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 Historical vindications : a discourse on 
 
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HISTORICAL YINDICATIONS: 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PHOVIKCE AND USES OF BAPTIST HISTORY, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE BACKUS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 AT NEWTON", MASS., JUNE 23, 1857. 
 
 REPEATED BEFORE THE AMERICAN BAPTIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 AT NEW YORK, MAY 14, 1859. 
 
 APPEN-DIXES, 
 
 COKTAINIMG 
 
 HISTORICAL NOTES AND CONFESSIONS OF FAITH. 
 
 B T 
 
 SEWALL S. CUTTING, 
 
 PROFESSOK OP EHETOEIO AND HISTOBY IN THE UHIVEEBITT OS' KOCHE3TEK. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 OOULD AND LINCOLN, 
 
 59 WASHINGTON STREET^ ' 
 
 NEW YORK: SHELDON AND COMPANY. 
 CINCINNATI : GEORGE S. BLAHCHARD. 
 
 185 9. 
 
 1"!^, 
 

 • '^ ' VS/3 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 
 
 GOULD AND LINCOLN, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 /l^ 
 
 
 ELECTftOTYPED BY W . F. DRAPKR, ANDOVER, MASS. 
 
 Printed By R. M. Edwards, 
 
TO THE 
 
 VENEEABLE FIKST BAPTIST CHUECH 
 
 IN THE CITY OF PfiOTIDEKCE, E. I., 
 
 Sips Wiumxu 
 
 18 RESPEOTFtlLLT 
 
 DEDICATED. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 This Discourse is placed in fonn for preserva- 
 tion at the request of the bodies before whom it 
 was delivered. Prepared for delivery at the An- 
 niversary of the Newton Theological Institution, 
 it is printed as spoken at that time. The histori- 
 cal importance of some of the subjects discussed 
 in the Notes, will justify, it is believed, the ex- 
 tended space which they occupy. The Confes- 
 sions of 1643 and of 1689 are inserted, because, 
 though absolutely essential to the knowledge of 
 Baptist doctrinal history, they are to most read- 
 ers now inaccessible. The pages here given to 
 the public are partial fruits of studies pursued 
 through many years by the writer, and he will 
 
TI PREFACE. 
 
 be abundantly compensated if they shall become 
 the occasion to others of kindred researches, and 
 kindred pleasure and profit. He believes that 
 studies in our denominational history will in- 
 crease our reverence for those who have gone 
 before us, and contribute, by the blessing of God, 
 to restore somewhat of their superior efficiency 
 in promoting the kingdom of our Lord, and the 
 salvation of men. 
 
 s. s. c. 
 
 University of Rochester, 
 September 24, 1859. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 DISCOUESE, 11 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 A. — The Alleged Selp-Baptism OF John Smith, 57 
 
 B.— The HiSTOKiCAL Baptism OF THE Ehglish People, ... 61 
 
 C. — Ceeed-statememts in the Baptist Denomination, ... 85 
 
 D. — " Baptists," 107 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 CONFESSIONS AND DISCIPLINE. 
 
 I. — The Confession OF the Seten Churches, 1643, . . . .113 
 
 II. — The Confession of the Assembly op 1689, called in America 
 
 THE Philadelphia Confession, 128 
 
 Eemark to the Header, . . . ' 129 
 
 I. — Of the Holy Scriptures, 183 
 
 II. — Of God and of the Holy Trinity, 136 
 
 III —Of God's Decrees, 138 
 
VIII CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 IV. — Of Creation, 139 
 
 v.— Of Divine Providence, 140 
 
 VI. — Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Tunishment 
 
 thereof, 142 
 
 VII. — Of God's Covenant, 143 
 
 VIII. — Of Christ the Mediator, 144 
 
 IX. — Of Free Will, 147 
 
 X. — Of Effectual Calling, 147 
 
 XI. — Of JustiBcation 149 
 
 XII. — Of Adoption, 160 
 
 XIII. — Of Sanctiflcation, 161 
 
 XIV. — Of Saving Faith, • .... 152 
 
 XV.— Of Repentance unto Life and Salvation, 163 
 
 XVI.— Of Good Works, 164 
 
 XVII. — Of Perseverance of the Saints, 155 
 
 XVIII. — Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation, .... 157 
 
 XIX —Of the Law of God 158 
 
 XX. — Of the Gospel, and of the Extent of the Grace thereof, . 160 
 
 XXI. — Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience, . . .161 
 
 XXII. — Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day, .... 162 
 
 XXIII. — Of Lawful Oaths and Vows, 164 
 
 XXIV. — Of the Civil Magistrate, 165 
 
 XXV. — Of Marriage, ! . . 166 
 
 XXVI. — Of the Church 166 
 
 XXVII. — Of the Communion of Saints, 170 
 
 XXVIII.— Ot Baptism and the Lord's Supper 171 
 
 XXIX. — Of Baptism 171 
 
 XXX. — Of the Lord's Supper, 172 
 
 XXXI. — Of the State of Man after Death, and of the Resurrection 
 
 of the Dead, _. 173 
 
 XXXII.— Of the Last Judgment, 174 
 
 XXXIII. — An Appendix Concerning Baptism, 175 
 
 XXXIV. — Of the Singing of Psalms, etc., 189 
 
 XXXV. — Of Laying on of Hands 189 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 III- — The New Hampshike Deolakatiom or Faith, . . . .191 
 
 I- — Of the Scriptures 191 
 
 II. — Of the True God, , 191 
 
 III. — Of the Fall of Man, 192 
 
 IV. — Of the Way of Salvation 192 
 
 V. — Of Justification, 193 
 
 VI. — Of the Freeness of Salvation, 193 
 
 VII. — Of Grace in Kegeneration, 193 
 
 VIII. — Of Repentance and Faith, 194 
 
 IX. — Of God's Purpose of Grace, 194 
 
 X. — Of Sanctiflcation 195 
 
 XI. — Of the Perseverance of Saints 195 
 
 XII. — Of the Harmony of the Law and the Gospel 195 
 
 XIII. — Of a Gospel Church, 196 
 
 XIV. —Of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, 198 
 
 XV. — Of the Christian Sabbath, 19r 
 
 XVI —Of Civil Government, 19" 
 
 XVII. — Of the Eighteous and the Wicked, 197 
 
 XVIII. — Of the World to Come, 198 
 
 IV. — Discipline Adopted bt the Philadelphia Association, . 199 
 
 Concerning a True and Orderly Gospel Church, 201 
 
 Concerning Ministers, etc., 202 
 
 Of Ruling Elders, 204 
 
 Of Deacons 205 
 
 Of the Admission of Church Members, 205 
 
 Of the Duties of Church Members 211 
 
 Of the Manifold Duties of Christians, especially to the Household of 
 
 Faith 213 
 
 Of Church Censures, 214 
 
 Of the Communion of Churches, 221 
 
THE 
 
 PROYINCE AND USES OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 
 
 I WAS not uninfluenced by personal considerations in 
 accepting the invitation which has brought me to your 
 presence to-day. I came to meet old friends, whose 
 grasp always repays a long journey, needing no pledge 
 of welcome save that which is furnished in recollections 
 of former intimacies, and of labors in a common and 
 blessed service. This hill, whose winding ascent is 
 shaded by venerable elms, — the beautiful panorama* 
 which delights the eye from its summit, — are not more 
 familiar than the faces which assemble here on these 
 sacred occasions. They differ in this, that while the 
 former abide with the constancy of nature, knowing no 
 change save that of increasing beauty, the latter reveal 
 the touches of time and care, each year reminding us, 
 by their absence, of some whom we shall not greet 
 again, and whom we in our turn shall successively fol- 
 low. I may too early attune your thoughts to sadness ; 
 but these allusions force to my mind and to yours the 
 name of one whose recent departure, in the very vigor 
 of his days, we all have mourned as the loss of a brother. 
 It is not my province to utter his eulogy ; and yet, the 
 
12 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 part which I have to perform in tlie exercises of this 
 anniversary, permits and invites a hrief reference to his 
 virtues. He was my friend. Wlien he came to the 
 pastorship of the ancient church in Providence, I was 
 the pastor of a rural cliurcli in this state, at no great 
 distance from him, and was honored with liis confidence. 
 From tliat time I knew him well. I never knew in- 
 tegrity more perfect than his. Prudent and reserved, 
 when he spoke his words were the exact transcript of 
 liis thoughts. Of ripe judgment, he was a sagacious 
 and wise counsellor. With wonderful faith in right 
 and in God, he looked for the triumph of truth and 
 righteousness with a confidence as unquestioning as that 
 of the astronomer looking for the calculated phenomena 
 of the planets. Perhaps it required somewhat of inti- 
 macy to know his emotional nature, — the depth, the 
 unchangeableness of his love, which, as a pervading, 
 'characterizing sentiment, embraced his friends, — his 
 work as a pastor, — and the cause of Christ, whether as 
 a whole or in its special departments of ediication or 
 missions, whether as connected with his own denomina- 
 tion, or with that true church catholic which embraces 
 the faithful of every clime and- name. He was a rarely 
 developed Christian man, whom, to human seeming, 
 the church on earth could not afford to lose. We feel 
 the pang of his absence here to-day, and before we pass 
 to other themes we pay this brief tribute to the memory 
 of James N. Granger. 
 
 I had another reason for obeying the siimmons which 
 called me hither. It was my privilege to bear a pai't 
 in the formation of this Historical Society; anterior 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 13 
 
 indeed, to the formation, I bore a part in the public and 
 private discussions which led to that event. There were 
 those among us who felt that materials for our denom- 
 inational history were dropping away beyond recovery, 
 for the lack of some repository in which they might be 
 gathered, — that we were in danger of losing the his- 
 toric spirit, for the lack of something to remind us of 
 the names and deeds of our fathers — those true men 
 who, in this and other lands, labored and suffered for 
 our faith. It was our wish to link the living genera- 
 tion with those who in all preceding times have been 
 the representatives of our ideas of the Christian econ- 
 omy, and with those who shall come after us in the 
 same evangelical succession. We believed the purpose 
 a worthy one — one which would minister to faith, and 
 hope, and charity, and which would grow in the inter- 
 est and regard of the thoughtful and cultivated in our 
 ministry and our churches. I am still impressed by 
 similar convictions, and these gave the weight of au- 
 thority to your wishes. 
 
 In occupying your attention for an hour, I shall re- 
 strict myself to topics closely related to the purposes 
 of this society. I propose to offer some remarks on the 
 Province and Uses of Baptist Sistory ; and if I dwell 
 somewhat disproportionately ou a single branch of the 
 former of these topics, it wUl be from my desire to 
 direct your attention to questions relating to the rise 
 of our denomination which seem to me to have been 
 studied less than they deserve. 
 
 By Baptist History, I mean history with the restric- 
 tion implied by that epithet, taken in its ordinary sense. 
 
 2 
 
14 PROVINCE AKD USES 
 
 In that sense the epithet is modern, belonging wholly 
 to the period of the Reformation and the times succeed- 
 ing. There are those who regard it as the chief and 
 distinguishing province of Baptist history to trace the 
 stream of our sentiments from their primal fountain in 
 the churches of the apostles, down through successions 
 of organized communities, to the Baptists of modern 
 times. I have little confidence in the results of any 
 attempts of that kind which have met my notice, and I 
 attach little value to inquiries pursued for the prede- 
 termined purpose of such a demonstration. The past 
 opens her testimonies not to those who approach her 
 in the spirit of dictation, and to serve the ends of sect 
 or party, but to those who come in a docile temper to 
 accept her lessons, whatever they may be. It is a more 
 legitimate task to search for the good seed of the king- 
 dom, wheresoever or howsoever scattered in the lapse of 
 ages, — whether manifesting itself in individual minds 
 distinguished by faith and genius, in sects struggling to 
 restore the primitive economy, and hunted and destroyed 
 as heretics, or mingled with the mass of evangelical 
 germs which never perished in the great apostasy ; and 
 to note how that seed, when the Reformation came to 
 the church like vernal suns and airs to the teeming, 
 waiting earth, started into rank and even unhealthy 
 growth. Tliis is preliminary to Baptist history. It ex- 
 plains how and why there came to be a Baptist denomi- 
 nation, and hence a history with that epithet. In that 
 sense it is within the province of Baptist history, but it 
 is not that history itself. American history falls back 
 upon English, and English in Its turn upon Contineii- 
 
OF BAPTIST niSTORT. 15 
 
 tal, and this again upon Roman, Grecian and Asiatic ; 
 but wlien, in the forces and events of tliese anterior 
 periods, American history has accoimted for its exist- 
 ence and cliaracter, its province becomes peculiar and 
 restricted. It is so witli Baptist history. It falls back 
 upon the anterior periods with which it is linked, and 
 of which it is the offspring ; but, having in this way 
 accounted for its rise, and explained its character, it 
 becomes distinct and substantive, and belongs exclu- 
 sively to modern times. 
 
 It by no means follows, from the distinction which I 
 have named, that this preliminary chapter is in any 
 sense unimportant. I should be misconceived, were it 
 supposed that I am aiming at that inference. It is, on 
 the contrary, with the closing section of that chapter 
 that I am now for some little time, and as a leading 
 topic, to occupy your attention. I shrink from no 
 scrutiny in regard to the principles or the facts which 
 gave rise to the Baptist denomination. I am not un- 
 familiar with the facile and stereotyped reproaches 
 wliich are cast upon our pedigree. It is easy for any 
 sectary of the nineteenth century, judging of his own 
 communion as he sees it now, and of other communions 
 as they were, or as they were represented by their ene- 
 mies to be, two or tliree centuries ago, to institute offen- 
 sive comparisons. He may make the Episcopal Church 
 odiqus, by presenting to the modern sense the revolting 
 scenes of Smithfield, or the more refined atrocities of 
 the period of tlie Corporation and Test A-Cts ; or the 
 Church of Holland odious, by reminding the world that 
 when the reformed of that country were yet in their 
 
16 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 deadly struggles with the human fiend of Spain, they 
 were reproaching the great Prince of Orange because 
 he -would not let loose the fury of persecution against 
 the Anabaptists ; but he has in this process only re- 
 vealed the unloveliness of his own temper, and engaged 
 in a game at which any number can play. It should 
 rather be our interest to cast the veil over common in- 
 firmities, and to look, in that memorable period of the 
 world's commotion, for those better moral forces which, 
 under God, have given us the bloom and beauty of our 
 later Protestant unity. In order to detect these forces, 
 we must learn to go beyond abnormal developments — 
 beyond the abuse of power in church and state, on the 
 one hand, and beyond the excesses of ignorant fanati- 
 cism on the other, to that great mass of Christian 
 PEOPLE, as distinguished from priests and rulers, from 
 zealots and madmen, who made little figure in the pub- 
 lic affairs which form history, but whose faith and piety 
 constituted in fact the leaven of the world. Those who 
 can trace their spiritual pedigree to such a source, have 
 no occasion to blush for their origin. 
 
 I think that the people of the period of the Reforma- 
 tion, and of the ages immediately anterior, will rise in 
 our estimation, in proportion as we know them more 
 intimately. Luther sprimg from the people, and ad- 
 dressed himself to them. The Reformation embraced 
 doctrines as well as morals, — doctrines relating to the 
 profoundest questions of spiritvial life, — and yet the 
 people felt and appreciated the discussions, and were 
 swayed by them as the harvest is swayed by the summer 
 wind. The " guilds of Rhetoric " which flourished in 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 17 
 
 the cities of the Netherlands, and contributed so largely 
 to the religious reformation and the political revolt, 
 furnish a striking illustration of the intelligence and 
 cultivation of Dutch mechanics of that period. " They 
 ridiculed, with their farces and satires," says Motley, 
 " the vices of the clergy. They dramatized tyranny 
 for public execration."^ Princes could neither sedvice 
 them by asking to be admitted as members, nor break 
 them down by power or menace. Earlier than this, 
 iu England, the brilliant period of Edward III. was 
 crowned with the rise of Wickliffe. In the minds of 
 most men, Wickliffe stands out solitary, amid general 
 gloom, — one star on the broad face of surrounding 
 night. Such a view of him is a grand historical mis- 
 take. Wickliffe rose on a movement which embraced 
 a large portion of the English people, and was himself 
 but the representative of that movement. Old Henry 
 Do Knyghton, contemporary and antagonist of the great 
 reformer, declares fliat the adherents of Wickliffe were 
 so held in honor, and multiplied, that of every two men 
 met in the way, one or the other might be siipposed to 
 belong to the sect.^ Wickliffe translated the Bible for 
 a people whose conscious wants required it. Frag- 
 
 1 Batch RepMlc, Vol. I. p. 89. No unfavorable opinion can be formed 
 as to the culture of a nation, whose weavers, smiths, gardeners, and 
 traders, found the favorite amusement of their holidays in composing and 
 enacting tragedies or farces, reciting their own verses, or in personif\- 
 ing moral and sesthetic sentiments, by ingeniously arranged gi-oups, or 
 gorgeous habiliments. — lb. 
 
 2 Secta ilia in maxime honore illis diebus habebatiir et in tantum mnlti- 
 plicata fuit, qnod rix dnos videres in via, qnin alter eornm discipiilus 
 ■Wyelefi fuerit. Quoted in Gieseler's F.cd. Ilhl., Vol. lit. p. 147. 
 
 2* 
 
18 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 inentary portions — the work of pious priests, who had 
 sought in this good way to feed the flock of God — had 
 created an appetite for more of that heavenly food. 
 His resistance to the pretensions of monks and friars, 
 was a resistance which he echoed from classes extend- 
 ing downward to the very humblest of the people. 
 This is strikingly illustrated in that curious old poem 
 belonging to this time, the Creed of Piers Ploiigh- 
 man. An humble and earnest inquirer is represented 
 as going, in pursuit of religious instruction, from one 
 order of friars to another, but failing utterly in the 
 search. They are skilled in the art of abusing each 
 other, but hot in the divine art of directing the penitent 
 to the way of life. He has parted from the last of 
 the orders, " wepynge for sorowe," when he meets an 
 humble plougluuan, who inquires the cause of his 
 grief. 
 
 " I can fynden no man," 
 
 the wanderer replies, 
 
 " That fuUi byleveth, 
 To techen me the heyghe weie, 
 And therefore I wepe ; 
 For I have fonded the freres 
 Of the foure ordres : 
 
 And al myn hope was on hem, 
 And mjn' herte also ; 
 But thei ben fulli faitliles, 
 And the fend sneth." 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 19 
 
 Mark, then, how the peasant suddenly interrupts the 
 lamentation : 
 
 "A! brother,' * » 
 
 Beware of tho foles ; 
 
 For Christ seyde hymself, 
 ' Of swiche I you warne.' " — L. 908. 
 
 The peasant then proceeds with a terrible picture of 
 their pride, their covetousness, and their inability to 
 teacli; and in the end, in answer to the inquirer, ex- 
 plains the simple creed of a Christian man. Such a 
 poem — a poem designed to aid the cause in which 
 Wickliffe was laboring — is altogether inexplicable, 
 except upon the supposition of an amount of religious 
 knowledge among the people of England of that time, 
 far beyond that which is ordinarily attributed to them. 
 If it be asked how they had acquired it, the answer 
 may be found, undoubtedly, in the better character of 
 many of the secular clergy, of some one of whom 
 Chaucer has given the immortal portrait: 
 
 " Christes love, and his apostles twelve 
 He taught ; and ferst he folwed it himselve ! " 
 
 English history is full of intimations of the perpetual 
 restlessness of the English people, under papal domina- 
 tion, and of the presence of a deeper religious life than 
 it was the piirpose of the papal hierarchy to originate 
 or to supply. Nor were the life and progress of the 
 English people manifested in religious directions only. 
 Even then, in the popular poem known as the "Vision" 
 
20 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 of the Ploughman, the poet, as if already recognizing a 
 political axiom destined to triumph in the constitution 
 of his country, writes of a king : 
 
 " Might of the communes 
 Made hym to regne."— Z. 225. 
 
 I may refer to another illustration of the growth of 
 religious life among the English people, preparing them 
 for the Reformation, which seems to me to have been 
 singularly overlooked. It is safe to assume that the 
 language of any nation expresses, at any given stage 
 of its history, the aggregate intellectual life of the 
 nation. Its speech is the product, the sign, and the 
 measure of its thought. If, then, we apply this test to 
 the time when Chaucer wrote for the aristocracy, and 
 the authors of Piers Ploughman for the people, ajid 
 from tliat period leap forward to the time of Tyndale 
 and Cranmer, we behold at once the indications of 
 great progress. There have been feeble intervening 
 princes ; there have been the devastating wars of the 
 Roses ; there have been, on the part of the alternately 
 ascendent factions, the most shameless compliances with 
 ecclesiastical demands ; the nobles have devoured each 
 other, until not thirty peers are found to sit in parlia- 
 ment ; the obsequious legislature has passed the act 
 de hceretico comburendo, that the realm may be purified 
 hj fire from the heresies of Wickliffe ; and literature 
 has drawn on the cowl, and retired to the gloom and 
 the superstitions of the cloister; — but whoso judges 
 the condition of the English people from these cliiof 
 
OP BAPTIST HISTORY. 21 
 
 and most familiar phenomena of history, has done great 
 injustice to a period of popular progress — progress, of 
 wliich, apart from other proofs, -vve have an incontestable 
 sign in the growth of the English tongue. The Engiish 
 tongue had become ripe for the expression of religious 
 ideas, because the people, by the growth of their re- 
 ligious life, had religious ideas to express. The lan- 
 guage of the Reformation was not now superimposed ; 
 it came from within. Artisans, and peasants even, 
 when summoned before priests and magistrates, used 
 tlie terminology of theological science with the con- 
 scious facility of men whose objective knowledge was 
 grounded m a profoimd subjective experience. When 
 the Reformation of England is attributed to the lust of 
 a brutal king, or even when better men, like Tyndale 
 and Cranmer, and the gentle Josiah of the British 
 throne, are regarded as essential ministers of its induc- 
 tion and progress, the grand forces of the period are 
 overlooked. These forces were in the people, who were 
 ■ now, by the discipline of Providence, prepared for that 
 great event ; and kings, prelates, and scholars, were but 
 the unconscious ministers of their will. Henry and 
 Edward, Tyndale and Cranmer, were incidents; the 
 Reformation, with or without them, was a necessity. 
 The lust of Henry might be the occasion and instru- 
 ment of its precipitation; the event itself lay in the 
 destinies of the world, and the fulness of the time had 
 come. 
 
 Contemplate, then, the Reformation as a great popu- 
 lar movement — a movement for which the peojilo, 
 whether on the continent or in England, had become 
 
22 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 ripe. Let it not be accounted a strange thing that its 
 progress was marked by many events to be regretted. 
 It was a divine work, but wrought througli human 
 agency, and bore, as was inevitable, the marks of 
 human infirmity. It liad been tlie aim of tlae spiritual 
 tyranny which ruled over Europe, to suppress all free- 
 dom of thought and discussion; and the design seemed 
 well-nigh accomplished. Babylon, as in her pride she 
 surveyed the subject peoples of Christendom, sung ex- 
 ultingly, ■" I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow." 
 Suddenly her plagues came. The nations, awaking to 
 the consciousness of their strength, broke the Avithes 
 by which they had been bound, and cast them beneath 
 their feet. Freedom of thought was the distinction and 
 the triumph of Protestantism. It is no marvel that, in 
 tlie delirium of new-found liberty, excesses of opinion 
 and conduct were exhibited, which contemporary con- 
 servatism and reaction, and the cooler judgment of 
 modern times, have alike condemned. If the excesses, 
 under the circumstances of the case, had been less 
 violent or less blamable, the Reformation would have 
 been anomalous in human history. 
 
 Some of the chief excesses of the period of the 
 Reformation were manifested, under various forms, by 
 individuals and communities who were distinguished 
 by the name of Anabaptists. It is undeniable that 
 fanatics, under this name, became the reproach of Prot- 
 estantism, and the terror of civil society. But, on the 
 other hand, it is not less certain that better people, 
 against whom no crimes against Protestantism or the 
 state could be alleged, were compelled by their enemies 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 23 
 
 to share the title and the reproach ; and historians have 
 not always been sufficiently careful to discriminate 
 between these distinct classes. The student of human 
 nature, who observes its workings under the powerful 
 influence of religious controversy, will not be surprised 
 that hard names were made a substitute for arguments ; 
 but the student of history may well wonder that his- 
 torical justice has been so tardy and so reluctant. 
 There were but few crimes charged against the Ana- 
 baptists of the Reformation, which were not charged 
 against dissenters in England, under the reigns of the 
 last Stuarts. In their case, however, history has been 
 more ready to vindicate tlie wronged from unjust asper- 
 sions, and already the slanders of that day are refuted 
 forever. There is a similar work to be done for the 
 Anabaptists, — the work of distinguishing between those 
 Cliristian people whose simple and earnest practical 
 piety adorned the Reformation, and those fanatics and 
 madmen whose delusions and misdeeds dishonored it, 
 and of giving the former their true place among the 
 world's worthies. 
 
 There have not been wanting, in our times, writers 
 who have thought it their mission, in utter disregard 
 of historical facts, to connect the Baptists of this day 
 with the madmen of Miinster ; and, with an equal mis- 
 conception of the truth of history, some among our- 
 selves have sought to escape from that disgraceful 
 genealogy, by denying any historical connection what- 
 ever with any body of that name in the period of the 
 Reformation. To them, our English Baptist ancestors, 
 like Melchizedec, were without father, without mother, 
 
24 PEOVINCB AND USES 
 
 without pedigree, — genuine autochthones, sprung from 
 English soil, with no relations on the face of the earth. 
 The fabled origin of the Athenians was not more cer- 
 tainly a mistake. The rise of the Baptist denomination 
 in England — in part, undoubtedly, indigenous, the 
 result of principles recognized as belonging logically to 
 tlie Reformation — was occasioned, likewise, by inter- 
 course with the Anabaptists of the Continent, of the 
 better class to wliich I have referred. Sometimes these 
 people came to England, driven thither by persecution, 
 and became, by their testimony and their blood, the 
 apostles of their faith. Sometimes English Christians, 
 driven from their own country by priestly intolerance, 
 became, on the Continent, the docile pupils of Anabap- 
 tists there, and then, returning to England, embodied 
 their doctrmal progress in corresponding ecclesiastical 
 organizations. Suffer me to detain you for a few 
 moments with indications of the historical proofs of 
 these statements. 
 
 It is impossible to determine at how early a period, in 
 the progress of the Reformation, Anabaptists, under 
 that name, made their appearance in England. Nor is 
 the solution of this problem necessary to our present 
 purpose. Henry had been warned against them, by 
 advices from the Continent, and had taken such decisive 
 measures as he knew too well how to take, to prevent 
 the spread, in his kingdom, of the dangerous heresy. 
 He had been so far unsuccessful, however, that, accord- 
 ing to the testimony of Burnet, there were many, in 
 the reign of Edward VI., in several parts of England. 
 Having stated that they were generally Germans, who 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTOKY. 25 
 
 had been compelled, by revolutions in their own coun- 
 try, to seek homes abroad, he says : " Upon Luther's 
 first preaching in Germany, there arose many, who, 
 building on some of his principles, carried things much 
 further than he did. The chief foundation he laid 
 down was, that the Scripture was to be the only rule of 
 Christians." On this foundation, he proceeds to state, 
 many rejected certain received religious opinions, as 
 without warrant ; of those so rejected, infant baptism 
 being one. " They held that to be no baptism," says 
 Burnet, " and so were rebaptized ; but from this, which 
 was the most taken notice of, as being a visible thing, 
 they carried all the general name of Anabaptists." " Of 
 these," he adds, " there were two sorts most remark- 
 able." One sort, according to his description, " only 
 thought that baptism ought not to be given but to those 
 of an age capable of instruction, and who did earnestly 
 desire it. This opinion " — I am still quoting his words 
 — " they grounded on the silence of the New Testa- 
 ment about the baptism of children ; they observed that 
 our Saviour, commanding the apostles to baptize, did 
 join teaching with it : and they said the great decay 
 of Christianity flowed from this way of making chil- 
 dren Christians before they understood what they did. 
 These," he says, " were called the gentle, or moderate 
 Anabaptists." This representation makes these Chris- 
 tians different from Protestants generally, by their views 
 of baptism, and the composition of the Christian Church, 
 and in so far, I need not say, they answer to the faith 
 and practice of the Baptists of later times. " But 
 others," he proceeds, " who carried that name [of Ana- 
 
 3 
 
26 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 baptists], denied almost all the principles of tlie Chris- 
 tian doctrine, and were men of fierce and barbarous 
 tempers. * * These," he adds, " being joined under the 
 common name of Anabaptists, with the other, brought 
 them also under an ill character."^ 
 
 Having given to his readers this distinction, — a dis- 
 tinction required by that truth of history which Bishop 
 Burnet reverenced, — he proceeds to state that, at the 
 period in question, these people were disseminating 
 their errors in England, and making proselytes, and 
 that fresh measures were taken for removing this dan- 
 ger. He says, however, that he knows of no severities 
 used against the moderate or gentle kind, — that these 
 were met by the more legitimate argument of books, to 
 which they wrote replies.^ We should be glad to give 
 entire credit to his information on this point. Unfor- 
 tunately, however, under the description of the " fierce 
 and barbarous," he sets down the name of the sufferer, 
 Joan of Kent, with whose death stern history sadly 
 connects the name of Cranmer. ■ Authorities are not 
 agreed as to the character of that unhappy woman, — 
 some making her an example of consistent and zealous 
 piety, and giving her a rank among the martyrs. Un- 
 
 1 The testimony from Burnet here cited may be found in his History 
 of the Reformation, Vol. 11. p. 176. His recognition of the distinction 
 between different sorts of Anabaptists, coincides striliingly with that of 
 Lord Broolie, in his Treatise on Episcopacy. This nobleman was a cuiu- 
 mander in the Parliamentary Army, and fell at Litchfield, in 1643. The 
 tolerant sentiments of his treatise were praised by Milton, in his Speech 
 for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing, See Supplement to Neal's History 
 of the Puritans, Vol. II. p. 365. 
 
 2 Hist. Sef, Vol. n. p. 179. 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 27 
 
 doTibtedly she hesitated to accept the common faith in 
 regard to the mystery of Christ's human nature. The 
 papist imagines tliat he lionors the Lord by attributing 
 siulessness to the nature of tlie virgin niotlier of wliom 
 he took his flesla, and Joan, as I suppose, imagined that 
 slae honored him by denying that he took flesh of that 
 mother at all, and requiring a higher miracle as the 
 true solution of the mcarnation. Her error was the 
 natural rebound from the Romish Mariolatry. But 
 this error by no means justiiies the historian in ranking 
 her with the fanatical Anabaptists. It is not to be 
 denied that her doubts on tliese questions were shared 
 by a large portion — we know not how large — of those 
 who were called " the gentle." On the Continent, as 
 well as in England, this was charged against them as a 
 distinctive Anabaptist'-heresy, and in their examinations 
 before priests and magistrates was generally made a 
 chief point. Whether it justifies the inference of their 
 denial of the Divinity of Christ, is another question, 
 not to be answered without discrimination. In the 
 examination of Claes de Praet, at Ghent, in 1556, the 
 priest alleged, " Your people do not believe that Christ 
 is God and man." — " I believe," answered the martyr, 
 " that Christ is truly God and man."^ Another of the 
 martyrs, in his confession of faith, written subseqiiently 
 to his examination, and giving an account of that trans- 
 action, affirms his belief in the Divinity of Christ, in 
 terms unquestionable for their orthodoxy .^ Pieters and 
 
 1 Baptist Martyrology, Hanserd KnoUys Society's ed., Yol. II. p. 88. 
 
 2 lb., p. 2-56. 
 
28 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 Terwoort — Flemish Anabaptists who had sought a ref- 
 uge in England, the sufferers in that sad tragedy of the 
 year 1575, which stains the reign of Elizabeth — de- 
 clared, " We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and 
 man."^ All these persons, however, decline to concede 
 that Christ took his flesh of the ■\drgin. That, say they, 
 is not revealed. " We ought rather," urge the last 
 named of these martyrs, " to mark and appropriate the 
 fruits of the incarnation and sufferings of Christ, than 
 pertly to dispute of the derivation of his flesh ; which," 
 they add, " we nevertheless confess, so far as Scripture 
 hath testified thereon, being satisfied with what you 
 desire, that he is come in the flesh." Then they ex 
 claim, with touching pathos, " Would that the people 
 were also content with that, and not urge us to confess 
 that Christ derived his flesh from 'the ' substance of the 
 Virgin Mary,' which we can neither comprehend nor 
 believe ; since the word ' substance ' is not to be found 
 in the holy Scripture."^ We certainly could not defend, 
 indiscriminately, the soundness of Anabaptist views on 
 the question of the Divinity of Christ ; but the testi- 
 monies are ample and incontestable, that their qiiestion- 
 ings about the mystery of his birth did not necessarily , 
 involve the denial of his Divinity. 
 
 This incidental point, however, is perhaps a digres- 
 sion. We have found Anabaptists in England, distin- 
 guished from the " fierce and barbarous," as " moderate 
 and gentle." We have found them propagating their 
 
 1 Broadmead Records, Hanserd Knollys Society's ed., Hist Int., p. Ixvii. 
 
 2 Letter of the martyrs to John Fox, ib., Appendix, p. 005. 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 29 
 
 doctrines and making proselytes. Whatever questions 
 may arise as to the previous existence of persons of 
 similar faith in England, from the time of Wickliffe 
 down, it is certain that the seeds of Baptist faith now- 
 scattered germinated in English soil, and became in- 
 eradicable. There are numerous incidental proofs of 
 their activity and increase during the reign of Eliza- 
 beth. Bishop Jewel ranks them among the "pests" 
 tliat sprang up, like mushrooms, " in the Marian night," 
 and we may add, that not only sermons and books, but 
 prisons and flames also, were witnesses of the prevailing 
 zeal to pluck them> up during the Elizabethan day. 
 Whitgift declared that Puritanism would draw in Ana- 
 baptism, and he was right. " In the summer time," 
 says Underhill, " they met in the fields. Seated on a 
 bank, they read, and listened to exhortations, from the 
 word of God, by some of their number. In the winter 
 they assembled in a house, at the early hour of five ; 
 the day was passed in prayer and Scripture exposition. 
 They dined together, then collected money to pay for 
 their food, carrying the surplus to any of their brethren 
 who were in bonds for the testimony of a good con- 
 science."^ 
 
 We have thus the proofs of a connection in England 
 between the moderate Anabaptists of the Continent and 
 our English progenitors. We are now to see that Puri- 
 tan exiles from England, dwelling amid such Anabap- 
 tists on the Continent, imbibed their views, and returned 
 to establish Baptist churches in their own land. 
 
 I Broadmead Becords, Hist. Int., pp. 1., Ixxi. 
 3* 
 
so PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 The limits within which I am necessarily confined do 
 not permit me to enter at length on the perplexing 
 question of tlie Continental Anabaptists. The analysis 
 already cited indicates the classes under which, with all 
 their multiform varieties, they naturally fall. This 
 general allusion, however, is hardly sufficient for our 
 present purposes, and I may be pardoned, therefore, for 
 recalling that question to your consideration, in order 
 to determine more specifically the character of the peo- 
 ple with whom the English exiles came in contact. 
 The world has heard so much of frantic proceedings on 
 the Continent, which dishonored the name of Anabap- 
 tists, that the name has come to be very generally 
 regarded as applicable to madmen only, and the error 
 can be corrected in no other way than by perpetual 
 iteration. 
 
 The rejection of infant baptism, at the period of the 
 Reformation, did not manifest itself as a- mere vulgar 
 error. It was so natural a development of the princi- 
 ples of the Reformation, that it could not but suggest 
 itself to the learned, and, at the same time, was so 
 startling a development as to cause the conservative 
 and the timid to hesitate before committing themselves 
 to such a result. Melancthon acknowledged this as 
 " a weak point." " The questions concerning baptism 
 affected me, and, in my opinion," said he, " not without 
 good reason."^ It is melancholy to reflect that the 
 same gentle name is associated in the proceedings of 
 
 1 Hague's Hist. Discourse, pp. 65, 67, 173. The authorities referred to 
 by Dr. Hague, are, Neander, in a conversation and in a letter, and Plands's 
 Ilisloryof Protestant Thcologt/, Vol. II. p. -J7. 
 
OE BAPTIbT HISTORY. 31 
 
 the Diet of Homburg, with the sentiment, " that the 
 Anabaptists may and ought to be restrained by the 
 sword." ^ Zwingle, too, bitterly as he afterwards per- 
 secuted the Anabaptists, was at first agitated by tlieir 
 questions, and inclined to their views.^ The same was 
 true of Oecolampadius.' It was no easy thing to 
 reconcile the involuntary 'rite with the obligations of a 
 personal and voluntary profession, resulting logically 
 from the doctrine of justification by faith. Men of 
 learning and ability, friends and coadjutors of these 
 reformers, gave up the attempt in despair, and com- 
 mitted themselves to their principles, whithersoever 
 they might lead. 
 
 It was such men with whom the Anabaptists had 
 their origin at Zurich. Mantz and Grebel, Hetzer and 
 Hubmeyer, were all able and learned men.^ Mantz, 
 in opposition to Zwingle's " indiscriminate church con- 
 
 1 Baptist Martyrology, Tol. I. p. 164. 
 
 2 lb., pp. 66, 71. 
 
 3 lb. 
 
 * "The question of pffidobaptism began to be agitated in Switzerland 
 in 1523 or 1524. Among its earliest opponents were Balthasar Hubmeyer, 
 Conrad Grebel, Felix Mantz, and Louis Hetzer, — all men of learning and 
 ability." — Baptist Martyrology, Vol. I. p. 6. In the ample and elaborate 
 editorial additions and notes contained in the Hanserd KnoUys Society's 
 editions of these Tolumes, will be found biographical sketches, which 
 remove the heavy weight of reproach under which party spirit has for 
 long buried some of these reformers. Habmeyer was a brilliant scholar 
 and preacher, and though there is reason to believe he partially recanted 
 under torture, he reaffirmed his faith, and died a martyr. The monstrous 
 and incredible charges against Hetzer seem to have been a later invention, 
 to remove the ignominy of his condemnation. " No one," wrote an eye- 
 witness, " has with so much charity, so courageously, or so gloriously 
 l.iid down his life for Anabaptism, as Hetzer. He was like one who spake 
 with God and died." See Vol. I. pp. 4-11, 12—16, 61—73, 97—101. 
 
32 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 stitution," allied to the state, and upheld and promoted 
 by its power, demanded a church composed of spir- 
 itual persons only, introduced into it by a voluntary 
 baptism. He was reproached, in reply, as " wishing a 
 church free from sin," and his followers as exalting 
 themselves in point of holiness above their neighbors. 
 He denied the right of the magistrate to interfere in 
 matters of religion, and this was stigmatized as coii- 
 tempt by the civil authority. His career was short. 
 The magistrates issued their edicts against the Anabap- 
 tists, and persecution was commenced. Nevertheless, 
 " in fields and in woods, as occasion oifered, with the 
 Hebrew and Greek Scriptures in his hand, he ex- 
 pounded the word of God to the people who flocked 
 to hear him." Seized and imprisoned, tried and con- 
 demned, he died serenely, as became a Christian martyr. 
 His death was by drowning. Zwingle, his old friend, 
 the companion of his earlier studies, who, in the sacred 
 relations of friend and fellow-student, had known his 
 doubts on baptism, and had himself felt their force, is 
 reported by Brandt to have pronounced his sentence in 
 the four words, scarcely less impious than unfeeling, 
 '■'Qui iterum mergit, mergatur."^ Erasmus, startled by 
 these transactions in Zurich, in a letter to his friends in 
 East Priesland, exhorting them to abide in the Ark, 
 paid incidentally his tribute to the character of the 
 sufferers : " a people," said he, " against whom there is 
 very little to be said, and concerning whom we are 
 assured there are many who have been reformed from 
 
 1 Brandt's Hist. Ref., fol. ed., Vol. I. p. ij?. 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 83 
 
 tlie worst to the best lives ; and though perhaps they 
 may foolishly err in certain opinions, yet have they 
 never stormed towns nor churches, nor entered into 
 any combinations against the authority of the magis- 
 trate, nor driven anybody from his government or 
 estate." ' 
 
 Contemporary with this movement in Switzerland, a 
 similar people appear in the Netherlands. I cannot 
 here pursue the history of their sufferings. It is among 
 the most melancholy recitals of a period of horrors. 
 Conceding the abuse of their principles by multiform 
 sects who sprung from even the better class of them, 
 and the extravagance and madness of others, between 
 whom and these Christians there was never either con- 
 nection or sympathy, it is sufficient for the present 
 purpose to say that exemplary and suffering people, 
 known by this name, transmitted their faith and their 
 virtues to descendants in the Low Countries, with whom, 
 tliree-fourths of a century later, our English progenitors 
 came in contact. And yet I ought not to pass in utter 
 silence over that great intervening period. The history 
 of English liberty links itself indissolubly with the rise 
 of the Dutch Republic. The impulses of that move- 
 ment were felt across the channel, quickening the 
 preparations for the Commonwealth and the English 
 and American Revolutions. The history of that period 
 indicates an honorable connection of the Anabaptists 
 with the cause of the great Prince of Orange. When 
 gloom rested heavily on his affairs ; when his plans 
 
 1 Quoted in Brandt, Vol. I. p. 58. 
 
3 t ' PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 demanded pecuniary supplies, for which lie appealed to 
 the rich and the great with little success ; when nobles 
 and gentlemen, once foremost in his support, were now 
 wavering and inactive, — we behold in his presence hum- 
 ble Anabaptist pastors, who, at the risk of their lives, 
 had brought to his camp the contributions of their 
 brethren. " They prayed him to take in good part that 
 small present [of over a thousand guilders], declaring 
 that they esteemed his favor greater than the gift, and 
 that they never desired to be repaid." When the 
 prince asked them what return he could make, they 
 replied, " Nothing but his protection, in case God 
 bestowed upon him the government of these prov- 
 inces." — " That," said the prince, " would he show 
 to all men, especially to them that were exiles and 
 refugees as well as he."^ Nobly did he fulfil that 
 pledge. Once and again he was importuned to pros- 
 ecute the Anabaptists, and once and again he repelled 
 the proposition. His testimony is conclusive as to their 
 loyalty, their industry, and their virtue, — reminding us, 
 by the terms in which it was given, of that of the 
 Dutch ambassador Van Beuning, as furnished, at a 
 later period, in his conversation on Toleration in 
 the Netherlands, with the French warrior Turenne. 
 " Why," said he, " should they not be tolerated ? They 
 are very good and quiet people. They do not aspire to 
 dignities ; an ambitious man never meets them in his 
 way ; they never oppose us by any competition and can- 
 vassing. * * We do not fear the rebellion of a sect that 
 
 1 Brandt's Bist. Bef., Vol. I. p. 295. Motley's Dutch Republic, Vol. II. 
 p. 250. 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 35 
 
 teaches, among other things, that one ought never to 
 bear arms. * * We raise troops with their money, 
 whicli do us more service than they would by listing 
 tliemselves. They edify us by their simplicity; they 
 apply themselves to arts and trades, without lavishing 
 away their estates by luxury and debauchery. * * 
 These people think themselves as much bound by their 
 promise to speak the truth, as if they took an oath."^- 
 We may well repeat his question, " Why should they 
 not be tolerated ? " It is a mournful reflection, that 
 those who were urging William to persecute these 
 quiet people, were themselves, at the very time, hunted 
 by the sanguinary bigot who sat iipon the Spanish 
 throne, and were pleading, in their own behalf, the 
 rights of conscience. ^ 
 
 Among those whom William was asked to persecute, 
 and of whose industry and thrift he is the witness, were 
 the Anabaptists of Middelburg. In this very city oc- 
 curred the first intercourse of the English exiles with 
 the Dutch Anabaptists, of which we have knowledge. 
 Here Robert Browne, with his followers, towards the 
 close of the sixteenth century, found a refuge from 
 persecutions at home. Their views of the spiritual 
 character of the church rendered them peculiarly sus- 
 ceptible to the influence of the Anabaptists, who formed 
 at Middelburg " a flourishing community," and whose 
 views " the greater part" of the exiles adopted.^ We 
 cannot suppose, however, that this occurrence at Mid- 
 delburg was singular, even thus early in the history of 
 
 1 Bayle, Art. Anabaptists, note. 
 
 2 Broadmead Becords, Hist. Int., p. xxxv. 
 
36 PKOVINCE AND USES 
 
 the exiles. For only a few years later ^1597), John 
 Payne, addressing, from Harlaem, his brethren who 
 frequent the Royal Exchange [of London] , warns them 
 to avoid " the new English Anabaptists." " I wish you 
 beware," he says, " of the dangerous opinions of such 
 English Anabaptists, hred here, as whose parsons, in part, 
 with more store of their letters, doth creep and spread 
 among you, in city and country."' Perhaps it was this 
 "creeping and spreading" of opinions in England 
 which gave rise to the mission of Mr. Richard Blount, 
 who is said to have been sent to Holland to receive 
 baptism, and who, on his return, baptized Mr. Samuel 
 Blacklock, — the two then baptizing the rest of the com- 
 pany, fifty-two in number.^ Certain it is, that ten years 
 later than the warning missive of Mr. John Payne, a 
 scliism among the Brownists of Amsterdam, kindred to 
 that of Middelburg, resulted in the formation of an 
 English Baptist Church in that city. This church, gath- 
 ered by Mr. John Smyth, and after his death under the 
 ministry of Mr. Thomas Helwisse, was composed of that 
 noble company of exiles, who, doubting their right to 
 enjoy their asylum in Holland while their brethren 
 were hunted and oppressed at home, resolved to return 
 to their own country, " to challenge " — the words are 
 their own — " to challenge king and state to their faces, 
 and not give way to them — no, not a foot." They did 
 return, proclaiming, in their Confession of Faith, " that 
 the magistrate is not to meddle with religion, or mat- 
 ters of conscience, nor compel men to this or that form 
 
 1 Broadmead Mecords, ffisi. Int., p. Ixxiii. 
 
 2 Neal's History of the Puritans. Supplement. Vol. 11. p. 361. 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 37 
 
 of religion, because Christ is the King and Lawgiver 
 of the church and conscience." It was this return to 
 the dangers of persecution, and this proclamation of 
 the rights of conscience, to which the pilgrim pastor, 
 John Robinson, replied, in a p\iblication which places 
 him, in regard to the question of religious liberty, in 
 unfavorable contrast with his Baptist brethren.^ Of 
 the active correspondence of those who composed this 
 church of the exiles with the Dutch Anabaptists of 
 Amsterdam, interesting evidences have been discovered 
 within a few years, tending, among other things, to lift 
 from John Smyth, that man " of able gifts," the re- 
 proach of self-baptism, under which he had lain for more 
 than two centuries, — " se ipsos haptizare" meaning 
 only, it is contended, that it was lawful for the company 
 of Christians to which he belonged, converted to Scrip- 
 tural views of baptism in their exiled condition, to 
 institute baptism among themselves, instead of receiving 
 it from their Dutch brethren. The Dutch denied 
 this, and John Smyth, on whom the reproach of self- 
 haptism abides, was convinced by their arguments, and 
 acknowledged that he was mistaken.^ 
 
 The return of this church from Holland, in 1611, 
 may be accepted as the date of the permanent estab- 
 lishment of distinct Baptist churches in England. 
 
 Arrived at this period, we cannot but pause to notice 
 the character of the elements now combined for the 
 complete development of our denominational faith. 
 
 1 See Mr. Kobinson's "Religious Communion," etc. TTorfcs, Doctrinal 
 Tract and Book Society's ed. Vol. III. p. 277. 
 
 2 See Appendix I., A. 
 
 4 
 
38 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 We have seen the unquestionable proofs of the inter- 
 course of our English progenitors with the Dutch Ana- 
 baptists, and of the powerful influence of that inter- 
 course in moulding their views of the Christian Church. 
 The Baptist denomination of to-day is, however, by no 
 means the simple development of Dutch Anabaptism. 
 Our ecclesiastical relations to that people are analogous 
 to our political relations to the Dutch Eepublic. It is 
 impossible to read the history of that republic without 
 observing the identity of the principles there at work, 
 with those which, at a later day, triumphed permanently 
 under Cromwell, William and Mary, and Washington. 
 And yet those principles did not so triumph on the 
 Continent. The Dutch seemed to be wanting in the 
 power of bringing those principles within the grasp of 
 their consciousness, and in that sturdy practicalness of 
 the English mind, which is never content until a prin- 
 ciple becomes an embodied fact, adjusted to its relations 
 to other principles and to other facts. The growth of 
 our constitutional liberties could not have been what it 
 was without the prior existence and influence of the 
 Dutch Republic ; nor could these liberties have become 
 what they are without the more potent conditions of 
 English thought and life. The dependence and the in- 
 dependence of the English Baptists were not different. 
 When the exiled Brownists of Middelburg and Amster- 
 dam, holding the doctrine of a church composed of 
 spiritual persons, came in contact with the Dutch Ana- 
 baptists, they found a people in advance of themselves 
 in the development of that principle, by the logical and 
 Scriptural exclusion of infants from baptism, and they 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 39 
 
 at once followed the new light. But in the further 
 development of that principle, they parted from the 
 Dutch where the Dutch parted from Christ and his 
 apostles. They repelled the curious speculations of 
 the Continental Anabaptists, in regard to the mode 
 of the incarnation, and affirmed the lawfulness to 
 Christian men of holding civil offices, and exercising 
 the functions of civil magistrates. The mode of bap- 
 tism, unsettled and various on the Continent, became 
 with them the fixed mode of immersion, — with the 
 greater faciUty, perhaps, because dipping had been 
 preserved to about that time in the Church of Eng- 
 land,i but especially for the reason that a voluntary 
 profession of personal faith must be in exact accord- 
 ance with the statutes of the great Lawgiver himself. 
 The English mind thus dropped off at once the leading 
 eccentricities of the Continent; and as we trace the 
 history of the English Baptists, we find, within a very 
 brief time, that they have brought their new position 
 into harmony, theologically and socially, with the great 
 mass of reformed Christendom, while at the same time 
 they have preserved the integrity and consistency of 
 their principles. At the first, sympathizing with the 
 Remonstrants, and therefore followers of Arminius, 
 they became not long afterwards, in common with all 
 Protestants, divided on the theological questions in- 
 volved in that great controversy, constituting perma- 
 nently two bodies, known as the General and the 
 Particular Baptists. The church of the latter, consti- 
 
 1 See Appendix I., B. 
 
40 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 tuted in London in the year 1633, by a secession from 
 the Independent Church gathered by the Rev. Mr. 
 Jacob, may be regarded as fixing the epoch of our 
 own distinct denominational life, and as closing, there- 
 fore, the preliminary chapter of our denominational 
 history. 
 
