Atonement & the Cross

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death— to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has delivered me from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Q. Can we make this payment ourselves?

A. Certainly not. Actually, we increase our debt every day.

Q. Can another creature—any at all—pay this debt for us?

A. No. To begin with, God will not punish any other creature for what a human is guilty of. Furthermore, no mere creature can bear the weight of God's eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it.

Q. Why must he also be true God?

A. So that, by the power of his divinity, he might bear in his humanity the weight of God's wrath, and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

Q. How do you come to know this?

A. The holy gospel tells me. God himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise; later, he proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets and foreshadowed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; and finally he fulfilled it through his own beloved Son.

Q. What are these articles?

A. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

Q. Why is he called "Christ," meaning "anointed"?

A. Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our chief prophet and teacher who fully reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our deliverance; our only high priest who has delivered us by the one sacrifice of his body, and who continually intercedes for us before the Father; and our eternal king who governs us by his Word and Spirit, and who guards us and keeps us in the deliverance he has won for us.

Q. Why do you call him "our Lord"?

A. Because— not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood— he has delivered and purchased us body and soul from sin and from the tyranny of the devil, to be his very own.

Q. What do you understand by the word "suffered"?

A. That during his whole life on earth, but especially at the end, Christ sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race. This he did in order that, by his suffering as the only atoning sacrifice, he might deliver us, body and soul, from eternal condemnation, and gain for us God's grace, righteousness, and eternal life.

Q. Is it significant that he was "crucified" instead of dying some other way?

A. Yes. By this death I am convinced that he shouldered the curse which lay on me, since death by crucifixion was cursed by God.

Q. Why did Christ have to suffer death?

A. Because God's justice and truth require it: nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God.

Q. Why was he "buried"?

A. His burial testifies that he really died.

Q. What further benefit do we receive from Christ's sacrifice and death on the cross?

A. By his power our old man is crucified, put to death, and buried with him, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer rule us, but that instead we may offer ourselves as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to him.

Q. Why does the creed add, "He descended into hell"?

A. To assure me during attacks of deepest dread and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from hellish anguish and torment.

Q. What do you believe concerning "the forgiveness of sins"?

A. I believe that God, because of Christ's satisfaction, will no longer remember any of my sins or my sinful nature which I need to struggle against all my life. Rather, by his grace God grants me the righteousness of Christ that I may never come into judgment.

Q. How are you righteous before God?

A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments, of never having kept any of them, and of still being inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without any merit of my own, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, and as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me— if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.

Q. Why do you say that through faith alone you are righteous?

A. Not because I please God by the worthiness of my faith, for only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness are my righteousness before God, and I can receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than by faith alone.

Q. What are sacraments?

A. Sacraments are visible, holy signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that by our use of them he might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and seal that promise. And this is God's gospel promise: he grants us forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace because of Christ's one sacrifice accomplished on the cross.

Q. Are both the word and the sacraments then intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation?

A. Yes indeed! The Holy Spirit teaches us in the gospel and confirms by the holy sacraments that our entire salvation rests on Christ's one sacrifice for us on the cross.

Q. How does holy baptism remind and assure you that Christ's one sacrifice on the cross benefits you personally?

A. In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing and with it promised that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly his blood and his Spirit wash away my soul's impurity, that is, all my sins.

Q. What does it mean to be washed with Christ's blood and Spirit?

A. To be washed with Christ's blood means that God, by grace, has forgiven our sins because of Christ's blood poured out for us in his sacrifice on the cross. To be washed with Christ's Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has renewed and sanctified us to be members of Christ, so that more and more we die to sin and live holy and blameless lives.

Q. Where does Christ promise that we are washed with his blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?

A. In the institution of baptism, where he says: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be condemned." This promise is repeated when Scripture calls baptism "the washing of regeneration" and the washing away of sins.

Q. How does the holy supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits?

A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command come these promises: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of him who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood.

Q. What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink his poured-out blood?

A. It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and in this way to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ's blessed body. And so, although he is in heaven and we are on earth, we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. And we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit, as the members of our body are by one soul.

Q. Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood, and Paul use the words, a participation in Christ's body and blood?

A. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that just as bread and wine nourish the temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood are the true food and drink of our souls for eternal life. But more important, he wants to assure us, by this visible sign and pledge, that we, through the Holy Spirit's work, share in his true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance, and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and made satisfaction for our sins.

Q. How does the Lord's Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass?

A. The Lord's Supper declares to us that all our sins are completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself accomplished on the cross once for all. It also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ, who with his true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father where he wants us to worship him. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. It also teaches that Christ is bodily present under the form of bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshiped. Thus the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry.

Q. Who should come to the Lord's table?

A. Those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, but who nevertheless trust that their sins are pardoned and that their remaining weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to lead a better life. Hypocrites and those who are unrepentant, however, eat and drink judgment on themselves.

Q. Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace through Christ without any merit of our own, why then should we do good works?

A. Because Christ, having redeemed us by his blood, is also renewing us by his Spirit into his image, so that with our whole lives we may show that we are thankful to God for his benefits, and that he may be praised through us, and further, so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and by our godly living our neighbors may be won over to Christ.

We believe that Jesus Christ is a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek—made such by an oath—and that he presented himself in our name before his Father, to appease his wrath with full satisfaction by offering himself on the tree of the cross and pouring out his precious blood for the cleansing of our sins, as the prophets had predicted. For it is written that "the chastisement of our peace" was placed on the Son of God and that "we are healed by his wounds." He was "led to death as a lamb"; he was "numbered among sinners" and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though Pilate had declared that he was innocent. So he paid back what he had not stolen, and he suffered—the "just for the unjust," in both his body and his soul—in such a way that when he sensed the horrible punishment required by our sins his sweat became like "big drops of blood falling on the ground." He cried, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" And he endured all this for the forgiveness of our sins.

Therefore we rightly say with Paul that we "know nothing but Jesus and him crucified"; we consider all things as "dung for the excellence of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." We find all comforts in his wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means to reconcile ourselves with God than this one and only sacrifice, once made, which renders believers perfect forever. This is also why the angel of God called him Jesus—that is, "Savior"—because he would save his people from their sins.

We believe that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins because of Jesus Christ, and that in it our righteousness before God is contained, as David and Paul teach us when they declare that man blessed to whom God grants righteousness apart from works. And the same apostle says that we are justified "freely" or "by grace" through redemption in Jesus Christ.

And therefore we cling to this foundation, which is firm forever, giving all glory to God, humbling ourselves, and recognizing ourselves as we are; not claiming a thing for ourselves or our merits and leaning and resting only on the obedience of Christ crucified, which is ours when we believe in him. That is enough to cover all our sins and to make us confident, freeing the conscience from the fear, dread, and terror of God's approach, without doing what our first father, Adam, did, who trembled as he tried to cover himself with fig leaves. In fact, if we had to appear before God relying—no matter how little—on ourselves or some other creature, then, alas, we would be swallowed up. Therefore everyone must say with David: "Lord, do not enter into judgment with your servants, for before you no living person shall be justified."

We believe that we ought to discern diligently and very carefully, by the Word of God, what is the true church—for all sects in the world today claim for themselves the name of "the church." We are not speaking here of the company of hypocrites who are mixed among the good in the church and who nonetheless are not part of it, even though they are physically there. But we are speaking of distinguishing the body and fellowship of the true church from all sects that call themselves "the church."

The true church can be recognized if it has the following marks: The church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel; it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them; it practices church discipline for correcting faults. In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God, rejecting all things contrary to it and holding Jesus Christ as the only Head. By these marks one can be assured of recognizing the true church—and no one ought to be separated from it.

As for those who are of the church, we can recognize them by the distinguishing marks of Christians: namely by faith, and by their fleeing from sin and pursuing righteousness, once they have received the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. They love the true God and their neighbors, without turning to the right or left, and they crucify the flesh and its works. Though great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their lives, appealing constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of the Lord Jesus, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins, through faith in him.

As for the false church, it assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God; it does not want to subject itself to the yoke of Christ; it does not administer the sacraments as Christ commanded in his Word; it rather adds to them or subtracts from them as it pleases; it bases itself on men, more than on Jesus Christ; it persecutes those who live holy lives according to the Word of God and who rebuke it for its faults, greed, and idolatry. These two churches are easy to recognize and thus to distinguish from each other.

We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, in whom the law is fulfilled, has by his shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood, which anyone might do or wish to do in order to atone or satisfy for sins. Having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, he established in its place the sacrament of baptism. By it we are received into God's church and set apart from all other people and alien religions, that we may be dedicated entirely to him, bearing his mark and sign. It also witnesses to us that he will be our God forever, since he is our gracious Father.

Therefore he has commanded that all those who belong to him be baptized with pure water "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." In this way he signifies to us that just as water washes away the dirt of the body when it is poured on us and also is seen on the body of the baptized when it is sprinkled on him, so too the blood of Christ does the same thing internally, in the soul, by the Holy Spirit. It washes and cleanses it from its sins and transforms us from being the children of wrath into the children of God. This does not happen by the physical water but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God, who is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, who is the devil, and to enter the spiritual land of Canaan.

So ministers, as far as their work is concerned, give us the sacrament and what is visible, but our Lord gives what the sacrament signifies—namely the invisible gifts and graces; washing, purifying, and cleansing our souls of all filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts and filling them with all comfort; giving us true assurance of his fatherly goodness; clothing us with the "new man" and stripping off the "old," with all its works.

For this reason we believe that anyone who aspires to reach eternal life ought to be baptized only once without ever repeating it—for we cannot be born twice. Yet this baptism is profitable not only when the water is on us and when we receive it but throughout our entire lives.

For that reason we detest the error of the Anabaptists who are not content with a single baptism once received and also condemn the baptism of the children of believers. We believe our children ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as little children were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises made to our children. And truly, Christ has shed his blood no less for washing the little children of believers than he did for adults. Therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of what Christ has done for them, just as the Lord commanded in the law that by offering a lamb for them the sacrament of the suffering and death of Christ would be granted them shortly after their birth. This was the sacrament of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, baptism does for our children what circumcision did for the Jewish people. That is why Paul calls baptism the "circumcision of Christ."

In order that people may be brought to faith, God mercifully sends proclaimers of this very joyful message to the people he wishes and at the time he wishes. By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. For "how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone preaching? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent?" (Rom. 10:14–15).

God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely just. His justice requires (as he has revealed himself in the Word) that the sins we have committed against his infinite majesty be punished with both temporal and eternal punishments, of soul as well as body. We cannot escape these punishments unless satisfaction is given to God's justice.

Since, however, we ourselves cannot give this satisfaction or deliver ourselves from God's anger, God in his boundless mercy has given us as a guarantee his only begotten Son, who was made to be sin and a curse for us, in our place, on the cross, in order that he might give satisfaction for us.

This death of God's Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world.

Moreover, it is the promise of the gospel that whoever believes in Christ crucified shall not perish but have eternal life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be announced and declared without differentiation or discrimination to all nations and people, to whom God in his good pleasure sends the gospel.

