tihravy of Che t:h^olo3ical ^^mimvy
PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY
John M. Krebs
Donation
BX 9478 .A4 1831
Synod of Dort (1618-1619)
The articles of the Synod of
Dort, and its rejection of
3/
THE
ARTICLES
OP THE
SYNOD OFDGRT,
AND ITS
REJECTION OF ERRORS :
WITH THE
HISTORY OF EVENTS WHICH MADE WAY FOR THAT SYNOD,
AS PUBLISHED BY THE
AUTHORITY OF THE STATES-GENERAL;
AND THE
DOCUMENTS CONFIRMING ITS DECISIONS.
STranslatetr from ti)t 3latin,
WITH NOTES, REMARKS, AND REFERENCES.
BY THOMAS SCOTT,
RECTOR OF ASTON SANDFORD, BUCKS.
He that is first in his own cause seemeth just ; but his neighbor conieth
and searcheth liim." Prov. xviii. 7.
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
John vii. 24.
Audi alteram partem.
Witkny
WILLIAM WILLIAMS, GENESEE STREET.
Kcvf York ; Collins & Hannay, J. & N. Wliite, and H. C. Sleight— Philadelphia ; Towar, J. & I). M
Uogan, and John Grige—13aliimore : F. I.ucas, Jr.— liostou : Crocker & Brewster, and Hicli
ardson, Lord & Holbrook— Aiidover ; Klagg & Gould— Albany ; 15. D. J ackard i Co.
Little & Cummings, and Oliver Steele— Hartford : D. F. Robinson, 6; Co.
New Haven; A. H. Maltby — Rochester; Hoyt, Porter & ( o.
Auburn; H. Ivison & Co.
1831.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year of our Lord one thou-
sand eight hundred and thirty-one ; by WilUam Williams, as proprietor,
in the Clerk's office of the t)istrict Court of the Northern District of
New York.
PRESS OF
WILLIAM WILLIAMS; UTIO
TABLE OF CONTENTS,
Adoption— Doctrine of , ...Page 288—293
Alcinar, Church of — Its Secession, and ejection of its Pastors 48
Amsterdam, Senate of— Its Decision, and approved by other Cities, 61-62
Approbation of Judgment of S^Tiod Dort, by States General 137
Articles of Synod of Dort 87 — 44
Misrepresented 93, &c.
Errors respecting them rejected 93, &c.
Of Remonstrants, Five 38 (See Synod.)
Arriiinius — His Character and Errors 9
Is appointed Professor of Leyden University 10
Attacks, Received Doctrines 11, &c.
Excites alarm 12
Is admonished by Church, Leyden 12, 13
Declares his Opinions on Received Doctrines 26 — 27
Is met by Gomarus 27
His Evasions. 10—13, 17, 20—27, 31
Indecision on important Point 31, .32
Illness and Death 33
Successor in University 36
Annmian Pastors— Conduct of 28, 33, 34, 50, 73, 74, 127
Suspended and deposed 72, 74, 128
Authority of Synods declared 62
Belgic Churches — Presbyterian in Government 3
Bertius, Peter — Heterodox opinions of .28
Calvin — Opinions of, not the ground of Controversy. . . 11, 14, 28, 33, 56
Causes of Disturbances in Belgic Churches 8, 9, 11
Christ— His Mediatorial Character, Work, &c. &c 194—223
Churches of Belgium — Presbyterian 3
Their Confession and Catechism opposed
to the Opinions of Remonstrants 4
Church of Alcmar secedes — Its Pastors ejected 48
Confession of Faith — Augsburg 147
Baptist 150
Bohemian or Waldensian 149
Beloic 149
English 148
French 148
Helvetic 148
Mennonist 150
Savoy 150
Thirty-nine Articles 149
Westminster 150
IV CONTENTS.
Conformity enjoined by States General Page 47, 138
By Synod Dort 142
Conference on subject of Difficulties before States General 30 — 32
Respecting the Five Articles 39, 40, 41
Persons composing it 39
Time of its Meeting 39
Its Proceedings 40, 41
Is Concluded .43
Controversies between Arminius &c. referred to Supreme Court. .22, &c.
Conversion and Repentance 236 — 253
Doctrine of, (See Method of Man's Conversion.)
Conventions, Ecclesiastical — Authority of 62
Councils or Synods sanctioned by early usage, in cases of con-
troversy 82, 83
Covenant— God with Man 180, 182
Creation— Work of 153, 158, 159, 160—163
Death of Christ — Doctrine of. as expressed in articles of Synod
of Dort 99, 100
Misrepresented — Errors rejected 101 — 104
Decision of Supreme Court 24
Of Synod Dort, concerning Remonstrants 126 — 129
Decrees of the States of Holland 56, 57
Doctrines of, (See Predestination.)
Deliverance of Man from the Fall, (See Redemption.)
Delph— Conference of 53, 56
Synod of— Its Proceedings 72 — 74'
Delegates to States General from Belgic Churches 50, 51
' Represent the afflicted state of the Churches 51
Petition for General Synod 51
The matter Postponed 51
Depravity, Original — Doctrine of, (See Fall of Man.)
Difficulties relating to Arminius, referred, (See Controversies.)
Disturbances in Belgic Churches — Origin of 8, 9, 11, &c.
Caused by the Remonstrants 49, 52, 127
Doctrines of Reformed Churches — Opposed and misre-
presented 29, 34, 36, 71, 50, 51
Doctrinal Points Controverted before Synod Dort 78
Dort — Synod of, (See Synod) — Its Judgment 78
Its Articles 86
Eflcctuai Calling 248, 249, 251, (See Repentance.)
Election — Doctrine of, Controverted 41, (See Predestination.)
Episcopius — Elected Professor Leyden University 49
Errors of the Arminians 26, 27, 28, 42, 44, 93, &c. 127
Evasions of Arminius and his adherents, 20,21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 67—69, 79
i'aitli 255, 274, 288, (See Justification.)
Fall of Man— Doctrine of 163, 173, 178, 179, 181, 184
As expressed in Articles Synod Dort 105 — 110
Misrepresented — Errors rejected Ill — 115
Fsstus 52, 55
Five Points of Doctrine Controverted in Synod Dort 78, 80
Rejected bv Synod 126
Free Will '. . J65, 178, 181
Gomarus 27, 49
Good Works 255, 262, 269, 277, 285, 286, (See Justification.)
Gospel and Eaw 224 — 23j»
CONTENTS. V
Grotius — Mission of, to England on Controversy Page 57, 61, 77
Is condemned to Banishment 77
Harmony of Confessions of Faith 145, (See Confessions.)
Preface to it 147
Heylen's History of Synod Dort, a Misrepresentation 2
Misrepresentations of Articles Synod Dort 86, &c.
History Synod of Dort Published by Authority 1
Innovations — Introduction of, by Arniinian Pastors 35, 49, 50, 63
Intolerance of Synod Dort towards Remonstrants, charge of 129
James I. remonstrates against appointment of Vorstius Professor
Leyden University 44, 57
Admonishes States General of their duty 63
Urges the Convocation of a General Synod 63, 66
Complains of ijidignity offered to him 68
Is addressed by States General 75
Jesus Christ — His person, natm-e, offices, (See Redemption.)
Judgment of Synod Dort 78, (See Synod Dort.)
Junius — Professor in Leyden University — his death — is succeeded
by Ai-minius 9, 10
Justification by Faith, Good Works 253, 289, 300, &c.
Law and Gospel 224 — 235
Letters missive of States General to call Synod Dort 75
To whom addressed 75
Man's Corruption — Doctrine of, (See Fall of Man.)
Measures adopted to propagate error, by Remonstrants 51, 52, 56
Mediator, (See Christ.)
Methods of Man's Conversion to God, Doctrine of — as expressed
in Articles Synod Dort 105
Misrepresented — Errors Rejected Ill, 115
Misrepresentations of Arminians 36,50, 52,78, 101 — 115
National Synod, (See Synod of Dort.)
Objections to the Received Doctrines by j\rminius 26, 29
Original Sin, (See Fall of Man.)
Orthodox Pastors ejected 49, 50
Pastors Armmian— Violent Proceedings of 33, 34, 47, 50, 51, 72
Deposed by Synod Dort 128
Orthodox— Ejected 48,50, 62
Pelagms and his followers— Sentiments of 301 — 304
Persecution by Remonstrants 49, 61, 66, (See Remonstrants.)
Perseverance — Doctrine of 290
As expressed in Articles Synod Dort 116 — 120
Misrepresented— Errors Rejected 93 — 98
Pomts Controverted before States General 31, 32
Predestination — Doctrine of 185 — 193
As expressed in Articles Synod Dort 87 — 93
Misrepresented— Errors Rejected 93 — 98
Preface to Articles of Synod Dort 78 — 80
Prince of Orange 66, 72, 80
His attachment to the Orthodox Doctrines 61, &c.
His desire to remedy existing evils 64
Proposition for Restoration of Peace 52, 53
Approved by States Holland 53
Parties meet 53, 54
Terms proposed, but rejected 54, 55
Providence of God— Doctrine of 153, 1 59, 161
1*
VI CONTENTS,
Reconciliation attempted, (See Proposition.)
Redemption, Doctrine of Page 194 — 223J
As expressed in Articles Synod Dort 99, 100
Misrepresented — Errors rejected 101 — 104
Redeemer of Mankind, (See Redemption.)
Refoi-med Churches — Doctrines of, misrepresented. . . .29, 34, 36, 50, 70
Regeneration, (See Conversion.)
Remarks on Preface to Articles of Synod Dort 81 — 84
On Decision Synod Dort concerning Remonstrants 129
On its approval by States General 138 — 143
Remedy for existing evils desired 63, &c.
A National Synod generally urged 63 — 69
Opposed by Remonstrants .'. 65
Remonstrance presented to States General 35
Remonstrants — why so called 35
Reprehensible conduct of 33 — 35
Resort to armed force, &c 61, 65, 72
Their proceedings 50, 65, 66, 71
Reprobation, Doctzine of controverted 41
Repentance and Conversion 236 — 253
Revisal of Confession and Catechism m-ged 15
Rotterdam, Church of, secedes 48
Its Pastoi's ejected 48
Sanctiflcation, Doctrine of 288 — 293, &c.
Saviour of the World — his person, character, offices, (See Redemption.)
Schism, charge of 61
Separation from Remonstrants — its causes 47 — 49
Settlement of Controversy by a Synod, evaded byArminius. . .22, 33, 35
Sin and Fall of Man, (See Fall of Man.)
Six Points of Doctrine, Basis of Dispute 53
Socinianism of Vorstius and his Students 44, 45
Secretly propagated by them 45
Its adherents expelled 45
States Genei-al authorize Publication of History Synod Dort 1
Call a Convention 16, 1 7
Hold Conference on difficulties in churches 30 — 32
Decree a National Synod 66, 69, 76
Address James I , 75
Send Letters to call Synod Dort 75
Enjoin toleration on the parties 58, 59
Approve of the Decision Synod Dort 137
Enjoin conformity to it 137, 138
Successor to Armmius — Election contested 36, 37, 43
Supreme Court, Decision of (See Decision.)
Synod of Dort, or National Synod
Proposed 14, 15, 16, 29, 40, 46, 55
Manner of its Constitution 17, &c. 70
Opposed by the Remonstrants 19, 65, 67, 69
Decreed by the States General 66, 69, 76
Of whom composed 75, 78
Time and place of its meeting 69, 75, 78
Its sole object 69
Deputies to it 69, 70
Its Judgment 78
Its Doctrines unanimously adopted 75, 81
CONTENTS. YH
Synod of Dort, Errors rejected by it Page 93 — 124
Conclusion 124
Decision concerning Remonstrants 126, &.c.
Scott's Opinion of its Articles 84
Admonishes Orthodox Pastors 128
Renders thanks to States General 129
South Holland, Proceedings of 13, 14
Delph, Proceedings of 72 — 74 (See Delph.)
Gorinchem 16
Synods, Provincial
Held by ihe churches, preparatory to Synod Dort 70 — 72
Proceedings of 72 — 75
Synodical Conventions, Opposition to 29, 33, 35
Tergiversations of the Remonstrants 56, 57, 59, 67, 68
Toleration advocated by Remonstrants from sinister motives. . . .46 — 58
Decreed by the States General 58, 59
Injurious in its results 60
Not granted to Remonstrants 85
Treatment of Remonstrants by Synod Dort, remarked upon. . . . 132 — 136
Usurpation of Remonstranis 56, 61, &c.
ITtenbogardus, his great influence and character, 29, 36, 43, 49, 56, 59, 60, 72
Is deposed 73
V^enator, Adolphus — his impudent conduct 29, 30, 72
Vorstius — Election of to Lcyden Professorship contested 37
Is heard in Conference before States General 42
His tieterodoxy 42, 44
His Election prevented 43
%fi^.
PREFACE
The maimer in which the author was brought to the deter-
mination of adding the present work to all his former pub-
lications, will appear more fully in the introduction to the
articles of the Synod of Dordrecht, or Dort. In general, he
had erroneously adopted and aided in circulating a gross
misrepresentation of the Synod and its decisions, in his '* Re-
marks on the Refutation of Calvinism ;" and, having discov-
ered his mistake previously to the publication of a second
edition of that work, he was induced to do what he could, to
counteract that misrepresentation, and to vindicate the Synod
from the atrocious calumnies with which it has been wilfully
or inadvertently traduced. But other motives concurred in
disposing him to giving his attempt its present form* and order.
1. A very interesting and important part of ecclesiastical
history has been obscured and overwhelmed in unmerited
disgrace, by the misrepresentations given of this Synod and
its articles, especially in this nation ; in which very few, even
among studious men, know accurately the circumstances
which led to the convening of this Synod, and the real nature
and import of its decisions. To excite, therefore, others
more conversant in these studies, and better qualified for the
service, to examine this part of ecclesiastical history, and to
do impartial justice to it, is one object which the author has
in view.
2. He purposes to prove, that the doctrines commonly
termed Calvinistic, whether they be or be not the doctrines of
X PREFACE.
scriptural Christianity, may yet be so stated and explained,
without any skilful or labored efforts, as to coincide with the
strictest practical views of our holy religion ; and so as greatly
to encourage and promote genuine holiness, considered in its
most expanded nature, and in its effects on all our tempers, af-
fections, words, and actions, in relation to God and to all
mankind.
3. In a day when these doctrines are not only proscribed
in a most hostile manner on one side, but deplorably misun-
derstood and perverted by many on the other side ; the author
desired to add one more testimony against these misappre-
hensions and perversions, by showing in what a holy, guarded,
and reverential manner, the divines of this reprobated Synod
stated and explained these doctrines; compared with the
superficial, incautious, and often unholy and presumptuous
manner of too many in the present day. And if any indivi-
dual, or a few individuals, should by this publication be induced
to employ superior talents and advantages, in counteracting
these unscriptural and pernicious statements, his labor will be
amply compensated.
4. The author desired to make it manifest, that the devia-
tions from the creeds of the reformed churches in those points
which are more properly called Calvini«tic, is seldom, for
any length of time, kept separate from deviations in those
doctrines, which are moi-e generally allowed to be essential to
vital Christianity. It must, indeed, appear from the history
with which the work begins, that the progress is easy and
almost unavoidable, from the controversial opposition to per-
sonal election, to the explaining away of original sin, regene-
ration by the Holy Spirit, justification by faith alone, and even
of the aton,ement and deity of Christ : and that the opponents
of the Synod of Dort, and the Remonstrants in general, were
far more favorable to Pelagians, nay, to Socinians, than to
Calvinists ; and were almost universally unsound, in what are
commonly called orthodox doctrines, and many of them far
PREFACE. XI
from conscientious in their conduct. Indeed, it will appear
undeniable, that the opposition made to them by the Contra-
Remonstrants, was much more decidedly on these grounds,
than because they opposed the doctrine of personal election,
and the^nal perseverance of true behevers as connected with it.
5. The author purposed also, by means of this publication
to leave behind him, in print, his deliberate judgment on sev-
eral controverted points, which must otherwise have died with
him, or have been published separately, for which he had no
inclination. But he has here grafted them as notes or remarks
on the several parts of this work ; and he trusts he has now
done with all controversy.
It is doubtless vain to attempt any thing against many of
those opponents, who succeed to each other, with sufficient
variety, as to the grounds on which they take their stand, and
from which they make the assault ; but in some respects nearly
in the same course of misapprehension,or misrepresentation,
as to the real sentiments of those whom they undertake to
refute. It suffices to say of them, " neither can they prove
the things of which they accuse us :" and to say to them,
"thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."
But indeed Calvinists seem to be no more considered as
neighbors by many Anti Calvinists, than the Publicans, Sama-
ritans, and Gentiles, were by the Scribes and Pharisees !
After all that has been published on these subjects, the
groundless charges brought by many against the whole
body, cannot be considered as excusable misapprehension.
They must be either intentional misrepresentation, or the in-
excusable presumption of writing on subjects which the writers
have never studied, and against persons and description of per-
sons of whose tenets, amidst most abundant means of informa-
tion, they remain wilfully ignorant. A fair and impartial oppo-
nent is entitled to respect, but I can only pity such controver-
sialists.
THOMAS SCOTT.
ASTON SANDFORD,
MARCH 15, 1818.
THE
PREFACE.
TO THE REFORMED CHURCHES OF CHRIST,
IN WHICH THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THOSE CONTROVERSIES IN BEL-
* GIUM, FOR THE REMOVAL OF WHICH THIS SYNOD WAS ESPECIALLY
lELD, ARE BRIEFLY AND FAITHFULLY RELATED.
INTRODUCTION TO THIS PREFACE.
BY THE AUTHOR.
In perusing this preface, and the history contained in it, the
freader should especially recollect, that it was drawn up and
published by the authority and with the sanction of the States
General, and the Prince of Orange, as well as by that of the
Synod itself; and that, in every part of it, the acts, or public
records in which the events recorded were registered, are
refeiTed to, with the exact dates of each transaction. No
history can therefore be attested as authentic, in a more satis-
factory and unexceptionable manner : for, whatever degree
of coloring prejudices or partiality may be supposed to have
given to the narration ; it can hardly be conceived, that col-
lective bodies, and individuals filling up such conspicuous and
exalted stations, would expressly attest any thing directly
false ; and then appeal to authorities, by which the falsehood
of their statement might at any time be detected and exposed.
It should also be remembered, that prejudices and partiality
would be as likely to color the account given to the world, and
transmitted to posterity by the opposite side ; while the very
circumstances, in which they were placed, would render it
impracticable for them to substantiate the authenticity of their
nan-ative in the same manner. Yet, contrary to all rules of
a sober and unbiassed judgment, the unauthenticated histories
of the Remonstrants* concerning the Synod of Dort have,
* So called from a Remonstrance presented by them to the States of
Holland and West Friesland, against the doctrines of their opponents,
or those of the Federated churches of Belgium.
2 INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY.
almost exclusively, been noticed and credited by posterity,
especially in this country, to the neglect of the authentic
records.* In giving the translation of this history I would
merely say, Audi alteram 'partem. " Do not read the authen-
ticated narration with greater suspicions of unfairness than
you do those, which are not so fully authenticated. Let not
your approbation of what you suppose to have been the
doctrine of the Remonstrants, or your aversion to that of the
Contra-Remonstrants, bias your mind in this respect ; but
judge impartially." One of these histories was drawn up by
a man, (Heylin,) who has been fully detected of misrepresent-
ing the very articles of the Synod, in the grossest manner ;
and has thus misled great numbers to mistake entirely the
real import and nature of the decisions made by it. I appeal
to the abbreviation, as it is called, of the Articles of the Synod
of Dort, as compared with the real articles themselves, in
another part of this publication. So scandalous a misrepre-
sentation, which has been too implicitly adopted by many
others, should render the impartial reader cautious in giving
implicit credit to other statements made by the same party,
however celebrated the names of some of them may be.
When I first entered on this part of my undertaking, I pur-
posed merely to give a short abstract of the history, just
enough to render the subsequent part of the work intelligible
to the less learned or studious reader ; but, whether it were
the result of partiality, or of unbiassed judgment, I found
myself so deeply interested in the events recorded, (which
were almost entirely new to me,) that my reluctancy to trans-
lating and transcribing the whole was overcome: and, (with
a few remarks on different parts,) I determined to give it
entire, to the EngHsh reader. As far as I am competent to
judge, it possesses every internal evidence of authenticity and
fairness : and of impartiality, as far as even pious men, exactly
circumstanced as the writers were, in the present imperfect
state of human nature, can be expected to be impartial. It is, I
* Neither Mosheim, nor his translator Maclaine, mention this history,
while they refer to a variety of authorities on both sides of the question,
in their narrative of these transactions. So that it is even probable that
they had never seen it. Whether the severe measures by -which the
decisions of this Synod were followed up ; and especially the strict pro-
hibition of printing or vending any other account, in Latin, Dutch, or
French, in the Federated provinces, during seven years, without a
special hcenee for that purpose ; did not eventually conduce to this,
may be a question. The measure, however, was impoUtic, if not un-
justi&abje.
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY. 3
think, also drawn up, with a degree of calmness and moderation ;
far different from that fierce and fiery zeal, which is generally
supposed to belong to all, who profess, or are suspected, of
what many in a very vague and inappropriate manner call
Calvinism. And though according to the fashion of those
times, epithets are in some instances appHed both to men and
opinions, which modern courtesy, nay, perhaps Christian
meekness, would have suppressed ; yet, if I mistake not,
they are more sparingly employed in this, than in any cotem-
porary controversial publication. Indeed the higher points
of what is called Calvinism, are far less insisted on, and the
opponents of those points far more moderately censured, than
might have been expected ; while the doctrines commonly
called orthodox, as opposed by Pelagians, Arians, and Socin-
ians, are strongly maintained, and the opposers of them
strenuously, nay, severely condemned. Even Mosheim
allows, that the triumph of the Synod was that of the Sublap-
sarians, not only over the Arminians, but over the Supralapsa-
rians also.*
In order to the impartial reading of this history, it should
be previously recollected, and well considered, that all the
Belgic churches were, from the first, Presbyterian, in govern-
ment and discipline ; and constituted according to that plan,
with classes, presbyteries, provincial Synods, and general
Synods of all the Federated provinces ; and with all those
rules and methods for admission into the ministry, and to the
pastoral charge in distinct congregations ; as also to situations
in universities and schools of learning, which form a con-
stituent part of it ; as well as of that strict discipline connected
with it, implying not only excommunication of lay members,
but the suspension, or silencing of pastors ; and excluding
from their office, academical teachers and professors on ac-
count of heresy in doctrine, and gross inconsistency of conduct,
proved against them in their classes, or Synods. Through
the whole history, it appears, that no other form of government
was proposed even by the Remonstrants ; nor any thing
mentioned about toleration in that respect ; though their
measures evidently tended to subvert the whole system. All
the funds hkewise, reserved for religious purposes, were
appropriated entirely in consistency with the Presbyterian
model; and all academical honors and distinctions were
conferred in that line.
* Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. v. p. 368.
4 INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY.
This, beyond doubt, having been the case ; and the principal
persons concerned in the controversy against the Remon-
strants, having been zealously., and (most of them at least)
conscientiously attached to this system ; so that it appeared
to them, as if the very interest of vital religion was intimately,
if not inseparably, connected with it : he must, I say, be a
most unreasonable, and partial Anti Presbyterian, who can
expect from men of this stamp, that they would permit their
whole system, and all its operations, to be retarded, disturbed,
nay,. totally deranged and subverted, and the whole state of
their churches thrown into confusion and anarchy, without
vigorous struggles to prevent a catastrophe, in their view so
deplorable and ruinous. Even in this age and land few
persons, of supposed candor and liberality of mind, either
among zealous Episcopahans, or Independents, seem inclined
tamely to witness the subversion of their favorite system,
without emplopng the most effectual means of preventing it,
which are fairly within their reach. Indeed it is not in human
nature, and cannot reasonably be expected. Nor, till men
are convinced, that it is not the cause of God, noi" essential
to that of true religion, would it be right thus to yield it up to
their opponents. But when measures of this nature are
adopted, at first simply in self-defence, against aggressors, in
order to preserve advantages already possessed by law and
custom ; it must also be expected, that, in the eagerness of a
violent and protracted contest, even conscientious men, will,
tlirough remaining prejudices and evil passions, excited and
irritated by what they judge injurious usage, be betrayed into
some unjustifiable measures, of which their opponents will
make great advantage, and which even impartial spectators
cannot justify nor excuse. If then this should appear to have
been the case in the Belgic contest, with the opposers of the
Remonstrants, as well as with the Remonstrants themselves ;
it ought neither to excite our surprise, nor prejudice us so
deeply against the whole company, as, on account of it, to
involve them in one sweeping sentence of condemnation.
Again, it is well known, at least it is capable of the most
complete proof, in respect of the doctrines controverted during
this period in Belgium ; that the Confession and Catechism
of the Belgic churches, were entirely on the side of the
Contra-Remonstrants. Theii* appeal is constantly made to
those articles ; not under the disadvantage, in which some of
us in England appeal to the articles of our established church,
while our opponents, with a degree of plausibility, interpret
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY. 5
them in a different meaning ; but, as to the very documents,
to which the Remonstrants objected, nay, which they vehe-
mently and openly opposed, both in their sermons and public
writings. So that their concessions and requisitions, in this
espect, put the matter beyond all denial or doubt, to him that
has carefully examined the history. This will ftilly appear as
we proceed. Now he must be a most unreasonable and un-
fair advocate for the Remonstrants, who would require
decided and conscientious Contra-Remonstrants, holding
responsible stations in the Belgic churches, universities, and
schools, by virtue of their subscription to this Confession and
Catechism, to suffer, without any effort to the contrary, those
documents to be opposed, proscribed, and vilified ; and con-
traiy doctrines promulgated, even by persons, who generally
held their situations in the same manner ; while the opposers
of the established doctrines indefatigably labored and employed
all their influence with those in authority, to set them aside,
Eind introduce the contrary doctrines ; and this by the authority
of the civil governments alone, to the exclusion of that eccle-
siastical power, by which they in great measure had been
supported. Such a passive acquiesence would not, I appre-
[lend, be found at this day, if eager opponents should put the
matter to the trial, either among decided Episcopahans, or
Lutherans, or any others, who are cordially attached to their
own views of Christianity. How far the defenders of the
Belgic Confession and Catechism used, exclusively, "weapons
of warfare not carnal, but mighty through God," is another
question. It can scarcely be doubled, but that there w^ere
faults on both sides, in this vehement contest ; but I cannot
think in an equal degree. Let the candid inquirer read and
judge for himself.
In translating this history, and the other documents which I
now lay before the public, I make no pretensions to any thing
beyond fairness and exactness, in giving the meaning of the
original. Had I been disposed to aim at it, I do not think
I myself competent to the ofiice of translating in such a manner,
\ as to invest the Latin, fairly and fully, with the entire idiom of
the English language : but I have even by design, confined my-
self more closely to literal translation, than I should have done,
in an attempt less connected with controversy : and have often
decHned giving a more approved English word or expression,
when I feared it might be suspected of not exactly conveying
the sense of the original. Indeed, as far as it could be made
consistent with perspicuity, I have rather presei^ed than
6 INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY.
shunned the Latin idiom, where any doubt could remain as
to the idea, which the writers intended to convey. And,
when after all, I had any apprehension that I had not fully
accomplished this, I have given in a parenthesis, the Latin
word, that the reader may judge for himself. In other places,
a parenthesis often contains a word not found in the Latin,
but useful in elucidating the meaning. My sole desire has
been, to render the whole clearly understood by the English
reader : and to call the attention of pious and reflecting per-
sons to a part of Ecclesiastical history, which I am confident
has been generally less known, and more grossly misrepre-
sented by some, and mistaken by others, than any other part
whatever has been : but which, I am also persuaded, is pecu-
liarly replete with important useful instruction ; especially to
zealous Calvinists, who may here learn in what a guarded, and
holy, and iwactical maimer, these generally reprobated theo-
logians, stated and defended their tenets ; and on what
grounds, exclusively scriptural, they rested them.
THE HISTORY,
In the course of the last summer, the decision of the vene-
rable Synod, lately held at Dordrecht (or Dort) concerning
some heads of doctrine, which had hitherto been disputed in
the Belgic churches, with the greatest disturbance of the
same, was pubhshed, having been comprised in certain distinct
canons. And as this most celebrated Synod had been called
together, by the Illustrious and most mighty the States Gene-
ral, the supreme magistracy of the Federated provinces, espe-
cially for the removal of the controversies, which had arisen
in religion, the most of them judged that it would be sufficient,
if merely the determination of the Synod, concerning these
same controversies were published. But when it afterwards
was evident, that there were very many, who greatly desired
further to know, from the very acts of the Synod, what besides
these things, had been done in the Synod, and by what method,
especially with the Remonstrant pastors ; and when it was
not doubtful, but that they themselves, in order to veil their
pertinacity, were about to publish some things concerning
these matters, not with the best fidelity, it pleased the Illus-
trious and most mighty the States General, that the acts also
of the same Synod, faithfully transcribed from the public
registers {tabulis) should be published in print, for the satis-
faction {in gratiam) and use of the churches. And as in
these (records) many things every where occur, which pertain
to the history of the things transacted in the Belgic churches,
and which could less advantageously be understood or judged
of, by readers who were ignorant of these things ; for which
cause even the national Synod, (as it may be seen in the
different sessions,) sometimes enjoined, especially on the
deputies of the South Holland churches, to write a brief
narrative of the affairs transacted with the Remonstrants ; it
seemed good to prefix, in the place of a preface, from it, (that
history) some things, which were publicly transacted ; that
the foreign churches especially, might for once know with
8 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
good fidelity, what was the rise and progress of these contro-
versies; and on what occasion, and for what causes, the
Illustrious and the most mighty the States General convened
this most celebrated Synod, at a very great expense ;* espe-
cially, when many things are related by the Remonstrants, in
writings exhibited, and here inserted, which less accord with
the truth of the things transacted.
In the Reformed churches of Federated Belgium, how
gi-eat an agreement had, in the preceding age, flourished, on all
the heads of orthodox doctrine, among the pastors and doc-
tors of the Belgic churches ; and moreover how great order
and decorum (su7a|ja and suj^^i^fjioguvii) had always been pre-
served in the government of the same, is too well known to
the Christian world, for it to be needful to set it forth in many
words. This peace and harmony of the Belgic churches,
lovely (in itself,) and most pleasing to God and all pious
men, certain persons had attempted to disturb, with unbridled
violence, but not with great success ; (persons) who having
deserted popery, but not being yet fully purified from its
leaven, had passed over into our churches, and had been
admitted into the ministry in the same, during that first scarcity
of ministers : (namely) Caspius Coolhasius, of Leyda, Her-
man Herbertius, of Dordrecht, and Gouda, and Cornelius
Wiggerus, of Horn. For in the same places, in which they
had got some persons too little favoring the reformed religion,
on whose patronage they relied ; this their wicked audacity
was maturely repressed, as well by the authority of the
supreme magistracy, as by the prudence of the pastors, and
the just censures of the church ; that of Coolhasius, in the
national Synod at Middleburg ; that of Herbertius, in the
Synods of North Holland ; and that of Wiggerus, in the
Synods of North Holland.
Afterwards James Arminius, pastor of the most celebrated
church at Amsterdam, attempted the same thing, with great
boldness and enterprize ; a man indeed of a more vigorous
* " After long and tedious debates, which were frequently attended
with popular tumults and civil broils, this intricate controversy was,
by the counsels and authority of Maurice, prince of Orange, referred to
the decision of the church, assembled in a general Synod at Dordrecht,
in the year 1618." {Mosheim.) — " It was not by the authority of prince
Maurice, but by that of the States General, that the national Synod
was assembled at Dordrecht. The States were not indeed unanimous ;
three of the seven provinces protested against the holding of this Synod,
viz. Holland, Utrecht, and Overyssel." {Maclcdne.) Mosheim's Hist.
vol. V. p. 367.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 9
genius, {excitatioris^) but whom nothing pleased except that
which commended itself by some shew of novelty ; so that he
seemed to disdain most things received in the Reformed
churches, even on that very account, that they had been
received. He first paved the way for himself t^ this thing,
by publicly and privately extenuating, and vehemently attack-
ing {sugillando) the reputation and authority of the most
illustrious doctors of the reformed church, Calvin, Zanchius,
Beza, Martyi-, and others ; that by the ruin of their name, he
might raise a step to glory for himself. Aftenvards he began
openly to propose and disseminate various heterodox opinions,
nearly related to the errors of the ancient Pelagians, especially
in an explanation of the epistle to the Romans : but by the
giiance and authority of the venerable presbytery of that
church, his attempts were speedily opposed, lest he should he
able to cause those disturbances in the church, which he
seemed to project {moliri.) Yet he did not cease among his
own friends, as well as among the pastors of other churches,
John Utenbogardus, Adrian, Borrius, and others, whose
riendship the same common studies had conciliated, to propa-
gate his opinions, by whatever means he could ; and to
challenge Francis Junius, the most celebrated professor of
sacred theology at Leyden, to a conference concerning thie
ame.^'
But when in the second year of this age, (Aug. 28, 1602,)
thai most renowned man D. Junius had been snatched away
from the University of Leyden, with the greatest soitow of
the Belgic churches, Utenbogardus, who then favored the
opinion of Arminius, with great earnestness commended him
to tiie most noble and ample the Curators of the University of
Leyden, that he indeed might be appointed in the place of D.
Junius in the professorship of sacred theology in that Univer-
sity. "When the deputies of the churches understood this,
fearing lest the vocation of a man so very much suspected of
heterodoxy, might sometime give cause of contentions and
schisms in the churches ; they intreated the ijiost noble lords
the Curators, that they would not expose the churches to
those perils, but rather would think of appointing another
proper person, who was free from this suspicion. And they
also admonished Utenbogardus to desist from this recommen-
* " The lustre and authority of the college of Geneva be^an jgradu-
ally to decline, from the time that the United Provinces, being formed
into a free and independent republic, Universities were founded al
Leyden, Franeher, and Utrecht." Mosiieini, vol. v. p. 365.
10 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
dation ; who, despising these admonitions, did not desist from
urging his (Arminius') vocation, until at length he had
attained the same.
His vocation having been thus appointed, the presbytery
of Amsterdam refused to consent to his dismission ; especially
for this reason, because the more prudent thought that a
disposition so greatly luxuriant, and prone to innovation,
would be statedly employed, with more evident danger in an
university, at which youth consecrated to the ministry of the
churches are educated, and where greater liberty of teaching
uses to be taken, than in any particular church in which it
may be restrained within bounds, by the vigilance and autho-
rity of the presbytery. His dismission was notwithstanding
obtained, by the frequent petitions of the lords the Curators,
of Utenbogardus, and even of Arminius himself; yet upon
this condition, that a conference having been first held with
Dr. Francis Gomarus, concerning the principal heads of
doctrine, he should remove from himself all suspicion of
heterodoxy, by an exphcit {roiunda) declaration of his opinion;
when he had lirst promised, with a solemn attestation, that he
would never disseminate his opinions, if perhaps he had any
singular ones.* This conference was held before the lords
the Curators, the deputies of the Synod also being present ;
in which, when he (Arminius) professed, that he unreservedly
(diserte) condemned the principal dogmas of the Pelagians
concerning natural grace ; the powers of free will, original
sin, the perfection of man in this life, predestination, and the
others ; that he approved all things, which Augustine and the
other fathers had written against the Pelagians ; and moreover,
that he judged the Pelagian errors had been rightly refuted
and condemned by the fathers ; and at the same time promised,
that he would teach nothing which differed from the received
doctrine of the churches, he was admitted to the professorship
of theology. f
May 6, 7. 1602.] In the beginning of this, he endeavored
by every means to avert from himself every suspicion of
* How far he fulfilled this solemn pi-omise and attestation, not only
Uie following history, but even the histories of his most decided advo-
cates, fully show, in fact, he fulfilled it in the very same manner, that
the suljscriptions and most solemn engagements of numbers in our church
at their ordination are fulfilled.
t The received doctrine of the churches was contained in the Belgic
Confession and Catechism. Let the reader carefully attend to this, and
bear it in mind while he peruses the subsequent narrative.
HISTORY OP PRECEDING EVENTS. 11
heterodoxy ; so that he defended by his support and patronage
in public disputations, [October 28.] the doctrine of the
reformed churches, concerning the satisfaction of Christ,
justifying faith, justification by faith, the perseverance of those
who truly believe, the certitude of salvation, the imperfection
of man in this Hfe, and the other heads of doctrine, which he
afterwards contradicted, and which at this day are opposed by
his disciples. (This he did) contrary to his own opinion, as
John Arnoldi Corvinus, in a certain Dutch writing ingenuously
confesses.
But when he had been now engaged in this employment
as professor, a year or two, it was detected, that he publicly
and privately attacked {sugillare) most of the dogmas received
in the reformed churches, called them into doubt, and rendered
them suspected to his scholars : and that he enervated the
principal arguments, by which they used to be maintained
from the word of God, by the sanie exceptions, which the
Jesuits, the Socinians, and other enemies of the reformed
church were accustomed to employ :* that he gave some of
his o^vn manuscript tracts privately to his scholars to be
transcribed, in which he had comprised his own opinion: that
he recommended in an especial manner to his scholars, the
writings of Castalio, Cornhertius, Suerezius, and of men lilce
them: and that he spake contemptuously of Calvin, Beza,
Martyr, Zanchius, Ursinus, and of other eminent doctors of
of the reformed churches.j He moreover openly professed,
that he had very many considerations or animadversions
against the received doctrine, which he would lay open in his
own time. Some pastors, who were intimately acquainted
with him, gloried that they possessed an entirely new theology.
His scholars, having returned home from the University ,"or
having been removed to other universities, petulantly {pro-
terve) insulted the reformed churches, by disputing, contra-
dicting, and revihng their doctrine.
When the churches of Holland considered these and other
things, being justly solicitous, lest the purity of the reformed
♦ The reformed church inchided, not only the church of Geneva, but
the cluirchcs in Switzerland, France, Holland, England and Scotland,
and others. The doctrines opposed were then not those of Calvin or
of Geneva m particular, but common to all these churches.
I t This is the only way, in which Calvin is ever mentioned in the
whole of this history, as along with others, an eminent doctor of the
I reformed churches ; for it was not then supposed, that there was any
ffisenual difference between the doctrine of the church at Geneva, and
, that of the other reformed churches.
12 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
doctrine having been weakened, (or corrupted, lahefactata,)
and the youth which was educated in this seminary, for the
hope of the churches, imbued with depraved opinions, this
matter should at length burst forth to the great mischief and
disturbance of the churches ; they judged that an inquiry
should be thoroughly made into the whole transaction, by their
own deputies, to whom the common care of the churches used
be committed ; so that in the next Synods it might be
maturely looked to, that the church might not suffer any
detriment. Concerning this cause the deputies of the
churches, as well of South, as of North Holland, go to Armi-
nius, and state to him, the rumors which were every where
circulated concerning him and his doctrine, and how great
solicitude possessed all the churches; and, in a friendly
manner, they request him, that if perhaps he found a want of
any thing in the received doctrine, he would sincerely
{sincere, ingenuously) open it to his brethren ; in order, either
that satisfaction might be given by him a friendly conference,
or the whole affair might be carried before a lawful Synod. To
these (persons) he answered, That he himself had never
given just cause for these rumors ; neither did it appear pru-
dent in him to institute any conference with the same persons,
as deputies, who would make the report concerning the matter
unto the Synod; but if they would lay aside this character,
{personam,) he would not decline to confer with them, as
with private pastors, concerning his doctrine ; on this condi-
tion, that if perhaps they should too little agree among
themselves, they would report nothing of this to the Synod.
As the deputies judged this to be unjust, and as the solicitude
could not be taken away from the churches by a conference
of this liind, they departed from him without accomplishing
their pui-pose {re infecta. ) Nor did they yet the less understand,
from the other professors of sacred theology, that various
questions were eagerly agitated among the students of theology
concerning predestination, free will, the perseverance of the
saints, and other heads of doctrine, such as before the coming
of Arminius had not been ao;itated amonff them.
July 26, 1605.] He was also admonished by the church i
of Leyden, of which he was a member, by the most ample
and most celebrated men, Phsedo Brouchovius, the consul of
the city of Leyden, and Paulus Merula, professor of history,
{historiarum, histories, ancient and modern,) elders of the
same church, that he would hold a friendly conference with
his colleagues, before the presbytery of the church of Leyden,
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 13
concerning those things which he disapproved in the received
doctrine ; from which it might be ascertained, whether, or in
what dogmas, he agreed, or disagreed, ^vith the rest of the
pastors. To these (persons) he rephed, That he could not
do that without the leave of the Curators of the University;
neither could he see what advantage would redound to the
church from such a conference.
The time approached when the annual Synods of the
churches in each Holland used to be held ; and when, accor-
ding to the custom, the grievances {gravamina) of the
church were sent from each of the classes : and among the
rest this also was transmitted by the Class of Dordrecht.
•' Inasmuch as rumors are heard, that certain controversies
concerning the doctrine of the reformed churches, have arisen
in the University and church of Leyden; the class hath
judged it to be necessary, that the Synod should deliberate
on the means, by which these controversies may most advan-
tageously and speedily be settled ; that all schisms, and
stumbling-blocks, which might thence arise, may be removed
in time, and the union of the reformed churches be preserved
against the calumnies of the adversaries." Arminius bore
this very grievously, {cdgerrime,) and strove with all his
power, that this grievance should be recalled ; which when
he could not obtain, by the assistance of the Curators of the
University, he procured a testimonial from his colleagues, in
which it is declared, " That indeed more things were disputed
among the students, than it was agreeable to them ; but that
among the professors of sacred theology themselves, as far as
it appeared to them, there was no dissension in fundamentals."
A short time after the Synod of the province of South
Holland was convened, in the city of Rotterdam, which when
it had understood from the Class of Dort, the many and
weighty reasons, for which this grievance had been trans-
mitted by the same, and at the same time also from the
deputies of the Synod, how things really were in the Univer-
sity of Leyden, and what had been done by Arminius and
the other professors of sacred theology ; after mature delibe-
ration it determined, that this spreading evil must be coim-
teracted in time, neither ought the remedy of it to be
procrastinated, under the uncertain hope of a national synod.
And accordingly it enjoined on the deputies of the Synod,
that they should most diligently inquire, concerning articles
on which disputations were principally held among the stu-
dents of theology in the University of Leyden ; and should
3
14 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
petition the lords the Curators, that a mandate might be given
fo the professors of sacred theology, to declare openly and
explicitly their opinion concerning the same ; in order that
by this means it might be ascertained respecting their agree-
ment or disagreement ; and the churches, if perhaps there
was no dissension, or no grievous one, might be freed from
solicitude : or, if some more weighty one should be detected,
they might think maturely concerning a remedy of the same.
The Synod also commanded all the pastors, for the sake
of testifying their consent in doctrine, that they should sub-
scribe the Confession and Catechism of these churches ;
which, in many classes had been neglected, and by others
refused.* The deputies of the Synod, having diligently
examined the matter, exhibited to the lords the Curators nine
questions, concerning which they had understood, that at this
time disputations were principally maintained ; and they
requested, that it might be enjoined by their authority on the
professors of sacred theology, to explain fully their opinion
concerning the same. But they answered, That some hope
now shone forth of obtaining a national Synod in a short
time; and therefore they judged it more prudent (consultius)
to reserve these questions to the same, than by any further
inquisition respecting them to give a handle to dissension.
The pastors also, who had embraced the opinion of Arminius,
every where in the classes refused to obey the mandate of
the Synod, concerning the subscription of the Confession and
the Catechism.
This matter increased the solicitude of the churches, when
they saw that these pastors, relying on the favor of certain
persons, evidently despised the authority of the Synod, and
* " The opinions of Calvin, concerning the decrees of God, and divine
grace, became daily more general, and were gradually introduced every
where into the schools of learning. There was not, however, any
public law, or confession of faith, that obliged the pastors of the reformed
churches in any part of the world, to conform their sentiments to the
theological doctrines that were adopted and taught at Geneva." Mo-
sheim, vol. v. p. 366. This introduces the learned historian's account
of the Synod of Dort: but the Confession and Catechism of the Belgic
chm-ches alone were appealed to in this contest, and they were certainly
obligatory on all the pastors of those churches, and subscribed to by
most by them. Again: "Arminius knew, that the Dutch divines,
were neither obliged by their confession of faith, nor by any other public
law, to adopt and propagate the opinions of Calvin." Vol. v. p. 41.
Now Arminius was not accused, as the whole history shews, of deviating
from the opinions of Calvin, but for openly opjiosing the Gonfessi i and
Catechism of the Belgic diurches.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 15
more boldly (audacius) persisted in their attempt. Wherefore,
as in that way a remedy could not be applied to this evil, they
copiously explained to the most illustrious and mighty lords
the States General, in how great a danger the church was
placed ; and petitioned, that in order to the taking away of
these evils, a national Synod, which had now been for many
years deferred, might be called together, by the authority of
the same persons, at the earliest opportunity. These (the
States General) declared, that the states of all the provinces
had already agreed on the convocation of a national Synod ;
but that there were those among them, who, in the letters of
consent, had added this condition, or, as they called it,
clause : Namely, that in the same there should be a revision
of the Confession and Catechism of these churches ; and,
consequently, the convocation of a national Synod could not
be made, unless this clause were added, without the detriment
ijjrcejudicio) of the States of that province. But, as it was
not obscurely evident, who for some years had counselled
{author es fuissent) the Illustrious the States of Holland, that
this clause should be added, and even pressed ; and as it
might be feared, if ahould be annexed to the calling of ihG
Synod, that they who earnestly desired changes of doctrine,
would abuse the same; and at the same time also, lest,
(especially in this state of things,) it should afford no light
cause of offence to the churches ; as if the Illustrious States
themselves, or our churches, doubted of the truth of the
doctrine comprised in this Confession and Catechism ; the
deputies of the churches petitioned that the convocation of the
Synod should be drawn up in general terms, as they call
them, in the manner hitherto customary : especially, as this
clause seemed the less necessary ; seeing that in national
Synods it had always been permitted, if any one thought that
he had ought against any article of these writings, fairly
and duly to propose it.
But the Illustrious lords the States General declared, that
this clause was not so to be understood, as if they desired any
thing to be changed by it, in the doctrine of these churches ;
for indeed a doctrine was not always changed by a revisal,
(or recognition, recognitione,) but sometimes was even con-
firmed ; yet it could not be omitted without the prejudice of
that province, which had expressly added it. They therefore
delivered the letters of consent, in which this also had been
added, to the deputies of the churches, which they trans-
mitted to the churches of each of the provinces ; and with
16 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
them they also signified, what pains they had bestowed that it
might be omitted.
March 15, 1606.] The Belgic chm'ches, on the receipt
of these letters, rejoiced indeed, that after the expectation of
so many years, at length the power of holding a national
Synod had been obtained ; though they were not a little
stumbled by this clause. Not because they were unwilling
that the Confession and the Catechism should be recognized,
after the accustomed and due manner, in the national Synod ;
but because they feared, lest they, who were laboring for a
change of doctrine, should be rendered more daring, as if by
this clause, a power was granted to them, by the public au-
thority of the lords the States, of moving and innovating
whatever any one pleased ; and that these discords and con-
troversies had arisen from them, not from the inordinate
desire of innovating, but from an earnest endeavor of satis-
fying the decrees of the Illustrious the States. In the same
letters, the Illustrious lords the States General gave infomia-
tion, that it had been determined by them, to call together
some learned and peaceful theologians, from each of the;
provinces, that they might deliberate with the same, concerning
tlie time, place, and manner of holding this national Synod.
August, 1606.] While these things were transacting, the
Annual Synod of the churches of Holland was held at Gorin-
chem ; in which, when the deputies of the churches had
related what had been done by them in the cause of the
National Synod, and what had been determined by the Illus-
trious lords the States General, it was judged proper to
enjoin on the same (deputies) diligently to press the convo-
cation of a National Synod ; and, though the Synod thought,
that the Confession and Catechism, would be recognized, in
a way and manner, new and unaccustomed hitherto, in the
national Synod, it purposed, that those persons, who should
be called together by the States of Holland," out of South
Holland, to the convention, in which (it was to be deliberated)
concerning the time, place, and manner of holding the national
Synod, should be admonished to petition from the States
General, in the name of these churches ; that the clause, of
which it hath before been spoken, might be omitted in the
letters of convocation, for the reasons before assigned ; and
that, in the place of it, other milder words, which might pro-
duce less offence, might be substituted.
It was also enjoined in the same Synods to all the pastors
of the churches of South Holland, and to all the professors
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 17
of sacred theology in the University of Leyden, that, at as
early a time as could be, they should exhibit the considera-
tions or animadversions, which they had, upon the doctrine
contained in the Confession and Catechism ; (because Armi-
nius and the pastors who were attached to him were often
accustomed to glory, that they had very many ;) the pastors
indeed in their own classes, but the professors to the deputies
of the churches ; that the same might be lawfully carried unto
the national Synod, if satisfaction could not be given to them
in the classes. When this was demanded of the pastors
attached to Arminius, they declined proposing them in the
classes ; because, they said, they were not yet prepared ;
but that they would propose them in their own time and
manner. Arminius also, having been admonished concern-
ing this thing by the deputies of the churches, answered, that
it could not be done at that time with edification ; but that, in
the national Synod, he would fully lay open the same.
May 23, 1607.] And when not long after, the Illustrious
the States General called together some theologians out of
each of the provinces, with whom they might deliberate,
respecting the time, place, and manner of the national Synod ;
namely, John Leo, and John Fontanus, from Geldria ;
Francis Gomarus, James Arminius, John Utenbogardus, and
John Becius, out of South Holland ; Herman, Frankelius,
and Henry Brandius, out of Zealand ; Everard Botius, and
Hemy Johannis, out of the province of Utrecht ; Sibrander
Lubertus, and Jannes Bogermannus, out of Friesland ;
Thomas Goswinius, out of Transisulania ; John Acronus,
and John Nicasias, out of the city Groningen and Omlandii ;
the questions, concerning which it should be deliberated in
this convention, were proposed to them by the Illustrious the
States General ; and it was declared, by their concurrent
suffrages, that as to the time, it was necessary that the Synod
should be called together as soon as might be, in the begin-
ning of the ensuing summer. [A. D. 1608.] That, as to
place, the city Utrecht would be the most convenient for
holding the Synod ; as to the manner, 1. That the grievances
to be discussed in the S}Tiod, should be brought before the
national Synod, from each of the provincial Synods : 2. That
from each of the several Synods, and by the suffrages of the
same, four pastors and two elders should be deputed ; in the
place of which elders also, men of singular condition, and
skill in matters of theology, and adorned by a testimony of
piety, though, they did not fill up any ecclesiastical office,
3*
18 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
might be deputed : 3. That to these deputies, power should^
be given in all things, which should be treated of in the Sy-
nod, not of deliberating only, but also of determining and
deciding : 4. That the rule of judgment, in all the contro-
versies, relating to doctrine and morals, should be the written
word of God, or the sacred scriptures, alone:* 6. That to
the national Synod, should be called together, not only the
churches which are in Federated Belgium, namely, of each
language, the Dutch and French; but those also of the Belgic
nation, which are dispersed without Belgium ; whether they
were collected under the cross, or otherwise : {alibi :) 6. That
the Illustrious and most mighty, the States General, should
be requested, that they would deign to send to the same their
own delegates, professing the reformed religion, that, in their
name, they might preside over the order of it : 7. That the
professors also of sacred theology should be called to the
same.
In these things indeed they were all agreed ; as in some
others they could not agree among themselves. For Armi-
nius and Utenbogardus, and the two (deputies) from Utrecht,
whom they had drawn over to their opinion, determined these
three things : 1. That that was to be held as the decision of
the Synod, not which had been determined by the votes of all
the deputies to the Synod, but also by those who deputed
them : for, under the name of the Synod, not the deputies
alone, but those who deputed them also, ought to be under-
stood : 2. That it should always be free to the deputies, as
often as they might choose, and as they perceived that they
were burdened in any thing, to retire to their own (friends or
+ This rule completely excluded all human reasoning, authority,
tradition, or new revelations, as opposed to the written word, " the sure
testimony" of God ; not only the authority of fathers and coimcils, with
the traditions of the church of Rome ; but the authority also of the
church of Geneva, of Calvin, and of all other reformed teachers. How
is it then, that ecclesiastical historians generally represent this contest,
as an attempt to impose the doctrine of the church of Geneva on the
Belgic churches ? It might as reasonably be said, that the clergymen
and others, who combined and used every effort, some years since, to
procure the abolishment of subscription to the articles of the church of
England, but could not succeed, had the doctrine of Calvin and Geneva
imposed on them. Whatever similarity there might be, between the
doctrine of Calvin or that of the church of Geneva, and the Confession
and Catechism of the Belgic churches ; the latter was exclusively ap-
pealed to by the other pastors, and avowedly opposed by Anninius and
his followers ; yet even these were to be revised according totlie written
word of God.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 19
constituents) for the sake of taking counsel : 3. That the
revision of the Belgic Confession and Catechism was alto-
gether necessary : so that they saw no cause, for which the
clause concerning the revision of those writings, should not
be inserted in the letters of convocation.
The rest of the pastors and professors judged : 1. That
that should be considered as the definite decision of the
Synod, which had been determined either by the concurrent
votes of the deputies to the Synod, or of the majority of them;
but that, under the name of the Synod, those were to be ac-
counted, who, as lawful deputies to the same, had met
together with the power of judging : 2. That it might indeed
be allowed them to retire to their friends for the sake of taking
counsel ; yet so, that under this pretext, the proceedings of the
Synod should not be rashly disturbed ; that when, and in what
manner, and for what causes, they might thus recede, should
not be left to the unrestricted will (cwbitrio) of individuals,
but to the judgment of the whole Synod: 3. That the Belgic
Confession and Catechism might indeed be revised in the
Synod ; if, for adequate causes, the Synod should determine
that this was necessary ; and likewise that it should be free
to all, who thought that they had any thing against those
writings, to propose the same to the Synod in due manner,
to be examined and decided on : but, because the clause
concerning the revision, if it should be inserted in the letters
of convocation, seemed likely to give to some cause of
offence, and to others the licence of innovating ; they thought
that the Illustrious the States General should be petitioned,
that this clause, for the sake of the tranquillity of the churches,
might be omitted in the letters of convocation ; and that, in
the place of it, these, or similar words might be substituted ;
namely, That the Synod was convened, for the confirmation,
agreement, and propagation of pure and orthodox doctrine ;
for preserving and establishing the peace and good order
(su7a|»av) of the church ; and finally, for promoting true piety
among the inhabitants of these regions. And most of them
shewed, that they had this very thing in the mandates from their
own churches, and also from the states themselves of their own
provinces. This disagreement of counsels and judgments
threw in a new delay to the national Synod : for they, who
had hitherto resisted its convocation, eagerly seizing on this
occasion, labored earnestly by all means, that the convocation
of the Synod, though now promised, might be hindered.
In this convention Arminius was requested, with the
20 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
strongest obtestation, by the other professors and pastors^^
that the things which he had (to allege) against the doctrine
expressed in the Confession and Catechism, those he would
in a free and brotherly manner communicate to them, as his
fellow ministers ; the promise being added, that they would
bestow pains fully to satisfy him ; or that he, on honorable
conditions, might be reconciled to his colleagues, and might
thenceforth live peaceably with them ; neither would they, a
reconciliation having been effected, publish beyond the place
of the convention, any of those things, which he should make
manifest unto them. But he said, that neither was this
thought prudent by him, nor was he bound to do it, as the
convention was not appointed for this purpose. In the fol-
lowing summer, when the Annual Synod of the South Holland
churches was held at Delph, Utenbogardus was admonished
to explain to the Synod, the reasons, on account of which, in
giving the counsels concerning the manner of holding the
national Synod, he, with Arminius, had thought and advised
differently from the rest of the pastors ; that the same might
be well considered and decided on by the Synod. He an-
swered. That he was bound to render an account of this to
the Illustrious the States alone, and not to the Synod. Being
requested, that he would explain those things, which he had
(to allege) against the doctrine that was contained in the
Confession and Catechism of these churches, he replied,
that neither did it appear to him prudent to do it in that assem-
bly, nor was he prepared. It was in this S}Tiod also
inquired, whether, according to the decree of the former
Synod, any considerations, or animadversions upon the
Confession and Catechism had been exhibited to the classes :
but it was answered by the delegates from each of the classes.
That most of the pastors had professed in the classes, that
they had no animadversions against the received doctrine ;
but that those who professed that they had some, were unwil-
ling to explain them; either because they said, that they
were not yet prepared, or because they did not think that this
was advisable for them.* Wherefore the Synod judged,
that it should again be enjoined on them, that, omitting all
♦ Nothing can be more evident than this fact, that the followers of
Arminius aimed to subvert, or exceedingly to modify, the doctrine of the
authorized writings of the Belgic churches ; and that the others wanted
no alteration to be made in that doctrine, as more favorable, either to
the doctrine of the church of Geneva, or of Calvin, as many writers
confideaitly assert.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 21
evasions, subterfuges, (tergiversationibus,) and delays, they
should explain, as early as might be, all the animadversions
which they had against the received doctrine, each of them
to his own class.
It was likewise shewn to the Synod, that every where in
the churches, dissensions daily more and more increased ;
and that most of the young men coming forth from the Uni-
versity of Leyden, and the instruction of Arminius, being
called to the ministry of the churches, in the examination
indeed concealed their opinion by ambiguous methods of
speaking ; but when they had been set forth to the ministry,
they immediately moved new disputations, contended earnestly
for opinions, and gloried that they had various considerations
against the received doctrine : That in the classes and pres»-
byteries, sharp dissensions and altercations arose among the
pastors, concerning most of the heads of doctrine; and that,
among the people also, various disputings concerning doc-
trine were heard, with the great offence and disturbance of
tJie churches : yea, moreover, that the beginnings of schisms
were seen : that the pastors attached to Arminius instituted
frequent meetings in which they might deliberate concerning
the propagation of their doctrine ; and that the people more
and more went away into parties.*
As therefore the Synod judged that the i-emedy of this evil
could no longer be deferred, and that the hope of obtaining a-
national Synod, because of this diversity of counsels and opin-
ions, was altogether uncertain ; it was determined by the S}Tiod»
from the counsel of the most ample the delegates, to petition
of the Illustrious lords the States of Holland and West
Friesland ; that from the two Synods of South and jVorth
Holland, one provincial Synod might be called at the first
opportunity, (as it had formerly been done in similar difficul-
ties,) in order to quiet and remove these evils. AVhen the
dqjuties of each Synod had copiously explained to the Illus-
♦ The enlightened and decided friend to free inquiry, will see even in
Uie causes of these complaints, (while the immediate effects may perhaps
be deemed very unfavorable to truth and holiness,) the daAV)i of that
more enlarged state of things, in which free investigation of both received,
and exploded, and novel opinions, proves ultimately and highly beneficial
to the cause of truth ; and he will agree, that the arm of authority, secular
or ecclesiastical, could not beneficially be exerted against it; except so
far, as to require those, who voluntarily belong to, and minister in any
church, to conform to the rules of that churcli, or to recede from it without
further molestation. But this does not prevent the propriety of doinff
1'ustice to the character of wise and pious men, to whom no views of ihis
dm had as yet ever been presented^
S(2 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
trious lords the States these difficulties of the churches, as groW'
ing more and more heavy ; and had petitioned, that for the
removal of the same, the convocation of a provincial Synod
might be appointed, at the most early time : though great
hopes had been given them, by the most ample the lords the
delegates, they were not as yet able to obtain it; because at
that time [Sept. 14, 1607] a beginning had been made of
settling the terms of a truce with the enemy : and the Illus-
trious States being themselves fully occupied with the most
weighty affairs of the Republic, could not have leisure to
attend to these ecclesiastical concerns.
April 30,1608.] In the mean time Arminius, when he
saw that the churches were urgent, that this cause should be
determined by the legal ecclesiastical judgments ; in order
that he might decline that trial, {forttm, meaning the decision
of the ecclesiastical courts,) having exhibited a suppliant
writing {libeUum) to the Illustrious the States, obtained that
cognizance should be taken of his cause, by the most ample
the counsellors of the supreme court, being 'political men ;
(not ecclesiastical;) and Gomarus was commanded to hold
a conference with Arminius before the same, the pastors
being present, who had lately attended at the preparatory
convention from South and North Holland. When the
deputies of the churches had understood this, they again
requested the Illustrious the States of Holland and West
Friesland, that, instead of this conference instituted before
the supreme court, a provincial Synod might be called ; that
in the same, cognizance might be taken and judgment given
cm this ecclesiastical cause, by ecclesiastical men, skilful in
these matters, and lawfully delegated by the churches ^vith
the power of awarding judgment. The Illustrious the States
answered, that the cognizance of the cause alone had been en-
trusted to the supreme court ; but that the decision of it would
afterwards be committed either to a provincial or to a
national Synod.
In this conference, a long dispute occurred about the order
of proceeding. Arminius contended, that Gomarus ought to
undertake the part of an agent, {actoris, pleader, or prosecu-
tor, or accuser,) but that he was only bound to defend himself;
while Gomarus judged, that this method of proceeding was
not less unjust than unusual, especially in an ecclesiastical
cause* before political judges ; that he indeed was prepared
to bring proof before a lawful Synod ; that Arminius had
proposed dogmas which were at variance with the word of
HISTORY OP PRECBDING EVENTS. 23
Crod, and with the Confession and Catechism of the Belgic
churches ; but that it could not be done in this place, without
prejudice to his cause; that he (Gomarus) thought this con-
ference, in order to answer the intention of the Illustrious
lords the States, might better be conducted in this manner ;
namely, that without these mutual accusations, each of them
should clearly and perspicuously explain and set forth his
own opinion, concerning every one of the heads of doctrine ;
for thence it might most advantageously be understood, in
what things they agreed or disagreed. As to what belong to
"himself, he would not shrink from explaining his opinion
concerning all the heads of doctrine fully and openly, afl
nauch so indeed as could be desired by any one ; that Armi-
nius also, if he were willing fully to perform the part of a
faithful teacher, ought in the same manner to declare his own
opinion, and not any longer in this business to use subterfuges
of this kind. He, (Arminius,) nevertheless persisted in his
purpose ; so that he at length exclaimed, that he wondered,
seeing various rumors of his heterodoxy had gone about
through the churches ; and the conflagration excited by him,
was said to rise above the very roofs of the churches ; that
he yet found no one, who dared to lodge an accusation against
bim. Gomarus, in order to meet this boasting, undertook to
prove that he had taught such an opinion concerning the first
article of our faith, namely, concerning the justification of
mm before God, as was opposed to the word of God, and to
the confession of the Belgic churches. For the proof of this
thin^, he produced his own very words, written out from the
hand writing of the same Arminius, in which he asserts, that
in th<; justification of man before God, the righteousness of
Christ is not imputed for righteousness ; but that faith itself,
or the act of believing, (to credere,) by the gracious acceptation
{acceptationem, acquittal) was that our righteousness, by
which we are justified before God. When Arminius saw
himself ttius fast bound, as he could not indeed deny this to
be evidence of proof, {evidentiam probationis, conclusive evi-
dence,) he began to consent to another method of proceeding ;
inamely, that each should sign in a wiiting his own opinion,
i<;omprised ia certain theses, concerning the principal articles,
in which the difference was thought to consist ; on which
each afterwards in return marked his own animadversions.
This conference having been terminated, the counsellors
of the supreme court reported to the Illustrious the States of
Holland and West Friesland, that they, as far as they had
24 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
been able to perceive from the conference, judged ; that the
controversies, which had arisen between these two professors,
were not of so great importance, but regarded especially some
more subtile disputes concerning predestination, which might
either be omitted or connived at, {dissimulari,) by a mutual
toleration. But Gomarus added, that the difference detected
in the opinions were of so great moment, that he, with the
opinion of Arminius, should not dare to appear before the
judgment of God : and, unless a remedy were maturely
applied, it was to be feared, lest in a short time, one province
should be engaged in contest against another, church against
church, state against state, and citizens against each other.
But the Illustrious the States determined, that the writings
sealed on each side in this conference, should be preserved
in the supreme court, even unto a national Synod, neither
should they be communicated in the mean while to any man
{cuiquam mortalmm.) Yet, neither did this conference
deliver from anxiety the churches, but rather increased it;
especially as the things which had been done at it were con-
cealed from the churches. For not without reason they
judged, {haud temere,) that this was done in favor of Arminius,
lest his opinions should be made manifest. In the mean
while the churches did not cease, by their deputies, strenuously
to petition the Illustrious States, that this ecclesiasticaJ
cause, which, except with great danger of the church, could
not be deferred, might be examined and decided on, as scon
as possible, by the judgment either of a lawful provincial, or
a national Synod. When Arminius understood this, he pro-
cured by Utenbogardus, whose authority at that time was
great among most of the chief persons of the countr;', that
5ie Illustrious States should command that the Annual Synods
themselves, as well of South as of North Holland, Ihe time
of which was at hand, should be deferred. But as this could
not be done without the greatest detriment of the churches,
tJiey again, having explained before the Illustrious ^he States
their difficulties, petitioned, either that it might be allowed, to -
hold, according to custom, each of the annual Synods, as | ^
well that in South, as in North Holland ; or that out of each
united together one provincial Synod should as soon as possi-
ble be called, as it had also before this been petitioned.
June 28, 1608.] To this petition, the Illustrious States
declared, that they had determined, in the next October, to
call together a provincial Synod for this purpose. When this
had been made known to the churches, all the pastors attached
HISTORY OP PRECEDING EVENTS. 25
to Arminius were again admonished, that each of them would
lay open to his class, his considerations, (or remarks, con-
siderationes^) that the same might be lawfully carried to the
approaching Synod. But they, as before, so now also each
of them, declined this with one consent, with their accustomed
evasions, {te7'giversatiombus.) And when the month of Oc-
tober approached, and the churches pressed the convocation
of a provincial Synod, as promised, that was again deferred
for two months : and it was again permitted to the churches,
to hold the particular annual Synods, as well in South as in
North Holland ; yet on this condition, that the cause of Ar-
minius should not be treated of in the same, which they willed
to be reserved to the provincial Synod. In the Synod of the
churches of South Holland, which was held at Dordrecht, (or
Dort,) when it had been reported, that all the pastors attached
to Arminius were hitherto unwilling to lay open their con-
siderations, which they said they had against the received
doctrine, to their fellow pastors, {symmistis,) but that they
eluded by various evasions, the admonitions of the churches,
and the decrees of the Synods ; it was determined, that it
should be gravely enjoined on them, to lay open these their
considerations, within the space of the next month, after the
admonition given, under the penalty of incurring the ecclesi-
astical censure against the contumacious. The same also
was demanded from the professors of sacred theology in the
University of Leyden, and from Peter Bertius, the ruler of
the theological college. These pastors, when they saw
that either their opinion must be laid open, or they must
undergo the ecclesiastical censure ; in order to evade each
of these, they, by the aid of Utenbogardus, obtained letters
from the Illustrious lords the States, in which it was enjoined
on these pastors, that within the space of one month, they
should transmit to the lords the States themselves, the con-
siderations which they had sealed up, that they might be
reserved by the same, to be exhibited to the provincial Synod.
The professors, being asked by the deputies of the Synod, if
they had any considerations of this kind, to open these before
them, Gomarus answered ; indeed, that he had observed nothing
in the Confession and Catechism of the churches, which he
thought in need of correction or alteration, as too little agreeing
with the word of God ; but Arminius, that he would answer
by writing to this demand, in his own time. And when he
saw himself thus urged by the churches to the declaration of
his opinion, he explained in a prolix discourse to the lords
4
^6 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
the States, in their stated convention, what he thought con-
cerning divine predestination, the grace of God, and the free-
will of man, the perseverance of the saints, the assurance of
salvation, the perfection of man in this life, the Deity of the
Son of God, the justification of man before God, and the
other heads of doctrine. At the same time, he endeavored
to persuade the Illustrious the States, that, in these reformed
churches, a doctrine was delivered concerning the divine
predestination, which was at variance {jntgnaret) -with the
nature of God, with his wisdom, justice, and goodness ; with
the nature of man and his free-will ; with the work of creation ;
with the nature of life and death eternal, and finally with that
of sin ; and which took away the divine grace, was inimical
to the glory of God, and pernicious to the salvation of men ;
which made God the author of sin, hindered sorrow for sin,
took away all pious soHcitude, lessened the earnest desire of
doing good things, extinguished the ardor of prayer, took
away the " fear and trembling," with which we ought to
" work out our own salvation," made way for desperation,
subverted the Gospel, hindered the ministry of the word, and
lastly, overturned the foundations, not only of the Christian
religion, but also wholly of all religion.*
When Gomarus had heard these things, he deemed it a
part of his duty, to give better information (melius erudire)
to the Illustrious lords the States, lest perhaps by this method,
their minds should be pre-occupied with unfavorable preju-
dices against the orthodox doctrine. Having therefore
* It is probable, that in all the volumes, which ever since that time,
have been written by Anninians, or Anti Calvinists, in refutation of
Calvinism, there is no objection of any plausibility, urged against the
doctrines designated by that term, which is not here briefly, and fedrly,
and emphatically stated, as used by Arminius, before the States of
Holland, in this history, written with the express purpose of sanctioning
the decisions of the Synod of Dort; perhaps, no where else can so
compendious a list of these objections be found. The compilers evidently
did not consider them as unanswerable, or very formidable ; nor were they
afraid of having the whole cause fairly tried and determined according
to THE WORD OF GoD ; the objcctious being indeed, neither more nor
less, than man's presumptuous reasonings against the express, sure, and
authoritative testimony of God himself; the substance of the inquiry
which the apostle answered, or silenced at once, "Thou wilt say to me,
Why doth he yet find fault ? for who hath resisted his will ? Nay but,
O man," rejoins the apostle, "Who art thou that repliest against God ?"
It is evident from the whole narrative, that the Confession and Catechism
of the Belgic churches, as well as the sei-mons and writings of the pastors,
were involved in tliis heavy charge, and condemned most deeply by this
sweeping sentence.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 27
petitioned for permission to speak, he, in the same convention,
copiously {prolixe) explained what was the genuine opinion
of Armmius concerning the grace of God and the free-will
of man, the justification of man before God, the perfection of
man in this life, predestination, the origin of sin, and the
perseverance of the saints ; and what just causes of suspicion,
he (Arminius) had given, that he did not think aright, con-
cerning the Holy Scripture, the sacred Trinity, the providence
of God, the satisfaction of Jesus Christ, the church, faith,
good works, and the other heads of doctrine. By what arts
also he disseminated his own opinions ; namely, that when
publicly asked and solemnly enjoined, he hath hitherto
concealed his opinion from the churches ; but had diligently
inculcated it privately on the pastors, whom he hoped he
should be able to draw over into it, and on his own pupils,
(or scholars:) that he enervated the principal arguments of
our party, {nostrorum,,) with which the orthodox doctrine used
to be fortified; but confirmed those of the Jesuits, and of the
other adversaries, with which they are accustomed to fight
against the doctrine of the reformed churches ; that he sug-
gested various doubts concerning the truth of the received
doctrine, into the minds of the pupils ; and (taught them) to
hold the same at first, as in an equilibrium with the heterodox
doctrine, and at length altogether to reject it ; that hitherto he
had not been willing to publish any declaration of sincerity
and consent in doctrine, though very often lovingly, and in a
brotherly manner, asked by the churches to do it ; that he
had eai-nestly labored by all means, that he might not lay
open to the churches his errors, which had been detected
before the supreme court ; and that he had aimed at this one
thing, by delaying the time, to have the opportunity of drawing
over the more persons into his own opinion, and of every where
occupying the churches ; that, having despised the decisions
and decrees of Synods, classes, and presbyteries, he had in
the first instance burst forth {prosiliisse) to the tribunal of the
Supreme Magistrate, and had there proposed his complaints
and accusations against the doctrine of the churches ; and by
the arts of a courtier {aulicus) had industriously studied to
conciliate favor to himself, but to bring hatred on the
churches. "Wherefore he (Gomarus) earnestly entreated the
States, (seeing that the students of sacred theology in the
University of Leyden, and every where the pastors, daily
more and more revolted from the orthodox doctrine, discords
and contentions spread abroad, the churches were disturbed,
2» HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
and the citizens were drawn into parties,) that the promised
national Synod might as early as possible be called ; in
which, the causes of these evils having been legally examined,
a suitable remedy might at length be applied. The deputies
of the churches also soon after petitioned for the same ; but
by the endeavors of Utenbogardus and others it was effected,
that this calling of the Synod should always be deferred.
April 4, 1609.] They (the deputies of the churches)
likewise several times admonished Arminius to send to them
the considerations contained in the writing which he had
promised ; who at length answered by letter, that he did not
deny that this had been promised by him, but, because he had
understood that the Illustrious the States had ordered the
pastors to send their considerations sealed up unto them, he
had changed his mind, (consilium,) and that he would wait
till the same also should be enjoined on him. Peter Bertius,
the regent of the theological college, being admonished by
the same deputies, that if he had any thing against the received
doctrine of the churches, he would freely explain it, declared
his own opinion concerning most of the heads of doctrine
openly without any evasion; and shewed that, in the articles
of the justification of man before God, of predestination, of
the grace of God, of free-will, and finally, of the perseverance
of true behevers, {verefidelhim,) he thought differently from
the doctrine of the Belgic churches.* This rendered the
churches more and more anxious ; seeing they understood
that not only Arminius in the University, but Bertius also, in
the seminary of the churches of Holland, set before the youth
entrusted to his fidelity, and destined to the ministry of the
churches, heterodox doctrine : and, having drawn them aside
from the sincerity (or pwnV?/) of the doctrine, instilled into
them {imhuere) new opinions. The churches saw these
things, and grieved ; yet they were not able to apply the lawful
remedy to these evils, though it was that which they chiefly
* " There was not, however, any public law, or confession of faith,
that obliged the pastors of the reformed churches in any part of the
world, to conform their sentiments to the theological doctrines that were
adopted and taught at Geneva." Mosheim, vol v. p. 366. " Arminius
knew that the Dutch divines and doctors, were not obliged by their
confession of faith, nor by any public law, to adopt and propagate the
principles of Calvin." Ibid. p. 441. It might be supposed from this, that
the opposers of Arminius, and all concerned in procuring the Synod of
Dort, wanted Arminius and his party to adhere to the Geneva Confes-
sion and the creed of Calvin, &c: whereas in fact, these are never
mentioned in the history prefixed to that of the Synod, but the received
doctrine of the Belgic churches alone.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 29
wished and judged necessary; Utenbogardus, and others,
whose authority was at that time great among certain chief
persons of the country, hindering with all their power, by
their means, all synodical conventions and ecclesiastical
judgments.