 We have seen, in the inquiries- thus far pursued, that 
 the Reformation was the work, not wholly or chiefly 
 of princes, divines, or scholars, but of peoples of various 
 nations, whose intellectual and religious life had at- 
 tained a development which demanded freedom from 
 the restraints of the apostate hierarchy, and required 
 ecclesiastical institutions in nearer accordance with 
 the word of God. I think we have seen, likewise, 
 that an ecclesiastical ancestry, found among those who 
 had reached such a development, may be wanting in 
 princely or priestly patronage, as were the primitive 
 founders of the Christian Church, and yet not be 
 wanting in true worth and honor. 
 
 I have consumed, according, indeed, to my intima- 
 tion at the outset, so large a portion of my time on 
 the views now presented, that I am obliged to hasten 
 over my remaining topics with very summary state- 
 ments. 
 
 Having thus accounted for its own rise, it belongs 
 further to Baptist history to define, by a thorough analy- 
 sis and exposition, the matured faith of the founders 
 of the denomination, and to exhibit their true relations 
 to other branches of the one Christian family. What 
 was .the position which o\ir progenitors, by these mani- 
 fold developments, and through these long struggles. 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY- 41 
 
 had attained, at the period which we have named as the 
 epoch of our distinct and recognized denominational 
 origin ? What ideas did tliey represent ? What mis- 
 sion did they undertake ? How far were tliose ideas 
 and that mission tlie common distinctions of Protest- 
 antism, and liow far peculiar to tliemselves ? Happily, 
 the materials for solving questions like these are abun- 
 dantly supplied in our formularies and our literature. 
 The rapid increase of Baptists from 1633 to 1643, 
 had brought upon the rising sect the bitter reproaches of 
 an age bitter with religious controversy. Charged with 
 being Pelagians, Socinians, Arminians, Soul-sleepers, 
 and the like, and ridiculed as ignorant and fanatical, 
 seven churches of London, in the latter year, issued 
 their Confession of Faith, the first published by the 
 Particular Baptists, and the type of all which have 
 since followed.^ Preceding the Westminster Confession, 
 it is not less sound in the fundamentals of Christianity, 
 as may be seen by comparing it with the work of the 
 Westminster Assembly. It is remarkable for clearness, 
 breadth, and acuteness, the production of cultivated 
 minds, and an effectual answer to the reproaches which 
 occasioned its issue. Among the names appended to it 
 we observe those of Benj. Cox and Hanserd KnoUys, 
 distinguished as scholars and preachers ; Samuel Rich- 
 ardson, a voluminous and able writer ; and William 
 Kif&n, who stood honored in the presence of kings. 
 Prom this Confession, and from contemporary contro- 
 versial works, the productions of men of learning and 
 
 I See Appendix I., C. 
 
 4.* 
 
42 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 * 
 
 ability, it is clear that the founders of the denomination 
 demanded only a consistent and completed Reformation, 
 ■ — ^the restoration of evangelical faith and of apostolic 
 order. They accepted the principles of the Reforma^- 
 tion, with the design of carrying them out, and parted 
 company with their brethren only when their brethren 
 declined to follow those principles to their results. It 
 is sometimes said that Baptists are not Protestants. I 
 think it more just to say that they are Protestants by 
 eminence, — protesting against, not Rome only, but 
 against everything of Rome which Anglicans, hxx- 
 therans, or Calvinists, retained in their ecclesiastical 
 structure, their scientific theology, or their religious 
 life. They accepted the apostolic as the model church ; 
 and, with a total irreverence of popes, councils, and 
 fathers, leaped the chasm of sixteen centuries, and 
 planted themselves on the immovable rock of the 
 Divine "Word. In that "Word they found simple and 
 intelligible statements, — that apostles and evangelists 
 went everywhere preaching the gospel, addressing to 
 the consciences and hearts of intelligent and responsi- 
 ble men and women, the claims of the divine law, and 
 the necessity of faith in Christ; that those who ac- 
 cepted Christ by a personal faith, professed him before 
 the world by a voluntary baptism ; and that Christian 
 churches were communities of men and women so con- 
 verted and so baptized. These statements gave to them 
 the law of their ecclesiastical polity. They protested, 
 therefore, against the attempt, by a mechanical process, 
 to make Christians of unconscious infants, as impossi- 
 ble in itself, and as filling the church, which ought to be 
 
OP BAPTIST HISTORY. 43 
 
 holy and separate from the world, with unconverted 
 persons ; and against all ecclesiastical authority, exist- 
 ing or traditional, which enjoined or tolerated such a 
 process. Since justification was by personal faitli, since 
 baptism was a voluntary act, since religious service 
 could be accepted only as it was free, — they protested 
 against all coercion in religion, whether themselves or 
 others were the objects at which it was aimed. The 
 baptism of infants, state clnirches, and persecution for 
 religious opinions, they regarded as utterly irreconcila- 
 ble with New Testament Christianity, and as retained 
 from the apostate church, — the Babylonish garments 
 and wedges of gold, destined to be the weakness and 
 discomfiture of the Clu'istian Israel. Alas ! it was tliis 
 radical demand, this demand for a reformed Reforma- 
 tion, which arrayed against them the timid and the 
 conservative, and that larger class who had not stated 
 fully to their own minds tlie principles for which they 
 were contending, and who remind us of Milton's lion, 
 in process of creation, half formed, uprearing his noble 
 head, shaking his brinded mane, pawing to get free, 
 but fast bound to earth by parts yet unfinished. 
 
 Having thus explained the origin, and the distinctive 
 character and mission of the denomination, it is, finally, 
 the province of Baptist history to trace the progress of 
 our jDrinciples, both in our own denominational growth, 
 and in the influence of these principles on other com- 
 munions, and on the civilization of modern times. 
 Planting himself at the period of the Confession of the 
 Seven Churches, the Baptist historian, as he looks down 
 the line of coming years, beholds struggles wliich miglit 
 
44 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 appall the stoutest heart, and, at the same time, tri- 
 umplis, which, had they been Tittered in prophecy, 
 would have been scarcely less wonderful than those 
 ancient ones in which the seers of the captivity pro- 
 claimed the return to Zion. Their scanty numbers, 
 increased, sometimes rapidly, sometimes slowly, for a 
 himdred years, he sees then, under the impulse of a 
 second Reformation, embodying more fully their ideas 
 of a spiritual church, augmented by ratios which, at the 
 end of a second century, give us adherents embracing 
 millions, and an honorable rank among the forces of 
 Protestant Christendom. The rapid spread of Baptist 
 sentiments during the period of the English Common- 
 wealth ; the maturing, strengthening, consolidating pro- 
 cess of the succeeding period of persecution ; the min- 
 istry and the dreams of Bunyan ; the General Assembly 
 of 1689, representing more than one hundred congre- 
 gations, met to celebrate their release from oppression, 
 by organizing missionary labors, and providing for the 
 education of their ministry ; the embodying of the dis- 
 tinctive sentiments of the Baptists on liberty of con- 
 science in a civil state on this side of the Atlantic ; the 
 great names which adorn our history, in the depart- 
 ments of literature, in civil station, in commerce, and 
 in works of evangelical charity, — these are events and 
 themes which arrest the attention of the historian, and 
 uivite and repay his labors. If their influence on other 
 communions, and on society at large, is sought, it is seen 
 in what they have done to raise the views of evangelical 
 Christians generally, in regard to the spiritual character 
 of tlie Christian Church ; in the desuetude of infant 
 
OP BAPTIST HISTORY. 45 
 
 baptism ; in the growth of that tree of liberty which 
 they planted on the shores of the Naragansett, until 
 a whole nation reposes under its shadow ; and in the 
 great questions of the church, and of church and state, 
 which, in our own time, they have excited on the Con- 
 tinent of Europe, which even now are agitating synods, 
 consistories and cabinets, in Prance, Germany, Den- 
 mark and Sweden, and which are manifestly destined 
 to become the occasions of new triumphs. With 
 enough of human infirmity and sin in our history to 
 make us humble, there has been, by the blessing of the 
 Divine Master whom we serve, enough of honorable 
 success to inspire our hearts with higher hopes, and to 
 encourage steadfastness and zeal in our future labors. 
 
 With these brief references to the last topics ad- 
 duced, we must pass from the consideration of the 
 Province of Baptist History, to a few remarks on its 
 Uses. I regret that my limits will not permit the 
 ampler consideration of this theme which I had de- 
 signed. 
 
 I think that at the end of two hundred years we 
 may fairly be summoned to show, by its practical work- 
 ings, the superiority of the church-system ^hich it is 
 our mission to embody and illustrate. The friends of 
 hereditary and of national churches — Lutheran, Cal- 
 vinistic, and Anglican — have from the beginning ob- 
 jected to the theory of churches composed of spiritual 
 members only, that in this world of universal frailty 
 it was visionary and impracticable. Even at the dawn 
 of the Anabaptist movement in Switzerland, Zwingle 
 made this a distinct point with the Anabaptist Ee- 
 
46 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 formers ; and within the last year, the shrill voice of 
 the Swiss Presbyterian has been echoed from the banks 
 of the Ohio, by the learned and evangelical bishop who 
 presides over the diocese of Kentucky. The latter, con- 
 tending as earnestly as we for justification by faith, and 
 regeneration by the Holy Spirit, would nevertheless 
 make churches national, — bringing children within the 
 church in order to their conversion under its means of 
 grace, and leaving the separation of the tares from the 
 wheat to the harvest-day of the world. If your theory 
 is the correct one, he argues, your churches, composed 
 of those only who have been spiritually enlightened and 
 renewed, and have made profession of personal faith in 
 voluntary baptism, ought to be more distinguished than 
 others by the practical fruits of Christian piety, by the 
 graces of love and union and Christian zeal. He 
 demands, with propriety and force, have the facts 
 answered to the theory ? Has " the life of God in the 
 soul of man" been better developed and illustrated 
 with you than with those whose theory admits a more 
 comprehensive and indiscriminate membership ? I can- 
 not deny the justice of the appeal ; nor can I answer it 
 without a familiar acquaintance with our history. I do 
 not shrink from the historical scrutiny to which it in- 
 vites. ^ Marred our history is by backslidings, which 
 remind us of our full share in human frailty ; but when 
 I contemplate our beginnings, the reproaches and per- 
 secutions through which we passed, the disadvantages 
 of many kinds under which we have since labored, and 
 then review our growth, with its beneficent results to 
 the church catholic and to mankind, I cannot but 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 47 
 
 admire the testimonials which it furnishes in praise of 
 the glory of His grace who has made us a separate and 
 peculiar people. Our church-system has its adequate 
 Tindication in our history. 
 
 I think, in the second place, that the study of our 
 history will aid us in the settlement of practical ques- 
 tions, relating to polity, and to agencies and methods 
 of evangelization. We have been from the first a 
 practical people, and as exigencies have arisen, they 
 have been met by courses of policy determined by men 
 who bowed with reverence to the authority of the 
 Divine "Word, who prayed much, and were earnest in 
 their work. The recorded experience of such men 
 opens a mine of practical wisdom which we cannot 
 aiford to neglect. Take, for illustration, the single 
 question of an educated ministry. I do not say that 
 nothing on that svibject is to be learned beyond what 
 our fathers have taught us, but I think it safe to say 
 that we shall go into error when we stray from the path 
 which they opened. Their views and plans were con- 
 formed equally to the spirit and procedure of primitive 
 Christianity, and to their own condition and necessities. 
 They neither repelled from the ministry, for the lack of 
 intellectual culture, good men who, in their " aptness 
 to teach," furnished evidence of a divine call to the 
 sacred oSice, nor did they fail either to recognize the 
 advantages to the ministry of liberal learning, or to 
 provide the best means in their power for securing 
 those advantages. A considerable number of the early 
 ministers of the Baptist churches, such as Cox, Knollys, 
 Tombes, and Jessey, were graduates of the English 
 
48 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 universities, and some of them ranked higli among the 
 learned men of a learned age. Many of their contro- 
 versial works were written with masterly ability. Vava- 
 son Powell's examination of the Prayer Book was not 
 less keen and effective than it was sententious and 
 logical, and De Laune's Plea for the Non-conformists 
 honors the verdict of Defoe, who ranked him among the 
 first of thinkers and scholars. Recall our progress. 
 The first Particular Baptist church was organized, as 
 we have seen, in 1633. In ten years seven churches in 
 London united in a Confession. In the period of the 
 Commonwealth they had increased so rapidly that it 
 becomes impossible to trace their growth or to estimate 
 their numbers. Hunted and oppressed during the suc- 
 ceeding reigns of Charles and James, their men of 
 learning and influence fined and imprisoned, they had 
 nevertheless increased in numbers, and so consolidated 
 their organizations, that more than one hundred con- 
 ^gregations^ were represented in the General Assembly 
 of 1689. It was impossible for a people, mainly of the 
 middle and humbler classes, so persecuted and impov- 
 erished, and shut out from the endowed schools and 
 universities, to provide a learned ministry for the de- 
 mands of such a growth. And yet the desirableness of 
 learning to the ministry seems never even then to have 
 been forgotten. Mr. Tombes, so early as 1650, had 
 three young men under his personal instruction, two of 
 whom subsequently rendered eminent service in our 
 
 1 All the Particular Baptist churches of the kingdom were not repre- 
 sented in this Assembly. 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 49 
 
 churches. It is stated farther, that m those days of 
 common peril and suffering, this only practicable method 
 was followed by Baptist and Pedobaptist pastors, with- 
 out distinction of sentiment, on the part of the pupils, 
 as to the points at issue between them. In 1675, letters 
 were sent by the Baptist ministers of London to the 
 churches throughout England and Wales, inviting their 
 brethren to a meeting, in the month of May following, 
 to take measures " for the providing an orderly standing 
 ministry in the church, who might give themselves to 
 reading and study, and so become able ministers of the 
 New Testament." Dyke and Kifi&n were among the 
 signers of this call. Whether the meeting was held, 
 or what was the result, we do not know. In 1686, the 
 venerable Terrill, of the Broadmead church, whose pas- 
 tor, a man " of great learning," ^ died in prison, for the 
 testimony of Jesus, and who, himself a man of very con- 
 siderable acquirements, appreciated the value of learn- 
 ing to a minister of Christ, had left by liis will the 
 provision which subsequently became the foundation of 
 the Baptist College at Bristol. As soon as the heavy 
 weight of persecution was removed by the glorious Rev- 
 olution of 1688, the General Assembly, already alluded 
 to, met in London, and took vigorous measures for the 
 education of the ministry of our churches. The bene- 
 factions of Hollis to Harvard College and to the Phila- 
 delphia Association ; the early efforts of that Associa- 
 tion, prompted by these benefactions, to secure an 
 educated ministry ; the Education Society at Charles- 
 
 1 Broadmead Records, p. 493. 
 
50 PKOVINCE AXD USES 
 
 ton, which a hundred years ago supported Samuel 
 StiUmau in his stiidies ; ' the call for an educated min- 
 istry which succeeded the astonishing growth of our 
 denomination about the middle of the last century, 
 and led to the establishment of Brown University, — 
 these are links in an unbroken chain, connecting this 
 honored theological institution, whose anniversary we 
 now celebrate, devoted to the highest professional learn- 
 ing of our times, with the humbler labors in the same 
 cause of Terrill and KnoUys, Dyke and Tombes. We 
 perfect their work ; we do not depart from their prin- 
 ciples. They demanded grace before learning, and then 
 learning to the utmost practicable extent. This prin- 
 ciple pervades our history witla the uniformity of a law. 
 We have never had a ministry universally learned. 
 Besides that this has been forbidden by our rapid 
 growth, we may doubt whether, in any conceivable 
 stage of human progress, such a ministry will be found 
 in accordance with the divine plan. No church-system 
 can be a divine one which is not adapted to universality, 
 and none can be adapted to universality which is not 
 exclusive of castes, high or low — which does not wel- 
 come alike to its fellowship the cultivated and the 
 rustic, and furnish to all their suitable aids to edifica- 
 tion, and their fitting spheres of service for Christ. As 
 matter of fact, he calls to his ministry men of all ranks, 
 all conditions, all grades of culture not below " aptness 
 to teach." He did it in the first age, and has done it 
 since in all the active ages of his church. We may 
 
 1 Benedict's History of the Baptists, ed. 1813, Vol. II. p. 136. 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTOEY. 51 
 
 infer that he always will do it. Our system requires us 
 to welcome to the service all whom he calls, and then to 
 raise all to the highest possible intellectual efficiency, 
 by the highest culture practicable for each. With the 
 advance of popular intelligence, " aptness to teach," 
 which is but relative, must require higher preparations 
 for the duties of the sacred office, and the aggregate 
 culture of the ministry must rise in proportion. Al- 
 ways for them to whom the completest education is 
 possible, the completest education is a duty ; for, in 
 learning, sanctified, in earnest, and practical, lies the 
 greatest human power. I understand this to have been 
 the theory of our fathers, the earliest and the best of 
 them, and the theory of our whole history. I believe 
 there can be no better. It seems to me to reconcile 
 views at present conflicting among us, by opening wide 
 the door for all true laborers, while at the same time, 
 wherever practicable, it demands the most thorough 
 preparatory and life-long discipline. 
 
 And as on the subject of ministerial education, so on 
 various others, our history is replete with discussions 
 and experiences, in which we may find lamps for our 
 own paths, which will neither grow dim nor mislead 
 us. 
 
 Finally, the study of our history will evoke and sus- 
 tain a true denominational spirit, and so minister effec- 
 tively to the progress and triumph of our distinctive 
 principles. The great truths of Christianity — those 
 which pertain to our salvation, and so lie at the basis 
 of Christian character and Christian brotherhood — we 
 hold in common with other branches of the one house- 
 
52 PROVINCE AND USES 
 
 hold of faith. In urging an awakened denominational 
 spirit, I shall not, I trust, be suspected of a wish to 
 violate the charity of this comprehensive and sacred 
 relationship. What I ask is that we may understand 
 ourselves, and perform in the spirit of Christianity our 
 distinctive mission. As it was the maintenance and 
 spread of certain principles wliich justified the original 
 formation of Baptist churches, so, if their continuance 
 is to be justified, it must be on similar grounds. Our 
 fathers formed churches not to supplement the gospel 
 of the Reformation, but to give it free scope and power, 
 — to rescue it from perversions and additions, and to 
 embody it in institutions of Divine appointment, and 
 therefore of greater efficiency in the world's regenera- 
 tion. The principles for which they contended were 
 the unshared authority of the Word of God, the per- 
 sonal character of faith and a religious profession,, and 
 the inviolability of the rights of conscience. They de- 
 manded that Christ alone be King in Zion, reigning 
 over voluntary subjects, by laws of his own ordination. 
 The Christian world more nearly accords with us now 
 on all these questions than it did two hundred years 
 ago ; especially is this true in this country and in 
 Great Britain, the more immediate sphere of our influ- 
 ence. The practices of our brethren around us have 
 burst the restraints of their written formularies, and 
 some of them have but to state their positions to their 
 own consciousness, and they are Baptists at once. It is 
 a striking fact, that at the very time when the desue- 
 tude of infant baptism in evangelical churches is arrest- 
 ing attention and challenging inquiry, the work of 
 
OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 53 
 
 Litton,' one of tlie most elaborate and scientific works 
 on the church which have appeared in our language for 
 two centuries, takes fundamental grounds which, by a 
 logical and by a well-nigh admitted necessity, make the 
 church Baptist. We have gained much, but not all. 
 In Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, our controversies 
 of one and two centuries ago are renewed to-day. The 
 field of religious liberty with us is won ; but even here 
 tradition has not given place to the complete supremacy 
 of Scripture, nor is the spiritual character of the primi- 
 tive churches fully restored. We have a great work 
 still before us. We may increase our numbers, while 
 we fulfil but imperfectly this distinctive mission. We 
 may stand on an equal footing with our brethren in the 
 matters of wealth, culture, and social position — in the 
 learning of our ministry, and in the luxury and ele- 
 gance of our appointments for worship, and yet may 
 fail to bear our proper part in that great purpose which 
 justified and demanded our denominational origin, and 
 which has illustrated and adorned our denominational 
 history. It was the aim of our progenitors to restore 
 the order of apostolic churches, and so to bring back 
 the power of primitive Christianity. " I believe and 
 
 1 The Church of Christ, in Its Idea, Attributes, and Ministry: with a 
 Particular Reference to the Controversy on the Sabject between Roman- 
 ists and Protestants. By Edward Arthur Litton, M. A-. Perpetual Curate 
 of Stockton Heath, Cheshire, and late Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. 
 Philadelphia, 1856. 
 
 Mr. Litton's work coincides in important particulars with the work of 
 the Rev. John S. Stone, D. D., on the True Comprehension of the Church, 
 printed several years ago, for his own congregation, — that of Christ 
 Church, Brooklyn. It is to be regretted that portions of Mr. Litton's 
 work are omitted in the American edition. 
 
 5* 
 
64 PROVINCE AND USES OF BAPTIST IIIPTORT. 
 
 know," said Hubmeyer, " tliat Christendom will not 
 receive its rising aright, till baptism and the Lord's 
 Supper are restored to their original purity." i In that 
 faith, seeking a perfected reformation, our fathers la- 
 bored. Whether preaching to little congregations in 
 England, gathered privately to avoid the interruptions 
 of officials and the penalties of the law, or itinerating 
 among the new settlements of this country, and plant- 
 ing the seeds of the gospel with the first opening of the 
 soil to cultivation, everywhere they understood, with 
 remarkable distinctness, the character of their work, 
 and felt its high inspiration. We shall catch their 
 spirit by studying their deeds. We shall then imitate 
 their zeal, and renew their successes. We shall gain, 
 not a mere party triumph, which is unworthy of Chris- 
 tian men, but the increase of that moral power in the 
 church, which, under the blessing of God, will the 
 sooner achieve the world's regeneration. Let our 
 name^ and our memory perish, if only Clirist reigns 
 in an obedient and sanctified church. And he must so 
 reign ; for, in the glorious words of the same martyr, 
 "Divine truth is immortal; it may, perhaps, fob 
 long, be bound, scourged, crowned, crucified, and 
 
 for a season be entombed in the grave; but on 
 
 the third dat it shall rise again victorious, and 
 rule and triumph forever."* 
 
 1 Baptist Martyrology, Vol. I. p. 72. 
 
 2 See Appendix I. D. 
 
 3 Quoted by E. B. Underhill, Esq., Christian Bevieiv, 1852, p. 48. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 A. THE ALIEGED SELE-BAPTISM OF JOHN SMYTH, 
 
 B. THE HISTORICAL BAPTISM OF THE EKGIISH PEOPLE. 
 
 C. CEEED-STATEMENTS IN THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION. 
 
 D. "BAPTISTS." 
 
A. 
 
 THE ALLEGED SELF-BAPTISM OF JOHN SMYTH. 
 
 The charge of self-baptism is sustained by the testi- 
 mony of the Pilgrim pastor, John Robinson, in his 'work 
 on "Religious Communion," etc. The following is his 
 language : 
 
 "Lastly, If the church be gathered by baptism, then 
 will Mr. Helwisse's church appear to all men to be built 
 upon 'the sand, considering the baptism it had and hath ; 
 which was, as I have heard from themselves, on this man- 
 ner: Mr. Smyth, Mr. Helwisse, and the rest, having ut- 
 terly dissolved and disclaimed their former church state, 
 and ministry, came together to erect a new church by 
 baptism; unto which they also ascribed so great virtue, 
 as that they would not so much as pray together before 
 they had it. And, after some straining of courtesy who 
 should begin, and that of John Baptist (Matt. iii. 14) mis- 
 alleged, Mr. Smyth baptized first himself, ■and next Mi'. 
 Helwisse, and so the rest, making their particular confes- 
 sions." — Works, vol. iii. p. 168. 
 
 This language is, certainly, not ambiguous : " Mr. Smyth 
 baptized Jlrst himself, and next Mr. Helwisse, and so the 
 rest." In reference to the source of his information, he 
 says, " as I have heard from themselves." 
 
58 NOTES. 
 
 The biographers of Mr. Smyth, and the Baptist Histo- 
 rians, Crosby and Ivimey, have been entirely skeptical in 
 regard to this alleged self-baptism. It has been argued 
 that the charge has proceeded from enemies only, and 
 that, if there had been any truth in it, some intimation 
 of the propriety of such an act would have been found 
 somewhere in the writings of Mr. Smyth, or in those 
 of his friends. Speculations of this sort, however, are 
 hardly a reply to the express testimony of Mr. Robinson. 
 Was Mr. Robinson mistaken ? He was not an eye-wit- 
 ness, — he was a resident of Amsterdam for a brief time 
 only, and then went to Leyden, — he "heard" the man- 
 ner of establishing the new church narrated. Did he 
 understand correctly what he heard? Or, did he misin- 
 terpret instituting baptism among themselves, by suppos- 
 ing it to mean self -baptism,? The controversy seems to 
 be narrowed down to this single question. No inference 
 can be drawn from the silence of Mr. Smyth after Mr. 
 Robinson's book was written ; — Mr. Smyth was already 
 dead, and Mr. Helwisse, if still alive, was in England. 
 It is not certain, however, that Mr. H. was still living. 
 On the supposition that Mr. Robinson misinterpreted what 
 he had heard, the circumstances of the case render it easy 
 enough to suppose the statement might pass to history 
 uncontradicted. 
 
 Recent testimony, referred to in the foregoing discourse, 
 reaches the point in question. Edward Bean Underhill, 
 Esq., an English Baptist, whose historic researches render 
 him authority, in a letter to the Rev. David Benedict, 
 D. D., dated London, Oct. 13, 1849, and published in the 
 New York Recorder of Nov. 21, writes as follows: 
 
 " In a visit I lately paid to Amsterdam, I found some 
 more interesting manuscripts relative to the church of 
 
* APPENDIX. 59 
 
 ■which John Smyth was pastor, with the original Confes- 
 sions of Faith, published by him and his ' Company.' I 
 was also able to discover and elucidate the name of Se- 
 Baptist, given to John Smyth, and so often used as a name 
 of reproach. As these documents are now being copied 
 for me, I am not able to send you the particulars, but the 
 general facts are as follows : 
 
 "On Smyth and his people becoming Baptists, the 
 question arose how they were to commence the practice 
 of the rite, and by whom it should be administered. The 
 Dutch Baptists, or Mennonites, held at the time the opin- 
 ion, that baptism should be administered only by a minis- 
 ter or elder in office. As Smyth did not agree, in several 
 matters, with the Dutch, they were unwilling to resort 
 to them for baptism, and became of the opinion that it 
 might be originated among themselves ; they were there- 
 fore called <Se-Baptists — persons baptizing themselves; — 
 not that each one dipped or baptized himself, but among 
 them they commenced the practice. After this, Smyth 
 and several more came to be of the same opinion, on this 
 and other points, with the Dutch, and applied to be ad- 
 mitted to communion with them. The Dutch received 
 them, but at the same time required a recantation of 
 .their error. A fac-simile of this document I possess. The 
 heading is in Latin, purporting that the persons whose 
 names are subscribed renounce the sentiment that they 
 may se ipsos baptizare, — baptize themselves, — as con- 
 trary to the order of Christ. It thus appears that the 
 equivocal phrase, " se ipsos baptizare," became the foun- 
 dation of the charge that Smyth baptized himself. But, 
 from the controversy which arose, it is evident that the 
 meaning of the words is as I have stated it. Among the 
 names which follow is the autograph of John Smyth and 
 
60 NOTES. 
 
 his wife Maiy. A few remained of the first opinion, 
 among whom was Thomas Helwisse. I have seen a MS. 
 letter of his, in which this subject is taken up and argued 
 with the Dutch pastors to whom this letter is addressed, 
 and he also treats of the succession of the ministry in 
 reference to the same subject, in a printed work still 
 extant. A copy of this letter I hope soon to possess. 
 I may, therefore, confidently afiirm, that the charge of 
 baptizing himself, is, with respect to Smyth, a calumny; 
 but arose from the circumstance referred to. In no other 
 way can we account for the silence with respect to it, 
 observed by himself in his writings, and in those of his 
 friends." 
 
THE HISTORICAL BAPTISM OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. 
 
 The Latin origin of Christianity in England would 
 lead very naturally to the use of Saxonized forms of the 
 Greek-Latin haptizo, at least occasionally, during the An- 
 glo-Saxon period. That they were so used, is certain. 
 Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, has " Baedzere, 
 haezere, es ; m. baezera, an ; m. ^ baptizer, baptist, R." — 
 the "R." referring to the Rushworth, or Northumbrian 
 Gloss or version of the Four Gospels, written in the tenth 
 century. The use of these transferred forms seems, how- 
 ever, to have been veiy limited. The common words 
 were, fullian, fulwian, ftdhiht, fulwiht, fulwere, etc., all 
 translations into the vernacular of the original words 
 denoting the Christian rite. They occur, in numberless 
 instances, in Anglo-Saxon literature, and do not disappear 
 from the language until the incoming of the Norman 
 French element, with which came in our present terms 
 denoting baptism, has fully constituted the English lan- 
 guage. For a time, the Saxon terms for baptism were 
 used interchangeably with those of the Norman French ; 
 but, in the full development of the language, the latter 
 gained the permanent place, and the former faded utterly 
 away. A few notes of this process may be of interest to 
 the reader: 
 
 6 
 
62 - NOTES. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon language and literature were at their 
 zenith at the period of Alfred the Great, who died 901. 
 The language, however, remained Anglo-Saxon, until the 
 Norman Conquest, which occurred in 1066, had begun 
 to impress its permanent marks on the life of the people. 
 Then commenced the changes which ultimately ripened 
 into the language which we now speak. Sir Frederic 
 Madden, in his Preface to Layamon's Brut, denotes these 
 changes thus : 
 
 Serai-Saxon, from A. D. 1100, to A. D. 1230. 
 Early English, " 1230, " 1330. 
 
 Middle English, " 1330, " 1500 
 Later English, " 1500, " 1600. 
 
 We shall trace the words, used by our forefathers to 
 express the rite of baptism, from Anglo-Saxon times, 
 down through these successive periods. ^ 
 
 ANGLO-SAXON. 
 
 The word used, in the Anglo-Saxon Version of the 
 New Testament — a version belonging to the eighth cen- 
 tury — was usually fullian. In one instance baptism 
 was denoted by a word denoting washing, and in one 
 instance JBaptistam occurs in translating the name and 
 title of John the Baptist.^ As this version was translated 
 from the Latin, it is by no means singular that such a 
 Latin form should have been brought into it. That no 
 more were brought in, shows how much such forms were 
 strangers to the people for whom the version was designed. 
 
 ' Gotch's Critical Examination in Appendix to Bible Question, pp. 200, 
 201. 
 
APPENDIX. 63 
 
 Mr. Gotch refers, likewise, to Anglo-Saxon Gospels, found 
 in the Bodleian Library, and in the Public Library at 
 Cambridge, in which the words dyppan and depan, to 
 dij), are used in two or -three instances, to translate bap- 
 tizare. These translations were not usual, but they indi- 
 cate, beyond question, the act by which the Christian rite 
 was in those days performed. The word which was com- 
 monly used by the Anglo-Saxons, fullian, denoted not 
 only drenching, but the process of cleansing accomplished 
 by it, and we may suppose, therefore, was chosen as ex- 
 pressing their notion not only of the visible act of bap- 
 tism, but also of the spiritual effects accomplished by it. 
 This view is confirmed by one of the extracts from the 
 Vision of Piers Ploughman, to be presently given. 
 
 A specimen of Anglo-Saxon of the tenth century, in 
 which the word denoting baptism occurs, is accessible 
 to readers generally, in Chambers' Cyclopcadia of Eng- 
 lish Literature} The author was Alfric, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, who died in the beginning of the eleventh 
 century. . 
 
 "Haethen cild bith ge-fuMod, ac hit ne braet na his hiw 
 with-utan, dheah dhe hit beo with-innan awend. Hit 
 bith ge-broht synfull dhurh Adames forgaegednysse to 
 tham fant fate. Ac hit bith athwogen fram eallum syn- 
 num withinnan, dheah dhe hit with-utan his haw ne 
 awende. Eac swylce tha halige fant waeter, dhe is ge- 
 haten lifes wyl-spring, is ge-lic on hiwe odhrum waeterum, 
 and is under dheod brosnunge ; ao dhaes halgan gastes 
 niht ge-nealaecth tham brosnigendiclum waetere dhurh 
 sacerda bletsunge, and hit maeg sythan lichaman and 
 sawle athwean fram eallum synnum, dhurh gastlice mihte." 
 
 1 Vol, I. p. 3. 
 
64 NOTES. 
 
 The degeneracy of Anglo-Saxon in this passage is not 
 less noticeable than the degeneracy of its theology. The 
 passage serves, however, the present purpose, by illustrat- 
 ing the use of the term denoting baptism. Reduced to 
 English, the passage is as follows : 
 
 " A heathen child is christened (baptized, ge-fullod), 
 yet he altereth not his shape without, though be be within 
 changed. He is brought sinful through Adam's disobe- 
 dience to the font-vessel. But he is washed from all 
 sins inwardly, though he outwardly change not his shape. 
 Even so the holy font-water, which is called life's fountain, 
 is like in shape to other waters, and is subject to corrup- 
 tion ; but the Holy Ghost's might comes to the corruptible 
 water through the priest's blessing, and it may afterwards 
 wash body and soul from all sin, through ghostly might." 
 
 SEMI-SAXON. 
 
 The Norman Conquest had now occurred, and changes 
 induced by that event had begun to take place. JLaya- 
 morCs JBrut, a metrical Chronicle of Britain, belonging 
 to the close of the twelfth or the beginning of the thir- 
 teenth century, will furnish the necessary illustrations. Sir 
 Frederic Madden, from whose edition I quote, says : " The 
 language of Layamon belongs to that transition period in 
 which the ground-work of Anglo-Saxon phraseology and 
 grammar still existed, although gradually yielding to the 
 influence of the popular forms of speech." ^ The popular 
 forms of speech, there is reason to believe, were somewhat 
 in advance of Layamon's style; that is, more of the Nor- 
 man and accompanying elements had been introduced 
 
 1 Preface, p. xxviii. 
 
APPENDIX. C5 
 
 into the spoken language of the mingled Saxon and Nor- 
 man people, than the style of Layamon would seem to 
 indicate. Layamon seems almost to avoid Norman words, 
 when certainly it is impossible to suppose that they had 
 not become common. I do not find that he ever used the 
 words baptize, baptism, etc., though it cannot be doubted 
 that they had already begun to find a place in ordinary 
 language. The rite of baptism is frequently mentioned, 
 but, so far as I have discovered, always with the Saxon 
 terms. The follovping extracts, accompanied with trans- 
 lations, will show the state of the language, as indicated 
 by his writings : 
 
 and the feire Austin, 
 
 tlie fulluht bronte hider in. 
 
 And the fair Austin, who brought baptism in hither.' 
 
 and thus heo wuneden here 
 
 an hundred and fif yere 
 
 that nenere com here cristindon 
 
 i ciid i thissen londe. 
 
 no belle i-rungen, 
 
 no masse isunge 
 
 na chirche ther nes ihaleyed 
 
 no child ther nes ifuleyed. 
 
 And thus they dwelt here an hundred and five yeai-s, 
 so that never Christendom came here to be known in the 
 land, nor bell rung, nor church was there hallowed, nor 
 mass sung, nor child was there baptized? 
 
 Austin wede wide 
 yeond Englene-londe 
 
 1 Vol. I. p 2. 2 Vol. m. p. 180. 
 
 6* 
 
66 NOTES. 
 
 he fuUeUfde kingges 
 and heoi-e here-dringes ; 
 he fullehtede eorles ; 
 he fullehtede beornes ; 
 he fullehtede Englisce men; 
 he fullehtede Sexisce men, 
 and sette an godes honde 
 al that was on londe- 
 Tha wes he ful blithe-mod 
 that folc he hafde iblessid. 
 
 Austin proceeded wide over England; he baptized ]smgi 
 and their chieftans; he baptized eaxls; he baptized haxon^; 
 he baptized Englishmen ; he baptized Saxish men, and set 
 in God's hand all that was in the land. Then was he of 
 full blithe mood, that he had rendered the folk joyful.^ 
 
 EAELY ENGLISH. 
 
 We come now to the word baptize, used in an early 
 English poem, the production of Robert of Gloucester, 
 whose period is fixed at about 1280. His work is a Met- 
 rical History of England, and has been commonly held 
 as the oldest extant work which may properly be regarded 
 as in the English language. This writer uses the word 
 baptize as one entirely familiar, though he uses fulled 
 likewise. 
 
 Costantyn ne com nower in batail non 
 
 That he nadde thorg the erois the maistri of fon. 
 
 So that he hym vnderstood of the beste won 
 
 And of Seynt Siluestre the pope hym let baptize anon, 
 
 And he was (as yt is ywrite) pur mesel tho, 
 
 An he bi com in hys baptizing hoi of ys wo, 
 
 Seynt Siluestre was pope tho, and the first that ther com 
 
 Of alle popes that deide with oute martirdom, 
 
 1 Vol. III. p. 190, 191. 
 
APPENDIX. 67 
 
 For ther was non by fore him that he martired nas, 
 Of the luther emperoures, for eche hethene was 
 A chu'che of Seynt Ion the baptist Constantyn let rere 
 And clepude yt Costantiniane, for he was ybaptized there.l 
 
 The following is from Robert Manning (Robert de 
 Brunne), another of the Rhyming Chroniclers, who flour- 
 ished at the close of the reign of Edward I., and through- 
 out the reign of Edward II. Edward I. died in 1307, and 
 Edward II in 1327. 
 
 Certes Saladyn, said the kyng Eichere, 
 To make partie ageyn myn yit ha thou gode powere. 
 And for the pes to seke has thou no mystere, 
 Ther tille to mak me meke, my herte to yit in wehere. 
 Tho has power inouh, whereto askes thou pes ? 
 And my wille wille not bouh, to grant that thou ches. 
 If thou the lond wille yeld, thereof is to speke, 
 And sithen if thou wild thy lay forsak and hreke, 
 Ajid take our bapteme of funte, as childre ying, 
 I sail gyue the a reame, and do the coroun kyng.2 
 
 MIDDLE ENGLISH. 
 
 The Vision of Piers Ploughman leads us along another 
 step in the growth of our language. This poem belongs 
 to the latter part of the fourteenth century — probably to 
 the year 1362. It is "peculiarly a national work. It is 
 the most remarkable monument of the pubhc spirit of our 
 forefathers in the middle, or, as they are often termed, dark 
 ages. It is a pure specimen of the English language at 
 a period when it had sustained few of the corruptions 
 which have disfigured it since we have had writers of 
 'Grammars.' * * * * It is, moreover, the finest example 
 
 1 Hearne's Ed., 1724, p. 86. See likewise Glossary,/M;fed. 
 
 2 n. ofBrunne, Hearne's Ed. p. 193. 
 
68 NOTES. 
 
 left of the kind of versification which was purely English, 
 inasmuch as it had been the only one in use among our 
 Anglo-Saxon progenitors, in common with the other peo- 
 ple of the North.'" The great popularity which it at- 
 tained continued for near a century, and was afterwards 
 renewed at the period of the Reformation. It was still 
 a popular poem in the days of Spenser, Shakspeare, and 
 Ben Jonson. In this poem baptism and the old Saxon 
 fulling are used interchangeably, as the one or the other 
 occurs to the writer's mind, or sounds the more agreeably 
 in his verse. 
 
 Troj anus was a trewe knyght. 
 And took nevere Cristendom, 
 And lie is saaf, so seith the book 
 And his soule in hevene. 
 For ther is fullyinge of font, 
 And fuUynge in blood shedyng, 
 And thorugh fir is fullyng, 
 And that is fei-me bUeve. — [L. 7998. 
 
 In the following passage, baptism is compared to the 
 literal process of fulling : 
 
 Al was hethynesse some time 
 
 Engelond and Walls, 
 
 Til Gregory garte clerkes 
 
 To go here and preche ; 
 
 Austyn at Cauuterbury 
 
 Cristnede the kyng, 
 
 And thorugh miracles, as men now rede, 
 
 AI that marche he tornede 
 
 To Crist and to cristendom, 
 
 And cros to honoure ; 
 
 And follede folk faste. 
 
 And the feith taughte, 
 
 ' Wright's Ed., 1856, Introd. pp. xxvii., xxyiu. 
 
APPENDIX. 69 
 
 Moore thorugli miracles 
 Than thorugh much prechyng 
 As wel thorugh hise werkes 
 As with hise holy wordes. 
 And seld hem what fullynge 
 And feith was to mene. 
 
 Clooth that Cometh fro the wevying 
 Is noght comly to were 
 Til it be fulled under foot 
 Or in fvUying stokkes, 
 Wassheu wel with water, 
 And with taseles cracched, 
 Y-touked and y-teynted. 
 And under tailloars hande ; 
 Eight so it fareth by a barn. 
 That horn is of a wombs. 
 Til it be cristned in Cristes name. 
 And confermed of the bisshope. 
 It is hethene as to hevene-ward 
 And help-lees to the soule. — [L. 10541. 
 
 In tte next quotation, the word baptism is used : 
 
 Fendes and fyndekynes 
 
 Bifore me shal stands 
 
 And be at my biddyng 
 
 Wher so evere me liketh ; 
 
 And to be merciable to man 
 
 Thanne my kynde asketh. 
 
 For we be the bretheren of blood. 
 
 Bat noght in bapiisme alle. 
 
 Ac alle that beth myne hole bretheren. 
 
 In blood and in baptisme, 
 
 Shul noght be dampned to the deeth, 
 
 That is withouten ende. — [L. 12839. 
 
 In the following, fullynge and baptisme are used inter- 
 changeably : 
 
 The Jewes that were gentil men, 
 
 Jhesus thei despised. 
 
 Booth his loore and his lawe ; 
 
70 NOTES. 
 
 Now are thei lowe chcrles. 
 
 As wide as the world is, 
 
 Noon of hem ther wonyeth 
 
 But under tribut and tailla^e. 
 
 As tilces and cherles; 
 
 And tho that bicome cristene 
 
 Bi counseil of the baptisine 
 
 Aren franlieleyns, free men, 
 
 Thorugli fullynge that thei tolce. 
 
 And gentil men with Jhesu ; 
 
 For Jhesu was y-fuUed, 
 
 And upon Calvary on cros 
 
 T-crowned kyng of Jewes. — [L. 13041. 
 
 Chaucer wrote a little later, and in language with much 
 larger admixtures of foreign elements. In his Persones 
 Tale, he says : 
 
 "And now, sith I hau delared you what thing is pen- 
 ance, now ye shal understand, that there ben three actions 
 of penance. The first is, that a man be baptised after that 
 he hath sinned. Seynt Augustine sayth : 'But he be pen- 
 itent for his old sinful lif, he may not beginne the newe 
 clene lif; for certes, if he be baptised without penitence 
 of his old gilt, he receiveth the marke of baptisine, hut 
 not the grace, ne the remission of his sinnes, til he hau 
 veray repentance.' Another defaute is, that men don 
 dedly sinne after that they hau received baptisme. The 
 thridde defaute is, that men fall in venial sinnes after hir 
 baptisme, fro day to day. 'Thereof,' sayth Seynt Augus- 
 tine, 'that penance of good and humble folk is the penance 
 of every day.' " ' 
 
 Gower belonged to the same period, and thus writes: 
 
 For all his hole hirte he laide 
 
 Upon Constance; and saide he shulde, 
 
 1 Tyrwhitt's Ed., 1822, Vol. IV. p. 6. 
 
APPENDIX. 71 
 
 For love of hire, if that she wolde 
 Baptisme take, and Christee faith 
 Beleve.l 
 
 We have now reached the period when ah-eady that 
 series of translations of the Holy Scriptures, which ulti- 
 mately ripened into our present- received version, had com- 
 menced. FvMynge, as we have seen, is still used, but the 
 tendency of the language is to its rapid and final displace- 
 ment. Fragmentary translations, belonging to the first 
 half of the fourteenth century, types and precursors of 
 Wickliffe's, are preserved in the British Museum. Exam- 
 ples of these are given in the Historical Account of English 
 Versions, which accompanies Bagster's English Hexapla.^ 
 
 John i. 19-28. — And this is the testiraoninge of Ion 
 whan the lues of ierulm sent prestes and dekenes vnto 
 Ion baptist for to ask him what ertow. * * * Thes thinges 
 ben done in bethaine beyond iordan ther Ion baptised. 
 
 Wickliffe, the date of whose version is 1380, used bap)- 
 tize^ sometimes, however, substituting as its synonym, 
 wash. Thus : 
 
 Matt. iii. 5. — Thanne ierusalem wentc out to hym, and 
 all iudee, and all the cuntre aboute iordan ; thei weren 
 waischen of him in iordan, knowlechiden hir synnes. 11. 
 I loaisch you in water unto penaunce, but he that schal com 
 after me, is stronger than I, whos schoon I am not worthi 
 to here, he schal baptize you in the holi goost and fiei-. 
 
 The period of what is termed " Middle English," is the 
 period of transition from fvllynge to baptism. Wlien we 
 reach the later period of the Reformation, and the Tyn- 
 dale, Cranmer, and Genevan versions, the present usage has 
 become unalterably fixed. 
 
 1 Gower, Con. A. b. iii. 2 P. 8. 
 
tz 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 "What, then, was the act which was denoted to the Eng- 
 lish people by these terms fuUynge and baptism? In 
 other words, what was the mode of baptism practised by 
 the English people from Anglo-Saxon times down to the 
 period of the Reformation ? An article in the London 
 Baptist Ifagaeine for February 1850, prepared with man- 
 ifest care, by a scholar of recognized repatation, answers 
 very fully this question. 
 
 EARLY MODE OF BAPTISM 11^ ENGLAND. 
 
 BY THE REV. F. 150SW0RTH, M. A. 
 
 The venerable Beds describes Paulinus as baptizing in the Glen, 
 Swale, and Trent. That this must have been performed by immer- 
 sion, is evident from the practice of the Romish Church at the time, 
 and from the subsequent practice of the Anglo-Saxons. Gregory, 
 the very Pope who sent Paulinus, thus speaks of the ordinance : 
 " But we, since we immerse (mergimus) three times, point out the 
 sacrament of the three days' burial." 
 
 Bede, although in his works he seldom refers to the mode of bap- 
 tism, gives sufficient evidence of the practice of his church at the 
 time he lived. In his Commentary on John, he finds a striking 
 resemblance between the account of the pool of Bethesda and the 
 rite of baptism (Works, v. 581). So, also, when treating on John 
 xiii. 1 — 11, he speaks of a man as being altogether washed in bap- 
 tism C^'orks, V. 710). Furthermore, he runs a parallel between 
 baptism and Naaman's washing in Jordan (Works, viii. 388). Forty- 
 six years after Bede's death, the following canon was passed by 
 Pope Clement : " If any bishop or presbyter shall baptize by any 
 other than trine immersion (immersionem), let him be deposed." 
 Some few years afterwards. Pope Zachai'ias, speaking of baptism, 
 refers to an English Synod, in which it was strongly commanded 
 that whoever should be immersed (mersus) without the invocation 
 
APPENDIX. 7o 
 
 of the Trinity, should not be regarded as having enjoyed the sacra- 
 ment of regeneration (Zaeh. Papa, in Syn. de Cone, dis. 4). 
 
 The writings of Alcuin, born at York, A. D. 735, and educated 
 there by Bishop Egbert, abound in references to the mode of bap- 
 tism. In his sixty -ninth epistle, he says : " Trine immersion (de- 
 mersio) resembles the three days' burial." His Expositio de Bap- 
 tisterio, Ep. 70, contains the following language : " And so, in the 
 name of the Holy Trinity he is baptized by trine immersion " (sub- 
 mersione). In his work, De Divinis Officiis, he is still more explicit : 
 " Then the priest baptizes him by trine immersion (mersione) only." 
 Indeed, in his epistle to Odwin he relates the whole process of 
 immersion, and its attendant rites. 
 
 At the commencement of the ninth century (A. D. 816), a canon 
 was passed at the Synod of Celichyth, to the following effect: 
 "Let also priests know that when they administer holy baptism 
 they pour not holy water on the heads of infants, but always im- 
 merse them in the font." With these notices, the Saxon writings 
 themselves agree ; for though, in the laws of Alured and Ina, the 
 Council between Alured and Godrum, and very many other Saxon 
 documents, the word used for baptism refers rather to its supposed 
 effects, than to the mode, yet, in two Anglo-Saxon manuscripts of 
 the Gospels, the word dyppan (our English dip) is, according to 
 Lye, used four times for baptism. Well does Lingard, in his work 
 on the Anglo-Saxon Church, say : " The regular manner of admin- 
 istering it (baptism) was by immersion." 
 
 During the Norman rule, the same method of observing the ordi- 
 nance in question obtained. A Council, held in London A. D. 
 1200, passed the following regulation: "If a boy is baptized by a 
 layman, the rites preceding and following immersion (immersionem) 
 must be performed by a priest." A similar article was adopted in 
 1217, by the diocese of Sarum. In 1222, a Council at Oxford 
 ordered that the rites following immersion (immersionem), not pre- 
 ceding, should be performed by a priest. The Provincial Consti- 
 tutions of the Archbishop of Canterbury, passed 1236, contain the 
 same reference to immersion as the mode of baptism. In the Con- 
 stitutions of the Bishop of Wigom, 1240, we find written: "We 
 order that in every church there be a baptismal font, of proper 
 
 7 
 
74 NOTES. 
 
 size and depth (profunditatis), and that trine immersion (immersio) 
 be always practised." So also, in the Constitutions of Archbishop 
 Peckham, 1279, the same langusige is used. The Synodus Exoni- 
 ensis, 1257, calls baptism submersio. Furthermore, in the Consti- 
 tutions of Woodlake, Bishop of Winton, 1308, and in a provincial 
 Scotch Council, held in the reign of Alexander II., precisely the 
 same term (iuimersio) is employed. 
 
