1. The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain
and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience,(1) although
the light of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest
the goodness, wisdom and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they
not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will which is necessary
unto salvation.(2) Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in divers
manners to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His church;(3) 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 maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former
ways of God's revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.(4)
1. 2Ti 3:15-17; Isa 8:20; Lk 16:29,31; Eph 2:20. - 2. Ro 1:19-21; 2:14-15; Ps
19:1-3. - 3. Heb 1:1. - 4. Pr 22:19-21; Ro 15:4; 2Pe 1:19-20.
2. Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God
written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, which
are these:
Of the Old Testament
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2
Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms
Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel
Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai
Zechariah Malachi
Of the New Testament
Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians
Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2
Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude
Revelation
All of which are given by the inspiration of God, to be
the rule of faith and life.(5) 5. 2Ti 3:16.
3. The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of
divine inspiration, are no part of the canon or rule of the Scripture, and,
therefore, are of no authority to the church of God, nor to be any otherwise
approved or made use of than other human writings.(6)
6. Lk 24:27,44; Ro 3:2.
4. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it
ought to be believed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but
wholly upon God(who is truth itself), the author thereof; therefore it is to be
received because it is the Word of God.(7)
7. 2Pe 1:19-21; 2Ti 3:16; 2Th 2:13; 1Jn 5:9.
5. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the
church of God to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures; and the
heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, and 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,
and many other incomparable excellencies, and entire perfections thereof, are
arguments whereby it doth 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.(8)
8. Jn 16:13-14; 1Co 2:10-12, 1Jn 2:20,27.
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 or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which
nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or
traditions of men.(9) 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,(10) 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.(11)
9. 2Ti 3:15-17; Gal 1:8-9. - 10. Jn 6:45; 1Co 2:9-12. - 11. 1Co 11:13-14;
14:26,40.
7. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in
themselves, nor alike clear unto all;(12) 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 ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient
understanding of them.(13)
12. 2Pe 3:16. - 13. Ps 19:7; 119:130.
8. The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native
language of the people of God of old),(14) 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 authentic; so as in all controversies of religion,
the church is finally to appeal to them.(15) But because these original tongues
are not known to all the people of God, who have a right unto, and interest in
the Scriptures, and are commanded in the fear of God to read(16) and search
them,(17) therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar [ie. common]
language of every nation unto which they come,(18) that the Word of God dwelling
plentifully in all, they may worship of Him in an acceptable manner, and through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures may have hope.(19)
14. Ro 3:2. - 15. Isa 8:20. - 16. Ac 15:15. - 17. Jn 5:39. - 18. 1Co
14:6,9,11-12,24,28. - 19. Col 3:16.
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 by other places that speak more clearly.(20)
20. 2Pe 1:20-21; Ac 15:15-16.
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 Scripture delivered by the
Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.(21)
21. Mt 22:29,31-32; Eph 2:20; Ac 28:23.
1. The Lord our God is but one only living and true
God;(1) whose subsistence is in and of Himself,(2) infinite in being and
perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself;(3) a most
pure spirit,(4) invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath
immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto;(5) who is
immutable,(6) immense,(7) eternal,(8) incomprehensible, almighty,(9) every way
infinite, most holy,(10) most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things
according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will(11) for
His own glory;(12) most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in
goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him,(13) and withal most just and terrible in His
judgements,(14) hating all sin,(15) and who will by no means clear the
guilty.(16)
1. 1Co 8:4,6; Dt 6:4. - 2. Jer 10:10; Isa 48:12. - 3. Ex 3:14. - 4. Jn 4:24. -
5. 1Ti 1:17; Dt 4:15-16. - 6. Mal 3:6. - 7. 1Ki 8:27; Jer 23:23. - 8. Ps 90:2. -
9. Ge 17:1. - 10. Isa 6:3. - 11. Ps 115:3; Isa 46:10. - 12. Pr 16:4; Ro 11:36. -
13. Ex 34:6-7; Heb 11:6. - 14. Ne 9:32-33. - 15. Ps 5:5-6. - 16 Ex 34:7; Na
1:2-3.
2. God, having all life,(17) glory,(18) goodness,(19)
blessedness, in and of Himself, is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not
standing in need of any creature which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from
them,(20) 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,(21) and He hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by
them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever Himself pleaseth;(22) in His sight all
things are open and manifest,(23) His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and
independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent or
uncertain:(24) He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works,(25) and in
all His commands; to Him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship,(26)
service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and whatever He
is further pleased to require of them.
17. Jn 5:26. - 18. Ps 148:13. - 19. Ps 119:68. - 20. Job 22:2-3. - 21. Ro
11:34-36. - 22. Da 4:25,34-35. - 23. Heb 4:13. - 24. Eze 11:5; Ac 15:18. 25. Ps
145:17. - 26. Rev 5:12-14.
3. In this divine and infinite Being there are three
subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit,(27) of one
substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the
essence undivided,(28) the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding;
the Son is eternally begotten of the Father;(29) the Holy Spirit proceeding from
the Father and the Son;(30) all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one
God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several
peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the
Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable
dependence upon Him.
27. 1Jn 5:7; Mt 28:19; 2Co 13:14. - 28. Ex 3:14; Jn 14:11; 1Co 8:6. - 29. Jn
1:14,18. - 30. Jn 15:26; Gal 4:6.
1. God hath decreed in Himself, from all eternity, by
the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all
things, whatsoever come to pass;(1) yet so as thereby is God neither the author
of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein;(2) nor is violence offered to the
will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes
taken away, but rather established;(3) in which appears His wisdom in disposing
all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing His decree.(4)
1. Isa 46:10; Eph 1:11; Heb 6:17; Ro 9:15,18. - 2. Jas 1:13; 1Jn 1:5. - 3. Ac
4:27-28; Jn 19:11. - 4. Nu. 23:19; Eph. 1:3-5.
2. Although God knoweth whatsoever may or can come to
pass, upon all supposed conditions,(5) yet hath He not decreed anything, because
He foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such
conditions.(6)
5. Ac 15:18. - 6. Ro 9:11,13,16,18.
3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His
glory, some men and angels are predestined, or foreordained to eternal life
through Jesus Christ,(7) to the praise of His glorious grace;(8) others being
left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of His
glorious justice.(9)
7. 1Ti 5:21; Mt 25:34. - 8. Eph 1:5-6. - 9. Ro 9:22-23; Jude 4.
4. These angels and men thus predestined and
foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so
certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.(10)
10. 2Ti 2:19; Jn 13:18.
5. Those of mankind that are predestined to life, God,
before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and
immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, hath
chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and
love,(11) without any other thing in the creature as a condition or cause moving
Him thereunto.(12)
11. Eph 1:4,9,11; Ro 8:30; 2Ti 1:9; 1Th 5:9. - 12. Ro 9:13,16; Eph 2:5,12.
6. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so He
hath, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the
means thereunto;(13) wherefore they who are elect, being fallen in Adam, are
redeemed by Christ,(14) are effectually called unto faith in Christ, by His
Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified,(15) and kept
by His power through faith unto salvation;(16) neither are any other redeemed by
Christ, or effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but
the elect only.(17)
13. 1Pe 1:2; 2Th 2:13. - 14. 1Th 5:9-10. - 15. Ro 8:30; 2Th 2:13. - 16. 1Pe 1:5.
- 17. Jn 10:26; 17:9; 6:64.
7. 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;(18)
so shall this doctrine afford matter of praise,(19) reverence, and admiration of
God, and of humility,(20) diligence, and abundant consolation to all that
sincerely obey the gospel.(21)
18. 1Th 1:4-5; 2Pe 1:10. - 19. Eph 1:6; Ro 11:33. - 20. Ro. 11:5-6,20. - 21. Lk
10:20.