Hence the pastors attached to Arminius were made more
bold to propose their own heterodox opinions ; and they be-
gan even publicly before the people, to defame the received
doctrine with various calumnies, and to rage furiously
{debacchari) against it, as horrid and detestable. Among
these, a certain person, (called) Adolphus Venator, the pastor
of the church of Alcmar in North Holland, was not the last;
who, besides that he was of too little approved a life, {vitcR
miiiits 'prohatcB^) openly and by no means in a dissembling
manner, scattered abroad Pelagian and Socinian errors, with
incredible impudence, publicly and privately ; for which
cause, he was suspended from the office of teaching, by the
legitimate judgment of the churches of North Holland. He
(however) despising the judgment of the churches, persisted
in the office of teaching, against the will of the churches.
The orthodox pastors in the Class of Alcmar judged that this
unholy man, {impiirum,) having been la\vfully suspended from
the ministry, and a few other pastors whom he had drawn
over into his opinion, and who pertinaciously refused to testify
their consent to the doctrine of the reformed churches, by the
subscription of the Confession, should not be admitted into
their assembly. They, having complained of this matter to
the Illustrious the States, by the aid of Utenbogardus, obtained
a mandate, by which this admission for them was commanded ;
which when the orthodox could not do, because of their con-
science ; they submissively requested the Illustrious the
States, that they might not be burdened by mandates of this
kind, which they could not conscientiously obey. The
deputies of the churches, when they saw that these dissensions
and scandals were daily more and more increased, again
earnestly entreated (or adjured, obtestoti sunt) the Illustrious
the States, in the name of the churches, that the promised
provincial Sjmod might be called together at the earliest time,
for the removal of these evils. But when Utenbogardus, and
the rest of the pastors addicted to Arminius, observed the
minds of the Illustrious lords the States to incline to this ; in
order that they might avoid the ecclesiastical decisions, they
effected by certain individuals who seemed more attached to
their cause, that, in the stead of the provincial Synod, a con-
4*
30 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
ference, concerning the controverted articles between Gomarus
and Arminius, should be held, in the convention itself of the
Illustrious States ; in the which each might take to himself
four pastors, whose counsels they might be allowed to use.
Arminius had taken Jannes Utenbogardus, of Hague, Adrian
Borrius of Leyden, Nicholas Grevinchovius of Rotterdam,
and the before mentioned Adolphus Yenator of the Alcmarian
church. But Gomarus, (took) Ricardus Acronius of Schei-
dam, James Roland of Amsterdam, John Bogardus of
Harlem, and Festus Hommius of Leyden, pastors of the
church.
When they had come together, Gomarus and the pastors,
who had joined themselves to him, requested these two
things : 1. That this conference should be instituted in
writing to be exhibited on each side ; by which means, vain
rumors of whatever kind might be counteracted. 2. That
these writings should afterwards be delivered to a national
Synod, to be examined and judged, by which the judgment of
an ecclesiastical cause, might be reserved entire to the
churches.* The Illustrious the States, willed that the con-
ference should be instituted, by word of mouth, {viva voce,)
yet so that it might be allowed to use writing in aid of
memory ; and they promised, having given public letters for
confirmation of the matter, that this cause, when they had
known concerning the same from this conference, should be
reserved to the judgment of a provincial Synod ; and in order
to this, that all things whatever, which should there be treated
of by word of mouth, being afterwards sealed up in writing,
those writings should be exhibited to the Synod.
The same persons also thought it a shameful thing, (iw-
dignum,) that Adolphus Venator who, on account of his
doctrine and impure life, had been suspended from the minis-
try by the lawful censures of the churches, should be brought
forward (or employed, adhiberi) in such a conference, to the
great detriment of ecclesiastical censures. Wherefore they
demanded, that another person should be taken in his place ;
* That this cause might be reg:ularly condemned, it was judged
" pi'oper to bring it before an ecclesiastical assembly or Synod. This
method of proceeding, was agreeable to the sentiments and principles of
tlie Calvinists, who are of opinion, that all spiritual concerns and reli-
gious controversies ought to be judged and decided by an ecclesiastical
assembly or council." Mosheim, vol. \. 13.450. "The Calvinists are
not particular in this ; and indeed it is natui-al that debates, purely
theological, should be discussed in an assembly of divines." J^Tote, IbicL \
Maclaine. \
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 31
which, as Arminius vehemently struggled against it, they were
not able to obtain. In the beginning also, a disputation oc-
curred concerning the order of handling the articles. For
Arminius seemed to place the great defence of his cause in
this, that the beginning should be made with the article of
predestination. Gomarus thought, that because the article
which respected justification seemed more necessary, the
beginnings should be made with it ; which also pleased the
Illustrious the States.*
Concerning this article, there was the same controversy,
which had previously been agitated before the supreme court,
namely. Whether faith, inasmuch as it is an act according
to the gracious estimation of God, be that righteousness
itself by which we are justified before God. In the second
place, it was treated concerning the doctrine of divine pre-
destination, which Arminius endeavored to render odious,
by the same consequences, which he had lately brought
forward in the convention of the Illustrious States. But
Gomarus urged the principal point, namely, Whether faith
were the antecedent cause or condition of election, or
whether indeed the fruit or effect of the same. The third
controversy was concerning the grace of God and free-will.
Arminius professed that he acloiowledged all the operations
of divine gi-ace, whatever could be assigned in the conver-
sion of man ; only that no grace should be assigned, which
is irresistible. Gomarus shewed what ambiguity and what
guile might be concealed under that word irresistible ;
namely, ^at indeed under the same might be hidden the
doctrine of the Semi Pelagians, and the Synergists (Co-
operators) Vv'hich had been condemned of old ; and he stated,
that in the regeneration of man, that grace of the Holy
Spirit was necessary ; which works so efficaciously, that the
resistance of the flesh being overcome, whosoever are made
partakers of this grace, are certainly and infallibly converted
to God by the same. Finally, they treated concerning the
perseverance of the truly believing. Arminius declared,
that he had never opposed the doctrine of the certain per-
severance of the truly believing, nor thus far was he willing
♦ Arminius in this point, shewed his sound policy ; for ivhen de-
claniations against pi-edestination have prepared the way, a prejudice
as to tlie other doctrines connected with it, or held by those who hold
that offensive doctrine, will seldom be impartially considered. Some
modern refuters of Calvinism either have not been so politic, or they
have heenmcre fair, in this respect than Arminitis was.
3^ HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
to oppose it, because those testimonies of scripture stood
for it (or were extant for it) to which he was not as yet able
to answer ; he should therefore only propose those topics,
which in this article had excited scruple and hesitation in
him.* When Gomarus had answered to these topics, he
confirhied this doctrine from the word of God by many
evident testimonies.
These things having been fully discussed, the collocutors
were asked, whether there remained more articles, con-
cerning which they differed from each other. Gomarus
answered, that there were more ; the articles for instance
concerning original sin, the providence of God, the authority
of the sacred scriptures, the assurance of salvation, the
perfection of man in this life, and some others ; concerning
which, whether they should treat also in this place, he left
to the prudence of the Illustrious the States ; especially as
they must a second time be discussed by them in the Synod.
But when the state of Arminius' health did not seem such
as could endure a longer conference, it pleased the Illus-
trious the States, that it should be broken off; after that
they had promised, to the petition of Gomarus and the rest
of the pastors who had joined themselves to him, that this
entire cause should be more fully examined and decided on
in a provincial Synod, to be called together as soon as might
be ; and had enjoined the collocutors, that each of them
should exhibit to them his opinion, with the arguments and
refutations of the contrary opinion, contained in a writing,
within the space of fourteen days ; in order that these
writings might be preserved by them, even to the provincial
Synod. Gomarus within the prescribed time transmitted
his writings, which were afterwards published in Dutch,
{Belgice.)
As the difficulties of the church were rather increased
than taken away by this conference, the deputies of the
churches submissively again petitioned the Illustrious the
States, that the provincial Synod, so often before, and in
the conference itself, promised, should be called, and also
* It is remarkable, that Arminius himself in this his last public con-
ference, and just before his death, should express himself so undecided
on this grand point of decided and unqualified opposition to modern
Arminians ; and should make the concession, that he was not yet able
to answer the scriptures, which seemed to favor the doctrine of the final
perseverance in all true believers. It is v,rorthy the serious consideration
of his disciples. He died October 19, in this same year.
I
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 33
at the earliest time. Answer was returned to them, though
there were certain persons who strove against it, that the
convocation of it would then be appointed, when the pastors
of the Alcmerian Class had obeyed the mandate of the
Illustrious the States, admitting to their assembly Adolphus
Venator, and the pastors attached to him. But, lest that
affair should delay the provincial Synod, the deputies of the
churches going to Alcmar, treated with the pastors of that
class concerning this admission, and so far prevailed on
them, that they were ready to admit the pastors attached to
Venator, on honorable conditions, (or equitable, lionestis ;)
but they laid before the deputies so many and weighty
reasons why they could not admit Venator himself, that they
themselves judged, that in this respect, they ought not to be
urged. When this had been reported to the Illustrious the
States, not even yet could the calhng of a Synod be ob-
tained. For indeed the pastors attached to Arminius effected
this, that it should be again enjoined to the Class of Alcmar,
unreservedly to admit these pastors without any condition ;
which when they could not do, the calling {of the Synod)
was again hindered.*
Arminius in the mean while excused himself to the Illus-
trious States by letters ; that by reason of bodily weakness
he was not able to prepare the writing enjoined him ; which
weakness so increased upon him by degrees, that a short
time after he departed this life. [Oct. 19, 1609.] Thus
these contests and dissensions exercised the University and
the churches of Batavia while Arminius was living ; but
when he was taken away from among the living, though every
good man hoped, that a great part of these evils would be
taken away and buried along with him, seeing that he had
* "These measures confirmed, instead of x-emoving the appreliensions
of the Calvinists ; from day to day tliey were still more firmly persuaded
that the Arminians aimed at nothing less, than the ruin of all religion ;
and hence they censured then- magistrates with great warmth and free-
dom, for interposing their authority to promote peace and union with
such adversaries. And those, who are well informed and impartial,
must candidly acknowledge, that the Arminians were far from being
sufficiently cautious in avoiding connexions with persons of loose prin-
ciples ; and by frequenting the company of those whose sentiments
were entirely different from the received doctrines of the reformed church,
they furnished their enemies with a pretext for suspecting their oAvn
principles, and representing their theological system in the worst colors."
(Mosheim, vol, v. p. 445.) It seems evident that they patronized men
not only of loose principles, but of licentious character. The word
Calvinisls is not used in the historical preface of the Synod of Dorl.
34 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
been the leader and author of all these contentions ; yet, as
many pastors, every where in the churches of Holland, had
consented to his opinion, and would not cease from propa-
gating it, the deputies of the churches thought, that never-
theless the convocation of a provincial Synod should be
urged ; to whom it was again answered, that the Illustrious
the States would then consider about calling some ecclesi-
astical convention, when the Class of Alcmar had obeyed
their mandates.
In the mean time the pastors attached to Arminius, when
they saw the affair brought into such a situation, that, the
calling of a Synod having been hindered, little seemed to be
feared by them from ecclesiastical judgments and censures ;
as if with loosened reins of boldness and impudence, they
began to inveigh and rage furiously, both in public and
private, against the orthodox doctrine of the reformed
churches, concerning election, the perseverance of the saints,,
the assurance of salvation, and other articles, with the most
bittei- and contumelious revilings, with the greatest offence of
the pious, and the congratulation of adversaries, and dis-
turbance of the churches ; and to render the doctrine of the
churches by all means suspected by the people, and to
embitter the minds, especially of the nobles {magnatum)
against it, and the faithful teachers of the same. Neither
was it sufficient for them, by private whisperings, and
pubhc and official sermons {tribuniiiis) to excite the minds,
as well of the common people as of the rulers ; but by pub-
lic writings also, which in great number, and not with less
scandd, were daily every where dispersed among the people,
they so defamed {proscindebant, cut up) the doctrine of the
reformed churches, that the sworn adversaries of the same
had scarcely been able to do it with greater virulence and
evil speaking. And, that they might the better conciHate to
themselves the favor of the magistrates, and render their
minds more and more bitter against the rest of the pastors,
by Utenbogardus, at first in a speech made in the convention
of the Illustrious the States, and then publicly in writing,
they endeavored to persuade the magistrates, that the rest of
the pastors diminished and undermined the authority of the
magistrate, and affected and arrogated to themselves a
power collateral, or equal to their power.
Wherefore the deputies of the churches judged, that the
Illustrious the States should be again approached, and
intreated, that they would deign at length to apply a legal
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 35
remedy to these e^als, which seemed now to have come to the
height, by calHng together a provincial Synod. And when
the Illustrious the States seemed easily about to consent, be-
cause of the extreme necessity of the matter, the pastors
attached to the opinions of Arminius suggested to them a
new counsel, by which they thought that this calling (of a
Synod) might either be entirely hindered, or be so instituted,
that their cause might be in safety ; namely, if the persons,
from among whom the Synod was to be called, should not
be delegated by the churches, (as was equitable, and had
been hitherto the custom,) but be called forth by the States
themselves ; for they would easily afterwards obtain that those
only should be selected, who either were attached to their
cause, or too little averse from it. This innovation, though
they had already persuaded some of the chief persons of the
country, the more prudent could not approve ; who judged
that this convocation (of a Synod) should be instituted after
the accustomed manner. They affected, nevertheless, that,
while a disputation was excited among the Illustrious the
States, concerning the manner of calling the Synod, that the
convocation itself, (which in the first place these pastors
regarded,) not only of the provincial Synod, but of the
annual Synods, and those which before were ordinarily held,
should by this means be entirely hindered. For, as often as
they who wished, that these evils should be taken away from
the churches by this lawful remedy, made mention concern-
ing the convocation of any Synod ; so often they who
favored Arminius and his cause, renewed the contentions
concerning the manner of calling it. Wherefore the pastors
also, who were attached to the opinions of the same, (Armi-
nius,) when they discerned that matters were now brought to
that situation, that the fear of all ecclesiastical judgment and
censure seemed to be taken away, being rendered more
daring, their own churches not having been consulted, or
aware of it, and without the authority of the supreme magis-
trate, they privately met together in a great number; and
there, having entered into confederacy or conspiracy, by the
subscription of names, they formed a body, as they called it,
separate from the body of the rest of their fellow pastors,
and instituted a manifest schism in the reformed churches.
At this time they exhibited a suppliant wTiting, {libellum,) or,
as they called it, the Remonstrance, to the Illustrious the
States of Holland and West Friesland ; from which they
were aftenvards called Remonstrants, In this they placed
36 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
before them the doctrine of the reformed churches, concerning
the divine predestination, and the perseverance of the saints,
unfaithfully, {mala fide,) and not without open and atrocious
slanders,* that by this means they might render it odious to
the Illustrious orders ; at the same time they added that
declaration of their own opinion concerning the same articles,
which they under the ambiguous coverings of words con-
cealed, that so it might appear to the more unskilful not much
distant from the truth. And moreover they petitioned from
the Illustrious the States, to be received under their patronage
and protection, against all the censures of the churches.
This matter vehemently affected all the Belgic churches
with amazement and grief, {perculit,) as they saw that these
controversies had now burst forth into an open schism ; and
they used every endeavor that they might be able to procure
a copy of this remonstrance, by which means an answer might
be returned to the calumnies of these persons. But, by the
favor of him who was used to keep these things, they (the
Remonstrants) easily obtained, that not one copy could come
into the hands of the rest of the pastors. Another thing was
added to this calamity of the churches, which above measure
increased their anxiety and their difficulties. For when a
successor was sought to J. Arminius in the professorship of
theology, the deputies of the churches strenuously requested
and adjured the most Ample the Directors of the University
of Leyden, in the public name of the churches, that they
would substitute in that place a man clear from all suspicion
of heterodoxy ; in order that by this means the controversies
in the University of Leyden might gradually cease, and their
peace be restored to the churches ; at the same time they
commended certain eminent theologians, as well foreign as
Belgic, to the directors; but without success, {irrito successu.)
For the Remonstrants, v*'ho seem to have pre-occupied the
minds of certain persons, effected by their commendations,
that Conradus Yorstius, a professor of Steinfurt, a man for
many years justly suspected by the reformed churches of
Socinianism, should be called to the professorship of theology
in the place of Arminius, and for that cause that Utenbogardus
should be sent away to Steinfurt ; which thing when the
deputies of the churches had understood, they thought it to
* It seems a sort of right by prescnption to Anti Calvinists, to misre-
present and bear false witness aguinst the Calvinistic doctrines, and
those who hold them ; I would that no Calvinist had ever imitated them
in this respect.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 37
belong to their duty, to admonish the Illustrious the States,
that a man of this kind might not rashly be admitted to this
vocation, who might be as a nail or claw in an ulcer, especial-
ly in so disturbed a state of the churches. Moreover, that
this might be done by them with the greater fruit, they peti-
tioned by letters from the venerable the theological faculty
of the University of Heidelberg, to whom this Yorstius had
been intimately known, that it would sincerely declare, whether
it thought that this Vorstius, in the present state of things,
could w ith profit, and the peace and edification of the church-
es, be placed over the education of youth in the University of
Leyden. It was also answered (by this theological faculty)
that a certain book of his had lately been published con-
cerning God and the divine attributes, in which he refuted {con-
Telleret) the doctrine both of ancient and modern theologians ;
and taught, that God was as to essence, great, finite, compo-
sed of essence and accident, changeable in his will, and ob-
noxious to passive power, {passivce potential^) with other simi-
lar portents. And that he had been sent ten years since to
Heidelberg, that he might clear himself before the theologi-
cal faculty, D. Pezelius also being present, from [the charge)
of Socinianism, of which had been accused by the churches.
And indeed that he had so cleared himself, a writing {syngra-
pha) having been left : but that this clearing of himself {pur-
gationem) had not been made valid ; but, on the contrary, too
often and by various means he had rendered himself more sus-
pected ; because he carried in his head a nest of monstrous
fancies, {portentorum,) with which he had hitherto polluted the
school and the youth at Steinfurt : but if a man of so sus-
pected a faith should be called to the most illustrious Univer-
sity of Leyden, this would be nothing other than to extinguish
a conflagration with oil.
When not only the deputies of the churches, but also the
most ample the magistrates of the principal cities of Hol-
land, of Dort for instance, and Amsterdam, had signified these
things to the lords the curators, and to the Illustrious the
States themselves ; and intreated that they would not exas-
perate the difficulties of the churches, and expose them to the
danger of new and greater (evils) by this calling of that man;
the Remonstrants labored with all their powers that they would
not desist from this purposed calling (of him ;) for they per-
suaded them that this would be joined with the loss of their
own authority. In the mean time, Vorstius came into Hol-
land ; who, after he had been heard in the convention of the
5
JJ8 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
Illustrious the States, Utenbogardus alone of the pastors be-
ing present, returned to Steinfurt.
About this time, when certain students of sacred theology,
having been called to the ministry of the word in the divers
classes, were about to be subjected to examination, the Re-
monstrants procured it to be enjoined to these classes, by the
counsellors of the Illustrious the States, that no further dec-
laration should be demanded from any one, in the examina-
tion, concerning the article of predestination, and the heads
annexed to it, than what had been expressed in five articles of
the Remonstrants, which were sent along with (this injunc-
tion ; ) and at the same time, it was strictly forbidden, that any
should be driven away from the ministry of those, who pro-
fessed that they thought in the before mentioned articles with
the Remonstrants.* When the pastors, on many accounts,
* The five articles of the Contra-Remonstrants so often mentioned in
this history, do not occur separately and all together in the authentica-
ted documents, of which I make use, but comparing the detached ac-
counts of them, and the arguments used in the Synod of Dort, concern-
ing them, with the following statement from Mosheim, (vol. v. p. 444,
445,) the latter appears sufficiently accurate for our present purpose.
1. "That God, from all eternity, determined to bestow salvation on
those who, as he foresaw, would persevere unto the end in their faith in
Christ Jesus, and to inflict everlasting punishment on those w-ho should
continue in their unbelief, and resist, to the end of life, his divine suc-
cours.
2. " That Jesus Christ, by his death and sufferings, made an atone-
ment for the sins of mankind in general, and of every individual in par-
ticular ; that, however, none but those who believe in him can be parta-
kers of that divine benefit.
3. " That true faith cannot proceed from the exercise of our natural
faculties and powers, or from the force and operation of free-will, since
man, in consequence of his natural corruption, is incapable either of
thinking or doing any good thing ; and that therefore it is necessary to
his conversion and salvation that he be regenerated and renewed by the
operation of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God. through Jesus
Christ.
4. " That this diviiie grace, or energy of the Holy Ghost, which heals
the disorders of a corrupt nature, begins, advances, and brings to per-
fection every thing that can be called good in man ; and that, consequent-
ly, all good works, without exception, are to be attributed to God alone,
and to the operation of his grace: that, nevertheless, this grace does not
force the man to act against his inclination, but maj'- be resisted and ren-
dered ineffectual by the perverse will of the impenitent sinner.
5. " That they who are united to Christ by faith are thereby furnish-
ed with abundant strength, and with succours sufficient to enable them
to triumph over the seductions of Satan, and the allurements of sin and
temptation ; but that the question. Whether such may fall from their
faith, and forfeit finally this state of grace ? has not been yet resolved with
sufficient perspicuity, and must therefore, be yet more carefully exami-
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 39
were very reluctant {gravarentur) to consent to this, the depu-
ties of the churches having been asked by them, laid open
their grievances, in the next election of the Illustrious the
States of Holland and West Friezland ; and at the same time
declared, that they were prepared to prove in a lawful Synod,
that those articles of the Remonstrants were contrary to the
word of God, and the Confession and Catechism of the Bel-
gic churches : and they entreated the Illustrious the States,
not to suffer these heterodox articles, having never been duly
examined in a lawful assembly of the churches, to be obtru-
ded in this manner on the churches ; but rather, that they
would call together the provincial Synod so often petitioned
for, nay, nov/ for a long time earnestly sought, in which these
articles might be first examined according to the rule of the
divine word. They shewed also, with how great scandal and
detriment of the churches, it would be joined, if the appoint-
ed calling of Yorstius should proceed. And further they re-
quest, that this should be hindered by the authority of the
Illustrious the States.
A consultation having been held concerning these things,
it was determined, that a conference should be appointed, at
the next Comitia of the count of Hague, in the convention
itself of the Illustrious the States, on these five articles of
the Remonstrants, between six pastors, to be chosen by each
party. The Remonstrants had chosen for themselves, by the
deputies of the several classes, John Utenbogardus, of the
Hague; Adrian Borrius, and John Arnoldi Corvin of Ley-
den ; Nicolas Grevinchovius of Rotterdam ; Edward Pop-
pius of Goudan, and Simon Episcopius, pastors of the church
of Bleswick. But the rest of the pastors had chosen, by the
deputies of each of the classes, Peter Plancinus of Amster-
dam ; Libertus Frascinus of Brilan ; Ruardus Acronius of
Schiedam ; John Beccius of Dort ; John Bogardus of Harlem ;
and Festus Hommius of Leyden, pastors of the church.
March 11, 1611.] When they had met together, the
Remonstrants refused to institute the conference with the
other six pastors, as with the deputies of the classes of
Holland and West Friezland, such as they shewed themselves
ned by an attentive study of what the holy Scriptures have declared in
relation to this important point."
*' It is to be observed, that this last article Avas afterwards changed by
the Arminians, who, in process of time, declared their sentiments with
less caution, and positively affirmed, that the saints might fall from a state
of grace.*^ Mosheim, vol. v. p. 445.
40 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
to be by letters of commission (fidei,) lest they should seem
to be the adversaries of the churches ; moreover they protes-
ted that they would depart, the matter being left unfinished^
(re infecta,) unless these would lay aside that character.
When there had been for a long time much disputation, the
rest of the pastors chose rather to yield to their importunity,
than to contend any longer concerning that matter. And
they who had been deputed by the classes, before they went
in to the conference, besought the Illustrious lords the States,
that the promise which had been made to the churches more
than two years before, in the conference held between Arminius
and Gomarus, (namely, that the conference being ended, the
judgment of this cause might be permitted and reserved to a
provincial, or national Synod,) might here also be renewed.
It was agreed upon that this order of proceeding should be
observed by them ; that each party should comprise in writing
the arguments of its own opinion ; concerning which a con-
ference should then be instituted by word of mouth. Before
they came to the examination of the articles, the pastors,
whom we before said had been deputed by the classes,
exhibited an answer to the suppliant wTiting (libeUum) of the
Remonstrants, a copy of which they had procured a little
before the conference ; in which they shewed that the Re-
monstrants had most unfaithfully {pessima fide) set forth the
opinion of the reformed churches, and had feigned in addition
to it {adfinxisst) many things as a calumny ; and that they had
not openly avowed their own (opinion,) or set forth all the
articles concerning which there was a controversy. And^
seeing there were more controverted heads, besides those
which were explained in these five articles, they humbly
prayed, that, by the authority of the Illustrious the States, it
might be enjoined on the Remonstrants, that they should
likewise roundly and openly declare themselves concerning
ail the rest. Therefore, when the first article of the Remon-
strants was aboutto be discussed, (or canvassed, ca?cw^/e?^rf^^*,)
in which it is stated, " that God had from eternity decreed to
save persevering believers," which no Christian denies ; and
this article was so placed by them, as that which contained
the doctrine concerning God's eternal election ; the Remon-
strants were asked, that (in addition) to the declaration of
their opinion, as expressed in this article, they would explain
these two things. First, Whether they would maintain that
this article contained the whole decree of predestination ;
secondly, Whether they thought that this faith and perseve*
HISTORY OP PRECEDING EVENTS. 41
ranee in the faith were causes and conditions which preceded
election unto salvation ; or fruits which spring from election,
and follow after it. After they had shifted about for some
time, they answered at length, to the first indeed, that they
acknowledged no other predestination to salvation, than that
which had been expressed by them in the first article ; but to
the second, that faith in the consideration and view of God
was prior to election to salvation ; and that it did not follow
in the manner of any fruit. They then proposed in return
seven other questions, as well concerning election, as repro-
bation, to which they desired an answer to be given by the
pastors deputed from the classes. These, as they did not
belong to the state of the controversy concerning the first
article, and moreover were most of them mutilated and intri-
cate, were proposed by them, that by this method they might
draw them from the principal state of the controversy, and the
right manner of treating it into doubtful disputations, {am-
bages.)* The pastors, having shewn by a libel {libellum) to
the Illustrious the States this unjust way of proceeding, did
not indeed entreat that they might not manifest their own
opinion concerning reprobation ; as the Remonstrants had
too often iniquitously {improbe) objected to the same persons ;
but declared expressly their opinion, as far as they thought
might suffice for the peace and edification of the churches,
not only by word of mouth, but also in writing : That indeed
when they state the eternal decree concerning the election of
individual persons, they at the same time state the eternal
decree concerning the reprobation or rejection of certain
individual persons ; because it could not be, that there should
be election, but moreover there must be, at the same time, a
certain reprobation or dereliction. Yet to rashly canvass all
these difficult questions concerning this article, was nothing
else, but to fill the church with useless disputations and con-
tentions not profitable, and to disturb its peace. That this
their declaration suppliantly expressed in this libel, ought to
suffice all men of moderate dispositions and lovers of peace :
namely, that it was indeed believed and taught by them, that
God condemned no one; yea, neither had he decreed to
condemn any one, unless justly for his own proper sins.|
* A common method among many controversialists, expressively
called, " throwing dust in men's eyes."
t " That God, by an absolute decree had elected to salvation a very
small number of men, without any regard to their faith and obedience
whatever ; and secluded from savmg grace all the rest of mankind, and
6*
42 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
It therefore pleased the Illustrious the States, that, leaving
these thorny questions, they should come to the discussion of
the articles. The pastors deputed by the churches, proposed
in wiiting their reasons, on account of which, they disapproved
of each of these articles. The Remonstrants also, on the
other side, exhibited in vs^riting their own arguments, by which
they thought that each of them might be confirmed. About
these reasons and arguments, disputations were held by
speaking, in the full convention of the Illustrious the States.
The parts of the collocutor, in the name of those deputed by
the churches, were sustained by Festus Hommius ; but in the
name of the Remonstrants, at first by Adrian Borrius, and
then by Nicolas Grevinchovius, J ohn Arnoldi, and Simon
Episcopius, succeeding each other by turns.
While the pastors were occupied in this conference, Conr.
Vorstius had returned out of Westphalia into Holland, whom
the Illustrious the States appointed to be heard in a full con-
vention, all the colloc'Utors being present. When they were
come together, he made a prolix oration, in which he endea-
vored to clear himself from the errors objected to him. Then
the collocutors were asked, whether they had any considera-
tions, on account of which they judged that the calling of
Vorstius, to the professorship of theology in the University of
Leyden, should be hindered. The Remonstrants expressly
declared that they had nothing against Vorstius ; neither had
they detected any thing in his writings, which was repugnant
to truth and piety.* The other pastors exhibited in writing
their reasons, for which they judged that this vocation would
be vehemently mischievous and disgraceful to the churches
of Holland ; and they shewed from a book of Socinus,
concerning the authority of the sacred Scriptures, edited by
Vorstius himself, and interpolated ; and also from that, which
Vorstius himself had very lately written and published con-
cerning God and the divine attributes, his principal errors,
concerning which there was held during some days a confer-
ence between him and Festus Hommius, in the convention of
the Illustrious the States, in the presence of the collocutors.
appointed them by the same decree to eternal damnation, without any
regard to their infidelity or impenitency." HeyUn's 1st Article of the
Synod of Dort.
* " Among the persecuted ecclesiastics was the famous Vorstus, who
by his religious sentiments, which differed but little from the Socinian
system, had rendered the Arminians particularly odious." Mosheim,
vol. V. p. 455.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 43
This having been finished, the pastors on each side were
again asked by the Illustrious the States, that they would
sincerely, and without any passions {affectihus) declare,
whether Vorstius by his answers seemed to have satisfied
them. The Remonstrants answered, that full satisfaction had
been given to them by Yorstius ; and they moreover judged
that it would be very useful to the churches and to the Uni-
versity, if his vocation proceeded. The rest of the pastors
declared in writing, that the answers of Vorstius were so far
from having moved them from their former opinion, that by
them they were the more confirmed in that opinion : and that
his vocation could not be forwarded, except by the extreme
detriment of the churches and of the University, and the
manifest danger of still greater disturbance ; to which, that
they might not rashly expose the churches by this vocation*
they submissively adjured (or obtested) the Illustrious the
States, that, dismissing Vorstius, they might return to the
conference concerning the five articles of the Remonstrants ;
and when this, having been continued during some days, was
at length brought to a conclusion, the Illustrious the States
commanded the collocutors on each side, that those things
which had been spoken, viva voce, and whatever they might
judge necessary to a more full answer, being on each side
comprised in writing, should by Utenbogardus and Festus be
exhibited to the Illustrious the States. And in t\w mean time,
that the pastors might not glory among themselves concerning
the victory which they had gained one over the other, but that
they teach moderately with edification concerning the contro-
verted articles, and live among themselves in peace and
charity; they determined that these articles should be left in
the same state in which they had been before the conference.
In the cause of Vorstius nothing was at that time decided ;
but when a little time afterwards, the most ample the magis-
trates of the city of Dort, by their delegates, most ample
men, D. Hugo Musius, ab Holii the Pnetor (or Mayor,)
James Wittius, Adrian Repelarius, John Berkius, the Syndich,
requested the Illustrious the States, seeing rumors concerning
the errors and heresies of Vorstius, became daily more and
more frequent, that his vocation might be broken off*, or at
least deferred; the Illustrious the States commanded the
curators in the University, to proceed no further in his vocation.
And when the report of his vocation had come to James the
First himself, the most Serene and powerful king of Great
Britain, the Defender of the Faith, who out of his admirable
44 HISTORY or PRECEDmo EVENTS.
skill in theological matters, especially in a king, and for his
singular zeal towards the reformed religion, when he had
himself carefully read the tract of Vorstius concerning God,
and had noted the principal errors with his own hand, judged
that the Illustrious the High Mightinesses the States General,
his neighbors and allies, were to be admonished, as well by
letters, (the catalogue of his errors being also transmitted,) as
by his own ambassador, an Illustrious person, D. Rodolphus
Winwood, not to admit a man infamous by so many and so
great errors and blasphemies, to the public office of teaching
in the University ; but rather to banish him from their borders ;
lest if the youth should be imbued by him with these wicked
and execrable errors, the state should by little and little go
to decay ; seeing that by the purity of the reformed doctrine,
in which the Belgic churches had hitherto cultivated an ami-
cable agreement with the English, and in the preservation of
it, the safety of the republic itself was concerned.* When
this was delayed, the Remonstrants earnestly striving against
it, and especially Yorstius, by various explanations, apologies,
prologues, {prodromis,) and answers, as well modest, as mora
fully excusing and strengthening {incrustante) his o^vn errors;
yet his most Serene Royal Majesty did not desist to urge his
dismission, sometimes repeating his admonitions, and even
adding a serious protestation.!
While thei5e things were doing, certain students of sacred
theology who likewise had come forth from the instruction
and the house of Vorstius, in the University of Franekar,
which they had now been sedulously employed in infecting
with Socinian errors, published in print a certain little book
of Faustus Socinus, concerning the duty of a Christian man ;
in which persuasions are given, that all who would consult
the salvation of their own souls, having deserted the dogmas
* This at least shews the general judgment of theologians concerning
Vorstius, whom the Remonstrants so zealously supported fand even still
more strongly, on the supposition that James and his select divines, were
not at that time favorable to Calvinism.
t This shews what the generally received doctrine of the church of
England was then supposed to be ; viz, for substance the same as that of
the Belgic church. Theeulogium on James I. reminds us of the words of
C-owper, "Grant me discernment, I allow it you ;" yet the English di^
vines have spoken still more decidedly on the subject. (Preface to
Translation of the Bible.) It may be supposed that the Belgic divines, who
adhered to the Synod of Dort, would retract or qualify this eulogium,
when they learned the change which soon after took place in England
under the patronage of the same James.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 45
and assemblies of the reformed churches, should embrace
the opinion of the Phothinians and the Ebionites ; adding a
preface, in which they diligently commend this book unto the
churches.* The Illustrious the States of Friezland, having
been assured of this, and having at the same time procured
certain familiar letters of these students, in which they de-
clared, by what arts the common cause of Socinianism, (which
they not obscurely intimated was also carried on by Yorstius
and by Utenbogardus and others in Holland,) might be
ocultly and safely propagated ; having taken care that the
most of these copies of this book should be destroyed by the
avenging flames, and having expelled the students from their
confines ; they, at first indeed by letters admonished the
magistrates of the principal cities of Holland ; and then by
the most noble person Kempson a Donia, the Illustrious lords
the States themselves ; and they requested, inasmuch as the
orthodox consent in the reformed doctrine was the principal
bond and foundation of union, among the confederated pro-
vinces, that they would not admit, by the vocation of one
man, thus suspected of manifest heresies, this agreement to
be enfeebled ; nor suffer themselves to be led about by
artifices and frauds of this kind, by which it was evident,
that these men secretly attempted this. But the pastors of
Leoward having made pubhc the above mentioned letters of
the students, with necessary annotations, solemnly warned all
the churches, to take heed to themselves against artifices of
tliis kind, and especially the deceitful machinations of the
heretics, and in the first place of Yorstius. The Illustrious
dukedom of Gueldria and county of Lutphan also warned
the Illustrious the States of Holland, concerning the same
thing, who answered, that nothing would be more their hearty
desire and care, than that they might retain, in the common
business of religion, this consent with the rest of the federated
provinces inviolate. Concerning which their constant pur-
pose, they peculiarly requested, that their federated neighbors
would be assured. In the mean time, that they themselves
would have regard to this admonition. And they command
Yorstius, to remove his place of abode from the city of
* " Photinus' opinions concerning the Deity, were equally repugnant
tx) the Orthodox and Arian systems," See Mosheim, vol. i. pp. 425,
426. " Though the Ebionites believed the celestial mission of Christ
and his participation of a divine nature, yet they regarded him as a
man born of Joseph and Mary, according to the ordinary course of
nature," Ibid. vol. L pp. 214, 215,
46 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
Leyden to Gouda, and there to vindicate himself from the
errors objected to him by public writings, as much as he
could.
Then the same, the lords the States, decreed, that they
who held the conference at the Hague, should on each side
exhibit in writing the state of the controversy concerning the
five articles of the Remonstrants; and should at the same
time add their counsels, by what method they thought that
these controversies might be most advantageously composed
to the peace of the church and the good of the republic.
The Remonstrants judged, that no more certain method of
concord could be entered on, than a mutual toleration, by
which each party might be permitted, freely to teach and
contend for his own opinion concerning these articles.* The
other pastors declared that they could not show a more ad-
vantageous way, than that as soon as possible, and on the
first opportunity, a national Synod should be called together
by the authority of the Illustrious the High Mightinesses the
States General ; in which, these and all other controversies
having been clearly explained and examined, it might be
determined which opinion agreed with the word of God, and
the common judgment of the reformed churches, and on that
account ought to be publicly taught; lest, by the agitating of
discordant opinions, truth should be injured, or the peace of
tlie churches disturbed.
On these counsels the opinions of the Illustrious the States
were various ; some approving the counsel of the Remon-
strants, and others that of the rest of the pastors, which was
the cause, that nothing was determined in this matter, by
which an end might be put to these controversies,
Dec. 3, 1611.] But when the Illustrious the States had
understood that, besides these five articles, concerning many
other things controversies of no small importance were mov-
* Such a toleration amounted to an entire abolition of the Belgic
Confession and Catechism, without any previous interference of those
Synods, classes, and presbyteries, which were essential to their form of
church government. As if, under the name of toleration here in Eng-
land, the whole establishment of the church, without any reference to
tlie authority which established it, should be disannulled by one royal
or senatorial mandate ; and all preferments in the church and universities
thrown open to men of every creed and character. James the Second
attempted a little in this way in order to bring in popery, but the
dissenters in general opposed this his dispensing power ; and few if any
of modern dissenters, who make the highest claims of something above
toleration, mean such a complete abolition of the present state of things,
by the same despotic authority as this implied.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 47
ed ; in order that they might meet the innovations maturely,
they appointed, that the doctrine of the holy Gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ, should be most purely set forth, as well
in the churches as in the public schools of these regions ; and
to this end, in the churches and in the public schools of
Holland and West Friezland; that, concerning the perfect
satisfaction of our Saviour Jesus Christ for our sins, con-
cerning the justification of man before God, concerning
saving faith and original sin, the certitude of salvation, and
the perfection of man in this life, nothing should be taught
otherwise, than as it is every where delivered in the reformed
churches, and hath been hitherto delivered in these provinces.
In the mean while, every where in the churches, discords,
scandals, disturbances, and confusions increased in a deplora-
ble manner. For the Remonstrants labored assiduously with
all their powers, that the pastors who especially resisted their
attempts, (the magistrates having been excited against them
by false accusations,) shoidd not only be cast out of their
ministerial stations, but out of the cities themselves ; and
that on all the churches which were deprived of pastors, even
when reluctant and struggling against it, those should be
obtruded, who were addicted to their own opinions ; all others
being excluded wherever they were able, though excellently
furnished with learning, piety, and necessary endo^\•ment&,
and lawfully sought out and called by the church.* And this
WELS the cause, that the orthodox churches could not consider,
as their lawful pastors, pastors of this kind ; Mho had either
oppressed and cast out their innocent colleagues, contrary to
all law and justice, or who had been obtruded on them against
their will, and who had reviled the doctrine of the reformed
churches, in the most virident sermons, daily and in a horrid
manner; that they could not hear their sermons, or ])artake of
the Lord's supper along with the same ; but that they chose
rather to go to the sermons of orthodox pastors in the adja-
cent places ; though they were exposed to many reproaches,
disgraces, and injuries on that account. And these were
the beginnings and occasions of the separation from the
Remonstrants. I
* The toleration which these men pleaded for, was precisely like that
I which papists demand as emancipation ; that is, power and full liberty
to draw over others to their party by every artful means; till they
become strong enough to refuse toleration to all other men.
t Here was a schism begun, as several others have been : but did all
the blame lie on those who separated from the rest? On the other
48 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
The church at Alcmar was the first among all, which was
compelled to institute a separation of this kind. For Adolphus
Yenator, the pastor of that church, having been suspended
from the office of teaching, as well for his too impure life,
as for his most impure doctrine, by the churches of North
Holland, despising the censures of the churches, nevertheless
persisted in the office of teaching. And now that the magis-
tracy having been changed, as it was used to be done every
year, such persons had been lawfully chosen as seemed least
to favor his party, and on whose patronage he could no longer
depend ; having excited the people against the lawful magis-
tracy, he effected that they (the common people) having
seized arms by sedition, would not be appeased, before the
lawful magistracy, having abdicated themselves, certain
others were substituted to the same, men estranged from the
reformed religion, and addicted to the party of Venator.
These men, as soon as they had been established in the
government of the city, at Venator's instigation, at first
commanded the elders and deacons to go out of their office ;
and then they also deprived of their ministerial stations two
pastors because they had opposed themselves against the
errors of Venator; of whom the one, Peter Cornelii, for
almost fifty years had presided over that church with the
greatest edification, the other Cornelius Hillenius, a man of
the most upright faith and life, and a very earnest (accerri-
mum) defender of the orthodox doctrine they most unworthily
cast forth as driven out of the city. This separation (at
Alcmar) the church at Rotterdam was compelled to imitate :
for Nicolas Grevinchovius, when he saw his colleague Cor-
nelius Gezelius, most acceptable to the church at Rotterdam,
on account of his singular piety, modesty, and sincerity, and
that by his endeavors, he vehemently resisted the introduction
of the doctrine of the Remonstrants ; procured, that by the
magistracy of that place, he should first be deprived of his
ministry, and then driven out of the city by the public
beadles {iictores.)* The pastors also of the Class of Rotter-
dam, attached to the purity of doctrine, declined holding the
tiand, Would such a toleration as is here described, meet the wishes and
claims of the advocates for toleration, who in this transaction, as in
many others, are imposed upon by a favorite term, however misapplied ?
* The names both of the persecuted and persecuting pastors are given
in this history ; but the names of the magistrates who concurred in the
persecution are withheld, in honor as it may seem of the magistracy.
This greatly accords to the narrative in the Acts of tlie Apostles.
HISTORY OP PRECEDING EVENTS. 49
meetings of the Class with this Grevinchovius, and others
who had been drawn over by him to the opinion of the
Remonstrants, when the magistracy of Rotterdam by
authority had obtruded Simon Episcopius, to whom the
church of Amsterdam in which he had Uved, had refused to
give a testimonial of doctrine and life, on the unwilling church
of Bleyswick, contrary to the preferable {potiora) suffrages
of the pastors. Many churches also in the villages, on which
either Remonstrants had been obtiiided against their will, or
whose pastors had revolted to the Remonstrants, because
they could not hear without the greatest offence, and sorrow,
and perturbation of mind, those horrid railings against the
orthodox doctrine, which were daily heard in their sermons,
having left their temples they either went to the sermons of
(he neighboring orthodox pastors ; or where these could not
be had at their own villages, they were instructed by other
pastors, or by orthodox candidates for the ministry, in
separated assemblies; which when the Remonstrants had in
\ain attempted to hinder by the edicts of their magistrates,
they excited no small persecution against these churches.*
In the mean time, the lords the curators of the University
of Leyden, by the counsel of the Rem^onstrants called M.
Simon Episcopius to the professorship of theology, that very
renowned mtm Dr. John Polyander, who had been called to
the same professorship in the place of F. Gomarus, being
unwilling and struggling against it. This augmented not a
little the grief and anxiety of the churches ; when from this it
appeared, that it was determined by them (the curators) to
cherish contentions in that university, and to estabhsh the
doctrine of the Remonstrants. But as these evils now could
scarcely any longer be contained within the limits of the
churches of Holland ; this contagion at length pervaded, in
the first place, the neighboring churches of Gueldria, the
province of Utrecht and Transisulania. In the diocese of
Utrecht, by the negligence of the pastors, the ecclesiastical
order seemed fallen down. And under the pretext of
restoring it, Utenbogardus introduced into that church some
Remonstrant pastors, and among them, one James Taurinus,
a fierce and turbulent man. These (pastors) from that time
* This Avas their toleration ! Certainly, according: to this history, the
persecution begem on the part of the Remonstrants ; nor does the contrary
appear that I can learn from other histories. The Contra-Remonstrants
appealed to existing laws and to legal Synods ; the Remonstranis used
»he illegal aid of penal edicts and secular magistrates.
6
50 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
gave diligence, not only in this city, but in the whole province,
by ejecting every where the orthodox pastors, and substituting
Remonstrants in their places ; that the doctrine of the Re-
monstrants alone should publicly prevail. But in order to
establish their cause in the same province, they devised a
new formular of ecclesiastical government, which at first had
been approved by the Synod, in which Utenbogardus the
pastor of the Hague presided, and then through the endeavor
of the same person, by the Illustrious the States of that
province likewise. In the fourth and fifth article of the
second chapter, the toleration of the opinion of the Remon-
strants, which in Holland they so greatly urged, was
established ; where also the doctrine of the reformed
churches is obUquely and odiously traduced. Finally very
many new things in the government of the churches occur
every where in this formular (forimila.) So that from the
same it might appear, that nothing other was proposed by
these men, than that they might make all things new, not
only in doctrine, but in the external government of the church
by rites {gubernatione ritibus ecclesicR.)
And now also in Gueldria, the Remonstrants had drawn
over to their party, the pastors of Neomagen, Bommelien,
and Tilan; who from that time placed over the ministerial
charges of the neighboring churches, only men of their own
opinion. And that they might do this with the more freedom
and safety, Utenbogardus, Borrius, and Taurinus, going into
Gueldria, when the comitia of the Illustrious the States were
celebrated in the same place, with the other Remonstrants
effected this, that in the province also, the ordinary and annual
meeting of the Synods should be prevented. In Transisulania
also, some pastors, especially in the church of Campen and
Daventer, by the endeavor and artifices of certain persons,
had been drawn over to the opinion of the Remonstrants ;
who in those places thenceforth disturbed peaceable churches
with new contentions.
Sept. 27, 1612.] When the Belgic churches saw that
this evil, thus crept also into the other provinces, was spread
abroad in them ; as they judged it to be most highly
necessary that it should be met as soon as possible, neither
that the remedy should be any longer deferred, having
communicated counsels one with another, they sent away
two delegates from each of the provinces, to the Illustrious
the High Mightinesses the States General: namely, from
Gueldria, John Fontanus and William Baudartius ; from
i
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 51
Holland, Libertus Fraxinus and Festus Hommius ; from
Zeland, Herman Frankelius and William Telingius ; (those
of Utrecht refused to send theirs ;) from Friezland, Geilius
Acronius and Godofrid Sopingius ; from Transisulania, John
Gosmannus and John Languis ; finally, from the state of
Groningen and Omlandia, Cornelius Hillenius and Wolfgang
Agricola, who, together with the deputies of the church of
Amsterdam, which was synodal, Peter Plancius and John
Hallius, having set forth copiously the difficulties and dan-
gers of the churches, as well in the name of the churches
themselves, as also most of them in the name of the Illustrious
the States of their own provinces, (whose letters also they
set before them,) most strenuously requested and adjured the
Illustrious their High Mightinesses the States General, that,
pitying the most afflicted state of the churches, they would at
length seriously think concerning a remedy of these evils ;
and for that purpose, at the earliest time call together a
national Synod, (which had been) first promised many years
before. Though most persons among the States General
judged, that the convocation (of a Synod) was not to be
deferred any longer, and even themselves urged it : yet
because the delegates of the province of Utrecht were absent,
and those of Holland and West Friezland said, that they had
not been furnished with mandates sufficiently clear as to that
business, by those who delegated them ; the matter was put
off, until the delegates of all the provinces had agreed to it
by their common suffiages, which was thenceforth hindered
from being done, by the endeavor of the Remonstrants in
Holland and Utrecht.
In the mean time, the Remonstrants did not desist from
strenuously promoting their own cause, (or cease) to court
[aucupari) the favor of the great men, to occupy the minds
of the magistrates, to render suspected to the politicians
and impede all synodical meetings, to seize on the vacant
churches, to propagate their own opinion by sermons and
public writings, to rail at the orthodox doctrine with horrid
calumnies, to draw over the people to their party, and to
alienate them more and more from the doctrine of the
reformed churches. For this purpose they earnestly scat-
tered pamphlets {libellos) in great number, among the common
people, written in the vulgar tongue, under the titles of * The
Bells of a Conflagration,' {camjjanes incendiariiz) * A more
compressed Declaration,' ' A more direct Way,' and others ;
in which they not only fought in defence of their own
62 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.'
doctrine, but both excused Vorstius, and most atrociously^
with a canine eloquence, canvassed the received doctrine of
the Belgic churches, by most impudent calumnies, and most
absurd consequences deduced wickedly and unjustly against
the same. Hence bitter disputes and altercations were
excited among the people, which sounded throughout all
places : and the minds also of those who were most nearly
related, (or connected, conjuctissimorum) having been embit-
tered among themselves ; (with the great wound of charity,
and the disturbance of the churches and of the public peace ;
and with the immense grief and offence of the pious,) were
torn asunder in the most miserable manner. And, as in
most of the cities they had the magistracy more favorable to
them, and could do every thing, through J. Utenbogardus,
with the advocate of Holland, they insolently exulted over the
churches, and their fellow ministers.
In the mean while, all pious men, and lovers of their country
and of religion, bewailed and wept over this most wretched
calamity of the churches : and when they could not in their
mind perceive, whither at length these tumults were about to
grow, unless a remedy should be maturely applied ; because
this had not hitherto been practicable by public authority ; they
began seriously to think, whether by some other way this evil
might at least be stopped, if it could not be taken away. In
the first place the most Illustrious the count of Nassau^
William Lewis the governor of Friezland, according to his
extraordinary affection toward the churches and the republic,
privately admonished as well Utenbogardus on the one side,
as Festus Hommius on the other ; that, seeing the state of
the republic itself grievously assaulted by these ecclesiastical
contentions, they should look well to it, in a friendly and
brotherly manner between themselves, to see whether some
honorable way might not be found out, of composing this
most deplorable dissension, and of coming to an agreement.
Festus declared, that if the Remonstrants differed from the
rest of the pastors, in no other articles, than in those five con-
cerning predestination, and the heads annexed to it, he thought
that a way might be found out, in which some peace might be
established between the parties, until the whole controversy
should be settled by a national Synod. But because there
were weighty reasons, on account of which the churches
believed, that most of the Remonstrants dissented from the
doctrine of the Belgic churches in more articles, and those
of greater importance : neither could it be done, {fieri) that
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 53
under the pretext of these five articles, they should permit or
suffer the most grievous errors to be brought into the same
(churches;) there did not seem any hope of entering into
agreement with the Remonstrants, unless they would sincerely
(or unreservedly, sincere) declare, that except these five arti-
cles, they thought with the reformed Belgic churches in all
the heads of doctrine.* Utenbogardus being interrogated as
to these things, answered, that as far as he himself was con-
cerned, he had nothing, beyond these five articles, in which
he dissented ; and that he would be always ready to declare
sincerely his own opinion ; nor did he doubt, but that the most
of the Remonstrants would do the same ; and that he did not
wish for any thing more than that, for this cause, a conference
might be instituted among some pastors of a more moderate
disposition. And when he had repeated the same declaration
privately to Festus at Leyda, it was agreed between them, that
each of them should procure among his own friends, three
pastors to be deputed on each side, who might in a friendly
manner confer together, and seriously consider among them-
selves concerning a convenient way of peace, which after-
wards might be communicated to the churches, and approved
by them.
Feb. 27, A. D. 1513.] When the Illustrious the States
of Holland understood that these counsels were privately
agitated, they approved this their- earnest endeavor, and com-
manded in the public name, that this conference should be
held as soon as it could be done. Soon after, there met to-
gether, for this cause, in the city of Delph, on the part of the
Remonstrants, John Utenbogardus, Adrian Borrius, and
Nicolas Grevinchovius ; on the part of the rest of the pastors,
John Beccius, John Bogardus, and Festus Hommius. After
that the Illustrious the States had, by their delegates, exhort-
ed them seriously, that laying aside all resentments and evil
affections, they would bend the whole energy of their capa-
city, that some way of peace among themselves might be
* As predestination, and the doctrines immediately and evidently
connected with it, are more readily rendered odious in the view of man-
kind in general, than the other peculiar doctrines of Christianity : at
that time, as well as at present, it was the policy of those whose real
and declared views were opposed to others of these doctrines ; to hold
out to the pubhc, and to rulers especially, that the Avhole dispute, or
difference, was about election and reprobation : while in refuting these
articles they take in a much wider compass. But an obnoxious word
will do a great deal of execution, on those who have not time or heart to
examine the matter deeply.
6*
54 * HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS,
found ; and had declared that this would be at the same time
acceptable to God, and to the churches and all pious men^
and in the first place to themselves the Illustrious the States ;
and when each of these pastors had testified that they came .
together with a mind most earnestly desirous of peace, and
and that they would bring thither all things which could pro-
ceed from them, in order to conciliate peace, an amicable
conference was held by them. In this the Remonstrants de-
clared, that they were not able to shew any other way of
peace, except a mutual toleration, as they called it : namely,
that it should be freely permitted to each party, to teach pub-
licly his own opinion, concerning those five articles ; and they
asked of the rest of the pastors, to declare whether they
thought their opinion, expressed in these five articles, to be
tolerable or not. If they thought that it was not tolerable, (or
to be tolerated,) it was not necessary, that any further delibe-
ration should be had, concerning the way of peace ; as truly
in their judgment no method then would remain of entering
into peace. The rest of the pastors answered, that this ap-
peared to them the safest and most advantageous Vv'^ay of peace;
that seeing, they were, each of them, pastors of the Reformed
Belgic churches, and were desirous of being considered as
such, each party should submit its own cause to the lawful
decision of the Belgic churches ; and that it should for that
end and purpose, seriously and sincerely labor, that a nation-
al Synod of the reformed churches should be called together,
as speedily as might be, even, if it could be done, in the next
summer, by the authority of the Illustrious and High Mighti-
nesses the States General ; in which the whole cause having
been lawfully examined and discussed, it might either be de-
termined which doctrine, as agreeable to the word of God,
ought thenceforth to be taught in the churches ; or that the
plan of a toleration might be entered into, by the suffrages of
all the churches, of that kind which might appear proper to be
instituted from the word of God. That they were ready to
subject themselves to the judgment of the Synod ; if the
Remonstrants were willing to do the same, thus peace might
be accomplished : but that a toleration, such as they had
hitherto used, and such as they seemed to request, being
circumscribed by no laws, could not promote the peace of the
churches ; but if they would suffer it to be circumscribed with
fair (or honorable) conditions, they were ready to confer with
them concerning the same (conditions ;) provided they would
assure the churches, by a sincere and open declaration, that
HISTORY OP PRECEDING EVENTS. 56
they thought differently from these reformed churchesy in no-
other heads of doctrine except these five articles.* But since
die Illustrious the States, two years before, [Dec. 3, 1611.]
had by name expressed six heads of doctrine, concerning
which they forbad to be taught, otherwise than it had been
hitherto delivered to the Belgic churches : namely, concerning
the perfect satisfaction of our Lord Jesus Christ for our sins,
the justification of man before God, saving faith, original sin,
the assurance (or certitude) of salvation, and concerning the
perfection of man in this life ; they in the first place demanded,
that they would declare concerning these articles, that they
embraced the opinion expressed in the Confession and Cate-
chism of these churches, which they the other pastors had
comprised from the same in certain written theses ; and that
they rejected the contrary opinion proposed in certain anti-
theses, from the ^\Titings of Arminius, Bertius, Vorstius,
Venator, and ethers. The Remonstrants replied {r-egesserunt)
to this, that they could not see in what manner these contro-
versies" couM be quieted (sopiri) by a national Synod ; and
truly in the present state of things, that they neither approved
nor demanded its convocation : that this cause could not be
helped by synodal decisions ; nor did they think that Holland,
in the concern of religion, would ever submit itself to the
decisions of the other provinces. As to the declaration which
was demanded, they would communicate with the other Re-
monstrants concerning the same : and when, on "each side,
they had comprised briefly in writing their own opinion, they
departed, the business being left unfinished-l'" Afterwards
the Illustrious the States called TJtenbogardus and Festus to
them, that they might know from them what had been done
* "The demands of the Arininians were moderate; they required no
more than a bare toleration of their religious sentimei\ts; and some of
the first men in the republic, such as Olden Barneveldt, Grotins, Hoo-
gerberts, and several others, looked upon this demand as just and reason-
able." Mosheim, vol. v. p. 442, "This toleration was offered to them
in the conference holden at the Hague in 1611, provided they would re-
nounce the errors of Socinianisni." Note bj' Maclaine.
t The event was what might previously have been expected 5 indeed
nothing else could come of such a conference, between parties whoss
sentiments were so entirely discordant, (2. Cor. vi. 16-18.) The toleration
demanded by the Remonstrants was in direct opposition to the existing
laws, grounded on private or partial authority at best ; like King James'
claim of the dispensing poM^er over acts of parliament 9n matters of
religion, and indeed it amounted to a private repeal of those laws. The
others were willing to consent to a legal and limited toleration. It is
also evident, that their firm decision and opposition was not mainly about
predestination and reprobation.
66 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
in this conference at Delph, and what hopes shone forth of
concord being entered on. Festus sincerely and without
disguise {nudeque) related what had been done, and declared,
that hope of peace shone forth, only provided the Remon-
strants would openly declare their opinion on the articles de-
livered to them. Utenbogardus, by courtly craftiness, had
procured that he should be heard alone, Festus being absent;
that he might the more freely propose the things which he
thought would serve his own purpose. And when he had
odiously traduced the proceedings of the rest of the pastors,
as the persons who, by the demand of a declaration, (which
yet before the conference he himself had promised,) endea-
vored to bring a new inquisition into the churches, and one by
no means to be endured, obtained, that the same persons
should be forbidden any more to demand this declaration from
the Remonstrants : and moreover, that it should at the same
time be enjoined on them, to explain more at large in writing,
their counsel on the best way of peace, and concerning the
conditions, by which they thought that a toleration should be
circumscribed. When this had been done by them, and it
had also been shewn, that .the proposed theses concerning
which a declaration had beefl demanded, were extant, in so
many words, in the Confession and Catechism of the Belgic
churches ; and the antithesis themselves had been delivered
in public writings, by many persons, with whom the Remon-
strants had much communication, in these regions :* when
this their writing had been publicly read, they (the Remon-
strants) by their advocate, effected that it should be severely
forbidden, to be communicated to any of the human race,
either in printing, or as written by the hand of any one. And
because they saw, that the deputies of the churches, or of
the Synods, to whom the common cause of these concerns
used to be committed, greatly withstood them, (as the nature
of their office demanded,) they caused also, that, as before
all the annual Synods had been hindered, so that it should
likewise be forbidden to the same persons, henceforth to use
the name, or perform the office, of a deputy of the churches or
of a Synod. That, by this means, all care respecting the
* Mosheim and many (indeed most) other writers on the subject,
represent the Centra-Remonstrants, as aiming to impose the creed of
Geneva, or of Calvin, on the Remonstrants in Belgium. Let the impar-
tial reader judge whether this was the real case. There might be, and
indeed was some coincidence between this and the Confession and Cate-
chism of the Belgic churches, but the latter exclusively are mentioned in
the whole contest.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 67
safety and peace of the churches being taken away, they (the
Remonstrants) might so much the more freely make progress
among them.*
By this method of acting, the Remonstrants rendered
tliemselves more and more suspected by the churches ; while
all the more prudent men judged that, unless they dissented
in these articles (the six stated above, page 55,) from the
doctrine of the churches, they would have had no reason,
why they should covertly flee from this declaration ; especially
when they might have (thus) promoted (considi posset) the
peace of the churches and their o^vn credit. But that they
might the more easily obtain that toleration by public authority
which they always pressed ; by the benefit of which they
indeed hoped to be able by little and little, to introduce their
own doctrine in the churches, they employed this artifice ;
they sent over into England, by Hugo G-rotius, a certain
writing, in which the true state of the controversy was dis-^
sembled, a copy of a letter being also annexed ; and they
requested that he would petition from the most Serene James,
I King of Great Britain, seeing this cause could not be settled
[ by any other method than by a toleration, that his most Serene
■ royal Majesty would deign to give letters according to the
I form of the annexed copy, to the Illustrious the High Mighti-
J nesses the States General ; which he, (Grotius) having seized
I on an opportunity, sun*eptitiously obtained and transmitted
them to the Illustrious the States General. |
On this occasion, the Remonstrants exulted after a wonder-
ful manner, and, hoping that they might now become possessed
of their wish, they labored by their advocate, that a certain
* These decrees were made by the States of Holland alone, or nearly ;
and they directly tended to disannul the code of laws of the federated
provinces, promul^rated by the States General of these provinces, and
thus to dissolve their political, as U'cU as religious union. Now what
motives could thj Remonstrants or their patrons have, in such circum-
stances, for so carefully concealing the statements and avowed sentiments
of the other pastors ? Impartial love of the truth could not possibly
suggest such precautions and injunctions. They cannot but call to our
recollection, the conduct of the Jewish priests and rulers respecting the
apostles of Christ: "But that it spread no further among the people,
let us straitly threaten them, that they speak to no man in this name."
Acts.iv. IG, 17.
t it should be noted, that this narrative was published several years
before the death of James ; who therefore, it must be presumed, was
willing to have it thought that these letters were surropliiiously obtained
by Grotius ; and indeed he seems to have been inveigled into a measure,
by no means consistent with the part which he afterwards sustained m
fhe controversy.
68 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
formular of a toleration, (the same indeed which is contained
in the fourth and fifth articles of the second chapter of the
ecclesiastical government of Utrecht,) should be confirmed
by the authority of the Illustrious the States, and commanded
to the churches. Though the minds of many, in the conven-
tion of the States were inclined to this, yet the more prudent
strenuously opposed it ; thinking it to be unjust, to command
(authoritatively) on the churches, a toleration, as to articles
of faith, which had never been duly examined in a lawful
ecclesiastical convention, and which drew with them a mani-
fest change in doctrine ; neither could the peace of the
churches be obtained by this, when it was to be feared, if it
were permitted, that opinions so discordant, should be proposed
from tlie same pulpit to the same congregations, that the
churches should be more and more disturbed, as experience
had hitherto taught.* Yet the Remonstrants went on to press
this their toleration by every means, and to commend it pri-
vately and publicly in their writings and sermons ; especially
by this argument, that the articles concerning which the
controversy was maintained, they said, were of so small impor-
tance, that they did not relate to the ground of the fundamental
points of salvation ; but in articles of this kind, toleration
might and ought to be established.
July 25, 1614.] And thus they at length effected, that a
decree concerning this toleration, some of the principal and
powerful cities of Holland and West Friezland being unwilling
and striving against it, should be published in print, confirmed
with certain testimonies of scripture and of the fathers (among
whom they had also brought forward Faustus Regiensiensis,
* Let it be recollected, that all the parties were professedly, and many
of them, in judgment and conscience, strict presbyterians as to church
government. The toleration here described, is entirely different frotn
any thing known in Britain, or indeed at present thought of. The
general sentiment even of those who claim not only the fullest toleration,
but something beyond toleration, as their indisputable right, is, at
least, " Separate places of worship for those of discordant opinions."
The ground of the toleration here stated likewise, is widely different from
that which is at present insisted on ; namely, that in matters of con-
science towards God, no human authority has a right to interfere, provided
nothing be avowed or done, which threatens or disturbs the peace of
the community ; and that human authority can make only hypocrites,
not willing and conscientious conformists. This is simple, intelligible,
and evidently reasonable ; but to tolerate exclusively opinions, which do
not relate to the fundamentals of salvation, or militate against them, must
make way for intricate and endless disputes and difficulties, about what
are and what are not the fundamentals of salvation ; what is tolerated,
and what is not tolerated.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 59
the leader of the Semi-Pelagians.) Against which things,
when James Triglandius, a pastor of the church at Amster-
dam, had answered in a public writing, Utenbogardus also
prolixly attempted a defence of this decree. In this he, by
unworthy methods, traduced and reviled, as well the doctrine
of the reformed churches, as especially the lights of the same,
Calvin, Beza, Zanchius, and others. To this writing, Trig-
landius opposed an accurate answer, in defence of the honor,
both of the doctrine and the doctors of the reformed churches.
And when they (the Remonstrants) saw, that the authority of
this writing, to which they had given the name of a decree of
the States, was not so great, as that by it they could attain to
what they aimed at, they indicated that the same things must
be attempted in another way ; and for that purpose, a certain
other formular of toleration having been devised in deceitful
phrases, they, by the hands of certain persons, who secretly
favored their party and opinions, but were not considered as
Remonstrants, solicited from the pastors, subscription to this
formular, every where throughout Holland, both privately and
in their convention.
But when even in this way the business did not go on
according to the purpose of their own mind; they judged,
that those persons must be compelled {cogeiidos) by the
authority of the superiors, whom they were not able to per-
suade to this, and that at length sometime it must be broken
through, and this business evidently accomplished. To this
end they likewise obtained, that in the name of the Illustrious
the States, the decree concerning mutual toleration, which
had been published in the former year, should be sent to
each of the classes, and at the same time it should be enjoin-
ed on the pastors to obey the same without any contradiction.
And that they might the more easily prefer those who were
attached to their party, to the ministries of the churches,
others having been excluded; they effected moreover that
another (decree) should be joined to it, by which it was
permitted, that in the vocation of pastors and elders, it should
be allowable to use that order, which in the year 1591 had
been framed, but not approved ; from the prescribed nilc, of
which the election was appointed to be by four of the magistra-
cy, and four others to be deputed from the presbytery. When
these decrees had been transmitted to the classes, the most of
them sent away their deputies to the Illustrious the States, that
they might publicly explain their difficulties or grievances,
which they had as to those things that were contained in the
60 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
writing ; and migi.t deprecate the introduction of the same.
When on this account they had come to the Hague, and had
now learned from the delegates of the principal cities, that
tjiose decrees, though they had already been transmitted, had
not as yet been confirmed by the customary {solemi) appro-
bation of all the States ; and therefore could not as yet obtain
the force of a law ; they judged, that they must desist from
the design till they si ould be further pressed. But this last
decree gave occasion to new contentions and disturbances in
many places, especially in the church at Harlem. For when
some magistrates determined, that ministers should be called,
according to this new form, and (thus) called them, but the
churches did not approve it ; it came to pass, that they refused
to acknowledge those who had been thus called as their lawful
pastors, and to have any ecclesiastical communion with them.
It was also effected by these decrees, that certain classes in
Holland, which had hitherto preserved unity, in the govern-
ment of the churches, with the Remonstrants for the sake of
peace, were now torn away from them {diveUereniur) because
the most of the pastors could not approve these things : yet
as the Remonstrants pmposed that the churches should he
governed according to the prescript and law of these decrees,
but were not able to extort this from their fellow ministers by
authority, they introduced into the conventions of the classes
certain political persons, mostly alienated from the reformed
religion, and attached to their party, and brought dominion
into the churches. For the orthodox pastors, tired out by the
contentions which from these causes daily arose with the Re-
monstrants, judged it to be better, to meet together apart
without them, and to take care of their own churches in peace,
than to be wearied with their perpetual contentions.
In the mean time Utenbogardus procured, that it should be
enjoined on his colleagues, by the authority of the superiors,
to obey these decrees also; which when his colleague Henry
Rosgeus said that he could not promise with a good con-
science ; he was suspended from his office of teaching by
the authority of the same persons, and by the sinister instiga-
tion of Utenbogardus.* Thence the members of the church
at the Hague, who loved the purity {sinceritatem) of the
reformed doctrine, continued the exercise of their religion ; at
first indeed in the neighboring village of Risverch, but, when
* Whatever pretensions were made to toleration by the Remonstrants,
it is from this most evident, that they paid no due regard to the rights of
tonscience, the proper ground of all toleration.
i
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 61
the pastors had obtained it by loan from the other churches at
the Hague, in a separate place of worship {ternplo) to which
afterAvards some of the chief persons out of the States them-
selves, and the counsellors of the courts, and the other col-
leagues, and the most Illustrious the Prince of Orange himself,
and the most Generous Count William Ludovicus, leaving
the assemblies of the Remonstrants, resorted, that they might
testify their consent to the orthodox doctrine, and their strong
attachment to the same. The Remonstrants odiously tra-
duced this separation under the title of schism,* and endea-
vored by all methods to hinder or to punish it : laboring in
the mean while, that these decrees should be authoritatively
- put in execution in every place, where they knew that the
magistrate favored them. On which account, when many
pious men were punished by fines, prisons, and banishments,
they appealed to the supreme tribunal of justice, and implored
. assistance against force ; and when now the most ample the
Senators of the Supreme Court attempted to succor the op-
pressed, they (the Remonstrants) obtained by the advocate of
Holland, that an interdict should be laid on the same court,
from protecting them.|
March, A. D. 1616.] But when many also and principal
cities of Holland, and in the first place among them the most
powerful city of Amsterdam, opposed the execution of these
decrees, it was effected that Hugo Grotius with certain per-
sons should be sent to Amsterdam, in order that by his
eloquence he might persuade the most ample the Senate of
that city to approve the same decrees. When he had attempt-
ed this with a prolix oration, it was answered by the most
ample the Senate ; That they could by no means approve that,
passing by the lawful synodical conventions, it should be
deliberated in a convention of the States, concerning eccle-
siastical affairs, that decrees should be made, and the execu-
tion of those decrees enjoined by authority: That it was
purposed by them, that the true Christian religion, the exercise
of which had flourished during fifty years in these regions,
should be preserved; they judged also that even the least
* It commenced nearly as most other schisms have done ; but all the
blame did not rest on those stigmatized as schismatics, nor even the
greatest measure of it,
f What must the modern advocates for toleration, and more than
toleration, think of that toleration which these men pleaded for, while
thus employed in persecution ; and who have rendered their opponent?
odious even to this day, as enemies to toleration, for rejecting their illegal
measures !
7
62 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS,
change would be pernicious to the repubUc, unless it had beeo
first maturely examined by a lawful Synod ; and further, they
could not assent to the different propositions and acts made
from the year 1611, even to the eighteenth of March of thi?
year 1616, nor to this last proposition; neither were they
wilHng, that under the name of the city of Amsterdam, (when
it was no feeble member of that convention of the States,)
any decrees should be established, much less authoritatively
carried into execution, or any thing decreed against those
who professed the reformed religion, unless controversies,
and changes in religion, and in ecclesiastical affairs, had been
first examined and discussed in lawful Synods, by the autho-
rity of the Illustrious the States. But neither were they -
willing, that pastors who were attached to the opinion of the
reformed religion, defended by the Contra-Remonstrants,
should in the mean time on that account, either be suspended
or removed from their ministerial offices ; because they de-
clared that they could not conscientiously cultivate ecclesias-
tical unity with the Remonstrants : neither that the churches
which followed the same opinion should, under the pretext of
schism, or because according to conscience, they were re-
luctant to attend on the sermons of the Remonstrants, be
hindered in the exercise of divine worship. And all these
things they determined, until by the authority of the Illustrious
the States, a lawful Synod should be convened, in which these
controversies might be duly examined and discussed. Thus
the labor and endeavor of the Remonstrants, and of those
who favored them, were in vain ; especially because the
magistrates of the most ample city of Dort, of Enchuse, of
Edamen, and of Purmerend, publicly approved this determi-
nation of the Senate of Amsterdam.*
About this time, the pastors of Camp in Transisulania,
having embraced the opinion of the Remonstrants, by the
assistance of the magistracy, cast out of the ministry their
most learned colleague, and most tenacious of sound doctrine,
William Stephanus, because he opposed their attempts ; and
by pamphlets pubUshed, and by pubhc sermons full of calum-
nies, they endeavored to bring the reformed religion into the
hatred of the common people.
* As no intimation is here given of molesting the Remonstrants,
either pastors or churches, but merely of preventmg the Contra-Remon-
strants from being molested, till a Synod was held ; this decision of the
Senate of Amsterdam, contains more of the spirit of toleration than any
thing which we have yet met with.
'
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 63
March, A. D. 1617.] When, on account of these innova-
tions in doctrine, and the disturbances of the churches, and
of the state m hich followed, they saw that they were rendered
more and more odious ; they presented a second Remon-
strance to the Illustrious the States, in which, with incredible
impudence, they endeavor to remove from themselves the
crime of innovation, and to fasten the same on those pastors,
who most constantly remained in the received doctrine of
these churches.* And the rest of the pastors presented
likewise to the Illustrious the States a copious and solid
answer to it. But, whereas these long continued controver-
sies had already brought not into the churches only, but the
republic likewise, so great a mass of difficulties, perturbations,
and confusions, that all who loved the safety of the federated
provinces, or of the reformed churches which are in them, or
who favored the same, understood, that the remedy of these
evils could no longer be deferred without the manifest danger
of the state and of the churches ; and yet the Illustrious the
States had not been able hitherto to agree as to the kind of
remedy: James I. the most powerful and Serene king of
Great Britain, out of his singular and sincere affection towards
these regions and churches, thought, that the Illustrious and
most powerful the States General should be admonished by
letters, no longer to suffer this gangrene to feed upon the
body of the republic : but that they should, as soon as pos-
sible, proceed to meet these unhappy contentions, divisions,
schisms, and factions, which threatened manifest danger to
the state. And at the same time he obtested them, that they
would restore to its original purity, all errors having been
extirpated, the true and ancient reformed doctrine, which
they had always professed, which had been confirmed by the
common consent of all the reformed churches, and which
had been always the foundation and bond of that m.ost strict
friendship and cowjunction, which had so long flourished
between his kingdoms and these provinces ; and which he
judged, might be done, of all means the most advantageously,
by a national Synod, to be called together by their authority.
