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Westminster Confession of
Faith
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Agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster London,
England:
Examined and approved, Anno 1647, by the General Assembly of
the Church of Scotland; and ratified by the Acts of Parliament 1649
and 1690.a
______________
Chapter 1
Of the Holy Scripture
1.1 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
unexcusable;
yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of
His will, which is necessary unto salvation.
Therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers
manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His
Church;
and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the
truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church
against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of
the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing;
which makes the Holy Scripture to be most necessary;
those former ways of God's revealing His will unto His people being
now ceased.
1.2
Under the name of Holy Scripture, or
the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old
and New Testament, which are these:
|
OF THE OLD TESTAMENT: |
|
Genesis |
2 Chronicles |
Daniel |
|
Exodus |
Ezra |
Hosea |
|
Leviticus |
Nehemiah |
Joel |
|
Numbers |
Esther |
Amos |
|
Deuteronomy |
Job |
Obadiah |
|
Joshua |
Psalms |
Jonah |
|
Judges |
Proverbs |
Micah |
|
Ruth |
Ecclesiastes |
Nahum |
|
1 Samuel |
The Song of Songs |
Habakkuk |
|
2 Samuel |
Isaiah |
Zephaniah |
|
1 Kings |
Jeremiah |
Haggai |
|
2 Kings |
Lamentations |
Zechariah |
|
1 Chronicles |
Ezekiel |
Malachi |
|
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT: |
|
The Gospels according to |
|
|
|
Matthew |
Philippians |
The first and second Epistles of
Peter |
|
Mark |
Colossians |
The first, second, and third Epistles
of John |
|
Luke |
Thessalonians I |
The Epistle of Jude |
|
John |
Thessalonians II |
The Revelation of John |
|
The Acts of the Apostles |
To Timothy I |
The Epistle to the Hebrews |
|
Paul's Epistles to the |
To Timothy II |
The Epistle of James |
|
Romans |
To Titus |
The first and second Epistles of
Peter |
|
Corinthians I |
To Philemon |
The first, second, and third Epistles
of John |
|
Corinthians II |
The Epistle to the Hebrews |
The Epistle of Jude |
|
Galatians |
The Epistle of James |
The Revelation of John |
All
which are given by inspiration of God to be the rule
of faith and life.
1.3
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.
1.4
The authority of the Holy
Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed,
depends 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.
1.5
We may be moved and induced by
the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of
the Holy Scripture.
And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the
doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the
parts, the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to
God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's
salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the
entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it does
abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet
notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the
infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the
inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the
Word in our hearts.
1.6
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His
own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly
set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may
be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to
be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or
traditions of men.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the
Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of
such things as are revealed in the Word:
and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of
God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and
societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature, and
Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word,
which are always to be observed.
1.7
All things in Scripture are not
alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all:
yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and
observed for salvation are so clearly propounded, and opened in
some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but
the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain
unto a sufficient understanding of them.
1.8
The Old Testament in Hebrew
(which was the native language of the people of God of old), and
the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of
it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately
inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept
pure in all ages, are therefore authentical;
so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally
to appeal unto them.
But, because these original tongues are not known to all the
people of God, who have right unto, and interest in the
Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and
search them,
therefore they are to be translated in to the vulgar language of
every nation unto which they come,
that, the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may
worship Him in an acceptable manner;
and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have
hope.
1.9
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.
1.10
The supreme judge by which all
controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees
of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and
private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we
are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the
Scripture.
______________
Chapter 2
Of God, and of the Holy
Trinity
2.1
There is but one only,
living, and true God,
who is infinite in being and perfection,
a most pure spirit,
invisible,
without body, parts,
or passions;
immutable,
immense,
eternal,
incomprehensible,
almighty,
most wise,
most holy,
most free,
most absolute;
working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable
and most righteous will,
for His own glory;
most loving,
gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and
truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin;
the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him;
and withal, most just, and terrible in His judgments,
hating all sin,
and who will by no means clear the guilty.
2.2
God has all life,
glory,
goodness,
blessedness,
in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself
all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He
has made,
nor deriving any glory from them,
but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them.
He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom,
and to whom are all things;
and has most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for
them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleases.
In His sight all things are open and manifest,
His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the
creature,
so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain.
He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in
all His commands.
To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature,
whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to
require of them.