1. In the beginning it pleased God the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit,(1) for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power,(2)
wisdom, and goodness, to create or make the world, and all things therein,
whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.(3)
1. Jn 1:2-3; Heb 1:2; Job 26:13. - 2. Ro 1:20. - 3. Col 1:16; Ge 1:31.
2. After God hath made all other creatures, He created
man, male and female,(4) with reasonable and immortal souls, (5) rendering them
fit unto that life to God for which they were created; being made after the
image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness;(6) having the law
of God written in their hearts,(7) and power to fulfil it, and yet under a
possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which
was subject to change.(8)
4. Ge 1:27. - 5. Ge 2:7. - 6. Ecc 7:29; Ge 1:26. - 7. Ro 2:14-15. - 8. Ge 3:6.
3. Besides the law written in their hearts, they
received a command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,(9)
which whilst they kept, they were happy in their communion with God, and had
dominion over the creatures.(10)
9. Ge 2:17. - 10. Ge 1:26,28.
1. God the good creator of all things, in His infinite
power and wisdom, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all His creatures and
things,(1) from the greatest even to the least,(2) by His most wise and holy
providence, to the end for which they were created, according unto His
infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will; to
the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and
mercy.(3)
1. Heb 1:3; Job 38:11; Isa 46:10-11; Ps 135:6. - 2. Mt 10:29-31. - 3. Eph 1:11.
2. Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree
of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly;(4) so
that there is not anything befalls any by chance, or without His providence;(5)
yet by the same providence He ordereth them to fall out according to the nature
of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.(6)
4. Ac 2:23. - 5. Pr 16:33. - 6. Ge 8:22.
3. God, in His ordinary providence maketh use of
means,(7) yet is free to work without,(8) above,(9) and against them(10) at His
pleasure.
7. Ac 27:31,44; Isa 55:10-11. - 8. Hos 1:7. - 9. Ro 4:19-21. - 10. Da 3:27.
4. The Almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and
infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in His providence, that His
determinate counsel extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other
sinful actions both of angels and men;(11) and that not by a bare permission,
which also He most wisely and powerfully boundeth, and otherwise ordereth and
governeth,(12) in a manifold dispensation to His most holy ends;(13) yet so, as
the sinfulness of their acts proceedeth only from the creatures, and not from
God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or
approver of sin.(14)
11. Ro 11:32-34; 2Sa 24:1; 1Ch 21:1. - 12. 2Ki 19:28; Ps 76:10. - 13. Ge 1:20;
Isa 10:6-7,12. - 14. Ps 50:21; 1Jn 2:16.
5. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth
oftentimes leave for a season His own children to manifold temptations and the
corruptions 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 other just and holy ends.(15)
So that whatsoever befalls any of His elect is by His appointment, for His
glory, and their good.(16)
15. 2Ch 32:25-26,31; 2Co 12:7-9. - 16. Ro 8:28.
6. As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a
righteous judge, for former sin doth blind and harden;(17) from them He not only
withholdeth His grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understanding, and
wrought upon their hearts;(18) but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which
they had,(19) and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes
occasion of sin;(20) and withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the
temptations of the world, and the power of Satan,(21) whereby it comes to pass
that they harden themselves, under those means which God useth forthe softening
of others.(22)
17. Ro 1:24-26,28; 11:7-8. - 18. Dt 29:4. - 19. Mt 13:12. - 20. Dt 2:30; 2Kn
8:12-13. - 21. Ps 81:11-12; 2Th 2:10-12. - 22. Ex 8:15,32; Isa 6:9-10; 1Pe
2:7-8.
7. As the providence of God doth in general reach to
all creatures, so after a more special manner it taketh care of His church, and
disposethof all things to the good thereof.(23)
23. 1Ti 4:10; Am 9:8-9; Isa 43:3-5.
1. Although God created man upright and perfect, and
gave him a righteous law, which had been unto life had he kept it, and
threatened death upon the breach thereof,(1) yet he did not long abide in this
honour; Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, then by her
seducing Adam, who, without any compulsion, did willlfully transgress the law of
their creation, and the command given unto them, in eating the forbidden
fruit,(2) which God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel to
permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory.
1. Ge 2:16-17. - 2. Ge 3:12-13; 2Co 11:3.
2. Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their
original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came
upon all;(3) all becoming dead in sin,(4) and wholly defiled in all the
faculties and parts of soul and body.(5)
3. Ro 3:23. - 4. Ro 5:12-21. - 5. Tit 1:15; Ge 6:5; Jer 17:9; Ro 3:10-19.
3. They being the root, and by God's appointment,
standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed,
and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by
ordinary generation,(6) being now conceived in sin,(7) and by nature children of
wrath,(8) the servants of sin, the subjects of death,(9) and all other miseries,
spiritual, temporal, an eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.(10)
6. Ro 5:12-19; 1Co 15:21-22,45,49. - 7. Ps 51:5; Job 14:4. - 8. Eph 2:3. - 9. Ro
6:20; 5:12. - 10. Heb 2:14-15; 1Th 1:10.
4. From this original corruption, whereby we are
utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined
to all evil;(11) do proceed all actual transgressions.(12)
11. Ro 8:7; Col 1:21. - 12. Jas 1:14-15; Mt 15:19.
5. The corruption of nature, during this life, doth
remain in those that are regenerated;(13) and although it be through Christ
pardoned and mortified, yet both itself, and the first motions thereof, are
truly and properly sin.(14)
13. Ro 7:18,23; Ecc 7:20; 1Jn 1:8. - 14. Ro 7:23-25; Gal 5:17.
1. The distance between God and the creature is so
great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their
creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some
voluntary condescension on God's part, which He hath been pleased to express by
way of covenant.(1)
1. Lk 17:10; Job 35:7-8.
2. Moreover, man having brought himself under the curse
of the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace,(2)
wherein He freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ,
requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved;(3) and promising to give
unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, His Holy Spirit, to make
them willing and able to believe.(4)
2. Ge 2:17; Gal.3:10; Ro 3:20-21. - 3. Ro 8:3; Mk 16:15-16; Jn 3:16. - 4. Eze
36:26-27; Jn 6:44-45; Ps 110:3.
3. This covenant is revealed in the gospel; first of
all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman,(5) and
afterwards by farther steps, until the full discovery thereof was completed in
the New Testament;(6) and it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction
that was between the Father and the Son about the redemption of the elect;(7)
and it is alone by the grace of this covenant that all of the posterity of
fallen Adam that ever were saved did obtain life and blessed immortality, man
being now utterly incapable of acceptance with God upon those terms on which
Adam stood in his state of innocency.(8)
5. Ge 3:15. - 6. Heb 1:1. - 7. 2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2. - 8. Heb 11:6,13; Ro 4:1-2; Ac
4:12; Jn 8:56.
1. It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose an
ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, according to the covenant made
between them both, to be the mediator between God and man; (1) the Prophet,(2)
Priest(3) and King;(4) head and Saviour of His church,(5) the heir of all
things,(6)and judge of the world;(7) 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)
1. Isa 42:1; 1Pe 1:19-20. - Ac 3:22. - Heb 5:5-6. - Ps 2:6; Lk 1:33. - Eph
1:22-23. - Heb 1:2. - 7. Ac 17:31. - Isa 53:10; Jn 17:6; Ro 8:30.
2. The Son of God, the second person in the Holy
Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of
one substance and equal with Him who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth
all things He hath made, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon Him
man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities
thereof,(9) yet without sin;(10) being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb
of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her: and the power of the
Most High overshadowing her; and so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah,
of the seed of Abraham and David according to the Scriptures;(11) so that two
whole, perfect, and distinct natures 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.(12)
9. Jn 1:14; Gal 4:4. - Ro 8:3; Heb 2:14,16-17; 4:15. - Mt 1:22-23; Lk
1:27,31,35. - Ro 9:5; 1Ti 2:5.
3. The Lord Jesus, in His human nature thus united to
the divine, in the person of the Son, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy
Spirit above measure,(13) having in Him all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge;(14) in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell,(15)
to the end that being holy, harmless, undefiled,(16) and full of grace and
truth,(17) He might be throughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator
and surety;(18) which office He took not upon Himself, but was thereunto called
by His Father;(19) who also put all power and judgement in His hand, and gave
Him commandment to execute the same.(20)
13. Ps 45:7; Ac 10:38; Jn 3:34. - Col 2:3. - 15. Col 1:19. - 16. Heb 7:26. - 17.
Jn 1:14. - 18. Heb 7:22. - 19. Heb 5:5. - 20. Jn 5:22,27; Mt 28:18; Ac 2:36.
4. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly
undertake,(21) which that He might discharge He was made under the law,(22) and
did perfectly fulfil it, and underwent the punishment due to us, which we should
have borne and suffered,(23) being made sin and a curse for us;(24) enduring
most grievous sorrows in His soul, and most painful sufferings in His body;(25)
was crucified, and died, and remaining in the state of the dead, yet saw no
corruption:(26) and on the third day He arose from the dead(27) with the same
body in which he suffered,(28) with which He also ascended into heaven,(29) and
there sitteth at the right hand of His Father making intercession,(30) and shall
return to judge men and angels at the end of the world.(31)
21. Ps 40:7-8; Heb 10:5-10; Jn 10:18. - 22. Gal 4:4; Mt 3:15. - 23. Gal 3:13;
Isa 53:6; 1Pe 3:18. - 24. 2Co 5:21. - 25. Mt 26:37-38; Lk 22:44; Mt 27:46. - 26.
Ac 13:37. - 1Co 15:3-4. - Jn 20:25,27. - 29. Mk 16:19; Ac 1:9-11. - 30. Ro 8:34;
Heb 9:24. - 31. Ac 10:42; Ro 14:9-10; Ac 1:11; 2Pe 2:4.
5. The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience and
sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto
God, hath fully satisfied the justice of God,(32) procured reconciliation, and
purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven for all those whom
the Father hath given unto Him.(33)
32. Heb 9:14; 10:14; Ro 3:25-26. - 33. Jn 17:2; Heb 9:15.
6. Although the price of redemption was not actually
paid by Christ till after His incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit
thereof were communicated to the elect in all ages successively from the
beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein
He was revealed, and signified to be the seed which should bruise the serpent's
head;(34) and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,(35) being the
same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.(36)
34. 1Co 4:10; Heb 4:2; 1Pe 1:10-11. - 35. Rev 13:8. - 36. Heb 13:8.
7. Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth 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.(37)
37. Jn 3:13; Ac 20:28.
8. To all those for whom Christ hat obtained eternal
redemption, He doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same,
making intercession for them;(38) uniting them to Himself by His Spirit,
revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the mystery of salvation, persuading
them to believe and obey,(39) governing their hearts by His Word and Spirit,(40)
and overcoming all their enemies by His mighty power and wisdom,(41) in such
manner and ways as are most consonant to His wonderful and unsearchable
dispensation; and all of free and absolute grace, without any condition forseen
in them to procure it.(42)
38. Jn 6:37; 10:15-16; 17:9; Ro 5:10. - 39. Jn 17:6; Eph 1:9; 1Jn 5:20. - 40. Ro
8:9,14. - 41. Ps 110:1; 1Co 15:25-26. - 42. Jn 3:8; Eph 1:8.
9. This office of mediator between God and man is
proper only to Christ, who is the prophet, priest, and king of the church of
God; and may not be either in whole, or any part thereof, transferred from Him
to any other.(43)
43. 1Ti 2:5.
10. This number and order of offices is necessary; for
in respect of our ignorance, we stand in need of His prophetical office;(44) and
in respect of our alienation from God, and imperfection of the best of our
services, we need His priestly office to reconcile us and present us acceptable
unto God;(45) and in respect of our averseness and utter inability to return to
God, and for our rescue and security from our spiritual adversaries, we need His
kingly office to convince, subdue, draw, uphold, deliver, and preserve us to His
heavenly kingdom.(46)
44. Jn 1:18. - 45. Col 1:21; Gal 5:17. - 46. Jn 16:8; Ps 110:3; Lk 1:74-75.
1. God hath endued the will of man with that natural
liberty and power of acting upon choice, that it is neither forced, nor by any
necessity of nature determined to do good or evil.(1)
1. Mt 17:12; Jas 1:14; Dt 30:19.
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,(2) but yet
was unstable, so that he might fall from it.(3)
2. Ecc 7:29. - 3. Ge 3:6.
3. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly
lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation;(4) so as
a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin,(5) is
not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself
thereunto.(6)
4. Ro 5:6; 8:7. - 5. Eph 2:1,5. - 6. Tit 3:3-5; Jn 6:44.
4. When God converts a sinner, and translates him into
the state of grace, He freeth him from his natural bondage under sin,(7) and by
His grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually
good;(8) yet so as that by reason of his remaining corruptions, he doth not
perfectly, nor only will, that which is good, but doth also will that which is
evil.(9)
7. Col 1:13; Jn 8:36. - 8. Php 2:13. - 9. Ro 7:15,18-19,21,23.
5. This will of man is made perfectly and immutably
free to good alone in the state of glory only.(10)
10. Eph 4:13.
1. Those whom God hath predestined unto life, He is
pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call,(1) 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;(2) enlightening their minds spiritually and
savingly to understand the things of God;(3) taking away their heart of stone,
and giving unto them a heart of flesh:(4) renewing their wills, and by His
almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing
them to Jesus Christ;(5) yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by
His grace.(6)
1. Ro 8:30; 11:7; Eph 1:10-11, 2Th 2:13-14. - 2. Eph 2:1-6. - 3. Ac 26:18; Eph
1:17-18. - 4. Eze 36:26. - 5. Dt 30:6; Eze 36:27; Eph 1:19. - 6. Ps 110:3; SS
1:4.
2. This effectual call is of God's free and special
grace alone, not from anything at all forseen in man, nor from any power or
agency in the creature,(7) being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and
trespasses, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit;(8) he is
thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and
conveyed in it, and that by no less power than that which raised up Christ from
the dead.(9)
7. 2Ti 1:9; Eph 2:8. - 8. 1Co 2:14; Eph 2:5; Jn 5:25. - 9. Eph 1:19-20.
3. Infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved
by Christ through the Spirit;(10) who worketh when, and where, and how He
pleaseth;(11) so also are all elect persons, who are incapable of being
outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
10. Jn 3:3,5-6. - 11. Jn 3:8.
4. Others not elected, although they may be called by
the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit,(12)
yet not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will nor can truly
come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved:(13) much less can men that
receive not the Christian religion be saved, be they never so diligent to frame
their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion they
do profess.(14)
12. Mt 22:14; 13:20-21; Heb 6:4-5. - 13. Jn 6:44-45,65; 1Jn 2:24-25. - 14. Ac
4:12; Jn 4:22; 17:3.
1. Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely
justifieth,(1) not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their
sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous;(2) not for
anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone;(3) not
by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical
obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ's active
obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in His death for their whole
and sole righteousness,(4) they receiving and resting on Him and His
righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift
of God.(5)
1. Ro 3:24; 8:30. - 2. Ro 4:5-8; Eph 1:7. - 3. 1Co 1:30-31; Ro 5:17-19. - 4. Php
3:8-9; Eph 2:8-10. - 5. Jn 1:12; Ro 5:17.
2. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and His
righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification;(6) yet it is not alone
in the person justified, but ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and
is no dead faith, but worketh by love.(7)
6. Ro 3:28.7. Gal 5:6; Jas 2:17,22,26.
3. Christ, by His obedience and death, did fully
discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did, by the sacrifice of
Himself in the blood of His cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due
unto them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in their
behalf,(8); yet inasmuch as He was given by the Father for them, and His
obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for
anything in them,(9) 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.(10)
8. Heb 10:14; 1Pe 1:18-19; Isa 53:5-6. - 9. Ro 8:32; 2Co 5:21. - 10. Ro 3:26;
Eph 1:6-7; 2:7.
4. God did from all eternity decree to justify all the
elect,(11) and Christ did in the fullness of time die for their sins, and rise
again for their justification;(12) nevertheless, they are not justified
personally, until the Holy Spirit doth in time due actually apply Christ unto
them.(13)
11. Gal 3:8; 1Pe 1:2; 1Ti 2:6. - 12. Ro 4:25. - 13. Col 1:21-22; Tit 3:4-7.
5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that
are justified,(14) and although they can never fall from the state of
justification,(15) yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly
displeasure; (16) and in that condition they have not usually the light of His
countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their
sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.(17)
14. Mt 6:12; 1Jn 1:7,9. - 15. Jn 10:28. - 16. Ps 89:31-33. - 17. Ps 32:5; Ps
51:1-19; Mt 26:75.