However, that many who have been called through the gospel do not repent or believe in Christ but perish in unbelief is not because the sacrifice of Christ offered on the cross is deficient or insufficient, but because they themselves are at fault.

For it was the entirely free plan and very gracious will and intention of God the Father that the enlivening and saving effectiveness of his Son's costly death should work itself out in all his chosen ones, in order that he might grant justifying faith to them only and thereby lead them without fail to salvation. In other words, it was God's will that Christ through the blood of the cross (by which he confirmed the new covenant) should effectively redeem from every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to him by the Father; that he should grant them faith (which, like the Holy Spirit's other saving gifts, he acquired for them by his death); that he should cleanse them by his blood from all their sins, both original and actual, whether committed before or after their coming to faith; that he should faithfully preserve them to the very end; and that he should finally present them to himself, a glorious people, without spot or wrinkle.

This plan, arising out of God's eternal love for his chosen ones, from the beginning of the world to the present time has been powerfully carried out and will also be carried out in the future, the gates of hell seeking vainly to prevail against it. As a result the chosen are gathered into one, all in their own time, and there is always a church of believers founded on Christ's blood, a church which steadfastly loves, persistently worships, and—here and in all eternity—praises him as her Savior who laid down his life for her on the cross, as a bridegroom for his bride.

Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those

Error I.

Who teach that God the Father appointed his Son to death on the cross without a fixed and definite plan to save anyone by name, so that the necessity, usefulness, and worth of what Christ's death obtained could have stood intact and altogether perfect, complete and whole, even if the redemption that was obtained had never in actual fact been applied to any individual.

For this assertion is an insult to the wisdom of God the Father and to the merit of Jesus Christ, and it is contrary to Scripture. For the Savior speaks as follows: "I lay down my life for the sheep, and I know them" (John 10:15, 27). And Isaiah the prophet says concerning the Savior: "When he shall make himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand" (Isa. 53:10). Finally, this undermines the article of the creed in which we confess what we believe concerning the church.

Error II.

Who teach that the purpose of Christ's death was not to establish in actual fact a new covenant of grace by his blood, but only to acquire for the Father the mere right to enter once more into a covenant with men, whether of grace or of works.

For this conflicts with Scripture, which teaches that Christ "has become the guarantee and mediator" of a better—that is, "a new"—"covenant" (Heb. 7:22; 9:15), and that "a will is in force only when someone has died" (Heb. 9:17).

Error III.

Who teach that Christ, by the satisfaction which he gave, did not certainly merit for anyone salvation itself and the faith by which this satisfaction of Christ is effectively applied to salvation, but only acquired for the Father the authority or plenary will to relate in a new way with men and to impose such new conditions as he chose, and that the satisfying of these conditions depends on the free choice of man; consequently, that it was possible that either all or none would fulfill them.

For they have too low an opinion of the death of Christ, do not at all acknowledge the foremost fruit or benefit which it brings forth, and summon back from hell the Pelagian error.

Error IV.

Who teach that what is involved in the new covenant of grace which God the Father made with men through the intervening of Christ's death is not that we are justified before God and saved through faith, insofar as it accepts Christ's merit, but rather that God, having withdrawn his demand for perfect obedience to the law, counts faith itself, and the imperfect obedience of faith, as perfect obedience to the law, and graciously looks upon this as worthy of the reward of eternal life.

For they contradict Scripture: "They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ, whom God presented as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood" (Rom. 3:24–25). And along with the ungodly Socinus, they introduce a new and foreign justification of man before God, against the consensus of the whole church.

Error V.

Who teach that all people have been received into the state of reconciliation and into the grace of the covenant, so that no one on account of original sin is liable to condemnation, or is to be condemned, but that all are free from the guilt of this sin.

For this opinion conflicts with Scripture which asserts that we are by nature children of wrath.

Error VI.

Who make use of the distinction between obtaining and applying in order to instill in the unwary and inexperienced the opinion that God, as far as he is concerned, wished to bestow equally upon all people the benefits which are gained by Christ's death; but that the distinction by which some rather than others come to share in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life depends on their own free choice (which applies itself to the grace offered indiscriminately) but does not depend on the unique gift of mercy which effectively works in them, so that they, rather than others, apply that grace to themselves.

For, while pretending to set forth this distinction in an acceptable sense, they attempt to give the people the deadly poison of Pelagianism.

Error VII.

Who teach that Christ neither could die, nor had to die, nor did die for those whom God so dearly loved and chose to eternal life, since such people do not need the death of Christ.

For they contradict the apostle, who says: "Christ loved me and gave himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20), and likewise: "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died," that is, for them (Rom. 8:33–34). They also contradict the Savior, who asserts: "I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:15), and "My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:12–13).

Hence daily sins of weakness arise, and blemishes cling to even the best works of God's people, giving them continual cause to humble themselves before God, to flee for refuge to Christ crucified, to put the flesh to death more and more by the Spirit of supplication and by holy exercises of godliness, and to strain toward the goal of perfection, until they are freed from this body of death and reign with the Lamb of God in heaven.

1. God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

2. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed anything because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions.

3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.

4. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.

5. Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen, in Christ, unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving him thereunto; and all to the praise of his glorious grace.

6. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath he, by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power, through faith, unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.

7. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy, as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice.

8. 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, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel.

1. It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Savior of his church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world: unto whom he did from all eternity give a people, to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.

2. The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man's nature, with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

3. The Lord Jesus, in his human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure, having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell; to the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator, and surety. Which office he took not unto himself, but was thereunto called by his Father, who put all power and judgment into his hand, and gave him commandment to execute the same.

4. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake; which that he might discharge, he was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfill it; endured most grievous torments immediately in his soul, and most painful sufferings in his body; was crucified, and died, was buried, and remained under the power of death, yet saw no corruption. On the third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in which he suffered, with which also he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father, 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 himself, which he, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father; and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him.

6. Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after his incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefits thereof were communicated unto the elect, in all ages successively from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the seed of the woman which should bruise the serpent's head; and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world; being yesterday and today the same, and forever.

7. Christ, in the work of mediation, acts according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet, by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.

8. To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same; making intercession for them, and revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the mysteries of salvation; effectually persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey, and governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit; overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner, and ways, as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.

1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth: 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; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness, by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.

2. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.

3. Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to his Father's justice in their behalf. Yet, inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them; and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead; and both, freely, not for anything in them; their justification is only of free grace; that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.

4. God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did, in the fullness of time, die for their sins, and rise again for their justification: nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.

5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified; and, although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.

6. The justification of believers under the old testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the new testament.

1. Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, called the Lord's Supper, to be observed in his church, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of himself in his death; the sealing all benefits thereof unto true believers, 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, as members of his mystical body.

2. In this sacrament, Christ is not offered up to his Father; nor any real sacrifice made at all, for remission of sins of the quick or dead; but only a commemoration 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 abominably injurious to Christ's one, only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all the sins of his elect.

3. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed his ministers to declare his word of institution to the people; 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; but to none who are not then present in the congregation.

4. Private Masses, or receiving this sacrament by a priest, or any other, alone; as likewise, the denial of the cup to the people, worshiping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about, for adoration, and the reserving them for any pretended religious use; are all contrary to the nature of this sacrament, and to the institution of Christ.

5. The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that, truly, yet sacramentally only, they are sometimes called by the name of the things they represent, to wit, the body and 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 (commonly 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 sacrament, 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 sacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive, and feed upon, Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then, not corporally or carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.

8. Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament; yet, they receive not the thing signified thereby; but, by their unworthy coming thereunto, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, to their own damnation. Wherefore, all ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with him, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table; and cannot, without great sin against Christ, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto.

Q. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

A. God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

Q. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

A. The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.

Q. What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?

A. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.

Q. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

A. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us.

Q. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

A. Christ's humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

Q. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.

Q. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.

Q. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?

A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.

Q. How was the covenant of grace administered under the old testament?

A. The covenant of grace was administered under the old testament, by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the Passover, and other types and ordinances, which did all foresignify Christ then to come, and were for that time sufficient to build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they then had full remission of sin, and eternal salvation.

Q. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

A. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering himself a sacrifice without spot to God, to be a reconciliation for the sins of his people; and in making continual intercession for them.

Q. How did Christ humble himself in his death?

A. Christ humbled himself in his death, in that having been betrayed by Judas, forsaken by his disciples, scorned and rejected by the world, condemned by Pilate, and tormented by his persecutors; having also conflicted with the terrors of death, and the powers of darkness, felt and borne the weight of God's wrath, he laid down his life an offering for sin, enduring the painful, shameful, and cursed death of the cross.

Q. Wherein consisted Christ's humiliation after his death?

A. Christ's humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death till the third day; which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, He descended into hell.

Q. How doth Christ make intercession?

A. Christ maketh intercession, by his appearing in our nature continually before the Father in heaven, in the merit of his obedience and sacrifice on earth, declaring his will to have it applied to all believers; answering all accusations against them, and procuring for them quiet of conscience, notwithstanding daily failings, access with boldness to the throne of grace, and acceptance of their persons and services.

Q. What benefits hath Christ procured by his mediation?

A. Christ, by his mediation, hath procured redemption, with all other benefits of the covenant of grace.

Q. Who are made partakers of redemption through Christ?

A. Redemption is certainly applied, and effectually communicated, to all those for whom Christ hath purchased it; who are in time by the Holy Ghost enabled to believe in Christ according to the gospel.

Q. What is justification?

A. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.

Q. How is justification an act of God's free grace?

A. Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet inasmuch as God accepteth the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them, and did provide this surety, his own only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free grace.

Q. How do they that worthily communicate in the Lord's Supper feed upon the body and blood of Christ therein?

A. As the body and blood of Christ are not corporally or carnally present in, with, or under the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, and yet are spiritually present to the faith of the receiver, no less truly and really than the elements themselves are to their outward senses; so they that worthily communicate in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, do therein feed upon the body and blood of Christ, not after a corporal and carnal, but in a spiritual manner; yet truly and really, while by faith they receive and apply unto themselves Christ crucified, and all the benefits of his death.

Q. What do we pray for in the fifth petition?

A. In the fifth petition, (which is, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,) acknowledging, that we and all others are guilty both of original and actual sin, and thereby become debtors to the justice of God; and that neither we, nor any other creature, can make the least satisfaction for that debt: we pray for ourselves and others, that God of his free grace would, through the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, apprehended and applied by faith, acquit us both from the guilt and punishment of sin, accept us in his Beloved; continue his favor and grace to us, pardon our daily failings, and fill us with peace and joy, in giving us daily more and more assurance of forgiveness; which we are the rather emboldened to ask, and encouraged to expect, when we have this testimony in ourselves, that we from the heart forgive others their offenses.

Professed and believed by the Protestants within the realm of Scotland. Published by them in Parliament and by the estates thereof. Ratified and approved, as wholesome and sound doctrine grounded upon the infallible truth of God's Word.

And these glad tidings of the kingdom will be preached through the whole world for a witness unto all nations: And then will the end come.