 Lyudwood, who lived in the sixteenth century, in his Provincial 
 Constitutions, ed. 1679, p. 242, composed by order of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, explains a canon of Archbishop Edmund, in the 
 reign of Henry HI., as requiring baptisteries that would admit the 
 dipping of the candidate (sic quod baptizandus possit in eo mergi). 
 A drawing still exists in the Cotton MSS. of the British Museum, 
 describing the baptism of the Earl of Warwick, in the reign of 
 . Richard II. (1381), in which the mode is evidently by immersion.' 
 Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII., was thus baptized. An 
 old manuscript descriptive of the ceremony says': " Incontinent 
 after the prince was put into the font." So, also, was Mayant, 
 afterwards Queen of Scotland — "as soon as she was put into the 
 font," says the account of an eye-witness. The Princess Elizabeth 
 and Edward VI. were also immersed. 
 
 Robinson's great work, the History of Baptism, abounds 
 in testimony establishing the conclusion of Professor Bos- 
 worth. He refers to fonts, and to constitutions, canons, 
 and other historical records, all going to show that from ■ 
 the earliest times to the period of the Reformation, that 
 which our ancestors called "fullynge" and "baptism," was 
 dipping, — this being the hereditary practice, with excep- 
 tions in the case of weak or sick children. He says: 
 
 "In this country (England), ordinary baptism was 
 always understood to mean immersion, till after the Ref- 
 
 J This work is a. pictorial liistory of the Earl of Warwick, from the cra- 
 dle to the grave. It is executed in a very spirited manner, and is well 
 worth seeing. It will be found marked Julius, E. 4. 
 
APPENDIX. 75 
 
 ormation, and though, the private pouring on infants in 
 (lunger of death was called baptism, yet it was accounted 
 so only by courtesy. Pope Stephen had said, 'If it were 
 a case of necessity, and if it were performed in the name 
 of the Trinity, pouring should be held valid.' " ^ 
 
 " In brief, it may with great truth be affirmed, that dur- 
 ing the whole establishment of the Catholic religion in 
 England, that is, from the close of the sixth to the middle 
 of the sixteenth century, a period of nearly a thousand 
 years, baptism was administered by immersion, except in 
 cases of necessity ; the first converts were catechised in 
 person, and baptized in rivers; the last were infants, cat- 
 echized by proxy, and dipped in fonts." ^ 
 
 " The introduction of sprinkling instead of dipping, in 
 ordinary cases, into this island, seems to have been effected 
 by such English, or, more strictly speaking, Scotch exiles, 
 as were disciples of Calvin at Geneva, during the Marian 
 persecution. In the fourth year of the reign of Queen 
 Mary, the year fii^een hundred and fifty-six, they published 
 at Geneva a book entitled : ' The Form of Prayers and 
 Ministration of the Sacraments^ etc., used in the English 
 Congregation at Geneva: approved, by the famous and 
 godly learned man, John Calvyn. Imprinted at Geneva 
 by John Crispin.' In the order of baptism are the follow- 
 ing words : ' N. I baptize thee in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Sonne, and of the Holy Ghoste. -And as he 
 speaketh these woords, he taketh water in his hand, and 
 layeth it upon the childes forehead, which done he giveth 
 thanckes as followeth.' " ' 
 
 William "Wall, author of the History of Infant Baptism, 
 was a Church of England Clergyman of the period of 
 Queen Anne. He was a man of admitted learning and 
 
 1 Quarto ed. Lond. 1790, p. 441. 2 p. 445. 3 p. 436. 
 
76 NOTES. 
 
 J 
 
 of remarkable candor. He would even go out of his way 
 to correct an error, though the error made for his side. 
 Thus, some had argued from a remark in Wickliffe's writ- 
 ings, that that reformer held dipping and sprinkling in- 
 diiferent. "Wall denies that that was "Wickliffe's meaning. 
 He only testified that the "church had ordained" that 
 in case of necessity any faithful person might baptize, 
 and that in such case dipping or affusion availed equally 
 to salvation. " Such words do not suppose any other way 
 than dipping used ordinarily" says "Wall. Even so late 
 a writer as Sharon Turner,'^ perverts this testimony of 
 Wickliffe — probably following without examination some 
 writer less careful or less candid than Wall. 
 
 What, then, on the point under review, is the testimony 
 of Wall? 
 
 " England, which is one of the coldest (countries), was 
 one of the latest that admitted this alteration of the ordi- 
 nary way" (that is, from dipping to affusion).^ 
 
 He cites Erasmus, who, speaking of England in the 
 time of Henry VIH., says of the baptism of infants, "in 
 England they are dipped" (merguntur apud Anglos).' 
 
 He further cites Erasmus, who, in his Colloquy, writing 
 in England, in the time of Henry "VIII., says, " We dip 
 children all over into cold water, in a stone font." * 
 
 "In that king's reign (Henry YIII.) the general cus- 
 tom was to dip infants. And it so continued for two 
 reigns more " (Edward VI., and Mary). 
 
 The Zurich Letters contain a paper, written by the 
 English Bishop Horn, and addressed to Henry Bullinger, 
 of Switzerland, which is conclusive as to the mode of bap- 
 tism at the period to which it refers. The paper is enti- 
 
 ' MUak Ages, Vol. V. p. 1S3. s Jb. 
 
 2 Oxford Ed. 1844, Vol. 11. p. 392. 4 P. 392. 
 
APPENDIX. 77 
 
 tied : " The order of Administration of Common Prayer 
 and the Sacraments in the Church of England in tJm time 
 of Edward VI." 
 
 " The Ministration of Baptism " is set forth in the fol- 
 lowing terms : 
 
 " If there are any infants to be baptized, they are brought 
 on each Sunday, when the most peojjle are come together 
 to the morning or evening prayers. The minister reads 
 an exhortation to the people, in which he teaches them 
 what is the condition of those who are not born again in 
 Christ, and what the sacrament of regeneration signifies. 
 He adds with the church a prayer for the infants, rehearses 
 the gospel from the tenth chapter of Mark, upon which 
 he makes a brief exhoi'tation, followed by a general giving 
 of thanks. The godfathers and godmothers then approach, 
 and demand the sacrament in the name of the infants.. 
 The minister examines them concerning their faith, and 
 afterwards dips the infant in the water, saying, ' I baptize 
 thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost.' He then makes the sign of the cross 
 upon the child's forehead ; after which the Lord's Prayer 
 and a general thanksgiving is repeated by all. These 
 infants are brought to the bishop to be confirmed, as soon 
 as they are old enough to repeat and make answer to the 
 catechism in their mother-tongue. 
 
 "Then follows the ministration of baptism in private 
 houses, by women, in time of necessity, which is only 
 ministered by the woman baptizing the infant who is like 
 to die, with calling upon the name of God, and baptizing 
 in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." ^ 
 
 I The Zurich Letters (Second Series), Comprising the Correspondence of 
 Several Eiiylish Pishops and others with some of the Relvetian Jleformers, 
 during the reign pf Queen Elizabeth. Parker Society, 1845, p. 356. 
 
 7# 
 
78 NOTES. 
 
 No known Service Book of the English Church gave 
 authority to substitute something else for dipping, down 
 to the period of the Reformation. The Manuale ad 
 Usum Sarum, printed in 1630 (21 of Henry VIII.), 
 directs dipping. Simpson, in his elegant work on Bap- 
 tismal Fonts^ says: "ISTot one of the rituals which we 
 have examined (he is alluding to those preceding the 
 Prayer Book of Edward VI.) contains any permission to 
 use pouring or sprinkling when the child is brought to the 
 church." ^ Dipping was the law and the custom, affusion 
 being exceptional. 
 
 1 A Series of Ancient Baptismal Fonts, Chronologically Arranged, Drawn 
 by F. Simpson, Jr., and Engraved by R. Roberts, London: Septimus 
 Prowett, 1828, fol. 
 
 This superb volume, dedicated by pei-mission to the Marchioness of 
 Exeter, contains engravings of a large number of Fonts, commencing 
 with the Norman era, and extending down to the period of the Reforma- 
 tion. Connected with each engraving is a ftill explanation, giving the 
 period to which each Font belonged, with its .materials, dimensions, etc. 
 The dimensions are the important consideration in this connection, show- 
 ing their capacity for immersion. For example, the Font in the Lincoln 
 Cathedral, a Font belonging to the Norman era, is two feet eight inches 
 in diameter, in the inside, and one foot one inch in depth. To the Nor- 
 man succeeded the Early English Style, the style of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, and here we have the Font of AU Saints, Leicester, two feet one inch 
 in diameter, and one foot one inch in depth. The fourteenth century was 
 the period of the Decorated Style, and belonging to this style is the Font 
 of Nosely, Leicestershire, two feet in diameter, and one foot three inches 
 deep. The last Font given in the work is that of St. Mary's, Beverly, 
 Yorkshire, a very splendid one, bearing the date of 1530, in the Perpen- 
 dicular Style of that period, three feet two inches in diameter, and one 
 foot two inches in depth. The sizes of the whole series range from one 
 foot seven inches in diameter and ten inches in depth, to that of St. 
 Mary's, above named, which is the largest — the more usual size being a 
 little over two feet in diameter, and a little over one foot in depth; all 
 being, however, of sufficient capacity for the immersion of infants, and 
 intended for that purpose. 
 
 2 Preface, p. xv. 
 
APPENDIX. 79 
 
 In the Prayer Books df Edward VI., the exceptional 
 affusion was first put in the rubric. In the first of these 
 Prayer Books three dippings were commanded; in the 
 second, one dipping. And in both it was then added: 
 "And if the childe be weake, it shall sufiice to pour water 
 upon it." "This," says Simpson, "was the firsts instance 
 of pouring being allowed in public baptism." Treating 
 then of private baptism, the Prayer Book prescribes the 
 ceremony of baptizing infants in danger of death, still 
 again preferring dipping, but allowing pouring if necessity 
 requires. And then, as the final process, if the child lives, 
 this private baptism is to be subjected to a public scru- 
 tiny. The priest is to inquire into the circumstances of 
 the baptism, and if he is satisfied that the requisite forms 
 were observed, then he is to ratify the baptism ; but if he 
 is not satisfied, then he is commanded himself to baptize 
 the child, and the command is to dip, with no option of 
 pouring. 
 
 Thus stood King Edward's Prayer Books. The excep- 
 tional substitute, pouring, was now in the rubric. Two 
 circumstances contributed to exalt this exceptional sub- 
 stitute into an unintended general practice. "It being 
 allowed," says Wall, "to weak children (though strong 
 enough to be brought to church) to be baptized by affu- 
 sion, many fond ladies and gentlewomen first, and then by 
 degrees the common people, would obtain the favor of 
 the priest, to have their children pass for weak children, too 
 tender to endure dipping in the water." ^ Another more 
 marked occasion of the change was the influence of Cal- 
 vin. In this opinion Wall agrees with other writers. 
 Calvin's influence w^ith the exiles who resided in Geneva 
 during the Marian persecutions, was immense. His Ser- 
 
 1 Vol. ir. p. 400. 
 
80 NOTES. 
 
 Yice Book was the first in the world to appoint sprinkling 
 to the exclusion of other modes. The exiles, more or less 
 of them, returned to England, converts to sprinkling. Tlie 
 views thus imported, falling in with the wishes of parental 
 fondness, began to spread, and, as Wall testifies, the cus- 
 tom, hitherto dipping, began to alter in Elizabeth's reign. 
 " In all probability," says Simpson, " dipping was fi-om this 
 time (the time of the rubrical change) by degrees aban- 
 doned ; but many years elapsed ere it was so entirely." 
 "Dipping," says Wall, "must have been pretty ordinary 
 during the former half of King James's reign." Mr. Blake, 
 writing on this subject in 1645, says: "I have been an 
 eye-witness of many infants dipped, and know it to have 
 been the constant practice of many ministers in their 
 places for many years together." ^ 
 
 This reduction of the mode of baptism from dipping to 
 afTusion, did not take place without remonstrance. During 
 all the process of reduction, there was a party in the 
 church which steadily opposed the innovation. It was 
 a part of the innovation to substitute the novel "basin" 
 for the "font" of "immemorial usage," and to place the 
 former near the chancel, whereas the font had always 
 stood at the door of the church, to symbolize, by that cir- 
 cumstance, the baptized child's admission into the Church 
 of Christ. The basin was for aiFusion — the font for im- 
 mersion. On tliis point there is an instructive passage in 
 Simpson's Fonts. He says : 
 
 " From the time of the Reformation to the days of 
 puritanic fury in the reign of Charles I., there was a 
 strong propensity to remove or neglect the Font, and use 
 a basin instead. Tliis was checked so long as it was pos- 
 sible; tlius in 1565 it was directed, 'That the fontc be not 
 
 1 P. 403. 
 
APPENDIX. 81 
 
 removed, nor the curate do baptize in the parishe churches 
 in any basons, nor in any other forme than is alreadie 
 prescribed.' In 1570 it was directed: 'Curabunt (CEdi- 
 tui) ut in singulis ecclesiis sit sacer fons, non pelvis, in 
 quo baptismus ministretur, isque ut decenter et munde 
 conservetur.' Again, the eighty -first canon of 1603 says: 
 'According to a former constitution, too much neglected 
 in many places, we appoint that there shall be a Font of 
 stone in every church and chapel, where baptism is to be 
 ministered, the same to be set in the ancient usuall places. 
 In which onely Font the minister shall baptize publicly.' 
 Among the inquiries directed to be made by the church- 
 wardens, one is, whether the Font has been removed from 
 its accustomed place, and whether they use a basin or 
 other vessel." ^ 
 
 Having occasion, in an editorial article in the JVew York 
 Hecorder of May 8, 1850, to refer to the former usage of 
 the Church of England, in respect to the mode of bap- 
 tism, I maintained the same positions with those here 
 stated, and generally upon the same authorities. I re- 
 ceived very soon afterwards, from a learned Episcopalian, 
 of eminent standing in his church, a letter referring to 
 the article, in which he says : 
 
 "It is able and true. Some little modifications and 
 additions would, to my mind, have made it more perfect. 
 The writer, unfortunately, had not the use of the words 
 'office' and 'rubric,' but only 'canon' and 'liturgy.' The 
 history of the 'Rubrics' of the Baptismal 'Offices' of 
 all Christendom, eastern and western, would greatly 
 strengthen his argument. He cannot too severely censure 
 the infiuence of the returned Geneva Puritans in under- 
 ming the doctrine and practice of the Church of England. 
 
 1 Preface, pp. xvi., xvii. 
 
82 NOTES. 
 
 He might have added (and I think from Wall), that not 
 only was the 'Rubric' in the Genevan ' Office' for baptism 
 the first in the world which directed (instead oi permit- 
 ting) sprinlding^ but that the church of Calvin was the 
 first in the world which ever witnessed the use of the 
 basin. He might also have gone further, and proved, that 
 just dipping the tips of the fingers in water (in the excep- 
 ted cases) instead of pouring it freely, had the same 
 origin. 
 
 "England (and Wales especially), where the hold of the 
 ancient British and Asiatic rite had never been much re- 
 laxed, clung with much greater tenacity to the immersion 
 of infants, than any other part of Christendom subject to 
 Rome, except Bohemia, Moravia, etc., and Milan, where 
 the great name of Ambrose in many things has success- 
 fully resisted the encroachments of Rome, but in nothing 
 more than this, that all infants are there still immersed in 
 fonts, some of which are larger than the interesting speci- 
 mens to which your writer refere, and are rather in the 
 
 shape of baths than fonts. The Rev. Dr. ■ once gave 
 
 me a most interesting account of an immersion of some 
 eight or ten infants, in this manner, and in such a baptis- 
 mal font, in one of the principal churches of Milan, but 
 not in the cathedral. 
 
 "I suppose you know that there is not a well-read 
 Episcopal minister in America that does not cheerfully 
 admit all these facts. * * * The true issue between pro- 
 foundly learned men is only between adult and infant 
 immersion. 
 
 " The simple fact is, that the Church of England, with 
 
APPENDIX. 83 
 
 extreme reluctance, has consented to regard pouring as 
 VALID, though very irregular baptism." ' 
 
 The testimony embraced in this extended note may 
 be fittingly closed with a passage from the Mercersburgh 
 Review for May 1850. It is from the pen of that accom- 
 plished scholar, the Rev. John W. Nevin, D. D., of the 
 German Reformed Church : 
 
 " Several of the earlier Protestant church services call 
 for dipping. In the first English Reformed Liturgy, a. 
 1547, a trine immersion of the child is prescribed, cases 
 of infirmity only excepted ; and it was not till the begin- 
 ning of the seventeenth century that sprinkling gained 
 the upper hand for reasons of convenience and health. 
 Gradually the usage of the Protestant Church settled down 
 upon the same practice which had already begun to pre- 
 vail in the Church of Rome, with the exception only of 
 the Anabaptists."" « * « * » 
 
 Admitting always the tolerated exceptional affusion in 
 the cases of weak or sick children, no historical proposition 
 is better sustained than that dipping was the baptism of 
 the English people from the very introduction of Chris- 
 tianity down to the period of the Reformation. The occa- 
 sions, the progress, and the consummation of the reduction 
 from dipping to affusion, which then took place, are not 
 less indubitable. In the earlier years of the seventeenth 
 century, when all but they had veered away from the 
 hereditary mode of the English nation, little companies 
 of persecuted Christians, then taking organized form as 
 churches, alone stood fast. With their retention of tlie 
 hereditary mode they cast away all traditional accompa- 
 
 1 This letter may be found at greater length in the New York Recorder 
 of June 5, 1850. 
 
 2 P. 238. 
 
84 NOTES. 
 
 niments and perversions, and planting themselves on the 
 strong foundation of Apostolic Christianity, they practised 
 believers' baptism. Strong in their conviction that with 
 them baptism was restored to its original form and sig- 
 nificance, they denied the name to that which, in their 
 belief, was not the thing, and called themselves by dis- 
 tinction, " baptized Christians " — " BAPTISTS." 
 
c. 
 
 CREED-STATEMENTS IN THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION. 
 
 An interesting and a very profitable inquiry might be 
 instituted in regard to the question of Confessions, or 
 Articles of Faith, in the Baptist denomination. The 
 unshared supremacy of the Word of God, held univer- 
 sally and with so much tenacity by us from the beginning, 
 has undoubtedly, by a mistaken logic, led sonae individual 
 churches, and the churches of some particular localities, 
 to dispense with creed-statements altogether. Facts like 
 these, however, have sometimes led to general inferences 
 in regard to Articles of Faith in the Baptist denomination 
 which are unauthorized by our histoiy. I think we were 
 the earliest of the dissenting bodies of England in the 
 issuing of Confessions ; and from the first, our Confessions 
 have been not only significant of our doctrinal unity, but 
 a condition of acceptance in our fellowship. The separa- 
 tion from us, in this country, of the Old School Baptists 
 on the one hand, and of the Free Will Baptists on tlie 
 other, and the falling away of the Campbellites, or Re- 
 formers, are conspicuous signs of established artd author- 
 itative doctrines in our communion; and signs as real may 
 be found, likewise, in the doctrinal examinations at every 
 ordination, at every church-recognition, and even at the 
 reception in our churches of candidates for baptism. We 
 
 8 
 
86 NOTES. 
 
 shall see that this doctrinal unity has been a declared 
 unity, and that the declarations have had a reflex authori- 
 tative influence. 
 
 Passing by the Confession of 1611, which belongs to the 
 Arminian branch of the Baptist family, the Confession of 
 the Seven Churches, issued in 1643, presents itself as the 
 first authorized creed-statement of the Particular Baptists 
 of England. Older than the Westminster Confession, and 
 therefore independent of it, it is interesting, as showing 
 how thoroughly the earliest Baptist fathers preserved the 
 orthodox historical theology of all ages, and how readily 
 they brought it into relations with the restored primitive 
 polity of their churches. The Seven Churches of London, 
 however, are not to be supposed as comprising the whole 
 of the Particular Baptist denomination of that time. 
 There were certainly several churches besides these, and 
 their increase at a period immediately succeeding was very 
 rapid. Among these churches the Confession of 1643 seems 
 to have been generally recognized, until it was superseded 
 by the more elaborate Confession which generally, though 
 erroneously, bears the date of 1689. This Confession, 
 entitled "A Confession of their Faith, set forth by the 
 Elders and Brethren of many Congregations of Christians, 
 baptized upon Profession of their Faith, in London and 
 the Country," was in fact issued in the year 1677. The 
 "General Assembly" of 1689, composed of ministers and 
 messengers of more than one hundred churches, gave it 
 by their sanction such an increase of weight and authority, 
 that it has been, not unnaturally perhaps, regarded as their 
 work, and called by their name. It is altogether more 
 elaborate, and more logical in form and structure, than its 
 predecessor of 1643. It became at once the acknowledged 
 formulary of the denomination. 
 
APPENDIX. 87 
 
 Before remarking upon its character, we may advert for 
 a moment to the dates of other Confessions to which this 
 is nearly related. The Westminster Assembly had closed 
 its labors in 1647, giving to the world the Presbyterian 
 Confession. . The doctrinal views of John Robinson, who 
 was "terrible to the Arminians," had crossed the Atlantic 
 with his disciples, the Congregational founders of New 
 England, and in 1648 delegates of the New England 
 churches, assembled at Cambridge, framed a Confession, 
 which, in its doctrinal articles, followed the Westminster. 
 In the year 1658 the elders and messengers of the Con- 
 gregational churches in England issued the Savoy Confes- 
 sion. Goodwin and Owen, their great leaders, were mem- 
 bers of this assembly, and of the committee appointed to 
 draw up the formulary. Agreeing with the Presbyterians 
 on the great questions of theology, the assembly instructed 
 their committee to keep close to Westminster on doctrinal 
 jjoints, engrafting the Congregational polity upon the his- 
 torical Calvinism which they shared with their brethren 
 of that Confession. In 1680, a Confession to a greater 
 extent original, though modelled after that of Westminster 
 and Savoy, was set forth by a Massachusetts Synod, as- 
 sembled at Boston ; and twenty-eight years later, this plat- 
 form of doctrines was adopted by the Synod met at Say- 
 brook, to draw up a Confession for the Congregational 
 churches of Connecticut. 
 
 The real date, therefore, of the Baptist Confession — 1677 
 — places it next in order after the Savoy. With that Con- 
 fession it is most nearly alUed. By reference to the pre- 
 liminary address to the reader, it will be seen that this 
 Confession is the declared successor of that of 1643, — 
 " divers " of those who framed the first taking part in the 
 setting forth of the second. Issued in a time of persecu- 
 
88 NOTES. 
 
 tion, it breathes the spirit of Christian manliness and of 
 Christian meekness ; the production of a period of re- 
 ligous controversy, it is a beautiful illustration of compre- 
 hensive Christian charity. Its framers declare that in 
 " substance and matter " it is the same with .the Confes- 
 sion of 1643, — in " method and manner " it varies, and for 
 reasons which they proceed to assign. Not only for the 
 jDurpose of a clearer exposition to others, but also for the 
 better instructing of the members of their own commu- 
 nion, they deem it necessary to express themselves " more 
 fully and distinctly." Approving the method and compre- 
 hension of the Westminster Confession, reproduced in the 
 Savoy — observing that the latter follows the former not 
 in sense only, but for the most part in terms, they in like 
 manner follow the example of their Congregational breth- 
 ren, " in making use of the very same words with them 
 both, in those articles (which are very many) wherein our 
 faith and doctrine is the same with theirs." "And this 
 we did," they proceed to say, "the more abundantly to 
 manifest our consent with both, in all the fundamental 
 articles of the Christian Religion, as also with many 
 others, whose orthodox Confessions have been published 
 to the world, on behalf of the Protestants in divers na- 
 tions and cities." In regard to those points respecting 
 which they diifer, they express themselves " with candor 
 and plainness," suppressing nothing whatever, and yet, as 
 they trust, with becoming " modesty and humility." The 
 names subscribed to the recommendation, "in the name 
 and behalf of the whole assembly," embrace the great 
 lights of our churches in those days. 
 
 We are now to consider the extent to which this Con- 
 fession became the authorized exposition of the faith of 
 our churches on this side of the Atlantic. 
 
APPENDIX. 89 
 
 In the first place, however, it must be premised that the 
 Baptist denomination in America had its early growth 
 from two principal centres, — one in Massachusetts and 
 Rhode Island, the other in Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, 
 — and that between the Baptists of New England and 
 those of the other colonies named, very little intercourse 
 was then maintained. The numbers of their churches were 
 probably, at the commencement of the Great Awakening, 
 1741, about alike in these two sections, — not far from 
 tv\fenty in each.' 
 
 To what extent Confessions of Faith were declared or 
 received by the early churches of New England, I have 
 not the means of knowing. Backus states'^ that Mr. 
 Clarke, the first Baptist pastor of Newport, and the chief 
 founder of the colony on Rhode Island, " left a Confession 
 of his faith in writing, from whence an extract was inserted 
 in the records of his church," and a similar document, 
 written by Obadiah Holmes, his fellow-sufierer for Jesus' 
 sake, and successor in the pastoral ofiice, is likewise pre- 
 served. It is certain that controversies sprung up among 
 them, involving the questions of Arminianism and Cal- 
 vinism, as well as those of the " Six Principles " and the 
 " Sevepth Day," and that these controversies were con- 
 tinually tending to the permanent divisions by which the 
 diiferent branches of the Baptist family came ultimately 
 to be distinguished. "Most of the old Baptists," says 
 Backus, speaking particularly of those of Massachusetts 
 prior to 1741, " were not clear in the doctrines of grace." ^ 
 
 1 The number that were Calvinistic in doctrine in New England was con- 
 siderably smaller. In 1729 there were but three such. — See Benedict, ed. 
 1813, Vol. I. p. .')08. 
 
 2 Backus Hist., Vol. I. pp. 25.5—260. 
 2 Abridged History, chap. xi. 
 
 S* 
 
90 NOTES. 
 
 The same was undoubtedly true in Rhode Island.' The 
 very dawn of that great movement in New England, from 
 which Baptist churches sprung so rapidly, connects itself 
 incidentally with the Confession of 1689. The young 
 and saintly Comer, pastor at Newport, had both held a 
 correspondence for several years with ministers in New 
 Jersey, and had visited them in 1731, travelling as far as 
 Philadelphia, and returning delighted with "the faith and 
 order of those churches."^ Retiring from Newport, in part 
 because " some could not bear his preaching the doctrines 
 of grace," he became the founder of the Rehoboth Church, 
 and died before he had completed his thirtieth year. 
 There can be no question, I think, either of his influence 
 in the doctrinal revival in New England, or of the previous 
 influence up)on his own faith and zeal, of his correspond- 
 ence with the churches of the Philadelphia Association. 
 "The pastor of the Baptist Church in Boston," says 
 Backus, "was dark in doctrine, and opposed the revival 
 of religion there in 1740."' This doctrinal darkness be- 
 came the occasion of a secession from the First Church, 
 and of the formation of the Second Baptist Church in 
 Boston, in the year 1742. The documents which relate to 
 this event are deeply interesting. Among the founslers of 
 this church was John Proctor, schoolmaster, a man of some 
 estate, who, in conveying the site on which the house of 
 worship of this church was built, made the title of the 
 church conditional on its continued adherence to the Con- 
 fession of 1689.* This church grew rapidly. Its doctrinal 
 
 1 Backus Bislory, Vol. II. p. 121. 2 jj. 
 
 3 Abridged Nislori/, chap. xi. 
 
 * See- title-deed of the land on which the Baldwin Place Baptist Chnrc-h 
 now stands. It bears date .July 171-5, and may be found In the Suffolk 
 Records. I am indebted for the followino- extract to a communication in 
 the WiiUhmmi mid Rffli'itor ot November ■!, 18v8: 
 
APPENDIX. 91 
 
 position was in harmony with that of the Sej^arates in the 
 Congregational churches, and these in great numbers be- 
 coming Baptists, the denomination in New England soon 
 assumed a distinctive Calvinistic character. Its first Asso- 
 ciation of Churches, formed at Warren, R. I. twenty^five 
 years later, with the advice and cooperation of the I'hila- 
 delphia Association, declared as its doctrinal basis the Con- 
 fession of 1689.' Thus, incontestably, this Confession links 
 
 "For the uses, interest and purposes herein mentioned, expressed and 
 Declared, and to no other use, benefit or purpose whatever. 
 
 " That is to say, to the Public use, benefit and behoof of that Church or 
 Society whereof the said Ephraim Bound, Ephraim Bosworth and myself 
 do now stand related as membei'S, and of which said Church or Society 
 the said Ephraim Bound is the present Ordained Pastor or Elder, for so 
 long time as the said Church shall hold to, and walk in the faith which 
 they now profess, and are agreeable in principle and practice to their Con- 
 fession of faith heretofore put forth by the Baptized Churches in England, 
 entitled 'A Confession of faith put forth by the Elders and Brethren of 
 many Congregations of Christians Baptized upon Confession of their faith 
 in London and the country.' But in case they apostatize and decline from 
 the said principles of faith and practice, or in case of annihilation, then 
 the said Land and House and premises herein granted, revert and remain 
 to the only proper use, benefit and behoof of the next and right heirs of 
 me the said John Proctor, their heirs and assigns forever. 
 
 "Saving, however, that upon or in case of the Churches declining from 
 her faith, principles and practice, as contained and held forth in the Con- 
 fession of faith aforesaid, if it shall please God our Saviour that there 
 should remain three or four brethren faithful to the principles, practice 
 and Confession of faith before mentioned, that they shall have, hold and 
 enjoy the said land, meeting house and premises, and their successors, for- 
 ever, for the like uses, and under the same limitations, as above partic- 
 ularly mentioned." 
 
 1 The following is from the " Original Platform " of the "Warren Asso- 
 ciation. See Minutes, ISW: 
 
 " 7. The faith and order of this Association are expressed in a confes- 
 sion put forth by upwards of a hundred congregations (in Great Britain) 
 in the year lfi89, and adopted by the Association of Philadelphia in 1742. 
 Some of the principles in said confession are— The imputation of Adam's 
 sin to his posterity — The inability of man to recover himself— Efl'ectual 
 
92 NOTES. 
 
 itself -witli the first real progress of the Baptists in New 
 England. Prior to 1741, few in numbers, divided on doc- 
 trinal questions, and weak in influence, they enter then 
 upon their course of remarkable development, raising aloft 
 this venerable formulary as the acknowledged exposition 
 and embodiment of their views of Divine truth. That 
 acknowledgment abides to this day in the platform of 
 the Warren Association, and its influence remains in the 
 faith of all the Baptist Associations of New England. 
 
 The other principal centre from which the Baptist de- 
 nomination in America proceeded, was, as has been stated, 
 in Pennsylvania and the Jerseys. The Philadelphia Asso- 
 ciation, embracing the churches of this region, was formed 
 in 1707. The eldest of these churches was gathered in 
 1687, by Elias Keach, son of the celebrated Benjamin 
 Keach, who was one of the signers of the Confession of 
 1689. Mr. Keach returned to England in 1692, and be- 
 came an influential minister there. He was the author of 
 an abridgment of the Confession,^ which abridgment was 
 early in use in this country, and was referred to as author- 
 ity.^ The date at which the Confession of 1689 was 
 
 calling by sovereign grace — Justiflcation by imputed riglitcousness — Im- 
 mersion for baptism, and tliat on profession of faith and repentance — 
 Congregational churches, and their independency — Reception into them 
 upon evidence of sound conversion, etc." 
 
 1 " A short Confession of Faith, containing the Substance of all the 
 Fundamental Articles in the larger Confession, put forth by the Baptized 
 Churches owning personal Election and final Perseverance. Subscribed 
 by about thirty Persons, in behalf of the whole Church assembled at 
 Tallow Chandlers Hall, upon Dowgate Hill, under the pastoral Care of 
 Elias Keach." 
 
 This is the title, as given in an advcrti?emcnt which I find at the end of 
 the Fifth Edition of the Confession of 1689, printed at London, 1720. 
 
 2 Minutes of the Philadelphia Association, from A. D. 1707 to A. D. 1807. 
 Puljjished by the American Baptist Publication Society, 1851. See the 
 account given of the settlement of a difllculty at Middletown in 1712. I 
 
APPENDIX. 93 
 
 formally adopted by the Philadelphia Association, I am 
 unable to determine. The common impression that this 
 adoption occurred in 1742, is manifestly a mistake. The 
 following extracts from the minutes will indicate its earlier 
 adoption, and the extent and character of its authority : 
 
 1724. "In the year 1724, a query, concerning the fourth 
 commandment, whether changed, altered, or diminished. 
 
 " We refer to the Confession of Faith, set forth by the 
 elders and brethren, met in London, 1689, and owned by 
 us, chap. 22, sects. 7 and 8." 
 
 1727. "In answer to a query from the Great Valley, 
 viz. : How far the liberty of marriage may be between a 
 member and one that is not a member? Answered, by 
 referring to our Confession of Faith, chapter 26th, in our 
 last edition." ^ 
 
 1729. " Query from the church at Philadelphia : Sup- 
 pose a gifted brother, who is esteemed an orderly minister 
 by or among those that are against the laying on of hands 
 in any respect, should happen to come among our churches; 
 whether we may allow such a one to administer the ordi- 
 nances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, or no? 
 
 " Answered in the negative ; because it is contrary to 
 the rule of God's word. See Acts xiii. 2, 3, xiv. 23, com- 
 pared with Titus i. 5, 1 Tim. iv. 14, — from which pre- 
 scribed rules we dare not swerve. "We also refer to the 
 Confession of Faith, chap. 27, sect. 9." 
 
 would suggest the inquiry, whether Reach's abridgment cannot be found 
 in extensive use at the present time, in the older churches in New Eng- 
 land, and more generally in the Southern States. 
 
 ' Of the original edition, the twenty-fifth chapter is the one which treats 
 " Of Marriage," and the numbering was not changed till 1742. The Min- 
 utes were revised. in 1749, and " in our last edition " was doubtless added 
 to explain the change in the I'eference from the twenty-fifth to the twenty- 
 sixth chapter. 
 
94 NOTES. 
 
 1742. "A motion was made in the Association for re- 
 printing the Confession of Faith, set forth by the elders 
 of baptized Congregations, met in London, A. D. 1689, 
 with a short treatise of Church Discipline to be annexed 
 to the Confession of Faith. Agreed that the thing was 
 needfiil, and likely to be very useful ; and in order to carry 
 it on, it is ordered to send it to the several churches be- 
 lonarins to this Association, to make a trial of what sums 
 of money can be raised, and to send an account to Mr. 
 Jenkin Jones, to the intent, that when the several collec- 
 tions are completed, if it be found sufficient to defray the 
 charges of the work, that then it shall go on ; if not, then 
 to drop it for this year ; and if it be carried on, that then 
 an addition of two articles be therein inserted ; that is to 
 say. Concerning Singing of Psalms in the Worship of 
 God, and Laying on of Hands upon Baptized Believers. 
 Ordered, also, that the said Mr. Jones and Benj. Griffith 
 do jsrepare a short Treatise of Discipline, to be annexed 
 to the said Confession of Faith." 
 
 1743. "Tuesday, the house met according to appoint- 
 ment, at eight o'clock A. M., to consider further the affair 
 begun yesterday, touching the differences at Montgomery. 
 After some time spent in debate thereon, brother Joseph 
 Eaton stood up, and freely, to our apj)rehension, recanted, 
 renounced and condemned all expressions which he here- 
 tofore had used, whereby his brethren at Montgomery, or 
 any persons elsewhere, were made to believe that he de- 
 jjarted from the literal sense and meaning of that funda- 
 mental article in our Confession of Faith, concerning the 
 eternal generation and Sonship of Jesus Christ our Lord; 
 he acknowledged with grief his misconduct therein, whether 
 by word or deed. We desire that all our churches would 
 take notice thereof, and have a tender regard for him in 
 
APPENDIX. 95 
 
 his weak and aged years, and in particular, of that great 
 truth upon which the Christian religion depends ; witliout 
 which it must not only totter, but fall to the ground ; 
 which he confesses he was sometimes doubtful of. Our 
 brother Butler gave his acknowledgment, written in his 
 own hand, in the following words: 'I freely confess that 
 I have given too much cause for others to judge that I 
 contradicted our Confession of Faith, concerning the 
 eternal generation of the Son of God, in some expressions 
 contained in my paper, which I now with freedom con- 
 demn, and am sorry for my so doing, and for every other 
 misconduct that I have been guilty of, from first to last, 
 touching the said article or any other matter.' 
 
 "We had a copy of Discipline designed to be annexed 
 to our Confession of Faith, by an order of a former Asso- 
 ciation, read and considered at this meeting, and approved 
 by the whole house." 
 
 1752. In answer to a query from the church in King- 
 wood, the Association having referred to our ruin in 
 Adam and our recovery in Christ, by the Sovereign elec- 
 tion and grace of God, adds : " Upon which fundamental 
 doctrines of Christianity, next to the belief of an eternal 
 God, our faith must rest ;. and we adopt, and would that 
 all the churches belonging to the Baj^tist Association, be 
 well grounded in accordance to our Confession of Faith, 
 and Catechism, and cannot allow that any are true mem- 
 bers of our churches who deny the said principles, be their 
 conversation outward what it will." 
 
 1761. The Association, writing to the Board of Partic- 
 ular Baptist Ministers, London, say : " Our numbers in 
 these parts multiply; for when we had the pleasure of 
 writing to you in 1734, there were but nine churches in 
 
96 NOTES. 
 
 our Association, yet now there are twenty-eight, all own- 
 ing the Confession of Faith put forth in London in 1689." 
 
 It is not necessary to multif)ly these citations. The 
 cordial reception, and the authoritative character of the 
 creed-statements embraced in the Confession, are beyond 
 question. From a period a little later than this to the 
 end of the centxxry, nearly every year a chapter of the 
 Confession was made the subject of a Pastoral Address to 
 the churches. This venerable formulary never indeed 
 usurped the place of the Word of God ; but distinctly, 
 cordially, and always, it was a declaration to the world of 
 the doctrines which the Association regarded as taught in 
 the Bible. 
 
 By reference to the extract from the Minutes of 1742, 
 above given, it will be seen that the action of the Associa- 
 tion was not an adoption of the Confession, but only a 
 '■'■reprinting^'' and that that which made it from that pe- 
 riod specially a Philadelphia Confession, was the insertion 
 of two new articles, and provision for the elaborate treatise 
 on Discipline, the work of the Rev. Benjamin Griffith,* 
 which was formally adopted in 1743. The new articles 
 inserted were written, many years before, by the Rev. 
 Abel Morgan, a native of Wales, born in 1637, who had 
 been a minister of the gospel in his own country, and' 
 who had translated the whole Confession into the Welsh 
 language. 
 
 I have not the materials at hand for tracing, so partic- 
 ularly as I could desire, the course of doctrinal history 
 in the churches of other sections which sprung more or 
 less directly from the Philadelphia Association. The New 
 York Association, formed in 1791, was distinctly an ofi"- 
 
 1 Mr. Griffith acknowledges the aid derived from the writinfrs of the 
 Eov. Elias Reach, the Rev. Abel Morgan, and Drs. Goodwin, and Owen. 
 
APPENDIX. 97 
 
 shoot from the Philadelphia, and the inheritor of its doc- 
 trines; and the Hudson River Association, next in descent, 
 was accustomed to publish annually, on its title-page, 
 a summary of its faith, in harmony with the venerable 
 formulary of 1689. 
 
 In Virginia the Baptists had a double origin, — partly 
 from zealous Separates from New England, who bore with 
 them 'to the South the spirit of the Great Awakening, and 
 partly from sources in connection with the Philadelphia 
 Association. They were accordingly known as Separate 
 Baptists, and Regular Baptists, each having a distinct 
 organization. The Regular Baptists seem to have been 
 the more intelligent and better organized, — the Separates 
 the more zealous, perhaps, and more efficient. Attempts 
 at union between these bodies were for some time unsuc- 
 cessful, the chief obstacle being the rigid adherence of the 
 Regulars to the Philadelphia Confession. Some partic- 
 ulars of the history of their attempts at union are found 
 ia Semple's History of the Virginia Baptists (1810), and 
 in the original edition (1813) of Benedict's History of the 
 Baptists, — the latter following chiefly the accounts given 
 in the former. 
 
 The General Association of the Separate Baptists had 
 become so large in 1783, that it was deemed advisable to 
 dissolve it, and form distinct Associations, with a General 
 Committee to be composed of delegates from the several 
 district Associations, this committee to meet annually 
 "to consider matters that may be for the good of the 
 whole society." This action having been taken, the doc- 
 trinal unity of these brethren was guarded as follows : 
 
 " A motion was made by John Williams : That as they 
 were now about to divide into sections, they ought to 
 
 9 
 
98 NOTES. 
 
 adopt some Confession of Faith, by way of affording a 
 standard of principles to subsequent times. 
 
 " They then agreed to adopt the Philadelphia Confes- 
 sion of Faith, upon the following explanations : 
 
 " ' To prevent its usurping a tyrannical power over the 
 consciences of any : we do not mean that every person 
 is to be bound to the strict observance of everything 
 therein contained, nor do we mean to make it in any re- 
 spect superior or equal to the Scriptures, in matters of 
 fiiith and practice ; although we think it the best human 
 composition of the kind now extant, yet it shall be liable 
 to alterations, whenever the General Committee, in behalf 
 of the Associations, shall think fit.'"-' 
 
 What may have been the effect upon the Regulars, of 
 this action of the Separate brethren, which seems to have 
 been spontaneous among themselves and in view of their 
 own purposes, I have not the means of knowing. It is 
 certain, however, that the union of the two bodies soon 
 follovved. In 1786 the Ketocton, or Regular Baptist Asso- 
 ciation, which had adopted the Philadelphia Confession at 
 its origin,^ sent delegates to the General Committee, who 
 were received on equal terras by that body. This event 
 gave rise to the following recommendation : 
 
 "It is recommended to the different Associations to 
 appoint delegates to attend the next General Committee, 
 for the purpose of forming a union with the Regular 
 Baptists." ^ 
 
 In August 1787 the General Committee met again, del- 
 egates being present from the Regular, and from all the 
 Separate Associations. The following is Dr. Semple's 
 account of the proceedings : 
 
 1 Semple, p. 68. 2 Benedict, ed. 1813, Vol. 11. p. 35. 
 
 2 Somple, p. 73. 
 
APPENDIX. 99 
 
 "Agreeably to appointment, the subject of the union of 
 Regular and Separate Baptists was taken up, and a happy 
 and effectual reconciliation was accomplished. 
 
 "The objections on the part of the Separates related 
 chiefly to matters of trivial importance, and had been for 
 some time removed, as to being a bar to communion. On 
 the other hand, the Regulars complained that the Sepa- 
 rates were not sufficiently explicit in their principles, hav- 
 ing never published or sanctioned any Confession of Faith, 
 and that they kept within their communion many who 
 were professed Arminians, etc. To these things it was 
 answered by the Separates, that a large majority of them 
 believed as much in their Confession of Faith as they did 
 themselves, although they did not entirely approve of 
 the practice of religious societies binding themselves too 
 strictly by Confessions of Faith, seeing there was danger 
 of their finally usurping too high a place; that if there 
 were some among them who leaned too much towards the 
 Arminian system, they were generally men of exemplary 
 piety and great usefulness in the Redeemer's kingdom, 
 and they conceived it better to bear with some diversity 
 of opinion in doctrines, than to break with men whose 
 Christian deportment rendered them amiable in the esti- 
 mation of all itrue lovers of genuine godliness. Indeed, 
 that some of them had now become fathers in the gospel, 
 who, previous to the bias which their minds had received, 
 had borne the brunt and heat of persecution, whose labors 
 and sufferings God had blessed, and still blessed, to the 
 great advancement of his cause. To exclude such as 
 these from the communion, would be like tearing the 
 lirnbs from the body. 
 
 "These and such like arguments were agitated both in 
 
100 NOTES. 
 
 public and private, so that all minds were much mollified 
 before the final and successful attempt for union. 
 
 " The terms of the union were entered on the Minutes 
 in the following words, viz : 
 
 " ' The committee appointed to consider the terms of 
 union with our Regular brethren, reported, That they 
 conceive the manner in which the Regular Baptist Con- 
 fession has been received by a former Association, is the 
 ground-work for such union.'"-' 
 
 The manner in which the Separates had adopted the 
 Philadelphia Confession, at their last General Association, 
 in 1783, has already been stated on a previous page of 
 this note,^ and should be referred to in this connection, in 
 order to a full understanding of the jDresent action. 
 
 Dr. Scrapie's narrative proceeds : 
 
 "After considerable debate as to the propriety of hav- 
 ing any Confession of Faith at all, the report of the com- 
 mittee was received, with the following explanation : 
 
 " ' To prevent the Confession of Faith from usurping 
 a tyrannical power over the conscience of any, we do not 
 mean that every person is bound to the strict observance 
 of everything therein contained ; yet that it holds forth 
 the essential truths of the gospel, and that the doctrine 
 of salvation by Christ, and free, unmerited grace alone, 
 ought to be believed by every Christian, and maintained 
 by every minister of the gospel. Upon these terms we 
 are united, and desire hereafter that the names Regular 
 and Separate be buried in oblivion ; and that from hence- 
 forth we shall be known by the name of the United Bap- 
 tist Churches of Christ in Virginia.' " ^ 
 
 This union was satisfactory to the Philadelphia Asso- 
 
 1 Semple, pp. 74, 75. 2 gee ante, p. 98 3 gemple, p. 75. 
 
APPENDIX. 101 
 
 elation, which expressed its pleasure by vote, and entered 
 the "plan of union" upon its records.^ The doctrinal 
 agreement of the Regulars and Separates was always 
 nearer than the use of the word " Arminian " in the dis- 
 cussions would seem to imply. Those of the Separates 
 who were regarded as " tending to Arminianism," would 
 probably have accepted cordially the doctrinal theology 
 of Andrew Fuller, as distinguished from that of Dr. Gill.^ 
 
 The Charleston Association — the oldest of Baptist Asso- 
 ciations in the United States, excepting the Philadelphia 
 — was formed in 1751. Its oldest church, the venerable 
 first church in Charleston, was organized about 1683. The 
 Rev. William Screven, the first pastor, in " An Ornament 
 for Church Members," printed after his death, said : " And 
 now for a close of all (my dear brethren and sisters, whom 
 God hath made me, poor unworthy me, an instrument of 
 gathering and settling in the faith and order of the gos- 
 pel), my request is, that you, as speedily as possible, sup- 
 ply yourselves with an able and faithful minister. Be sure 
 you take care that the person be orthodox in faith, and of 
 blameless life, and does own the Confession of Faith put 
 forth by our brethren in London in 1689."' Mr. Screven 
 died in 1713. 
 
 "In 1767 the Association, having previously called the 
 serious attention of the churches to the subject, formally 
 adopted the Confession of Faith published by the Lon- 
 don Assembly of 1689. This had been previously held by 
 the churches in their individual capacities, particularly 
 
 1 Minutes, 1787, pp. 227, 233. 
 
 2 See accounts of a discussion of the question, " Is salvation by Christ 
 macle possible for every individual of the human race? " given in Semple, 
 p. 60, and in Penedict, Vol. 11, pp. 56, 57. 
 
 3 Benedict's Hist., Vol. II. p. 123. 
 
 9* 
 
102 NOTES. 
 
 that of Charleston, from the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century. The church at Ashley River adopted.it March 
 18, 1737. Messrs. Hart and Pelot were appointed to draw- 
 up a system of Discipline agreeable to Scripture, to be 
 used by the churches. This they brought forward in 1772, 
 and Rev. Morgan Edwards and Mr. David Williams were 
 requested to assist the compilers in revising it. In 1773 
 it was examined by the Association, and adopted. That 
 and the Confession of Faith were printed under the 
 inspection of Mr. Hart."' 
 
 The doctrinal differences of the Regulars and Separates 
 of the Atlantic States reproduced themselves in the mi- 
 grations to the Mississippi Valley. The Regulars carried 
 with them and renewed the Confession, while the Sepa- 
 rates hesitated, as their brethren had done in Virginia, or 
 refused altogether. The Holston Association, first in 
 Tennessee, organized in 1786, adopted the Philadelphia 
 Confession. The Tennessee, formed from the Holston in 
 1802, did not adopt the Confession, but professed to hold 
 its substance and spirit, with some modifications of some 
 of the articles which it contains. In West Tennessee, the 
 Associations adopted an "Abstract of Principles," in the 
 form of creed-statements, very brief indeed, but, by the 
 use of general expressions, furnishing a basis of harmony 
 for those who construe orthodoxy with Gill, and for those 
 who construe orthodoxy with Puller. The Elkham' Asso- 
 ciation, in Kentucky, formed in 1785, adopted the Phila- 
 delphia Confession, while the South Kentucky, or Separate 
 Association, formed in the same year, had no Confession. 
 Attempts to unite the Regulars and the Separates of these 
 
 1 Benedict's nisi., p. 136. See also pp. 143 and 149, where are accounts 
 of measures for reprinting tlie Confession, etc., in 1793 and 1810. I have 
 no later authorities. 
 
APPENDIX. 103 
 
 Associations, as their brethren of the Atlantic States 
 had become united, were made without success. "The 
 Separates were afraid of being bound and hampered by 
 Articles and Confessions, and the Regulars were unwilling 
 to unite with them, without something of the kind." In 
 1801 the union was effected by mutual concessions, the 
 fi-uit, it is said, of brotherly kindness and charity induced 
 by the Great Revival of that period, and of the discovery 
 that their doctrinal differences were less than they had 
 supposed. The basis of union was a brief series of creed- 
 statements, imperfect, certainly, in form, but undoubtedly 
 intended to set forth the substance of orthodoxy. This 
 union, effected, the appellation " Separate Baptists," which 
 had distinguished a portion of the Baptist family for half 
 a century, passed finally away.^ 
 
 It is manifest, from the testimony adduced in this note, 
 that the Baptist denomination, with very rare exceptional 
 instances, has been from the first accustomed to the utter- 
 ance of its doctrinal convictions in the form of Confessions 
 or Articles of Faith, and that these have exerted a power- 
 ful reflex influence. Even the Separates of Virginia, by 
 their own spontaneous act, adopted conditionally the Phil- 
 adelphia Confession, and their successors in the Missis- 
 sippi Valley, when uniting with the Regulars, did not 
 hesitate to set forth creed-statements of briefer form. I 
 am not particularly informed in regard to later usages 
 of the Baptists of the South and South West. My lim- 
 ited information coincides with what might be supposed 
 the natural results of the causes here narrated. I think 
 
 1 See Benedict's Histcfry of the Baptists, ed. 1813, Vol. II. pp. 216, 217, 
 225, 237, 238, 239, 243. See also an interesting and valuable article on I he 
 Baptists of the Mississippi Valley, written by the late Eev. John M. Peck, 
 D. D., and published in the Christian Review of October 1832. 
 
lOi NOTES. 
 
 the Philadelphia Confession entire, Mi-. Reach's, and per- 
 haps other abridgments of it, preserving its language and 
 spirit, and briefer creed-statements, like those already re- 
 ferred to, will be found variously intermixed. Of these 
 last I have a recent illustration, in the "Abstract of Prin- 
 cii^les " ' set forth by the Carey Baptist Association, Ala- 
 bama, at its formation in 1855, which preserves almost the 
 exact words of the " Abstract of Principles " set forth by 
 the Associations of West Tennessee at an early period in 
 their history.^ Few things are more tenacious of life than 
 creed-statements in religion. 
 