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.(18)
18. Gal 3:9; Ro 4:22-24.
1. All those that are justified, God vouchsafed, in and
for the sake of His only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of
adoption,(1) by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties
and privileges of children of God,(2) have His name put on them,(3) receive the
spirit of adoption, (4) have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are
enabled to cry Abba, Father,(5) are pitied,(6) protected,(7) provided for,(8)
and chastened by Him as by a Father,(9) yet never cast off,(10) but sealed to
the day of redemption,(11) and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting
salvation.(12)
Eph 1:5; Gal 4:4-5. - 2. Jn 1:12; Ro 8:17. - 3. 2Co 6:18; Rev 3:12. - 4. Ro
8:15. - 5. Gal 4:6; Eph 2:18. - 6. Ps 103:13. - 7. Pr 14:26. - 8. 1Pe 5:7. - 9.
Heb 12:6. - 10. Isa 54:8-9; La 3:31. - 11. Eph 4:30. - 12. Heb 1:14; 6:12.
1. They who are united to Christ, effectually called,
and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the
virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also farther sanctified, really
and personally(1) through the same virtue, by His Word and Spirit dwelling in
them;(2) the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed,(3) and the several
lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified,(4) and they more and
more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, (5) to the practice of all
true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.(6)
1. Ac 20:32; Ro 6:5-6. - 2. Jn 17:17; Eph 3:16-19; 1Th 5:21-23. - 3. Ro 6:14. -
4. Gal 5:24. - 5. Col 1:11. - 6. 2Co 7:1; Heb 12:14.
2. This sanctification is throughout the whole man,(7)
yet imperfect in this life; there abideth still some remnants of corruption in
every part,(8) when ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war; the flesh
lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.(9)
7. 1Th 5:23. - 8. Ro 7:18,23. - 9. Gal 5:17; 1Pe 2:11.
3. In which war, although the remaining corruption for
a time may much prevail,(10) yet, through the continual supply of strength from
the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome; (11) and so
the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after
an heavenly life, in evangelical obedience to all the commands which Christ as
Head and King, in His Word hath prescribed to them.(12)
10. Ro 7:23. - 11. Ro 6:14. - 12. Eph 4:15-16; 2Co 3:18; 7:1.
1. The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to
believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in
their hearts,(1) and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word;(2) by
which also, and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer,
and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened.(3)
1. 2Co 4:13; Eph 2:8. - 2. Ro 10:14,17. - 3. Lk 17:5; 1Pe 2:2; Ac 20:32.
2. By this faith a Christian believeth to be true
whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the authority of God Himself,(4) and also
apprehendeth an excellency therein above all other writings and all things in
the world,(5) as it bears forth the glory of God in His attributes, the
excellency of Christ in His nature and offices, and the power and fullness of
the Holy Spirit in His workings and operations: and so is enabled to cast his
soul upon the truth thus believed;(6) and also acteth differently upon that
which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the
commands,(7) trembling at the threatenings,(8) and embracing the promises of God
for this life and that which is to come;(9) but the principle acts of saving
faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon
Him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the
covenant of grace.(10)
4. Ac 24:14. - 5. Ps 19:7-10; 119:72. - 6. 2Ti 1:12. - 7. Jn 15:14. - 8. Isa
66:2. - 9. Heb 11:13. -10. Jn 1:12; Ac 16:31; Gal 2:20; Ac 15:11.
3. This faith, although it be different in degrees, and
may be weak or strong,(11) yet it is in the least degree of it different in the
kind or nature of it, as is all other saving grace, from the faith and common
grace of temporary believers;(12) and therefore, though it may be many times
assailed and weakened, yet it gets the victory,(13) growing up in many to the
attainment of a full assurance through Christ,(14) who is both the author and
finisher of our faith.(15)
11. Heb 5:13-14; Mt 6:30; Ro 4:19-20. - 12. 2Pe 1:1. - 13. Eph 6:16; 1Jn 5:4-5.
- 14. Heb 6:11-12; Col 2:2. - 15. Heb 12:2.
1. Such of the elect as are converted in riper years,
having sometime lived in the state of nature, and therein served divers lusts
and pleasures, God in their effectual calling giveth them repentance unto
life.(1)
1. Tit 3:2-5.
2. Whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth
not,(2) and the best of men may, through the power and deceitfulness of their
corruption dwelling in them, with the prevalency of temptation, fall in to great
sins and provocations; God hath, in the covenant of grace, mercifully provided
that believers so sinning and falling be renewed through repentance unto
salvation.(3)
2. Ecc 7:20. - 3. Lk 22:31-32.
3. This saving repentance is an evangelical grace,(4)
whereby a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils
of his sin, doth, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow,
detestation of it, and self-abhorrency,(5) praying for pardon and strength of
grace, with a purpose and endeavour, by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before
God unto all well-pleasing in all things.(6)
4. Zec 12:10; Ac 11:18. - 5. Eze 36:31; 2Co 7:11. - 6. Ps 119:6,128.
4. As repentance is to be continued through the whole
course of our lives, upon the account of the body of death, and the motions
thereof, so it is every man's duty to repent of his particular known sins
particularly.(7)
7. Lk 19:8; 1Ti 1:13,15.
5. Such is the provision which God hath made through
Christ in the covenant of grace for the preservation of believers unto
salvation, that although there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation,(8)
yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them that
repent,(9) which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary.
8. Ro 6:23. - 9. Isa 1:16-18; 55:7.
1. Good works are only such as God hath commanded in
His Holy Word,(1) and not such as without the warrant thereof are devised by men
out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intentions.(2)
1. Mic 6:8; Heb 13:21. - 2. Mt 15:9; Isa 29:13.
2. These good works, done in obedience to God's
commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith;(3) and by
them believers manifest their thankfulness,(4) strengthen their assurance,(5)
edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel,(6) stop the mouths of
the adversaries, and glorify God,(7) whose workmanship they are, created in
Christ Jesus thereunto,(8) that having their fruit unto holiness they may have
the end eternal life.(9)
3. Jas 2:18,22. - 4. Ps 116:12-13. - 5. 1Jn 2:3,5; 2Pe 1:5-11. - 6. Mt 5:16. -
7. 1Ti 6:1; 1Pe 2:15; Php 1:11. - 8. Eph 2:10. - 9. Ro 6:22.
3. Their ability to do good works is not all of
themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ;(10) and that they may be
enabled thereunto, besides the graces they have already received, there is
necessary an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit, to work in them to will
and to do of His good pleasure;(11) yet they are 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.(12)
10. Jn 15:4-5. - 11. 2Co 3:5; Php 2:13. - 12. Php 2:12; Heb 6:11-12; Isa 64:7.
4. They who in their obedience attain to the greatest
height which is possible in this life, are so far from being able to
supererogate, and to do more than God requires, as that they fall short of much
which in duty they are bound to do.(13)
13. Job 9:2-3; Gal 5:17; Lk 17:10.
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;(14) 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,(15) 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
punishment.(16)
1.Ro 3:20; Eph 2:8-9; Ro 4:6. - 15. Gal 5:22-23. - 16. Isa 64:6; Ps 143:2.
6.Yet notwithstanding the persons of believers being
accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in Him;(17) not as
though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreprovable 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.(18)
17. Eph 1:6; 1Pe 2:5. - 18. Mt 25:21,23; Heb 6:10.
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;(19) yet because they proceed not from a heart purified by
faith,(20) nor are done in a right manner according to the Word,(21) nor to a
right end, the glory of God,(22) they are therefore sinful, and cannot please
God, nor make a man meet to receive grace from God,(23) and yet their neglect of
them is more sinful and displeasing to God.(24)
19. 2Ki 10:30; 1Ki 21:27,29. - 20. Ge 4:5; Heb 11:4,6. - 21. 1Co 13:1. - 22. Mt
6:2,5. - 23. Am 5:21-22; Ro 9:16; Tit 3:5. - 24. Job 21:14-15; Mt 25:41-43.