The Estates of Scotland, with the inhabitants of the same, professing Christ Jesus, His holy gospel, to their natural countrymen and to all other realms and nations professing the same Lord Jesus with them, wish grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, with the spirit of righteous judgment, for salvation.

Long have we thirsted, dear brethren, to have notified unto the world the sum of that doctrine which we profess and for which we have sustained infamy and danger. But such has been the rage of Satan against us and against Christ Jesus His eternal verity, lately borne among us that to this day no time has been granted unto us to clear our consciences, as most gladly we would have done. For how we have been tossed heretofore, the most part of Europe (as we suppose) does understand. But seeing that of the infinite goodness of our God (which never suffers His afflicted utterly to be confounded) above expectation, we have obtained some rest and liberty, [and] we could not but set forth this brief and plain confession of such doctrine as is propounded unto us, and as we believe and profess, partly for satisfaction of our brethren, whose hearts we doubt not have been and yet are wounded by the despiteful railing of such as yet have not learned to speak well: and partly for stopping the mouths of the impudent blasphemers, which boldly damn that which they have neither heard nor yet understood. Not that we judge that the cankered malice of such is able to be cured by this our simple confession. No, we know that the sweet savor of the gospel is and will be death to the sons of perdition. But we have chief respect to our weak and infirm brethren, to whom we would communicate the bottom of our hearts, lest they be troubled or carried away by [the] diversity of rumors which Satan spreads contrary to us, to the defacing of this our most godly enterprise. Protesting that if any man will note in this our confession any article or sentence repugnant to God's holy Word, that it would please him, of his gentleness and for Christian charity's sake, to admonish us of the same in writing. And we on our honor and fidelity do promise unto him satisfaction from the mouth of God (that is, from His Holy Scriptures) or else reformation of that which he will prove to be amiss. For God we take to record in our conscience, that from our hearts we abhor all sects of heresy and all teachers of erroneous doctrine, and that with all humility we embrace the purity of Christ's gospel, which is the only food of our souls—and, therefore, so precious unto us, that we are determined to suffer the extremity of worldly danger, rather than that we will suffer our selves to be defrauded of the same. For hereof we are most certainly persuaded, that whosoever denies Christ Jesus or is ashamed of Him in the presence of men, will be denied before the Father, and before His holy angels. And, therefore, by the assistance of the mighty Spirit of the same our Lord Jesus, we firmly purpose to abide to the end in the confession of this our faith, as by the following articles.

For that same eternal God and Father, who of mere grace elected us in Christ Jesus His Son before the foundation of the world was laid (Eph. 1), appointed Him to be our Head, our brother (Heb. 2), our pastor, and great bishop of our souls (John 10). But because the enmity betwixt the justice of God and our sins was such that no flesh by itself could or might have attained unto God, it behooved that the Son of God should descend unto us and take Himself a body of our body, flesh of our flesh, and bones of our bones: and so become the perfect mediator betwixt God and man, giving power to so many as believe in Him to be the sons of God (John 1). As He Himself does witness, "I pass up to my Father and unto your Father, to my God and unto your God" (John 20). By which most holy fraternity, whatsoever we have lost in Adam is restored to us again. And for this cause are we not afraid to call God our Father, not so much that He has created us (which we have common with the reprobate) as for that, that He has given to us His only Son, to be our brother, and given unto us grace to acknowledge and embrace Him for our only mediator, as before was said. It behooved further the Messiah and Redeemer to be very God and very man because He was to undergo the punishment due for our transgressions (Isa. 53), and to present Himself in the presence of His Father's judgment as in our person to suffer for our transgression and disobedience by death, to overcome him that was author of death. But because the only Godhead could not suffer death, neither yet could the only manhood overcome the same, He joined both together in one person that the weakness of the one should suffer and be subject to death (which we had deserved), and the infinite and invincible power of the other, to wit, of the Godhead, should triumph and purchase to us life, liberty, and perpetual victory. And so we confess and most undoubtedly believe.

That our Lord Jesus offered Himself a voluntary sacrifice unto His Father for us (Heb. 10), that He suffered contradiction of sinners, that He was wounded and plagued for our transgressions (Isa. 53), that He being the clean and innocent Lamb of God was damned in the presence of an earthly judge, that we should be absolved before the tribunal seat of our God. That He suffered not only the cruel death of the cross (which was accursed by the sentence of God [Deut. 21; Gal. 3]), but also that He suffered for a season the wrath of His Father, which sinners had deserved. But yet we avow that He remained the only well beloved and blessed Son of His Father, even in the midst of His anguish and torment which He suffered in body and soul to make that full satisfaction for the sins of His people (Heb. 10). After which we confess and avow that there remains no other sacrifice for sin, which if any affirm, we nothing doubt to avow that they are blasphemous against Christ's death and the everlasting purgation and satisfaction purchased to us by the same.

We undoubtedly believe that in as much as it was impossible that the sorrows of death should retain in bondage the author of life (Acts 2–3), that our Lord Jesus, crucified, died, and buried (Rom. 6), who descended into hell, did rise again for our justification, and destroying him who was author of death brought life again unto us that were subject to death and to the bondage of the same. We know that His resurrection was confirmed by the testimony of His very enemies (Matt. 28), by the resurrection of the dead whose sepulchers did open and they did arise and appeared to many within the city of Jerusalem (Matt. 27). It was also confirmed by the testimony of angels and by the senses and judgments of His apostles and of others (John 20–21), who had conversation and did eat and drink with Him after His resurrection.

We nothing doubt but that the selfsame body which was born of the virgin, was crucified, and buried, and which did rise again, did ascend into the heavens (Acts 1), for the accomplishment of all things where in our names and for our comfort, He has received all power in heaven and earth (Matt. 28), where He sits at the right hand of the Father (1 John 2), inaugurating His kingdom, advocate and only mediator for us (1 Tim. 2; Ps. 110). Which glory, honor, and prerogative, He alone amongst the brethren will possess till all His enemies are made His footstool, as that we undoubtedly believe they will be in the final judgment: to the execution whereof we certainly believe that the same Lord Jesus will visibly return as He was seen to ascend (Acts 1). And then we firmly believe that the time of refreshing and restitution of all things will come (John 19; Acts 3), in so much that those who from the beginning have suffered violence, injury, and wrong for righteousness' sake will inherit that blessed immortality promised from the beginning. But contrariwise the stubborn, disobedient, cruel oppressors, filthy persons, idolaters, and all sorts of unfaithful (Rev. 20; Isa. 66) will be cast in the dungeon of utter darkness, where their worm will not die, neither yet their fire be extinguished. The remembrance of which day and of the judgment to be executed in the same is not only to us a bridle whereby our carnal lusts are restrained, but also such inestimable comfort that neither may the threatening of worldly princes, neither yet the fear of temporal death and present danger move us to renounce and forsake that blessed society which we the members have with our Head and only Mediator, Christ Jesus. Whom we confess and avow to be the Messiah promised, the only Head of His kirk, our just Lawgiver, our only High Priest, Advocate and Mediator (Isa. 7; Col. 1; Heb. 6, 10). In which honors and offices, if man or angel presumes to intrude themselves, we utterly detest and abhor them as blasphemous to our sovereign and supreme governor Christ Jesus.

This our faith and the assurance of the same proceeds not from flesh and blood (Matt. 16), that is to say, from no natural powers within us, but is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost (John 14–16), whom we confess God equal with the Father and with the Son, who sanctifies us and brings us in all verity by His own operation, without whom we should remain forever enemies to God and ignorant of His Son, Christ Jesus. For by nature we are so dead, so blind, and so perverse that neither can we feel when we are pricked, see the light when it shines, nor assent to the will of God when it is revealed, unless the Spirit of the Lord Jesus quicken that which is dead, remove the darkness from our minds, and bow our stubborn hearts to the obedience of His blessed will. And so as we confess that God the Father created us when we were not; as His Son our Lord Jesus redeemed us when we were enemies to Him (Rom. 5); so also do we confess that the Holy Ghost does sanctify and regenerate us without all respect of any merit proceeding from us, be it before or be it after our regeneration. To speak this one thing, yet in more plain words, as we willingly spoil our selves of all honor and glory of our own creation and redemption, so do we also of our regeneration and sanctification, for of our selves we are not sufficient to think any good thought (2 Cor. 7). But He who has begun the good work in us is only He that continues us in the same to the praise and glory of His undeserved grace.

That sacraments be rightly ministered, we judge two things requisite: the one, that they be ministered by lawful ministers whom we affirm to be only they that are appointed to the preaching of the Word or unto whose mouths God has put some sermon of exhortation, they being men lawfully chosen thereto by some kirk. The other, that they be ministered in such elements and in such sort as God has appointed. Else we affirm that they cease to be right sacraments of Christ Jesus. And therefore it is that we flee the society with the papistical kirk in participation of their sacraments. First, because their ministers are not ministers of Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 6); (yes, which is more horrible) they suffer women, whom the Holy Ghost will not suffer, to teach in the congregation [and] to baptize. And secondly, because they have so adulterated both the one sacrament and the other with their own inventions that no part of Christ's action abides in the original purity. For oil, salt, spittle, and such like in baptism are but men's inventions, adoration, veneration, bearing through streets and towns and keeping of bread in boxes or buists [small boxes] are profanation of Christ's sacraments and no use of the same. For Christ Jesus said, "Take and eat. Do ye this in remembrance of me" (Matt. 26, etc.). By which words and charge He sanctified bread and wine to be the sacrament of His body and blood to the end that the one should be eaten and that all should drink of the other; and not that they should be kept to be worshipped and honored as God, as the papists have done heretofore, who also have committed sacrilege, stealing from the people the one part of the sacrament, to wit, the blessed cup. Moreover that the sacraments are rightly used, it is requisite that the end and cause why the sacraments were instituted be understood and observed, as well of the minister as the receivers. For if the opinion be changed in the receiver, the right use ceases which is most evident by the rejection of the sacrifices as also if the teacher plainly teaches false doctrine (Isa. 1), which were odious and abominable unto God (albeit they were His own ordinance) because that wicked men used them to one other end than God had ordained. The same affirm we of the sacraments (Jer. 7; Isa. 66) in the papistical kirk in which we affirm the whole action of the Lord Jesus to be adulterated, as well in the external form as in the end and opinion. What Christ Jesus did and commanded to be done is evident by three evangelists (Matt. 26) and by St. Paul (1 Cor. 11, etc.). What the priest does at his altar we need not rehearse. The end and cause of Christ's institution and why the selfsame should be used is expressed in these words: "Do ye this in remembrance of Me. As often as ever ye will eat of this bread and drink of this cup, ye will show forth (that is, extol, preach, magnify, and praise) the Lord's death till He come." But to what end and in what opinion the priests say their Masses, let the words of the same, their own doctors and writings witness. To wit, that they as mediators betwixt Christ and His kirk do offer unto God the Father a sacrifice propitiatory for the sins of the quick and the dead. Which doctrine as blasphemous to Christ Jesus and making derogation to the sufficiency of His only sacrifice once offered for purgation of all those that will be sanctified, we utterly abhor, detest, and renounce.

