is as necessary to a church as lumber and other materials are to a material building. Some one has said, "We must stand for something, or we will fall for anything." This is true, and this is why there must be the indoctrinating of believers in the articles of the Christian faith. W. A. Brown has well said that:

As long as Christianity exists as a missionary religion, so long its ministers must be trained in its distinctive tenets. They must know for what their religion stands, and the ends which it seeks to attain. —Outline of Christian Theology, p. 12.

This duty is set forth in the command "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you," and if anyone can separate this from doctrine, he is quite a magician. Jude 3 says: "I was constrained to write unto you, exhorting you to contend earnestly (epagonizesthai) for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints," upon which T. T. Eaton says:

"The faith" is the body of doctrine taught in the Scriptures, centering in Christ and His work...What we are to believe, what we are to be and what we are to do "according to the Scriptures" —this is "the faith" which was delivered once for all and for which we are to "earnestly contend" —epiagonize...We are to "contend earnestly" for the faith. The Greek is epagonizesthai, —epiagonize—and it is the strongest word in any language, so far as I know, to express intensity of struggle. It occurs in the New Testament only here. We are to agonize to enter the strait gate, but are to epi-agonize for "the faith once for all delivered unto the saints." This, then, is the supreme struggle of our existence. It is more important that "the faith" be maintained than anything else, yea, than even our own salvation as individuals. We are to agonize for the latter but to epiagonize for the former. —Faith and The Faith, pp. 45, 46, 48-49.

This last statement by Dr. Eaton may seem strange, but it is not, for if an individual does not give great diligence to enter into the strait gate of salvation, one soul will be lost. But if churches do not superagonize to maintain the doctrines of the Word of God, a whole generation will be lost in that area where that unfaithful church is located.

Doctrine is a distasteful thing to many persons, but this is explained by several things. (1) Some people do not like doctrinal messages simply because they obligate the believer to sanctification and service. It is much easier for a carnal saint to sit under the preaching of an evangelistic message where most of the responsibility is put upon the lost person, than to sit under the preaching of a doctrinal message which finds chief application to the believer. Yet the Lord’s commission lays equal stress upon doctrine and evangelism. (2) Others have a mistaken idea of what doctrine is. Many people think that doctrine is an abstract discussion of some abstruse and easily misunderstood point. But doctrine is simply teaching. This is the meaning of the word so translated. In truth, no one can preach without teaching doctrine also. (3) Still others dislike doctrinal messages because of the ungodliness of their lives. A large majority of professing Christianity has no spiritual understanding nor desire. They want an easy and flesh pleasing Christianity with nothing preached but what will sooth their conscience and tickle their ears. Such doctrinal preaching does not do.

Paul, the great organizer and edifier of churches, taught much doctrine. His epistles abound with it. There is none of the present day milk-sop Christianity in his epistles. The fear of offending a heretic or carnal believer did not enter into his thoughts. His one great all-consuming desire was to glorify God through the evangelizing of the lost, the organizing of the new converts into New Testament churches, and the edification of the saints that they might carry on the work.

Every church has some doctrine, for this is simply the body of truth which it holds. It is true that some have only the "doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1; Greek). But a church must perpetuate its own beliefs or else it will shortly pass out of existence. Any species of creature exists only so long as it perpetuates its own kind. When it ceases to do so, it ceases as a species. The same is true in the spiritual and religious realm. The day we cease to perpetuate our doctrinal principles, we will cease to exist as that species, and will become something else. We will be swallowed up of false and impious sects which are zealous enough to propagate their own principles.

The doctrines of most religious bodies are set forth in their creeds and confessions of faith, and are the binding rule, in many cases, of the faith and practice of the adherents of that particular group. The word "creed" is from the Latin credo— "I believe," and as such is an expression of one’s beliefs. In this sense, every individual, and every church has a creed, though it may not be a formal or written one. The most commonly used creed through the centuries has been the so-called "Apostles’ Creed," yet it must be recognized that this creed was not produced by the Apostles, each one contributing a specific part, as tradition has held.

The variety of creeds in so many different forms, used by the ancients, yet extant in their writings, some with omissions, others with additions, and all in a different phrase, are no less evident proofs, that one universal form had not been pitched upon and prescribed to the whole Church by the Apostles. For then it is scarce to be imagined, that any church should have received any other form in the least tittle varying from it. These reasons do now generally satisfy learned men, that no such precise form was composed, according to that pretended tradition, by all the Apostles. —Joseph Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church, Book X, Chapter III, para. 5.

The "Apostles’ Creed" is a very brief resume of doctrine, and is, for the most part, sound in its teachings. The two exceptions to this are the articles on "the descent into hell," and the word "Catholic" applied to the church, yet both of these are of late date, not finding their way into this creed for three or four centuries after the time of Christ. Indeed, this whole creed is the result of development over a period of time, and that time many years after the death of the last of the apostles, as J. R. Lumby observes.

It has grown into its present form without observation. Several centuries of the Christian era elapsed before the words which we now use and style by the venerable name of "the Apostles" were put together into one symbol ...Our only means then of tracing out the history of the Apostolic symbol is to take in review the Creeds of the Western Church, beginning with the simplest and earliest of them, and, following the course of time, to chronicle each addition on its first appearance. This process must, of course, demonstrate that the venerable name of the symbol is only to be taken to mean that it contains nothing but Apostolical doctrine. —History of the Creeds, pp. 111, 112.

This Dr. Lumby does, and shows when each phrase of this creed first was used, with the result that we learn that the statement "He descended into hell" was first used by Rufinus in A. D. 390, but did not come into common use in the creed until after A. D. 650. The addition of "Catholic" to the phrase "The Holy Church" first appears in the creed of St. Nicetas in A. D. 450, and was in common usage after that. These two things were omitted in all of the older creeds, as was the heresy of baptismal regeneration, which began to creep into the creeds in the Fourth Century. This latter belief was expressed by the Creed of Jerusalem, A. D. 348 in this way: "I believe...in one baptism of repentance for remission of sins," while the Revision by Cyril, A. D. 362, the Creed of the Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381, and the Creed of the Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, all say: "We acknowledge one baptism for remission of sins." (Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition. Article: "Creeds.") Thus, a progression is easily seen in the corruption of pure doctrine.

It is generally conceded that the Old Roman Creed, which dates back to the writings of the Bishops Felix and Dionysus in the Third Century, and to the writings of Tertullian in the Second, is the parent of most of the creeds of Western churches. This creed, being older than the "Apostles’ Creed" is purer, and contains nothing with which any evangelical Christian could disagree. If churches wish to use a creed in their worship services, they would do much better to use this one, than the so-called "Apostles’ Creed." The Old Roman Creed says:

I believe in God (the) Father almighty; and in Christ Jesus His only Son our Lord, who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate and buried; the third day He rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of the Father, thence He shall come to judge living and dead. And in the Holy Ghost; (the) holy Church, (the) remission of sins, (the) resurrection of the flesh. —In Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition. Article: "Creeds."