For indeed this was the ordinary, legitimate, and most effica-
cious remedy, which had been had recourse to in every age,
* Either this whole narrative is false throuofhout, or this attempt was
tnade with consummate efirontery: not indeed incredible, because other
innovators, both ancient and modern, have endeavored, and with success,
to fasten the charge of innovation on those, who most steadily abode by
the doctrine of articles, &c. subscribed by all parties. But nothing is
incredible, of which several undeniable instances may be adduced.
64 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
in evils of this kind among Christians. But moreover the
most Illustrious Maurice, prince of Orange, the governor of
federated Belgium, as often before this, so now did not desist
daily, in a most solemn and weighty manner, to obtest, as
well the Illustrious and most powerful the States General,
and also the Illustrious the States of Holland and West
Friezland, that in proportion as the safety of the republic and
the churches was dear to them, so they would give diligent
endeavors, that a remedy as soon as possible might be applied
to these most grievous evils. For this purpose he also
commanded, and pressed upon them, the convocation of a
national Synod, as the most ordinary and the safest remedy.
The Illustrious the States of Zeland also, by the most
noble and ample men, D. Malderseus, Brouwerus, Potterus,
and Bonifacius Junius, solemnly warned and entreated the
Illustrious the orders of Holland and West Friezland, in
their convention, that, seeing the contentions and dissentions
grew more and more grievous every day, with the greatest
danger of the repubhc ; and many remedies had hitherto
been tried in vain ; that they would agree to the convoking
of a national Synod, as the ordinary remedy, proposed by
the Holy Spirit for evils of this kind, and always had recourse
to by Christians.* Then likewise the Illustrious the States
of Gueldria, Friezland, Groningen, and Omlandia, requested
the like thing by their deputies of the same the Illustrious the
States (General.)
But when the Remonstrants saw, that the convoking of a
national Synod was recommended with so great earnestness
by kings and princes, and the neighboring and federated
republics, yea, and also by the principal cities of Holland
and West Friezland ; and when they feared lest the States
* It has, I believe, been generally supposed, that the Synod of Dorf
was convened by a faction or party, and for party ends and purposes ;
but it seems undeniable, that it became the eeneral and almost uni-
versal opinion of the difterent States in the confederated provinces, that
such a national Synod, as the Contra-Remonstrants always had urgently
requested, was become absolutely and indispensably needful ; and that
the Remonstrants and their party could no longer resist this generally
prevailing sentiment. Indeed nothing can be more clear, than that all
parties, except the zealous Remonstrants, regarded a national Synod
as the proper and only effectual way of terminating the controversial
disturbances; and not only sanctioned by the example of Christians in
every age, but enjoined by God himself. How far they were warranted
in this sentiment, constitutes a distinct question. The Synod of Dort,
however, should not be judged by our modern opinions, but by the
general opinion of that age. The reasons why the Remonstrants disr
seated from that opinion are very evident.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 65
5>f Holland and West Friezland, of whom many of their own
accord inclined to it, and promoted this business diligently,
should at length be moved to this consent ; and so, that at
some time, an account must be rendered of their doctrine
and actions before the ecclesiastical tribunals ; in order to
avoid this, they at first proposed a new way of settling the
controversies : namely, that a few persons, both political and
ecclesiastical, of a certain and equal number, should be
chosen by the Illustrious the States of Holland and West
Friezland, who, having communicated counsels ^vith each
other, might devise some method of peace and concord,
which, having been approved by the Illustrious the States,
might then be prescribed to the churches. But when this
did not succeed, (because the more prudent easily foresaw,
from whom, and of what kind of persons, this convention
would be instituted, and what was to be expected from it ;
and besides, that it was unprecedented in the churches, and
very little suited for taking away ecclesiastical controversies
in things pertaining to doctrine,) they thought that the most
extreme measures must be tried, rather than be reduced to
this necessity ; and accordingly recourse was had to the
most desperate counsels. For some of the chief persons
(or nobles, proceribus) were persuaded by them, that the
calling of a national Synod, which was then pleaded for, was
advei:se to the majesty and liberty of the provinces : for that
each province possessed the supreme right of determining
about religion, as it should seem good to it : that it was an
unworthy thing to subject this their liberty to the judgment of
other provinces ; (and) that this right of majesty was to be
defended by all means, even by arms. By these and similar
arguments, the minds of the more imprudent were so stirred-
up, that the rulers of some cities, having made a conspiracy,
decreed to levy soldiers, who should be bound by oath, neither
to tlie most powerful the States General, nor to the Illustrious
the Prince of Orange, the Commander in chief of the army,
but to themselves alone, for the defence of the cause of the
Remonstrants, and of their own authority ; which for the sake
of the same (cause) they had exposed to danger. This was
done at Utrecht, in which city the most powerful the States
General had a garrison sufficiently strong against tumults
and seditions ; at Harlem, Leyda, Rotterdam, as also Gouda,
Schookhove, Horn, and other places ; the Remonstrants
instigating the magistrates of the cities to this, as may be
clearly proved by divers of their letters, which afterwards
7*
66 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
came into (the) hands (of the States.) And thus the
dissentions of the Remonstrants would have brought these
flourishing provinces into the danger of a civil war, if this
madness had not been early repressed, by the singular pru-
dence of the most powerful the States General, and by the
vigilance and fortitude of mind, never to be sufficiently
celebrated (dej^redicanda) of the Illustrious the Prince of
Orange.*
The most powerful the States General, when they saw,
that by this method, the provinces were brought into extreme
danger, judged, that the calling of a national Synod must no
longer be delayed, but be hastened at the earliest opportunity;
especially when that most illustrious man, Dudley Carleton,
the ambassador of the most Serene King of Great Britain,
by a very weighty and prudent speech, had earnestly stirred
up their Illustrious Highnesses to the same. This oration
the Remonstrants afterwards w ere not afraid publicly to revile,
in a most impudent and most calumniating pamphlet, to which
they gave the title of Bllancis ; sparing with a slanderous
tongue no order of men, not the most powerful the States, not
the Prince of Orange, yea, not even the most Serene the
King of Great Britain. This pamphlet, the most powerful
the States General condemned by a public edict as scanda-
lous and seditious ; having offered a most ample reward, if
anyone could point out the author. Afterwards Jo. Casimirus
Junius, the son of the most celebrated Francis Junius, not
unhke his father, {hand degener,) copiously refuted the same.
Therefore the Illustrious and most powerful the States, decreed
the convoking of a national Synod, at length in the name of
the Lord, to be held on the first day of May in the following
year; and at the same time, they enacted some laws, according
to which they willed as well that the convocation should be
instituted, as the Synod itself held. But because the Re-
monstrants did not appear greatly to regard the judgment of
the Belgic churches, and had always endeavored to persuade
the people, that they did not dissent from the opinion of the
* Hpw far the subsequent proceedings against the Remonstrants are
to be considered simply as religious persecution, may well be questioned,
when such seditious if not treasonable practices, were proved against
them by their own letters. It seems evident from this history, that
recourse to arms, in the first instance at least, was had by the party
of the Remonstrants, and in opposition to existing laws. This is not
generally understood. The rights of conscience, and the toleration
aiising from the recognition of it, seem to have been equally unthought
of by both parties.
HISTORY or PRECEDING EVENTS. 67
reformed churches ; it seemed good also, to their Illustrious
Mightinesses, to invite, from all the reformed churches of the
neighboring kingdoms, principahties, and republics, some
theologians, distinguished for piety, learning, and prudence,
that they might support by their judgments and counsels the
deputies of the Belgic churches ; and that so these contro-
versies, having been examined and thoroughly discussed, as it
were by the common judgment of all the reformed churches,
might be composed so much the more certainly, happily,
safely, and with the greater benefit.
Dec. 11, 1617.] This decree having been made, the
Remonstrants began in a wonderful manner to make disturb-
ances, and proposed various other projects {concepiibus) by
those who were attached to their cause, in endeavoring to
overturn it and render it of no effect ; in Holland indeed,
they themselves, by their favorers, demanded a provincial
Synod, against which a little while ago they had entertained
so strong an aversion, {tantopere ahhorruerant. ) And because
measures had been devised for calling foreign theologians to
the national Synod, they thought that to this provincial Synod,
if so it seemed good, some foreign theologians might be
(invited.) But it was answered, that indeed a provincial
Synod had formerly been demanded by the churches of
Holland, when no hope appeared of obtaining a national
Synod, and when the controversies were confined within the
boundaries of the churches of Holland alone ; but now,
because the calling of a national Synod had been decreed, and
the evil had diffused itself through all the provinces, so that it
could not be taken away by the Synod of one province, it was
at this time altogether unreasonable to think of a provincial
Synod, for the composing of these controversies. Because,
in like manner, as it behoved particular Synods, in each of
the provinces, to precede the national Synod ; so in Holland
also, both North and South (Holland) particular Synods would
precede. Yet the Remonstrants, by their favorers, pressed
eagerly and urged such a Synod ; either, because they thought,
that it would less obstruct their cause, as they had in Holland
so many great men and even pastors favoring them ; or that
they might by this tergiversation absolutely hinder the calling
of the national Synod. But when they themselves saw, that
this demand was too unjust for them easily to persuade (the
granting of) it; they fled to a new exception, and desired (or
proposed) that this case should be deferred, (or reserved) to a
general council {(zcumenicam,) But it was answered them.
68 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
That it was most uncertain, whether or when a general councif
could be called ; yet that these evils required a present
remedy, and that this national (Synod) about to be called by
the Illustrious and most powerful the States General, would
be as it were an oecumenical and general (council;) when
deputies from almost all the reformed chiu'ches would be
present at the same. If they should account themselves
aggrieved by the judgment of such a Synod, it would always
be entire and lawful to them to appeal from this national to a
general council ; provided only, that in the mean time they
obeyed the judgment of the national Synod. By these evasions
and subterfuges they effected, that the letters of convocation
were for some little time delayed ; and it was necessary that
the day appointed for the meeting should be changed and
deferred.*
In the mean while that most Illustrious person, Dudley
Carleton,in the convention of the Illustrious and most powerful
the States General, publicly complained, that the honor of his
master, the most Serene the King of Great Britain, had been
very unworthily and impudently reviled, in the infamous libel
(or pamphlet) Bilancis, which the Remonstrants, even after
the edict of their Highnesses, had taken care should be printed
again, having been translated into the French language ; and
having briefly and solidly refuted most of the objections of-
the Remonstrants, he explained to the Illustrious and most
powerful the States General, what method the most powerful
King of Great Britain was accustomed to employ, in settling
controversies concerning religion or doctrine ; which, because
it agreed with the decree of the Illustrious the States General,
it more and more confirmed their Illustrious Highnesses in
this holy determination. The most ample also the Magistracy
of the city of Amsterdam, having communicated counsel
previously with the pastors of that church, and others called
together for this cause, propounded in writing many and very
weighty reasons, in the convention of the Illustrious the
States of Holland and West Friezland, in which it was most
evidently demonstrated, that these controversies could not be
determined at this season by any other method, than by a
national Synod ; at the same time they most sohdly answered
* The conduct of the Remonstrants on this occasion, evidently resem-
bled that of an accused person, who, instead of demanding a fair »riaL
objects to the authority of the court, challenges the jurymen, anji
endeavors to find out flaws in the indictment, and adopts every evasion to
escape tlie trial, which can be suggested by his solicitor or counsel.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 69
all the objections of the Remonstrants, and all their projects,
concerning a provincial Synod, and also concerning a general
council. Soon after likewise the most ample the Magistracy
of the city of Enchusen, having exhibited many reasons, in
writing also, approved the same. These reasons were after-
wards made public ; that it might be evident to all men, how
unjustly the Remonstrants and their favorers acted, because
they obstinately resisted the calling of a national Synod, by
these new projects, and eluded {subterfugerent) its decision.
The illustrious the States General, as they judged that this
thing so entirely necessary, and for the most just and weighty
causes already decreed, was not to be any longer delayed, on
account of projects and shiftings of this kind ; again decreed,
that the convocation of a national Synod, without any delay
or adjournment, should be immediately instituted ; and they
detennine, that the city Dordrecht (or Dort) should be the
place of its meeting ; the day, the first of the next November.
When some persons among the States of Holland and West
Friezland, favoring the cause of the Remonstrants, opposed
themselves to this decree, in the convention of the Illustrious
and most powerful the States General, who complained, that
an injury was done to the majesty, the right, and finally, the
liberty of that province ; the Illustrious and most powerful the
States General, declared by public letters, that they did not
purpose, by this convocation of a national Synod, that any
thing should be taken away from, or lessened in the majesty,
right, or liberty, of any province ; but that this was the sincere
intenfion of their Highnesses, that without any prejudice of
any province, and even of the union and confederation, by the
ordinary decision of a national Synod, the ecclesiastical con-
troversies alone that had arisen concerning doctrine, which
pertained to all the reformed Belgic churches, should lawfully
iDe determined to the glory of God, and the peace of the
republic and of the churches. They then addressed letters to
the States of each of the provinces, in which they declared,
that it had been determined by them, to call together, in the
name of the Lord, from all the churches of these provinces a
national Synod, on the first of November ensuing ; that by
this method the controversies which had arisen in the same
churches, might be lawfully examined and settled in a bene-
ficial manner, (truth being always preserved.) At the same
time they admonished them, that as soon as they could, they
would call a provincial Synod in their own provinces, after
the accustomed maimer ; from which six pious and learned
70 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
men, and greatly loving peace ; namely, three or four pastors,
with two or three other proper persons, professing the reformed
religion, might be deputed, who in the aforementioned national
Synod, according to the laws constituted by them, (a copy of
which they transmitted,) might examine those controversies
€ind take them away, truth being preserved, (or safe, salva
veritate.) To the Gallo-Belgic churches also (of French
Flanders,) which used to constitute a peculiar Synod among
themselves, seeing they had been dispersed through ail these
provinces, they addressed letters of the same kind. These
letters having been received, the Illustrious the States of each
of the provinces, called together the provincial or particular
Synods of their own churches ; in which the grievances might
be proposed which were to be carried to the national Synod,
the persons to be sent out to the same be deputed, and the
commands with which these w ere to be furnished, framed by
tlie common suffrages of the churches. These things were
transacted in each of the provinces, in the manner hitherto in
use in these reformed churches ; except that in Holland and
in the province of Utrecht, because of the very great number
of the Remonstrants, the customary method could not in all
things be observed. For when in Holland separations had
been made in some of the classes, so that the Remonstrants
held their own class-meetings apart, and the other pastors
their's also ; it seemed proper to the most Illustrious the
States of that province, that of the classes, in which a separa-
tion of this kind had not been made, four should be deputed
by the majority of votes, in the manner hitherto customary,
who with the ordinary power might be sent forth to the
particular Synod ; but in the other classes, for the sake of
avoiding confusion, the Remonstrants should appoint two, and
tJie other pastors in like manner two, who mught be sent with
equal power to the particular Synod. In the province of
Utrecht, the churches had not been distributed into certain
classes ; wherefore it pleased the most Illustrious the States
of that province, that all the Remonstrants should meet
together apart in one Synod ; but the rest of the pastors, who
did not follow the opinion of the Remonstrants, of whom
there still remained no small number, in another (Synod ;)
and that from each Synod and party, three should be sent
forth to the national Synod with the power of judging. But
the church of Utrecht, as it had been torn asunder into pa,rtiea,
of which the one followed the opinion of the Remonstrants,
but the other disapproved of it ; and this (party) recently set
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 71
at liberty from the oppression of the Remonstrants, had not
made provision for stated pastors, but used at that time the
ministry of John Dipetzius, a pastor of Dort ; it so happened
that he was lawfully deputed by another Synod, in the name
of the churches of Utrecht, which did not follow the opinion
of the Remonstrants. But when the Synod of the churclies
of Gueldria and Zutphan, had been assembled at Arnhem,.
the Remonstrant deputies from the class of Bommellien
refused to sit along with the rest, unless previously certain
conditions had been performed to them, which the Synod
judged to be opposed to the decree of the Illustrious the
States. And when ten articles had before this been offered
by thb Remonstrants of the class of Neomage, Bommelli,
and Tiel, to the Illustrious the States of Gueldria, and to the
co]jnsellors of the same, which they intimated to be taught by
the rest of the pastors ; it had been enjoined on them, that
they should publicly name those pastors who taught these
things, in order that they might be cited before the Synod,
that it might in a legal manner be examined, whether the
matter were so indeed. For it was evident {coiistahat) that
those articles had been framed by the Remonstrants in a
calumniating manner, in order to excite odium {ad conflandam
invidiam) against the rest of the pastors, before the Supreii^
magistracy. But they were not able to name any one in the
whole province, except the pastor of Hattemis, who had abun-
dantly cleared himself to the class ; and when the Synod
nevertheless was willing to cite him, that he might be heard
before them, the Remonstrants no further pressed it. Certainly
Henry Arnoldi, a pastor of Delph, who was present in the
name of the churches of South Holland, declared that there
was no one in South Holland who approved or taught these
things.* Therefore the Synod severely reproved them for
these atrocious calumnies ; and at the same time declared,
that the churches of Gueldria did not embrace or approve the
doctrine contained in these articles, as it was set forth by
them ; though there were in them some sentences, which, taken
apart, and in an accommodating sense, could not be disap-
* In like manner it is at this day confidently asserted liy writers, who,
on one account or another, are regarded as worthy of credit ; and thus
it is generally believed, that there are a numerous set ol" men in Britain,
called Calvinists, or Methodists, or evangelical preucliers, who preach
doctrines, defined and stated by the writers, and justly deemed absurd
and pernicious ; who, it' they were thus autiioritatively called on to prove
their assertions, would scarcely be able to substantiate the charge on
one individual of the whole company.
72 HISTORY OP PRECEDING EVENTS.
proved. Then at length, having confessed the crime of a
calumny into which they had been driven [impacted caliimnice,)
they requested forgiveness of it {earn deprecati sunt.) There
was then drawn up in the same Synod, a state of the contro-
versy between the Remonstrants and the rest of the pastors,
which afterwards was exhibited to the national Synod. And
.as there were many pastors in that province, of whom some
had been suspected of various other errors besides the five
articles of the Remonstrants, others had illegally intruded into
the ministry, and finally others were of profligate life ; some
of them having been cited before the Synod, for these causes
were suspended from the ministry; but by no means because
of the opinion contained in the five articles of the Remon-
strants, which were reserved to the national Synod. The
cause of the rest, having been left in the name of the Synod,
was referred to some persons deputed by it, to whom the
Illustrious the States likewise joined their own delegates.
These causes, having been fully examined in their classes,
they suspended certain of them from their ministry, and others
they entirely removed.
In the mean while the Illustrious the States General, when
they had several times commanded those of Utrecht especially,
to dismiss the new soldiers, and those who, it appeared, had
been levied for this purpose also, that the execution of the
decrees of the future national Synod, if perhaps the Remon-
strants could not approve of them, might be hindered by an
armed force ; determined that all these soldiers, of which
there were now some thousands, should, as soon as possible,
be disbanded and discharged by their authority. And when
this measure had been carried into efiect by the most Illustri-
ous the Prince of Orange, with incredible fortitude of soul,
prudence, dexterity, and promptitude, without any effusion of
blood ; and their principal officers, who had endeavored by
force to resist this disbanding of them, had been committed to
custody ; John Utenbogardus, James Taurinus, and Adol-
phus Venator, conscious in themselves of criminality, {male
sibi conscii,) having deserted their churches, fled out of fede-
rated Belgium , as likewise did a short time after Nicolas
Grevinchovius, having been cited by the court of Holland to
plead his own cause. And when a particular Synod in South
Holland had been called atDelph, most of the Remonstrants,
despising the before mentioned decree of the Illustrious the
States, refused to depute any person to the Synod ; and, hav-
ing presented a little suppliant book {lihello supplier) to the
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 73
Illustrious the States of Holland and West Friezland, they
petitioned that, instead of the national Synod now proclaimed
another convention instituted according to the same twelve
conditions, which those who were cited afterwards laid before
the national Synod, might be called. The Illustrious the
States, having heard the judgment of the Synod of Delph
concerning this demand, (which also was inserted in these
acts,) commanded them to obey the constituted order, and the
mandates of the Illustrious the States ; and moreover, fully
to state their opinion comprised in writing, concerning the
articles proposed in the conference at Delph, in the year
1613; and to add all their considerations, which they had
respecting the Confession and Catechism of these churches.
They exhibited the declaration of their opinion on the before
mentioned articles, which afterwards, having been translated
into Latin by the delegates of this Synod, was communicated
to the national Synod : but, in the place of considerations,
they sent some things gathered out of the writings of certain
learned men, as if opposite to the Confession and the Cate-
chism.
Before this Synod, John Utenbogardus, and Nicolas Gre-
vinchovius were cited : and when the former, as a fugitive
(profugiis,) dared not to appear, but the latter contumaciously
refused, the accusations produced against them having been
examined, each of them was, by the judgment of this Synod,
removed from the ecclesiastical ministry. But when in South
Holland, besides these two, there were many others, of whom
the most, in these dissentions, had been obtruded on unwillmg
churches, without a lawful vocation ; and others, who besides
these five articles, had moreover scattered many Socmian
errors, others had grievously offended the churches by wicked
and turbulent actions, and others finally led a profane life ; it
was judged necessary, in order that the churches should he
purified from these scandals, and the discipline of the clergy
as it is called, which had fallen into decay, should at length Ive
restored, that all these disorderly (ala.y.TSi) pastors should be
cited, that they might render before the Synod, an account, as
well of their vocation, as of their doctrine, and also of their life ;
which seemed proper to be done, even for this cause also,
before the national Synod, that if perhaps any should deem
themselves aggrieved by the sentence of the Synod, or its
deputies, they might appeal to the judgment (of the national
Synod.) Certain of these appeared, whose causes having
been duly examined, some of them were suspended froni
8
74 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
their office, and other wholly set aside. But as to those, who
because of the shortness of the time, having been cited, could
not be heard, and those, who, having been cited, had not
appeared ; five pastors were deputed, to whom the Illustrious
the States joined also three deputies, who might take cogni-
zance of their cause, and give sentence upon it in the name
of the Synod. But it was expressly enjoined to these deputies,
not to fix any censure on any one, because of the opinion
expressed in the five articles of the Remonstrants ; forasmuch
as the judgment concerning the same had been reserved en-
tire to the national Synod. But they, though they every
where, on the afore mentioned most weighty causes, even
during the national Synod, suspended many, partly from the
office of teaching, and partly entirely set them aside; yet
marked no one with any censure because of the opinion of
the five articles, as it may be evidently shewn from their very
acts.* In North Holland, matters were conducted after the
same method, in the Synod of Horn, in which the pastors of
Horn, John Yalesius, John Rodingenus, and Isaac Welsin-
gius, having been suspended from the office of teaching,
appealed to the national Synod. And when the deputies of
this Synod, along with the delegates of the Illustrious the
States, examined, in the Class of Alcmar, the cause of John
Geystran, a pastor of Alcmar, and of Peter Geystran, his
brother, a pastor of Egmond ; it was detected, that they had
been evidently addicted to the blasphemous and execrable
errors of Socinus, as it appears from their own confession ;
which, because it was publicly read in the national Synod,
with the horror of all men, is likewise inserted in these acts.
In the Synod of the Transisulanian churches, some of the
Remonstrants were commanded to render an account of their
doctrine and actions ; and when among them four pastors of
the church of Campe, Thomas Goswin, Assuerus Matthisius,
John Scotleru.^, and above all Everard Voscuhus, had been
accused of many ^Tors, and of various turbulent actions ;
the cause having been examined, it seemed good to reserve
it for the natio lal Synod ; even as it was afterwards brought
before the saho. In the other provinces, because' no mani-
fest Remonstrants were found, the Synods there held, duly
prepared all things with less labor, after the accustomed man-
ner, for the niidonal Synod.
* The appeal is thus made to the registered acts of these deputies,
evidently becaii <e rhey had been, or were likely to be misrepresented by
the favorers (.(' ■■ ar Kemonstrajits ; as, beyond doubt, they generally have
been to this verv ciuv.
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 75
In the mean time, the most Illustrious and powerful the
States General had addressed letters to the most Serene and
powerful James I. King of Great Britain, to the deputies
of the reformed churches of the kingdom of France, to the
most Serene the Elector Palatine, and the Elector of Bran-
denburgh ; to the most Illustrious the Landgrave of Hesse ;
to the four reformed republics of Helvetia, (Switzerland,) the
Tigurine, Bernessian, Basilian, and Schaphusian ; to the
Illustrious and generous the counts of Correspondentia and
Wedevarica ; to the republics of Geneva, Bremen, and
Emden, in which they requested, that they would deign to
send from them to this Synod, some of their own theologians,
excelling in learning, piety, and prudence, who might earnestly
labor by their counsels and decisions, along with the rest of
the deputies of the Belgic churches, to settle those contro-
versies, which had arisen in these Belgic churches, and to
restore peace to the same.
All these things having been duly prepared and completed,
when at the appointed time as well the deputies of the Belgic
churches, as also the foreign theologians, a few excepted, had
met together at Dordrecht, (or Dort,) that national Synod
was begun in the name of the Lord, on the 13th day of JVo-
vember (1618.) But in this Synod, what now was actually
done, the prudent reader may copiously {prolixe) know from
the acts of the same, which now are published for the favor
(satisfaction, gratiam) and use of the reformed churches.
It hath seemed good also, that to these acts should be joined,
besides other writings exhibited to this Synod, the judgments
also of the theologians, concerning the five articles of the
Remonstrants as they were proposed in the Synod ; by which
they may more fully know, by the same, on what passages
of Scripture, and on what arguments, the canons of the
reformed church do rest. It is not to be doubted, but that
the prudent reader will discover in these judgments, the
liighest and most admirable agreement. If perhaps in less
matters a certain diversity appear ; even this will be an argu-
ment, that a due liberty of prophesying and judging flourished,
in this venerable convention ; but that all, notwithstanding,
by concording opinions, agreed in the doctrine expressed in
the canons of this Synod; of whom all and every one, (not
one indeed excepted, or declining to do it,) subscribed to
testify this consent.
But all the reformed churches are requested, willingly to
^embrace, preserve, and propagate this orthodox doctrine, so
76 HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS.
solemnly in this Synod, explained and confirmed from the
word of God ; and transmit it to all posterity, to the glory
of divine grace, and the consolation and salvation of souls.
And at the same time also favorably to receive the pious,
and never sufficiently to be celebrated zeal and earnest
endeavor of the most Illustrious and mighty the States
General of federated Belgium, for preserving the purity
(sinceritate) of the reformed religion ; and also to follow up
with tlieir favor, the diligence and piety, in maintaining the
same, of so many doctors, of distinguished churches, who
were present at this Synod ; and, above all things it is request-
ed, that they would earnestly entreat the most high and gra-
cious God {optimum maximum) that he would indeed benignly
|)i-esei-ve the Belgic churches, and, in like manner, all others
professing with them the same orthodox doctrine, in the unity
of the faith, in peace and tranquillity ; and that he would
inspire a better mind into the Remonstrants themselves, and
all others who are involved in error ;* and by the grace of his
own Spirit, would at length, some time lead them to the
knowledge of the truth, to the glory of his own divine name,
the edification of the churches, and the salvation of us all ;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; to whom with
the Father, and the Holy Spirit, the one, true and immortal
God, he praise, and honour, and glory, for ever and ever.
Am^.t
* " Tnat it may please thee to bring into the way of troth, all such as
have erred and are deceived." Litany. The Calvinism of the Synod
did not, it seems, prevent their prayers for those who, as they supposed,
wei-e in error. It did not lead them to treat their most eager opponents,
as reprobates, and give up as necessarily consigned to destruction ; as
many ignorantly suppose, or confidently assert, that decided Calvinists
do, even with malignity and malignant satisfaction. So greatly are they
calumniated !
t "Accordingly a Synod was convoked at Dordrecht in the year 1618,
by the counsels and influence of prince Maurice, &c." Mosheim, vol. v.
p. 450. " Oiu- author always forgets to mention the order issued by the
States General, for the convocation of this famous Synod ; and by his
manner of expressing himself, and particularly by the phrase, (Mauritio
cmctore,) would seem to insinuate, that it was by this prince, that the
assembly was called together. The legitimacy of the manner of convok-
ing this Synod was questioned by Olden-Barneveldt, who maintained
that the States General had no sort of authority in matters of religion ;
affirming that this was an act of sovereignty, that belonged to each
province separately, and respectively." Maclaine, Ibid.
It was by means of these disputes, about the ecclesiastical authority,
(which all parties supposed to be possessed by some of them,) that the
anion of the confederated States was endangered in this controversy.
" Dr. Mosheim, however impartial, seems to have consulted more the
HISTORY OF PRECEDING EVENTS. 77
authors of one, side than of the other, probably because they were more
numerous, and more generally known. When he published this history,
the world had not been favored vnih The Letters, Memoirs and J^egocich-
tions of Sir Dudley Carleton, which Lord Royston (afterwards Earl of
Hardwicke) drew "from his inestimable treasure of historical manuscripts,
and presented to the public, or rather at first to a select number of per-
sons, to whom he distributed a small number of copies, printed at his
own expense. They were soon translated both into Dutch and French :
and, though it cannot be affirmed, that the spirit of party is no where
discoverable in them ; yet they contain anecdotes with respect both to
Olden-Barneveldt and Grotius, that the Arminians, and the other pat-
rons of these two great men, have been studious to conceal. These
anecdotes, though they may not be sufficient to justify the severities
exercised against these eminent men, would, however, have prevented
Dr. Mosheim from saying, that he knew not on what pretext they were
arrested." Mosheim, vol. v. p. 449, 450. Note by Maclaine,
In a political contest for authority, between prince Maurice and his
opponents, in the States General, the Remonstrants favored his oppo-
nents, and the Contra-Remonstrants were attached to him. The prince's
party at length prevailed, and, "the men who sat at the helm of govern-
ment, were cast into prison. Olden-Barneveldt, a man of wisdom and
gravity, whose hairs were grown grey in the service of his country, lost
his life on the public scaffold, while Grotius and Hoogerberts were con-
demned to perpetual imprisonment ; under what pretext, or in conse-
quence of what accusations or crimes, is unknown to us." Mosheim,
vol. V. p. 448, 449.
8*
THE JUDGMENT
OF THE
NATIONAL SYNOD OF THE REFORMED BELGIC CHURCHES.
Held at Dort, in the years of our Lord, 1618, 1619 ;
AT WHICH VERY MANY THEOLOGIANS OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES OF
GREAT BKITAIN, GERMANY, AND FRANCE, WERE PRESENT ; CONCERN-
ING THE FIVE HEADS OF DOCTRINE CONTROVERTED IN THE BELGIC
CHURCHES.
( Published on the fifth of May, A. D. 1619. )
PREFACE.
In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Among very many comforts, which our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ hath given to his own church militant, in this
calamitous pilgrimage ; that which he left unto it, when about
to go away to his Father, into the heavenly sanctuary, saying,
" I am with you at all times, even unto the end of the
world," is deservedly celebrated. The truth of this delight-
ful promise shines forth in the church of all ages, which,
whilst it has been besieged from the beginning, not only by
the open violence of enemies, but also by the secret craftiness
of seducers, truly if at any time the Lord had deprived it of
the salutary guard of his own promised presence, had long
since been either crushed by the power of tyrants, or sedu-
ced into destruction by the fraud of impostors.
But that good Shepherd, who most constantly loveth his
flock, for which he laid down his life, hath always, most sea-
sonably, and often by his own right hand stretched forth, most
mi»raculously repressed the rage of persecutors ; and hath also
detected and dissipated the crooked ways of seducers, and
STNOD OP DORT. 79
their fraudulent counsels ; by both demonstrating himself to
be most effectually present {preseiitissimum) in his church-
Of this thing, an illustrious instruction {documentum) exists
in the history of the pious emperors, kings, and princes, whom
the Son of God hath excited so often for the assistance of his
church, hath fired with the holy zeal of his house, and by
their help, hath not only repressed the furious rage (furores)
of tyrants ; but also hath procured to his church when con-
flicting with false teachers, in various ways adulterating reli-
gion, the remedies of holy Synods ; in which the faithful ser-
vants of Christ, by united prayers, counsels, and labors, have
valiantly stood for the church, and for the truth of God ;
have intrepidly opposed themselves against the "ministers of
Satan, though transforming themselves into angels of light ;"
have taken away the seeds of errors and discords ; have pre-
served the church in the concord of pure religion ; and h^ve
tz'ansmitted the genuine [sincerum) worship of God, uncoF-
inipted, to posterity. With a similar benefit, our faithful Sa-
viour hath, at this time, testified his own gracious presence
with the Belgic church, by one means or other (aliquam) very
much afflicted for many years. For this church, rescued by
the powerful hand of God from the tyi-anny of the Roman
antichrist, and the horrible idolatry of popery, (or the pope-
dom, papains,) and many times most miraculously preserved
in the dangers of a long continued war ; and flourishing in
the concord of true doctrine and discipline, to the praise of
her God, to an admirable increase of the repubhc, and the
joy of the whole reformed world, James {Jacobus) Arminius
and his followers, holding out the name of Remonstrants, by
various errors, old as well as new ; at first covertly, and then
openly assaulted, [tentarunt^) and while it was pertinaciously
disturbed with scandalous dissentions and schisms, they had
brought it into such extreme danger, that, unless the mercy of
our Saviour had most opportunely interposed in behalf of his
most flourishing church, they had at length consumed it \vith
the horrible conflagration of discords and schisms.
But, blessed be the Lord for ever, who, after he had hid
his face for a moment from us, (who by many ways had pro-
voked his wrath and indignation,) hath made it attested to the
whole world, that he doth not forget his covenant, nor contemn
the sighs of his own people. For when scarcely any hope
of a remedy, humanly speaking {humanitus) appeared ; he
inspired this mind into the most Iflustrious and very powerful
80 SYNOD OP DORT.
the States General of confederated Belgium,* that, with the
counsel and direction of the most Illustrious and valiant the
Prince of Orange, they determined to go forth to meet these
raging evils, by those legitimate means, which have been
sanctioned by the examples of the apostles themselves, and
of the Christian church that followed them, during a long
course of years, and which have before this been had recourse
to {usurpatce,) in the Belgic church, with much fruit ; and they
called a Synod at Dordrecht by their own authority, out of all
the provinces which they governed ; having sought out to-
wards it both the favor of the most Serene and powerful James,
king of Great Britain, and of Illustrious Princes, Counts, and
Republics, and having obtained also very many most grave
theologians ; that, by common judgment of so many divines
of the reformed church, those dogmas of Arminius and of
his followers might be decided on accurately, and by the word
of God alone ; that the true doctrine might be confirmed, and
the false rejected ; and that concord, peace, and tranquil-
lity might, by the divine blessing, be restored to the Belgic
churches. This is that benefit of God, in which the Belgic
churches exult ; and they humbly acknowledge and thankfully
proclaim, the compassions of their faithful Saviour. There-
fore this venerable Synod, (after a previous appointment and
observance of prayers and fasting, by the authority of the
Supreme Magistracy, in all the Belgic churches, to deprecate
the wrath of God, and to implore his gracious assistance)
being met together in the name of the Lord at Dordrecht,
fired with the love of God {divini numinis) and for the salva-
tion of the church ; and, after having invoked the name of
God, having bound itself by a sacred oath, that it would take
the Holy Scriptures alone as the rule of judgment, and engage
in the examination {cognitione) and decision of this cause,
with a good and upright conscience, they attempted dihgently,
with great patience, to induce the principal patrons of those
dogmas, being cited before them, to explain more fully their
opinion, concerning the known five heads of doctrine, and
the grounds (or reasons) of that opinion.
But when they rejected the decision of the Synod, and re-
fused to answer to their interrogatories, in that manner which
was equitable, and when neither the admonitions of the Sy-
nod, nor the mandates of the most honorable and ample the
+ See Ezra vii. 27, 28.
SYNOD OF DORT. 81
delegates of the States General ; nor yet even the commands
of the most Illustrious and very powerful lords the States
General, availed any thing with them, (the Synod) was com-
pelled, by the command of the same lords, to enter on ano-
ther way ; according to the custom received of old, in ancient
Synods; and from writings, confessions, and declarations,
partly before published, and partly even exhibited to this
Synod, an examination of those five dogmas, (or points of
doctrine,) was instituted. Which when it was now complet-
ed, by the singular grace of God, with the greatest diligence,
fidelity, and conscience, (or conscientiousness,) with the con-
sent of all and every one ; this Synod, for the glory of God,
ajid that it might take counsel for the entireness {infegritate)
of the saving truth, and for the tranquillity of consciences, and
for the peace and safety of the Belgic church, determined that
the following judgment, by which both the true opinion, agree-
ing \vith the word of God, concerning the aforesaid five heads
of doctrine is explained, and the false opinion, and that dis-
cordant with the word of God is rejected, should be promul-
gated.
On this preface, I would make a few remarks :
1. If the expectations, which the persons constituting this
Synod, and of those who were concerned in convening it, as
to the useful tendency and beneficial effects of such assem-
bhes, were indeed ill grounded, and of course the measure
improper ; the fault was not exclusively theirs, but that of the
Qge in which they lived, and indeed of almost all preceding
ages. Not one of the reformers, or of the princes who fa-
vored the reformation, can be named, who did not judge,
either a general council, or national councils or Synods of
Bome kind, proper measures for promoting the cause of truth
and holiness, and counteracting the progress of schism, heresy,
and false doctrine : and in every place, where the reformation
was estabUshed, assemblies of the rulers and teachers of
the church, under one form or other, w'ere employed, either
in framing, or sanctioning, the articles of faith, adopted in
each church, and in regulating the several particulars respects
ing the doctrine to be preached, the worship to be performed
by those who constituted each church, and the terms of offi-
ciating as ministers, in their respective societies. The sys-
82 SYNOD OF PORT.
tern of independency, and individuality, so to speak, either
of separate congregations, or ministers, or Christians, with-
out any su<",h common bond of union or concert, had not then
been thought of, at least in modern times. And at this day,
while numbers suppose that they steer their course at a dis-
tance from the rocks which endangered the first reformers, as
well as the whole church in former ages, it may well be ques-
tioned whether they do not run into the opposite extreme.
Solomon says, or God himself by him, " In the multitude of
counsellors there is safety ;" yet who does not know, that
through the evil dispositions, and selfish conduct of those,
who constitute the counsellors, and senates, and parHaments
of different nations, such abuses often occur in them, as form
a manifest exception to this general maxim 1 Yet who does
not also see, that parliaments, and counsellors, and laws, are
in themselves very desirable ; and far preferable to every
thing being settled by the sole will or caprice of every one,
who by any means obtains authority 1 or, that every man
v^hould do that which is right in his own eyes, as when there
was no king in Israel ? The abuse alone is the evil, and to
be guarded against : the thing is allowedly beneficial.
The apostles themselves, when consulted by Paul and Bar-
nabas, did not settle the question proposed to them by their
own direct authority : but " the apostles and elders came
together for to consider of this matter." (Acts xv. 6.) It
is evident that some, even in " that first general council," as
it is very improperly called, had strong prejudices against the
measure which was finally decided on : yet its decrees proved
a blessing of no small magnitude to the churches of Christ,
whether constituted of Jewish or Gentile converts. Now, a
measure thus sanctioned, cannot be evil in itself: though
general councils and Synods should have in many or most
instances, been productive of far greater evil than good. The
fault lay in the motives, the corrupt passions, and wrong state
of mind and heart of those who convened, and of those who
constituted them, (that is, in the abuse of tlie thing,) not in
the thing itself.
The apostles by their own authority might have decreed
the same things, and have said, " It seemed good to the Holy
Ghost and to us, &c :" but they were not led by the Spirit of
inspiration, to adopt this method : they did nothing by abso-
lute authority ; it does not appear that any thing directly
miraculous, or of immediate revelation, concurred in their
decision. It was the result of arguments drawn from facts,
SYNOD OF DORT. 83
and from the holy Scriptures, under the teaching of the Holy
Spirit, not materially differing from what uninspired men, of
the same character and heavenly " \visdom, without partiality
and without hypocrisy" might have formed, under the mere
ordinary teaching and superintendence of the same Spirit.
Now, it is not impossible for God to raise up elders and teach-
ers, bearing this holy character, and endued with this heavenly
wisdom, in other ages and nations, who, coming together to
consider of those things which corrupt the doctrine, worship,
and purity, or disturb the peace of the church, may form and
promulgate decisions, so evidently grounded on a fair inter-
pretation of the sacred oracles, and so powerfully enforced
by the character and influence of those concerned, as, by the
divine blessing, may produce the most extensively beneficial
effects.
General councils, so called, convened by the concurring
authority of many princes and rulers, over rival nations, are
not likely to come to any such scriptural decisions ; and the
history of general councils is certainly suited exceedingly to
damp our expectations from them. But the history of the
reformation, both on the continent and in this land, produces
many instances of conventions, under one name or other, in
which the rulers and teachers of the church, under the coun-
tenance of princes who favored the cause of truth and holi-
ness ; came to such decisions, in the most important matters,
as proved very extensive and permanent benefits to mankind,
and which could not have been expected without united de-
liberations and determinations of this kind. The ministers
and members of the establishment, in this land, at least, must
be allowed to think that this was the case, in the framing of
our articles, liturgy, and homilies.
It is ti-ue that afterwards, convocations became useless, or
even worse than useless, and so sunk into disuse : but this
was not until the spirit of wisdom and piety, which actuated
our first reformers, had most grievously declined, and made
way for a political and party spirit, in the persons concerned.
Thus the abuse of the measure, not the measure itself, must
bear tlie blame.
2. I observe from this preface, that the members of the
Synod of Dort, in the most solemn manner, and in the lan-
guage at least of genuine piety, declare the awful obligations
under which they brought themselves, to decide the contro-
verted questions according to the Holy Scriptures alone, and
their full consciousness that they had discharged this obli-
84 SYNOD OF DORT.
gation in an upright manner. The names annexed to their
decisions certainly include among them a great proportion of
the most able protestant and reformed theologians in Europe :
and who can doubt the sincerity of these professions, when
coming from such men as Bishops Davenant and Ward,
and those with whom they thus cordially united ? — Preju-
dices, mistakes, and faults of many kinds may be supposed
in them ; but the candid and pious mind recoils from ths
idea, that the whole was direct and intended hypocrisy.
In fact, I must give it as my opinion at least, that they
did fulfil their solemn engagement ; and must confess, nwi
fewer things appear to me unscripturalj in these articles^
than in almost any human composition which I have read
upon the subject. Of course I expect that Anti Calvinisls
will judge otherwise, and even many Calvinists ; yet surely
every candid man will allow, that they honestly meant thus
to decide, and thought that they had thus decided.
It may also be seen in the course of this work, that their
doctrine accorded with the Belgic articles before in force
among them, to which the Contra-Remonstrants had all aloi^
^pealed.
3. I would observe, that they seem to have aimed at
too much in their deliberations and decisions ; not too much
for an ordinary controversial publication, but too much for
an authoritative standard, to be entirely received and adhe-
red to by all the ministers of religion and teachers of youth
in the Belgic churches. I should indeed say, far too muclu
And here, I again avow my conviction of the superior wisdom
bestowed on the compilers of our articles, on the several
points under consideration ; in which, while nothing essen-
tial is omitted or feebly stated, a generality of language is
observed, far more suitable to the design, than the decrees of
this Synod, and tending to preserve peace and harmony
among all truly humble Christians, who do not in all respects
see eye to eye, yet may " receive one another, but not to
doubtful disputations :" whereas the very exactness, and par-
ticularity, into which, what I must judge, scriptural doctrine
is branched out, and errors reprobated, powerfully counteract-
ed the intended effect, and probably more than any thing else,
or all other things combined, has brought on this Synod such
decided but unmerited odium and reproach.
4. I would observe, that using the arm of the magistrate,
and inflicting penalties on those who stood out against the
decisions of the Synod, not being mentioned in the preface,
SYNOD OP DORT. 86
will more properly be considered, in another stage of our
progress. But had the decrees been promulgated, and com-
pliance with them demanded, from all who acted as ministers
of religion, or teachers of youth in the established seminaries
of the Belgic church ; with simply the exclusion from such
stations, of those, who declined compliance, or violated their
engagements to comply; while a toleration was granted, as at
present in Britain, either to preach, or teach in other places or
schools; the terms might indeed have been considered as too
strict, and requiring more than could reasonably be expected;
but, in other respects, it does not appear, that the conduct of
the Synod would have been blameable. For, every body or
company of professed Christians, down from established
national churches, to independent dissenting congregations,
prescribe terms of communion, or of officiating as ministers
on those, who desire voluntarily to join them, and exclude
such as dechne compliance.
How far the revenues, in the Belgic churches could, with
any propriety, have been shared, and any portion of them allot-
ted, to w^hat we might call the dissenting teachers, I am not
prepared to say. But, as toleration (in this sense at least)
was no part of the system at the reformation in any country ;
the ancient revenues for religious purposes, as far as they
were preserved for those uses, of course were allotted to the
established ministers in the different churches. Neither
dissenters, nor provision for dissenters, were thought of; and
it would afterwards have been expecting too much in general,
to suppose that they who found themselves in possession of
these revenues, would voluntarily share them with the dissen-
tients, or that rulers would venture to compel them. Yet, if
to a lull toleration, somethinghad publicly been allotted towards
the support o^ 'peaceful and conscientious dissenting teachers ;
it would, as it appears to me at least, have had a most power-
ful effect in diminishing acrimony, silencing objections, and
promoting peace and love.
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT,
" The Articles of the Synod of Dort, Heyhn mtroduces in
this manner : — ' Because particular men may sometimes be
mistaken in a public doctrme, and that the judgment of such
men, being collected by the hands of their enemies, may be
unfaithfully related ; we will next look on the conclusions of
the Synod of Dort, which is to be conceived to have delivered
the genuine sense of all the parties, as being a representative
of all the Calvinian churches of Europe, (except those of
France,) some few Divines of England being added to them.
Of the calling and proceedings of this Synod we shall have
occasion to speak further in the following chapter. At this
time I shall only lay down the results thereof in the five con-
troverted points (as 1 find them abbreviated by Dan. Tilenus)
according to the heads before mentioned in summing up the
doctrine of the Council of Trent."*
A fev/ things may here be noted. Is it very probable that
such decided Anti Calvinists as Heylin or Collier should be
impartial, in their account of this celebrated Synod 1 Is it to
be supposed, that there was no difference of sentiment among
the persons of whom it was composed 1 Were four divines
an adequate representation of all the Calvinists in England ?
Did not one, or more, of all these four, dissent from the deci-
sions of this Synod 1 Were other protestant countries re pre
sented in any great degree more adequately 1 Were not the
leading men greatly embittered with personal enmities, and
the spirit of persecution and resentment 1 Did not political
interests, and the spirit of party, still more embitter the spirits,
or sway the deliberations and conclusions of the Synod ? And
therefore are all the Calvinists who lived at that time, or whc
now live, or whoever shall live, to be judged according to the
proceedings of the Synod of Dort 1 It would be no difficull
undertaking, by such a procedure, to fix very heavy charges
* Refutation of Calvinism, p. 566.
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 87
on the whole body of Anti Calvinists in Europe and in the
world : but attempts of this kind prove nothing ; except a
disposition to act the part of a special pleader in the contro-
versy, rather than that of an impartial judge. As I, however,
had met with the same abstract of the articles of this Synod,
in other publications more favorable to Calvinism, I had no
suspicion that these were not the real articles of the Synod, but
an abbreviation, (yet ^vith several clauses also added^) an
abbreviation by avowed opponents. But the Christian Ob-
server first excited a suspicion that these were not the real
articles of the Synod ; and led me to inquire after a copy of
those articles, which are indeed immensely more discordant
with the abbreviations, than I could have previously imagined.
But let the attentive reader judge from the following literal
translation of these articles, &c. as contained in the Sylloge
Confessionwn, Oxford, 1804.
CHAPTER I.
OF THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE PREDESTINATION.
Art. 1. As all men have sinned in Adam, and have become
exposed to the curse and eternal death, God would have done
no injustice to any one, if he had determined to leave the whole
human race under sin and the curse, and to condemn them on
account of sin ; according to those words of the apostle, " All
the world is become guilty before God." Rom. iii. 19. " All
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." 23. And
" The wages of sin is death." Rom. vi. 23.*
2. But " in tliis is the love of God manifested, that he sent
his only begotten Son into the world, that every one who
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting hfe."
1 John, iv. 9. John iii. 16.
3. But that men may be brought to faith, God mercifully
sends heralds of this most joyful message, to whom he willeth,
and when he willeth, by whose ministry men are called to
repentance, and faith in Christ crucified. For " How shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? and how
shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach
except they be sent?' Rom. x. 14, 15.
4. They who beheve not the gospel, on them the wrath of
* Gal. iii. 10. 22. "In every person born into the world, it (original
sin,) deserveth God's wrath and damnation-" Art. ix.
88 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
God remaineth : but those who receive it, and embrace the
Saviour Jesus with a true and Uving faith, are, through him,
dehvered from the wrath of God, and receive the gift of ever-
lasting hfe {ac vita eterna donantur.)*
5. The cause or fault of this unbeUef, as also of all other
sins, is by no means in God, but in man. But faith in Jesus
Christ, and salvation by him, is the free gift of God : " By
grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God." Eph. ii. 8. In like maimer, "It is
given you to believe in Christ." Phil. i. 29.|
6. That some, in time^ have faith given them by God, and
others have it not given, proceeds from his eternal decree :
For, " known unto God ai*e all his works, from the beginning
of the world." Acts xv. 18. Eph. i. 11. J According to
which decree, he graciously softens the hearts of the elect,
however hard, and he bends them to beheve : but the non-elect
he leaves, in just judgment, to then- own perversity and hard-
ness. § And here, especially, a deep discrimination, at the
same time both merciful and just, a discrimination of men
equally lost, opens itself to us ; or that decree of election and
reprobation which is revealed in the word of God. Wliich,
as perverse, impure, and unstable persons do wrest to their
own destruction, so it affords ineffable consolation to holy and
pious souls. II
* Rom vi. 23, - f See Art. x.
+ Eph. i. 4, 5. iii. 11. 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. 2 Tmi. 1. 9, 10. TiL i. 2.
1 Pet. i. 2. 20. Rev. xiii. S. xvii. 8.
§ "Predestination to life is the everlasting piu-i^ose of God, whereby,
before the foundations of the world were laid, he hath constantly decreed
by his counsel, secret to us, to deUver from curse and damnation those
whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ
to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honor. ■ Wherefore they which
are endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called according to God's
purpose, by his Spirit working in due season: thiey through grace obey
the calling ; they be justified freely, &c." Art. xvii.
II " As the godly consideration of predestination and om' election in Christ
is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and
such as feel in themselves the working of the spirit of Christ, mortifying
the works of the flesh and their earthly members, and drawing up Uieir
minds to high and heavenly things ; as well becavise it doth gi-eatly estab-
lish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation, to be enjoyed through
Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love to God ; so for curious
and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before
their eyes the sentence of God's predestination, is a most dangerous down-
fall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into
wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.'*
Art. xvii. Whatever method of mterpretation be adopted, as to tlie dif-
ferent parts of this our article ; they, who cordially approve it, cannot
consistently object to tliis article of tlie Synod of Dort, which is entirely
coincident with it ; and at least not more decided and explicit.
1
ARTICLES OP THE SYNOD OF DORT. 89
7. But election is the immutable purpose of God, by which,
.before the foundations of the world were laid, he chose, out
of the whole human race, fallen by their own fault from their
primeval integrity into sin and destruction, according to the
most free good pleasure of his own will, and of mere grace, a
certain number of men, neither better nor worthier than others,
but lying in the same misery with the rest, to salvation in
Christ ; whom he had, even from eteniity, constituted Mediator
and Head of all the elect, and the foundation of salvation ; and
therefore he decreed to give them unto him to be saved, and
effectually to call and draw them into communion with, him,
by his own word and Spirit ; or he decreed himself to give unto
them true faith,* to justify, to sanctify, and at length powerfully
to glorify them, having been kept in the communion of his
Son ; to the demonstration of his mercy, and the praise of the
riches of his glorious grace, as it is ^\Titten : " God hath
chosen us in Christ before the foundations of the world were
laid, that we should be holy and without blame before him in
love ; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children,
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of
his ^nll. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherem he
hath freely made us accepted to himself in that Beloved One."
Eph. i. 4 — 6. And in another place, " Whom he did nredes-
tinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also
justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
Rom. viii. 30.
8. This election is not multiform, but one and the same of
all that shall be saved, in the Old and New Testament, seeing
that the Scripture declares the good pleasure, purpose, and
counsel of the ^vill of God, by which he has, from eternity,
chosen us to grace and gloiy : both to salvation and the way
of salvation, which he hath " before prepared that we should
walk in it.f
9. This same election is not made from any foreseen faith,
obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quahty and dis-
position, as a jjre-requisite cause or condition in the man who
should be elected, but unto faith, and unto the obedience of
faith, holiness, &c. And, therefore, (or truly,p)'oinc/e) election
is the fountain of every saving benefit; whence faith, holiness,
and the other salutary gifts, and finally, eternal life itself, flow
* " We believe that the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, imparts 1 0
us true faith, that we may obtain the knowledge of so great a mystery."
Belgic Confession.
t 2 Thess. ii. la, 14. I Pet. i. 2.
9*
90 ARTICLES QF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
as its fruit and effect, according to that word of the apostle ;
" He hath chosen us" (not because we ivere, but) " that W€
might be holy, and without blame before him in love." Eph. i. 4.
10. New the cause of this gratuitous election, is the sole
good pleasure of God :* not consisting in this, that he elected
into the condition of salvation certain qualities or human
actions, from all that were possible ; but in that, out of the
common multitude of sinners, he took to himself certain per-
sons as his peculiar property, according to the Scripture:
"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, &c. it is said," (that is, to Rebecca,) "The elder
shall sei ve the younger : even as it is written, Jacob liave I
loved, hut Esau have I hated." (Rom. ix. 11 — 13.) And,
" As many as were ordained (ordinati) to eternal life, believed."
Acts. xiii. 48.
11. And as God himself is most wise, immutable, om-
niscient, and omnipotent; so, election made by him can neither
be interrupted, changed, recalled, nor broken off; nor can the
elect be cast away, nor the number of them be diminished.
12. Of this, his eternal and immutable election to salva-
tion, the elect, though by various steps, and in an unequal
measure, are rendered certain (or assured;) not indeed by
curiously scrutinizing the deep and mysterious things of God ;
but by observing in themselves, with spiritual delight and holy
pleasure, the infallible fruits of election described in God's
v>'ord ; s:.ch as true faith in Christ, filial fear of God, sorrow
for sill, according unto God {"kv^ri xara 0£ov — " Godly sor-
ro w,'''|) hungering and thirsting after righteousness, &c.J
13. From the sense and assurance {certihidine) of this
election, the children of God daily find greater cause of
humbling themselves before God, of adoring the abyss of his
mercies, of purifying themselves, and of more ardently loving
him reciprocally, who had before so loved them : so far are
they from being rendered, by this doctrine of election, and the
meditation of it, more slothful in observing the divine com-
mands, or carnally secure. § Wherefore, by the just judg-
* Matt. xi. 26. Eph. i. 5. 1 Tim. i. 9. Jam. i. 18.
t 2. Cor. vii. 10. Gr.
i How different is this from the generally circulated opinion, that they
"vvlu) believe election, in the Calvinistic sense, are taught to assume it a
certainty, that they are the elect without further evidence ! In this tlie
vehement opposers, and the perverters of the doctrine, seem to comcide;
but no more with the Synod of Dort, tlian witli St. Peter's exhortation*
2 Pet. i. 5—10.
§ 1 Cor. XV. 58. Col. iii. 13, 14. 1 John, iii. 2, 3.
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 91
ment of God, it is wont to happen to those who either are
rashly presuming, or idly and £rowa.rd\y prating {fabnlantes)
about the grace of election, that they are not willing to walk
in the ways of the elect.
14. But as this doctrine of divine election, in the most
wise counsel of God was predicated by the prophets, by
Christ himself and by the apostles, under the Old, as well as
under the New Testament, and then committed to the monu-
ments of the sacred Scriptures ; so it is to be declared at thii?
day by the church of God, to whom it is peculiarly destina-
ted, with a spirit of discrimination, in a holy and religious
manner, in its own place and time, all curious scrutinizing the
ways of tlie Most High being laid aside : and this to the glory
of the most holy divine name, and for the lively solace of his
people.*
16. Moreover, Holy Scripture doth illustrate and commend
to us, this eternal and free grace of our election, in this niore
os|>ecially, that, it doth also testify all men not to be elected,
but that some are non-elect, or passed hj in the eternal elec-
tion of God, whom truly God, from most free, just, irrepre-
hensible, and immutable good pleasure, decreed to lea'v'e in
the common misery, into which they had, by their oicn faulty
cast tliemselves, and not to bestow on them living faith, and the
grace of conversion; but, having been left in their o-wn ways,
and under just judgment, at length not only on account of their
unbelief, but also of all their other sins, to condemn andeternally
punish themto the manifestation of his own justice. | And this is
♦ Election, as a part of divine revelation, and of the "whole counsel of
God," must be preached : we must " not slnm to declare it ;" for in doing
BO, what do we, but presume ourselves wiser than he who revealed it as n
girt of his counsel ; and decide that it ought not to have been reve-aJed ?
ut this declaration must be made, with " discrimination, in a holy and
reUgious manner, &c." Thus declared in its proper connection, applicik-
tion, and proportion^ as in the sacred scriptures, it will greatly conduce to
improve tlie true believer's chax-acter, liis himiility, gi-atitude, admiring
love of God, meekness, compassion, and good will to man, as well as liis
comfort and joy of hope. It will also exhibit the gospel of most iti^a and
ricli gi-ace, m its unclouded glory, cast a clearer light on every other part
of divine trutli ; and secure to the Lord alone, the whole honor of man's
salvation. Yet the same doctrine, rashly, indiscriminately, and dispro-
portionately preached; and not properly stated and improved, does
immense mischief.
t "He" (God) "secluded from saving grace all the rest of mankind
{except a very small number) and appointed them by the same decree to
eternal damnation, withmd any regard to their infidelity and impenitency.^
Heylin's Abbreviation. Is not this a direct violation of tlie command,
" Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor ?" Or Eire not
92 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
the decree of reprobation, which determines that God is in
no wise the author of sin, (which to be thought of is blas-
phemy,) but a tremendous, irreprehensible, just judge and
avenger.
16. Those who do not as yet feel efficaciously in them-
selves a lively faith in Christ, or an assured confidence of
heart, peace of conscience, earnest desire {studium) of filial
obedience, glorying in God through Christ, yet nevertheless
use the means by which God has promised to work these
things in us, ought not to be alarmed by the mention of rep-o-
haiion^ nor reckon themselves to be reprobate ; but to use
diligently the means of grace, and ardently to desire, and
reverently and humbly to expect the period of more abounding
(or fructifying, uberius) grace. And much less should those
persons be terrified by the doctrine of reprobation, who, when
seriously converted to God, simply desire to please him, and
to be delivered from the body of death, yet cannot attain tc»
what they wish in the path of faith and piety ; because the
merciful God hath promised that he will not "quench the smok-
mg flax, nor break the bruised reed."* But this doctrine is
justly for a terror to those who, forgetful of God and the
Saviour Jesus Christ, have delivered themselves wholly to
the cares and carnal pleasures of the world, so long as they
are not in earnest {serio) converted unto God.
17. Seeing that we are to judge of the will of God by his
word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy,
not indeed by nature, but by the benefit of the gracious cove-
nant, in which they are comprehended along with their parents:
pious parents ought not to doubt of the election and salvation
of their children, whom God hath called in infancy out of thi«
life.t
IS. Against those who murmur at this grace of gratuitous
election, and the severity of just reprobation, we oppose this
Calviiiists to be considered as neighbors l^y Anti Calvinists ? And do not
they who retail the false accusation, intentionally, or heedlessly share a
measiu'e of the criminahty ? Is tliis the moral practice, which is contended
for by Anti Calvinists?
* " Fui*thermore, we must receive God's promises, in such wise, as
they be generally set forth to us in holy scripture, and that will of God is
to be followed, which we have expressly declared to us in the word of
God." Art. xvii. Church of England. John vi. 37 — 40.
t The salvation of the offspring of believers, dying in infancy, is here
scripturally stated, and not limitecl to such as are baptized. Nothing is
said of the children of unbelievers dying in infancy ; and the scriptiu-e says
nothing. But why might not these Calvinists have as favorable a hope
of all infants dying before actual sin, as Anti Calvinists can have ?
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 93
word of the apostle : " 0 man, who art thou that replie^t
against 0001?" Rom. ix. 20. And that of our Saviour: "Is
it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ?" Matt,
XX. 15. Vie indeed, piously adoring these mysteries, exclahn
with the apostle " 0 the depths of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God I How unsearchable are his
judgments, and his ways past finding out ! For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsel-
lor ! Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recom-
pensed to him again ! For of him, and through him, and to
him, are all things : to whom be glory for ever. Amen."*
These eighteen articles concerning predestination arc
abbreviated by Dan. Tilenus, and reported by Heylin, in the
following single article.
OF DIVINE PREDESTINATION.
" That God, by an absolute decree, hath elected to salva-
tion, a very small number of men without any regard to their
faith and obedience whatsoever ; and secluded from saving
grace all the rest of mankind, and appointed them by the same
decree to eternal damnation, without any regard to their infi-
delity and impenitency."
I have long been aware, that there is " no new thing under
the sun ;"| and that " speaking all manner of evil falsely,"
of the disciples of Christ, is no exception to this rule ; and
that misrepresenting and slandering men called Calvinists,
has been very general, ever since the term was invented: but I
own, I never before met with so gross, so barefaced, and inexcu-
sable a misrepresentation as this, in all my studies of modern
controversy. It can only be equalled by the false testimony
borne against Jesus and his apostles, as recorded in holy
writ. But is that cause likely to be in itself ^oorf, and
of God, which needs to be supported by so unhallowed
weapons ?
♦ A more appropriate and scriptural conclusion of these articles, can-
not even be imagined.
t Ecc L 9, 10.
94 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
REJECTION OF ERRORS BY WHICH THE BELGIC CHURCHES HAVE
FOR SOME TIME BEEN DISTURBED.
The orthodox doctrine of election and reprobation, having
been stated, the Synod rejects the errors of those,
1. Who teach that " the will of God, concerning the saving
of those who shall beheve, and persevere in faith and the
obedience of faith, is the whole and entire decree of election
unto salvation ; and that there is nothing else whatever con-
cerning this decree revealed in the word of God." For these
persons impose upon the more simple, and manifestly con-
tradict the sacred scripture, which testifies, not only that God
will save those who shall believe, but also that he hath chosen
certain persons from eternity to whom, in preference to oth-
ers, (prcK aliis) he may, in time, give faith and perseverance :
as it is written : "I have made known thy name unto the men
whom thou hast given me." John xvii. 6. Also, " As many
as were ordained unto eternal life believed." Acts xii. 48.
And, " He hath chosen us before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy, &c." Eph. i. 4.
2. Who teach that " the election of God- to eternal hfe is of
different kinds {multiplicem :) one, general and indefinite ;
another, singular and definite : And again, this either incom-
plete, revocable, not peremptory, or conditional ; or else com-
plete, irrevocable, peremptory, or absolute." In like manner,
'* that one election is to faith, another to salvation : so that
there may be an election to justifying faith, without a peremp-
tory election to salvation." This is indeed a comment excogi-
tated by the human brain -svithout the scriptures, corrupting
the doctrine of election, and dissolving this golden chain of
salvation : " Whom he predestinated, them he also called ;
whom he called, those he also justified ; and whom he justi-
fied, those he also glorified." Rom. viii. 30.*
3. Who teach, " that the good pleasure and purpose of
God which the scripture mentions in the doctrine of election
does not consist in this, that God before selected certain men
above the rest {prcB aliis ;) but in this, that God chose, that
♦ "They be called according to God's purpose by his spirit working in
due season ; they through grace obey the callmg, they be justffied
freely, tliey be made the children of God by adoption, they be made like
the unage of the only begotten Son Jesus Christ, they walk religiously in
good works, and at length by God's mercy they attain to everlasting feli-
city." Art. xvii.
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 95
from among all possible conditions, (among which are also
the works of the law,) or from the order of all things, the act
of faith, ignoble in itself, and the imperfect obedience of faith,
should be the condition of salvation ; and willed {voluerii)
graciously to account this instead of perfect obedience, and
to judge it of the reward of eternal life. For by this perni-
cious error, the good pleasure of God and the merit of Christ
are enervated, and men are called away by unprofitable dis-
putations, from the truth of gratuitous justification and the
simphcity of the Scriptures ; and that of the apostle is accu-
sed of falsehood : *' God hath called us with a holy calling ;
not of works, but of his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began." 2 Tim.
1. 9.*
4. Who teach that " in election to faith tliis condition is;
pre-required, that man should rightly use the light of nature,
that he should be honest, lowly, humble, and disposed for
eternal life, as if, upon these things, in some measure, may
election depend." For they savour of Pelaoius, and by nc
means obscurely accuse the apostle of falsehood in vtTiting.
" Among whom we also had our conversation in times past,
in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind ; and were by nature the children of wTath. even
as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love
wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath
made us ahve together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)
And hath raised us up together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ
Jesus. For by grace are ye saved, through faith ; and thri^
not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God ; not of works, le.^t
any man should boast." Eph. ii. 3 — 9. 1
5. Who teach that " election of individuals to salvatior;.
* " We are accounted righteous before God only fur the merit of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or
deservin^s." Art. xi. " Faith is the only hand -vvhicli putteth on Christ
unto justification ; and Christ the only gannent which, Ijcing so put on,
covereth the shame of oiu* defiled nature, hideth the imjjerfection of our
works, preserveth us blameless in the sight of God ; before whom other-
wise, the weakness of our faith were cause sufiicient to make us culpable :
yea, to shut us from the kingdom of heaven, where nothing that is not
absolute can enter/' Hooker. The error refuted in this article, is a?
contrary to the doctrine of our church, as to that of the Synod of DorL
t This error requires from unregenerate man, and ascribes to nature,
that which is the effect of regeneration and grace. Prov. xvi. 1. James
i. 15 — 17. Second Collect, Evening Service.
96 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
incomplete and not peremptory, is made from foreseen faith,
repentance, and sanctity and piety begun, and for some time
persevered in : but that complete and peremptory election is
from tlie foreseen final perseverance of faith, repentance, ho-
liness and piety : and that this is the gracious and evangelical
worthiness, on account of which, he who is elected, is more
deserving than he who is not elected : and therefore, faith,
the obedience of faith, holiness, piety, and perseverance, are
YKft the fruits or effects of immutable election to glory, but
tlie conditions and causes required beforehand, and foreseen
as if tliey were performed in the persons to be elected, without
which there cannot be complete election." This is what oppo-
ses the whole scripture, which every where assails {ingerit)
our ears and hearts with these and other sayings: " Election
is not of works, but of him that calleth."' Rom. ix. 11.
" As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Acts
xiii. 48. " He chose us to himself, that we might be holy."
Eph. i. 4. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you."
John XV. 16. " If it is of grace, it is not of works." Rom.
xi, 6. " Herein is love : not that we loved God, but that he
loved us, and sent his own Son." 1 John iv. 10.*
6. Who teach that, " not all election to salvation is immu-
table, but that some elect persons, no decree of God prevent-
ing (obstante^) may perish, and do perish eternally." By
which gross error, they make God mutable, subvert the con-
solation of the godly concerning the stability of their election,
and conti-adict the sacred scriptures, whereby we are taught
that the elect cannot be deceived : Matt. xxiv. 4. that " Christ
lovses not those who were given to him by the Father." John
vi. 39^. That "those whom he (God) hath predestinated,
called, and justified, them he also glorifies." Rom. viii. 30.1
7. Who teach that " in this life there is no fruit, no sense,
no certainty of immutable election to glory, except from a
rautabie and contingent condition." But, besides that it is
absurd to mention an uncertain certainty, {ponere incertam
certitudinem,) these things are opposite to the experience of
the saints, who, with the apostle, exult in the consciousness
of tlieir election, and celebrate this benefit of God ; who
rejoice with the disciples, according to Christ's admonition,
* Some of the texts here adduced seem not decidedly conclusive, but
may be otherwise explained ; but others might easily be substituted,
F^\. il 4, 5, 9, 10. 2 Tim. i. 9. James L 17, 18. 1 Pet. 1, 2.
t John X. 27—30. 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. 1 Pet. i. 5. 23—25. I John
ill 9. V. 18.
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. b)/
*that their names are writtten in heaven." Luke x. 20.
^Vho finally oppose the feehng of election to the fiery darts
)f diabolical temptations, inquiring, " Who shall lay any thing
» the charge of God's elect." Rom. viii. 33.*
8. Who teach that " God has not decreed from his own
mere just will, to leave any in the fall of Adam, and in the
3ommon state of sin and damnation, or to pass them by in
the communication of grace necessary to faith and conver-
sion." For that passage stands firm, " He hath mercy on
whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth."
Rom. ix. 18. Also, "I glorify thee, 0 Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, for that thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes ; even
so Father, for so it hath pleased thee." Matt. xi. 25, 26.
9. Who teach that " the reason why God sends the gospel
to one nation rather than another, is not the mere and sole
good pleasure of God ; but because this nation is better and
more deserving than that to which the gospel is not commu-
nicated." Yet Moses recalls the people of Israel from this,
saying, " Behold the heavens, and the heaven of heavens is
the Lord thy God's ; the earth also, with all that therein is:
only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them ; and
he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as
I it is this day." Deut. x. 14, 15. And Christ: "Woe unto
'thee, Chorazin ! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the
mighty works that are done in thee, had been done in Tyre
and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth
and ashes." Matt. xi. 21. |
. " That we thus think and judge, we testify by the subscrip-
tion of our hands."
Then follows a list of the names of all those who subscrib-
ed and attested these articles, and refutations, among whom
are found, George, bishop of LandafT, John Davenant, pres-
byter, doctor, and public professor of sacred theology in the
* See article xii. on Predestination. " The godly consideration of pre-
destination and our election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and un-
speakable comfort to godly persons ; and such as fed in themselves tlie
working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and
th eir earthly members, and drawing up their minds to high and heavenly
th ings ; as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith
of eternal salvation, to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fer-
vently kindle their love towards God." Art. xvii. of the Church of Eng-
land.
t This shews that the election of nations is really as opposite to th*'
Anti Calvinists' ideas of divine justice as the election of individuals.
10
98 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
University of Cambridge, and at the same time president j
(prmses) of King's College. Samuel Ward, presbyter, Arch-1
deacon Fauntonnensis, doctor of sacred theology, and head
of Sidney College of the University of Cambridge. Thomas
Goad, presbyter, doctor of sacred theology, and preceptor
of the cathedral church of St. Paul, London. Walter Bal-
canqual {Scoto-Brittanus^) a Scotchman, presbyter, bache-
lor of sacred theology, with very many others from various
parts of the continent of Europe, amounting to above eighty.
These were deputed by churches, differing from each other
in various respects, episcopalians, presbyterians, and those in
some of the regions which are generally accounted Lutheran,
and men that occupied the most important stations in the
church and universities of their several countries ; yet they
all subscribed these articles of the Synod, agreeing in this
respect though not in others. For it cannot be supposed, that
they who opposed, or were much dissatisfied with any of the
conclusions, would thus voluntarily and solemnly attest and
subscribe the same decisions. This consideration should, in
all reason., at least induce us to give these articles a candid
and attentive examination, comparing them carefully with the
scriptures of truth, and praying for the teaching of the Holy
Spirit, that we may not be so left " to lean to our own under-
standing," as to i^eject and even to revile that, which perhaps
may, in great part at least, accord with the " sure testimony
of God."
CHAPTER II.
UN THE DOCTRINE OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST, AND THROUGH IT
THE REDEMPTION OF MEN.
1. God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely
just. And his justice requires (according as he hath revealed
himself in the word) that our sins committed against his infi-
nite majesty, should be punished, not only with temporal, but
also with eternal sufferings,— of soul as well as of body ;
which punishment we cannot escape, unless the justice of
God be satisfied.*
2. But as we cannot satisfy it, and deliver ourselves from
the wrath of God, God of infinite mercy gave to us his only
begotten Son as a Surety, who, that he might make satisfac-
tion for us, was made sin and a curse on the cross for us, or
in our stead. "f
3. This death of the Son of God is a single and most
perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sins ; of infinite value
and price, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the
whole world. J
4. But this death is of so much value and price, on this
account; because the person who endured it is not only,
truly and perfectly, a holy Man, but also, the only begotten
Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite essence with
God the Father and the Holy Spirit, such as it behoved our
Saviour to be. Finally, because his death was conjoined
with the feeling of the wrath and curse of God, which we by
our sins had deserved.
6. Moreover, the promise of the gospel is, that whoso-
ever believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish, but have
everlasting life. Which promise ought to be announced and
proposed, promiscuously and indiscriminately, to all nations
" Isa. xlv. 21. Rom. iii. 25, 26.
t Isa. liii. 4—6. 10, 11. 2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. IS.
t John i. 29. 1 John ii. 2. Prayer of consecration. Communion Ser-
vice. Catechism, second instruction from the articles of the creed.
100 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
and men, to whom God in his good pleasure hath sent the
gospel, with the command to repent and believe.