 In Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the states lying northwest 
 of them, we may, in like manner, look for institution^ and 
 habits kindred to those of the eastern sections from which 
 the first Baptist settlers proceeded, — sometimes modified 
 by later and influential intermixtures from other sections. 
 Where the eastern Baptist element was from Virginia, 
 ordination will be by a Presbytery ; where it was from New 
 England, it will be by a Council. In reference to Con- 
 fessions, the same rule will undoubtedly prevail. The 
 East reproduces itself in the West. Whoever will accu- 
 mulate facts bearing upon this point, will make a most 
 important contribution to our doctrinal history. 
 
 This sketch would be imperfect without a reference to 
 the Declaration of Faith, known at the present time as 
 the New Hampshire Confession, which was issued a quar- 
 ter of a century since by the Baptist Convention of that 
 state. The work of the Rev. John Newton Brown, D. D., 
 
 1 For wliicli I am indelited to the politeness of the Hon. Jabez L. M. 
 Curry, Member of Congress from Alabama. 
 
 2 The same is true of the " Articles of Faith " of the Coosa River Asso- 
 ciation, for the Minutes of which I am indebted likewise to the Hon. Mr. 
 Curry. 
 
APPENDIX. 105 
 
 it was written by him when a pastor in New Hampshire, 
 with a view to pending controversies with the Free Will 
 Baptists, who there are numerous. It has been sometimes 
 criticized as aiming at the difficult task of preserving the 
 stern orthodoxy of the fathers of the denomination, while 
 at the same time it softens the terms in which that ortho- 
 doxy is expressed, in order to remove the objections of 
 neighboring opponents.^ Published in the Encyclopedia 
 of Religious Knowledge, of which its author was editor, 
 it has been circulated in many editions of that work, — 
 published too by booksellers, in small pamphlet form, con- 
 venient for distribution in churches, it has been, still more 
 widely diffused, — and in churches of late origin it has 
 been extensively adopted in the Northern and Western 
 States. 
 
 In Appendix II. will be found at length the Confessions 
 to which reference has been made in this work. The 
 Confession of 1643 is reprinted from the Appendix to the 
 Second Volume of Choules' edition of Neal's History of 
 the Puritans, corrected, however, by collation with the 
 Hanserd KnoUys Society's copy in their volume of Con- 
 fessions. The Confession of 1689, corrected in the same 
 manner, is reprinted from the Pittsburg edition of 1831, 
 in the form known in this country as the Philadelphia 
 Confession, except that the two articles added by that 
 body, on Laying on of Hands and on Singing, are inserted 
 separately at the end. The Confession has been compared 
 with the London (fifth) edition of 1720, for a copy of 
 which I am indebted to the Rev. Wm. R. Williams, D. D., 
 LL. D., of New York. The New Hampshire Declaration 
 of Faith is reprinted from the edition of the American 
 
 1 See Christian Seview for April 1859. 
 
106 NOTES. 
 
 Baptist Publication Society, revised by tlie author himself, 
 and including two new articles, one on Repentance and 
 Faith, and the other on Sanctification. 
 
 The Confessions here given are not to be understood as 
 all which have been issued by churches, or other bodies, 
 connected with the Baptist denomination. There were 
 other Confessions issued in England^ in the period be- 
 tween 1643 and 1689; and in this country Confessions 
 have been published by Associations, churches and indi- 
 viduals in the denomination, variously modified, indeed, 
 but preserving a substantial unity. Those which are here 
 given, have had a historical character as acknowledged 
 formularies. The laxity in respect to the ministerial office, 
 indicated in the Confession of 1643, it will be observed, 
 disappears in the Confession of 1689. On the question of 
 laying on of hands, there has never been unanimous con- 
 sent in the denomination, and the article on that subject 
 in the Philadelphia Confession would be accepted now by 
 a very limited number of our people. 
 
 ' Some of these Confessions maj"^ be found in a volume issued by the 
 Hanserd Knollys Society, under the title, " Confessions 'of Faith, and 
 other Public Documents, illustrative of the History of the Baptist Churches 
 of Kngland in the seventeenth century. Edited by Edward Bean Under- 
 bill." London, 1854. 
 
I). 
 
 "BAPTISTS." 
 
 The name " Baptists " is both a protest against the mis- 
 nomer " Anabaptists," and a euphemism for " Baptized." 
 It was very natural that those who believed in the validity 
 of infant baptism, should regard as " anabaptists " those 
 who renounced that baptism, and were baptized again on 
 personal profession of their faith. It was equally natural, 
 too, that these last should repelthe epithet as in nowise 
 significant of their belief and practice. As matter of fact, 
 we find the epithet so applied and so repelled. This was 
 true on the Continent, and true in Great Britain. "On 
 account of your baptism of infants," said the martyr Jan 
 Gerrits, " you cause us to be called Anabaptists, though we 
 baptize once, not twice, nor allow baptism more than once, 
 and that according to the truth, and agreeably to the com- 
 mand and practice of the apostles." ■■ " It is commanded, 
 and will be found throughout the New Testament," said 
 another martyr, Hans Schlafifer, answering under torture, 
 " that men should first teach the Word of God, and they 
 alone that hear, understand, believe and receive it, should 
 be baptized. This is the true Christian baptism, and no 
 rebaptism."^ "Commonly, but most falsely, called Ana- 
 
 1 Baptist Martyrology, Vol. II. p. 386. 2 jj.^ Vol. I. p. 50. 
 
108 NOTES. 
 
 baptists," ' say our English progenitors, in their Persecu- 
 tion for Religion Judged and Condemned, published in 
 1615. "Unjustly called Ana-baptists," ^ say they in their 
 address to the king, 1 620. Whatever their baptism might 
 be to others, to them it was no awa-baptism. They did not 
 rebaptize, they simply baptized; they were not Anabap- 
 tists, but only JBaptists. Distinguished by the restoration 
 of the rite to its primitive form and significance, they very 
 naturally took the name of the rite as their true and law- 
 ful designation. They called themselves first "the bap- 
 tized," and then "<Ae ISaptists.^'' In 1654 "the Haptized 
 churches in this nation" (England) issued their Humble 
 Representation and Vindication.^ "By John Sturgion, 
 one of the Haptized People^'' ^ was the form of authorship 
 on the title-page of Sturgion's Plea for Toleration, 1661. 
 " Of the persuasion commonly called the baptized" ^ says 
 the royal license to the Rev. Mr. Hardcastle, the Broad- 
 mead pastor, 1671-2. " Brother Gifford, pastor of the 
 other baptized congregation" say the Broadmead Rec- 
 ords, of the sister church in Bristol, and its minister. 
 In this country, the title "Baptized congregations" or 
 "Baptized churches," was preserved in the Minutes of the 
 Philadelphia Association,^ long after the name "Baptists " 
 had come into common use. Indeed, that title is preserved 
 occasionally, though very rarely, in the present generation, 
 by persons who desire to be specially precise. The title 
 
 1 Tracts on Liberty of Conscience, Hans. Knollys Society's ed., p. 101. 
 
 2 lb., 231. , 
 
 3 Confessions of Faith, etc., p. 327. 
 
 * Tracts on Lib. of Conscience, p. 311. 5 Records, p. 217. 
 
 ^ The Philadelphia Association has heen called, though I cannot say how 
 frequently, or how generally, the Association of " Baptized Congregational 
 Churches." I remember the fact distinctly, but am unable to recall the 
 reference. 
 
APPENDIX. 109 
 
 "Baptists^'' so far as I can judge, is of uncertain date. I 
 find it first in the Broadmead Records. "At that juncture 
 of time (1 640) the providence of God brought to this city 
 one Mr. Canne, a baptized man ; it was that Mr. Canne 
 that made notes and references upon the BiLle." * * * * 
 "a baptized man by them called an Anabaptist, which was 
 to some a suificient cause of prejudice ; because the truth 
 of believers' baptism had been for a long time buried ; yea, 
 for a long time by popish inventions, and their sprinkling 
 brought in the room thereof." " This godly, honorable 
 woman, perceiving that Mr. Canne was a baptiitr i * * * 
 Here we have the protest against Anabaptist^ the descrip- 
 tive title Saptized^ and the euphemism Jiaptist, all within 
 narrow space. Mr. Terrill, who made these records, be- 
 came a member of the Broadmead Church in 1658. The 
 exact date of the use of these words by him cannot, per- 
 haps, be determined. " Once a member amongst the Bap- 
 tists^'' appears on the title of a book or pamphlet published 
 in 1655,^ which is my earliest trace of the name. It is 
 here, however, without any appeal-ance of novelty. From 
 a pamphlet entitled "Behold a Cry," etc., published in 
 1662, Crosby' quotes these words: "On the third day 
 of the month called August, 1662, when the prisoners in 
 Newgate, called Baptists, were in their chamber, seeking 
 the Lord." * * * The name occurs likewise in the titles 
 of works published by Rev. Daniel Dyke, in 1674 and 
 1675.^ The Rev. Andrew Gifibrd's license from Charles 
 R:, in 1672, says: "of the persuasion commonly called 
 Baptists"^ Mr. Henry Morris, writing in 1675, used the 
 title Baptist frequently, in speaking of the churches in 
 
 1 Records, pp. 18, 19, 21. . * lb.. Vol. I. p. 359. 
 
 2 lb., p. 55. « lb., Vol. III. p. 154. 
 s History of the Baptists, Vol. II. p. 178. 
 
 10 
 
110 NOTES. 
 
 Wales.' In 1696 and 1701, "ministers of the Baptist 
 denomination" sent congratulatory addresses to William 
 111? William Wall, writing a little later, says : " As they 
 disown the name of Anabaptists, or Behaptizers, so I have 
 nowhere given it to them ; as, on the contrary, I do not 
 give them the name of Baptists, nor of the Baptized peo- 
 ple : for that is to cast a reproach upon their adversaries, 
 as concluding that they are not so."^ He calls them anti- 
 pcedo-baptists. The common use of the word in this coun- 
 try must have followed close upon the common use of it 
 in England. "Our Anabaptists," says Cotton Mather, 
 " when somewhat of exasperation was begun, formed a 
 church at Boston on May 28, 1665, besides one which they 
 had before at Swanzey. Now they declared our infant 
 baptism to be a mere nullity, and they arrogate unto them- 
 selves the title of Baptists, as if none were hap>tized but 
 themselves." * The earliest use of this title in the Phil- 
 adelphia Minutes appears under the date 1712. '■^Baptized 
 congregations^'' '■'■Baptized churches^'' are then the usual 
 forms; but in 1749, when the Rev. Benjamin Griffith, by 
 direction of the Association, prepared his Association Book, 
 he describes it as "containing a brief account of the begin- 
 ning and progress of the churches holding and practising 
 adult baptism, and commonly called BAPTISTS." 
 
 1 Broadmead Becords, p. 511. 2 Quoted in Crosby. 
 
 3 I quote from Crosby without having Wall at hand. 
 •• Ecdes. Hist, Boolt VII. 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 I. THE COKFESSION OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES, 1643. 
 
 II. THE CONFESSION OF THE ASSEMBLY OF 1689, CALLED IN A3IEKICA 
 
 THE PHILADELPHIA CONFESSION. 
 
 III. THE NETf HAMPSHIRE DECLARAHON OF FAITH. 
 
 IV. DISCIPLINE ADOPTED BY THE PHILADELPHIA ASSOCIATION. 
 
I. 
 
 A CONFESSION OF FAITH 
 
 Of Seven Congregations or Churches of Christ in London, which are 
 commonly, hut unjustly, called Anabaptists; published for the Vindi- 
 cation of the Truth and Information of the Ignorant : likewise for 
 the taking off of those Aspersions which are frequently, both in 
 Pulpit and Print, unjustly cast upon them. Printed at London, 
 Anno 1646. (Second edition.) 
 
 I. The Lord our God is but one God, whose subsistence is in him- 
 self; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself; 
 who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can 
 approach unto; who is in himself most holy, every way infinite, in 
 greatness, wisdom, power, love ; merciful and gracious, long-suffer- 
 ing, and abundant in goodness and truth : who giveth being, moving, 
 and preservation to all creatures.' 
 
 II. In this divine and infinite Being there is the Father, the Word, 
 and the Holy Spirit ; each having the whole Divine essence, yet the 
 essence undivided ; all infinite without any beginning, therefore but 
 one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distin- 
 guished by several peculiar relative properties.^ 
 
 III. God hath decreed in himself, before the world was, concern- 
 ing all things, whether necessary, accidental, or voluntary, with all 
 the circumstances of them, to work, dispose, and bring about all 
 things according to the counsel of his own will, to his glory (yet 
 without being the author of sin, or having fellowship with any there- 
 
 1 1 Gov. viii. 6; Isa. xliv. 6, and xlvi. odus xxxiv. 6, 7; Acts xvii. 28; Eom. 
 
 9; Exodus iii 14: 1 Tim vi 16; Isaiah xi. 36. 
 
 xliii. 15; Psalm cxivii 5; Deut. xxxii. 2 1 Cor. i 3; John i. 1, and xv. 26; 
 
 3; Job xxxvi. 5; Jeremiah- x. 12; Ex- Exod. iii. 14; 1 Cor. viii. 6. 
 
 10* 
 
Hi CONFESSIONS. 
 
 in) : in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, unchange- 
 ableness, power, and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree ; and 
 God hath, before the foundation of the world, foreordained some 
 men to eternal life, through Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of 
 his grace: leaving the rest in their sin, to their just condemnation, 
 to the praise of his justice.^ 
 
 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 compulsion, in eating the forbid- 
 den 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 forever, unless the Lord 
 Jesus Christ set them free.^ 
 
 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 whatso- 
 ever befalls the elect is by his ajipointment, for his glory, and their 
 good.' 
 
 VI. 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, sanctification, and redemption 
 and all in all, that he that rejoiceth might rejoice in the Lord.^ 
 
 VII. And this is life eternal, that we might know him the only 
 true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. And on the con- 
 
 1 Isa.xlvi. 10; Eph.i.ll; Eom.xi. 33; 29; 2 Cor, xi. 3; 1 Tim. ii. 14; Gal. iii. 
 Psalm xxviii. 15, cxv. 3, cxxxv. 6, and 22; Eom.T.12,vi..22, and xviii.l9; Eph. 
 cxliv. ; 1 Sam. x. 9,26 ; Prov. xvi 4, 33, ii. 3. 
 
 and xxi. 6; Exod. xxi. 13; Isa. xlv. 7; 3 Job xxxviii. 11; Isa. xlvi. 10, 11; 
 
 Mutt xvi. 28, 30; Col. i. 16, 17; Numb. Eccl. iii. 14; Matt, x. 29, 30; Exod. xxi. 
 
 xxiii. 19, 20; Eom. iii. 4; Jer. x. 10, 13; Prov. xvi, 33; Eora. viii. 28. 
 
 xiv. 22; Eph. i, 4, 5 ; Jude 4, 6. 4 Jer. xxiii. 6, and xxxi, 3; Epli. i, 3, 
 
 2 Gen. i. 1, and iii. 1,4, 5; Col. i. 16; 7, and ii 4, 9; ITliess. v. 9; Actsxiii 33j 
 Isa.xlv.l2; 1 Cor. xv. 45,46; Eccl. vii. 2Cor.v. 21; Jer. ix. 23,24; 1 Cor. i.30,31. 
 
APPENDIX. 115 
 
 trary, the Lord will render vengeance, in flaming fire, to them that 
 know not God, and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.^ 
 
 VIII. The rule of this knowledge, faith, and obedience concern- 
 ing the worship of God, in which is contained the whole duty of 
 man, is (not men's laws or unwritten traditions, but) only the Word 
 of God contained in the Holy Scriptures : in which is plainly re- 
 corded whatsoever is needful for us to know, believe, and practise ; 
 which are thft only rule of holiness and obedience for all saints, at 
 all times, in all places, to be observed.^ 
 
 IX. The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Moses and the prophets 
 wrote, the apostles preached, he is the Son of God, the brightness 
 of his glory, etc., 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.^ 
 
 X. Jesus Christ is made the mediator of the new and everlasting 
 covenant of grace between God and man, ever to be perfectly and 
 fully the prophet, priest, and king of the Church of God for ever- 
 more.* 
 
 XL Unto this office he was appointed by God from everlasting ; 
 and in respect of his manhood, from the womb called, separated, 
 and anointed most fully and abundantly with all gifts necessary, 
 God having without measure poured out his Spirit upon him.^ 
 
 Xn. Concerning his mediatorshifi, the Scripture holds forth 
 Christ's call to his office ; for none takes this honor upon him but 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 
 
 1 John vi. 3G; and xtu. 3; Heb. v. 9; iv. 15, and vii. 14; Gal. iv. 4; Eev. v. 5; 
 1 Thess. i. 8. Kom. i. 3, and ix. 10; Matt. i. 16; Luke 
 
 2 Col. ii. 23; Mat. xv. 9, 6; John v. iii- 23, 26; Isa. liii. 3-5. 
 
 39; 2 Tim. iii 15—17; Isa. viii. 20; Gal. 4 1 Tim, ii. 6; Heb. ix. 16; John xiv. 
 
 i. 8, 9; Acts iii. 22, 28. 6; Isa. ix. 6, 7. 
 
 3 Gen. iii. 15; xxii. 18, and xlix. 9, « Prov. viii. 23; Isa. xi. 2—5, xli. 6, 
 Id; Dan. vii. 13, and ix- 24—26; Prov. xlix. 15, and Ixi. 1, 2; Luke iv. 17, 22; 
 viii. 23; John i. 1—3; Heb. i. 8, ii. 16, John i. 14, 16, and iii. 34. 
 
116 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 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 pleas- 
 ure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand ; all of mere free and ab- 
 solute grace towards God's elect, and without any condition foreseen 
 in them to procure it.^ 
 
 XIII. This office to be mediator, that is, to be prophet, priest, and 
 king of the Church of God, is so proper to Christ, that neither in 
 whole, nor any part thereof, can it be transferred from him to any 
 other.2 
 
 XIV. This office to which Christ is called is threefold — as a 
 prophet, priest, and king : this number and order of offices is neces- 
 sary, for in respect of our ignorance, we stand in need of his 
 prophetical office ; and in respect of our great alienation 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.^ 
 
 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 forever continueth reveal- 
 ing the same truth of the gospel to his people.^ 
 
 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 suit- 
 ably have unfolded it in his own person to men.' 
 
 That Jesus Christ is God, is wonderful clearly expressed in the . 
 
 1 Heb. V. 4—6; Isa. liii. 10, 11; John Psalm ex. 3; Cnnt. i. 3; John vi. 44; 
 iii. 16; Eom viii. 32 Phil. iv. 13; 2 Tim, iv. 18. 
 
 2 1 Tim. ii. 5; Heb. vii. 14; Daniel i John i 18, xii. 49, 50, and xy., and 
 vii. 14; Acts iv. 12; Luke i. 83; John xvii 8; Matt, xxiii, 10; Dent, xviii. 15; 
 xiv. 6. Heb. iil. 1; 1 Cor. i. 24; Col. ii. 3; Mai. 
 
 3 Dcut. viii. 15; Acts iii. 22, 23, xxvi. iii. 1. 
 
 18; Heb. iii. 3, and iv. 14, 15; Psalm ii. «Johni.l8; Actsiii.22; Deut.xviii. 
 
 6 ; 2 Cor. V. 20 ; Col. i. 21 ; John xvi. 8 ; 15 ; Heb. i. 1. 
 
APPENDIX.. 117 
 
 Scriptures. He is called the mighty God.' The Word was God.^ 
 Christ, who is God over all.' God manifested in the flesh.* The 
 same is very God.^ He is the first.^ He gives being to all things, 
 and without him was nothing made.' He forgiveth sins.^ He is 
 before Abraham.' He was, and is, and ever will be the same.'" 
 He is always with his to the end of the world." Which could not 
 be said of Jesus Christ, if he were not God. And to the Son he 
 saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.'^ 
 
 Also, Christ is not only perfectly God, but perfect mjin, made of 
 a woman.'^ Made of the seed of David." Coming out of the loins 
 of David.i* Of Jesse and Judah.'^ In that the children were par- 
 takers of flesh and blood, he himself llke\vise took part with them.'' 
 He took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abra- 
 ham.'* So that we are bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh.'' So 
 that he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified, are all of one.-" 
 
 XVn. Concerning his priesthood, Christ, having sanctified him- 
 self, hath appeared once to put away sin by that one offering of him- 
 self 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, etc., and is now entered within the veil 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 acceptable to God through him. Neither doth the Father 
 accept, or Christ offer to the Father, any other worship or worship- 
 pers.2' 
 
 XVni. This priesthood was not legal or temporary, but according 
 to the order of Melchisedeck, and is stable and perfect, not for a 
 time, but forever, which is suitable to Jesus Christ, as to him that 
 ever liveth. Christ was the priest, sacrifice, and altar ; he was a 
 priest according to both natures ; he was a sacrifice according to his 
 
 1 Isa. ix. 6. 14 Eom. i. 3. 
 
 2 John i. 1. ' 1.! Acts ii. 30. 
 
 8 Eom. ix. 5. 16 Acts xiii. 23. 
 
 i 1 Tim. iii. 16. V I-Ieb. ii. 14. 
 
 5 1 John V. 20. 18 Heb. ii. 16. 
 
 Rev. i. 8. 19 Eph. v. 30. 
 
 7 John i. 2. 20 Oeh. ii. 11. See Acts iii. 22; Deut. 
 
 8 Matt. ix. 6. xviii. 15. Heb. i. 1. 
 
 9 John viii. 58. 21 John xvii. 19; Heb. v. 7—10,12; 
 10 Heb. xiii. 8. Eom. v. 19; Eph. v. 2; Col. i 20; Eph. 
 H Matt, xxviii. 20. ii. 14—16; Eom. viii. 34; Heb. viii. 1, 
 
 12 Heb. i. 8; John i. 18. and ix. 24; 1 Peter ii. 6; John iv. 23, 
 
 13 Gal. iv. 4. 24. 
 
118 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 human nature ; wlienf!e in Scripture it is attributed to his body, to his 
 blood; yet the efifectualness of this sacrifice did depend upon his 
 Divine nature ; therefore it is called the blood of God. He was 
 the altar 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 
 dignity than the sacrifice itself.' 
 
 XIX. Concerning his kingly office, Christ being risen from the 
 dead, and ascended into heaven,' and having all power in heaven 
 and earth, he doth spiritually govern his Church, and doth exercise 
 his power over all, angels and men, good and bad, to the preserva- 
 tion and salvation of the elect, and to the overruling and destruc- 
 tion of his enemies. By this kingly power he applieth the benefits, 
 virtue, and fruits of his prophecy and priesthood to his elect, subdu- 
 ing their sins, preserving and strengthening them in all their con- 
 flicts 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 wrath, using, limiting, and restraining them, as it seems 
 good to his infinite wisdom.^ 
 
 XX. This his kingly power shall be more fully manifested when 
 he shall come in glory to reign among his saints, when he shall put 
 down all rule and authority under his feet, that the glory of the Fa- 
 ther may bo perfectly manifested in his Son, and the glory of the 
 Father and the Son in all his members.^ 
 
 XXI. Jesus Christ by his death did purchase salvation for the 
 elect that God gave unto him ; these only have interest in him, and 
 fellowship with him, for whom he makes intercession to his Father in 
 the behalf of, and to them alone doth God by his Spirit apply this 
 redemption unto ; as also the free gift of eternal life is given to them, 
 and none else.* 
 
 1 Heb. v. 6, vii. 16, etc., ix. 13, 14, i. 27; Heb. i. 14; Job. i. 8; Eph. iv. 17, 
 x^ 10, and xiii. 10, 12, 16; 1 Pet. i. 18, 18; 2 Pet. ii.; John xvi. 15. 
 
 19; Col. 1. 20, 22; Acts XX. 28; Matt. S 1 Cor. xv. 24, 28; Heb. ix. 28; 1 
 
 xxiii. 17 ; John xvii- 19. Tliess. iv 15—17 ; 2 Thess. i. 9, 10 ; John 
 
 2 1 Cor. XV. 4; 1 Pet. iii. 21,22; Matt. xH. 21, 26. 
 
 xxviii 18, 19, 20; Luke xxiv. 61; Acts 4 F.ph. i. 14; Ileb. v. 9, and vii. 25; 
 
 i. 1, and v. 30, 31; John v. 2(5, 27, xix. Matt. i. 21 ; John xvii. 6; 1 Cnr. ii. 12; 
 
 311 and xvi. 15; Rom. i. 21, v. 6—8, xiv. Rom, viii. 29, .30; 1 John v. 12; John 
 
 9, 17; and xvii. 18; Ual. v. 22, 23; Mark xv. 13, and iii. 16. 
 
APPENDIX. 119 
 
 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 Icnow 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 its work- 
 ings and operations ; and so are enabled to cast their souls upon this 
 truth thus believed.! 
 
 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 nourish- 
 eth 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 Eigainst them, yet they shall never be able to take 
 them off" that foundation and rock, which by faith they are fastened 
 upon ; notwithstanding, through unbelief, and the temptations of Sa- 
 tan, the sensible sight of this light and love be clouded and over- 
 whelmed for a time ; yet God is still the same, and they shall be 
 sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they 
 shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraven upon 
 the palms of his hands, and their names having been written in the 
 Book of Life from aU eternity .- 
 
 XXIV. Faith is ordinarily begotten by the preaching of the Gos- 
 pel, or Word of Christ, without respect to any power or agency in 
 the creature ; but it being wholly passive, and dead in trespasses 
 and sins, doth believe and is converted by no less power than that 
 which raised Christ from the dead.^ 
 
 XXV. The preaching of the Gospel to the conversion of sinners 
 is absolutely free ; no way requiring, as absolutely necessary, any 
 qualifications, preparations, or terrors of the law, or preceding min- 
 istry of the law, but only and alone the naked soul, a sinner and 
 ungodly, to receive Christ crucified, dead, and buried, and risen 
 
 1 Eph. ii. 8; Joliii iv. 10, vi. 29, 63, x. 28, 29; 1 Pet i. 4—6; Isa xlix. 18—16. 
 and xvii. 17; Phil. i. 29; Gal. v. 22; 3 Eom. x.l7; 1 Cor. i. 28; Rom i 16, 
 Heb. iv. 11, 12. iii. 12, and ix. 16; Ezelc. xvi. 16; Epll. 
 
 2 Matt. vii. 24, 25; John xiii. 10, and i. 19; Col. ii. 12. 
 
120 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 again; who is made a prince and a saviour for such sinners as 
 through the Gospel shall be brought to believe on him.^ 
 
 XXVI. The same power that converts to faith in Christ carrieth 
 on the soul through all duties, temptations, conflicts, sufferings ; and 
 whatsoever a believer is, he is by grace, and is carried on in all obe- 
 dience and temptations by the same.^ 
 
 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.' 
 
 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, through the 
 satisfaction that Christ hath made by his death for all their sins, and 
 this applied (in the manifestation of it) through faith.^ 
 
 XXIX. All believers are a holy and sanctified people, and that 
 sanctification is a spiritual grace of the new covenant, and an efiect 
 of the love of God manifested in the soul, whereby the believer 
 presseth after a heavenly and evangelical obedience to all the com- 
 mands which Christ, as head and king; in his new covenant, hath 
 prescribed to them.^ 
 
 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 passing all understanding ; yea, joy 
 in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received 
 the atonement.' 
 
 XXXI. All believers, in the time of this life, are in a continual 
 warfare and combat against sin, self, the world, and the devil ; and 
 
 1 John i. 12, andiii. 14, 15; Isa. iv. 1; i IJohn i. 7; Heb. x. 14, and ix. 26i 
 John vii. 37; 1 Tim. i. 15; Eom. iv. 5, 2 Cor. v. 19; Eom. iii. 23, 25, 30, and T. 
 and T. 8; Acts v. 30, 31, and ii. 36; 1 1; Acts xiii. 38, 39. 
 
 Cor. i. 22, 24. 6 1 Cor. xi ; 1 Pet. ii. 9; Epb. i. i; 1 
 
 2 1 Pet. i. 5 ; 1 Cor. xv. 10 ; 2 Cor. xii. 9 ; John iv. 16 ; Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 rhil.ii.12,13; Johnxv.5; Gal.ii.19,20. 6 2 Cor. v. 19; Eom. v, 9, 10; Isaiah 
 
 3 1 Thess. i. 1; John xvii. 21; xx. 17; xxvi. 12, and liv. 10; Eph. ii. 13, 14, and 
 Heb.ii.ll;lJohniv. 16; Gal.ii.19,20. iv.7; Rom. v. 10, 11. 
 
APPENDIX. 121 
 
 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 
 who have no faith.^ 
 
 XXXn. The only strength by which the saints are enabled to 
 encounter with all oppositions and trials is only by Jesus Christ, who 
 is the captain of their salvation, being made perfect through suf- 
 ferings; who hath engaged his faithfulness and strength to assist 
 Ihem in all their afflictions, and to uphold them in all their temp- 
 tations, and to preserve them by his power to his everlasting king- 
 dom.2 
 
 XXXm. Jesus Christ hath here on earth a spiritual kingdom, 
 which is his Church, whom he hath purchased and redeemed to him- 
 self as a peculiar inheritance ; which Church is a company of visi- 
 ble saints, called and separated from the world by the Word and 
 Spirit of God, to the visible profession of the faith of the Gospel, 
 being baptized into that faith, and joined to the Lord, and each to 
 other, by mutual agreement, in the practical enjoyment of the ordi- 
 nances commanded by Christ, their head and king.' 
 
 XXXIV. To this Church he hath made his promises, and given 
 the signs of his covenant, presence, acceptation, love, blessing, and 
 protection. Here are the fountains and springs of his heavenly 
 graces flowing forth to refresh and strengthen them.* 
 
 XXXV. And all his servants of all estates are to acknowledge 
 him to be their prophet, priest, and king ; and called thither to be en- 
 rolled among his household servants, to present their bodies and souls, 
 and to bring their gifts [that] God hath given them, to be under his 
 heavenly conduct and government, to lead their lives in this walled 
 
 1 Eom. vii. 23, 24; and viii. 29; Eph. Acts xix. 8, 9, and xxvi. 18; 2 Cor. 
 vi. 10, 11, etc. ; Heb. ii. 9, 10; 2Tim. iii. vi. 17; Ecv. xviii. 4; Acts ii. 37, 42, 
 12; 1 Thess. iii. 3; Gal. ii. 19, 20; 2 Cor. ix. 26, and x. 37; Eom. x. 10; 1 Peter 
 V. 7; Deut. ii. 5. ii. 5. 
 
 2 John XT. 5, and xvi. 33; Phil.iv.ll; 4 Matt, xxviii. 18, etc.; 1 Cor. iii. 21, 
 Heb. ii. 9, 10; 2 Tim. iT. 18. and xi. 24; 2 Cor. vi. 18; Eom. ix. 4, B; 
 
 3 Matt. xi. 11; XTiii, 19, 20; 2 Tliess. Psalm cxiodii. 3; Eom. iii. 7, 10; Ezek. 
 i.15; ICor. i. 2; Eph. i. 1; Eom. i. 7. xlvii. 2. 
 
 11 
 
122 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 sheepfold and watered garden, to have communion here with his 
 saints, that they may be assured that they are made meet to be par- 
 takers of their inheritance in the kingdom of God ; and to supply 
 each other's wants, inward and outward (and although each person 
 hath a propriety in his own estate, yet they are to supply each oth- 
 er's wants, according as their necessities shall require, that the name 
 of Jesus Christ may not be blasphemed through the necessity of any 
 in the Church) ; and also being come, they are here by himself to be 
 bestowed in their several order, due place, peculiar use, being fitly 
 compact and knit together, according to the effectual working of 
 every part, to the edifying of itself in love.' 
 
 XXXVI. Being thus joined, every Church hath power given 
 them from Christ, for their well-being, to choose among themselves 
 meet persons for elders and deacons, being qualified according to the 
 Word, as those which Christ hath appointed in his Testament for the 
 feeding, governing, serving, and building up of his Church ; and that 
 none have any power to impose on them either these or any other.' 
 
 XXXVII. That the ministers lawfully called, as aforesaid, ought 
 to continue in their calling and place, according to God's ordinance, 
 and carefully to feed the flock of God committed to them, not for 
 filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.^ 
 
 XXXVIII. The ministers of Christ ought to have whatsoever 
 they shall need, supplied freely by the Church, that, according to 
 Christ's ordinances, they that preach the Gospel should live of the 
 Gofipel by the law of Christ.'' 
 
 XXXIX. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, given 
 by Christ, to be dispensed upon persons professing faith, or that are 
 made disciples ; who, upon profession of faith, ought to be baptized, 
 and after to partake of the Lord's Supper.'' 
 
 1 Acts ii. 41, 44, 45, 47 ; Isaiah iv. 3 ; xii. 8, 28 ; Heb. xiii. 7, 17 ; 1 Tet. v. 1—3 ; 
 1 Cor. xii. 6, 7, etc.; Ezek. xx. 37, 40; and iv. 15. 
 
 Cant. iv. 12; Epli. ii. 19; Romans xii. 3 Heb. v. 4; John x. 3, 4; Acts xx. 
 
 4—6; Col. i. 12, and ii. 5, 6, 19; Acts 28,29; Eom. xii. 7, 8; Heb. xiii. 7, 17; 
 
 ii. 44, 45, iv. 34, 36, v. 4, and xix. 32; 1 Pet. v. 1—3. 
 
 Luke xiv. 28; 1 Timothy vi. 1; Eph. i 1 Cor. ix. 7, 14; Gal. vi. 8; Phil. iv. 
 
 iv. 16. IB, 16 ; 2 Cor. X. 4 ; 1 Tim. i. 9 ; Ps. ex. 3. 
 
 2 Acts i. 23, 26, vi. 3, and xv. 22, 25. 5 Matt. xxviii. 18,19; Johniv.l; Mark 
 Eom. .^ai, 7, 8 ; 1 Tiin. iii, 2, 6, 7, 8 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 16, 16 ; Acts ii. 37, 38, and viii. 36-33. 
 
APPENDIX. 123 
 
 XL. That the way and manner of the dispensing this ordinance 
 is dipping or plunging the body under water; it being a sign, must 
 answer the things signified, which is, that interest the saints have in 
 the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ ; and that, as certainly 
 as the body is buried under water, and risen again, so certainly shall 
 the bodies of the saints be raised by the power of Christ, in the day 
 of the resurrection, to reign with Christ.' 
 
 The word baptizo signifies to dip or plunge (yet so as convenient ' 
 garments be both upon the administrator and subject with all mod- 
 esty). 
 
 XLI. The person designed by Christ to dispense baptism, the 
 Scripture holds forth to be a disciple ; it being nowhere tied to a par- 
 ticular Church officer, or person extraordinarily sent, the commis- 
 sion enjoining the administration being given to them as considered 
 disciples, being men able to preach the Gospel.^ 
 
 XLII. Christ hath likewise given power to his Church to receive 
 in and cast out any member that deserves it; and this power is 
 given to every congregation, and not to one particular person, either 
 member or officer, but in relation to the whole body, in reference to 
 their faith and fellowship.' 
 
 . XLIII. And every particular member of each Church, how excel- 
 lent, great, or learned soever, is subject to this censure and judg- 
 ment ; and that the Church ought not, without great care and ten- 
 derness, and due advice, but by the rule of faith, to proceed against 
 her members.'' 
 
 XLIV. Christ, for the keeping of this Church in holy and orderly 
 communion, placeth some special men over the Church, who, by 
 their office, are to govern, oversee, visit, watch ; so, likewise, for the 
 better keeping thereof, in all places by the members, he hath given 
 authority, and laid duty upon all to watch over one another.'' 
 
 1 Matt. iii. 6, 16; Mark i. 5, verse 9 3 Eom. xvi. 2; Matt, xviii. 17; 1 Cor. 
 reads [into Jordan] in Greek ; John iii. v. 4, 11, 13, xii. 6, and ii. 3 ; 2 Cor. ii. 6, 7. 
 23; Actsviii.38; Eev. ii. S, and vii. 14; 4 Matt, xviii. 16, and xvii. 18; Acts xi. 
 Heb. X. 22; Eom. vi. 3— 6; 1 Cor. xv. ii.3; ITim. v. 19,etc.; Col. iv. 17; Acts 
 28, 29. XV. 1—3. 
 
 2 ba.viii.l6; Eph.iii.7; Matt, xxviii. » Acts xx. 27, 28; Heb, xiii. 17,24; 
 19; Jobn iv. 2; Acts x. 7, and xi. 20. Matt, xxiv.45; IThess. v. 2, 14; Judeiii. 
 1 Cor. xi. 24, and x. 16, 17. 20 ; Heb. x. 34, 35, and xii. 15. 
 
124 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 XLV. Also, such to whom God hath given gifts in the Church 
 may and ought to prophecy, according to the proportion of faith, 
 and so to teach publicly the Word of God, for the edification, exhor- 
 tation, and comfort of the Church.^ 
 
 XL VI. Thus, being rightly gathered, and continuing in the obe- 
 dience of the Gospel of Christ, none are to separate for faults and 
 corruptions (for as long as the Church consists of men subject to 
 failings, there yriH be diiference in the true constituted Church), un- 
 til they have in due order and tenderness sought redress thereof.^ 
 
 XL VII. And although the particular congregations be distinct, 
 and several bodies, every one as a compact and knit city within 
 itself, yet are they all to walk by one rule of truth : so also they (by 
 all means convenient) are to have the counsel and help one of an- 
 other, if necessity require it, as members of one body, in the com- 
 mon faith, under Christ, their head.' 
 
 XL VIII. A civil magistracy is an ordinance of God, set up by 
 him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that 
 do well : and that in all lawful things commanded by them, subjec- 
 tion ought to be given by us in the Lord, not only for wrath but for 
 conscience' sake ; and that we are to make supplications and prayers 
 for kings, and all that are in authority, that under them we may live 
 a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty.^ 
 
 The supreme magistracy of this kingdom we acknowledge to be the 
 king and parliament (now established) freely chosen by the king- 
 dom, and that we are to maintain and defend all civil laws and civil 
 officers made by them, which are for the good of the commonwealth. 
 And we acknowledge with thankfulness, that God hath made this 
 present king and parliament honorable in throwing down the prelat- 
 ical hierarchy, because of their tyranny and oppression over us, un- 
 der which this kingdom long groaned, for which we are ever engaged 
 to bless God, and honor them for the same. And concerning the 
 worship of God : there is but one lawgiver, which is able to save 
 and destroy,^ which is Jesus Christ, who hath given laws and rules 
 
 1 1 Cor. xiv. 3, etc. ; Eom.xii.6; IPet. Ps. cxxii. 3; Eph. ii. 12,19; Eev. xxi. ; 
 iv.lO,ll;lCor.xii.7; 1 These, v. 19, etc. 1 Tim. iii. 15, vi. 13, 14; 1 Cor. iv. 17; 
 
 2 Eev. ii. and iii.; Acts xv. 12; 1 Cor. Acts xv.2,3; Cant..vni.8,9; 2 Cor. viii. 
 i. 10; Heb. X. 25; Jude 19; Eev. ii. 20, 1, 4, 13, U. 
 
 21, 27; Acts XV. 1, 2; Eom. xiv. 1, and •( Eom. xiii. 1, 2, etc. ; 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14; 
 
 XV. 1—3. 1 Tim. ii. 1—3. 
 
 3 1 Cor. iv. 17, xiv. 33, 36, and xvi. 1. 5 James iv. 12. 
 
APPENDIX. 125 
 
 sufficient in his word for hia worship ; and for any to make more, 
 were to charge Christ with want of wisdom, or faithfulness, or both, 
 in not maliing laws enough, or not good enough, for his house : 
 surely it is our wisdom, duty, and privilege, to observe Christ's laws 
 only.i So it is the magistrates' duty to tender the liberty of men's 
 consciences^ (which is the tenderest thing unto all conscientious men, 
 and most dear unto them, and without which all other liberties will 
 not be worth the naming, much less enjoying), and to protect all 
 under them from all wrong, injury, oppression, and molestation ; so 
 it is our duty not to be wanting in nothing which is for their honor 
 and comfort, and whatsoever is for the well-being of the common- 
 wealth wherein we live, it is our duty to do ; and we believe it to be 
 our express duty, especially in matters of religion, to be fully per- 
 suaded in our minds of the lawfulness of what we do, as knowing 
 whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And as we cannot do anything 
 contrary to our understandings and consciences, so neither can we 
 forbear the doing of that which our understandings and consciences 
 bind us to do. And if the magistrates should require us to do other- 
 wise, we are to yield our persons in a passive way to their power, as 
 the saints of old have done.' And thrice happy shall he be that 
 shall lose his life for witnessing (though but for the least tittle) of the 
 truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.* 
 
 XLIX. But in case we find not the magistrate to favor us herein, 
 yet we dare not suspend our practice, because we believe we ought 
 to go on in obedience to Christ, in professing the faith which was once 
 delivered to the saints, which faith is declared in the holy Scrip- 
 tures, and this our confession of faith a part of them, and that we 
 are to witness to the truth of the Old and New Testaments unto the 
 death, if necessity require, in the midst of all trials and afflictions, as 
 his saints of old have done ; not accounting our goods, lands, wives, 
 children, fathers, mothers, brethren, sisters, yea, and our own lives, 
 dear unto us, so we may finish our course with joy ; remembering, 
 always, that we ought to obey God rather than men, who will, when 
 we have finished our course, and kept the faith, give us the crown 
 of righteousness ; to whom we must give an account of all our ac- 
 tions, and no man being able to discharge us of the same.* 
 
 L. It is lawful for a Christian to be a magistrate or civil officer ; 
 
 1 Psalm ii. 6, 9, 10, 12. Dan. iii. 16, 17, and vi. 7, 10, 22, 23; 1 
 
 2 Eccl. viii. 8. 3 James v. 4. Tim. vi. 13—16; Eom. xii. 1, 8; 1 Cor. 
 4 1 Peter v.; Gal. v. xiv. 37; Rev. ii. 20; 2 Tim. It. 6—8; 
 B Acts ii. 40, 41, iv. 19, v. 28, 29, and Rom. xiv. 10, 12; 2 Cor. v. 10; Psalm 
 
 XX. 23; 1 Thess, iii, 3; Phil, i. 38, 29; ?cljx. 7, and J. 2?. 
 
 IX* 
 
126 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 and also it is lawful to take an oath, so it be in truth, and in judg- 
 ment, and in righteousness, for confirmation of truth, and ending of 
 all strife ; and that by rash and vain oaths the Lord is provoked, 
 and this land mourns.^ 
 
 LI. We are to give unto all men whatsoever is their due, as their 
 place, age, and estate, require ; and that we defraud no man of any- 
 thinn-, but to do unto all men as we would they should do unto us.^ 
 
 LII. There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just 
 and unjust, and every one shall give an account of himself to God, 
 that every one may receive the things done in his body, according 
 to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.^ 
 
 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thus we desire to give unto Christ that which is his ; and unto all 
 lawful authority that which is their due ; and to owe nothing to any 
 man but love ; to live quietly and peaceably, as it becometh saints, 
 endeavoring in all things to keep a good conscience, and to do unto 
 every man (of what judgment soever) as we would they should do 
 unto us, that as our practice is, so it may prove us to be a conscion- 
 able, quiet, and harmless people (no ways dangerous or troublesome 
 to human society), and to labor and work with our hands, that we 
 may not be chargeable to any, but to give to him that needeth, both 
 friends and enemies, accounting it more excellent to give than to 
 receive. Also, we confess that we know but in part, and that we 
 are ignorant of many things which we desire and seek to know ; and 
 if any shall do us that friendly part, to show us from the Word of 
 God that we see not, we shall have cause to be thankful to God and 
 them ; but if any man shall impose upon us anything that we see 
 not to be commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ, we should in his 
 strength rather embrace all reproaches and tortures of men, to be 
 stripped of all outward comforts, and, if it were possible, to die a 
 
 1 Acts. viii. 88, and x. 1, 2, 36, 44; xxii. 21; Titus iii.; 1 Peter ii. 16, 17, and 
 Romans xvi. 2.3; Dent. vi. 13; Eomans v. 5; Eph. v. 21, 23, aud vi. 1, 9; Titus 
 i. 9; 2Cor. X. 11; Jer. iv. 2; Hebrews iii. 1—3. 
 
 vi- 16. 3 Acts xxiv. 15; 2 Cor. v. 10; Eom. 
 
 2 1 Thess. iv. 6 ; Eom. xiii. 5—7 ; Matt. xiv. 12. 
 
APPENDIX. 127 
 
 thousand deaths, rather than to do anythmg against the least tittle 
 of the truth of God, or against the light of our own consciences. 
 And if any shall call what we have said heresy, then do we with the 
 apostle acknowledge that, after the way they call heresy, worship 
 we the God of our fathers, disclaiming all heresies, rightly so called, 
 because they are against Christ, and to be steadfast and immovable, 
 always abounding in obedience to Christ, as knowing our labor shall 
 not be in vain in the Lord.^ 
 
 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause ; remember how the foolish 
 man blasphemeth thee daily. Oh, let not the oppressed returned 
 ashamed, but let the poor and needy praise thy name. 
 Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. 
 
 1 Psalm Ixxiv. 21, 22. 
 
II. 
 
 A CONFESSION OF FAITH, 
 
 Pul forth, hy the Elders and Brethren of many congregations of Chris- 
 tians (baptized upon profession of their faith), in London and the 
 country. With an Appendix concerning Baptism. 
 
 "We, the Ministei-s and Messengers of, and concerned for, upwards of 
 one liundred baptized congregations in England and Wales (denying Ar- 
 minianism), being met together in London, from the third of the seventh 
 month to the eleventh of the same, 1689, to consider of some things that 
 might be for the glory of God, and the good of these congregations ; have 
 thought meet (for the satisfaction of all other Christians that differ from 
 us in the point of baptism) to recommend to their perusal the Confes- 
 sion OF OCR Faith, printed for and sold by John Harris, at the Harrow 
 in the Poultry, which Confession we own, as containing the doctrine of 
 our faith and practice ; and do desire that the members of our churches 
 respectively do furnish themselves therewith. 
 
 Hanserd Knollts, 
 William Kiffin, 
 John Harris, 
 William Collins, 
 Hercules Collins, 
 Egbert Steed, 
 Leonard Harbison, 
 George Barret, 
 Isaac Lamb, 
 Richard Adams, 
 Benjamin Keach, 
 Andrew Gifford, 
 Thomas Vaux, 
 Thomas Winnel, 
 James Hitt, 
 
 ElCHARD TlDMARSlI, 
 
 William Facey, 
 Samuel Buttal, 
 Christopher Price, 
 
 Daniel Finch, 
 John Ball, 
 Edmond White, 
 William Pkitchaed, 
 Paul Fruin, 
 Richard Ring, 
 John Tompkins, 
 
 TOBT WiLLES, 
 
 John Carter, 
 James Webb, 
 Richard Sdtton, 
 Robert Knight, 
 Edward Price, 
 William Phipps, 
 William Hawkins, 
 Samuel Ewer, 
 Edward Man, 
 Charles Archek. 
 
 In the name and behalf of the whole assembly. 
 
APPENDIX. 129 
 
 TO THE JUDICIOUS AND BIPARTIAL READER. 
 
 Courteous Reader: 
 
 It is now many years since divers of us (with other sober Christians 
 then living, and walliing in the way of the Lord, that we profess) did 
 conceive ourselves to be under a necessity of publishing a Confession of 
 our Faith, for the information and satisfaction of those that did not thor- 
 oughly understand what our principles were, or had entertained prejudices 
 against our profession, by reason of the strange representation of them, 
 by some men of note who had taken very wrong measures, and accord- 
 ingly led others into misapprehensions of us, and them : And this was 
 first put forth about the year 1643, in the name of seven congregations 
 then gathered in London ; since which time, divers impressions thereof 
 have been dispersed abroad, and our end proposed, in good measure 
 answered, inasmuch as many (and some of those men eminent both for 
 piety and learning) were thereby satisfied, that we were no way guilty of 
 those heterodoxies, and fundamental en'ors, which had too frequently 
 been charged upon us without ground, or occasion given upon our part. 
 And forasmuch, as that Confession is not now commonly to be had, and 
 also that many others have since embraced the same truth which is owned 
 therein, it was judged necessary by us to join together in giving a testi- 
 mony to the world, of our firm adhering to those wholesome principles, 
 by the publication of this which is now in your hand. 
 
 And forasmuch as our method and manner of expressing our senti- 
 ments, in this, doth vary from the former (although the substance of the 
 matter is the same) we shall freely impart to you the reason and occasion 
 thereof. One thing that greatly prevailed with us to undertake this work 
 was (not only to give a full account of ourselves to those Christians that 
 differ from us about the subject of baptism, but also) the profit that might 
 from thence arise, unto those that have any account of our labors, in their 
 instruction and establishment in the great truths of the gospel ; in the 
 clear understanding and steady belief of which, our comfortable walking 
 with God, and fruitfulness before him, in all our ways, is most nearly con- 
 cerned. And therefore we did conclude it necessary to express ourselves 
 the more fully and distinctly; and also to fix on such a method as might 
 be most comprehensive of those things which we designed to explain our 
 sense and belief of; and finding no defect in this regard in that fixed on by 
 the Assembly, and after them by those of the Congregational way, we did 
 readily conclude it best to retain the same order in our present Confession ; 
 and also when we observed that those last mentioned, did in their Confes- 
 
130 CONEESSIOirS. 
 
 sion (for reasons which seemed of weight both to themselves and others) 
 choose not only to express their mind in words concurrent with the 
 former in sense, concerning all those articles wherein they were agreed, 
 but also for the most part without any variation of the terms, we did in 
 lilte manner conclude it best to follow their example, in making use of the 
 very same words with them both, in those articles (which are very many) 
 wherein our faith and doctrine is the same with theirs ; and this we did 
 the more abundantly to manifest our consent with both, in all the funda- 
 mental articles of the Christian religion, as also with many others, whose 
 orthodox confessions have been published to the world, on the behalf of 
 the Protestants in divers nations and cities; and also to convince all that 
 we have no itch to clog religion with new words, but do readily acquiesce 
 in that form of sound words which hath been in consent with the Holy 
 Scriptures, used by others before us ; hereby declaring before God, angels 
 and men, our hearty agreement with them in that wholesome Protestant 
 doctrine which with so clear evidence of Scriptures they have asserted. 
 Some things, indeed, are in some places added, some terms omitted, and 
 some few changed; but these alterations are of that nature, as that we 
 need not doubt any charge or suspicion of unsoundness in the faith from 
 any of our brethren upon the account of them. 
 
