CHAP. VI Of the fall of Man of Sin and of the Punishment thereof GOd having made a Covenant of Works and Life thereupon with our first Parents and all their posterity in them they being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan did wilfully transgress the Law of their Creation and break the Covenant in eating the forbidden fruit II. By this sin they and we in them fell from original righteousness and communion with God and so became dead in sin and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body III. They being the Root and by Gods appointment standing in the room and stead of all mankinde the guilt of this sin was imputed and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation IV. From this Original corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed disabled and made opposite to all good and wholly inclined to all evil do proceed all Actual transgression V. This Corruption of nature during this life doth remain in those that are regenerated and although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified yet both it self and all the motions thereof are truely and properly sin VI Every sin both original and actual being a transgression of the righteous Law of God and contrary thereunto doth in its own nature bring guilt upon the sinner whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God and curse of the Law and so made subject to death with all miseries spiritual temporal and eternal CHAP. VII Of Gods Covenant with Man 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 attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on Gods part which he hath been pleased to express by way of Covenant II. The first Covenant made with man was a Covenant of Works wherein life was promised to Adam and in him to his posterity upon condition of perfect and personal obedience III. Man by his fall having made himself uncapable of life by that Covenant the Lord was pleased to make a second commonly called the Covenant of Grace wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ requiring of them faith in him that they may be saved and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life his holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe IV. This Covenant of Grace is frequently set forth in the Scripture by the name of a Testament in reference to the death of Jesus Christ the Testator and to the everlasting Inheritance with all things belonging to it therein bequeathed V. Although this Covenant hath been differently and variously administred in respect of Ordinances and Institutions in the time of the Law and since the coming of Christ in the flesh yet for the substance and efficacy of it to all its spiritual and saving ends it is one and the same upon the account of which various dispensations it is called the Old and New Testament CHAP. VIII Of Christ the Mediator IT pleased God in his eternal purpose to chuse and ordain the Lord Jesus his onely begotten Son according to a Covenant made between them both to be the Mediator between God and Man the Prophet Priest and King the Head and Savior of his Church the Heir of all things and Judge of the World unto whom he did from all eternity give a people to be his feed and to be by him in time redeemed called justified sanctified and glorified II. The Son of God the second Person in the Trinity being very and eternal God of one substance and equal with the Father did when the fulness of time was come take upon him Mans nature with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof yet without sin being conceived by the power of the holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary of her substance So that two whole perfect and distinct natures the Godhead and the Manhood were inseparably joyned together in one Person without conversion composition or confusion which Person is very God and very Man yet one Christ the onely Mediator between God and Man III. The Lord Jesus in his Humane nature thus united to the Divine in the Person of the Son was sanctified and anointed with the holy Spirit above measure having in him all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell to the end that being holy harmless undefiled and full of grace and truth he might be throughly furnished to execute the Office of a Mediator and Surety which Office he took not unto himself but was thereunto called by his Father who also put all Power and Judgement into his hand and gave him Commandment to execute the same IV. This Office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake which that he might discharge he was made under the Law and did perfectly fulfil it and underwent the punishment due to us which we should have born and suffered being made sin and a curse for us enduring most grievous torments immediately from God in his soul and most painful sufferings in his body was crucified and died was buried and remained under the power of death yet saw no corruption on the third day he arose from the dead with the same Body in which he suffered with which also he ascended into Heaven and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father making intercession and shall return to judge Men and Angels at the end of the world V. 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 God and purchased not onely reconciliation but an everlasting inheritance in the Kingdom of heaven for all those whom the Father hath given unto him VI Athough the work of Redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after his Incarnation yet the vertue efficacy and benefits thereof were communicated to 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 Serpents head and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world being yesterday and to day the same and for ever VII Christ in the work of Mediation acteth according to both Natures by each Nature doing that which is proper to it self 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 VIII To all those for whom Christ hath purchased Redemption he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same making intercession for them and revealing unto them in and by the Word the mysteries of salvation effectually perswading them by his Spirit to believe and obey and governing their hearts by his Word
