in which not only are forbidden all such works as displease and
offend His Godly Majesty; but also are commended all such as please
Him, and as He hath promised to reward. And these works be of two
sorts; the one are done to the honour of God, the other to the
profit of our neighbours; and both have the revealed will of God
for their assurance. To have one God; to worship and honour 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: these are the works of the First Table. To honour
father, mother, princes, rulers, and superior powers; to love them;
to support them, yea, to obey their charges, unless repugnant to
the commandment of God; to save the lives of innocents; to repress
tyranny; to defend the oppressed; to keep our bodies clean and holy;
to live in sobriety and temperance; to deal justly with all men,
both in word and in deed; and, finally, to repress all appetite for
our neighbour's hurt: these are the good works of the Second Table,
which are most pleasing and acceptable unto God, as those works that
are commanded by Himself. The contrary is sin most odious, which
always displeases Him, and provokes Him to anger. 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 worship idols; to maintain
and defend idolatry; lightly to esteem the reverent name of God;
to profane, abuse, or contemn the Sacraments of Christ Jesus; to
disobey or resist any that God has placed in authority, while they
pass not over the bounds of their office; to murder, or to consent
thereto; to bear hatred, or to suffer innocent blood to be shed if
we may gainstand it; and, finally, the transgressing of any other
commandment in the First or Second Table, we confess and affirm to
be sin, by which God's hot displeasure is kindled against the proud
and unthankful world. So that good works we affirm to be these only
that are done in faith, and at God's commandment, who in His law
has expressed what be the things that please Him. And evil works,
we affirm to be, not only those that are expressly done against
God's commandment, but those also that, in matters of religion and
worshipping of God, have no other assurance but the invention and
opinion of man, which God from the beginning has ever rejected; as,
by the prophet Isaiah and by our Master Christ Jesus, we are taught
in these words--"In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines
the commandments of men."
The Perfection of the Law and Imperfection of Man.--Cap. XV.
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 life, and able to bring
man to eternal felicity. But our nature is so corrupt, so weak, and
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
regenerate,) "we deceive ourselves, and the truth of God is not in
us." And therefore it behoved us to apprehend Christ Jesus, with His
justice and satisfaction, who is the end and accomplishment of the
law to all that believe; 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 obedience as
it were perfect, and covereth our works, which are defiled with
many spots, with the justice of His Son. As we have already plainly
confessed, we do not mean that we are so set at liberty that we owe
no obedience to the law; but we affirm that no man on earth, Christ
Jesus only excepted, hath given, giveth, or shall give in work,
that obedience to the law which the law requireth. 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 not, and put their
trust in damnable idolatry.
Of the Kirk.--Cap. XVI.
As we believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, so do we most
earnestly believe that from the beginning there has been, now is,
and to the end of the world shall be a Church; that is to say, a
company and multitude of men chosen of God, who rightly worship and
embrace Him, by true faith in Christ Jesus, who is the only Head of
the same Kirk, which also is the body and spouse of Christ Jesus;
which Kirk is Catholic, that is, universal, because it contains the
elect of all ages, of all realms, nations, and tongues, be they of
the Jews, or be they of the Gentiles, who have communion and society
with God the Father, and with His Son Christ Jesus, through the
sanctification of His Holy Spirit; and therefore it is called the
communion, not of profane persons, but of saints, who, as citizens
of the heavenly Jerusalem, have the fruition of the most inestimable
benefits, to wit, of one God, one Lord Jesus, one faith, and of one
baptism; out of the which Kirk there is neither life nor eternal
felicity. And therefore we utterly abhor the blasphemy of those that
affirm that men which live according to equity and justice shall
be saved, what religion soever they have professed. For as without
Christ Jesus there is neither life nor salvation, so shall there
none be participant thereof but such as the Father has given unto
His Son Christ Jesus, and those that in time come to Him, avow His
doctrine, and believe into Him--we comprehend the children with the
faithful parents. This Kirk is invisible, known only to God, who
alone knoweth whom He has chosen, and comprehends as well, as said
is, the elect that be departed, commonly called the Kirk triumphant,
as those that yet live and fight against sin and Satan as shall live
hereafter.
