mediator between God and Man,[39] being both God and Man (John 8:56 Heb 10:1 11:6).[40] Wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises.[41] Although the Law given from God by Moses, as touching Ceremonies and Rites, do not bind Christian men,[42] nor the Civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth;[43] yet notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral (Rom 8:1-2 ‡; Acts 15:1 ‡; 28:29‡ [TR]).[44]

VIII. Of the Three Creeds
The Three Creeds, Nicene Creed,[45] Athanasius’s Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles’ Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture (Acts 4:29-31 1 Thess 2:13 2 Cor 2:17 ).

IX. Of Original or Birth-sin
Original Sin[46] standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk;[47]) but[48] it is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness,[49] and is of his own nature inclined to evil,[50] so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit;[51] and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation (Gen 6:12 Rom 5:12-21 1 Cor 15:22 ). And this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated;[52] whereby the lust of the flesh, called in the Greek, Fro/nhma sarko\j, which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire, of the flesh, is not subject to the law of God (Rom 8:6-7 ‡; 8:1 [TR]).[53] And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized,[54] yet the Apostle doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin (Rom 6:12 Rom 7:17 , 20; Gal 5:16-24 Jas 1:14-15 ‡).[55]

X. Of Free-Will
The condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God (Rom 7:14 Gal 5:16-17 ):[56] Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God,[57] without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will,[58] and working with us, when we have that good will (Ps 59:10 [Vulgate, Ps 58:10 ]; Phil 2:13 John 6:44 ‡; 1 Cor 15:10 ‡).[59]

XI. Of the Justification of Man
We are accounted righteous before God,[60] only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith,[61] and not for our own works or deservings:[62] Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only (Rom 3:28 4:5) is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of comfort,[63] as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

XII. Of Good Works
Albeit that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith (Gal 5:6 ),[64] and follow after Justification,[65] cannot put away our sins,[66] and endure the severity of God’s Judgement;[67] yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ (Eph 2:10 ),[68] and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith;[69] insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit (Matt 7:16-20 Jas 2:17 ).[70]

XIII. Of Works before Justification
Works done before the grace of Christ, and the Inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God,[71] forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 8:7-8 John 15:5 ),[72] neither do they make men meet to receive grace or (as the School-authors say) deserve grace of congruity (Rom 4:1-4 9:11-13; Tit 3:5 ):[73] yea rather, for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin.[74]

XIV. Of Works of Supererogation
Voluntary Works besides, over, and above, God’s Commandments, which they call Works of Supererogation (Luke 10:35 ), cannot be taught[75] without arrogancy and impiety:[76] for by them men do declare, that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake, than of bounden duty is required: whereas Christ saith plainly, When ye have done all that are commanded to you, say, We are unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10 ).[77]

XV. Of Christ Alone without Sin
Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only except (Heb 2:17 ‡),[78] from which he was clearly void, both in his flesh (John 1:14 ), and in his spirit.[79] He came to be the Lamb without spot (John 1:29 1 Pet 1:19 Heb 9:14 ‡),[80] who, by sacrifice of himself[81] once made,[82] should take away the sins of the world (John 1:29 ‡; Heb 7:27 ‡; 9:28‡; 1 Jhn 2:2 ),[83] and sin, as Saint John saith, was not in him (1 Jhn 3:5 ).[84] But all we the rest, although baptized, and born again in Christ,[85] yet offend in many things; and “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jhn 1:8 ).[86]

XVI. Of Sin after Baptism
Not every deadly sin (1 Jhn 5:16 ‡) willingly committed after Baptism is sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable (Matt 12:31-32 Mark 3:28-29 Luke 12:10 Heb 6:4-6 ). Wherefore the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism (1 Cor 5:1-5 2 Cor 2:5-11 ). After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we may arise again, and amend our lives (1 Jhn 1:8 [?]; Rom 6:14 2 Pet 1:10 Matt 5:13 ). And therefore they are to be condemned, which say, they can no more sin as long as they live here (1 Jhn 3:6 [?]), or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.

XVII. Of Predestination and Election
Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world [Eph 1:4 ] were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour (Eph 1:3-11 Matt 25:34 [?]; Rom 9:21-22 ). Wherefore, they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God’s purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption (Rom 3:24 8:15-17): they be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity (Rom 8:28-30 Eph 2:8-10 ).

As the godly consideration of Predestination, and our Election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: So, for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God’s Predestination, is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the Devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.

Furthermore, we must receive God’s promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture: and, in our doings, that Will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the Word of God (John 3:16 1 Tim 2:3-4 ).

XVIII. Of Obtaining Eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ
They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of Nature. For holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved (Acts 4:12 ).

XIX. Of the Church (Judges 20:2 ‡ LXX; Joel 2:16 ‡ LXX; Acts 7:38 ‡)
The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same (Matt 28:19-20 2 Tim 4:2 ).

As the Church of Jerusalem (Acts 15 ‡; Gal 2:1-10 ‡), Alexandria, and Antioch (Gal 2:11-21 ‡), have erred; so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith.

XX. Of the Authority of the Church
The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation (Rom 3:2 ).

XXI. Of the Authority of General Councils
General Councils may not be gathered together without the commandment and will of Princes. And when they be gathered together, (forasmuch as they be an assembly of men, whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and Word of God,) they may err, and sometimes have erred, even in things pertaining unto God. Wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of holy Scripture.

XXII. Of Purgatory
The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory (John 11:11-13 ‡; 1 Thess 4:13-16 ‡), Pardons, Worshipping, and Adoration, as well of Images as of Reliques, and also invocation of Saints, is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.

XXIII. Of Ministering in the Congregation
It is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of publick preaching, or ministering the Sacraments in the Congregation, before he be lawfully called, and sent to execute the same. And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent (Matt 3:16 ‡), which be chosen and called to this work by men who have publick authority given unto them in the Congregation, to call and send Ministers into the Lord’s vineyard (Acts 6:3-6 Acts 14:23 2 Tim 1:6 ).

XXIV. Of Speaking in the Congregation in such a Tongue as the People Understandeth
It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God (1 Cor 14:9 , 26-28), and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have publick Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people.

XXV. Of the Sacraments
Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God’s good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in him.

There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord (Matt 28:19 1 Cor 11:24-25 ).

Those five commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation (Acts 8:14-17 ‡), Penance, Orders (Acts 6:6 ‡), Matrimony (John 2:1-11 ‡), and extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel, being such as have grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles, partly are states of life allowed in the Scriptures; but yet have not like nature of Sacraments with Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, for that they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God.

The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same they have a wholesome effect or operation: but they that receive them unworthily purchase to themselves damnation (1 Cor 11:27-29 ), as Saint Paul saith.

XXVI. Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which Hinders not the Effect of the Sacrament (Matt 23:3 13:24-30, 47-50; John 15:2 )
Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ’s, and do minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in receiving of the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ’s ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God’s gifts diminished from such as by faith and rightly do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ’s institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.

Nevertheless, it appertaineth to the discipline of the Church, that inquiry be made of evil Ministers, and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences; and finally being found guilty, by just judgement be disposed (1 Tim 5:19-20 ).

XXVII. Of Baptism
Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is also a sign of Regeneration or new Birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church (Rom 11:17 Tit 3:5 ); the promises of forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed (Mark 16:16 ‡ [TR]; Acts 2:38 ‡; Acts 8:37 ‡ [TR]); Faith is confirmed, and Grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God. The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

XXVIII. Of the Lord’s Supper
The Supper of the Lord (1 Cor 11:20 ) is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another; but rather is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ’s death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ (1 Cor 10:16 ).

Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.

The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner (1 Cor 11:27-28 John 6:48-63 ). And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith.

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was not by Christ’s ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped (Eph 2:6 ‡).

XXIX. Of the Wicked which Eat not the Body of Christ in the Use of the Lord’s Supper
The Wicked, and such as be void of a lively faith, although they do carnally and visibly press with their teeth (as Saint Augustine saith) the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ (John 6:41-59 ‡): but rather, to their condemnation, do eat and drink the sign or Sacrament of so great a thing (1 Cor 11:29 †).

XXX. Of Both Kinds
The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Laypeople: for both the parts of the Lord’s Sacrament, by Christ’s ordinance and commandment, ought to be ministered to all Christian men alike (Matt 26:27 ‡; 1 Cor 11:24-26 , 28; 10:16).

XXXI. Of the One Oblation of Christ Finished upon the Cross
The Offering of Christ once made (Heb 7:26-27 9:11-14; 10:10-14) is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world (1 Jhn 2:2 ‡), both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin, but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses, in the which it was commonly said, that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits.

XXXII. Of the Marriage of Priests
Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, are not commanded by God’s Law, either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage: therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christian men, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve better to godliness.

XXXIII. Of Excommunicate Persons, How They Are to Be Avoided (Ezr 10:8 ‡; Luke 6:22 ‡; John 9:22 ‡; 16:2‡; 12:42‡; Rom 16:17 ‡; 2 Thess 3:14 ‡; Tit 3:10 ‡; 2 Jhn 1:10 ‡)
That person which by open denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the unity of the Church, and excommunicated, ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful, as an Heathen and Publican, until he be openly reconciled by penance, and received into the Church by a Judge that hath authority thereunto (Matt 18:17 ).

XXXIV. Of the Traditions of the Church
It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, and utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversities of countries, times, and men’s manners, so that nothing be ordained against God’s Word. Whosoever through his private judgement, willingly and purposely, doth openly break the traditions and ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly, (that others may fear to do the like,) as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church, and hurteth the authority of the Magistrate, and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren.

Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish, ceremonies or rites of the Church ordained only by man’s authority, so that all things be done to edifying (Rom 14:19 1 Cor 14:26 ).

XXXV. Of the Homilies
The Second Book of Homilies, the several titles whereof we have joined under this Article, doth contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine, and necessary for these times, as doth the former Book of Homilies, which were set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth; and therefore we judge them to be read in Churches by the Ministers, diligently and distinctly, that they may be understanded of the people.

Of the Names of the Homilies

Of the right Use of the Church.
Against peril of Idolatry.
Of repairing and keeping clean of Churches.
Of good Works: first of Fasting.
Against Gluttony and Drunkenness.
Against Excess of Apparel.
Of Prayer.
Of the Place and Time of Prayer.
The Common Prayers and Sacraments ought to be ministered in a known tongue.
Of the reverend estimation of God’s Word.
Of Alms-doing.
Of the Nativity of Christ.
Of the Passion of Christ.
Of the Resurrection of Christ.
Of the worthy receiving of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost.
For the Rogation-days.
Of the State of Matrimony.
Of Repentance.
Against Idleness.
Against Rebellion.
XXXVI. Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers
The Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops, and Ordering of Priests and Deacons (Acts 20:17 , 28; Tit 1:5-7 ), lately set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth, and confirmed at the same time by authority of Parliament, doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and Ordering: neither hath it any thing, that of itself is superstitious and ungodly (Acts 6:6 ‡). And therefore whosoever are consecrated or ordered according to the Rites of the Book, since the second year of the forenamed King Edward unto this time, or hereafter shall be consecrated according to the same Rites; we decree all such to be rightly, orderly, and lawfully consecrated and ordered.

XXXVII. Of the Civil Magistrates
The Queen’s Majesty hath the chief power in this Realm of England, and other her dominions, unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of the Realm, whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil, in all causes doth appertain, and is not, nor ought to be, subject to any foreign Jurisdiction.

Where we attribute to the Queen’s Majesty the chief government, by which Titles we understand the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended; we give not to our Princes the ministering either of God’s Word, or of the Sacraments, the which thing the Injunctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testify; but that only prerogative, which we see to have been given always to all godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself; that is, that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God, whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal, and restrain with the civil sword the stubborn and evildoers.