2.3
In the unity of the Godhead there
be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost:
the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son
is eternally begotten of the Father;
the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.
______________
Chapter 3
Of God's Eternal Decree
3.1
God from all eternity, did, by
the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and
unchangeable 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.
3.2
Although God knows whatsoever may
or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions;
yet has He not decreed anything because He foresaw it as future,
or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions.
3.3
By the decree of God, for the
manifestation of His glory, some men and angels
are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained
to everlasting death.
3.4
These angels and men, thus
predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and
unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite,
that it cannot be either increased or diminished.
3.5
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, has chosen, in
Christ, unto everlasting glory,
out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of
faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any
other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him
thereunto;
and all to the praise of His glorious grace.
3.6
As God has appointed the elect
unto glory, so has He, by the eternal and most free purpose of
His will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they
who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ,
are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit
working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified,
and kept by His power, through faith, unto salvation.
Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called,
justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.
3.7
The rest of mankind God was
pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of His own will,
whereby He extends or withholds mercy, as He pleases, 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
praised of His glorious justice.
3.8
The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be
handled with special prudence and care,
that men, attending the will of God revealed in His Word, and
yielding obedience thereunto, may, from the certainty of their
effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election.
So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and
admiration of God;
and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that
sincerely obey the Gospel.
______________
Chapter 4
Of Creation
4.1
It pleased God the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost,
for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom,
and goodness,
in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, and
all things therein whether visible or invisible, in the space of
six days; and all very good.
4.2
After God had made all other
creatures, He created man, male and female,
with reasonable and immortal souls,
endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after
His own image;
having the law of God written in their hearts,
and power to fulfil it;
and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the
liberty of their own will, which was subject unto change.
Beside this law written in their hearts, they received a
command, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil;
which while they kept, they were happy in their communion with
God, and had dominion over the creatures.
______________
Chapter 5
Of Providence
5.1
God the great Creator of all
things does uphold,
direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,
from the greatest even to the least,
by His most wise and holy providence,
according to His infallible foreknowledge,
and the free and immutable counsel of His own will,
to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice,
goodness, and mercy.
5.2
Although, in relation to the
foreknowledge and decree of God, the first Cause, all things
come to pass immutably, and infallibly;
yet, by the same providence, He orders them to fall out,
according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily,
freely, or contingently.
5.3
God, in His ordinary providence,
makes use of means,
yet is free to work without,
above,
and against them,
at His pleasure.
5.4
The almighty power, unsearchable
wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves
in His providence, that it extends itself even to the first
fall, and all other sins of angels and men;
and that not by a bare permission,
but such as has joined with it a most wise and powerful
bounding,
and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold
dispensation, to His own holy ends;
yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceeds only from the
creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous,
neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.
5.5
The most wise, righteous, and
gracious God does 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.
5.6
As for those wicked and ungodly
men whom God, as a righteous Judge, for former sins, does blind
and harden,
from them He not only withholds His grace whereby they might
have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon
in their hearts;
but sometimes also withdraws the gifts which they had,
and exposes them to such objects as their corruption makes
occasion of sin;
and, withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations
of the world, and the power of Satan,
whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under
those means which God uses for the softening of others.
5.7
As the providence of God does, in general, reach to all
creatures; so, after a most special manner, it takes care of His
Church, and disposes all things to the good thereof.
______________
Chapter 6
Of the Fall of Man, of Sin,
and the Punishment thereof
6.1
.Our first parents, being seduced
by the subtilty and temptations of Satan, sinned, in eating the
forbidden fruit.
This their sin, God was pleased, according to His wise and holy
counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to His own
glory.
6.2
By this sin they fell from their
original righteousness and communion, with God,
and so became dead in sin,
and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and
body.
6.3
They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was
imputed;
and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all
their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation.
6.4
From this original corruption,
whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite
to all good,
and wholly inclined to all evil,
do proceed all actual transgressions.
6.5
This corruption of nature, during
this life, does remain in those that are regenerated;
and although it be, through Christ, pardoned, and mortified; yet
both itself, and all the motions thereof, are truly and properly
sin.
6.6
Every sin, both original and
actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and
contrary thereunto,
does in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner,
whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God,
and curse of the law,
and so made subject to death,
with all miseries spiritual,
temporal,
and eternal.