 In those things wherein we differ from others, we have expressed our- 
 selves with all candor and plainness, that none might entertain jealousy 
 of aught secretly lodged in our breasts, that we would not the world should 
 be acquainted with ; yet we hope we have also observed those rules of 
 modesty and humility as will render our freedom in this respect inoffen- 
 sive, even to those whose sentiments are different from ours. 
 
 We have also taken care to affix texts of Scripture in the margin, for the 
 confirmation of each article in our Confession; in which work we have 
 studiously endeavored to select such as are most clear and pertinent for 
 the proof of what is asserted by us ; and our earnest desire is, that all into 
 whose hands this may come, would follow that (never enough commended) 
 example of the noble Bereans, who searched the Scriptures daily that they 
 might find out whether the things preached to them were soor not. 
 
 There is one thing more which we sincerely profess and earnestly desire 
 credence in, viz., that contention is most remote from our design hi all 
 that we have done in this matter; and we hope the liberty of an ingenuous 
 unfolding our principles and opening our hearts unto our brethren, with 
 the Scripture grounds on which our faith and practice leans, will by none 
 of them be either denied to us, or taken ill from us. Our whole design is 
 accomplished if we may obtain that justice, as to be measured in our prin- 
 ciples and practice, and the judgment of both by others, according to wliat 
 we have now published; which the Lord (whose eyes are as a flame of fire). 
 
APPENDIX. 131 
 
 knoweth to be the doctrine, which with our hearts we most firmly believe, 
 and sincerely endeavor to conform our lives to. And, oh, that other con- 
 tentions being laid asleep, the only care and contention of all, upon whom 
 the name of our blessed Redeemer is called, might for the future be, to 
 walk humbly with then- God, and in the exercise of all love and meekness 
 towards each other, to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, each one 
 endeavoring to have his conversation such as becometh the gospel ; and 
 also suitable to his place and capacity, vigorously to promote in others 
 the practice of true religion, and undeflled in the sight of God our Father. 
 And that in this backsliding day, we might not spend our breath in fruit- 
 less complaints of the evils of others, but may every one begin at home, 
 to reform in the first place our own hearts and ways, and then to quicken 
 all, that we may have influence upon, to the same work; that if the will 
 'Of God were so, none might deceive themselves by resting in, and trusting 
 to, a form of godliness without the power of it, and inward experience of 
 the efficacy of those truths that are professed by them. 
 
 And verily there is one spring and cause of the decay of religion in our 
 day, which we cannot but touch upon, and earnestly urge a redress of, and 
 that is the neglect of the worship of God in families, by those to whom 
 the charge and conduct of them is committed. May not the gross igno- 
 ' ranee and instability of many, with the profaneness of others, be justly 
 charged upon their parents and masters, who have not trained them up in 
 the way wherein they ought to walk when they were young; but have 
 neglected those frequent and solemn commands which the Lord hath laid 
 upon them, so to catechise and instruct them, that their tender years might 
 be seasoned with the knowledge of the tmth of God, as revealed in the 
 Scriptures; and also by their own omission of prayer, and other duties of 
 religion in their families, together with the ill example of their loose con- 
 versation, have inured them first to a neglect, and then contempt of all 
 piety and religion? ' We know this will not excuse the blindness or wick- 
 edness of any; but certainly it will fall heavy upon those that have been 
 thus the occasion thereof; they indeed die in their sins, but will not their 
 blood be required of those under whose care they were, who yet permitted 
 them to go on without warning, yea, led them into the paths of destnic- 
 tion? And will not the diligence of Christians, with respect to the dis- 
 charge of these duties, in ages past, rise up in judgment against, and con- 
 demn many of those who would be esteemed such now? 
 
 We shall conclude with our earnest prayer, that the God of all grace 
 will pour out those measures of his Holy Spirit upon us, that the profession 
 of truth may be accompanied with the sound belief and diligent practice 
 of it by us, that his name may in all things be glorified through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
132 
 
 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 . Chapter 
 
 1. Of the Holy Scriptures, 
 
 2. Of God and of the Holy Trinity. 
 
 3. Of God's Decrees. 
 
 4. Of Creation. 
 
 5- Of Divine Providence. 
 
 6. Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of 
 
 the Punishment thereof. • 
 7 Of God's Covenant. 
 
 8. Of Christ the Mediator. 
 
 9. Of Free-Will. 
 
 10. Of Effectual Calling. 
 
 11. Of Justification. 
 
 12. Of Adoption. 
 
 13. Of Sanctiflcation. 
 
 14. Of Saving Faith. 
 
 15. Of Eepentance unto Life and Sal- 
 
 vation. 
 
 16. Of Good Works. 
 
 17. Of Perseverance of the Saints. 
 
 18. Of the Assurance of Grace and 
 
 Salvation. 
 
 19. Of the Law of God. 
 
 Chapter 
 
 20. Of the Gospel, and of the extent of 
 
 the Grace thereof. 
 
 21. Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty 
 
 of Conscience. 
 
 22. Of Eeligious Worship, and the Sab- 
 
 bath Day. 
 
 23. Of Lawful Oaths and Vows. 
 
 24. Of the Civil Magistrate. 
 
 25. Of Marriage. 
 
 26. Of the Church. 
 
 27. Of the Communion of Saints. 
 
 28. Of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
 
 29. Of Baptism. 
 
 30. Of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 31. Of the State of Man after Death, and 
 
 of the Kesurrection of the Dead. 
 
 32. Of the Last Judgment. 
 
 33. An Appendix concerning Baptism. 
 
 34. Of Singing Psalms in Public Wor- 
 
 ship. 
 36. Of Laying on of Hands. 
 
CONFESSION OF FAITH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 1. The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infalli- 
 ble ' rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience ; although 
 the ' light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do 
 so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave 
 men unexcusable ; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge 
 of God and his will, which is necessary unto salvation. ' Therefore 
 it pleased the Lord at sundry times, and in divers manners, to 
 reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and 
 afterward, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, 
 and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church, 
 against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and 
 of the world, to commit the same wholly unto ■• writing ; which 
 maketh the holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways 
 of God's revealing his wiU unto his people being now ceased. 
 
 2. Under the name of holy Scripture, or the word of God writ- 
 ten, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testament, 
 which are these : 
 
 OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, 
 Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chroni- 
 cles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, 
 
 12Tim.iii.l5,16,17, Isa. viii. 20 ; Luke 3 Hebrews i. 1. 
 
 xvi. 29, 31 ; Ephesiana ii. 20. * Proverbs xxii. 19—21 ; Eom. xv. 4 ; 2 
 2 Eom. i. 19, 20, 21, ii. 14, 15 1 Psalm Peter i. 19, 20. 
 
 xix. 1, 2, 3. 
 
 12 
 
134 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 Ecclesiastes, The Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, 
 Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, 
 Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. 
 
 OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The Acts of the Apostles, Paul's 
 Epistles to the Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, 
 Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalo- 
 nians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, the Epistle of James, the first and second Epistles of 
 Peter, the first, second and third Epistles of John, the Epistle of 
 Jude, the Revelation. All which are given by the ^ inspiration of 
 God, to be the rule of faith and life. 
 
 3. The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of ^ divine 
 inspiration, are no part of the canon (or rule) of the Scripture, 
 and therefore are of no authority to the church of God, nor to be 
 any otherwise approved, or made use of than other human writings. 
 
 4. The authority of the holy Scriptures, for which it ought to be 
 believed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man, or church, 
 but wholly upon ^ God (who is Truth itself), the author thereof; 
 therefore it is to be received, because it is the word of God. 
 
 5. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the 
 church of God, to an high and reverent esteem of the holy Scrip- 
 tures ; and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doc- 
 trine, and the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the 
 scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full dis- 
 covery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, and many other 
 incomparable excellencies, and entire perfections thereof, are argu- 
 ments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the word of 
 God ; yet, notwithstanding our * full persuasion, and assurance of 
 the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward 
 
 1 2 Tim. iii. 16. 16; 2 Thessalonians ii. 13; 1 John v. 9. 
 
 2 Luke xxiv. 27, 44; Eom. iii. 2. 4 John xvi. 13, U; 1 Cor. 2, 10, 11, 12; 1 
 
 3 2 Peter i. 19, 20, 21 ; 2 Timothy iii. John ii. 2, 20, 27. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 135 
 
 work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in 
 our hearts. 
 
 6. The whole council of God concerning all things * necessary 
 for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly 
 set down, or necessarily contained in the holy Scripture ; unto 
 which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revela- 
 tion of the Spirit, or ti-aditions of men. 
 
 Nevertheless we acknowledge the ^ inward illumination of the 
 Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of 
 such things as are revealed in the word, and that there are some 
 circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government 
 of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are 
 to be ^ ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence, ac- 
 cording to the general rules of the word, which are always to be 
 observed. 
 
 7. All things in Scripture are not alike * plain in themselves, nor 
 alike clear unto all ; yet those things which are necessary to be 
 known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so ^ clearly pro- 
 pounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not 
 only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, 
 may attain to a sufficient understanding of them. 
 
 8. The Old Testament in * Hebrew (which was the native lan- 
 guage of the people of God of old) and the New Testament in 
 Greek (which at the time of writing it was most generally known 
 to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and by his singu- 
 lar care and providence kept pure in all ages, are therefore ' authen- 
 tical ; so as in all controversies of religion, the church is finally to 
 appeal unto them.^ But because these original tongues are not 
 known to all the people of God, who have a right unto, and Interest 
 in the Scriptures, and are commanded in the fear of God to read ' 
 and search them, therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar 
 language of every nation, unto which they '" come, that the word of 
 
 1 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16, 17; Gal. i. 8, 9. 
 
 2 John vi. 45; 1 Cor. ii. 9—12. 
 
 3 1 Cor. xi. 13, U, xiv. 26, 40. 
 i 2 Peter iii. 16. 
 
 ^ Psalm xix. 7, oxix. 130. 
 
 6 Kom. iii. 2. 
 
 7 Isaiah viii. 20. 
 
 8 Acts XV. 15. 
 
 9 John v. 39. 
 
 10 1 Cor. xiv. 6, 9, 11, 12, 24, 28. 
 
136 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 God dwelling ' plentifully in all, they may worsliip him in an accept- 
 able manner, and through patience and comfort of the Scriptures 
 may have hope. 
 
 9. The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the ^ Scrip- 
 ture itself And therefore, when there is a question about the true 
 and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold but one), it 
 must be searched by other places, that speak more clearly. 
 
 10. The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are 
 to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient 
 writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, 
 and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the holy 
 Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which ^ Scripture so deliv- 
 ered, our faith is finally resolved. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF GOD AND OF THE HOLY TRINITT. 
 
 1. The Lord our God is but * one only living and true God; 
 whose '' subsistence is in and of himself, ^ infinite in being and per- 
 fection, whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but him- 
 self; ' a most pure Spirit,* invisible, without body, parts, or passions, 
 who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can 
 approach unto, who is ' immutable, ^"immense, '^ eternal, incompre- 
 hensible, '^ almighty, every way infinite, '^ most holy, most wise, most 
 free, most absolute, ^* working all things according to the counsel of 
 his own immutable and most righteous will, '^ for his own glory, most 
 loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and 
 truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, ^^ the rewarder of 
 them that diligently seek him, and withal most just, " and terrible in 
 
 ICol.iii.16. 9MaI. iii. 6. 
 
 2 2 Peter i. 20, 21 ; Acts xv. 15, 16. 10 1 Kings viii. 27 ; Jer. xxiii. 28. 
 
 3 Matt. xxii. 29, 31 ; Eph. ii. 20 1 Acts u Psalm xo. 2. 
 
 xxviii. 23. 12 Gen. xvii. 1. 
 
 4 1 Cor. viii 46 ; Deu{. vi. 4. 13 Isa. vi. 3. 
 
 6 Jer. x. 10; Isa. xlviii. 12. 14 Psalm cxv. 3; Isa. xlvi. 10. 
 C' Kxodus iii. 14. H Prov. xvi. 4; Eom. xi. 86. 
 
 7 John iv. 24. 16 Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7 ; Heb. xi. 6. 
 
 8 1 Tim. 1. 17; Deut. iv. 15, 16. 17 Neh. ix. 32, 33. 
 
APPENDIX. 137 
 
 his judgments,^ hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the ^ 
 guilty. 
 
 2. God having alP life,* glory,* goodness, blessedness, in and 
 of himself, is alone in, and unto himself all sufficient, not^ standing 
 in need of any creature which he hath made, nor deriving any glory 
 from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and 
 upon them, he is the alone fountain of all being,' of whom, through 
 whom, and to whom are all things, and he hath most sovereign * 
 dominion over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, 
 whatsoever himself pleaseth ; in his sight ' all things are open and 
 manifest, his knowledge is i" infinite, infallible, and independent upon 
 the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain ; he is 
 most holy in all his counsels, " all his works, and in all his com- 
 mands; to him is due '''from angels and men, whatsoever worship, 
 service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and 
 whatever he is further pleased to require of them. 
 
 3. In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, '^ 
 the Father, the Word (or Son), and Holy Spirit, of one substance, 
 power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, " yet the 
 essence undivided ; the Father is of none, neither begotten nor pro- 
 ceeding, the Son is '' eternally begotten of the Father, the Holy 
 Spirit '^ proceeding from the Father and the Son, all infinite, with- 
 out beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in 
 nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar, relative 
 properties and personal relations, which doctrine of the Trinity is 
 the foundation of all our communion with God, and our comfortable 
 dependence on him. 
 
 1 Psalm V. 5, 6. 10 Ezek. xi. B; Acts xv. 18. 
 
 2 Exodus xxxiv. 7; Nahnm i. 2, 3. U Psalm cxlv. 17. 
 
 3 John V. 26. 12 Eev. v. 12—14. 
 
 4 Psalm cxiviii. M. IS 1 John v. 7i Matt, xxviii. 19; 2 Cor. 
 
 5 Psalm cxix. 68. xiii. 14. 
 
 6 Job xxii. 2, 3. 14 Exodus iii. 14 1 John xiv. 11 ; 1 Cor. 
 
 7 Eom. xi. 34—36. viii. 6. 
 
 8 Daniel iv. 25, and v. 34, 35. IS John i. 14, 18. 
 
 9 Heb. iv. 13. 16 John xv. 26; Gal. iv. 6. 
 
 12* 
 
138 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 OF god's decrees. 
 
 1. God hath 1 decreed in himself from all eternity, by the most 
 ■wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all 
 things whatsoever come to pass ; yet so as thereby is God neither 
 the author of sin, ^ nor hath fellowship with any therein, nor is vio- 
 lence oifered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or 
 contingency of second causes taken away, but rather ^ established, 
 in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and 
 faithfulness ^ in accomplishing his decree. 
 
 2. Although God knoweth 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 glory, ' some 
 men and angels are predestinated or foreordained to eternal life, 
 through Jesus Christ, to the * praise of his glorious grace ; others 
 being left to act in their sin to their ' just condemnation, to the 
 praise of his glorious justice. 
 
 4. These angels and men thus predestinated, and foreordained, 
 are particularly, and unchangeably designed ; and their i" number so 
 certain, and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished. 
 
 5. Those of mankind ^^ that are predestinated to life, God, before 
 the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and 
 immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his 
 wUl, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of his mere 
 free grace and love ; ^^ without any other thing in the creature as a 
 condition or cause moving him thereunto. 
 
 1 lea. xlvi. 10; Eph. i. 11; Heb. vi. 17; 7 1 Tim. v. 21; Matt. xxv.41. 
 
 Eom. ix. 16, 18. 8 Eph. i. 6, 6. 
 
 2 James i. 16, 17 ; 1 John i. 6. 9 Eom. ix. 22, 23; Jude 4. 
 
 s Acts iv. 27, 28 ; Jolm xix. 11. 10 2 Tim. ii. 19; Jolin xiii. 18. 
 
 4 Numbers xxiii. 19; Ephesiana i. 3—5. 11 Eph. i. 4, 9, 11; Rom. viii. 30; 2 Tim. 
 
 6 Acts XV. 18. i. 9; lThe.ss. v. 9. 
 
 l!om. ix. 11, 13, 16, 18. 12 Eom. xix. 13, 16; Eph. i. 0, 12. 
 
APPENDIX. 139 
 
 6. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so he hath by the 
 eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained ^ all the 
 means thereunto, wherefore they who are elected, being fallen in 
 Adam, 2 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, or effectually called, jus- 
 tified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect ^ only. 
 
 7. The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be 
 handled with special prudence and care; that men attending the 
 will of God revealed in his word, and yielding obedience thereunto, 
 may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of 
 their ^ eternal election ; so shall this doctrine afford matter ' of 
 praise, reverence, and admiration of God, and * of humility, dili- 
 gence, and abundant ' consolation, to all that sincerely obey the 
 gospel. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF CKEATION. 
 
 1. In the beginning it pleased God the Father,!" Son and Holy 
 Spirit, for the manifestation of the glory of ^^ his eternal power, wis- 
 dom, and goodness, to create or make the world, and all things 
 therein, ^^ whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and 
 all very good. 
 
 2. After God had made all other creatures, he created i' man, 
 male and female, with '^ reasonable and immortal souls, rendering 
 them fit unto that life to God, for which they were created, being " 
 made after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true 
 holiness, having the law of God i^ written in their hearts, and power 
 
 1 1 Peter i. 2; 2 ThesB. ii. 13. 9 Luke x. 20. 
 
 2 1 Tliess. V. 9, 10. 10 John i. 2, 3; Heb. i. 2; Job xxvi. 13. 
 
 3 Romans viii. 30 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13. U Eom. i. 20. 
 
 4 1 Peter i. 5. 12 Col. i. 16 j Gen. ii. 1, 2. 
 s John X. 26 ; xvii. 9 ; vi. 64. 13 Gen. i. 27. 
 
 6 1 Tliess, i. 4, 5; 2 Peter i. 10. " Gen. ii. 7. 
 
 7 Eph. i. 6; Rom. xi. 33. 1« Bcol. vii. 29; Gen. i. 26. 
 
 8 Rom. xi. 5, 6. 16 Rom. ii. 14, 15. 
 
140 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 to fulfil It ; and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left 
 to the liberty of their own will, which was ' subject to change. • 
 
 3. Besides the law written in their hearts, they received ^ a com- 
 mand not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; which, 
 whilst they kept, they were happy in their communion with God, 
 and had dominion ' over the creatures. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OF DIVINE PEOVIDENCB. 
 
 1. God, the good Creator of all things, in his infinite power and 
 wisdom, doth * uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures 
 and things, from the greatest even to the * least, by his most wise 
 and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, ac- 
 cording unto his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutar 
 ble counsel of his '' own will ; to the praise of the glory of his wis- 
 dom, power, justice, infinite 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 ; so 
 that there is not any thing befalls any * by chance, or without his 
 providence ; yet by the same providence he ordereth them to fall out 
 accordingi-o the nature of second causes, either ^ necessarily, freely, 
 or contingently. 
 
 3. God, in his ordinary providence, i" maketh use of means ; yet is 
 free'^ to work without, '^ above, and ^ against them at his pleasure. 
 
 4. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite good- 
 ness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence, that his 
 determinate counsel '■* extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all 
 other sinful actions both of angels and men ; and that not by a 
 
 1 Gen. iii. 6. 8 Prov. xvi. 33. 
 
 2 Gen. vi. 17, iii. »— 10. 9 Gen. viii. 22. 
 
 s Gen. i. 26, 28. 10 Acts xxvii. 31, 44; Isa. Iv. 10, 11. 
 
 4 Heb. i. 3; Job xxxviji. 11; Isa. xlvi. n Hosea i. 7. 
 
 10, 11 ; Psalm cxxxv. 6. 12 Rom iv. 19—21. 
 
 6 Mutt. X. 29-31. 13 Daniel iii. 27. 
 
 6 F.pli. i. 11. 14 Rom. xi. 32-34; 2 Sam. xxiv. 1; 1 
 
 7 Acis ii. 23. Chron. xxi. 1. 
 
APPENDIX. 141 
 
 bare permission, which also he most wisely and powerfully i bound- 
 eth, and otherwise ordereth, and governeth, in a manifold dispensa- 
 tion to his most holy ^ ends : yet so as the sinfulness of their acts 
 prooeedeth only from the creatures, and not from God ; who being 
 most holy and righteous, neither is, nor can be, the author or^ 
 approver of sin. 
 
 5. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God, doth oftentimes 
 leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the 
 corruptions of their own heart, to chastise them for their former 
 sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption 
 and deceitfulness of their hearts, '' that they may be humbled ; and 
 to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their 
 support upon himself, and to make them more watchful against all 
 future occasions of sin, and for other just and holy ends. 
 
 So that whatsoever befalls any of his elect is by his appointment, 
 for his glory, ^ and their good. 
 
 6. As for those wicked and ungodly men, whom God as a right- 
 eous judge, for former sin doth ^ blind and harden ; from them he 
 not only withholdeth his ' grace, whereby they might have been 
 enlightened in their understanding, and wrought upon in their 
 hearts, but sometimes also withdraweth ^ the gifts which they had, 
 and exposeth them to such ^ objects as their corruptions make occa- 
 sion of sin ; and withall, '" 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 crea- 
 tures, so after a more special manner it taketh care of his ^^ church, 
 and disposeth of all things to the good thereof. 
 
 1 2 Kings xix. 28 ; Psalm Ixxvi. 10. 8 Matt. xiii. 12. 
 
 2 Gen. 1. 20; Isa. x. 6, 7, 12. 9 Deut. ii. 30; 2 Kings viii. 12, 13. 
 
 3 Psalm 121; IJohn ii. 16. 10 Psalm Ixxxi. 11, 12; 2 Tliess. ii. 
 
 4 2Cliron. xxxii, 25, 26, 31; Samuel 10-12. 
 
 xxiv. 1; 2 Cor. xii. 7—9. u Exodus viii. 15, 32; Isa. vi- 9, 10; 1 
 
 s Eom. viii. 28. Peter ii. 7, 8. 
 
 6 Eom. i. 24, 26, 28, xi. 7, 8. 12 Tim. iv. 10; Amos ix. 8, 9; Isaiah 
 
 7 Beat. xxix. 4. Ixiii. 3—5. 
 
142 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OF THE FALL OF MAN, OF SIN, AND OF THE PUNISHMENT 
 THEREOF. 
 
 1. Although God created man upright, and perfect, and gave him 
 a righteous law, which had been unto life had he kept it,' and threat- 
 ened death upon the breach thereof; yet he did not long abide in 
 this honor ; '^ Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to seduce Eve, 
 then by her seducing Adam, who, without any compulsion, did wil- 
 fully transgress the law of their creation, and the command given 
 unto them, in eating the forbidden fruit, which God was pleased, 
 according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed 
 to order it to his own glory. 
 
 2. Our first parents by this sin, fell from their ' original righteous- 
 ness and communion with God, and we in them, whereby death 
 came upon all ; * all becoming dead in sin, and whoUy defiled,^ in 
 all the faculties and parts of soul and body. 
 
 3. They being the root," and, by God's appointment, standing in 
 the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, 
 and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending 
 from them by ordinary generation, being now' conceived in sin, 
 and by nature children* of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects' 
 of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, 
 unless the Lord Jesus "> set them free. 
 
 4. From this original corruption, whereby we are " utterly indis- 
 posed, 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 par- 
 
 1 Gen. ii. 16, 17. 7 Psalm li. 5; Job xiv. 4. 
 
 2 Gen. iii. 12, x. 13; 2 Cor. i. 1—3. 8 Eph. ii. 3. 
 
 8 Eom. iii 23. 9 Rom. vi. 20, v. 12. 
 
 i Itiim. V. 12, etc. 10 Heb. ii. 14; 1 Thes. i. 10. 
 
 6 Titus i. 16; Gen. vi. 6; Jere. xvii. 9; 11 Eom. viii. 7; Col. i. 21. 
 
 Eom. iii. 10—19. I2 James i. 14, 15; Matt. xv. 19. 
 
 CEom. V. 12—19; ICorinthians xv. 21, 13 Eom. vii. 18,23; Ecol.vii.20; IJohn 
 
 22,45,49. i. 8. 
 
APPENDIX. 143 
 
 doned, and mortified, yet both itself, and the first motions thereof, 
 are truly and properly ^ sin. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OF god's covenant. 
 
 1. The distance between God and the creature is so great, that 
 although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their 
 Creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life, but 
 by some ^ voluntary condescension on God's part, which he hath 
 been pleased to express, by way of covenant. 
 
 2. Moreover, man having brought himself ' under the curse of 
 the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace, 
 wherein he freely ofi'ereth unto sinners * life and salvation by Jesus 
 Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved; 
 and ^ promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal 
 hfe, his Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe. 
 
 3. This covenant is revealed in the gospel, first of all to Adam, in 
 the promise of salvation by the ^ seed of the woman, and afterwards 
 by farther steps, until the full ' discovery thereof was completed in 
 the New Testament ; and it is founded in that ^ eternal covenant 
 transaction, that was between the Father and the Son about the 
 redemption of the elect ; and it is alone by the grace of this cove- 
 nant, that all of the posterity of fallen Adam that ever were ^ saved 
 did obtain life and blessed immortality ; man being now utterly 
 uncapable of acceptance with God upon those terms on which Adam 
 stood in his state of innocence. 
 
 1 Boraans vii. 24, 25; Galatians v. 17. I Ezek. xxxiv. 26, 27; John vi. 44, 45 j 
 
 2 Luke xvii. 10; Job xxxv. 7, 8. ^*^'™ "''• ^• 
 
 6 Gen. iii. 15. 
 
 8 Gen. ii. 17; Gal. iii. 10; Eom. iii. 7 Heb. i. 1. 
 
 20,21. 8 2Tim. i. 9; Titusi. 2. 
 
 4 Eom. viii. 3; Mark xvi. 15, 16; John 9Heb. ii. 6, 13; Romans iv. 1, 2, etc.; 
 
 iii. 16, Actsiv. 12; John viii. 56. 
 
144 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOK. 
 
 1. It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain 
 the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, according to the covenant 
 made between them both,' to be the Mediator between God and 
 man ; the ^ prophet, ^ priest, and * king, 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 redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified. 
 
 2. The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being 
 very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one 
 substance and equal with him ; who made the world, who upholdeth 
 and governeth all things he hath made ; did when the fulness of time 
 was come, take upon him ^ man's nature, with all the essential prop- 
 erties and common infirmities thereof, ^ yet without sin ; being con- 
 ceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy 
 Spirit coming down upon her, and the power of the Most High 
 overshadowing her,^ and so was made of a woman, of the tribe of 
 Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David, according to the Scrip- 
 tures ; so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, 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 the divine, 
 in the person of the Son, was sanctified and anointed '" with the 
 Holy Spirit, above measure ; having in him 'i 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, unde- 
 
 1 Isa. xlii. 1; 1 Peter xix. 20. ? Eom. viii. 3 ; Heb. ii. 14, 16, 17, and 
 
 2 Acts iii. 22. iT. 15. 
 
 3 Heb. V. 5, 6. 8 Luke i. 27, 31, 35. 
 
 4 Psalm ii. 6; Lulte i. 33; Eph. i. 23; 9 Eom. ix. 5 ; 1 Tim. ii. 5. 
 
 Heb. i. 2 ; Acts. xvii. 31. lo Psalm xly. 7 ; Acts x. 88 ; John iii. 34. 
 
 5 Isaiah liii. 10; John xvii. 6; Komans n Col. ii. 3. 
 
 Tiii. 30. 12 Col. i. 19, 
 
 a John i. 1, 14 ; Gal. iv. 4. 13 Heb. vii. 26. 
 
APPENDIX. 145 
 
 filed, 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 upon himself, but was thereunto ^ called by his Father, 
 who also put * all power and judgment in 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, and underwent the ' punishment due to us, which 
 we should have borne and suffered, being made* sin and a curse for 
 us ; enduring most grievous sorrows ' in his soul, and most painful 
 sufferings in his body ; was crucified, and died, and remained in the 
 state of the dead, yet saw no w corruption ; on the ^^ third day he 
 arose from the dead, with the same '^ body in which he suffered ; 
 with which he also '^ ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the 
 right hand of his Father," making intercession ; 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 him- 
 self, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God,*' 
 hath fully satisfied the justice of God, procured reconciliation, and 
 purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven,'^ 
 for all those whom the Father hath given unto him. 
 
 6. Although the price of redemption was not actually paid by 
 Christ till after his incarnation,'* yet the virtue, efficacy and benefit 
 thereof, was communicated to the elect in all ages successively, from 
 the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and 
 sacrifices, wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the seed of 
 the woman, which should bruise the serpent's head," and the Lamb 
 
 1 John i. 14. 10 Acts xiii. 37. 
 
 2 Heb. vii. 22. II 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4. 
 
 8 Heb. V. 5. 12 John xx. 25, 27. 
 
 4 John V. 22, 27 ; Matt, xxviii. 18 ; Acts 13 Mark xvi. 19; Acts i. 9—11. 
 
 ii. 36. 14 Eom. viii. 34; Heb. ix. 24. 
 
 I Psalm xl. 7, 8 ; Heb. x. 5 — 11; John 15 Acts x. 42; Bom. xiv. 9, 10; Acts 
 
 X. 18. i. 10. 
 
 6 Gal. iv. 4 ; Matt. iii. 15. 10 Heb. ix. 14, x. 14; Eomans iii. 25, 26. 
 
 7 Gal. iii. 13 ; Isa. liii. 6; 1 Peter iii. 18. V John xvii. 2; Heb. ix. 15. 
 
 8 2 Cor. V. 21. 18 1 Cor. iv. 10; Heb. iv. 2; 1 Peter i. 
 
 9 Matt. xxvi. 37, 38; Luke xxii. '44; 10,11. 
 
 Matt, xxvii. 46. ID Kev. xiii. 8. 
 
 13 
 
14(3 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 slain from the foundation of the world ; ^ being (he same yesterday, 
 and to-day, and for ever. 
 
 7. Christ, in the work of mediation acteth according to both na- 
 tures, 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 na- 
 ture is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person ^ denomi- 
 nated by the other nature. 
 
 8. To all those for whom Christ hath obtained eternal redemp- 
 tion, he doth certainly and effectually ^ apply, and communicate the 
 same, making intercession for them, uniting them to himself by his 
 Spirit,* revealing unto them, in and by the word, the mystery of 
 salvation, persuading them to believe and obey,^ governing their 
 hearts by his word and spirit, and ^ 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 ; 
 and all of free and absolute grace, without any condition foreseen 
 in them, to procure it. 
 
 9. This office of mediator between God and man is proper * only 
 to Christ, who is the prophet, priest, and king of the Church of 
 God, and may not be, either in whole, or any part thereof, trans- 
 ferred from him to any other. 
 
 10. 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 alienation from God ^^ and imperfection of the best 
 of our services, we need his priestly office to reconcile us, and pre- 
 sent us acceptable unto God, and in respect of our averseness and 
 utter inability to return to God, and for our rescue, and security 
 from our spiritual adversaries, we need his kingly office," to convince, 
 subdue, draw, uphold, deliver, and preserve us to his heavenly 
 kingdom. 
 
 1 Heb. xiii. 8. 6 Psalm ex. 1; 1 Cor. xv. 25, 26. 
 
 2 John iii. 13; Acts xx 28. ^ John iii. 8; Eph. i. 8. 
 
 3 John vi. 37, x. 15, 16, and xvii. 9; 8 1 Tim. ii. 6. 
 
 Kom. V. 10. 9 John i. 18. 
 
 4 John xvii. 6; Ephcsians i. 9; 1 John 10 Col. i. 21; Gal. v. 17. 
 
 V 20. 11 John xvi. 8; Psalm ex. 3; Luke i. 
 s Eom. viii. 9, M. ' 74, 75. 
 
APPENDIX. 147 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OF FREE WILL. 
 
 1. God hath indued the will of man with that natural liberty and 
 power of acting upon choice, that it is ' neither forced, nor by any 
 necessity of nature determined to do good or evil. 
 
 2. Man, in his state of innoceney, had freedom and power to 
 will and to do, that ^ which was good, and well pleasing to God, but 
 yet ' was mutable, so that he might fall from it 
 
 3. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost * all ability 
 of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation ; so as a nat- 
 ural 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 the state 
 of grace,' he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by 
 his grace alone enables him * freely to will, and do that which is 
 spiritually good ; yet so Jis that, by reason of his ' remaining corrup- 
 tions, 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 and immutably free to God 
 alone in the state of glory only. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OP EFFECTUAL CALLING. 
 
 1. Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is pleased in 
 his appointed and accepted time,*^ efi'ectually to call by his word 
 
 1 Matthew xvii. 12,- James i. 14; Deut. 7 Col. i. 13; John viii. 36. 
 
 XXX. 19. 8 Phil. ii. 13. 
 
 2 Eocl. vii. 29. . 3 Eom. vii. 15, 18, 19, 21, 23. 
 
 5 Gen. iii. 6. 10 Eph. iv, 13. 
 
 4 Kom. V. 6, and viii. 7. H Romans viii. 30, and xi. 7; Ephe- 
 
 fi Epii. ii. 1, 5. sians i. 10, 11; 2 Thessalonians iii. 
 
 6 I'itus iii. 3, 4, 5; John vi. 44. 13, 14. 
 
148 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in -which they are by- 
 nature, to grace of salvation ^ by Jesus Christ, enhghtening 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 his 
 grace. 
 
 2. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone,' 
 not from anything at all foreseen in man, nor from any power or 
 agency in the creature, co-working with his special grace,' the 
 creature being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins' and tres- 
 passes, 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, and that by no less ^ power than that 
 ■which raised up Christ from the dead. 
 
 3. Elect infants, dying in infancy, are ^ regenerated and saved by 
 Christ through the Spirit, 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 min- 
 istry of the word,^' and may have some common operations of the 
 Spirit, yet, not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither 
 will, nor can truly '^ come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved ; 
 much less can men that receive not the Christian religion ^^ be saved, 
 be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light 
 of nature, and the law of that religion they do profess. 
 
 1 Eph. ii. 1—6. e Eph. i. 19, 20. 
 
 2 Acts xxvi. 18; Eph. i. 17, 18. 9 John iii. 3, 5, 6. 
 
 3 Ezekiel xxxvi. 26. W John iii. 8. 
 
 4 Deut. XXX. 6; Ezek. xxxvi. 27; EpU. 11 Matt. xxii. 14, and xiii. 20, 21; Heb. 
 
 i. 19. vi. 4, 5. 
 
 B Psalm ex. S; Cant. i. 4. 12 John vi. 44, 45, 6S; 1 John ii. 24, 
 
 6 2 Tim. i. 9; Eph. ii. 8. 25. 
 
 7 1 Cor. ii. 14; Epli. ii. 5; John v. 26. 13 Acts iv. 12; John iv. 22, and xvii . 3. 
 
APPENDIX. 149 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely ijustifieth, 
 not by infusing righteousness into them, but by ^ pardoning their 
 sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as ' righteous ; 
 not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's 
 sake alone ; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any 
 pther ■• evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness, but 
 by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law, and pas- 
 sive obedience in his death, for their whole and sole riCThteous- 
 ness, 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 righteous- 
 ness, is the ^ alone instrument of justification ; yet it is not alone in 
 the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving 
 graces, and is no dead faith, ' but worketh by love. 
 
 3. Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the 
 debt of all those that are justified ; and did by the sacrifice of him- 
 self, in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty 
 due unto them, make a proper, real and full satisfaction ' to God's 
 justice in their behalf; 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 1° glorified in the justification of sinners. 
 
 4. God did from all eternity decree to ^^ justify all the elect, and 
 
 1 Rom. iii. 24, viii. 30. r Gal. v. 6; James ii. 17, 22, 26. 
 
 2 Rom. iv. 6—8; Eph. i. 7 8 Heb. x. 14; 1 Peter i. 18, 19; Isa. liil. 
 8 1 Corinthians i. 80, 31 ; Romans v. 5, 6. 
 
 1'— 19- 9 Eom. Tiii. 32 ; 2 Cor. v. 21. 
 
 * Pliil. iii. 8, 9; Eph. ii. 8—10. 10 Eom. iii 26; Eph. i. 6, 7, ii. 7. 
 
 « .Fohn i. 12; Rom. v. 17. u Galatians iii. 8; 1 Peter i. 2; 1 Tim. 
 6 Eom. iii. 28. ii. 6. 
 
 13* 
 
150 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 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. 
 
 5. God doth continue to ^ forgive the sins of those that are justi- 
 fied; and although they can never fall from the state of '' justifica- 
 tion, yet they may by their sins fall under God's ^ fatherly displeas- 
 ure ; 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 repent- 
 ance. 
 
 6. The justification of believers under the Old Testament, t? as in 
 all these respects ' one and the same with the justification of believ- 
 ers under the New Testament. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OF ADOPTION. 
 
 1. All those that are justified, God vouchsafed in and for the sake 
 of his only Son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace * of 
 adoption ; by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy 
 the liberties and ' privileges of children of God ; have his ^^ name 
 put upon them, i' 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 
 
 1 Rom. iv. 25. 8 John i, 12; Eom. viii. 17. 
 
 2 Col. i. 21, 22; Titus iii. 4—7. 10 2 Corinthians vi. 18; Revelation 
 
 3 Matt. vi. 12; 1 John i. 7, 9. iii. 12. 
 
 4 John X. 28. 11 Eom. viii. 15. 
 
 6 Psalm Ix-xxix. .31-33. 12 Gal. iv. 6; Eph. ii. 18. 
 ersalm xxxii. 5,51; Matthew 13 Tsalm ciii. 13. 
 
 xxvi. 75. 14 Prov. xiv. 26. 
 
 7 Gal. iii 9; Rom. iv. 22—24. l.'i 1 Peter v. 7. 
 
 8 Eph. i. 5; Gal iv. i, 5. le Heb. xii. 6. 
 
APPENDIX. 151 
 
 by him, as a father ; yet never i cast off, but sealed, ^ to the clay 
 of redemption, and inherit the promises, ^ as heirs of everlasting 
 salvation. 
 
 CHAFTEK XIII. 
 
 OF SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 1. They who are united to Christ, effectually called, and regen- 
 erated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, through 
 the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection ; are also ^ further sanc- 
 tified, really and personally, through the same virtue, ^ by his word 
 and Spirit dwelling in them ; * the dominion of the whole body of 
 sin is destroyed, ' and the several lusts thereof are more and more 
 weakened and mortified; and they more and more quickened, and* 
 strengthened in all saving graces, to the ^ practice of all true holi- 
 ness, without which no man shall see the Lord. 
 
 2. This sanctification is '" throughout, in the whole man, yet im- 
 perfect " in this life ; there abideth still some remnants of corrup- 
 tion in every part, whence ariseth a '^ continual and irreconcilable 
 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 over- 
 come; and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the 
 fear of God, '' pressing after an heavenly life, in evangelical obedi- 
 ence to all the commands which Christ, as head and king, in his word 
 hath prescribed to them. 
 
 1 Isaiah liv. 8, 9; Lamentations iii. 31. 8 Col. i. 11. 
 
 2 Eph. iv. 30. 9 2 Cor. vii. 1 ; Ileb. xii. 14. 
 
 3 Ueb. i. 14, vi. 12. 10 1 Tliess. v. 23. 
 
 4 Acts XX. 32; Horn. vi. 5, 6. JI Kom. vii. 18, '23. 
 sJohn xvii. 17; Kph. iii. 16—19; 1 la Gal. v. 17; 1 1'ct. ii. 11. 
 
 Tliess. V. 21—23. ^ 13 Kom. vii. £3. 
 
 6 Kom. vi. 14. 14 Horn. vi. 14. 
 
 7 Ual. y. 24. Jo Epii. iv. 5, ]i;; 2 Cor. iii. 1«, vii. 
 
152 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OF SAVING TAITH. 
 
 1. The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe 
 to the saving of their souls, is the woi'k of the Spirit of Christ ^ in 
 their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the ^ word ; 
 by which also, and by the administration of Baptism, and the Lord's 
 Supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God, 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; and also 
 appreliendeth an excellency therein ^ above all other writings, and 
 all things in the world ; as it bears forth the glory of God in his 
 attributes, the excellency of Christ in his nature and offices, and 
 the power and fulness of the Holy Spirit in his workings and opera- 
 tions ; and so is enabled to ^ cast his soul upon the truth thus be- 
 lieved; and also 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 sav- 
 ing faith, have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, 
 and resting upon ^^ him alone, for justification, sanctification, and 
 eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace. 
 
 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 believers ; 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. 
 
 1 2 Cor. iv. 13; Eph. ii. 8. 9 Heb. xi. 13. 
 
 2 Rom. X. 14, 17. 10 John i. 12; Acts xvi. 81; Gal. ii. 20; 
 
 3 Lnkexvii.S; lPeterii.2; Actsxx.82. Actsxv. 11. 
 
 4 Acts xxiv. 14. n Heb.v.13,14; Mat. vi. 30; Eo. iv, 19,20. 
 
 5 Psalm xix. 7 — 10, cxix. 72. 12 2 Peter i. 1. 
 
 C 2 Tim, i. 12. 13 Eph, vi. IG; 1 .Jolm v. 4, 5. 
 
 7 John XV. 14. 14 llcb. vi. 11, 12; Col. ii. 2. 
 
 s Isii. Ixvi. 2. J5 Heb, xii, 2. 
 
APPENDIX. ■ 153 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 OF REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE AND SALVATION. 
 
 1. Such of the elect as are conTerted at riper years, having i 
 sometime lived in the state of nature, and therein served divers 
 lusts and pleasures, God, in their effectual calling, giveth them re- 
 pentance 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 
 corruption dweUing in them, with the prevalency of temptation, fall 
 into greater sins and provocations, God hath in the covenant of 
 grace mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling, ^ be 
 renewed through repentance unto salvation. 
 
 3. This saving repentance is an ^ evangelical grace, whereby a 
 person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold 
 evils of his sin, doth, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it, with 
 godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency ; ^ praying for 
 pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and endeavor by sup- 
 plies 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 death, 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 believers unto salva- 
 tion, that although there is no sin so small but it deserves ^ damna- 
 tion, yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on 
 them that ^ repent; which makes the constant preaching of repent- 
 ance necessary. 
 
 1 Titus iii. 2—5. n Psalm cxix. (5, 128. 
 
 2 Eccl. vii. 20. ' 7 Luke xix. 8; 1 Tim. i. 13, 15. 
 8 Luke xxii. 31,32. 8 Eom. vi. 23. 
 
 4 Zech. xii. 10; Acts xi. 18. 8 Isa. i. 16—18, Iv. 7. 
 
 6 Kzclc. xxxvi. 31; 2 Cor. vii. 11. 
 
15J: CONBESSIOJTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 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 de- 
 vised by men, out of blind zeal, ^ or upon any pretence of good 
 intentions. 
 
 2. These good works done in obedience to God's commandments, 
 are the fruits and evidences ^ of a true and lively faith; and by 
 them believers manifest their * assurance, edify their * brethren, adorn 
 the profession of the gospel, slop the mouths of the adversaries, and 
 glorify ^ God, whose worlcmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus' 
 thereunto, that having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the 
 end * eternal hfe. 
 
 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 enabled 
 thereunto, besides the graces they have already received, there is 
 necessary an '" actual influence of the same Holy Spirit to work in 
 them to will and to do of his good pleasure ; yet are they not here- 
 ujion 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 superero- 
 gate, and to do more than God requires, as that ^ they fall short of 
 much which in duty they are bound to do. 
 
 5. We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin, or eternal 
 life at the hand of God, by reason of the great disproportion that is 
 between them and the glory to come, and the infinite distance that 
 
 1 iricah vi. 8; Heb. xiii, 21. 7 Eph. ii. 10. 
 
 2 Mstt. XV. 9; If a. xix. 13. 8 Eom. vi. 22. 
 
 8 James ii. 18, 22. 9 Joliii xv. 4, 6. 
 
 i rsalm cxvi. 12, 18; 1 Jolm ii. 3, 6: 2 10 2 Cor. iii. 5; Diil. ii 13. 
 
 Peter i. 5-11. u phH. ji. 12; Heb. vi. 11,12; Isaiah 
 
 « Mntt. V. 16. Ixiv. 7. 
 
 eiTim.vi.l; ireterii.l6j Phil.i.U. 12 Job ix. 2, 3; Gal. v. 17; Luke xvii. 10. 
 
APPENDIX. 155 
 
 is between us and God, ■whom by them we can neither profit nor sat- 
 isfy, for the debt of our' former sins, but wlien 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 weak- 
 ness and imperfection, 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 unblamable and unreprovable 
 in God's sight, but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased 
 to accept and reward that which is ° sincere, although accompanied 
 with many weaknesses and imperfections. 
 
 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 accordino- 
 to the 8 word, nor to a right end, the ' glory of God, they are there- 
 fore 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. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 OP PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. 
 
 1. Those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved, effectually 
 called and sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of 
 his elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of 
 
 1 Rom. iii, 20; Eph. ii. 8, 9j Eom. iv. 6. 7 Gen. iv. 6; Heb. xi. iv. 6. 
 
 2 Gal. v. 22, 23. 8 1 Cor. xiii. 1. 
 8 Isa. Ixiv. 6; Psalm cxliii. 2. 9 Matt. vi. 2, B. 
 
 i Eph. i. 6; 1 Peter ii. 5. 10 Amos v. 21, 22; Kom. ix. 16; Titus 
 
 « Matt. XXV. 21, 23; Heb. vi. 10. iii. 6. 
 
 6 2 Kings X. 30; 1 Kings xxi. 27, 29. U Job xxi. 14, 15; Matt. xxv. 41—43. 
 
156 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 grace,! but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eter- 
 nally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repen- 
 tance (whence he still begets and nourisheth in them faith, repen- 
 tance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortal- 
 ity) ; and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, 
 yet they shall never be able to take them ofi" that foundation and 
 rock which by faith they are fastened upon : notwithstanding, 
 through unbehef and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of 
 the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured 
 from 2 them, yet it is still the same,^ and they shall be sure to be kept 
 by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their 
 purchased possession, they being engraven upon the palm of his 
 hands, and their names having been written in the book of Ufe from 
 all eternity. 
 
 2. This perseverance of tlie saints depends not upon their own 
 free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of * election, flow- 
 ing 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 the ^ covenant of grace; 
 from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility 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 they incur '" God's dis- 
 pleasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to have their graces and'^ 
 comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences 
 wounded,!- hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judg- 
 ments !^ upon themselves, yet they shall renew their '■' repentance, 
 and be preserved, through faith in Jesus Christ, to the end. 
 
 1 John X. 28, 29; Phil. i. 6 ; 2 Tim. ii. 7 1 John iii. 9. 
 
 19; 1 John ii. 19. 8 Jer. xxxii. 40. 
 
 2 Psalm Ixxxix. 31, 32; 1 Coriuthians 9 Matt. xxvi. 70, 72, 74. 
 
 xi. 32. 10 Isa. Ixiv. 5, 9; Ephesians iv. 30. 
 
 3 Mai. iii. 6. 11 Psalm Ii. 10, 12. 
 
 4 Eom. viii. 80, ix. 11, 16. 12 Psalm xxxii. 3, 4. 
 6 Rom. T. 9, 10; John xiv. 19. 13 2 Sam. xii. 14. 
 
 6 Heb. vi. 17, 18. 14 Luke xxii. 32, v. 61, 62. 
 
APPENDIX. l."7 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 OF THE ASSURANCE Or GRACE AND SALVATION. 
 
 1. Although temporary believers and other unregenerate men, 
 may vainly deceive themselves witli false hopes and carnal presump- 
 tions of being in the favor of God, and [in a] state of salvation,' 
 which hope of theirs shall perish ; yet such as truly beheve 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 the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the 
 glory of God which hope shjjl never make them ' ashamed. 
 
 2. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persua- 
 sion, 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 ^ evidence of those graces of 
 the Spirit unto which promises are made, and on the testimony of 
 the ' Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the 
 children of God ; and, as a fruit thereof, keeping the heart both " 
 humble and holy. 
 
 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 means '" 
 attain thereunto ; and therefore it is the duty of every one to give 
 all diligence to make their calling and election sure, that thereby his 
 heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, in love 
 and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the 
 duties of obedience, the proper " fruits of this assurance ; so far is 
 it ^ from inclining men to looseness. 
 
 1 Job viii, 13, 14 ; Matt. vii. 22, 23. 8 1 John iii. 1—3. 
 
 2 1 Jobnii. 3; iii. 14, 18, 19, 21, 24,v. 13. 9 Isa. ]. 10; Psalms Ixxxviii., Ixxvii. 
 
 3 Rom. V. 2, 5. 1—12. 
 
 i Heb. vi. 11, 19. 10 1 John iv. 13; Heb. vi. 11, 12. 
 
 5 Heb. vi. 17, 18. U Eomans v. 1, 2, B, xiv. 17; Tsalm 
 
 6 2 Peter i. 4, 6, 10, 11. cxix. 32. 
 
 ? Eom. TJu. 16, 16. 12 Eom. vi. 1, 2; Titus ii, 11, 12, 14. 
 
 -14 
 
lt>» CONFESSIONS. 
 
 4. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation di- 
 vers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted ; as ^ by negligence in 
 preserving of it, by - falling inlo some special sin, which woundelh 
 the conscience, and grieveth the Spirit, by some sudden or ^ vehe- 
 ment temptation, by God's withdrawing the ■• light of his counte- 
 nance, and sutTering even such as fear him to walk in darkness, and 
 to have no light; yet they are never destitute of the ^ seed of God, 
 and life " of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincer- 
 ity 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 ^ preserved from utter despair. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 OF THE LAW or GOD. 
 