Baptists also have their creeds, or, as they are more commonly called, confessions of faith, but they are not, like most denominations, a written standard to which all must conform their beliefs and practices. Inasmuch as Baptists have always believed in liberty of conscience, as well as personal accountability to God, they do not believe that any individual or group of individuals has the right to dictate to any person as to whether he is to believe, or what he is to believe. At most, Baptist confessions of faith express only what one individual or one group believes to be Bible truth. For this reason, there are minor differences in the expression of Baptist beliefs from one section of the world to another, and from one century to another. However, there is a surprising unanimity among all true Baptists, as will be borne out in the course of this chapter.

The belief in liberty of conscience in religious matters, which Baptists alone stood for through the first sixteen or seventeen centuries of the Christian era, and for which multiplied millions of them were persecuted unto death, has been, in recent centuries, espoused (at least nominally) by other denominations. And for this we thank God. However, the honest student of religious history will find that it is a distinctive Baptist tenet. Even the Pilgrim Fathers, who fled to this country in order to have religious liberty, were unwilling to grant this liberty to others, and were very bitter persecutors of Baptists because of their beliefs when they had the power to persecute them.

This tenet of liberty of conscience was the natural result of the Baptist belief in individual competency to read the Bible and to know God’s will under the Spirit’s guidance, and the individual accountability to do so. Baptists believe that there must be a heart opened unto the Lord Jesus as Saviour, a mind opened unto the teaching and leading of the Spirit of God, and a Bible opened for instruction and encouragement. Where these things exist, they will produce Baptists in by far the majority of the cases. It is always tradition and blind prejudice that hinders people from coming to the Truth.

In order to show the unanimity of doctrinal beliefs of Baptists through the centuries, it is the writer’s purpose to set forth some of the principle statements of faith held by different Baptist groups. We do not deny that there are minor differences to be found, but at the same time, it is evident that there was fundamental agreement on all major doctrines. It is to be regretted that we cannot offer a full and complete confession of faith for those who lived in the early and middle centuries of the Christian era, but when we realize that all the writings of non-Catholics were zealously sought for and destroyed, and to even be suspected of being an Anabaptist was automatically to be guilty of a capital crime in the minds of those in authority, then we can understand why there are no such confessions now extant. Much, however, of the beliefs of these ancient brethren can be reconstructed from the writings of their persecutors, which we have endeavored to do in the chapter on church perpetuity.

Perhaps the oldest complete confession of faith to survive the Dark Ages and testify of the persecuted sects of those times, is the Waldensian confession of A. D. 1120. This date, of course, is several years before the time of Peter Waldo, as is also the date of the Noble Lesson, another Waldensian document, their Treatise of the Word of God, and two or three other of their productions. This means that those who have determined to believe that the Waldenses originated with Peter Waldo sometime after A. D. 1160, must discredit these dates by one way or another, but more of this in the chapter which deals with church perpetuity.

It is held by some that the Waldenses did not adopt sound doctrinal beliefs until after their contact with the Hussites in the Fifteenth Century, and their contact with some of the Sixteenth Century reformers (Richard Trench, Medieval Church History, p. 257), but this Waldensian Confession Of Faith shows that in all essentials they were doctrinally sound almost four hundred years before the first Protestant Reformer came on the scene. This Confession of Faith is as follows.

Article 1: We believe and firmly hold all that which is contained in the twelve Articles of the Symbol, which is called the Apostles Creed, accounting for heresie whatsoever is disagreeing, and not consonant to the said 12 Articles.

Article 2: We do believe that there is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Article 3: We acknowledge for the holy Canonical Scriptures, the Books of the holy Bible, viz. (Here follows the list of the books of the Old Testament in the same order as all present day Christians receive them, so that it is not felt necessary to repeat them. After this list, the Confession goes on to say—) Here follow the Books Apocryphal, which are not received of the Hebrews. But we read them (as saith St. Hierome in his Prologue to the Proverbs) for the instruction of the People, not to confirm the Authority of the Doctrine of the Church, viz. (Again, the books are all listed, followed by the list of the New Testament books in the accepted order.)

Article 4: The Books above said teach this, That there is one God, Almighty, all wise, and all good, who has made all things by his goodness, For he formed Adam in his own image and likeness, but that by the envy of the Devil, and the disobedience of the said Adam, Sin has entered into the World, and that we are Sinners in Adam and by Adam.

Article 5: That Christ was promised to our Fathers who received the Law, that so knowing by the Law their sin, unrighteousness and insufficiency, they might desire the coming of Christ, to satisfie for their sins, and accomplish the Law by himself.

Article 6: That Christ was born in the time appointed by the Father. That is to say, in the time when all iniquity abounded, and not for the cause of good works, for all were Sinners: but that he might shew us grace and mercy, as being faithful.

Article 7: That Christ is our life, truth, peace, and righteousness, as also our Pastor, Advocate, Sacrifice, and Priest, who died for the salvation of all those that believe, and is risen for our justification.

Article 8: In like manner, we firmly hold, that there is no other Mediator and Advocate with God the Father, save only Jesus Christ. And as for the Virgin Mary, that she was holy, humble, and full of grace: and in like manner do we believe concerning all the other Saints, viz. That being in Heaven, they wait for the Resurrection of their bodies at the Day of Judgment.

Article 9: Item, we believe that after this life, there are only two places, the one for the saved, and the other for the damned, the which two places we call Paradise and Hell, absolutely denying that Purgatory invented by Antichrist, and forged contrary to the truth.

Article 10: Item, we have always accounted as an unspeakable abomination before God, all those Inventions of men, namely, the Feasts and the Vigils of Saints, the Water which they call holy. As likewise to abstain from Flesh upon certain Days, and the like; but especially their Masses.

Article 11: We esteem for an abomination and as Anti-Christian, all those human inventions which are a trouble or prejudice to the liberty of the Spirit.

Article 12: We do believe that the Sacraments are signs of the holy thing, or visible forms of the invisible grace, accounting it good that the faithful sometimes use the said signs or visible forms, if it may be done. However, we believe and hold, that the above said faithful may be saved without receiving the signs aforesaid, in case they have no place nor any means to use them.

Article 13: We acknowledge no other Sacrament but Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Article 14: We ought to honour the secular powers, by subjection, ready obedience, and paying of Tributes. —Quoted according to the Old English style from Sir Samuel Moreland’s Churches In the Valley of Piedmont, pp. 30-34, and William Jones’ History of the Christian Church, pp. 248-249.

Can anyone point to any heresy in this confession? Are these things not the same doctrines that are held by Evangelical Churches of the present day? If they are not as detailed upon every point as we would like, yet they give us a sufficient skeletal view to show their doctrinal soundness, and their agreement with the sounder modern Baptists.