and Spirit overcoming all their enemies by his almighty Power and Wisdom in such maner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation Chap. IX Of Free-will GOd hath endued the Will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice that it is neither forced nor by any absolute necessity of Nature determined to do good or evil II. Man in his state of Innocency had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God but yet mutably so that he might fall from it III. Man by his fall into a state of sin hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation so as a natural man being altogether averse from that good and dead in sin is not able by his own strength to convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto IV. When God converts a sinner and translates him into the state of grace he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin and by his grace alone inables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good yet so as that by reason of his remaining corruption he doth not perfectly nor onely will that which is good but doth also will that which is evil V. The will of Man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone in the state of Glory onely CHAP. X. Of Effectual Calling ALl those whom God hath predestinated unto life and those onely he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call by his Word and Spirit out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ inlightning their mindes spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God taking away their heart of stone and giving unto them an heart of flesh renewing their wills and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ yet so as they come most freely being made willing by his grace II. This effectual Call is of Gods free and special grace alone not from any thing at all foreseen in man who is altogether passive therein until being quickned and renewed by the holy Spirit he is thereby enabled to answer this Call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it III. Elect Infants dying in Infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ who worketh when and where and how he pleaseth so also are all other elect persons who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the Ministery of the Word IV. Others not elected although they may be called by the Ministery of the Word and may have some common operations of the Spirit yet not being effectually drawn by the Father they neither do nor can come unto Christ and therefore cannot be saved much less can men not professing the Christian Religion be saved in any other way whatsoever be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the Light of Nature and the Law of that Religion they do profess And to assert and maintain that they may is very pernicious and to be detested CHAP. XI Of Justification THose whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth not by infusing righteousness into them but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for Christs sake alone nor by imputing Faith it self the act of believing or any other Evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness but by imputing Christs active obedience unto the whole Law and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by Faith which Faith they have not of themselves it is the gift of God II. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness is the alone instrument of justification yet it is not alone in the person justified but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is no dead Faith but worketh by Love III. Christ by his Obedience and Death did fully discharge the Debt of all those that are justified and did by the sacrifice of himself in the blood of his Cross undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them make a proper real and full satisfaction to Gods Justice in their behalf Yet in as much as he was given by the Father for them and his Obedience and Satisfaction accepted in their stead and both freely not for any thing in them their justification is onely of free grace that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners IV. God did from all eternity decree to justifie all the Elect and Christ did in the fulness of time die for their sins and rise again for their justification Nevertheless they are not justified personally until the holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them V. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified and although they can never fall from the state of justification yet they may by their sins fall under Gods fatherly displeasure and in that condition they have not usually the light of his Countenance restored unto them until they humble themselves confess their sins beg pardon and renew their faith and repentance VI 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 CHAP. XII Of Adoption ALl those that are justified God vouchsafeth in and for his onely Son Jesus Christ to make partakers of the grace of Adoption by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the Liberties and priviledges of the Children of God have this Name put upon them receive the Spirit of Adoption have access to the Throne of Grace with boldness are enabled to cry Abba Father are pitied protected provided for and chastened by him as by a father yet never cast off but sealed to the day of Redemption and inherit the Promises as Heirs of everlasting Salvation CHAP. XIII Of Sanctification THey that are united to Christ effectually called and regenerated having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the vertue of Christs death and resurrection are also further sanctified really and personally through the same vertue by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakned and mortified and they more and more quickned and strengthned in all saving graces to the practice of all true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord II. This Sanctification is throughout in the whole man yet imperfect in this life there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part whence ariseth a continual and irreconcileable war the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh III. In which war although
become servants of corruption and be brought in bondage to all sorts of fancies and imaginations yet the whole world may now see after the experience of many years ran through and it is manifest by this Confession that the great and gracious God hath not onely kept us in that common unity of the Faith and Knowledge of the Son of God which the whole Community of Saints have and shall in their generations come unto but also in the same Truths both small and great that are built thereupon that any other of the best and more pure Reformed Churches in their best times which were their first times have arrived unto This Confession withall holding forth a professed opposition unto the common errors and heresies of these times These two considerations have been taken from the seasons we have gone through Thirdly let the space of time it self or days wherein from first to last the whole of this Confession was framed and consented to by the whole of us be duly considered by sober and ingenuous spirits the whole of days in which we had meetings about it set aside the two Lords days and the first days meeting in which we considered and debated what to pitch upon were but eleven days part of which also was spent by some of us in prayer others in consulting and in the end all agreeing We mention this small circumstance but to this end which still adds unto the former That it gives demonstration not of our freeness and willingness onely but of our readiness and preparedness unto so great a work