The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England. [The civil magistrate is ordained and allowed of God; wherefore we must obey him, not only for fear of punishment but also for conscience sake (Rom 13 ‡; 42, XXXVI).]

The Laws of the Realm may punish Christian men with death, for heinous and grievous offences.

It is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the Magistrate, to wear weapons, and serve in the wars (Rom 13:1 1 Pet 2:13-17 ).

XXXVIII. Of Christian Men’s Goods, Which Are not Common (Mark 10:17-22 ‡; Acts 2:42-47 ‡; 4:32–35‡; Eph 4:28 )
The Riches and Goods of Christians are not common, as touching the right, title, and possession of the same, as certain Anabaptists do falsely boast. Notwithstanding, every man ought, of such things as he possesseth, liberally to give alms to the poor, according to his ability.

XXXIX. Of a Christian Man’s Oath
As we confess that vain and rash Swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ, and James his Apostle (Matt 5:33-37 Jas 5:12 ), so we judge, that Christian Religion doth not prohibit, but that a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth, in a cause of faith and charity (Heb 6:17 ‡; 2 Cor 1:23 ‡; Matt 26:62-64 ‡), so it be done according to the Prophet’s teaching, in justice, judgement, and truth (Jer 4:2 ).

1 Text taken from B. A. Gerrish, ed., The Faith of Christendom: A Source Book of Creeds and Confessions (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1962), 164–99.

2 Isa 46:9 †; 1 Cor 8:4 , 6†.

3 Jer 10:10 †; 1 Thess 1:9 †.

4 Ps 90:2 †; Rom 16:26 †.

5 Deut 4:15-16 †; John 4:24 †; Luke 24:39 †.

6 Acts 14:15 †; Jas 1:17 †.

7 Jer 32:17 , 27†; Mark 10:27 †.

8 Ps 147:5 †; Rom 11:33 †.

9 Ps 119:68 †; Matt 19:17 †.

10 Neh 9:6 †; Col 1:16-17 †.

11 Matt 3:16-17 †; Matt 28:19 †; 1 Jhn 5:7 † [TR]; 2 Cor 13:14 †.

12 Prov 8:22-31 †; John 1:1-2 , 14†.

13 1 Jhn 5:20 †; Rom 9:5 †.

14 John 17:5 †; Heb 1:8 †; Ps 45:6 †.

15 John 10:30 †; Heb 1:3 †.

16 John 1:14 †; Isa 7:14 †; Luke 1:35 †; Gal 4:4 †.

17 Isa 7:14 †; Matt 1:23 †; Rom 1:3-4 †; Heb 13:8 †.

18 “who for our sakes truely suffered most grievous torments in his soul from God (Isa 53:10-11 †; Mark 14:33-34 †).” Ed. note: the text in blue indicates variations found in the revision of the Thirty-nine Articles revised by the Westminster Assembly, see The Westminster Standards: An Original Facsimile (foreword by William S. Barker; Audubon, N.J.: Old Paths Publications, 1997), 3–11.

19 1 Pet 2:24 †; Phil 2:8 †; 1 Cor 15:3-4 †.

20 Ezek 16:63 †; Rom 3:25 †; 2 Cor 5:19 †.

21 Isa 53:10 †; Eph 5:2 †; 1 Jhn 1:7 †; Heb 9:26 †.

22 “so (. . .) it is to be believed, that he continued in the state of the dead, and under the power and dominion of death (Ps 16:10 †; Acts 2:24-27 , 31†), from the time of his death and burial, until his resurrection (Rom 6:9 †; Matt 12:40 †): which hath been otherwise expressed thus, ‘He went down into Hell.’”

23 A bilingual edition of the Forty-two Articles can be found in Gerald Bray, ed., Documents of the English Reformation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press: 1994), 283–311.

24 1 Cor 15:4 †; Rom 8:34 †; Ps 16:10 †; Acts 2:31 †.

25 Luke 24:39 †; John 20:25 , 27†.

26 Ps 68:18 †; Eph 4:8 †; Ps 110:1 †; Acts 2:34-35 †; Mark 16:19 † [TR]; Rom 8:34 †.

27 Acts 3:21 †; Ps 110:1 †; 1 Cor 15:25-26 †; Acts 1:11 †.

28 2 Cor 5:10 †; Acts 17:31 †.

29 “at the general resurrection of the body at the last day (Exod 3:6 †; Luke 20:37-38 †; Acts 24:14-15 †; 1 Cor 15:12-58 †; John 5:28-29 †).”

30 John 15:26 †; Matt 10:20 †; 1 Cor 2:11-12 †; Gal 4:6 †; Rom 8:9 †; Phil 1:19 †; John 16:14 †; Isa 11:2 †; 61:1†; Gen 1:2 †; 2 Chr 15:1†.

31 2 Sam 23:2-3 †; Isa 6:5 , 8†; with Acts 28:25 †; Acts 5:3-4 †; 1 Cor 3:16 †; 6:19†.

32 Job 26:13 † [kjv]; Job 33:4 †; 1 Cor 12 †; Matt 28:19 †; 2 Cor 13:14 †.

33 1 Cor 12:11 †; Eph 1:17 †; 1 Cor 2:8 †; 1 Pet 4:14 †.

34 Rom 1:2 †; 2 Tim 3:15 †; 2 Pet 1:20-21 †.

35 Ps 19:7 †; 2 Tim 3:15-17 †; Jas 1:21 , 25†; Acts 20:32 †.

36 Prov 30:5-6 †; Isa 8:20 †; Acts 26:22 †, with vv. 20, 27†; Gal 1:8-9 †; John 5:39 †.

37 “in the doctrine contained in them (Acts 26:22-23 †; 2 Pet 3:2 †; Luke 24:44 †; Rom 3:31 †; Gal 3:21 , 23-24†);”

38 Gen 3:15 †; 22:18†; Gal 3:8 , 14†; 1 Cor 10:2-4 †; Luke 1:69-70 †; Acts 3:24 †; Isa 53 †.

39 Dan 9:17 †; Rom 8:34 †; 1 Jhn 2:1 †; Heb 7:25 †; 1 Tim 2:5 †; John 14:6 †.

40 Gal 4:4-5 †; Acts 20:28 †; Phil 2:7-8 †.

41 “for temporary promises (Acts 26:6-7 †; Rom 4:11 †; Gal 3:9 †; Heb 11:10 , 16, 35†).”

42 “binde Christians (Gal 4:9-10 †; Col 2:14 , 16-17†; Heb 9:9-10 †)”

43 “nor the Civil precepts given by Moses, such as were peculiarly fitted to the Commonwealth of the Jews, are of necessity to be received in any Commonwealth (Acts 25:9-10 , 25†; Deut 17:8-13 †; Rom 13:1 , 5†; Tit 3:1 †; 1 Pet 2:13-14 †)”

44 “(Matt 5:17-48 †; Rom 13:8-10 †; Eph 6:1-3 †; Jas 2:8-12 †; Rom 7:25 †; 3:31†; Matt 7:12 †). By the Moral Law we understand all the ten Commandments taken in their full extent.”

45 “The (. . .) Creeds that go under the names of the Nicene Creed . . .”

46 Ps 51:5 †; John 3:5-6 †.

47 Job 14:4 †; 15:14†; Rom 6:6 †; John 3:3 , 5, 7†.

48 “But, together with his first sin imputed (Rom 5:12-19 †; Gen 2:17 †; 1 Cor 15:22 †),”

49 “it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is propagated from Adam; whereby man is wholly deprived of Original righteousnesse (Col 2:13 †; Rom 7:18 †; Eccl 7:29 †)”

50 “onely to evil (Gen 6:5 8:21; Jer 17:9 Rom 7:8 Jas 1:14 ).”

51 Gal 5:17 †.

52 Prov 20:9 †; Rom 7:17 , 20, 23, 25†.

53 “the Law of God (Rom 8:7 †; 1 Cor 2:14 †; Col 1:21 †), and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation (Eph 2:3 †; Rom 8:6-7 †).”

54 “that are regenerate and do believe (Rom 8:1 , 13†; John 3:18 †)”

55 “that concupiscence and lust is truly and properly sin (Rom 7:17 , 20†).”

56 Eph 2:1 , 5†; 1 Cor 2:14 †; Eph 2:8-10 †; John 6:44 , 65†.

57 “pleasing and acceptable to God (Rom 8:8 †; Heb 11:6 †)”

58 “without the grace of God by Christ, both preventing us, that we may have a good Will, and working so effectually in us, as that it determineth our Will to that which is good (Ezek 11:19-20 †; 36:26–27†; Jer 31:32-33 †; Heb 8:10-11 †; Phil 2:12-13 †; John 6:45 †; Eph 1:19-20 †; 1 Cor 4:7 †)”

59 “and also working with us when we have that will unto good (Heb 13:21 †; Phil 1:6 †; Heb 12:2 †; 1 Pet 5:10 †; 1 Thess 5:23-24 †; 1 Kgs 8:57-58 †).”

60 “We are justified, that is, we are accounted righteous before God, and have remission of sins (Rom 4:5-7 †; Ps 32:1-2 †),”

61 “onely for (. . .) our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christs sake (Rom 3:24-25 †; 5:1†; 2 Cor 5:18-19 †), his whole obedience and satisfaction being by God imputed unto us (Rom 5:9 , 17-19†; 3:25–26†; 4:6, 24†; 2 Cor 5:21 †), and Christ with his righteousnesse, being apprehended and rested on by faith onely (Rom 3:22 , 25-26, 28†; Gal 2:16 †; Isa 28:16 †; Rom 9:33 †; 1 Pet 2:6 †; Phil 3:9 †).”

62 “not for nor by our own works or deservings (Rom 3:20 †; Gal 2:16 †; 3:10–11†; Phil 3:9 †), but freely by his grace (Rom 3:24 †; Tit 3:7 †),”

63 “The Doctrine of Justification by Faith onely, is an wholsom Doctrine, and very full of comfort (2 Tim 1:13 †; Rom 5:1-2 , 8, 11†; 15:13†; 1 Pet 1:8 †): notwithstanding God doth not forgive them that are impenitent, and go on still in their trespasses (Ps 68:20-21 †; Exod 34:6-7 †; Luke 13:3-5 †).”

64 Gal 5:6 †; Jas 2:17-18 , 22†.

65 Tit 2:14 †; 3:7–8†; Eph 2:8-10 †.

66 Rom 3:20-21 †; 4:4–9†; Dan 9:18-19 †.

67 Neh 13:22 †; Ps 143:2 †; Job 9:14-15 , 19-20†.

68 “yet are they, notwithstanding their imperfections (Exod 28:38 †; Rev 8:3-4 †), in the sight of God pleasing and acceptable unto him in and for Christ (1 Pet 2:5 †; Heb 13:16 , 20-21†; Col 1:10 †; Phil 4:18 †)”

69 Jas 2:26 †; 1 Jhn 1:4 †.

70 Jas 2:18 , 22†; John 15:4-5 †; 1 Jhn 2:3 , 5†; Matt 12:33 †.

71 “Works done before Justification by Christ, and Regeneration by his Spirit, are not pleasing unto God (Tit 1:15-16 †; Matt 7:18 †; Rom 8:8 †; Prov 15:8 , 26†; 21:27†; Rom 3:12 †),”

72 Heb 11:5-6 †; Gal 5:6 †.

73 2 Tim 1:9 †; John 1:13 †.

74 “to be done, they are sinful (Rom 8:7-8 †; Hag 2:14 †; Isa 58:1-5 †; 66:2–3†).”