The second Confession of Faith that will be considered is the so-called London Confession, which was first drawn up in 1644 by seven churches in answer to the slanders and misrepresentations of their enemies. It was enlarged in 1677, but still was not signed due to the persecution then upon the Baptists. But in 1689, when persecution had subsided some, it was reissued, this time signed by thirty-seven eminent Baptist ministers of the Particular (Calvinistic) Baptist Churches. It was based upon the Westminster (Presbyterian) Confession, which was formulated between 1643 and 1653. But it differed from it in those points which were essentially Baptistic. In its final form, the London Confession represented about one hundred "Baptized Churches" in England and Wales. It has been adopted by many, many churches as their statement of faith since that time. In the United States of America, it is known as the Philadelphia Confession of Faith, though some minor verbal changes have been made in it. This Confession is one of the fullest confessions, yet, at the same time, it is unsurpassed by any for importance and influence (W. J. McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of Faith, pp. 215-219). The following is a reproduction of it.

Chapter I: Of The Holy Scriptures:

1. The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience (2 Tim. 3:15-17; Isa. 8:20; Luke 16:29, 31; Eph. 2:20), 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 (Rom. 1:19-21; 2:14-15; Ps: 19:1-3). Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in diverse manners to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church (Heb. 1:1); and afterward 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 (Prov. 22:19-21; Rom. 15:4; 2 Pet. 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 Testament, which are these: (Note: here follows all the books of the Bible in the same order in which we have them in the common versions of our day, and which it is not necessary to repeat.) All of which are given by the inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life (2 Tim. 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, not to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other human writings (Luke 24:27, 44; Rom. 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 (2 Pet. 1:19-21; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 John 5:19).

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 (John 16:13-14; 1 Cor. 2:10-12; 1 John 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 (2 Tim. 3:15-17; Gal. 1:8-9).

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 (John 6:45; 1 Cor. 2:9-12), 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 Cor. 11:13-14; 14:26, 40).

7. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all (2 Pet. 3:16); 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 (Ps. 19:7; 119:130).

8. The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old; Rom. 3:2), 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 (Isa. 8:20). 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 (Acts 15:15), and search them (John 5:39), therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come (1 Cor. 14:6, 9, 11-12, 24, 28), 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 (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 (2 Pet. 1:20-21; Acts 15:15-16).

10. The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of counsels, 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 (Matt. 22:29, 31; Eph. 2:20; Acts 28:23).

Chapter II: Of God And The Holy Trinity:

l. The Lord our God is but one only living and true God (1 Cor. 8:4, 6; Deut. 6:4); whose subsistence is in and of himself (Jer. 10:10; Isa. 48:12), infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself (Ex. 3:14); a most pure spirit (John 4:24), invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto (1 Tim. 1:17; Deut. 4:14-16); who is immutable (Mal. 3:6), immense (1 Kings 8:27; Jer. 23:23), eternal (Ps. 90:2), incomprehensible, almighty (Gen 17:1), every way infinite, most holy (Isa. 6:3), most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will (Ps. 115:3; Isa. 46:10), for his own glory (Prov. 16:4; Rom. 11:36); most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Ex. 34:67; Heb. 11:6), and withal most just and terrible in his judgments (Neh. 9:32-33), hating all sin (Ps. 5:5-6), and who will by no means clear the guilty (Ex. 34:7; Nahum 1:2-3).

2. God, having all life (John 5:26), glory (Ps. 148:13), goodness (Ps. 119:68), 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 (Job 22:2-3), 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 (Rom. 11:34-36), and he hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever himself pleaseth (Dan. 4:25, 34-35); in his sight all things are open and manifest (Heb. 4:13), his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain (Ezek. 11:5; Acts 15:18); he is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works (Ps. 145:17), and in all his command; to him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship (Rev. 5:12-14), service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and whatever he is further pleased to require of them.

3. In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, 1 John 5:7; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided, Ex. 3:14; John 14:11; 1 Cor. 8:6; the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, John 1:14, 18; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son, John 15:26; Gal. 4:6; 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 on him.

Chapter III: Of God’s Decree:

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 comes to pass (Isa. 46:10; Eph. 1:11; Heb. 6:17; Rom. 9:15, 18); yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein (James 1:13; 1 John 1:5); 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 (Acts 4:27-28; John 19:11); in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree (Num. 23:19; Eph. 1:3-5).

2. Although God knoweth whatsoever may or can come to pass, upon, all supposed conditions (Acts 15:18), yet hath he not decreed anything, because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions (Rom. 9:11, 13, 16, 18).

3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated, or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 5:21; Matt. 25:34), to the praise of his glorious grace (Eph. 1:5-6); others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of his glorious justice (Rom. 9:22-23; Jude 4).

4. These angels and men thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designated, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased nor diminished (2 Tim. 2:19; John 13:19).

5. Those of mankind that are predestinated 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 (Eph. 1:4, 9, 11; Rom. 8:30; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Thess. 5:9), without any other thing in the creature as a condition or cause moving him thereunto (Rom. 9:13, 16; Eph. 1:6, 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 (1 Pet. 1:2; 2 Thess. 2:13); wherefore they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ (1 Thess. 5:9-10). Are effectually called unto faith in Christ, by his Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified (Rom. 8:30; 2 Thess. 2:13), and kept by his power through faith unto salvation (1 Pet. 1:5); neither are any other redeemed by Christ, or effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only (John 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 (1 Thess. 1:4-5; 2 Pet. 1:10); so shall this doctrine afford matter of praise (Eph. 1:6; Rom. 11:33), reverence, and admiration of God, and of humility (Rom. 11:5-6, 20), diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel (Luke 10:20).

Chapter IV: Of Creation:

1. In the beginning it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 1:2-3; Heb. 1:2; Job 26:13), for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power (Rom. 1:20), 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 (Col. 1:16; Gen. 1:31).

2. After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female (Gen. 1:27), with reasonable and immortal souls (Gen. 2:7), 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 (Eccl. 7:29; Gen. 1:26); having the law of God written in their hearts (Rom. 2:14-15), and power to fulfill it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change (Gen. 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 (Gen. 2:7), which whilst they kept, they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures (Gen. 1:26, 28).

Chapter V: Of Divine Providence:

1. God the good Creator of all things, in his infinite power and wisdom, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things (Heb. 1:3; Job 38:11; Isa. 46:10-11; Ps. 135:6), from the greatest to the least (Matt. 10:29-31), by his most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, according unto his infallible knowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own goodness, and mercy (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 (Acts 2:23); so that there is not anything befalls any by chance, or without his providence (Prov. 16:33); yet by the same providence he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently (Gen. 8:22).

3. God, in his ordinary providence maketh use of means (Acts 27:31, 44; Isa. 55:10-11), yet is free to work without (Hosea 1:7), above (Rom. 4:19-21), and against them (Dan. 3:27), at his pleasure.