______________
Chapter 7
Of God's Covenant with Man
7.1
The distance between God and the
creature is go 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 has been pleased
to express by way of covenant.
7.2
The first covenant made with man
was a covenant of works,
wherein life was promised to Adam; and in him to his posterity,
upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.
7.3
Man, by his fall, having made
himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased
to make a second,
commonly called the covenant of grace; wherein He freely offers
unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of
them faith in Him, that they may be saved,
and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto
eternal life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to
believe.
7.4
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.
7.5
This covenant was differently
administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the
Gospel:
under the law it was administered by promises, prophecies,
sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and
ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all
foresignifying Christ to come;
which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through
the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect
in faith in the promised Messiah,
by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation;
and is called the Old Testament.
7.6
Under the Gospel, when Christ,
the substance,
was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is
dispensed are the preaching of the Word, and the administration
of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper:
which, though fewer in number, and administered with more
simplicity, and less outward glory, yet, in them, it is held
forth in more fullness, evidence, and spiritual efficacy,
to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles;
and is called the New Testament.
There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in
substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations.
______________
Chapter 8
Of Christ the Mediator
8.1
It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the
Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be
the Mediator between God and man,
the Prophet,
Priest,
and King,
the Head and 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
seed,
and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified,
sanctified, and glorified.
8.2
The Son of God, the second person of 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,
with all the essential properties, and common infirmities
thereof, yet without sin;
being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of
the virgin Mary, of her substance.
So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead
and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person,
without conversion, composition, or confusion.
Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only
Mediator between God and man.
8.3
The Lord Jesus, in His human nature thus united to the divine,
was sanctified, and anointed with the Holy
Spirit, above measure,
having in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;
in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell;
to the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of
grace and truth,
He might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a
Mediator and Surety.
Which office He took not unto Himself, but was thereunto called
by His Father,
who put all power and judgment into His hand, and gave Him
commandment to execute the same.
8.4
This office the Lord Jesus did
most willingly undertake;(182)
which that He might discharge, He was made
under the law,
and did perfectly fulfil it;
endured most grievous torments immediately in His soul,
and most painful sufferings in His body;
was crucified, and died,
was buried, and remained under the power of death, yet saw no
corruption.
On the third day He arose from the dead,
with the same body in which He suffered,
with which also he ascended into heaven, and there sits at the
right hand of His Father,
making intercession,
and shall return, to judge men and angels, at the end of the
world.
8.5
The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of
Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit,
once offered up unto God, has fully satisfied the justice of His
Father;
and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting
inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for those whom the Father
has given unto Him.
8.6
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.
8.7
Christ, in the work of mediation, acts according to both
natures, by each nature doing that which is proper
to itself;
yet, by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper
to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person
denominated by the other nature.
8.8
To all those for whom Christ has purchased redemption, He does
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 persuading them by His Spirit to believe and obey,
and governing their hearts by His word and Spirit;
overcoming all their enemies by His almighty power and wisdom,
in such manner, and ways, as are most consonant to His wonderful
and unsearchable dispensation.
______________
Chapter 9
Of Free Will
9.1
God has endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that
is neither forced, nor, by any absolute
necessity of nature, determined good, or evil.
9.2
Man, in his state of innocency,
had freedom, and power to will and to do that which was good and
well
pleasing to God;
but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it.
9.3
Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has 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.)
9.4
When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of
grace, He frees 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 does
not perfectly, or only, will that which is good, but does also
will that which is evil.
9.5
The will of man is made perfectly
and immutably free to do good alone in the state of glory only.(214)
______________
Chapter 10
Of Effectual Calling
10.1
All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only,
He is pleased, in His appointed time,
effectually to call,
by His Word and Spirit,
out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature
to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ;
enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand
the things of God,
taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart
of flesh;
renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining
them to that which is good,
and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ:
yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His
grace.
10.2
This effectual call is of God's
free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen
in man,(223)
who
is altogether passive
therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit,
he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the
grace offered and conveyed in it.
10.3
Elect infants, dying in infancy,
are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit,(226)
who works
when, and where, and how
He pleases:
so also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being
outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
10.4
Others, not elected, although
they may be called by the ministry of the Word,(229)
and may have some
common operations of the
Spirit,
yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore cannot be
saved:
much less can men, not professing the Christian religion, be
saved in any other way whatsoever, be they never so diligent to
frame their lives according to the light of nature, and the laws
of that religion they do profess.