The Immortality of the Souls.--Cap. XVII.
The elect departed are in peace, and rest from their labours; not
that they sleep and come to a certain oblivion, as some fantastic
heads do affirm, but they are delivered from all fear, all torment,
and all temptation, to which we and all God's elect are subject in
this life; and therefore do bear the name of the Kirk militant. As
contrariwise, the reprobate and unfaithful departed have anguish,
torment, and pain, that cannot be expressed; so that neither are the
one nor the other in such sleep that they feel not joy or torment,
as, in the parable of Christ Jesus in the sixteenth chapter of Luke,
His words to the thief, and these words of the souls crying under
the altar, "O Lord, Thou that art righteous and just, how long shalt
Thou not revenge our blood upon them that dwell upon the earth!" do
plainly testify.
Of the notes by which the True Kirk is discerned from the false,
and who shall be judge of the doctrine.--Cap. XVIII.
Because that Satan from the beginning has laboured to deck his
pestilent synagogue with the title of the Kirk of God, and has
inflamed the hearts of cruel murderers to persecute, trouble,
and molest the true Kirk and members thereof, as Cain did Abel;
Ishmael, Isaac; Esau, Jacob; and the whole priesthood of the Jews,
Jesus Christ Himself and His apostles after Him; it is a thing most
requisite that the true Kirk be discerned from the filthy synagogue,
by clear and perfect notes, lest we, being deceived, receive and
embrace to our own condemnation the one for the other. The notes,
signs, and assured tokens whereby the immaculate spouse of Christ
Jesus is known from that horrible harlot the Kirk malignant, we
affirm are neither antiquity, title usurped, lineal descent, place
appointed, nor multitude of men approving an error; for Cain in age
and title was preferred to Abel and Seth. Jerusalem had prerogative
above all places of the earth, where also were the priests lineally
descended from Aaron; and greater multitude followed the Scribes,
Pharisees, and Priests than unfeignedly believed and approved Christ
Jesus and His doctrine; and yet, as we suppose, no man of sound
judgment will grant that any of the forenamed were the Kirk of God.
The notes, therefore, of the true Kirk of God we believe, confess,
and avow to be, first, the true preaching of the Word of God; into
the which God has revealed Himself to us, as the writings of the
prophets and apostles do declare. Secondly, the right administration
of the Sacraments of Christ Jesus, which must be annexed to the Word
and promise of God, to seal and confirm the same in our hearts.
Lastly, ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministered, as God's
Word prescribes, whereby vice is repressed, and virtue nourished.
Wheresoever then these former notes are seen, and of any time
continue, be the number never so few above two or three, there,
without all doubt, is the true Kirk of Christ, who, according to
His promise, is in the midst of them; not that Kirk universal, of
which we have before spoken, but particular; such as was in Corinth,
Galatia, Ephesus, and other places in which the ministry was planted
by Paul, and were of himself named the Kirks of God. And such Kirks,
we the inhabitants of the realm of Scotland, professors of Christ
Jesus, confess us to have in our cities, towns, and places reformed;
for the doctrine taught in our Kirks is contained in the written
Word of God, to wit, in the books of the Old and New Testaments.
In these books we mean, which of the ancient have been reputed
canonical, in the which we affirm that all things necessary to be
believed for the salvation of mankind are sufficiently expressed;
the interpretation whereof, we confess, neither appertaineth to
private nor public person, nor yet to any kirk for any pre-eminence
or prerogative, personal or local, which one has above another;
but appertaineth to the Spirit of God, by the which also the
Scripture was written. When controversy then happeneth for the
right understanding of any place or sentence of Scripture, or for
the reformation of any abuse within the Kirk of God, we ought not
so much to look what men before us have said or done, as unto
that which the Holy Ghost uniformly speaks within the body of
the Scriptures, and unto that which Christ Jesus Himself did, and
commanded to be done. For this is a thing universally granted, that
the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of unity, is in nothing
contrarious unto Himself. If then the interpretation, determination,
or sentence of any doctor, Kirk, or Council, repugn to the plain
Word of God written in any other place of the Scripture, it is
a thing most certain, that theirs is not the true understanding
and meaning of the Holy Ghost, supposing that councils, realms,
and nations have approved and received the same. For we dare not
receive and admit any interpretation which directly repugneth to
any principal point of our faith, or to any other plain text of
Scripture, or yet unto the rule of charity.