75.  Matt 5:48 †; Mark 12:30-31 †; Phil 4:8-9 †.

76 Job 9:2-3 , 20-21†; Ps 143:2 †; Prov 20:9 †; Phil 3:8-15 †.

77 “When you have done all those things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do (Luke 17:10 † with vv. 7–9†).”

78 Isa 53:3-5 †; Heb 2:17 †; 4:15†.

79 Luke 1:35 †; Acts 3:14 †; John 14:30 †; 2 Cor 5:21 †; Heb 7:26 †.

80 1 Pet 1:19 †.

81 Eph 5:2 †.

82 Heb 9:26 , 28†; 10:10, 12†.

83 John 1:29 †.

84 1 Jhn 3:5 †.

85 “although baptized and regenerate”

86 Jas 3:2 †; 1 Jhn 1:8 , 10†.

† This symbol indicates references added in later editions of a confession or catechism

‡ This symbol indicates references added by editors of the RSB project

Date: 1643-1649

Author: The Westminster Assembly

In 1643, during the English Civil War under Charles I, the English Parliament called together a group of 121 Puritan clergymen. The group, which met at Westminster Abbey over the next several years, sought to provide counsel to the Church of England on issues of worship, doctrine, government, and discipline. Their meetings produced The Westminster Confession of Faith, a Larger Catechism and a Shorter Catechism, the Directory of Public Worship, and the Form of Church Government. The Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms, written in simple question and answer format, are designed to educate lay Christians in matters of basic doctrine. The Westminster Confession is arguably the most influential Reformed confession ever written and is used by Reformed churches around the world. ;

Outline
Of the Holy Scripture
Of God, and of the Holy Trinity
Of God’s Eternal Decree
Of Creation
Of Providence
Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof
Of God’s Covenant with Man
Of Christ the Mediator
Of Free Will
Of Effectual Calling
Of Justification
Of Adoption
Of Sanctification
Of Saving Faith
Of Repentance unto Life
Of Good Works
Of the Perseverance of the Saints
Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation
Of the Law of God
Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience
Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day
Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
Of the Civil Magistrate
Of Marriage and Divorce
Of the Church
Of the Communion of Saints
Of the Sacraments
Of Baptism
Of the Lord’s Supper
Of Church Censures
Of Synods and Councils
Of the State of Men after Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead
Of the Last Judgment

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 (Rom 2:14-15 1:19-20 Ps 19:1-3 Rom 1:32 2:1 ); yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation (John 17:3 †; 1 Cor 1:21 1 Cor 2:13-14 ). Therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church (Heb 1:1 ); 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 (Prov 22:19-21 Luke 1:3-4 Rom 15:4 Matt 4:4-10 Isa 8:19-20 ): which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary (2 Tim 3:15   2 Pet 1:19 ); those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased (John 20:31 †; 1 Cor 14:37 †; 1 Jhn 5:13 †; 1 Cor 10:11 †; Heb 1:1-2 Heb 2:2-4 †).

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 [or Testament], which are these:

Of the Old Testament:

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I Samuel
II Samuel
I Kings
II Kings
I Chronicles
II Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
The Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

Of the New Testament:

The Gospels according to
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
The Acts of the Apostles
Paul’s Epistles
to the Romans
Corinthians I
Corinthians II
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
Thessalonians I
Thessalonians II
to Timothy I
to Timothy II
to Titus
to Philemon
The Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle of James
The first and second Epistles of Peter
The first, second, and third Epistles of John
The Epistle of Jude
The Revelation of John
All which are given by inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life (Luke 16:29-31 Luke 24:27 Luke 24:44 †; Eph 2:20 Rev 22:18-19 2 Tim 3:16 John 5:46-47 †).

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 (Rev 22:18-19 †;Luke 24:27 Luke 24:44 Rom 3:2 2 Pet 1:21 ).

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 (2 Pet 1:19-21 2 Tim 3:16   1 Jhn 5:9   1 Thess 2:13   Rev 1:1-2 †).

5. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture (1 Tim 3:15 ). 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 not withstanding, 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 (1 Jhn 2:20-27 John 16:13-14   1 Cor 2:10-12   Isa 59:21   Heb 4:12 †;  John 10:35 †;  Isa 55:11 †;  Rom 11:36 †;  Ps 19:7-11 †; 1 Tim 3:15 †; 1 Cor 2:4-5 †;  1 Thess 1:5 †).

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 (2 Tim 3:15-17 Gal 1:8-9   2 Thess 2:2 ). 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 (John 6:45 ;  1 Cor 2:9-10 ;  1 Cor 2:12   Eph 1:18 †;  2 Cor 4:6 †): 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 (1 Cor 11:13-14  1 Cor 14:26   1 Cor 14:40 ).

7. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all (2 Pet 3:16 ): 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 (Ps 119:105  Ps 119:130    Deut 29:29 †;  Deut 30:10-14 †;   Acts 17:11 †).

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 (Matt 5:18   Ps 119:89 †); so as, in all controversies of religion, the church is finally to appeal to them (Isa 8:20   Matt 15:3-6 †;  Acts 15:15   John 5:39 ,  John 5:46   Luke 16:31 †). 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 (John 5:39 Acts 17:11 †; Rev 1:3 †; 2 Tim 3:14-15 †), therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come (Matt 28:19-20 †; 1 Cor 14:6-9 ,  1 Cor 14:11-12 ,  1 Cor 14:24 ,  1 Cor 14:27-28    Mark 15:34 †), that, the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner (Col 3:16 Exod 20:4-6 †; Matt 15:7-9 †); and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope (Rom 15:4 ).

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 (2 Pet 1:20-21 Acts 15:15-16 John 5:46 †).

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 (Matt 22:29-31   Eph 2:20   Acts 28:25   1 Jhn 4:1-6 †).

Chapter II: Of God, and of the Holy Trinity
1. There is but one only (Deut 6:4 ;  1 Cor 8:4-6   Gal 3:20 †), living, and true God (1 Thess 1:9   Jer 10:10 ), who is infinite in being and perfection (Jb 11:7-9   Jb 26:14   Ps 139:6 †), a most pure spirit (John 4:24 ), invisible (1 Tim 1:17   John 1:18 †), without body, parts (Deut 4:15-16   John 4:24   Luke 24:39 ), or passions (Acts 14:11-15 ); immutable (Jas 1:17   Mal 3:6 ), immense (1 Kgs 8:27   Jer 23:23-24 ), eternal (Ps 90:2   1 Tim 1:17 ), incomprehensible (Ps 145:3   Rom 11:34 †), almighty (Gen 17:1   Rev 4:8 ), most wise,(Rom 14:26 ) most holy (Isa 6:3   Rev 4:8 ), most free (Ps 115:3   Isa 14:24 †), most absolute (Exod 3:14   Isa 45:5-6 †); working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will (Eph 1:11 ), for his own glory (Prov 16:4   Rom 11:36   Rev 4:11 †); most loving (1 Jhn 4:8 , 1 Jhn 4:16   John 3:16 †), gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin (Exod 34:6-7 ); the rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Heb 11:6 ); and withal, most just, and terrible in his judgments (Neh 9:32-33   Heb 10:28-31 †), hating all sin (Rom 1:18 †;  Ps 5:5-6   Ps 11:5 †), and who will by no means clear the guilty (Nah 1:2-3   Exod 34:7 ).

2. God hath all life (Jer 10:10 †; John 5:26 ), glory (Acts 7:2 ), goodness (Ps 119:68 ), blessedness (1 Tim 6:15 Rom 9:5 ), in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made (Acts 17:24-25 ), nor deriving any glory from them (Jb 22:2-3 Luke 17:10 †), 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 (Rom 11:36 ); and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth (Rev 4:11 1 Tim 6:15 Dan 4:25 ,  Dan 4:35 ). In his sight all things are open and manifest (Heb 4:13 ), his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature (Rom 11:33-34   Ps 147:5 ), so as nothing is to him contingent, or uncertain (Acts 15:18 Ezek 11:5 ). He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands (Ps 145:17   Rom 7:12 ). To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them (Rev 5:12-14 ).

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 (1 Jhn 5:7 [TR]; Matt 3:16-17 28:19;  2 Cor 13:14   Eph 2:18 †): the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father (John 1:14-18   Heb 1:2-3 †; Col 1:15 †); the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son (John 15:26 Gal 4:6 ).

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 (Ps 33:11 †; Eph 1:11 Rom 11:33 Heb 6:17 Rom 9:15-18 ): yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin (Ps 5:4 †; Jas 1:13 , 17; 1 Jhn 1:5 Eccl 7:29 †; Hab 1:13 †), nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established (Acts 2:23 Matt 17:12 Acts 4:27-28 John 19:11 Prov 16:33 ).

2. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions (Acts 15:18 [TR]; 1 Sam 23:11-12 Matt 11:21-23 ), yet hath he not decreed anything because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions (Rom 9:11-18 ).

3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels (1 Tim 5:21   Jud 1:6 †;  Matt 25:41 ) are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death (Rom 9:22-23   Eph 1:5-6   Prov 16:4   Jud 1:4 †).

4. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number is so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished (2 Tim 2:19 John 13:18 John 10:14-16 , John 10:27-28 †; John 17:2-6 , John 17:9 –12†).

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 (Eph 1:4 , Eph 1:9-11 Rom 8:30 2 Tim 1:9 1 Thess 5:9 ), 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 (Rom 9:11-16 Eph 1:4 , Eph 1:9 Eph 2:8-9 †); and all to the praise of his glorious grace (Eph 1:6-12 ).

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 means thereunto (1 Pet 1:2 Eph 1:4-5 2:10; 2 Thess 2:13 ). Wherefore, they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ (1 Thess 5:9-10 Tit 2:14 ), are effectually called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified (Rom 8:30 Eph 1:5 2 Thess 2:13 ), and kept by his power, through faith, unto salvation (1 Pet 1:5 ). Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only (John 17:9 Rom 8:28-39 John 6:64-65 John 10:26 John 8:47 1 Jhn 2:19 ).

7. 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 (Matt 11:25-26 Rom 9:17-18 , 21-22; 2 Tim 2:19-20 Jud 4 1 Pet 2:8 ).

8. The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care (Rom 9:20 11:33; Deut 29:29 ), that men, attending the will of God revealed in his Word, and yielding obedience thereunto, may, form the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election (2 Pet 1:10 1 Thess 1:4-5 †). So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God (Eph 1:6 Rom 11:33 ); and of humility, diligence, and abundance consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel (Rom 11:5-6 , 20; 2 Pet 1:10 Rom 8:33 Luke 10:20 ).

Chapter IV: Of Creation
1. It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Rom 11:36 †; 1 Cor 8:6 †; Heb 1:2 John 1:2-3 Gen 1:2 Jb 26:13 [av]; 33:4), for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness (Rom 1:20 Jer 10:12 Ps 104:24 33:5-6), in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, and things therein whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days; and all very good (Gen 1 Ps 33:6 †; Heb 11:3 Col 1:16 Acts 17:24 Exod 20:11 †).

2. After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female (Gen 1:27 ), with reasonable and immortal souls (Gen 2:7 Eccl 12:7 Luke 23:43 Matt 10:28 ), endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his own image (Gen 1:26 Col 3:10 Eph 4:24 ), having the law of God written in their hearts (Rom 2:14-15 ), and power to fulfill it (Gen 2:17 †; Eccl 7:29 ): and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject unto change (Gen 3:6 Eccl 7:29 ). Beside this law written in their hearts, they received a command, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17 3:8-11, 23); which while they kept, they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures (Gen 1:26 , 28; 1:29-30†; Ps 8:6-8 †).