which otherwise and in other Assemblies hath ordinarily taken up long and great debates as in such a variety of matters of such concernment may well be supposed to fall out And this is no other then what the Apostle Peter exhorts unto Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason or account of the hope that is in you The Apostle Paul saith of the spiritual Truths of the Gospel That God hath prepared them for those that love him The inward and innate constitution of the new creature being in it self such as is suted to all those Truths as congenial thereunto But although there be this mutual adaptness between these two yet such is the mixture of ignorance darkness and unbelief carnal reason preoccupation of judgement interest of parties wantonness in opinion proud adhering to our own perswasions and perverse oppositions and aversness to agree with others and a multitude of such like distempers common to believing man All which are not onely mixed with but at times especially in such times as have passed over our heads are ready to overcloud our judgements and do cause our eyes to be double and sometimes prevail as well as lusts and do byass our wills and affections And such is their mixture that although there may be existent an habitual preparedness in mens spirits yet not always a present readiness to be found specially not in such a various multitude of men to make a solemn and deliberate profession of all truths it being as great a work to finde the spirits of the just perhaps the best of Saints ready for every truth as to be prepared to every good work It is therefore to be looked at as a great and special work of the holy Ghost that so numerous a company of Ministers and other principal brethren should so readily speedily and joyntly give up themselves unto such a whole Body of Truths that are after godliness This argues they had not their faith to seek but as is said of Ezra that they were ready Scribes and as Christ instructed unto the kingdom of heaven being as the good housholders of so many families of Christ bringing forth of their store and treasury New and Old It shews these truths had been familiar to them and they acquainted with them as with their daily food and provision as Christs allusion there insinuates in a word that so they had preached and that so their people had believed as the Apostle speaks upon one like particular occasion And the Apostle Paul considers in cases of this nature the suddenness or length of the time either one way or the other whether it were in mens forsaking or learning of the truth Thus the suddenness in the Galatians case in leaving the truth he makes a wonder of it I marvel that you are SO SOON that is in so short a time removed from the true Gospel unto another Again on the contrary in the Hebrews he aggravates their backwardness That when for the time you ought to be Teachers you had need that one teach you the very first principles of the Oracles of God The Parable contrary to both these having fallen out in this transaction may have some ingredient and weight with ingenuous spirits in its kinde according to the proportion is put upon either of these forementioned in their adverse kinde and obtain the like special observation This accord of ours hath fallen out without having held any correspondency together or prepared consultation by which we might come to be advised of one anothers mindes We alledge not this as a matter of commendation in us no we acknowledge it to have been a great neglect And accordingly one of the first proposals for union amongst us was That there might be a constant correspondence held among the Churches for counsel and mutual edification so for time to come to prevent the like omission We confess that from the first every or at least the generality of our Churches have been in a maner like so many Ships though holding forth the same general colours lancht singly and sailing apart and alone in the vast Ocean of these tumultuating times and they exposed to every wind of Doctrine under no other conduct then the Word and Spirit and their particular Elders and principal Brethren without Associations among our selves or so much as holding out common lights to others whereby to know where we were But yet whilest we thus confess to our own shame this neglect let all acknowledge that God hath ordered it for his high and greater glory in that his singular care and power should have so watcht over each of these as that all should be found to have steered their course by the same Chart and to have been bound for one and the same Port and that upon this general search now made that the same holy and blessed Truths of all sorts which are currant and warrantable amongst all the other Churches of Christ in the world should be found to be our Lading The whole and every of these things when put together do cause us whatever men of prejudiced and opposite spirits may finde out to slight them with a holy admiration to say That this is no other then the Lords doing and which we with thanksgiving do take from his hand as a special token upon us for good and doth show that God is faithful
the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ the regenerate part doth overcome and so the Saints grow in grace perfecting holiness in the fear of God CHAP. XIV Of saving Faith THe grace of Faith whereby the Elect are inabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts and is ordinarily wrought by the Ministery of the Word by which also and by the administration of the Seals Prayer and other means it is increased and strengthened II. By this Faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the Authority of God himself speaking therein and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth yielding obedience to the commands trembling at the threatnings and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come But the principal acts of saving Faith are accepting receiving and resting upon Christ alone for justification sanctification and eternal life by vertue of the covenant of Grace III. This Faith although it be different in degrees and may be weak or strong yet it is in the least degree of it different in the kinde or nature of it as is all other saving grace from the faith and common grace of temporary believers and therefore though it may be many times assailed and weakned yet it gets the victory growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ who is both the author and finisher of our Faith CHAP. XV Of Repentance unto life and salvation SUch of the Elect as are converted at riper years having sometime lived in the state of nature and therein served divers lusts and pleasures God in their effectual calling giveth them Repentance unto life II. Whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth not and the best of men may through the power and deceitfulness of their corruptions dwelling in them with the prevalency of temptation fall into great sins and provocations God hath