The Authority of the Scriptures.--Cap. XIX.
As we believe and confess the Scriptures of God sufficient to
instruct and make the man of God perfect, so do we affirm and avow
the authority of the same to be of God, and neither to depend on men
nor angels. We affirm, therefore, that such as allege the Scripture
to have no other authority, but that which is received from the
Kirk, to be blasphemous against God, and injurious to the true Kirk,
which always heareth and obeyeth the voice of her own spouse and
pastor, but taketh not upon her to be mistress over the same.
Of General Councils, of their Power, Authority, and Causes of their
Convention.--Cap. XX.
As we do not rashly condemn that which godly men assembled together
in General Council, lawfully gathered, have approved unto us; so
without just examination dare we not receive whatsoever is obtrused
unto men, under the name of General Councils. For plain it is, that
as they were men, so have some of them manifestly erred, and that
in matters of great weight and importance. So far, then, as the
Council proveth the determination and commandment that it giveth
by the plain Word of God, so far do we reverence and embrace the
same. But if men, under the name of a Council, pretend to forge unto
us new articles of our faith, or to make constitutions repugning
to the Word of God, then utterly we must refuse the same, as the
doctrine of devils which draws our souls from the voice of our only
God, to follow the doctrines and constitutions of men. The cause,
then, why General Councils were convened, was neither to make any
perpetual law, which God before had not made, nor yet to forge new
articles of our belief, nor to give the Word of God authority, much
less to make that to be His Word, or yet the true interpretation of
the same, which was not before by His holy will expressed in His
Word. But the cause of Councils, we mean of such as merit the name
of Councils, was partly for confutation of heresies, and for giving
public confession of their faith to the posterity following; which
both they did by the authority of God's written Word, and not by
any opinion or prerogative that they could not err, by reason of
their general assembly. And this we judge to have been the chief
cause of General Councils. The other was for good policy and order
to be constitute and observed in the Kirk, in which, as in the house
of God, it becomes all things to be done decently and in order.
Not that we think that a policy and an order in ceremonies can be
appointed for all ages, times, and places; for as ceremonies, such
as men have devised, are but temporal, so may and ought they to be
changed when they rather foster superstition, than edify the Kirk
using the same.
Of the Sacraments.--Cap. XXI.
As the Fathers under the Law, besides the verity of the sacrifices,
had two chief Sacraments, to wit, Circumcision and the Passover,
the despisers and contemners whereof were not reputed God's
people; so do we acknowledge and confess that we now, in the time
of the Evangel, have two Sacraments only, institute by the Lord
Jesus, and commanded to be used of all those that will be reputed
members of His body, to wit, Baptism and the Supper, or Table of
the Lord Jesus, called the Communion of His body and blood. And
these Sacraments, as well of the Old as of the New Testament, were
institute of God, not only to make a visible difference betwixt
His people and those that were without His league, but also to
exercise the faith of His children; and by participation of the same
Sacraments, to seal in their hearts the assurance of His promise,
and of that most blessed conjunction, union, and society, which
the elect have with their Head, Christ Jesus. And thus we utterly
condemn the vanity of those that affirm Sacraments to be nothing
else but naked and bare signs. No, we assuredly believe that by
Baptism we are ingrafted in Christ Jesus to be made partakers of
His justice, by the which our sins are covered and remitted; and,
also, that in the Supper, rightly used, Christ Jesus is so joined
with us, that He becomes the very nourishment and food of our souls.