6. But because many who are called by the gospel do not
repent, nor believe in Christ, but perish in unbelief; this doth
not arise from defect or insufficiency of the sacrifice offered
by Christ upon the cross, but from their own fault.*
7. But to as many as truly beUeve, and through the death
of Christ are delivered and saved from sin and condemna-
tion, this benefit comes from the sole grace of God, which he
owes to no man, given them in Christ from eternity. |
8. For this was the most free counsel, and gracious will
and intention of God the Father, that the life-giving and sav-
ing efficacy of the most precious death of his own Son, should
exert itself in all the elect, in order to give them alone justi-
fying faith, and thereby to lead them to eternal life : that is,
God willed that Christ, through the blood of the cross, (by
which he confirmed the new covenant) should, out of every
people, tribe, nation, and language, ejjicacioushj redeem all
those, and those only, who were from eternity chosen to sal-
vation, and given to him by the Father ; that he should confer
on them the gift of faith ; (which, as well as other saving gifts
of the Holy Spirit, he obtained by his death ;) that he should
cleanse them by his own blood from all sins, both original
and actual, committed after, as well as before faith ; that
he should preserve them faithfully to the end ; and at length
present them glorious before himself, without any spot and
blemish.J
9. This counsel, having proceeded from eternal love to
the elect, from the beginning of the world to this present
time, the gates of hell in vain striving against it, has been
mightily fulfilled, and will henceforth also be fulfilled : so
that indeed the elect may in their time be gathered together
in one, and that there may always be some church of beUev--
* John iii. 19, 20. v. 44. Heb. iii. 5.
t John i. 12. 1 Cor. XV. 10. Phil. i. 29. 2 Thess. ii. 1 1— 14. "We
believe, that God, (after that the whole race of Adam had been thus pre-
cipitated into perdition and destruction, by the fault of the first man) de-
monstrated himself to be such as he is in reaUty, and to have acted
as such, (prcestitisse) namely, both merciful and just ; merciful indeed in
delivering and saving from damnation and death (intemtu) those, Avhom
iu his eternal counsel, according to his gratuitous goodness by Jesus
Christ om- Lord, he elected, without any respect to their works : but just,
in leaving others in that their own fall and perdition, into which they had
cast themselves headlong.'' Belgic Confession, Article xvi.
t Johnvi. 37—40, 44, 65. Eph. v. 25— 27. 1 Pet. i. 2—5. Rev. v. 9, 10.
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 101
ers founded in the blood of Christ, who may constantly love
the Saviour, who for her, as a Bridegroom for his bride,
gave up his soul upon the cross ; and perseveringly worship
and celebrate him, here and to all eternity.
These nine articles are thus abbreviated by Tilenus and
Heylin.
Art. II. Of the Merit and Effect of Christ's Death.
"- That Jesus Christ hath not suffered death, but for those
elect only; having neither any intent nor commandment from
the Father, to make satisfaction for the sins of the whole
world."*
rejection of errors on the second chapter.
The orthodox doctrine having been explained, the Synod
rejects the errors of those,
1. Who teach, " That God the Father destined his own
Son unto the death of the cross, without a certain and defin-
ite counsel of saving any one by name, {nomination)^ so
that its own necessity, utility, and meritoriousness, {dig-
nitas) might be established unimpaired [sarta tecta) to the
benefit obtained {impetralioni) by the death of Christ, and be
perfect in its measures, [numtris) and complete and entire,
even if the obtained redemption had not, in fact, been ap-
plied to any individual." For this assertion is contumelious
to the wisdom of God and the merit of Jesus Christ, and is
contrary to scripture; as the Saviour says ; "I lay down
my life for the sheep, and I know them." John x. 15. 27.
And the prophet Isaiah concerning the Saviour : " When he
shall give himself a sacrifice for sin, he shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper
in his hand." Isa. liii. 10. And finally, it overturns the arti-
cle of faith by which we " believe the church. "J
2. Who teach " That this was not the end of the death of
Christ, that he might, in very deed, confirm the new cove-
* See Articles iv. v.
fRev. xiii. 8. xvii. 8. xx. 15.
I For in this case there might possibly have been no " church of God
which he hath purchased with his own blood." Acts xx. 28.
10*
102 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
nant of grace through his blood ; but only that he might ac-
quire a bare right to the Father of entering again into some
covenant with men, either of grace or of works." For this
contradicts the scripture, which teaches, that" Christ is be-
come the Surety and Mediator of a better covenant." Heb.
vii. 22. And a testament is at length ratified in those that
are dead. Heb. ix. 15. 17.*
3. Who teach that " Christ, by his satisfaction did not with
certainty (certo) merit that very salvation and faith, by which
this satisfaction of Christ may by effectually applied unto sal-
vation ; but only that he acquired to the Father, power, and
a plenary will, of acting anew with men, and of prescribing
whatever new conditions he willed, the performance of which
might depend on the free will of man ; and therefore it might
so happen either that none or that all might fulfil them." Now
these think far too meanly of the death of Christ ; they in
no wise acknowledge the principal fruit, or benefit obtained
by it, and recall from hell the Pelagian heresy.|
4. Who teach that " That new covenant of grace, which
God the Father, through the intervention of the death of
Christ, hath ratified with men, does not consist in this, that
by faith, so far as it apprehends the merit of Christ, we are
justified before God and saved ; but in this, that God, having
abrogated the exaction of perfect legal obedience, imputes
{reputci) faith itself, and the imperfect obedience of faith, for
the perfect obedience of the law, and graciously reckons it
as deserving of the reward of eternal life." For these con-
tradict the scripture : " They are justified freely by his grace,
through the redemption made in Jesus Christ, whom God hath
set forth as a propitiation, through faith in his blood." Rom.
ill. 24, 26.t
* Lsa. xlii. 6. xlix. 8. Dan. ix. 27. Matt. xxvi. 28. Mark xiv. 24. Gr.
Heb. ix. 13—23. xiii. 20.
t That so large a body of learned theologians, collected from various
clrarches, should unanimously, and without hesitation, and in so strong
language, declare the error here rejected, to be the revival of the Pelagi-
an heresy, may indeed astonish a.nd disgust numbers in our age and land,
■vvlio oppose something, at least exceedingly like this, against the doctrines
called evangelical ; but it should lead them to reflect on the subject, and to
pray over it. Are they not, in opposing Calvinism, i-eviving and propo-
gating the heresy of Pelagius ?
X "We of good reason and right, say with divine Paul, That ' we are
justified by faith alone,' or ' by faith without the works of the law.' But,
properly speaking, we by no means understand, that faith by itself, or o/
ilself, justifies us ; seeing it is that which becomes indeed as an instrument,
by which we apprehend Christ our Righteousness. Christ therefore him-
self is our Righteousness, who imputes unto us all his own merits ; but faith"
ARTICLES OF THE SYxNOD OF DORT. 103
5. Who teach that " All men are taken into a state of recon-
ciliation and the grace of the covenant ; so that no one on
account of original sin is liable to damnation, or to be damned;
but that all are exempt from the condemnation of this sin."
For this opinion opposes the scripture, affirming, that "By-
nature we are the children of wrath."*
6. Who usurp the distinction of impetration and application,
that they may mstil this opinion into the unwary and inexpe-
rienced ; that God, as far as pertained to him, had willed to
confer equally upon all men the benefits which were acquired
by the death of Christ : and that some rather than others (prce
aliis) should be partakers of the remission of sins and eternal
life, this discrimination depended on their free will, applying
to themselves of the grace indifferently offered ; not from an
especial gift of mercy operating effectually in them, that they,
rather than others, should apply to themselves this grace.
For these, while they pretend to propose to themselves this
distinction in a wholesome sense, endeavor to give the people
a taste of the pernicious poison of Pelagianism.y
is an instrument, by wliich we are joined to him in the society or commun-
ion of all his goctds, and are retained in it : insomuch that all these having
been made om-'s, are more than sufficient for us for our absolution from
sins." Belgic Confession, Art. xxii.
* See on the third article of the Rejection of Errors, concerning divine
predestination. •' Original sin, the fault and corraption of every man that
is natm-ally engendered of the offspring of Adam, in every person born
into this world, deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And althougk
there is no condemnation for them that believe, and are baptized ; yet the
apostle doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature
of sin." Art. ix. Church of England.
" We believe, that the disobedience of Adam's sin, which they call
original, (originis) hath been spread abroad, and poiu-ed out upon the
whole human race. But origmal sin is the corruj^tion of the whole na-
ture, arid hereditary vice, by which even infants themselves, in tlie moth-
ers' womb are polluted : and which, as a certain noxious root, shoots forth
(progerminat) every Idnd of sin in man ; and is so base and execrable be-
fore God, that it suffices for the condemnation of the whole human race.
Neither is it to be believed, that it is entirely extmguished or pulled up
by the roots in baptism ; seemg that from it, as from a corrupt fountain,
perpetual streams and rivulets continually rise and flow forth ; though it
does not fall out to condemnation, and is not imputed, to the children of
God : but is remitted to them by the pure grace and mercy of God ; not
that they should fall asleep conficUng m this remission ; but that it should
excite the more frequent groans (gemitus) in the faithful ; and that they
should more ardently deshe to be freed from this body of death. Hence
we condemn the error of die Pelagians, who assert, that original sin is no-
thing but imitation." Phil. ii. 13. Jolin xv. .5. Psalm li. 7. Rom. iii. 10.
Gen. vi. 3. John iii. 6. Rom. v. 14 Eph. ii. 5. Rom. vii. 18—24. Belgic
Confession.
jlCor. XV. 10. Eph. ii. 3— 6. Tit. iii. 4— 6. Art. x. of Chiu-ch of
England, on Free will. " We believe, that the Holy Spiiit dwelling
104 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
7. Who teach that " Christ neither could nor ought to die'
neither did he die, for those whom God especially {summe)
loved and chose to eternal life, when to such there was no
need of the death of Christ." For they contradict the apostle,
saying, " Christ loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal.
ii. 20. Also, " Who can lay any thing to the charge of God's
elect ? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ?
It is Christ who died :" Rom. viii. 32, 34, doubtless, for them.
And the Saviour who declared, "I lay down my life for my
sheep." John x. 15. And, " This is my command, that ye
love one another, as I have loved you; greater love hath no
man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
John XV. 12, 13.
in our hearts, imparts imto us true faith, that we may attain to the true
knowledge of this so great a mystery ; which faith embraces Jesus Christ,
with all his merits, and claims it to itself, as its proper effect, and seek?
thenceforth nothing beyond hun." Belgic Confession, Art. xxii.
CHAPTERS III. Sc IV.
UF THE DOCTRINE OF MAN'S CORRUPTION, AND OF THE METHOD
OF HIS CONVERSION TO GOD.
1. Man, from the beginning was created in the image of
God, adorned in his mind, with the true and saving knowledge
of his Creator and of spiritual things, with righteousness in
his will and heart, and purity in all his affections, and thus was
altogether holy ; but, by the instigation of the devil and his
own free will {libera sua voluntate,) revolting from God, he
bereaved himself of these inestimable gifts ; and, on the con-
trary, in their place, contracted in himself blindness, horrible
darkness, and perversity of judgment in the mind ; malice,
rebellion, hardness, in the will and heart ; and finally, impurity
in all his affections.
2. And such as man was after the fall, such children also
he begat : namely, being corrupted, corrupt ones ; corruptioa
having been derived from Adam to all his posterity, (Christ
only excepted,) not by imitation, as the Pelagians formerly
would have it, but by the propagation of a vicious nature,
through the just judgment of God.*
3. Therefore, all men are conceived in sin, and born the
children of wrath, indisposed {inepti) to all saving good,
prepense to evil, dead in sins, and the slaves of sin; -and,
without the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit, they neither
are willing nor able to return to God, to correct their depraved
nature, or to dispose themselves to the correction of it-t
* " Hence we condemn the error of the Pelagians, who assert that this
original sin {peccatum originis) is no other thing than imitation." Belgic
Confession, Art. xv.
" Original sin standethnot in the following of Adam {in imilatione Ad-
ami) as the Pelagians do vainly talk {fabulantur) ; but it is the fault and
corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the
offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone {quam longissime distet)
from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, &c.
Art. ix. Church of England.
t See on Rejection of Errors, chap. ii. Art. 6.
106 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
4. There is indeed remaining in man, since the fall, some
light of nature, by the help of which, he retains certain notions
concerning God and natural things ; concerning the difference
of things honorable and shameful, and manifests some desire
after virtue and external discipline : but, so far from his being
able, by this light of nature, to attain to the saving knowledge
of God, or to turn himself to him, he does not use it rightly
in natural and civil things : nay, indeed, whatever thing it may
at length be, he contaminates it all in various ways, and holds
it in unrighteousness, which, when he does, he is rendered
inexcusable before God.*
5. The reason (or purport or purpose, ratio,) of the deca-
logue, particularly delivered from God, by Moses, to the Jews,
is the same as that of the light of nature ; for when indeed it
exposes the magnitude. of sin, and more and more convicts
man of guilt ; yet it neither discloses a remedy, nor confers
the power of emerging from misery ; so that, being rendered
weak through the transgression of the flesh, it leaves him
under the curse, and man cannot through it obtain saving
grace.!
6. What, therefore, neither the light of nature nor the law
could do, that God performs by the power of the Holy Spirit,
through the word, or the ministry of reconciliation ; which is
the gospel concerning the Messiah, by which it hath pleased
God to save believers, as well under the Old, as under the
New Testament. +
7. God revealed this mystery of his own will to fewer
persons under the Old Testament ; but now, the distinction
of people being taken away, he manifests it to more. The
cause of which dispensation is not to be ascribed to the dig-
nity (or worthiness) of one nation above another, or to the
better use of the light of nature ; but to the most free good
pleasure and gratuitous love of God. Therefore they to
* Man, by the fall " entirely withdrew himself from God, (his true life,)
and alienated himself, his nature having been wholly vitiated and corrupt-
ed by his sin ; by vvhich it came to pass, that he rendered hmiself obnox-
ious, as well to corporeal, as to spiritual death. Therefore having become
wicked and pei-verse, and in all his ways and pursuits {studiis) corrupt,
he lost all those excellent gifts, with which he (God) had adorned him ; so
that only small sparks and slender remains (vestig'ia) of them are left to
him, which yet suffice to render men inexcusable ; because whatever
there is in us of light, hath been turned into blind darkness."* Belgic
Confession, Art. xiv.
* Rom. i. 18, 20. ii. 1, 12, 16. Eph. iv. 17—19.
t Rom. iii. 20. v. 20. viii. 3. 2 Cor. iii. 7, 9. Gal. iii. 10, 22.
i Rom. viii. 3, Gal. iii. 22. Heb. iv. 1, 2. xi. 7. " Both in the Old and
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 107
whom, beyond and contrary to all merit, such grace is given
{Jit) ought to acknowledge it with a humble and thanktul
heart : in respect of the rest to whom this grace is not given,
to adore with the apostle the severity and justice of the judg-
ments of God, but by no means to scrutinize them curiously.*
S. But as many as are invited by the gospel, are invited
sincerely (or in earnest, serio.) For sincerely and most truly
God shews in his word, what is pleasing to him ; namely, that
they who are called should come to him. And he sincerely
promises to all who come to him, and believe, the peace of
their souls and eternal life.y
9. That many, who are called by the ministry of the gos-
pel, do not come, and are not converted ; the fault of this is
not in the gospel, nor in Christ offered by the gospel, nor in
God inviting by the gospel, and conferring various gifts on
them ; but in the persons themselves who are invited : some
of whom being regardless, (or unconcerned, -sec^n-i',) do not
admit the word of eternal life : others indeed admit it, {admit-
tunf,) but do not receive {immittunt) it into their heart, so that
they turn back after an evanescent joy of temporary faith :
and others choke the seed of the word with the thorns of the
cares and pleasures of the world, and bring forth no fruit ; as
our Saviour teachesusinthe parable of the sower. Matt.xiii.J
10. And that others, who are called by the ministry of the
gospel, do come and are converted, this is not to be ascribed
to man, as if distinguishing himself by free \\'i\\{libero arbitrio)
from others, furnished with equal or sufficient grace for faith
and conversion, (which the proud heresy of Pelagius states,)
but to God, who, as he chose his own people in Christ from
eternity, so he also effectually calls them in time ; gives them
repentance and faith ; and, having been rescued {erutos) from
the power of darkness, translates them into the kingdom of
his Son, that they may declare his energies {virhites) who
called them out of darkness into this marvellous light ; and
glory, not in themselves but in God : the apostolic scripture
every where testifying this.§
New Testament, everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is
the only Mediator between God and man, being both "Gotl and man."
Art. vii. Chmxh of England.
* See Rejection of Errors on first chapter, Art. ix.
t Matt. xxii. 4—10. John vi. 37—40. Rev. xxi. 6. xxii. 17.
I Luke vii. 12—15. John iii. 19—21. Heb. iii. 12, Gr. iv. 2.
§ " Whatever things are delivered to us concerning the free will {libeiv
arbitrio) of man, these we deservedly reject ; because he is the slave of sin ;
and man can do nothing of himself, unless it hath been given to him from
108 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
11. But, when God performs his good pleasure in his elect,
or works in them true conversion, he not only provides that
the gospel should be outwardly preached to them, and that
their mind should be powerfully illuminated by the Holy Spirit,
that they may rightly understand, and judge what are the
things of the Spirit of God ; but he also, by the efficacy of
the same regenerating Spirit, penetrates into the innermost
recesses of man, opens his closed heart, softens his obdurate
heart, circumcises his imcircumcised heart, infuses new quali-
ties into his will, makes that which had been dead alive, that
which was evil good, that which had been unwilling willing,
and from being refractory, obedient; and leads and strength-
ens it, that, as a good tree, it may be able to bring forth the
fruit of good works.*
12. And this is that regeneration, which is so much declared
in the scriptures, a new creation, a resurrection from the dead,
a giving of life, {vivificatio,) which God without us (that is,
without our concurrence,) worketh in us. And this is by
no means effected by the doctrine alone sounding without^ by
moral suasion, or by such a mode of working, that after the
operation of God (as far as he is concerned) it should remain
in the power of man, to be regenerated or not regenerated,
converted, or not converted ; but it is manifestly an operation
supernatural, at the same time most powerful, and most sweet,
wonderful, secret, and ineffable in its power, according to the
scripture (which is inspired by the Author of this operation)
not less than, or inferior to, creation, or the resurrection of the
dead : so that all those, in whose hearts God works in this
heaven. Foi- who will dare to boast that he can perform whatsoever
things he shall will ; when Christ himself saith, 'No one can come unto
me, except the Father who sent me, shall draw him?' Who will boast
his own Av ill, who hears, that 'the affections of the flesh are enmities
against God?' Who will glory in his understanding, who knoAvs that the
animal man is not capable of those things which are of the Spirit of God ?
In fine, who Avill bring forAvard {proferat i7i medium) any thought of his
own, Avho understands, that ' aa-c are not sufficient of ourselves to think
any thing as of ourseh-es,' but that Ave are sufficient, all this is of God?
That Avhich the apostle hath said ought to remain certain and firm :< ' It
is God who worketh in us, both that we may be Avilling, and that we may
effect (if) of his own most gratuitous benevolence.' Phil. ii. 13. For no
mind, no will acquiesces in the will of God, in Avhich Christ himself hath
not first worked ; Avhich he also teacheth, saying, ' Without me ye are
able to do nothing.' " John xv. 5. Belgic Confession, Art. xiv.
* Deut. XXX. 6. Ps. ex. 3. Bible translation. Jer. xxxi. 33. xxxii. 39.
Ez. xi. 19. xxxvi. 25, 26. Zech.xii. 10. Matt. xi. 25, 26. John i. 12.
iii. 3—6. vi. 44, 45, 05. Eph. ii. 4, 5. Phil. i. 13. Col. i. 13. 1 Thess.
ii. 13, 14. Tit. iii. 4—6. 1 Pet. i. 3. ii. 9, 10.
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 109
admirable manner, are, certainly, infallibly and efficaciously
regenerated, and m fact {actu) believe.* And thus their will,
being now renewed, is not only influenced and moved by God,
but being acted on by God, itself acts and moves. Wherefore,
the man himself, through this grace received, is rightly said
to believe and repent."!"
13. Believers cannot in this Hfe, fully comprehend the
manner of this operation : in the mean time, they acquiesce
in it ; because, by this grace of God, they know and feel, that
they believe in their heart, and love their Saviour.
i4. Thus, therefore, faith is the gift of God ; not in that
it is offered to the will of man by God, but that the thing itself
is conferred on him, inspired, infused into him. Not even
that God only confers the power of believing, but from thence
expects the consent, or the act of believing : but that he, who
worketh both to will and to do, worketh in man both to will
to believe, and to believe itself, {et velle credere et ipsum cre-
dere,) and thus he worketh all things in all. J
15. This grace God owes to no one. For what can he
owe to him, who is able to give nothing first, that he may be
recompensed ?§ Nay, what can he owe to him, who has
nothing of his own but sin and a lie ? He, therefore, who
receives this grace, owes and renders everlasting thanks to
God : he who receives it not, either does not care for those
spiritual things, and rests satisfied within himself; or, being
secure, he vainly glories that he possesses what he has not.
Moreover, concerning those who outwardly profess faith, and
amend their lives, it is best to judge and speak after the example
of the apostles: for the inmost recesses {penetrcdia) of the
heart, are to us impenetrable. As for those who have not
yet been called, it behoves us to pray to God, who calls the
things which are not, as though they were : but in no wise
are we to act proudly against them [adversvs superbiendwn
eos est) as if we had made ourselves to differ. ||
16. But in like manner, as by the fall man does not cease
to be man, endowed with intellect and will, neither hath sin,,
which has pervaded the whole human race, taken away the
* John V. 21, 24, 25. Rom. vi. 4— 6. viii. 2. 2 Cor* v. 17, 18. Gal.
vi. 15. Eph. i. 19, 20. ii. 6, 10. Col. ii. 12, 13. iii. 1.
t Jer.xxxi. 18, 19. Acts iii. 19. v. 31. Rom. viii. 13. 2 Tim. ii. 25,
26. 1 Pet. i. 22.
X "We believe that the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts doth impart
to us true faith." Belgic Confession, Art. xxii.
§ Rom. xi. 35.
II Rom. xi. 18—20. 1 Cor. iv. 6, 7.
11
110 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
nature of the human species, but it hath depraved and spirit-
ually stained it ; so even this divine grace of regeneration
does not act upon men like stocks and trees, nor take away
the proprieties (or properties, proprietates) of his will, or
violently compel it while unwilling ; but it spiritually quickens,
(or vivifies,) heals, corrects, and sweetly, and at the same time,
powerfully inclines it : so that whereas before it was wholly
governed by the rebellion and resistance of the flesh, now,
prompt and sincere obedience of the Spirit may begin to reign ;
in which the renewal of our spiritual will and our liberty truly
consist. In which manner, (or for which reason,) unless the
admirable Author of all good should work in us, there could
be no hope to man of rising from the fall, by that/ree %vilU by
which when standing, he fell into ruin.*
17. But in the same manner as the omnipotent operation
of God, whereby he produces and supports our natural life,
doth not exclude, but require the use of means, by which God,
in his infinite wisdom and goodness sees fit to exercise this
his power : so this fore-mentioned supernatural power of God
by which he regenerates us, in no wise excludes, or sets aside
the use of the gospel, which the most wise God hath ordained
as the seed of regeneration and the food of the soul. Where-
fore, as the apostles, and those teachers who followed them,
have piously instructed the people concerning this grace of
God, in order to his glory and to the keeping down of all
pride ; in the mean time neither have they neglected (being
admonished by the holy gospel) to keep them under the exer-
cise of the word, the sacraments, and discipline: so then, be
it far from us, that teachers or learners in the church should
presume to tempt God, by separating those things, which God,
of his own good pleasure, would have most closely united
together. For grace is conferred through admonitions, and
the more promptly we do our duty, the more illustrious the
benefit of God, who worketh in us, is wont to be, and the
most rightly doth his work proceed. To whom alone, all the
glory, both of the means and their beneficial fruits and efficacy,
is due for everlasting. Amen.|
These seventeen articles are abbreviated, as above stated,
in these two that follow.
'^ A more lucid and scriptui-al exposition of the efficacious influence, by
which tlie regenerating:, life-giving, iHuminating grace of the Holy Spirit,
draws, teaches, and inclines the heart, to willing and sweet submission,
and obedience, can hardly be produced from any writer. 2 Cor. x. 5.
t Can any statement be more rational, unexceptionable, and scriptural
than this is?
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. Ill
Art. IIL Of Man's Will in a state of Nature.
" That by Adam's fall his posterity lost their free will, being
put to an unavoidable necessity to do, or not to do, whatsoever
they do or do not, whether it be good or evil r being there-
unto predestinated by the eternal and effectual secret decree
of God."
Art. IV. Of the Manner of Conversion.
*' That God, to save his elect from the corrupt mass, doth
beget faith in them, by a power equal to that whereby he
created the world and raised up the dead : insomuch, that
such unto whom he gives grace cannot i^eject, and the rest,
being reprobate, cannot accept it.*
REJECTION OF ERRORS ON THE THIRD AND FOURTH CHAPTERS.
The orthodox doctrine having been set forth, the Synod
rejects the errors of those,
1 . Who teach that " It cannot properly be said, that original
sin {peccatum originis) suffices of itself for the condemnation
of the whole human race, or the desert of temporal and eternal
punishments :" For they contradict the apostle, who says,
Rom. V. 12. " By one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned." And verse 16. "By one man the offence
entered unto condemnation." Also, Rom. vi. 23. " The
wages of sin is death.""]"
2. Who teach that " Spiritual gifts, or good habits and
* Let the candid reader compare carefully the seventeen articles above
given, with these two abbreviated articles, and then judge for liimself,
whether such a reporter deserves even the least credit or confidence.
t " Original sin is so base and execrable, that it suffices to the condem-
nation of the whole human race." Belgic Confession, Art. xv. "God
saw that man had so cast himself into the condemnation of death, both cor-
poreal and spiritual, and was made altogether miserable and accursed."
Ibid. Art. xvii. "In every person born into the world, it deserveth God's
wrath and damnation." Art, ix. Church of England,
112 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
virtues, such as kindness, sanctity, and justice, could have no
place in the will of man when he was first created, and there
fore, neither in the fall, could they be separated from it."
For this opposes {pugnat eum) the description of the image
of God, which the apostle states in Eph. iv. 24, where he*
describes it (as consisting) " in righteousness and holiness,"
which have a place in the will altogether.
3. Who teach that " Spiritual gifts are not separated from
the will of man in spiritual death, as it (the will) never was
corrupted in itself, but only impeded by the darkness of the
mind, and the irregularity of the affections; which impediments
being removed, it may be able to exert the free power planted
{insitam) in it ; that is, it might of itself will or choose, or not
will or choose, whatever good was proposed to it." This is
new and erroneous ; even so far as it causes the power of
free will to be exalted, against the words of the prophet, Jere-
miah xvii. 9. "The heart is deceitful above all things and
perverse:" and the apostle, Eph. ii. 3. "Among whom
(contumacious men) we all had our conversation in times
past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfiUing the desires of the flesh
and of the thoughts."*
4. Who teach that " Man unregenerate is neither properly
nor totally dead in sins, or destitute of all power for what is
spiritually good ; but that he can hunger and thirst after nght-
eousness or life, and offer the sacrifice of a broken and con-
trite spirit, which is accepted by God :" For these things are
contrary to the open testimonies of scripture, Eph. ii. 14.
" Ye were dead in trespasses and sins." And Gen. vi. 5.|
and viii. 21. "The imagination of the thoughts of man's
heart is only evil continually." Moreover, to hunger and
thirst after deliverance from misery, and for life — and to offer
unto God, the sacrifice of a contrite spirit, is the part of the
regenerate, and of those who are said to be blessed. Ps. Ii. 19.
1 Chron. xxix. 14. Matt. v. 6.
5. Who teach that " Man, corrupt, animal, (4^ux"'°^) ^^°
so rightly use common grace, which in them is the light of
nature, and the gifts remaining after the fall, that by this good
use he may obtain greater grace, for instance, evangelical or
* " The apostle says, that "it is God, who worketh in us, both that we
should will, and that we should do, of his own free benevolence ; for no
n^ind, no will, acquiesces in the will of God, in which Christ himself hath
not first operated." Belgic Confession, Art. xiv. " We have no power
to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of
God by Chi-ist preventing us, that we may have a good will ; and working
with us, when we have that good will." Art. x. Church of England.
i
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 113
saving, and gradually may obtain salvation itself: And on this
account God hath shewed himself ready, on his part, to reveal
Christ to all, seeing that he administers to all, sufficiently and
efficaciously, the necessary means to the revelation of Christ,
faith and repentance." For, besides the experience of all
ages, this is testified to be false by the scripture : Ps. cxlvii.
19, 20. " He sheweth his words unto Jacob, his statutes
and laws unto Israel : he hath not done so unto any other
people, neither have they known his laws." Acts xvi. 16.
*' God permitted in past ages all the nations to walk in their
own ways." Acts xvi. 6, 7. They were forbidden (Paul
and his companions) by the Holy Ghost to preach the word
of God in Asia." And, " When they were come into Mysia,
they endeavored to go towards Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered
them not."*
6. Who teach that "In the true conversion of man, there
cannot be new qualities, habits, or gifts, infused by God into
his will : and so faith, by which we are first converted, and
from which we are called the faithful, is not a quality or gift
infused by God ; but only an act of man, nor can it be other-
wise called a gift, than with respect to the power of attaining
it." For these contradict the holy scriptures, which testify
that God doth infuse new qualities of faith, obedience, and a
sense of his love into our hearts. Jer. xxxi. 33. " I will
* The matter of fact, that all those who enjoy the means of grace in the
greatest abundance do not profit by them, is as undeniable as that all na-
tions are not favored with the means of grace : but to speak of those things
as sufficient and e^crtdo».s, which, in the case of a vast majority prove insuf,
ficient and inefficacious, mnsi surely be unreasonable ; especially as to them
the gospel itself proves " a savor of death unto death." That " Paul may
plant, and ApoUos may water,"but that God alone can give " the increase,"
is most manifest to those who have the deepest experience, and have made
the most accurate and long-continued observation, on the event of the wis-
est, most loving, and most scriptural instructions. 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7. Enough
has been quoted from the Belgic Confession to shew that this error was as
contrary to that document, as to any article of the Synod of Dort. " Tlie
condition of man after the tall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn or pre-,
pare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith £ind
calling upon God." '* Works done before the grace of Christ, and the in-
spiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God ; forasmuch as they spring
not of faith in Jesus Christ ; neither do they make men meet to receive
grace, or (as the school authors say) deserve grace of congruity : yea, rather
for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be
done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin." Art. x. xiii. Church
of England. He who is well versed in this controversy, is aware, that the
doctrine here condemned comprises the very hinge on which the whole
turns : [{false, Calvinists (in the modern use of the word) are right ; if
tnie, Anti Calvinists are right.
11*
114 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT*
put my law into their mind, and will write it in their heart.**
Isa. xliv. 3. *' I will pour water on him that is athirst, and
rivers upon the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on thy
seed." Rom. v. 5. " The love of God which is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us." They
also contradict the constant practice of the church, according
to the prophet, praying — " Convert thou me, and I shall be
converted." Jer. xxxi. 18, 19. (Ez. xi. 19, 20. xxxvi.
25—27. Eph. i. 19, 20. ii. 8—10.)
7. Who teach, " That the grace, by which we are converted
to God, is nothing else than gentle suasion ; or (as others
explain it) the most noble method of acting in the conversion i
of man, and the most suitable {convenienlissimum) to human ^
nature, is, that which is done by suasions, and that nothing
hinders that moral grace alone should render animal {natural,
•vj^u^^^ixov) men spiritual ; indeed God produces the consent of
the will no otherwise than by moral reason ; and the efficacy
of divine grace, by which he overcomes the operation of Satan,
consists in this, that God promises eternal benefits, and Satan
temporal ones." For this is altogether Pelagian, and contrary
to the whole scripture, which, besides this, acknowledges also
another, and far more effectual and divine mode of acting of
the Holy Spirit in man's conversion. Ezek. xxxvi. 26. " I
will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within
you ; and I will take away the heart of stone, and give you a
heart of flesh," &c. " Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God." John iii. 3 — 6. " The natural
man (4'UX"^°^) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually dis-
cerned." 1 Cor. ii. 14.
8. Who teach that " God does not apply those powers of
his own omnipotence in the regeneration of man, by which he
mishtily and infallibly bends his will to faith and conversion ;
buFall the operations of grace having been employed (positis)
which God makes use of in man's conversion, man never-
■ theless can so resist God and the Spirit, intending his regene-
ration and willing to regenerate him, and in very deed {ipso
. actu) often doth so resist, as entirely to hinder his own
regeneration, and thus it remains in his own power, whether
he will be regenerated or not." For this is no other than
taking away all the efficacy of God's grace in our conversion,
and subjecting the act of Almighty God to the will of man,
and contradicts the apostles, who teach that " We believe
through the efficacy of the mighty power of God." Eph. i. 19,
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 115
and that " God fills up in us the good pleasure of his goodness,
and the work of faith with power." 2 Thess. i. 11. Also,
that " His divine power hath given us all things which pertain
to life and godhness." 2 Pet. i. 3. " Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power." " It is God that worketh
in us both to will and to do." The want of the willing mind
is the grand thing wanting, and until this is wrought in us, we
■** do always resist the Holy Ghost." Ps. ex. 4. Phil. i. 13.
9. Who teach that " Grace and free will are partial causes
concurring at the same time, to the beginning of conversion ;
nor doth grace, in the order of causality, precede the efficacy
of the will : that is, God does not effectually help the will of
man to conversion, before the will of man moves and deter-
mines itself." For this dogma the ancient church long ago
condemned in Pelagians, from the apostle, Rom. ix. 16. " It
is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that sheweth mercy." And 1 Cor. iv. 7. " Who maketh thee
to differ ? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive ?'
Also, Phil. ii. 13. " It is God who workelh in you this very
thing, to will and to do of his good pleasure."*
* "Almighty God, we humbly beseech th'je, that, as hy thy special grace
preventing us, thou dost put into om- minds good desu'es, so," &c. (Collect
East. SuncU Ch. Eng.)
CHAPTER V. OF Doctrine.
CONCERNING THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.
1. Those whom God, according to his purpose, calleth to
the fellowship of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and regene-
rates by the Holy Spirit, he indeed sets free from the domi-
nion and slavery of sin, but not entirely in this life from the
flesh and the body of sin.*
2. Hence daily sins of infirmity arise, and blemishes {nm-
vi) cleave to the best works even of the saints ; which fur-
nish to them continual cause {materiam) of humbling them-
selves before God, of fleeing to Christ crucified, of mortify-
ing the flesh more and more by the spirit of prayers, and the
holy exercises of piety, and of panting after the goal of per-
fection {ad perfectionis metam suspirandi) until the time
when, delivered from this body of death, they shall reign
with the Lamb of God in the heavens. f
3. Because of these remains of in-dwelling sin, and more-
over also, the temptations of the world and of Satan, the con-
verted could not continue (perstare) in this grace, if they
were left to their own strength. But God is faithful, who
* They who constitute the true church ; " such a mark of them is the
faith, by which Christ, or their only Saviour, being apprehended, they flee
from sin and follow after righteousness ; at the same time, they love the
true God and their neighbors, neither turning aside to the right hand nor
to the left : tliey crucify the flesh with its affections; but by no means this
indeed, as if there were not in them any longer infirmity : but that they
fight against it tlu-ough the whole time of their life, by the energy {virMem)
of tlie Holy Spirit ; and in the mean time they flee to the blood, the death,
and the sufferings and obedience of our Lord Christ, as to their most safe
protection." Belgic Confession, Art. xxix. Rom. vii. 21 — 25. viii. 1, 2.
Gal. V. 16, 17, 24. See Art. ix. Church of England. The Remonstrants
or Arminians of those days held, it seems, the doctrine of sinless perfection
in this life more generally than Anti Calvinists do at present.
t " Not that they should shunber, trusting in this remission, but that
the feelingof this corruption may excite in the faithful more frequent groans ;
and that they may wish more ardently to be freed from this body of death.
Rom. vii. 18, 24." Belgic Confession, Art. xv.
I
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 117
confirms them in the grace once mercifully conferred on them,
and powerfully preserves them in the same even unto the end.*
4. But though that power of God, confirming the truly
faithful {vere Jideles) in grace, and preserving them, is greater
than what can be overcome by the flesh ; yet the converted
are not always so influenced and moved by God, that they
cannot depart, in certain particular actions, from the leading
of grace, and be seduced by the desires {concupiscentiis) of
the flesh, and obey them. Wherefore, they must continually
watch and pray, lest they should be led into temptations.
Which when they do not, they may be not only violently car-
ried away by the flesh, and the world, and Satan, unto griev-
ous and atrocious sins ; but they are sometimes even thus
violently carried away, by the righteous permission of God ;
which the mournful tails of David and Peter, and of other
saints recorded in scripture, demonstrate. "j"
6. But by such enormous sins they exceedingly ofiend
God : they incur the guilt of death, they grieve the Holy
Spirit, they interrupt the exercise of faith, they most griev-
ously wound conscience, and they sometimes lose, for a
time, the perception of grace ; until by serious repentance,
returning into the way, the paternal countenance of God
again shines upon them. J
6. For God, who is rich in mercy, from his immutable
purpose of election, does not wholly take away his Holy
Spirit from his own, even in lamentable falls ; nor does he so
permit them to glide down, {prolabi,) that they should fall
from the grace of adoption and the state of justification, or
commit the sin unto death, or against the Holy Spirit ; that,
being deserted by him, they should cast themselves headlong
into eternal destruction. §
7. In the first place, he preserves in them, in these falls,
that immortal seed, by which they are regenerated, {or begot-
ten again, regeniti,) lest it should perish, or be shaken out.||
Then, by his own word and Spirit, he assuredly and eflica-
ciously renews them to repentance ; that from the soul they
may mourn according to God, for the sins committed ; may
seek remission in the blood of the Mediator by faith with a
contrite heart, and obtain it ; that they may feel the favor of
* Prov. xxviii. 26. Jer. xvii. 9. Luke xxii. 31, 32. 1 Pet. i. 5.
t Ps. cxix. 116, 117. Matt. xxvi. 40, 41, 69—75. I Pet. v. 8. Jude
20,21,24. JPs.li. 11,12.
I Luke xxii. 32. John iv. 14. 1 John v. 16—18.
jl 1 Pet. i. 23. 1 John iii. 9.
118 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
God again reconciled ; may adore his mercies by faith ; and
finally work out their salvation more earnestly with fear and
trembUng.*
8. So that, not by their own merits or strength, but by the
gratuitous mercy of God they obtain it, that they neither totally
fall from faith and grace, nor finally continue in their falls and
perish. Which, as to themselves, {quoad ijosos) not only !
might easily be done, but would without doubt be done ; yet, ^
in respect of God, it cannot at all be done, {or take place, fieri j)
as, neither can his counsel be changed, his promise fall, their
vocation according to his purpose be recalled, the merit, inter-
cession, and guardianship of Christ be rendered void, nor the
seahng of the Holy Spirit become vain, or be blotted out.|
9. Of this guarding of the elect to salvation, and the persever-
ance ill the faith of the truly faithful, {verefidelium,) the faithful
themselves may become certain, {assurtd) and are, according
to the measure of their faith; by which they certainly believe
themselves to be, and that they shall perpetually remain, true
and living members of the church, have remission of sins, and
eternal life. J
10. And indeed, {truly, jjroinde,) this certainly is not from
any peculiar revelation, made beyond, or without, the word
of God ; but from the belief of the promises, which God hath
most copiously revealed in his own word, for our comfort ;
by the testimony " of the Holy Spirit witnessing with our
spirit, that we are the sons and heirs of God." (Rom. viii.
16.) Finally, from the earnest (or seinous, serio) and holy
desire {or 'pursuit, studio) of a good conscience and good
works. § And of this substantial consolation of the victory
to be obtained, and the infallible earnest of eternal glory, if
the elect of God could be deprived "in this world, they would
of all men be the most miserable."
11. In the mean while, the scripture testifies, that the faith-
* Can any thing be guarded in a more wise, holy, and scripural manner,
than this statement of the means, by which God preserves and restores his
offending chilch-en? Ps. Ixxxix. 30— 34. Jer. xxxii. 40. 1 Cor. xi. 32.
Matt, xxvi. 75, John xxi. 17. 1 Pet. iv. 7, v. 8.
t John x. 27—30. xiii. 36, xiv. 19, xvii. 24. Rom. v. 9, 10, viii. 16, 17,
28—39. 2 Cor. i. 2. Eph. i. 13, 14, v. 30.
I May become certain, not, are all of them, or at all times, certain. Heb. vi.
10, 11, 2 Pet. i. 10, 11. 1 John v, 11—13, 19, 20.
§ Surely this has the stamp of holiness deeply impressed upon it ! It
is evangelical truth, in that part of it, which is most vehemently accused
as tending to laxity of practice, and most frequently misstated by theinju-
.dicious, and perverted by enthusiasts and hypocrites, set forth in its genunie
.and inseparable connection with good works, 1 Cor, xv. 58.
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 119
fill in this life, are assaulted {conflictari) with various doubt-
ings of the flesh, and, being placed in heavy temptations, do
not always feel this full assurance of faith and certainty of
perseverance. But God, " the Father of all consolation,"
does not suffer them to be tempted above their strength, but
with the temptation makes some way of escape," {prxstat
evasionem^ cron^gs* — sxQagiv.) And, by the Holy Spirit, he
excites again in the same persons the certainty of perseverance*
12. But so far is this certainty of perseverance from ren-
dering the truly faithful proud and carnally secure, that, on
the contrary, it is the true root of humility, of filial reverential
fear, of true piety, of patience in every conflict, of ardent
prayers, of constancy in the cross, and in the confession of
the truth, and of solid joy in God : and the consideration of
this benefit is the spur {stimulus) to the serious and continual
exercise of gratitude and good works ; as it appears by the
testimonies of the scriptures, and the examples of the saints*
13. Neither even in those, who are reinstated after a fall,
doth the renewed confidence of perseverance produce licen-
tiousness, or neglect {incuriam) of piety, but much greater
care of solicitously being guarded (or kept) in the ways of
God, which are prepared, that by walking in them they may
retain the certainty of their own perseverance : lest, on ac-
count of the abuse of his paternal benignity, the face of the
mercitul God, (the contemplation of which is to the pious
sweeter than life, and the withdrawing of it more bitter than
death,) should again be turned away from them, and so they
should fall into heavier torments of the soul.*
14. But, as it hath pleased God to begin this work in us
by the preaching of the gospel ; so, by the hearing, reading,
meditation of the same, by exhortations, threatenings, pro-
mises, and moreover by the use of the sacraments, he pre-
serves, continues, and perfects if\
15. This doctrine, concerning the perseverance of the
truly believing and saints, and of its certainty, which God
hath abundantly revealed in his word, to the glory of his own
* Ps. Ixxxv. 8.
I Is not this a full confutation of those who accuse such as hold this doc-
truie, with rendering all means of grace needless, and all exortations nuga-
tory? The means to be used by the persons themselves, and by others
for them, in whatever form they are emj)loyed, constitute a part of that
counsel and plan, by which God preserves his people, and causes them "to
walk religiously in good works, and at length by his mercy they attain to
everlasting fclicit v." ArL xvii. Church of England. Compare Acts xxvii.
22~24, with 31, 'and Jude 20, 21, with 24.
120 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
name and to the comfort of pious souls, and hath impressed
on the hearts of the faithful, the flesh indeed doth not receive,
Satan hates, the world derides, the inexperienced {imperiti)
and hypocrite violently hurry away {rapiunt,) into abuse, and
the spirits of error oppose. But the spouse of Christ hath
always most tenderly loved it, as a treasure of inestimable
value, and hath constantly defended it {propugnavit,) which
indeed that she may do, God will take care {procurabit,)
against whom neither counsel can avail, nor any strength
succeed. To whom, the only God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
These fifteen articles are abbreviated, as has been above
stated, in the following article.
Art. V. Of the Certainty of Perseverance.
" That such as have once received that grace by faith, can
never fall from it, finally or totally, notwithstanding the most
enormous sins they can commit.
To which is added, " This is the shortest, and withal the
most favorable summary, which I have hitherto met with of
the conclusions of this Synod : that which was drawn up by
the Remonstrants in their antidotum, being much more large,
and comprehending many things by way of inference, which
are not positively expressed in the words themselves."
I am not able to annex the Antidotum of the Remonstrants :
• yet, I cannot but be disposed to think, that it does not contain
a more unfavorable statement of the conclusions made by the
Synod of Dort, than that abbreviated in these five articles,
though doubtless it is more prolix. But would not the very
articles published by the Synod itself, being produced or com-
mented on, have been far more likea/aiV and equitable conduct
towards it, than any abbreinatioUj or antidotum, drawn up by
its avowed opponents 1 I trust such would have been the
conduct of most Calvinists, in recording the proceedings of
an Anti Calvinistic Synod : but, it seems, Calvinists are
exceptions to all rules, and have no right to expect fair and
eqitable treatment from other men.
ARTICLES OP THE SYNOD OF DORT. 121
lEJECTION OF ERRORS ON THE FIFTH CHAPTER, CONCERNING
THE DOCTRINE OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.
The orthodox doctrine having been set forth, the Synod
rejects the errors of those,
1. Who teach that, " The perseverance of the truly faithful
s not the effect of election, or the gift of God obtained by
he death of Christ, but a condition of the new covenant, to
be performed by man, of free-will, antecedent to his 'pcremioi^
3lection and justification, as they themselves speak." For,-
he sacred scripture testifies, that it follows election, and that
1"it is given to the elect, through the power of the death, resur-
rection, and intercession of Christ. Rom. xi. 7. " The
election have obtained ; the rest were hardened." scrw^w^/l^av
—Also, Rom. viii. 32. '* He who spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not \vith him freely
give us all things ? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God's elect ? It is God that justifietli. Who is he that con-
demneth ? It is Christ who died ; yea, rather who is risen
again, who also sitteth at the right hand of God, who likewise
intercedeth for us : Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ ?"*
2. Who teach that " God indeed provides the believer
with powers sufficient for persevering, and is ready to preserve
them in him if he performs his duty : all things, however,
being furnished which are necessary to persevering in faith,
and which God willeth to supply for the preservation of faith,
it always depends upon the freedom of the will whether he will
persevere, or not persevere :" For this opinion contains man-
ifest Pelagianism ; and, while it willeth to make men free makes
them sacrilegious, contrary to the perpetual agreement of the
evangelical doctrine, which deprives men of all ground
(matrriam) for glorying, and ascribes to divine grace alone
the praise of this benefit ; and it is opposite to the apostle,
who declares, that " It is God who will confirm us even to
the end blameless, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."
1 Cor. i. S.t
* Luke xxli. 32. 1 Peter i. 5. " Because the frailty of man without
thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful."
Col. XV. after Trinity, Church of England.
t "Being confident of this, that he who hath begun a good work * in
you, will perform it until thr- day of Jesus Christ..'"^ Phil. i. 6. If it de-
pend absolutely on the freedom of man's will, whether he will pei-severe
or not, liis reliance must and ought to be placed on that on whicli the
whole event depends ; and is not this to trust our own hearts ?
12
122 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
3. Who teach that " True beUevers and regenerate persons
may not only fall from justifying faith, and in like manner
from grace and salvation, totally and finally, but likewise that
in fact (re ipsa) they not seldom do fall from it, and perish
eternally ;" For this opinion renders vain the grace itself of
justirication and regeneration, and the perpetual guardian care
{custodiam) of Christ, contrary to the expressive words of the
apostle Paul, Rom. v. 8, 9. " If Christ died for us while we
were yet sinners, much more therefore, being now justified
through his blood, we shall be saved from wrath by him."
And, contrary to the apostle John, 1 John iii. 9. " Every
one that is born of God doth not commit sin, because his seed
remaineth in liim : neither can he sin, because he is born of,
God." Also, contrary to the words of Jesus Christ, John x.
28, 29. " I give eternal hfe to my sheep, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any one tear them violently out of]
my hand : my Father who gave them me is greater than all, '
neither can any one tear them violently out of my Father's
hand."
4. ^Vho teach that " True believers and the regenerate may
sin the sin unto death, or against the Holy Spirit." But the
same apostle, John, chap. v. after, in the 16th and 17th verses,
he has mentioned those who sin unto death, and forbidden to
pray for them, immediately, ver. 18, adds, "We know, that
whosoever is born of God, sinneth not," (namely, in that kind
of sin) " but he that is born of God, keepeth himself, and that
wicked one toucheth him not."
5. Who teach that " No certainty of future perseverance
can be had in this life, without special revelation." For, by
this doctrine, solid consolation is taken away from true behev-
ers in this life, and the doubting of the papists {jjontijicorum)
brought back into the church. But the holy scriptiue every
where requires this certainty, not from special and extraordina-
ry revelation, but from the peculiar marks of the children of
God, and the most constant promises of God. In the first
place, the apostle Paul, Rom. viii. 39. " No created thing
can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord," and 1 John iii. 24. " Whoso keepeth his com-
mandment remaineth in him, and he in him ; and hereby we
know that we remain in him by the Spirit which he hath given
us."*
* 1 Joha ii. 3, 4. iii. 14. 18, 19. Not a single instance can be adduced
from the scriptui-e, in which any prophet or apostle asci-H:s his own assur-
ance of salvation to special revelation, or to any thing diiicr-.'j from what
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 123
6. Who teach that " The doctrine of perseverance and the
assurance of salvation, from its nature and tendency, {indole^)
is a pillow for the flesh, and injurious to piety, good conduct,
prayers, and other holy exercises ; but that on the contrary to
doubt concerning it is laudable :" For these persons shew
themselves to be ignorant of the efficacy of divine grace, and
of the operation of the indwelling Holy Spirit : and they
contradict the apostle John, affirming in express words, 1 John
iii. 2, 3. " Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; but it doth
not yet appear what we shall be : we know, however, that
when he shall be revealed, we shall be hke him, because we
shall see him as he is. And whoso hath this hope in him,
purifieth himself, even as he is pure." They are moreover,
confuted by the examples of the saints in the Old as well as
in the New Testament, who, though they were certain of their
own perseverance and salvation, vrere nevertheless asiduous
in prayers, and other pious exercises.
7. Who teach that " The faith of temporary believers doth
not differ from justifying and saving faith, except in duration
alone :" For Christ himself, Matt. xiii. 20. and Lukeviii. 13,
&c. besides this, manifestly constituted a threefold distinction
between temporary, and true believers, as he says, those re-
ceived the seed in stony ground ; these in good ground, or " an
honest heart :" //lo&e are without root ; these have a firm root :
those are destitute of fruit ; these bring forth their fruit in divers
measure, constantly or perseveringly.*
8. Who teach that " It is not absurd, that the first regene-
ration being extinct, man should be again, yea, more often
regenerated :''| For by this doctrine they deny the incorrup- •
tibility of the seed of God, by which we are born again ;
contrary to the testimony of the apostle, 1 Pet. i. 23. " Being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible."
9. AVho teach that " Christ doth in no wise pray for the
infallible perseverance in faith of believers:" For they
contradict Christ himself, who says, Luke xxii. 32. " I have
prayed for thee (Peter) that thy laith fail not," and John the
he exhorts others to, in order to obtain and retain the same assurance.
This concludes at least as strongly at^oinst those, who gi-ound their asi.ur-
ance on dreams, visions, and impressions, of whatever kind ; as those who
say, it can only he enjoyed by immediate revelation.
* " The foolish virgins took their lamps but no oil with them. The
wise, took oil in their vessels, wi'h their lamps." Matt. xxv. 4, 5. ]
John ii. 19.
t This is a ground, that modern opposers of the doctrine not only dis-
claim, but charge it erroneously as an error, which the Calvinists maintain.
124 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
Evangelist, testifying, John xvii. 20. that Christ prayed, not
only for the apostles, but likewise for all who shall believe
through their words : ver. 11. " Holy Father, keep them thro'
thy name :" and ver. 15. "I pray not that thou mayest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from
evil."
CONCLUSION.
And this is a perspicuous, simple, and ingenuous declara-
tion of the orthodox doctrine concerning the five controverted
articles in Belgium, and a rejection of the errors by which the
Belgic churches have for some time been disturbed, which the
Synod, having taken from the word of God, judges to be
agreeable to the confessions of the reformed churches.
Whence it clearly appears, that they, whom it by no means
became, purposed to inculcate on the people, those (articles)
which are contrary to all truth, equity, and charity.
(Namely,) That the doctrine of the reformed churches,
" concerning predestination, and the heads connected with it,
(anexis ei) by its own proper nature (genio) and impulse,
draws away the minds of men from all piety and religion ;*
that is the pillow of the flesh and of the devil, the citadel of
Satan,from which he lies in ambush (insidietur) for all, wounds
very many, and fatally pierces through many, as well with
javelins of desperation as of security : That the same doc-
trine makes God the author of sin, unjust, a tyrant, a hypocrite ;
nor is it any other than interpolated Stoicism, Manicheism,
Libertinism, and T urc'ism {Twcismumi'f That it renders
* Two things clearly appear from this passage, 1. The Remonstrants
assumed it as midoubted, that the predestination which they opposed with
its connected heads of doctrine, was genei-ally held by the reformed church-
es, including the cliurch of England. And 2. They injuriously charged
it with involving those very consequences, which they who contend that
tlie church of England is not Calvinistic, charge on the doctrine of those
whom they call Calvinists.
t The chapter in the " Refutation of Calvinism," shewmg " that the
earliest heretics maintained opinions greatly resembling the peculiar tenets
of Calvinism;" comes far short it seems of the charges brought by the
Remonstrants against the doctrine of predestination, as held by the reform-'
ed churches including that of England among the rest. That doctrine, as
held in these churches, was not only Manicheism, but heathen Stoicism,
infidel Libertinism, and Mohammedism. But it is fai-* more easy to bring
accusations against any tenet or body of men, tlian satisfactorily to prove
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 125
I men secure, as being persuaded that it does not hinder the
[salvation of the elect, in what manner soever they hve ; and
jthey can with safety perpetrate the most atrocious crimes :
That it does not profit the reprobate, as to salvation, if they
should truly do all the works of the saints : That by the same
(doctrine) it is taught, that God by the bare and mere deter-
mination (^niido piirnqiie arbitrio) of his will, without any
respect, views {intuitu) of the sin of any man, predestinated
and created the greatest part of the world to eternal damna-
tion : That in the same manner as election is the fountain
and cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the cause
of infidelity and impiety : That many unoffending [innoxtod)
infants of believers are violently torn away from the breasts
of their mothers, and tyrrannically precipitated into hell ; so
that neither baptism, nor the prayers of the church at their
baptism, profit them."*
Also those very many other things that are of the same
kind, which the reformed churches not only do not acknow-
ledge, but which they detest with their whole soul {pectore.)
Wherefore, this Synod of Dordrecht, obtests by the name of
the Lord, all as many as piously call on the name of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, that they would judge concerning the
faith of the reformed churches, not from the calumnies heaped
together from this and the other quarter {hinc inde^) nor even
from the private sayings of certain individuals, as well ancient
as modern doctors, quoted often, either unfaithfully, or wrested
{detortis) into a foreign meaning ; but from the public con-
fessions of those churches, and from this declaration of the
orthodox doctrine, confirmed by the unanimous consent of all,
and every one of, the members of this whole Synod. It then
{deinde) seriously admonishes the calumniators themselves,
to consider how heavy a judgment of God they may be about
to suffer, who, against so many churches, against so many
confessions of churches, bear false witness, disturb the con-
sciences of the weak, and diligently employ themselves
{satagunt) to render the society of true believers suspected.^
them. The S7nod of Dort did not at all shrink from proclaiming, that
such charges had been brought ; and they were satisfied, and on good
ground, that they had fully demonstrated them to be unfounded.
* The language of these accusations is so horridly irreverend, that if it
had not l^een actually used by the Remonstrants, it could hardly have
been thus brought forward; and notlung but to shew the real spirit of
these controversialists, could excuse the repeating of it, either by the Sy-
nod, or in this publication.
t This solemn warning is quite as seasonable in Britain at present, as it
was in Belgium in the seventeenth century.
12 +
126 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DOMi
Lastly, this Synod exhorts all their fellow ministers in the
gospel of Christ, that in the treating {pertractione) of this
doctrine, they would walk piously and religiously in the schools
and in the churches ; and apply it, whether by tongue or pen,
to the glory of the divine name, to holiness of life, and tQ the
consolation of alarmed souls, that they may not only think,
but speak, with the scripture, according to the analogy of faith :
finally, that they would abstain from all those phrases which
exceed the prescribed limits of the genuine sense of the holy
scriptures, and that might afford a just handle to perverse
sophists of revihng, or even calumniating the reformed church-
es. May Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who, sitting at the
right hand of the Father, bestows gifts on men^ sanctify us in
truth ; lead those to the truth who err ; shut the mouths of
those who calumniate the holy doctrine ; and endow the faith-
ful ministers of his word, with a spirit of wisdom and discretion,
that all their eloquence may tend to the glory of God and the
edification of the hearers. Amen.*
THE DECISION OF THE SYNOD CONCERNING THE REMONSTRANTS.
The truth, having been, by the grace of God, thus far ex-
plained and asserted, errors rejected and' condemned, and
iniquitous calurrinies refuted : this Synod of Dort, (according
to the duty which is farther incumbent upon it,) seriously,
earnestly^ and by the authority, which, according to the word
of God, it possesses over all the members of its churches, in
the name of Christ, beseeches, exhorts, admonishes, and en-
joins all and every one, of the pastors of the churches in
confederated Belgium ; the doctors and rectors of the acade-
mies and schools ; and the magistrates, and indeed all
universally, to whom, either the care of souls^ or the discipline
of youth is committed, that, casting away the five known
articles of the Remonstrants, which are erroneous, and mere
hiding places of errors, they will preserve this wholesome
doctrine of saving truth, drawn from the most pure fountain of
* Can any thing be more wise, pious, and scriptural, than tliis conclu-
ding coujisel and prayer ? Who can deny, that many called Calvinists,
by neglecting the counsel here exhibited, have given much occasion of mis-
apprehension, prejudice, and slander to opposers, which might have been
avoided ? Who can object to this counsel ? What pious^mind will re-
fuse to add his hearty Amen, to the closing prayer ?
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 127
the divine word, sincere and inviolate; according to their
ability and office, propound and explain it faithfully to the
people and youth ; and diligently declare its most sweet and
beneficial use in life, as well as in death : that they instruct
those of different sentiments, those who wander from the flock,
and are led away by the novelty of opinions, meekly by the
evidence of the truth, "if peradventure God will give them
repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth:" that, re-
stored to a sound mind, they may with one spirit, one mouth,
one faith and charity, return to the church of God and the
communion of the saints : and that at length, the wound of
the church may be closed, and all her members be of one heart
and mind in the Lord.
But moreover, because some persons having gone out from
among us, under the title of Remonstrants, (which name of
Remonstrants, as also of Contra-Remonstrants, the Synod
thinks should be blotted out by a perpetual oblivion ;) and the
discipline and order of the church having been violated, by
their endeavors and private counsels in unlawful ways ; and
the admonitions and judgments of their brethren having been
despised ; they have grievously, and altogether dangerously
disturbed the Belgic churches, before most flourishing, and
most united in faith and love, and in these heads of doctrine :
have recalled ancient and pernicious errors, and framed
new ones : and publicly and privately, both by word and by
writings, have scattered them among the common people, and
have most vehemently contended for them : have made neither
measure nor end, of enveighing against the doctrine hitherto
received in the churches, by enormous calumnies and re-
proaches : have filled all things every where, with scandals,
dissensions, scruples of consciences, and inventions {excogi-
iationihus;) to which great crimes certainly against faith,against
love, and good morals, and the unity and peace of the churches,
as they could not justly be endured in any man, ought neces-
sarily to be animadverted on, in pastors, with that most severe
censure, which hath in every age {ahomni (zvo) been adopted
by the church : the Synod having invoked the holy name of
God, and honestly conscious of its authority from the word of
God ; treading in the footsteps as well of ancient as of recent
Synods, and fortified by the authority of the most Illustrious
the States General, declares and judges, that those pastors,
who have yielded themselves leaders of parties in the church,
and teachers of errors, and of a conupt religion, and of the
Tended unity of the church, and of most grievous scandals,
128 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OP DORT.
and moreover, having been summoned before this Synod, of
intolerable obstinacy against the decrees of the supreme au-
thority made known by this Synod, and also against the
venerable Synod itself, be accounted convicted and guilty
persons.
For which causes, in the first place, the Synod interdicts
the before cited persons from every ecclesiastical service, and
abdicates them from their offices, and judges them even to be
unworthy of academical functions, until by earnest repentance,
abundantly proved by words and deeds, and contrary exertions,
ihey satisfy the church, and be truly and fully reconciled with
the same, and received to her communion ; which for their
own good, and for the joy of the whole church, we peculiarly
(unice) desire in Christ our Lord. But the rest, of whom the
knowledge hath not come to this national Synod, the Synod
commits to the Provincials, the Classes, and the Presbyteries,
after the received order ; that they may take care that the
church at present receive no detriment, nor fear it here-
after. Let them discriminate with the spirit of prudence,
the followers of these errors ; Let them abdicate the
refractory, the clamorous, the factious, the disturbers, as
soon as possible, from ecclesiastical offices, and those of
the schools which belong to their knowledge and care :
and let them be admonished that, without any interposed
delay, after the reception of the decision of this national Synod,
having obtained the authority of the magistrate, in order to it,
they assemble (for this purpose) lest the evil should increase
and be strengthened by delay. Let them, with all lenity, by
the duties of love, by patience, excite those who have fallen
or been carried away, by infirmity and the fault of the times,
and perhaps hesitate in lighter matters, or are even dissentient,
but quiet, of blameless life, tractable, to true and perfect con-
cord with the church : yet so, that they may diligently take
«ire that they do not admit any to the sacred ministry, who
refuse to subscribe these synodical constitutions of the declar-
ed doctrine, and to teach it : that they even retain no one, by
whose manifest dissention the doctrine approved with such
agreement in this Synod may be violated, and the tranquillity
of the churches again disturbed.
Moreover, this venerable Synod seriously admonishes all
ecclesiastical assemblies, most diligently to watch over the
flocks committed to them, and maturely to go and meet all
innovations privily springing up in the church, and pull them up,
as it were tares, out of the field of the Lord : that they attend
I
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 129
to the schools, and the conductors {moderatoribus) of schools,
lest any things, from private sentiments and depraved opinions,
having been instilled into the youth, destruction should after-
wards be produced to the church and the repubhc.
Finally, thanks having been reverently given to the most
Illustrious and very powerful the States General of Belgium,
because they in so necessary and seasonable a time, clemently
gave succour to the afflicted and declining interests of the
church, by the remedy of the Synod ; that they received the
upright and faithful servants of God under their protection^
and ^^'illed that the pledge of every blessing and the divine
presence, the truth of his word should be, in a holy and reli-^
gious manner, preserved in their dominions ; that they spared
no labor or expense, to promote and complete such a work ;
for which extraordinary benefits, the Synod, with its whole
heart, prays for the most abundant recompense on them from-
the Lord, both publicly and privately, both spiritual and tem-
poral. And the Synod indeed most strenuously and humbly
asketh the same most clement lords, to will and command
that this salutary doctine, most faithfully expressed according
to the word of God, and the consent of the reformed churches^
be alone, and publicly heard in these regions ; to drive away
all privily springing up heresies and errors, and repress unquiet
and turbulent spirits, that they would go to approve themselves
the true and benign nursing fathers and tutors of the church ;:
that they would determine that the sentence, according to the
ecclesiastical authority confirmed by the laws of the country,
be vahd against the persons before spoken of; and that they
would render the Synodical constitutions immoveable and
perpetual, by the addition of their own decision (calculo.)
On this conclusion a few remarks may be useful.
Conceding, that there were things unjustifiable in the de-
cisions made, and the measures adopted by the Synod, I would
inquire, whether all the blame in the whole of that lamentable
contest, was on one side? Whether the conduct of the
Remonstrants were not as remote at least from a conciliatory
spirit, as the members of the Synod 1 And whether, in case
the Remonstrants had been victorious, they would have made
a more Christian use of their victory and authority than the
Synod did ? I never yet knew or read of an eager and pertina^i
cious contest, in which both parties were not greatly culpable ;
and in many instances, it is not easy for an impartial observer
to determine on which side the greatest degree of criminality
rests ; only where other motives or prejudices do pot counter-*
130 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
act, the suffering party is generally favored and excused ;
and still more, when the motives, sentiments, or prejudices of
the persons concerned are on his side. The Remonstrants,
and all who ever since have favored them, thro\A^ the whole
blame of the contest, both of the management, rpsult, and
consequences of it, on the Synod ; and as the Remonstrants
were, in the first instance at least, the chief sufferers, and as
their tenets are generally more favored than those of the Synod,
the public mind has greatly favored the cause of the suffering
party. Yet the Synod and its supporters seem very confident,
that the Remonstrants exclusively were in fault, and consider
their conduct as intolerably haughty and pertinacious. But
will not an impartial judge, would not one, who had no
sympatliy with either party, no partiality or prejudice, as to
the five points of doctrine, on either side, (if such a man can
be found on earth,) v/ould he not fairly divide the criminality?
At least would he not allot nearly one half of it to the one, and
one half to the other ? Nay, might he not allot the greater
part to the Remonstrants ? Thus, in all other contests, which
have terminated in incurable separations, the charge of schism
has been brought with the utmost confidence (if not bitterness)
by each party against its opponent ; and, except in one solitary
instance, nearly with equal justice. I say, one instance
excepted ; for beyond all doubt, on the broad ground of
scripture, in the separation of protestants from the Roman
church, all the guilt of schism rested with that corrupt body,
which excluded from its communion all those, who would not
worship creatures, or conform to Anti Christian observances ;
and, in many ways, made it the duty, the absolute duty, of all
the true worshippers of God through Christ Jesus, to come
forth and be separate. But perhaps this is the only exception.
I would by no means exclude schism from the vocabulary
of sins, of great and grievous sins, as many seem disposed to
do. Pride, ambition, obstinacy, and self-will, and other very
corrupt passions, powerfully influence both those, who by
spiritual tyranny, would lord it over other men's consciences,
and impose things not scy^iptural, if not directly anti-scripturaU
as terms of communion, or even of exemption from pains and
penalties ; and also on those, who on slight grounds refuse
compliance, where the requirement is not evidently wrong ;
and then magnify by a perverse ingenuity, into a most grievous
evil, some harmless posture, or garb, or ceremony. If the
one party would, humbly and meekly, without desiring to
arrogate a power not belongingto man, desist from peremptorily
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 131
requiring such things as are doubtful, and liable to be misunder-
stood, and so scrupled by upright, peaceable, and conscientious
persons : and if* the other party would determine to comply,
as far as on much previous examination of the scripture, with
prayer, and teachableness, they conscientiously could do it;
tiie schism might be prevented, and all the very bad effects of
the church of Christ being thus rent and split into parties
prevented. For these several parties are generally more
eager in disputing with each other, than " contending for the
faith once delivered to the saints ;" in making proselytes, than
in seeking the conversion of sinners ; and in rendering their
opponents odious and ridiculous, than in exhibiting our holy
religion as lovely and attractive to all around them. In these
things, their zeal spends itself to no good purpose.
As to the existing divisions, it appears to me, on long and
patient investigation, that they originated from very great
criminality on both sides ; nor am I prepared to say, on which
side it was the greater ; and that there is criminality on both sides,
in the continuance of them, and still more in the increase of them ;
in which the heaviest hes on those who hastily, and on very
doubtful or inadequate grounds, make new separations. Yet as
to the general division of the Christians in England, into church-
men and dissenters, it appears to me, that in present circum-
stances neither individuals, nor pubhc bodies, can do any thmg
to terminate it; nor till some unforeseen event make way for a
termination, by means, and in a manner, of which little con-
ception can previously be formed. In the mean while, it seems
very desirable to abate acrimony and severity, and to differ,
where v/e must differ, in a loving spirit ; and to unite with
each other in every good work, as far as we can conscien-
tiously. It is in my view in this case, precisely the same as
it was with the Synod of Dort and the Remonstrants; each
party throws the whole blame on the other ; but impartiality
would, I think, nearly allot half to the one, and half to the
other. True Cfftistians of every description, live, surrounded
with ungodly men, nay, such as are profane, and inunoral, and
contentious, yet they generally are enabled to liye peaceably
with them all. How is it then, that they cannot, on the same
principles, bear with each other, when differences in merely
the circumstances of religion are the only ground of disputa-
tions, bickerings, and contests 1 " Whence come lightings
among them?"
2. A large proportion of that, which at present woulb de
disapproved, if not reprobated, in the concluding decision of
132 ARTICLES OP THE SYNOD OF DORT.
the Synod of Dort, and in its effects, must be considered, by
every impartial and well informed person, as pertaining to
that age, and those which had preceded it. The authority of
such conventions to determine points of theology, to enforce
their decisions by ecclesiastical censures, interdicts, and
mandates, such as this conclusion contains, had not been
called in question, at least in any great degree, by any of the
reformers or reformed churches. It was the general opinion,
that princes and states ought to convene councils or assemblies,
when needed ; and, as far as hope was given of such councils
being convened, they generally acted on this principle. They
considered the ruling powers as invested with the right of
authorising these conventions, to cite before them the persons
whose tenets and conduct gave occasion of convening them;
and of animadverting on them as contumacious, if they refused
to appear, or to submit to the decisions of the majority. And
they regarded it as a great advantage, when the secular power
would concur in carrying into effect, their censures, exclusions,
or requirements. These points had been almost unanimously '
assumed as indisputable, from the dawn of the reformation, to
the time of this Synod, both on the continent, and in Britain ;
and little had been advanced, in direct opposition to the justice
of proceeding still further to punish the refractory with pains
and penalties. The vanquished party indeed generally com-
plained, and remonstrated with sufficient acrimony, yet, when
the tables were turned, and they acquired a victory, they used
their superiority in the same manner, and sometimes even
with still greater severity. How far all this was criminal,
unscriptural, unreasonable, or not, is by no means the present
question ; but how far the Synod of Dort went beyond the
precedents of former times, and of other countries.
3. Thus far as it seems to me at least, the case is clear,
and to an impartial mind not difficult : but how far the whole
of this procedure, either in this Synod or in other similar
cases, on the continent and in our land, was wrong, in toto or
in jjartt : whether the whole must be reprobated together, or
only some part of it ; or where the line should be drawn, arfe
questions of greater difficulty, on which men in general will
decide according to the prevailing sentiments of the day, and
those of that part of the visible church to which they belong.
Yet, I would venture, with a kind of trepidation, and with much
diffidence, to drop a few hints on the subject : the result of
very much reflection, during a long course of years, with what
other aid I could procure, in addition to the grand standard of
truth and duty, of principle and practice, to men of all ranks,
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 133
ndividually, or in corporate bodies, the Oracles of God."
It must, as it appears to me, be incontrovertible, that penal
jneans, of whatever kind, are wholly inadmissible, in matters
purely religious ; and in which the persons concerned would
,ct peaceably, if not irritated by opposition and persecution ;
for *' oppression in this case often maketh a wise man mad ;"
and his mad conduct is ascribed to his religious pecuharitiesi
when it originates from other causes, and is excited by oppres-
sion. Punishments can have no tendency to enlighten the
understanding, inform the mind, or regulate the judgment ;
and they infalhbly increase prejudice, and tempt to resentment.
They may indeed make hypocrites, but not believers ; form-
alists, but not spiritual worshippers ; and in a word, they are
no " means of grace" of God's appointment, and on which his
blessing may be expected and s?ipplicated. " The weapons
of this warfare are carnal, not mighty through God." The
judicial law of Moses, as a part of the theocracy, punished
with death nothing but idolatry and blasphemy, and this to
prevent the contagion, " that men might hear, and fear, and
do no more such wickedness ;" not to produce conviction or
conformity: and no penalty in other things was appointed,
where the pubHc peace was not interrupted, and God's appoint-
ed rulers opposed. In the New Testament, not a word
occurs on the subject ; except as our Lord blamed the apostles
when they forbad one to cast out devils because he followed
not with them.
Whatever company, in any nation, can give proper security
that they will act as peaceful citizens and good subjects, has,
I apprehend, a right to the protection of the state, whatever its
religious opinions or observances may be ; provided nothing
grossly immoral, and contrary to the general laws of the
country, be practised under the pretence of the religion. Yet
the murders, human sacrifices, and other abominations in the
East Indies, can have no right to toleration, nor can the
toleration be by any means excused. Again, whatever may
be urged in favor of allowing papists full liberty, as to their
superstitious and idolatrous worship, (for so it doubtless is,)
this should be done in their case with peculiar circumspection.
But to grant them what they claim, and many claim for them,
as emancipation^ and which means nothing else, than admission
to power and authority ; seems irreconcileable to wisdom
either human or divine. It is an essential principle of popery,
however disguised by some, and lost sight of by otl^rs, to
tolerate none who are not of thai church : and the grant of
13
134 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
power to them till this principle be disavowed by bishops,
vicars-general, legates, cardinals, and popes, as well as others,
in the most full and unequivocal language, is to liberate lions,
because they have been harmless when not at liberty : and
the event, should this emancijjaiion be fully conceded, will be,
that the power thus obtained, will be used in persecution, of
those who gave it, as soon as it has acquired a proper measure
of consolidation. If the advocates for this measure in our land,
wshould they prove successful, do not themselves live to feel
this, their posterity, I can have no doubt, will know it by
deplorable experience. Avowed atheists seem also inadmis-
sible to full toleration ; as incapable of being bound by any
obligation of an oath, or of an affirmation, as in the sight of
God, which is equivalant to an oath. How far some kinds of
blasphemers should be also exempted, may be a question ;
but every species of profaneness, or impiety, is not direct
blasphemy. Yet if men outrage, or expose to ridicule or
odium, the most sacred services of the religion of the country,
or if pubhc instructors inculcate immoral principles ; they
may, as far as I can see, be restrained, so that the mischief
may be prevented ; though perhaps without further punishment,
except for actual violation of the peace. Every collective
body, however, has an indisputable right to prescribe the terms,
on which men shall be admitted into it, either as members of
the company, or in an official capacity ; and if it have funds
at its disposal, the terms on which men shall be allowed to
receive a share of them : provided that they who join them,
do it voluntarily, and that others may, without molestation, be
permitted to decline these terms, or to withdraw, if they, after
having joined them, can no longer conscientiously comply.