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 (Rom. 11:32-34; 2 Sam. 24:1; 1 Chron. 21:1); and that not by a bare permission, which also he most wisely and powerfully boundeth, and otherwise ordereth and governeth (2 Kings 19:28; Ps. 76:10), in a manifold dispensation to his most holy ends (Gen. 50:20; Isa. 10:6-7, 12); 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 (Ps. 50:21; 1 John 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 (2 Chron. 32:25-26, 31; 2 Cor. 12:7-9). So that whatever befalls any of his elect is by his appointment, for his glory, and their good (Rom. 8:28).

6. As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous judge, for former sin doth blind and harden (Rom. 1:24-26, 28; 11:7-8); from them he not only withholdeth his grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understanding, and wrought upon in their hearts (Deut. 29:4); but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had (Matt. 13:12), and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin (Deut. 2:30; 2 Kings 8:12-13); and withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan (Ps. 81:11-12; 2 Thess. 2:10-12), whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, under those means which God useth for the softening of others (Ex. 8:15, 32; Isa. 6:9-10; 1 Pet. 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 disposeth of all things to the good thereof (1 Tim. 4:10; Amos 9:8-9; Isa. 43:3-5).

Chapter VI: Of The Fall Of Man, Of Sin, And Of the Punishment Thereof:

l. 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 (Gen. 2:16-17), yet he did not long abide in this honour; Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to seduce Eve, then by her seducing Adam, who, without any compulsion, did willfully transgress the law of their creation, and the command given unto them, in eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:12-13; 2 Cor. 11:3), which God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory.

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 (Rom. 3:23); all becoming dead in sin (Rom. 5:12), and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body (Tit. 1:15; Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 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 (Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor. 15:21-22, 45, 49), being now conceived in sin (Ps. 51:5; Job 14:4), and by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3), the servants of sin, the subjects of death (Rom. 6:20; 5:12), and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free (Heb. 2:14-15; 1 Thess. 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 (Rom. 8:7; Col. 1:21), do proceed all actual transgressions (James 1:14-15; Matt. 15:19).

5. The corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated (Rom. 7:18, 24; Eccl. 7:20; 1 John 1:8); and although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself, and the first motions thereof, are truly and properly sin (Rom. 7:23-25; Gal. 5:17).

Chapter VII: Of God’s Covenant:

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 (Luke 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 (Gen. 2:17; Gal. 3:10; Rom. 3:20, 21), wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved (Rom. 8:3; Mark 16:15-16; John 3:16), and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, his Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe (Ezek. 36:26-27; John 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, Gen. 3:15, and afterward by farther steps, until the full discovery, thereof was completed in the New Testament (Heb. 1:1); and it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction that was between the Father and the Son about the redemption of the elect (2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:2); 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 (Heb. 11:6, 13; Rom. 4:1-2, etc.; Acts 4:12; John 8:56).

Chapter VIII: Of Christ The Mediator:

1. It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be the mediator between God and man (Isa. 42:1; 1 Pet. 1:19-20); the prophet (Acts 3:22), priest (Heb. 5:5-6), and king (Ps. 2:6; Luke 1:33); head and saviour of his church (Eph. 1:22-23), the heir of all things (Heb. 1:2), and judge of the world (Acts 17:31); 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 (Isa. 53:10; John 17:6; Rom. 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 had made, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof (John 1:14; Gal. 4:4), yet without sin (Rom. 8:3; Heb. 2:14, 16-17; 4:15); 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 (Matt. 1:22-23; Luke 1:27, 31, 35); 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 (Rom. 9:5; 1 Tim. 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 (Ps. 45:7; Acts 10:38; John 3:34), having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3); in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell (Col. 1:19), to the end that being holy, harmless, undefiled (Heb. 7:26), and full of grace and truth (John 1:14), he might be throughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator and surety (Heb. 7:22); which office he took not, upon himself, but was thereunto called by his Father (Heb. 5:5); who also put all power and judgment in his hand, and gave him commandment to execute the same (John 5:22, 27; Matt. 28:18; Acts 2:36).

4. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake (Ps. 40:7-8; Heb. 10:5-10; John 10:18), which that he might discharge he was made under the law (Gal. 4:4; Matt. 3:15), and did perfectly fulfill it, and underwent the punishment due to us, which we should have borne and suffered (Gal. 3:13; Isa. 53:6; 1 Pet. 3:18), being made sin and a curse for us (2 Cor. 5:21), enduring most grievous sorrows in his soul, and most painful sufferings in his body (Matt. 26:37-38; Luke 22:44; Matt. 27:46); was crucified, and died, and remained in the state of the dead, yet saw no corruption (Acts 13:37); on the third day he arose from the dead (1 Cor. 15:3-4), with the same body in which he suffered (John 20:25, 27), with which he also ascended into heaven (Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11), and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father making intercession (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 9:24), and shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the world (Acts 10:42; Rom. 14:9-10; Acts 1:11; 2 Pet. 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 (Heb. 9:14; 10:14; Rom. 3:25-26), procured reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven for all those whom the Father hath given unto him (John 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 (1 Cor. 4:10; Heb. 4:2; 1 Pet. 1:10-11); and the lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8), being the same yesterday, and today, and forever (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 (John 3:13; Acts 20:28).

8. To all those for whom Christ hath obtained eternal redemption, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same, making intercession for them (John 6:37; 10:15-16; 17:9; Rom. 5:10); 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 (John 17:6; Eph. 1:9; 1 John 5:20), governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit (Rom. 8:9, 14), and overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom (Ps. 110:1; 1 Cor. 15:25-26), 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 foreseen in them to procure it (John 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 (1 Tim. 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 (John 1:18); 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 (Col. 1:21; Gal. 5:17); 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 (John 16:8; Ps. 110:3; Luke 1:74-75).

Chapter IX: Of Free Will:

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 (Matt. 17:12; James 1:14; Deut. 30:19).

2. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and wellpleasing to God (Eccl. 7:29), but yet was unstable, so that he might fall from it (Gen. 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 (Rom. 5:6; 8:7); so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin (Eph. 2:1, 5), is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto (Tit. 3:3-5; John 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 (Col. 1:13; John 8:36), and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good (Phil. 2:13); 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 (Rom. 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 (Eph. 4:13).

Chapter X: Of Effectual Calling:

1. Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call (Rom. 8:30; 11:7; Eph. 1:10-11; 2 Thess. 2:13-14), 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 (Eph. 2:1-6); enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God (Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:17-18); taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:26); renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ (Deut. 30:6; Ezek. 36:27; Eph. 1:19); yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace (Ps. 110:3; Cant. [Song of Solomon] 1:4).

2. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, nor from any power or agency in the creature (2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 2:8), being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 2:5; John 5:25); 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 (Eph. 1:19-20).

3. Infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit (John 3:3, 5-6); who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth (John 3:8); so also are all elect person, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.

4. Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit (Matt. 22:14; 13:20-21; Heb. 6:4-5), yet not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will nor can truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved (John 6:44-45, 65; 1 John 2:24-25); 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 (Acts 4:12; John 4:22; 17:3).