Not that we imagine any transubstantiation of bread into Christ's
natural body, and of wine into His natural blood, as the Papists
have perniciously taught and damnably believed; but this union and
communion which we have with the body and blood of Christ Jesus in
the right use of the Sacraments, is wrought by operation of the
Holy Ghost, who by true faith carries us above all things that are
visible, carnal and earthly, and makes us to feed upon the body and
blood of Christ Jesus, which was once broken and shed for us, which
now is in the heaven, and appeareth in the presence of the Father
for us. And yet, notwithstanding the far distance of place, which is
betwixt His body now glorified in the heaven and us now mortal in
this earth, yet we most assuredly believe that the bread which we
break is the communion of Christ's body, and the cup which we bless
is the communion of His blood. So that we confess and undoubtedly
believe that the faithful, in the right use of the Lord's Table,
so do eat the body and drink the blood of the Lord Jesus, that He
remaineth in them and they in Him; yea, that they are so made flesh
of His flesh, and bone of His bones, that, as the Eternal Godhead
hath given to the flesh of Christ Jesus (which of its own condition
and nature was mortal and corruptible) life and immortality, so doth
Christ Jesus His flesh and blood eaten and drunken by us, give to us
the same prerogative. Albeit we confess that these are neither given
unto us at that only time, nor yet by the proper power and virtue
of the Sacraments alone, we affirm that the faithful in the right
use of the Lord's Table have such conjunction with Christ Jesus as
the natural man cannot comprehend: yea, and farther we affirm that,
albeit the faithful oppressed by negligence, and human infirmity,
do not profit so much as they would at the very instant action of
the Supper, yet shall it after bring forth fruit, as lively seed
sown in good ground; for the Holy Spirit, which can never be divided
from the right institution of the Lord Jesus, will not frustrate
the faithful of the fruit of that mystical action. But all this, we
say, comes by true faith, which apprehendeth Christ Jesus, who only
makes His Sacraments effectual unto us; and, therefore, whosoever
slandereth us, as that we affirmed or believed Sacraments to be
only naked and bare signs, do injury unto us, and speak against a
manifest truth. But liberally and frankly we must confess that we
make a distinction betwixt Christ Jesus in His natural substance
and the elements in the Sacramental signs; so that we will neither
worship the signs in place of that which is signified by them, nor
yet do we despise and interpret them as unprofitable and vain; but
we use them with all reverence, examining ourselves diligently
before we do so, because we are assured by the mouth of the Apostle
that such as eat of that bread, and drink of that cup, unworthily,
are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus.
Of the right Administration of the Sacraments.--Cap. XXII.
That Sacraments be rightly ministered, we judge two things
requisite. The one, that they be ministered by lawful ministers,
whom we affirm to be only they that are appointed to the preaching
of the Word, or into whose mouths God has put some sermon of
exhortation, they being men lawfully chosen thereto by some kirk.
The other, that they be ministered in such elements, and in such
sort as God hath appointed. Else we affirm that they cease to be
right Sacraments of Christ Jesus. And, therefore, it is, that we
flee the society of the Papistical Kirk, in participation of their
Sacraments; first, because their ministers are no ministers of
Christ Jesus; yea, which is more horrible, they suffer women, whom
the Holy Ghost will not suffer to teach in the congregation, to
baptize. And, secondly, because they have so adulterate, both the
one Sacrament and the other, with their own inventions, that no
part of Christ's action abideth in the original purity; for oil,
salt, spittle, and such-like in baptism, are but men's inventions;
adoration, veneration, bearing through streets and towns, and
keeping of bread in boxes or buists,[244] are profanation of
Christ's Sacraments, and no use of the same. For Christ Jesus said,
"Take, eat," etc., "do ye this in remembrance of Me." By these words
and charge He sanctified bread and wine to be the Sacrament of His
body and blood; to the end that the one should be eaten, and that
all should drink of the other; and not that they should be kept
to be worshipped and honoured as God, as the blind Papists have
done heretofore, who also have committed sacrilege, stealing from
the people the one part of the Sacrament, to wit, the blessed cup.