I say, a rio-ht indisputable by man, yet a right, for the use of
which they are responsible to God ; and the abuse of which
has been and is the source of most deplorable consequences.
If, however, the Synod of Dorthad onlyproceededto exclude
from office, public teachers, whether of congregations or
schools, belonging to the church or churches established in
Belgium, who would not comply with the terms agreed on in
the Synod ; the teniis alone would have been the proper subject
of our judgment, and not this exclusion, provided no further
punishment had been inflicted. But this exclusion {ex officio)
would of course be also {ex benejicio) or from the emolument
of the office. And how far this would have been justifiable, I
am not prepared to say : and, indeed, much depended on the
nature of their funds, and the tenure on which they were
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 135
obtained or held. But one thing is clear, that if some
reasonable proportion of the emolument had been reserved to
those who were excluded trom office, so long as they conducted
themselves peaceably, it would have been a very conciliatcry
measure, and suited to give a convincing testimony, that the
glory of God, the peace of the church, the cause of truth, and
the salvation of souls had been their motives and object ; and
not secular and party interests.
Inrespect of those revenues which, having been appropriated
to religious purposes in former ages, fell into the hands of
those, who conducted the reformation and formed establish-
ments, it cannot reasonably be expected, that the bodies thus
in possession, should voluntarily agree to share them with
dissentients : but in revenues raised by taxes, on the present
generation for the purposes of supporting religion, and other
things connected with it ; equity seems to require that a
proportion should be awarded to peaceful dissentients, of
whatever description, according to the sum which that whole
body may be required to pay towards such a tax : for they
who contribute, and are good subjects, and can give a pledge
to the government of good behavior, ought, in all reason, to
shai-e the benefit in proportion.*
"When the teachers of congregations and of schools,
supported by the revenues of thechurches in Belgium, had been
excluded or suspended from their office, and its emolument,
all that was done in accession, seems to have beenunjustiiiable.
The excluded party, in reason, and according to the scripture,
(though not according to the general sentiments of that age,)
were entitled to full toleration, to worship God, and instruct
others either as preachers or teachers of schools, npt supported
by the establishment, provided they did this peaceably. At
most, only very general restrictions should have been required.
But such teachers of separate congregations, and of schools,
were not then known, or at least not recognized : nearly all
places of worship and schools, were in the hands of the
estabhshed authorities, and every thing attempted must be
done secretly, and then, on that very ground, condemned as a
conventicle or seditious meeting.
* It may worthy of consideration, bow far a "rant from Parliament, for
building churches or chapels exclusively for the establishment; while the
public at lars^e must advance thu. money frt>m the general tax, or taxes, is
thus consistent with strict equity. The design is excellent and most
desirable; but whether it would not be more unexceptionable, if a propor-
tionable sum were granted to peaceable dissenters, for the building or
repairing their places ojf worship, may be matter of inquiry to impartial
legislators.
136 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
Excommunication, according to scripture, is nothing more
than simple exclusion from the communion of the church,
" Let him be as an heathen man, and a publican :" except
when God miraculously by his apostles, who could, in that
respect "do nothing against the truth, but for the truth,"
inflicted salutary chastisements, " for the destruction of the
flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus ;" or that " others might learn not to blaspheme."
But when, in addition to such an exclusion, many heavy
consequences followed, even to fines, banishment, imprison-
ment, exclusion from the common benefits of society, and
even death, the very word excommunication became dreadfnl
and hateful ; and the relaxation of all discipline, nay, almost
its annihilation, has been the consequence. Restore the
matter to its original use ; let the communicants become such
of their own voluntary choice, admitted on a simple and
credible profession of those things in which Christianity
consists; and let them, if they act inconsistently, be excluded
from communion, and left, in their former state, till they give
proof of repentance ; considered as equally entitled to good
will andgood offices in temporal things, as our other neighbors;
admitted to any means of grace, which may aid their recovery ;
conversed with in every way, which does not sanction their
misconduct ; and " restored," if it may be, in " the spirit of
meekness." On this plan, I apprehend discipline might again
be established, and great benefit arise from it. But they,
who cannot inflict miraculous judgments, surely are not
authorized to attempt other punishment of excommunicated
persons, which have a thousand times oftener been exercised
against the truth, than for the truth.
The distinctions, among the different offenders, and the
mandates given to the different subordinate classes, and
presbyteries, appear in no other way exceptionable, than as
the presbyterian plan will of course be objected to, both by
episcopahans and independents. But the Synod, as it has
been seen, attempted far too much ; and, forgetful of our
Lord's prohibition, were so eager to root up the tares, that
they greatly endangered the wheat also.
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 137
THE APPROBATION OF THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND VERY
POWERFUL LORDS THE STATES GENERAL.
The States General of Federated Belgium, to all, who shall
see and read this, health (or salvation, salutem.) We make
it known (that) when, in order to take away those lamentable
and pernicious controversies, which a few years since, with
great detriment to the republic, and disturbance of the peace of
the churches, arose concerning the known five heads of Chris-
tian doctrine, and those things which depend on them ; it
seemed proper to us, according to the order in the church of
God, and thus also in the Belgic church, to convene at Dor-
drecht a national Synod of all Federated Belgium ; and that
this might be celebrated {celebrari) with the greatest fruit and
advantage of the republic, not without much inconvenience
{molestia) and great expenses, w^e sought for and obtained,
unto the same, very many, the most excellent, learned, and
celebrated foreign theologians of the reformed church ; as it
may be seen from the subscription of the decrees of the afore-
said Synod, after each of the heads of doctrine. Moreover,
our delegates, being also commissioned {deputatis) from each
of the provinces, who from the beginning to the end being
present, should take care, that all things might there be handled
in the fear of God, and in right order, from the word of God
alone, in agreement to our sincere intention. And when this
aforesaid Synod, by the singular blessing of God, hath now-
judged with so great a consent of all and every one, as well of
foreigners, as of Belgians, concerning the aforementioned five
heads of doctrine, and the teachers of them : and we, having
been consulted and consenting, published, on the sixth of May
last past, the decrees and determination affixed to these pre-
sents ; we, that the much wished for fruits from this great and
holy work (such a one as the reformed churches have never
before this time seen) might be abundant to the churches of
these countries ; seeing that nothing is to us equally desired
and cared for as the glory of the most holy name of God, and
the preservation and propagation of the true reformed Chris-
tian religion, (wliich is the foundation of prosperity and bond
of union of Federated Belgium,) as the concord, the tranquil-
Hty, and the peace of the churches, and in like manner the
preservation of the concord and communion of the churches
in these regions with all foreign reformed churches, from
13*
138 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
which we never ought, nor are able to separate ourselves ;
havinj^ seen, and known, and maturely exammed and weighed
the aibrementioned judgment and decision of the Synod, we
have fully in all things approved them, confirmed and ratified
them, and by these presents we do approve and ratify them ;
willing and enacting, {staiuentes,) that no other doctrine con-
cerning the aforesaid five heads of doctrine be taught or
propagated in the churches of these regions, besides that which
is conformable and agreeable to the aforesaid judgment :
enjoining and commanding with authority, to all the ecclesias-
tical assemblies, the ministers of the churches, the professors
and doctors of sacred theology, the rulers of colleges, and to
all in general, and to every one without exception, [in univer-
sum,) whom these things can in any way concern or reach unto,
that, in the exercise of their ministerial offices and functions,
they should in all things follow them faithfully, and sincerely
conduct them.selves consistently with them. And that this our
good intention may every where be fully and in all things sat-
isfied, (or complied with,) we charge and command the orders,
governors, the deputies of the orders, the counsellors, and
deputed orders of the provhices of Gueldria, and the county of
Lutphan, of Holland, West Friezland, Zeland, Utrecht, Frisia,
Transisulania, and of the state of Groningen, and the Omlan-
dias, and all their officiaries, judges, and justiciaries that they
should promote and defend the observation of the aforesaid
synodical judgment, and of those "things which depend on i+ ;
so that they should not either themselves make any change in
these things, or permit it by any means to be done by others ;
because we judge, that it ought to be so done, to promote the
glory of God, the security and safety of the state of these regions,
and the tranquillity and peace of the church. Given {actum)
under our seal, and it hath been sealed by the sealing of the
president, and the subscription of our secretary, the count of
Hague, the second of July, in the year 1619.
A. Ploos.
As also beneath, By the mandate of the aforesaid High
Mightinesses the States General.
Subscribed. C. Aerssen.
And in that space, the aforesaid seal was impressed on red
wax.
On this document it must be again obsei-ved, that the meas-
ure adopted by the rulers of Belgium, in respect of the decisions
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 139
of the Synod of Dort, ought not to be judged according to the gen-
erally prevailing sentiments of modern times. An immense re-
volution in opinion, on these sul))ects,has taken place, within the
last two centuries : and to render these rulers and this Synod»
amenable to what we may call siatules long after enacted, as
if whatever there was wrong in the conduct, was exclusively
their fault, would be palpably unjust. " Are ye not partial in
yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts." Jam.
ii. 4. " But the wisdom from above is without jmrtialiiy.''^
Jam. iii. 18. The genei-nl principle of inducing, by coercive
measures, conformity in doctrine and worshij), to the decisions
of either councils, convocations, synods, or parliaments, was
almost universally admitted and acted upon to a later period,
than that of this Synod ; and though not long afterwards it
was questioned, and in some instances relinquished ; yet it
retained a very general prevalency, for at least half a century
after ; nor is it without its advocates, even in the reformed
churches, at this present day. Had the op])onents of the
Synod possessed the same authority, they would have acted in
like manner, and so would the rulers of the other countries in
Europe. The exclusive charge therefore against the meas-
ures under consideration, must be laid in those things, which
were J) eculinr in their proceedings.
As authority and compulsion can never produce conviction,
or any regulation of the mind and judgment ; the word sin-
cerely, in this state-paper, is very improperly used. It could
not indeed reasonably be expected, that even external confor-
mity to so exact and extensive a doctrinal standard, could be
generally or durably accomplished :. but to suppose that any
thing beyond this would be the result, except what argument
and explanation, and appeals to the scriptures, in the arti-
cles of the Synod itself coidd effect, was evidently most
irrational : yet it was the notion of the times, and does not
still appear absurd to all men, even in protestant countries.
And the rulers of Belgiuni adopted and ratified the decisions
of the Synod, as approving and recommending them to all
the persons concerned ; and giving countenance in some
measure to those who voluntarily avowed the purpose of ad-
hering to them, and leaving others, entirely at liberty, to decline
these terms, whether as authorized teachers of congregations
or of schools, but no further molesting them, or interfering with
their pursuits or instructions ; their conduct might have been
advocated, especially, if, as it was said before, some fair portion
of their former incomes had been reserved to those, who
140 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
relinquished their situations, rather than promise to conform,
but who otherwise behaved as peaceful members of the com-
munity. But by absolute authority to demand of all entire
conformity, whether voluntary or involuntary ; and to follow
up this demand by the secular arm, and by heavy pui>
ishments, was altogether unjustifiable. Yet, except the
strictness of the rule itself, what country almost was there in
Europe at that time, or which almost of either the rulers or
teachers of the reformed churches, that did not in great
measure attempt to do the same ? So that while authority, in
many instances repeatedly shifted sides, which ever part was
uppermost, its religious decisions were enforced by similar
measures.
" The reformers dissented from almost every principle of
the church of Rome, but this, the right of persecution ; and
though Luther and some others thought it rather too much to
hum heretics, all agreed that they should be restrained and
punished, and in short, that it was better to burn them than to
tolerate them. The church of England has burnt protestantg
for heresy, and papists for treason. The church of Scotland,
and the London ministers in the interregnum declared their
utter detestation and abhorrence of the evil of toleration,
patronizing and promoting all other errors, heresies, and
blasphemies whatever, under the abused name of liberty of
conscience." {Williams on Religious Liberty, Eclectic Re-
view.)
The main point in this quotation is indisputable ; but in
respect of Luther especially, it is erroneous. It would,
probably be difficult, to produce an instance, in which this
great man even so much sanctioned the punishment of the
wild enthusiasts and deceivers of his day, except where the
peace of society rendered the interposition of the magistrate
indispensable. " At the same time, he (Luther) took occasion
to reprobate the cruel sufferings inflicted on the poor wretches
by the persecutions of the ecclesiastical rulers ; insisting with
the utmost precision on that grand distinction of which this
reformer never lost sight ; that errors in articles of faith were
not to be suppressed by fire and sword, but confuted by the
word of God ; and that recourse was never to he had to capital
penalties, except in cases of actual sedition and tumult."
(Milner's Eccl. Hist. vol. iv. p. 1098.)
" His worthy friend Lineus, probably in a state of irritation,
had asked him, Whetherhe conceived a magistrate to be justified
in putting to death teachers of false religion ? A question,
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 141
then little understood, and not generally agreed upon till long
afterwards. I am backward, replied Luther, to pass a sentence
of death, let the demerit be ever so apparent ; For I am
alarmed, when I reflect on the conduct of the papists, who
have so often abused the statutes of capital punishments,
against heresy, to the effusion of innocent blood. Among the
protestants, in process of time I foresee a great probability of
a similar abuse, if they should now arm the magistrate with the
same powers, and there should be left on record a single
instance of a person having suffered legally for the propagation
of false doctrine. On this ground, I am decidedly against
capital punishment in such cases ; and think it quite sufficient
that mischievous teachers of religion be removed from their
situations." Milner's Eccl. Hist. vol. v. p. 1100.
But, whatever were the opinions or practice of those times
in this respect, or whatever the sentiments of any in our times
may be, it seems to me incontrovertible, that every church, or
associated company of Christians, whether as a national estab-
lishment, or in any other form, has a right (for the use of which
they are responsible to God alone) to appoint the terms on
which such as voluntarihj desire it, shall be admitted to com-
munion with them, or to teach as pastors, and as tutors in
their schools and academies ; to refuse admission to such as
do not agree to these terms, and to exclude those who after-
wards act contrary to them. And if they have funds, which
are properly their own, they have a right to employ these
funds, to the exclusive support of such as voluntarily concur
with them ; volenti non sit injuria : and it is absurd to deem
those compelled, or their liberty infringed, who of their own
voluntary will choose to conform, whether under an establish-
ment or elsewhere. The Eclectic Review on ' Gisborne on
the Colossians,' says, " Was it possible for the author of these
discourses to put down a sentiment so just, and so weighty as
this, without the perception of its censure bearing against the
rites and ceremonies of his own church? Is there nothing of
will-worship in that communion ? What are sponsors, and
the sign of the cross in baptism, the comjmlsion to kneel at
the Lord's supper, but new commands and prohibitions added
to those which are established in the Bible'?" Eclectic Review,
May 1817, p. 481.
My concern at present, is only with the word compulsion.
Can it be conceived, that they who voluntarily come to the
Lord's supper in the church of England, consider kneeling as
compulsion? And, who is at present compelled to receive the
142 ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT.
Lord's supper in that church? Some mdeed, are temjHed,
too strongly tempted; but none are compelled. Again,
would it not excite at least as much surprise and perplexity in
a dissenting congregation, both to minister and communicants,
if one or more of the company should kneel down to receive
the bread and wine, and refuse to receive them in any other
posture ; as it would in a church, if one or more should sit
down, or stand, or refuse to kneel, at the time of receiving?
Should the custom of receiving in a sitting posture, be con-
sidered as compulsion^ and as a command, or . prohibition
added to those which are established in the Bible ? By no
means. Each company has its usage, whether established
by law, or by the appointment of an independent church.
That usage is known ; it is seldom seen, that a communicant
expresses the least objection to it. He is voluntary, or he
need not come. Whether kneehng, as uniting solemn prayer
with receiving ; or sitting, as among presbyterians and
independents ; or standing, or reclining on couches, (the
posture no doubt of the apostles, at its institution,) if it be
voluniarij in each person, there is no infringement of liberty^
whatever else may be controverted respecting the posture.
But to return to Belgium and the Synod of Dort. There
toleration of dissentients was not thought of ; and the etibrt
was made, to enforce conformity on the whole mass of the
population, especially on public teachers , and this, not only
by exclusions, but by very severe disqualifications and other
punishments. And probably the change of sentiment and
practice in Belgium in this particular, which soon afterwards
took place, and the toleration granted there, before it had any
legal ground in Britain, combined in augmenting the general
odium against the measures connected with this Synod.
However I do, in my private judgment, consider the articles
of the Synod of Dort as very scrijjtm^al: yet, when made the
terms of conformity, or of officiating as public teachers, even
with full toleration and exemption from any thing beyond simple
exclusion, I must regard them as peculiarly improper. The
terms of communion, even where none are molested who
decline them, and of being public teachers, should by no means
be carried into all the minutim of doctrine, which perhaps the
ablest theologians are convinced to be scriptural. They
should include only the grand principles, in which all the
:humble disciples and pious ministers of Christ agree ; and
not those in which they are left to differ, *' Him that is weak in
the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations."
ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT. 143
The apostles never attempted to enforce by authority, the
whole of what they infalliblij knew to be true. And who then
should attempt to enforce their fallible opinions on others ?
Besides, by aiming at too much, the very end is defeated :
the numbers, who from ignorance or indolence, and corrupt
, motives conform in such cases ; and of those, who teach other
doctrines, than what they have consented to; becomes too
great for any discipline to be exercised over them. Many
also, of the most pious and laborious teachers who, in one
May or other, manage to explain the established articles in
their own favor, or at least as not against them, add greatly to
the difficulty and evil : and so all discipline is neglected, as
tacts deplorably prove.
Probably, this has been, and is in a measure the case, in
most or all of the churches ; but the proceedings of the Synod
of Dort, and the rulers of Belgium at that season, were more
exceptionable than those of any other, at least as far as I can
judge. And this appears to me the chief blame to which they
are justly exposed ; but which is almost, if not wholly over-
looked, in the torrent of indiscriminate invective in which they,
and these transactions, have been long overwhelmed.
AM
HARMONY
OP THE
CONFESSIONS OF FAITH
OF
THE PRINCIPAL CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
5n Europe ant» ^metfca,
ON THE FUNDAMENTAL OVERTURES OF THE GOSPEl»
WILLIAM WILLIAMS, 60 GENESEE STREET.
1831.
Entered according to act of Congress, on the twenty-seventh day of Oc-
tober, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and tliirty-one ;
by WilUani Williams, as proprietor, in the Clerk's office of the District
Court of the Northern District of New York.
PREFACE
" The Harmony of Confessions of Faith of the Christian
and Reformed Churches, was addressed by the reformed
churches of France and Belgia, to all the churches of Christ."
It was iSrst published in Latin at Geneva in the year 1 681, and
was repubUshedat London in the Englishlanguage,in the year
1643. The design ofrepublishing those parts of it v,hich apper-
tain to the doctrines of grace, is to let the American churches
understand what are the doctrines of the reformation, as taught
by the reformers themselves, and received and professed by the
churches of Christ at that time. The Harmony is composed
of the following confessions — The Augsburg, Siieveland,
Basil, the former and latter Helvetic, the Saxony, Wertem-
berg, French, English, Belgic, Bohemia or "VValdenses, and
that of Scotland. We have omitted entirely making any
extracts from that of Sueveland, Basil, the former Helvetic,
the Saxony, and Wirtemberg ; because these were drawn up
by some individual cities to be presented at the Diet of Augs-
burg and the council of Trent ; and were never generally
received and adopted by any considerable body of churches ;
and because the latter Helvetic is only enlarged and improved
from the former. ' To this Harmony we have added parts of
the following confessions — That of the established Church of
England, the Westminster, the Savoy, Moravian, the Men-
nonists, the London Baptists, and the Welch Calvanistic
Methodists, which we give in their own language.
I. THE AUGSBURG.
" This confession was drawn up, at the suggestion of the
protestant princes,by Melanchton,under the direction of Luther;
and was presented to the Emperor Charles Y. at the Diet of
Augsburg, in the year 1530. In the same year it was trans-
lated into the Latin language, corrected in some articles, and
published with a preface at Wirtemberg. This has been
il48 PREFACE.
generally received and adopted as the confession of faith of all
the Lutheran churches in Europe and America. It has also
been received and acknowledged by theJMoravian churches."
It consists of 21 articles.
II. THE SECOND HELVETIC.
"The first Helvetic confession was framed at the requisition of
the rulers and senate of Basil, by the delegates of the Helvetian
States, which had embraced the evangelical doctrine, in the
year 1536, arid was sent and presented to the assembly of
Divines at Wirtemberg, by Bucer and Capito. In 1537, it
was presented by Bucer at Smalcald, and approved by that
whole assembly of protestant princes, as appears from Luther's
letter to the Helvetians. It was drawn up by Mycomius,
Grynseus, Bullinger, Capito, and Bucer. But when the first
confession was too short, it was written over and enlarged in
1566, by the pastors of Zurich, and was approved and sub-
scribed unto not only by the Tigurines, (i. e. the Canton of
Zurich,) but by their confederates of Bern, and Schaff'hausen ;
and Sangallia, Rhetia, Myllhausia, and Bienna, of the Grison
league ; and by the churches of Geneva, of Savoy, of Polonie,
of Hungary, and of Scotland. This was only two years after
Calvin's death, but after a residence at Geneva of twenty-
eight years. If we consider his influence over the churches,
not only of Geneva, but over the whole adjacent country,
there can be no doubt had he lived, it would have received his
entire sanction and approbation." It consists of 30 articles.
III. THE FRENCH.
" This confession was drawn up and adopted by a Synod
helb in Paris in 1559, and presented to Francis II. King of
France, in behalf of all his protestant subjects." It contains
40 articles.
IV. THE ENGLISH.
" The English confession was inserted in the general
apology, written in the year 1562, in behalf of the English
church." It contains 21 articles.
PREFACE. 149
V. THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES OF THE CHURCH OF
ENGLAND.
*' These were agreed upon by the arch-bishops, bishops and
clergy, of England and Ireland, in the convocation holden at
liondon in the year 1562, for the avoiding of diversities of
opinions, and for the establishing of consent, touching true
religion. These 39 articles were also established by a con-
vocation of the bishops, clergy, and laity, as the articles of
faith of the Protestant Episcopal church in the U. States^ in
the year 1801." The Methodist Episcopal Society ^ have
adopted 24 of the 39 articles, by substituting the word justifi-
cation for baptism in the sixteenth article, and omitting about
one half of the eleventh article, on Original Sin. They omit
the whole of articles 5, 3, 8, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 26,
29, 33, 35, 36, and 37, for which last they substituted an entire
different article." Their confession now contains 25 articles.
VI. THE BELGIC.
"This confession was first pubhshed in the French language
in the year 1563, in the name of all the churches of Belgia ;
and was confirmed and adopted by the Synod of their churches
in 1579, and translated and published in the Dutch language.
The confession and catechism of the Belgic churches, and
the canons of the Synod of Dort, have been adopted as the
confession of faith of the reformed churches of the Nether-
lands. And these again have been received and adopted bv
a convention of ministers and elders of the Dutch churches
in the provinces of New York and New Jersey, convened in
the city of New York, 1771, as the confession of faith of the
American ^ Reformed Protestant Dutch church.^ ^^ This
confession contains 37 articles.
VII. THE BOHEMIAN, OR WALDENSES-
" This was drawn up in the year 1573, and was highly ap-
proved by Luther Melanchton, and the whole university of
Wirtemberg."
14*
160 PREFACE.
VIII. THE WESTMINSTER.
" This confession was drawn up by an assembly of divines
convened by an act of parliament, 1643. It was examined
and approved by the General Assembly of the church of Scot-
land, and ratified by an act of parhament in the year 1646.
It was also examined and acknowledged as the confession of
faith of the New England churches, by the Synod of Cam-
bridge, in Massachusetts,! 648." It has also been adopted as
the confession of faith of the General Assembly, the Burgher,
Anti Burgher, Covenanter, and Associate Reformed Presbyte-
rian churches in the United States. This contains 33 chanters.
IX. THE SAVOY.
" This confession is a declaration of the faith and orde*-,
owned and practised in the congregational churches in Eng-
land, ao-reed upon and consented unto by the elders and
messengers in their meeting at the Savoy, (London,) in the
year 1658. It was examined and approved by a Synod, at
Boston, 1680, of the elders and messengers of the congre-
tional churches, of Massachusetts. It was also owned and
consented unto by the elders and messengers of the churches
in the colony of Connecticut, assembled at Saybrook in the
year 1708." It contains 32 chapters.
X. THE MENNONISTS.
This is the confession of the German Baptists, " transacted
and concluded in the city of Dordrecht, 1632 ;" and is also
the confession of the people sometimes called Tunkers, in the
United States. This contains 18 articles.
XL THE BAPTIST.
This is the confession of faith drawn up and published by
the seven Baptist churches of London, in the year 1646.
This contains 52 articles.
These confessions contain the professed articles of faith of
PREFACE. 151
all the Reformed, Lutheran, Waldensean, German, and
Dutch Baptist churches of the continent of Europe, and the
Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational or Independent,
Particular Baptists, and Calvinistic Methodist churches, of
England, Scotland and Ireland ; the Puritan Pilgrims of New
England, as expressed in the Cambridge and Saybrook Plat-
forms ; the General Assembly, Associate Reformed, Burghers,
Anti Burghers, Covenanter Presbyterians ; the German and
Dutch Reformed ; the Lutheran, Episcopalian, the TV'esleyan
Methodist, (as far as they have adopted the articles of the
Episcopal Church;) the Welch Calvinistic Methodist; the
Particular Baptist, and the Tunkers, or German Baptist,
and Moravian churches in the United States.
Whoever will take the pains carefully to examine these
confessions, will find a much greater agreement in sentiment,
on the great fundamental articles of Christian faith, among
these principle churches, than has generally been supposed to
exist. Is not this in itself, a strong argument in favor of the
truth of these doctrines 1 Especially, when we consider that the
early Reformers, in Germany, Switzerland, Geneva, France,
Holland, England, and Scotland,just emerging from papal
darkness, ignorance and superstition, each thrown upon his
own resources, without the aid and help of others, with the
Bible alone before them, drew from it substantially, the same
system of divine truth, called the doctrines of grace.
HARMONY, ETC,
THE ETERNAL PROVIDENCE OF GOD, AND THE CREA-
TION OF THE WORLD.
THE LATTER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA.
Of the Providexce of God.
We believe that all things, both in heaven, and in earth,
and in all creatures, are sustained and governed by the pro-
vidence of this wise, eternal, and omnipotent God. For
David witnesseth and saith, "The Lord is high above all
nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is as our
God who dwelleth on high, and yet humbleth himself to be-
hold the things that are in heaven and earth?" Again he
saith, Ps. cxxxix. 3. ♦' Thou hast foreseen all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue, which thou knowest
not wholly, 0 Lord," &c. Paul also witnesseth and saith,
Acts xvii. 28. "By Him we live, move, and have our
being." And, Rom. xi. 36. " Of him, and through him,
and from him are all things." Therefore Augustine, both
truly and according to the scripture, said in his book, De
agone Christi, cap. 8. " The Lord said, ' Are not two spar-
rows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the
ground, without the will of your Father ? ' By speaking thus,
he would give us to understand that whatsoever men count
most vile, that also is governed by the almighty power of God.
For the truth which said that all the hairs of our heads are
numbered, saith also, that the birds of the air are fed by him,
and the lillies of the field are clothed by him."
We therefore condemn the epicures who deny the provi-
154 * HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
deuce of God, and all those who blasphemously affirm that
God is occupied about the poles of heaven, and that he nei-
ther seeth or regardeth us nor our affairs. The princely pro-
phet David, also condemned these men, when as he said,
Ps. xciv. 4. " 0 Lord, how long, how long shall the wicked
triumph, they say the Lord doth not see, neither doth the
God of Jacob regard it. Understand ye unwise among the
people, and ye fools, when will ye be wise. He that hath
planted the ear, shall he not hear : and he that hath formed
the eye, how should he not see?" Notwithstanding we do
not contemn the means whereby the providence of God wor-
keth, as though they were unprofitable, but we teach, that we
must apply ourselves unto them, so far as they are commend-
ed to us in the word of God. lYherefore we mislike the rash
speeches of such as say, that if by the providence of God all
things are governed, then all our studies and endeavors are
unprofitable. It shall be sufficient, if we leave or permit all
things to be governed by the providence of God, and we shall
not need hereafter, to be careful, or to be taught in any mat-
ter. For though Paul did confess that he did sail by the
providence of God, who had said to him. Acts xxiii. 11.
*' Thou must testify of me also at Rome," who moreover
promised and said, " There shall not so much as one soul
perish. Neither shall an hair fall from your heads." Yet
the mariners devising how they might find a way to escape,
the same Paul saith to the Centurion, and to the soldiers.
Acts xxvii. 34. " Unless these remain in the ship, ye cannot
be safe." For God, who hath appointed every thing his end, he
also hath ordained the beginning and the means by which we
must attain unto the end. The heathen ascribe things to blind
fortune, and uncertain chance, but St. James would not have
us say, James iv. " To day, or to morrow we will go into such
a city, and there buy and sell : " hut he addeth, " for that
which you should say, if the Lord will, and if we live, we will
do this or that." And Augustine saith, "All those things
which seem to vain men to be done unadvisedly in the world,
they do but accomplish his word, because they are not done,
but by his commandment." And in his exposition on the
148th Psalm. " It seemed to be done by chance, that Saul,
seeking his father's asses, should light on the prophet Samuel :
but the Lord had before said to the prophet, ' to-morrow I
will send unto thee a man of the tribe of Benjamin,' &c."
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. " 155
Uf the Creatiom op all things, of the Axgels, the Devil,
AND Man.
This good and almighty God created all things, both visi-
ble, and invisible^ by his eternal word, and preserveth the
same also, by his eternal spirit : as David witnesseth, saying,
Ps. xxxiii. 6. " By the word of the Lord were the heavens
made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth."
And (as the scripture saith) " All things that the Lord crea-
ted, were very good," and made for the use and profit of man.
Now we say, that all those things do proceed from one be-
ginning : and therefore we detest the Maniches and Marcio-
nites, who did wickedly imagine two substances and natures,
the one of good, the other of evil; and also two beginnings,
and two Gods, one contrary to the other, a good, and an evil.
Amongst all the creatures, the angels and men are most
excellent. Touching angels, the holy scripture saith, Ps.
civ. 4. "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a
flameoffire." Also, Heb.v. 14. "Are they not ministering spi-
rits, sent forth to minister for their sakes, which shall be the heirs
of salvation 1" And the Lord Jesus himself testifieth of the
Devil, saying, " He hath been a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
W hen he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own : for he is a
liar, and the Father thereof." We teach therefore, that some
angels persisted in obedience, and were appointed unto the
faithful service of God and men, and that other some fell of
their own accord, and ran headlong into destruction, and so
became enemies to all good, and to all the faithful, &c.
Now, touching man, the spirit saith, that in the beginning
he was created good, according to the image and likeness of
God; that God placed him in paradise, and made all things
subject unto him : which David doth most nobly set forth in
the 8th Psalm. Moreover, God gave unto him a wife, and
blessed them. We say, also, that man doth consist of two,
and those divers substances in one person, of a soul immor-
tal, (as that which being separated from his body, doth nei-
ther sleep nor die,) and a body mortal, which, notwithstand-
ing, at the last judgment shall be raised again from the dead,
that from thenceforth the whole man may continue for ever, in
life, or in death. We condemn all those which mock at, or by
subtle disputations call into doubt the immortality of the soul,
156 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
or say that the soul sleepeth, or that it is a part of God. To
be short, we condemn all opinions of all men whatsoever,
which think otherwise of the creation of angels, devils, and
men, than is delivered unto us by the scriptures, in the apos-
tolic church of Christ.
OUT OF THE FRENCH CONFESSION.
This one only God hath revealed himself unto men : first,
both in the creation, and also in the preservation and govern-
ment of his works, &c. Look the rest in the first section, of
the scripture, and the second section, of God.
We believe that God, the three persons working together,
by his virtue, wisdom, and incomprehensible goodness, hath
made all things, that is, not only heaven and earth, and all
things therein contained, but also the invisible spirits, of
which some fell headlong into destruction, and some conti-
nued in obedience. Therefore we say that they, as they are
through their own malice corrupted, are perpetual enemies to
all good, and therefore to the whole church : but that these,
preserved by the mere grace of God, are ministers for his
glory, and for the salvation of the elect.
We believe that God hath not only made all things, but also
ruleth and governeth them, as he who according to his will,
disposeth and ordereth whatsoever happeneth in the world.
Yet we deny that he is the author of evil, or that any blame
of things done amiss, can be laid upon him, seeing his will
is the sovereign and most certain rule of all righteousness,
but he hath wonderful, rather than explicable means, by which
he so useth all the devils and sinful men as instruments, that
whatsoever they do evilly, that he, as he hath justly ordained,
so he also turneth it to good. Therefore, while we confess
that nothing at all is to be done, but by the means of his pro-
vidence and appointment, we do in all humility adore his
secrets that are hid tVom us, neither do we search in those
things which be without the reach of our capacity. Nay,
rather we apply to our own use, that which the scripture
teacheth for our quietness anc contentation sake, to wit, that
God, to whom all things are subject, with a fatherly care
watcheth for us, so that not so much as a hair of our head
falleth to the ground, without his will ; and that he hath
Satan and all our adversaries so fast bound, that unless leave
be given them, they cannot do us any little harm.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 167
THE CONFESSION OF BELGIA.
We know God by two manner of ways, first, by the making,
preserving, and governing of this whole world. For that to
our eyes is as a most excellent book, in which all creatures,
from the least to the greatest are graven, as it were charac-
ters, and certain letters, by which the invisible things of God
may be seen and known of us : namely, his everlasting power
and godhead, as Paul the apostle speaketh, Rom. i. chap. 10,
which knowledge sufficeth to convince and make all men
without excuse, &c. Look for the rest in the first section,
of the scripture, and in the second section, of God.
We beheve that the Father, by his word, that is, by the
Son, made heaven, earth, and all other creatures of nothing,
when he saw it fit and convenient, and gave to every one his
being, form, and divers offices, that they might serve their
Creator, and that he doth now cherish, uphold, and govern
them all, according to his everlasting providence and infinite
power : and that to this end, that they might serve man, and
man might serve his God. He also made the angels all good
by nature, that they might be his ministers, and might also
attend upon the elect : of which, notwithstanding some fell
from that excellent nature in which God had created them,
into everlasting destruction : but some by the singular grace
of God, abode in the first state of theirs : but the devils, and
those wicked spirits, are so corrupted and defiled, that they
be sworn enemies to good, and all goodness, which as thieves
out of a watch tower, lie in wait for the church and all the
members thereof, that by their juglings and deceits they may
destroy and lay waste all things. Therefore, being through
their own malice addicted to everlasting condemnation, they
look every day for the dreadful punishments of their mischiefs.
We therefore in this place reject the error of the Sadducees,
who denied that there were any spirits or angels, as also
the error of the Manichees, who hold that the devils have
their beginning of themselves, and of their own nature evil,
and not corrupted by wilful disobedience.
We believe that this most gracious and mighty God, after
he had made all things, left them not to be ruled after the will
of chance or fortune, but himself doth so continually rule and
govern them, according to the prescript rule of his holy will,
that nothing can happen in this world, without his decree ond
16
158 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS*
ordinance, and yet God cannot be said to be either the author,
or guilty of the evils that happen in this world. For both his
infinite and incomprehensible power and goodness stretcheth
so far, that even then he decreeth and executeth his works and
deeds justly and holily, when as both the devil and the wicked
do unjustly. And whatsoever things he doth, passing the
reach of man's capacity, we will not curiously and above our
capacity inquire into them : Nay, rather we humbly and reve-
rently adore the secret, yet just judgments of God. For it
sufficeth us (as being Christ's disciples) to learn only those
things which he himself teacheth in his word, neither do we
think it lawful to pass these bounds. And this doctrine affor-
deth us exceeding great comfort. For by it we know that
nothing befalleth us by chance, but all by the will of our hea-
venly Father, who watcheth over us with a fatherly care
indeed, having all things in subjection to himself, so that not
a hair of our head (which are every one numbered) can be
plucked away, nor the least sparrow light on the ground,
without the will of our Father. In these things therefore do
we wholly rest, acknowledging that God holdeth the devils
and all our enemies so bridled as it were with snaffles, that
without his will and good leave, they are not able to hurt any
of us : and in this place we reject the detestable opinion of
the Epicures, who feigned God to be idle, to do nothing, and
to commit all things to chance.
THE CONFESSION OF SCOTLAND.
Of the Creation of Man.
We confess and acknowledge this our God to have created
man, to wit, our first father, Adam, to his own image and
similitude, to whom he gave wisdom, lordship, justice,
free will, and clear knowledge of himself, so that in the whole
nature of man there could be noted no imperfection. From
which honor and perfection, man and woman did both fall :
the woman being deceived by the serpent, and man obeying
the voice of the woman, both conspiring against the sovereign
majesty of God, who in express words had before threatened
death, if they presumed to eat of the forbidden tree.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 169
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.
Of Creation'.
1. It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the
manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and
goodness, in the beginning, to create or make of nothing, the
world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in
the space of six days, and all very good.
2. After God had made all other creatures, he created man,
male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued
with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his
own image, ha\ing the law of God written in their hearts, and
power to fulfil it ; and yet under a possibility of transgressing,
being left to the liberty of their own will which was subject
unto change. Besides this law written in their hearts, they
received a command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil ; which while they kept they were happy in
their communion with God, and had dominion over the
creatures.
Of Providence.
1. God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct,
dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from
the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy
providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the
free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of
the glory of his wisdom, power,justice, goodness, and mercy.
2. Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of
God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and
infallibly, yet by the same providence, he ordereth them to
fall out according to the nature of second causes, either
necessarily, freely, or contingently.
3. God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of means,
yet is free to work without, above, and against them, at hie
pleasure.
4. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite
goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence,
Slat it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins
of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission, but
fiuch as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding,
160 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifold
dispensation, to his own holy ends ; yet so, as the sinfuhiess
thereof proceedeth only from the creatm-e, and not from God;
who being most holy and righteous, neither is, nor can be the
author or approver of sin.
6. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God, doth
oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold
temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise
them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden
strength of corruption, and deceitfulness of their hearts, that
they may be humbled ; and to raise them to a more close and
constant dependance for their support upon himself, and to
make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin,
and for sundry other just and holy ends.
6. As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a
righteous judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden ; from
them he not only withholdeth his grace, whereby they might
have been enlightened in thjeir understandings, and wrought
upon in their hearts ; but sometimes also withdraweth the
gifts which they had ; and exposeth them to such objects as
their corruption makes occasion of sin ; and withal, gives
them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and
the power of Satan ; whereby it comes to pass that they harden
themselves, even under those means which God useth for the
softening of others.
7. As the providence of God doth, in general, reach to all
creatures ; so, after a most special manner, it taketh care of
his church, and disposeth all things to the good thereof.
THE SAVOY CONFESSION.
Of Creation.
1. It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the
manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom and
goodness, in the beginning to create or make of nothing the
world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in
the space of six days, and all very good.
2. After God had made all other creatures, he created man,
male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued
with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his
own image, having the law of God written in their heart, and
power to fulfil it; and yet under a possibility of transgressing*
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 161
being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject
to change. Besides this law written in their hearts, they re-
ceived a command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil ; which whil£ they kept, they were happy in their
communion witli God, and had dominion over the creatures.
Of Providence.
1. God the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct,
dispose and govern all creatures, actions, and things from the
greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy provi-
dence, according to his infallible foreknowledge and the free
and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the
glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.
2. Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of
God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably, and
infallibly ; yet by the same providence he ordereth them to
fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either ne-
cessarily, freely, or contingently.
3. God in his ordinary providence maketh use of means,
yet is free to work without, above, and against them at his
pleasure.
4. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and the in-
finite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his pro-
vidence, in that his determinate counsel extendeth itself even
lo the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men, (and that
not by a bare permission,) which also he most wisely and pow-
erfully boundcth, and otherwise ordereth and governeth in a
manifold dispensation, to his own most holy ends, yet so as
the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and
not from God, who being most holy and righteous neither is,
nor can be the author or approver of sin.
5. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God, doth
ofltimes leave for a season his own children to manifold tempt-
ations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise
them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hid-
den 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 againt all future occasions of sm,
and for sundry other just and holy ends.
6. As for those wicked and ungodly men, whom God as a
righteous judge for former sins, doth blind and harden, from
16*
162 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
them he not only withholdeth his grace, whereby they might
have been enhghtened in their understandings, and wrought
upon in their hearts ; but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts
which they had, and exposeth them to such objects as their
corruption makes occasions of sin ; and withal gives them
over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the
power of Satan, whereby it comes to pass that they harden
themselves, even under those means which God useth for the
softening of others.
7. As the providence of God doth in general reach to all
creatures, so after a most special manner it taketh care of his
church, and disposeth all things for the good thereof.
THE MENNONISTS' CONFESSION.
The Creation of all things, and of Man.
The same only God, who worketh all in all, him we beheve
and profess to be the Creator of all visible and invisible things ;
who within six days hath created, made and prepared the
heavens, the earth, and the sea, and all what is in it ; and that
he yet ruleth and upholds the same and all his works, by his
wisdom and might, and by the word of his power.
And when he had perfected his works, and according to his
good pleasure, had ordered and prepared them good and up-
right, every one in its nature, being and propriety, he also cre-
ated the first man, the father of us all, Adam, and gave him a
)»ody, which he make from an earthen lump, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of Ufe.
So that he became a living soul from God, created in his
own image and after his likeness, in sincere righteousness and
holiness, unto life everlasting. And he regarded him above
all other creature and adorned him with many excellent and
glorious gifts, placed him in the delightful garden of paradise,
gave him a command and prohibition, and took afterward
from the same Adam a rib, and made a woman of it, which
he brought to him, and gave her for his help, and companion,
and wife ; and so consequently caused that from this only
first man Adam, have been procreated and descended all
men living on the face of the whole earth.
HARMONY OP CONFESSIONS. 168
THE LONDON BAPTISTS' CONFESSION.
[See under next Section.]
THE WELCH CALVINISTIC METHODISTS' CONFESSION.
Of the Providence of God in upholding and goternikg thh
World.
God, in his wise, holy, and righteous providence, upholds
and governs all creatures, and all their actions. His provi-
dence embraces every place, incident, change, and time.
The dispensation of God's providence is full of eyes to per-
ceive, and full of strength to perform ; and he will make all
things to work together for good to them that love him. Ita
over ruling government extends over the sinful actions of
man ; but it is neither the cause nor the occasion of sinful-
ness in him.
OF MAN'S FALL, SIN, AND FREE WILL.
THE LATTER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA.
Of Man's Fall, Sin, and the Cause of Sin.
Man was from the beginning created of God after his image,
in righteousness and true holiness, good, and upright : but by
the instinct of the serpent and his own fault, falling from good-
ness and uprightness, became subject to sin, death, and divers
calamities, and such an one as he became by his fall, such are
all his offspring, even subject to sin, death, and sundry calam-
ities. And we take sin to be that natural corruption of man,
derived or spread from those our parents unto us all, through
which we being drowned in evil concupiscences, and clean
turned away from God, but prone to all evil, full of all wicked-
ness distrust, contempt, and hatred of God, can do no good of
ourselves, no not so much as think of any. And that more is,
even as we do grow in years, so by wicked thoughts, words,
164 HARMONY OP CONFESSIONS.
and deeds committed against the law of God, we bring forth
corrupt fruits, worthy of an evil tree : in which respect, we
through our own desert, being subject to the wrath of God
are in danger of just punishments : so that we had all been
cast away from God, had not Christ the deliverer brought us
back again.
By death therefore, we understand not only bodily
death, which is once to be suffered of all us for sins, but also
everlasting punishments due to our corruption aadto our sins.
For the apostle saith, Eph. ii. "We were dead in tres-
passes and sins, and were by nature the children of wrath, as
well as others. But God which is rich in mercy, even when
we were dead hy sins, quickened us together in Christ."
Again, Rom. v. "As by one man sin entered into the world,
and by sin death, and so death went over all men, forasmuch
as all men have sinned," &c.
We therefore acknowledge that original sin is in all men;
we acknowledge, that all other sins, which spring hereout,
are both called, and are in deed sins, by what name soever
they may be termed, v/hefher mortal or venial, or also that
which is called sin against the Holy Ghost, which is never for-
given : we also confess that sins are not equal, although they
spring from the same fountain of corruption and unbelief, but
that some are more grievous than others, even as the Lord
hath said, Matth, x. 11, that "It shall be easier for Sodom,"
than for the city that despiseth the word of the gospel :
we therefore condemn all those that have taught things con-
trary to these, but especially Pelagius and all the Pelagians,
together with the Jovinianists, who with the Stoics count all
sins equal, we in this matter agree fully with St. Augustine, who
produced and maintained his sayings out of the holy scrip-
tures. Moreover we condemn Florinus andBlastus (against
whom also Irseneus wrote) and all those that make God the
author of sin : seeing it is expressly written, Ps. Ixxxiv. 4.
"Thou art not a God that loveth wickedness, thou hatest all
them that work iniquity, and wilt destroy all that speak
lies." And again, John viii. 44. "When the devil speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own, because he is a liar, and the fa-
ther of lying." Yea, there is even in ourselves sin and cor-
ruption enough, so that there is no need that God should in-
fuse into us either a new or greater measure of wickedness.
Therefore when God is said in the scripture, to harden, to
blind, and to deliver us up into a reprobate sense, it is to be
understood, that God doth it by just judgment, as a just
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 165
judge and revenger. To conclude, as often as God in the
scripture is said and seemeth to do some evil, it is not there-
by meant, that man doth not commit evil, but that God doth
suffer it to be done, and doth not hinder it, and that by his
just judgment, who could hinder it, if he would : or because
he maketh good use of the evil of men, as he did in the sins
of Joseph's brethren : or because himself rulelh sins, that
they break not out and rage more violently than is meet. St.
Augustine in his Enchiridion, saith, "After a wonderful and
unspeakable manner that is not done beside his will, which is
done contrary to his will, because it could not be done, if
he should not suffer it to be done, and yet he doth not suflfer
it to be done unAvillingly, but willingly : neither would he, be-
ing God suffer any evil to be done, unless being also Al-
mighty, he could make good of evil." Other questions, as,
whether God vvould have Adam fall, or whether he forced
him to fall, or why he did not hinder his fall, and such like,
we account amongst curious questions, (unless perchance the
frowardness of heretics, or of men otherwise importunate,
do compel us to open these points also out of the word of
God, as the godly doctors of the Church have oftentimes
done) knowing that the Lord did forbid that man should not eat
of the forbidden fruit, and punished his transgression : and
also that the things done are not evil in respect of the provi-
dence, will, and power of God, but in respect of Satan, and
our will resisting the vvill of God.
Of Fre2 y.iLL, axd so of Man's Power and Ability.
We teach in this matter, which at all times hath been the
cause of many conflicts in the Church, that there is a triple
condition or estate of man to be considered. First, what
man w^as before his fall, to wit, upright and free, who might
both continue in goodness, and dechne to evil : but he declin-
ed to evil, and hath wrapped both himself and all mankind in
sin and death, as hath been showed before. Secondly, we
are to consider, what man was after his fall. His understand-
ing indeed was not taken from him, neither was he deprived of
wll, and altogether changed into a stone or stock. Never-
theless, these things are so altered in man, that they are not
able to do that now, which they could not do before his fall.
For his understanding is darkened, and his will which before
was free, is now become a servile will ; for it serveth sin, not
nilling, but willing ; for it is called a wiU, and not a nilling.
166 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
Therefore as touching evil or sin, man doth evil, not compel-
led either by God or the devil, but of his own accord ; and
in this respect he hath a most free will : but whereas we see,
that oftentimes the most evil deeds and counsels of man are
hindered by God, that they cannot attain to their end, this
doth not take from man liberty in evil; but God by his power
doth prevent that, which man otherwise purposed freely : as,
Joseph's brethren did freely purpose to slay Joseph: but
they were not able to do it, because it seemed other^vise good
to God in his secret counsel. But as touching goodness and
virtues, man's understanding doth not of itself judge aright of
heavenly things. For the evangelical and apostolic scrip-
ture requireth regeneration of every one of us that will be
saved. Wherefore our first birth by Adam doth nothing pro-
fit us to salvation. Paul saith, 1 Cor. ii. "The natural man
perceiveth not the things which are of the Spirit," &c. The
same Paul elsewhere denieth that we are fit of ourselves to
think any good. Now it is evident, that the mind or under-
standing, is the guide of the will : and seeing the guide is
blind, it is easy to be seen how far the will can reach. There-
fore man not as yet regenerate hath no free will to good, no
strength to perform that which is good. The Lord saith in the
gospel, John viiii. "Verily, verily I say unto you, that every
one that committeth sin, is the servant of sin." And Paul
the apostle saith, Rom. viii. "The wisdom of the flesh is en-
mity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, nei-
ther indeed can be." Furthermore, there is some understand-
ing of earthly things remaining in man after his fall. For God
hath of mercy left him wit, though much differing from that
which was in him before his fall, God commandeth us to gar-
nish our wit, and therewithal he giveth gifts and also the in-
crease thereof. And it is a clear case, that we can profit
very little in all arts without the blessing of God. The scrip-
ture doubtless referreth all arts to God. Yea and the Eth-
nics also did ascribe the the beginnings of arts to the gods,
&s to the authors thereof.
Lastly, we are to consider, whether the regenerate have
free will, and how far forth they have it. In regeneration the
understanding is illuminated by the Holy Ghost, that it may
understand both the mysteries and will of God. And the will
itself is not only changed by the Spirit, but is also endued with
faculties, that of its own accord it may both will and do good.
Unless we grant this, we shall deny Christian liberty, and
bring in the bondage of the law. Besides, the prophet bringeth
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 167
in God speaking thus, Jer. iii. " I will put my laws in their
minds, and write them in their hearts." The Lord also saith
in the gospel, Ez. xxx i. " If the Son make you free, then are
you free indeed." Paul also to the Phillippians, John vii. "Unto
you it is given, for Christ not only to beheve in him, but also to
suffer for his sake." And again, Phil. i. " I am persuaded
that he that began this good work in you, will perform it until
the day of the Lord Jesus. Also, Phil. ii. " It is God that
worketh in you the will and the deed." Where nevertheless
we teach, that there are two things to be observed : First, that
the regenerate, in the choice and working of that which is good,
do not only work passively, but actively. For^they are moved
of God, that themselves may do that which they do. And
Augustine doth truly allege that saying, that " God is said to be
our helper. For no man can be helped, but he that doth
somewhat." The Manichees did bereave man of all action,
and made him like a stone and a block.
Secondly, that an the regenerate there remaineth infirmity.
For seeing that sin dwelleth in us, and that flesh in the
regenerate striveth against the Spirit, even to our lives end,
they do readily perform in every point that which they had
purposed. These things are confirmed by the apostle, Rom.
vii. Gal. V. Therefore, our free will is weak, by reason of
tlie relics of old Adam remaining in us so long as we live, and
of the human corruption, which so nearly cleaveth to them.
In the mean while because that the strength of the flesh and
relics of the old man are not of such great force that they can
wholly quench the work of the Spirit, therefore the faithful
are called free, yet so, that they do acknowledge their infirmity,
and glory no whit at all of their free will. For that which St.
Augustine doth repeat so often out of the apostle, ought always
to be kept in mind by the faithful : " "VVhat hast thou, that
thou hast not received 1 and if thou hast received it, why dost
thou boast, as though thou hadst not received it 1" Hitherto
may be added, that that cometh not straightway to pass,
which we have purposed. For the events of things are in
the hand of God. For which cause, Rom. i. xix. Paul
"besoughtthe Lordthat he would prosper his journey." Where-
fore in this respect also, free will is very weak. But in outward
things no man denieth but that both the regenerate and unre-
generate have their free will. For man hath this constitution
common with other creatures (to whom he is not inferior) to
will some things, and to nill other things. So he may speak,
or keep silence, go out of his house, or abide within. Although
168 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
herein also God's power is evermore to be marked, which
brought to pass that Balaam could not go so far as he would,
and that Zacharias coming out of the temple, could not speak
as he would have done. In this matter we condemn the
Manichees who deny, that the beginning of evil unto man,
being good, came from his free will. We condemn also the
Pelagians, who affirm that an evil man hath free v^dll suffi-
ciently to perform a good precept. Both these are confuted
by the scripture, which saith to the former, " God made man
upright," and to the latter, "If the Son make you free, then are
you free indeed."
THE CONFESSION OF BOHEMIA, OR THE
WALDENSES.
Of the Knowledge of a Man's self: also, of Sin, the Causes
AND Fruits thereof, and of the Promise of God.
Fourthly, touching the knowledge of 'himself, man is taught,
£uid that after two sorts. First, the knowledge of his estate,
yet being in his innocence, or void of all fault, that is, of his
nature being perfect, from whence he fell : Secondly, the
knowledge of his sin and mortality, into which he fell. The
estate and condition of his innocence and righteousness con-
sisteth in these points : that the Lord in the beginning made
man after his own image and likeness, and adorned him with
the gifts "of his grace or bounty : that he engraved in him
righteousness and his Spirit, a soul and a body, together with
all the faculties and powers thereof, and so made him holy,
just, wise, immortal, and a most pleasant temple for his
heavenly Spirit, in the mind, will, memory, and judgment, and
bestowed upon him clear light of understanding, integrity, and
a very ordinate or lawful love towards God, and all his crea-
tures ; also a full and absolute obedience, or abiUty to obey
God, the true fear of God, and a sincere heart and nature,
that man might be his own possession, and his proper and
peculiar workmanship, created unto the praise of his glorious
grace. Man being placed in this estate, had left unto him free
will, so that if he would, he was able to fulfil that command-
ment which God gave him, and thereby to retain righteousness
both for himself and for all his posterity after him, and every
way to enjoy a spirit, soul, body, and an estate most blessed :
and further also, to make a way unto a far more excellent
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 16S
glory, by considering that fire and water, life and death, were
set before him ; which if he would not consider, nor do his
endeavor therein, by choosing of evil, he might lose all those
good gifts.
The second part of the knowledge of a man's self, (namely
before justification,) standeth in this, that a man acknowledge
aright the state of this fall, sin, and mortality. For that free
liberty of choice which God permitted to the will of man, h«
abused and kept not the law of his justice, but swerved there-
from, and therein transgressed the commandment of God.
insomuch as he obeyed the devil and those lying speeches ol
his, and gave credit unto them, and performed to the devil
such faith and obedience as was due to God alone ; whereby
he stripped and bereaved himself and his posterity of the
state of perfection and goodness of nature : and the grace oi
God, and those good gifts of justice, and the image of God,
which in his creation were engraved in him, he partly lost
them, and partly corrupted and defiled them, as if with horrible
poison one should corrupt pure wine, and by this means he
cast headlong both himself and all his offspring into sin,
death, and all kind of miseries in this life, and into punishments
eternal after this life.
Wherefore the spring and principal author of all evil is that
cruel and detestable devil, the tempter, bar, and manslayer :
and next the free will of man, which notwithstanding being
converted to evil, through lust and naughty desires, an<
perverse concupiscence, chooseth that which is evil.
Hereby, sins according to these degrees and after this order
may be considered and judged of. The first and weightiest
or most grievous sin of all was without doubt after that sin of
Adam, which the apostle calleth disobedience, for the which
death reigneth over all, even over those also, which have not
sinned with like transgression as did Adam. A second kind
is original sin, naturally engendered in us and hereditary,
wherein we are all conceived and born into this world.
" Behold," saith David, Ps. li. " I was born in iniquity, and
in sin hath my mother conceived me." And Paul, Ephes. ii.
" We are by nature the children of wrath." Let the force of
this hereditary destruction be acknowledged and judged of
by the guilt and fault, by our proneness and declination, by
our evil natiire, and by the punishment which is laid upon
it. The third kind of sins are those which are called actual,
which are fruits of original sin, and do burst out within, with-
out, privily and openly, by the powers of man, that is, by all
16
170 HARMONY or CONFESSIONS.
that ever man is able to do, and by his members, transgressing
all those things which God commandeth and forbiddeth, and
also running into blindness and errors worthy to be punished
with all kind of damnation. This doctrine of the true know-
ledge of sin, is of our men diligently handled and urged :
and to this end were the first and second tables of the law
delivered to Moses of God, that men especially might know
themselves, that they are conceived and born in sin, and that
forthwith, even from their birth, and by nature, they are sinners,
full of lusts, and evil inclinations.
For hereof it cometh, that straight even from the beginning
of our age, and so forth in the whole course of our life, being
stained and overcome with many sins, men do in heart,
thoughts, and evil deeds, break and transgress the command-
ments of God, as it is written, Ps. xiv. Rom. iii. " The Lord
looked down from heaven to behold the children of men, to
see if there were any that would understand, and seek God :
all are gone out of the way, they have been made altogether
unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not one."
And again. Gen. vi. " When the Lord saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and all the cogitations of his
heart were only evil continually." And again. Gen. viii.
" The Lord said, the imagination of man's heart is evil even
from his youth." And Saint Paul saith, Eph. ii. "We were by
nature the children of wrath as well as others."
Here withal this is also taught, that by reason of that cor-
ruption and depravation, common to all mankind, and for the
sin, transgressions, and injustice, which ensued thereof, all
men ought to acknowledge, according to the holy scripture,
their own just condemnation, and the horrible and severe
vengeance of God, and consequently the most deserved
punishment of death, and eternal torments in hell : whereof
Paul teacheth us, when he saith, Rom. vi. " The wages of
sin is death." And our Lord Christ, John v. " They which
have done evil, shall go into the resurrection of condemnation,"
that is, jinto pains eternal, " where shall be wailing and
gnashing of teeth."
They teach also that we must acknowledge our weakness,
and that great misery which is engendered in us, as also those
difficulties from which no man can ever deliver or rid himself
by any means, or justify himself, (that is, procure or get
righteousness to himself,) by any kind of works, deeds, or
exercises, seem they never so glorious. For that will of man
which before was free, is now so corrupted, troubled, and
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 171
weakened, that now from henceforth of itself, and without the
grace of God, it cannot choose, judge, or wish fully, nay it
hath no desire, nor inclination, much less any ability, to
choose that good wherewith God is pleased. For albeit it
fell willingly and of its o^vn accord, yet by itself, and by ita
own strength it could not rise again, or recover that fall ;
neither to this day, without the merciful help of God, is it
able to do any thing at all. And a little after : Neither can
he which is man only, and hath nothing above the reach of
tliis our nature, help another in this point. For since that
original sin, proceeding by inheritance, possesseth the whole
nature, and doth furiously rage therein, and seeing that all
men are sinners, and do want the grace and justice of God,
therefore saith God, by the mouth of the prophet Esaias,Esa.
xliii. " Put me in remembrance. Let us be judged together,
count thou if thou have any thing that thou mayest be justified :
thy first father hath sinned, and thy interpreters (that is,
they which teach the justice) have transgressed against me."
And a little before, speaking of works in the service of God
after the invention of man, he saith : " Thou hast not offered
unto me the ram of the burnt offerings, neither hast thou
honored me with thy sacrifices : I have not caused thee to
serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense." And
unto the Hebrews it is ^\Titten : Heb. x. " Sacrifice, and
offering, and burnt offerings, and sin offerings thou wouldest
not have." Neither didst thou approve those things, which
were offered according to the law.
This also must we know, that the Lord God for sin doth
permit and bring all kinds of afflictions, miseries, and vexations
of mind in this life, upon all men, such as are heat, cold,
hunger, thirst, care, and anguish, sore labors, calamity, adver-
sity, doleful times, sword, fire, diseases, griefs, and at the last also
that intolerable and bitter death, whereby nature is overthrown,
as it is written. Gen. ii. "Thou shalt die the death." Again,
Gen. iii. " Cursed is the earth for thy sake, in sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee." And yet it is taught, that men
must and ought to bear all these punishments patiently, seeing
that they owe unto God, and have deserved a far more cruel
punishment. Yet they must not be so persuaded as though
ihey deserved any thing by suffering this punishment, or should
receivfe from God any grace or reward in recompense for the
merit of these punishments, seeing that Paul, speaking of a
mucb jnore worthy cross and sufferings which the true be-
172 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
lievers take upon them for Christ's sake, saith, " that they be
not comparable to the glory, which shall be shewed unto us :"
And these punishments are laid upon us, and are patiently
to be borne, that we may acknowledge the greatness of our
sin, and how grievous a thing it is, and therewithal our own
weakness, needs, and misery, and that by experience we may
know how wicked, foul, and bitter a thing it is, even above all
that we are able to conceive, for a man to forsake the Lord
his God, as saith the prophet. And moreover, that they
which being plunged in these miseries, and oppressed with
these burdens, may again be stirred up to repentance, and
to seek for favor and help from God, which is a Father full
of mercy and compassion. Howbeit this is also expressly
added, that the labors and torments which holy men do suffer
for the name of Christ, that is, in the cause of eternal salva-
tion, for the holy truth of Christ, are an acceptable and pleasant
sacrifice to God, and have great and large promises, especially
in the life to come : the which thing also did even so fall out
with Christ our Head, of whom the epistle to the Hebrews
gpeaketh thus, that "For the joy that was set before him, he
endured the cross :" who also by himself consecrated and
hallowed the cross to them, even to this end, that those suffer-
ings which we endure for Christ his name's sake, might be
pleasant and acceptable unto God.
THE FRENCH CONFESSION.
We believe that man being created pure and upright, and
conformable to the image of God, through his own fault fell
from that grace which he had received, and thereby did so
estrange himself from God, the fountain of all righteousness
and of all good things, that his nature is become altogether
defiled, and being blind in spirit, and corrupt in heart, hath
utterly lost all that integrity. For although he can somewhat
discern between good and evil, yet we affirm that whatsoever
light he hath, it straightway becometh darkness, when the
question is of seeking God, so that by his understanding and
reason he can never come to God. Also, although he be
endued with will, whereby he is moved to this or that, yet
insomuch as that is altogether captivated under sin, it hath no
liberty at all to desire good, but such as it hath received by
grace and of the gift of God. We believe that all the offspring
of Adam is infected with this contagion, which we call original
sin, that is, a stain spreading itself by propagation, and not by
HARMONY OP CONFESSIONS. 178
imitation only, as the Pelagians thought, all whose errors we
do detest. Neither do we think it necessary to search, how
this sin may be derived from one unto another. For it is
sufficient that those things which God gave unto Adam, were
not given to him alone, but also to all his posterity : and
therefore we in his person being deprived of all those good
gifts, are fallen into all this misery and curse.
We believe that this stain is indeed sin, because that it maketh
and every man (not so much as those little ones excepted,
which as yet lie hid in their mothers' womb) guilty of eternal
death before God. We also affirm, that this stain, even after
baptism, is in nature sin, as concerning the fault: howbeit
they which are the children of God, shall not therefore be
condemned, because that God of his gracious free goodness
and mercy, doth not impute it to them. Moreover we say,
that this frowardness of nature doth always bring forth some
fruits of mahce and rebellion, in such sort, that even they
which are most holy, although they resist it, yet are they defiled
with many infirmities and offences, so long as they live in
this world.
THE ENGLISH CONFESSION.
We say also, that every person is born in sin, and leadeth
his life in sin: that no body is able truly to say, his heart is clean.
That the most righteous person is but an unprofitable servant :
That the law of God is perfect, and require th of us, perfect,
and full obedience : That we are able by no means to fulfil
that law in this worldly life ; that there is no mortal creature,
which can be justified by his own deserts in God's sight.
THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES OF THE CHURCH OF
ENGLAND.
Of Original or Birth sin.
Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the
Pelagians do vainly talk : ) but it is the fault and corruption of
the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered, of the
off*spring of Adam ; whereby man is very far gone from ori-
ginal righteousness, and is, of his own nature, inclined to evil ;
so that the flesh lusteth always, contrary to the Spirit ; and
therefore, in every person born into this world, it deserveth
God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth
remain ; yea, in them, that are regenerated ; whereby the lust
16*
174 HARMONY -OF CONFESSIONS.
of the flesh, which some do expound the wisdom, some sens-
uality, some the affection, some the desire of the flesh, is not
subject to the law of God. And although there is no condem-
nation, for them that believe and are baptized, yet the apostle
doth confess, that concupiscence and lust, hath, of itself, the
nature of sin.
Of Free tvill.
The condition of man, after the fall of Adam, is such, that
he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength
and good works, to faith and calling upon God : wherefore we
have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to
God, without the grace of God, by Christ, preventing us, that
we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have
that good will.
THE CONFESSION OF BELGIA.
We believe that God of the slime of the earth created man,
after his image, that is to say, good, just, and holy, who had
power by his own free will, to frame and conform his will unto
the will of God. But when he was advanced to honor he
knew not, neither did he well understand his excellent state,
but wittingly and willingly did make himself subject to sin,
and so consequently unto eternal death and malediction,
whilst that giving ear to the w^ords and subtleties of the devil,
he did transgress that commandment of life, which he had
received of the Lord, and so did withdraw and alienate himself
from God (his true hfe,) his nature being altogether defiled
and corrupted by sin, whereby it came to pass, that he made
himself subject both to corporeal and to spiritual death.
Wherefore being made wicked, and perverse, and also corrupt
in all his ways and endeavors, he lost those excellent gifts where-
with the Lord had adorned him, so that there were but a few little
sparks and small steps of those graces left in him, the which not-
withstanding are sufficient to leave men without excuse because
that what light soever we have, is turned into palpable darkness,
even as the scripture itself teacheth, saying, John i. 6. " The
hghtshined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not :"
For there John doth manifestly call men darkness. Therefore
whatsoever things are taught, as touching man's free will, we
do worthily reject them, seeing man is the servant of sin, John
ill. 27. " Neither can he do any thing of himself, but as it
is given him from heaven :" For who is so bold as to braS
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 175
that he is able to perform whatsoever he listeth, when as
Christ himself saith, John vi. 44. " No man can come unto
me, except my Father, which hath sent me, do draw him ?"
Who dare boast of his will, which heareth that, Rom. viiL
" All the affections of the flesh are enemies against God ?•'
Who will vaunt of his understanding, which knovvcth that,
1 Cor. i. 14. " The natural man can? ot perceive the things
of the Spirit of God ?" To conclude, who is he that dare
bring forth anyone cogitation of his own, which understandeth
this, that we are not 2 Cor. iii. 5. " Able of oiu-selves to think
any thing," but, " That w^e are sufficient, it is altogether of
God ?" Therefore that saying of the apostle must needs re-
main firm and steadfast, Phil. ii. 12. " It is God which worketh
in us, both to will and to do, even of his good pleasure." For
no man's mind, no man's will is able to rest in the will of God,
wherein Christ himself hath wrought nothing before. The
which also he doth teach us, saying, John xv. 5. " Without
me ye can do nothing."
Wc believe, that through the disobedience of Adam, the
sin, that is called odiginal hath been spread and poured into
all mankind. Now original sin, is a corruption of the whole
nature, and an hereditary evil, wherewith even the very infants
in theii* mother's womb are polluted : the which also as a most
noisome root doth branch out most abundantly all kind of sin
in man, and is so filthy and abominable in the sight of God,
that it alone is sutBcient to the condemnation of all mankind.
Neither are we to believe that this sin is by baptism utterly
extinguished or plucked up by the roots, seeing that out of it,
as out of a corrupt fountain, continual floods and rivers of
iniquity do daily spring and flow : howbeit, to the children of
God it doth not tend, neither is it imputed to condemnation,
but of the mere favor and mercy of God it is remitted unto
"hem, not to this end, that they trusting unto this remission
should be rocked asleep in security, but that it may stir up
often sighs in the faithful by the sense and feeling of this cor-
ruption, and that they should somewhat the more earnestly
desire, Rom. vii. 18. 24. " to be dehvered from this body
of death." Therefore we do condemn the error of the Pela-
gians, which affirm, that this original sin is nothing else but a
certain kind of imitation.
176 MlRMONY OF CONFESSIOIfS.
THE CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG.
Also they that teach that after the fall of Adam all men
descended one from another after a natural manner, have
original sin even when they are born. We mean by original
sin that which the holy fathers, and all of sound judgment and
learning in the Church do so call, namely that guilt, whereby
all that come into the world, are through Adam's fall, subject
to God's wrath and eternal death, and that very corruption of
man's nature derived from Adam. And this corruption of
man's nature comprehendeth both the defect of original justice,
integrity, or obedience, and also concupiscence. This
defect is horrible blindness, and disobedience, that is, to wit,
to want that light and knowledge of God, which should have
been in our nature being perfect, and to want that uprightness,
that is, that perpetual obedience, that true, pure, and chief
love of God, and those other gifts of perfect nature. Where-
fore those defects and this concupiscence are things damnable,
and of their own nature worthy of death. And this original
blot is sin indeed, condemning, and bringing eternal death, even
now also, upon them, which are not born again by baptism
and the Holy Ghost.
They condemn the Pelagians, who deny original sin, and
think that those defects or this concupiscence are things indif-
ferent, or punishments only, and not of their own nature
damnable, and dream that man may satisfy the law of God,
and may for that peculiar obedience be pronounced just before
God.
Concerning free will, they do teach, that man's will hath
some freedom to perform a civil justice, and to make choice
of things that are within the reach of reason : but it hath no
power to perform a spiritual justice, without the Holy Spirit,
because Paul saith, " The natural man perceiveth not the
things which are of the Spirit of God," and Christ saith,
" Without me ye can do nothing." Now this spiritual justice
is wrought in us, when we are helped of the Holy Ghost.
And we receive the Holy Ghost, when we assent unto the
word of God, that >ve may be comforted through faith in all
terrors of conscience, as Paul teacheth, when he saith, " That
ye may receive the promise of the spirit through faith." These
things, almost in as many words, saith St. Augustine, lib. iii.
Hypognost.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 177
" We confess that there is in all men a free will which hath
indeed the judgment of reason, not that it is therehy apt with-
out God either^ to begin, or to perform any thing, in matters
pertaining to God, but only in works belonging to this present
life, whether they be good or evil. In good works 1 affirm
tliose to be, which arise of the goodness of nature, as to be
wiUing to labor in the iield, to desire meat or drink, to desire
to have a friend, to desire apparel, to desire to build an house,
to marry a wife, to nourish cattle, to learn the art of divers
good things, to desire any good thing pertaining to this present
life, all which are not without God's government, yea they now
are, and had their beginning from God. In evil things I
account such as these, to desire to worship an image : to
desire manslaufjhter." This sentence of Augustine doth
notably teach what is to be attributed to free will, and doth
put a plain difference between civil discipline or the exercises
of human reason, and spiritual motions, true fear, patience,
constancy, faith, invocation in most sharp temptations, in the
midst of Satan's subtk assnult?, in the terrors of sin. Tn the:-**
surely we had great need to be guided and helped of the Holy
Spirit, according to that saying of Paul, " The Spirit helpeth
our infirmity."
We condemn the Pelagians,and all such as they are who teach
that by the only powers of nature, without the Holy Spirit, we
may love God above all, and fulfil the law of God, as touch-
ing the substance of our actions. We do freely and neces-
sarily mislike these dreams : for they do obscure the benefits
of Christ. For therefore is Christ the mediator set forth, and
mercy promised in the gospel, because that the law cannot be
satisfied by man's nature, as Paul witnesseth, when he saith,
Rom. viii. "The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God.
For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be." For albeit that man's nature by itself can after some
sort perform external works, (for it can contain the hands
from theft and murder,) yet can it not make those inward
motions, as true fear, true faith, patience, and chastity, unless
tlie Holy Ghost do govern and help our hearts. And yet in
this pl^ce also do we teach, that it is also the commandment
of God, that the carnal motions should be restrained by the
industry of reason and by civil discipline, as Paul saith, "The
law is schoolmaster to Christ :" also, "The law is given to
the unjust."
178 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
THE MORAVIAN CONFESSION.
Article II.
Further we teach, that since Adam's fall all mankind, nat-
urally engendered from him, are conceived and born in sin ;
that is, that they from the very womb are full of evil lusts and
inclinations : and have by nature no true fear of God, no true
faith in God, neither can have. Also, that this innate disease
and original sin, is truly sin ; and condemns, under God's
eternal wrath, all those who are not born again through water
and the Holy Ghost
Article XVIII.
Concerning free will it is taught, that man hath, in some meas-
ure, a free will to live honest outwardly, and to choose between
those things which reason comprehends. But without grace,
help, and operation of the Holy Spirit, a man is not able to be
pleasing to God, from the heart to fear God, to love or to believe
in him, or to cast away out of the heart the innate evil lust.
But such things are effected through the Holy Spirit, which is
given tlirough G od's word. For Paul says, 1 Cor. ii. " The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God."
And that it may be known that herein we teach nothing new,
these are the clear words of St. Austin concerning free will,
as are here written out of Hypognostics, book iii. " We
acknowledge, that there is in all men a free will ; for they all
have a natural implanted understanding and reason : not thai
they are able to transact any thing with God, as from the heart
to love God, and to fear him ; but only in the external works
of this life they have liberty to choose good or bad ; the good
I mean which nature is able to do ; as to work in the field, or
not ; to eat, to drink, to go to a friend, or not ; to put on or t»
put off a garment, to build, to take a wife, to follow a trade ;
and to do such like things, which are profitable and good : all
which however, is not, neither subsists without God ; but all is
from him, and through him. On the other hand also, man by
his own choice can undertake something bad, as to kneel
before an idol, to pommit murder," &c»
HARMONY or COFrpXSSIO?fS, 179
Article XIX.
Concerning the cause of sins, it is taught among us, that
although God Almighty created and upholds all nature, yet
the perverse will doth work sin in all who are wicked and
despisers of God : such as the will of the devil and of all
the ungodly is, who, as soon as God withdrew his hand, turned
himself from Goduntoevil, as Christ speaks, John viii. "The
devil, when he speaketh a lie, speaketh of hh own."