1. Those whom God hath accepted in the beloved,
effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, and given the precious faith of
His elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace,
but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing
the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, whence He still begets and
nourisheth in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the
Spirit unto immortality;(1) and tough many storms and floods arise and beat
against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and
rock which by faith they are fastened upon; notwithstanding, through unbelief
and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God
may for a time be clouded and obscured from them,(2) yet He is still the same,
and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they
shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraven upon the palm of His
hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all
eternity.(3)
1. Jn 10:28-29; Php 1:6; 2Ti 2:19; 1Jn 2:19. - 2. Ps
89:31-32; 1Co 11:32. - 3. Mal 3:6.
2. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon
their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election,(4)
flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy
of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with Him,(5) the oath of
God,(6) the abiding of His Spirit, and the seed of God wthin them,(7) and the
nature of the covenant of grace;(8) from all which ariseth also the certainty
and infallibility thereof.
4. Ro 8:30; 9:11,16. - 5. Ro 5:9-10; Jn 14:19. - 6. Heb
6:17-18. - 7. 1Jn 3:9. - 8. Jer 32:40.
3. And though they may, through the temptation of Satan
and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the
neglect of means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time
continue therein,(9) whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve His Holy
Spirit,
(10) come to have their graces and comforts
impaired,(11) have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded,(12)
hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgements upon themselves,(13)
yet shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ
Jesus to the end.(14)
9. Mt 26:70,72,74. - 10. Isa 64:5,9; Eph 4:30. - 11. Ps
51:10,12. - 12. Ps 32:3-4. - 13. 2Sa 12:14. - 14. Lk 22:32,61-62.
1. Although temporary believers, and other unregenerate
men, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of
being in the favour of God and state of salvation, which hope of theirs shall
perish;(1) 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,(2) which hope shall never make them ashamed.(3)
1. Job 8:13-14; Mt 7:22-23. - 2. 1Jn 2:3;
3:14,18-19,21,24; 5:13. - 3. Ro 5:2,5.
2. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and
probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance
of faith(4) founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the
Gospel;(5) and also upon the inward evidence of those graces of the Spirit unto
which promises are made,(6) and on the testimony of the Spirit of adoption,
witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God;(7) and, as a fruit
thereof, keeping the heart both humble and holy.(8)
4. Heb 6:11,19. - 5. Heb 6:17-18. - 6. 2Pe 1:4-5,10-11.
- 7. Ro 8:15-16. - 8. 1Jn 3:1-3.
3. This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the
essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many
difficulties before he be a partaker of it;(9) 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 means, attain thereunto:(10) 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 Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and
cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this
assurance;(11)- so far is it from inclining men to looseness.(12)
9. Isa 50:10; Ps 88:1-18; Ps 77:1-12. - 10. 1Jn 4:13;
Heb 6:11-12. - 11. Ro 5:1-2,5; 14:17; Ps 119:32. - 12. Ro 6:1-2; Tit 2:11-12,14.
4. True believers may have the assurance of their
salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as by negligence in
preserving of it,(13) by falling into some special sin which woundeth the
conscience and grieveth the Spirit;(14) by some sudden or vehement
temptation,(15) 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,(16) yet are they
never destitute of the seed of God(17) and life of faith,(18) 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,(19) and by the which, in the meantime, they are preserved from utter
despair.(20)
13. SS 5:2-3,6. - 14. Ps 51:8,12,14. - 15. Ps 116:11;
77:7-8; 31:22. - 16. Ps 30:7. - 17. 1Jn 3:9. - 18. Lk 22:32. - 19. Ps 42:5,11. -
20. La 3:26-31.
1. God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience
written in his heart, and a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil;(1) by which He bound him and all his
posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience;(2) promised life
upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him
with power and ability to keep it.(3)
1. Ge 1:27; Ecc 7:29. - 2. Ro 10:5. - 3. Gal 3:10,12.
2. The same law that was first written in the heart of
man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall,(4) and was
delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments, and written in two
tables, the four first containing our duty towards God, and the other six, our
duty to man.(5)
4. Ro 2:14-15. - 5. Dt 10:4.
3. Besides this law, commonly called moral, God was
pleased to give to the people of Israel ceremonial laws, containing several
typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, His graces, actions,
sufferings, and benefits;(6) and partly holding forth divers instructions of
moral duties,(7) all which ceremonial laws being appointed only to the time of
reformation, are, by Jesus Christ the true Messiah and only law-giver, who was
furnished with power from the Father for that end abrogated and taken away.(8)
6. Heb 10:1; Col 2:17. - 7. 1Co 5:7. - 8. Col
2:14,16-17; Eph 2:14,16.
4. To them also He gave sundry judicial laws, which
expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any now by virtue
of that institution; their general equity only being for modern use.(9)
9. 1Co 9:8-10.
5. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well
justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof,(10) 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;(11) neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way
dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation.(12)
10. Ro 13:8-10; Jas 2:8,10-12. - 11. Jas 2:10-11. - 12.
Mt 5:17-19; Ro 3:31.
6. Although true believers be not under the law as a
covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned,(13) yet it is of great
use to them as well as to others, in that as a rule of life, informing them of
the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly;
discovering also the sinful pollutions of their natures, hearts, and lives, so
as examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of,
humiliation for, and hatred against, sin;(14) 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 threatening of it serve to shew what even their sins deserve, and what
afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse
and unallayed rigour thereof. These promises of it likewise shew them God's
approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the
performance thereof, though not as due to them by the law as a covenant of
works; so as man's doing good and refraining from evil, because the law
encourageth to the one and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his being
under the law and not under grace.(15)
13. Ro 6:14; Gal 2:16; Ro 8:1; 10:4. - 14. Ro 3:20;
7:7-25. - 15. Ro 6:12-14; 1Pe 3:8-13.
7. Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law
contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do sweetly comply with it,(16) the
Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and
cheerfully which the will of God, revealed in the law, requireth to be done.(17)
16. Gal 3:21. - 17. Eze 36:27.
1. The covenant of works being broken by sin, and made
unprofitable unto life, God was pleased to give forth the promise of Christ, the
seed of the woman, as the means of calling the elect, and begetting in them
faith and repentance;(1) in this promise the gospel, as to the substance of it,
was revealed, and [is] therein effectual for the conversion and salvation of
sinners.(2)
1. Ge 3:15. - 2. Rev 13:8.
2. This promise of Christ, and salvation by Him, is
revealed only by the Word of God;(3) neither do the works of creation or
providence, with the light of nature, make discovery of Christ, or of grace by
Him, so much as in a general or obscure way;(4) much less that men destitute of
the revelation of Him by the promise or gospel, should be enabled thereby to
attain saving faith or repentance.(5)
3. Ro 1:17. - 4. Ro 10:14-15,17. - 5. Pr 29:18; Isa
25:7; 60:2-3.
3. The revelation of the gospel unto sinners, made in
divers times and by sundry parts, with the addition of promises and precepts for
the obedience required therein, as to the nations and persons to whom it is
granted, is merely of the sovereign will and good pleasure of God;(6) not being
annexed by virtue of any promise to the due improvement of men's natural
abilities, by virtue of common light received without it, which none ever did
make, or can do so;(7) and therefore in all ages, the preaching of the gospel
has been granted unto persons and nations, as to the extent or straitening of
it, in great variety, according to the counsel of the will of God.
6. Ps 147:20; Ac 16:7. - 7. Ro 1:18-32.
4. Although the gospel be the only outward means of
revealing Christ and saving grace, and is, as such, abundantly sufficient
thereunto; yet that men who are dead in trespasses may be born again, quickened
or regenerated, there is moreover necessary an effectual insuperable work of the
Holy Spirit upon the whole soul, for the producing in them a new spiritual
life;(8) without which no other means will effect their conversion unto God.(9)
8. Ps 110:3; 1Co 2:14; Eph 1:19-20. - 9. Jn 6:44; 2Co.
4:4,6.