Chapter V: Of Providence
1. God the great Creator of all things doth uphold (Neh 9:6 †; Ps 145:14-16 †; Heb 1:3 ), direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things (Dan 4:34-35 Ps 135:6 Acts 17:25-26 , 28; Jb 38-41 ), from the greatest even to the least (Matt 10:29-31 6:26, 30†), by his most wise and holy providence (Prov 15:3 2 Chr 16:9†; Ps 104:24 145:17), according to his infallible foreknowledge (Acts 15:18 [TR]; Ps 94:8-11 Isa 42:9 †; Ezek 11:5 †), and the free and immutable counsel of his own will (Eph 1:11 Ps 33:10-11 ), to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy (Isa 63:14 Eph 3:10 Rom 9:17 Gen 45:7 Ps 145:7 ).

2. Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first Cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly (Acts 2:23 Isa 14:24 , 27†); yet, by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently (Gen 8:22 Jer 31:35 Exod 21:13 Deut 19:5 1 Kgs 22:28 , 34; Isa 10:6-7 ).

3. God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of means (Acts 27:31 , 44; Isa 55:10-11 Hos 2:21-22 ), yet is free to work without (Hos 1:7 Matt 4:4 Jb 34:20 ), above (Rom 4:19-21 ), and against them (2 Kgs 6:6 Dan 3:27 ), 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 (Isa 45:7 †; Rom 11:32-34 2 Sam 24:1 1 Chr 21:1 1 Kgs 22:22-23 1 Chr 10:4 , 13-14; 2 Sam 16:10 Acts 2:23 4:27-28); and that not by a bare permission (John 12:40 †; Acts 14:16 2 Thess 2:11 †), but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding (Ps 76:10 2 Kgs 19:28 ), and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends (Gen 50:20 Isa 10:6-7 , 12); 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 (Jas 1:13-14 Jas 1:17 1 Jhn 2:16 Ps 50:21 ).

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 (2 Chr 32:25-26, 31; 2 Sam 24:1 Deut 8:2-3 , 5†; Luke 22:31-32 †); 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 (2 Cor 12:7-9 Ps 73 77:1-12; Mark 14:66-72 John 21:15-17 ).

6. As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous Judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden (Rom 1:24 , 26, 28; 11:7-8), from them he not only withholdeth his grace whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon in their hearts (Deut 29:4 Mark 4:11-12 †); but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had (Matt 13:12 25:29; Acts 13:10-11 †), and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasions of sin (Gen 4:8 †; Deut 2:30 2 Kgs 8:12-13 Matt 26:14-16 †); and, withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan (Ps 81:11-12 109:6†; Luke 22:3 †; 2 Thess 2:10-12 ), whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under those means which God useth for the softening of others (Exod 7:3 8:15, 32; 2 Cor 2:15-16 Isa 8:14 1 Pet 2:7-8 Isa 6:9-10 Acts 28:26-27 ).

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 (1 Tim 4:10 Amos 9:8-9 Matt 16:18 †; Rom 8:28 Isa 43:3-5 , 14).

Chapter VI: Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof
1. Our first parents, begin seduced by the subtilty and temptations of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit (Gen 3:13 2 Cor 11:3 ). This their sin, God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory (Rom 11:32 ).

2. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God (Gen 3:6-8 Eccl 7:29 Rom 3:23 ), and so became dead in sin (Gen 2:17 Eph 2:1 Rom 5:12 †), and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body (Tit 1:15 Gen 6:5 Jer 17:9 Rom 3:10-19 ).

3. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed (Gen 1:27-28 2:16-17; Acts 17:26 Rom 5:12 , 15-19; 1 Cor 15:21-22 , 45, 49); and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by original generation (Ps 51:5 John 3:6 †; Gen 5:3 Jb 14:4 15:14).

4. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good (Rom 5:6 8:7; 7:18; Col 1:21 John 3:6 †), and wholly inclined to all evil (Gen 6:5 8:21; Rom 3:10-12 ), do proceed all actual transgressions (Jas 1:14-15 Eph 2:2-3 Matt 15:19 ).

5. This corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated (1 Jhn 1:8 , 10; Rom 7:14 , 17-18, 23; Jas 3:2 Prov 20:9 Eccl 7:20 ); and although it be, through Christ, pardoned, and mortified; yet both itself, and all the motions thereof, are truly and properly sin (Rom 7:5 , 7-8, 25; Gal 5:17 ).

6. Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto (1 Jhn 3:4 ), doth, in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner (Rom 2:15 3:9, 19), whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God (Eph 2:3 ), and curse of the law (Gal 3:10 ), and so made subject to death (Rom 6:23 ), with all miseries spiritual (Eph 4:18 ), temporal (Rom 8:20 Lam 3:39 ), and eternal (Matt 25:41 2 Thess 1:9 ).

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 (Isa 40:13-17 Jb 9:32-33 1 Sam 2:25 Ps 113:5-6 100:2-3; Jb 22:2-3 35:7-8; Luke 17:10 Acts 17:24-25 ).

2. The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works (Hos 6:7 †; Gen 2:16-17 †; Gal 3:12 ), wherein life was promised to Adam; and in him to his posterity (Gen 3:22 †; Rom 10:5 5:12-20), upon condition of perfect and personal obedience (Gen 2:17 Gal 3:10 ).

3. Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second (Gal 3:21 Rom 8:3 3:20-21; Gen 3:15 Isa 42:6 ), 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 (Mark 16:15-16 [TR]; John 3:16 Rom 10:6 , 9; Gal 3:11 Rev 22:17 †), and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life, his Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe (Acts 13:48 †; Ezek 36:26-27 John 6:37 †; John 6:44-45 1 Cor 12:3 †).

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 (Heb 9:15-17 7:22; Luke 22:20 1 Cor 11:25 ).

5. This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel (2 Cor 3:6-9 ): 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 (Heb 8-10 Rom 4:11 Col 2:11-12 1 Cor 5:7 Col 2:17 †); 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 (1 Cor 10:1-4 Heb 11:13 John 8:56 ), by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation, and is called the old testament (Gal 3:7-9 , 14; Ps 32:1-2 , 4†).

6. Under the gospel, when Christ, the substance (Gal 2:17 † [?]; Col 2:17 ), 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 (1 Cor 1:21 †; Matt 28:19-20 1 Cor 11:23-25 2 Cor 3:7-11 †): 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 (Heb 12:22-28 2 Cor 3:9-11 †; Jer 31:33-34 ), to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles (Matt 28:19 Luke 2:32 †; Acts 10:34 †; Eph 2:15-19 ); and is called the new testament (Luke 22:20 Heb 8:7-9 †). There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same under various dispensations (Gal 3:8-9 †; 3:14, 16; Rom 3:21-23 , 30; Ps 32:1 Gen 15:5 †; Rom 4:3 , 6, 16-17, 23-24; 10:6-10†; 1 Cor 10:3-4 †; Heb 4:2 †; 13:8; Acts 15:11 ).

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 (Isa 42:1 1 Pet 1:19-20 John 3:16 1 Tim 2:5 ), the Prophet (Acts 3:22 Deut 18:15 †), Priest (Heb 5:5-6 ), and King (Ps 2:6 Luke 1:33 Isa 9:5-6 †; Acts 2:29-35 †; Col 1:13 †), the Head and Savior of the church (Eph 5:23 ), the Heir of all things (Heb 1:2 ), and Judge of the world (Acts 17:31 ): unto whom he did, from all eternity, give a people, to be his seed (John 17:6 Ps 22:30 Isa 53:10 Eph 1:4 †), and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified (1 Tim 2:6 Isa 55:4-5 1 Cor 1:30 Rom 8:30 †).

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 fullness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature (John 1:1 , 14; 1 Jhn 5:20 Phil 2:6 Gal 4:4 ), with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin (Phil 2:7 †; Heb 2:14 , 16-17; 4:15); being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance (Luke 1:27 , 31, 35; Gal 4:4 Matt 1:18 , 20-21†). 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 (Matt 16:16 †; Luke 1:35 Col 2:9 Rom 9:5 1 Pet 3:18 1 Tim 3:16 ). Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man (Rom 1:3-4 1 Tim 2:5 ).

3. The Lord Jesus, in his human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure (Ps 45:7 John 3:34 Isa 61:1 †; Luke 4:18 †; Heb 1:8-9 †), having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3 ); in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell (Col 1:19 ); to the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth (Heb 7:26 John 1:14 ), he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator, and surety (Acts 10:38 Heb 12:24 7:22). Which office he took not unto himself, but was thereunto called by his Father (Heb 5:4-5 ), who put all power and judgment into his hand, and gave him commandment to execute the same (John 5:22 , 27; Matt 28:18 Acts 2:36 ).

4. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake (Ps 40:7-8 Heb 10:5-11 John 4:34 †; 10:18; Phil 2:8 ); which that he might discharge, he was made under the law (Gal 4:4 ), and did perfectly fulfill it (Matt 3:15 5:17; Heb 5:8-9 †); endured most grievous torments immediately in his soul (Matt 26:37-38 Luke 22:44 Matt 27:46 ), and most painful sufferings in his body (Matt 26-27 ); was crucified, and died (Mark 15:24 , 37†; Phil 2:8 ), was buried, and remained under the power of death, yet saw no corruption (Matt 27:60 †; Acts 2:23-24 , 27; 13:37; Rom 6:9 ). On the third day he arose from the dead (1 Cor 15:3-4 ), with the same body in which he suffered (Luke 24:39 †; John 20:25 , 27), with which also he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father (Mark 16:19 [TR]; Luke 24:50-51 †; 1 Pet 3:22 †), making intercession (Rom 8:34 Heb 9:24 7:25), and shall return, to judge men and angels, at the end of the world (John 5:28-29 †; Rom 14:9-10 Acts 1:11 10:42; Matt 13:40-42 Jud 6 2 Pet 2:4 ).

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 (Rom 5:19 Heb 9:14 , 16; 10:14; Eph 5:2 Rom 3:25-26 ); and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him (Dan 9:24 , 26; 2 Cor 5:18 †; Col 1:19-20 Eph 1:11 , 14; John 17:2 Heb 9:12 , 15).

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 today the same, and forever (Gal 4:4-5 Gen 3:15 1 Cor 10:4 †; Rev 13:8 Heb 13:8 Rom 3:25 †; Heb 9:15 †).

7. Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself (John 10:17-18 †; Heb 1:3 †; 9:14; 1 Pet 3:18 ); 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 (Acts 20:28 Luke 1:43 †; Rom 9:5 †; John 3:13 1 Jhn 3:16 [TR]).

8. To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same (John 6:37 , 39; John 10:15-16 ); making intercession for them (1 Jhn 2:1-2 Rom 8:34 ), and revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the mysteries of salvation (John 15:13 , 15; Eph 1:7-9 John 17:6 ); effectually persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey, and governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit (John 14:16 Heb 12:2 2 Cor 4:13 Rom 8:9 , 14; 15:18-19; John 17:17 ); 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 (Ps 110:1 1 Cor 15:25-26 Mal 4:2-3 Col 2:15 Luke 10:19 †).

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 (Matt 17:12 Jas 1:14 Deut 30:19 Isa 7:11-12 †; John 5:40 †; Jas 4:7 †).

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 (Eccl 7:29 Gen 1:26 Phil 2:13 ‡; Col 3:10 †); but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it (Gen 2:16-17 3:6).

3. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation (Rom 5:6 8:7; John 6:44 , 65†; 15:5): so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good (Rom 3:10 , 12), and dead in sin (Eph 2:1 , 5; Col 2:13 ), is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto (John 6:44 , 65; 3:3, 5-6†; Eph 2:2-5 1 Cor 2:14 Tit 3:3-5 ).