Moreover, we believe and teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was from all eternity predestinated and foreordained of the Father to be the Savior of the world. And we believe that He was begotten, not only then, when He took flesh of the virgin Mary, nor yet a little before the foundations of the world were laid, but before all eternity; and that of the Father, after an unspeakable manner. For Isaiah says, "Who can tell His generation?" (53:8). And Micah says, "Whose egress hath been from everlasting" (5:2). And John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word" (1:1). Therefore, the Son is co-equal and consubstantial with the Father, as touching His divinity: true God, not by name only, or by adoption, or by special favor, but in substance and nature (Phil. 2:6). Even as the apostle says elsewhere, "This is the true God, and life everlasting" (1 John 5:20). Paul also says, "He hath made His Son the heir of all things, by whom also He made the world: the same is the brightness of His glory, and the engraved form of His person, bearing up all things by His mighty word" (Heb. 1:2–3). "Likewise in the gospel the Lord Himself says, "Father, glorify thou Me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" (John 17:5). Also elsewhere it is written in the gospel, "The Jews sought how to kill Jesus, because He said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God" (John 5:18).

We, therefore, abhor the blasphemous doctrine of Arius, and all the Arians, uttered against the Son of God; and especially the blasphemies of Michael Servetus the Spaniard, and of his accomplices, which Satan by them has, as it were, drawn out of hell, and most boldly and impiously spread abroad throughout the world against the Son of God.

We teach also and believe that the eternal Son of the eternal God was made the Son of man, of the seed of Abraham and David (Matt. 1:1–25), not by the means of any man, as Ebion affirmed; but that He was most purely conceived by the Holy Ghost, and was born of Mary, who was always a virgin, even as the history of the gospel declares. And Paul says, "He took in no sort the angels, but the seed of Abraham" (Heb. 2:16). And John the apostle says, "He that believeth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God" (1 John 4:3). The flesh of Christ, therefore, was neither flesh in show only, nor yet flesh brought from heaven, as Valentinus and Marcion dreamed.

Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ did not have a soul without sense and reason, as Apollinaris thought; nor flesh without a soul, as Eunomius taught: but a soul with its reason and flesh with its senses, by which senses He felt true grief in the time of His passion, even as He Himself witnessed when He said, "My soul is heavy even to death" (Matt. 26:38) and "My soul is troubled" (John 12:27).

We acknowledge, therefore, that there are in one and the same Jesus Christ our Lord two natures, the divine and the human nature; and we say that these two are so conjoined or united that they are not swallowed up, confounded, or mingled together, but rather united or joined together in one person, the properties of each nature being safe and remaining still: so that we worship one Christ our Lord, and not two; I say, one true God and man; as touching His divine nature of the same substance with the Father, and as touching His human nature of the same substance with us and "like unto us in all things, sin only excepted" (Heb. 4:15).

As, therefore, we detest the heresy of Nestorius, which makes two Christs of one, and dissolves the union of the person; so do we curse the madness of Eutyches and of the Monothelites or Monophysites who overthrow the propriety of the human nature.

Therefore, we do not teach that the divine nature in Christ suffered or that Christ according to His human nature is yet in the world, and so in every place. For we do neither think nor teach that the body of Christ ceased to be a true body after His glorification, or that it was deified, and so deified that it put off its properties, as touching body and soul, and became altogether a divine nature and began to be one substance alone: and, therefore, we do not allow or receive the unwitty subtleties, and the intricate, obscure, and inconstant disputations of Schwenkfeld and such other vain janglers about this matter; neither are we Schwenkfeldians.

Moreover, we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did truly suffer and die for us in the flesh as Peter says (1 Peter 4:1). We abhor the most horrible madness of the Jacobites and all the Turks, which abandon the passion of our Lord. Yet we deny not but that "the Lord of glory (according to the saying of Paul) was crucified for us" (1 Cor. 2:8). For we reverently and religiously receive and use the communication of expressions drawn from Scripture, and used of all antiquity in expounding and reconciling places of Scripture which at first sight seem to disagree one from another.

We believe and teach that the same Lord Jesus Christ, in that true flesh in which He was crucified and died, rose again from the dead; and that He did not rise up another flesh instead of that which was buried, nor took a spirit instead of flesh, but retained a true body: therefore, while His disciples thought that they saw the spirit of their Lord Christ, He showed them His hands and feet, which were marked with the prints of the nails and wounds, saying, "Behold my hands and my feet, for I am He indeed: handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same flesh, did ascend above all the visible heavens into the very highest heaven, that is to say, the seat of God and of the blessed spirits, unto the right hand of God the Father. Which, although it signifies an equal participation of glory and majesty, yet it is also taken for a certain place of which the Lord, speaking in the gospel, says that "He will go and prepare a place for His" (John 14:2). Also the apostle Peter says, "The heavens must contain Christ, until the time of restoring of all things" (Acts 3:21). And out of heaven the same Christ will return unto judgment, even then, when wickedness shall chiefly reign in the world, and when Antichrist, having corrupted true religion, shall fill all things with superstition and impiety, and shall most cruelly destroy the church with fire and bloodshed. Now Christ shall return to redeem His, and to abolish Antichrist by His coming and to judge the quick and the dead (Acts 17:31). For the dead shall arise and "those which shall be found alive in that day" (which is unknown unto all creatures) "shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:51–52). And all the faithful shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4:17) that thenceforth they may enter with Him into heaven, there to live forever (2 Tim. 2:11), but the unbelievers, or ungodly, shall descend with the devils into hell, there to burn forever, and never to be delivered out of torments (Matt. 25:41).

We, therefore, condemn all those which deny the true resurrection of the flesh, and those which think amiss of the glorified bodies; as did John of Jerusalem, against whom Jerome wrote. We also condemn those which have thought that both the devils and all the wicked shall at length be saved and have an end of their torments: for the Lord Himself has absolutely set it down that, "Their fire is never quenched, and their worm never dieth" (Mark 9:44). Moreover we condemn the Jewish dreams that before the day of judgment there shall be a golden world in the earth; and that the godly shall possess the kingdoms of the world, their wicked enemies being trodden under foot: for the evangelical truth, Matthew 24 and 25, and Luke 21, and the apostolic doctrine in the second epistle to the Thessalonians 2, and in the second epistle to Timothy 3 and 4, are found to teach far otherwise.

Furthermore, by His passion or death, and by all those things which He did and suffered for our sakes from the time of His coming in the flesh, our Lord reconciled His heavenly Father unto all the faithful (Rom. 5:10), purged their sin (Heb. 1:3), spoiled death, broke asunder condemnation and hell, and by His resurrection from the dead, brought again and restored life and immortality (2 Tim. 1:10). For He is our righteousness, life, and resurrection (John 6:44); and, to be short, He is the fullness and perfection, the salvation and most abundant sufficiency of all the faithful. For the apostle says, "So it pleaseth the Father that all fullness should dwell in Him" (Col. 1:19); and "In Him ye are complete" (Col. 2:10).

For we teach and believe that this Jesus Christ our Lord is the only and eternal Savior of mankind, yes, and of the whole world; in whom are saved by faith all that ever were saved before the Law, under the Law, and in the time of the gospel, and so many as shall yet be saved to the end of the world. For the Lord Himself in the gospel says, "He that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, he is a thief and a robber" (John 10:1). "I am the door of the sheep" (v. 7). And also in another place of the same gospel He says, "Abraham saw my day, and rejoiced" (John 8:56). And the apostle Peter says, "Neither is there salvation in any other, but in Christ; for among men there is given no other name under heaven whereby they might be saved" (Acts 4:12). We believe, therefore, that through the grace of our Lord Christ we shall be saved, even as our fathers were. For Paul says that "All our fathers did eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:3–4). And, therefore, we read that John said that "Christ was that Lamb which was slain from the beginning of the world" (Rev. 13:8) and that John the Baptist witnesses that "Christ is that Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). Wherefore we do plainly and openly profess and preach that Jesus Christ the only Redeemer and Savior of the world, the King and High Priest, the true and looked for Messiah, that holy and blessed one (I say) whom all the shadows of the Law, and the prophecies of the prophets, did prefigure and promise; and that God supplied and sent Him unto us so that now we are not to look for any other. And now there remains nothing but that we all should give all glory to Him, believe in Him, and rest in Him only, condemning and rejecting all other aids of our life. For they are fallen from the grace of God, and make Christ of no value unto themselves, whosoever they be that seek salvation in any other things besides Christ alone (Gal. 5:4).

And to speak many things in few words, with a sincere heart we believe, and with liberty of speech we freely profess, whatsoever things are defined out of the Holy Scriptures, and comprehended in the creeds, and in the decrees of those four first and most excellent Councils held at Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, together with blessed Athanasius' Creed, and all other creeds like to these, touching the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; and we condemn all things contrary to the same. And thus do we retain the Christian, sound, and catholic faith, whole and inviolable, knowing that nothing is contained in the foresaid creeds which is not agreeable to the Word of God, and makes wholly for the sincere declaration of the faith.

The gospel has the doctrine of repentance joined with it: for so said the Lord in the gospel, "In my name must repentance and remission of sins be preached among all nations" (Luke 24:47). By repentance we understand the change of the mind in a sinful man, stirred up by the preaching of the gospel through the Holy Spirit and received by a true faith; by which a sinful man acknowledges his natural corruption and all his sins, convinced of them by the Word of God, and is heartily grieved for them, and not only bewails and freely confesses them before God with shame, but also loathes and abhors them with indignation, thinking seriously of present amendment and of a continual concern for innocence and virtue, wherein to exercise himself in a holy manner all the rest of his life.

And surely this is true repentance, namely, an unfeigned turning unto God and to all goodness, and a serious return from the devil and from all evil. Now we expressly say that this repentance is the mere gift of God, and not the work of our own strength. For the apostle wishes the faithful minister diligently to "instruct those which withstand the truth, if so be at any time the Lord may give them repentance, that they may acknowledge the truth" (2 Tim. 2:25). Also, the sinful woman in the gospel, which washed Christ's feet with her tears; and Peter, which bitterly wept and bewailed his denial of his Master; manifestly show what mind the penitent man should have, to wit, very earnestly lamenting his sins committed. Moreover, the prodigal son, and the publican in the gospel, that are compared with the Pharisee, set forth unto us a most fit pattern of confessing our sins to God. The prodigal son said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and against thee: I am not worthy to be called thy son, make me as one of thy hired servants" (Luke 15:18–19). The publican also, not daring to lift up his eyes to heaven, but knocking his breast, cried, "God, be merciful unto me a sinner" (Luke 18:13). And we doubt not but the Lord received them to mercy. For John the apostle says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to purge us from all iniquity. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (1 John 1:9–10).