Chapter XI: Of Justification:

1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth (Rom. 3:24; 8:30), not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous (Rom. 4:5-8; Eph. 1:7); not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone (l Cor. 1:30-31; Rom. 5:17-19); 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 (Phil. 3:8-9; Eph. 2:8-10), they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God (John 1:12; Rom. 5:17).

2. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification (Rom. 3:28); yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love (Gal. 5:6; James 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 (Heb. 10:14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Isa. 53:5-6); 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 (Rom. 8:32; 2 Cor. 5:21), 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 (Rom. 3:26; Eph. 1:6-7; 2:7).

4. God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect (Gal. 3:8; 1 Pet. 1:2; 1 Tim. 2:6), and Christ did in the fulness of time die for their sins, and rise again for their justification (Rom. 4:25); nevertheless, they are not justified personally, until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them (Col. 1:21-22; Tit. 3:4-7).

5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified (Matt. 6:12; 1 John 1:7, 9), and although they can never fall from the state of justification (John 10:28), yet they may, by their sins, fall under God’s fatherly displeasure (Ps. 89:31-33); 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 (Ps. 32:5; Ps. 51; Matt. 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 (Gal. 3:9; Rom. 4:22-24).

Chapter XII: Of Adoption:

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 (Eph. 1:5; Gal. 4:4-5), by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of children of God (John 1:12; Rom. 8:17), have his name put upon them (2 Cor. 6:18; Rev. 3:12), receive the spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15), have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are enabled to cry Abba, Father (Gal. 4:6; Eph. 2:18), are pitied (Ps. 103: 13), protected (Prov. 14:26), provided for (1 Pet. 5:7), and chastened by him as by a Father (Heb. 12:6), yet never cast off (Isa. 54:8-9; Lam. 3:31), but sealed to the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30), and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation (Heb. 1:14; 6:12).

Note: The word "adoption" may convey a false meaning to some, since most people associate the word with the legal reception of children into a family to which they were not born. But believers are born into the family of God by the new birth (John 3:3, 8, I Pet. 1:23; John 1:13; Eph. 3:14-15). The Greek word huiothesia, "placing as a son," relates not to the act of becoming a son of God, but to the public manifestation of legal majority and responsibility as sons and heirs (Gal. 4:1-7), and though we are predestinated unto the adoption of sons (Eph. 1:5), and though we are redeemed from under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal. 4:5), yet the adoption itself is still future, being our glorification at the resurrection when our bodies are redeemed and we are given positions to reign with Christ as kings and priests (Rom. 8:23; 1 Thess. 4:1317; Rev. 1:5-6; Eph. 1:9-14; 1 John 3:2). It is important that we realize that salvation and adoption are radically different things. In Scripture salvation is always a present reality while adoption is a future expectation that is not realized until the resurrection of the bodies of believers and their enthronement in places of authority in the millennial kingdom. This differentiation has not always been understood by Baptists.

There is also a national sense in which Israel as a nation, was recognized as God’s son (Rom. 9:4), heir of His promise of a physical inheritance in the promised land (Jer. 31:9). But this is distinct from the Christian sense of adoption. The modern English meaning of "adoption" is no where to be found in the Scriptures. We are sons of God by birth, not by adoption. Biblical adoption is a blessing that results from salvation (though yet to be brought to pass), not salvation itself, nor the cause of salvation, as many think.

Chapter XIII: Of Sanctification:

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 (Acts 20:32; Rom. 6:5-6), through the same virtue, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them (John 17:17; Eph. 3:16-19; 1 Thess. 5:21-23); the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed (Rom. 6:14), and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified (Gal. 5:24), and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces (Col. l:11), to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (2 Cor. 7:1; Heb. 12:14).

2. This sanctification is through the whole man (1 Thess. 5:23), yet imperfect in this life; there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part (Rom. 7:18, 23), whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war; the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (Gal. 5:17; 1 Pet. 2:11).

3. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail (Rom. 7:23), yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome (Rom. 6:14); 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 (Eph. 4:15-16; 2 Cor. 3:18; 7:1).

Chapter XIV: Of Saving Faith:

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 (2 Cor. 4:13; Eph. 2:8), and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word (Rom. 10:14, 17); 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 (Luke 17:5; 1 Pet. 2:2; Acts 20:32).

2. By this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the authority of God himself (Acts 24:14), and also apprehendeth an excellency therein above all other writings and all things in the world (Ps. 19:7-10; 119:72), as it bears forth the glory of God in his attributes, the excellency of Christ in his nature and offices, and the power and fulness of the Holy Spirit in his workings and operations; and so is enabled to cast his soul upon the truth thus believed (2 Tim. 1:12); and also acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands (John 15:14), trembling at the threatenings (Isa. 66:2), and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come (Heb. 11:13); but the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relations to Christ, accepting, receiving and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace (John 1:12; Acts 16:31; Gal. 2:20; Acts 15:11).

3. This faith, although it be different in degrees, and may be weak or strong (Heb. 5:13-14; Matt. 6:30; Rom. 4:19-20), 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 (2 Pet. 1:1); and, therefore, though it may be many times assailed and weakened, yet it gets the victory (Eph. 6:16; 1 John 5:4-5), growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ (Heb. 6:11-12; Col. 2:2), who is both the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2).

Chapter XV: Of Repentance unto Life And Salvation:

1. Such of the elect as are converted at riper years, having sometime lived in the state of nature, and therein served divers lusts and pleasure, God in their effectual calling giveth them repentance unto life (Tit. 3:2-5).

2. Whereas there is none that doeth good and sinneth not (Eccl. 7:20), 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 (Luke 22:31-32).

3. This saving repentance is an evangelical grace (Zech. 12:10; Acts 11:18), 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 (Ezek. 36:31; 2 Cor. 7:11), praying for pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and endeavor, by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all wellpleasing in all things (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 (Luke 19:8; 1 Tim. 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 (Rom. 6:23), yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them that repent (Isa. 1:16-18; 55:7), which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary.

Chapter XVI: Of Good Works:

1. Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his Holy Word (Micah. 6:8; Heb. 13:21), and not such as without the warrant thereof are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intentions (Matt. 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 (James 2:18, 22); and by them believers manifest their thankfulness (Ps. 116:12-13), strengthen their assurance (1 John 2:3, 5; 2 Pet. 1:5-11), edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel (Matt. 5:16), stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God (1 Tim. 6:1; 1 Pet. 2:15; Phil. 1:11), whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto (Eph. 2:10), that having their fruit unto holiness they may have the end eternal life (Rom. 6:22).

3. Their ability to do good works is not of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ (John 15:4-5); 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 (2 Cor. 3:5; Phil. 2:13); yet are they not hereunto 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 (Phil. 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 (Job 9:2-3; Gal. 5:17; Luke 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 (Rom. 3:20; Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 4:6); 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 (Gal. 5:22-23), 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 (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 (Eph. 1:6; 1 Pet. 2:5); not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable 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 (Matt. 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 (2 Kings. 10:30; 1 Kings. 21:27, 29); yet because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith (Gen. 4:5; Heb. 11:4, 6), nor are done in a right manner according to the word (1Cor. 13:1), nor to a right end, the glory of God (Matt. 6:2, 5), they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, nor make a man meet to receive grace from God (Amos 5:21-22; Rom. 9:16; Tit. 3:5), and yet their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing to God (Job 21:14-15; Matt. 25:41-43).