4. When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin (Col 1:13 John 8:34 , 36; Rom 6:6-7 †); and, by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good (Phil 2:13 Rom 6:18 , 22); 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 (Gal 5:17 Rom 7:15 , 18-19, 21, 23; 1 Jhn 1:8 †, 10).

5. The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone, in the state of glory only (Eph 4:13 Heb 12:23 1 Jhn 3:2 Jud 24 Rev 21:27 †).

Chapter X: Of Effectual Calling
1. All those whom God hath predestinated (cf. 1 Pet 1:2 ) unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call (Acts 13:48 †; Rom 8:30 11:7; Eph 1:10-11 2 Tim 1:9-10 †), by his Word and Spirit (2 Thess 2:13-14 Jas 1:18 †; 2 Cor 3:3 , 6; 1 Cor 2:12 †; cf. 1 Pet 1:23 ), out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ (Rom 8:2 Eph 2:1-5 2 Tim 1:9-10 1 Pet 2:9 †); enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God (Acts 26:18 1 Cor 2:10 , 12; Eph 1:17-18 2 Cor 4:6 †), taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh (Ezek 36:26 ); renewing their wills, and, by his almighty power, determining them to that which is good (Ezek 11:19 Phil 2:13 Deut 30:6 Ezek 36:27 John 3:5 †; Tit 3:5 †; 1 Pet 1:23 †), and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ (Eph 1:19 John 6:44-45 Acts 16:14 †): yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace (Song 1:4 Ps 110:3 John 6:37 Matt 11:28 †; Rev 22:17 †; Rom 6:16-18 Eph 2:8 †; Phil 1:29 †).

2. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man (2 Tim 1:9 Tit 3:4-5 †; Eph 2:4-5 , 8-9; Rom 9:11 ), who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:14 Rom 8:7 Eph 2:5 Tit 3:4-5 ), he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it (John 6:37 Ezek 36:27 John 5:25 1 Jhn 3:9 †; 5:1†).

3. Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit (Gen 17:7 †; Luke 18:15-16 Acts 2:38-39 John 3:3 , 5; 1 Jhn 5:12 Rom 8:9 Luke 1:15 †), who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth (John 3:8 ): so also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word (John 16:7-8 †; 1 Jhn 5:12 Acts 4:12 ).

4. Others, not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word (Matt 13:14-15 †; Acts 28:24 †; 13:48†; Matt 22:14 ), and may have some common operations of the Spirit (Matt 7:22 13:20-21; Heb 6:4-5 ), yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore cannot be saved (John 6:64-66 8:24; 13:18†; 17:12†): 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 (Acts 4:12 1 Jhn 4:2-3 †; 2 Jhn 1:9 †; John 14:6 Eph 2:12 John 4:22 17:3; Rom 10:13-17 †). And, to assert and maintain that they may, is very pernicious, and to be detested (2 Jhn 1:9-11 1 Cor 16:22 Gal 1:6-8 ).

Chapter XI: Of Justification
1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth (Rom 8:30 3:24; 5:15-16†): not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything 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 (Rom 4:5-8 2 Cor 5:19 , 21; Rom 3:22 , 24-25, 27-28; Tit 3:5 , 7; Eph 1:7 Jer 23:6 1 Cor 1:30-31 Rom 5:17-19 ), they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness, by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God (John 1:12 †; Acts 10:43 Gal 2:16 Phil 3:9 Acts 13:38-39 Eph 2:7-8 John 6:44-45 , 65†; Phil 1:29 †).

2. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification (John 1:12 3:18, 36†; Rom 3:28 5:1): 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 (Jas 2:17 , 22, 26; Gal 5:6 ).

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 (Mark 10:45 †; Rom 5:8-10 , 19; Gal 3:13 †; 1 Tim 2:5-6 Heb 1:3 †; 10:10, 14; Dan 9:24 , 26; Isa 53:4-6 , 10-12). Yet, inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them (Rom 8:32 John 3:16 †); and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead (2 Cor 5:21 Matt 3:17 Eph 5:2 Phil 2:6-9 †; Isa 53:10-11 †); and both, freely, not for anything in them; their justification is only of free grace (Rom 3:24 Eph 1:7 ); that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners (Rom 3:26 Eph 2:7 Zech 9:9 †; Isa 45:21 †).

4. God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect (Gal 3:8 1 Pet 1:2 , 19-20; Rom 8:30 ), and Christ did, in the fullness of time, die for their sins, and rise again for their justification (Gal 4:4 1 Tim 2:6 Rom 4:25 ): nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them (Eph 2:3 †; Col 1:21-22 Gal 2:16 Tit 3:4-7 ).

5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified (Matt 6:12 1 Jhn 1:7 , 9; 2:1-2); and, although they can never fall from the state of justification (Luke 22:32 John 10:28 Rom 5:1-5 †; 8:30–39†; Heb 10:14 ), 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 (Ps 89:31-33 51:7-12; 32:5; Matt 26:75 1 Cor 11:30 , 32; Luke 1:20 ).

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 (Gal 3:9 , 13-14; Rom 4:22-24 10:6-13†; Heb 13:8 ).

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 (Eph 1:5 Gal 4:4-5 ), by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God (Rom 8:17 John 1:12 ), have his name put upon them (Num 6:24-26 †; Jer 14:9 Amos 9:12 †; Acts 15:17 †; 2 Cor 6:18 Rev 3:12 ), receive the Spirit of adoption (Rom 8:15 ), have access to the throne of grace with boldness (Eph 3:12 Rom 5:2 Heb 4:16 †), are enabled to cry, Abba, Father (Rom 8:15 †; 8:16†; Gal 4:6 ), are pitied (Ps 103:13 ), protected (Prov 14:26 ), provided for (Matt 6:30 , 32; 1 Pet 5:7 ), and chastened by him, as by a father (Heb 12:6 ): yet never cast off (Lam 3:31 Ps 89:30-35 †), but sealed to the day of redemption (Eph 4:30 ); and inherit the promises (Heb 6:12 ), as heirs of everlasting salvation (1 Pet 1:3-4 Heb 1:14 ).

Chapter XIII: Of Sanctification
1. 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 (1 Thess 5:23-24 †; 2 Thess 2:13-14 †; Ezek 36:22-28 †; 1 Cor 6:11 Tit 3:5 †; Acts 20:32 Phil 3:10 Rom 6:5-6 ), by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them (John 17:17 Eph 5:26 Rom 8:13-14 †; 2 Thess 2:13 ): the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed (Rom 6:6 , 14), and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified (Gal 5:24 Rom 8:13 ); and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces (Col 1:11 Eph 3:16-19 ), to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (2 Cor 7:1 Col 1:28 †; 4:12†; Heb 12:14 ).

2. This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man (1 Thess 5:23 Rom 12:1-2 †); yet imperfect in this life, there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part (1 Jhn 1:10 Rom 7:18 , 23; Phil 3:12 ); whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (Gal 5:17 1 Pet 2:11 ).

3. In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail (Rom 7:23 ); yet, through the continual supply of strength form the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome (Rom 6:14 8:2†; 1 Jhn 5:4 Eph 4:15-16 ); and so, the saints grow in grace (2 Pet 3:18 2 Cor 3:18 ), perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor 7:1 ).

Chapter XIV: Of Saving Faith
1. The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls (Tit 1:1 †; Heb 10:39 ), is the work of the Spirit of Christ, in their hearts (1 Cor 12:3 †; 2 Cor 4:13 John 3:5 †; Tit 3:5 †; John 6:44-45 , 65†; Eph 1:17-19 2:8; Phil 1:29 †; 1 Pet 1:2 †; 2 Pet 1:1 †), and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word (Matt 28:19-20 †; Rom 10:14 , 17; 1 Cor 1:21 †), by which also, and by the administration of the sacraments, and prayer, it is increased and strengthened (1 Pet 2:2 Acts 2:38 †; 20:32; Rom 4:11 1 Cor 10:16 †; 11:23–29†; Luke 17:5 Phil 4:6-7 †; Rom 1:16-17 Matt 28:19 †).

2. By this faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein (2 Pet 1:20-21 †; John 4:42 1 Thess 2:13 1 Jhn 5:10 Acts 24:14 ); and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands (Ps 119:10-11 , 48, 97-98, 167-168†; John 14:15 †; Rom 16:26 ), trembling at the threatenings (Ezra 9:4 †; Isa 66:2 Heb 4:1 †), and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come (Heb 11:13 1 Tim 4:8 ). 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 (John 1:12 Acts 16:31 Gal 2:20 Acts 15:11 2 Tim 1:9-10 †).

3. This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong (Heb 5:13-14 Rom 4:19-20 14:1-2†; Matt 6:30 8:10); may be often and many ways assailed, and weakened, but gets the victory (Luke 22:31-32 Eph 6:16 1 Jhn 5:4-5 ): growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance, through Christ (Heb 6:11-12 10:22; Col 2:2 ), who is both the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2 ).

Chapter XV: Of Repentance unto Life
1. Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace (Zech 12:10 Acts 11:18 2 Cor 7:10 †), the doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the gospel, as well as that of faith in Christ (Luke 24:47 Mark 1:15 Acts 20:21 ).

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 (Ezek 18:30-31 36:31; Isa 30:22 Ps 51:4 Jer 31:18-19 Joel 2:12-13 Amos 5:15 Ps 119:128 2 Cor 7:11 1 Thess 1:9 †), purposing and endeavoring to walk with him in all the ways of his commandments (Ps 119:6 , 59, 106; Luke 1:6 2 Kgs 23:25 ).

3. Although repentance be not to be rested in, as any satisfaction for sin, or any cause of pardon thereof (Ezek 36:31-32 16:61-63; Isa 43:25 †), which is the act of God’s free grace in Christ (Hos 14:2 , 4; Rom 3:24 Eph 1:7 ); yet it is of such necessity to all sinners, that none may expect pardon without it (Luke 13:3 , 5; Mark 1:4 †; Acts 17:30-31 ).

4. As there is no sin so small, but it deserves damnation (Rom 6:23 Rom 5:12 Gal 3:10 †; Matt 12:36 ); so there is no sin so great, that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent (Isa 55:7 Rom 8:1 Isa 1:16 , 18).

5. 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 (Ps 19:13 Matt 26:75 †; Luke 19:8 1 Tim 1:13 , 15).

6. As every man is bound to make private confession of his sins to God, praying for the pardon thereof (Ps 51:4-5 , 7, 9, 14; 32:5-6); upon which, and the forsaking of them, he shall find mercy (Prov 28:13 Isa 55:7 †; 1 Jhn 1:9 ); so, he that scandalizeth 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 (Jas 5:16 Matt 18:15-18 †; Luke 17:3-4 Josh 7:19 Ps 51 ), who are thereupon to be reconciled to him, and in love to receive him (2 Cor 2:8 Gal 6:1-2 †).

Chapter XVI: Of Good Works
1. Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his holy Word (Mic 6:8 Rom 12:2 Heb 13:21 ), and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men, out of blind zeal, or upon any pretense of good intention (Matt 15:9 Isa 29:13 1 Pet 1:18 Rom 10:2 John 16:2 1 Sam 15:21-23 Deut 10:12-13 †; Col 2:16-17 , 20-23†).