in the covenant of Grace mercifully provided that Believers so sinning and falling be renewed through repentance unto Salvation III. This saving Repentance is an Evangelical Grace whereby a person being by the holy Ghost made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin doth by Faith in Christ humble himself for it with godly sorrow detestation of it and self-abhorrency praying for pardon and strength of Grace with a purpose and endeavor by supplies of the Spirit to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things IV. As Repentance is to be continued through the whole course of our lives upon the account of the body of death and the motions thereof so it is every mans duty to repent of his particular known sins particularly V. Such is the provision which God hath made through Christ in the Covenant of Grace for the preservation of Believers unto salvation that although there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them who truly repent which makes the constant preaching of Repentance necessary CHAP. XVI Of good Works GOOd works are onely such as God hath commanded in his holy Word and not such as without the warrant thereof are devised by men out of blinde zeal or upon any pretence of good intentions II. These good Works done in obedience to Gods commandments are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively Faith and by them Believers manifest their thankfulness strengthen their assurance edifie their Brethren adorn the profession of the Gospel stop the mouthes of the adversaries and glorifie God whose workmanship they are created in Christ Jesus thereunto that having their fruit unto holiness they may have the end eternal life III. Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves but wholly from the Spirit of Christ And that they may be enabled thereunto besides the graces they have already received there is required an actual influence of the same holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent as if they were not bound to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the Spirit but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in them IV. 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 then God requires as that they fall short of much which in duty they are bound to do V. We cannnot 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 â—â—tisfie for the debt of our former sins but when we have done all we can we have done but our duty and are unprofitable servants and because as they are good they proceed from his Spirit and as they are wrought by us they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of Gods judgement VI Yet notwithstanding the persons of Believers being accepted through Christ their good works also are accepted in Him not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreproveable in Gods sight but that he looking upon them in his Son is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections VII 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 to others yet because they proceed not from a heart purified by Faith nor are done in a right maner according to the Word not to a right end the glory of God they are therefore sinful and cannot please God nor make a man meet to receive grace from God and yet their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God CHAP. XVII Of the Perseverance of the Saints 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 II. This Perseverance of the Saints depends not upon their own free-will but upon the immutability of the Decree of Election from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him the Oath of God the abiding of his Spirit and of the seed of God within them and the nature of the Covenant of Grace from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof III. And though they may through the temptation of Satan and of the world
so much as in a general or obscure way much less that men destitute of the revelation of him by the Promise or Gospel should be inabled thereby to attain saving Faith or Repentance III. The revelation of the Gospel unto sinners made in divers times and by sundry parts with the addition of Promises and Precepts for the obedience required therein as to the Nations and persons to whom it is granted is meerly of the Soveraign will and good pleasure of God not being annexed by vertue of any promise to the due improvement of mens natural abilities by vertue of common light received without it which none ever did make or can so do And therefore in all ages the Preaching of the Gospel hath been granted unto Persons and Nations as to the extent or straitning of it in great variety according to the Counsel of the Will of God IV. Although the Gospel be the onely outward means of revealing Christ and saving Grace and is as such abundantly sufficient thereunto yet that men who are dead in trespasses may be born again quickned or regenerated there is moreover necessary an effectual irresistible work of the holy Ghost upon the whole soul for the producing in them a new spiritual life without which no other means are sufficient for their conversion unto God CHAP. XXI Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience 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 rigor and curse of the Law and in their being delivered from this present evil world bondage to Satan and dominion of sin from the evil of afflictions the fear and sting of death the victory of the grave and everlasting damnation as also in their free access to God and their yielding obedience unto him not out of slavish fear but a childe-like love and willing minde All which were common also to Believers under the Law for the substance of them but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further inlarged in their freedom from the yoak of the Ceremonial Law the whole Legal administration of the Covenant of Grace to which the Jewish Church was subjected and in greater boldness of access to the throne of Grace and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God then Believers under the Law did ordinarily partake of II. God alone is Lord of the Conscience and hath left it free from the Doctrines and Commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his Word or not contained in it so that to believe such Doctrines or to obey such Commands out of conscience is to betray true Liberty of Conscience and the requiring of an implicit faith and an absolute and blinde obedience is to destroy Liberty of Conscience and Reason also III. They who upon pretence of Christian Liberty do practice any sin or cherish any lust as they do thereby pervert the main designe of the Grace of the Gospel to their own destruction so they wholly 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 CHAP. XXII Of religious Worship and the Sabbath-day THe light of Nature sheweth that there is a God who hath Lordship and Soveraignty over all is just 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 all the soul and