Moreover, that the Sacraments be rightly used, it is required that
the end and cause why the Sacraments were institute be understood
and observed, as well by the minister as by the receivers: for, if
the opinion be changed in the receiver, the right use ceaseth. This
is most evident from the rejection of the sacrifices (as also if the
teacher teach false doctrine) which were odious and abominable unto
God, albeit they were His own ordinances, because wicked men made
use of them for another end than God had ordained. The same affirm
we of the Sacraments in the Papistical Kirk, in which we affirm the
whole action of the Lord Jesus to be adulterate, as well in the
external form as in the end and opinion. What Christ Jesus did and
commanded to be done, is evident by the three Evangelists, [who
speak of the Sacraments,] and by Saint Paul. What the priest does
at his altar we need not rehearse. The end and cause of Christ's
institution, and why the self same should be used, is expressed in
these words--"Do this in remembrance of Me. As oft as ye shall eat
of this bread and drink of this cup, ye shall show forth" (that is,
extol, preach, and magnify) "the Lord's death till He come." But to
what end, and in what opinion the priests say their masses, let the
words of the same, their own doctors and writings witness; to wit,
that they, as mediators betwixt Christ and His Kirk, do offer unto
God the Father a sacrifice propitiatory for the sins of the quick
and the dead. This doctrine, as blasphemous to Christ Jesus, and
making derogation to the sufficiency of His only sacrifice, once
offered for purgation of all those that shall be sanctified, we
utterly abhor, detest, and renounce.
[244] Chests.
To whom Sacraments Appertain.--Cap. XXIII.
We confess and acknowledge that baptism appertaineth as well to the
infants of the faithful as to those that be of age and discretion.
And so we condemn the error of the Anabaptists, who deny baptism to
appertain to children before they have faith and understanding. But
the Supper of the Lord we confess to appertain only to such as have
been of the household of faith and can try and examine themselves,
as well in their faith as in their duty towards their neighbours.
Such as eat [and drink] at that holy table without faith, or being
at dissension or division with their brethren, do eat unworthily:
and, therefore, in our kirks our ministers take public and
particular examination of the knowledge and conversation of such as
are to be admitted to the Table of the Lord Jesus.
Of the Civil Magistrate.--Cap. XXIV.
We confess and acknowledge empires, kingdoms, dominions, and cities
to be distinct and ordained by God: the powers and authorities
in the same, be it of emperors in their empires, of kings in
their realms, dukes and princes in their dominions, or of other
magistrates in free cities, to be God's holy ordinance, ordained
for manifestation of His own glory, and for the singular profit
and commodity of mankind. So that whosoever goes about to take
away or to confound the whole state of civil policies, now long
established, we affirm not only to be enemies to mankind, but also
wickedly to fight against God's expressed will. We farther confess
and acknowledge that such persons as are placed in authority are to
be loved, honoured, feared, and holden in most reverent estimation;
because they are the lieutenants of God, in whose session God
Himself doth sit and judge (yea, even the judges and princes
themselves), to whom by God is given the sword, to the praise and
defence of good men, and to revenge and punish all open malefactors.
Moreover, to kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates, we affirm
that chiefly and most principally the reformation and purgation of
religion appertains; so that not only they are appointed for civil
policy, but also for maintenance of the true religion, and for
suppressing of idolatry and superstition whatsoever, as in David,
Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah and others, highly commended for their
zeal in that case, may be espied. And therefore we confess and
vow, that such as resist the supreme power, doing that thing which
appertains to his charge, do resist God's ordinance, and therefore
cannot be guiltless. And farther, we affirm that whosoever deny
unto them their aid, counsel, and comfort, while the princes and
rulers vigilantly travail in the executing of their office, deny
their help, support, and counsel to God, who by the presence of His
lieutenant craveth it of them.
The Gifts freely given to the Kirk.--Cap. XXV.