2. These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith (Jas 2:18 , 22): and by them believers manifest their thankfulness (Ps 116:12-13 Col 3:15-17 †; 1 Pet 2:9 ), strengthen their assurance (1 Jhn 2:3 , 5; 2 Pet 1:5-10 ), edify their brethren (2 Cor 9:2 Matt 5:16 1 Tim 4:12 †), adorn the profession of the gospel (Tit 2:5 , 9-12; 1 Tim 6:1 ), stop the mouths of the adversaries (1 Pet 2:15 ), and glorify God (1 Pet 2:12 Phil 1:11 John 15:8 ), whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto (Eph 2:10 ), that, having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end, eternal life (Rom 6:22 ).

3. Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ (John 15:4-6 Rom 8:4-14 †; Ezek 36:26-27 ). 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 (Phil 2:13 4:13; 2 Cor 3:5 Eph 3:16 †): 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 (Phil 2:12 Heb 6:11-12 2 Pet 1:3 , 5, 10-11; Isa 64:7 2 Tim 1:6 Acts 26:6-7 Jud 20-21 ).

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 (Luke 17:10 Neh 13:22 Jb 9:2-3 Rom 8:21-25 †; Gal 5:17 ).

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 (Rom 3:20 Rom 4:2 , 4, 6; Eph 2:8-9 Tit 3:5-7 Rom 8:18 Ps 16:2 Jb 22:2-3 35:7-8), but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty, and are unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10 ): and because, as they are good, they proceed from his Spirit (Rom 8:13-14 †; Gal 5:22-23 ); 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 (Isa 64:6 Gal 5:17 Rom 7:15 , 18; Ps 143:2 130:3).

6. Yet notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in him (Eph 1:6 1 Pet 2:5 Exod 28:38 Gen 4:4 Heb 11:4 ); not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in God's sight (Jb 9:20 Ps 143:2 1 Jhn 1:8 †); 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 (Heb 13:20-21 2 Cor 8:12 Heb 6:10 Matt 25:21 , 23; 1 Cor 3:14 †; 1 Cor 4:5 †).

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 (2 Kgs 10:30-31 1 Kgs 21:27 , 29; Luke 6:32-34 †; Luke 18:2-7 †; Rom 13:4 †; Phil 1:15-16 , 18): yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith (Gen 4:5 Heb 11:4 , 6); nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word (1 Cor 13:3 Isa 1:12 ); nor to a right end, the glory of God (Matt 6:2 , 5, 16; 1 Cor 10:31 †), they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God (Prov 21:27 †; Hag 2:14 Tit 1:15 Amos 5:21-22 Mark 7:6-7 †; Hos 1:4 Rom 9:16 Tit 3:5 ): and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing to God (Ps 14:4 36:3; Jb 21:14-15 Matt 25:41-43 , 45; 23:23; Rom 1:21-32 †).

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 (Phil 1:6 2 Pet 1:10 Rom 8:28-30 †; John 10:28-29 1 Jhn 3:9 5:18†; 1 Pet 1:5 , 9; Jb 17:9 †).

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 (Ps 89:3-4 , 28-33†; 2 Tim 2:18-19 Jer 31:3 ); upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ (Heb 10:10 , 14; 13:20-21; 9:12-15; Rom 8:33-39 John 17:11 , 24; Luke 22:32 Heb 7:25 ), the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them (John 14:16-17 1 Jhn 2:27 1 Jhn 3:9 ), and the nature of the covenant of grace (Jer 31:31-34 †; 32:40; Ps 89:34-37 †; Heb 8:10-12 †): from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof (John 6:38-40 †; John 10:28 2 Thess 3:3 1 Jhn 2:19 1 Thess 5:23-24 †).

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 (Exod 32:21 †; Jonah 1:3 , 10†; Ps 51:14 †; Matt 26:70 , 72, 74); and, for a time, continue therein (Ps 51 title and v. 14; 2 Sam 12:9 , 13†; Gal 2:11-14 †): whereby they incur God’s displeasure (Num 20:12 †; Isa 64:5 , 7, 9; 2 Sam 11:27 ), and grieve his Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30 ), come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts (Ps 51:8 , 10, 12; Rev 2:4 Song 5:2-4 , 6; Matt 26:75 †), have their hearts hardened (Isa 63:17 Mark 6:52 16:14 [TR]; Ps 95:8 †), and their consciences wounded (Ps 32:3-4 51:8); hurt and scandalize others (Gen 12:10-20 †; 2 Sam 12:14 Gal 2:13 †), and bring temporal judgments upon themselves (Ps 89:31-32 1 Cor 11:32 ).

Chapter XVIII: Of the 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 favor of God, and estate of salvation (Jb 8:13-14 Mic 3:11 Deut 29:19 John 8:41 ) (which hope of theirs shall perish [Amos 9:10 †; Matt 7:22-23 Jb 8:13 †]): 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 (1 Jhn 2:3 3:14, 18-19, 21, 24; 5:13), and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed (Rom 5:2 , 5).

2. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probably persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope (Heb 6:11 , 19); but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation (Heb 6:17-18 ), the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made (2 Pet 1:4-5 , 10-11; 1 Jhn 2:3 3:14; 2 Cor 1:12 ), the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God (Rom 8:15-16 ), which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption (Eph 1:13-14 4:30; 2 Cor 1:21-22 ).

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 (1 Jhn 5:13 Isa 50:10 Mark 9:24 Ps 88 77:1-12): 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 (1 Cor 2:12 1 Jhn 4:13 Heb 6:11-12 Eph 3:17-19 ). And therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure (2 Pet 1:10 ), 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 (Rom 5:1-2 , 5; 14:17; 15:13; Eph 1:3-4 Ps 4:6-7 119:32), the proper fruits of this assurance; so far is it from inclining men to looseness (1 Jhn 2:1-2 Rom 6:1-2 Tit 2:11-12 , 14; 2 Cor 7:1 Rom 8:1 , 12; 1 Jhn 3:2-3 Ps 130:4 1 Jhn 1:6-7 ).

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 (Song 5:2-3 , 6; Ps 51:8 , 12, 14; Eph 4:30-31 Ps 77:1-10 Matt 26:69-72 Luke 22:31-34 †; Ps 31:22 88; Isa 50:10 ): 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 (1 Jhn 3:9 Luke 22:32 Jb 13:15 Ps 73:15 51:8, 12; Isa 50:10 ); and by the which, in the meantime, they are supported from utter despair (Mic 7:7-9 Jer 32:40 Isa 54:7-10 Ps 22:1 88; 2 Cor 4:8-10 †).

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 (Gen 1:26-27 2:17; Eph 4:24 †; Rom 2:14-15 10:5; 5:12, 19; Gal 3:10 , 12; Eccl 7:29 Jb 28:28 ).

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 (Jas 1:25 2:8, 10-12; Rom 3:19 †; 13:8–9; Deut 5:32 10:4; Exod 34:1 ): the first four commandments containing our duty towards God; and the other six, our duty to man (Exod 20:3-17 †; Matt 22:37-40 ).

3. Beside 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 (Heb 9:1-10:1 Gal 4:1-3 Col 2:17 ); and partly, holding forth divers instructions of moral duties (Lev 19:9-10 , 19, 23, 27†; Deut 24:19-21 †; 1 Cor 5:7 2 Cor 6:17 Jud 23 ). All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated, under the new testament (Col 2:14 , 16-17; Dan 9:27 Eph 2:15-16 Heb 9:10 †; Acts 10:9-16 †; Acts 11:2-10 †).

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 (Exod 21:1-22:29 Gen 49:10 1 Pet 2:13-14 Matt 5:17 , 38-39; 1 Cor 9:8-10 ).

5. The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof (Rom 13:8-10 3:20†; 3:31†; 6:15†; 7:7–8†; 7:25†; 1 Cor 9:21 †; Gal 5:14 †; Eph 6:2 1 Jhn 2:3-4 , 7-8; 3:4†); 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 (Deut 6:4-5 †; Exod 20:11 †; Rom 3:19 †; Jas 2:10-11 Matt 19:4-6 †; Gen 17:1 †). Neither doth Christ, in the gospel, any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation (Matt 5:17-19 Jas 2:8 Rom 3:31 1 Cor 9:21 †; Luke 16:17-18 †).

6. Although true believers be not under the law, as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified, or condemned (Rom 6:14 7:4†; Gal 2:16 3:13; 4:4-5; Acts 13:39 Rom 8:1 ); 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 (Rom 7:12 , 22, 25; Ps 119:4-6 1 Cor 7:19 Gal 5:14 , 16, 18-23); discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and lives (Rom 7:7 3:20); so as, examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin (Jas 1:23-25 Rom 7:9 , 14, 24), together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection of his obedience (Gal 3:24 Rom 7:24-25 8:3-4). It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin (Jas 2:11 Ps 119:101 , 104, 128): 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 (Ezra 9:13-14 Ps 89:30-34 Gal 3:13 †). The promises of it, in like manner, show them God’s approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof (Exod 19:5-6 †; Deut 5:33 †; Lev 18:5 †; Matt 19:17 †; Lev 26:1-14 2 Cor 6:16 Eph 6:2-3 Ps 37:11 Matt 5:5 Ps 19:11 ): although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works (Gal 2:16 Luke 17:10 ). 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 (Rom 6:12 , 14; 1 Pet 3:8-12 Ps 34:12-16 Heb 12:28-29 ).

7. Neither are the forementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it (Rom 3:31 †; Gal 3:21 Tit 2:11-14 †); 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 (Ezek 36:27 Heb 8:10 Jer 31:33 Ps 119:35 , 47†; Rom 7:22 †).

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 (Tit 2:14 1 Thess 1:10 Gal 3:13 ); and, in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin (Gal 1:4 Col 1:13 Acts 26:18 Rom 6:14 ); from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation (Rom 8:28 Ps 119:71 2 Cor 4:15-18 †; 1 Cor 15:54-57 Rom 5:9 †; Rom 8:1 1 Thess 1:10 †); as also, in their free access to God (Rom 5:1-2 ), and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love and a willing mind (Rom 8:14-15 Gal 4:6 †; 1 Jhn 4:18 ). All which were common also to believers under the law (Gal 3:9 , 14; Rom 4:6-8 †; 1 Cor 10:3-4 †; Heb 11:1-40 †). 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 (Gal 4:1-3 , 6-7; 5:1; Acts 15:10-11 ); and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace (Eph 3:12 ‡; Heb 4:14 , 16; 10:19-22), and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of (John 7:38-39 Acts 2:17-18 †; 2 Cor 3:13 , 17-18; Jer 31:31-34 †).

2. God alone is Lord of conscience (Jas 4:12 Rom 14:4 1 Cor 10:29 †), and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in anything, contrary to his Word; or beside it, in matters of faith, or worship (Acts 4:19 5:29; 1 Cor 7:23 Matt 15:1-6 †; 23:8–10; 2 Cor 1:24 Matt 15:9 ). So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience (Col 2:20 , 22-23; Gal 1:10 2:4-5; 4:9-10†; 5:1; Ps 5:1 † [?]): and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also (Rom 10:17 14:23; Isa 8:20 Acts 17:11 John 4:22 Hos 5:11 Rev 13:12 , 16-17; Jer 8:9 1 Pet 3:15 †).

3. 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 (Gal 5:13 1 Pet 2:16 2 Pet 2:19 Rom 6:15 †; John 8:34 Luke 1:74-75 ).

