Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A58583
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Act ratifying the confession of faith and settling Presbyterian church-government Edinburgh, the seventh day of June, 1690.
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Scotland.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing S1157; ESTC R34034
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26,464
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30
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alone is Lord of the Conscience and hath left it free from the Doctrines and Commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his Word or beside it in matters of Faith or Worship So that to believe such Doctrines or to obey such Commands out of Conscience is to betray true liberty of Conscience and the requiring of an implicite saith and an absolute and blind obedience is to destroy liberty of Conscience and Reason also III. They who upon pretence of Christian Liberty do practise any sin or cherish any lust do thereby destroy the end of Christian Liberty which is that being dilivered out of the hands of our Enemies we might serve the Lord without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of out life IV. And because the Powers which God hath ordained and the Liberty which Christ hath purchased are not intended by God to destroy but mutually to uphold and preserve one another they who upon pretence of Christian Liberty shall oppose any lawful Power or the lawful exercise of it whether it be Civil or Ecclesiastical resist the Ordinance of God And for their publishing of such Opinions or maintaining of such Practices as are contrary to the light of Nature or to the known Principles of Christianity whether concerning Faith Worship or Conversation to the Power of Godliness or such erroneous Opinions or Practices as either in their own nature or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them are destructive to the external Peace and Order which Christ hath established in the Church they may lawfully be called to account and proceeded against by the Censures of the Church and by the power of the Civil Magistrat CHAP. XXI 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 good and doth good unto all and is therefore to be feared loved praised called upon trusted in and served with all the heart and with all the soul and with all the might But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed Will that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men or the suggestions of Satan under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture 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 creature 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 Religious worship is by God required of all men and that it may be accepted it is to be made in the Name of the Son by the help of his Spirit according to his Will with understanding reverence humility fervency faith love and perseverence and if vocal 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 with godly fear the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word in obedience unto God with Understanding Faith and Reverence singing of Psalms with grace in the heart as also the due administration and worthy receiving of the Sacraments instituted by Christ are all parts of the ordinary Religious Worship of God Beside Religious Oaths Vows Solemn Fastings and Thanksgiving upon special occasions which are in their several times and seasons to be used in an holy and religious manner 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 daily and in secret each one by himself so more solemnly in the publick Assemblies which are not carelessly or wilfully to be neglected or forsaken when God by his Word or Providence calleth thereunto VII As it is of the Law of Nature that in general a due proportion of time be set a-part for the Worship of God so in his Word by a positive Moral and perpetual Commandment binding all men in all ages he hath particularly appointed One day in Seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him which from the beginning of the World to the Resurrection of Christ was the last day of the Week and from the Resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the Week which in Scripture is called the LORD'S Day and is to be continued to the end of the World as the Christian Sabbath VIII This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men after a due preparation of their hearts and ordering of their common affairs before-hand do not only observe a holy Rest all the day from their own works words and thoughts about their wordly imployments and recreations but also are taken up the whole time in the publick and private Exerses of his Worship and in the duties of necessity and mercy CHAP. XXII Of Lawful Oaths and Vows A Lawful Oath is a part of Religious Worship wherein upon just ocasion the person swearing solemnly calleth God to Witness what he asserteth or promiseth and to judge him according to the truth or falshood of what he sweareth II. The Name of God only is that by which men ought to swear and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence Therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful Name or to swear at all by any other thing is sinful and to be abhorred Yet as in matters of weight and moment an Oath is warranted by the Word of God under the New Testament as well as under the Old so a lawful Oath being imposed by lawful Authority in such matters ought to be taken III. 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 perswaded is the truth Neither may any man bind himself by Oath to any thing but what is good and just and what he believeth so to be and what he is able and resolved to perform Yet it is a sin to refuse an Oath touching any thing that is good and just being imposed by lawful Authority IV. An Oath is to be taken in the plain and Common sense of the words without Equivocation or Mental Reservation it cannot oblige to sin but in any thing not sinful being taken it binds to performance although to a mans own hurt nor is it to be violated although made to Heriticks or Infidels V. A Vow is of the like nature with a Promissory Oath and ought to be made with the like religious care to