THE CONFESSION OF SCOTLAND,
Of Original Sin,
By which transgression, commonly called original sin, was
the image of God utterly defaced in man, and he and his pos-
terity of nature became enemies to God, slaves to- Satan, and
ser\'ants to sin. Insomuch that death everlasting' hath had^
and shall have power and dominion over all that have not
been, are not, or shall not be regenerate from above, which
regeneration is wrought by the power of the Holy Ghosts
working in the hearts of the elect of God, an assured faith in
the promise of God, revealed to us in his word, by which faith
we apprehend Christ Jesus, with the graces and benefits pro-
mised in him.
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.
Op the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment thereof.
1. Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and
temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit This
their sin God was pleased, according to his wise and holy
counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own
glory.
2. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness,
and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and
wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.
3. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin
was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature-
conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by or-
dinary generations.
180 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
4. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly
indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and whol-
ly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.
5. This corruption of nature, during the life, doth remain
in those that are regenerated ; and although it be through
Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself, and all tlie
motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.
6. Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgres-
sion of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto,
doth, in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby
he is bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law,
and so made subject to death, with all miseries spiritual, tem-
poral, and eternal.
Of God's Coyenakt with Man.
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 fruition of him,
as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary con-
descension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to ex-
press by way of covenant.
2. The first covenant made with man was a covenant of
works, wherein life was promised to Adam, and in him to
his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedi-
ence.
3. Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life
by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second,
commonly called the covenant of gi-ace : wherein he freely
ofFereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, re-
quiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved, and
promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life
his Holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe.
4. This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in scrip-
ture by the name of a testament, in reference to the death of
Jesus Christ, the testator, and to the everlasting inheritance,
with all things belonging to it therein bequeathed.
5. This covenant was differently administered in the
time of the law, and in the time of the gospel : under the
law it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices,
circumcision, the pascal lamb, and other types and ordinan-
ces delivered to the people of the Jews, all fore-signifying
Christ to come, which were for that time sufficient and effica-
cious, through the operation of the Spirit to instruct and
HARMONY OP CONFESSIONS. 181
build up the elect in faith, in the promised Messiah, by whoni
(hey had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation ; and is
called the Old Testament.
6. Under the gospel, when Christ the substance, was ex-
hibited, the ordinances in which tliis covenant is dispensed,
are the preaching of the word, and the administration of the
sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper; which, though
fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity and
less outward glory, yet in them it is held forth in more fulness,
evidence, and spiritual efficacy, to all nations, both Jews and
Gentiles, and is called the New Testament. There are not,
therefore, two covenants of grace differing in substance, but
one and the same under various dispensations.
, Of Free Will.
1 . God hath endued the will of man with that natural Ub-
erty, that it is neither forced, nor by any absolute necessity of
nature, determined to good or evil.
2. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and pow-
er to will and to do that which is good and well pleasing to
God : but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it.
3. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all
abiUty of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation :
60 as a natural man being altogether averse from that which
is good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to
convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
4. When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the
etate of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under
gin, and by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and to
do that which is spiritually good ; yet so as that, by reason of
his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will
that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.
5. The will of man is made perfectly £md immutably free
to good alone, in the state of glory only.
THE 9AV0T CONFESSION.
Op the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Pcnishment tbereof.
1. God having made a covenant of works and life thereup-
on, with our first parents, and all their posterity in them., they
being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, did
17
182 HARMONY OF CONFSSSIONS.
wilfully transgress the law of their creation, and break the
covenant, in eating the forbidden fruit.
2. By this sin they, and we in them, fell from original right-
eousness and communion with God, and so became dead in
sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul
and body.
3. They being the root, and by God's appointment stand-
ing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of this sin
was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed to all their pos-
terity, descending from them by ordinary generation.
4. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly
indisposed, disabled and made opposite to all good, and wholly
inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.
5. This corruption of nature during this life, doth remain
in those that are regenerated ; and although it be through
Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself, and all the mo-
tions thereof, are truly and properly sin.
6. Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgres-
sion of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth
in its own nature bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is
bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law, and so
made subject to death, with all miseries, spiritual, temporal,
and eternal.
Of God's Covenant with Man.
1 . The distance between God and the creature is so great,
that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience to him
as their Creator, yet they could never have attained the re-
ward of life, but by some voluntary condescension on God's
part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of
covenant.
2. The first covenant made with man, was a covenant of
works, wherein hfe was promised to Adam, and in him to his
posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.
3. Man, by his fall having made himself uncapable of life,
by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second,
commonly called the covenant of grace : wherein he freely
offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requi-
ring of them faith in him, that they may be saved, and promi-
sing to give unto all those that are ordained unto life, his holy
Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.
4. This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in scrip-
ture by the name of a testament, in reference to the death of |
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 183
Jesus Christ the testator, and to the everlasting inheritance,
with all things belonging to it, therein bequeathed.
5. Although this covenant hath been differently and vari-
ously administered in respect of ordinances and institutions
in the time of the law, and since the coming of Christ in the
flesh ; yet for the substance and efficacy of it, to all its spi-
ritual and saving ends, it is one and the same : upon the ac-
count of which various dispensations, it is called the Old and
New Testament.
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 absolute necessity of nature, determined to do good
or evil.
2. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power
to will and to do that vrhich was good and well pleasing to God ;
but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it.
3. I\Ian, by his fail into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all
ability to will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation,
so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good,
and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert
himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
4. When God converts a sinner, and translates him into a
state of gi-ace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under
rtin, and by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and to
do tliat which is spiritually good : yet so, as that by reason of
his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly nor only will
that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.
o. The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free
to a;ood alone in the state of glory only.
THE MENNOXISTS' CONFESSION.
CON-CERXIXCr THE FaLL OF MaN.
We believe and profess, according to the holy scriptures,
that the said our first parents, Adam and Eve, kept not long
in that glorious state wherein they were created ; but that they
being seduced and deceived by the subtlety and deceit of the
serpent, and the envy of the devil, they transgressed the
great command of God, and became disobedient to their Crea-
tor : by which disobedience, sin entered into the world, and
184 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
by sin, death, and so passed over to all men, because they all
have sinned, and thereby drawn upon themselves the wrath of
God, and condemnation ; for which they were driven by God,
out of the paradise, to till the ground, to provide for them-
selves with trouble, and to eat their bread in the sweat of their
brows, until they should return to the earth from whence they
were taken. And that because of this sin alone, they have
been so far fallen, departed and alienated from God, that nei-
ther by themselves, nor by any of their posterity, nor by angels
or men, nor by any other creature, either in heaven or earth,
they could be restored, delivered, or reconciled with God ;
but that they must have been lost eternally ; unless God, who
did again pity his creature, had looked to it, and interceded
with his love and mercy.
THE LONDON BAPTISTS' CONFESSION.
Article IV.
In the beginning, God made all things very good ; created
man after his own image, filled with all meet perfection of
nature, and free from all sin ; but long he abode not in this
honor ; Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to seduce first
Eve, then by her seducing Adam ; who, without any compul-
sion, in eating the forbidden fruit, transgressed the command
of God, and fell, whereby death came upon all his posterity ;
who now are conceived in sin, and by nature the children of
wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and other
miseries in this world, and for ever, unless the Lord Jesus
Christ set them free.
THE WELCH CALVINISTIC METHODISTS' CONFESSION.
Of the Fall of Man, and Original Sin.
The place which Adam occupied in this covenant, [of works,]
was not merely as a natural root to the whole of his posterity,
but also as their representative ; as their happiness or mis-
ery, as well as his own, depended on his obedience or disobe-
dience.
Though man, when God made the covenant of works with
him, had power to obey and perform the conditions of that
covenant, yet he disobeyed and broke the covenant, and thus
forfeited his right to the life which was promised to him,
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 186
and became the subject of that death with which he was
threatened. He lost his original uprightness, and his com-
munion with God, and he became totally corrupt in soul and
body. As he was the root and the representative of man-
kind, his first sin is imputed to them ; and every one of his
seed which by natural generation proceeds from him, partakes
of his corruption. Through this natural defilement, all man-
kind are become impotent, and opposed to every good thing,
and prone to every evil; and ^om this corrupt inclination,
every sinful action proceeds. Original sin, and every subse-
quent actual sin in soul or body, is a transgression of the
holy law of God ; it brings the sinner under the curse and
indignation of God, and makes him the subject of spiritual,
temporal, and eternal misery.
OF ETERNAL PREDESTINATION AND ELECTION,
THE LATTER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA.
Op the Predestixation of God, and the Election of the Saijits.
God hath from the beginning freely, and of his mere grace,
without any respect of men, predestinated, or elected the saints,
whom he \\i\\ save in Christ, according to the saying of the
apostle, Eph. i. 4. "And he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world." And again, 2 Tim. i. 9.
*'Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given unto us through Jesus Christ be-
fore the world was, but is made manifest by the appearance
of our Saviour Jesus Christ." Therefore, though not for
any merit of ours, yet not without a means, but in Christ,
and for Christ, did God choose us, and they who are now
engrafted into Christ by faith, the same also were elected. But
such as are without Chiist, were rejected, according to that of
the apostle, 1 Cor. xiii. 5. "Prove yourselves whether you be
in the faith. Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus
Christ is in you ? . except you be reprobates." To conclude,
the saints are chosen in Christ by God unto a sure end,
which end the apostle declareth, when he saith, Ephes. i. 4.
"He hath chosen us in him, that we should be holy and with-
17*
186 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
out blame before him through love, who hath predestinated us
to be adopted through Jesus Christ unto himself, for the praise
of his glorious grace." And although God knoweth who
are his, and now and then mention is made of the small num-
l>ei- of the elect, yet we must hope well of all, and not rashly
judge any man to be a reprobate : For Paul saith, to the Phi-
lippians, "I thank my God for you all (now he speaketh of
the whole church of the Philippians) that you are come into
the fellowship of the gospel, and I am persuaded, that he that
bath begun this work in you, will perform it, as it becometh
jne to judge of you all." And when the Lord was demand-
ed, whether there were few that should be saved, he doth not
answer and tell them, that few or more should be saved, or
damned, but rather he exhorteth every man to "strive to enter
nil at the straight gate." As if he should say, it is not for yoo
to inquire of these matters, but rather to endeavor that yoo
may enter into heaven by the straight way. Wherefore, we
do not allow of the wicked speeches of some, who say, "Few-
are chosen, and seeing I know not whether I am in the num-
ber of those few, I will not defraud my nature of her desires."
Others there are which say, "If I be predestinate and choseii
of God, nothing can hinder me from salvation, which is
already certainly appointed for me, whatsoever I do at any
time. But if I be in the number of the reprobate, no faith or
repentance will help me, seeing the decree of God cannot be
changed. Therefore, all teachings and admonitions are to
no purpose." Now against these men, the saying of the
apostle maketh much. 2. Tim. ii. 24, &c. "The sen^nts
of God must be apt to teach, instructing them that are con-
trary minded, proving if God at any time will give them re-
pentance, that they may come to amendment out of the snare
of the devil, which are taken of him at his pleasure." Be-
side, Augustine also teacheth, that "Both the grace of free
election and predestination, and also wholesome admonitions
and doctrines are to be preached."
We therefore condemn those, who seek otherwhere, than
m Christ, whether they be chosen from all eternity, and what
God hath decreed of them before all beginning. For men
must hear the gospel preached, and believe it : if thoa be-
lieve, and be in Christ, thou mayest undoubtedly reckon of it,
that thou art elected. For the Father hath revealed unto us
in Christ his eternal sentence of predestination, as we ev€sn
now showed out of the apostle, 2 Tim. i. This is, there-
fore, above all to he taught and well weighed, what great
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS- 1S7
love of the Father towards us in Christ is revealed : we must
hear what the Lord doth daily preach unto us in his gospel,
how he calleth, and saith, Matt. xi. 18. "Come unto me all
ye that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." And,
John iii. 10. "So God loved the world, that he gave his on}y
begotten Son for it, that all which believe in him should not
perish, but have life everlasting." Also, Matt, xviii. 14, "It
is not the will of the Father, that any of these little ones
should perish." Let Christ, therefore, be our looking glass,
in whom we may behold our predestination. We shall have
a most evident and sure testimony that we are written in the
book of life, if we communicate with Christ, and he be ours,
and we his by a true taith. Let this comfort us in the tempta-
tion touching predestination, than which there is none more
dangerous, that the promises of God are general to the faith-
ful, in that he saith, Luk.xi. "Ask,and ye shall receive." Every
oaie that asketh, receiveth. And to conclude, in that Ave pray
with all the Church of God, "Our Father which art in heaven."
And for that in baptism we are engrafted into the body of
Christ, and are fed in his Church, oftentimes with his flesh
and blood unto everlasting life. Thereby we being strengths
ened, we are commanded to "work our salvation with fear
and ti-eiXibUng," according to that precept of Paul.
THE FRENCH CONFESSION.
We beHeve that out of this universal corruption and damna-
tion, wherein by nature all men are drowned, God did deliver
and preserve some, whom by his eternal and immutable
coimsel, of his own goodness and mercy, without any respect
(J^ their works, he did choose in Christ Jesus, and others he
left in that corruption and damnation, in whom he might aa
well make manifest his justice, by condemning them justly in
their time, as also declare the riches of his mercy in the
others. For some are not better than others, till such tinve as
the Lord doth make a difference, according to that immutable
counsel, which he had decreed in Christ Jesus before the
creation of the world : neither was any man able by his own
strength to make an entrance for himself to that good, seeing
that of our nature we cannot have so much as one right motion,
affection, or thought, till God do freelyprevent us, and feshion
us to uprightness.
188 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
THE CONFESSION OF BELGIA.
We believe that God (after that the whole offspring of Adam
was cast headlong into perdition and destruction, through the
default of the first man) hath declared and showed himself to
be such a one, as he is indeed, namely, both merciful and
just. Merciful by delivering and saving those from condem-
nation and from death, whom in his eternal counsel, of his
own free goodness, he hath chosen in Jesus Christ our Lord,
without any regard at all of their works : but just, in leaving
others in that their fall and perdition, whereinto they had
thrown themselves headlong.
THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES OF THE CHURCH OF
ENGLAND.
Of Predestination and Election.
Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God,
whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he
hath constantly decreed, by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver
from curse and damnation, those, whom he hath chosen in
"Christ, out of mankind, and to bring them, by Christ, to ever-
lasting salvation, as vessels made to honor. Wherefore they,
which he endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called,
according to God's purpose, by his Spirit, working in due
.season ; they, through grace, obey the calling ; they be jus-
tified freely ; they be made sons of God by adoption ; they
be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ;
they walk religiously in good works ; and, at length, by God's
mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.
As the godly consideration of predestination, and our
election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable
comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the
worldng of the Spirit of Christ, m.ortifying the works of the
flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind
to high and heavenly things, as well, because it doth greatly
establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation, to be en-
joyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their
love towards God, so, for curious and carnal persons, lacking
the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 1S9
seirteuce of God's predestination, is a most dangerous down-
fall ; whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation,
or into WTetchedness of most unclean Hving, no less perilous
than desperation.
Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise,
as they be generally set forth to us in holy scripture : and in
our doings, that will of God is to be followed, which we have
expressly declared unto us, in the word of God.
THK CONFESSION OF SCOTLAND.
Of Election.
For that same eternal God and Father, who of mere
grace elected us in Christ Jesus his Son, before the founda-
tion of the Avorld was laid, appointed him to be our Head, our
Brother, our Pastor, and great Bishop of our souls. But
because that the enmity betwixt the justice of God and our
sins was such, that no flesh by itself could, or might lia^^e
attained unto God : it behooved that the Son of God should
descend unto us, and take himself a body of our body, flesh
of our flesh, and bone of our bones, and so become the per-
fect Mediator betwixt God and man, giving power to so many
as believe in him, to be the sons of God, as himself doth
witness, " I pass up to my Father, and unto your God." By
which most holy fraternity, whatsoever we have lost in Adam,
is restored to us again. And for this cause are we not afraid
to call God our Father, not so much because he hath created
us, (which we have common with the reprobate) as for that
that he hath given to us his only Son to be our Brother, and
given unto us grace to acknowledge and embrace him for our
Mediator, as before is said. It behooved farther, the Messias
and Redeemer to be very God, and very man, because he
was to bear the punishment due for our transgressions, and
to present himself in the presence of his Father's judgmoent,
as in our person, to sufler for our transgression, and inobe>-
dieiice, by death to overcome him that was author of death.
But because the only Godhead could not sufler death, neither
yet could the only manhood overcome the same, he joined
botli together in one person, that the imbecility of the one
should suffer, and be subject to death, (which we had deserved)
and the infinite and invincible power of the other, to wit, of
the Godhead, should triumph and purchase to us, Ufe, liberty,
and perpetual victory, and so we confess and most undoubted*
ly believe.
190 HARMONY OP CONFESSIONS.
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.
Of God's Eternal Decree..
1. God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy
counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain what-
soever comes to pass ; yet so as thereby neither is God the
author of sin ; nor is violence offered to the will of the crea-
tures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken
av^-ay, but rather established.
2. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to
pass, upon all supposed conditions ; yet hath he not decreed
any thing because he foresaw it as future, or as that which
would come to pass, upon such conditions.
3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his
g;iory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting
life, and others foreordained to everlasting death.
4. These angels and men, thus predestinated and foreor-
dained, are particularly and unchangeably designed ; and their
number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either in-
ca-eased or diminished.
5. Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God,
before the foundation of the vv'orld was laid, according to his
eternal and injmutable purpose, and the secret counsel and
g<x>d pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ, unto ever-
la.sting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any
foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in either of
tbem, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or
causes moving him thereunto ; and all to the praise of his
glorious s:race.
6. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath he,
by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained
all the means thereunto. Wherefore they who are elected
l>eing fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually
called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season ;
are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power through
faith unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by
Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and
saved, but the elect only.
7. The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to
the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth
or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sove-
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 191
reign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them
to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious
justice.
S. The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is
to be handled with special prudence and care, that men at-
tending the will of God revealed in his word, and yielding
obedience thereunto, may, from the certainty of their effectual
vocation, be assured of their eternal election. So shall this
doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of
God ; and of humihty, diligence, and abundant consolation, to
all that sincerely obey the gospel.
THE SAVOY CONFESSION.
Of God's Eterxal Decree.
1. God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy
counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain what-
soever comes to pass : yet so as thereby neither is God the
author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the crea-
tures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken
away, but rather established.
2. Although God knows whatsoever may or can con>e to
pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed
any thing because he foresaw it as future, or as that which
would come to pass upon such conditions.
3. By the decree of God for the manifestation of his glory,
some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life,
and others foreordained to everlasting death.
4. These angels and men thus predestinated, and foreor-
dained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their
number is so certain and definite, that it cannot be either
increased or diminished.
5. Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God
before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his
eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and
good pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ unto ever-
lasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any
foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in either of
them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions or
causes moving him thereunto, and all to the praise of hie
glorious grace.
6. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath he
192 HARMONY OP CONFESSIONS.
by the eternal and most free purpose of his will foreordained
fdl tlie means thereunto : wherefore they who are elected,
b^ng fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually
c-ailedunto faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season;
are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power,
through faith unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed
by Christ, or effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified^
imd saved, but the elect only.
7. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the
unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth
or mthholdeth mercy, as he pleaseth, for the glory of his
govereign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain
tliera to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his
glorious justice.
S. The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination, is
to be handled with special prudence and care, that men
attending the will of God revealed in his word, and yielding
obedience thereunto, may from the certainty of their effectual
vocation be assured of their eternal election. So shall this
doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of
God, and of humility, dihgence, and abundant consolation to
all tliat sincerely obey the gospel.
THE LONDON BAPTISTS' COXFESSION.
Article V.
God, in his infinite power and wisdom, doth dispose all
things to the end for which they were created ; that neither
good nor evil befalls any by chance, or without his providence ;
and that whatsoever befalls the elect, is by his appointment,
for his glory, and their good.
Article VT-
All the elect, being loved of God with an everlasting love,
are redeemed, quickened, and saved, not by themselves, nor
their own works, lest any man should boast, but only and
Wholly by God, of his free grace and mercy, through Jesus
Christ, who is made unto us by God, wisdom, righteousness,
eanctification, and redemption, and all in all, that he that
rejoiceth, might rejoice in the Lord.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 193
THE WELCHCALVINISTIC METHODIST S' CONFESSION.
Of the Decree of God.
God, from eternity, according to the counsel of his own
will, and for the manifestation and exaltation of his glo-
rious attributes, decreed all things which he should perform
in time and to eternity, in the creation and governing of his
creatures, and in the salvation of sinners of the human race ;
yet in such a manner that he is neither the author of sin,nor does
he force the will of his creatures in the fulfilment of his de-
cree ; and this decree of God is not dependant on any thing
in a creature, nor yet on the foreknowledge of God ; but
rather, God knows that such and such circumstances will
take place, because he has ordained that it should be so. God's
decree is infinitely wise, perfectly righteous, and existing from
eternity : it is a free, an ample, a secret, gracious, holy, good,
an unchangeable, and efiectual decree.
Of the Election of Grace.
God, from eternity, elected and ordained Christ to be a cov-
enant head, a mediator, and a surety to his church ; to re-
deem and to save it. God also elected in Christ a countless
multitude out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, to
holiness and everlasting fife ; and every means were employ-
ed to effect this purpose most securely. This election ia
eternal, righteous, sovereign, unconditional, pecuhar or per-
sonal, and unchangeable. It wrongs none, though God has
justly left some without being elected, yet has he not wrong-
ed them ; they are in the same condition as if there had been
no election ; and if there had been no election, no flesh had
been saved.
18
194 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
OF THE DELIVERANCE OF MAN FROM HIS FALL, BY
JESUS CHRIST ; AND OF HIS PERSON, NATURE, OF-
FICES, AND WORK OF REDEMPTION.
THE FORMER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA.
Of Jesus Christ, being true God and Man, and the only
Saviour of the World.
Moreover, we believe and teach, that the Son of God, our
Lord Jesus Christ, was from all eternity predestinated
and foreordained of the Father to be the Saviour of the
world. And we believe that he was begotten, not only
then, when he took flesh of the virgin Mary, nor yet a little
before the foundations of the world were laid, but before all
eternity, and that of the Father, after an unspeakable manner.
For Isaiah saith, Isa. xxxv. " Who can tell his generation ?"
And Micah saith, Micah. v. 2. " Whose egress hath been
from everlasting." For John saith, John i. 1. " In the begin-
ning was the word, and the word was with God, and God was
the word," &c. Therefore the Son is co-equal and con-sub-
stantial with the Father, as touching his divinity, true God,
not by name only, or by adoption, or by special favor, but in
substance and nature. Even as the apostle saith elsewhere,
1 John V. 18. " This is the true God, and life everlasting."
Paul also saith, Heb. xii. " He hath made his Son the heir of
all things, by whom also he made the world : The same is the
brightness of his glory, and the engraved form of his person,
bearing up all things by his mighty word." Likewise in the
gospel tlie Lord himself saith, John xvii. 6. " Father glorify
thou me with thyself, with the glory which I had with the«
before the world was." As also it is written in the gospel,
John V. 18. " The Jews sought how to kill Jesus, because
he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with
God." We therefore do abhor the blasphemous doctrine of
Arrius, and all the Arrians, uttered against the Son of God.
And especially the blasphemies of Michael Servetus, the
Spaniard, and of his complices, which Satan by them hath as
it were drawn out of hell, and most boldly and impiously
spread abroad throughout the world against the Son of God.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 1#5
We teach also and believe, that the eternal Son of the
eternal God was made the Son of man, of the seed of Abraham
and David, not by the mean of any man, as Hebion affirmed,
but that he was most purely conceived by the Holy Ghost,
and was born of Mary, who was always a virgin, even as the
history of the gospel doth declare. And Paul saith, Heb.
ii. 16. "He took in no sort the angels, but the seed of
Abraham." And John the apostle saith, *' He that belie veth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God."
The flesh of Christ therefore Avas neither flesh in show only,
nor yet flesh brought from heaven, as Valentine and Marcion
dreamed. Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ had not a soul
without sense and reason, as ApoUinaris thought : nor flesh
without a soul, as Eunomius did teach, but a soul with it
reason, and flesh with it senses, by which senses he felt true
<niefs in the time of his passions, even as he himself witnesseth
when he said. Matt. xxvi. " My soul is heavy even to death."
And, John xii. " My soul is troubled," &c.
We acknowledge therefore that there be in one and the
same Jesus Christ our Lord, two natures, the divine, and the
human nature : and we say that these two are so conjoined or
united, that they are not swallowed up, confounded, or mingled
together, but rather united, or joined together in one person,
the proprieties of each nature|being safe and remaining still :
so that we do worship one Christ our Lord, and not two, I
say, one true God and man, as touching his divine nature, of
the same substance with the Father, and as touching his human
nature, of the same substance with us, and " like unto us in all
things, sin only excepted." As therefore we detest the heresy
of Nestorius, which maketh two Christs of one, and dissolveth
the union of the person, so do we curse the madness of Eu-
tiches, and of the Monophelites, or Monophysics, who
oa-erthrow the propriety of the human nature. Therefore we
do not teach that the divine nature in Christ did suffer, or that
Christ according to his human nature is yet in the world, and
even in every place. For we do neither think nor teach, that
the body of Christ ceased to be a tme body after his glorifying,
or that it was deified, and so deified, that it put oflTits proper-
ties, as touching body and soul, and became altogether a
divine nature, and began to be one substance alone : And
therefore we do not allow or receive the unwitty subtleties,
and the intricate, obscure, and inconstant disputations of
Schuenkfeildius, and such other vain janglers about this
matter. Neither are we Schuenkfeildians. Moreover, we
i
196 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
believe that our liOrd Jesus Christ did truly suffer and die for
us in the flesh, as Peter saith. We abhor the most horrible
madness of the Jacobites and the Turks, which abandon the
passion of our Lord. Yet we deny not but that the Lord of
glory, (according to the saying of Paul,) was crucified for us.
For we do reverently and rehgiously receive and use the
communication of proprieties drawn from the scriptures, and
used of all antiquity in expounding and reconciling places of
scripture, which at the first sight seem to disagree one from
another.
We believe and teach that the same Lord Jesus Christ, in
that true flesh in which he was crucified and died, rose again
from the dead, and that he did not raise up another flesh instead
of that which was buried, nor took a spirit instead of flesh, but
retained a true body : Therefore whilst that his disciples
thought that they did see the spirit of their Lord Christ, he
showed them his hands and feet, which were marked with the
prints of the nails and wounds, saying, Luke xxiv. 39. " Be-
hold my hands and my feet, for I am he indeed: Handle me
and see, for a spirithath not flesh andbones, as ye see me have."
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same his
flesh did ascend above all the visible heavens into the very
highest heaven, that is to say, the seat of God, and of the
blessed spirits, unto the right hand of God the Father, which
although it do signify an equal participation of glory and
majesty, yet it is also taken for a certain place, of which the
Lord, speaking in the gospel, saith, John xiv. " That he
will go and prepare a place for his." Also the Apostle Peter
saith, Act. iii. " The heavens must contain Christ, until the
time of restoring of all things." And out of heaven the same
Christ will return unto judgment, even then, when wickedness
shall chiefly reign in the world, and when Anti Christ, having
corrupted true religion, shall fill all things with superstition and
impiety, and shall most cruelly destroy the Church with fire
and bloodshed. Now Christ shall return to redeem his, and
to abolish Anti Christ by his coming, and to judge the quick
and the dead. For the dead shall arise, and, Acts xvii.
" Those which shall be found alive in that day (which is
unknown unto all creatures) shall be changed in the twinkling
of an eye, and all the faithful shall be taken up to meet Christ
in the air," that thenceforth they may enter with him into
heaven, there to live for ever. But the unbehevers or ungodly
shall descend with the devils into hell, there to burn for ever,
and never to be delivered out of torments. We therefore
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 197
condemn all those which deny the true resurrection of the
flesh, and which think amiss of the glorified bodies, as did
Joannes Hierosolymitanus, against whom Jerome WTOte.
We also condemn those, which thought both the devils and
cdl the wicked shall at the length be saved, and have an end
of their torments. For the Lord himself hath absolutely set
it down, that, Mark ix. "Their fire is never quenched, and
their worm never dieth." Moreover we condemn the Jewish
dreams, that before the day of judgment there shall be a golden
world in the earth: and that the godly shall possess the
foot- For the evangelical truth, Matt. xxiv. and xxv. and
kingdoms of the world, their wicked enemies being trod under
Luke xviii. and the apostolic doctrine in the 2d to the Thessa-
ionians, ii. and in the 2d to Tim. iii. and iv. are found to teach
far otherwise.
Furthermore, by his passion or death, and by all tho9e
things which he did and suffered for our sakes, from the time
of his coming in the flesh, our Lord reconciled his heavenly
Father unto all the faithful, purged their sin, spoiled death,
broke in sunder condemnation and hell, and by his resurrec-
tion from the dead he brought again and restored life, and
immortality. For he is our righteousness, hfe, and resurrection,
and to be short, he is the fulness and perfection, the salvation
and most abundant sufficiency of all the faithful. For the
a|JOstle saith, "So it pleaseth the Father that all fulness
should dwell in him." And, " In him ye are complete,"
Colloss, i. and ii. For we teach and believe that this Jesus
Christ our Lord is the only and eternal Saviour of mankind,
yea, and of the whole world, in whom are saved by faith all
that ever were saved before the law, under the law, and in the
time of the gospel, and so many as shall yet be saved to the
end of the world. For the Lord himself in the gospel saith,
John x. " He that entereth not in by the door unto the sheep-
fold, but climbeth up another w ay, he is a thief and a robber.
I am the door of the sheep." And also in another place of
the same gospel he saith, John viii. " Abraham saw my days,
and rejoiced." Andthe apostle Peter saith. Acts iv. "Neither
is there salvation in any other, but in Christ : for among men
there is given no other name under heaven whereby they
might be saved." We believe therefore that through the
grace of our Lord Christ we shall be saved, even as
our fathers were. For Paul saith, 1 Cor. x. " That all our
fathers did eat the same spiritual meat, and drank the same
spiritual drink, for they drank of the spiritual rock, that followed
18*
198 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
them, and that rock was Christ." And therefore we read
that John said, Apoc. xv. " That Christ was that Lamb
which was slain from the beginning of the world." And that
John Baptist witnesseth, John i. " That Christ is that Lamb
of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." Wherefore
we do plainly and openly profess and preach, that Jesus
Christ is the only Redeemer and Saviom- of the world, the
King and High Priest, the true and looked for Messias, that
holy and blessed one (I say) whom all the shadows of the law,
and the prophecies of the prophets did prefigure and promise,
and that God did perform and send him imto us, so that now
we are not to look for any other. And now there remaineth
nothing, but that we all should give all glory to him, believe
in him, and rest in him only, contemning and rejecting all
other aids of our life. For they are fallen from the grace of
God, and make Christ of no value unto themselves, whosoever
they be that seek salvation in any other things besides Christ
alone.
And to speak many things in few words, with a sincere
heart we believe, and with liberty of speech we freely profess,
whatsoever things are defined out of the holy scriptures, and
(comprehended in the creeds, and in the decrees of those
four first and most excellent councils holden at Nice, Con-
stantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, together with blessed
Athanasius his creed, and all other creeds like to these,
touching the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ:
and we condemn all things contrary to the same. And thus do
we retain the Christian, sound, and catholic faith, wholly and
inviolable, knowing that nothing is contained in the foresaid
p-reeds, which is not agreeable to the word of God, and maketh
wholly for the sincere declaration of faith.
THE CONFESSION OF BOHEMIA.
Neither hath any man, of all things whatsoever, any thing
at all whereby he may deliver, set free, or redeem himself
from his sins and condemnation, without Christ, by whom
alone, they which truly believe, are freed from sin, from the
tyranny and prison of the devil, from the wrath of God, and
from death and everlasting torments. Together with this
point, and after it, considering that both the matter itself, and
order of teaching so requireth, the ministers of the Church
teach us after our fall, to acknowledge the promise of God,
the true word of grace, and the holy gospel, brought to us
Harmony of confessions. 199
from the privy counsel of the holy Trinity, concerning our
Lord Christ, and our whole salvation purchased by him.
Of these promises there be three principal, wherein all the
rest are contained. The first was made in paradise in these
words, Gen. iii. "I will put enmity between thee and the wo-
man, and between thy seed and her seed. He shall break
thine head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The second was
made to Abraham, which afterwards Jacob also, and Moses
did renew. The third to David, which the prophets recited
and expounded. In these promises are described and painted
forth those most excellent and principal works of Christ our
Lord, which are the very ground work whereon our salvation
standeth, by which he is our Mediator and Saviour : namely,
his conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and his birth
of her also, for he was made the seed of the woman : also,
his afflictions, his rising again from death, his sitting at the
right hand of God, where he hath obtained the dignity of a
priest and king : of which thing the whole life of David was
a certain type, for which cause the Lord calleth himself
another David, and a Shepherd. And this was the gospel of
those holy men before the law was given, and since. For
this is very certain, that after the fall of Adam, no man was
able to set himself at liberty out of the bondage of sin, death,
and condemnation, or come to be truly reconciled unto God,
but only by that one Mediator between God and man, Christ
Jesus (through a lively faith in him) who alone by his death,
and blood shedding, took from us that image of sin and death,
and put upon us by faith, the image of righteousness and life.
1 Cor. ii. "For he made unto us of God, wisdom, righteous-
ness, sanctification, and redemption."
But first men are taught, that these things are to be believed
concerning Christ ; namely, that he is eternal, and of the
nature of his heavenly Father, the only begotten Son, begot-
ten from everlasting, and so together with the father and the
Holy Ghost, one, true, and indivisible God, the eternal, not
created word, the brightness and the image, or engraven form
«jf the person of his Father, by whom all things, as well those
things which may be seen, as those which cannot be seen,
and those things which are in heaven, and those which are in
the earth, were made and created.
Moreover, that he is also a true and natural man, our bro-
ther in very deed, who hath a soul and a body, that is, true and
perfect human nature, which, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
he took, without all sin, of Mary, a pure virgin : according
200 HARMONT OP CONFESSIONS.
as Saint John saith, John L " The word was made
flesh."
And thus of these two natures, their properties not being
changed nor confounded, yet by a wonderful communication
thereof, there is made one indivisible person, one Christ, Im-
nmnuel, our King and Priest, our Redeemer, our Mediator,
snd perfect reconciler, full of grace and truth, so that of his
fulness we all do take grace for grace. For the law wars
given by Moses, but grace and truth, was given and exhibited
by Jesus Christ, being God and man in one person. This
grace and truth are our men taught to acknowledge, and by
faith to behold, in all those saving and wonderful works or
affections of Christ, which, according to the meaning of the
holy scripture, are, by a steadfast faith, to be believed and
professed : such as are his coming down from heaven, his
conception, birth, torments, death, burial, resurrection, ascen-
sion unto heaven, sitting at the right hand of God, and his
coming again from thence to judge both the quick and the
dead. In these principal affections, as in a, chest wherein
treasure is kept, are all those wholesome fruits of our true
justification laid up, and are taken out from thence for the
elect and those which do believe, that in spirit and con-
science they may be partakers thereof through faith : which
ail hereafter, at the day of our joyful resurrection, shall be
fully and perfectly bestowed upon us. And towards the end
of that sixth chapter, these words are added. In this chapter,
also particularly, and for necessary causes, to shun and avoid
many pernicious and Anti Christian deceits, it is taught con-
cerning Christ his presence, namely, that our Lord Christ
according to his bodily conversation is not amongst us any
longer in this world, neither will be unto the end of the world,
in such sort and manner as he was here conversant amongst
OS in his mortality, and wherein he was betrayed, and circum-
cised, nor yet in the form of his glorified body, which he got
at his resurrection, and in the which he appeared to his dis-
ciples, and the fortieth day after his resurrection, departing
from them, ascended manifestly into heaven. For after this
manner of his presence and company he is in the high place,
and with his Father in heaven, where all tongues profess him
to be the Lord, and every faithful one of Christ must believe
that he is there, and worship him there, according to the
scriptures, as also that part of the catholic Christian faith
doth expressly witness, which is this. " He ascended into
heaven, he sitteth at the right hand of God the Father
HARMONY OF C0XFESSI0N5. 201
Almighty." Also that other article. " From thence shall he
come (that is, from an higher place, out of heaven with his
angels) to judge both the quick and the dead." So doth Paul
also say' 1. Thess. iv. " The Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, and with the voice of an archangel, and with
the trumpet of God." And Saint Peter saith, Acts iii. " Whom
heaven must contain until the time that all things be restored."
And the evangelist Mark, Mar. 16. "But when the Lord
had spoken with them, he was taken u]) again into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God." And the angeis which
were there present, when he was taken up into heaven, said :
Acts i. " This Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven,
ahall so come again, as you have seen him go into heaven."
Furthermore, this also do our men teach, that the self
same Christ, very God and very man, is also with us here in
this world, but after a diverse manner from that kind of pre-
sence which we named before, that is, after a certain spiritual
manner, not object to our eyes, bnt such a one as is hid from
us, which the flesh doth not perceive, and yet it is very neces-
sary for us to our salvation, that we may be partakers of
him, whereby he offereth and communicateth himself unto us,
that he may dwell in us, and we in him : and this truly he
doth by the Holy Ghost, whom in his own place (that s,
instead of his own presence, whereby he was bodily amongst
us) he promised that he would send unto his church, and that
he would still abide with it by the same spirit in virtue, grace,
and his wholesome truth, at all times, even until the end of the
world, when he said thus. Matt, xxviii. " It is good for you that
I go hence, for except I go hence, the Comforter will not come
unto you; but if I go away, I will send him unto you." And
again, John xiv. " I will pray the Father, and he shall give
you another Comforter, (that is, another kind of Comforter
than I am,) that he may abide in you forever, even the spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him ; but ye know him, for he dwelleth
in you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless,
but I will come to you," namely, by the self same spirit of
truth.
Now then, even as our Lord Christ by his latter kind of
presence being not visible, but spiritual, is present in the
ministers of the church, in the word, and in the sacraments ;
even so also by the selfsame ministers, word, and sacraments
he is present with his church, and by these means do the elect
receive him through inward faith in their heart, and do there-
202 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
fore join themselves together with him, that he may dwell to
them, and they in him, after such a sort as is not apparent,
but hidden from the world, even by that faith spiritually : that
is to say, in their souls and hearts, by the Spirit of truth, of
whom our Lord saith, John xiv. " He abideth with you, and
shall be in you." And "I will come again unto you."
This judgment and declaration of our faith, is not new, or
now first devised, but very ancient. Now that this was com-
monly taught and meant in the Church of old, it is plain and
ervident by the writings of the ancient fathers of the Church,
and by that decree, wherein it is thus written, and they are tha
words of St. Augustine. " Our Lord is above until the end
erf* tlie world, but the truth of the Lord is here also : for the
body of the Lord, wherein he rose again, must of necessity be
in one place, but his truth is dispersed every where."
THE FRENCH CONFESSION.
We believe, that whatsoever is requisite to our salvation, is
offered and communicated unto us now at length in that on©
Jesus Christ, as he who being given to save us, is also mads
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp-
tion, in. so much as whosoever doth swerve from him, doth
renounce the mercy of the Father, that is, our only refuge.
^^e believe that Jesus Christ, being the wisdom, and eter-
nal son of the Father, took upon him our nature, so that he is
OQie person God and man. Man, I say, that might suffer both
in soul and also in body, and made like unto us in all things^
sin only excepted, for that his flesh was indeed the seed of
Abraham and David, howbeit, by the secret and incomprehen-
sible power of the Holy Ghost, it was conceived in due time
in the womb of that blessed virgin. And therefore we detest,
as contrary to that truth, all those heresies wherewith the
churches were troubled in times past : and namely, we detest
those devihsh imaginations of Servetus, who gave to our Lord
Jesus Christ an imaginary deity, whom he said to be the idea
and patern of all things, and the counterfeit or figurative son
of God. To conclude, he framed him a body, compacted of
three elements uncreated, and therefore he did mingle and
overthrow both his natures.
We believe that in one and the same person, which is Jesus
Christ, those two natures are truly and inseparably so con-
joined, that they be also united, either of those natures never-
theless retaining its distinct property, so that even as in this
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 203
divine conjunction the nature of the word, retaining its proper-
ties, remained uncreate, infinite, and filling all places ; so also
the human nature remained, and shall remain for ever, finite^
having its natural form, dimension, and also property, as from
the which the resurrection and glorification, or taking up to
the right hand of the Father, hath not taken away the truth of
the human nature. Therefore, we do so consider Christ in
his Deity, that we do not spoil him of his humanity.
We believe that God did declare his infinite love and
goodness towards us in this, that he hath sent his Son, who
should die, and rise again, and fulfill all righteousness, that
he might purchase eternal life for us.
We believe that by that only sacrifice, which Jesus Christ
offered on the cross, Ave are reconciled to God, that we mav
be taken for just before him, because we cannot be acceptable-
to him, nor enjoy the fruit of our adoption, but so far forth, as
he doth forgive us our sins. Therefore we aflirm, that Jesus
Christ is our entire and perfect washing, in whose death w«
obtain full satisfaction, whereby we are delivered from all
those sins whereof we are guilty, and from the which Ave
could not be acquitted by any other remedy.
THE ENGLISH CONFESSION.
We believe, that Jesus Christ, the only Son of the eternal
Father, (as long before it was determined before all begin-
nings,) when the fulness of time was come, did take of that
blessed and pure virgin, both flesh, and all the nature of man,
that he might declare to the world the secret and hid will of
his Father : which a\ ill had been laid up from before all ages
and generations : and that he might finish in his human body
the mystery of our redemption, and might fasten our sins to the
ci'oss, and also that hand writing, which was made against us.
We believe that for our sakes he died, and was buried, de-
scended into hell, the third day, by the power of his Godhead,
returned to life, and rose again, and that the fourth day after his
resurrection, while his disciples beheld and looked upon him,
he ascended into heaven, to fulfil all things, and did place in
majesty and glory the self same body, wherewith he was bori^
wherein he lived on earth, wherein he was jested at, wherein
he had suffered most painful torments, and cruel kind of death,
wherein he rose again, and wherein he ascended to the right
hand of the Father, above all rule, above all power, all force,
all dominion, and above every name, that is named, not only
204 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
Ill this Vv'orld, but also in the world to come : and that there
he now sitteth, and shall sit ; till all things be fullj perfected.
And although the Majesty, and Godhead of Christ be every
where abundantly dispersed, yet we believe, that his body, as
St. Augustine saith, " must needs be still in one place :'' and
that Christ halh given Majesty unto his body, but yet hath not
taken away from it the nature of a body, and that we must not
so afiirm Christ to be God, that we deny him to be man : and
as the martyr VigiHus saith, " that Christ hath left us, touching
his human nature, but hath not left us, touching his Divine
nature :'' and that the same Christ, though he be absent from
us, concerning his rnanhead, yet is ever present with us con-
cerning his Godhead.
From that place also, we believe that Christ shall come
again to execute that general judgment, as well of them whom
he shall find alive in the body, as of them that shall be ready
dead.
And therefore that our only succor, and refuge, is to fly to
the mercy of our Father, by Jesus Christ, and assuredly to
persuade our minds, that he is the obtainer of forgiveness for
our sins : and, that by his blood, all our spots of sin, be washed
clean : that he hath pacified, and set at one, all things by the
blood of his cross : that he, by the same one only sacrifice
which he onee offered upon the cross, hath brought to effect,
and fulfilled all things, and that for that cause he said, when
he gave up the Ghost, "It is finished," as though he would sig-
nify, that the price, and ransom was now fully paid for the sin
of mankind.
If there be any that think this sacrifice not sufficient, let
the mgo in God's name, and seek a better. We verily, because
we know this to be the only sacrifice, are well content with it
alone, and look for none other : and, forasmuch as it was to be
offered but once, we command it not to be renewed again :
and, because it was full, and perfect in all points, and parts,
we do not ordain in place thereof, any continual succession of
offerings.
To conclude, we believe that this our self same flesh,
wherein we live, although it die, and come to dust, yet at the
last shall return again unto life, by the means of Christ's Spirit,
which dwelleth in us : and that then verily, whatsoever we
suffer here in the mean while for his sake, Christ will wipe
away ail tears and heaviness from our eyes : and that we
through him shall enjoy everlasting life, and shall for ever be
with him in glory. So be it.
HARMONT OF CONFESSIONS. 20&
THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES OF THE eHURCH OF
ENGLAND.
Of the Word, or Som op God, which was madh very Mah.
The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten, from
everlasting, of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one
substance with the Father, took man's nature, in the womb of
the blessed virgin, of her substance : so that two whole and
perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood,
were joined together in one person, never to be divided ;
whereof is one Christ, very God, and very Man ; who truly
suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his
Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt,
but also for actual sins of men.
Op Christ alone without Sin.
Christ, in the truth of our nature, was made like unto us, in
all things (sin only excepted,) from which he was clearly void,
both in his flesh, and in his Spirit. He came to be a Lamb
without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself, once made, should
take away the sins of the world, and sin (as St. John saith)
" was not in him." But all we the rest (although baptized,
and born again in Christ) yet offend in many things ; and, if
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us.
Or aBTAiNiNG Eternal Salvation, only by the Name of Christ.
They are also to be had accursed, that presume to say, that
every man shall be saved by the law or sect, which he profes-
seth, so that he be diligent to frame his life, according to that
law, and the light of nature. For holy scripture doth set out
unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must
be saved.
Of the one Oblation of Christ, finished upon the Cross.
The offering of Christ once made, is that perfect redemp-
tion, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole
world, both original and actual ; and there is none other satis-
19
206 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
faction for sin, but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of
masses, in the which it was commonly said, that the priest did
offer Christ, for the quick and the dead, to have remission of
pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits.
THE CONFESSION OF BELGIA.
We believe that our most mighty and gracious God (when
he saw that man had thus thrown himself into the damnation both
of spirtual and corporeal death, and was made altogether
miserable and accursed) by his wonderful wisdom and good-
ness, was induced both to seek him, when through fear he had
fled from his presence, and also most lovingly to comfort him,
giving unto him the promise of his own Son to be born of a
woman, which should break the head of the serpent, and re-
store him to felicity and happiness.
Moreover we confess, that God did then at the length fulfil
his promise made unto the father's, by the mouth of his holy
prophets, when in his appointed time he sent his only and eter-
nal Son into the world, who took upon him the form of a
servant, being made like unto men, and did truly take unto
him the nature of man, with all infirmities belonging thereunto
(sin only excepted,) when he was conceived in the womb of
the blessed virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
without any means of man. The which nature of man he
put upon him, not only in respect of the body, but also in
respect of the soul : for he had also a true soul, to the intent
he might be true and perfect man. For seeing that as well
the soul, as the body of man, was subject to condemnation, it
was necessary that Christ should take upon him as well the
soul, as the body, that he might save them both together.
Therefore, contrary to the heresy of the Anabaptists, which
deny that Christ did take upon him the flesh of man, we con- "
fess that Christ was partaker of flesh and blood, as the rest of
his brethren were, that he came from the loins of David,
according to the flesh, I say, that he was made of the seed of
David according to the same flesh, and that he is a fruit of the
virgin's womb, born of a w^oman, the branch of David, a
flower of the root of Jesse, coming of the tribe of Judah,
and of the Jews themselves, according to the flesh : and to
conclude, the true seed of Abraham and David, the which
seed of Abraham he took upon him, being made in all things
like unto liis brethren, sin only excepted, as hath been said
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 207
before, so that he is indeed our true Emmanuel, that is, God
with us.
We beheve also that the person of the Son was by this
conception inseparably united and coupled with the human
nature, yet so, that there be not two Sons of God, nor two
persons, but two natures joined together in one person: both
which natures do still retain their own properties. So that,
as the divine nature hath remained always uncreated, without
the beginning of days, and term of life, filling both heaven
and earth : so the human nature hath not lost its properties
but hath remainetl still a creature, having both beginning of
days and a finite nature. For whatsoever doth agree unto a
true body, that it still retaineth, and although Christ by his
resurrection hath bestowed immortality upon it, yet notwith-
standing he hath neither taken away the truth of the human
nature, nor altered it. For both our salvation, and also our
resurrection, dependeth upon the truth of Christ's body. Yet
these two natures are so united and coupled in one person,
that they could not, no not in his death, be separated the one
from the other. Wherefore that which in his death he com-
mended unto his Father, w as indeed a human spirit, departing
out of his body : but in the mean season the divine nature did
always remain joined to the human, even then when he lay
in the grave : so that his Deity was no less in him at that
time, than when as yet he was an infant, although for a small
season it did not show forth itself. Wherefore we confess
that he is true God, and true man : true God, that by his
power he might overcome death ; and true man, that in the
infirmity of his flesh he might die for us.
We beheve that God, which is both perfectly merciful, and
perfectly just, did send his Son to take upon him that nature,
which thi-ough disobedience had offended, that in the self-
same nature he might satisfy for sin, and by his bitter
death and passion, pay the punishment that was due unto sin.
God therefore hath declared and manifested his justice in his
own Son being laden with our iniquities : but hath most merci-
fully poured forth and declared his gracious goodness unto us
guilty wretches, and worthy of condemnation, whilst that in
his incomprehensible love toward us, he delivered up his
Son unto death for our sins, and raised him up again from "
death for our justification, that by him we might obtain im-
mortality and Hfe everlasting.
We believe that Jesus Christ is that High Priest, appointed
to that office eternally, by the oath of his Father, according
208 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
to the order of Melchisedeck, which offered himself in our
name before his Father with a full satisfaction for the pacify-
ing of his wrath, laying i himself upon the altar of the cross,
and hath shed his blood for the cleansing of our sins, as the
prophets had foretold. For it is written, that "The chastise-
ment of our peace was laid upon the Son of God, and by his
wounds we are healed." Also, that "He was carried as a
sheep unto the slaughter, reputed amongst sinners and unjust,
and condemned of Pontius Pilate," as a malefactor, though
before he had pronounced him guiltless. Therefore, he payed
that which he had not taken, and being just, suffered in soul
and body for the unjust, in such sort, that feeling the horror
of those punishments that were due unto our sins, he did
sweat water and blood, and at length cried out, "My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me 1" All which he suffered
for the remission of our sins. Wherefore, we do not without
just cause, profess with Paul, that "We know nothing but
Jesus Christ, and him crucified," and that "We account all
things as dung, in respect of the excellent of the knowledge
of Jesus Christ our Lord," finding in his wounds and stripes
all manner of comfort, that can be deserved. Wherefore,
there is no need, that either we should wish for any other means,
or devise any of our own brains, whereby we might be recon-
ciled unto God besides this one oblation once offered, by th©
which all the faithful which are sanctified, are consecrated, or
perfected for ever. And this is the cause, why he was called
the angel Jesus, that is to say, a Saviour, "Because he shall
save his people from their sins."
Last of all we do believe out of the word of God, that our
Lord Jesus Christ (when the time appointed by God, but unto
all creatures unknown, shall come, and the number of the
elect shall be accomphshed) shall come again from heaven,
and that after a corporeal and visible manner, as heretofore
he hath ascended, being adorned with great glory and majesty,
that he may appear as Judge of the quick and the dead, the
old world being kindled with fire and flame, and purified by it.
Then all creatures, and as well men as women and children,
as many as have been from the beginning, and shall be to the
end of the world, shall appear before this high Judge, being
summoned thither by the voice of archangels, and the trumpet
of God. For all that have been dead shall then rise out of
the earth, the soul and spirit of every one being joined and
coupled together again to the same bodies, wherein before
they lived. They, moreover, which shall be alive at the last
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 209
day, shall not die the same death that other men have done,
in but a moment, and in the twinkling of an eye they shall be
changed from corruption, to an incorruptible nature. Then
the books shall be opened, namely the books of ever)' man's
conscience, and the dead shall be judged according to those
things which they have done in this world, either good or evil.
Moreover, then shall men render an account of every idle
w^ord which they have spoken, although the world do now
make but a sport and a jest at them. Finally, all the hypocrisy
of men, and the deepest secrets of their hearts shall be made
manifest unto all, so that worthily the only remembrance of
this judgment shall be terrible and fearful to the wicked and
reprobate. But of the godly and elect it is greatly to be
wished for, and is unto them exceeding comfort. For then
shall their redemption be fully perfected and they shall
reap most sweet fruit and commodity of all those labors and
sorrows which they have suffered in this world. Then, I
say, their innocency shall be openly acknowledged of all, and
they likewise shall see that horrible punishment which the
Lord will execute upon those that have most tyi'annically
afflicted them in this world with divers kinds of torments and
crosses. Furthermore the wicked being convinced by the
peculiar testimony of their own conscience, shall indeed be
made immortal, but with this condition, that they shall burn
for ever in that eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil.
On the contrary side, the elect and faithful shall be crowned
with the crown of glory and honor, whose names the Son of God
shall confess before his Father and the angels, and " then shall
all tears be wiped from their eyes.*' Then their cause, which
now is condemned of heresy and impiety by the magistrates and
judges of this world, shall be acknowledged to be the cause
of the Son of God. And the Lord shall of his free mercy
reward them with so great glory, as no man's mind is able to
conceive. Therefore we do with great longing expect that
great day of the Lord, wherein we shall most fully enjoy all
those things which God hath promised unto us, and through
Jesus Christ our Lord, be put into full possession of them
for evermore.
THE CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG.
Also they teach, that the word, that is, the Son of God,
took unto him man's nature in the womb of the blessed virgin
Mary, so that the two natures, the divine and the human,
19*
210 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
inseparably joined together in the unity of one person, are oue
Christ, true God, and true man : who was born of the virgin
Mary, did truly suffer, was crucified, dead, and buried, that he
might reconcile his Father unto us, and might be a sacrifice, not
only for the original sin, but also for all actual sins of men.
The same also descended into hell, and did truly rise again the
third day. Afterward he ascended into heaven, that he might
sit at the right hand of the Father, and reign for ever, and
have dominion over all the creatures, sanctify those that behe\'e
in him, by sending the Holy Spirit into their hearts, and give
everlasting life to such as he had sanctified. The same
Christ shall openly come again, to judge them that are found
alive, and the dead raised up again, according to the creed of
the apostles.
THE MORAVIAN CONFESSION,
Article III.
Likewise we teach, that God the Son became man, born
of the pure virgin Mary ; and that the two natures, divine and
human in one person, as being inseparably united, are one
Christ, who is true God, and true man, who was truly born,
suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to the end that he
might be a sacrifice, not only for original sin, but also for all
other sin, and appease the wrath of God.
Also, that the same Christ descended into hell, and on the
third day truly rose from the dead ; ascended into heaven,
and there sitteth at the right hand of God, that he may reign
for ever over all creatures, and govern them ; that he, through
the Holy Ghost, may sanctify, purify, strengthen, and comfort,
all who believe on him ; may give them life, and impart to
them manifold gifts, and good things, and protect and defend
them against the devil and sin.
Also, that the same Lord Christ will at last come openly,
to judge the quick and the dead, according to the apostles'
creed.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 211
THE^CONFESBION OF SCOTLAND.
Op TiiE Revelatiok of the Promise.
For this we constantly believe, that God, after the fearful
and horrible defection of man from his obedience, did seek
Adam again, call upon him, rebuke his sin, convict him of
the same, and in the end, made unto him a most joyful promise,
to wit, that the seed of the woman should break down the
serpent's head, that is, he should destroy the works of the devil :
which promise, as it was repeated and made more clear from
time to time : so was it embraced with joy, and most con-
stantly received of all those faithful from Adam to Noah,
from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to David, and so forth
to the incarnation of Christ Jesus, all (we mean the faithful
fathers under the law) did see the joyful days of Christ Jesus,
and did rejoice.
Of the Incarnation of Christ.
"When the fulness of time came, God sent his Son, his eternal
wisdom, the substance of his own glory, into this world, who
took the nature of manhood of the substance of a woman, to
wit, of a virgin, and that by operation of the Holy Ghost.
And so was born, the just seed of David, the angel of the
great counsel of God, the very Messias promised, whom we
acknowledge and confess Emmanuel, very God, and very
man, two perfect natures united and joined in one person.
By which our confession, we condemn the damnable and
pestilent heresies of Arrius, Marcion, Eutiches, Nestorius,
and such others as either did deny the eternity of his Godhead,
either the verity of his human nature, either confound them,
either yet divide them.
Why it behooveth the Mediator, to be ^-ert God ajjd vert mak.
We acknowledge and confess, that this most wondrous
conjunction betwixt the Godhead and the manhood in Christ
Jesus, did proceed from the eternal and immutable decree of
God, whence also, our salvation springeth, and dependeth-
212 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
Of Christ's Death, Passion, and Burial.
That our Lord Jesus Christ offered himself a voluntary
sacrifice unto his Father for us, that he suffered contradiction
of sinners, that he was wounded and plagued for our trans-
gressions, that he being the clean innocent Lamb of God, was
damned in the presence of an earthly judge, that we should
be absolved before the tribunal seat of our God, that he
suffered, not only the cruel death of the cross, (which was
accursed by the sentence of God) but also that he suffered for
a season the wrath of his Father, which sinners had deserved.
But yet we avow that he remained the only well beloved and
blessed Son of the Father, even in the midst of his anguish
and torment, which he suffered in body and soul, to make the
full satisfaction for the sins of the people. After the which
we confess and avow, that there remaineth no other sacrifice
for sin, which if any affirm, we nothing doubt to avow, that
they are blasphemous against Christ's death, and the everlas-
ting purgation and satisfaction purchased to us by the same.
Of Christ's Resurrection.
We undoubtedly believe, that insomuch as it was impossible
tliat the dolours of death should retain in bondage the Author
of hfe, that our Lord Jesus crucified, dead and buried, who
descended into hell, did rise again for our justification, and
destroying of him, who was the author of death, brought life
again to us that were subject to death and to the bondage of
same : we know that his resurrection was confirmed by the
testimony of his very enemies, by the resurrection of the
dead, whose sepulchres did open, and they did arise, and
appeared to many within the city of Jerusalem. It was also
confirmed by the testimony of his angels, and by the senses
and judgments of his apostles and others, who had conversation,
and did eat and drink with him after his resurrection.
Op Christ's Ascension.
We nothing doubt, but the selfsame body which was bom
of the virgin, was crucified, dead, and buried, that it did rise
again, and ascend into the heavens, for the accompHshment
of all things, where, in our names, and for our comfort, he hath
HARMON V Of QONFESSIONS. 213
received all power in heaven and earth, where he sitteth at the
right hand of the Father, crowned in his kingdom. Advocate
and only Mediator for us. Which glory, honor, and preroga-
tive, he alone amongst the brethren shall possess, till that all
his enemies be made his footstool.
As that we undoubtedly believe there shall be a final
judgment ; to the execution whereof, we certainly believe
that the same our Lord Jesus shall visibly return, even as lie
was seen to ascend. And then we firmly believe, thai the
tiine of refreshing and restitution of all things shall come,
insomuch that those that from the beginning have suffered
violence, injury, and wrong, for righteousness' sake, shall
inlierit that blessed immortality, promised from the beginning:
but contrarywise, the stubborn, disobedient, cruel oppressors,
filthy persons, idolaters, and all sorts of unfaithful, shall be
cast into the dungeon of utter darkness, where their worm
shall not die, neither yet the fire shall be extinguished- Tlis
remembrance of which day, and of the judgment to be exo-
cuted in the same, is not only to us a bridle, whereby our
carnal lusts are refrained, but also such inestimable comforV
that neither may the threatening of worldly princes, neither
yet the fear of temporal death and present danger, move us tc*
renounce and forsake the blessed society, which we the mem-
bers have, with our Head and only Mediator, Christ Jesus.
Whom we confess and avow to be the Messias promised, the
only Head of his Church, our just Law-giver, our only High
Priest, Advocate, and Mediator. In which honors and office,
if man or angel presume to intrude themselves, we utterly
detest and abhor them, as blasphemous to our sovereign and
supreme governor Christ Jesus.
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.
Of Christ the Mediator.
1. It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and
ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be the Me-
diator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King ;
the Head and Saviour of his Church, the Heir of all things,
and Judge of the world ; unto whom he did from all eternity,
give a people to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeem-
e4# called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.
2. The Son of God, the second person in (he Trinity,
214 HARMONY OP CONFESSIONS.
being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with
the .Father, did, when the fulness of time was come, take
upon him man's nature, and all the essential properties and
common infirmities thereof, yet without sin : being conceived
by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin
Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and
distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were insepa-
rably 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.
3. The Lord Jesus, in his human nature thus united to tte
divine, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above
measure ; having in him all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge, in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness
should dwell : to the end that being holy, harmless, undefiled,
and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished
to execute the office of a Mediator and Surety. Which office
he took not unto himself, but was thereunto called by his
Father ; vvho put all power and judgment into his hand, and
gave him commandment to execute the same.
4. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake,
which, that he might discharge, he was made under the law,
and did perfectly fulfil it ; endured most grievous torments
immediately in his soul, and most painful sufferings in his
body ; was crucified and died ; was buried and remained
under the power of death, yet saw no corruption. On the
third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in which
he suffered ; with which also he ascended into heaven, and
there sitteth at the right hand of his Father, maketh interces-
sion, and shall return to judge men and angels, at the end
of the world.
5. The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifioe
(rf himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up
unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father ; and
purchased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inherit-
ance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father
hath given unto him.
6. Although the work of redemption was not actually
wrought by Christ till after his incarnation, yet the virtue,
efficacy, and benefits thereof, were communicated unto the
elect, in all ages successively, from the beginning of the
world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, wherein
he was revealed and signified to be the seed of the woman
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 216
which should bruise the serpent's head, and the Lamb slain
from the beginning of the world, being yesterday and to-day
the same, and for ever.
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 attributes! to
the person denominated by the other nature.
S, To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemp-
tion, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate
the same ; making intercession for them ; and revealing unto
them, in and by the word, the mysteries of salvation ; effec-
tually persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey ; and
governing their hearts by his word and Spirit ; overcoming
all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such
manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and
unsearchable dispensation.
THE SAVOY CONFESSION.
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 a covenant
made between them both to be the Mediator between God
and man ; the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Sa-
viour of his Church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the
world : Unto whom he did from all eternity give a people to
be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified,
sanctified, and glorified.
2. The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being
very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the
Father, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon
him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common
infirmities thereof,yet without sin,being conceived by the power
of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her sub-
stance : so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the
Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in
one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion ;
which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the
only Mediator between God and man.
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, havmg in him
216 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
dl the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in whom it pleased
the Father that all fulness should dwell, to the end that being
holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might
be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator
and Surety ; which office he took not unto himself, but was
tliereunto called by his Father, who also put all power and
judgment into his hand, and gave him commandment to exe-
cute the same.
4. This office the Lord Jesus Christ did most willingly
undertake ; which that he might discharge, he was made under
the law, and did perfectly fulfil it, and underwent the punishp-
ment due to us, which we should have borne and suffered,
being made sin and a curse for us, enduring most grievous
torments immediately from God in his soul, and most painful
sniferings in his body, was crucified, and died, was buried,
and remained under the power of death, yet saw no corruption,
on Oie third day he arose from the dead, with the same body
in which he suffered, with which also he ascended into heaven,
and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father, making inter-
cession, and shall return to judge men and angels at the end
of the world.
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, and pur-
chased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance,
in the kino-dom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath
given unto him.
6. Although the work of redemption was not actually
AVi'onght by Christ till after his incarnation, yet the virtue,
efficacy, and benefits thereof, were communicated to the
elect in all ages, successively, from the beginning of the
world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, Avherein
he was revealed and signified to be the seed of the woman
which should bruise the serpent's head, and the Lamb slain
from the beginning of the world, being yesterday and to-day
the same, and for ever.
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
properrto one nature is sometimes in scripture attributed to
the peson denominated by the other nature.
8. To all those for whom Christ has purchased redemption,
he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the
same, making intercession for them, and revealing unto them
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 217
in and by the word, the mysteries of salvation, effectually
persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey, and gov-
erning their hearts by his word and Spirit, overcoming all
their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such
manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and
unsearchable dispensation.
THE MENNONISTS' CONFESSION.
CONCERXING THE RESTORATION OF MaN, BY THE PROMISE OF ChRIST's
COMING.
Concerning the restoring of the first man and his posterity,
we profess and believe, that notwithstanding their fall, trans-
gression and sin, and though there was no ability in them, yet
God would not totally reject them, nor let them be lost eter-
nally ; but that he hath called them back again, and comforted
and showed them, that with him there was a means of re-
concihation, viz. the immaculate Lamb, or the Son of God,
who before the beginning of the world was provided for that
end, and whilst they were yet in paradise, was promised to
be the consolation, redemption, and salvation for them and all
their posterity ; nay, even from that time by faith he was
given in property as a gift, after which all the pious patriarchs,
to whom this promise was often renewed, have longed and
sought for, and by faith saw him afar off, expecting the fulfil-
ling thereof, that he at his coming would deliver, redeem, and
restore lost mankind from their sins, guilt, and iniquity.
Concerning the coming op Christ and the end for which he
CAME.
•We also do believe and profess, that when this time of
promise, after which all the honest patriarchs so much longed
and waited for, was come and fulfilled, than the forepromised
Messiah, Redeemer, and Saviour, being come forth from God,
and according to the prediction of the prophets, and the testi-
mony of the evangelists, sent into the world and come into
the flesh and manifested, and the Word itself being become
flesh and man, and that he was conceived in the virgin Mary,
who was espoused to a man called Joseph, of the house of
David ; and that she brought him forth in Bethlehem as her
first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid
him in a manger.
20
218 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
We also confess and believe, that this is the same, whose
goings forth have been from of old, and from everlasting,
having neither beginning of days, nor end of life ; who is
testified to be the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and
the ending, the first and the last ; that this is also the same,
and no other, who was foreseen, promised, sent and came
into the world, and who is God's only, first and own Son, who
was before John the Baptist, before Abraham, before the
world, nay, was David's Lord and the God of all the world,
the first born of all creatures, being brought into the world ;
and that a body was prepared for him, which he himself ga\'B
up to a sacrifice and gift, as a sweet savor unto God, and
to the consolation, redemption, and salvation of all and uni-
versal mankind.
But how, and after what manner tliis worthy body was pi-y-
pared, and how this Word became flesh, and he himself man,,
we content ourselves with the declaration the worthyvcvangei-
ists have left on record, according to which,we with all the saints
confess and profess him to be the Son of the living God, in
whom consists all our hope, comfort, deliverance, and saH^a-
tion ; and that we may or ought not to seek the same in any
body besides him.
Moreover, we believe and confess with the scriptures, that
after he had finished his course here, and performed the work
for which he was sent, and came into the world, he then,
according to the providence of God, was delivered into
hands of the wicked, and that he suffered under the judge
Pontius Pilate, and was crucified, that he died, and was
buried, and on the third day he arose from the dead, and after-
wards ascended into heaven ; and that he is now sitting at
the right hand of God's majesty in the highest, and from
thence shall return to judge the living and the dead.
And also, that the Son of God having died, hath tasted
death, and shed his precious blood for all men ; and that
thereby he hath bruised' the head of the serpent, destroyed
the works of the devil, blotted out the hand writing, and
obtained remission of sins for all mankind ; and that so he
became the author of eternal salvation for all those who, from
Adam until the end of the world, every one in his season^
believe in, and are obedient to him.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 219
THE LONDON BAPTISTS' CONFESSION.
Article IX.
The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Moses and the prophets
wrote, the apostles preached, he is the Son of God, the
hrightness of his gloiy, &c. by whom he made the world ;
who upholdeth and governeth all things that he hath made ;
who also when the fulness of time was come, was made of a
woman, of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and
David ; to wit, of the virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming
down upon her, the power of the Most High overshadowing
her : and he was also tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Article X.
Jesus Christ is made the Mediator of the new and evep-
lasting covenant of grace between God and man, ever to be
perfectly and fully the Prophet, Priest, and King of the Church
of God for evermore.
Article XI.
Unto this office he was appointed by God/rom everlasting ;
and in respect of his manhood, from the womb called, separa-
ted, and anointed most fully and abundantly with all gifts
accessary, God having without measure poured out his Spirit
upon liim.
Article XII.
Concerning his mediatorship, the scripture holds forth
Christ's call to his office ; for none takes this honor upon him,
hut he that is called of God as was Aaron, it being an action
of God, whereby a special promise being made, he ordains
his Son to this office; which promise is, that Christ should
be made a sacrifice for sin ; that he should see his seed, and
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand ; all of mere free and absolute grace towards
God's elect, and without any condition foreseen in them to
procure it.
220 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
Article XIII.
i
This office to be Mediator, that is, to be Prophet, Priest, and
King of the Church of God, is so proper to Christ, that nei-
ther in whole, or any part thereof, can it be transferred from
him to any other.
Article XIV.
This office to which Christ is called, is threefold ; a Pro-
phet, Priest, and King : this number and order of offices is
necessary, for in respect of our ignorance, we stand in need
of his prophetical office ; and in respect of our great aliena-
tion from God, we need his priestly office to reconcile us ;
and in respect of our averseness and utter inability to return
to God, we need his kingly office, to convince, subdue, draw,
uphold and preserve us to his heavenly kingdom.
Article XV.
Concerning the prophecy of Christ, it is that whereby he
hath revealed the will of God, whatsoever is needful for his
servants to know and obey ; and therefore he is called not
only a prophet and doctor, and the apostle of our profession,
and the angel of the covenant, but also the very wisdom, of
God, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge, who for ever continueth revealing the same truth
of the gospel to his people.
Article XVI.
That he might be a Prophet every way complete, it was
necessary he should be God, and also that he should be man :
for unless he had been God, he could never have perfectly
understood the will of God : and unless he had been man, he
could not suitably have unfolded it in his own person to men.
Article. XVII.
Concerning his priesthood, Christ, having sanctified him-
self, hath appeared once to put away sin by that one offering
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 221
of himself a sacrifice for sin, by which he hath fully finished
and suffered all things God required for the salvation of his
elect, and removed all rites and shadows, &c. and is now
entered within the vail into the Holy of Holies, which is the
presence of God. Also, he makes his people a spiritual
house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifice accep-
table to God through him. Neither doth the Father accept,
or Christ offer to the Father, any other worship or worshippers.
Article XVUI.
This priesthood was not legal or temporary, but according
to the order of Melchisedeck, and is stable and perfect, not
for a time, but for ever, which is suitable to Jesus Christ, as
to him that ever hveth. Christ was the Priest, sacrifice, and
altar ; he was a Priest according to both natures : • he was a
sacrifice according to his human nature ; whence in scripture
it is attributed to his body, to his blood ; yet the effectualness
of this sacrifice did depend upon his divine nature ; therefore
it is called the blood of God. He was the akar according to
his divine nature, it belonging to the altar to sanctify that
which is offered upon it, and so it ought to be of greater dig-
nity than the sacrifice itself.
Article XIX.
Concerning his kingly oflfice, Christ being risen from the
dead, and ascended into heaven, and ha\ing all power in
heaven and earth, he doth spiritually govern his Church, and
I doth exercise his power over all, angels and men, good and
I had, to the preservation and salvation of the elect, and to the
Qven'uling and destruction of his enemies. By this kingly
power he applieth the benefits, virtue, and fruits of his
prophecy and priesthood to his elect, subduing their sins, pre-
serving and strengthening them in all their conflicts against
Satan, the world, and the flesh, keeping their hearts in faith
and filial fear by his Spirit : by this his mighty power he ruleth
the vessels of 'v\Tath, using, limiting, and restraining them, as
I it seems good to his infinite wisdom.
Article XX.
i This his kingly power shall be more fully manifested when
' he shall come into glory to reign among his saints, when he
20*
222 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
shall put down all rule and authority under his feet, that the
glory of the Father may be perfectly manifested in his Son,
and the glory of the Father and the Son in all his members.
Article XXI.
Jesus Christ by his death did purchase salvation for the
elect that God gave uuto him : these only have interest in him,
and fellowship with him, for whom he makes intercession to
his Father in their behalf, and to them alone doth God by his
Spirit apply this redemption ; as also the free gift of eternal
life is given to them and none else. 1
THE WELCH CALVTNISTIC ME TH 0 DIS T S' C ONFE S SIO N .
Of the Nature and Offices op Christ.
The divine person, Christ Jesus, is a true God and a true
man ; yet one Mediator between God and man, — Emmanuel.
Jesus Christ is the only Mediator between God and man ;
he is the Mediator of the new covenant, (or Testament ;) a
Saviour, a Deliverer, and a Shepherd ; of a divine and cove-
nanted appointment and approbation ; and having in himself
every fulness, and glorious suitability on account of the great-
ness of his person, of his eternal appointment, and of his
being anointed with the Holy Spirit in his graces and gifts
beyond measure. And he fills this extensive office as a
Prophet, by bringing God to view with his counsel, and all his
will in the holy scriptures, through the instruments which he
has employed, and his own personal ministry in the days of his
incarnation : and the continuing work of the Spirit, by the
means which he has ordained, savingly to enlighten the Church
in the things which are necessary to be known, in order to
ensure salvation.
As a Priest, in his humiliated condition, in the place of his
people, and under the imputation of their sins, through the
whole of his active and passive obedience, he gave a sacrifice,
an offering, and a perfect, unblemished propitiation to God for
his whole Church. In his exalted state, he intercedes in
heaven for all the transgressors which were given him, and
which were redeemed with his precious blood. He will con-
tinue to intercede, till he shall see of the travail of his soul,
and be satisfied.
As a King, he is Head over all things to the Church, ordering
every thing with aviewto its benefit,continuance,and increase ;
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 223
gathering and humbling sinners to become his subjects ; gra-
ciously reigning in their souls; preserving, protecting, and
thoroughly delivering all his redeemed, and rewarding them in
another world.
As the law was magnified, justice satisfied, the divine gov-
ernment honored, every attribute glorified by the life and
death of Christ, — so also the Church was fully redeemed from
earth, from among men, from the curse, and from every sin,
unto God, for a price, through a ransom, and by the precious
blood of Christ. The unspeakable love and favor of the
Trinity was the original cause of redemption. In a decree
and an eternal counsel between the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, relating to the redemption of sinners, the Son
was chosen to be a Redeemer; it was ordained that He
should be possessed of a human nature, that he might be a
kinsman, and having a right to redeem his brethren. It was
decreed that his person should be placed in the stead of those
persons (and of those only) which v\'ere given him to redeem.