with all the might But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed will that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men or the suggestions of Satan under any visible representations or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture II. Religious Worship is to be given to God the Father Son and holy Ghost and to him alone not to Angels Saints or any other Creatures and since the Fall not without a Mediator nor in the mediation of any other but of Christ alone III. Prayer with thanksgiving being one special part of natural worship is by God required of all men but that it may be accepted it is to be made in the name of the Son by the help of his Spirit according to his will with understanding reverence humility fervency faith love and perseverance and when with others in a known tongue IV. Prayer is to be made for things lawful and for all sorts of men living or that shall live hereafter but not for the dead nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death V. The reading of the Scriptures Preaching and hearing the word of God singing of Psalms as also the administration of Baptism and the Lords Supper are all parts of religious Worship of God to be performed in obedience unto God with understanding faith reverence and godly fear Solemn Humiliations with Fastings and Thanksgiving upon special occasions are in their several times and seasons to be used in a holy and religious maner VI Neither Prayer nor any other part of religious Worship is now under the Gospel either tyed unto or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed or towards which it is directed but God is to be worshipped every where in spirit and in truth as in private families dayly and in secret each one by himself so more solemnly in the publique assemblies which are not carelesly nor wilfully to be neglected or forsaken when God by his Word of Providence calleth thereunto VII As it is of the law of Nature that in general a proportion of time by Gods appointment be set apart for the worship of God so by his Word in a positive moral and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week which in Scripture is called the Lords day and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath the observation of the last day of the week being abolished VIII This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering their common affairs beforehand do not onely observe an holy rest all the day from their own works words and thoughts about their worldly imployments and recreations but also are taken up the whole time in the publique and private exercises of his Worship and in the duties of Necessity and Mercy CHAP. XXIII Of lawful Oaths and Vows A Lawful Oath is a part of religious Worship wherein the person swearing in truth righteousness and judgement solemnly calleth God to witness
his dear Son broken the Churches of Christ being inlarged and edified through a free and plentiful communication of light and grace shall enjoy in this world a more quiet peaceable and glorious condition then they have enjoyed CHAP. XXVII Of the Communion of Saints ALl Saints that are united to Jesus Christ their Head by his Spirit and Faith although they are not made thereby one person with him have fellowship in his Graces Sufferings Death Resurrection and Glory and being united to one another in love they have communion in each others gifts and graces and are obliged to the performance of such duties publique and private as do conduce to their mutual good both in the inward and outward Man II. All Saints are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the Worship of God and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification as also in relieving each other in outward things according to their several abilities and necessities which communion though especially to be exercised by them in the relations wherein they stand whether in Families or Churches yet as God offereth opportunity is to be extended unto all those who in every place call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus CHAP. XXVIII Of the Sacraments SAcraments are holy Signs and Seals of the Covenant of Grace immediately instituted by Christ to represent him and his benefits and to confirm our interest in him and solemnly to engage us to the service of God in Christ according to his Word II. 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 III. The grace which is exhibited in or by the Sacraments rightly used is not conferred by any power in them neither doth the efficacy of a Sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it but upon the work of the Spirit and the word of Institution which contains together with a Precept authorizing the use thereof a Promise of benefit to worthy receivers IV. There be onely two Sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel that is to say Baptism and the Lords Supper neither of which may be dispensed by any but by a Minister of the Word lawfully called V. 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 CHAP. XXIX Of Baptism BAptism is a Sacrament of the New Testament ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized a sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace of his ingraffing into Christ of regeneration of remission of sins and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to walk in newness of life which Ordinance is by Christs own appointment to be continued in his Church until the end of the world II. The outward Element to be used in this Ordinance 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 III. Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary but Baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person IV. Not onely those that do actually profess faith in and obedience unto Christ but also the Infants of one or both believing parents are to be baptized and those onely V. Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this Ordinance yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it or that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated VI The efficacy of Baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered yet notwithstanding by the right use of this Ordinance the grace promised is not onely 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 Gods own Will in his appointed time VII Baptism is but once to be administered to any person CHAP. XXX Of the Lords Supper OUr Lord Jesus in the night wherein he was betrayed instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood called the Lords Supper to be observed in his Churches unto the end of the world for the perpetual remembrance and shewing forth of the Sacrifice of himself in his death the sealing of all benefits thereof unto true believers their spiritual nourishment and growth in him their further ingagement 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 II. In this Sacrament Christ is not offered up to his Father nor any real Sacrifice made at all for remission