Note: This is, always has been, and always will be, the distinguishing mark between true religion and false religion. False religion urges one to work that he might be saved, teaching one to trust in his own doings, while true religion encourages one to work because he has been saved solely and wholly by trusting in the redemptive work of the Saviour. True religion emphasizes salvation by grace, totally apart from any merit on man’s part, and glorifies God for His love, mercy and grace in condescending to save such unworthy creatures. False religion, on the other hand, exalts man’s works, promotes self-righteousness and boasting and rejects the precious atoning blood of Christ as of less worth than man’s filthy rags of self-righteousness. Hell shall be filled with hard workers who have substituted their own works for the atoning blood of Christ. A moment’s reflection will show the folly of one trusting in works for salvation. Can that which is done from a selfish motive have any value before God? Jesus taught that such is its own reward in Matthew 6:2, 5, 16, and has no value before God. Yet if a man hopes to be saved by his good deeds, he does them from a wholly selfish motive, and they are therefore utterly unprofitable before God (Isa. 57:11-12). By contrast, works done after salvation, in obedience to God’s will and for the glory of God, are profitable (Tit. 3:8).

Chapter XVII: Of The Perseverance Of The Saints:

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 (John 10:28-29; Phil. 1:6; 2 Tim. 2:19; 1 John 2:19); and though 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 (Ps. 89:31-32; 1 Cor. 11:32), 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 (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 (Rom. 8:30; 9:11, 16), 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 (Rom. 5:9-10; John 14:19), the oath of God (Heb. 6:17-18), the abiding of his Spirit, and the seed of God within them (1 John 3:9), and the nature of the covenant of grace (Jer. 32:40); from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.

3. And though they may, through the temptation of Satan and 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 (Matt. 26:70, 72, 74), whereby they incur God’s displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit (Isa. 64:5, 9; Eph. 4:30), come to have their graces and comforts impaired (Ps. 51:10-11), have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded (Ps. 32:3-4), hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves (2 Sam. 12:14), yet they shall renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end (Luke 22:32, 61-62).

Note: There are several mistaken ideas about the doctrine of the security of real believers, or the preservation of the saints, which are often offered as objections to it; it will be necessary, therefore, to briefly consider these. First, it is objected that this doctrine is productive of licentious living. Many say, "If I knew that I could never be lost, I would go out and commit every sin I wanted." But the spiritual Christian is compelled to admit that he already commits, not only all the sin that he wants, but a great deal more than he wants, for a genuine case of conversion changes a person’s "want to." He who has been genuinely born again will have different desires than before, for he has become "a new creation in Christ Jesus" (2 Cor. 5:17), and the old way of life has passed away (Col. 3:1-3). If fear of hell is all that prevents a person from committing some sin, then he is already guilty of that sin (Matt. 5:27-28). While temptations certainly continue to come upon the genuine believer, for his old fleshly nature has not been changed one whit, nor will be until the resurrection, yet his spiritual nature can, through prayer, study and submission to God, triumph over that temptation (1 Cor. 10:13).

Second, It is objected that this doctrine cannot be true since we see so many who have obviously turned back from Christianity and apostatized. But this is to confuse church membership, profession of faith or good works with salvation. It is not claimed that every church member, or everyone who makes a profession of faith, or who has been baptized, or who has done what were apparently good works, is genuinely saved. The Lord Himself denied this (Matt. 7:15-23; John 6:64, 70-71). Paul taught the same thing (Tit. 1:16). There are many who have come to a knowledge of the way of righteousness, yet who have never entered into it by trusting the Lord. These may continue a time in church services, and apparent Christian service, yet eventually turn back to the old ways of sinful pleasure (2 Pet. 2:20-22). In so doing, they simply manifest that they were never truly saved (Heb. 10:39). Sad but true, there are great multitudes in the churches across the land, who are as lost as Satan himself, but who continue to refuse to acknowledge that fact even to themselves. Many of these, under the conviction of the Word and the Spirit turn back unto the world and the pleasures of sin, and so give the impression of apostasy. But see the inspired diagnosis of such people (1 John 2:19).

Third, it is objected that the doctrine is unreasonable. Perhaps this is the way it appears to human reasoning, but then the same may be said of the doctrine of salvation by grace apart from any works of man, but it is scriptural doctrine nonetheless (Rom. 4:3-8, 23-25; 11:6). Human reason is not the standard for what is truth, for sin has distorted man’s ability to reason correctly. But in actuality, the opposite is true. It is only reasonable that if we are saved by dependence upon Christ’s merits, wholly apart from our own, then it would be inconsistent and unthinkable that the Lord would require that we keep ourselves saved. This would be to say that God’s work was imperfect, and required that man perfect it by his own works. If Jesus’ merits saves us, and His salvation is eternal, then there can never be any falling from grace for the real believer. If man were saved by his own works, then it would be logical that he could be lost by his evil works, but such is not the case. To those who believe the Bible, the references in the confession above will forever settle the issue. The few Scriptures which are advanced as supposedly against this doctrine are either misread, misinterpreted, taken out of their context, misapplied, or otherwise abused. The sad conclusion that we must come to, is that many persons first form an opinion, then seek for scriptural timber to shore it up. That is a devilishly wrong practice.

Chapter XVIII: Of The Assurance Of Grace And Salvation:

1. Although temporary believers, and other unregenerate men, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God and state of salvation, which hope of theirs shall perish (Job 8:13-14; Matt. 7:22-23); yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be 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 (1 John 2:3; 3:14, 18-19, 21, 24; 5:13; Rom. 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 (Heb. 6:11, 19), founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the Gospel (Heb. 6:17-18); and also upon the inward evidence of those graces of the Spirit unto which promises are made (2 Pet. 1:4-5, 10-11), and on the testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:15-16); and, as a fruit thereof, keeping the heart both humble and holy (1 John 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 partaker of it (Isa. 50:10; Ps. 88; Ps. 77:1-12); 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 (1 John 4:13; Heb. 6:11-12); 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 (Rom. 5:1-2, 5; 14:17; Ps. 119:32); —so far it is from inclining men to looseness (Rom. 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 (Cant. [Song of Solomon] 5:2, 3, 6), by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit (Ps. 51:8, 12, 14); by some sudden vehement temptation (Ps. 116:11; 77:7-8; 31:22), 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 (Ps. 30:7), yet are they never destitute of the seed of God (1 John 3:9), and life of faith (Luke 22:32), 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 (Ps. 42:5, 11), and by the which, in the meantime, they are preserved from utter despair (Lam. 3:26-31).