And to assert and maintain that they may, is very pernicious,
and to be detested.
______________
Chapter 11
Of Justification
11.1
Those whom God effectually calls,
He also freely justifies;(234)
not by infusing righteousness into them, but
by pardoning their sins,
and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not
for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's
sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing,
or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their
righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of
Christ unto them,
they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by
faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift
of God.
11.2
Faith, thus receiving and resting
on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of
justification:(237)
yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever
accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith,
but works by love.
11.3
Christ, by His obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt
of all those that are thus justified, and did
make a proper, real and full satisfaction to His Father's
justice in their behalf.
Yet, in as much as He was given by the Father for them;
and His obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead;
and both, freely, not for any thing in them; their justification
is only of free grace;
that both the exact justice, and rich grace of God might be
glorified in the justification of sinners.
11.4
God did, from all eternity,
decree to justify all the elect,(244)
and Christ did, in the fullness of time, die for
their sins, and rise again
for their justification:
nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit
does, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.
11.5
God does continue to forgive the
sins of those that are justified;(247)
and although they can never fall from
the sate 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.
11.6
The justification of believers under the Old Testament was, in
all these respects, one and the same with the
justification of believers under the New Testament.
______________
Chapter 12
Of Adoption
12.1
All those that are justified, God vouchsafes, in and for His
only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the
grace of adoption,
by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties
and privileges of the children of God,
have His name put upon them,
receive the spirit of adoption,
have access to the throne of grace with boldness,
are enabled to cry, Abba, Father,
are pitied,
protected,
provided for,
and chastened by Him as by a Father:
yet never cast off,
but sealed to the day of redemption;
and inherit the promises,
as heirs of everlasting salvation.
______________
Chapter 13
Of Sanctification
13.1
They, who are once effectually called, and regenerated, having a
new heart, and a new spirit created in
them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the
virtue of Christ's death and resurrection,
by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them:
the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed,
and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and
mortified;
and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving
graces,
to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see
the Lord.
13.2
This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man;(271)
yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some
remnants of corruption in
every part;
whence arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh
lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
13.3
In which war, although the
remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail;(274)
yet, through the
continual supply of
strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate
part does overcome;
and so, the saints grow in grace,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
______________
Chapter 14
Of Saving Faith
14.1
The grace of faith, whereby the
elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls,(278)
is the work of
the Spirit of Christ in
their hearts,
and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word,
by which also, and by the administration of the sacraments, and
prayer, it is increased and strengthened.
14.2
By this faith, a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is
revealed in the Word, for the authority of God
Himself speaking therein;
and acts differently upon that which each particular passage
thereof contains; yielding obedience to the commands,trembling
at the threatenings,
and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which
is to come.
But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving,
and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification,
and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.
14.3
This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong;(287)
may be often and many ways assailed, and
weakened, but gets the
victory:
growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance,
through Christ,
who is both the author and finisher of our faith.
______________
Chapter 15
Of Repentance unto Life
15.1
Repentance unto life is an
evangelical grace,(291)
the doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister
of the Gospel, as well as
that of faith in Christ.
15.2
By it, a sinner, out of the sight and sense not only of the
danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of
his sins, as contrary to the holy nature, and righteous law of
God; and upon the apprehension of His mercy in Christ to such as
are penitent, so grieves for, and hates his sins, as to turn
from them all unto God,
purposing and endeavouring to walk with Him in all the ways of
His commandments.
15.3
Although repentance is not to be
rested in, as any satisfaction for sin, or any cause of the
pardon thereof,
which is the act of God's free grace in Christ,
yet it is of such necessity to all sinners, that none may expect
pardon without it.
15.4
As there is no sin so small, but
it deserves damnation;(298)
so there is no sin so great, that it can bring
damnation upon those who
truly repent.
15.5
Man ought not to content
themselves with a general repentance, but it is every man's duty
to endeavour to
repent of his particular sins, particularly.
15.6
As every man is bound to make
private confession of his sins to God, praying for the pardon
thereof;(301)
upon which, and the forsaking of them, he shall find mercy;
so, he that scandalizes 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,
who are thereupon to be reconciled to him, and in love to
receive him.
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Chapter 16
Of Good Works
16.1
Good works are only such as God
has commanded in His holy Word,(305)
and not such as, without the
warrant thereof, are
devised by men, out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good
intention.