In the fulness of time, he was made of a woman, under tlie
law, that he might redeem them that were under the law ; and
all the sins of those who were given to him, were imputed to
him. Is. liii. 5, 6, 1 1, 12. " And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all," '- and he bare the sin of many." 2 Cor.
V. 21. "He hath made him (by imputation) to be sin for us,
who knew no sin," (through natural corruption, thought, or
action.) John x. 15. "I give (saith Christ) my life for the
sheep." He bare in his own person, the chastisement which
the sins imputed to him deserved.
" Christ once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us (for whom he suffered) to God." Thus he
redeemed a numberless throng, by giving a complete satis-
faction for all their sins. Grace, glory, and every other good
thing, accrues to them through the Redeemer, and through
the redemption which is in Christ Jesus ; therefore redemp-
tion ensures their being called, their just^cation, their
sanctification, their perseverance, and their glorification.
Though it would be improper to say, that he purchased the
Holy Ghost for his people, yet on account of the redemption,
and the satisfaction which Christ made for our sins, the Holy
Spirit and every good gift pertaining to salvation, is bestowed
upon them. Redemption has removed alldifficulties,and estab-
lished communion between heaven and earth. Thus, thro' this
ransom, (the blood of Christ,) they shall be delivered from sin
and its results, and they shall be brought into eternal glory.
224 Harmony or confessions.
OF THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
THE LATTER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA.
Of the Law of God.
We teach, that the will of God is set down unto us in the
law of God, to wit, what he would have us to do, or not to
do, what is good and just, or what is evil and unjust. We
therefore confess that the law is good and holy, and that this
law is by the finger of God either written in the hearts of men,
and is so called the law of nature, or engraven in the two
tables of stone, and more largely expounded in the books of
Moses. For plainness' sake, we divide it unto the moral law,
which is contained in the commandments or the two tables
expounded in the books of Moses, and into the ceremonial,
which doth appoint ceremonies and the worship of God, and
into the judicial law, which is occupied about political and
domestic affairs.
We believe that the whole will of God and all necessary
precepts for every part of this life is fully delivered in this
law. For otherwise the Lord would not have forbidden,
" that any thing should be either added or taken away from
this law." Neither would he have commanded us to go
straight forward in this, and " not to decline out of the way
either to the right hand or to the left."
We teach that this law was not given to men that we should
be justified by keeping it, but that by the knowledge thereof
we might rather acknowledge our infirmity, sin, and con-
demnation, and so despairing of our own strength might turn
unto Christ by faith. For the apostle saith plainly, Rom. iii. 4.
"The law worketh wrath, and by the law cometh knowledge
of sin." And, Gal. iii. "If there had been a law given,
which could have justified and given us life, surely righteous-
ness should have been by the law. But the spirit (to wit of the
law) hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by the
faith of Jesus Christ should be given to them which believe.
Therefore the law was our schoolmaster to Christ, that we
might be justified by faith." For neither could there ever,
aeither at this day can any flesh satisfy the law of God, and
fulfil it, by reason of the weakness of our fiesb, which re-
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 225
maineth and sticketh fast in us, even to our last breath. For
the apostle saith again, Rom. viii. "That which the law
could not perform, inasmuch as it was weak through the flesh,
that did God perform, sending his own Son in similitude of
flesh, subject to sin." Therefore Christ is the perfecter of
the law, and our fulfilling of it, who as he took away the curse
o{ the law, when he was made a curse for us, so doth he
communicate unto us by faith his fulfilling thereof, and his
righteousness and obedience is imputed unto us. The law
of God therefore is thus far abrogated, as that it doth not
henceforth condemn us, neither work wrath in us. "For \\'e
are under grace, and not under the law." Moreover Christ
did fulfil all the figures of the law. Wherefore the shadow
ceased, when the body came : so that in Christ we have now
all truth and fulness. Yet we do not therefore disdain or
reject the law. We remember the words of the Lord, saying,
"I came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil
them." We know that in the law are described unto us the
kinds of virtues and vices. We know that the scripture of
tlie law> if it be expounded by the gospel, is very profitable
to the Church, and that therefore the reading of it is not to
be banished out of the Church. For although the counte-
nance of Moses was covered with a vail, yet the apostle
affirmeththat "the vail is taken away and abolished by Christ."
We condemn all things which the old or new heretics have
taught against the law of God.
Of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and also of Promises: of the
Spirit and of the Letter.
The gospel indeed is opposed to the law : for the law work-
eth wrath, and doth denounce a curse : but the gospel doth
preach grace and a blessing, John saith also, John i. "The
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ." Yet notwithstanding it is most certain, that they
which were before the law, and under the law, were not alto-
gether destitute of the gospel. For they had notable evan-
geUcal promises, such as these are : Gen. iii. "The seed
of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." Gen. xxii.
"In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.''
Gen. xlix. "The sceptre shall not be taken from Judah, until
Shiloh come." Deut. xviii. "The Lord shall raise up a
Prophet from among his own brethren," &c. And we acknow-
ledge that the fathers had two kind of promises revealed unto
226 HARMONT OF CONFESSIONS.
them, even as we have. For some of them were of presen
and transitory things, such as were the promises of the lane
of Canaan, and of victories, and such as are nowadays, cod-
ceming our daily bread. Othersome there were then, an^
also are now, of heavenly and everlasting things, as of God's
favor, remission of sins, and life everlasting, through faith in
Jesus Christ. Now the fathers had not only outward oi
earthly, but spiritual and heavenly promises in Christ. For
the apostle Peter saith, that "The prophets which prophesied
of the grace that should come to us, have searched and
inquired of this salvation." Whereupon the apostle Paul
also saith, that "The gospel of God was promised before by
the prophets of God in the holy scriptures." Hereby then it
appeareth evidently, that the fathers were not altogether des-
titute of all the gospel.
And although after this manner our fathers had the gospel -
in the writings of the prophets, by which they attained salvEt-
tion in Christ through faith, yet the gospel is properly callBd
that glad and happy tidings, wherein first by John Baptist,
then by Christ the Lord himself, and afterward by the apostles
and their successors, is preached to us in the world, that God
hath now performed that v/hich he promised from the begit>
ning of the world, and hath sent, yea, and given unto us, his
only Son, and in him reconciUation with the Father, remission
of sins, all fulness, and everlasting life. The history, therefore,
set down by the four evangelists, declaring how these things
were done or fulfilled of Christ, and what he taught and did,
and that they which believed in him had all fulness ; this, I
say, is truly called the gospel. The preaching, also, and
scripture of the apostles, in which they expound unto us how
the Son was given us of the Father, and in him all things,
pertaining to life and salvation, is truly called the doctrine oW
the gospel, so as even at this day it loseth not that worthy*
name, if it be sincere. I
The same preaching of the gospel is by the apostle termed
" the Spirit," and the " ministry of the Spirit," because it ia
living, and working through faith in the ears, yea, in the hearts
of the faithful, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
For the letter, which is opposed unto the Spirit, doth indeed
signify every outward thing, but more specially the doctrine
of the law, which without the Spirit and faith worketh wrath,
and stirreth up sin in the minds of them that do not truly be-
lieve. For which cause it is called by the apostle, " the
ministry of death :" for hitherto pertaineth that saying of the,
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 227
Ipostle, " The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." The
dlse apostles preached the gospel, corrupted by mingling of
lie law therewith, as though Christ could not save without the
fiw. Such also were the Hebionites said to be, which came
»f Hebion the heretic : and the Nazarites, which belbretime
rere called Myneans. All which we do condemn, sincerely
jeacliing the word, and teaching that the believers are justified
ly the Spirit only, and not by the law. , But of this matter
fiere shall follow a more large discourse in the title of justifi-
lation.
I And ahhough the doctrine of the gospel, compared with
ihe Pharisee's doctrine of the law, might seem (when it was first
Reached by Christ) to be a new doctrine, the which thing also
feremy prophesied of the New Testament, yet indeed it not
ioily was, and as yet is (though the Papist's call it new, m
legard of popish doctrine, which hath of long time been re-
ipeived) an ancient doctrine, but also tlic most ancient in the
JForld. For God, from all eternity, foreordained to save the
p7orld by Christ : and this his predestination and eternal
irounsel hath he opened to the world by the gospel. Whereby
it appeareth that the evangelical doctrine and religion was
jie most ancient of all that ever were, are, or ever shall be.
(►Therefore we say that all they err foully, and speak things
jmworthy the eternal counsel of God, who term the evangeli-
pal doctrine and rehgion, a new start up faith, scarce tliirty
^ears old : to whom that saying of Isaiah doth very well
^ee, '* Woe unto them that speak good of evil, and evil of
^od, which put darkness for hght, and light for darkness, that
^ut bitter for sweet, and sweet for sour."
i
I THE CONFESSION OF BOHEMIA.
1 Op the "Word of God, or the Holt Gospel.
I And seeing that the administration of the New Testament,
«nd also the word and sacraments are lawfully committed to
iflie ministers of the Church, and " their lips ought to preserve
knowledge, that the law might be sought at their mouth,"
therefore, in this chapter it is further taught, what the word of
God, and the holy gospel is. Now the preaching of the word
of God and of the gospel, is the true ministry of grace, insti-
tuted and commanded of Christ our Lord, wherein the full and
perfect will of God, touching eternal reconciliation, neces-
sary to salvation, and made manifest in the holy scripture, is
228 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
declared and preached unto all people. This doctrine did
Christ give in charge unto his disciples in the words of thia
sentence, Mark 16. " Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creatui^e." This doctrine doth Peter profesa
before Cornehus, when he saith, Acts xx. " He commanded
us to preach unto the people, and to testify that this is he,
that is ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and the
dead. To him also give all the prophets witness, that through
his name, all that believe in him shall receive remission of sins.
This ministry is m.ore honorable, greater, and more neces-
sary to, salvation, than are the sacraments: the which is
proved by that sentence of the most excellent apostle St. Paul,
2 Cor. ii. " For Christ sent me not to baptize, (that is, not
chiefly to do this,) but to preach the gospel." For only
tlirough the pure gospel, and the preaching thereof, is faith
sowed inwardly in the heart by the Holy Ghost, and from
thence also must we conceive and seek the true meaning of
God and Christ, touching all things necessary to salvation,
and also touching the sacraments themselves. Amongst
tliose, who by reason of their age are able to use their un-
derstanding, it is of necessity, that the preaching of the gospel
go before the receiving of the sacraments. Whereof we may
see- an evident proof in those three thousand which were con-
verted by Peter. Also in Cornelius, and in the chamberlain
we may see, that, according to the example of Philip, the
question is thus to be made, " Dost thou believe with all
thy heart?' Then it may be, that thou who hast true faith
grafted in thy heart, mayest receive profit by the participation
of the sacraments. For without the hearing of the word of
God, Rom. i. " Which is the saving power of God," no man
shall wittingly attain unto faith and salvation, according to that
saying of Paul, Rom. x. " Therefore faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God." And again, " How shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard T' Therefore,
herein our preachers endeavor themselves most earnestly, that
in our ecclesiastical meetings they may propound unto the peo-
ple the sincere word of God, without all mixture or inventions
of men. For which cause also they do, by an ancient custom,
recite in the mother and vulgar tongue, which may be under-
stood of all, not only those chapters which are appointed to
be read out of the gospel at certain times, but also all other
parts of holy scripture, and do exhort the people with an
earnest desire to hear the word of God, and to frequent those
ecclesiastical meetings, that by the diligent teaching of the
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 229
gospel, and by often repeating it in their sermons, they may
first teach the people repentance and faith, and then the use
and administration of the sacraments : and by this means
prepare them to the right receiving of the sacraments : and
afterwards also, both whilst the sacraments be administered,
and after they be administered, they do conveniently instruct
them in all those things which the Lord commanded, and
chiefly in those things which do appertain to the leading of an
honest life, and such a one as beseemeth a Christian profes-
sion, as Christ saith. Matt, xxviii. " Teach them to keep all
things which I have commanded you."
In this place also is taught very diligently, and as the matter
requireth, touching the difference which is to be observed
betwixt the word, or doctrine, and work of the law, and
betwixt the word and force of the holy gospel. The word or
ministry of the law and of the Old Testament, is the word of
death, tear, and of the letter, also the word of wrath, and the
word of malediction. But the word of the New Testament,
that is, of the holy gospel, is the ministry of faith, and the Spirit
of clearness or glory through our Lord Jesus Christ, the word
of grace, of the new covenant, the word of comfort, and the
messenger of peace. Of them both the apostle writeth thus,
2 Cor. iii. " The letter killeth, but the Spirit quickeneth."
And Christ saith, John vi. " The words which I speak are
Spirit and Hfe." Also there is mention made of the use of
the moral law, in the fourth chapter of this Confession (begin-
ning with these words : This doctrine of the true knowledge
of sin, &c.)
THE FRENCH CONFESSION.
We believe that all the figures of the law are taken away
by the coming of Christ ; howbeit y^e are assured that the
tjuth and substance of them doth abide in him, in whom they
are all fulfilled. Yet we must use the doctrine of the law
and the prophets, both to frame our hfe aright, and also that
we may so much the more be confirmed in tlie promises of
the gospel.
THE CONFESSION OF BELGIA.
We believe that all the ceremonies, figures, and shadows
of the law, have ceased at the coming of Christ, so that now
21
2^0 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
cren the use of them ought to be taken away and abohshed
among Christians. Yet in the mean time, the truth and sub-
stance of them doth remain to us in Christ, in whom they are
all fulfilled. And therefore we do still use the testimonies of
the law and the prophets, to confirm ourselves in the doctrine
of the gospel, and to lead an honest life, unto God's glory,
according to his will.
The Confession of x\ugsburg doth by the way mention the
the doctrine of the gospel, and of the end thereof, in the fourth
and fifth articles, which we have placed in the ninth section,
wherein justification, and remission of sins by faith in Christ,
is hEindled.
THE MORAVIAN CONFESSION.
Article V.
For the obtaining of such faith, God hath instituted the
office of preaching, and hath giving the gospel and the sacra-
ments, whereby, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit,
which Holy Spirit works faith in those who hear the gospel,
where and when it pleaseth him. What is taught by the gospel
is, that we, through the merit of Christ, not through our owe
merit, have a propitious God, if so be that we beheve it.
THE CONFESSION OF SCOTLAND.
The Perfection of the Law, and Imperfectiok of Mak.
The law of God we confess and acknowledge most just,
most equal, most holy, and most perfect, commanding those
things which, being wrought in perfection, were able to give
light, and able to bring man to eternal fehcity. But our nature
is so corrupt, so weak, and so imperfect, that we are never
able to fulfil the works of the law in perfection. Yea, if we
say we have no sin, even after we are regenerated, we deceive
ourselves, and the verity of God is not in us. And therefore
it behoovethus to apprehend Christ Jesus with his justice
and satisfaction, who is the end and accomphshment of the
the law, by whom we are set at this liberty, that the curse and
malediction of God fall not upon us, albeit we fulfil not the
same in all points. For God the Father beholding us, in the
body of his Son Christ Jesus, accepteth our imperfect obe-
dience, as it were perfect, and covereth our works, which are
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 231
defiled ^^^th many spots, with the justice of his Son: we do
not mean that we are so set at Hberty, that we owe no obedi-
ence to the law, (for that before we have plainly confessed,)
but this we affirm, that no man in earth (Christ Jesus only
excepted) hath given, givelh, or shall give in work, that obedi-
ence to the law which the law requireth. But when we have
done all things, we must fall down and unfeignedly confess
that we are unprofitable servants. And therefore, whosoever
boast themselves of the merits of their own works, or put
their trust in the works of supererogation, boast themselves of
that which is naught, and put their trust in damnable idolatry.
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.
Of the Law of God.
1, God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which
he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact,
and perpetual obedience ; promised fife upon the fulfilling,
and threatened death upon the breach of it; and endued him
with power and ability to keep it.
2. This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of
lighteousness ; and, as such, was delivered by God upon
Mount Sinai in ten commandments, and written in two tables ;
the four first commandments containing our duty towards*
God, and the other six our duty to man.
3. Beside this law, commonly called moral, God was
pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age,
ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly
of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufterings,
and benefits ; and partly holding forth divers instructions of
moral duties. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated
under the New Testament.
4. To them also, as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial
laws, which expired together with the state of the people, not
obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof
may require.
5. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified
persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not
only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect
of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth
Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen
this oblioration.
232 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. \
6. Although true believers be not under the law as a cove-
nant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned ; yet is it
of great use to them, as well as to others ; in that, as a rule of
life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs
and binds them to walk accordingly ; discovering also the ;
ainful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and lives ; so as,
examining themselves thereby, they may come to further:
conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin; to- ;
gether with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ,
and the perfection of his obedience. It is likewise of use to
the regenerate, to restrain their corruptions ; in that it forbids
sin; and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their
sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect
for them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in
the law. The promises of it, in like manner, show them
God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may
expect upon the performance thereof; although not as due to
them by the law as a covenant of works ; so as a man's doing
good, and refraining from evil, because the law encourageth
to the one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of
his being under the law, and not under grace.
7. Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law con-
trary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it ;
the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to
do that freely and cheerfully, which the will of God, revealed
in the law, requireth to be done.
THE SAVOY CONFESSION.
Of the Law of God.
1 . God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written in
his heai-t,and a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil, as a covenant of works, by which
he bound him, and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact,
and perpetual obedience ; promised life, upon the fulfilling,
and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him
with power and ability to keep it.
2. This law so written in the heart, continued to be a per-
fect rule of righteousness after the fall of man, and was
delivered by God on Mount Sinai in ten commandments, and
written in two tables; the four first commandments containing
our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to man.
3. Beside this law, commonly called moral, God was
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 233
pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age,
ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly
of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings,
and benefits, and partly holding forth divers instructions of
moral duties : all which ceremonial laws being appointed only
to the time of reformation, are by Jesus Christ the true Mes-
siah and only Law-giver, who was furnished with power from
tlie Father for that end, abrogated and taken away.
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
still of moral use.
5. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified
persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only
in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of
the authority of God the Creator, who gave it : neither doth
Christ in the gospel, any way dissolve, but much strengthen
this obligation.
6. Although true behevers be not under the law, as a
covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned, yet
it is of great use to them as well as to others, in that, as a rule
of lite, informing them of the will of God and their duty, and
directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also
the sinful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and lives, so as
examining themselves thereby, they may come to further con-
viction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin, together
with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the
perfection of his obedience. It is likewise of use to the
regenerate, to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin,
and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins
deserA^e, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for
them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in the
law. The promises of it in like manner show them God's
approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect
upon the performance thereof, although not as due to fhem by
the law, as a covenant of works ; so as a 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.
7. Neither are the forementioned uses of the law contrary
to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it, the
Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do
that freely and cheerfully, which the will of God, revealed in
the law, required to be done.
21*
234 HARMONIf OF CONFESSIONS*
Of the Gospel, and op 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 unto the elect
the promise of Christ, the seed of the woman, as the means of
calling them, and begetting in them faith and repentance ; in
this promise, the gospel, as to the substance of it, was revealed,
and was therein effectual for the conversion and salvation of
sinners.
2. This promise of Christ, and salvation by him, is revealed
only in and by the word of God ; 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 ob-
scure way ; 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.
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 the persons to whom it is granted, is merely of the sove-
reign will and good pleasure of God, not being annexed by
virtue of any promise to the due improvement of men's natural
abilities, by virtue of common light received without it, which
none ever did make, or can so do ; and therefore in all ages
the preaching of the gospel hath 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 re-
vealing Christ and saving grace, and is, as such, abundantly
sufficient thereunto ; yet that men who are dead in tresspasses,
may be boni again, quickened or regenerated, there is more-
over necessary an effectual, irresistible work of the Holy
Ghost upon the whole soul, for the producing in them a new
spiritual life, without which no other means are sufficient for
then- conversion unto God.
HARMONY OF COxNFESSIONS. 235
THE MENNOMSTS' CONFESSION.
Concerning the Law of Christ, viz. the Holt Gospel, or the
New Testament.
We also believe and profess, that he before his ascension,
hath erected and instituted his New Testament ; and that
because it was to be an everlasting covenant, and should re-
main so, he having confirmed and sealed it with his own
precious blood, hath given and left it to his followers, with
such a high charge and command, that it may not be changed
nor added thereunto, either by angels or men ; and that he
ordered the same, wherein was contained the entire and whole
counsel and will of his heavenly Father, for as much as is
necessary to salvation, to be published by his dear apostles,
messengers, and servants, whom he had called and chosen
thereto, and sent in all the world, and among all nations,
people, and tongues, to preach, and proclaim repentance, and
forgiveness of sins ; and that consequently he did declare
that all men, without distinction, viz. as many as by faith,
like obedient children, would perform, follow, and live up to
the same, they should be his children, and legitimate heirs.
Inasmuch that he hath secluded or shut out from this worthy
portion of eternal salvation, none but only the unbelieving,
disobedient, stiff-necked, and unrepenting men, who despise
the same, and make themselves guilty by the sins they com-
mitted, making thus themselves unworthy of life eternal.
THE WELCH CALVINISTIC METHODISTS' CONFESSION.
Of the Moral Law,
Though Christ fully redeemed his people from under the
curse of the law, as it stood in the covenant of works, still
the moral law, the substance of which was written on the
heart of man at his creation ; which was published by God on
Sinai, in the ten commandments, to show his authority over
men, and "that the offence might abound;" to show the
necessity of a Mediator, and to be a schoolmaster to bring us
to Christ ; the same law which was published by Christ in
the gospel, in two principal commandments, love to God, and
love to our neighbor ; the first springing out of, and acting as
236 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
a test to the latter, — remains a perpetual rule of obedience to
man, in relation to his Creator, without the least degree of
change under any dispensation. This perfect law is spiritual,
righteous, holy, and good. It contains all that the Lord re-
quires of man, without a possibility existing of altering one of
the commandments, while God is a Creator, and man a creature.
To honor this law, Christ appeared in the flesh, to perform
the work of redemption ; and this law is written by the Holy
Spirit on the hearts of the redeemed, and thus he renews them
to the imacre of God,
OP REPENTANCE AND THE CONVERSION OF MAN.
THE LATTER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA.
The gospel hath the doctrine of repentance joined with it :
Tor so said the Lord in the gospel, Luke xxiv. " In my name
must repentance and remission of sins be preached among all
nations." By repentance we understand the change of the
mind in a sinful man stirred up by the preaching of the gospel
and by the Holy Spirit, received by a true faith, by which a
sinful man doth eftsoons acknowledge his natural corruption
and all his sins, seeing them convinced by the word of God,
and is heartily grieved for them, and doth not only bewail
and freely confess them before God with shame, but also doth
loathe and abhor them with indignation, thinketh seriously of
present amendment, and of a continual care of innocency and
virtues, wherein to exercise himself holily all the rest of his
life. And surely this is true repentance, namely an unfeigned
turning unto God, and to all goodness, and a serious return
from the devil and from all evil. Now we do expressly say
that this repentance is the mere gift of God, and not the work
of our own strength. For the apostle doth will the faithful
minister diligently to (2 Tim. ii.) " instruct those which with-
stand the truth, if that at any time the Lord will give them
repentance, that they may acknowledge the truth." Also the
sinful woman in the gospel, which washed Christ's feet with
her tears, and Peter which bitterly wept and bewailed his
denial of bis Master, do manifestly show what mind the
HARMONY or CONFESSIONS. 237
penitent man should have, to wit, very earnestly lamenting his
sins committed. Moreover, the prodigal son, and the publi-
can in the gospel, that is compared with the pharisee, doth
set forth unto us a most lit pattern of confessing our sins to
God. The prodigal son said, " Father, I have sinned against
heaven, and against thee ; I am not worthy to be called thy
son ; make me as one of thy hired servants." The publican
also, not daring to lift up his eyes to heaven, but knocking
his breast, he cried, " God be merciful unto me a sinner."
And we doubt not but the Lord received ihem to mercy. For
John the apostle saith, 1 John ii. " If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to purge us from
all iniquity. If we say we have not sinned, we make him
a liar, and his word is not in us."
We believe that this sincere confession, which is made to
God alone, either privately between God and the sinner, or
openly in the church, where the general confession of sins is
rehearsed, is sufficient, and that it is not necessary for the
obtaining of remission of sins, that any man should confess
his sins unto the priest, whispering them into his ears, that the
priest, laying his hands on his head, he might receive absolu-
tion ; because that we find no commandment nor example
thereof in the holy scripture. David protesteth and saith,
Psalm xxxii. " I made my fault known to thee, and my
unrighteousness did I not hide from thee. I said I will confess
my wickedness to the Lord against myself, and thou hast
forgiven the heinousness of my sin." Yea, and the Lord,
teaching us to pray, and also to confess our sins, said. Matt,
vi. " So shall you pray : Our Father which art in heaven,
forgive us our debts, even as we forgive our debtors." It is
requisite therefore that we should confess our sins unto God,
and be reconciled with our neighbor, if we have offended
him. And the apostle James, speaking generally of con-
fession, saith, James v. " Confess each of you your sins one
to another." If so be that any man being overwhelmed with the
burden of his sins and troublesome temptations, will privately
ask counsel, instruction, or comfort, either of a minister of
the church, or of any other brother that is learned in the law
of God, we do not mishke it. Like as also we do fully
allow that general and public confession, which is wont to be
rehearsed in the church and in holy meetings, (whereof we
spake before,) being as it is agreeable with the scripture.
As concerning the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which
the Lord committed to his apostles, they prate many strange
23S HARMONr OF CONFESSIONS.
things, and of these keys they make swords, spears, sceptres,
and crowns,and full power over mighty kingdoms, yea, and over
men's souls and bodies. But we, judging uprightly accord-
ing to the word of God, do say that all ministers truly called,
have and exercise the keys, or the use of them, when as they
preach the gospel, that is to say, when they do teach, exhort,
reprove, and keep in order the people committed to their
charge. For so do they open the kingdom of God to the
obedient, and shut it against the disobedient. These keys
did the Lord promise to the apostles, in Matt. xvi. and
delivered them in John xx. Mark xvi. Luke xxiv. when as
he sent forth his disciples, and commanded them "to preach the
gospel in all the world, and to forgive sins. " The apostle in
the epistle to the Corinthians, saith, 2 Cor. v. "That the
Lord gave to his ministers the ministry of reconciliation."
And what this was, he straightway maketh plain, and saith,
" the word or doctrine of reconcihation." And yet more
plainly, expounding his words, he addeth,that the ministers of
Christ, " Do as it were go an embassage in Christ's name,
as if God himself should by his ministers exhort the people
to be reconciled to God, " to wit, by faithful obedience.
They use the keys therefore, when as they persuade to faith
and repentance. Thus do they reconcile men to God, thus
they forgive sins, thus do they open the kingdom of heaven,
and bring in the believers ; much differing herein from those
of whom the Lord spake in the gospel, "Wo be unto you
lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge. You
have not entered in yourselves, and those that would have
entered, ye forbade." Rightly therefore, and effectually do
ministers absolve, when as they preach the gospel of Christ,
and thereby remission of sins, which is promised to every
one that believeth, even as every one is baptized, and do
testify of it, that it doth particularly appertain to all. Neither
do we imagine that this absolution is made any whit more
effectual, for that which is mumbled into some priest's ear,
or upon some man's head particularly : yet we judge that
men must be taught diligently to seek remission of sins in
the blood of Christ, and that every one is to be put in mind,
that forgiveness of sins doth belong unto him. But how dili-
gent and careful every penitent man ought to be in the endeavor
of a new life, and in slaying the old man, and raising up the
new man, the examples in the gospel do teach us. For the
Lord saith to him whom he had healed of the palsy, John v.
^' Behold thou art made whole ; sin no more, lest a worse
HARMONY OF CONPESSIONg. 2^9
thing come unto thee." Likewise to the adulterous woman,
which was delivered, he said, John viii. "go thy way, and sin
no more." By which words he did not mean that any man
could be free from sin, while he lives in this flesh, but he doth
commend unto us diligence and an earnest care, that ^ve
(I say) should endeavor by all means, and beg of God bv
prayer, that we might not fall again into sin, out of which w'e
are risen after a manner, and that we may not be overcome of
Ae flesh, the world, or the devil. Zacchcus,the publican, beinij
received into favor by the Lord, he crieth out in the gospel,
Luke Lx. "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to tho
poor, and if I have taken from any man any thing by forced
cavillation, I restore him fourfold." After the same manner
we preach that restitution and mercy, yea, and giving of alms-
are necessary for them which do truly repent. And generally
out of the apostle's words, we exhort men, saying, Rom. vi.
Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey
it through the lusts thereof. Neither give ye your members
as weapons of unrighteousness to sin : but give yourselves
mto God, as they that are alive from the dead, and give vour
nembers as weapons of righteousness unto God."
Wherefore we condemn all the ungodl/ speeches of cer-
tain which abuse the preaching of the gospel, and say, "To
return unto God, is very easy, for Christ hath purged all our
sins. Forgiveness of sins is easily obtained : What there-
fore will it hurt to sin? And we need not take any great car«
for repentance," &c. Notwithstanding we always teach, that
an entrance unto God is open for all sinners, and that this
God doth forgive all the sins of the faithful, only that one sin
excepted, which is committed against the Holy Ghost. And
.therefore we condemn the old and new Novatians and Catha-
rines, and especially we condemn the pope's gainful doctrine
of penance, and against his Simony and Simonaical indul-
gences we use that sentence of Simon Peter, Acts S. •* Thy
money perish with thee, because thou thoughtest that the gift
of God might be bought with money. Thou hast no part or
fellowship in this matter, for thy heart is not upright before
God." We also disallow those that think that themselves, by
their own satisfactions, can make recompence for their sins
committed. For we teach that Christ alone, by his death and
passion, is the satisfaction, propitiation, and purging of all
sins. Nevertheless we cease not to urge, as was before said,
the mortification of the flesh ; and yet we add further, that ix
xnuBt not be proudly thrust upon God, for a satisfaction'for
240 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
our sins, but must humbly, as it becometh the sons of God,
be performed, as a new obedience, to show thankful minds for
the deliverance, and full satisfaction obtained by the death
and satisfaction of the Son of God.
THE CONFESSION OF BOHEMIA.
Now that we know what sin is, in the next place we are
taught concerning holy repentance : which doctrine doth
bring great comfort to all sinners, and generally, it is very
profitable and necessary to salvation for all men, as well
for Christians which begin to learn, as for those ^vhich have
profited, yea, even for sinners that have fallen, yet such which;
by the grace of God being converted, do repent. Of this re-
pentance John Baptist did preach, and after him Christ, in ■
these words. Matt. iii. Mark i. " Repent, for the kingdom of
God is at hand." Afterward also the apostles preached
thereof throughout the whole world ; for so it is written, Luke
xxiv. " And thus it behooved, that repentance, and remis-
sion of sins should be preached in his name among all nations."
Now this repentance doth wholly arise out of a true knowledge
of sin, and the wrath of God : And to attain unto this know-
ledge, we must use the full and entire help of the ministry,
by preaching to lay open unto us both the doctrine of repent-
ance, or the law, touching that righteousness which is due
unto God, and the sentence of God pronounced against sin,
and also of faith in Christ Jesus, and of that holy satisfaction
which he hath made for us, by sufiering most grievous tor-
ments. This repentance and saving conversion, doth our
merciful God, by his peculiar gift, offer and bestow, and he
writeth the same in the hearts of the faithful, even as he saith,
Eze. XXX vi. Heb. viii. " I will give a new heart, and I will
put my spirit in the midst of you, and I will cause you to walk
in my ways." Again, Eze. xxxvi. " That you may repent
of your sins, and of your idolatry." And again, Jer. xxxi.
"jWhen I was converted, I did repent."
This saving repentance (which doth differ very much from
the repentance of Esau and Judas) taketh its true and right
beginning from this gift of God, who bestoweth it, and from the
sermons of the word of God, whereby sin is reproved : and it hath
this in order first, that it is a fear and terror of the secret heart
before God, and that by repenting and sorrowing it doth
tremble at this just and severe judgment, and revengement.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 241
whereupon ariseth a heavy trembling, and unquiet conscience,
a troubled mind, a heart so sorrowful, careful, and bruised, that
a man can have no comfort with himself and of himself, but his
soul is full of all grief, sadness, anguish, and terror, whereby he
is much troubled, because of the fear of that burning wrath,
which he seeth in the severe countenance of God. We have
an example in David, when he saith, Ps. xxxviii. " There is
nothing sound in my flesh,because of thine anger,neither is there
rest in my bones, because of my sins. I am become miserable,
and crooked very sore : I go mourning all the day." Such a
terror, and true sense of sin, doth work in the faithful an inward
change of the mind and the soul, and a constant detesting of
sin, and the causes and occasions thereof. Hereunto it is
straightway added, by diligent teaching of the troubled, terri-
fied, and repentant, that such men ought, in a sincere affection
of the heart, with repentance, and an humble submission of
the mind, by their confession and invocation, to turn unto the
Lord, and by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, to conceive sure
and undoubted trust in his mercy ; to hold fast the apprehended
promise, and to rely wholly thereon ; and seeing they have
no righteousness of themselves, earnestly and faithfully to
desire of the divine grace, that God would have mercy on
them, and vouchsafe of his grace to forgive them their sins,
for the Son, and his precious merits' sake, who was made an
atonement, or reconciliation for sin, yea, also a curse, that he
might make or consecrate us holy unto God. For to such
men (that they may be stirred up to the greater confidence)
that sure and precious promise is propounded, and by preach-
inii ought to be propounded, whereby the Lord doth say, Ps. I.
" Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee :"
and this they ought to do as often as they have need, and so
long as they live. Hereof the judgment of St. Augustine is
extant. Lib. 1. de Penitentia. cap. 1. "No man can well
meditate of repentance, except he be persuaded of the mercy
of God toward him," or as he saith, " but he that shall hope
for indulgence."
Now all men which do truly repent them of their sins, and
in regard thereof are sorrowful, and mislike themselves, ought
to (Isa. i.) " cease from the committing of evil, and learn to do
that which is good :" for so writeth Isaiah in that place,
wherein he exhorteth to repentance. And John Baptist, in the
like sort, admonishing the people, saith, Luke iii. "see that you
bring forth, or do, the fruits worthy of repentance:" which
doth chiefly consist (Col. iii. Ephe. iv.) " in mortification, or
22
242 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
putting off' the old raan, and in putting on the new man, whicii
after God is created in righteousness," as the apostohc
doctrine doth signify. Moreover, the penitent are taught
to come to the physicians of their souls, and before them to
confess their sins to God ; yet no man is commanded, or urged
to tell, and reckon up his sins, but this thing is therefore used,
that by this means every one may declare their grief where-
with they be troubled, and how much they mishke themselves
for their sins, and may peculiarly desire and know that they
obtain of their God counsel and doctrine, how they may here-
after avoid them and get instruction and comfort for their
troubled consciences, and absolution by the power of the keys,
and remission of sins by the ministry of the gospel instituted
of Christ : and when these things are performed to them of
the ministers, they ought to receive them at their hands with
confidence, as a thing appointed of God to profit and to do
service unto them for their saving health, and without doubting
to enjoy the remission of their sins, according to the word of
the Lord, John xx. '' Whose sins you remit, they are remit-
ted." And they, relying upon this undoubted faith, ought to
be certain and of a resolute mind, that through the ministry
of those keys, concerning the power of Christ and his word,
all their sins be forgiven them. And therefore they which by
this means and order obtain a quiet and joyful conscience,
ought to show themselves thankful for this heavenly bonnti-
fulness in Christ ; neither must they receive in it vain, or return
again to their sins according to that faithful exhortation of
Christ, wherein he commandeth us to take heed: John v.
" Behold thou art made whole ; sin no more, lest a worse
thing happen unto thee." And, John viii. " See that thou sin
no more." Now the foundation, whereon the whole virtue
and efficacy of this saving repentance doth stay itself, is the
merit of the torments of the death and resurrection of our
Lord and Saviour, whereof he himself saith, Luke xxiv.
" These things it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again
the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in his name to all people." And agam,
Mark i. " Repent, and beheve the gospel."
Also they teach, that they whose sm is public, and therefore
a public offence, ought to give an external testimony of their
repentance, when God doth give them the spirit of repentance,
and that for this cause, that it may be an argument and testi-
mony whereby it may be proved or made evident, that the
sinners which have fallen, and do repent, do truly convert
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 243
themselves : also that it may be a token of their reconciliation
with the Church and their neighbor, and an example unto
I others, which they may fear and reverence.
i Last of all, the whole matter is shut up with this or such
like clause of admonition : That everyone shall be condemned,
whosoever he be, which in this life doth not repent in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to that sentence pro-
nounced by Christ, " Except ye repent, ye shall all in like son
perish, as they did who were slain with the fall of the tower
of Siloam.
Hitherto also pertaineth that part of the same confession,
which treateth.
Of the time of Grace.
Furthermore, among all other things they teach, concei iiing
the time of grace, and the fatherly visitation, that men may
learn to consider, that all that time of age, they lead in this life,
is given them of God to be a time of grace, in the which they
may seek their Lord and God his grace and mercy, and tha^
they may be loved of him, and by this means obtain here
tlieir salvation in Christ ; whereof the apostle also made
mention in his sermon, which he preached at Athens, sayins-.
Acts xvii. " God hath assigned unto man the times, which
were^ordained before, and the bands of their habitations, that
they should seek the Lord, if so be they might have groped
after him, and found him." And by the prophet Isaiah the
Lord saith, Isa. xlix. " In an acceptable time have I heard
thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee." 2 Cor.
vi. *' Behold now (saith Saint Paul) is the accepted time,
now is the day of salvation." Therefore, at all t'mes the
people be admonished that whilst they live on the earth and
are in good health, and have in their hands and do presently
enjoy the time of grace offered by God, they would truly re-
pent and begin the amendment of their life, and reconcile
themselves to God : that they would stir up their conscience
by faith in Christ, and quiet it by the ministry of the gospel in
the Church, and herein confirm themselves, that God is mer-
ciful unto them, and remitteth all their sins for Christ's sake.
Therefore, when they are confirmed in this grace, which is
offered them to establish and confirm their calling, and do
faithfully exercise themselves in good works, then at the length
they are also in an assured hope to look for a comfortable end,
and they must certainly persuade themselves that they shall
244 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
assuredly be carried by the angels into heaven, and eternal
rest, as was the soul of that godly Lazarus, that they may be
there, where their Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ is, and
that afterward, in the day of resurrection, this soul shall be
joined again with the body, to take full possession of that joy
and eternal glory which cannot be expressed in words. For,
" they shall not come into condemnation," but by making a
way through it, they shall pass from death into life.
The epistle to the Hebrews, to stir us up to use such exhorta-
tions, saith, Heb. iv. " Exhort yourselves among yourselves,
exhort ye one another daily, so long as it is said to day. Let
no man among you be hardened by the deceit of sin. For
we enter into the rest, which have believed," that is, which
have obeyed the voice of God, while we had time given us.
On the other side, we must also hold this most assuredly,
that if any man, being polluted with sins and filthy deeds
manifestly contrary to virtue, do in dying depart out of this
world without true repentance and faith, that his soul shall
certainly go into hell, as did the soul of that rich man who
wanted faith, in the bottomloiSG pit, whereof there is no drop
of grace, and that in the day of judgment that most terrible
voice of the Son of God sounding in his ears shall be heard,
wherein he shall say, Matt. xxix. John v. " Depart from me
ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil
and his angels : for they which have done evil shall come
forth to the resurrection of judgment.
Therefore in teaching they do continually urge this, that
no man defer repentance and turning unto God, till he come
to be old, or till he lieth sick in his bed, and in the mean time
do boldly practise his wantonness in sins, and in the desires
of the flesh and the world, because it is written, " Do not say
the abundant mercy of the Lord will purge my sins : for
mercy and wrath do hasten with him, and his indignation shall
lie upon the sinners. Make no tarrying to turn unto the
Lord, and put not off from day to day, for suddenly shall the
wrath of the Lord break forth, and in thy security thou shalt
be destroyed, and thou shalt perish in time of vengeance."
But that especially is a most dangerous thing, if any man,
2ifter he hath received the gift of the grace of God, (and that
in the testimony of a good conscience,) doth of set purpose
and wantonly sin, and contemn, and make no account of all
those exhortations and allurements, proceeding out of a loving
heart, and that to this end, that he may in time think on that
which is for his health, and repent, and moreover doth persist
HARMONY or CONFESSIONS.
245
in a bold and blind persuasion of the mercy of God, and trust-
ing thereto, doth sin, and doth confidently abuse it, and goeth
forward in that sort without repentance, even unto the last
pinch, and then beginneth, being forced thereunto by the
terrors of death, and the fear of infernal punishments, so late
to convert himself, and to call for the mercy of the Lord, as
when the severe and intolerable anger of the Lord waxeth hot,
and punishments rush and break forth, as doth the great vio-
lence of floods, which cannot be resisted. Therefore of such
a man, (which thing we speak with sorrow,) it is hard to
believe that he can truly repent, and therefore it is to be
doubted, lest that be fulfilled in him which the Lord doth
threaten by the prophet Micah, that instead of grace he shall
feel the wrath of God, and that it will come to pass that the
wrath of God shall slay him. For in a fearful speech doth
he say thus, Micah iii. " Then shall they cry unto the Lord,
but he will not hear them, but he will hide his face from them
at that time, because they have continually lived wickedly."
Yea, the Lord himself saith, Ezekiel viii. " Although they
cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them,
seeing they would not hear my voice, when as all the day long
I spread out my hands unto them," and gave them large time
and space for grace. For the which cause the Holy Ghosi
crieth out and saith, Ps. xcv. Heb. ii. " To-day, if ye will
hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the grieving in
the day of that temptation in the wilderness."
Therefore, according to all these things, our men do dili-
gently, and out of the grounds of the scripture, exhort, that
every man do in time use and follow this faithful counsel, and
necessary doctrine, that so he may turn away the fear of this
most heavy danger ; yea, that he do not betray the health of
his own soul. For undoubtedly this horrible danger is gi*eatly
to be feared, lest whatsoever he be that doth rashly or stub-
bornly condemn or neglect this time of grace, so lovingly
granted of the Lord, he do receive, and that worthily, that
reward of eternal punishment which is due thereunto : even
as St. Ambrose also, amongst many other things, which he
handleth diversely to this purpose, doth thus write, and in
these words : " If any man at the very point of death shall
repent, and be absolved, (for this could not be denied unto
him,) and so departing out of this life dieth, I dare not say,
that he departeth hence in good case ; I do not affirm it, neither
dare I affirm or promise it to any man, because I would
deceive no man, seeing I have no certainty of him. Do I
22*
246 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS,
therefore say that he shall be damned 1 neither do I say that
he shall be delivered. For what other thing I should say, I
know not. Let him be commended to God. Wilt thou
then, 0 brother, be freed from doubting? repent whilst thou
art in health. If thou wilt repent when thou canst not sin,
thy sins have left thee, and not thou thy sins." Yet that no
man may despair, they teach this also, that if any man, in the
last hour of his life, show our signs of true repentance, which
thing doth fall out very seldom, (for that is certainly true which
is written in the epistle to the Hebrews, Heb. vi. "And this
will we also do, so that God give us leave to do it,") that such
a one is not to be deprived of instruction, comfort, absolution,
or remission of sins. For the time of grace doth last so long
as this life doth last : wherefore, so long as we live here, it is
meet that we should think of that prophetical and apostolical
sentence, Heb. iii. "To-day, seeing ye have heard his
voice, harden not your hearts." Now herein do our men
labor, and endeavor themselves most earnestly, that all men
may obey this loving commandment and counsel, and that
they speedily repent before the sun be darkened after a
strange manner, and the hills be overwhelmed with darkness;
and that laying sin aside, they would turn themselves to God,
by flying unto him in true confidence, and with a constant
invocation from the bottom of the heart, and that they do their
faithful endeavor, that they be not repelled from the glory of
eternal life, but that they may live with Christ and his Church
in this life for a time, and in the other life for ever, Amen.
THE CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG.
Touching repentance they teach, that such as have fallen
after baptism may find remission, at what time they return
again. And that the Church is bound to give absolution unto
such as return by repentance. Now repentance or the con-
version of the ungodly standeth properly of these two parts.
The one is contrition, that is, a terror stricken into the con-
science through the acknowledgment of sin, wherein we do
both perceive God's displeasure, and are grieved that we have
sinned, and do abhor and eschew sin, according as Joel
preacheth : " Rend your hearts, and not your garments, and
turn unto the Lord your God, " &c. The other part is faith,
which is begotten in us by the gospel, or by absolution, and
doth believe that the sins are undoubtedly forgiven for Christ's
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 247
sake, and doth comfort the conscience, freeing it from fears.
Of which faith spake St. Paul when he saith, " Being justified
by faith we have peace with God." Afterward there must
follow the good fruits of repentance, that is, obedience unto
God, according to that saying, " We are debtors not to the
flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye hve after the flesh, yo
shall die. But if by the spirit ye mortify the works of the
flesh, ye shall live."
They condemn the Novatians which would not absolve
them which have fallen after baptism returned to repentance.
They condemn also those that teach not that remission of
sins cometh freely by faith for Christ's sake, but labor to prove
thatremissionofsinscomethby the worthiness of contrition, of
charity, or of some other works, and would have men's con-
sciences in time of repentance to doubt whether they may
obtain remission, and do say plainly, that this doubting is no
sin. Likewise they condemn those which teach that canonical
satisfactions are necessary to redeem eternal pains, or the
pains of purgatory. Though we are of that mind that the
calamities of this life may be assuaged by good works, as
Isaiah teacheth, chap. Iviii. " Break thy bread unto the
hungry, and the Lord shall give thee rest continually." Be-
sides, they condemn the Anabaptists, who deny that they
that are once justified can again loose the Spirit of God. Also
they condemn those that stiffly hold that some may attain to
such a perfection in this life, as that they cannot sin any more.
THE MORAVIAN CONFESSION.
Article XII.
Concerning repentance, it is taught, that those, who have
sinned after baptism, may obtain remission of sins, and abso-
lution shall not be refused them by the church at any time,
when they do so repent. Now true and genuine repentance
is properly sorrow and grief, or to be in terror on account of
sin, and yet, at the same time, to believe in the gospel and in
absolution, that sin is forgiven, and grace purchased, through
Jesus Christ, which faith doth again comfort and pacify the
heart.
Afterwards shall also amendment follow, and that a man
leave ofl^from sins ; for this should be the fruit of repentance,
as John says, Matt. iii. " Bring forth fruits meet for repent-
ance."
248 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.
Of Effectual Calling.
1. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and
those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time,
effectually to call, by his word and Spirit, out of that state of
sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and sal-
vation by Jesus Christ ; enlightening their minds spiritually
and savingly, to understand the things of God, taking away
their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh ;
renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining
them to that which is good ; and effectually drawing them to
Jesus Christ ; yet so as they come most freely, being made
willing by bis grace.
2. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace
alone, not from any thing at all foreseen in man ; who is alto-
gether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by
the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and
to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.
3. Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regeneratea and
saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and
where, and how he pleaseth. So also are all other elect per-
sons, 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, yet they never truly come to Christ, and there-
fore cannot be saved : much less can men, not professing the
Christian religion, be saved in any other way whatsoever, be
they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the
light of nature, and the law of that religion they do profess ;
and to assert and maintain that they may, is very pernicious,
and to be detested.
Of Repentance unto Life.
1 . Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace, the doc-
trine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the
gospel, as well as that of faith in Christ.
2. By it a sinner, out of the sight and sense, not only of
the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his
sins, as contrary to the holy nature and righteous law of God,
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 249
and upon the apprehension of his mercy in Christ to such as
are penitent, so grieves for, and hates his sins, as to turn from
them all unto God, purposing and endeavoring to walk with
him in all the ways of his commandments.
3. Although repentance be not to be rested in as any
satisfaction for sin, or any cause of the pardon thereof, which
is the act of God's free grace in Christ; yet is it of such
necessity to all sinners, that none may expect pardon without it.
4. As there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation ;
so there is no sin so great, that it can bring damnation upon
those who truly repent.
5. Men ought not to content themselves with a general
repentance, but it is every man's duty to endeavor to repent
of his particular sins, particularly.
6. As every man is bound to make private confession of
his sins to God, praying for the pardon thereof; upon which,
and the forsaking of them, he shall find mercy: so he that
scandalizeth his brother, or the Church of Christ, ought to be
willing, by a private or public confession and sorrow tor his
sin, to declare his repentance to those that are offended ; who
are thereupon to be reconciled to him, and in love to receivq
him.
THE SAVOY CONFESSION.
Or Effectual Calling.
1. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and
those only, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time,
effectually to call by his word and Spirit, out of that state of
sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salva-
tion by Jesus Christ, enlightening their minds spiritually and
savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their
heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh, renew-
ing their wills, and by his Almighty power determining them
to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus
Christ : yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing
by his grace.
2. This efl^ectual call is of God's free and special grace
alone, not from any thing at all foreseen in man, who is alto-
gether passive therein, until being quickened and renewed by
the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and
to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.
3. Elect infants dving in infancv, are resQnerated and saved
250 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
by Christ, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth :
so also are all other elect persons, 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, yet not being effectually drawn by the Father,
they neither do nor can come unto Christ, and therefore can-
not be saved ; much less can men not professing the Christian
religion, be saved in any other way whatsoever, be they never
so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature,
and the law of that religion they do profess ; and to assert and
maintain that they may, is very pernicious, and to be detested.
Of Repektance ukto Life.
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 pleasures, God in their effectual calling giveth them
repentance unto life.
2. Whereas there is none that doth good, and sinneth not,
and the best of men may through the power and deceitfulness
of their corruptions dwelling in them, with the prevalency of
temptation, fall into great sins and provocations ; God hath
in the covenant of grace mercifully provided, that behevers so
sinning and falling, be renewed through repentance unto sal-
vation.
3. This saving repentance is an evangelical grace, whei*e-
by a person being by the Holy Ghost 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,
praying for pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and
endeavor, by supphes of the Spirit, to walk before God unto
all well-pleasing in all things.
4. As repentance is to be continued through the whole
course of our lives, upon the account of the body of deatii.
and the motions thereof ; so it is every man's duty to repent
of his particular known sins, particularly.
5. Such is the provision which God hath made through
Christ in the covenant of grace, for the preservation of be-
lievers unto salvation, that although there is no sin so small,
but it deserves damnation, yet there is no sin so great, that it
shall bring damnation on them who truly repent ; which makes
the constant preaching of repentance necessary.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 251
THE MENNONISTS' CONFESSION.
CONCERNIXG RePLNTANCE AND AmENDMEXT OF LlFE.
We believe and profess, since the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth, and therefore inclined to all
iniquity, sin, and wickedness, that therefore the first lesson of
the worthy New Testament of the Son of God, is repentance
and amendment of life ; and that so, men having ears to hear,
and hearts to understand, ought to bring forth sincere fruits of
repentance, mend their lives, believe the gospel, leave off the
evil, do the good, cease from iniquity, and depart from sin,
putting off the old man and his deeds, and putting on the
new man, created after God in his righteousness and hohness.
For neither baptism, nor supper, nor church, nor any other
outward ceremony, without faith, regeneration, change or
renewing of life, can avail to please God, or to obtain any
consolation or promise of salvation from him. But we must
come to God with a true heart, and in a perfect faith, and
believe in Jesus Christ, as the scripture saith and testifieth of
him ; by which faith remission of sin is obtained, and we
come to be sanctified, justified, and children of God, even his
Church, becoming partakers of his nature and substance, as
being born again and anew of God by the incorruptible seed.
THE WELCH CALVINISTIC METHODISTS" CONFESSION
Of Effectual Calling.
The Holy Spirit is a true God, a real and distinct person
in the Godhead ; equal in power and glory to the Father and
to the Son. It is he who reproves the world of sin ; regene-
rates men ; leads and comforts the children of God : and he
is to be their resurrection at the last day.
The work of the Holy Spirit on those who are to be saved
eternally, is a gracious, holy, effectual, and a perpetual work,
in accordance with the everlasting covenant, the effect of
eternal love, and the fruit of an efficacious redemption.
The applying of salvation is as necessary for the saving
of sinners as is its existence ; for without such an application,
it could answer no purpose to them. God, foreseeing this
262 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
from eternity, when he purposed in his eternal love to save
sinners, not only ordained his Son to be their complete salva-
tion, but the Holy vSpirit also to apply it.
The calling of the gospel contains a general publication of ^
good news to lost sinners, through Jesus Christ, and strongly
urges them to return to him for their eternal salvation. Where
this call is effectual, the promise of God works through it in
a gracious, invincible, and saving manner, for the quickening
of deceased sinners, the casting down of imaginations in the
thoughts of men, delivering them from the power of darkness,
translating them to the kingdom of his dear Son, making
them willing in the day of his power, and leading them into
all truth. All those to whom the gospel is the power of God
in a day of grace, shall at last be received into eternal glory,
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The new birth consists of a gracious and a supernatural
change by the might of the Spirit of God, in all who shall be
saved to life everlasting, by making them partakers of the
divine nature, which is a principle of that holy life which
effectually worketh in the whole man, and which therefore
causes him to be denominated a " new man. " God alone is
the author of this change, which he generally effects by the
preaching of the word. It is in scripture spoken of under
several names, as, quickening, forming Christ in the heart,
partaking of the divine nature, and circumcising the heart.
The end of this change is, to bring men to glorify God, by
bringing forth the fruits of righteousness ; and to purify the
soul, that it may be meet to hold communion and fellowship
mth God for ever.
Of Repentance unto Life.
Through this evangelical grace, the Holy Spirit makes man
palpably sensible of the great evil of sin ; through faith in
Christ, to become humble, and to hate himself on its account;
to hate sin with godly sorrow; earnestly to pray for pardon
for past sins ; to seek for strength to withstand them in future;
and to be quite determined, through the aid of the Spirit, to
walk before God, to all well-pleasing of him in all things.
This grace is to continue through the whole of the Chris-
tian's life, and this is necessary because the body of death
remains, and it is a man's duty to repent, not only of sin in
general, but also of his own particular sins.
HAHMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 253
There is such a provision made in the covenant for the
safety of behevers, that though there is no sin so small as to
be undeserving of damnation, yet the greatest will not bring
him under condemnation who sincerely repents. Therefore
the preaching of repentance is always necessary.
OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH, AND OF GOOD WORKS.
THE LATTER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA.
Op the true Justification of the Faithful.
To justify, in the apostle's disputation touching justitication,
doth signify to remit sins, to absolve from the fault and the
punishment thereof, to receive into favor, to pronounce a man
just. For the apostle saith, Rom. viii. " God is he that
justifieth, who is he that can condemn ?" where to justify, and
to condemn, are opposed. And in the acts of the apostles,
" 3 apostle saith, Acts xiii. " Through Christ is preached unto
you forgiveness of sins, and from all things (from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses) by him, every
one that believeth is justified. For in the law also and in the
prophets we read that, Deut. ii. 5. " If a controversy were
risen amongst any, and they came to judgment, the judge
should judge them, that is, justify the righteous, and make
wicked, or condemn the wicked." And in Isaiah v. " Wo
to tliem which justify the wicked for rewards. " Now it is
most certain, that we are all by nature sinners, and before the
judgment seat of God convicted of ungodliness, and guilty of
death. But we are justified, that is, acquitted from sin and
death, by God the judge, through the grace of Christ alone,
and not by any respect or merit of ours. For what is more
plain than that which Paul saith? Rom. iii. " AH have sin-
ned, and are destitute of the glory of God, and are justified
freely by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ
Jesus," For Christ took upon himself and bare the sins of
the world, and did satisfy the justice of God. God therefore
is merciful unto our sins for Christ alone that suffered and
rose again, and doth not impute them unto us. But he im-
puteth the justice of Christ unto us for our owe : so that now
23
254 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
we are not only cleansed from sin, and purged, and holy, but
also endued with the righteousness of Christ, yea, and acquit-
ted from sin, death, and condemnation : finally, we are righte-
ous, and heirs of eternal life. To speak properly then, it is
God alone that justifieth us, and that only for Christ, by not
imputing unto us our sins, but imputing Christ's righteousness
unto us.
But because we do receive this justification, not by any
works, but by faith in the mercy of God and in Christ : there-
fore we teach and believe with the apostle that sinful man is
justified only by faith in Christ, not by the law, or by any
works. For the apostle saith, Rom. iii. " We conclude that
man is justified by faith without the works of the law.^' Rom.
iv. " If Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof
to boast, but not with God. For what saith the scripture ?
Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righte-
ousness. But to him that worketh not, but believeth in him
that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteous-
ness." And again, Eph. ii. " You are saved by grace
through faith, and that not of yourselves : it is the gilt of God.
Not by works, lest any might have cause to boast," &c.
Therefore because faith doth apprehend Christ our righteous-
ness, and doth attribute all to the praise of God in Christ, in
this respect justification is attributed to faith chiefly because
of Christ, whom it receiveth, and not because it is a work of j
ours. For it is the gift of God. Now, that we do receive
Christ by faith, the Lord showeth at large, John vi. where
he putteth eating for beheving, and beheving for eating. For
as by eating we receive meat, so by beheving we are made
partakers of Christ. Therefore we do not part the benefit of
justification, giving part to the grace of God or to Christ, and
a part to ourselves, our charity, works, or merit, but we do
attribute it wholly to the praise of God in Christ, and that!
through faith. Moreover, our charity and our works cannot j
please God if they be done of such as are not just : wherefore
we must first be just, before we can love or do any just works.
We are made just (as we have said) through faith in Christy
by the mere grace of God, who doth not impute unto us our
sins, but imputeth unto us the righteousness of Christ, yea, ^
and our faith in Christ he imputeth for righteousness unto us.
Moreover the apostle doth plainly derive love fi-om faith, \
saying, 1 Tim. i. " The end of the commandment is love,
poceeding from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a faith
unfeigned. Wherefore in this matter we speak not of a feignecj.
uarmonv of confessions. 266
vain, or dead faith, but of a lively and quickening faith, which
for Christ (who is hfe, and iriveth life) whom it apprehendeth,
both is indeed, and is so called, a lively faith, and doth prove
itself to be lively, by lively works. And therefore James
doth speak nothing contrary to this our doctrine, for he speak-
eth of a vain and dead faith, which certain bragged of, but
had not Christ living within them by faith. And James also
saith that, James ii. "works do justify ;" yet he is not con-
trary to St. Paul, (for then he were to be rejected,) but he
showeth that Abraham did show his lively and justifying faith
by works. And so do all the godly, who yet trust in Christ alone,
not to their own works. For the apostle saith again. Gal. ii.
1 live, howbeit not I, but Christ liveth in me. But the life
which now I live in the flesh, I live through the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do
not despise the grace of God, for if righteousness be by the
lav,-, then Christ did in vain," &c.
< )r Faith and Good Wouks: Of their Reward akd op Man's
Merit.
Christian faith is not an opinion or human persuasion,
but a sure trust, and an evident and steadfast assent of the
mind ; to be brief, a most sure comprehension of the truth of
God set forth in the scriptures and in the apostle's creed, yea,
and of God himself, the chief blessedness, and especially of
God's promise, and of Christ, who is the consummation of all
tlie promises. And this faith is the mere gift of God, because
God alone of his power doth give it to his elect, according to
measure, and that when, to whom, and how much he will, and
tliat by his Holy Spirit, through the means of preaching the
gospel, and of faithful prayer. This faith hath also her in-
creases,whichunless they werelikewise given of God,the apos-
tles w ould never have said, Luke xi. "Lord increase our faith."
Now all these things which we have said hitherto of faith, the
apostles taught them before us, even as we set them down : for
Paul saith, Heb. xi. "Faith is the ground or sure substance of
things hoped for, and the evidence or clear and certain com-
prehension of things which are not seen." And again he saith
that, 2 Cor. i. " All the promises of God in Christ are yea,
and in Christ are amen." And the same apostle saith to the
Philippians, that " it was given them to believe in Christ."
And also, Rom. xii. "God doth distribute unto every man a
measure of faith." And again, 2 Thess. ii, and iii. "All
256 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
men have not faith, and all do not obey the gospel." Besides,
Luke witnesseth and saith, Acts xiii. "As many as were or-
dained to life, believed." And therefore he also calleth faith
"the faith of God's elect." And again, Rom. x. "Faith
Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." And
in another place he willeth men to pray for faith. And the
same also calleth faith. Tit. i. " Powerful, and that showeth
itself by love." This faith doth pacify the conscience, and
doth open unto as a free access unto God, that with confi-
dence we may come unto him, and may obtain at his hands
whatsoever is profitable and necessary. The same faith doth
keep us in our duty which we owe to God and to our neigh-
bor, and doth fortify our patience in adversity ; it doth frame
and make a true confession, and (in a word) it doth bring forth
good fruit of all sorts ; and good works which are good indeed
do proceed from a lively faith, by the Holy Ghost, and are
done of the faithful according to the will or rule of God's
word. For Peter the apostle saith, " Therefore giving all
diligence thereunto, join moreover virtue with your faith, and
with virtue knowledge, and with knowledge temperance," &c.
It was said before that the law of God, which is the will of
God, did prescribe unto us the pattern of good works. And
the apostle saith, 1 Thes. iv. " This is the will of God, even
your sanctification, that you abstain from all uncleanness, and
that no man oppress or deceive his brother in any matter."
But as for such works and worships of God as are taken up
upon our o^vn liking, which St. Paul calleth " will-worship,"
they are not allowed, nor liked of God. Of such the Lord
saith in the gospel. Matt. xv. " They worship me in vain,
teaching for doctrine the precepts of men." We therefore
disallow all such manner of works, and we approve and urge
men unto such as are according to the will and commandment
of God : Yea, and these same works that are agreeable to
God's will, must be done, not to the end to merit eternal life
by them, for " life everlasting," as thfe apostle saith, " is the
gift of God :" nor for ostentation's sake, which the Lord doth
reject, Matt. vi. nor for lucre, which also he misliketh. Matt,
xxiii. but to the glory of God, to commend and set forth our
calling, and to yield thankfulness unto God, and also for the
profit of our neighbors. For the Lord saith again in the gos-
pel, Matt. V. " Let your hght so shine before men, that they
may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is
in heaven." Likewise the apostle Paul saith, Ephe. iv.
" Walk worthy of your calling :" Also, Col. iii. " Whatso-
I
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 257
ever you do (saith he) either in word, or in deed, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by
him. Let no man seek his own, but every man his brother's."
And, Phil. iv. Tit. iii. " Let ours also learn to show forth
good works for necessary uses, that they be not unprofitable."
Notwithstanding therefore that we teach with the apostle that
a man is justified by faith in Christ, and not by any good
works, yet we do not lightly esteem or condemn good works :
because we know that a man is not created or regenerated
through faith, that he should be idle, but rather that without
ceasing he should do those things which are good and profita-
ble. For in the gospel the Lord saith. Matt. xii. " A good
tree bringeth forth good fruit." And again, John xv. " Who-
soever abideth in me, bringeth forth good fruit." And lastly
the apostle saith, Ephe. ii. " We are the workmanship of
God, created in Christ Jesus to good wOrks, which God hath
prepared, that we should walk in them." And again, Tit. ii.
" Who gave himself for us, that he might deliver us from all
iniquity, and purge us to be a pecuhar people to himself, zeal-
ous of good works." We therefore condemn all those which
do contemn good works, and do babble that they are needless,
and not to be regarded. Nevertheless, as was said before,
we do not think that we are saved by good works, or that they
are so necessary to salvation, that no man was ever saved
without them. For we are saved by grace, and by the benefit
of Christ alone. Works do necessarily proceed from faith :
but salvation is improperly attributed to them, which is most
properly ascribed to grace. That sentence of the apostle is
very notable, Rom. xi. " If by grace, then not of works :
for then grace were no more grace : But if of works, then is
it not of grace : for then works were no more works."
Now the works which we do are accepted and allowed of
God through faith, because they which do them please God
by faith in Christ, and also the works themselves are done by
the grace of God through his Holy Spirit. For Saint Peter
saith that. Acts x. *♦ Of every nation, he that feareth God,
and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." And
Paul also. Col. i. " We cease not to pray for you, that you
may walk worthy of the Lord, and in all tilings please him,
being fruitful in every good work." Here therefore we dili-
gently teach not false and philosophical, but true virtues, true
good works, and the true duties of a Christian man. And this we
do with all diligence and earnestness that we can, inculcate
and beat into men's minds, sharply reproving the slothfulness
23*
258 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
and hypocrisy of all those who with their mouths praise and
profess the gospel, and yet with their shameful life do dishonor
the same, setting before their eyes in this case God's horrible
threatenings, large promises, and bountiful rewards, and that
by exhorting, comforting, and rebuking. For we teach, that
God doth bestow great rewards on them that do good, accor-
ding to that saying of the prophet, Isa. iv. " Refrain thy voice
from weeping, because thy work shall have a reward." In
the gospel also the Lord said, Mark v. and x. " Rejoice,
and be glad, because your reward is great in the heavens."
And, " He that shall give to one of these little ones a cup of
cold water, verily I say unto you he shall not loose his reward."
Yet we do not attribute this reward, which God giveth, to the
merit of the man that receiveth it, but to the goodness or
liberality, and truth of God, which promiseth and giveth it :
who although he owe nothing unto any, yet he hath promised
to give a reward to those that faithfully worship him, notwith-
standing that he do also give them grace to worship him.
Besides there are many things unworthy the majesty of God,
and many imperfect things are found in the works even of the
saints, and yet because God doth receive into favor, and em-
brace the works of them for Christ's sake, therefore he per-
formeth unto them the promised reward. For otherwise, our
righteousnesses are compared to a menstruous cloath, yea, and
the Lord in the gospel saith, I^uke xvii. " When you have
done all things that are commanded you, say, we are unprofit-
able servants : that which we ought to do we have done." So
that though we teach that God doth give a reward to our good
deeds, yet withal we teach with Augustine, that " God doth
crown in us, not our deserts, but his own gifts." And therefore
whatsoever reward we receive, we say that it is a grace, and
rather a grace then a reward : because those good things
which we do, we do then rather by God than by ourselves :
and because Paul saith, 1 Cor. iv. ^ '* What hast thou that
thou hast not received 1 If thou hast received it, why dost
thou boast as though thou hadst not received it ?' And that
which the blessed martyr Cyprian doth gather out of this place,
" That we must not boast of any thing, seeing nothing is our
own." We therefore condemn those who defend the merits
of men, that they may make frustrate the grace of God.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 259
THE CONFESSION OF BOHEMIA.
Ov Christ our Lord, and of Justification by Faith.
The sixth point of Christian doctrine in our churches is,
as touching sound and lively faith in Jesus Christ our Lord,
and of true justification by this faith. And a little after, our
men are taught to acknowledge this grace and truth, and in
all the saving and wonderful works which Christ brought to
effect, by faith to behold those things which, according to the
meaning of the holy scripture, are in a steadfast faith to be
believed and professed : such are these, the coming of Christ
from heaven, his conception, nativity, torments, death, buriaL,
resurrection, ascending into heaven, his sitting at the right
hand of God, and his coming again from thence to judge the
quick and the dead. In these principal effects, as in a chest
wherein treasure is kept, are all those saving fruits of true
justification laid up, and from thence they are taken for the
elect and faithful, that in spirit and conscience by faith thev
may be made partakers thereof, all which shall hereafter be
perfectly and fully given unto them, in the day of that joyful
resurrection. These things are also found in the sixth sec-
tion, so far forth as they describe the works of Christ, and th©
fruits thereof.
Out of this foundation of this justifying faith, and of true
and perfect justification thereby, according to evident and
clear testimonies in the scriptures, we are further taught :
first, that no man by his own strength, or by the power of his
own will, or of flesh and blood, can attain unto, or have this
saving or justifying faith, except God of his grace, by the holy
Ghost, and by the ministry of the gospel preached, do plant
it in the heart of whom he list, and when he list : so that that
heart may receive all things which are offered to salvation,
and made known touching the same, by the public preaching
of the word, and by the sacraments instituted of Christ
Hereof holy John Baptist saith, John iii. " Man can take
nothing to himself, except it be given him from above." Also,
our Lord Christ himself saith, John vi. " IVo man cometh
to me except the Father which sent me do draw him." And
a little after, " Except it be given him of my Father," that is,
from above, by the Holy Ghost. And to Peter Christ said.
Matt. xvi. " Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto
thee."
260 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
Now this faith properly is an assent of a wilhng heart to
the whole truth delivered in the gospel, ^vhereby man is light-
ened in his mind and soul, that he may rightly acknowledge
and receive for his only Saviour, his God, and Lord Jesus
Christ, and upon him, as on a true rock, he may build his
whole salvation, love, follow, and enjoy him, and repose all
his hope and confidence in him : and by this vahant confi-
dence he may lift up himself, and trust that for him and his
only merit, God is become to him loving, gentle, bountiful,
and also that in him, and for him, he assuredly hath, and shall
have for ever, eternal life, according to his true promise, which
he confirmed with an oath, saying, John vi. " Yerily I say
unto you, he that believeth in me hath eternal life." And,
" This is the will of him that sent me, that he which seeth the
son and believeth in him, shall have eternal life, and I will
raise him up in the last day." Also, " This is life eternal,
that they know thee the true God, and whom thou hast sent,
Jesus Christ." And Isaiah saith, " By his knowledge shall
my righteous servant jusfify many." This faith alone, and
this inward confidence of the heart in Jesus Christ our Lord,
doth justify, or make a man just before God, without any
works which he may add, or any merit of his : of which St.
Paul saith, Rom. iv. " But to him that worketh not at all,
but believeth in him that justifieth the wicked man, his faith is
imputed for righteousness." And before he said, Rom. iii.
" But now is the righteousness of God made manifest without
the law, having witness of the law and of the prophets : to wit
the righteousness of God, by the faith of Jesus Christ unto
all and upon all that believe." And in another place, Acts
xiii. " He that believeth in him, is made righteous." And
this righteousness or justification is the remission of sins, the
taking away of eternal punishment, which the severe justice
of God doth require, and to be clothed with Christ's righteous-
ness, or with imputation thereof : also it is a reconciliation
with God, a receiving into favor, whereby we are made accep-
table in the beloved and fellow heirs of eternal life. For the
confirming of which things, and by reason of our new birth or
regeneration, there is an earnest added, to wit, the Holy
Ghost, who is given and bestowed freely, out of that infinite
grace, for Christ his death, blood shedding, and his resun-ec-
tion. All these things hath Paul described very excellently
in his epistle to the Romans, where he bringeth in David
speaking in this wise, Ps. xxxii. " Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven :" whereof he speaketh in that whole
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 261
chapter. And to the Galatians he saith, Ga!. iv. " God sent
forth his Son, that we might receive the adoption. Rom. viii.
'* Now because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of
his Son, crying in your hearts, Abba, Father." For whom-
soever God doth justify, to them lie doth give the Holy Ghost,
and by him he doth first regenerate them, as he promiseth by
the prophet : saying, Eze. xi. " I will give them a new heart,
and I will put my Spirit in the midst of them," that as before
sin had reigned in them to death, so also then grace might reign
by righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ. And
this is the communion or participation of the grace of God
tJie Father, of the merit of Jesus Christ our Lord, and of the
sanctilication of the Holy Ghost : this is the law of faith, the
law of the Spirit, and life, written by the Holy Ghoftt.
But the lively and never dying spring of this justification, is
our Lord Jesus Christ alone, by those his saving works, that
is, which give salvation, from whom all holy men from the
beginning of the world, as well before the law was published,
and under the law, and the discipline thereof, as also after the
law, have and do draw, have and do receive salvation or re-
mission of their sins by faith in the most comfortable promise
of the gospel : and do apply and appropriate it as peculiar to
themselves, only for the sole death of Christ, and his blood-
shedding, to the full and perfect abolishing of their sins, aW
the cleansing from them all, whereof we have many testimo-
nies in the scripture. Holy Peter, before the Vvhole country
at Jerusalem, doth prove by sound arguments that. Acts iv.
" Salvation is not to be found in any other, than in Christ Jesus
alone, and that under this large cope of heaven, there is no
other name given unto men whereby we may be saved."
And in another, place he appealcth to the consenting voices
and testimonies of all the prophets, who spake with one mind,
and by one spirit, as it were by one mouth : and thus he said.
Acts X. " As touching this Jesus, all the prophets bear
witness, that through his name all that believe in him shall
receive remission of sins." And to the Hebrews it is written,
Heb. i. " He hath by himself purired our sins." And again,
Eph. i. " We have redemption through his blood, even the
remission of sins." And St. John saith, 1 John ii. " We
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,
and he is the propitiation or atonement for our sins, and not
for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." And
again to the Hebrews, Heb. x. "We are sanctified by the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once made : and a little
262 HA-RMON? OF CONFESSIONS.
after he addeth, " with one only offering hath he consecrated
for ever them that are sanctified," namely of God, by the
Spirit of God. Therefore, all sinners and such as are peni-
tent ought to fly incontinently through their whole life to our
Lord Jesus Christ alone, for remission of their sins, and every
savmg grace, according to that in the epistle to the Hebrews,
Heb. iv. " Seeing that we have a great high priest, even
Jesus the Son of God, which is entered into heaven, let us
hold fast this profession," which is concerning Christ our
Lord : and straightway he addeth, " Let us therefore go boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help in time of need." Also Christ himself, crying
out, saith, John vii. *' He that thirsteth, let him come to me and
drink." And in another place, John vi. " He that cometh unto
me shall not hunger : and he that believeth in me, shall never
thirst." Now they that attain to this justification by Christ
our Lord, are taught to take unto themselves true and assured
comfort, out of this grace and bounty of God, to enjoy a good
and quiet conscience before God, to be certain of their own
salvation, and to have it confirmed to them by this means, that
seeing they are here the sons of God, they shall also after
death in the resurrection be made heirs. In the mean time
they ought both to desire to be brought to this, that they may
rei^eive the fruit of perfect salvation, and also cheerfully to
look for it, with that confidence, according to the promise of
the Lord, that such shall not come into judgment, but that by
making a way, they have already passed from death into life.