1. The covenant of works being broken by sin, and made
unprofitable unto life, God was pleased to give forth the promise of Christ, the
seed of the woman, as the means of calling the elect, and begetting in them
faith and repentance;(1) in this promise the gospel, as to the substance of it,
was revealed, and [is] therein effectual for the conversion and salvation of
sinners.(2)
1. Ge 3:15. - 2. Rev 13:8.
2. This promise of Christ, and salvation by Him, is
revealed only by the Word of God;(3) neither do the works of creation or
providence, with the light of nature, make discovery of Christ, or of grace by
Him, so much as in a general or obscure way;(4) much less that men destitute of
the revelation of Him by the promise or gospel, should be enabled thereby to
attain saving faith or repentance.(5)
3. Ro 1:17. - 4. Ro 10:14-15,17. - 5. Pr 29:18; Isa
25:7; 60:2-3.
3. The revelation of the gospel unto sinners, made in
divers times and by sundry parts, with the addition of promises and precepts for
the obedience required therein, as to the nations and persons to whom it is
granted, is merely of the sovereign will and good pleasure of God;(6) not being
annexed by virtue of any promise to the due improvement of men's natural
abilities, by virtue of common light received without it, which none ever did
make, or can do so;(7) and therefore in all ages, the preaching of the gospel
has been granted unto persons and nations, as to the extent or straitening of
it, in great variety, according to the counsel of the will of God.
6. Ps 147:20; Ac 16:7. - 7. Ro 1:18-32.
4. Although the gospel be the only outward means of
revealing Christ and saving grace, and is, as such, abundantly sufficient
thereunto; yet that men who are dead in trespasses may be born again, quickened
or regenerated, there is moreover necessary an effectual insuperable work of the
Holy Spirit upon the whole soul, for the producing in them a new spiritual
life;(8) without which no other means will effect their conversion unto God.(9)
8. Ps 110:3; 1Co 2:14; Eph 1:19-20. - 9. Jn 6:44; 2Co.
4:4,6.
1. The light of nature shews that there is a God, who
hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and doth good unto all;
and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and
served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might.(1) But the
acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by Himself,(2) and so
limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the
imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible
representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.(3)
1. Jer 10:7; Mk 12:33. - 2. Dt 12:32. - 3. Ex 20:4-6.
2. Religious worship is to be given to God the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, and to Him alone;(4) not to angels, saints, or any other
creatures;(5) and since the fall, not without a mediator,(6) nor in the
mediation of any other but Christ alone.(7)
4. Mt 4:9-10; Jn 6:23; Mt 28:19. - 5. Ro 1:25; Col
2:18; Rev 19:10. - 6. Jn 14:6. - 7. 1Ti 2:5.
3. Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one part of natural
worship, is by God required of all men.(8) But that it may be accepted, it is to
be made in the name of the Son,(9) by the help of the Spirit,(10) according to
His will;(11) with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love,
and perseverance; and when with others , in a known tongue.(12)
8. Ps 95:1-7; 65:2. - 9. Jn 14:13-14. - 10. Ro 8:26. -
11. 1Jn 5:14. - 12. 1Co 14:16-17.
4. Prayer is to be made for things lawful, and for all
sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter;(13) but not for the dead,(14)
not for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto
death.(15)
13. 1Ti 2:1-2; 2Sa 7:29. - 14. 2Sa 12:21-23. - 15. 1Jn
5:16.
5. The reading of the Scriptures,(16) preaching, and
hearing the Word of God,(17) teaching and admonishing one another in psalms,
hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord;(18) as
also the administration of baptism,(19) and the Lord's supper,(20) are all parts
of religious worship of God, to be performed in obedience to Him, with
understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear; moreover, solemn humiliation,
with fastings,(21) and thanksgivings, upon special occasions, ought to be used
in an holy and religious manner.(22)
16. 1Ti 4:13. - 17. 2Ti 4:2; Lk 8:18. - 18. Col 3:16;
Eph 5:19. - 19. Mt 28:19-20. - 20. 1Co. 11:26. - 21. Est 4:16; Joel 2:12. - 22.
Ex 15:1-19; Ps 107:1-43.
6. Neither prayer nor any other part of religious
worship, is now under the gospel, 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 in truth;(23) as in private families(24)
daily,(25) and in secret each one by himself;(26) so more solemnly in the public
assemblies, which are not carelessly nor wilfully to be neglected or forsaken,
when God by His word or providence calleth thereto.(27)
23. Jn 4:21; Mal 1:11; 1Ti 2:8. - 24. Ac 10:2. - 25. Mt
6:11; Ps 55:17. - 26. Mt 6:6. - 27. Heb 10:25; Ac 2:42.
7. As it is the law of nature, that in general a
proportion of time, by God's appointment, be set apart for the worship of God,
so by His Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men,
in all ages, He hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be
kept holy unto Him,(28) 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 is called the Lord's
Day:(29) and is to be continued to the end of the world as a Christian Sabbath,
the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.
28. Ex 20:8. - 29. 1Co 16:1-2; Ac 20:7; Rev 1:10.
8. The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when
men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs
aforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all day, from their own works, words
and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations,(30) but are also
taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and
in the duties of necessity and mercy.(31)
30. Isa 58:13; Ne 13:15-22. - 31. Mt 12:1-13.
1. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship,
wherein the person swearing in truth, righteousness, and judgment, solemnly
calleth God to witness what he sweareth,(1) and to judge him according to the
truth or falseness thereof(2)
1. Ex 20:7; Dt 10:20; Jer 4:2. - 2. 2Ch 6:22-23.
2. The name of God only is that by which men ought to
swear; and therein it is to be used, with all holy fear and reverence; 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;(3) yet as in matter of weight
and moment, for confirmation of truth, and ending all strife, an oath is
warranted by the Word of God;(4) so a lawful oath being imposed by lawful
authority in such matters, ought to be taken.(5)
3. Mt 5:34,37; Jas 5:12. - 4. Heb 6:16; 2Co 1:23. - 5.
Ne 13:25.
3. Whosoever taketh an oath warranted by the Word of
God, ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to
avouch nothing but what he knoweth to be truth; for that by rash, false, and
vain oaths, the Lord is provoked, and for them this land mourns.(6)
6. Lev 19:12; Jer 23:10.
4. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense
of the words, without equivocation or mental reservation.(7)
7. Ps 24:4.
5. A vow, which is not to be made to any creature, but
to God alone, is to be made and performed with all religious care and
faithfulness;(8) but popish monastical vows of perpetual single life,(9)
professed poverty,(10) 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.(11)
8. Ps 76:11; Ge 28:20-22. - 9. 1Co 7:2,9. - 10. Eph
4:28. - 11. Mt 19:11.
1. God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world,
hath ordained civil magistrates to be under Him, over the people, for His own
glory and the public good; and to this end hath armed them with the power of the
sword, for defence and encouragement of them that do good, and for the
punishment of evil doers.(1)
1. Ro 13:1-4.
2. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute
the office of a magistrate when called thereunto; in the management whereof, as
they ought especially to maintain justice and peace,(2) according to the
wholesome laws of each kingdom and commonwealth, so for that end they may
lawfully now, under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary
occasions.(3)
2. 2Sa 23:3; Ps 82:3-4. - 3. Lk 3:14.
3. Civil magistrates being set up by God for the ends
aforesaid; subjection, in all lawful things commanded by them, ought to be
yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath, but for conscience' sake;(4) and
we ought to make supplications and prayers for kings and all that are in
authority, that under them we may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all
godliness and honesty.(5)
4. Ro 13:5-7; 1Pe 2:17. - 5. 1Ti 2:1-2.
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.(1)
1. Ge 2:24; Mal 2:15; Mt 19:5-6.
2. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband
and wife,(2) for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue,(3) and for
preventing uncleanness.(4)
2. Ge 2:18. - 3. Ge 1:28. - 4. 1Co 7:2,9.
3. It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry, who
are able with judgment to give their consent;(5) yet it is the duty of
Christians to marry in the Lord;(6) and therefore such as profess the true
religion, should not marry with infidels, or idolators; neither should such as
are godly, be unequally yoked, by marrying with such as are wicked in their
life, or maintain damnable heresy.(7)
5. Heb 13:4; 1Ti 4:3. - 6. 1Co 7:39. - 7. Ne 13:25-27.
4. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of
consanguinity or affinity, forbidden in the Word;(8) 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.(9)
8. Lev 18:1-30. - 9. Mk 6:18; 1Co 5:1.
1. The catholic or universal church, which (with
respect to the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace) may be called
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 filleth all in all.(1)
1. Heb 12:23; Col 1:18; Eph 1:10,22-23; 5:23,27,32.
2. All persons throughout the world, professing the
faith of the gospel, and obedience unto God by Christ according unto it, not
destroying their own profession by any error everting the foundation, or
unholiness of conversation, are and may be called visible saints;(2) and of such
ought all particular congregations to be constituted.(3)
2. 1Co 1:2; Ac 11:26. - Ro 1:7; Eph 1:20-22.