Chapter XIX: Of The Law Of God:

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 (Gen. 1:27; Eccl. 7:29); by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience (Rom. 10:5); promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him with power and ability to keep it (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 (Rom. 2:14-15), 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 (Deut. 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 (Heb. 10:1; Col. 2:17); and partly holding forth divers instructions of moral duties (1 Cor. 5:7), all which ceremonial laws being appointed only to the time of reformation, are, by Jesus Christ the true Messiah and only Lawgiver, who was furnished with power from the Father, for that end abrogated and taken away (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 of moral use (1 Cor. 9:9-10).

5. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof (Rom. 13:810; James 2:10-11); 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 (James 2:10, 11); neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation (Matt. 5:17-19; Rom. 3:31).

6. Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned (Rom. 6:14; Gal. 2:16; Rom. 8:1; 10:4), 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 (Rom. 3:20; 7:7 etc.); 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 rigor 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 (Rom. 6:1214; 1 Pet. 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 (Gal. 3:21), 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 (Ezek. 36:27).

Chapter XX: Of The Gospel, And Of The Extent Of The Grace Thereof:

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 (Gen. 3:15); in this promise the gospel, as to the substance of it, was revealed, and is therein effectual for the conversion and salvation of sinners (Rev. 13:8).

2. This promise of Christ, and salvation by him, is revealed only by the Word of God (Rom. 1:17); 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 (Rom. 10:14-15, 17); 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 (Prov. 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 the sovereign will and good pleasure of God (Ps. 147:20; Acts 16:7); not being annexed by virtue of any promise to the due improvement of man’s natural abilities, by virtue of common light received without it, which none ever did make, or can do so (Rom. 1:18, etc.); 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.

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 (Ps. 110:3; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 1:19-20); without which no other means will effect their conversion unto God (John 6:44; 2 Cor. 4:4-6).

Chapter XXI: Of Christian Liberty And Liberty Of Conscience:

1. The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel, consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the rigor and curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and in their being delivered from this present evil world (Gal. 1:4), bondage to Satan (Acts 26:18), and dominion of sin (Rom. 8:3), from the evil afflictions (Rom. 8:28), the fear and sting of death, the victory of the grave (1 Cor. 15:54-57), and everlasting damnation (1 Thess. 1:10); as also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear (Rom. 8:15), but a childlike love and willing mind (Luke 1:73-75; 1 John 4:18).

All which were common also to believers under the law for the substance of them (Gal. 3:9, 14); but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged, in their freedom from the yoke of a 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 (John 7:38-39; Heb. 10:19-21).

2. God alone is Lord of the conscience (James 4:12; Rom. 14:4), and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his word, or not contained in it (Acts 4:19, 5:29; 1 Cor. 7:23; Matt. 15:9). So that to believe such doctrines, or obey such commands out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience (Col. 2:20, 22-23); and the requiring of an implicit faith, an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also (1 Cor. 3:5; 2 Cor. 1:24).

3. They who upon pretense of Christian liberty do practice any sin, or cherish any sinful lust, as they do thereby pervert the main design of the grace of the gospel to their own destruction (Rom. 6:1-2), so they wholly destroy the end of Christian liberty, which is, that being delivered out of the hands of all our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our lives (Gal. 5:13; 2 Pet. 2:18, 21).

Chapter XXII: Of Religious Worship And The Sabbath Day:

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 might (Jer. 10:7; Mark 12:33). But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself (Deut. 12:32). 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 (Ex. 20:4-6).

2. Religious worship is to be given to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to him alone (Matt. 4:9-10; John 5:23; Matt. 28:19); not to angels, saints, or any other creatures (Rom. 1:25; Col. 2:18; Rev. 19:10); and since the fall, not without a mediator (John 14:6), nor in the mediation of any other but Christ alone (1 Tim. 2:5).

3. Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one part of natural worship, is by God required of all men (Ps. 95:1-7; 65:2). But that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son (John 14:13-14), by the help of the Spirit (Rom. 8:26), according to his will (1 John 5:14); with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love and perseverance; and when with others, in a known tongue (1 Cor. 14:16-17).

4. Prayer is to be made for things lawful, and for all sort of men living, or that shall live hereafter (1 Tim. 2:1-2; 2 Sam. 7:29); but not for the dead (2 Sam. 12:21, 22), nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death (1 John 5:16).

5. The reading of the Scriptures (1 Tim. 4:13), preaching, and hearing the Word of God (2 Tim. 4:2; Luke 8:15), teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19); as also the administration of baptism (Matt. 28:19-20), and the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:26), 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 (Esther 4:16; Joel 2:12), and thanksgivings, upon special occasions, ought to be used in an holy and religious manner (Ex. 15:1-19; Ps. 107).

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 (John 4:21; Mal. 1:11; 1 Tim. 2:8); as in private families (Acts 10:2, daily, Matt. 6:11; Ps. 55:17), and in secret each one by himself (Matt. 6:6), so more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly nor willfully to be neglected or forsaken, when God by his word or providence calleth thereto (Heb. 10:25; Acts 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 (Ex. 20:8), 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 (1 Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7; Rev. 1:10); and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.

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 (Isa. 58:13; Neh. 13:15-22), 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 (Matt. 12:1-13).

Chapter XXIII: Of Lawful Oaths And Vows:

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 (Ex. 20:7; Deut. 10:20; Jer. 4:2), and to judge him according to the truth or falseness thereof (2 Chron. 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 (Matt. 5:34, 37; James 5:12); 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 (Heb. 6:16; 2 Cor. 1:23); so a lawful oath being imposed by lawful authority in such matters, ought to be taken (Neh. 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 (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 (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 (Ps. 76:11; Gen. 28:20, 22); but popish monastical vows of perpetual single life (1 Cor. 7:2, 9), professed poverty (Eph. 4:28), 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 (Matt. 19:11).

Chapter XXIV: Of The Civil Magistrate:

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 (Rom. 13:1-4).

2. It is lawful for Christian 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 Sam. 23:3; Ps. 82:3-4), 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 (Luke 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 (Rom. 13:5-7; 1 Pet. 2:17); 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 (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

Chapter XXV: Of Marriage:

l. 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 (Gen. 2:24; Mal. 2:15; Matt. 19:5-6).

2. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife (Gen. 2:18), for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue (Gen. 1:28), and for preventing of uncleanness (1 Cor. 7:2, 9).

3. It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry, who are able with judgment to give their consent (Heb. 13:4; 1 Tim. 4:3); yet it is the duty of Christian to marry in the Lord (1 Cor. 7:39); and therefore such as profess the true religion, should not marry with infidels, or idolaters; neither should such as are godly, be unequally yoked, by marrying with such as are wicked in their life, or maintain damnable heresy (Neh. 13:25-27).

4. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity, forbidden in the Word, see the 18th chapter of Leviticus; 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 (Mark 6:18; 1 Cor. 5:1).