4. And because the powers which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased (cf. 1 Pet 1:18-19 ), are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another (cf. 1 Pet 2:17 with 1:22), 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 (Matt 12:25 1 Pet 2:13-14 , 16; Rom 13:1-8 Heb 13:17 1 Thess 5:12-13 †). 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 (Rom 1:32 1 Cor 5:1 , 5, 11, 13; 2 Jhn 1:10-11 2 Thess 3:14 1 Tim 6:3-5 Tit 1:10-11 , 13; 3:10; Rom 16:17 †; Matt 18:15-17 1 Tim 1:19-20 Rev 2:2 , 14-15, 20; 3:9)[, and by the power of the civil magistrate (Deut 13:6-12 Rom 13:3-4 2 Jhn 1:10-11 Ezra 7:23 , 25-28; Rev 17:12 , 16-17; Neh 13:15 , 17, 21-22, 25, 30; 2 Kgs 23:5-6 , 9, 20-21; 2 Chr 34:33; 15:12-13, 16; Dan 3:29 1 Tim 2:2 Isa 49:23 Zech 13:2-3 )].[2]

Chapter XXI: Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day
1. The light of nature showeth 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 (Rom 1:20 Ps 19:1 –4a†; 50:6†; 97:6†; 145:9–12†; Acts 14:17 †; 17:24; Ps 104:1-35 †; 86:8–10†; 95:1–6†; 89:5–7†; 119:68; Jer 10:7 Ps 31:23 18:3; Rom 10:12 Ps 62:8 Josh 24:14 Deut 6:4-5 †; Mark 12:33 ). But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped 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 (Deut 12:32 Matt 15:9 Acts 17:25 Matt 4:9-10 Deut 4:15-20 Exod 20:4-6 John 4:23-24 †; Col 2:23 ).

2. Religious worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to him alone (Matt 4:10 28:19†; John 5:23 2 Cor 13:14 Eph 3:14 †; Rev 5:11-13 †; Acts 10:25-26 †); not to angels, saints, or any other creature (Col 2:18 Rev 19:10 Rom 1:25 ): and, since the fall, not without a Mediator; nor in the mediation of any other but of Christ alone (John 14:6 1 Tim 2:5 Eph 2:18 Col 3:17 ).

3. Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship (Phil 4:6 1 Tim 2:1 †; Col 4:2 †), is by God required of all men (Ps 65:2 67:3†; 96:7–8†; 148:11–13†; Isa 55:6-7 †): and, that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son (John 14:13-14 1 Pet 2:5 ), by the help of his Holy Spirit (Rom 8:26 Eph 6:18 †), according to his will (1 Jhn 5:14 ), with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance (Ps 47:7 Eccl 5:1-2 Heb 12:28 Gen 18:27 Jas 5:16 Jas 1:6-7 Mark 11:24 Matt 6:12 , 14-15; Col 4:2 Eph 6:18 ); and, if vocal, in a known tongue (1 Cor 14:14 ).

4. Prayer is to be made for things lawful (1 Jhn 5:14 John 15:7 †); and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter (1 Tim 2:1-2 John 17:20 2 Sam 7:29 2 Chr 6:14-42†; Ruth 4:12 ): but not for the dead (2 Sam 12:21-23 Luke 16:25-26 Isa 57:1-2 †; Ps 73:24 †; 2 Cor 5:8 , 10†; Phil 1:21-24 †; Rev 14:13 ), nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death (1 Jhn 5:16 ).

5. The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear (Luke 4:16-17 †; Acts 15:21 Col 4:16 †; 1 Thess 5:27 †; Rev 1:3 ), the sound preaching (2 Tim 4:2 Acts 5:42 †) and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God with understanding, faith, and reverence (Jas 1:22 Acts 10:33 Matt 13:19 Heb 4:2 Isa 66:2 ), singing of psalms with grace in the heart (Col 3:16 Eph 5:19 Jas 5:13 1 Cor 14:15 †); as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God (Matt 28:19 1 Cor 11:23-29 Acts 2:42 ): beside religious oaths (Deut 6:13 Neh 10:29 2 Cor 1:23 †), and vows (Ps 116:14 †; Isa 19:21 Eccl 5:4-5 Acts 18:18 †), solemn fastings (Joel 2:12 Esth 4:16 Matt 9:15 Acts 14:23 †; 1 Cor 7:5 [TR]), and thanksgivings upon special occasion (Exod 15:1-21 †; Ps 107:1-43 Neh 12:27-43 †; Esth 9:22 ), which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner (Heb 12:28 ).

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 (John 4:21 ): but God is to be worshiped everywhere (Mal 1:11 1 Tim 2:8 ), in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24 ); as, in private families (Jer 10:25 Deut 6:6-7 Jb 1:5 2 Sam 6:18 , 20; 1 Pet 3:7 Acts 10:2 ) daily (Matt 6:11 Josh 24:15 †; Jb 1:5 †), and in secret, each one by himself (Matt 6:6 Eph 6:18 Neh 1:4-11 †; Dan 9:3 –4a†); 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 (Isa 56:6-7 Heb 10:25 Ps 100:4 †; 122:1†; 84:1–12†; Prov 1:20-21 , 24; 8:34; Acts 13:42 Luke 4:16 Acts 2:42 ).

7. 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 (Exod 20:8 , 10-11; Isa 56:2 , 4, 6-7): 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 (Gen 2:2-3 1 Cor 16:1-2 Acts 20:7 ), which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s Day (Rev 1:10 ), and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath (Exod 20:8 , 10; Matt 5:17-18 Mark 2:27-28 †; Rom 13:8-10 †; Jas 2:8-12 †).

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 beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest, all the day, from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations (Exod 20:8 16:23, 25-26, 29-30; 31:15-17; Isa 58:13 Neh 13:15-19 , 21-22), 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 (Isa 58:13 Luke 4:16 †; Matt 12:1-13 Mark 3:1-5 †).

Chapter XXII: Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
1. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship (Deut 10:20 Isa 45:23 †; Rom 14:11 †; Phil 2:10-11 †), 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 (Exod 20:7 Lev 19:12 Rom 1:9 †; 2 Cor 1:23 11:31†; Gal 1:20 †; 2 Chr 6:22-23).

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 (Deut 6:13 Josh 23:7 †). 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 (Exod 20:7 Jer 5:7 Matt 5:34 , 37; Jas 5:12 ). 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 (Heb 6:16 2 Cor 1:23 Isa 65:16 ); so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters, ought to be taken (1 Kgs 8:31 Neh 13:25 Ezra 10:5 ).

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 (Exod 20:7 Lev 19:12 †; Jer 4:2 Hos 10:4 †): neither may any man bind himself by oath to anything but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform (Gen 24:2-3 , 5-6, 8-9; Neh 5:12-13 †; Eccl 5:2 , 5†). [Yet it is a sin to refuse an oath touching anything that is good and just, being imposed by lawful authority (Num 5:19 , 21; Neh 5:12 Exod 22:7-11 ).][3]

4. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words, without equivocation or mental reservation (Jer 4:2 Ps 24:4 ). It cannot oblige to sin; but in anything not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man’s own hurt (1 Sam 25:22 , 32-34; Ps 15:4 ). Nor is it to be violated, although made to heretics, or infidels (Ezek 17:16 , 18-19; Josh 9:18-19 2 Sam 21:1 ).

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 (Num 30:2 †; Isa 19:21 Eccl 5:4-6 Ps 61:8 66:13-14).

6. It is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone (Ps 50:14 †; 76:11; 116:14†; Jer 44:25-26 ): 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 (Deut 23:21-23 Ps 50:14 Gen 28:20-22 1 Sam 1:11 Ps 66:13-14 Ps 132:2-5 ).

7. No man may vow to do anything 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 (Acts 23:12 , 14; Mark 6:26 Num 30:5 , 8, 12-13). 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 (Matt 19:11-12 1 Cor 7:2 , 9; Heb 13:4 †; Eph 4:28 1 Thess 4:11-12 †; 1 Pet 4:2 1 Cor 7:23 ).

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 evildoers (Rom 13:1-4 1 Pet 2:13-14 ).

2. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called thereunto (Gen 41:39-43 †; Neh 12:26 †; 13:15–31†; Dan 2:48-49 †; Prov 8:15-16 Rom 13:1-2 , 4): in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth (Ps 2:10-12 1 Tim 2:2 Ps 82:3-4 2 Sam 23:3 1 Pet 2:13 ); so, for that end, they may lawfully, now under the new testament, wage war, upon just and necessary occasion [or, occasions] (Luke 3:14 Rom 13:4 Matt 8:9-10 Acts 10:1-2 Rev 17:14 , 16).

3. Civil magistrates [or The civil magistrate (English editions)] may not assume to themselves [or himself (English editions)] the administration of the Word and sacraments; or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven (2 Chr 26:18; Matt 18:17 16:19; 1 Cor 12:28-29 Eph 4:11-12 1 Cor 4:1-2 Rom 10:15 Heb 5:4 );[4] or, in the least, interfere in matters of faith (John 18:36 †; Mal 2:7 †; Acts 5:29 †; Eph 4:11-12 †). 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 (Isa 49:23 Rom 13:1-6 †). 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 (Ps 105:15 †; Acts 18:14-16 †). 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 (2 Sam 23:3 †; 1 Tim 2:1-2 †; Rom 13:4 †).

4. It is the duty of people [or the people] to pray for magistrates (1 Tim 2:1-2 ), to honor their persons (1 Pet 2:17 ), to pay them tribute and other dues (Matt 22:21 †; Rom 13:6-7 ), to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority, for conscience’ sake (Rom 13:5 Tit 3:1 ). Infidelity, or difference in religion, doth not make void the magistrates’ just and legal authority, nor free the people from their obedience to them [or to him] (1 Pet 2:13-14 , 16): from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted (Rom 13:1 1 Kgs 2:35 Acts 25:9-11 2 Pet 2:1 , 10-11; Jud 8-11 ), 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 pretense whatsoever (Mark 10:42-44 †; Matt 23:8-12 †; 2 Thess 2:4 2 Tim 2:24 †; 1 Pet 5:3 †; Rev 13:15-17 ).

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 (Gen 2:24 Matt 19:5-6 Rom 7:3 †; Prov 2:17 1 Cor 7:2 †; Mark 10:6-9 †).

2. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife (Gen 2:18 Eph 5:28 †; 1 Pet 3:7 †), for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue, and of the church with an holy seed (Gen 1:28 †; 9:1†; Mal 2:15 ); and for preventing of uncleanness (1 Cor 7:2 , 9).

3. It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry, who are able with judgment to give their consent (Heb 13:4 1 Tim 4:3 1 Cor 7:36-38 Gen 24:57-58 ). Yet it is the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord (1 Cor 7:39 ). 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 (Gen 34:14 Exod 34:16 Deut 7:3-4 1 Kgs 11:4 Neh 13:25-27 Mal 2:11-12 2 Cor 6:14 ).

4. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity forbidden by the Word (Lev 18 1 Cor 5:1 Amos 2:7 ). Nor can such incestuous marriages ever be made by any law of man or consent of parties, so as those persons may live together as man and wife (Mark 6:18 Lev 18:24-28 ). [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 (Lev 20:19-21 ).][5]

5. Adultery or fornication committed after a contract, being detected before marriage, giveth just occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract (Matt 1:18-20 Deut 22:23-24 †). In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce (Matt 5:31-32 ): and, after the divorce, to marry another, as if the offending party were dead (Matt 19:9 Rom 7:2-3 ).

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 (Matt 19:8-9 1 Cor 7:15 Matt 19:6 ): 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 (Deut 24:1-4 Ezra 10:3 †).

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 (Eph 1:10 , 22-23; 5:23, 27, 32; Col 1:18 ).

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 (1 Cor 1:2 12:12-13; Ps 2:8 Rev 7:9 Rom 15:9-12 ); and of [or together with] their children (1 Cor 7:14 Acts 2:39 Ezek 16:20-21 Rom 11:16 Gen 3:15 17:7; Gal 3:7 , 9, 14†; Rom 4 †): and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 13:47 Isa 9:7 Luke 1:32-33 †; Acts 2:30-36 †; Col 1:13 †), the house and family of God (Eph 2:19 3:15; Prov 29:18 †[?]), out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation (Acts 2:47 ).