We believe that this sincere confession which is made to God alone, either privately between God and the sinner, or openly in the church, where that general confession of sins is rehearsed, is sufficient, and that it is not necessary for the obtaining of remission of sins that any man should confess his sins unto the priest, whispering them into his ears, that, the priest laying his hands on his head, he might receive absolution; because we find no commandment nor example thereof in the Holy Scripture. David protests and says, "I made my fault known to thee, and my unrighteousness did I not hide from thee. I said, I will confess my wickedness to the Lord against myself, and thou hast forgiven the heinousness of my sin" (Ps. 32:5). Yes, and the Lord teaching us to pray, and also to confess our sins, said, "So shall ye pray; Our Father, which art in heaven, forgive us our debts, even as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6:9, 12). It is requisite, therefore that we should confess our sins unto God, and be reconciled with our neighbor, if we have offended him. And the apostle James speaking generally of confession says, "Confess each of you your sins one to another" (James 5:16). If any man, being overwhelmed with the burden of his sins and troublesome temptations, will privately ask counsel, instruction, or comfort, either of a minister of the church, or of any other brother that is learned in the law of God, we do not dislike it. Also we fully allow that general and public confession, which is wont to be rehearsed in the church, and in holy meetings (whereof we spoke before) being, as it is, agreeable with the Scripture.

Concerning the keys of the kingdom of heaven which the Lord committed to His apostles, they prate many strange things: and of these keys they make swords, spears, scepters, and crowns, and full power over mighty kingdoms, yes, and over men's souls and bodies. But we, judging uprightly according to the Word of God, say that all ministers, truly called, have and exercise the keys or the use of them, when they preach the gospel, that is to say, when they teach, exhort, reprove, and keep in order the people committed to their charge. For so do they open the kingdom of God to the obedient, and shut it against the disobedient. These keys did the Lord promise to the apostles in Matthew 16:19; and delivered them in John 20:23, Mark 16:15–16 and Luke 24:47 when He sent forth His disciples, and commanded them to preach the gospel in all the world, and to remit sins.

The apostle in the epistle to the Corinthians says that the Lord "gave to His ministers the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18). And what this was, he straightway makes plain and says, "The word or doctrine of reconciliation" (v. 19). And yet more plainly expounding his words, he adds that the ministers of Christ, as it were, "go an embassage in Christ's name, as if God Himself should by His ministers exhort the people to be reconciled to God" (v. 20); to wit, by faithful obedience. They use the keys, therefore, when they persuade to faith and repentance. Thus do they reconcile men to God; thus they forgive sins; thus they open the kingdom of heaven, and bring in believers; much differing herein from those of whom the Lord spoke in the gospel, "Woe unto you lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye have not entered in yourselves, and those that would have entered ye forbade" (Luke 11:52).

Rightly, therefore, and effectually do ministers absolve, when they preach the gospel of Christ, and thereby remission of sins; which is promised to every one that believes, even as every one is baptized; and testify of it that it particularly appertains to all. Neither do we imagine that this absolution is made any whit more effectual for that which is mumbled into some priest's ear, or upon some man's head particularly; yet we judge that men must be taught diligently to seek remission of sins in the blood of Christ, and that everyone is to be put in mind that forgiveness of sins belongs unto Him.

But how diligent and careful every penitent man ought to be in the endeavor of a new life, and in slaying the old man, and raising up the new man, the examples in the gospel teach us. For the Lord says to him whom He had healed of the palsy, "Behold thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (John 5:14). Likewise to the adulterous woman which was delivered, He said, "Go thy way, and sin no more" (John 8:11). By which words He did not mean that any man could be free from sin, while he lived in this flesh; but He commends unto diligence and an earnest care, that we (I say) should endeavor by all means, and beg of God by prayer, that we may not fall again into sins, out of which we are risen after a manner, and that we may not be overcome of the flesh, the world, or the devil. Zacchaeus, the publican, being received into favor by the Lord, cries out in the gospel, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken from any man any thing by fraud, I restore him fourfold" (Luke 19:8). After the same manner, we preach that restitution and mercy, yes, and giving of alms, are necessary for them which truly repent. And generally out of the apostle's words, we exhort men, saying, "Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it through the lusts thereof. Neither give ye your members, as weapons of unrighteousness, to sin; but give yourselves unto God, as they that are alive from the dead; and give your members, as weapons of righteousness, unto God" (Rom. 6:12–13).

Wherefore, we condemn all the ungodly speeches of certain ones who abuse the preaching of the gospel and say, "To return unto God is very easy, for Christ has purged all our sins: forgiveness of sins is easily obtained: what, therefore, will it hurt to sin?" And, "We need not take any great care for repentance," etc. Notwithstanding, we always teach that an entrance unto God is open for all sinners, and that this God forgives all the sins of the faithful, only that one sin excepted which is committed against the Holy Ghost (Mark 3:28–29). And, therefore, we condemn the old and new Novatians and Catharists, and especially we condemn the pope's lucrative doctrine of penance; and against his simony, and simonaical indulgences, we use that sentence of Simon Peter, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou thoughtest that the gift of God might be bought with money. Thou hast no part or fellowship in this matter, for thy heart is not upright before God" (Acts 8:20–21).

We also disapprove of those who think that they themselves by their own satisfactions can make recompense for their sins committed. For we teach that Christ alone, by His death and passion, is the satisfaction, propitiation, and purging of all sins (Isa. 53:4). Nevertheless, we cease not to urge, as was before said, the mortification of the flesh; and yet we add further that it must not be proudly thrust upon God for a satisfaction for our sins (1 Cor. 8:8), but must humbly, as it becomes the sons of God, be performed as a new obedience to show thankful minds for the deliverance and full satisfaction obtained by the death and satisfaction of the Son of God."

To justify, in the apostle's disputation touching justification, signifies to remit sin, to absolve from the fault and the punishment thereof, to receive into favor, to pronounce a man just. For the apostle says to the Romans, "God is He that justifieth; who is he that can condemn?" (Rom. 8:33–34) where to justify and to condemn are opposed. And in the Acts of the Apostles, the apostle says, "Through Christ is preached unto you forgiveness of sins; and from all things (from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses) by Him, every one that believeth is justified" (Acts 13:38–39). For in the Law also and in the prophets, we read that "If a controversy were risen amongst any, and they came to judgment, the judge should judge them; that is, justify the righteous, and make wicked, or condemn, the wicked" (Deut. 25:1). And in Isaiah, "Woe to them which justify the wicked for rewards" (5:23).

Now it is most certain that we are all by nature sinners, and before the judgment seat of God convicted of ungodliness and guilty of death. But we are justified, that is, acquitted from sin and death by God the Judge through the grace of Christ alone, and not by any respect or merit of ours. For what is more plain than that which Paul says? "All have sinned, and are destitute of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:23–24). For Christ took upon Himself and bare the sins of the world and satisfied the justice of God. God, therefore, is merciful unto our sins, for Christ alone, that suffered and rose again, and does not impute them unto us. But He imputes the righteousness of Christ unto us for our own: so that now we are not only cleansed from sin, and purged, and holy, but also endued with the righteousness of Christ; yes, and acquitted from sin, death, and condemnation (2 Cor. 5:19–21); finally, we are righteous and heirs of eternal life. To speak properly, then, it is God alone that justifies us, and that only for Christ by not imputing unto us our sins, but imputing Christ's righteousness unto us (Rom. 4:23–25).

But because we receive this justification, not by any works, but by faith in the mercy of God, and in Christ; therefore, we teach and believe with the apostle that sinful man is justified only by faith in Christ, not by the Law, or by any works. For the apostle says, "We conclude that man is justified by faith, without the works of the law" (Rom. 3:28). "If Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to boast; but not with God: for what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, but to him that worketh not, but believeth in Him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:2–3, 5; Gen. 15:6). And again; "Ye are saved by grace through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works lest any might have cause to boast" (Eph. 2:8–9). Therefore, because faith apprehends Christ our righteousness and attributes all to the praise of God in Christ, in this respect justification is attributed to faith, chiefly because of Christ whom it receives, and not because it is a work of ours; for it is the gift of God.

Now that we do receive Christ by faith, the Lord shows at large (John 6:27, 33, 35, 48–58) where He puts eating for believing, and believing for eating. For as by eating we receive meat, so by believing we are made partakers of Christ. Therefore, we do not part the benefit of justification, giving part to the grace of God or to Christ, and part to ourselves, our charity, works or merit; but we attribute it wholly to the praise of God in Christ, and that through faith. Moreover, our charity and our works cannot please God, if they are done of such as are not just; wherefore, we must first be just before we can love or do any just works. We are made just (as we have said) through faith in Christ, by the mere grace of God; who does not impute unto us our sins, but imputes unto us the righteousness of Christ; yes, and our faith in Christ He imputes for righteousness unto us. Moreover, the apostle plainly derives love from faith, saying, "The end of the commandment is love, proceeding from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned" (1 Tim. 1:5).

Wherefore, in this matter we speak not of a feigned, vain, or dead faith, but of a lively and quickening faith; which, for Christ (who is life, and gives life) whom it apprehends, both is indeed, and is so called, a lively faith, and proves itself to be lively, by lively works. And, therefore, James does not speak contrary to our doctrine, for he speaks of a vain and dead faith, which certain bragged of but did not have Christ living within them by faith. And James also says that works do justify (2:14–16); yet he is not contrary to Paul (for then he would be rejected), but he shows that Abraham declared his lively and justifying faith by works. And so do all the godly, who yet trust in Christ alone, not to their own works. For the apostle said again, "I live, howbeit not I, but Christ liveth in me. But the life which now I live, in the flesh, I live through the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. I do not despise the grace of God, for if righteousness is by the law, then Christ died in vain" (Gal. 2:20–21).

Forasmuch as God from the beginning would have men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4), therefore, it is necessary that there always should have been, and should be at this day, and to the end of the world, a church: that is, a company of the faithful, called and gathered out of the world; that is, a company (I say) of all saints, that is, of them who do truly know, and rightly worship and serve, the true God, in Jesus Christ the Savior by the Word and the Holy Spirit, and who by faith are partakers of all those good graces which are freely offered through Christ. These all are citizens of one and the same city living under one Lord, under the same laws, and in the same fellowship of all good things: for so the apostle calls them "fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19), terming the faithful upon the earth saints (1 Cor. 6:11) who are sanctified by the blood of the Son of God. Of these is that article of our Creed wholly to be understood: "I believe the catholic church, the communion of saints."

And seeing that there is always but "one God, and one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ" (1 Tim. 2:5); also, one shepherd of the whole flock, one head of this body, and to conclude one Spirit, one salvation, one faith, one testament or covenant, it follows necessarily that there is but one church: which we, therefore, call catholic because it is universal, spread abroad through all the parts and quarters of the world, and reaches unto all times, and is not limited within the compass either of time or place. Here, therefore, we must condemn the Donatists who pinned up the church within the corners of Africa; neither do we allow of the Roman clergy, who vaunt that the Church of Rome alone is in a manner catholic.

The church is divided by some into divers parts or sorts: not that it is rent and divided from itself, but rather distinguished in respect of the diversity of the members that are in it. One part thereof they make to be the church militant, the other the church triumphant. The militant wars still on the earth and fights against the flesh, the world, the prince of the world, the devil, against sin, and against death. The other, being already set at liberty, is now in heaven and triumphs over all those things overcome, and continually rejoices before the Lord. Yet these two churches have notwithstanding a communion and fellowship among themselves.