16.2
These good works, done in obedience to God's commandments, are
the fruits and evidences of a true and
lively faith:
and by them believers manifest their thankfulness,
strengthen their assurance,
edify their brethren,
adorn the profession of the Gospel,
stop the mouths of the adversaries,
and glorify God,whose
workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto,that,
having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end, eternal
life.
16.3
Their ability to do good works is
not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ.(316)
And that
they may be enabled
thereunto, beside the graces they have already received, there
is required an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit, to work
in them to will, and to do, of His good pleasure:
yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent, as if they were not
bound to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the
Spirit; but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace
of God that is in them.
16.4
They who, in their obedience,
attain to the greatest height which is possibly 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.
16.5
We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin, or eternal life
at the hand of God, by reason of the great
disproportion that is between them and the glory to come; and
the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom, by them,
we can neither profit, nor satisfy for the debt of our former
sins,but
when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty, and are
unprofitable servants:
and because, as they are good, they proceed from His Spirit,
and as they are wrought by us, they are defiled, and mixed with
so much weakness and imperfection, that they cannot endure the
severity of God's judgment.
16.6
Notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through
Christ, their good works also are
accepted in Him;
not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and
unreproveable in God's sight;
but that He, looking upon them in His Son, is pleased to accept
and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many
weaknesses and imperfections.
16.7
Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them
they may be things which God
commands; and of good use both to themselves and others:
yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith;
nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word;
nor to a right end, the glory of God,
they are therefore sinful and cannot please God, or make a man
meet to receive grace from God:
and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing
unto God.
______________
Chapter 17
Of the Perseverance of the
Saints
17.1
They, whom God has 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.
17.2
This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free
will, but upon the immutability of the
decree of election, flowing from the free and
unchangeable love of God the Father;
upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ,
the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them,
and the nature of the covenant of grace:
from all which arises also the certainty and infallibility
thereof.
17.3
Nevertheless, they may, through
the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of
corruption
remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their
preservation, fall into grievous sins;
and, for a time, continue therein:
whereby they incur God's displeasure,
and grieve His Holy Spirit,
come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and
comforts,
have their hearts hardened,
and their consciences wounded;
hurt and scandalize others,
and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.
______________
Chapter 18
Of Assurance of Grace and
Salvation
18.1
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
(which hope of theirs shall perish):
yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in
sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before
Him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in
the state of grace,
and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope
shall never make them ashamed.
18.2
This certainty is not a bare
conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible
hope;
but an
infallible assurance of
faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of
salvation,
the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises
are made,
the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our
spirits that we are the children of God,
which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are
sealed to the day of redemption.
18.3
This infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of
faith, but that a true believer may wait long,
and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of
it:
yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are
freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary
revelation in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto.
And therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence
to make his calling and election sure,
that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the
Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and
cheerfulness in the duties of obedience,the
proper fruits of this assurance; so far is it from inclining men
to looseness.
18.4
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 wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit;
by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the
light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to
walk in darkness and to have no light:
yet are they never so 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.
______________
Chapter 19
Of the Law of God
19.1
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.( )
19.2
This law, after his fall,
continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such,
was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments, and
written in two tables:
the first four commandments containing our duty towards God; and
the other six, our duty to man.(
19.3
Besides this law, commonly called
moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a
church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical
ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, His graces,
actions, sufferings, and benefits;
and partly, holding forth divers instructions of moral duties.
All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated, under the New
Testament.
19.4
To them also, as a body politic,
He gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the
State of that people; not obliging under any now, further than
the general equity thereof may require.
19.5
The moral law does forever bind
all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience
thereof;
and that, not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but
also in respect of the authority of God the Creator, who gave
it.
Neither does Christ, in the Gospel, any way dissolve, but much
strengthen this obligation.
19.6
Although true believers be not
under the law, as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified,
or condemned;(375)
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;(376)
discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature, hearts
and lives;
so as, examining themselves thereby, they may come to
further conviction of,
humiliation for, and hatred against sin,
together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ,
and the perfection of His obedience.
It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their
corruptions, in that it forbids sin:
and the threatenings of it serve to 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.The
promises of it, in like manner, show them God's approbation of
obedience,and what blessings they may expect upon the
performance thereof:
although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works.