 1. God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience,' written in 
 his heart, and a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree 
 of knowledge of good and evil ; by which he bound him, and all his 
 posterity, to personal, entire, exact and perpetual '"obedience; prom- 
 ised life upon the fulfilling, and " threatened death upon the breach 
 of it, and indued him with power and ability to keep it. 
 
 2. The same law that was first written in the heart of man,'' con- 
 tinued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall, and was 
 delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in '^ ten commandments, and 
 written in two tables, the four first containing our duty towards 
 God, and the other six our duty to man. 
 
 3. Besides this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to 
 give to the people of Israel ceremonial laws, containing several typi- 
 cal ordinances, partly of worship,'^ prefiguring Christ, his graces, 
 
 1 Cant. T. 2, 8, 6. 8 Lam. iii. 26—31. 
 
 2 Psalm li. 8, 12, U. 9 Gen. i. 17; Eccl. vii. 29. 
 S Psalm cxvi. 11; Ixxvii. 7, 8, xxxi. 22. 1" Rom. x. 5. 
 
 4 Psalm XXX. 7. 11 Gal. iil 10, 12. 
 
 5 1 John iii. 9. 12 Eom. ii. 14, 15. 
 Luke xxii. 82. 13 Deut. x. 4. 
 
 7 Psalm xUi. 5, 11. u Heb. x. Ij Col. U. 17. 
 
APPENDIX. 159 
 
 actions, sufferings, and benefits ; and partly holding forth divers in- 
 structions^ 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 lawgiver, who was furnished with power from the 
 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 vir- 
 tue of that institution ; their general ^ equity only being of moral 
 use. 
 
 5. The moral law doth forever bind all,^ as well justified persons 
 as others, to the obedience thereof, and that not only in regard of the 
 matter contained in it, but also in respect of the ^ authority of God 
 the Creator who gave it ; neither doth Christ in the gospel any way 
 dissolve,^ but much strengthen this obhgation. 
 
 6. Although true believers 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 life, informing 
 them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to 
 walk accordingly ; ^ discovering also the sinful pollutions of their na- 
 tures, hearts and lives, so as examining themselves thereby, they may 
 come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against, sin, 
 together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and 
 the perfection of his obedience ; it is hkewise of use to the regener- 
 ate, 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 and unallayed rigor thereof The promises of it 
 likewise show them God's approbation of obedience, and what bless- 
 ings they may expect upon the performance thereof, though not as 
 due to them by the law as a covenant of works: so as man's doin" 
 good, and refraining from evil, because the law encourageth to the 
 one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his bein" » 
 under the law, and not under grace. 
 
 1 1 Cor. V. 7. 6 Matt. v. 17—19; Eom. iii. .31. 
 
 2 Col. ii. 14, 16, 17; Eph. ii. 14, 16. 7 Eom. vi. 14; Gal. ii. 16; Eom. viii. 1, 
 
 3 1 Cor ix. 8—10. X. i. 
 
 * Eom. xiii. 8—10; James ii. 8, 10—12. 8 Rom. iii. 20, vii. 7, etc. 
 
 fi James ii. 10, 11. 8 Rom. vi. 12—14; 1 Peter iii. 8—13. 
 
160 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 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 requireth to 
 be done. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 OF THE GOSPEL, AND OF THE EXTENT OF THE GEACE THEREOF. 
 
 1. The covenant of works being broken by sin, and made unprof- 
 itable unto life, God was pleased to give forth the promise of Christ,' 
 the seed of the woman, as the means of calling the elect, and beget- 
 ting in them faith and repentance ; in this promise, the •• gospel, as 
 to the substance of it, was revealed, and [is] therein effectual, for 
 the conversion and salvation of sinners. 
 
 2. This promise of Christ, and salvation by him, is revealed only 
 by '' the word of God ; neither do the works of creation, or provi- 
 dence, with the light of nature,'^ make discovery of Christ, or of 
 grace by him, so much as in a general or obscure way ; much less 
 that men destitute of the revelation of him by the promise or gos- 
 pel,' 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 pre- 
 cepts, for the obedience required therein, as to the nations and per- 
 sons to whom it is granted, is merely of the * sovereign 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 com- 
 mon 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 straightr 
 oning of it, in great variety, according to the counsel of the will of 
 God. 
 
 lGal.iii.21. 6 Rom. x. 14, 15, 17. 
 
 2 Ezek. xxxvi. 27. ^ Proverbs xxix. 18 ; Isaiah xxv. 
 
 3 Gen. iii 15. 7, Ix. 2, 3. 
 
 4 Rev. xiii. 8. 8 Psalm oxlvii. 20; Acts xvi. 7. 
 « Rom. i. 17. ' S Eom. i. 18, etc. 
 
APPENDIX. 161 
 
 4. Although the gospel be the only outward means of revealing 
 Christvand saving grace, and is as such abundantly sufficient there- 
 unto, yet that men who are born in trespasses may be born again, 
 quickened or regenerated, there is moreover necessary, an effectual 
 insuperable ^ work of the Holy Spirit upon the whole soul, for the 
 producing in them a new spiritual life, without which no other 
 means will effect ^ their conversion unto God. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY, AND LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 
 
 1. The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under 
 the gospel, consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the con- 
 demning wrath of God, the rigor and ^ curse of the law, and in their 
 being delivered from this present evil * world, bondage to ° Satan, 
 and dominion ^ of sin, from the '' evil of afflictions, the fear and 
 sting * of death, the victory of the grave, and ^ everlasting damna- 
 tion ; as also in their '" free access to God, and their yielding obedi- 
 ence unto him, not out of a slavish fear," but a childlike love and will- 
 ing mind. 
 
 All which were common also to believers under the law '^ for the 
 substance of them ; but under the New Testament the liberty of 
 Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of the 
 ceremonial law, to which the Jewish Church was subjected, and in 
 greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller com- 
 munications of the ^ free Spirit of God, than believers under the law 
 did ordinarily partake of. 
 
 2. God alone is " Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free 
 
 1 Psalm ex. 3; 1 Cor. u. 14; Eph. i. 8 1 Cor. xv. 54—57. 
 
 19, 20. 9 2 Thess. i. 10. 
 
 2 John vi 44; 2 Cor. ir. 4, 6. W Eom. viii. 15. 
 
 3 Gal. iii, 13. u Luke i. 74, 75 ; 1 John iv. 18. 
 ■1 Gal. i. 4. 12 Gal. iii. 9, 14. 
 
 « Aets xxvi, 18. IS John vii. £8, 39; Hebrews x. 19— 
 
 6 Rom. viii. 3, 21. 
 
 1 Horn. viii. 23. 14 James iv. 12; Kom. xiv. 4. 
 
 14* 
 
1C2 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 from the doctrines and commandments of men ' which are in any- 
 thing contrary to his word, or not contained in it. So that to be- 
 lieve such doctrines, or obey such commands out of conscience,'^ 
 is to betray true liberty of conscience ; and the requiring of an ^ im- 
 plicit faith, and absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty 
 of conscience, and reason also. 
 
 3. They who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, do practise any 
 sin, or cherish any sinful lust, as they do thereby pervert the main 
 design of the grace of the gospel ^ to their own destruction, so they 
 wholly destroy ^ the end of Christian liberty ; which is that, being 
 deUvered out of the hands of all our enemies, we might serve the 
 Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the 
 days of our life. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP AND THE SABBATH-DAY. 
 
 1. The light of nature shows that there is a God, who hath lord- 
 ship and sovereignty over all ; is just, good, and doth good unto 
 all ; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted 
 in, and served, with all the heart, and all the soul,^ and with all the 
 might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is ' 
 instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that 
 he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices 
 of- men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representa- 
 tions, or 8 any other way, not prescribed in the holy Scriptures. 
 
 2. 'Eeligious worship is to be given to God the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Spirit, and to him ^ alone ; not to angels, saints, or any other '" 
 creatures ; and since the fall, not without a i^ mediator, nor in the 
 mediation of any other but '^ Christ alone. 
 
 1 Acts iv. 19, V. 29; 1 Cor. vii. 23; Matt. 1 Deut. xii. 32. 
 
 XV. 9. 8 Ex. XX. iv. 5, 6. 
 
 2 Col. ii. 20, 22, 23. 9 Matt. iv. 9, 10; John vi. 23; Matt. 
 
 3 1 Cor. iii 5; 2 Cor. i. 24. xxviii. 19. 
 
 4Eom. vi 1,2. 10 Eom. i. 26; Col. ii 18; Kev. xix. 10. 
 
 6 Gal. v. 13; 2 Peter ii. 18—21. n John xiv. 6. 
 
 6 Jer. x. 7; Mark xii. 33. 12 1 Tim. ii. 5. 
 
APPENDIX. 133 
 
 3. Prayer with thanksgiving, being one special part of natural 
 worship, is by God required of ' all men. But that it may be ac- 
 cepted, it is to be made in the ^ name of the Son, by the help ' of 
 the Spirit, according to * his will ; with understanding, reverence, 
 humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance ; and when with 
 others, in a " known tongue. 
 
 4. Prayer is to be made for things lawful, and for all sorts of men 
 living,^ or that shall live hereafter ; but not ' for the dead, nor for 
 those of whom it may be known that they have sinned * the sin unto 
 death. 
 
 5. The ' reading of the Scriptures, preaching, and '" hearing the 
 word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, 
 hymns, and spiritual songs ; singing with gra*;e in our hearts to " the 
 Lord ; as also the administration '^ of baptism, and '^ the Lord's Sup- 
 per, are all parts of religious worship of God, to be performed in 
 obedience to him, with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly 
 fear; moreover, solemn humiliation," with fastings, and thanksgivings, 
 upon "" special occasions, ought to be used in an holy and religious 
 manner. 
 
 6. Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is 
 now, under the gospel, tied unto, or made more acceptable by any 
 place in which it is '^ performed, or towards which it is directed ; but 
 God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth ; as in " 
 private families '^ daily, and '^ in secret, each one by himself, so more 
 solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly, nor wil- 
 fully to be ^ neglected or forsaken, when God by his word or provi- 
 dence calleth thereunto. 
 
 7. As it is of the law of nature, that in general a proportion of 
 time, by God's appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so 
 
 1 Psalm xov. 1—71, xv. 2. U Col. iii. 16; Eph. v. 19. 
 
 2 John xiv. 13, 14. 12 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 
 
 3 Kom. viii. 28. 13 1 Cor. xi. 26. 
 
 4 1 John V. 14. 14 Esther iv. 16; Joel ii. 12. 
 
 5 1 Cor. xiv. 16, 17. 15 Ex. xv. 1, etc. ; Pealm cvii. 
 
 c 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2; Sam. vii. 29. 16 John iv. 21; Mai. i. 11; 1 Tim. ii. 8. 
 
 ' 2 Sam. xii. 21—23. 17 Acts x. 2. 
 
 8 1 John V. 16. 18 Matt. vi. 11 ; Psalm Iv. 17. 
 
 9 1 Tim. iv. 13. . 19 Matt. vi. 6. 
 
 M 2 Tim, iv 2 ; Luke viii. 18. 20 Heb x. 25 i Acts ii. 42. 
 
1(34 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 by his word, in a positive, moral,- and perpetual commandment, bind- 
 ing all men, in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in 
 seven for a ^ Sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the be- 
 ginning of the world, to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day 
 of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into 
 the first day of the week,''' which is called the Lord's day ; and is to 
 be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath ; the 
 observation of the last day of the week being abolished. 
 
 8. The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after 
 a due preparation of their hearts, and ordering their common atfairs 
 aforehand, do not only observe an holy ^ rest all the day, from their 
 own works, words, and thoughts, about their worldly employment and 
 recreations, but also are taken up the whole time in the public and 
 private exercises of his worship, and in the duties * of necessity 
 and mercy. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 OF LAWFUL OATHS AND VOWS. 
 
 1. A lawful oath is a part of religiovis worship ^ wherein the pei^ 
 son swearing in truth, righteousness, and judgment, solemnly calleth 
 God to witness what he sweareth,^ and to judge him according to 
 the truth or falseness thereof. 
 
 2. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, 
 and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence ; there- 
 fore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, 
 or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful and to be ' abhorred ; 
 yet as in matter of weight and moment, for confirmation of truth,' 
 and ending all strife, an oath is warranted by the word of God ; so 
 a lawful oath being imposed,^' by lawful authority, in such matters 
 ought to be taken. 
 
 1 Exodus XX. 8. 5 Exodus xx. 7; Deut. x. 20; Jer. iv. 2. 
 
 2 1 Corinthians xvi. 1, 2; Acts xx. 7; 6 2 Chron. vi 22, 23. 
 
 Eev. i. 10. 7 Matt. v. 34-37; James v. 12. 
 
 3 Isa. Iviii. 18; Neh. xiii. 15—23. 8 Heb. vi. 16; Cor. i. 23. 
 * Matt. xii. 1—13. 9 Nell. xiii. 26 . 
 
APPENDIX. 1G5 
 
 3. Whosoever taketh an oath, warranted by the word of God, 
 ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and 
 therein to avouch nothing but what he knoweth to be truth; for 
 that by rash, false, and vain oaths, the i Lord is provoked, and for 
 them this land mourns. 
 
 4. An oath is to be taken in the plain and ^ common sense of the 
 words, without equivocation or mental reservation. 
 
 5. A vow, which is not to be made to any creature, but to God 
 alone,^ is to be made and performed with all religious care and faith- 
 fulness ; but popish monastical vows,^ of perpetual single life, pro- 
 fessed ' poverty, and regular obedience, are so far from being degrees 
 of higher perfection, that they are superstitious,^ and sinful snares, 
 in which no Christian may entangle himself. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 
 
 1. God, the supreme Lord, and king of all the world, hath or- 
 dained civil ' magistrates to be under him over the people, for his 
 own glory, and the public good ; and to this end hath armed them with 
 the power of the sword, for defence and encouragement of them 
 that do good, and for the punishment of evil-doers. 
 
 2. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a 
 magistrate, when called thereunto ; in the management whereof, as 
 they ought especially to maintain ^ justice, and peace, according to 
 the wholesome laws of each kingdom and commonwealth; so for 
 that end they may lawfully now under the New Testament ^ wage 
 war upon just and necessary occasions. 
 
 3. Civil magistrates being set up by God, for the ends aforesaid, 
 subjection in all lawful things commanded by them, ought to be 
 yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath i" but for conscience' 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 12; Jer. xxiii. 10. 6 Matt. xix. 11. 
 
 2 Psalm xxiv. 4. 7 Eom. xiji. 1—4. 
 
 s rsalm IxxTi. 11; Gen. xxviii. 20—22. 8 2 Sam. xxiii. 8; Psalm Ixxxii. 3, 4. 
 
 * 1 Cor. vii. 2, 9. 9 Lnke iii. 14. 
 
 « Kph. iv. 28. 10 Kom. xiii. 5, 6, 7j 1 Peter ii. 17. 
 
166 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 sake; and we ought to make supplications and prayers for kings, 
 and all that are in authority ,i that under them we may Kve a quiet 
 and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 1. Marriage is to be between one man and one woman j^ neither 
 is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife, nor for any 
 woman to have more than one husband at the same time. 
 
 2. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help ' of husband and 
 wife,'' for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue, and for" 
 preventing of uncleanness. 
 
 3. It is lawful for " all sorts of people to marry, who are able with 
 judgment to give their consent ; yet it is the duty of Christians ' to 
 marry [only] in the Lord ; and therefore such as profess the true 
 religion should not marry with infidels,* or idolaters ; neither should 
 such as are godly be unequally yoked, by marrying with such as are 
 wicked in their life, or maintain damnable heresy. 
 
 4. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity ' 
 or affinity forbidden in the word ; nor can such incestuous marriage 
 ever be made lawful, by any law of man or consent of parties ™ so 
 as those persons may live together as man and wife. 
 
 CHAPTER, XXVI. 
 
 OF THB CHURCH. 
 
 1. The catholic or universal church, which (with respect to the 
 internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace) may be called invisi- 
 
 1 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. 6 Heb. xiii. 4; 1 Tim. iv. 3. 
 
 2 Gen. ii. 24; Mil. ii. 15; Matt. xix. 5, 6. 7 i Cor. vii. 39. 
 
 3 Geu. ii. 18. 8 Neh. xiii. 25—27. 
 i (k-n. i. 28. 9 Lev. xviii. 
 
 s 1 Cor. vii. 2, 9. 10 Matt. vi. 18; 1 Cor. v. 1. 
 
APPENDIX. 167 
 
 ble, consists of the whole ' number of the elect, that have been, are, 
 or shall be gathered into one, under Christ, the head thereof; and is 
 the spouse, the body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. 
 
 2. All persons throughout the world, professing the faith of the 
 gospel, and obedience unto God by Christ according unto it, not 
 destroying their own profession by any errors everting the founda- 
 tion, or unholiness of conversation,^ are and may be called visible 
 saints ; ^ and of such ought all particular congregations to be consti- 
 tuted. 
 
 3. The purest churches under heaven are subject ■• to mixture 
 and error ; and some have so degenerated as to become ' no churches 
 of Christ, but synagogues of Satan ; nevertheless Christ always hath 
 had, and ever shall have, a * kingdom in this world, to the end 
 thereof, of such as believe in him, and make professions of his name. 
 
 4. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church, in whom, by 
 the appointment of the Father,' all power for the calling, institution, 
 order, or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and 
 sovereign manner ; neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense be 
 head thereof, but is ^ [no other] than Antichrist, that man of sin, and 
 son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, 
 and all that is called God ; whom the Lord shall destroy with the 
 brightness of his coming. 
 
 5. In the execution of this power wherewith he is so entrusted, 
 the Lord Jesus calleth out of the world unto himself, through the 
 ministry of his word, by his Spirit,' those that are given unto him 
 by his Father, that they may walk before him in all the '" ways of 
 obedience, which he prescribeth to them in his word. Those thus 
 called, he commandeth to walk together in particular societies, or'^ 
 churches, for their mutual edification, and the due performance of 
 that public worship which he requireth of them in the world. 
 
 1 Heb. xii. 23 ; Col. i. 18 ; Eph. i. 20, 22, 6 Matt. xvi. 18 ; Psalm Ixxii. 17, cii. 28 ; 
 
 23, V. 23, 27, 32. Eev. xii. 17. 
 
 2 1 Cor. i. 2; Acts xi. 26. 7 Col. i.l8; Matt, xxviii. 18— 20 ; Eph. 
 
 3 Kom. i. 7 ; Eph. i. 20—22. iv. 21, 22. 
 
 4 1 Cor. XV. ; Eev. ii., iii. 8 2 Thess. ii, 2—9. 
 
 5 Revelation xviii. 2; 2 Thessalonians 9 John x. 16, xii. 32. 
 
 ii. 11, 12. • 10 Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 
 u Matt, xviii. 15—20. 
 
168 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 6. The members of these churches are ' saints by calling, visibly- 
 manifesting and evidencing (in and by their profession and walking) 
 their obedience unto that call of Christ ; and do willingly consent to 
 walk together according to the appointment of Christ, giving up 
 themselves to the Lord and one to another, by the will of God,2 in 
 professed subjection to the ordinances of the gospel. 
 
 7. To each of these churches thus gathered according to his mind, 
 declared in his word, he hath given all that ^ power and authority, 
 which is any way needful for their carrying on that order in worship 
 and discipline, which he hath instituted for them to observe, with 
 commands and rules, for the due and right exerting and executing 
 of that power. 
 
 8. A particular church gathered, and completely organized, ac- 
 cording to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members : and 
 the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the 
 church (so called and gathered) for the peculiar administration of 
 ordinances, and execution of power, or duty, which he entrusts them 
 with, or calls them to, to be continued to the end of the world, are * 
 bishops or elders, and deacons. 
 
 9. The way appointed by Christ for the calling of any person, fit- 
 ted and gifted by the Holy Spirit, unto the office of bishop, or elder, 
 in the church, is that he be chosen thereunto by the common ^ suffrage 
 of the church itself; and solemnly set apart by fasting and prayer, 
 with imposition of hands of the ^ eldership of the church, if there 
 be any before constituted therein : and of a deacon ' that he be 
 chosen by the like suffrage, and set apart by prayer, and the like im- 
 position of hands. 
 
 10. The work of pastors being constantly to attend the service of 
 Christ, in his churches, in the ministry of the word, and prayer * 
 with watching for their souls, as they that must give an account to 
 him ; it is incumbent on the churches to whom they minister, not 
 only to give them all due respect,'' but also to communicate to them 
 
 1 Rom, i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 2. 5 Acts xiv. 23. See the original. 
 
 2 Acts ii. 41, 42, T. 13, 14; 2 Cor. ix. 13. 6 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 8 Matt, xviii. 17, 18 ; 1 Cor. v. 4, 5, 13; 7 Acts vi. 3, 5, 6. 
 
 2 Cor. ii. 6-8. 8 Acts vi. 4; Heb. xiii. 17. 
 
 4 Acts XX. 17, V. 28; PUil. i. 1. 9 1 Tim. v. 17, 18; Gal. vi. 6, 7. 
 
APPENDIX. 169 
 
 of all their good things, according to their ability, so as they may 
 have a comfortable supply, without being themselves ^ entangled in 
 secular affairs ; and may also be capable of exercising 2 hospitality 
 towards others ; and this is required by the ^ law of nature, and by 
 the express order of our Lord Jesus, who hath ordained, that they 
 that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. 
 
 1 1 . Although it be incumbent on the bishops or pastoi-s of the 
 churches to be instant in preaching the word by way of office, yet 
 the work of preaching the word is not so peculiarly confined to 
 tliem, but that others also * gifted and fitted by the Holy Spirit for 
 it, and approved and called by the chuf-ch, may and ought to per- 
 form it. 
 
 12. As all believers are bound to join themselves to particular 
 churches, when and where they have opportunity so to do ; so all 
 that are admitted unto the privileges of a church are also ^ under 
 the censures and government thereof, according to the rule of 
 Christ. 
 
 13. No church members, upon any offence taken by them, having 
 performed their duty required of them towards the person they are 
 offended at, ought to disturb any church order, or absent themselves 
 from the assemblies of the church, or administration of any ordi- 
 nances, upon the account of such offence at any of their fellow-mem- 
 bers,but to wait upon Christ,^ in the further proceeding of the church. 
 
 14. As each church, and all the members of it, are bound to ' 
 pray continually for the good and prosperity of all the churches of 
 Christ, in all places, and upon all occasions to further it (every one 
 within the bounds of their places and callings, in the exercise of 
 their gifts and graces), so the churches (when planted by the provi- 
 dence of God, so as they may enjoy opportunity and advantage for 
 it), ought to hold 8 communion amongst themselves, for their peace, 
 increase of love, and mutual edification. 
 
 15. Cases of difficulty or differences, either in point of doctrine 
 or administration, wherein either the churches in general are con- 
 
 1 2 Tim. ii. i. 5 1 Thess. v. 14; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14, IB. 
 
 2 1 Tim. iii. 2. 6 Matt, xviii. 16—17 ; Eph. iv. 2, 3. 
 
 3 1 Cor. ix. 6, 14. ? Eph. vi. 18; Psalm cxxii. 6. 
 i Acts xi. 19—21; 1 Fet. iv. 20, 21. 8 Eom. xvi. 1, 2; 3 John 9, 10. 
 
 15 
 
170 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 cerned, or any one church, in their peace, union, and edification ; or 
 any member or members of any church are injured, in or by any 
 proceedings in censures not agreeable to truth and order ; it is ac- 
 cording to the mind of Christ, that many churches holding commun- 
 ion together, do by their messengere meet to consider ' and give their 
 advice in or about that matter in difference, to be reported to all the 
 churches concerned ; howbeit these messengers assembled, are not 
 entrusted with any church power, properly so called ; or with any 
 jurisdiction over the churches themselves, to exercise any censures 
 either over any churches, or persons ; or ^ to impose their determina- 
 tion on the churches or officers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 or THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 
 
 1. All saints that are united to Jesus Christ, their head, by his 
 Spirit and faith, although they are not made thereby one person 
 with him, have ^ fellowship in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrec- 
 tion, and glory ; and being united to one another in love, they * have 
 communion in each other's gifts and graces, and are obliged to the 
 performance of such duties, public and private, in an orderly way,^ 
 as to conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward 
 man. 
 
 2. Saints by profession, are bound to maintain an holy fellowship 
 and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other 
 spiritual services,^ as tend to their mutual edification ; as also in re- 
 lieving each other in ' outward things, according to their several abil- 
 ities and necessities ; which communion according to the rule of the 
 gospel, though especially to be exercised by them, in the relations 
 wherein they stand, whether in 8 families or ^ churches, yet as God of- 
 fereth opportunity, is to be extended to all the household of faith, 
 
 1 Acts XT. 2, 4, 6, 22, 23, 25. 6 1 Thess. v. 11, 14; Eom. i. 12; 1 John 
 
 2 2 Cor. i. 24; i. John iv. 1. iii, 17^ jg; Gal. vi. 10. 
 S 1 John i. 3; John i. 16; Phil. iii. 10; « Heb. x. 24, 25, iii. 12, 13. 
 
 Eom. vi. B, 6. r Acts xii. 29, 30. 
 
 i Eph. iv. 15, 16; 1 Corinthians xii. 7, 8 Eph. vi. 4. 
 
 iii. 21-23. 9 1 Cor. xii. 14-27. 
 
APPENDIX. 171 
 
 even all ttose who in everj- place call upon the name of the Lord 
 Jesus ; nevertheless their, communion one with another as saints, 
 doth not take away, or ' infringe the title or propriety which each 
 man hath in his goods and possessions. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 OF BAPTISM AND THE LOKD's SUPPER. 
 
 1. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive 
 and sovereign institution, appointed by the Lord Jesus, the only 
 lawgiver, to be continued in his church ^ to the end of the world. 
 
 2. These holy appointments are to be administered by those only 
 who are qualified, and thereunto called according ' to the commis- 
 sion of Christ. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 OF BAPTISM. 
 
 1. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by 
 Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized a sign of his fellowship 
 with him in his death * and resurrection ; of his being engrafted into 
 him ; of* remission of sins ; and of his ^ giving up unto God, through 
 Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life. 
 
 2. Those who do actually profess ' repentance towards God, faith 
 in, and obedience to our Lord Jesus, are the only proper subjects 
 of this ordinance. 
 
 3. The outward element to be used in this ordinance * is water, 
 wherein the party is to be baptized, in the name of the Father, and 
 of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 4. Immersion, or dipping of the person ' in water, is necessary to 
 the due administration of this ordinance. 
 
 1 Acts T. i; Eph. iv. 28. . ^ Mark i. 4; Acts xxvi. 16. 
 
 2 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20; 1 Cor. xi. 26. 6 Rom. vi. 2, 4. 
 
 3 Matt, xxviii. 19; 1 Cor. iv. 1. ' Marie xvi. 16; Actsviii. 36, 87. 
 
 < Kom. vi. 3—6; Col. ii. 12; Galatians 8 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20; Acts viii. 38. 
 
 iii. 27. 9 Matt. iii. 16; John iii. 23. 
 
1T2 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 OF THE lord's SUPPER. 
 
 1. The Supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same 
 night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches unto 
 the end of the world for the perpetual remembrance, and showing 
 forth the sacrifice of himself in his death, ' confirmation of the faith 
 of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment 
 and growth in him, their further engagement in and to all duties 
 which they owe unto him ; ^ and to be a bond and pledge of their 
 communion with him, and with each other. 
 
 2. In this ordinance Christ is not olTered up to his Father, nor 
 any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sin, of the quick or 
 dead, but only a memorial of that ^ one offering up of himself, by 
 himself, upon the cross, once for all; and a spiritual oblation of all* 
 possible praise unto God for the same. So that the popish sacrifice 
 of the mass as (they call it) is most abominable, injurious to Christ's 
 own only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all the sins of the 
 elect. 
 
 3. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed his minis- 
 ters to pray and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby 
 to set them apart from a common to an holy use, and to take and 
 break the bread ; to take the cup, ^ and (they communicating also 
 themselves) to give both to the communicants. 
 
 4. The denial of the cup to the people, worshipping the elements, 
 the lifting them up or carrying them about for adoration, and reserv- 
 ing them for any pretended religious use, ^ are all contrary to the 
 nature of this ordinance, and to the institution of Christ. 
 
 5. The outward elements in this ordinance, duly set apart to the 
 uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that 
 truly, although in terms used figuratively, they are sometimes called 
 by the name of the things they represent, to wit, the ' body and 
 
 1 1 Cor. XV. 23—26. 5 1 Cor, 11, 23—26. etc. 
 
 2 1 Cor. X. 10, 17. 21. 6 Matt. xxvi. 20-23, xv.Oj Exodus .tx. 
 
 3 Heb. ix. 25, 26, 28. 4, B. 
 
 4 1 Cor. xi. 24; Matt. xxvi. 26, 27. ^ 1 Cor. xi. 27. 
 
APPENDIX. 173 
 
 blood of Christ, albeit in substance and nature, they still remain 
 truly and only ' bread and wine, as they were before. 
 
 6. That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of 
 bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood (com- 
 monly called transubstantiation), by consecration of a priest, or by 
 any other way, is repugnant not to Scripture ^ alone, but even to 
 common sense and reason, overthroweth the ^ nature of the ordi- 
 nance, and hath been and is the cause of manifold superstitions, 
 yea, of gross idolatries. 
 
 7. Worthy receivers outwardly partaking of the visible elements 
 in this ordinance, do then also inwardly, by faith really and indeed, 
 yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed 
 upon Christ crucified * and all the benefits of his death ; the body 
 and blood of Christ being then not corporally, or carnally, but spir- 
 itually present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the 
 elements themselves are to their outward senses. 
 
 8. All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy 
 communion ^ with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, 
 and cannot, without great sin against him, while they remain such, 
 partake of these holy mysteries, * or be admitted thereunto : yea, 
 whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood 
 of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 OP THE STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH, AND OF THE RESUR- 
 RECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 1. The bodies of men after death return to dust, ' and see corrup- 
 tion ; but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immor- 
 tal subsistence, immediately ' return to God who gave them : the 
 souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are 
 
 1 1 Cor. xi. 26, v^ 28. « 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. 
 
 2 Acts iii. 21 ; Luke xxiv. 6, v. 39. 6 1 Cor. xi. 29 ; Matt. vii. 6. 
 
 8 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25. ' Gen. iii. 19; Acts xiii. 36. 
 
 < 1 Cor. X. 16, xi. 23—26. . 8 Eool. xii. 7. 
 
 15* 
 
174 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 received into paradise, where they are with Christ, and behold the 
 face of God, in light ^ and glory, waiting for the full redemption of 
 their bodies ; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where 
 they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to ^ the judg- 
 ment of the great day ; besides these two places, for souls separated 
 from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none. 
 
 2. At the last day, such of the saints as are found alive shall not 
 sleep, but be ^ changed ; and all the dead shall be raised up with the 
 self-same bodies, and * none other ; although with different ^ qualities, 
 which shall be united again to their souls for ever. 
 
 3. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be 
 raised to dishonor ; the bodies of the just, by his Spirit, unto honor,"! 
 and be made conformable to his own glorious body. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 1. God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world 
 in righteousness, by ' Jesus Christ ; to whom all power and judg- 
 ment is given of the Father ; in which day not only the ^ apostate 
 angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon 
 the earth, shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, ^ to give an ac- 
 count of their thoughts, words and deeds, and to receive according 
 to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil. 
 
 2. The end of God's appointing this day, is for the manifestation 
 of the glory of his mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect ; '" and 
 of his justice, in the eternal damnation of the reprobate, who are 
 wicked and disobedient ; for then shall the righteous go into ever- 
 
 1 Lukexxiii. 43; 2 Cor. v. 1, 6, 8; Phil. 6 Actsxxiv.15; Jolin v. 28,29; Tliil. 
 
 i. 23; lleb. xii. 23. iii. 21. 
 
 2 Jude vi. 7 ; 1 Petor iii. 19 ; Luke xvi. 7 Acts xvii. 31 ; John v. 22, 27. 
 
 23,24. 8 ICor. vi. 3; Jude 6. 
 
 S 1 Corinthians xv. 51, 52; 1 Thessa- 9 2 Cov. v. 10; Ecol. xii. 14; M.ltt. xii. 
 
 lonians iv. 17. 36; Eom. xiv. 10, 12; Matt. xxv. 
 
 4 Job xix. 26, 27. .'32, etc. 
 
 5 1 Cor. XV. 42, 43. 10 Kum. ix. 22, 28. 
 
APPENDIX. 175 
 
 lasting life, and receive that fulness of joy and gloiy, with everlast- 
 ing reward, in the presence ■ of the Lord ; but the wicked who 
 know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be east 
 into eternal torments, and ^ punished with everlasting destruction, 
 from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. 
 
 3. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there 
 shall be a day of judgment, both ^ to deter all men from sin, and for 
 the greater * consolation of the godly in their adversity, so will he 
 have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal 
 security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what 
 hour the ^ Lord will come, and may ever be prepared to say, * Come 
 Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 AN APPENDIX CONCERNING BAPTISM. 
 
 Whosoever reads and impartially considers what we have in 
 our foregoing confession declared, may readily perceive that we do 
 not only concentre with all other true Christians on the word of 
 God (revealed in the Scriptures of truth), as the foundation and 
 rule of our faith and worship ; but that we have also industriously 
 endeavored to manifest, that in the fundamental articles of Chris- 
 tianity we mind the same things, and have therefore expressed our 
 belief in the same words that have on the like occasion been spoken 
 by other societies of Christians before us. 
 
 This we have done, that those who are desirous to know the prin- 
 ciples of religion which we hold and practise may take an estimate 
 from ourselves (who jointly concur in this work), and may not be 
 misguided, either by undue reports, or by the ignorance or errors of 
 particular persons, who, going under the same name with ourselves, 
 may give an occasion of scandalizing the truth we profess. 
 
 1 Matthew xxv. 21, 34; 2 Timotliy 3 2 Cor. v. 10, 11. 
 
 iv. 8. -12 Thc.es. i. 3, 6, 7. 
 
 2 Matt xxv. 46 ; Mark ix. 48 ; 2 Tbess. i. 5 Mai It xiii. 36—37 ; Lulce xiil 35, 33. 
 
 7—10. e Rev. xxii. 20. 
 
176 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 And although we do differ from our brethren who are psedobap- 
 tists, in the subject and administration of baptism, and such other 
 circumstances as have a necessary dependence on our observance 
 of that ordinance, and do frequent our own assembhes for our mu- 
 tual edification, and discharge of those duties and services which we 
 owe unto God, and in his fear, to each other ; yet we would not be 
 from hence misconstrued, as if the discharge of our own consciences 
 herein did any ways disoblige, or alienate our affections or conver- 
 sations from any othei-s that fear the Lord ; but that we may and 
 do, as we have opportunity, participate of the labors of those whom 
 God hath endued with abilities above ourselves, and qualified and 
 called to the ministry of the word, earnestly desiring to approve 
 ourselves to be such as follow after peace with holiness ; and there- 
 fore we always keep that blessed Irenicum, or healing word of the 
 apostle before our eyes : If in any tiling ye be otherwise minded, God 
 shall reveal even this unto you ; nevertheless, whereto we have already 
 attained, let us walk by the same rule, lei us mind the same thing.^ 
 
 Let it not therefore be judged of us (because much hath been 
 written on this subject, and yet we continue this our practice differ- 
 ent from others) that it is out of obstinacy, but rather, as the truth 
 is, that we do herein, according to the best of our understandings, 
 worship God out of a pure mind, 3'ielding obedience to his precept, 
 in that method which we take to be most agreeable to the Scriptures 
 of truth and primitive practice. 
 
 It would not become us to give any such intimation as should 
 carry a semblance that what we do in the service of God is with a 
 doubting conscience, or with any such temper of mind, that we do 
 thus for the present with a reservation that we will do otherwise 
 hereafter upon more mature deliberation ; nor have we any cause 
 so to do, being fully persuaded that what we do is agreeable to the 
 will of God. Yet we do heartily propose this, that if any of the 
 servants of our Lord Jesus shall, in the spirit of meekness, attempt 
 to convince us of any mistake, either in judgment or practice, we 
 shall diligently ponder his arguments, and account him our chief- 
 est friend that shall be an instrument to convert us from any error 
 
 1 Phil. iii. 15, 16. 
 
APPENDIX. 177 
 
 that is in our ways, for we cannot wittingly do any thing against the 
 truth, but all things for the truth. 
 
 And therefore we have endeavored seriously to consider what 
 hath been already offered for our satisfaction in this point ; and are 
 loth to say more, lest we should be esteemed desirous of renewed 
 contests thereabout; yet, forasmuch as it may justly be expected 
 that we show some reason why we cannot acquiesce in what hath 
 been urged against us, we shall, with as much brevity as may con- 
 sist with plainness, endeavor to satisfy the expectation of those that 
 shall peruse what we now publish in this matter also. 
 
 1. As to those Christians who consent with us, that repentance 
 from dead works and faith towards God and our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 is required in persons to be baptized ; and do therefore supply the 
 defect of the infant (being incapable of making confession of either) 
 by others, who do undertake these things for it. Although we do find 
 by church history that this hath been a very ancient practice, yet 
 considering that the same Scripture ^ which does caution us against 
 censuring our brother, with whom we shall all stand before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ, does also instruct us, that every one of ug 
 shall give an account of himself to God, and whatsoever is not of 
 faith is sin ; therefore we cannot for our own parts be persuaded in 
 our own minds to build such a practice as this upon an unwritten 
 tradition ; but do rather choose, in all points of faith and worship, 
 to have recourse to the holy Scriptures for the information of our 
 judgment and regulation of our practice ; being well assured that a 
 conscientious attending thereto is the best way to prevent and rec- 
 tify our defects and errors.^ And if any such case happen to bo 
 debated between Christians, which is not plainly determinable by 
 the Scriptures, we think it safest to leave such things undecided, 
 until the second coming of our Lord Jesus ; as they did in the 
 church of old, until there should arise a priest with Urim and Thum- 
 mim, that might certainly inform them of the mind of God there- 
 about.2 
 
 2. As for those our Christian brethren, who do ground their argu- 
 ments for infants' baptism upon a presumed foederal holiness or 
 
 1 Rom. xiv. 4, 10, 12, 23. 2 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. s Ezra ii. 62, 63. 
 
1(0 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 church membership, we conceive they are deficient in this — that, 
 albeit this covenant holiness and membership should be as is sup- 
 posed, in reference unto the infants of believers, yet no command 
 for infant baptism does immediately and directly result from such a 
 quality or relation. 
 
 All instituted worship receives its sanction from the precept, and 
 is to be thereby governed in all the necessary circumstances thereof. 
 
 So it was in the covenant that God made with Abraham and his 
 seed, the sign whereof was appropriated only to the male, notwith- 
 standing that the female seed, as well as the male, were compre- 
 hended in the covenant, and part of the church of God; neither 
 was this sign to be affixed to any male infant till he was eight days 
 old, albeit he was within the covenant from the first moment of his 
 life ; nor could the danger of death, or any other supposed necessity, 
 warrant the circumcising of him before the set time, nor was there 
 any cause for it ; the commination of being cut off from his people 
 being only upon the neglect or contempt of the precept. 
 
 Righteous Lot was nearly related to Abraham in the flesh, and 
 contemporary with him, when this covenant was made ; yet, inas- 
 much as he did not descend from his loins, nor was of his household 
 family (although he was of the same household of faith with Abra- 
 ham), yet neither Lot himself nor any of his posterity (because of 
 their descent from him) were signed with the signature of this cov- 
 enant that was made with Abraham and his seed. 
 
 This may suffice to show that where there was both an express 
 covenant and a sign thereof, such a covenant as did separate the 
 persons with whom it was made and all their offspring from all the 
 rest of the world, as a people holy unto the Lord, and did constitute 
 them the visible church of God (though not comprehensive of all 
 the faithful in the world), yet the sign of this covenant was not 
 affixed to all the persons that were within, this covenant, nor to any 
 of them, till the prefixed season ; nor to other faithful servants of 
 God that were not of descent from Abraham. And, consequently, 
 that it depends purely upon the will of the lawgiver to determine 
 what shall be the sign of his covenant, unto whom, at what season, 
 and upon what terms it shall be affixed. 
 
 If our brethren do suppose baptism to be the seal of the covenant 
 
APPENDIX. 179 
 
 wWcli God makes with every believer (of which the Scriptures are 
 ahogether silent), it is not our concern to contend with them herein ; 
 yet we conceive the seal of that covenant is the indwelling of the 
 Spirit of Christ in the particular and individual persons in whom he 
 resides, and nothing else. Neither do they or we suppose that bap- 
 tism is in any such manner substituted in the place of circumcision, 
 as to have the same (and no other) latitude, extent, or terms than 
 circumcision had. For that was suited only for the male children : 
 baptism is an ordinance suited for ever)' believer, whether male or 
 female. That extended to all the males that were born in Abra- 
 ham's house, or bought with his money, equally with the males that 
 proceeded from his own loins ; but baptism is not so far extended in 
 any true Christian church that we know of, as to be administered to 
 all the poor infidel servants that the members thereof purchase for 
 their service, and introduce into their families, nor to the children 
 bom of them in their house. 
 
 But we conceive the same parity of reasoning may hold for the 
 ordinance of baptism as for that of circumcision,' viz., one law for 
 the stranger as for the home-born. If any desire to be admitted to 
 all the ordinances and privileges of God's house, the door is open ; 
 upon the same terms that any one person was ever admitted to all or 
 any of those privileges that belong to the Christian church, may all 
 persons of right challenge the like admission. 
 
 As for that text of Scripture,^ He received circumcision, a seal of 
 righteousness of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised ; we 
 conceive, if the apostle's scope in that place be duly attended to, it 
 will appear that no argument can be taken from thence to enforce 
 infant baptism. And forasmuch as we find a full and fair account 
 of those words given by the learned Dr. Lightfoot (a man not to be 
 suspected of partiality in this controversy), in his Hor. liebrai. on 
 the 1 Cor. vii. 19, p. 42, 43, we shall transcribe his words at large, 
 without any comment of our own upon them. 
 
 Circumcisio nihil est ratione habitl Circumcision is nothing, if we respect 
 temporis, jam enim evanuerat, adim- the time, for now it was without use, 
 pleto prjecipufe ejus fine ob quern that end of it being especially fulUlled 
 
 1 Exodus xii. 49. 2 Eom. iv. 11. 
 
180 
 
 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 fuerat instituta; istum finem exhibet 
 apostolus in verbis istis, Rom. iv. 11- 
 (Tcpparyiha tt\s SiKaiocuj/rts ttjs tt'kt- 
 Teojr ttJs it/ aKpo^vcria- At vereor 
 lie 4 plerisque versionibus non satis 
 aptentur, ad finem circumcisionis, et 
 scopum apostoli, dum ab lis interseri- 
 tur aliquid de suo. 
 
 for which it had been instituted: this 
 end the apostle declares in these words, 
 Rom. iv. 11, (r(ppayiBa, etc. But 1 fear 
 that by most translations they are not 
 sufficiently suited to the end of circum- 
 cision and the* scope of the apostle, 
 whilst something of their own is by 
 them inserted. 
 
 And after the doctor hath represented divers versions of the 
 ■words, agreeing, for the most part, in sense with that which we have 
 in our bibles, he thus proceeds : 
 
 Alia in eundem sensum, ac si circum- 
 cisio daretur Abrahamo in sigillum 
 justitis istius, quam ille habuit, dum 
 adhuc foret praputiatus; quod non 
 negabimus aliqualiter verum esse, at 
 credimus circumcisionem longe alio 
 pra3cipu6 respexisse. 
 
 Liceat mihi verba sic reddere : et 
 signum accepit circumcisionis, sigillum 
 justitise fidei, qu^e futura in prjeputio; 
 qus futura dico, non quae fuerat. Non 
 qute fuerat Abrahamo adhuc pra^putia- 
 to, eed quse futura semini ejus praepu- 
 tiato, id est, gentilibus, fidem dim 
 Abraham] imitaturis. 
 
 Nunc adverte bene qua occasione in- 
 stituta Abrahamo circumcisio, ponens 
 tibi ante oculos historiam ejus. Gen. 
 xvii. 
 
 Fit primo ei haec promissio, Multa- 
 tarum gentium eris tu pater (quonam 
 scusu explicat apostolus, isto capite) et 
 subinde subjungitur duplex sigillum rei 
 corroborandae; immutatio scilicet nom- 
 iiiis Abrami in Abrahamum; et institu- 
 tio circumcisionis: ver. 4. Ecce mihi 
 tecum est foedus, eris tu pater multarum 
 gentium. Quare vocatum est nomen 
 ejus Abrahamus! In sigillationem hu- 
 jus promissionis. Tu pater eris mul- 
 tarum gentium. Et quare instituta ei 
 circumcisio? In sigillationem ejusdem 
 
 Other versions are to the same pur- 
 pose; as if circumcision was given to 
 Abraham for a seal of that righteous- 
 ness which he had, being yetuncircum- 
 cised, which we will not deny to be in 
 some sense true; but we believe that 
 circumcision had chiefly a far different 
 respect. 
 
 Give me leave thus to render the 
 words: And he received the sign of 
 circumcision, a seal of the righteous- 
 ness of faith, which was to be in the 
 uncircumcision. Which was to be (I 
 say), not which had been; not that 
 which Abraham had whilst he was yet 
 uncircumcised, but which his uucir- 
 cumcised seed should have; that is, the 
 Gentiles, who in time to come should 
 imitate the faith of Abraham. 
 
 Now, consider well on what occasion 
 circumcision was instituted unto Abra- 
 ham, setting before thine eyes the his- 
 tory thereof. Gen. xvii. 
 
 This promise is first made unto him, 
 Thou shah be the father of many nations 
 (in what sense the apostle explaineth 
 in that chapter), and then there is sub- 
 joined a double seal for the confirma- 
 tion of the thing, to wit, the change of 
 the name Abram into Abraham, and 
 the institution of circumcision, ver. 4, 
 Behold^ as for me^ my covenant is tvitk 
 thee, and thou shall be the father of many 
 nations. Wherefore was his name called 
 Abraham ? Per the sealing of his prom- 
 ise. Thou shall be the fallier of many 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 181 
 
 j)roinissionis. Tu pater eris multaruiu 
 gentium. Ita ut hie sit seusus apostoli, 
 institutioni circumcisionis congruentis- 
 Bimus; accepit siguuin circumcisionis, 
 sigillum justitiffi fidei, quam olim erat 
 incircumcisio (vel Geutiley) liabituraet 
 adeptura. 
 
 Duplex semen erat Abrahamo, natu- 
 rale, Judaorum; et lidele, gentilium 
 credentium : signatur naturale siguo 
 circumcisionis, primo quidem in sui 
 distinction em, ab omnibus aliis genti- 
 bus, dum esB nou adbuc forent semen 
 Abrahami; at praecipue in memoriam 
 justification is gentium per fidem, cum 
 tandem forent ejus semen. Cessatura 
 ergo merito, erat circumcisio, cum 
 introducerentur Gentiles ad fidem, 
 quippe quod tunc finem suum ultimum 
 ac .praecipuum obtinuerat, et perinde 
 i) ireptTOjj.^ oObky- 
 
 nations. And wherefore was circum- 
 cision instituted to him? For the seal- 
 ing of the same promise. Thou shall be 
 tke father of many nations. So that this 
 is the sense of the apostle, most agree- 
 able to the institution of ciicumcisiou ; 
 lie received the ssi^i^n of circumcii^ion, a 
 seal of the righteoiit«nusH of faitli, whieli 
 iu lime to come the uiicircunicifioii (or 
 the Gentiles) should have and obtain. 
 
 Abraham had a twofold seed, natu- 
 ral, of the Jews; and, faithful, of the 
 believing O en tiles; his natural seed 
 was signed with the sign of circiini- 
 cisiou, first, indeed, for the distinguish- 
 ing of them from all other nations, 
 wliilst they as yet were not the seed of 
 Abraliam, but especially tor the me- 
 morial of the justification of the Geu- 
 tiles by faith, when at length they 
 should become his seed. Tliercfore, 
 circumcision was of right to cease wheu 
 the Gentiles were brought into the 
 faith, forasmuch as then it had obtained 
 its last and chief end, and thenceforth 
 circumcision ia nothing. 
 
 Thus far he, which we earnestly desire may be seriously weighed, 
 for we plead not Ms authority, but the evidence of truth in his 
 words. 
 
 3. Of whatsoever nature tbe holiness of the children mentioned ^ 
 be, yet they who do conclude that all such children (whether infants, 
 or of riper years) have from hence an immediate right to baptism, 
 do, as we conceive, put more into the conclusion than will be found 
 in the premises. 
 
 For although we do not determine positively concerning the apos- 
 tles* scope in the holiness here mentioned, so as to say, it is this or 
 that, and no other thing ; yet it is evident, that the apostle does by it 
 determine not only the lawfulness, but the expedience also of a be- 
 hever's cohabition with an unbeliever in the state of marriage. 
 
 And we do think that, although the apostle's asserting of the un- 
 believing yoke-fellow to be sanctified by the believer should carry 
 
 16 
 
 1 1 Cor. vii. 12. 
 
182 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 in it somewhat more than is in the bare marriage of two infidels, 
 because although the marriage covenant have a divine sanction so 
 as to make the wedlock of two unbelievers a lawful action, and 
 their conjunction and cohabition in that respect undefiled, yet there 
 might be no ground to suppose from thence, that both or either of 
 their persons are thereby sanctified ; and the apostle urges the co- 
 habition of a believer with an infidel in the state of wedlock from 
 this ground, that the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believ- 
 ing wife ; nevertheless, here you have the influence of a believer's 
 faith ascending from an inferior to a superior relation ; from the 
 wife to the husband, who is her head, before it can descend to their 
 offspring. And, therefore, we say, whatever be the nature or extent 
 of the holiness here intended, we conceive it cannot convey to the 
 children an immediate right to baptism; because it would then be of 
 another nature, and of a larger extent, than the root and original 
 from whence it is derived. For it is clear, from the apostle's argu- 
 ment, that holiness cannot be derived to the child from the sanctity 
 of one parent only ; if either father or mother be (in the sense in- 
 tended by the apostle) unholy or unclean, so will the child be also ; 
 therefore, for the production of a holy seed, it is necessary that 
 both the parents be sanctified. And this the apostle positively as- 
 serts in the first place to be done by the believing parent although 
 the other be an unbeliever, and then, consequentially, from thence 
 argues, the holiness of their children. Hence, it follows, that as the 
 children have no other holiness than what they derive from their 
 parents, so neither can they have any right by this holiness to any 
 spiritual privilege, but such as both their parents did also partake 
 of; and therefore, if the unbelieving parent (though sanctified by the 
 believing parent) have not thereby a right to baptism, neither can 
 we conceive that there is any such privilege derived to the children 
 by their birth-holiness. 
 
