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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
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 manner 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 that 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 enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good yet so as that by reason of his remaining Corruption he doth not perfectly nor only will that which is good but doth also will that which is evil V. The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone in the state of Glory only CHAP. X. Of Effectual Calling ALL those whom God hath predestinated unto life and those only he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to Call by his Word and Spirit out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ inlightning their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God taking away their heart of stone and giving unto them an heart of flesh renewing their wills and by his Almighty power determining them to that which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ yet so as they come most freely being made willing by his grace 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 through the Spirit who worketh when and where and how he pleaseth So also are all other elect persons who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the Ministry of the Word IV. Others not elected although they may be called by the Ministry of the Word and may have some common operations of the Spirit yet they never truly come unto Christ and therefore cannot be saved much less can men not professing the Christian Religion be saved in any other way whatsoever be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the Light of Nature and the Law of that Religion they do profess And to assert and maintain that they may is very pernicious and to be detasted 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 the Obedience and Satisfaction of Christ unto them they receiving and resting on him and his Righteousness by Faith which Faith they have not of themselves it is the gift of God 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 it is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is no dead 〈◊〉 but worketh by Love III. 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 Fathers Justice in their behalf Yet in as much as he was given by the Father for them and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead and both freely not for any thing in them their justification is only of free grace that both the exact Justice and rich Grace of God might be glorified in the Justification of sinners 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 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 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 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 only Son Jesus Christ to make partakers of the grace of Adoption by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the Liberties and Priviledges of the Children of God have his Name put upon them receive the spirit of Adoption have access to the Throne of Grace with boldness are enabled to cry Abba Father are pitied protected provided for and chastned 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 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 vertue of Christ's Death and Resurrection by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed the several lusts thereof are more more weakened mortified and they more and more quickned and strengthned in all saving Graces to the practice of true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. II. This Sanctification is throughout in the whole man yet