So as, a man's doing good, and refraining from evil, because the
law encourages to the one and deters from the other, is no
evidence of his being under the law: and not under grace.
19.7
Neither are the forementioned
uses of the law contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do
sweetly comply
with it;
the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do
that freely, and cheerfully, which the will of God, revealed in
the law, requires to be done.
______________
Chapter 20
Of Christian Liberty, and
Liberty of Conscience
20.1
The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the
Gospel consists in their freedom from the
guilt of sin, and condemning wrath of God, the curse of the
moral law;
and, in their being delivered
from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of
sin;
from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of
the grave, and everlasting damnation;
as also, in their free access to God,
and their yielding obedience unto Him, not out of slavish fear,
but a child-like love and willing mind.
All which were common also to believers under the law.
But, under the New Testament, the liberty of Christians is
further enlarged, in their freedom from the yoke of the
ceremonial law, to which the Jewish Church was subjected;
and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace,
and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than
believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.
20.2
God alone is Lord of the
conscience,(396)
and has 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 implicit faith, and an absolute and
blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason
also.
20.3
They who, upon pretence 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.
20.4
And because the powers which God has ordained, and the liberty
which Christ has purchased are not
intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve
one another, they who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall
oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether
it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God.
And, for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of
such practices, as are contrary to the light of nature, or to
the known principles of Christianity (whether concerning faith,
worship, or conversation), or to the power of godliness; or,
such erroneous opinions or practices, as either in their own
nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are
destructive to the external peace and order which Christ has
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 magistrate.
______________
Chapter 21
Of Religious Worship, and
the Sabbath Day
21.1
The light of nature shows that there is a God, who has lordship
and sovereignty over all, is good, and does
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.
21.2
Religious worship is to be given
to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to Him alone;(406)
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.
21.3
Prayer, with thanksgiving, being
one special part of religious worship,(409)
is by God required of all men:
and, that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of
the Son,
by the help of His Spirit,
according to His will,
with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love
and perseverance;
and, if vocal, in a known tongue.
21.4
Prayer is to be made for things
lawful;
and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter:
but
not for the dead,
nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the
sin unto death.
21.5
The reading of the Scriptures
with godly fear,
the sound preaching
and conscionable hearing of the
Word, in obedience unto
God, with understanding, faith and reverence,
singing of psalms with grace in the heart;
as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the
sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary
religious worship of God:
beside religious oaths,
vows,
solemn fastings,
and thanksgivings upon special occasions,
which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an
holy and religious manner.
21.6
Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now,
under the Gospel,
either tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which
it is performed, or towards which it is directed:(
but God is to be worshipped everywhere,
in spirit and truth;(
as, in private families
daily
and in secret, each one by himself;
so, more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not
carelessly or wilfully to be neglected, or forsaken, when God,
by His Word or providence, calls thereunto.
21.7
As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion
of time be set apart for the worship of God;
so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment
binding all men in all ages, He has 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,(438)
which, in Scripture, is called the Lord's Day,
and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian
Sabbath.
21.8
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,(441)
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.(442)
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Chapter 22
Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
22.1
A lawful oath is part of
religious worship,(443)
wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calls
God to witness what he asserts, or promises, and to judge him
according to the truth or falsehood of what he swears.(444)
22.2
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.(445)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.(446)
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;(447)
so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such
matters, ought to be taken.(448)
22.3
Whosoever takes 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:(449)
neither may any man bind himself by oath to any thing but what
is good and just, and what he believes so to be, and what he is
able and resolved to perform.(450)
Yet it is a sin to refuse an oath touching any thing that is
good and just, being imposed by lawful authority.(451)
22.4
An oath is to be taken in the
plain and common sense of the words, without equivocation, or
mental reservation.(452)
It cannot oblige to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being
taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt.(453)
Not is it to be violated, although made to heretics, or
infidels.(454)
22.5
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.(455)
22.6
It is not to be made to any
creature, but to God alone:(456)
and that it may be accepted, it is to be made voluntarily, out
of faith, and conscience of duty, in way of thankfulness for
mercy received, or for the obtaining of what we want, whereby we
more strictly bind ourselves to necessary duties: or, to other
things, so far and so long as they may fitly conduce thereunto.(457)
22.7
No man may vow to do any thing
forbidden in the Word of God, or what would hinder any duty
therein commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the
performance whereof he has no promise of ability from God.(458)
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.(459)
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Chapter 23