3. The purest churches under heaven are subject to
mixture and error;(4) and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of
Christ, but synagogues of Satan;(5) nevertheless Christ always hath had, and
ever shall have a kingdom in this world, to the end thereof, of such as believe
in Him, and make profession of His name.(6)
4. 1Co 5:1-13; Rev 2:1-29; 3:1-22. - ev 18:2; 2Th
2:11-12. - Mt 16:18; Ps 72:17; 102:28; Rev 12:17.
4. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, in
whom, by the appointment of the Father all power for the calling, institution,
order, or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and sovereign
manner;(7) neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is
that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in
the church against Christ, and all that is called God; whom the Lord shall
destroy with the brightness of His coming.(8)
7. Col 1:18; Mt 28:18-20; Eph 4:11-12. - 2Th 2:2-9.
(Many today who hold firmly to the 1689 Confession
cannot agree with this dogmatic identification of the Pope of Rome as the
antichrist of 2 Thessalonians 2:2-9.)
5. In the execution of this power wherewith He is so
intrusted, the Lord Jesus calleth out of the world unto Himself, through the
ministry of His Word, by His Spirit, those that are given unto Him by His
Father,(9) that they may walk before Him in all the ways of obedience, which He
prescribeth to them in His Word.(10) Those thus called, He commandeth to walk
together in particular societies, or churches, for their mutual edification, and
the due performance of that public worship, which He requireth of them in the
world.(11)
9. Jn 10:16; 12:32. - Mt 28:20. - Mt 18:15-20.
6. The members of these churches are saints by calling,
visibly manifesting and evidencing(in and by their profession and walking) their
obedience unto that call of Christ;(12) and do willingly consent to walk
together, according to the appointment of Christ; giving up themselves to the
Lord, and one to another, by the will of God, in professed subjection to the
ordinances of the Gospel.(13)
12. Ro 1 :7; 1Co 1:2. - Ac 2:41-42; 5:13-14; 2Co 9:13.
7. To each of these churches thus gathered, according
to His mind declared in His Word, He hath given all that power and authority,
which is in any way needful for their carrying on that order in worship and
discipline, which He hath instituted for them to observe; with commands and
rules for the due and right exerting, and executing of that power.(14)
14. Mt 18:17-18; 1Co 5:4-5; 5:13; 2Co 2:6-8.
8. A particular church, gathered and completely
organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members; and
the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church(so
called and gathered), for the peculiar administration of ordinances, and
execution of power or duty, which He entrusts them with, or calls them to, to be
continued to the end of the world, are bishops or elders, and deacons.(15)
15. Ac 20:17,28; Php 1:1.
9. The way appointed by Christ for the calling of any
person, fitted and gifted by the Holy Spirit, unto the office of bishop or elder
in a church, is, that he be chosen thereunto by the common suffrage of the
church itself;(16) and solemnly set apart by fasting and prayer, with imposition
of hands of the eldership of the church, if there be any before constituted
therein;(17) and of a deacon that he be chosen by the like suffrage, and set
apart by prayer, and the like imposition of hands.(18)
16. Ac 14:23. - 1Ti 4:14. - Ac 6:3,5-6.
10. The work of pastors being constantly to attend the
service of Christ, in His churches, in the ministry of the Word and prayer, with
watching for their souls, as they that must give an account to Him;(19) it is
incumbent on the churches to whom they minister, not only to give them all due
respect, but also to communicate to them of all their good things, according to
their ability,(20) so as they may have a comfortable supply, without being
themselves entangled in secular affairs;(21) and may also be capable of
exercising hospitality towards others;(22) and this is required by the law of
nature, and by the express order of our Lord Jesus, who hath ordained that they
that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel.(23)
19. Ac 6:4; Heb 13:17. - 1Ti 5:17-18; Gal 6:6-7. - 2Ti
2:4. - 1Ti 3:2. - 23. 1Co 9:6-14.
11. Although it be incumbent on the bishops or pastors
of the churches, to be instant in preaching the Word, by way of office, yet the
work of preaching the Word is not so peculiarly confined to them but that others
also gifted and fitted by the Holy Spirit for it, and approved and called by the
church, may and ought to perform it.(24)
24. Ac 11:19-21; 1Pe 4:10-11.
12. As all believers are bound to join themselves to
particular churches, when and where they have opportunity so to do; so all that
are admitted unto the privileges of a church, are also under the censures and
government thereof, according to the rule of Christ.(25)
25. 1Th 5:14; 2Th 3:6,14-15.
13. No church members, upon any offence taken by them,
having performed their duty required of them towards the person they are
offended at, ought to disturb any church-order, or absent themselves from the
assemblies of the church, or administration of any ordinances, upon the account
of such offence at any of their fellow members, but to wait upon Christ, in the
further proceedings of the church.(26)
26. Mt 18:15-17; Eph 4:2-3.
14. As each church, and all the members of it, are
bound to pray continually for the good and prosperity of all the churches of
Christ,(27) in all places, and upon all occasions to further every one within
the bounds of their places and callings, in the exercise of their gifts and
graces, so the churches, when planted by the providence of God, so as they may
enjoy opportunity and advantage for it, ought to hold communion among
themselves, for their peace, increase of love, and mutual edification.(28)
27. Eph 6:18; Ps 122:6. - 28. Ro 16:1-2; 3Jn 8-10.
15. In cases of difficulties or differences, either in
point of doctrine or administration, wherein either the churches in general are
concerned, or any one church, in their peace, union, and edification; or any
member or members of any church are injured, in or by any proceedings in
censures not agreeable to truth and order: it is according to the mind of
Christ, that many churches holding communion together, do, by their messengers,
meet to consider, and give their advice in or about that matter in difference,
to be reported to all the churches concerned;(29) howbeit these messengers
assembled, are not intrusted with any church-power properly so called; or with
any jurisdiction over the churches themselves, to exercise any censures either
over any churches or persons; or to impose their determination on the churches
or officers.(30)
29. Ac 15:2,4,6,22-23,25. - 30. 2Co 1:24; 1Jn 4:1.
1. All saints that are united to Jesus Christ, their
head, by His Spirit, and faith, although they are not made thereby one person
with Him, have fellowship in His graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and
glory;(1) and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each
others gifts and graces,(2) and are obliged to the performance of such duties,
public and private, in an orderly way, as do conduce to their mutual good, both
in the inward and outward man.(3)
1. 1Jn 1:3; Jn 1:16; Php 3:10; Ro 6:5-6. - 2. Eph
4:15-16; 1Co 12:7; 3:21-23. - 3. 1Th 5:11,14; Ro 1:12; 1Jn 3:17-18; Gal 6:10.
2. Saints by profession are bound to maintain an holy
fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other
spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification;(4) as also in relieving
each other in outward things according to their several abilities, and
necessities;(5) which communion, according to the rule of the gospel, though
especially to be exercised by them, in the relation wherein they stand, whether
in families,(6) or churches,(7) yet, as God offereth opportunity, is to be
extended to all the household of faith, even all those who in every place call
upon the name of the Lord Jesus; nevertheless their communion one with another
as saints, doth not take away or infringe the title or propriety which each man
hath in his goods and possessions.(8)
4. Heb 10:24-25; 3:12-13. - 5. Ac 11:29-30. - 6. Eph
6:4. - 7. 1Co 12:14-27. - 8. Ac 5:4; Eph 4:28.
1. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of
positive and sovereign institution, appointed by the Lord Jesus, the only
lawgiver, to be continued in His church to the end of the world.(1)
1. Mt 28:19-20; 1Co 11:26.
2. These holy appointments are to be administered by
those only who are qualified and thereunto called, according to the commission
of Christ.(2)
2. Mt 28:19; 1Co 4:1.
1. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament,
ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his
fellowship with Him, in His death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into
Him;(1) of remission of sins;(2) and of giving up into God, through Jesus
Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.(3)
1. Ro 6:3-5; Col 2:12; Gal 3:27. - 2. Mk 1:4; Ac 22:16.
- 3. Ro 6:4.
2. Those who do actually profess repentance towards
God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper
subjects of this ordinance.(4)
4. Mk 16:16; Ac 8:36-37; 2:41; 8:12; 18:8.
3. The outward element to be used in this ordinance is
water, wherein the party is to be baptized, in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.(5)
5. Mt 28:19-20; Ac 8:38.
4. Immersion, or dipping of the person in water, is
necessary to the due administration of this ordinance.(6)
6. Mt 3:16, Jn 3:23.
1. The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by Him
the same night wherein He was betrayed, to be observed in His churches, unto the
end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and shewing forth the sacrifice
of Himself in His death,(1) confirmation of the faith of believers in all the
benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in Him, their further
engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to Him; and to be a bond and
pledge of their communion with Him, and with each other.(2)
1. 1Co 11:23-26. - 2. 1Co 10:16-17,21.
2. In this ordinance Christ is not offered up to His
Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sin of the quick or
dead, but only a memorial of that one offering up of Himself by Himself upon the
cross, once for all;(3) and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God
for the same.(4) So that the popish sacrifice of the mass, as they call it, is
most abominable, injurious to Christ's own sacrifice the alone propitiation for
all the sins of the elect.
3. Heb 9:25-26,28. - 4. 1Co 11:24; Mt 26:26-27.
3. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed
His ministers to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to
set them apart from a common to a holy use, and to take and break the bread; to
take the cup, and, they communicating also themselves, to give both to the
communicants.(5)
5. 1Co 11:23-26.
4. The denial of the cup to the people, worshipping the
elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and
reserving them for any pretended religious use, are all contrary to the nature
of this ordinance, and to the institution of Christ.(6)
6. Mt 26:26-28; 15:9; Ex 20:4-5.
5. The outward elements in this ordinance, duly set
apart to the use ordained by Christ, have such relation to Him crucified, as
that truly, although in terms used figuratively, they are sometimes called by
the names of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ,(7)
albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and only bread and
wine, as they were before.(8)
7. 1Co 11:27. - 8. 1Co 11:26-28.
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,(9) but even to common sense and
reason, overthroweth the nature of the ordinance, and hath been, and is, the
cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.(10)
9. Ac 3:21; Lk 24:6,39. - 10. 1Co 11:24-25.
7. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible
elements in this ordinance, do them also inwardly by faith, really and indeed,
yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed upon Christ
crucified, and all the benefits of His death; the body and blood of Christ being
then not corporally or carnally, but spiritually present to the faith of
believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward
senses.(11)
11. 1Co 10:16; 11:23-26.
8. All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit
to enjoy communion with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, and
cannot, without great sin against Him, while they remain such, partake of these
holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto;(12) yea, whosoever shall receive
unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking
judgment to themselves.(13)
12. 2Co 6:14-15. - 13. 1Co 11:29; Mt 7:6.
1. The bodies of men after death return to dust, and
see corruption(1) but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an
immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them.(2) The souls of
the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise,
where they are with Christ, and behold the face of God in light and glory,
waiting for the full redemption of their bodies;(3) and the souls of the wicked
are cast into hell; where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to
the judgment of the great day;(4) besides these two places, for souls separated
from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.
1. Ge 3:19; Ac 13:36. - 2. Ecc 12:7. - 3. Lk 23:43; 2Co
5:1,6,8; Php 1:23, Heb 12:23. - 4. Jude 6-7; 1Pe 3:19; Lk 16:23-24.
2. At the last day, such of the saints as are found
alive, shall not sleep, but be changed;(5) and all the dead shall be raised up
with the selfsame bodies, and none other;(6) although with different qualities,
which shall be united again to their souls for ever.(7)
5. 1Co 15:51-52; 1Th 4:17. - 6. Job 19:26-27. - 7. 1Co
15:42-43.
3. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of
Christ, be raised to dishonour; the bodies of the just, by His Spirit, unto
honour, and be made conformable to His own glorious body.(8)
8. Ac 24:15; Jn 5:28-29; Php 3:21.
1. God hath appointed a day wherein He will judge the
world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ;(1) to whom all power and judgment is
given of the Father; in which day, not only the apostate angels shall be
judged,(2) but likewise all persons that have lived upon the 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.(3)
1. Ac 17:31; Jn 5:22, 27. - 2. 1Co 6:3; Jude 6. - 3.
2Co 5:10; Ecc 12:14; Mt 12:36; Ro 14:10,12; Mt 25:32-46.
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 eternal damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked
and disobedient:(4) for then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and
receive that fullness of joy and glory with everlasting rewards, in the presence
of the Lord; but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus
Christ, shall be cast aside into everlasting torments,(5) and punished with
everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of
His power.(6)
4. Ro 9:22-23. - 5. Mt 25:21,34; 2Ti 4:8. - 6. Mt 25:46; Mk 9:48; 2Th 1:7-10.
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,(7) and
for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity,(8) so will He have
the 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,(9) and
may ever be prepared to say, "Come Lord Jesus; come quickly".(10)
Amen.
7. 2Co 5:10-11. - 8. 2Th 1:5-7. - 9. Mk 13:35-37; Lk 12:35-40. - 10. Rev 22:20.
Closing Statement & Signatories
We the MINISTERS, and MESSENGERS of, and concerned for upwards of, one
hundred BAPTIZED CHURCHES, in England and Wales (denying Arminianisim),
being met together in London, from the third of the seventh month to the
eleventh of the same, 1689, to consider of some things that might be for
the glory of God, and the good of these congregations, have thought meet
(for the satisfaction of all other Christians that differ from us in the
point of Baptism) to recommend to their perusal the confession of our
faith, which confession we own, as containing the doctrine of our faith
and practice, and do desire that the members of our churches
respectively do furnish themselves therewith.
Hansard Knollys, Pastor, Broken Wharf, London
William Kiffin, Pastor, Devonshire-square, London
John Harris, Pastor, Joiner's Hall, London
William Collins, Pastor, Petty France, London
Hurcules Collins, Pastor, Wapping, London
Robert Steed, Pastor, Broken Wharf, London
Leonard Harrison, Pastor, Limehouse, London
George Barret, Pastor, Mile End Green, London
Isaac Lamb, Pastor, Pennington-street, London
Richard Adams, Minister, Shad Thames, Southwark
Benjamin Keach, Pastor, Horse-lie-down, Southwark
Andrew Gifford, Pastor, Bristol, Frvars, Som. & Glouc.
Thomas Vaux, Pastor, Broadmead, Som. & Glouc.
Thomas Winnel, Pastor, Taunton, Som. & Glouc.
James Hitt, Preacher, Dalwood, Dorset
Richard Tidmarsh, Minister, Oxford City, Oxon
William Facey, Pastor, Reading, Berks
Samuel Buttall, Minister, Plymouth, Devon
Christopher Price, Minister, Abergayenny, Monmouth
Daniel Finch, Minister, Kingsworth, Herts
John Ball, Tiverton, Devon
Edmond White, Pastor, Evershall, Bedford
William Prichard, Pastor, Blaenau, Monmouth
Paul Fruin, Minister, Warwick, Warwick
Richard Ring, Pastor, Southhampton, Hants
John Tomkins, Minister, Abingdon, Berks
Toby Willes, Pastor, Bridgewater, Somerset
John Carter, Steventon, Bedford
James Webb, Devizes, Wilts
Richard Sutton, Pastor, Tring, Herts
Robert Knight, Pastor, Stukeley, Bucks
Edward Price, Pastor, Hereford City, Hereford
William Phipps, Pastor, Exon, Devon
William Hawkins, Pastor, Dimmock, Gloucester
Samuel Ewer, Pastor, Hemstead, Herts
Edward Man, Pastor, Houndsditch, London
Charles Archer, Pastor, Hock-Norton, Oxon
In the name of and on the behalf of the whole assembly.