of sin of the quick or dead but onely a memorial of that one offering up of himself by himself upon the Cross once for all and a spiritual Oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same so that the Popish Sacrifice of the Mass as they call it is most abominable injurious to Christs own onely Sacrifice the alone propitiation for all the sins of the Elect. III. The Lord Jesus hath in this Ordinance appointed his Ministers to pray and bless the Elements of Bread and Wine and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use and to take and break the Bread to take the Cup and they communicating also themselves to give both to the Communicants but to none who are not then present in the Congregation IV. Private Masses or receiving the Sacrament by a Priest or any other alone as likewise the denial of the Cup to the people worshiping the Elements the lifting them up or carrying them about for adoration and the reserving them for any pretended religious use are all contrary to the nature of this Sacrament and to the Institution of Christ V. The outward Elements in this Sacrament duely set apart to the uses ordained by Christ have such relation to him Crucified as that truly yet Sacramentally onely they are sometimes called by the name of the things they represent to wit the Body and Blood of Christ albeit in substance and nature they still remain truly and onely Bread and Wine as they were before VI That Doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of Bread and Wine into the substance of Christs 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 VII Worthy Receivers outwardly partaking of the visible Elements in this Sacrament do then also inwardly by Faith really and indeed yet not carnally and corporally but spiritually receive and feed upon Christ
A DECLARATION OF THE FAITH and ORDER Owned and practised in the Congregational Churches IN ENGLAND Agreed upon and consented unto By their ELDERS and MESSENGERS IN Their Meeting at the SAVOY October 12. 1658. LONDON Printed by John Field and are to be sold by John Allen at the Sun Rising in Pauls Church-yard 1659. A PREFACE Confession of the Faith that is in us when justly called for is so indispensable a due all owe to the Glory of the Soveraign GOD that it is ranked among the Duties of the first Commandment such as Prayer is and therefore by Paul yoaked with Faith it self as necessary to salvation With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Our Lord Christ himself when he was accused of his Doctrine considered simply as a matter of fact by preaching refused to answer because as such it lay upon evidence and matter of testimony of others unto whom therefore he refers himself But when both the High Priest and Pilate expostulate his Faith and what he held himself to be he without any demur at all cheerfully makes declaration That he was the Son of GOD so to the High Priest And that he was a King and born to be a King thus to Pilate though upon the uttering of it his life lay at the stake Which holy profession of his is celebrated for our example 1 Tim. 6.13 Confessions when made by a company of professors of Christianity joyntly meeting to that end the most genuine and natural use of such Confessions is That under the same form of words they express the substance of the same common salvation or unity of their faith whereby speaking the same things they shew themselves perfectly joyned in the same minde and in the same judgement And accordingly such a transaction is to be looked upon but as a meet or fit medium or means whereby to express that their common faith and salvation and no way to be made use of as an imposition upon any Whatever is of force or constraint in matters of this nature causeth them to degenerate from the name and nature of Confessions and turns them from being Confessions of Faith into exactions and impositions of Faith And such common Confessions of the Orthodox Faith made in simplicity of heart by any such Body of Christians with concord among themselves ought to be entertained by all others that love the truth as it is in Jesus with an answerable rejoycing For if the unanimous opinions and assertions but in some few points of Religion and that when by two Churches namely that of Jerusalem and the Messengers of Antioch met assisted by some of the Apostles were by the Believers of those times received with so much joy as it is said They rejoyced for the consolation much more this is to be done when the whole substance of Faith and form of wholsome words shall be declared by the Messengers of a multitude of Churches though wanting those advantages of counsel and authority of the Apostles which that Assembly had Which acceptation is then more specially due when these shall to choose utter and declare their Faith in the same substance for matter yea words for the most part that other Churches and Assemblies reputed the most Orthodox have done before them For upon such a correspondency all may see that actually accomplished which the Apostle did but exhort unto and pray for in those two more eminent Churches of the Corinthians and the Romans and so in them for all the Christians of his time that both Jew and Gentile that is men of different perswasions as they were might glorifie GOD with one minde and with one mouth And truly the very turning of the Gentiles to the owning of the same Faith in the substance of it with the Christian Jew though differing in greater points then we do from our brethren is presently after dignified by the Apostle with this stile That it is the Confession of Jesus Christ himself not as the Object onely but as the Author and Maker thereof I will confess to thee saith Christ to God among the Gentiles So that in all such accords Christ is the great and first Confessor and we and all our Faith uttered by us are but the Epistles as Paul and Confessions as Isaiah there of their Lord and ours He but expressing what is written in his heart through their hearts and mouthes to the glory of God the Father And shall not we all rejoyce herein when as Christ himself is said to do it upon this occasion as it there also follows I will sing unto thy Name Further as the soundness and wholsomness of the matter gives the vigor and life to such Confessions so the inward freeness willingness and readiness of the spirits of the Confessors do contribute the beauty and loveliness thereunto as it is in Prayer to God so in Confessions made to men If two or three met do agree it renders both to either the more acceptable The Spirit of Christ is in himself too free great and generous a Spirit to suffer himself to be used by any humane arm to whip men into belief he drives not but gently leads into all truth and perswades men to dwell in the tents of like precious Faith which would lose of its preciousness and value if that sparkle of freeness shone not in it The character of his people is to be a willing people in the day of his power not Mans in the beauties of holiness