Of the Civil Magistrate
23.1
God, the supreme Lord and King of
all the world, has ordained civil magistrates, to be, under Him,
over the people, for His own glory, and the public good: and, to
this end, has armed them with the power of the sword, for the
defence and encouragement of them that are good, and for the
punishment of evil doers.(460)
23.2
It is lawful for Christians to
accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called
thereunto:(461)
in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain
piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of
each commonwealth;(462)
so, for that end, they may lawfully, now under the New
Testament, wage war, upon just and necessary occasion.(463)
23.3
The civil magistrate may not
assume to himself the administration of the Word and sacraments,
or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven:(464)
yet he has 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 ordainances of God
duly settled, administrated, and observed.(465)
For the better effecting whereof, he has 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(466)
23.4
It is the duty of people to pray
for magistrates,(467)
to honor their persons,(468)
to pay them tribute or other dues,(469)
to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their
authority, for conscience' sake.(470)
Infidelity, or difference in religion, does not make void the
magistrates' just and legal authority, nor free the people from
their due obedience to them:(471)
from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted,(472)
much less has the Pope any power and jurisdiction over them in
their dominions, or over any of their people; and, least of all,
to deprive them of their dominions, or lives, if he shall judge
them to be heretics, or upon any other pretence whatsoever.(473)
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Chapter 24
Of Marriage and Divorce
24.1
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.(474)
24.2
Marriage was ordained for the
mutual help of husband and wife,(475)
for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue, and of the
Church with an holy seed;(476)
and for preventing of uncleanness.(477)
24.3
It is lawful for all sorts of
people to marry, who are able with judgment to give their
consent.(478)
Yet it is the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord.(479)
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.(480)
24.4
Marriage ought not to be within
the degrees of consanguinity or affinity forbidden by the Word.(481)
Nor can such incestuous marriages ever be made lawful by any law
of man or consent of parties, so as those persons may live
together as man and wife.(482)The
man may not marry any of his wife's kindred, nearer in blood
then he may of his own: nor the woman of her husband's kindred,
nearer in blood than of her own.(483)
24.5
Adultery or fornication committed
after a contract, being detected before marriage, gives just
occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract.(484)
In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the
innocent party to sue out a divorce and, after the divorce,(485)
to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.(486)
24.6
Although the corruption of man be
such as is apt to study arguments unduly to put asunder those
whom God has joined together in marriage: yet, nothing but
adultery, or such wilful desertion as can no way be remedied by
the Church, or civil magistrate, is cause sufficient of
dissolving the bond of marriage:(487)
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.(488)
______________
Chapter 25
Of the Church
25.1
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 fulness of
Him that fills all in all.(489)
25.2
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;(490)
and of their children:(491)
and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ,(492)
the house and family of God,(493)
out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.(494)
25.3
Unto this catholic visible Church
Christ has 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 does, by His own presence and Spirit,
according to His promise, make them effectual thereunto.(495)
25.4
This catholic Church has been
sometimes more, sometimes less visible.(496)
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.(497)
25.5
The purest Churches under heaven
are subject both to mixture and error;(498)
and some have so degenerated, as to become no Churches of
Christ, but synagogues of Satan.(499)
Nevertheless, there shall be always a Church on earth to worship
God according to His will.(500)
25.6
There is no other head of the
Church but the Lord Jesus Christ.(501)
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
exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is
called God.(502)
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Chapter 26
Of the Communion of Saints
26.1
All saints, that are united to
Jesus Christ their Head, by His Spirit, and by faith, have
fellowship with Him in His grace, sufferings, death,
resurrection, and glory:(503)
and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in
each other's gifts and graces,(504)
and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and
private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward
and outward man.(505)
26.2
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;(506)
as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to
their several abilities and necessities. Which communion, as God
offers opportunity, is to be extended unto all those who, in
every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.(507)
26.3
This communion which the saints
have with Christ, does not make them in any wise partakers of
the substance of His Godhead; or to be equal with Christ in any
respect: either of which to affirm is impious and blasphemous.(508)
Nor does their communion one with another, as saints, take away,
or infringe the title or propriety which each man has in his
goods and possessions.(509)
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Chapter 27
Of the Sacraments
27.1
Sacraments are holy signs and
seals of the covenant of grace,(510)immediately
instituted by God,(511)
to represent Christ and His benefits; and to confirm our
interest in Him:(512)
as also, to put a visible difference between those that belong
unto the Church and the rest of the world;(513)
and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ,
according to His Word.(514)
27.2
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.(515)
27.3
The grace which is exhibited in
or by the sacraments rightly used, is not conferred by any power
in them; neither does the efficacy of a sacrament depend upon
the piety or intention of him that does administer it:(516)
but upon the work of the Spirit,(517)
and the word of institution, which contains, together with a
precept authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to
worthy receivers.(518)
27.4
There are 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.(519)
27.5
The sacraments of the Old Testament in regard to the spiritual
things thereby signified and exhibited, were,
for substance, the same with those of the new.