ACT Ratifying the CONFESSION of FAITH And Settling PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-GOVERNMENT Edinburgh the Seventh Day of June 1690. EDINBVRH Printed by the Heir of Andrew Anderson Printer to the King and Queens most Excellent Majesties Anno. Dom. 1690. ACT Ratifying the Confession of Faith and Setting Presbyterian Church-Government Edinburgh the seventh day of June 1690. OUR Soveraign Lord and Lady the King and Queens Majesties and three Estates of Parliament Conceiving it to be their bound duty after the great deliverance that God hath lately wrought for this Church and Kingdom in the first place to settle and secure therein the true Protestant Religion according to the truth of GODS Word as it hath of a long time been professed within this Land as also the Government of Christ's Church within this Nation agreeable to the Word of God and most conducive to the advancement of true Piety and Godliness and the establishing of peace and Tranquility within this Realm And that by an Article of the Claim of Right it is Declared that Prelacy and the Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters is and hath been a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the generality of the people ever since the Reformation they having reformed from Popery by Presbyters and therefore ought to be Abolished Likeas by an Act of the last Session of this Parliament Prelacy is Abolished Therefore their Majesties with Advice and Consent of the said three Estates do hereby Revive Ratifie and perpetually Confirm all Laws Statutes and Acts of Parliament made against Popery and Papists and for the maintainance and preservation of the true reformed Protestant Religion and for the true Church of Christ within this Kingdom in so far they Confirm the same or are made in favours thereof Likeas they by these presents Ratify and Establish the Confession of Faith now read in their presence and Voted and Aproven by them as the publick and vowed Confession of this Church containing the sum and substance of the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches which Confession of Faith is subjoyned to this present Act. As also They do Establish Ratify and Confirm the Presbyterian Church-Government and Discipline That is to say the Government of the Church by Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries Provincial Synods and General Assemblies Ratified and Established by the 114 Act Ja. 6. Parl. 12. anno 1592. Intituled Ratification of the Liberty of the true Kirk c. And thereafter received by the General consent of this Nation to be the only Government of Christ's Church within this Kingdom Reviving Renewing and Confirming the foresaid Act of Parliament in the whole Heads thereof except that part of it relating to Patronages which is hereafter to be taken into Consideration and Rescinding Annulling and making void the Acts of Parliament following viz. Act anent Restitution of Bishops Ja. 6. Par. 18. Cap. 2. Act Ratifying the Acts of the Assembly 1610. Ja. 6. Par. 21. Cap. 1. Act anent the Election of Arch-bishops and Bishops Ja. 6. Par. 22. Cap. 1. Act Intituled Ratification of the five Articles of the General Assembly at Perth Ja. 6. Par. 23. Cap. 1. Act Intituled For the Restitution and Re-establishment of the Antient Government of the Church by Arch-bishops and Bishops Cha. 2. Par. 1. Sess 2. Act 1st Act anent the Constitution of a National Synod Ch. 2. Par. 1. Sess 3. Act 5. Act against such as refuse to Depone against Delinquents Ch. 2. Par. 2. Sess 2. Act. 2. Act Intituled Act Acknowledging and asserting the Right of Succession to the Imperial Crown of Scotland Ch. 2. Par. 3. Act 2. Act Intituled Act anent Religion and the Test Ch. 2. Par. 3. Act 6. With all other Acts Laws Statutes Ordinances and Proclamations and that in so far allanerly as the saids Acts and others generally and particularly above mentioned are contrary or prejudicial to inconsistent with or derogatory from the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Government now Established and Allowing and Declaring That the Church Government be Established in the hands of and exercised by these Presbyterian Ministers who were Outed since the first of January 1661. for Non-conformity to Prelacy or not complying with the Courses of the Time and are now Restored by the late Act of Parliament and such Ministers and Elders only as they have admitted or received or shall hereafter admit or receive And also that all the said Presbyterian Ministers have and shall have Right to the Maintainance Rights and other Priviledges by Law provided to the Ministers of Christ's Church within this Kingdom as they are or shall be Legally admitted to particular Churches Likeas In pursuance of the Premisses Their Majesties Do hereby appoint the first meeting of the General Assembly of this Church as above Established to be at Edinburgh the third Thursday of October next to come in this instant year 1690. And because many Conform Ministers either have deserted or were removed from Preaching in their Churches preceeding the thirteenth day of April 1689. And others were Deprived for not giving Obedience to the Act of the Estates made the said 13 of April 1689 Intituled Proclamation against the owning of the late King James and Appointing Publick Prayers for King William and Queen Mary Therefore Their Majesties with Advice and Consent foresaid do hereby Declare all the Churches either Deserted or from which the Conform-ministers were Removed or Deprived as said is to be Vacant and that the Presbyterian Ministers exercising their Ministry within any of these Parishes or where the Last Incumbent is dead by the Desire or Consent of the Paroch shall continue their Possession and have Right to the Benefices and Stipends according to their Entry in the year 1689 and in time coming ay and while the Church as now Established take further Course therewith And to the Effect the Disorders that have hapned in this Church may be Redressed Their Majesties with Advice and Consent foresaid do hereby allow the General Meeting and Representatives of the foresaid Presbyterian Ministers and Elders in whose hands the Exercise of the Church Government is Established either by themselves or by such Ministers and Elders as shall be Appointed and Authorized Visitors by them according to the Custome and Practice of Presbyterian Government throughout the whole Kingdom and several parts thereof to try and purge out all Insufficient Negligent Scandalous and Erroneous Ministers by due course of Ecclesiastical Process and Censures and likewayes for Redressing all other Church-Disorders And further it is hereby provided that whatsoever Minister being Conveened before the said General-Meeting and Representatives of the Presbyterian Ministers and Elders or the Visitors to be Appointed by them shall either prove Contumacious in not appearing or be found Guilty and shall be therefore Censured whether by Suspension or Deposition they shall Ipso Facto be Suspended from or Deprived of their Stipends and Benefices And Ordains this Act to be Printed and Published Extracted forth