Moreover, the church militant upon the earth has evermore had in it many particular churches, which must all notwithstanding be referred to the unity of the catholic church. This militant church was otherwise ordered and governed before the Law, among the patriarchs; otherwise under Moses, by the Law; and otherwise of Christ, by the gospel. There are but two sorts of people for the most part mentioned, to wit, the Israelites and the Gentiles; or they which, of the Jews and Gentiles, were gathered to make a church. There are also two testaments, the old and the new. Yet both these sorts of people have had, and still have, one fellowship, one salvation, in one and the same Messiah; in whom, as members of one body, they are all joined together under one head, and by one faith are all partakers of one and the same spiritual meat and drink. Yet here we do acknowledge a diversity of times, and a diversity in the pledges and signs of Christ promised and exhibited; and that now the ceremonies being abolished, the light shines unto us more clearly, our gifts and graces are more abundant and our liberty is more full and ample.

This holy church of God is called "the house of the living God" (2 Cor. 6:16), "builded of living and spiritual stones" (1 Peter 2:5) "founded upon a rock" (Matt. 16:18) "that cannot be removed" (Heb. 12:28) "upon a foundation, besides which none can be laid" (1 Cor. 3:11). Whereupon it is called "the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15) that does not err, so long as it relies upon the rock Christ, and upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles. And no marvel if it does err, as often as it forsakes Him who alone is the truth. This church is also called "a virgin" (2 Cor. 11:2) and "the spouse of Christ" (Song 4:8) and "his only beloved" (Song 5:16). For the apostle says, "I have joined you unto one husband, that I might present you a chaste virgin unto Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2). The church is called "a flock of sheep under one shepherd" even Christ (Ezek. 34:22–23 and John 10:16) also, "the body of Christ" (Col. 1:24) because the faithful are the lively members of Christ, having Him for their head.

It is the head which has the preeminence in the body, and from whence the whole body receives life; by whose spirit it is governed in all things, of whom also it receives increase that it may grow up. Also there is but one head of the body which has agreement with the body; and, therefore, the church cannot have any other head beside Christ. For as the church is a spiritual body, so must it have a spiritual head like unto itself. Neither can it be governed by any other spirit than by the Spirit of Christ. Wherefore Paul says, "And He is the head of His body the church, who is the beginning, the first born of the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence" (Col. 1:18). And in another place, "Christ (he says) is the head of the church, and the same is the Savior of His body" (Eph. 5:23). And again, "Who is the head of the church, which is His body, even the fullness of Him, which filleth all in all things" (Eph. 1:22–23). Again, "Let us in all things grow up into Him which is the head, that is Christ; by whom all the body being knit together, receiveth increase" (Eph. 4:15–16). And, therefore, we do not allow of the doctrine of the Roman prelates, who would make the pope the general pastor and supreme head of the church of Christ militant here on earth, and the very vicar of Christ, who has (as they say) all fullness of power and sovereign authority in the church. For we hold and teach, that Christ our Lord is, and remains still the only universal pastor, and highest bishop, before God His Father; and that in the church He performs all the duties of a pastor or bishop, even to the world's end: and, therefore, does not stand in need of any other to supply His place. For he is said to have a substitute, who is absent: but Christ is present in His church, and is the head that gives life thereunto. He did straitly forbid His apostles and their successors all superiority or dominion in the church. They, therefore, that by gainsaying set themselves against so manifest a truth and bring another kind of government into the church; see not that they are to be counted in the number of them of whom the apostles of Christ prophesied as Peter (2 Peter 2:1) and Paul (Acts 20:29; 2 Cor. 11:13; 2 Thess. 2:8–9) and in many other places.

Now by taking away the Roman head, we do not bring any confusion or disorder into the church. For we teach that the government of the church which the apostles set down, is sufficient to keep the church in due order; which, from the beginning, while as yet it wanted such a Roman head as is now pretended to keep it in order, was not disordered or full of confusion. The Roman head indeed maintains his tyranny and corruption which have been brought into the church: but in the meantime he hinders, resists, and, with all the might he can make, cuts off the right and lawful reformation of the church.

They object to us that there have been great strifes and dissensions in our churches, since they did sever themselves from the Church of Rome; and that, therefore, they cannot be true churches. As though there were never in the Church of Rome any sects, any contentions and quarrels; and that in matters of religion, maintained not so much in the schools as in the holy chairs, even in the audience of the people. We know that the apostle said, "God is not the author of dissension, but of peace" (1 Cor. 14:33); and, "Seeing there is amongst you emulation and contention, are ye not carnal?" (1 Cor. 3:3–4). Yet may we not deny but that God was in that church planted by the apostle, and that the apostolic church was a true church, howsoever there were strifes and dissensions in it. The apostle Paul reprehended Peter, an apostle (Gal. 2:11), and Barnabas fell at variance with Paul (Acts 15:39). Great contention arose in the church of Antioch, between them that preached one and the same Christ, as Luke records in the Acts of the Apostles (15:2). And there have at all times been great contentions in the church, and the most excellent doctors of the church have about no small matters differed in opinion: yet so as in the meantime the church ceased not to be the church for all these contentions. For thus it pleases God to use the dissensions that arise in the church to the glory of His name, to the setting forth of the truth, and to the end that such as are not approved might be manifest (1 Cor. 11:19).

Now, as we acknowledge no other head of the church than Christ, so we do not acknowledge every church to be the true church which vaunts herself so to be: but we teach that to be the true church indeed in which the marks and tokens of the true church are to be found. First and chiefly, the lawful or sincere preaching of the Word of God, as it is left unto us in the writings of the prophets and apostles, which all seem to lead us unto Christ, who in the gospel has said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them eternal life. A stranger they do not hear, but flee from him, because they know not his voice" (John 10:5, 27–28). And they that are such in the church of God have all but one faith and one Spirit; and, therefore, they worship but one God: and Him alone they serve in spirit and in truth, loving Him with all their hearts and with all their strength, praying unto Him alone through Jesus Christ the only mediator and intercessor; and they seek not life or justice but only in Christ, and by faith in Him: because they acknowledge Christ the only head and foundation of His church, and, being surely founded on Him, daily repair themselves by repentance and with patience bear the cross laid upon them; and besides, by unfeigned love joining themselves to all the members of Christ, they declare themselves to be the disciples of Christ, by continuing in the bond of peace and holy unity. They do withal communicate in the sacraments ordained by Christ and delivered to us by His apostles, using them in no other manner than as they received them from the Lord Himself. That saying of the apostle Paul is well known to all, "I received from the Lord that which I delivered unto you" (1 Cor. 11:23). For which cause we condemn all such churches as strangers from the true church of Christ, who are not such as we have heard they ought to be; howsoever, in the meantime, they brag of the succession of bishops, of unity, and of antiquity. Moreover we have in charge from the apostles of Christ "to shun idolatry" (1 Cor. 10:14; 1 John 5:21) and "to come out of Babylon, and to have no fellowship with her, unless we mean to be partakers with her of all God's plagues laid upon her" (Rev. 18:4; 2 Cor. 6:17).

But as for communicating with the true church of Christ, we so highly esteem of it, that we say plainly that none can live before God which do not communicate with the true church of God, but separate themselves from the same. For as without the ark of Noah there was no escaping when the world perished in the flood; even so do we believe that without Christ, who in the church offers Himself to be enjoyed of the elect, there can be no certain salvation: and, therefore, we teach that such as would be saved must not separate themselves from the true church of Christ.

But yet we do not so strictly shut up the church within those marks before mentioned, as thereby to exclude all those out of the church which either do not communicate in the sacraments (not willingly, nor upon contempt, but who, being constrained by necessity, against their will abstain from them, or else do want them); or in whom faith sometimes fails, though not quite decay, nor altogether die: or in whom some slips and errors of infirmity may be found. For we know that God had some friends in the world that were not of the commonwealth of Israel. We know what befell the people of God in the captivity of Babylon, where they wanted their sacrifices seventy years. We know what happened to St. Peter, who denied his Master, and what is wont daily to fall out among the faithful and chosen of God, which go astray and are full of infirmities. We know moreover what manner of churches the churches at Galatia and Corinth were in the apostles' times: in which the apostle Paul condemns divers great and heinous crimes; yet he calls them the holy churches of Christ (1 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:2).

Yes, and it falls out sometimes that God in His just judgment suffers the truth of His Word and the catholic faith and His own true worship to be so obscured and defaced, that the church seems almost quite razed out, and not so much as a face of a church remains; as we see fell out in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 19:10, 14) and at other times. And yet, in the meantime, the Lord has in this world, even in this darkness, His true worshippers, and those not a few, but even seven thousand (v. 18) and more (Rev. 7:4). For the apostle cries, "The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, and hath this seal, The Lord knoweth who are His" (2 Tim. 2:19). Whereupon the church of God may be termed invisible: not that the men whereof it consists are invisible; but because, being hidden from our sight, and known only unto God, it cannot be discerned by the judgment of man.

Again not all that are reckoned in the number of the church are saints, and lively and true members of the church. For there are many hypocrites which outwardly hear the Word of God and publicly receive the sacraments, and seem to pray unto God alone through Christ, to confess Christ to be their only righteousness, and to worship God, and to exercise the duties of charity to the brethren, and for a while through patience to endure in troubles and calamities. And yet they are altogether destitute of the inward illumination of the Spirit of God, of faith and sincerity of heart, and of perseverance or continuance to the end. And these men are for the most part at the length laid open what they are. For the apostle John says, "They went out from among us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would have tarried with us" (1 John 2:19). Yet these men, while they pretend religion, are accounted to be in the church, however indeed they are not of the church. Even as traitors in a commonwealth, before they are detected are counted in the number of good citizens; and as the cockle and darnel and chaff are found among the wheat; and as tumors and swellings are in a perfect body, when they are rather diseases and deformities than true members of the body. And, therefore, the church is very well compared to a dragnet which draws up fish of all sorts, and to a field wherein is found both darnel and good corn (Matt. 13:25–26). We are to have a special regard that we judge not rashly before the time, nor go about to exclude and cast off or cut away those whom the Lord would not have excluded nor cut off, or whom, without some damage to the church, we cannot separate from it. Again, we must be very vigilant lest the godly falling fast asleep, the wicked grow stronger and do some mischief to the church.

Furthermore we teach, that it is carefully to be marked wherein especially the truth and unity of the church consists, lest we either rashly breed or nourish schisms in the church. It consists not in outward rites and ceremonies, but rather in the truth and unity of the catholic faith. This catholic faith is not taught us by the ordinances or laws of men, but by the Holy Scriptures, a compendious and short sum whereof is the Apostles' Creed. And, therefore, we read in the ancient writers that there were manifold diversities of ceremonies, but that those were always free; neither did any man think that the unity of the church was thereby broken or dissolved. We say then that the true unity of the church consists in several points of doctrine: in the true and uniform preaching of the gospel, and in such rites as the Lord Himself has expressly set down; and here we urge that saying of the apostle very earnestly, "As many of us, therefore, as are perfect, let us be thus minded. If any man think otherwise, the Lord shall reveal the same unto him. And yet in that whereunto we have attained, let us follow one direction, and all of us be like affected one towards another" (Phil. 3:15–16).