which are the Assemblings of the Saints one glory of which Assemblings in that first Church is said to have been They met with one accord which is there in that Psalm prophesied of in the instance of that first Church for all other that should succeed And as this great Spirit is in himself free when and how far and in whom to work so where and when he doth work he carrieth it with the same freedom and is said to be a free Spirit as he both is and works in us And where this Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty Now as to this Confession of ours besides that a conspicuous conjunction of the particulars mentioned hath appeared therein There are also four remarkable Attendants thereon which added might perhaps in the eyes of sober and indifferent spirits give the whole of this Transaction a room and rank amongst other many good and memorable things of this age at least all set together do cast as clear a gleam and manifestation of Gods Power and Presence as hath appeared in any such kinde of Confessions made by so numerous a company these later years The first is the Temper or distemper rather of the times during which these Churches have been gathering and which they have run through All do out of a general sense complain that the times have been perillous or difficult times as the Apostle foretold and that in respect to danger from seducing spirits
and in all his Commands To him is due from Angels and Men and every other Creature whatsoever Worship Service or Obedience as Creatures they owe unto the Creator and whatever he is further pleased to require of them III. In the Unity of the God-head there be three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity God the Father God the Son and God the holy Ghost The Father is of none neither begotten nor proceeding The Son is eternally begotten of the Father The holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son Which Doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our Communion with God and comfortable Dependence upon him CHAP. III. Of Gods Eternal Decree GOd from all eternity did by the most wise and holy Counsel of his own Will freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass Yet so as thereby neither is God the Author of sin nor is violence offered to the will of the Creatures nor is the liberty or contingency of second Causes taken away but rather established II. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed Conditions yet hath he not decreed any thing because he foresaw it as future or as that which would come to pass upon such Conditions III. By the Decree of God for the manifestation of his Glory some Men and Angels are predestinated unto everlasting Life and others fore-ordained to everlasting Death IV. These Angels and Men thus predestinated and fore-ordained are particularly and unchangeably designed and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished V. Those of mankinde that are predestinated unto Life God before the foundation of the world was laid according to his eternal and immutable purpose and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his Will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting Glory out of his meer free Grace and Love without any fore-sight of Faith or good Works or perseverance in either of them or any other thing in the Creature as Conditions or Causes moving him thereunto and all to the praise of his glorious Grace VI As God hath appointed the Elect unto Glory so hath he by the eternal and most free purpose of his Will fore-ordained all the means thereunto Wherefore they who are elected being faln in Adam are redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto Faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season are justified adopted sanctified and kept by his power through Faith unto salvation Neither are any other redeemed by Christ or effectually called justified adopted sanctified and saved but the Elect onely VII The rest of mankinde 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 soveraign 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 VIII The Doctrine of this high mystery of Predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care that men attending the will of God revealed in his Word and yielding obedience thereunto may from the certainty of their effectual Vocation be assured of their eternal Election So shall this Doctrine afford matter of praise reverence and admiration of God and of humility diligence and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel CHAP. IV. Of Creation IT pleased God the Father Son and holy Ghost for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal Power Wisdom and Goodness in the beginning to create or make of nothing the world and all things therein whether visible or invisible in the space of six days and all very good II. After God had made all other creatures he created Man male and female with reasonable and immortal Souls endued with knowledge righteousness and true holiness after his own Image having the Law of God written in their heart and power to fulfil it and yet under a possibility of transgressing being left to the liberty of their own Will which was subject unto change Besides this Law written in their hearts they received a command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil which whiles they kept they were happy in their communion with God and had dominion over the Creatures CHAP. V. Of Providence GOd the great Creator of all things doth uphold direct dispose and govern all creatures actions and things from the greatest even to the least by his most wise and holy Providence according unto his infallible fore-knowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own Will to the praise of the glory of his Wisdom Power Justice Goodness and Mercy II. Although in relation to the fore-knowledge and decree of God the first Caufe all things come to pass immutably and infallibly yet by the same Providence he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second Causes either necessarily freely or contingently III. God in his ordinary Providence maketh use of means yet is free to work without above and against them at his pleasure IV. The almighty Power unsearchable Wisdom and infinite Goodness of God so far manifest themselves in his Providence in that his determinate Counsel extendeth it self even to the first Fall and all other sins of Angels and Men and that not by a bare permission which also he most wisely and powerfully boundeth and otherwise ordereth and governeth in a manifold Dispensation to his own most holy ends yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth onely from the Creature and not from God who being most holy and righteous neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin V. The most wise righteous and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own hearts to chastise them for their former sins or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts that they may be humbled and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon himself and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin and for sundry other just and holy ends VI As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God as a righteous Judge for former sins doth blinde and harden from them he not onely withholdeth his grace whereby they might have been inlightned in their understandings and wrought upon in their hearts but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasions of sin and withal gives them over to their own lusts the temptations of the world and the power of Satan whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves even under those means which God useth for the softning of others VII As the providence of God doth in general reach to all Creatures so after a most special maner it taketh care of his Church and disposeth all things to the good thereof