3. 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 (1 Cor 12:28 Eph 4:11-13 Matt 28:19-20 Isa 59:21 ).

4. This catholic church hath been sometimes more, sometimes less visible (Rom 11:3-4 Acts 9:31 †; 2:41, 47†; 18:8–10†; Rev 12:6 , 14). 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 (Acts 2:41-42 †; Rev 2-3 1 Cor 5:6-7 ).

5. The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error (1 Cor 13:12 Rev 2-3 Matt 13:24-30 , 47); and some have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan (Matt 23:37-39 †; Rev 18:2 Rom 11:18-22 ). Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will (Matt 16:18 Ps 45:16-17 †; 72:17; 102:28; Matt 28:19-20 1 Cor 15:51-52 †; 1 Thess 4:17 †).

6. There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ (Col 1:18 Eph 1:22 ). 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][6] (Matt 23:8-10 2 Thess 2:3-4 , 8-9; 1 Pet 5:2-4 †; Rev 13:6 ).

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 graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory (1 Jhn 1:3 Eph 3:16-19 John 1:16 Eph 2:5-6 Phil 3:10 Rom 6:5-6 8:17†; 2 Tim 2:12 ): and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other’s gifts and graces (Eph 4:15-16 1 Cor 12:7 3:21-23; Col 2:19 ), 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 (1 Thess 5:11 , 14; Rom 1:11-12 , 14; 1 Jhn 3:16-18 Gal 6:10 ).

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 (Heb 10:24-25 Acts 2:42 , 46; Isa 2:3 1 Cor 11:20 ); 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 (Acts 2:44-45 1 Jhn 3:17 2 Cor 8-9 Acts 11:29-30 ).

3. 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 (Col 1:18-19 1 Cor 8:6 Isa 42:8 1 Tim 6:15-16 Ps 45:7 Heb 1:8-9 John 1:14 †; 20:17†). 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 (Exod 20:15 Eph 4:28 Acts 5:4 ).

Chapter XXVII: Of the Sacraments
1. Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace (Rom 4:11 Gen 17:7 , 10), immediately instituted by God (Matt 28:19 1 Cor 11:23 ), to represent Christ, and his benefits; and to confirm our interest in him (Rom 6:3-4 †; Col 2:12 †; 1 Cor 10:16 11:25-26; Gal 3:27 3:17†): as also, to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the church, and the rest of the world (Rom 15:8 Exod 12:48 Gen 34:14 1 Cor 10:21 †); and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to his Word (Rom 6:3-4 Gal 3:27 †; 1 Pet 3:21 †; 1 Cor 10:16 , 21; 5:7-8†).

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 (Gen 17:10 Matt 26:27-28 1 Cor 10:16-18 †; Tit 3:5 ).

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 (Rom 2:28-29 1 Pet 3:21 ): but upon the work of the Spirit (Matt 3:11 1 Cor 12:13 ), and the word of institution, which contains, together with a precept authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers (Matt 26:27-28 Luke 22:19-20 †; Matt 28:19-20 1 Cor 11:26 †).

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 (Matt 28:19 1 Cor 11:20 , 23; 4:1; Eph 4:11-12 †; Heb 5:4 ).

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 (1 Cor 5:7-8 †; 10:1–4; Rom 4:11 †; Col 2:11-12 †).

Chapter XXVIII: Of Baptism
1. Baptism is a sacrament of the new testament, ordained by Jesus Christ (Matt 28:19 Mark 16:16 †[TR]), not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible church (1 Cor 12:13 Gal 3:27-28 †); but also, to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace (Rom 4:11 Col 2:11-12 ), or his ingrafting into Christ (Gal 3:27 Rom 6:5 ), of regeneration (John 3:5 †; Tit 3:5 ), of remission of sins (Mark 1:4 Acts 2:38 †; 22:16†), and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life (Rom 6:3-4 ). Which sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in his church until the end of the world (Matt 28:19-20 ).

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 (Matt 3:11 John 1:33 Acts 10:47 †; 8:36, 38†; Matt 28:19-20 ).

3. Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but baptism is rightly administered by pouring, or sprinkling water upon the person (Heb 9:10 , 19-22; Acts 2:41 16:33; Mark 7:4 Luke 11:38 †).

4. Not only those that do actually profess faith in and obedience unto Christ (Mark 16:15-16 [TR]; Acts 2:41 †; 8:12–13†; 8:37–38 [TR]; 16:14–15†), but also the infants of one, or both, believing parents, are to be baptized (Gen 17:7 , 9; Gal 3:9 , 14; Col 2:11-12 Acts 2:38-39 Rom 4:11-12 1 Cor 7:14 Matt 19:13 †; 28:19; Mark 10:13-16 Luke 18:15 Acts 16:14-15 , 33†).

5. Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance (Gen 17:14 †; Matt 28:19 †; Luke 7:30 Exod 4:24-26 Acts 2:38 †), yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated, or saved, without it (Rom 4:11 Acts 10:2 , 4, 22, 31, 45, 47): or, that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated (Acts 8:13 , 23).

6. The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered (John 3:5 , 8); 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 (Rom 6:3-6 †; Gal 3:27 Tit 3:5 Eph 5:25-26 1 Pet 3:21 †; Acts 2:38 , 41).

7. The Sacrament of baptism is but once to be administered unto any person (Rom 6:3-11 †; Tit 3:5 ).

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 (1 Cor 11:23-26 10:16-17, 21; 12:13).

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 (Heb 9:22 , 25-26, 28; 10:10-14†); 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 (1 Cor 11:24-26 Matt 26:26-27 Luke 22:19-20 †): 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 his elect (Heb 7:23-24 , 27; 10:11-12, 14, 18).

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 (Matt 26:26-28 Mark 14:22-24 Luke 22:19-20 1 Cor 10:16-17 †; 11:23–26); but to none who are not then present in the congregation (Acts 20:7 1 Cor 11:20 ).

4. Private masses, or receiving this sacrament by a priest, or any other, alone (1 Cor 10:16 ); as likewise, the denial of the cup to the people (Matt 26:27-28 †; Mark 14:23 1 Cor 11:25-29 ), worshiping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about, for adoration, and the reserving of them for any pretended religious use; are all contrary to the nature of this sacrament, and to the institution of Christ (Matt 15:9 ).

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 (Matt 26:26-28 ); albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before (1 Cor 11:26-28 Matt 26:29 ).

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 (Acts 3:21 1 Cor 11:24-26 Luke 24:6 , 39).

7. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements, in this sacrament (1 Cor 11:28 5:7-8†), 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 (1 Cor 10:16 10:3-4†).

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 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 cannot, without great sin against Christ, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries (1 Cor 11:27-29 2 Cor 6:14-16 1 Cor 10:21 †), or be admitted thereunto (1 Cor 5:6-7 , 13; 2 Thess 3:6 , 14-15; Matt 7:6 ).

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 (Isa 9:6-7 Col 1:18 †; 1 Tim 5:17 1 Thess 5:12 Acts 20:17 , 28; Heb 13:7 , 17, 24; Eph 4:11-12 †; 1 Cor 12:28 Matt 28:18-20 Ps 2:6-9 †; John 18:36 †).

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 (Matt 16:19 18:17-18; John 20:21-23 2 Cor 2:6-8 ).

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 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 (1 Cor 5:1-13 1 Tim 5:20 Matt 7:6 1 Tim 1:20 1 Cor 11:27-34 Jud 23 ).

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 (1 Thess 5:12 2 Thess 3:6 , 14-15; 1 Cor 5:4-5 , 13; Matt 18:17 Tit 3:10 ).

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 (Acts 15:2 , 4, 6): [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 (Acts 15 †); and to convene together in them, as often as they shall judge it expedient for the good of the Church (Acts 15:22-23 , 25†; 20:17†).][7]

[2. As magistrates may lawfully call a synod of ministers, and other fit persons, to consult and advice with about matters of religion (Isa 49:23 1 Tim 2:1-2 2 Chr 19:8-11; 2 Chr 29-30; Matt 2:4-5 Prov 11:14 ); so if magistrates be open enemies to 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 (Acts 15:2 , 4, 22-23, 25).][8]

3 [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 (Acts 15:15 , 19, 24, 27-31; 16:4; Matt 18:17-20 ).

4 [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 (Eph 2:20 Acts 17:11 1 Cor 2:5 2 Cor 1:24 Isa 8:19-20 †; Matt 15:9 †).

5 [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 (Luke 12:13-14 John 18:36 Matt 22:21 †).

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 (Gen 3:19 Acts 13:36 ): but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them (Luke 23:43 Eccl 12:7 ): 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 (Heb 12:23 2 Cor 5:1 , 6, 8; Phil 1:23 Acts 3:21 Eph 4:10 Rom 8:23 †; 1 Jhn 3:2 †). 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 (Luke 16:23-24 Acts 1:25 Jud 6-7 1 Pet 3:19 ). 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 (1 Thess 4:17 1 Cor 15:51-52 ): and all the dead shall be raised up, with the selfsame bodies, and none other (although with different qualities), which shall be united again to their souls forever (John 5:25-29 †; Acts 24:15 †; Jb 19:26-27 Dan 12:2 †; 1 Cor 15:42-44 ).

3. 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 (Acts 24:15 John 5:28-29 1 Cor 15:43 Phil 3:21 ).

Chapter XXXIII: Of the Last Judgment
1. God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ (Acts 17:31 ), to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father (John 5:22 , 27). In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged (1 Cor 6:3 Jud 6 2 Pet 2:4 ), 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 Cor 5:10 Eccl 12:14 Rom 2:16 14:10, 12; Matt 12:36-37 ).

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 punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (Matt 25:31-46 Rom 2:5-6 9:22-23; Matt 25:21 Acts 3:19-20 2 Thess 1:7-10 Isa 66:24 †; Mark 9:48 †).

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 (2 Pet 3:11 , 14; 2 Cor 5:10-11 2 Thess 1:5-7 Luke 21:27-28 Rom 8:23-25 ): 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 (Matt 24:36 , 42-44; Mark 13:35-37 Luke 12:35-36 Rev 22:20 ).

The text of the Confession is taken with slight modifications from The Westminster Confession of Faith Together with the Larger Catechism and the Shorter Catechism with Scripture Proofs (3rd ed.; Atlanta, GA: Committee for Christian Education & Publications, PCA Bookstore, 1990), 3–99. © Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, 1990.

1 Ed. note: The material in square brackets is omitted in the American editions.

2 Ed. note: The phrase in brackets is omitted on purpose in the PCA and OPC editions.

3 Ed. note: From this point, the original English edition has, “yet he hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed (Isa 49:23 Ps 122:9 Ezra 7:23 , 25-28; Lev 24:16 Deut 13:5-6 , 12; 2 Kgs 18:4 1 Chr 13:1-9 2 Kgs 23:1-26 2 Chr 34:33; 2 Chr 15:12-13). For the better effecting whereof, he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God (2 Chr 19:8-11; 2 Chr 29-30; Matt 2:4-5 ).”

4 Ed. note: The last phrase is omitted in the PCA or OPC editions.

5 Ed. note: The last phrase is omitted in the PCA and OPC editions.

6 Ed. note: The passage in square brackets is not found in the original English edition, but is added in the American versions.

7 Ed. note: This article is found in the original English edition, but is omitted in the American editions. In the next articles, the numbers in square brackets indicate the references to the American editions.

† This symbol indicates references added in later editions of a confession or catechism

‡ This symbol indicates references added by editors of the RSB project