God, even from the beginning, added unto the preaching of the Word His sacraments, or sacramental signs, in His church. And this the Holy Scripture plainly testifies. Sacraments are mystical symbols, or holy rites, or sacred actions, ordained of God Himself, consisting of His Word, of outward signs, and of things signified; whereby He keeps in continual memory, and recalls to mind in His church His great benefits bestowed upon man; and whereby He seals up His promises and outwardly represents, and, as it were, offers unto our sight, those things which inwardly He performs unto us, and therewith strengthens and increases our faith through the working of God's Spirit in our hearts; lastly, whereby He separates us from all other people and religions and consecrates and binds us wholly unto Himself, and gives us to understand what He requires of us.

These sacraments are either of the old church or of the new. The sacraments of the old were circumcision and the Pascal Lamb, which was offered up; under which name, reference is made to the sacrifices which were in use from the beginning of the world. The sacraments of the new church are baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Some there are which reckon seven sacraments of the new church, of which number we grant that repentance, matrimony, and the ordination of ministers (we mean not the popish, but the apostolic ordination) are very profitable ordinances of God, but not sacraments. As for confirmation and extreme unction, they are mere devices of men which the church may very well want, without any damage or discommodity at all: and, therefore, we do not have them in our churches because there are certain things in them which we can by no means permit. As for that merchandise which the Roman prelates use in ministering their sacraments, we utterly abhor it.

The author and institutor of all sacraments is not any man, but God alone: for men can by no means ordain sacraments because they belong to the worship of God, and it is not for man to appoint and prescribe a service of God, but to embrace and retain that which is taught unto him by the Lord. Besides the sacramental signs have God's promises annexed to them, which necessarily require faith: now faith rests itself only upon the Word of God; and the Word of God is resembled to writings or letters, the sacraments to seals which the Lord alone sets to His own letters.

And as the Lord is the author of the sacraments, so He continually works in that church, where they are rightly used; so that the faithful, when they receive them of the ministers, do know that the Lord works in His own ordinance, and, therefore, they receive them as from the hand of God: and the minister's faults (if there be any notorious in them) cannot hurt them, seeing they acknowledge the goodness of the sacraments to depend upon the ordinance of the Lord. For which cause they put a difference in the administration of the sacraments, between the Lord Himself and His minister; confessing that the substance of the sacraments is given them of the Lord, and the outward signs by the ministers of the Lord.

But the principal thing which in all the sacraments is offered of the Lord, and chiefly regarded of the godly of all ages (which some have called the substance and matter of the sacraments) is Christ our Savior: that only sacrifice (Heb. 10:12), and that Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world (Rev. 13:8), that rock also, of which all our fathers drank (1 Cor. 10:4) by whom all the elect are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands through the Holy Spirit (Col. 2:11–12) and are washed from all their sins (Rev. 1:5), and are nourished with the very body and blood of Christ unto eternal life (John 6:54).

Now, in respect of that which is the chief thing, and the very matter and substance of the sacraments, the sacraments of both the Testaments are equal. For Christ, the only Mediator and Savior of the faithful, is the chief thing and substance in them both: one and the same God is author of them both: they were given unto both churches as signs and seals of the grace and promises of God; which should call to mind and renew the memory of God's great benefits to them, and should distinguish the faithful from all the religions in the world; lastly, which should be received spiritually by faith, and should bind the receivers unto the church and admonish them of their duty. In these, I say, and such like things, the sacraments of both churches are not unequal, although in the outward signs they are diverse.

And indeed we do yet put a greater difference between them: for ours are more firm and durable as those which are not to be changed to the end of the world. Again, ours testify that the substance and promise is already fulfilled and performed in Christ, whereas the other did only signify that they should be fulfilled. And again ours are more simple and not so painful, not so sumptuous, nor so full of ceremonies. Moreover they belong to a greater people that is dispersed through the face of the whole earth: and because they are more excellent and do by the Spirit of God stir up in us a greater measure of faith, therefore, a more plentiful measure of the Spirit follows them.

But now, since Christ the true Messiah is exhibited unto us and the abundance of grace is poured forth upon the people of the New Testament, the sacraments of the Old Law are surely abrogated and ceased; and in their stead the sacraments of the New Testament are placed: namely, for circumcision, baptism, and for the Pascal Lamb and sacrifices, the Supper of the Lord.

And as in the old church the sacraments consisted of the Word, the sign and the thing signified, so even at this day they are composed, as it were, of the same parts. For the Word of God makes them sacraments, which before were not: for they are consecrated by the Word and declared to be sanctified by Him who first ordained them. To sanctify or consecrate a thing is to dedicate it unto God and unto holy uses; that is, to take it from the common and ordinary use and to appoint it to some holy use. For the signs that are in the sacraments are drawn from common use; things external and visible. As in baptism, the outward sign is the element of water, and that visible washing which is done by the minister. But the thing signified is regeneration and the cleansing from sins. Likewise in the Lord's Supper, the outward sign is bread and wine, taken from things commonly used for meat and drink. But the thing signified is the body of Christ which was given, and His blood which was shed for us, and the communion of the body and blood of the Lord.

Wherefore the water, bread, and wine, considered in their own nature, and out of this holy use and institution of the Lord, are only that which they are called and which we find them to be. But let the Word of God be added to them together with invocation upon His holy name, and the renewing of their first institution and sanctification, and then these signs are consecrated and declared to be sanctified by Christ. For Christ's first institution and consecration of the sacraments stands yet in force in the church of God, in such sort that they which celebrate the sacraments no otherwise than the Lord Himself from the beginning has appointed, have still even to this day, the use and benefit of that first and most excellent consecration. And for this cause in the administration of the sacraments, the very words of Christ are repeated.

And forasmuch as we learn out of the Word of God that these signs were appointed unto another end and use than commonly they are used, therefore, we teach that they now, in this their holy use, take upon them the names of things signified, and are not still called bare water, bread, or wine: but that the water is called "regeneration, and washing of the new birth" (Titus 3:5), and the bread and wine "the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Cor. 10:16), or the pledges and sacraments of His body and blood. Not that the signs are turned into the things signified, or cease to be that which in their own nature they are (for then they could not be sacraments which should consist only of the thing signified and have no signs); but, therefore, do the signs bear the names of the things because they are mystical tokens of holy things, and because the signs and the things signified are sacramentally joined together: joined together I say, or united by a mystical signification, and by the purpose and will of Him who first instituted them. For the water, bread, and wine are not common, but holy signs. And He that instituted water in baptism did not institute it with that mind and purpose, that the faithful should only be dipped in the water of baptism; and He which commanded the bread to be eaten and the wine to be drunk in the Supper did not mean that the faithful should only receive bread and wine without any further mystery, as they eat bread at home in their own houses: but that they should spiritually be partakers of the things signified and by faith be truly purged from their sins and be partakers of Christ also.

And, therefore, we cannot allow of them which attribute the consecration of the sacraments to I know not what syllables; to the rehearsal of certain words pronounced by him that is consecrated, and that has an intent of consecrating; or to some other accidental things, which are not left unto us either by the word or by the example of Christ or His apostles. We also dislike the doctrine of those that speak no otherwise of the sacraments than of common signs, not sanctified, nor effectual. We condemn them also, who, because of the invisible things despise the visible and think the signs superfluous because they already enjoy the things themselves: such were the Messalians, as it is recorded. We disapprove their doctrine also who teach that grace and the things signified are to be so tied to and included in the signs, that whosoever outwardly receives the signs must necessarily inwardly participate in the grace and in the things signified, whatever manner of men they may be.

Notwithstanding, as we esteem not the goodness of the sacraments by the worthiness or unworthiness of the ministers, so likewise we do not weigh them by the condition of the recipients. For we know that the goodness of the sacraments depends upon the faithfulness or truth and the mere goodness of God. For even as God's Word remains the true Word of God, wherein not only bare words are uttered when it is preached, but there withal the things signified by the words are offered of God, although the wicked and unbelievers hear and understand the words, yet do not enjoy the things signified because they receive them not by a true faith: even so, the sacraments consisting of the Word, the signs, and the things signified, continue true and perfect sacraments not only because they are holy things, but also that God also offers the things signified; however unbelievers do not receive the things which are offered. This comes to pass not by any fault in God, the author and offerer of them; but by the fault of men, who receive them without faith and unlawfully: "whose unbelief cannot make the truth of God of none effect" (Rom. 3:3).

Now forasmuch as in the beginning, where we showed what the sacraments were, we did also by the way set down to what end they were ordained, it will not be necessary to trouble ourselves with repeating anything which has been already handled. Next, therefore, in order, it remains to speak severally of the sacraments of the new church.

The Supper of the Lord (which is also called the Lord's Table, and the Eucharist, that is, a thanksgiving) is, therefore, commonly called a Supper because it was instituted of Christ in His last Supper, and as yet represents the same, and in it the faithful are spiritually fed and nourished. For the author of the Supper of the Lord is not an angel or man, but the very Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who first of all consecrated it to His church. And the same blessing and consecration still remains among all those who celebrate no other but that very Supper which the Lord instituted; and at that recite the words of the Supper of the Lord, and in all things look unto Christ only by a true faith; at whose hands, as it were, they receive that which they do receive by the ministry of the ministers of the church. The Lord by this sacred rite would have that great benefit to be kept in fresh remembrance which He performed for mankind; to wit, that by giving up His body to death and shedding His blood, He has forgiven us all our sins and redeemed us from eternal death and the power of the devil, and now feeds us with His flesh, and gives us His blood to drink: which things, being apprehended spiritually by a true faith, nourish us to life everlasting. And this so great a benefit is renewed so oft as the Supper is celebrated. For the Lord said, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).

By this holy Supper also it is sealed unto us that the very body of Christ was truly given up for us and His blood shed for the remission of our sins, lest our faith might somewhat waver. And this is outwardly represented unto us by the minister in the sacrament after a visible manner, and, as it were, laid before our eyes to be seen, which is inwardly in the soul invisibly performed by the Holy Ghost. Outwardly bread is offered by the minister and the words of the Lord are heard: "Receive, eat, this is my body; take it, and divide it amongst you: drink ye all of this, this is my blood" (Matt. 26:26–28; Luke 22:17–20). Therefore, the faithful receive that which is given by the minister of the Lord and eat the bread of the Lord, and drink of the Lord's cup. But yet, by the working of Christ, through the Holy Ghost, they receive also the flesh and blood of the Lord and feed on them to life everlasting. For the flesh and blood of Christ is true meat and drink unto everlasting life: yes Christ Himself, in that He was delivered for us, and is our Savior, is that special thing and substance of the Supper; and, therefore, we suffer nothing to be put in His place.

But that it may the better and more plainly be understood how the flesh and blood of Christ are the meat and drink of the faithful, and are received by the faithful to life everlasting, we will add moreover these four things.