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Chapter 28
Of Baptism
28.1
Baptism is a sacrament of the New
Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ,(521)
not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the
visible Church;(522)
but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of
grace,(523)
of his ingrafting into Christ,(524)
of regeneration,(525)
of remission of sins,(526)
and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in
the newness of life.(527)Which
sacrament is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in
His Church until the end of the world.(528)
28.2
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.(529)
28.3
Dipping of the person into the
water is not necessary; but Baptism is rightly administered by
pouring, or sprinkling water upon the person.(530)
28.4 Not
only those that do actually profess faith in and obedience unto
Christ,(531)
but also the infants of one, or both, believing parents, are to
be baptized.(532)
28.5 Although
it is a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance,(533)
yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it,
as that no person can be regenerated, or saved, without it:(534)
or, that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated.(535)
28.6 The
efficacy of Baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein
it is administered;(536)
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 belongs unto, according to the counsel of
God's own will, in His appointed time.(537)
28.7
The sacrament of Baptism is but
once to be administered unto any person.(538)
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Chapter 29
Of the Lord's Supper
29.1
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.(539)
29.2
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;(540)
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:(541)
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.(542)
29.3
The Lord Jesus has, 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;(543)
but to none who are not then present in the congregation.(544)
29.4
Private masses, or receiving this
sacrament by a priest, or any other alone;(545)
as likewise, the denial of the cup to the people,(546)
worshipping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them
about, for adoration, and the reserving them for any pretended
religious use; are all contrary to the nature of this sacrament,
and to the institution of Christ.(547)
29.5
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;(548)
albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and
only bread and wine, as they were before.(549)
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;
overthrows the nature of the sacrament, and has been, and is,
the cause of manifold superstitions; yes, of gross idolatries.(550)
29.7
Worthy receivers, outwardly
partaking of the visible elements, in this sacrament,(551)
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.(552)
29.8
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,(553)
or be admitted thereunto.(554)
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Chapter 30
Of Church Censures
30.1
The Lord Jesus, as king and head
of His Church, has therein appointed a government, in the hand
of Church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate.(555)
30.2
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.(556)
30.3
Church censures are necessary, for the reclaiming and gaining of
offending brethren, for deterring of others from the 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.(557)
30.4
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.(558)
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Chapter 31
Of Synods and Councils
31.1
For the better government, and
further edification of the Church, there ought to be such
assemblies as are commonly called synods or councils.(559)
31.2
As magistrates may lawfully call
a synod of ministers, and other fit persons, to consult and
advise with, about matters of religion;(560)
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.(561)
31.3
It belongs 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.(562)
31.5
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.(563)
31.6
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.(564)
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Chapter 32
Of the State of Men after
Death, and of the
Resurrection of the Dead
32.1
The bodies of men, after death,
return to dust, and see corruption:(565)
but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal
subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them:(566)
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.(567)
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.(568)
Beside these two places, for souls separated from their bodies,
the Scripture acknowledges none.
32.2
At the last day, such as are
found alive shall not die, but be changed:(569)
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.(570)
32.3
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.(571)
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Chapter 33
Of the Last Judgment
33.1
God has appointed a day, wherein
He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ,(572)
to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father.(573)
In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged,(574)
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.(575)
33.2
The end of God's appointing this
day is for the manifestation of the glory of His mercy, in the
eternal salvation of the elect; and of His justice, in the
damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient. For
then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive
that fullness of joy and refreshing, which shall come from the
presence of the Lord; but the wicked who know not God, and obey
not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal
torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.(576)
33.3
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:(577)
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.
The Westminster Confession of Faith, notes.
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