the prevalency of corruption remaining in them and the neglect of the means of their preservation fall into grievous sins and for a time continue therein whereby they incur Gods displeasure and grieve his holy Spirit come to have their graces and comforts impaired have their hearts hardned and their consciences wounded hurt and scandalize others and bring temporal judgements upon themselves yet they are and shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation CHAP. XVIII Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation ALthough temporary believers and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God and state of salvation which hope of theirs shall perish yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of Grace and may rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God which hope shall never make them ashamed II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable perswasion grounded upon a fallible hope but and infallible assurance of faith founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the Gospel and also upon the inward evidence of those graces unto which promises are made and on the immediate witness of the Spirit testifying our Adoption and as a fruit thereof leaving the heart more humblâ— and holy III. This infallible Assurance doth not so belong to the essence of Faith but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it yet being inabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God he may without extraordinary revelation in the right use of ordinary means attain thereunto And therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure that thereby his heart may be inlarged in peace and joy in the holy Ghost in love and thankfulness to God and in strength and chearfulness in the duties of obedience the proper fruits of this assurance so far is it from inclining men to loosness IV. 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 Gods withdrawing the light of his countenance suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light yet are they neither utterly destitute of that seed of God and life of Faith that love of Christ and the Brethren that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty out of which by the operation of the Spirit this assurance may in due time be revived and by the which in the mean time they are supported from utter despair CHAP. XIX Of the Law of God GOd gave to Adam a Law of universal obedience written in his heart and a particular precept of not eating the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil 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 threatned death upon the breach of it and indued him with power and ability to keep it II. This Law so written in the heart continued to be a perfect Rule of righteousness after the fall of man and was delivered by God upon mount Sinai in ten Commandments and written in two Tables the four first Commandments containing our duty towards God and the other six our duty to man III. Beside this Law commonly called Moral God was pleased to give to the people of Israel Ceremonial Laws containing several Typical Ordinances partly of Worship prefiguring Christ his Graces Actions Sufferings and Benefits and partly holding forth divers Instructions of Moral Duties All which Ceremonial Laws being appointed onely to the time of Reformation are by Jesus Christ the true Messiah and onely Law-giver who was furnished with power from the Father for that end abrogated and taken away IV. To them also he gave sundry Judicial Laws which expired together with the State of that people not obliging any now by vertue of that Institution their general equity onely being still of moral use V. The Moral Law doth for ever binde all as well justified persons as others to the obedience thereof and that not onely in regard of the matter contained in it but also in respect of the Authority of God the Creator who gave it neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve but much strengthen this obligation VI Although true believers be not under the Law as a Covenant of Works to be thereby justified or condemned yet it is 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 bindes them to walk accordingly discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature hearts and lives so as examining themselves thereby they may come to further conviction of humiliation for and hatred against sin together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ and the perfection of his obedience It is likewise of use to the regenerate to restrain their corruptions in that it forbids sin and the threatnings of it serve to shew what even their sins deserve and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them although freed from the curse thereof threatned in the Law The promises of it in like maner shew them Gods approbation of obedience and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof although not as due to them by the Law as a Covenant of Works so as a mans doing good and refraining from evil because the Law incourageth to the one and deterreth from the other is no evidence of his being under the Law and not under Grace VII Neither are the forementioned uses of the Law contrary to the grace of the Gospel but do sweetly comply with it the Spirit of Christ subduing and inabling the will of man to do that freely and chearfully which the will of God revealed in the Law required to be done CHAP. XX Of the Gospel and of the extent of the Grace thereof THe Covenant of Works being broken by sin and made unprofitable unto life God was pleased to give unto the Elect the promise of Christ the seed of the Woman as the means of calling them and begetting in them Faith and Repentance In this promise the Gospel as to the substance of it was revealed and was therein effectual for the conversion and salvation of sinners II. This promise of Christ and salvation by him is revealed onely in and by the Word of God neither do the works of Creation or Providence with the Light of Nature make discovery of Christ or of Grace by him