Eating is of divers sorts: for there is a corporal eating, whereby meat is taken into a man's mouth, chewed with the teeth, and swallowed down into the belly. After this manner did the Capernaites in times past think that they should eat the flesh of the Lord: but they are confuted by Him (John 6:30–63). For as the flesh of Christ cannot be eaten bodily without great wickedness and cruelty, so is it not meat for the belly, as all men do confess. We, therefore, disapprove that canon in the pope's decrees, Ego Berengarius (De Consecrat., dist. 2). For neither did godly antiquity believe, neither yet do we believe that the body of Christ can be eaten corporally and essentially with a bodily mouth.

There is also a spiritual eating of Christ's body; not such a one whereby it may be thought that the very meat is changed into the spirit, but whereby (the Lord's body and blood remaining in their own essence and property) those things are spiritually communicated unto us, not after a corporal, but after a spiritual manner, through the Holy Ghost, who applies and bestows upon us those things (to wit, remission of sins, deliverance and life everlasting) which are prepared for us by the flesh and blood of our Lord, given for us: so that Christ now lives in us and we live in Him; and causes us to apprehend Him by true faith to this end, that He may become unto us such a spiritual meat and drink, that is to say, our life. For even as corporal meat and drink not only refresh and strengthen our bodies, but also keep them in life; even so the flesh of Christ delivered for us and His blood shed for us, do not only refresh and strengthen our souls, but also preserves them alive, not so far as they are corporally eaten and drunken, but so far as they are communicated unto us spiritually by the Spirit of God: the Lord saying, "The bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51); also "The flesh (to wit, corporally eaten) profiteth nothing, it is the Spirit which giveth life: and the words which I speak to you, are Spirit and life" (John 6:63).

And as we must by eating receive the meat into our bodies to the end that it may work in us and show its efficacy in us (because, while it is without us, it profits us not at all); even so it is necessary that we receive Christ by faith, that He may be made ours and that He may live in us and we in Him. For He says, "I am the bread of life; He that cometh to me shall not hunger, and He that believeth in me, shall not thirst any more" (John 6:35); and also, "He that eateth me, shall live through me; and He abideth in me, and I in him" (John 6:56).

By all which it appears manifestly that by spiritual meat we do not mean any imaginary thing, but the very body of our Lord Jesus given to us; which yet is received of the faithful not corporally, but spiritually by faith: in which point we do wholly follow the doctrine of our Lord and Savior Christ in the 6th of John. And this eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of the Lord is so necessary to salvation that without it no man can be saved. This spiritual eating and drinking is also without the Supper of the Lord; even so often as and where ever a man believes in Christ. To which purpose that sentence of St. Augustine happily belongs: "Why dost thou prepare thy teeth and belly? Believe, and thou hast eaten."

Besides that former spiritual eating, there is a sacramental eating of the body of the Lord; whereby the faithful man not only is partaker spiritually and internally of the true body and blood of the Lord; but also by coming to the Table of the Lord outwardly receives the visible sacraments of the body and blood of the Lord. It is true that the faithful man, by believing, before received the food that gives life, and still receives the same, but yet, when he receives the sacrament, he receives something more. For he goes on in continual communication of the body and blood of the Lord, and his faith is daily more and more kindled, more strengthened and refreshed by the spiritual nourishment. For while we live, faith has continual increasings: and he that outwardly receives the sacraments with a true faith, the same not only receives the sign, but also enjoys (as we have said) the thing itself. Moreover the same man obeys the Lord's institution and commandment, and with a joyful mind gives thanks for his and the redemption of all mankind; and makes a faithful remembrance of the Lord's death, and witnesses the same before the church, of which body he is a member. This also is sealed to those which receive the sacrament, that the body of the Lord was given and His blood shed, not only for men in general, but particularly for every faithful communicant whose meat and drink He is, to life everlasting.

But as for him that without faith comes to this holy Table of the Lord, he is made partaker of the sacrament only; but the matter of the sacrament from whence comes life and salvation, he receives not at all and such men do unworthily eat of the Lord's Table. "Now they which do unworthily eat of the Lord's bread and drink of the Lord's cup, they are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and they eat and drink it to their judgment" (1 Cor. 11:26–29). For as they do not approach with true faith, they do despite unto the death of Christ, and, therefore, eat and drink condemnation to themselves.

We do not, therefore, so join the body of the Lord and His blood with the bread and wine, as though we thought that the bread is the body of Christ more than after a sacramental manner; or that the body of Christ lies hidden corporally under the bread, so as it ought to be worshipped under the form of bread; or yet that whoever he is which receives the sign, he receives the thing itself. The body of Christ is in the heavens, at the right hand of His Father: and, therefore, our hearts are to be lifted up on high, and not to be fixed on the bread, neither is the Lord to be worshipped in the bread; though notwithstanding the Lord is not absent from His church when they celebrate the Supper. The sun, being absent from us in the heavens, is yet notwithstanding present among us effectually: how much more Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, though in body He is absent from us in the heavens, yet is present among us, not corporally, but spiritually, by His lively operation; and so as He Himself promised in His last Supper, to be present among us (John 14–16). Whereupon it follows that we have not the Supper without Christ, and yet that we have meanwhile an unbloody and mystical Supper, even as all antiquity called it.

Moreover, we are admonished in the celebration of the Supper of the Lord to be mindful of the body whereof we are made members; and that, therefore, we are at concord with all our brethren that we live holily and not pollute ourselves with wickedness and strange religions; but persevering in the true faith to the end of our life give diligence to excel in holiness of life.

It is, therefore, very requisite that, purposing to come to the Supper of the Lord, we do try ourselves according to the commandment of the apostle: first, with what faith we are endued, whether we believe that Christ is come to save sinners and to call them to repentance, and whether each man believes that he is in the number of them that, being delivered by Christ, are saved; and whether he has purposed to change his wicked life, to live holily, and persevere through God's assistance in true religion and in concord with his brethren, and to give worthy thanks to God for his delivery.

We think that rite, manner, or form of the Supper to be the most simple and excellent which comes nearest to the first institution of the Lord and to the apostles' doctrine: which consists in declaring the Word of God, in godly prayers, in the action itself that the Lord used, and the repeating of it; in the eating of the Lord's body and drinking of His blood; in the wholesome remembrance of the Lord's death and faithful giving of thanks; and in a holy fellowship in the union of the body of the church.

We, therefore, disapprove them which have taken from the faithful one part of the sacrament, to wit, the Lord's cup. For these do very grievously offend against the institution of the Lord, who says, "Drink all of you of this" (Matt. 26:27), which He did not so plainly say of the bread. What manner of mass it was that the fathers used, whether it were tolerable, or intolerable, we do not now dispute. But this we say freely, that the Mass which is now used throughout the Roman Church, which, for brevity's sake, we will not now particularly recite, for many and most just causes is quite abolished out of our churches. Truly we could not like it because of a most wholesome action, they have made a vain spectacle; also because it is made a meritorious matter and is said for money; likewise because in it the priest is said to make the very body of the Lord, and to offer the same really, even for the remission of the sins of the quick and the dead. Add this also; that they do it for the honor, worship, and reverence of the saints in heaven.

The Scripture wills that the bodies of the faithful, as being temples of the Holy Ghost, which we truly believe shall rise again at the last day, should be honestly, without any superstition, committed to the earth; and besides, that we should make honorable mention of the godly which have died in the Lord, and perform all duties of love to such as they leave behind them, as their widows and fatherless children. Other care to be taken for the dead, we teach none. Therefore, we do greatly dislike the Cynics, who neglected the bodies of the dead, or did very carelessly and disdainfully cast them into the earth, never speak so much as a good word of the deceased, nor any whit regarded those whom they left behind them. Again, we condemn those which are too much and preposterously officious toward the dead; who like Ethnics, do greatly lament and bewail their dead (we do not despise that moderate mourning which the apostle allows, 1 Thessalonians 4:13, but judge it an unnatural thing to be touched with no sorrow); and do sacrifice for the dead, and mumble certain prayers, not without their penny for their pains, thinking by these duties to deliver their friends from torments, wherein being wrapped by death, they suppose they may be rid of them again by such lamentable songs. For we believe that the faithful, after bodily death, go directly unto Christ, and, therefore, do not stand in need of helps or prayers for the dead or any other such duty of them which are alive. In like manner, we believe that the unbelievers are cast headlong directly into hell, from whence there is no return opened to the wicked by any duties of those which live.

But as touching that which some teach concerning the fire of purgatory, it is flat contrary to the Christian faith ("I believe the remission of sins, and life everlasting") and to the absolute purgation of sins made by Christ, and to these sayings of Christ our Lord: "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth in Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but hath passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). Again, "He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean" (John 13:10).

Now that which is recorded of the spirits or souls of the dead sometimes appearing to them that are alive, and craving certain duties of them whereby they may be set free: we count those apparitions among the delusions, crafts, and deceits of the devil, who, as he can transform himself into an angel of light so he labors tooth and nail either to overthrow the true faith or else to call it into doubt. The Lord, in the Old Testament, forbade to enquire the truth of the dead and to have anything to do with spirits (Deut. 18:10–11). And to the glutton, being bound in torments, as the truth of the gospel declares, is denied any return to his brethren: the oracle of God pronouncing and saying, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one shall arise from the dead" (Luke 16:29, 31).

1. God hath decreed in himself from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin, nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty, or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; 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 anything, 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 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 will, 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.

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, 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, justified, 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, diligence, and abundant consolation, to all that sincerely obey the gospel.

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 Savior 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 fullness of time was come take upon him man's nature, with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin: being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowing her, and so was made of a woman, of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham, and David according to the Scriptures: so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, were inseparably joined together in one person: without conversion, composition, or confusion: which person is very God and very man; yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

3. The Lord Jesus, in his human nature thus united to the divine, in the person of the Son, was sanctified, anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure; having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell: to the end that being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace, and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator and surety; which office he took not 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 fulfill it, and underwent the punishment due to us, which we should have born 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 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 himself, 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 were communicated to the elect in all ages successively, from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the seed of the woman, which should bruise the serpent's head; and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world: being the same yesterday, and today and forever.

7. Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture, attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.

8. To all those for whom Christ hath obtained eternal redemption, he doth certainly, and effectually apply, and communicate the same; making intercession for them, 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 transferred 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 present us acceptable unto God: and in respect to 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. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth, 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 other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness, they receiving, and resting on him, and his righteousness, by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.

2. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ, and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.

3. Christ, by his obedience, and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did by the sacrifice of himself, in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead, the penalty due unto them: make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in their behalf: yet in as much as he was given by the Father for them, and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for anything in them; their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and rich grace of God, might be glorified in the justification of sinners.

4. God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did in the fullness 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 justified, and although they can never fall from the state of justification; yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly displeasure; and in that condition, they have not usually the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith, and repentance.

6. The justification of believers under the Old Testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament.

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 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 to him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other.

2. In this ordinance Christ is not offered up to his Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all, for remission of sin of the quick or dead; but only a memorial of that one offering up of himself, by himself, upon the cross, once for all; 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 ministers 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, worshiping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and reserving them for any pretended religious use, are all contrary to the nature of this ordinance, and to the institution of Christ.

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 names of the things they represent, to wit, the body and 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 (commonly 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 ordinance, 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 spiritually 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.