 Besides, if it had been the usual practice in the apostles' days for 
 the father or mother, that did believe, to bring all their children 
 with them to be baptized, then the holiness of the believing Co- 
 rinthians' children would not at all have been in question when this 
 epistle was written ; but might have been argued from their passing 
 under that ordinance, which represented their new birth, although 
 
APPENDIX. 183 
 
 tliey had derived no holiness from their parents by their first birth ; 
 and would have lain as an exception against the apostle's inference, 
 else were your children unclean, etc. But of the sanctification of all 
 the children of every believer by this ordinance, or any other way 
 than what is before mentioned, the Scripture is altogether silent. 
 
 This may be also added, that if this birth-holiness do qualify all 
 the children of every believer for the ordinance of baptism, why 
 not for all other ordinances ? for the Lord's supper, as was prac- 
 ticed for a long time together ? for if recourse be had to what the 
 Scriptures speak generally of this subject, it will be found that the 
 same qualities which do entitle any person to baptism, do also for 
 the participation of all the ordinances and privileges of the house 
 of God that are common to all believers. 
 
 Whosoever can and does interrogate his good conscience towards 
 God, when he is baptized (as every one must do that makes it to 
 himself a sign of salvation), is capable of doing the same thing in 
 every other act of worship that he performs. 
 
 4. The arguments and inferences that are usually brought for or 
 against infant baptism, from those few instances which the Scriptures 
 afford us of whole families being baptized, are only conjectural, and 
 therefore cannot of themselves be conclusive on either hand ; yet in 
 regard most that treat on this subject of infant baptism do (as they 
 conceive) improve these instances to the advantage of their argu- 
 ment, we think it meet (in like manner, as in the cases before men- 
 tioned, so in this) to show the invalidity of such inferences. 
 
 Cornelius worshipped God with all his house. The jailor and Cris- 
 pus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed God with each of 
 their houses. The household of Stephanus addicted themselves to 
 the ministry of the saints : so that thus far worshipping and believ- 
 ing runs parallel with baptism. And if Lydia had been a married 
 person when she believed, it is probable her husband would also 
 have been named by the apostle, as in like cases, inasmuch as he 
 would have been not only a part, but the head of that baptized 
 household. 
 
 Who can assign any probable reason why the apostle should make 
 mention of four or five households being baptized and no more ? or 
 
184 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 ■why lie does so often varj' in the method of his salutations, ^ some- 
 times mentioning only particular persons of great note, other times 
 such and the church in their house ? the saints that were with them, 
 and them belonging to Narcissus, who were in the Lord ; thus salut- 
 ing either whole families, or part of families, or only particular pei- 
 sons in families, considered as they were in the Lord. For if it had 
 been a usual practice to baptize all children with their parents, there 
 were then many thousands of the Jews which believed, and a great 
 number of the Gentiles, in most of the principal cities in the world, 
 and among so many thousands, it is more than probable there would 
 have been some thousands of households baptized ; why then should 
 the apostle in this respect signalize one family of the Jews and three 
 or four of the Gentiles, as particular instances in a case that was 
 common ? AVhoever supposes that we do wilfully debar our children 
 from the benefit of any promise or privilege that of right belongs to 
 the children of believing parents, they do entertain over-severe 
 thoughts of us. To be without natural affections is one of the char- 
 acters of the worst of persons in the worst of times. AYe do freely 
 confess ourselves guilty before the Lord, in that we have not with 
 more circumspection and diligence trained up those that relate to us 
 in the fear of the Lord ; and do humbly and earnestly pray, that 
 omissions herein may be remitted, and that they may not redound 
 to the prejudice of ourselves or any of ours; but with respect to 
 that duty that is incumbent on us, we acknowledge ourselves obliged 
 by the precepts of God to bring up our children in the nurture and 
 admonition of the Lord, to teach them his fear, both by instruction 
 and example ; and should we set light by this precept, it would dem- 
 onstrate that we are more vile than the unnatural heathen, that like 
 not to retain God in their knowledge ; our baptism might then be 
 justly accounted as no baptism to us. 
 
 There are many special promises that do encourage us, as well as 
 precepts that do oblige us to the close pursuit of our duty herein ; 
 that God whom we serve, being jealous of his worship, threatens the 
 visiting of the father's transgression upon the children, to the third 
 and fourth generation of them that hate him ; yet does more abun- 
 
 ] r>om. i. 6. 
 
APPENDIX. 185 
 
 dantly extend his mercy, even to thousands (respecting the offspring 
 and succeeding generations) of them that love him and keep his 
 commands. 
 
 When our Lord rebuked his disciples for prohibiting the access 
 of little children that were brought to him that he might pray over 
 them, lay his hands upon them, and bless them, [he] does declare, 
 that of such w the kingdom of God. And the apostle Peter, in 
 answer to their inquiry that desired to know what they must do 
 to be saved, does not only instruct them in the necessary duty of 
 repentance and baptism, but does also thereto encourage them, by 
 that promise which had reference both to them and their children. 
 If our Lord Jesus in the fore-mentioned place, do not respect tlie 
 qualities of children (as elsewhere) as to their meekness, humility, 
 and sincerity, and the like, but intend also, that those very persons, 
 and such like, appertain to the kingdom of God ; and if the apostle 
 Peter, in mentioning the aforesaid promise, do respect not only the 
 present and succeeding generations of those Jews that heard him 
 (in which sense the same phrase doth occur in Scripture), but also 
 the immediate offspring of his auditors ; whether the promise relate 
 to the gift of the Holy Spirit, or of eternal life, or any grace, or 
 privilege tending to the obtaining thereof; it Is neither our concern, 
 nor our interest, to confine the mercies and promises of God to a 
 more narrow or less compass than he is pleased graciously to offer 
 and intend them ; nor to have a light esteem of them ; but are 
 obliged in duty to God, and affection to our children, to plead ear- 
 nestly with God, and use our utmost endeavors, that both ourselves 
 and onr offspring may be partakers of his mercies and gracious 
 promises. Yet we cannot, from either of these texts, collect a suffi- 
 cient warrant for us to baptize our children before they are in- 
 structed in the principles of the Christian religion. 
 
 For, as to the instance in little children, it seems, by the disciples 
 forbidding them, that they were brought upon some other account, 
 not so frequent as baptism must be supposed to have been, if from 
 the beginning believers' children had been admitted thereto; and 
 no account is given whether their parents were baptized believers 
 or not. And as to the instance of the apostle, if the following 
 words and practice may be taken as an interpretation of the scope 
 
 16* 
 
186 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 of that promise, we cannot conceive it does refer to infant baptism, 
 because the text does presently subjoin, then they that gladly received 
 the iBord were baptized. 
 
 That there were some believing children of believing parents in 
 the apostles' days is evident from the Scriptures, even such as were 
 then in their father's family, and under their parents' tuition and 
 education ; to whom the apostle, in several of his epistles to the 
 churches, giveth commands to obey their parents in the Lord ; and 
 does allure their tender years to hearken to this precept, by remind- 
 ing them that it is the first command with promise. 
 
 And it is recorded by him for the praise of Timothy, and encour- 
 agement of parents, betimes to instruct, and children early to attend 
 to godly instruction, that, airh- Ppecpovs, from a child he had known the 
 holy Scriptures. 
 
 • The apostle John rejoiced greatly when he found the children of 
 the elect lady walking in the truth ; and the children of her elect 
 sister join with the apostle in his salutation. 
 
 But that this was not generally so, that all the children of believ- 
 ers were accounted for believers (as they would have been if they 
 had been all baptized), may be collected from the character which 
 the apostle gives of persons fit to be chosen to eldership in the 
 church, which was not common to all believers ; among others, this 
 is expressly one, viz., if there be any having believing or faithful 
 children, not accused of riot, or unruly ; and we may, from the 
 apostle's writings on the same subject, collect the reason of this 
 qualification, viz., that in case the person designed for this ofBce, 
 to teach and rule in the house of God, had children capable of it, 
 there might be first a proof of his ability, industry, and success in 
 this work in his own family, and private capacity, before he was or- 
 dained to the exercise of this authority in the church in a public 
 capacity, as a bishop in the house of God. 
 
 These things we have mentioned, as having a direct reference 
 unto the controversy between our brethren and us ; other things 
 that are more abstruse and prolix, which are frequently Introduced 
 into this controversy, but do not necessarily concern it, we have pur- 
 posely avoided, that the distance between us and our brethren may 
 not be by us made more wide ; for it is our duty and concern, so far 
 
APPENDIX. 187 
 
 as is possible for us (retaining a good conscience towards God) to 
 seek a more entire agreement and reconciliation with them. 
 
 We are not insensible, that as to the order of God's house, and 
 entire communion therein, there are some things wherein we (as 
 well as others) are not at a full accord among ourselves ; as, for in- 
 stance, the known principle and state of the consciences of divers 
 of us, that have agreed in this confession is such, that we cannot 
 hold church communion with any other than baptized believers, and 
 churches constituted of such ; yet some others of us have a greater 
 liberty and freedom in our spirits that way ; and therefore we have 
 purposely omitted the mention of things of that nature, that we 
 might concur in giving this evidence of our agreement, both among 
 ourselves, and with other good Christians, in those important articles 
 of the Christian religion, mainly insisted on by us ; and this, not- 
 withstanding we all esteem it our chief concern, both among' our- 
 selves and all others that in every place call upon the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours, and love him in 
 sincerity, to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
 peace ; and in order thereunto, to exercise all lowliness and meek- 
 ness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. 
 
 And we are persuaded, if the same method were introduced into 
 frequent practice between us and our Christian friends, who agree 
 with us in all the fundamental articles of the Christian faith (though 
 they do not so in the subject and administration of baptism), it 
 would soon beget a better understanding and brotherly affection 
 between us. 
 
 In the beginning of the Christian church, when the doctrine of 
 the baptism of Christ was not universally understood, yet those that 
 knew only the baptism of John were the disciples of the Lord Jesus, 
 and Apollos, an eminent minister of the gospel of Jesus. 
 
 In the beginning of the reformation of the Christian church, and 
 recovery from that Egyptian darkness wherein our forefathers for 
 many generations were held in bondage, upon recourse had to the 
 Scriptures of truth, different apprehensions were conceived, which 
 are to this time continued, concerning the practice of this ordinance. 
 
 Let not our zeal herein be misinterpreted ; that God whom we 
 serve is jealous of his worship. By his gracious providence the law 
 
188 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 thereof is continued amongst us ; and we are forewarned, by what 
 happened in the church of the Jews, that it is necessary for every 
 generation, and that frequently in every generation, to consult the 
 divine oracle, compare our worship with the rule, and take heed to 
 what doctrines we receive and practise. 
 
 If the ten commandments exhibited in the popish idolatrous ser- 
 vice-books had been received as the entire law of God, because 
 they agree in number with his ten commands, and also in the sub- 
 stance of nine of them, the second commandment, forbidding idola- 
 try, had been utterly lost. 
 
 If Ezra and Nehemiah had not made a diligent search into the 
 particular parts of God's law and his worship, the feast of tabernar 
 cles (which for many centuries of years had not been duly observed 
 according to the institution, though it was retained in the general 
 notion) would not have been kept in due order. 
 
 So may it be now as to many things relating to the service of 
 God, which do retain the names proper to them in their first institu- 
 tion, but yet through inadvertency (where there is no sinister de- 
 sign) may vary in their circumstances, from their first institution. 
 And if by means of any ancient defection, or of that general cor- 
 ruption of the service of God and interruption of his true worship 
 and persecution of his servants by the anti-chrjstian bishop of 
 Rome, for many generations, those who do consult the word of 
 God cannot yet arrive at a full and mutual satisfaction among them- 
 selves, what was the practice of the primitive Christian church, in 
 some points relating to the worship of God ; yet inasmuch as these 
 things are not of the essence of Christianity, but that we agree in 
 the fundamental doctrines thereof, we do apprehend there is suffi- 
 cient ground to lay aside all bitterness and prejudice, and in the 
 spirit of love and meekness to embrace and own each other therein, 
 leaving each other at liberty to perform such other services, wherein 
 we cannot concur, apart unto God, according to the best of our 
 understanding. 
 
APPENDIX, 189 
 
 ADDITIONS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CONFESSION OF 1689, BY THE PHILADELPHIA ASSOCIATION. 
 
 The following are the articles added by the Philadelphia 
 Association, Sept. 15, 1742. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 OF THE SINGING OF PSALMS, ETC. 
 
 We believe that ' singing the praises of God is a holy ordinance of 
 Christ, and not a part of natural religion, or a moral duty only ; but 
 that it is brought under divine institution, it being enjoined on the 
 churches of Christ to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs ; and 
 that the whole church in their public assemblies (as well as private 
 Christians) ought to ^ sing God's praises according to the best light 
 they have received. Moreover, it was practised in the great repre- 
 sentative church, by ^ our Lord Jesus Christ with his disciples, after 
 be had instituted and celebrated the sacred ordinance of his holy 
 supper, as a commemorative token of redeeming love. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 OF LAYING ON OF HANDS. 
 
 1. We believe that * laying on of hands, with prayer, upon bap- 
 tized believers, as such, is an ordinance of Christ, and ought to be 
 submitted unto by all such persons that are admitted to partake of 
 the Lord's Supper, and that the end of this ordinance is not for the 
 extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, but for * a farther reception of the 
 
 I Acts xvi. 26; Eph. v. 19; Col. iii. 16. i Heb. v. 12, vi. 1, 2; Acts viii. 17, 18, 
 2Heb. ii. 12; James V. 13. xix. 6. 
 
 8 Matt. xxvi. 30 ; Mark xlv. 26. 5 Eph. i. 13, 14. 
 
190 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 Holy Spirit of promise, or for the addition of the graces of the 
 Spirit' and the influences thereof; to confirm, strengthen, and com- 
 fort them in Christ Jesus ; it being ratified and established by the ' 
 extraordinary gifts of the Spirit in the primitive times, to abide in 
 the church, as meeting together on the first day of the week was, ^ 
 that being the day of worship, or Christian Sabbath, under the gos- 
 pel ; and as preaching the word was, ^ and as baptism was, * and 
 prayer was, ^ and singing psalms, etc., was, ^ so this laying on of 
 hands was, ' for as the whole gospel was confirmed by ^ signs and 
 wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost in genei-al, 
 so was every ordinance in like manner confirmed in particular. 
 
 1 Acts viii. 7, xix. 6. s Acts iv. 31. 
 
 2 Acts ii. 1. e Acts xvi. 25. 26. 
 
 3 Acts X. 44. 7 Acts viii xix. 
 
 4 Matt. iii. 16. 8 Heb. ii. 3, 4. 
 
 Note. — The Discipline adopted by the Philadelphia Association, to accom- 
 pany this Confession of Faith, will be found on page 199. 
 
III. 
 
 THE NEW HAMPSHIRE DECLARATION OF FAITH. 
 
 1. or THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 We believe that the holy Bible was written by men divinely in- 
 spired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly Instruction ; ^ that it has 
 God for its author, salvation for its end,^ and truth without any 
 mixture of error fpr its matter;^ that it reveals the principles by 
 which God will judge us ,* and therefore is, and shall remain to the 
 end of the world, the true centre of Christian union,^ and the su- 
 preme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions 
 should be tried.^ 
 
 II. OP THE TRUE GOD. 
 
 We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God, 
 an infinite, intelligent Spirit, whose name is Jehovah, the Maker 
 and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth ; ' inexpressibly glorious 
 in holiness,^ and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love ; ' 
 that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Fa- 
 
 1 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17; 2 Peter i. 21; 2 —6; Phil. ii. 1, 2; 1 Cor. i. 10; 1 Peter 
 Sam. xxiii. 2; Acts i. 16, iii. 21; John iv. 11. 
 
 X. 35; Luke xvi. 29—31; Psalm cxix. siJohnir.l; l6a.Tiii.20; IThess.v. 
 
 HI ; Eom. iii. 1, 2. 21 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 5 ; Acts xvii. 11 ; 1 John 
 
 2 2 Tim. iii. 15; 1 Peter i. 10—12; Acts iv. 6; Jude 3 ; Eph. vi. 17; Psalm cxix. 
 xi. 14; Eom. i. 16; Mark xvi. 16; John 69, 60; Phil. i. 9—11. 
 
 V. 38, 39. 7 John iv. 24 ; Psalm cxlvii. 6, Ixxxiii. ' 
 
 3 Prov, XXX. 5,6; John xvii. 17 ; Rev. 18 ; H eb. ii i. 4 ; Eom. i. 20 ; Jer. x. 10. 
 xxii. 18, 19; Eom. iii. 4. 8 Ex. xv. 11; Isa. vi. 3; 1 Peter i. 15, 
 
 4 Eom. ii. 12; John xii. 47, 48; 1 Cor. 16; Eev. iv. 6—8. 
 
 iv. 3,4; Luke X. 10— 16, xii. 47, 48. 9 Mark xii. 80; Eev. iv. 11; Matt. x. 
 
 «Philippians iii. 16; Ephesians iv. 3 37; Jer. ii. 12, 13. 
 
192 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 tlier, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ;i equal in every divine perfec- 
 tion,2 and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great 
 work of redemption.^ 
 
 III. OF THE FALL OF MAN. 
 
 We believe that man was created in holiness, under the law of 
 his Maker ; * but by voluntary transgression fell from that holy and 
 happy state ; " in consequence of which all mankind are now sin- 
 ners,^ not by constraint but choice ;'' being by nature utterly void of 
 that holiness required by the law of God ; positively inclined to 
 evil ; and therefore under just condemnation to eternal ruin,^ with- 
 out defence or excuse.^ 
 
 IV. OF THE WAY OF SALVATION. 
 
 We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace ; '" 
 through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God ; ^^ who by the ap- 
 pointment of the Father, freely took upon him our nature, yet 
 without sin ;'^ honored the divine law by his personal obedience,'' and 
 by his death made a full atonement for our sins ;'* that having risen 
 from the dead, he is now enthroned in heaven ; '^ and uniting in his 
 wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfections, 
 he is every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate, and an 
 all-sufficient Saviour.'^ 
 
 1 Matxxviii. 19; Jobnxv.26; 1 Cor. 9 Ezek. xviii.19,20; Rom.i.20j Eom. 
 xii. 4—6; 1 John v. 7. iii. 19; Gal. iij. 22. 
 
 2 John X. 80; John v. 17; xiv. 28, . 10 Eph. ii. 5; Matt, xviii. 11; 1 John 
 xvii. 5, 10; Acts v. 3, 4; 1 Cor. ii. 10, iv. 10; 1 Cor. iii. 5—7; Acts xv. IL 
 11; Phil. ii. 5, 6. " John iii. 16; John i. 1—14; Heb. 
 
 3 Eph. ii. IS; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; Eev. i. 4, iv. 14, xii. 24. 
 
 5. Compare ii. 7. 12 Phil. ii. 6, 7; Heb. ii. 9, ii. 14; 2 
 
 4 Gen. i. 27; Gen. i. 31; Eccl. vii. 29; Cor. v. 21. 
 
 Acts XV. 26; Gen. ii. 16. 13 Isa. xlii. 21; Phil. ii. 8; Gal. iv. i, 
 
 « Gen. iii. 6—24; Eom. v, 12, 5; Eom. iii. 21. 
 
 6 Rom. V. 19; John iii. 6; Psalm Ii. 5; » Isa. liii. 4, 5; Matt. xx. 28; Eom. 
 Eom. V. 15—19; viii. 7. iv. 25, iii. 21-26; 1 John iv. 10, ii. 2j 1 
 
 7 Isa. liii. 6; Gen. vi. 12; Eom. iii. 9 Cor. xv. 1—8; Heb. ix. 13—15. 
 
 —18. IS Heb. i. 8 ; Heb. i 3, viii. 1 ; Col. iii. 
 
 8 Eph. ii. 1—3 ; Eom. i. 18 ; Eom. i. 1—4. 
 
 32, ii. 1—16; Galatians iii. 10; Matthew 16 Heb. vii. 25; Col. ii. 9; Heb. ii. 18; 
 ^^- 15. Heb. vii. 26; Psalm Ixxxix. 19; Pb. xlv. 
 
APPENDIX. 193 
 
 V. OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 We believe that the great gospel blessing which Christ^ secures 
 to such as believe in him, is justification ;^ that justification includes 
 the pardon of sin,^ and the promise of eternal life on principles of 
 righteousness;'' that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works 
 of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the 
 Redeemer's blood ;^ by virtue of which faith his perfect righteous- 
 ness is freely imputed to us of God ;" that it brings us into a state of 
 most blessed peace and favor with God, and secures every other 
 blessing needful for time and eternity/ 
 
 VI. OF THE FREENESS OF SALVATION. 
 
 We believe that the blessings of salvation are made free to all by 
 tlie gospel;^ that it is the immediate duty of all to accept them by 
 a cordial, penitent, and obedient faith ;' and that nothing prevents 
 the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth, but his own determined 
 depravity and voluntary rejection of the gospel ; ^^ which rejection 
 involves him in an aggravated condemnation.^' 
 
 VII. OF GRACE IN REGENERATION. 
 
 We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be regenerated, 
 or born again ;'2 that regeneration consists in giving a holy disposi- 
 tion to the mind ; ^ that it is effected in a manner above our compre- 
 hension by the power of the Holy Spirit, in connection with divine 
 
 1 John i. 16; Eph. iii. 8. 8 Isaiah Iv. 1; Eev. xxii. 17; Luke 
 
 2 Acts xiil. 39; Isa. iii. 11, 12; Kom. xiv. 17. 
 
 viii. 1. 9 Eom. xvi. 26; Mark i. 15,- Eom. i. 
 
 3 Eom. v. 9; Zech. xiii. 1; Matt. ix. 15—17. 
 
 6; Acts X. 43. 10 John v. 40; Matt, xxiii. 37; Eom. 
 
 4 Eom. T. 17; Titus iii. 5, 6; 1 Peter ix. 32; Prov. i. 24; Acts xiii. 46. 
 
 iii. 7; IJohnii. 25; Eom. v. 2L n John iii. 19; Matt. xi. 20; Luke 
 
 s Eom. iv. 4, 5, v. 21, vi. 23; Phil. iii. xix. 27; 2 Thess. i. 8. 
 
 7— 9. 12 John iii. 3, iii. 6, 7; 1 Cor. i. 14; 
 
 G Eom. T. 19; Eom. iii. 24—26; iv. 23 Eev. viii. 7—9, xxi. 27. 
 
 — 25; IJohn ii. 12. 13 2 Cor. v. 17; Ezek. xxxvi. 26; 
 
 7 Eom. V. 1, 2, V. 3, v. 11; 1 Cor. j. 30, Deut. xxx. 6; Eom. Ii. 28, 29, v. 5; 1 
 
 81; Matt. vi. 33; 1 Tim. iv. 8. John iv. 7. 
 
 17 
 
1 94 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 truth,' so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel ;2 and 
 that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, 
 and faith, and newness of llfe.^ 
 
 VIII. OF KEPENTANCE AND PAITH. 
 
 We believe that repentance and faith are sacred duties, and also 
 inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the regenerating Spirit 
 of God ;^ whereby, being deeply convinced of our guilt, danger, and 
 helplessness, and of the way of salvation by Christ,* we turn to God 
 with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy;* 
 at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our 
 Prophet, Priest, and King, and relying on him' alone as the only and 
 all-sufficient Saviour. ' 
 
 IX. OF god's purpose of grace. 
 
 We believe that election is the eternal purpose of God, according 
 to which he graciously regenerates, sanctifies, and saves sinners;' 
 that being perfectly consistent with the free agency of man, it com- 
 prehends all the means in connection with the end ;^ that it is a most 
 glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, being infinitely free, 
 wise, holy, and unchangeable ; '" that it utterly excludes boasting, and 
 promotes humility, love, prayer, praise, trust in God, and active im- 
 itation of his free mercy ;" that it encourages the use of means in 
 the highest degree ; '^ that it may be ascertained by its efiects in all 
 
 1 John iii. 8, i. 13; James i. 16—18; 1 8 2 Tim. i. 8, 9; Epli. i. 3— U; 1 Teter 
 Cor. i. 30; Phil. ii. 13. i. 1, 2; Rom. xi. 5, 6; John xv. 16; 1 
 
 2 1 Peter i. 22—25; 1 John v. 1; Eph. John iv. 19; Hoseaxii. 9. 
 
 iv. 20— 24; Col. iii. 9— 11. 9 2 Tliess. ii. 13, 14; Acts xiii. 48; 
 
 3 Eph. V. 9; Rom. viii.9; Gal. v. 16— John x. 16; Matt. xx. 16; Acts xv. 14. 
 23; Eph. iii. 14— 21; Matt, iii. 8—10, vii. W Exodus xxxiii. 18, 19; Matt. xx. 16; 
 20; 1 John v. 4, 18. Eph. i. 11; Rom. ix. 23, 24; Jer. xxxi. 
 
 4 Marie i. 15; Acts xi. 18; Eph. ii. 8; 3; Rom. xi. 28, 29; James i, 17, 18; 2 
 
 1 John V. 1. Tim. i. 9; Rom. xi. 32-36. 
 
 5 John xvi. 8; Acts ii. 37, 38, xvi. n 1 Cor. iv. 7, i. 26—31; Rom. iii. 27, 
 30, 31. iv. 16; Col. iii. 12; 1 Cor. iii. 6-7, xt. 
 
 c Lukexviii.lS,xv.l8— 21; Jas. iv.7— 10; 1 Peterv.lO; Acts i. 24; lThes8.ii. 
 
 10; 2 Cor. vii. U; Rom. x. 12. 13; Ps. Ii. 13; 1 Peter ii. 9; Luke xviii. 7; John 
 
 7 Rom. X. 9-11; Acts iii. 22, 23; Heb. xv. 16; Eph. i. 16; 1 Thess. ii. 12. 
 
 iv. 14; Psalm ii. 6; Heb. i. 8; viii. 25; 12 2 Tim. ii. 10; 1 Cor. ix. 22; Rom. 
 
 2 Tim. 1, 12. viii. 28-30; John vi. 37-40; 2 Pet. i. 10. 
 
APPENDIX. 195 
 
 ■wlio truly believe tlie gospel;^ that it is the foundation of Christian 
 assurance ; " and that to ascertain it with regard to ourselves demands 
 and deserves the utmost diligence.' 
 
 X. OF SANCTIFICATION 
 
 We believe that sanctification is the process hy which, according 
 to the will of God, we are made partakers of his holiness ;^ that it is 
 a progressive work ;^ that it is begun in regeneration :* and that it is 
 carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of 
 the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of 
 the appointed meanp — especially, the word of God, self-examina- 
 tion, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer.^ 
 
 XI. OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF BAIXTS. 
 
 We believe that such only are real believers as endure unto the 
 end ; * that their persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark 
 which distinguishes them from superficial professors;^ that a special 
 providence watches over their welfare ; "• and they are kept by the 
 power of God through faith unto salvation." 
 
 XII. OF THE HARMONY OF THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. 
 
 We beUeve that the law of God is the eternal and unehanaeable 
 rule of his moral government ; ^^ that it is holy, just, and good ; '^ and 
 
 1 Thess. i. 4—10. John viii. 31; 1 John ii. 27, 28; iii. 
 
 2Eom. viii. 23—30; Isa. xlii. 16; 9, v. 18. 
 
 Kom. xi. 29. 9 1 John ii. 19; John xiii. 18; Mat- 
 
 32Peter i. 10, 11; Phil. iii. 12; Heb. thew xiii. 20, 21; .loiin vi. 66-69 ; Job 
 
 vi. 11. xvii 9. 
 
 * ITliess. iv. 3; 1 Thess. v. 23; 2 Cor. 10 Romans viii. 28; Matthew vi. 30 
 
 vii. 1; xiii. 9; Epis. i. 4. —33: Jer. xxxii. 40; Psalm cxxi 3; 
 
 5 Piov. iv. 18; 2 Cor. iii. 18; Heb. vi. xci. 11. 12. 
 
 1; 2 Peter i 5—8; Phil. iii. 12-16. n Phil, i 6. ii. 12, 13; Jurte 24. 2.5; 
 
 6 John ii 29; Rom. viii. 6; John iii. Heb. i 14; 2 Kings vi. 16; Heb. xiii. 6; 
 6; Phil, i 9-11; Eph. i. 13. 14. 1 John iv. 4. 
 
 n'hil. ii. 12. 13; Eph. iv. 11. 12; 1 12 Rom. iii. 31; Matt. v. 17; Luke 
 
 Peter ii. 2; 2 Peter iii. 18; 2 Cor xiii. xvi 17; Rom. iii. 20. iv. 1.5. 
 
 6; Luke xi. 35, ix. 23; Matt. xxvi. 41; I'i Rom. vii. 12, vii. 7, 14, 22; Gal. iii. 
 
 Eph. vi. 18; iv. 30. 21; Psalm cxix. 
 
196 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 that the inability which the Scriptures ascribe to fallen men to fulfil 
 its precepts, arises entirely from their love of sin:^ to deliver them 
 from which, and to restore them through a mediator to unfeigned 
 obedience to the holy law, is one great end of the gospel, and of 
 the means of grace connected with the establishment of the visible 
 church.^ 
 
 XIII. OF A GOSPEL CHURCH. 
 
 We believe that a visible church of Christ is a congregation of 
 baptized believers,^ associated by covenant in the faith and fellow- 
 ship of the gospel ;* observing the ordinances of Christ ;^ governed 
 by his laws ;'' and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested 
 in them by his word ; ' that its only scriptural officers are bishops or 
 pastors, and deacons,^ whose qualifications, claims, and duties are 
 defined in the epistles to Timothy and Titus. 
 
 XIV. OF BAPTISM .4.ND THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 "We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a 
 believer,^ into the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost ; i" 
 to show forth, in a solemn and beautiful emblem, our faith in the 
 crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, with its effect, in our death to 
 sin and resurrection to a new life ; ^ that it is pre-requisite to the 
 privileges of a church relation ; and to the Lord's Supper,'^ in which 
 
 1 Eom. viii. 7,8; Josh. xxiv. 19; Jer. Thessalonians iv. 2 ; 2 John 6; Gal. 
 xiii. 23; John vi. 44, V. 44. vi.2. All the Epistles. 
 
 2 Eom. viii. 2, 4, x. 4 ; 1 Tim. i. 5 i 7 Eph. iv. 7 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 12 ; Phil. i. 
 Heb. viii. 10 ; Jude 20, 21 ; Heb. xii. 14 ; 27 ; 1 Cor. xii., xiv. 
 
 Matt. xvi. 17, 18; 1 Cor. xii. 28. 8 Phil. i. 1; Acts xiv. 23, xv. 22; 1 
 
 3 1 Cor. i. 1—13; Matt, xviii. 17; Acts Tim. iii.; Titus i. 
 
 V. 11, viii. 1, xi. 31; 1 Cor. iv. 17, xiv. 9 Acts viii. 36-39; Matt. iii. 5, 6j 
 
 28; 3 John 9; 1 Tim. iii. 5. John iii. 22, 23, iv. i. 2; Matt, xxviii. 
 
 i Acts ii. 41, 42; 2 Cor. viii. fi; Acts 19; Mark xvi. 16; Acts ii. 88, viii. 12, 
 
 ii. 47; 1 Cor. v. 12, 43. xvi 32—34, xviii. 8. 
 
 5 1 Cor. xi. 2; 2 Thess. iii, 6; Eom. I" Matt, xxviii. 19; Acts x. 47, 48; 
 xvi. 17-20; 1 Cor. xi. 23; Matt, xviii. Gal. iii. 27, 28. 
 
 15—20; 1 Cor. v.,vi. ; 2Cor. ii. 7; 1 Cor. " Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12; 1 Peter iii. 
 
 iv. 17. 20,21; Actsxxii. 16. 
 
 6 Matthew xxviii. 20; John xiv. IB, 12 Acts ii. 41, 42; Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 
 XV. 12; 1 John iv. 21 ; John xiv. 21; 1 Acts and Epistles. 
 
APPENDIX. 197 
 
 the members of the church by the sacred use of bread and wine, 
 are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ ;i preceded 
 always by solemn self-examination.^ 
 
 XV. OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 
 
 We believe that the first day of the weeic is the Lord's day, or 
 Christian Sabbath;^ and is to be liept sacred to religious purposes,* 
 by abstaining from all secular labor and sinful recreations ; ' by the 
 devout observance of all the means of grace, both private ^ and pub- 
 lic •/ and by preparation for that rest that remaineth for the people 
 of God.8 
 
 XVI. OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 We believe that civil government is of divine appointment, for 
 the interests and good order of human society ;^ and that magistrates 
 are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed ;'" except 
 only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ," who is 
 the only Lord of the conscience, and the Prince of the kings of the 
 earth.i2 
 
 XVII. OF THE KIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. 
 
 We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between 
 the righteous and the wicked;'^ that such only as through faith are 
 
 1 1 Cor. xi. 26; Matt. xxvi. 26—29; 8 Heb. iv 3—11. 
 
 Markxir. 22— 25; Lulie xxii 14—20. 9 Eom. xiii. 1—7; Deut. xvi. 18; 2 
 
 2 1 Corinthians xi. 28 ; 1 Corinthians Sam. xxiii. 3; Exodijfi xviii. 23; Jer. 
 v. 1, 8; X. 3—32; xi. 17—32; John vi. xxx. 21. 
 
 26—71. 10 Matt. xxii. gl ; Titus iii. 1 ; 1 Peter 
 
 3 Acts XX. 7; Gen. ii. 3; Col. ii. 16,17; ii. 13; 1 Tim. ii. 1— 8, 
 
 Maikii.27; Johiixx.l9;lCor.xvi.l,2. 11 Acts v. 29; Matt, x. 28; Dan. iii. 
 
 i Ex. XX. 8; Eev. i. 10; Ps exvii. 24. 16—18; vi. 7—10; Acts iv. 18—20. 
 
 « Isa. Iviii. 13, 14, Ivi. 2—8. 12 Matt, xxiii. 10; Rom. xiv. 4; Rev. 
 
 6 Ps. cxviii. 15. 3cix. 18; Ps. Ixxii 11; Ps ii. ; Rora. xi'.-. 
 
 7 Heb. X. 24, 25; Acts xi. 28; Acts 9—13. 
 
 xiii. 44; Lev. xix. 30; Ex. xlvi. 3; Luke 13 Mai. iii. 18; Prov. xii. 26; Ita. v. 
 
 iv. 16; Acts xvii, 2, 3; Psaln) xxvi. 8; 20; Gen. xviii. 23; Jcr. xv. 19; Acts x. 
 
 Ixxxvii. 3. 34, 35; Eom. vi. 16. 
 
 17* 
 
1 98 CONFESSIONS. 
 
 justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and sanctified by the Spii-it 
 of our God, are truly righteous in his esteem ; ' while all such as con- 
 tinue in impenitence and unbelief are in his sight wicked, and unrler 
 the curse J 2 and this distinction holds among men both in and after 
 death.^ 
 
 XVIII. OP THE WORLD TO COME. 
 
 We believe that the end of this world is approaching ;* that at (he 
 last day, Christ will descend from heaven,* and raise the dead from 
 the grave to final retribution ; ^ that a solemn separation will then 
 take place ;' that the wicked will be adjudged to endless punishment, 
 and the righteous to endless joy ;^ and that this judgment will fix 
 forever the final state of men in heaven or hell, on principles of 
 righteousness.^ 
 
 1 Rom. i. 17; Rom. vii. 6; 1 John ii. 6 Acts xxiv. 15; 1 Cor. xv. 12—59; 
 29, iii. 7; Kom. vi. 18,22; 1 Cor. xi. 32; Luke xiv. 14; Dan. xii. 2; John v. iS, 
 PrOT. xi. 31; 1 Peter iv. 17, IS. 29, vi. 40; xi. 25, 26; 2 Tim. i. 10; Arts 
 
 2 IJohnv. 19; Gal. iii. 10; John iii. 36; x, 42. 
 
 Isa. Ivii. 21; Pa. x. 4; lea. Iv. 6, 7. 7 Matt. xiii. 49, xiii. 37—43; xxiv. 30, 
 
 3 Prov. xiv. 32; Lnkexvi. 25; John 31; xxv. 31— 83. 
 
 viii.21— 24; Prov.x.24; Luke xii. 4,5; 8 Matt. xxv. 35—41; Rev. xxii. 11; 
 
 ix. 23—26; John xii. 25,26; Eccl. iii. 17; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; Mark ix. 43-^8; 2 Pet. 
 
 Matt. vii. 13, 14. ii. 9; Jude 7; Phi. iii. 19; Rom. vi. 22; 
 
 4 1 Peter iv. 7 ; 1 Cor. vii. 29—31 ; Heb. 2 Cor. v. 10, 11 ; John iv. 35 ; 2 Cor. iv. 
 i. 10—12; Matt. xxiv. 35; 1 Jolm ii. 17; IB. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 20; xiii. 89, 40; 2 Peter 9 Rom. iii. 5,6; 2 Thess.i. 6— 12; Hcb. 
 
 iii. 3-13. vi. 1,2; 1 Cor. iv. 5; Acts xvii. 31; 
 
 s Acts i. 11; Rev. i. 7; Heb. ix. 28; Rom. ii. 2—16; Rev. xx. 11,12; 1 Jolm 
 
 Acts iii. 21; 1 Tkes; iv. 13— 18, v. 1— 11. 11.28; iv.17; 2 Peter ill. 11, 12. 
 
IV. 
 
 DISCIPLINE ADOPTED BY THE PHILADELPHIA ASSOCIATION. 
 
 TO ALL THOSE INTO WHOSE HANDS THE FOREGOING CONFESSION OP 
 FAITH,! UNTO WHICH THE FOLLOWING ABSTKACT CONCERNING OUR 
 DISCIPLINE IS NOW ANNEXED, SHALL COME. 
 
 Ode last Association, met at Philadelphia, September 25, 1742, taking 
 into consideration the general interest of the gospel, and especially the 
 interest of the churches they were related unto and did then represent, 
 judging it expedient to reprint the Confession of Faith put forth by the 
 Elders and Brethren of upwards of one hundred Congregations baptized 
 upon profession of faith in England and Wales, met in London, Septem- 
 ber 3, 1689, with the additions concerning Imposition of Hands, and sing- 
 ing of Psalms in the worship of God. 
 
 The Association likewise thought it proper to annex an abstract, or 
 brief treatise concerning our Discipline; but not having, for some reasons, 
 fixed upon any particular piece extant, they left it to Mr. Jenkin Jones 
 and myself to prepare a short Narrative, in the most compendious manner 
 we could; but Mr. Jones, by reason of his other avocations, not being 
 able to prepare anything in due time, requested me to take it upon myself, 
 which, after we had consulted on some particulars (though many other 
 things at this juncture requiring my time and employing my thoughts, I 
 could wish some other person had undertaken), I accepted, that I might 
 prevent any disappointment, and have endeavored to perform as my small 
 
 1 See page 190. 
 
200 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 leisure would permit. And we having a small tract published by Elias 
 Kc.ach, and having also found a manuscript left by; my brother Abel Mor- 
 gan, deceased, which he intended, had he longer lived, to have revised 
 and put iu print for the benefit of our churches; I have transcribed some 
 things out of said manuscript, and some other things out of Mr. Keadi, 
 some things without variation ; besides which I have in some cases con- 
 sulted Dr. Owen and Dr. Goodwin, and in some things I have followed the 
 agreement that our Association came to some years ago, especially con- 
 cerning the admission and dismission of members. I have endeavored to 
 include the most material things iu discipline (though very briefly) in the 
 few following pages; and I desire the reader may be pleased to take tlie 
 pains to peruse the Scriptures referred to in every particular, that the 
 gi'ounds of our practice may be better understood. 
 
 That this impartial account of our principles and practice may be accom- 
 panied with the blessing of God, to be beneficial unto men, is the hearty 
 prayer of your well-wisher, and servant, in all gospel service, 
 
 BENJAMIN GEIFFITH. 
 
APPENDIX. 201 
 
 TREATISE. 
 
 CONCEKNING A TRUE AND OKDEELT GOSPEL CHtTKCH. 
 
 Before there can by any orderly discipline among a Christian as- 
 sembly, they must be orderly constituted into a church state, accord- 
 ing to the institution of Christ in the gospel. 
 
 1. A visible Gospel Church is made by gathering divers select per- 
 sons into Jesus Christ, in a spiritual body, and relation to him as 
 their political head,' himself being the great Shepherd that first 
 seeks them, and prepares them by the work of renewing grace, for 
 such spiritual building. 
 
 2. Christ as the mediator of the new covenant, ordereth the ever- 
 Icisting gospel to be preached, and accompanying it with his holy 
 Spirit, blesseth it to the turning of men from darkness to light, 
 working faith and love in them.^ 
 
 3. "When sinners are thus wrought upon effectually, to such a 
 suitable number, as may be an essential church, i. e., so many as 
 may act properly and orderly as a church,^ that then it will be 
 proper for them, by their mutual consent, to propose to be consti- 
 tuted a church, or that others seeing the expediency thereof may 
 encourage the same.^ 
 
 4. For the accomplishment of so glorious a work, it is necessary 
 that a day of fasting and prayer be appointed by and among such 
 believers, and that such procure such neighboring helps as they can, 
 especially of the ministry.^ 
 
 5. The persons being first orderly baptized, according to the com- 
 mand of Christ,^ and being all satisfied of the graces and qualifica- 
 tions of each other, and being willing in the fear of God to take the 
 laws of Christ upon them, and do by one mutual consent give up 
 
 1 Ezek. xxxiv. 11 ; 2 Thess. ii. 1. 4 Acts xi. 
 
 2 Eph. ii. 17; Acts xxvi. 18. 6 Acts viii. 14; 1 Thess. iii. 2. 
 8 Matt. xvii. 15—17. 6 Matt, xxviu. 19. 
 
202 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 themselves to the Lord, and to one another in the Lord,' solemnly 
 submitting to the government of Christ in his church, and being 
 united, they are to be declared a Gospel Church of Jesus Christ. ^ 
 6. A number of believers thus united under Christ their mystical 
 head, are become a church essential ; and as such is the first and 
 proper subject of the keys, and have power and privilege to govern 
 themselves, and to choose out their own ministerial officers.' 
 
 CONCERNING MINISTERS, ETC. 
 
 1. A church thus constituted, is not yet completed while wanting 
 such ministerial helps as Christ hath appointed for its growth and 
 well-being, and wanting elders and deacons to officiate among them. 
 Men, they must be, that are qualified for the work; their qualifica- 
 tions are plainly and fully set down in holy Scripture,'' all which 
 must be found in them, in some good degree, and it is the duty of 
 the church to try the persons by the rule of the Word. 
 
 Objection. But what shall a church do, in case they can have 
 none among them fit to bear office according to the rule of tlie 
 ^\'ord ? 
 
 Answer. (1.) That to expect to have officers perfect in the high- 
 est degrees of those qualifications, were to expect apostolical and 
 extraordinary ceased gifts in ordinary time. (2.) If none among 
 the members of a church be found fit in some measure for the minis- 
 try, a neighboring church may and ought, if possible, to supply 
 them.' (3.) Let such as they ha\'e, if they have any that seem 
 hopeful, to be awhile upon trial ; and the person that the Lord sliall 
 choose, will flourish in some good measure with Aaron's rod among 
 the rods of the tribes. 
 
 2. A church being destitute of ministerial helps, may, after mature 
 and often deliberate consultation, and serious prayers to God, pitch 
 upon some person or persons in particular, giving him or them a sol- 
 emn invitation to the work of the ministry, upon trial; and if such 
 
 1 2 Cor. viii 5. 3 Acts xiv. 23, vi. 3. 
 
 2 riiil. ii. 2—4; Eom. xv. 7, xii. 1; Acts 4 1 Tim. iii. 1—7; Titus iv. 5—10. 
 
 ii. 41, 42. fi Cant. viii. 8. 
 
APPEXDIX. 203 
 
 accept of the church's call, lot such be upon trial, to see if such fear 
 God, make godliness their business, and be addicted to the work of 
 the ministry, seeking to further the interest of Christ and the edifi- 
 cation of his people in sound and wholesome doctrine ; and to see 
 if any vices or immorality appear in their advances.^ Read (he 
 qualifications.^ And in case a church should call a person to be 
 their minister who is a member of some sister church, and he accept 
 their call to be their minister, he must in the first place give himself 
 a menjber with the church so calling him, that so they may choose 
 him among themselves.' 
 
 3. After having taken all due care to choose one for the work of 
 the ministry, they are, by and with the unanimous consent or suf- 
 frage of the church, to proceed to his ordination ; which is a solemn 
 setting apart of such a person for the sacred function, in this wise, 
 hy setting apart a day of fasting and prayer,* the whole church be- 
 ing present, he is to have the hands of the presbytery of that 
 church, or of neighboring elders called and authorized by that 
 church, whereof such a person is a member, solemnly laid upon 
 him ; * and thus such a person is to be recommended into the work of 
 the Lord, and to take particular care of the flock of whom he is 
 thus chosen.^ 
 
 4. The minister being thus put upon his work, proceeds (1.) to 
 preach the word of God unto them, thereby to feed the flock, and 
 therein ought to be faithful and laborious, studying to show himself 
 a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word 
 of truth,^ as he is a steward of God in the mysteries of the gospel, ' 
 and therefore ought to be a man of good understanding and experi- 
 ence, being sound in the faith, not a novice, or a double-minded, 
 unstable man, nor such as is light-spirited or of a shallow under- 
 standing, but one that is learned in the mysteries of the kingdom, 
 because he is to feed the people with knowledge and understand- 
 ing.9 He must be faithful in declaring the whole council of God.^" 
 
 1 1 Cor. xvi. Pbil. ii. 20, 21. Acts xx. 23. 
 
 2 1 Tim. 3. 7 2 Tim. ii, 15. 
 
 3 Acts vi, 3. 8 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2. 
 
 4 Acts xiii. 2, 3. 9 Jer. iii. 15. 
 « 1 Tim. V. 22; Titus i. 5; Acts xiv. 23; W Acts xx. 20. 
 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
204 CHURCH DISCIPLIXE. 
 
 He is to instruct them in all practical godliness, laying before 
 tliem their manifold duties, and to urge them upon their conscien- 
 ces.' (2.) He must watch over them, as one that must give an ac- 
 count to God.2 Such must have an eye upon every member to see 
 how they behave in the house of God, where the presence of the 
 Lord is more eminently, and where also the angels do always 
 attend ; and also their behaviour in the families they belong to, and 
 their conversation abroad ; according to their capacities, they are 
 not to sleep under their charge. (3.) He is to visit his flock to 
 know their state, in order to minister suitable doctrinal relief unto 
 them, and that he may know what disorders there may be among 
 them, that the unruly may be reproved.^ (4.) He is to administer 
 all the ordinances of Christ, amongst them : as Baptism, and the 
 Lord's Supper, and herein he must be careful to follow the primi- 
 tive pattern, thereby to hold forth the great end, wherefore they 
 were ordained. (5.) He must be instant with God, in his prayers 
 for and with them, as opportunity may serve. (6.) He must show 
 them a good example in all respects, in conversation, sobriety, char- 
 ity, faith, and purity,'' behaving himself impartial unto all, not pre- 
 ferring the rich before the poor, nor lording it over God's heritage, 
 nor assume greater power than God hath given him.^ 
 
 OF RULING ELDERS. 
 
 Ruling elders are such persons as are endued with gifts to assist 
 the pastor or teacher in the government of the church ; it was as a 
 statute in Israel.^ The works of teaching and ruling belong both 
 to the pastor ; but in case he be unable, or the work of ruling too 
 great for him, God hath provided such for his assistance, and they 
 are called ruling elders,' helps,' governments, or he that ruleth. 
 They are qualified for, and called unto, one part of the work; and 
 experience teacheth us the use and benefit of such rulers in the 
 
 1 Titus ii. 1—15 ; 1 Tim. iv. 6. 5 Jaa. ii. 4 ; 1 Tim. v. 21 ; 1 Pet. v. 8, 6. 
 
 2 Heb xiii. 17. s Exod. xviii. ; Deut. i. 9—13. 
 
 3 Proverbs xxvii. 23; 1 Thessaloniana 7 i Tim. v. 17. 
 
 V. 14, 16. 8 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
 
 * 1 Tim. iv. 12. 9 Eom. xii. 8. 
 
APPENDIX. * 205 
 
 church, in easing the pastor or teacher, and keeping up the honor 
 of the ministry. Their quaUfieations are such as are requisite to 
 rule, as knowledge, judgment, prudence, etc. ; and as to the man- 
 ner of their ordination it is like ordination unto other offices in the 
 church, with fasting and prayer, with imposition of hands. Their 
 office only relateth to rule and order, in the church of God, and 
 doth not include teaching; yet if the church findeth they have gifts 
 and abilities to be useful in teaching, they may be put upon trial, 
 and if approved, they may be called and solemnly set apart by ordi- 
 nation, it being wholly a distinct office from the former, which was 
 only to rule well, and not to labor in word and doctrine. 
 
 OF DEACONS. 
 
 Deacons are men called forth by the church, to serve in the out^ 
 ward concerns thereof; whose office is to serve tables.' They are 
 to be intrusted with the stock of the church, out of which stock they 
 are to assist the poor members of the church, and to provide bread 
 and wine for the Lord's table, and also to have regard to the minis- 
 ter's table ; and moreover they should see that all the members of 
 the church do contribute towards the proper uses of the church, that 
 therefrom all necessary occasions may be supplied, as God hath 
 given them, they to the poor, so that none be neglected,^ by the 
 faithful discharge of which office they shall purchase to themselves 
 a good degree and great boldness in the faith.^ The qualifications 
 of these officers are laid down.^ 
 
 OF THE ADMISSION OF CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 The Lord Jesus Christ hath committed the use and power of the 
 keys, in matters of government, to every visible congregational 
 church, to be used, according to the rules and directions that he halh 
 given in his word, in his name, and to his glory. The keys are the 
 power of Christ, which he hath given to every particular congrega- 
 tion, to open and shut itself by ; and to do all things in order to the 
 
 1 Acts vi. 2—7. 8 1 Tim. iii. 13. 
 
 2 1 Cor. xxvi. 2. 4 1 Tim. iii. 8—13 ; Acts vi. 2—8. 
 