Chapter XXVI: Of The Church:

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 (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 to it, not destroying their own profession by any errors everting the foundation, or unholiness of conversation, are and may be called visible saints (1 Cor. 1:2; Acts 11:26); and of such ought all particular congregations to be constituted (Rom. 1:7; Eph. 1:20-22).

3. The purest churches under heaven are subject to mixture and error (1 Cor. 15 and Rev. chaps. 2 and 3); and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan (Rev. 18:2; 2 Thess. 2:11-12); 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 his name (Matt. 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 (Col. 1:18; Matt. 28:18-20; Eph. 4:11-12); 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 (2 Thess. 2:2-9).

5. In the execution of this power wherewith he is so entrusted, 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 (John 10:16; 12:32), that they may walk before him in all the ways of obedience, which he prescribeth to them in his word (Matt. 28:20). 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 (Matt. 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 (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2); and do willingly consent to walk together, according to the appointment of Christ; giving up themselves to the Lord, and one another, by the will of God, in professed subjection to the ordinances of the Gospel (Acts 2:41-42; 5:13-14; 2 Cor. 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, the due and right exerting, and executing of that power (Matt. 18:17-18; 1 Cor. 5:4-5; 5:13; 2 Cor. 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 (Acts 20:17, 28; Phil. 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 (Acts 14:23); 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 (1 Tim. 4:14); and of a deacon that he be chosen by the like sufferage, and set apart by prayer, and the like imposition of hands (Acts 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, and watching for their souls, as they that must give an account to him (Acts 6:4; Heb. 13:17); 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 (1 Tim. 5:17-18; Gal. 6:6-7), so as they may have a comfortable supply, without being themselves entangled in secular affairs (2 Tim. 2:4); and may also be capable of exercising hospitality towards others (1 Tim. 3:2); 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 (1 Cor. 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 (Acts 11:19-21; 1 Pet. 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 (1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Thess. 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 proceeding of the church (Matt. 18:15-18; 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 (Eph. 6:18; Ps. 122:6), 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 (Rom. 16:1-2; 3 John 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 (Acts 15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23, 25); howbeit these messengers assembled, are not entrusted 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 officers or churches (2 Cor. 1:24; 1 John 4:1).

Note: In paragraph one above, we have a Protestant foundling which has been left upon Baptist door-steps, and which many Baptists have foolishly adopted, only to have the foundling consume the inheritance of the true sons. The universal church theory, as we have stated before, has no scriptural basis, and though the London brethren introduced it into their confession from the Westminster Confession, which they generally followed, the very minor place of importance that they gave it may be seen in their only alluding to it in one brief paragraph, while allotting no less than fourteen paragraphs to the particular, local church. The great wrong in holding the universal church theory (apart from it being an unscriptural view) is that it generally leads to the disparagement of the local church, and to compromise and communion with pseudo-churches. Were it not for these almost certain effects, this theory might be tolerated though unscriptural.

Chapter XXVII: Of The Communion Of Saints:

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 John 1:3; John 1:16; Phil. 3:10; Rom. 6:5-6); and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each others gifts and graces (Eph. 4:15-16; 1 Cor. 12:7; 3:21-23), 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 (1 Thess. 5:11, 14; Rom. 1:12; 1 John 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 (Heb. 10:24-25; 3:12-13); as also in relieving each other in outward things according to their several abilities, and necessities (Acts 11:29-30); 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 (Eph. 6:4), or churches (1 Cor. 12:14-27), 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 (Acts 5:4; Eph. 4:28).

Chapter XXVIII: Of Baptism And The Lord’s Supper:

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 (Matt. 28:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:26).

Chapter XXIX: Of Baptism:

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 (Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2:12; Gal. 3:27); of remission of sins (Mark 1:4; Acts 22:16); and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life (Rom. 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 (Mark 16:16; Acts 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 (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 8:38).

4. Immersion, or dipping of the person in water, is necessary to the due administration of this ordinance (Matt. 3:16; John 3:23).

Chapter XXXX: Of The Lord’s Supper:

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 Cor. 11:23-26), 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 a pledge of their communion with him, and with each other (1 Cor. 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 (Heb. 9:25-26, 28); and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same (1 Cor 11:24; Matt. 26:26-27). 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. 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 (1 Cor. 11:23-26, etc).

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 (Matt. 26:2628; 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 (1 Cor. 11:27), albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before (1 Cor. 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 (Acts 3:21; Luke 24:6, 39), 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 (1 Cor. 11:24-25).

7. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this ordinance, do then 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 (1 Cor. 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 (2 Cor. 6:14, 15); yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves (1 Cor. 11:29; Matt. 7:6).

Chapter XXXXI: Of The State Of Man After Death, And Of The Resurrection of the Dead:

1. The bodies of men after death return to the dust, and see corruption (Gen. 3:19; Acts 13:36); but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them (Eccl. 12:7). 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 (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:1, 6, 8; Phil. 1:23; Heb. 12:23); and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell; where they remain in torment and under darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day (Jude 6-7; 1 Pet. 3:19; Luke 16:23-24); besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.

2. At the last day, such of the saints as are found alive, shall not sleep, but be changed (1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:17); and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies, and none other (Job 19:26-27); although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls for ever (1 Cor. 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 honor, and be made conformable to his own glorious body (Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29; Phil. 3:21).

Chapter XXXII: Of The Last Judgment:

1. God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ (Acts 17:31; John 5:22, 27); to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father; in which day, not only the apostate angels shah be judged (1 Cor. 6:3; Jude 6), 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 (2 Cor. 5:10; Eccl. 12:14; Matt. 12:36; Rom. 14:10, 12; Matt. 25:32, etc).

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 (Rom. 9:22-23); for then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fulness of joy and glory with everlasting reward, 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 (Matt. 25:21, 34; 2 Tim. 4:8), and punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (Matt. 25:46; Mark 9:48; 2 Thess. 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 (2 Cor. 5:10-11), and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity (2 Thess. 1:57), 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 (Mark 13:35-37; Luke 12:35-40), and may ever be prepared to say Come Lord Jesus; come quickly (Rev. 22:20).

Thus reads the London Confession of Faith of 1689, which we have copied as these brethren wrote it in the grammar and spelling of their day. It is a remarkable exposition of Baptist beliefs and practices, and though it is quite interpretative of Baptist doctrines, there is revealed a unity of thought with modern Baptist beliefs that is nothing short of marvellous. It is sound in all fundamentals, and it has wielded as much influence in Baptist ranks since its formulation, as any ever put forth, and more than most. It was the most extended exposition of Baptist doctrine that ever achieved any general acceptance. So extensively was it used in colonial America, that when John Asplund in 1790 contacted and registered every Baptist church that he could find in North America, having traveled over 7000 miles chiefly on foot, he generally referred to this confession as simply "The Confession." Non-usage of this Confession was the exception rather than the rule. In over ninety percent of the churches and associations of that day, this was the accepted Confession. This brother only occasionally says that a certain association did not accept this confession because some of the