Of all other points of doctrine we account this the chiefest
and weightiest, as that wherein the sum of the gospel doth
consist, Christianity is founded, and the precious and most
noble treasure of eternal salvation, and the only and lively
comfort proceeding from God, is comprehended. Therefore
herein our preachers do labor especially, that they may well
instruct the hearts of men in this point of doctrine, and so sow
it, that it may take deep root.
Of Good Works and a Christian Life.
In the seventh place, we teach, that they who are made
righteous and acceptable to God, by faith alone in Christ
Jesus, and that by the grace of God without any merits, ought
in the whole course of their life that followeth both altogether
jointly, and every one particularly, according as the order.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 263
condition, age, and place of every one doth require, to per-
form and exercise those good works and holy actions which
are commanded of God, even as God commandeth, when he
saith, " Teach them to observe all things which I have com-
manded you." Now these good works or holy actions, are
not certain affections devised of flesh and blood, (for such the
Lord forbiddeth,) but they are expressly shewed and pro-
pounded unto us by the Spirit of God, to do the which God
doth bind us, the rule and chief square whereof God himself
is in his word : for so he saith l3y the prophet, Ezek. xx.
" Walk not in the commandments of your fathers, and keep
not their judgments, and defile not yourselves with their idols :
I am Jehovah your God ; walk ye in my commandments, and
keep my judgments, and do them." Likewise Christ saith,
Matt, xviii. " Teach them those things which I have com-
manded you." Therefore the ten commandments, and love
which by faith worketh righteousness, on the right hand and
on the left hand, as well toward God as toward our neighbor,
is a certain sum, a most straight square, and a most artificial
shaping and description of all good works. Now an example
of this square is the most holy life of Christ, whereof he him-
self saith. Matt. xi. " Learn ot me, because I am meek and
humble in heart." And what other thing would he teach, by
uttering these eight sentences of happiness, than to show
what manner of life the true children of God ought to lead,
and what be the works which God hath commanded.
Therefore, according to these things they teach with all
care and diligence, touching the difference which is to be
known and kept betwixt those works which are devised and
taught of men, and those which are commanded of God.
Those works which are commanded of God, ought not to be
intermitted for human traditions. For Christ doth grievously
reprehend this in them that do otherwise, and in the phari-
sees, saying, Matt. xv. '* Why do you transgress the com-
mandments of God for your traditions ?" And again, " In
vain do they worship *me, seeing they do only teach the com-
mandments of men." But such works as are taught of men,
what show soever they have even of goodness, are in no case
to be so highly esteemed as those which are commanded of
God. Yea, to say somewhat more, if they be not of faith,
but contrary to faith, they are of no value at all, but are an
abomination and filthiness before the face of God. Now all
good works are divided, first, generally, into those which per-
tain to all true Christians, according to the unity of faith and
264 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
catholic salvation. Secondly, they are divided particularly
into those which are proper to the order, age, and place of
every man, as the Holy Ghost doth severally teach elders,
masters, the common sort ; parents, children, the married,
the unmarried, and every one, what be their proper bonds and
works. Moreover, in this point men are diligently taught to
know how, and wherein, good works do please God. Truly,
they please God no otherwise, than in the only name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name they ought to be done to
the glory of God, according to the doctrine of Paul the apostle
who speaketh thus, Col. iii. " Whatsoever you do in words
and in deeds, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus." And
the Lord himself saith, 1 Cor. x. John xv. " Without me ye
can do nothing," that is, nothing that may please God, and be
your salvation. Now to do good works in the name of Chri^,
is to do them in a lively faith in him, whereby we are justified,
and in love, which is poured fourth into our hearts by the
Holy Ghost, in such sort that God loveth us, and we again
love him and our neighbor. For the Holy Ghost doth sanc-
tify, move, and kindle the hearts of them which are justified,
to do these holy actions, as the Lord saith, John xiv. " Hejshall
be in you :" And the apostle, 1 John ii. " The anointing
of God teacheth you." These two, faith and love, are the
fountain and square of all virtues and good works, according to
the testimony of the apostle, 1 Tim. i. " The end of the
commandment is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience,
and faith not feigned. And again, Heb. xi. " Without faith
it is not possible to please God." Also, 1 Cor. xiii. " With-
out love, nothing doth profit a man."
In the next place they teach why, and to what purpose or
end, such good works as pertain to Christian godliness, ought
to be done ; to wit, not in this respect, that men by these
works should obtain justification or salvation, and remission
of sins. (For Christ saith, Luke xvii. " When you have
done all tliose things w^hich were commanded you, say, we are
unprofitable servants." Also, Paul saith, Titus iii. " Not
for the works of righteousness which we have done, but
through his mercy hath he saved us." Wherewith all those
words of David agree, when he prayeth,Ps. cxliii. " Lord, enter
not into judgment with thy servant, because that in thy sight shall
no flesh living be justified.") But Christians are to exercise
themselves in good works, for these causes following : First,
that by this means they may prove and declare their faith,
and by these works be known to be true Christians, that is,
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 265
the lively members and followers of Christ, whereof our Lord
saith, Luke vi. " Every tree is known by his own fruits."
Indeed good works are assured arguments, and signs, and
testimonies, and exercises of a lively faith, even of that faith
which lieth hid in the heart, and to be short, of the true fruit
thereof, and such as is acceptable to God. Paul saith, Gal. iL
"Christ liveth in me : for in that I now live in the flesh, I
live by faith in the Son of God." And truly it cannot be other-
wise, but that as sin doth bring forth death, so faith, and
justification, which ariseth thereout, doth bring forth life,
inwardly in the spirit, and outwardly in the works of charityr
Secondly, we must therefore do good works, that Christians
might confirm and build up their election and vocation in
themselves, and preserve it by taking heed that they fall not in
mortal sins, even as Saint Peter teacheth, among other things
writing thus, 2 Peter i. " ^Therefore brethren endeavor rather
to make your election and vocation sure, or to confirm it."
And how this may be done, he doth briefly declare a little
! before. " Therefore giving all diligence thereunto, join virtue
with your faith : and with virtue, knowledge : and with know-
ledge, temperance : and with temperance, patience : and with
patience, godliness : and with godliness, brotherly kindness :
and with brotherly kindness, love. For if these things be
among you, and abound in you, they will make you that you
neither shall be idle, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ." In which place Saint Peter doth evi-
dently show that we must endeavor to exercise ourselves in
good works, first for this cause, lest that the grace of faith and
a good conscience, which we have, be either lost or defiled, but
that it may rather be preserved. (For the Holy Ghost doth flj
from idolaters, and departeth from profane men, and the evil and
impure spirit doth return into an empty and idle house. Also,
whosoever doth either loose, or defile a good conscience,
what commendable thing, or what work can he do that is
precious and acceptable to God ? how shall he give himself
to prayer ?) Secondly, for this cause, that we may profit and
increase more and more in this grace, and that we may gain
unto the Lord, by occupying those talents which are com-
mitted to our trust : whereof Saint Paul saith, 2 Cor. iii. " Now
we all beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord with
open face, are changed into the same image from clory to
glory:" that is, we behold Christ, who is the image and glory
of the Father, and herein we endeavor that we may be con-
formed to the hkeness of this image, by the Holy Ghost,
24
266 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
which doth kindle us thereunto, till this image doth get her
perfection, by the blessed resurrection. Thirdly, we must do
and exercise ourselves in good works, as well for the promises
of this life, as also for the reward of eternal life, (whereof
mention is made very often and at large in the holy scripture)
and that by faith in Christ we have a more easy entrance to
the attaining of those rewards, and to the eternal kingdom of
heaven, as Saint Peter testifieth, saying, 2 Peter i* " If ye
do these things, ye shall never fall. For by this means an
entering shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
But chiefly we must do the works of mercy, whereby we may
benefit our neighbor, whereby we provide and do for him and
whereof he standeth in need, such as these be, to give alms,
to visit the sick, to have a care of them, or to be at hand to
do them service, to teach the simple, by counsel and labor to
help others, to pardon ojffences, and such like, which all have
the promises of the bountifulness of God and of rewards, to do
the which Christ our Lord doth exhort in these words, Luke vi.
" Be ye merciful, as your Father is merciful. Give, and it
shall be given to you ; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven."
And in another place, Luke xii. " Sell your goods, and give
alms : get you bags which wax not old, a treasure that cannot
fail in heaven, where no thief cometh, and where the moth
corrupteth nothing." Also, Luke xiv. " TV hen thou makest
a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and
thou shalt be blessed, because they cannot recompense thee,
for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."
Also, " I was an hungered, I thirsted, I was a stranger, naked,
sick, and in prison, and in all things ye helped me by your
service : Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did these
things to one of the least of my brethren, ye did them to me.
Come hither, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you before the beginning of the world." By
these it is plain and manifest, that those works which proceed
of faith do please God, and are rewarded with abundant grace,
to wit, with the recompense of all kind of good things and
blessings, both in this life, and in the Hfe to come.
Lastly, this doctrine is shut up with this or such hke exhor-
tation, that no man can perfectly do these works of Christian
godliness, or fully perform the commandments of God, and
that no man can be found, who doth not fail in any part hereof,
and who is clean without sin : as it is written, Eccle. vii.
" There is not a man so just on the earth, who doth uprightly
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 267
and not sin :" and that therefore every one ought to seek and
to enjoy his perfection in Christ Jesus, in his grace, precious
sacrifice and merit, by that faith and his justification, which
consisteth in the remission of sins, if he will not have any
thing in himself that may deserve damnation. For Christ
alone is our perfection, and fulfilling of the law, our life and
righteousness, aud whosoever receive him by faith, and do
wholly trust in him, these men have all their sins washed away
in the blood of Christ, so that afterward they need not to fear
condemnation. For thus Paul wiiteth, Rom. viii. " There-
fore now there is no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus, which do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit." For to these men, 1 Cor. i. " Christ
is made of God wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption."
THE FRENCH CONFESSION.
We believe that our whole righteousness doth consist in the
remission of our sins, which is also as David doth testify, our
only felicity. Therefore we do utterly reject all other means,
whereby men do think that they may be justified before God,
and casting away all opinion of virtues and merits, we do alto-
gether rest in the only obedience of Jesus Christ, which is
imputed to us, both that all our sins may be covered, and also
that we may obtain grace before God. To conclude, we
believe that we cannot find where to rest ourselves, if we
dechne never so little from this foundation, but rather we shall
be always unquiet, because vve are not at peace with God, till
we be certainly persuaded, that we are loved in Jesus Christ,
because that in ourselves we are worthy of all hatred.
We believe that by faith alone we are made partakers of
this righteousness, as it is written, He suffered, to purchase
salvation for us, " That whosoever believeth in him should
not perish." And this is therefore done, because the promises
of life offered to us in him, are then applied to our use, and
made effectual to us, when we do embrace them, nothing
doubting but that we shall enjoy those things whereof the
Lord by his own mouth hath assured us. Therefore that
righteousness which we obtain by faith, doth depend upon
free promises, whereby the Lord doth declare and testify,
that we are beloved of him.
We believe that by the secret grace of the Holy Ghost, we
are endued with the light of faith, which is the free gift of
268 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
God, and is proper to them alone, to whom it pleased God to
give it, so that the faithful have not whereof to boast in them-
selves, seeing that rather they are more than double debtors,
because they are preferred before others. And further we be-
lieve, that faith is given to the elect, not that they might once
only be brought into the right way, but rather that they may go
forward therein unto the end, because that as the beginning is
of God, so is also the accomplishment.
We believe that we, who by nature are the servants of sin,
are regenerated unto a new life, by means of this same faith :
and by this faith we receive grace to live holily, whilst we do
embrace that evangehcal promise, that the Lord will give unto
us the Holy Ghost. Therefore it is so far that faith should
extinguish the desire to live well and holily, that it doth rather
increase and kindle it in us : whereupon good works do neces-
sarily follow. Nevertheless, although God, that he may fully
save us, do regenerate us, and frame us to a holy life ; yet
we confess that the good works which we do by the direction
of his Spirit, are not so regarded of God, as that we should
be justified thereby, or deserve to be counted the children of
God, because we should waver with a perpetual doubting and
trembling, unless we should rely upon that only satisfaction,
whereby Christ Jesus hath discharged us of the punishment
or forfeit for our offence.
THE ENGLISH CONFESSION.
Besides, though we say, we have no need at all by your
own works and deeds, but appoint all the means of our salva-
tion to be in Christ alone, yet say we not that for this cause
men ought to live loosely, and dissolutely : nor that it is enough
for a Christian to be baptized only, and to believe : as though
there were nothing else required at his hand. For true faith
is lively, and can in no wise be idle. Thus therefore teach
"we the people, that " God hath called us," not to follow riot,
and wantonness, but as Saint Paul saith, " Unto good works, to
walk in them :" That " we are delivered from the power of
darkness, to the end that we should serve the living God :"
to cut away all the remnants of sin, and " to work our salvation
in fear and trembling," that it may appear that the Spirit of
sdnctification is in our bodies, and that Christ himself dwelleth
in our hearts.
mCR'SlOfiY OF CONFESSIONS. 269
THE THIRTY -NINE ARTICLES OF THE CHURCH OF
ENGLAND.
Op the Justification of Man.
We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith ; and not for
our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justi-
fied by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full
of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of
Justification.
Of Good Works.
Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and
follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure
the severity of God's judgment, yet are they pleasing and
acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out, necessarily,
of a true and lively faith : insomuch that by them a lively
faith may be as evidently known, as a tree discerned by the fruit.
Of Works before Justification.
Works done before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration
of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God ; forasmuch as they
spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men
meet to receive grace, or (as the school authors say) deserve
grace of congruity : yea rather, for that they are not done as
God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt
not but they have the nature of sin.
THE CONFESSION OF BELGIA.
We believe that the Holy Ghost dwelling in our hearts, doth
bestow upon us true faith, that we may attain unto the know-
ledge of this so great a mystery. The which faith doth
embrace Jesus Christ, with all his merits, doth challenge him
unto itself, as proper and peculiar, and doth seek for nothing
besides him. For it is necessary that either all those things
which are required unto our salvation be not in Christ, or if
all be in him, that then he which by faith possesseth Jesus
Christ, hath also perfect salvation. Therefore it is an horri-
-24*
270 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
ble blasphemy against God, to affirm that Christ is not sufficienl,
but that we have need of other means besides him. For there-
upon it should follow, that Christ is only in part our Saviour.
Wherefore we do justly say with St. Paul, that " we are justi-
fied by faith alone," or " by faith without the works of the law."
Yet to speak properly, we do not mean that faith by itself, or
of itself, doth justify us, which is but only as an instrument,
whereby we apprehend Christ, which is our justice. Christ
therefore himself is our righteousness, which imputeth all his
merits unto us : faith is but the instrument, whereby we are
coupled unto him, by a participation and communion of all his
benefits, and whereby we are kept in that fellowship. So that
all those, our effects are even more than enough unto us for
our absolution from all our sins.
We believe that all our felicity doth consist in the remission
of our sins, which we have by Jesus Christ, and that in it
alone all our righteousness before God is contained, as St.
Paul teacheth, out of the prophet David, who declareth the
happiness of those men to whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. And the same apostle saith, Romans
iii. and iv, that " we are justified by the redemption made
in Christ Jesus." We therefore, leaning upon this as
a sure foundation, do yield all glory unto God, having a most
base and humble opinion of ourselves, knowing full well who
and what manner of creatures we be indeed. Therefore we
do not presume of ourselves, or of any of our own merits,
but being upholden by the only obedience of Christ crucified,
we do rest altogether in it : and to the intent it may become
ours, we believe in him. This righteousness alone is all-suf-
ficient, both to cover all our iniquities, and also to make us
safe and secure against all temptations. For it doth drive
from our consciences all fear, all horror and dread, whereby
we might be hindered from approaching to God, and need not
to imitate the example of our first father, who for fear flying
from the presence of God, went about to hide and cover him-
self with fig leaves. And truly, if we trusting unto ourselves
never so little, or to any other creature, should present our-
selves before the Majesty of God, it is certain we should by
and by be overwhelmed with it. Therefore every one of us
must rather cry out with David, and say, " Lord enter not
into judgment with thy servants, for in thy sight shall no man
living be justified."
We believe that this true faith, being bestowed upon every
one of us by the hearing of the word God, and the operation
HARMO!JY OF CONFESSIONS. 291
of the Holy Spirit, doth regenerate us, and make us as it were
new men, raising us up unto newness of life, and setting us
free from the bondage of sin. Wherefore this justifying faith
is so far from withdrawing men from a right and holy kind of
living, or from making them more faint in godliness, that on
the contrary side, no man without it can perform any good
thing, to this end, that God may have the glory, but men do
all things, either in regard of themselves, or else for fear of
just condemnation. Therefore it cannot be, that this holy
faith should be idle in a man. Neither do we speak of a vain
and dead faith, but only of that which in the scripture is said
*' to work by love," and which moveth a man to exercise him-
self in those works which God himself hath commanded in his
word. But these works which do come from the sincere root
of faith, are therefore good and acceptable unto God, because
they be sanctified by his grace, but are nothing available to
justify us. For we are justified by faith in Christ, yea, even
before such time, as we could bring forth any good work,
for our works before faith can no more be good, than the fruit of
a good tree, before that the tree itself be good. Therefore
we do good works, yet not to merit any thing by them. For
what is it possible for us to merit I Nay, rather we, by
reason of the good works which we do, (if we do any) are
more bound unto God, than God vmto us : for " God is he which
worketh in us both the will and the deed, of his own free
mercy." Whereupon it is our duty always to have a regard
unto that which is written, " when ye have done all that is
commanded you, say, that we are unprofitable servants, for we
have done that which we ought to do." Furthermore, we do
not hereupon deny that God doth recompense good works in
those that be his ; but we affirm that this recompense cometh
of his mere grace, because he crowneth his own gifts in us.
Yea, although we do good works, yet we do not put any hope
of salvation in them. For we are not able to bring forth any
works which are not polluted with the corruption of our
flesh, and for that cause be worthy of punishment. If it were
granted, that we were able to bring forth any such works, yet
the bare remembrance of our sins were sufficient to remove
that work out of the sight of God. Therefore we should
always stand in doubt, staggering as it were this way and that
way, and our miserable consciences should be in continual
torment, unless they should rely upon the only merit of our
Saviour Christ, his death and passion, and rest in it alone.
272 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
THE CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG.
That we might obtain these benefits of Christ's, namely,
remission of sins, justification, and life everlasting, Christ
hath given his gospel : wherein these benefits are laid forth
unto us, as it is written in the last of Luke, that " repentance
should be preached and remission of sins in his name among
all nations." For whereas all men born after a natural man-
ner have sin in them, and cannot truly satisfy the law of God,
the gospel bewrayeth our sin, and showeth us Christ the Me-
diator, and so instructeth us touching remission of sins. When
as tlie gospel doth convict us of sin, ourhearts thereby terrified,
must firmly believe that there is given unto us freely for
Christ's sake, that remission of sins, and justification by faith,
by the which we must believe and confess that these things
are given us for Christ's sake, who was made an oblation, and
hath appeased the Father's wrath for us. Notwithstanding
therefore that the gospel do require repentance, yet to the end .
that the remission of our sins may be certain and undoubted,
it teacheth us that remission is given us freely, that is, that it
doth not depend upon the condition of our own worthiness,
nor is given for any works that went before, nor for the wor-
thiness of such as follow after. For then should remission be
uncertain, if we should think that then only we obtain remis-
sion of sins, when we had deserved it by our former works, or
when our repentance were well worthy of it. For in true ter-
rors the conscience findeth no work which it may oppose
against God's wrath, but Christ is given and set forth unto us
to appease the wrath of God. This honor must not be trans-
ferred from Christ unto our own works, therefore Paul saith,
" Ye are saved freely." Again, " Therefore by faith, freely,
that the promise might be sure," that is, thus shall remission
be certain, when we know that it dependeth not upon the con-
dition of our unworthiness, but is given us for Christ's sake.
This is a sure and necessary comfort to all godly minds that
are terrified with the conscience of their sins. And thus do
the holy fathers teach, and there is a notable sentence in Saint
Ambrose worthy the remembering, in these words : "This
God hath appointed, that he which beheveth in Christ should
be saved, without any work, by faith alone receiving the re-
mission of sins." Now this word faith, doth not only signify
a knowledge of the history of Christ, but also to believe and
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
273
assent unto this promise, that is proper unto the gospel,
wherein remission of sins, justification, and hfe everlasting,
are promised unto us for Christ's sake. For this promise al-
so doth pertain to the history of Christ, even as in the creed
unto the history is added this article, "I believe the remission
of sins." And unto this one, the other articles touching the
history of Clmst, are te be referred. For the benefit is the
end of the history : therefore did Christ suffer and rise again,
that for him remission of sins and everlasting life might be
given unto us.
That our adversaries do accuse us to neglect the doctrine
of good works, it is a manifest slander ; for the books of our
divines are extant, wherein they do godly and profitably teach,
touching good works, what works in every calling do please
God. And whereas in most churches there hath been of a
long time no word of the most special works, namely, of the
exercises of faith, and of the praise of such works as pertain
to civil government, but for the most part they spent all their
sermons in setting forth praises of human traditions, and in
commending holy days, fastings, the state of Monks. Fra-
ternities, pilgrimages, the worship of saints, rosiers, and other
unprofitable services, now by the goodness of God the Church
is reclaimed unto the true and profitable worship which God
doth require and approve. The prophets do bewail this ca-
lamity of the Church in very vehement sermons, that the true
worship of God being forgotten, men's ceremonies and a
wicked confidence in ceremonies should have place the chief
in the Church. From this error they revoke the Church unto
the true service of God, and unto good works in deed. What
can be more forceably spoken, than that sermon in the 49th
Psalm. " The God of Gods, the Lord hath spoken, and
called the earth." Here God doth preach unto all mankind,
condemning their vain trust in ceremonies, and propoundeth
another worship, giving them to understand that he is highly
displeased with them that in the Church do so preach cere-
monies, that they overturn the true worship of God. Many
such like sermons are to be found in the prophets, as Isa. Iviii.
Zee. vii. Micah vi. and Hosea crieth, " I will have mercy
and not sacrifice : and the knowledge of God, rather than
burnt offerings." And it is not unknown that many godly
and learned men have heretofore greatly wished that the
doctrine touching the comfort of consciences, and the differ-
ence of works, had been more sound. For both these parts
of doctrine ought always to be in the Church, namely, the
274 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
gospel of faith, for to instruct and comfort the consciences,
and also the doctrine that declareth which are good works
indeed, and which is the true worship of God. As for our
adversaries, seeing that they do corrupt the doctrine of faith,
they cannot afford any sound comfort to the consciences ; for
they will have men to stand in doubt of the remission of their
sins and yet afterwards they bid men seek remission of sin
by their own works ; they devise Monkeries, and other such
works, and then they abolish the true worship of God : for
prayer and other spiritual exercises are laid aside, when men's
minds are not established in a sure trust in Christ. Moreover,
their works of the second table cannot please God, except
faith go with them. For this obedience that is but begun, and
is imperfect, doth please God for Christ's sake alone. Thirdly,
they debase the works commanded of God, and prefer man's
traditions far before them. These they set out with most
goodly titles, calling them the perfection of the gospel : but
in the mean time, they speak so coldly of the duty of a man's
calling, of magistracy, of marriage, &c. that many grave men
have doubted whether these states of life did please God or
no. Therefore our preachers have with great care and study
set forth these both kinds of doctrine, teaching the gospel
concerning faith, and adjoining therewith a pure and holy
doctrine of words.
Of Faith.
First, touching faith and justification, they teach thus.
Christ hath fitly set down the sum of the gospel, when as in
the last of Luke he willeth that "repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in his name." For the gospel repro-
veth and convinceth sins, and requireth repentance, and withal
offereth remission of sins, for Christ's sake, freely, not for our
own worthiness. And like as the preaching of repentance is
general, even so the promise of grace is general, and willeth
all men to believe and to receive the benefit of Christ, as Christ
himself saith, " Come unto me all ye that are laden." And
St. Panl saith, " he is rich towards all," &c. Albeit, there-
fore, that contrition in repentance be necessary, yet we must
know that remission of sins was given unto us, and that we
are made just of unjust, that is, reconciled or acceptable, and
the sons of God, freely for Christ, and not for the worthiness
of our contrition, or of any other works, which either go be-
fore, or follow after. But this same benefit must be received
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 275
by faith, whereby we must believe that remission of sins and
justification is given us for Christ's sake. This knowledge and
judgment bringeth sure consolation unto troubled minds; and
how necessary it is for the Church, consciences that have had
experience can easily judge. There is in it no absurdity, no
difficulty, no crafty deceit. Here needeth no disputations of
predestination, or such like ; for the promise is general, and
detracteth nothing from good works, yea, rather it doth stir
up men unto faith, and unto true good works. For remis-
sion of sins is removed from our works, and attributed unto
mercy, that it might be an undoubted benefit, not that we
should be idle, but much more, that we should know how
greatly our obedience doth please God, even in this our so
great infirmity. Now for any man to despise or mislike this
doctrine, whereby both the honor of Christ is extolled, and
most sweet and sure comfort offered unto godly minds, and
which containeth the true knowledge of God's mercy, and
bringeth forth the true worship of God and eternal life, it is
more than pharisaical blindness.
Before-time, when as this doctrine v>as not set forth, many
fearful consciences essayed to ease themselves by works ;
some fled to a monastical life, others did choose out other
works, wliereby to merit remission of sins and justification.
But there is no sure comfort without this doctrine of the gos-
pel, which willeth men to believe that remission of sins and
justification are freely given unto us for Christ's sake, and
this whole doctrine is appointed for the true conflict of a terrified
conscience. But we will add some testimonies, Paul, Rom.
iii. " We are justified freely by his grace, through redemp-
tion, that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a
reconciliation through faith in his blood." Rom. iv. " But
to him that worketh not, but believcth in him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Epli.
ii. *' By grace ye are saved, through faith, not of yourselves."
In these, and such like sentences, Paul doth plainly teach,
that remission of sins and justification are given us freely,
and not for the worthiness of our works. And in the 4th to
the Romans, he disputeth at large, why this consolation is
needful for us, for if the promise did depend upon the worthi-
ness of our works, it should be uncertain. Wherefore to the
end that we may have sure and firm comfort against the fears
of sin and death, and that our faith may stand fast, it is need-
ful that it lean only upon the mercy of God, and not upon our
worthiness. Therefore Paul saith, "therefore it is by faith
276 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
according to grace, that the promise might be sure." For
our works cannot be set against the judgment of God, accord-
ing to that saying, " If thou markest our iniquities, who shall
endure it." And therefore Christ is given for a Mediator to
us, and this honor is not to be transferred unto our works.
When, therefore, we do say that we are justified by faith,
we do not mean that we are just for the worthiness of that
virtue, but this is our meaning, that we do obtain remission
of sins, and imputation of righteousness, by mercy showed us
for Christ's sake. But now this mercy cannot be received, but
by faith. And faith doth not here signify only a knowledge of
the history, but it signifieth a belief of the promise of mercy
which is granted us through our Mediator Christ Jesus. And
seeing that faith is in this sort understood of a confidence or
trust of mercy, St. Paul and St. James do not disagree.
For where James saith " The devils believe and tremble," he
speaketh of an historical faith ; now this faith doth not justify.
For the wicked and the devil are cunning in the history. But
Paul, when he saith, " Faith is reckoned for righteousness,''
he speaketh of a trust and confidence of mercy promised foi
Christ's sake : and his meaning is, that men are pronounced
righteous, that is reconciled through mercy promised for
Christ's sake, whom we must receive by faith. Now this
novelty of this figurative speech of Saint Paul, "We are justi-
fied by faith," will not offend holy minds, if they understand
that it is spoken properly of mercy, and that herein mercy is
adoi*ned with true and due praises. For what can be more
acceptable to an afflicted and fearful conscience in great griefs,
than to hear that this is the commandment of God, and the voice
of the bridegroom Christ Jesus, that they should undoubtedly
believe that remission of sins, or reconciliation, is given unto
them not for their own worthiness, but freely through mercy,
for Christ's sake, that the benefit might be certain ? Now
justification in these sayings of Saint Paul, doth signify remis-
sion of sins, or reconciliation, or imputation of righteousness,
that is, an excepting of the person. And herein we do not
bring in a new found opinion into the Church of God. For
the scripture doth set down at large this doctrine touching
faith, and Saint Paul doth especially handle this point in some
of his epistles : the holy fathers do also teach the same. For
so saith Ambrose in his book De Vocat. Gent. " If so be that
justification, which is by grace, were due unto former merits,
so that it should not be a gift of the giver, but a reward of the
worker, the redemption by the blood of Christ would grow to
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 277
be of small account, and the prerogative of man's works would
not yield unto the mercies of God." And of this matter there
be many disputations in Saint Augustine ; and these are his
words : " Forasmuch as by the law God showeth to man his
infirmity, that flying unto his mercy by faith he might be saved.
For it is said, that he carrieth both the law and mercy in his
mouth. The law to convict the proud : and mercy to justify
those that are humbled. Therefore the righteousness of God
through faith in Christ, is revealed upon all that believe."
And the Milevitan Synod writeth: "Is not this sufficientlv
declared, that the law worketh this, that sin should be known,
and so against the victory of sin, men should fly to the mercy
of God, which is set forth in his promises, that the promises
of God, that is the grace of God, might be sought unto for
deliverance, and man might begin to have a righteousness,
howbeit not his own, but God's ?"
Of Good Works.
When as we do teach in our churches the most necessarjr
doctrine, and comfort of faith, we join therewith the doctrine
of good works, to wit, that obedience unto the law of God is
requisite in them that be reconciled. For the gospel preacheth
newness of life, according to that saying, " I will put my laws
in their hearts :" This new life therefore must be an obedi-
ence towards God. The gospel also preacheth repentance,
and faith cannot be, but only in them that do repent, because
that faith doth comfort the hearts in contrition and in the fears
of sin, as Paul saith, " Being justified by faith, we have peace.''
And of repentance he saith, Rom. vi. " Our old man is cru-
cified, that the body of sin might be abolished, that we might
no more serve sin." And Isaiah saith, " Where will the
Lord dwell ? In a contrite and humble spirit," &c.
Secondly, among good works, the chiefest, and that which
is the chiefest worship of God, is faith, which doth bring forth
many other virtues, which could never be in men, except their
hearts had first received to believe. " How shall they call
on him in whom they do not believe ?" So long as men's
minds are in doubt, whether God heareth them or not, so long
as ever they think that God hath rejected them, they do never
truly call upon God. But when as once we do acknowledge
his mercy through faith, then we fly unto God. we love him,
we call upon him, hope in him, look for his help, obey him in
afflictions, because we do now know ourselves to be the sons
25
278 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
of God, and that this our sacrifice, that is, our afflictions, doth
please God. These services doth faith bring forth. Yery
well therefore said Ambrose, "Faith is the mother of a good
will, and of just dealing." Our adversaries will seem very
honorably to set out the doctrine of good works, and yet con-
cerning these spiritual works, to wit, faith and the exercises of
faith in prayer, and in all matters, counsels, and dangers of
this life, they speak never a word. And indeed none can ever
speak well of these exercises if the consciences be left in
doubt, and if they know not that God requireth faith as a spe-
cial worship of his. And when as that huge show of outward
works is cast (as a mist) before men's eyes, the minds, espe-
cially such as be not well instructed, are led away from
beholding these inward exercises. Now it is very requisite,
that men should be taught and instructed, concerning these
inward works and fruits of the Spirit. For these they be that
m?ke a difference between the godly and hypocrites. As for
external worship, external ceremonies, and other outward
works, the very hypocrites can perform them. But these
services and duties belong only to the true Church, true re-
pentance, fev.r, faith, prayer, &c. These kinds of worship
are especially required, and commended in the scripture, Ps.
xlix. "'- Ofier unto God the sacrifice of praise :" and, " Call
on me in the day of trouble," &c.
Thirdly, by this faith, which doth comfort the heart in
repentance, we do receive the Spirit of God, who is given us
to be our governor and helper, that we should resist sin and
the devi', and more and more acknowledge our own weak-
ness, and that the knowledge and fear of God and faith may
mcrease in us : wherefore our obedience to God and a new
life ouffht to increase in us, as St. Paul saith, "We must be
renewed to the knowledge of God, " that the new law maybe,
wrouo-ht in us, and his image, which hath created us, be
renewed, S:c.
Fourthly, we teach also how this obedience, which is but
begun only and not perfect, doth please God. For in this so
great infirmity, and uncleannesss of nature, the saints do not
satisfy the law of God. The faithful therefore have need of
comfort, that they may know how their slender and imperfect
obedience doth please God. It doth not please him, as satis-
fying his law, but because the persons themselves are recon-
ciled and made righteous through Christ, and do believe that
their weakness is forgiven them, as Paul teacheth, " There is
-now no condemnation to them which are in Christ," &c. . Al-
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 279
beit then that this new obedience is far from the perfection of
the law, yet it is righteousness, and is worthy of a reward,
even because that the persons are reconciled. And thus we
must judge of those works, which are indeed highly to be com-
mended, namely, that they be necessary, that they be the ser-
vice of God, and spiritual sacrifices, and do deserve a reward:
Nevertheless this consolation is first to be held touching the
person, which is very necessary in the conflict of the con-
science, to wit, that we have remission of sins freely by faith,
and that the person is just, that is, reconciled, and an heir of
eternal life through Christ, and then our obedience doth please
God, according to that saying, " Now ye are not under the law,
but mider grace." For our works may not be set against the
wrath and judgment of God. But the terrors of sin and
death must be overcome by faith and trust in the Mediator
Christ, as it is written, " 0 death, I will be thy death." And
John vi. Christ saith, " This is the will of the Father which
sent me, that every one which seeth the son, and believethin
him, should have life everlasting." And St. Paul, "Being
justified by faith, we have peace with God." And the Church
ahvays prayed, " forgive us our trespasses." And thus do
the fathers teach, concerning the weakness of the saints,
and concerning faith, Augustine in his exposition of Ps^ 'm
XXX. saith, " Deliver me in thy righteousness. For there is
a righteousness of God which is made ours, when it is given
unto us. But therefore it is called the righteousness of God,
lest man should think that he had a righteousness of himself."
For, as the apostle Paul saith, " To him that believeth in him
tliat justifieth the wicked, that is, that of a wicked maketh a
righteous man : If God should deal by the rule of the law,
which is set forth unto us, he must needs be condemned : If
God should as it were deal by the rule propounded in the
law, vvdiom should he deliver? for he findeth all men to be
sinners." So saith Paul : "All have sinned, and stand in
need of the glory of God. What is this to stand in need of
God's glory? That he should deliver thee, and not thou
thyself For thou canst not deliver thyself: Thou hast need
of a Saviour. Wliy dost thou vaunt thyself? What maketh
thee to presume of the law and of righteousness ? Seestthou
not that which doth fight within thee? Dost thou not hear one
that striveth, and confcsseth his weakness, and desireth aid
m the battle ? 0 miserable man than I am ! " &c.
Now it may easily be perceived, how needful this doctrine
is for the Church, that men may know that they do not satisfy
280 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
the law God and yet may have true comfort, knowing how
their imperfect obedience doth please God. This doctrine
hath been horribly darkened, and suppressed heretofore by
certain fond persuasions, wherein unlearned men have ima-
gined against the authority of the scripture that they can
fulfil the law of God, and that they are just through the fulfil-
ling of the law, &c. And that Monks are perfect, and do
perform more notable and worthy works than the law doth
require. In the mean while there is not a word, how the
Mediator Christ is to be apprehended by faith : but they wil-
led man to doubt, or else to trust in his own works. But as
touching this obedience, we do teach, that they which com-
mit mortal sins are not just, because God requireth this obe-
dience that we should resist sinful lusts. They then which
strive not against them, but obey them, contrary to the com-
mandment of God, and do things against their consciences,
they are unrighteous, and do neither retain the Holy Spirit,
nor faith, that is, confidence and trust of God's mercy. For
confidence, which seeketh remission of sins, cannot so much
as be in such as are delighted with their sins, and remain with-
out repentance.
Fifthly, this point is needful also to be taught, by what
means men may do good works. We showed a little before
how our works do please God. In this place we add how
they may be done. Albeit that men by their own strength be
able to do outward honest deeds in some sort, and must also
perform this civil obedience ; yet so long as men are void of
faith, they are in the power of the devil, who driveth them to
shameful sins, occupieth their minds with wicked and blas-
phemous opinions, for that is the kingdom and tyranny of the
devil. Moreover, nature by itself is weak, and cannot with-
out God*s help strengthen itself to the performance of any
spiritual works. And for that cause are men taught, that in the
gospel the Holy Spirit is promised, who shall aid and govern
the minds of them who do repent and believe the gospel.
Wherefore in so great infirmity of nature, in the midst of these
assaults of Satan, and in all dangers, faith must be exercised
in calling upon God, even throughout our whole life, that we
may continue always in the faith, and in our obedience to-
wards God. Therefore Zechariah saith, " I will pour forth the
Spirit of grace and of prayer upon the house of David, and
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem." He calleth him the
Spirit of grace, because the Holy Spirit doth confirm and
comfort troubled minds, and beareth record that God is pleased
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONa. 291
with us. He calleth him the Spirit of prayer, to the end we
should daily exercise our faith in prayer, that by these exerci-
nes our faith be confirmed, and a new life grow up and increase
in us.
There is no doubt but true virtues are the gifts of God,
auch as are faith, clearness of judgment in discerning of
points of religion, courage of mind, such els is requisite in
them which teach and profess the gospel, true care and pains
in governing of churches, true humility, not to hunt after pre-
ferment, not to be puft up with popular praise, nor cast down
with their disliking and ill will, true charity, &c. These
princely virtues Paul calleth God's gifts, Rom. xii. " Having
divers gifts, according to the grace that is given us." And of
these he saith to the Corinthians, *' These things worketh one
and the same Spirit, distributing to every one according," &c.
Unto these gifts we must join our exercise, which may both
preserve the same and deserve an increase of them accord-
ing to the saying : " To him that hath shall be given." And
it is notably said of Augustine, " Love deserveth an increase
of love," to wit, when it is put in use. For good works have
rewards, as in this life, so also after this life in the everlasting
life. Now because that the Church in this life is subject to
the cross, and to the death ofthebody, therefore many rewards
are deferred until the life to come, which though it be undoubt-
edly bestowed through mercy, for Christ's sake, on those which
are justified by the faith of Christ, yet there is also a rewarding of
good works, according to that saying, " Your reward is great
in heaven." By this it is evident that the doctrine of good
works is through the goodness of God purely and truly taught
in our churches. How full of obscurity and confusion the
doctrine of good works was in former times, all godly minds
know full well. There was none that put men in mind of the
difference of man's traditions and the law of God : none that
taught how good works did please God, in this so great infir-
mity of ours. To be brief, there was not one word of faith,
which is most needful unto remission of sins. But now that
these matters be opened and unfolded, godly consciences lay
hold of comfort, and of certain hope of salvation, and do un-
derstand which is the true worship and service of God, and
know how it pleaseth God, and how it doth merit at his haiids.
26*
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
THE MORAVIAN CONFESSION.
Article IV.
We likewise teach, that we cannot attain to the forgiveness
of sins and righteousnes before God, through our own merit,
work, or satisfaction ; but that we obtain pardon of sins and
are made righteous before God, by grace, for Christ's sake,
through faith, eveii by beUeving that Christ hath suffered for
us ; and that for his sake sin is forgiven us, and righteousness
and eternal life bestowed upon us. For it is this faith, which
God will account and impute for righteousness before him, as
St. Paul saith to the Romans, in the third and fourth chapters.
Article VI.
We also teach, that such faith shall bring forth good fruits
and good works ; and that a man must do all those good
works which God hath commanded, for God's sake ; but must
not trust in such works, to merit grace before God thereby :
for we receive forgiveness of sins, and righteousness, through
faith in Christ, as Christ himself speaks, ^juke xvii. "When
ye have done all, say, we are unprofitable servants." So also
the fathers teach ; for Ambrose says : God hath determined
that whosoever believeth in Christ shall be saved ; and not
through works, but only through faith, without merit, have the
forgiveness of sins.
Article XX.
Forasmuch as the doctrine of faith, which is the chief point
in Christianity, had for a long time, as it n^ust be acknow-
ledged, not been insisted upon, but merely the doctrine of
works, our people have given the following explanation con-
cerning it :
First, that our works are not able to reconcile us to God,
and purchase grace, but that this is only effected through
faith, when one believes that our sins are forgiven us for
Christ's sake; who alone is the Mediator to reconcile us to
the Father. Now whoever supposes that he can by works
accomplish this, and merit grace, he despises Christ, and seeks
a way of his own to God, contrary to the gospel.
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
This doctrine of faith is openly and clearly treated of by
Paul in divers places, particularly in Eph. ii. " By grace are
ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves : It is the
gift of God ; not of works, lest any man should boast," &c.
And that herein no new sense is introduced, may be de-
monstrated out of St. Austin, who treats of this point with
accuracy, and also thus teacheth : That we through faith in
Christ obtain grace, and are justified before God, and not
through works, as his book De Spiritu & Litera shows
throughout.
- Now filthough this doctrine is much despised by inexpe-
rienced people, yet it is found that, to tender and alarmed
consciences it is very comfortable and wholesome ; for the
conscience cannot come to rest and peace through works, but
only through faith, by which it is enabled firmly to conclude
within itself, that for Christ's sake it hath a gracious God, as
Paul says, Rom. v. " Being justified by faith, we have peace
with God."
Instruction is also given that we do not here speak of such
faith which the devils and wicked men have, who believe the
history that Christ hath suffered and is risen from the dead.
But we speak of true faith, which beheves that we through
Christ do obtain grace and the forgiveness of sins. And
whoever knows that through Christ he hath a gracious God,
doth consequently know God, call upon him, and is not with-
out God hke the heathen. For the de\41 and the wicked do
not believe this article, (the forgiveness of sin,) and therefore
they are at enmity with God, cannot call upon him, hope for
no good from him. Wherefore, as we have now shown, the
scripture speaketh of faith, and calls not by that name such a
knowledge as devils and wicked men have. For concerning
faith, it is thus taught, Heb. xi. that faith is not only to know
the histories, but to have a confidence towards God of
receiving his promise. And St. Austin puts us in mind, that
we are to understand that word (faith) in the scripture, to
mean so much as confidence towards God, and that he is
gracious unto us, and not merely such knowledge of histo-
ries as the devils also have.
Further it is taught, that good works shall and must be
done ; not that any one should trust in them to merit grace
thereby, but for God's sake, and to the praise of God : yet
faith doth always alone lay hold of grace and forgiveness of
sin. And since through faith the Holy Spuit is given, thus
also the heart is made fit to do good works. For before that.
S84 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
as long as it is without the Holy Spirit, it is too weak; and
besides, it is in the power of the devil, who impels the poor
human nature to many sins ; as we see in the philosophers,
who undertook to live honestly and unblameably, yet have not
accomplished it, but have fallen into many great and open
sins. Thus it goes with that man who is without the true
faith, and without the Holy Spirit, and governs himself by
his own human powers alone.
Wherefore the doctrine of faith is not to be reproached, as
if it forbade good works : but rather to ha commended, for
that it teaches to good works, and offers help, whereby one
may attain to good works. For without faith, and without
Christ, human nature and ability is far too weak to do good
works ; as to call upon God, to show patience in suffering,
to love one's neighbor, dihgently to discharge offices entrusted
to us, to be obedient, to avoid evil lusts. Such noble and
truly good works cannot be done without the help of Christ,
as he himself speaks, John xv. " Without me ye can do no-
thing."
THE CONFESSION OF SCOTLAND.
Of Faith in the Holy Ghost.
This faith, and the assurance of the same , proceedeth not
from flesh and blood, that is to say, from no natural powers
within us, but in the inspiration of the Holy Ghost ; whom
we confess God, equal with the Father and with the Son, who
sanctifieth us, and bringetli us into all verity by his own ope-
ration, without whom we should remain for ever enemies to
God, and ignorant of his Son Christ Jasus. For of nature
we are so dead, so blind, and so perverse, that neither can we
feel when we are pricked, see the light when it shineth, nor
assent to the will of God when it is revealed, unless the Spirit
of the Lord quicken that which is dead, remove the darkness
from our minds, and bow our stubborn hearts to the obe-
dience of his blessed will. And so as we confess that God
the Father created us, when we were not; as his Son our
Lord Jesus redeemed us, when we were enemies to him ; so
also do we confess, that the Holy Ghost doth sanctify and
regenerate us, without all respect of any merit proceeding
from us ; be it before or be it after our regeneration. To
speak this one thing yet in more plain words, as we willingly
spoil ourselves of all honor and glory of our own creation
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 285
and redemption, so do we also of our regeneration and sanc-
tification : for of ourselves we are not sufficient to think one
■good thought, but he who hath begun the work in us, is only
he that continueth in us the same, to the praise and glory of
his undeserved grace.
Of the Cause or Goou Works.
So that the cause of good works we confess to be not our
free ^vill, but the Spirit of our Lord Jesus, who dwelling in our
hearts by true faith, bringeth forth such good works as God
hath prepared for us to walk in. For this we most boldly af-
firm, that it is blasphemy to say that Christ abideth in the
hearts of such as in whom there is no Spirit of sanctification.
And therefore we fear not to affirm that murderers, oppres-
sors, cruel persecutors, adulterers, whoremongers, filthy per-
sons, idolaters, drunkards, thieves, and all workers of iniquity,
have neither true faith, neither any portion of the Spirit of the
Lord Jesus, so long as obstinately they continue in their wick-
edness. For how soon that ever the Spirit of the Lord Jesus
(which God's elect children receive by true faith) taketh pos-
session in the heart of every man, so soon doth he regenerate
and renew the same man, so that he beginneth to hate that
which before he loved, and beginneth to love that which be-
fore he hated. And from thence cometh that continual bat-
tle which is betwixt the flesh and the Spirit in God's children ;
so that the flesh and natural man, according to the own cor-
ruption, lusteth for things pleasing and delectable unto itself,
grudgeth in adversity, is lifted up in prosperity, and at every
moment is prone and ready to offend the miajesty of God. But
the Spirit of God which giveth witnessing to our spirit that
we are the sons of God, maketh us to resist filthy pleasures,
and to groan in God's presence for deliverance from this bon-
dage of corruption. x\nd finally, so triumpheth over sin, that
it reigneth not in our mortal bodies. This battle have not
the carnal men, being destitute of God's Spirit, but do follow
and obey sin with greediness, and without repentance, even
as the devil and their corrupt lusts do prick them. But the
sons of God, as before is said, do fight against sin, do sob and
!nourn, when they perceive themj^elves tempted in iniquity :
and if they fall, they rise again with unfeigned repentance,
and these things they do, not by their own power, but by the
power of the Lord Jesus, without whom they were able to do
nothinc
286 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
What Works are reputed Good before God.
We confess and acknowledge, that God hath given to man
his holy law, in which not only are forbidden all such works
as displease and offend his Godly majesty, but also are com-
manded, ail such as please him, aud as he hath promised to
reward. And these works be of two sorts. The one are
done to the honor of God, the other to the profit of our neigh-
bors, and both have the revealed will of God for their assu-
rance. To have one God, to worship and honor him, to call
upon him in all our troubles, to reverence his holy name, to
hear his word, to believe the same, to communicate with his
holy sacraments, are the works of the first table. To honor
father, mother, princes, rulers, and superior powers ; to love
them, to support them, yea, to obey their charges, (not re-
pugning the commandment of God,) to save the lives of inno-
cents, to repress tyranny, to defend the oppressed, to keep our
bodies clean and holy, to live in soberness and temiperance,
to deal justly with all men, both in word and deed ; and finally
to repress all appetite of our neighbor's hurt, are the good
works of the second table, which are most pleasing and accep-
table to God, as those works that are commanded by himself.
The contrary whereof is sin, most odious, which always dis-
pleaseth him, and provoketh him to anger. As not to call
upon him alone when we have need, not to hear his word
with reverence, to contemn and despise it, to have or to wor-
ship idols, to maintain and defend idolatry, hghtly to esteem
the reverent name of God, to profane, abuse, or contemn the
sacraments of Christ Jesus, to disobey or resist any that God
hath placed in authority, (whilst they pass not over the bounds
of their office,) to murder, or to consent thereto, to bear ha-
U-ed, or to suffer innocent blood to be shed, if we may with-
stand it ; and finally, the transgression of any other command-
ment in the first or second table, we confess, or affirm to be
sin, by the which God's hate and displeasure is kindled against
the proud and unthankful world. So that good works we af-
firm to be those only that are done in faith, and at God's com-
mandment, who in his law hath expressed what the things be
tliat please him. And evil works we affirm not only those
that expressly are done against God's commandment, but
those also that in matters of religion, and in worshipping of
God, have no other assurance but the invenfion and opinion
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 2S7
of man ; which God from the beginning hath ever rejected,
as by the prophet Isaiah, and by our Master, Christ Jesus, we
are taught in these words, " In vain do they worship nic,
teaching the doctrines and precepts of men."
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.
Of Justification.
1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freeh
justifieth ; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by
pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their
persons as righteous : not for any thing wrought in them, or
done by them, but for Christ's sake alone : not by imputing
faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangehcal obe-
dience to them, as their righteousness ; but by imputing the obe-
dience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and
resting on him and his righteousness by faith ; which faith they
have not of themselves : it is the gift of God.
2. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his
righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet 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.
3. Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the
debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a proper,
real, and full satisfaction to his Father's justice in their behalf.
Yet, inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them, and
his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and
both freely, not for any thing in them, their justification is only
of free grace ; that both the exact justice, and rich grace of
God, might be glorified in the justification of sinners.
4. God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect ;
and Christ did, in the fulness of time, die for their sins, and
rise again for their justification : nevertheless they are not
justified, until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time, actually apply
Christ unto them.
5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are
justified : and although they can never fall from the state of
justification, yet they may by their sins fall under God's
fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of his countenance
restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess
their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.
2S8 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
6. The justification of believers under the Old Testament
was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justifica-
tion of believers under the New Testament.
Of Adoption.
1. All those that are justified, God vouchsafeth, in and
for his only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of
adoption : by which they are taken into the number, and en-
joy the liberties and privileges of the children of God; have his
name upon them ; receive the spirit of adoption ; have access
to the throne of grace with boldness ; are enabled to cry, Abba,
Father; are pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by
him as by a father ; yet never cast off, but sealed to the day
of redemption, and inherit the promise s as heirs of everlasting
salvation.
Of Sanctification.
1 . They who are effectually called and regenerated, having
a new heart and a new spirit created in them, are farther
sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ's
death and resurrection, by his word and Spirit dwelling in
them : the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed,
and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened
and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strength-
ened, in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness,
without which no man shall see the Lord.
2. This sanctification is throughout i:i the whole man, yet
imperfect in this life : there abideth still some remnants of
corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irre-
concileable war, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the
spirit against the flesh.
3. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a
time may much prevail, yet, through the continual supply of
strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate
part doth overcome : and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God.
Of Sating FaIth.
1. The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to be-
fieve to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of
Christ in their hearts ; and is ordinarily wrought by the miniis-
HARMONY OP CONFESSIONS. 289
try of the word : by which also, and by the administration of
the sacraments, and prayer, it is increased and strengthened.
2. By this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever
is revealed in the word, for the authority of God himself speak-
ing therein, and acteth differently upon that which each
particular passage thereof containeth ; yielding obedience to
the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing
the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come.
But the principal acts of saving faith are, excepting, receiving,
and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification,
and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.
3. This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong ; may
be often and many ways assailed and weakened, but gets the
victory ; growing up in many to the attainment of a full assu-
rance through Christ, who is both the author and finisher of
our faith.
Of Good Works.
1. Good works are only such as God hath commanded in
his holy word, and not such as without the warrant thereof
are devised by men out of a blind zeal, or upon any pretence
of good intention.
2. These good works, done in obedience to God's com-
mandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively
faith : and by them believers manifest their thankfulness,
strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the pro-
fession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and
glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ
Jesus thereunto, that, having their fruit unto hohness, they
may have the end, eternal life.
3. Their ability to do good works is not at all of them-
selves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ. And that they
may be enabled thereunto, besides the graces they have
already received, there is required an actual influence of the
same Holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of his
good pleasure ; yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent,
as if they were not bound to perform any duty unless upon
a special motion of the Spirit; but they ought to be diligent
in stirring up the grace of God that is in them.
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, that they
fall short of much which in duty they are bound to do.
26
290 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
5. We cannot, by our best works, merit pardon of sin, or
eternal life, at the hand of God, by reason of the great dis-
proportion that is between them and the glory to come, and
the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom by
them we can neither profit nor satisfy for the debt of our
former sins ; but when we have done all we can, we have
done but our duty, and are unprofitable servants ; and because
as they are good, they proceed from his Spirit; and, as they
are wrought by us, they are defiled and mixed with so much
weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure the
severity of God's judgment.
6. Yet, notwithstanding, the persons of behevers being
accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted
in him, not as though they were in this life wholly unblarae-
able 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 weak-
nesses and imperfections.
7. Works done by unregenerate men, although, for the
matter of them, they may be things which God commands,
and of good use both to themselves and others ; yet because
they proceed not from a heart purified by faith ; nor are done
in a right manner, according to the word ; nor to a right end,
the glory of God ; they are therefore sinful, and cannot please
God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God. And
yet their neglect of them is more sinful, and displeasing unto
God.
Of the Perseverance of the Saints.
1. They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually
called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor
finally fall away from the state of grace ; but shall certainly
persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.
2. This perseverance of the saints depends, not upon their
own free-will, but upon the immutability of the decree of
election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of
God the Father ; upon the eflicacy of the merit and inter-
cession of Jesus Christ ; the abiding of the Spirit and of the
seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of
grace ; from all which ariseth also the certainty and infalli-
bility thereof.
3. Nevertheless they may, through the temptations of
Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remain-
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 291
ing in them, and the neglect of the means of their preserva-
tion, fall into grievous sins ; and for a time continue therein :
whereby they incur God's displeasure, and grieve his Holy
Spirit ; come to be deprived of some measure of their graces
and comforts ; have their hearts hardened, and their con-
sciences wounded ; hurt and scandalize others, and bring
temporal judgments upon themselves.
Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation.
1. Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may
vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal pre-
sumptions of being in the favor of God and estate of
salvation ; which hope of theirs shall perish : yet such as
truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity,
endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may
in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of
grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God ;
which hope shall never make them ashamed.
2. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable
persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope ; but an infallible
assurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promi-
ses of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which
these promises are made, the testimony'ofthe Spirit of adoption
witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God :
which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we
are sealed to the day of redemption.
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 : Yet,
being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely
given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation,
in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto. And
therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence to
make his calling and election sure ; that thereby his heart may
be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and
thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the
duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance : So
far is it from inclining men to looseness.
4. True believers may have the assurance of their salva-
tion divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted ; as, Uy
negligence in preserving of it ; by falling into some special
sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit ;
2^2 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
by some sudden or vehement temptation ; by God's with-
drawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such
as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light : Yet are
they never utterly destitute of that seed of God and life of
faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of
heart and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation
of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived, and
by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter
despair.
THE SAVOY CONFESSION.
Of Justification.
1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifi-
eth, not by hifusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning
their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as
righteous, not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them,
but for Christ's sake alone ; nor by imputing faith itself, the
act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them,
as their righteousness, but by imputing Christ's active obedi-
ence unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his sufferings
and death, for their whole and sole righteousness, they receiv-
ing and resting on him and his righteousness by faith ; which
faith they have not of themselves : it is the gift of God.
2. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his right-
eousness, is the alone instrument of justification ; yet it is not
alone in the person justified, but it is ever accompanied with
all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by
love.
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 satis-
faction to God's justice in their behalf : yet, inasmuch as he
was given by the Father for them, and his obedience and satis-
faction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for any
thing in them, their justification is only of free grace, that both
the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in
the justification of sinners.
4. God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect,
and Christ did in the fulness of time, die for their sins, and
rise again for their justification : nevertheless, they are not
justified personally, until the Holy Spirit doth in due time
actually apply Christ unto them.
HARMONY OP CONFESSIONS. 293
5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are
justified ; and although they can never fall from the state of
justification, yet they may by their sins fall under God's
fatherly displeasure : and 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.
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.
Of Adoption,
1. All those that are justified, God vouchsafeth in and for
his only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of
adoption, by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy
the liberties and privileges of the children of God, have his
name put upon them, receive the Spirit of adoption, have access
to the throne of grace with boldness, are enabled to cry, Abba,
Father, are pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by
him as by a father, yet never cast off", but sealed to the day of
redemption, and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting
salvation.
Of Saxctification.
1. They that are effectually called and regenerated, being
imited to Christ, having a new heart and a new spirit created
in them, through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection,
are also further sanctified, really and personally, through the
same virtue, by his word and Spirit dwelling in them, the do-
minion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several
lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and
they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving
gi-aces, to the practice of all true holiness, without which no
man shall see the Lord.
2. This sanctification is throughout in the whole man, yet
imperfect in this life, there abide still some remnants of corrup-
tion in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irreconcile-
able war, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh.
3. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a
time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of
strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate
part doth overcome, and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God.
26*
294 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
Of Saving Faith.
i
1. The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to be-
heve to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of
Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the minis-
try of the word ; by which also, and by the administration of
the seals, prayer, and other means, it is increased and
strengthened.
2. By this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever
is revealed in the word, for the authority of God himself
speaking therein, and acteth differently upon that which each
particular passage thereof containeth, yielding obedience to
the commands, trembhng at the threatnings, and embracing
the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come.
But the principal acts of saving faith are, accepting, receiving,
and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification,
and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.
3. This faith, although it be different in degrees, and may
be weak or strong, 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 behevers ; and
therefore, though it may be many times assailed and weakened,
yet it gets the victory, growing up in many to the attainment
of a full assurance through Christ, who is both the author and
finisher of our faith.
Or Good Works.
1. Good works are only such as God hath commanded in
his holy word, and not such as without the warrant thereof are
devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of
good intentions.
2. These good works done in obedience to God's com-
mandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and living
faith, and by them believers manifest their thankfulness,
strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the
profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries,
and glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in
Christ Jesus thereunto, that having their fruit unto holiness,
they may have the end eternal life.
3. Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves,
but wholly from the Spirit of Christ : and that they may be ena-
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 296
bled thereunto, besides the graces they have aheady received,
there is required an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit
to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure ; yet
are they not hereupon to grow negligent, as if they were not
bound to perform any duty, unless upon a special motion of
the Spirit, but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace
of God that is in them.
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.
6. We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin, or
eternal life at the hand of God, by reason of the great dispro-
port ion that is between them and the glory to come ; and the
infinite distance that is between us and God, whom by them we
can neither profit, nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins ;
but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty,
and are unprofitable servants : and because as they are good,
they proceed from his Spirit, and as they are wrought by us,
they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfec-
tion, that they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment.
6. Yet, notwithstanding, the persons of believers being
accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted
in him, not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable
and unreproveable in God's sight, but that he looking upon
them in his Son is pleased to accept and reward that which is
sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses, and
imperfections.
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 to others ; yet because
they proceed not from an heart purified by faith, nor are done
in a right manner, according to the word, nor to a right end,
the glory of God ; they are therefore sinful, and cannot please
God, nor make a man meet to receive grace from God ; and
yet their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing to God.
Of the Perseverance of the Saints.
1. They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually
called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor
finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly
persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.
2. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their
296 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. .
own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of elec-
tion, 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, the oath of God, the abiding of
his Spirit, and the seed of God within them, and the nature of
tlie covenant of grace, from all which ariseth also the certainty
and infalhbility thereof.
3. And though they may through the temptation of Satan,
and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in
them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall
into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby
tliey incur God's displeasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit, come
to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts
hardened, and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandahze
others, and bring tem>poral judgments upon themselves ; yet
they are and shall be kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation.
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 salva-
tion, which hope of theirs shall perish, yet such as truly believe
on the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to
walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be
certainly assured that they are in a state of grace, and may
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall
never make them ashamed.
2. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable
persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope, but an infallible
assurance of faith, founded on the blood and righteousness of
Christ, revealed in the gospel, and also upon the inward evi-
dence of those graces, unto which promises are made, and on
the immediate witness of the Spirit, testifying our adoption,
and as a fruit thereof, leaving the heart more humble and holy.
3. This infaUible 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; yet
being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are
freely given him of God, he may without extraordinary reve-
lation, in the right use of ordinary means attain thereunto :
and therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence
to make his calling and election sure, that thereby his heart
HARMONY OF CONFESSIO?JS. 297
may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love
and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in
the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance :
so far is it from inclining men to looseness.
4. True believers may have the assurance of their salva-
tion divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted, as by
neghgence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin,
which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit, by
some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing
the light of his countenance, suffering even such as fear him
to walk in darkness, and to have no light, yet are they neither
utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that
love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and
conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the
Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived, and by the
which in the mean time they are supported from utter despair.
THE LONDON BAPTISTS' CONFESSION.
Article XXII.
Faith is the gift of God, wrought in the hearts of the elect
by the Spirit of God ; by which faith they come to know and
believe the truth of the scriptures, and the excellency of them
above all other writings, and all things in the world, as they
hold forth the glory of God in his attributes, the excellency of
Christ in his nature and offices, and of the power and fulness
of the Spirit in his workings and operations; and so are ena-
bled to cast their souls upon this truth thus believed.
Article XXIII.
All those that have this precious faith wrought in them by
the Spirit, can never finally nor totally fall away ; seeing the
gifts of God are without repentance ; so that he still begets
and nourisheth in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and
all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality; 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 un-
belief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of this
light and love be clouded and overwhelmed for a time; yet God
is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power
298 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased
possession, they being engraved upon the palms of his hands,
and their names having been written upon the book of life from
all eternity.
Article XXIV.
Faith is ordinarily begotten by the preaching of the gospel,
or word of Christ, without respect to any power or agency in
the creature ; but it being wholly passive, and dead in tres-
passes and sins, doth believe, and is converted by no less
power than that which raised Christ from the dead.
Article XXV.
The preaching of the gospel to the conversion of sinners,
is absolutely free ; no way requiring as absolutely necessary
any quahfications, preparations, or terrors of the law, or pre-
ceding ministry of the law, but only and alone the naked soul,
a sinner and ungodly, to receive Christ crucified, dead and
buried, and risen again ; who is made a Prince and a Saviour
for such sinners as through tho gospel shall be brought to be-
lieve on him.
Article XXVI.
The same power that converts to faith in Christ, carrieth
on the soul through all duties, temptations, conflicts, suffer-
ings ; and whatsoever a believer is, he'is by grace, and is car-
ried on in all obedience and temptations by the same.
Article XXVII.
All believers are by Christ united to God ; by which union,
God is one with them, and they are one with him ; and that all
believers are the sons of God, and joint heirs with Christ, to
whom belong all the promises of this life, and that which is to
come.
Article XXVIII.
Those that have union with Christ, are justified from all their
sins by the blood of Christ, which justification is a gracious
and full acquittance of a guilty sinner from all sin, by God,
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. 299
through the satisfaction that Christ hath made by his death
for all their sins, and this applied (in the manifestation of it)
through faith.
Article XXIX.
All behevers are a holy and sanctified people, and that
sanctification is a spiritual grace of the new covenant, and an
effect of the love of God manifested in the soul, whereby the
believer presseth after a heavenly and evangelical obedience
to all the commands which Christ, as Head and King in his
new covenant, hath prescribed to them.
Article XXX.
All believers, through the knowledge of that justification of
life given by the Father, and brought forth by the blood of
Christ, have, as their great privilege of that new covenant,
peace with God, and reconciliation, whereby they that were
afar off are made nigh by that blood, and have peace pas-
sing all understanding ; yea, joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement.
Article XXXI.
All believers, in the time of this life, are in a continual war-
fare and combat against sin, self, the world, and the devil ;
and are liable to all manner of afflictions, tribulations, and
persecutions, being predestinated and. appointed thereunto;
and whatsoever the saints possess or enjoy of God spiritually,
is by faith ; and outward and temporal things are lawfully
enjoyed by a civil right by them Avho have no faith.
Article XXXII.
The only strength by which the saints are enabled to en-
counter with all oppositions and trials, is only by Jesus Christ,
who is the captain of their salvation, being made perfect through
sufferings ; who hath engaged his faithfulness and strength
to assist them in all their afflictions, and to uphold them in all
their temptations, and to preserve them by his power to his
everlasting kingdom.
300 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
THEWELCH CALVINISTIC ME t H OD IS T S' C ONFE S SIC If.
Of Justification,
Justification is an act of the free grace of God, judging
and proclaiming man to be righteous, through imputing to him
the riajhteousness of Christ, which is received by the sinner
through faith. God manifests his justice, and the honor of his
law, as well as his grace and mercy by justifying sinners ; for
he justifies them " through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, that he
might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in
Jesus." The righteousness of Christ, through which sinners
are justified, is called the righteousness which is of God by
faith. It would be as improper to attribute the righteousness
of Christ to faith, as to attribute the light of the sun to the
medium through which it is transmitted to us. Justification
includes in itself a forgiveness to the transgressor of all his
iniquities, so that he shall not die on their account : an exal-
tation of the person to the favor of God ; and a bestowing on
him a lawful right to enjoy never ending happiness. It is
called the " justificafion of life," for the transgressor through
its means is made an heir of eternal life.
Of Good Works*
No works can be good but such as are commanded by
God, conformable to his will, springing from a good and
righteous principle, performed in faith, and with a pure end in
view ; viz. the promotion of the glory of God : for, as it is
necessary that the tree be good before the fruit be good, so a
sinner must be reconciled to God, united to Christ, and par-
take of his Spirit, before he can perform any good action.
The best actions of the best men are but imperfect, therefore
they deserve nothing at the hand of God, nor do they gain
salvation for men ; yet they are very necessary, being ordained
and commanded of God ; being ornaments to our profession ;
being examples to others ; and having a tendency to pull
down the ignorance of foolish men. They are always to be
performed to the utmost of our might.
HARMONY OF C0NP£8S10NS.
dOl
THE SENTIMENTS OF PELAGIUS AND SOME OF HIS
FOLLOWERS.
Pelagius, in his book De Natura, as quoted by Augustine,
says, " When it is declared that all have sinned in Adam, it
should not be understood of any original sin contracted by
their birth, but of imitation." Again, " How can a man be
considered guilty by God of that sin which he knows not to
be his own? for if it is necessary, it is not his own; but if it
is his own, it is voluntary ; and if voluntary it can be avoided."
In his exposition of the epistle to the Romans, he says,
"The opposers of the propagation of sin thus endeavor to
impugn the doctrine. The sin of Adam has not injured those
not sinning, just as the righteousness of Christ does not profit
those not believing : for it is said, that in like manner,
yea much more, is salvation by one, than perdition by
one. And if baptism cleanses that ancient sin, then they
who are born of two baptized persons must be free from that
sin ; for they could not transmit that to posterity which they
no longer possessed themselves. Moreover, they say that if
the soul is not by traduction, but the flesh only, then the flesh
only is concerned ia the propagation of sin, and it alone
deserves to be punished; for they allege that it would be
altogether unjust that a soul just born should be obliged to
bear that ancient sin of Adam, from whom it has not derived
its origin. For they allege that it can by no means be con-
ceded that God, who pardons our own sins, should impute to
us the sin of another person." Pelagius does not speak
here in his own name, but as personating others, whose
opinions and arguments he exhibits ; for at this time he durst
not openly declare his real sentiments. In like manner
Coelestius disseminated the same doctrine, as will be shown
below, and also pursued the same insidious policy is propa-
gating his opinions.
Julian, also, in his last work against Augustine, charges
this father with holding, "that infants were oppressed with the
guilt of no sin of their own, but only with that of another
person." Again he says, " whoever is accused of a crime,
the charge is made against his conduct, and not against his
birth." And in the conclusion, where he recapitulates what
he had written, he says, " Therefore we conclude that the
triune God should be adored as most just ; and it has been
27
302 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
made to appear most irrefragably, that the si« of another
never can be imputed by him to httle children." And a httle
afterwards, " Hence that is evident, which we defend as most
reasonable, that no one is born in sin, and that God never
judges men to be guilty on account of their birth." Again,
" Children, inasmuch as they are cliildren, never can be guilty,
until they have done something by their own proper will."
And as the ground on which the doctrine of communicated
guilt was held was a certain natural conjunction of the parties,
by reason of which Paul declares that we sinned in Adam,
therefore they used their utmost exertion to elude the force of
this argument. Julian reasons thus, " If there was no such i
thing as one man imitating another, and the apostle had I
declared that all had sinned in Adam, yet this mode of speak- |
ing might be defended by scripture use : for Christ called the ^
devil a father, although he is incapable of generation: so the ,
apostle, in describing how the first man was imitated by those I
who came after him, might without impropriety use such Ian- j
guage as that before cited." And again, "The apostle Paul
gave no occasion to error, and said nothing improper, when
he declared that the first man was a sinner, and that his exam-
ple was imitated by those who followed him." " By one man
sin entered into the world: but one man was sufficient to
furnish an example which all might imitate." " He speaks of
one, that he might teach that the communication of sin was
by imitation, not by generation." " Which sin, although it
did not become a part of our nature, was, however, the pat-
tern of all sin ; and hence, although it is not chargeable on
men in consequence of their birth, is by reason of their imi-
tation of it." Prosper, in his epistle to Demetrius, expresses
the opinion thus, " The sin of Adam hurts his posterity by its
example, but not by natural communication."
These opinions were rejected and firmly opposed by the
orthodox. Jerome, at the close of his third book against the
Pelagians, writes thus, "If it be objected that it is said there
are some who have not sinned, it is to be understood that they
did not actually commit the sin of which Adam was guilty
by transgressing the commandment of God in paradise, but
all men are held to be guilty, either in consequence of the
sin of Adam, their ancient progenitor, or by their own per-
sonal act. The infant, by the engagement of his parent in
baptism, is released: and he who has arrived at years of
understanding is delivered, both by another's engagement and
his own, namely, by the blood of Christ. And let it not be
HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS. SOS
supposed that I understood this in a heretical sense, for the
blessed martyr Cyprian, in the letter which he wrote to
Tidus the bishop concerning the baptism of infants, says,
"how much more ought infants not to be debarred from
baptism, who being recently born have committed no sin,
unless that by their carnal birth from Adam they have con-
tracted the contagion of that ancient death in their first nativ-
ity. They ought, therefore, more readily to be admitted to
receive the remission of sins, since that which is forgiven
them is not their own sin, but that of another." Augustine
also strenuously opposed this opinion of the Pelagians in all
his writings, " For" says he, '• we were all in that one man, when
he, being one, corrupted us all." De Civ. Dei. lib. xiii. c. 14.
And in lib. i. c. 10, of his Retractions, he says, "The
opinion which I delivered, that sin injures no nature but that
in which it is committed, the Pelagians apply to the support of
their own doctrine, that little children cannot be hurt by the
sin of another, but only by their own ; not considering that, as
they belong to human nature, which has contracted original
sin, for human nature sinned in our first parents, it is true,
therelore, that no sins hurt human nature but its own." Oro-
sius, in his apology for free will, says, " all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God, either in Adam or in their
own proper persons : the universal mass, therefore, is obnox-
ious to punishment. And if the punishment of condemnation
due to all should be inflicted, certainly it is not unjustly in-
flicted." Inhke manner, the writer of the book entitled Hy-
pognosticon says, "truly then the sin of Adam hurt him alone
while he w as alone, and Eve his wife ; but in them we were all
included, because they were the nature of the whole human race,
which is one in all of us, for we partake of their nature."
What has been brought forward relates to the imputation of
the first sin. Let us next inquire what was the Pelagian doc-
trine respecting the communication of its stain or pollution.
Pelagius, in his book Dc Natura, says, " first it is disputed
concerning this, whether our nature is debilitated and deterio-
rated by sin. And here, in my opinion, the first inquiry ought
to be, what is sin? Is it a substance, or is it a mere name
devoid of substance ; not a thing, not an existence, not a
body, nor any thing else (which has a separate existence) but
an act ; and if this is its nature, as I believe it is, how could
that which is devoid of substance debilitate or change human
nature?" And in his book Concerning Free Will, "every
thing, good or evil, praise worthy or censurable, which we
304 HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS.
<
possess, did not originate with us, but is done by us : for
we are born capable both of good and evil, but not in posses-
sion these qualities ; for in our birth we are equally desti-
tute of virtue and vice ; and previously to moral agency^
there is nothing in man but that which God created in him."
Ccelestius held previously the same doctrine. Augustine
testifies that he held and taught " that the sin of Adam hurt
himself alone, and that infants are born in that state in which
Adam was before he sinned." Julian maintained the same
doctrine, which he repeatedly expresses and pertinaciously
defends : " human nature," says he, " in the time of our
being born, is rich in the gift of innocence." Again, "even
if the devil should create men, they would be free from all evil
in their origin ; and so now they cannot be born in sin, because
no one can help being born, nor can it be just to demand from
any one, what is to him altogether impossible." The same
says, "there is no sin in the condition of our nature." And
" nobody is born with sin ; but our free will is so entirely un-
impaired, that before the exercise of our own proper will, na-
ture in every one is free from every taint." Hence Prosper,
in his Chronicon for the year 414, has this remark: "about
this time Pelagius the Briton published his doctrine, that the
sin of Adam injured himself alone, and did not affect his
posterity ; and that all infants are born as free from sin as
Adam was before his transgression." It cannot be a matter
of surprise that the Pelagians held that Adam's posterity in-
herited from him a corrupt nature, when they did not believe
that his own nature was deteriorated by sinning. Julian,
therefore, says, " a man's natural state is not changed by sin-
ning, but he becomes guilty and the subject of demerit ; for
it is of the very essence of free will that the man should have
it in his power as much to cease from sinning as to deviate
from the path of rectitude."
In opposition to these opinions, the doctors of the catholic
church held, that all the posterity of Adam were now desti-
tute of original righteousness, with which he was endowed,
and hence proceeds an inordinate exercise of all the powers
of the mind, which is called the fuel of sin, the law in the
members, concupiscence, &c.
THE END.
DATE DUE
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