 18 
 
208 ' CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 great things proposed, viz., his glory and his people's spiritual bene- 
 fit, in peace and purity.^ 
 
 By virtue of the charter and the power aforesaid, which Christ 
 hath given to his church, his spiritual corporation, they are enabled 
 to receive members in, and to exclude unworthy members as occa- 
 sion may require, as may appear by divers examples.^ 
 
 In this case, a church hath to do, either with non-members, or 
 those that are members of other churches ; as to non-members pro- 
 posing for admission into the church, the pastor, teacher, and elders 
 of the church are to be acquainted therewith, and the body of the 
 church also, in order that they may know the intent of such per- 
 son or persons. A convenient meeting is necessary. When the 
 church is come together, and the person proposing being present, 
 after prayer to God for direction, the minister or pastor of the 
 church is to put several questions to the person proposing. (1.) Con- 
 cerning the ground and reason of his hope,' wherein is to be in- 
 quired, what experience he hath of the manifold graces of the holy 
 Spirit, working in him repentance from dead works,* and faith to- 
 wards our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom alone is salvation hoped for ; * 
 for without there be some good grounds, in the judgment of charity, 
 that such a one is a new creature, the door of admission is not to be 
 opened, for that would be abusing the privileges of the house of 
 God. Therefore all due and regular care is to be taken.^ 
 
 Secondly. AVhat competency of knowledge, in the principal doc- 
 trines of faith and order, such hath acquired ; ' or whether such per- 
 son be well instructed in the knowledge of God, in his glorious attri- 
 butes, in the doctrine of the Trinity, or one God in three persons; 
 the person, natures, and oflSces of Christ; the nature of the law; 
 of original sin ; of the pollution of man, by reason of sin, and lost 
 and undone estate thereby, and of his being a child of wrath by na- 
 ture ; of the nature of the redemption wrought by Christ, his suffi- 
 ciency to satisfy divine justice ; of the reconciliation of sinners to 
 
 1 Isa. ix. 7, xxii.; Eev. iii. 7; Heb. s 1 Peter iii. 15. 
 
 iii. 6; Eph. ii. 19— 22 | Matt. xvi. 19; 4 Acts ii. 33; Heb. vi. 2. 
 
 Joliii XX. 23. 5 Acts XX. 21; Philemon 5. 
 
 2 Eom. xiv. 1; Acts ii. 41; 1 Cor; x. 6 Psalm Ixv. 16; Acts ix. 27. 
 i, 5; Matt, xviii. 18; 2 Theas. ii. 6, U. 1 Tim. ii. 4^-6. 
 
APPENDIX. 207 
 
 God, by the death of his Son ; of our sins being Imputed to Christ, 
 and his righteousness imputed to us for justification, being received 
 by faith alone ; of the resurrection of Christ's body, and his ascen- 
 sion into heaven, and of his coming thence the jecond time, to judge 
 the quick and the dead ; and of the resurrection of the dead bodies 
 of men; and of the eternal judgment; and of such proposing per- 
 son's resolution to persevere in the profession of these truths unto 
 the end. Such things are needful to be inquired into, by reason 
 that too many in our day do build their conversion upon their con- 
 victions, and some general notions of the Christian religion, when 
 indeed they are utter strangers unto, and very ignorant of the great 
 mysteries of the gospel. Yet great care is to be taken that the 
 weak be not discouraged, for the smoking flax is not to be quenched, 
 nor the bruised reed to be broken, but such ignorant persons are to 
 be taught by gentle instructions, and means ought to be used for 
 their furtherance in the knowledge of divine truths,' and where 
 there are the beginnings of true and saving grace in the heart, such 
 will, with a spiritual appetite, receive the sincere milk of the word, 
 that they may grow thereby ,2 and a church ought to be careful not 
 to reject those, whom they judge to have the least degree of the 
 work of saving grace wrought in them.^ 
 
 Thirdly. Inquiry must be made whether such a person's life and 
 conversation is answerable to such a profession, that he be likely to 
 adorn the gospel with a holy conversation.* This regular careful- 
 ness is an indispensable duty of all regular churches, to use in the 
 admission of members ; and though all due care be used, yet some 
 unsound and rotten professors will creep in unawares, and have 
 crept into the purest churches,' and the fallibility of churches in this 
 matter, is not to be urged, as an argument or ground to neglect the 
 duty incumbent on the churches, according to the rule of the word. 
 
 And after such examination, the question is to be put to the 
 church, whether they are all satisfied vrith the party's confession and 
 conversation ; and if the answer be in the affirmative, then the pas- 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 19. i Titus ii. 11—15, iii. 8. 
 
 21Peterii.2. « Jnde4; IJohn ii. ,9: Acts v.,xx.29, 
 
 3 Eom. xiv. 1. 30; Gal. ii. 4. 
 
208 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 tor or minister is to proceed to ask the party proposing if he be 
 willingly resolved, as God shall give ability, to walk in a professed 
 subjection to the commands and institutions of Christ revealed in 
 the gospel, and to give himself a member of that church in particu- 
 lar,' and to continue in the communion, faith, and order thereof, ac- 
 cording to the gospel rules and directions ; and after the person is 
 baptized according to the institution and command of Christ, and 
 come under the imposition of the hands of the elders of the church, 
 according to the practice of the apostles,^ the pastor, minister, or 
 elders, as presiding in the acts of the church's power, do receive 
 such a one into the communion and fellowship of that church in 
 particular. But if the church is not satisfied with the person's con- 
 fession or conversation, it is proper, if the objections be of any 
 weight, to defer the party's admission until a more ample satisfaction 
 can be given, that all, if possible, may receive such with freedom in 
 love, and so to discharge all gospel duties towards him, as may pro- 
 mote his edification in the faith, and his increase in grace.'' 
 
 And concerning those that are members of sister churches, their 
 admission is either transient or occasional admission ; or when any 
 person is dismissed wholly from one church, and transmitted or rec- 
 ommended to another church of the same faith, order, and practice. 
 (1.) Such as are and continue members of other regular churches, 
 may, where they are well known, be admitted into transient com- 
 munion, without a letter of recommendation from the church they 
 belong unto : but from those a church hath no knowledge of, a testi- 
 monial letter is necessary, that a church may not be imposed on by 
 any loose or disorderly persons. (2.) Those whose residence is re- 
 moved, or place of abode is more convenient to be with another 
 congregation than that of which they are members, are, upon 
 their request made to the church whereof such are members, to be 
 dismissed, and to have a letter from that church they are members 
 of, subscribed by the officers and members, and directed to the 
 church that the person is dismissed unto ; whereby the party is dis- 
 charged from his or her original relation of particular membership 
 
 1 liomaiis xii. 1, xv. 7—9; 2 Coriiithi- 2 Acts viii. 14—17; Hcb. vi. 2. 
 
 ans viii. 5. 3 2 Cor. i. 24 ; x. 8. 
 
APPENDIX. 209 
 
 to tliat church, and is transferred to the constant communion, watch, 
 and care of the other church : such persons are to be received upon 
 their proposal, according to the credentials they bring ; except the 
 church they apply unto have a special reason to defer or refuse. 
 
 As it appears to have been the practice of believers, in the primi- 
 tive times, to give themselves members of particular churches,' it 
 appears also that in the apostles' days, there were many distinct and 
 distant particular churches,^ which churches are several corporations 
 of men professing repentance from dead works, and faith in our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and incorporated by mutual consent, as before 
 mentioned, whose _end is to glorify God by obedience to his revealed 
 will, and to their own edification in the faith, and the good of others, 
 so it is the duty of believers to give themselves in particular mem- 
 bership, in such a particular church as shall appear by the word of 
 God to be orthodox in the fundamental articles of the Christian re- 
 ligion, and to practise according to the mind of Christ declared in 
 the New Testament, in all gospel institutions and worship. 
 
 From which considerations, it appears the reasonable duty of ev- 
 ery believer to give himself a member to suth an orderly church as 
 is most conveniently situated, that is, meeting nighest the place of 
 his or her residence, for which there are these apparent reasons. 
 (1.) For men to give themselves members of a distant church, when 
 another of the same faith and gospel order is nigher, is for such a 
 person to put himself under a necessity of neglecting the ordinary 
 appointed meetings of that church, whereof he is a member, and 
 whereof the particular charge is given,^ that he might attend 
 and wait in the use of God's appointed means, for his edification by 
 the ministry of that church. (2.) Such puts himself under a wilful 
 necessity to neglect his duty of care over, and constant communion 
 with his fellow-members, and wilfully deprives himself of their care 
 over him, advice. Christian conversing, and brotherly loving instruc- 
 tions and counsels, that by the blessing of God might increase his 
 knowledge, grace, and comfort. (3.) Such cannot be assistant to 
 the church in discipline, contribution, and the like duties, nor cannot 
 
 1 Acts ii. 41, V. 13, 14. 3 Heb. x. 25. 
 
 2 1 Cor. i. 2; Gal. i.2; 1 Cor. xvi. 1 ; Phil. i. 1. 
 
 18* 
 
210 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 be taken care of, and be assisted, without much unnecessary trouble, 
 by the church, in case of need. (4.) Such a practice tends directly 
 to the confusion of churches, and all church order, and suits well 
 with the humor of noisy, lifeless, loose, or covetous, niggardly per- 
 sons. (5.) It is a way that the church cannot find what useful tal- 
 ents such persons have, to the benefit of the body of the church. 
 (6.) It is casting great contempt upon the nearer church, in her 
 ministry and order, and the like. 
 
 And here it is further to be considered, that as it is expedient for 
 persons to give themselves members of such regular churches, with 
 which they may keep the most intimate fellowship and communion 
 in all the parts of religious worship ; so it is highly reasonable that 
 they, that are members of such regular churches, where the word is 
 purely preached, the ordinances of the gospel duly administered, 
 and gospel discipline is impartially practised, should continue tlicir 
 membership with such church ; although there be weakness, imper- 
 fection, and frailty, in the particular practical acts thereof; which, 
 while the affairs of the church are managed by men, even their holy 
 things will have iniquity as of old.^ It is therefore imreasonable lo 
 dismiss any member from a church that is near to any one's residence 
 to a church more remote, upon disgust taken at the management of 
 some particular case, wherewith such is not well pleased, and for 
 such cause, demands dismission ; and it is unreasonable also to grant 
 a dismission to such a member, who should demand a dismission in a 
 peremptory manner, without giving a reason for such a demand ; in 
 either of which cases such a dismission is not to be granted. (1.) Be- 
 cause by so doing, the greatest confusion would be introduced ; for 
 one member would thus be dismissed to one distant church, and an- 
 other to another distant church, and the other churches doing the 
 like, it can end in nothing less than the confusion of every church. 
 (2.) The same liberty that members have, pastors, ministers, ruhng 
 elders, and deacons have also, whereby any church may dismiss her 
 members until she is unable to maintain worship and communion; 
 for those that reside near, are become members of a remote body, 
 and so unconcerned; and those that are members live remote, and 
 
 1 F.xodns xxviii. 3^. 
 
APPENDIX. 211 
 
 SO under an impossibility to occupy tlieir place. (3.) This, in the 
 tendency of it, is to remove the balance of churches, which is to 
 consist of such members as can, with the utmost conveniency, meet 
 together in one place, for both worship and government.^ (4.) This 
 hath a tendency to alter the constitution of particular churches, 
 from being congregational corporations, into the national or universal 
 notion of the church ; which universal church we believe to be the 
 mystical body of Jesus Christ, which as such is not the seat of insti- 
 tuted worship and ordinances. Also, it is not reasonable to dismiss 
 to the world at large, nor to dismiss a member to a church, with 
 which the church dismissing cannot hold communion. 
 
 OF THE DUTIES OF CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 The members of churches owe all their duties in a way of obedi- 
 ence to the will of God revealed in his word ; and their duties are 
 to be performed in love to our Lord Jesus Christ,^ who is the great 
 Prophet, Priest, and King of his church, which he hath purchased 
 with his own blood,^ unto whom all power in heaven and earth is 
 given,* and is therefore our Lord and Lawgiver,^ who alone is head 
 of his church," his person is to be honored, and all his commands are 
 to be observed,' all worship is to be ascribed unto him, as God blessed 
 forever;^ all church members, therefore, are under the strictest obli- 
 gations to do and observe whatsoever Christ enjoineth on them, as 
 mutual duties towards one another. 
 
 The ofBcers of the church, whom Christ hath appointed, are to be 
 respected. (1.) The deacons of the church, though they officiate 
 but in the outward concerns of the church, as in the section about 
 deacons is noted, if they are faithful, do purchase unto themselves a 
 good degree,^ are therefore to be respected. (2.) Ruling elders 
 also are to be respected, seeing they are fitted of God, and called 
 by the church to go before the church, or to preside in acts of gov- 
 
 1 1 Cor. xi. 20, xiv. 33. 6 Isa. xxxiii. 22. 
 
 2 John xiv. 15. 6 Epli. i. 22. 
 
 3 Acts XX. 28; Rev. i. 5; 2 Cor. 7 Heb. i. 2; John v. 23. 
 
 V. 15. 8 Rom. Ix. i. 
 
 4 Matt, xxviii. 18. 9 1 Tim. iii. 13. 
 
212 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 ernment and rule.^ (3.) Ministers, who are the stewards of the 
 mysteries of the gospel, are in an eminent manner to be regarded 
 as being the ambassadors of peace,^ though they are not to hunt 
 for it, as the pharisees of old.^ The duties of church members tow- 
 ards their elders, teachers, ministers, and pastors, may be included 
 in their (1.) praying for them, that God would open a door of utter- 
 ance unto them, to unfold the mysteries.* (2.) To obey them in 
 the Lord, in whatsoever they admonish them, according to the word 
 of God.' (3.) In following their example and footsteps, as far as 
 warranted by the word.^ (4.) In standing by them in all their 
 trials and afflictions, and in defending them in all good causes, as far 
 as in them lies ; those of Asia are blamed ' for turning away, or not 
 standing by the apostle. (5.) In not exposing their persons for 
 their infirmities, as far as may be, considering the prosperity of the 
 gospel much depends on their good report.* (6.) In contributing 
 towards their maintenance, that they may attend wholly on teach- 
 ing and give themselves to the ministry of the word, and to prayer,' 
 the reason thereof is evident by a threefold law. (1.) The law of 
 nature, from whence the apostle argues.^" (2.) The Levitical \a.wM 
 (3.) The gospel enjoineth and requireth the same.'^ Let these above 
 cited places of Scripture be considered with many others of like im- 
 portance, and the nature and tendency of the work of the ministry 
 be well weighed, and it will be clear that it is a duty required of 
 God himself; and that not in a way of alms, as to the poor, whi(jh is 
 another standing ordinance of Christ, but it is to be performed in 
 love to Christ, and obedience to his laws, in order to support and 
 carry the interest of the gospel. Yet this is not to be given to any 
 one that may pretend to be a minister, or thrust himself upon a 
 church, or to such as run without a mission for filthy lucre's sake. ; 
 but churches ought to take a special care who to call forth to the 
 work of the ministry, according to the rule of instruction given by 
 
 ilTim.v. 17. 7 2Tim. i. 15. 
 
 2 2 Cor. V. 20. 8 Acts xxiii 5. 
 
 3 Matt, xxiii. 5—7. 9 Acts vi. 4. 
 
 4 Epli. vi. 18—20. 10 1 Cor. ix. 7—11. 
 
 5 Heb. xiii. 17—22. II 1 Cor. ix. 13. 
 
 6 lCor.i?.16,xi.l; rhil.iii.l7; Heb.xiii.7. 12 Gal. vi. 6; 1 Cor. ix. 14. 
 
APPENDIX. 213 
 
 inspiration of God, be they learned or unlearned as to human learn- 
 ing, be they rich or poor as to worldly wealth. 
 
 The liberality of the people, if they be able, should surmount 
 the necessity of the minister, so as that he may exercise those acts 
 of love and hospitality, as is required of such, that therein he may 
 be exemplary in good works, etc. Moreover, it is a duty on all those 
 that attend on their ministry, to assist herein,' and as people do sow, 
 so shall they reap.^ When people neglect their duty towards their 
 ministers, such ministers must of necessity neglect their studies, and 
 betake to other secular employments to support themselves and 
 families, or be worse than infidels; then such people must be great 
 spiritual losers in their edification. Yet when and where a church 
 is not able to raise a comfortable maintenance for to support their 
 minister, there it is" not only lawful, but the duty of such ministers 
 to labor with their hands ; for to leave such a congregation destitute, 
 to languish without the ministry, would be very uncharitable, and 
 smell very much of filthy lucre ; and to expect from a people more 
 than they are able, would be oppression or extortion. 
 
 OF THE MANIFOLD DUTIF.S OF CHRISTIANS, ESPECIALLY TO 
 THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH. 
 
 Some of them are these. (1.) Love unfeigned and without dis- 
 simulation, for all their things ought to be done in love.' (2.) To 
 labor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.^ (3.) En- 
 deavor for the edification and spiritual benefit of the wholi'- boily, 
 that they all may grow up to be a holy temple in and for the Lord.^ 
 (4.) That they all watch over one another for good." (5.) That 
 they do pray with and for one another.^ (6.) That they neglect 
 not the assembling of themselves together, for the celebrating of 
 divine worship, and so promote one another's spiritual benefit." 
 
 1 Gal. vi. 6. 6 1 Cor. xiv. 12, 26; Eph. iv. 12, 29, ii. 
 
 2 Gal. vi. 7, 8, vide Confession of Faith, 21, 22. 
 
 27, S 10. 6 Pliil. ii. 3, 4. 
 
 3 John xiii. 34, 35; Eom. xii. 9, 10; xiii. ^ James v. 16. 
 
 8-10. 8 Heb. X. 25; Acts ii. 42. 
 
 4 Eph. iv. 8. 
 
214 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 (7.) That they use all means to keep the house of God in due order 
 and cleanliness, walking inoffensive towards one another, and all 
 others, with conscientious diligence, and so unanimously to contend 
 for the faith and truth once delivered to the saints, in the purity 
 thereof, according to the holy Scripture.^ 
 
 or CHURCH CENSURES. 
 
 Having spoken of the gathering together of a particular gospel 
 church, and its officers, and the rules whereby we are to be guided 
 in choosing and ordaining of them, and of the admission of mem- 
 bers, etc., it is meet to give a short view of a church's duties and 
 authority in respect of censures upon offenders. 
 
 First, of Admonition. 
 
 (1.) Admonition is a holy, tender, and wise endeavor, to convince 
 a brother that he hath offended in matter of fact, or else is fallen 
 into a way, wherein to continue is like to be prejudicial to the party 
 himself, or some others ; where the matter, whatever it be, and 
 the sinfulness thereof, with the aggravating circumstances attending 
 it, is to be charged on his conscience, in the sight of God, with due 
 application of the word of God, which concerns his condition ; 
 thereby leading him to bis duty and true reformation. (2.) Admo- 
 nition is private by one or more of the brethren, or more public by 
 the whole church. (1.) When one brother trespasses against an- 
 other, the offended brother is not to divulge the offence, but to go in 
 a gospel way to the offender, and to use his endeavor to reclaim his 
 brother ; and if he repents, the offended brother ought to forgive 
 him.2 But if the offending brother will not hear, then the offended 
 brother ought to take two or three other brethren, and they such as 
 may be the most likely to gain upon the offender ; but if this admo- 
 nition also takes no effect, it is to be brought before the church.' 
 (2.) The church, when matters come thus before them, shall admon- 
 ish and endeavor to reidaim the offender, in the spirit of meekness ; 
 
 1 Psalm xciii. 5; Zccli. xiv. 21; 1 Cor. 2 Matt, xviii 15; Luke xvii. 3. 
 
 xiv. 33, 40; xi. 2. 8 Matt, xviii. 16, 17. 
 
APPENDIX. 215 
 
 and if the brother that offended continues obstinate and impenitent, 
 the church is directed to exclude him.'^ 
 
 (1.) Prom whence it follows, every church member has somewhat 
 to do in his place.^ (2.) In case of private offences, it is preposter- 
 ous to publish them, or acquaint the church or the elders thereof 
 therewith, before the two lower degrees of admonition are duly ac- 
 complished, and the offender has neglected to hear. (3.) That 
 when matters are thus regularly brought to the church, then the 
 private proceedings may cease. (4.) That when private offences are 
 brought to the church without such proper private procedure, that 
 the church may and ought to refuse it, as not coming according to 
 gospel rule aforesaid.' (5.) But when those things that begin in 
 private are thus regularly brought into the church, they must be 
 received and adjudged according to the said rule.^ So that it may 
 and doth oftentimes fall out, that those things that begin with private 
 admonition, do end in public excommunication. 
 
 Secondly, of Suspension. 
 
 (1.) A suspension may be, when the church is informed that a 
 member hath acted amiss, either in matters of faith or practice, and 
 not having satisfactory proof whether the information is true or false, 
 and the case requiring time to inquire therein, it is expedient to sus- 
 pend such a person from communion at the Lord's table, until the 
 elders of the church can make suitable inquiry ; as might be signified 
 by the law in the case of leprosy .^ 
 
 (2.) Suspension is rather to be looked upon to be, when a church 
 doth debar a member from communion for some irregularity that he 
 may be guilty of, which yet doth not amount so high as to be ripe 
 for the great sentence of excommunication ; but that the person, for 
 such irregularity, ought to be debarred of the privilege of special 
 communion and exercise of office, in order to his humiliation.^ Such 
 13 not to be accounted as an enemy, but to be exhorted as a brother 
 in union, though not in communion : but if such a one remain im- 
 
 1 Matt, xviii. 17. 4 Matt, xviii, 
 
 2 Heb. xii. 15. « Lev. xiii., xiv. 
 
 3 Matt, xviii. 6 2 Tliess. iii. 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15. 
 
215 CHUECII DISCIPLINE. 
 
 penitent and incorrigible, the church, after due waiting for his refor- 
 mation, is to proceed to excommunication ; ^ for that would be a not 
 hearing the church in the highest degree. 
 
 Thirdly, of Excommunication. 
 
 Excommunication is a judicial act or censure of the church, upon 
 an offender, by the authority of Jesus Christ, and by his direction, 
 delivered to his church by himself or his apostles, in the New Testar 
 ment, which a gospel church ought to put in practice, when matters 
 of fact require, according to gospel rule ; as first, when a member, 
 after all due admonition, continues obstinate, and will hear no re- 
 proof^ Secondly, when a member hath committed a gross sin, 
 which is directly against the moral law, and being notorious and 
 scandalous, and proved beyond dispute,^ then a church is im- 
 mediately to proceed unto censure, notwithstanding any present 
 signs of conviction or remorse, for the necessary vindication of the 
 glory of God, the vindication of the church, also, and their holy pro- 
 fession ; and to manifest their just indignation and abhorrence 
 against such wickedness.'' Thirdly, when a member is found to he 
 erroneous, defective, or heretical in some fundamental point, or to 
 swerve from the right faith, in the principles of the Christian re- 
 ligion.' 
 
 The manner of proceeding unto this great and awful instituted 
 ordinance, is : the church being gathered together, the offender also 
 having notice to come to make his answer and defence (if he comes 
 not, he aggravates his offence by despising the authority of Christ 
 in his church), the body of the church is to have knowledge of the 
 offender's crime fully, and the full proof thereof as of plain matter 
 of fact; and after mature deliberate consideration, and consulting 
 the rules of direction given in the word of God, whether the offender 
 be present or absent, the minister or elder puts the question to the 
 whole church, whether they judge the person guilty of such crime 
 now proved upon him, is worthy of the censure of the church for 
 
 1 Matt, xviii. 17. 4 1 Cor. v. 1—13. 
 
 2 Matt, xviii 17. « 1 Tim. i. 19, 20. 
 
 3 1 Cor. V. 4, 5; 1 Tim. v. 24 ; 2 Cor. x. 6. 
 
APPENDIX. 217 
 
 tlie saaie ? to which the members in general give their judgment ; 
 which, if it be in the affirmative, then the judgment of the members 
 in general being had, or the majority of them, the pastor, minister; 
 or elder, sums up the sentence of the church, opens the nature of 
 the crime, with the suitableness of the censure, according to gospel 
 rule ; and having thus proceeded, a proper time is fixed to put the 
 sentence in execution, at~ which time the pastor, minister, or elder of 
 the church, as his place and duty requires, is to lay open the hei- 
 nousness of such a sin, with all the aggravating circumstances thereof, 
 and showing what an abominable scandal such an offender is be- 
 come to religion, what dishonor it is to God, etc., applying the par- 
 ticular places of Scripture that are proper to the case, in order to 
 charge the offence home upon the conscience of the offender if pres- 
 ent, that others also may fear ; showing also the awful nature of this 
 great censure, and the main end thereof, for the salvation and not 
 the destruction of the soul, and with much solemnity in the whole 
 society, calling upon God for his gracious presence, and his blessing 
 upon this his sacred ordinance ; that the great end thereof may be 
 obtained ; still expressing the deep sense the church hath of the fall of 
 this brother, with the great humiliation of the church, and great sor- 
 sow for, and detestation of, the sin committed. The said pastor, 
 minister, or elder, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the pres- 
 ence of the congregation, and by and with the consent and accord- 
 ing to the judicial sentence of the church, cuts off, and secludes such 
 an offender by name, from the union and communion of the church, 
 because of his offences ; so that such a person is not thenceforth to' 
 be looked on, deemed or accounted as a brother or member of such 
 a church, until God shall restore him again by repentance. 
 
 Which exclusion carries in it the full sense of our Lord's words,^ 
 Let Km he unto thee as an heathen man and a publican; or of the 
 apostle,^ to deliver such a one to Satan ; which is an authoritative put- 
 ting of such a person out of the communion of the church, the king- 
 dom of heaven, into the world, the kingdom of Satan, the prince of 
 the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of 
 disobedience, in order to his being humbled and broken under a 
 
 1 Matt. XTJii. 17. 2 1 Cof . v. 6. 
 
 19 
 
218 CHOECH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 sight and sense of his sins, which is meant by the destruction of (he 
 flesh, and to the end that the spirit may be saved in the day of the 
 Lord. 
 
 Amongst the many disorders which church members may be guilty 
 of, and for the obstinate continuance therein, a church may and 
 ought to use the power that Christ hath given to exclude them from 
 her communion, that is one, which is when a member doth seclude 
 himself, and that not in any regular way, but contrary to all rule 
 and order ; for when a church member, by reason of some offence 
 he hath taken at the church, or some of the members thereof, and 
 hath not done his duty according to the rule of the word, or else is 
 a dying away in religion, by' one means or another, as by the love 
 of the world, change of condition in marriage, or not having his ex- 
 pected preferment in the church, or the like, doth, as it were ex- 
 communicate himself, the church, according to their duty, ought to 
 use their endeavors to reclaim such ; which endeavors, if they prove 
 fruitless, and the party obstinate, the church ought not to acquiesce in 
 his irregular departure from them, as if all their bonds of relation 
 and duty were over, and no more was to be done, seeing the party 
 has usurped the power of the keys to himself; the church, therefore, 
 must maintain the power that Christ hath committed unto it, though 
 it cannot hinder the inordinate and unruly passions of such a one, 
 if God leaves him to it. He will run away from the church, rend- 
 ing himself schismatically off, breaking through all order and cove- 
 nant obligations, in opposition to brotherly endeavors lo hinder him, 
 and to stay him in his place ; the church is to proceed judicially to 
 turn the key upon such a sinful, disorderly departure ; and publicly 
 declare, that as such a one by name hath been guilty of such a 
 thing, naming his disorders, he is no longer in their communion, nor 
 under their watch and care, etc., and that such a person is not to re- 
 turn to their communion until he hath given satisfaction to the 
 ehurch.i Such a separation or departure is very sinful, for these 
 and the like reasons. (1.) Because the church is a corporation 
 privileged with laws and rules for admittance and dimittance, 
 which ought to be observed.^ (2.) Such a departure is rude and 
 
 1 Eom. xviv 17. 2 Matt, xviii. ; Eom. xii. 4, 5. 
 
APPENDIX. 2 1 9 
 
 indecent, therefore dishonorable.^ (3.) Because, if members may 
 take this liberty, all the officers of the church, ministers, ruling eld- 
 ers, and deacons may take the same liberty, which would soon un- 
 church any church, or at least be destructive to its beauty, comfort, 
 and edification.2 (4.) All members do covenant the contrary,' and 
 therefore it is a breach of covenant, which is a black character.* 
 (5.) It destroys totally the relation between elders and people, 
 which God hath ordained.^ (6.) It is a usurping of the keys, or 
 rather steaUng of them." (7.) It is schism ; if there Is such a thing 
 in the world, it is of particular churches.' (8.) It is high contempt 
 of Christ in the government of his church.' (9.) It is to break the 
 staff of beauty [cooenan^] and of bands and brotherhood too.' 
 (10.) It argues either some great undiscovered guilt lying on the 
 party, or some by-ends in his first seeking admission into such a 
 church. All which put together, it declares the great unity of a 
 congregational gospel church, and the sinfulness of such disorderly 
 persons in breaking off without a just cause : but if any church 
 becomes heretical in principles, or idolatrous in worship, or immoral 
 in life, it is lawful for persons, after they have discharged their 
 conscience and duty in reproving and bearing witness against such 
 gross defections, to depart.'" 
 
 Other disorders and causes of discords in churches are these, and 
 many of the like : 
 
 1. When members of churches, by their ignorance of the rules of 
 discipline and right government of the church of Christ do pot act 
 according to their duty ; particularly when that rule '' is not ob- 
 served; and that is, either (1.) When offended members instead of 
 going to the offender to tell him his fault, will be divulging it disor- 
 derly to others, whether members or non-members. (2.) When of- 
 fended members instead of acting according to the said rule, do con- 
 ceal the matter from the offender and every body else, lest they 
 should be looked upon as contentious persons : and thereby they suf- 
 
 1 1 Cor. xiv, 40. 7 1 Cor. xi. 18, xii. 25. 
 
 2,rohnvi. 67. 8 Jiide xviii. 19; 2 Peter il, 10, 11. 
 
 s I.*a. xliv. 6. 9 Zech. xi. 10, 14. 
 
 4 2 Tim. iii. 3. 10 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. 
 
 5 Matt. ix. 86. n Matt, xviii. 15, 16. 
 8 Amos vi. 13. 
 
■ 220 CHUKCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 fer sin upon their brothor, and are become guilty of other men's 
 sins, and thereby they suffer the name of God, their holy profession, 
 and the church, to lie under a reproach by their neglect ; either of 
 ■which ways is very sinful, as being contrary to the express rule 
 given by our Lord Jesus Christ ; and such ought, as being thereby 
 become offenders themselves, to be in a gospel way dealt with. 
 
 2. When an elder of a church do know that some of the mem- 
 bers are immoral and scandalous in life, or heretical in matters of 
 faith and judgment, and yet bear with them, or connive at them. 
 
 •3. When members of churches take liberty to go to hear at 
 other places, when the church is assembled to worship God, which is 
 directly contrary to Hebrews 10: 25, and is no less than breaking 
 covenant with the church they belong unto, and may soon dissolve 
 and unchurch any particular church ; for, by the same rule that one 
 member takes such liberty, another may, yea, all the members may, 
 until their assembling entirely cease. 'And, moreover, it is casting 
 great contempt on the ministry of such a church, and may cause 
 others to be disaffected to the doctrine taught in such, though sound 
 and orthodox. Yet no restraint ought to be laid on members going 
 to hear at other places, where sound doctrine is taught, at other times. 
 
 4. When members take liberty to go to hear men that are cor- 
 rupt in doctrine, and so suck in some unsound notions of religion, 
 and endeavor to corrupt others with what they have imbibed them- 
 selves. And, alas ! how many in our unhappy days are corrupted 
 with Anninianism, Socinianism, and what not ? Such cause trouble 
 and great disorders. 
 
 5. Another disorder that may cause discord, is, when members 
 are received without the general and unanimous consent of the 
 church ; or when any are admitted, with whose confession, or life 
 and conversation, the generality of the members are not satisfied : 
 or when elders and ministers, or leaders of the church, are remiss 
 and careless in reception of members. 
 
 6. When a church shall receive a charao against a member, it 
 being an offence given by one brother to another brother, before an 
 orderly procedure has been made by the offended brother, accord- 
 ing to the rule.' 
 
 1 Matt, xviii. 
 
APPENDIX. 221 
 
 7. When judgment passes with partiality, or some are connived 
 at out of favor or affection, and others censured out of envy without 
 due conviction. Levi was not to know his father, mother, or chil- 
 dren in judgment.' 
 
 8. When the charges of a church are not equally borne by the 
 members according to their several abilities, but some are burthened 
 when others do little or nothing. 
 
 9. When accusations are received against an elder contrary to 
 the rule,^ which requires two or three witnesses as to matter of fact. 
 
 10. When any member shall divulge to persons not of the con- 
 gregation, nor concerned in those matters, what is done in the 
 church meetings : the church in this respect, as well as in others, is 
 to be a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.^ This 
 often occzisions great grief and trouble, and therefore such disor- 
 derly persons should be detected. Is it not a shame to any to di- 
 vulge the secrets of a family ? But far greater shame do such per- 
 sons expose themselves unto. 
 
 11. When days of prayer, fasting, or thanksgiving, or days of 
 disciphne appointed by the church, are not carefully observed and 
 kept. 
 
 In all these, and many other things of like nature, the members 
 of particular churches ought to give all diligence to walk worthy of 
 their vocation, and according to the rule and direction of the word 
 of God, that disorders may be prevented, and that church commun- 
 ion may be maintained in peace and purity, to the edifying of the 
 body of the church of Christ in love. 
 
 OF THE COMMUNION OF CHURCHES. 
 
 Every particular congregational church incorporated by and ac- 
 cording to the institution of Christ in the gospel, and duly organized 
 according to the pattern of the primitive churches, hath sufficient 
 power from Christ to call and ordain its own officers; so that no 
 man, or set of men, have authority to choose officers for them, or 
 impose any officer on them, without their previous knowledge and 
 
 1 Deut. xxxiii, 9. 2 1 Tim. v. IS. S Csuit. iv. 12, 
 
 J9* 
 
222 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 voluntary consent.' Deacons are to be chosen by the multitude.' 
 Elders were ordained in every church by election or suffrage of the 
 church ; and every particular church, as such, assembled wilh her 
 proper elders, hath sufficient power to receive members.' And in 
 the exercise of any acts of discipline, such a church being convened 
 with her own officers or elders in the name of Christ, may act ac- 
 cording to gospel rule in any case, even to excommunicate such 
 members as are found to be obstinate in disorders, or heretical in 
 principles, after due admonition, or such as are guilty of gross and 
 scandalous immoralities in conversation, etc., independent on any 
 other church power superior to itself, or higher judicatory lodged in 
 any man or any set of men, by any institution of Christ : and there- 
 fore, the elders of a church, meeting in the absence of the members, 
 or convened with the elders of other churches, are not intrusted 
 with a power to act for a church in admission of members, ordina- 
 tion, or censures, etc., and it is the duty of such a church to admon- 
 ish any of her members or officers, their teacher or pastor,* and ex- 
 clude any too, when their crimes require, according to the rule of 
 the gospel. 
 
 And such particular congregational churches, constituted and or- 
 ganized according to the mind of Christ revealed in the New Testar 
 ment, are all equal in power and dignity, and we read of no dis- 
 parity between them, or subordination among them, that should 
 make a difference between the acts of their mutual communion, so 
 as the acts of one church should be acts of authority, and the acts 
 of others should be acts of obedience or subjection, although they 
 may vastly differ in gifts, abilities, and usefulness. 
 
 Such particular distinct churches, agreeing in gospel doctrine and 
 practice, may and ought to maintain communion together in many 
 duties, which may tend to the mutual benefit and edification of tlje 
 whole : and thereby one church that hath plenty of gifts, may and 
 ought, if possible, to supply another that lacketh.' They may have 
 mutual giving and receiving," and mutual translation, recommenda- 
 tion, or dismission of members from one church to another, as oeca- 
 
 1 Acts vi. 5. 4 Col. iv. 17. 
 
 2 Acts xlv. 23. 5 ("lint, viii. 8. 
 
 3 Acts ii. 41; Kom xiv. 7. U I'liil. iv. 15. 
 
APPENDIX. 223 
 
 sion may require. It is to be noted that persons called to office are 
 not to be dismissed as officers, but as members ; though another 
 church may call such to the same office again. 
 
 By virtue also of such cqmmunion, the members of one such 
 church may, where they are known, ooceisionally partake at the 
 Lord's table with a sister church. Yet, notwithstanding such com- 
 munion of churches, by voluntary consent and confederation, the 
 officers of one particular church may not act as officers in another 
 church, in any act of government, without a particular call there- 
 unto from the other church where they occasionally come. 
 
 It is expedient that particular churches constituted in the way and 
 manner, and for the ends declared in the former part of this narra- 
 tive, when they are planted by the providence of God, so as they 
 may have opportunity and advantage so to do, should by their mu- 
 tual agreement, appoint proper times and places, to meet by their 
 respective messengers or delegates, to consider of such things as may 
 be for the common benefit of all such churches, for their peace, 
 prosperity, and mutual edification, and what may be for the further- 
 ance of the gospel, and the interest of Christ in the world. 
 
 And forasmuch as it falls out many times that particular churches 
 have to do with doubtful and difficult matters, or differences in point 
 of doctrine or administration, like the church of Antioch of old, 
 wherein either of the churches in general are concerned, or any one 
 church in their peace, union, or edification ; or any member or mem- 
 bers of a church are injured, in or by any proceeding in censures 
 not agreeable to gospel rule and order ; it is according to the mind 
 of Christ, that many churches holding communion together, should 
 meet by their messengers and delegates to consider of and to give 
 advice in or about such matters in difference; and their sentiments 
 to be reported to all the churches concerned ; and such messengers 
 and delegates convened in the name of Christ, by the voluntary 
 consent of the several churches in such mutual communion, may de- 
 clare and determine of the mind of the Holy Ghost revealed in 
 Scripture, concerning things in difference ; and may decree tlie 
 observation of things that are true and necessary, because revealed 
 and appointed in the Scripture. And the churches will do well to 
 receive, own, and observe such determinations, on the evidence and 
 
224 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 authority of the mind of the Holy Ghost in them.^ Yet such dele- 
 gates thus assembled, are not intrusted or armed with any coercive 
 power, or any superior jurisdiction over the churches concerned, so 
 as to impose their determinations 6n them or their officers, under the 
 penalty of excommunication, or the like.^ 
 
 Acts XV. 29. 
 2 See the Confession, Chap. 26, S 14, 15. See also Dr. Owbk, On the Nature of the 
 Gospel Church, Chap. 11; and Dr. GooDwiM, Vol. IV. Chap. 8, 9, 10, etc.. Of the 
 Government of the Churches of Christ, 
 
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BIOGRAPHIES AND WORKS ON MISSIONS. 
 
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 DR. GRANT AKTD THE MOTJWTAIISr I^STORIAHS. By Eev. 
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 hil^ovefi^ f ht'i" '" " '""^y' "■""='> I l-"" ""SM t" "dom with flowers. Shadows from the 
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 '^^I'^f^*^™^'^ '^^^'^ LESSON. A Memoir of MiRTHAWmTmr., late 
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WOEKS FOE BIBLE STUDENTS. 
 
 KITTO'S POPULAR GYCLOP-^DIA OF BIBLICAL LITERA- 
 
 TCJRE. Condensed from the larger work. By the Author, John Kitto, D. D. As- 
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 A DiCTioif ARY OP THE EiBLE. Serving, also, as a Commentahy, embodying the producta of 
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 THE HISTORY OP PALESTINE, from the Patriarchal Age to the Present 
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 AWALTTICAL OONCORDAITCE TO THE HOLT SCBIP- 
 
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 CRUDEN'S COWDElSrSED CO]^3"CORDA]!TCE. A Complete Concord- 
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 A COMTMEISTTART- OINT THE ORIGINAL TEXT OP THE ACTS 
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 thft author's continued laborious Investigations and travels, since the publication of the first edition. 
 
 (22) 
 
WORKS POR BIBLE STUDENTS. 
 
 NOTES OW THE GO.SPELS. Designed for Teachera in Sabbath Schools and 
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 MALGOM'S NE"W BIBLE DIOTIONABT of the most important Names, 
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 New DicTiONARr. 
 
 THE. EVIDENCES OP CHBISTIANITY, as exhibited in the writings of 
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 HARMONY QUESTIONS ON THE POITB GOSPELS, for the use of 
 
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 SABBATH-SCHOOL CLASS BOOK; comprising copious Exercises on the 
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 LINCOLN'S SCRIPTUHE QUESTIONS ; with answers, giving, in the 
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WOEKS OF HUGH MILLEE. 
 
 THE OLD BBI> SAWDSTOWB ; or, Nev7 Walks in an Old Field. Illuatratea 
 with Plates and Geological Sections. New Bditios, Revised and mdch Enlarged, 
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 Ogg" 77te above six volumes are furnished in sets, printed and bound in vniform style : viz. , 
 
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 CTCLOP^DIA OF AKTECDOTBS OP LITEBATTJRE AND 
 
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 Artists of different Countries and Ages, &c. By Kazlitt Arvinb, A. M., author of 
 " CyclopiEdia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes." With numerous Illustrations. 725 pp, 
 octavo. Cloth, Sa.OO i sheep, $3.50 ; cloth, gilt, $4.00 ; half calf, $4.00. 
 
 This is unquestionnbly the choicest collection of Anecdotes ever published. It contntna three 
 thovsand and forty Anecdotes : nnd such is the wonderful variety, that it will be found an almost 
 inexhaustible fund of interest for every class of renders. The elaborate classificatioD and Indexes 
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 THE LIFE OP JOHW MILTOiN", Narrated in Connection with the Political, 
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 1608 to 1639. With Portraits, and specimens of his handwriting at different periods. 
 
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 " Mr. Greyson and Mr, Kogers arc one and tho same person. The whole work is from his pen, 
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 are now published in uniform style. They include nineteen articles, viz. : 
 
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 Second Series :— Charles Kingsley. — S. T. Coleridge. — T. IB. Macaulay. — AUson.--WeU 
 lington. — Napoleon. — Plato. — Characteristics of Christian Civilization. — The Modern University. 
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 attraction af afaa-siimle of the stanaiure of each of the persons introduced. (2 8) 
 
CHAMBEES' WORKS. 
 
 CHAMBEBS' CYOI1OF.EDIA OF ElfGLISH LITERATURE. A 
 
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 time. Connected by a Critical and IJi( (graphical History. Forming two large iiiiptrial 
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 gilt, $7.50 i half calf, $7.50 ; full calf, £10.00. 
 
 This work embraces about one thousand Authors, clironologically arranged, and classed ai 
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 ■ from their writings, connected by a Biographical, llistorical, and Critical Narrative ; thus present- 
 ing a complete view of English Literature from the earliest to the present time. Let the reader 
 open where he will, he cannot fail to find matter for profit and delight. The selections are gems — 
 infinite riches in a little room ; in the language of another, "A Whole English Libkaey fused 
 
 DOWN INTO ONE CHEAP BoOK 1" 
 
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 mezzotint engravings of the heads of SiiAKsrEAitE, Addison, Eyeon ; a full-length portrait of 
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 These important and elegant additions, together with superior paper and binding, and other 
 improvements, render the American far superior to the English edition . 
 
 W. H. Phescott, the Historian, says, "Readers cannot fail to profit largely by the labors 
 of the critic who has the talent and taste to separate what is really beautiful and worthy of their 
 fitudy from what is superfluous." 
 
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 CHAMBERS' MIS CELL AITS" OF USEFUL AHNTD EIsTTER TAIL- 
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 tive Engravings. Ten volumes. Cloth, $7.50 ; cloth, gilt, $10.00 ; library sheep, $10.00. 
 
 *' It would be difiicult to find any miscellany superior or even equal to it. It richly deserves the 
 epithets 'useful and entertaining,' and I would recommend it very strongly, as extremely well 
 adapted to form parts of a library for the young, or of a social or circulating library in town or 
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 CHAMBERS' HOME BOOK; or, Pocket Miscellany, containing a Choice 
 
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 16rao, cloth, $3.00 ; library sheep, $4.00 ; half calf, $6-00. 
 
 ^hia is considered fully equal, and in some respects superior, to either of the other works of lh« 
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VALUABLE TEXT-BOOKS. 
 
 THE LECTURES OE SIR "WILLIAM HAMILTON, BART., lal* 
 Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, University ol' Jidiubuigh; embracing the Mbtaphysi, 
 
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 taining the Author'3 Latest Bevelopnieut of his New Logical Tlieory. Edited by Rev. 
 HbiNRY LoNGUEViLLB Mansi'JL, B. U., i'rof. of Moral and Metapliysical Philosopliy in 
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 volumes, viz., 
 
 I. Metaphysical Lectures (now ready). Royal octavo, cloth. 
 
 TI. Logical Lectures (in preparation). 
 
 la^ G. Sc L., by a special arrangement witVi the family of the late Sir "Wilham Hamilton, are 
 the Authorized American Publisliera of this dietinguished author's matchlc)^ Lectuhics on Met* 
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 MENTAL PHILOSOPHY; Including the Intellect, the Sensibihties, and the 
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 Royal 12mo, cloth, cmbossc^, $1 50. 
 
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 remarkable condensation of tliought. 
 
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 THESAURUS OF ENGLISH "WORDS AND PHRASES, so classi- 
 fied and arranged as to facilitate the expression of ideiis, and assist in literary composi- 
 tioa. New and Improved Edition. By Peter Mark RonET, late Secretary of the Royal 
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 lish, and other additions, by Barnas Sears, D. B., President of Brown University. A 
 New American Edition, with Additions and Improvements. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. 
 
 This edition is based on the London edition, recently issued. The first American Edition hav- 
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 in tlie present edition, been restored, but by sucli an arrangement of the matter as not to inters 
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 PALEY'S nSTATURAL THEOLOGY. Illustrated by forty Plates, with 
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 with a Vocabulary of Scientific Terms. Edited by John Ware, M. B. Improved edition, 
 
 with elegant newly engraved plates. 12mo, cloth, embossed, $1.25. 
 
 This work is very penerally introduced into our best Schools nnd Colleges throughout the coun- 
 try. An entirely new and boantifi.il set of Illustrations has recently been procured, which, with 
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 (38) 
 
YALUABLE WORKS. 
 
 TEE LIMITS OF EELIGIOUS THOUGHT EXAMII^ED. By 
 ilKNKY LoNGUKViLLE Mansel, K. D.,Prof. of Morul iind Metaphysical Pliiluaophy, Mag- 
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 FIKST THINGS; or, The Development of Church Life. By Babon Stow, D. D. 
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 HEAVEHnT. By James Willlam Kimball. With an elegant vignette title-page. 
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 THE PROGRESS OF BAPTIST PBIHCIPLES XN THE LAST 
 
 HUNDBED YEARS. By T. F. Curtis, Professor of Theology in the Lewisburg 
 
 University, Pa., aud author of " Communion," &c. 12mo, -cloth, $1.25. 
 
 Eminently worthy of the attention, not only of Baptists, but of all other denominations. In hia 
 
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 THOUGHTS ON" THE PRESENT COLLEGIATE SYSTEM in the 
 
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 SACBED BHETOBIC ; or, Composition and Delivery of Sermons. By H. J. 
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 ON EiTEMPORANEons PREACHING. Secoud thousaud, 12mo, cloth, 75 cts. 
 
 THE PULPIT OF THE BEVOLUTION; or, The Political Sei-mons of the 
 Era of 1776. With an Introduction, Biographical Sketches of the Preachers and Histori- 
 cal Notes, etc. By John Wingate Thornton, author of " The Landing at Cape Anne," 
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 THE EIGHTEEN CHBISTIAN CENTUKIES. By the Rev. James 
 White, author of " Landmarks of the History of England." 12mo, cloth. In press. 
 
 TKB PLURALITY" OF "WORLDS. A New Edition. With a Supplement- 
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 This masterly production, which has excited so much interept in this country and in Europe, 
 will now have an increased attraction in the addition of the Siipplemcnt, in which the author's 
 reviewers are triumphantly reviewed. 
 
 THE CAMEL ; His Organization, Habita, and Uses, considered with referenuc to his 
 introduction into the United States. By George P. Marsh, late U. S. Minieter at Con- 
 stantinople. 12mo, cloth, 63 cts. 
 
 This book treats of a subject of great interest, especially at the present time. Ttfumiahea a more 
 romplcte and reliable account of the Camel than any other in the language ; indeed, it is believed 
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 ing and fine scholaralup. ^3 Q^ 
 
GOULD AND LINCOLN, 
 
 69 "WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, 
 
 "SYould call particular attention to the following valuable works described 
 in tlieir Cataloj^ue of Publications, viz.: 
 
 Hugh. Miller's Works. 
 
 Bayne'B Worts. Walker's Works. Miall's Works. Bungener*fl Work. 
 
 Armnal of Scientific Discovery. Knight's Knowledge is Power. 
 
 Krummaclier's Suffering Saviour, 
 
 Banvard's American Histories, The Aimwell Stories. 
 
 tTewcomb's Works. Tweedie's Works. Chambers's Works. Harris* Worts. 
 
 Kitto's Cyelopsedia of Biblical Literature. 
 
 Sirs. Knight's Life of Montgomery. Kitto's History of Palestine. 
 
 Whew.ell's Work. Wayland's Works. Agassiz's Worki. 
 
 =^ 
 
 
 A /:'jv*v/M- J.; 
 
 Williams' Works. Guyot's Works. 
 
 Thompson's Better Land. Kimball's Heaven. Valuable Works on Misaione. 
 
 Haven's Mental Philosophy. Buchanan's Modern Atheism. 
 
 Cruden'a Condensed Concordance. Eadie'a Analytical Concordance. 
 
 The Psalmist ; a Collection of Hymns. 
 
 Valuable School Books. Works for Sabbath Schools. 
 
 Memoir of Amos Lawrence. 
 
 Poetical Works of Milton, Cowper, Soott. Elegant Miniature VolumeB. 
 
 Arvine's Cyclopeedia of Anecdotes. 
 
 Kipley's Notes on G-ospela, Acts, and Romans. 
 
 Sprague's European Celebrities. Marsh's Camel and the Hallig. 
 
 Hoget'B Thesaurus of English Words. 
 
 Haekett's Kotes on Acts. M'Whorter's Yahveh Christ. 
 
 Siebold and Stannius's Comparative Anatomy. Marcou's Geolosrical Map, TJ. S, 
 
 Keligioua and Miscellaneous Works. 
 
 Works in the various Departments of Literature, Science and Art.